For daily news updates and analysis, be sure to follow us on Instagram. If you are able to support independent journalism, please make a tax-deductible donation to News Not Noise here.
Politicians argue about abortion and women’s health care in the abstract.
Lynn Callaway didn’t have that luxury.
She miscarried at seven weeks and found herself caught in a Kafkaesque nightmare that stretched from three Texas emergency rooms to a hospital in Portugal months later.
Now she and her attorney, Molly Duane, have filed complaints asking state and federal regulators to investigate what happened and hold those involved accountable.
As a reminder: Texas doctors face enormous fines and up to 99 years in prison for violating the state’s abortion ban. The state legislature passed SB 31, which says doctors may provide abortion care in medical emergencies before the danger becomes imminent or irreversible. Lynn’s experience shows just how inadequate that law is.
I spoke with Lynn and Molly this week. Find their conversation above.
Also in today’s newsletter: Paramount’s Warner Bros deal hits the brakes. Obama offers advice; teenagers freak out. Trump’s new tariffs have a controversial legal theory. The lettuce situation isn’t over. RFK’s peptide push. The Pentagon’s casualty count doesn’t add up. And in News That Doesn’t Suck: Scientists think they’ve found a new way to clean the brain.
Here Are Your Headlines
Press Pause: Paramount Skydance agreed to freeze its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery until next June, while a judge considers a legal challenge from a coalition of 12 states seeking to block the deal. The lawsuit is led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who called it a “tremendous win” and vowed to fight to ensure the merger “never sees the light of day.” It is a David-versus-Goliath struggle with larger political implications. The delay suggests the Trump machine may not be as unstoppable as it once seemed. It also means Paramount will not control CNN anytime soon, and certainly not before the midterm elections.
Dropping In: Former President Barack Obama surprised players and coaches from a WNBA All-Star team during a practice session at the newly opened Obama Presidential Center. He congratulated the group on the league’s stunning success, which the WNBA commissioner recently described as a period of “hypergrowth” following decades of stagnation. Obama then dropped in as a group of young girls attended the annual WNBA Changemaker Day, also at the Center. He tried to offer some advice: “There’s so much pressure and noise, especially for girls and young women. There’s social attitudes that tell you that you need to be one kind of way.” The only problem was getting the audience to be calm long enough to hear him. “I was freaking out,” said Aliyah Myles, a 14-year-old student who described Obama as hugely influential for her mother. “I almost passed out.”
In Other Basketball News: LeBron James announced he is joining the Philadelphia 76ers on a two-year, $8 million contract, ending weeks of suspense and rumors and setting him up for a record-breaking 24th NBA season. He said he’d seriously considered retirement but wants to try one more time for a fifth championship.
Labored Effort: The Trump administration announced new tariffs on more than 80 countries, including U.S. allies. Trump is using a new legal authority designed to combat forced labor, but critics say he is using it to revive the same tariff regime the Supreme Court already rejected. Some experts said the new tariffs are unconstitutional and should similarly be struck down. According to the New York Fed, roughly 90% of the economic burden of Trump’s tariffs fall on U.S. businesses and consumers. The Progressive Policy Institute estimated Trump’s latest tariffs could cost Americans $100 billion per year, and says they are likely illegal. Some Trump allies aren’t happy about his insistence on pushing more tariffs, which are widely unpopular with Americans. “Any conversation about tariffs,” one person close to the White House told Politico, “unless it’s reducing them, is a bad conversation for Republicans.”
Take Two: The White House Correspondents Dinner is getting a do-over tonight after the first was disrupted by a gunman. This time, the dinner is in a different hotel with tighter security and fewer guests. Trump’s speech “will be a combination of unifying yet vicious,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “if you can imagine that.”
Hateful: A 51-year old man was arrested for allegedly stabbing an Asian man and a Jewish man in two separate attacks on New York City’s Upper West Side. The suspect reportedly yelled “Allahu Akbar” during both attacks. Police charged the suspect with a hate crime. Authorities also said mental health may have been a factor. Hate crimes in New York City, particularly antisemitic attacks, have risen in recent years, even as other violent crimes have fallen to record lows.
About Face: Far-right influencer and Trump ally Laura Loomer has reversed course on Ukraine, expressing support for the country after spending years echoing anti-Ukrainian Russian propaganda. This week she visited Ukraine and interviewed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the garden of Kyiv’s presidential palace, where Zelenskyy said he would hold talks with Trump next week, after attending the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s funeral. “I feel like such an asshole for minimizing the struggle of Ukrainians for the last 5 years,” Loomer wrote on X. “That wasn’t very nice of me.” Her stunning reversal is a sign MAGA, and the White House, has warmed up to Ukraine. It’s unclear who paid for Loomer’s visit — she’s refusing to say, though she and Zelenskyy’s office claim it wasn’t bankrolled by Ukraine’s government.
Justice Served: A judge sentenced evangelical preacher Vance Boelter to two consecutive terms of life in prison, plus 40 years, for murdering former Minnesota House Speaker and abortion rights advocate Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark. Boelter killed the Hortmans, critically wounded state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, and targeted other liberal lawmakers for political reasons.
Oracular: The Pentagon announced a 10-year, nearly $7 billion contract with Oracle, the company co-founded by Trump ally Larry Ellison. Oracle already has massive contracts with the DoD but this consolidates and extends them for several branches. This is a vital lifeline at a time Oracle stock is struggling. Larry Ellison is one of Trump’s biggest donors. His political investment appears to be generating returns.
We’re Doing Amazing: America’s “diarrhea summer” continues. Here are the latest health developments.
The FDA said the cyclospora outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms has spread to four additional states. It also identified a new, separate outbreak, though has not yet provided a source or location. This year has already become the worst year for the illness on record, with almost 15,000 cases. Experts say that’s likely an undercount, and health officials expect the number to keep rising.
Broken Record: We’re barely halfway through the year, yet the U.S. has already recorded more measles cases in 2026 than in any year since 1991, thanks to declining vaccination rates. There have been more measles cases in the U.S. in the last two years than the rest of the 21st century combined. More than 70% of the infections have been among children. “We have seen virtually no national messaging” from the Trump administration,” said one former chairman of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee. “That really tells us something about their priorities.”
A Pep In Your Step: An FDA committee voted to recommend removing manufacturing restrictions for six peptides. It voted against doing so for a seventh. Many of the panelists were appointed by Health Secretary RFK Jr, a proponent of peptides, and most who voted yes have ties to the peptide industry. They made the recommendations despite strong objections from FDA scientists. The vote reflects Kennedy’s broader push to let patients use promising but unproven treatments, and to gather evidence through their real-world use, an approach critics say turns the public into test subjects before adequate safety data exists.
Coercion: A group of 25 Democratic states sued the Trump administration for placing “unlawful” conditions on FEMA grants, which they argue are designed to force states to adopt the administration’s immigration and voting policies. The lawsuit notes that the administration has already lost two lawsuits challenging similar actions. More here.
Here We Go Again: Trump met with senior advisors and cabinet members today to decide whether to intensify the country’s assault on Iran, after it rejected his latest ceasefire proposal. “I am considering a massive attack,” Trump told Axios. “Bigger than ever before.” Iranian officials said the country’s military is preparing for war. ‘The situation is getting out of control,” UN Secretary General António Guterres told the body’s security council. “The political objectives are becoming increasingly obscured by the confrontation itself.”
Back On Top: Oil prices have once again surpassed $100 per barrel.
New Condition: Trump claimed his nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia is subject to the country normalizing relations with Israel by joining the Abraham Accords. When White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked why that condition wasn’t mentioned when the deal was announced, she said Trump was the “final dealmaker.”
Dead Quiet: The Pentagon appears to be obscuring the number of Americans killed in the Iran war, even though federal law requires the military to accurately report wartime casualties. It quietly lowered its official death toll from 18 to 14, removing four soldiers killed last week. Multiple military officials told the New York Times the troops’ names were removed partly because the soldiers died after Trump declared a ceasefire in April. (Translation: They died during non-war, therefore they aren’t war dead.) But the administration’s own statements contradict that explanation. The same day the troops’ names disappeared, Trump commemorated them as “four great patriots killed” and posted on Truth Social that the total number of war dead was “18.” Also, the four were killed after Trump notified Congress that the US was (once again) at war with Iran. “The administration seems to have a real hard time being honest about what is going on,” said a retired general, who commanded US forces during Trump’s first term. “Not just about casualties, but about the whole war in general.” The Pentagon’s acting press secretary insisted the change was due to “temporary data disruptions” and promised it would be corrected quickly. As of today, the Pentagon is still reporting only 14 deaths.
News That Doesn’t Suck
Brain Cleanse: Of all the scary medical conditions out there, few are more feared than Alzheimer’s. It’s a form of dementia that affects almost seven million people in the U.S., a figure expected to double by 2060. One of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s, is the buildup in the brain of a protein called beta-amyloid. It forms plaques that damage brain cells and contribute to the disease’s devastating symptoms. Certain medications can clear the plaques out, but they can cause serious side effects. New research suggests there might be a better way. Participants wore a breathing mask that alternated between normal air and air with 100 times more CO2 every 35 seconds for half an hour. Why? Well, when we sleep, our brain goes into repair mode. Blood vessels repeatedly dilate and constrict, a pumping action that helps clear out waste. Rapidly switching between normal and high-CO2 air seems to mimic that process. In the study, it increased the amount of beta-amyloid flushed from the brain, with no apparent side effects. The possible benefits may not stop with Alzheimer’s. This technique may also help clear other potentially problematic proteins from the brain, including one linked to Parkinson’s disease. “The approach could have a much wider effect on the brain,” one scientist explained, “and could have a much broader application that transcends Alzheimer’s disease.” The brain may have its own rinse cycle. And science may be learning how to switch it on.
Want more information?
Please share this newsletter with family, friends, and anyone who wants to get the news and turn down the noise. If you’d like to sponsor our newsletter or our Instagram content, please reach out to us at community@newsnotnoise.com.
