Women are muses for much of the art in U.S. museums — but rarely the creators.

• Why it matters: Female artists' work is a fraction of what's displayed, Axios' Anna Braz, Nicki Camberg and Victoria Ellis f0und.

An analysis of major U.S. art museums by researchers at Williams College found just 13% of the artists were women. But 55% of working artists are women, according to data from the career platform Zippia.

• The Williams College analysis found the overall split between male and female artists in America's museums is about 87% to 13%.

That's largely due to the overwhelming dominance of male artists from the 19th century and before.

Context: Kelema Moses, an art history expert and professor at U.C. San Diego, points to a centuries-old pattern of women being left out of the art world.

• "Let's think back to the Renaissance," she says. "Women were kept out of art schools and institutions, and therefore could not become artists with a capital 'A.'"

What's happening: Women now make up the majority of art students and working artists.

• But museum directors, and those in charge of curating art, still are majority male.

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Republican efforts to pass hardline anti-abortion measures are faltering in some state legislatures — and efforts to advance a strict nationwide ban in Congress have fizzled, The Washington Post reports.

• Why it matters: Lawmakers face a voter backlash against the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe. Some GOP statewide midterm candidates scrubbed their websites of anti-abortion rhetoric they used during the primaries, to be softer for November.

Axios reported this summer that anti-abortion rights activists, grassroots groups and the Republican Party were divided about their post-Roe strategy. Some leaders privately conceded a lack of political appetite for a federal abortion ban.

• The Post found that on the state level, gridlock in legislatures "has provided an unexpected window for abortion access in some of the most conservative states — at least temporarily."

Homicides in major U.S. cities dropped in the first half of 2022 — but total violent crime rose from the same period in 2021, Axios' Russell Contreras writes from a midyear survey of large law-enforcement agencies.

• Atlanta saw a 20% jump in homicides. New Orleans had a 40% spike. Baltimore, Dallas, Phoenix and Denver also had jumps in homicides.
• Declines were recorded in Albuquerque, Houston, Detroit and Miami.

🧠 What's happening: Socioeconomic issues associated with the pandemic are " leading to a lot of incidents on the street where we're seeing these spontaneous assaults," Robert Arcos, chief of the Bureau of Investigation in the Office of the Los Angeles County District Attorney, told Axios.

• Arcos said cities that aggressively tackle homelessness, addiction, and mental health might see drops in some crime. but homicides are hard to predict.
• Brian Smith of the National Association of Chiefs of Police told Axios: "We still don't have enough officers, and we have shortages everywhere."

🧮 By the numbers: Overall violent crime jumped 4.2% from Jan. 1 to June 30, compared to the same period last year, the survey by the Major Cities Chiefs Association found.

• Robbery skyrocketed by nearly 12%, the survey of 70 agencies found.
• Homicides decreased by 2.4% and rapes fell by 5% in major cities, offering hope that some of the most violent crimes might be leveling off from significant increases in 2020, as reported to the FBI.

👀 What we're watching: Crime is the one issue where Republicans consistently outperform Democrats in generic polls ahead of the midterms. Rising crime may offer a lifeline to the GOP in close races where abortion is driving a shift to Democrats.

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President Biden spoke yesterday at the groundbreaking for an Intel semiconductor plant just outside Columbus — in New Albany, Ohio — that's propelled by the CHIPS and Science Act he signed last month.

• "It's time to bury the label 'Rust Belt' and call it, as [Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger] says, the 'Silicon Heartland,'" Biden said.

Why it matters: COVID-era chip shortages showed the urgency of expanding U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. The domestic share of worldwide chip manufacturing fell from 37% in 1990 to 12% today.

🔎 Zoom in: Intel is backing semiconductor education programs at Ohio universities and community colleges, reports Tyler Buchanan of Axios Columbus.

• The aim is to develop a homegrown talent pipeline for the industry.

🔭 Zoom out: This is Ohio's largest ever private economic development project, AP reports.

• When two New Albany factories (called fabs, for "fabrication") open in 2025, the facility will employ 3,000 people with an average salary of around $135,000.

Total investment could top $100 billion over the decade with six more fabs, Intel says.

Conversations with Londoners reveal "signs of a generational divide in which many younger people expressed indifference, if not hostility, to the complicated institution the queen represented," The New York Times reports (subscription).

• Why it matters: "Some younger people expressed fatigue at yet another royal disruption after two years of many crises," including COVID and the war in Ukraine.

A YouGov poll in May found 74% of respondents 65+ said "the institution of the monarchy is good ... for Britain," compared with 24% of 18- to 24-year-olds.

Shannon Bream, who takes over tomorrow as the first woman anchor in 26 years of "Fox News Sunday," said she plans to widen the program's aperture to include education, entertainment, sports and faith.

• "I hope what people will see on Sunday morning is not just folks inside the Beltway that they are frustrated with," Bream told me, "but also people around the country that are doing meaningful things, that are bettering their community, that are entertaining Americans in a way that maybe gives them a break from the stresses of their day."

Bream, 51, who will continue as Fox News' chief legal correspondent, graduated from Florida State University's law school after getting her B.S. in business management from Liberty University.

• "My late father used to say to me: You're going to medical school or law school, and I don't want to hear anything until you get one of those things done," she said. "I'm so thankful for him every day that I have this legal background, in large part due to his pushing me."

Asked how her Christian faith informs her work, she said: "My faith tells me that God has created every single human being, and [each] has enormous value and worth assigned to ... them."

• "My commands are to treat my neighbor as I would myself, which means respect and deference," she said. "And I think that's an important thing to do in Washington. It's difficult, sometimes."

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