The Guardian reports: The suit centers on Lorie Smith, a website designer who does not want to provide her services for gay weddings because of her religious objections. In 2016, she says, a gay man named Stewart requested her services for help with his upcoming wedding. “We are getting married early next year and would love some design work done …

CBS News reports: A man with materials to make explosives and an active Jan. 6-related warrant was arrested by law enforcement in former President Barack Obama’s Washington, D.C., neighborhood, multiple sources briefed on the matter tell CBS News. Multiple sources identified the suspect as 37-year-old Taylor Taranto, of Seattle, Washington. Secret Service spotted the man within blocks of the Obama’s …

The Associated Press reports: LGBTQ+ rights activists and couples in Nepal on Thursday were celebrating an interim order issued by the country’s Supreme Court enabling the registration of same-sex marriages for the first time. The Supreme Court issued the order on Wednesday allowing for the temporary registration of marriages for same-sex and non-traditional couples. It was not clear when the …

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports: Two protesters offended by a Pride exhibit at the Rancho Peñasquitos Library have checked out nearly all the books in the display and vowed to keep them until the library eliminates what they call “inappropriate content” for children. The anti-gay protest is the latest example of a growing national backlash against Pride exhibits, which experts …

Page Six reports: Madonna has been released from the hospital following a health scare that landed her in the ICU, Page Six can confirm. The BBC reported Thursday that the music superstar, 64, is “home and feeling better” after her discharge. Meanwhile, a source told CNN Thursday that Madonna had been transported to her New York City residence via a …

The Chicago Sun-Times reports: A former Catholic priest has been sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to molesting a boy more than two decades ago at an Evanston hotel. Kenneth Lewis, 62, entered the plea Thursday to a felony count of aggravated sexual abuse in a deal with Cook County prosecutors that saw other charges against him …

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports: Former School Resource Officer Scot Peterson, the only person other than the gunman to face charges in the 2018 Parkland massacre when he was accused of failing to rush into the building to confront the mass shooter, has been found not guilty on all charges. After the first not guilty verdict was read, Peterson placed …

The Associated Press reports: Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday for his role in the largest corruption scandal in state history. Householder had pleaded for mercy ahead of the sentencing — not on behalf of himself, but his wife of 40 years, sons and friends. The 64-year-old Republican appeared before U.S. …

The Independent reports: The Department of Justice is prepared to seek indictments against multiple figures in former president Donald Trump’s orbit and may yet bring additional charges against the ex-president in the coming weeks, The Independent has learned. According to sources familiar with the matter, the department has made preparations to bring what is known as a “superseding indictment” — …

Florida Politics reports: Voters will soon have little say in how the areas around them change through construction large and small, due to legislation Gov. Ron DeSantis just approved. The measure (SB 718), which goes into effect Saturday, prohibits voter referendums or ballot initiatives on land development regulation. That means all decisions over zoning, building approval, annexations and various other …

The Daily Dot reports: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is a simple woman who likes simple things: conspiracy theories, seeing herself on camera, and Crossfit—not necessarily in that order. In April, Greene launched a podcast that couples her passions for conspiracies and self-promotion. A photo it recently posted is turning heads because it seeems to invokes the Capitol riot, a …

CNN reports: House Republicans are preparing to let the push for potential impeachment proceedings dominate their agenda over the next few months, as Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces growing pressure from an increasingly restive right flank eager to take aim at President Joe Biden and his Cabinet. The increased focus on impeachment — with Biden’s attorney general and homeland security secretary …

The Washington Examiner reports: Prosecutors in the impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton have expanded their investigation into his real estate dealings. The dealings under scrutiny are $3.5 million worth of properties purchased by Paxton and his family after he came under federal investigation, the Wall Street Journal revealed. Purchased from July 2021 to April 2022, the properties include …

The New York Times reports: The political network established by the conservative industrialists Charles and David Koch has raised more than $70 million for political races as it looks to help Republicans move past Donald J. Trump, according to an official with the group. With some of this large sum to start, the network, Americans for Prosperity Action, plans to …

Posted just now to Trump’s Truth Social account: People with extraordinary ability and everything else necessary for success, including future greatness for our Country, are finally being rewarded. This is the ruling everyone was waiting and hoping for and the result was amazing. It will also keep us competitive with the rest of the world. Our greatest minds must be …

Media Matters reports: Fox News personalities are weaponizing the news that President Joe Biden recently began using a CPAP machine to help with the widespread disorder of sleep apnea to fearmonger over his physical and mental health. Their baseless claims run the gamut, from arguments that the sleep apnea diagnosis is a charade to cover up Biden’s purported dementia to …

The New York Times reports: Federal authorities charged three men on Thursday with taking part in a scheme to make $22 million in illegal profits by trading ahead of the proposed merger of former President Donald J. Trump’s social media company with a cash-rich public shell company in fall 2021. The arrests came after a lengthy investigation by federal prosecutors …

The Arlington Heights Daily Herald reports: A man accused of possessing and disseminating child pornography worked at a Geneva-area church from 2016 until March. Rejoice Lutheran Church hired the Rev. Michael C. Willis to lead its youth ministry in 2016, according to the church’s Facebook page. Willis was ordained as a pastor in 2022, according to records on the website …

NBC News reports: Former Vice President Mike Pence made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Thursday, becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the campaign. The visit comes at a crucial moment in the war, just after the Wagner mercenary group’s rebellion and the deadly Russian missile strike on a pizza restaurant in …

ABC News reports: One of the top advisers on Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign is among the individuals identified but not named by special counsel Jack Smith in his indictment against the former president for allegedly mishandling classified documents, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. Susie Wiles, one of Trump’s most trusted advisers leading his second reelection effort, is …