America is headed full-steam into an election soaked with an unprecedented mix of scandal, high-stakes court cases and possible impeachment hearings, Axios' Stef Kight and David Lindsey write.

• Why it matters: The two most likely finalists for president in 2024, former President Trump and President Biden, will both be burdened by politically fraught legal cases that involve a trio of special counsels.

🔬 Zoom in: The dynamic offers the potential for a split screen of American politics, with partisan media going all-in on their trial(s) of choice.

• Attorney General Merrick Garland's appointment Friday of Special Counsel David Weiss of Delaware to investigate Hunter Biden means a once nearly-resolved case about overdue taxes and gun charges could go to trial just as the campaign kicks into gear.
• It also raises the possibility of more charges against Hunter. House Republicans are aggressively exploring whether his business deals involved improper acts that provide a basis for impeaching President Biden.
• Hunter's problems will continue to shadow his father's bid to stay in the White House.

Trump already faces three criminal trials next year — on charges involving hush money to a porn star, his handling of classified documents and his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

• If Special Counsel Jack Smith gets his way, Trump's trial in D.C. — over charges he conspired to overturn the election — could start two weeks before the Iowa caucuses in January.
• A fourth Trump indictment seems likely soon in Georgia, where a grand jury has been investigating whether he tried to overturn that state's election results in 2020.

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The death toll in Hawaii has reached 80 as search and rescue operations continue following a Maui wildfire that erupted on Tuesday.

• The fire is the deadliest in the U.S. since the 2018 Camp Fire in California, which killed at least 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise, AP reports.
• The latest: A new wildfire last night triggered the evacuation of Kaanapali in West Maui, a community northeast of the area that burned earlier, but crews were able to extinguish the fire before 8:30 p.m., authorities said.

This is projected to be the second-costliest disaster in Hawaii's history, behind only Hurricane Iniki in 1992.

Above: Cars back up for miles on the Honoapiilani highway as residents were allowed back into areas affected by the recent wildfire yesterday.

• Crews are continuing to search for missing people.

Go deeper: Why the wildfires were so deadly

UPS has become a coveted employer after its union scored big raises for drivers in their new contract.

• Full-time drivers will earn close to $170,000 in annual pay and benefits by the end of the five-year agreement, Bloomberg reports. That's far above the industry standard.
• Part-time union workers will start at $21 per hour and get full health care and pension benefits.

🔎 The intrigue: Searches on Indeed for jobs with "UPS" or "United Parcel Service" in the title jumped more than 50% in the week after the UPS deal was announced, Bloomberg notes.

Reality check: Workers start as package loaders, and it can take several years to get a driving job.

• Starting drivers have the toughest routes, with late nights, heavier packages and many stops.

Action and adventure movies have squeezed just about every other genre out of the box office.

• By the numbers: Looking at the 100 highest-grossing movies of each year, action movies accounted for less than half of the box office in the 1990s. Now they account for 78% of those ticket sales, Axios' Jared Whelan writes from Box Office Mojo data.

🔎 Between the lines: The rise of superhero franchises consolidated the world of blockbusters.

• "Iron Man" was released in 2008, kicking off the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Along with their DC Extended Universe counterparts, these films have become staples of the genre.

🎀 There are exceptions: This year, adventure comedy "Barbie" made history by bringing in a record-breaking $162 million in its opening weekend, according to Comscore.

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Early adopters fueled the initial spike in electric vehicle sales, but the next wave of consumers — the more price-sensitive "early majority" — is proving to be more elusive, Axios' Joann Muller writes.

• Mainstream shoppers aren't willing to pay a huge premium over conventional gas-powered vehicles, in part because they're still apprehensive about charging an electric car and they think better EVs are coming.

💡 Why it matters: The EV transition will likely be longer and bumpier than many experts predicted — which explains why some automakers are hedging their bets, cutting prices and recalibrating their strategies.

💼 Case in point: During Ford Motor's second quarter earnings call, CEO James Farley backed off earlier sales targets for fully electric models, and said Ford will quadruple its hybrid offerings.

• Ford is delaying its goal of scaling production to 600,000 EVs annually, from the end of this year to 2024, Farley said.

👀 The intrigue: Farley is echoing the argument Toyota has been making for years.

• The pioneer behind the Prius hybrid has faced intense criticism for not rolling out EVs fast enough.

Read on.

The U.S.'s trade ties with China are fraying amid deepening conflict between the world's two biggest economies, The Wall Street Journal reports.

• Chinese goods made up 13% of U.S. imports during the first six months of this year — the lowest level since 2003. The peak was nearly 22% in 2017.

U.S. buyers are sourcing goods ranging from clothes to computer chips from Mexico, Europe and other parts of Asia instead of China, The Journal notes.

Fox Corp. said yesterday that its longtime chief legal and policy officer Viet Dinh would depart, months after Fox News lost a historic defamation suit to Dominion Voting Systems, Axios' Sara Fischer reports.

• Why it matters: Reports suggest that Dinh pushed Fox Corp. to pursue a trial instead of settling sooner, a decision that ultimately cost the company $787 million in settlement claims and tens of millions more in legal costs.

Fox Corp. said Dinh will step down from his position and become a special advisor to the company effective Dec. 31.

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Among couples who have created a wedding registry in the last two years, a stunning 85% said they would have preferred cash toward a down payment on a home, instead of typical registry gifts, Reuters reports from a Realtor.com survey.

• The trend is a simple reflection of the nation's housing market: Prices have risen so much in recent years that more than 75% of homes on the market are unaffordable for middle-class buyers, the National Association of Realtors said.

🥊 Reality check: While asking for cash gifts makes financial sense, it is tricky. Weddings involve a lot of tradition, and guests may be unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the idea.

• One tip: Be as specific as you can. Chipping in for a couple's first house may be more emotionally compelling to people than contributing to a general pot of savings.