Variety reports: Celebrities are taking to social media to pay tribute to actor Paul Reubens, best known for creating and starring as the beloved comedy character Pee-wee Herman. He died Sunday night at the age of 70 after a private battle with cancer. His career spanned from the stage to the screen, and he starred as Pee-wee in multiple films …

The Texas Tribune reports: Lawyers for suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton requested Monday that all but one of 20 articles of impeachment be dismissed, arguing his removal would “override the will of the people” who elected him with knowledge of his alleged misconduct. In a separate filing to the court of impeachment, Paxton’s team also requested that his trial before …

Politico reports: The nation’s leading anti-abortion group on Monday called Gov. Ron DeSantis’ failure to support federal abortion restrictions “unacceptable” — a blow for the Florida Republican, who has passed one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America was responding to DeSantis’ recent interview with conservative commentator Megyn Kelly, in which the governor …

The Hill reports: Nine state residents and the Oklahoma Parent Legislative Action Committee filed a lawsuit Monday to stop the nation’s first openly religious charter school from operating. The plaintiffs, represented by organizations including Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the ACLU, are arguing the board violated the Oklahoma Constitution, the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act and several …

The Guardian reports: The largest school district in Texas announced its libraries will be eliminated and replaced with discipline centers in the new school year. Houston independent school district announced earlier this summer that librarian and media-specialist positions in 28 schools will be eliminated as part of superintendent Mike Miles’s “new education system” initiative. Teachers at these schools will soon …

Bloomberg News reports: A super political action committee with close ties to billionaire Charles Koch raised $78 million in the first half of 2023, money the group is using to try and prevent former President Donald Trump from becoming the Republican nominee. Americans for Prosperity Action received the bulk of its funding from two $25 million donations, according to its …

The Associated Press reports: President Joe Biden has decided to keep U.S. Space Command headquarters in Colorado, overturning a last-ditch decision by the Trump administration to move it to Alabama and ending months of politically fueled debate, according to senior U.S. officials. The officials said Biden was convinced by the head of Space Command, Gen. James Dickinson, who argued that …

The Daily Beast reports: “The Jan. 6 thing is bad, but also, the intelligence agencies were involved in provoking people into the Capitol Building. That’s a fact,” Joe Rogan proclaimed before invoking Ray Epps’ supposed involvement in pushing rioters to attack the Capitol. While calling it a “fact” that the federal government utilized “agent provocateurs” on Jan. 6 while citing …

The San Francisco Chronicle reports: After Elon Musk flouted permit rules and angered nearby residents with a massive, flashing “X” atop his social media company’s San Francisco headquarters, workers were seen dismantling the sign Monday. At 9 a.m., SFGATE saw two workers in lifts detangling wires from the structure’s metal frame and pulling away its light-up panels. By noon, the …

The Birmingham News reports: Two clinic owners in Alabama and the ACLU filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to prevent prosecutions of people who provide information or assistance to women who want to travel out of state to get abortions. Alabama law prohibits doctors and others from performing abortions. The two plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Dr. Yashica Robinson and Robin Marty, …

Media Matters has the transcript: STEVE BANNON (HOST): He just put out a tweet about, or Truth Social, about the debate. And he took a poll at the debate at the time that was happening. Now he’s saying he may watch for VP candidates. I want to make sure President Trump knows that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Kari Lake …

Axios reports: U.S. passport holders used to embarking on European vacations without much additional paperwork will soon see that change. New travel rules announced by the EU dictate that travelers from 60 visa-free countries will need to get a new authorization via the European Travel Information and Authorization System starting in 2024. The new rules will apply to travelers from …

The New York Daily News reports: A professional dancer voguing at a Brooklyn gas station after a trip to the Jersey Shore with his friends was stabbed to death during a confrontation Saturday night with a group of Muslim men who said the victim’s impromptu performance offended their faith, witnesses and friends told the Daily News. O’Shae Sibley, 28, a …

Variety reports: Paul Reubens, the actor best known for portraying Pee-wee Herman, died Sunday night after a private bout of cancer. He was 70. “Please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years,” wrote Reubens in a statement posted to Instagram after his death. “I have always felt a huge amount of …

The Tampa Bay Times reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis repeatedly says he opposes indoctrination in schools. Yet his administration in early July approved materials from a conservative group that says it’s all about indoctrination and “changing minds.” The Florida Department of Education determined that educational materials geared toward young children and high school students created by PragerU, a nonprofit co-founded by …

Posted just now to Trump’s Truth Social account: I assume that an Indictment from Deranged Jack Smith and his highly partisan gang of Thugs, pertaining to my “PEACEFULLY & PATRIOTICALLY Speech, will be coming out any day now, as yet another attempt to cover up all of the bad news about bribes, payoffs, and extortion, coming from the Biden “camp.” …

The Hill reports: “I think the leadership race is well underway and this accelerates that,” said a Republican senator who requested anonymity to discuss the fallout from McConnell’s health episode before television cameras Wednesday. The lawmaker noted that Senate Republican Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) ran the Senate floor this month during the debate and votes on the annual defense authorization …

NBC News reports: The Mar-a-Lago property manager charged in a new indictment alongside Donald Trump in the alleged mishandling of classified government documents after the former president left office was unable to enter a plea in court on Monday after being unable to secure a Florida-based lawyer. Carlos De Oliveira, 56, wearing a navy suit and glasses, entered the Miami …

Politico reports: Tommy Tuberville’s abortion-related blockade of military promotions is uncomfortably splintering both the Senate GOP and Alabama Republicans. Now they’ll spend the summer stewing about it. The Alabama senator refused to allow any of the more than 250 stalled military promotions to quickly advance, retribution for the Defense Department allowing paid leave for abortions. Because of Tuberville’s blockade, the …

The Messenger reports: Former President Donald Trump cannot block widely anticipated indictments against him in Georgia, nor can he disqualify the district attorney expected to bring them, a judge ruled on Monday morning. The petition requested that the Fulton County grand jury report recommending indictments be inadmissible in Willis’ case, calling any evidence procured from the grand jury interviews and …