Downright nasty humidity levels are plaguing the East Coast today, along with high temperatures — and they could last for days in some places, Alex Fitzpatrick and Erin Davis report.

🥵 A high-pressure system along the East Coast is pulling tropical air up from the Caribbean, making cities like D.C. and New York feel more like Miami or San Juan.

• Heat advisories are in place along the Northeast Corridor, which also faces a chance of thunderstorms today.

⚠️ High temperatures combined with high humidity can be deeply unpleasant and potentially dangerous, making it difficult to stay hydrated and for our bodies to regulate their temperature.

• People in affected areas should seek out A/C, drink plenty of water and limit strenuous activity outside.

What we're watching: National Weather Service forecasters are eyeing a cold front late next week that could bring relief from the heat and humidity — but also severe weather as it passes.

🌡️ The other side: The western half of the country is dealing with dangerously hot temperatures, with daytime highs in the triple digits in some places.

• Meanwhile, high pressure is blocking wildfire smoke from clearing out, leading to bad air quality in the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West over the next few days.

Get the forecast.

Independent voters support several key progressive ideas, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds.

• 64% of independent registered voters say they support higher taxes for corporations and billionaires.
• 60% support government-provided health care for all Americans.

🌹 Yes, but: 43% of independents said they're less likely to vote for a candidate who identifies as a democratic socialist, as some progressives do.

The big picture: Progressives got a big boost with Abdul El-Sayed's victory this week in Michigan's Democratic Senate primary.

• Establishment Democrats are skeptical that progressives can win enough moderates' votes in big elections, while President Trump and other Republicans have been falsely deriding them as "Communists."

Go deeper.

1. 🧑‍⚖️ The Trump administration will ask the Supreme Court to reverse a block on its White House ballroom project, the president said today. A federal appeals court ruled earlier today that his plans need congressional approval. Get the latest.
2. 🏦 The White House launched a new effort to remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook: Deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino notified her in a letter, obtained by Axios' Courtenay Brown, that President Trump is considering her removal, and gave her 21 days to respond to mortgage fraud allegations. Read the letter.
3. 📉 America's employers unexpectedly shed 23,000 jobs in July, while the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1%. The report hints at bigger cracks in the labor market than previously known. Go deeper.
4. 🕯️ Sydney Towle, a social media content creator who projected enduring optimism as she chronicled her life with a rare form of cancer, has died at 26. Keep reading.

The University of North Carolina's endowment returns are up over 30% this year thanks in part to an early bet on SpaceX, Bloomberg reports.

• The school's endowment management company invested in SpaceX through venture capital over 15 years ago. Now it's seeing big returns after the company went public last month.

💰 Bloomberg reports that the investment "has helped make UNC's endowment one of the best-performing in the U.S., but it's also emblematic of how a select group of U.S. universities have profited from a surge in value from early-stage investments."

• Some later SpaceX investors haven't fared as well: Shares are trading at about $130 early this afternoon, down from the $135 IPO price.

Gift link.