“Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said Wednesday that his office is joining two other states in issuing a subpoena to Dr. Anthony Fauci, alleging that he ‘profited’ from the recommendations he gave during the handling of the Covid pandemic. Uthmeier, joined by West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, said in a news release that he was issuing an investigative subpoena to Fauci for ‘an official investigation into awards, professional opportunities, financial incentives, grants, and Covid-19 guidance that impacted Florida businesses and consumers.’ … Uthmeier said Fauci’s entries detail ‘substantial awards,’ including grants, book deals and board positions, linked to his public recommendations as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases that affected Florida.” (08/05/26)
“The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 6.81% last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday morning, the highest in a year. Mortgage applications fell 2.9%. It reflects a surge in global bond yields. Longer-term rates moved higher after Federal Reserve chairman Kevin Warsh offered little guidance as to whether or when the Fed may raise rates to combat elevated inflation. That has particularly cut into refinancing activity, the MBA said, with its Refinance Index falling 1.9%. … Mortgage News Daily, which updates an average rate each day, put the 30-year rate at 6.75% Tuesday, down from 6.82% at the start of the week.” (08/05/26)
“The White House on Wednesday released declassified information claiming the FBI opened an investigation into whether President Trump was acting as an asset for Russia when he fired FBI Director James Comey, a theory an administration official said was not backed up by evidence. The official said the investigation, known as Oxferd Comma, was a subcomponent of Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI probe into potential collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Russian government — an investigation that has long drawn Mr. Trump’s ire. The predicate of Oxferd Comma was the newly elected president’s decision to fire Comey in 2017.” (08/05/26)
“The Houthis, [the government of much of] Yemen, said Wednesday that they had struck a Saudi oil tanker in the northern Red Sea, and they threatened to intensify attacks there in an effort to close ‘all access routes’ to Saudi oil shipments. The Houthi military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, said the group had fired ballistic missiles at a Saudi tanker called Wafa near the Saudi port city of Yanbu, though he did not say when the attack had occurred. The Saudi authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Houthis’ claim. The Houthis declared a blockade of Saudi shipping last month. The territory they control in Yemen is near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a narrow waterway that leads into the southern end of the Red Sea.” (08/05/26)
“Congressional candidate Amir Hassan, whom President Donald Trump endorsed last month, appears headed for defeat in the Republican primary for Michigan’s 8th Congressional District, as he trails rival Thomas J. Smith, who suspended his campaign and endorsed another candidate less than three weeks before Election Day. With 99 percent of votes counted at the time of writing, according to Associated Press estimates, Smith led the three-way primary with 50.4 percent of the vote, compared with Hassan’s 33.2 percent and Al Lemmo’s 16.4 percent. Smith held a lead of more than 10,600 votes, larger than the estimated number of ballots left to count, meaning Hassan cannot catch him if the remaining-vote estimate is accurate.” (08/05/26)
“Anthropic’s Mythos model created fake online identities as it looked to pressure humans into approving malicious code updates to an open source project, marking yet another cyber incident carried out by a frontier AI system. The incident happened during a cyber evaluation where the U.K.-based AI Security Institute (AISI), a research body, had removed safeguards, disabled some safety filters, and deliberately given the models Internet access. OpenAI’s GPT-5.6-Sol was also involved in other cybersecurity incidents during the evaluation. It comes after a series of cyber breaches carried out by models developed by Anthropic and OpenAI in recent weeks.” (08/05/26)
“A Mexican influencer was shot dead on Tuesday while streaming live on social media outside a restaurant in Sinaloa state, where cartel and gang violence is rife. Cesar Gastelum, who had more than 600,000 followers on TikTok, was broadcasting with two friends — all dressed as food delivery workers as part of a challenge. Video circulating online showed a motorcycle carrying two people pull up beside them. In the recording of the livestream, seen by the Reuters news agency, the driver of the motorcycle appeared to fire a gun directly at Gastelum. Local police confirmed Gastelum’s death.” (08/05/26)
“The Democratic mayor of Kansas City, Missouri was among those celebrating what he called the ‘TOTAL repudiation by Missouri voter of a core agenda of state GOP leadership’ on Tuesday night after the state voted by a 60-point margin against Amendment 4, a measure backed by the Republican governor which would have weakened voters’ ability to pass citizen-sponsored ballot initiatives. ‘We took over control of the state of Missouri tonight, repudiating absolutely atrocious ideas’, Mayor Quinton Lucas said in a video message addressing voters as election results came in. … The Republican supermajority in the state Legislature and Gov. Mike Kehoe supported Amendment 4, which was spurred by the passage of a ballot initiative in 2024 that had added the right to abortion care to the Missouri Constitution.” (08/05/26)
“Rep. Chuck Edwards announced he won’t seek reelection in a post to social media early Wednesday morning. ‘Serving Western North Carolina has been the honor of my life. Thank you for your trust, prayers, and support. God bless WNC and America,’ Edwards said. He added he will fullfill the remainder of his term. This follows the release of a report by the bipartisan House Ethics Committee, which indicated that Edwards should face censure from the House for inappropriate conduct directed at two young female staffers.” (08/05/26)
“Disney and TikTok have agreed a deal which will allow creators to use clips from Disney films, including its subsidiaries, in their videos. It means clips from hit franchises like Star Wars, Toy Story and the Marvel Cinematic Universe will soon start popping up in videos – which will also be shared on Disney’s short-form video platform, Verts. The scheme will be launched in the US before being rolled out to other countries. Neither company shared financial details of the agreement, although it follows the collapse of a $1bn (£745m) deal between Disney and OpenAI which would have let people use its characters in AI-generated videos. That agreement was cancelled in March when OpenAI shut down its AI video generation tool Sora, citing a decision to focus on other parts of its business.” (08/05/26)
