Axios

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) sent a letter to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency encouraging the group to rethink sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson's one-month suspension for recreational marijuana use.

What they're saying: "We urge you to reconsider the policies that led to this and other suspensions for recreational marijuana use, and to reconsider Ms. Richardson’s suspension. Please strike a blow for civil liberties and civil rights by reversing this course you are on," Ocasio-Cortez and Raskin said.

Unaccompanied migrant children who were detained at the border are being left at gas stations, convenience stores and airports with little to no prior notice to their parents, as the formal process to reunite immigrant families affected by former President Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy begins.

Why it matters: Families tell Noticias Telemundo they’ve received instructions in the middle of the night on where to pick up the kids, sometimes hundreds of miles away.

United States and United Kingdom intelligence agencies said in a report Thursday that Russian military hackers over the last three years have tried to access the computer networks of "hundreds of government and private sector targets worldwide" and warned that those "efforts are almost certainly still ongoing."

Why it matters: The security agencies cautioned that the military cyber unit, best known for hacking the Democratic National Committee and other political targets during the 2016 election, is still focusing on political consultants, political parties and think tanks, though they did not specify any targets by name.

The Justice Department has begun arresting individuals who attacked reporters or damaged their equipment during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the Washington Post reports.

The big picture: The government's crackdown against attacks on reporters marks a changing of the tide, where journalists are starting to feel that there is some renewed protection after a year of attacks.

Fox News' Jesse Watters will be out Tuesday with "How I Saved the World," which includes a chapter of "Mom Texts" — critiques from his liberal mother (sometimes after a vodka) that became a segment on "The Five," after he originally read them to co-hosts during commercial breaks.

What she's saying: "You are on 'Fantasy Island'! And don’t make statements about what I as a Democrat want.

Beginning Sunday in the U.S., Snapchat will offer a White House Fourth of July lens background, an administration official tells me.

What's happening: "To support the White House's "America’s Back Together' campaign, Snapchatters will be able to use an augmented reality lens that features the return of Snapchat’s beloved dancing hot-dog, in patriotic fashion," a forthcoming announcement says.

Population growth is continuing to slow in the U.S. and China — the world’s top two economies — but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Why it matters: While population trends can be difficult to change, there is unlikely to be a “point of no return" where they can't be reversed — if government leaders proactively address the foundational causes, like the burdens and costs of child care or fears of immigration.

The Biden administration launched an initiative to find deported U.S. veterans and bring them and their families back to America "to ensure they are able to obtain VA benefits to which they may be entitled," the Departments of Homeland Security and Veteran Affairs announced Friday.

Why it matters: Legal immigrants can and do join the U.S. military, and potentially hundreds of people have been deported after serving, according to the Washington Post.

The city of North Miami Beach, Florida, ordered residents to evacuate the 156-unit Crestview Towers on Friday after the building was deemed structurally and electrically unsafe, according to AP.

Why it matters: The inspection was prompted by the collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, last week, which has killed at least 22 people and has left 126 unaccounted for.

Go deeper: Remembering the victims of the Surfside condo collapse

President Biden nominated University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann to serve as U.S. ambassador to Germany, the White House announced Friday.

Why it matters: Biden maintains ties to the University of Pennsylvania, where he accepted an honorary professorship after leaving the White House in 2017. She would be the first woman to hold the position if confirmed, Politico notes.

The Treasury Department said Friday it had removed sanctions against three Iranians, restoring access to their U.S. assets, according to Reuters.

Why it matters: Treasury officials said Behzad Ferdows, Mehrzad Ferdows and Mohammad Reza Dezfulian should not be sanctioned but that the roll back had nothing to do with ongoing indirect talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) signed a bill into law Friday that requires doctors to tell patients who take the abortion pill that they may halt the pregnancy termination halfway through the process.

Why it matters: The legislation passed through the GOP-dominated Louisiana state legislature weeks prior. It's one of many anti-abortion bills Edwards signed on Friday.

More than half of adults in the United States are more concerned about laws restricting voting access than making sure that no one who is ineligible votes, according to a new survey from NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist.

Why it matters: 67% of Americans — including majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents — said they believed American democracy is currently under threat, though the survey did not ask what they believed is threatening it.

President Biden said Friday he supports the U.S. military removing sexual harassment and assault cases from the chain of command and instead creating "highly specialized units to handle these cases and related crimes."

The big picture: The reorganization comes amid growing criticism on Capitol Hill over the military's ineffectiveness at preventing incidences of sexual assault and harassment in the ranks, which have more than doubled in the past decade, the Wall Street Journal reports.

President Biden cut off reporters on Friday after three consecutive questions about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, where the intelligence community has warned the government could collapse as soon as next year amid a creeping offensive by the Taliban.

Why it matters: News had broken hours earlier that the U.S. military has departed Bagram Airfield, the center of its war to oust the Taliban and search for the al-Qaeda perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The Supreme Court on Friday punted the issue of whether businesses can refuse service for same-sex wedding ceremonies.

Driving the news: The court declined to take up an appeal from florist Barronelle Stutzman, who refused to provide flowers for the wedding of two longtime male customers in 2013 due to her religious beliefs and "relationship with Jesus Christ," per NBC News.

Democrats in House districts carried by Donald Trump last year raked in cash during the second quarter, as they prepare for challenges that could determine majority control of their chamber.

Why it matters: The Democrats in these six "crossover" districts are some of the most vulnerable in the country. Their races will be pivotal not only in the midterms, but also as bellwethers for the 2024 presidential race.

Top White House officials are mobilizing to defend Vice President Kamala Harris amid a gusher of leaks about dysfunction and infighting in her office.

Driving the news: White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain told Axios in a statement: "The President's trust and confidence in her is obvious when you see them in the Oval Office together." Biden senior adviser Cedric Richmond said in an interview late Thursday night: "It’s a whisper campaign designed to sabotage her."

Democratic lawyers and activists are scrambling to shift their legal strategy in their fight over voting rights.

Why it matters: Yesterday's Supreme Court ruling — its biggest Voting Rights Act case in years — will likely make it much harder for the Justice Department to successfully challenge Georgia's controversial new voting laws, experts said, and others like it in the future.

More states are opening the door to psychedelics, with seven states already passing laws over the last several months to allow research or decriminalize its use and another 11 considering similar measures.

Why it matters: There's a growing body of research suggesting psychedelic compounds with psychotherapy can be effective for anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and substance use disorder where other therapies have failed.

• Amid a national epidemic of opioid abuse and suicides, state legislatures see a greater need to explore new therapeutics.

What's happening: In November, Oregon became the first to legalize psychedelics in licensed, supervised facilities and decrimalize them elsewhere.

In the months following, several states have passed bills to consider allowing the study of the medical risks and benefits of psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms.

• Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) allowed a bill authorizing the study of psilocybin to become law without his signature on June 18.
• Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont signed a bill of health initiatives on June 7 that called for the state's department of mental health and addiction services to report findings by Jan. 1, 2022.
• In New York, a bill was introduced on June 1 that would require the state to establish an institute to investigate the medical potential of substances including “ibogaine, LSD, psilocybin and certain other psychedelic drugs.”
• California's legislature is considering a bill that, if ultimately passed, would make California the second state next to Oregon to decriminalize psilocybin.

The big picture: MDMA and psilocybin have been granted breakthrough therapy status by the Food and Drug Administration, signaling a shift in the potential for incorporating psychedelics into the existing health care infrastructure.

• Psychedelic drug developer ATAI Life Sciences, backed by Peter Thiel, went public last month. It's one of three such psychedelics companies including MindMed and Compass Pathways that have both gone public in the last year.
• More state, federal and even company-sponsored research is beneficial to corroborate early, smaller studies that "show great promise," George Goldsmith, CEO of Compass Pathways, a psychedelic therapy developer that finished its psilocybin therapy IIb clinical trial this week.

The other side: There's a debate between policy advocates on whether state-accelerated research alone could be too slow-moving. And in plenty of other states, the political will isn't there to pass this kind of measure.

• In February, an Iowa lawmaker filed a bill that would allow seriously ill people to use psilocybin mushrooms, MDMA, LSD, DMT or peyote as alternative treatments after they’ve exhausted traditional legal medicines. It died in committee.

The Boy Scouts of America struck a $850 million settlement Thursday evening with tens of thousands of survivors of sexual abuse, Reuters reports.

Why it matters: This is the biggest settlement in a child sexual abuse case in U.S. history, according to NBC News.

Some progressives are distancing themselves from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — leader of their revolution.

The big picture: Three factors are fueling the shift. Some feel he's not pushing President Biden far enough to the left anymore. Some believe his time as the movement leader has simply passed. Some fear tying their brand to Sanders is a gift to opponents to weaponize in crowded primaries or in general elections — and they're instead weighing the merits of aligning more directly with Biden.

Democrats in Trump-won districts are hesitant about their party using the reconciliation process to ram through a second, partisan infrastructure package, even as the more progressive wing of their party demands it.

Driving the news: Axios surveyed all seven House Democrats representing districts former President Trump won in 2020 to hear their concerns with the current infrastructure debate. Nearly all are undecided about how they'll vote on either the $1.2 trillion bipartisan bill or a partisan follow-up.

Some voting experts are concerned the disastrous mayoral election in New York City will cause Americans to blame ranked-choice voting — rather than problems with the city's election board.

Between the lines: There's slowly growing support for ranked-choice voting, which allows voters to choose not only their top candidate but their second choice and third choices, and so on. Localities across the U.S. have had successful ranked-choice elections, and others are eyeing it for upcoming races.

A conservative group focused on pressuring House Democrats to oppose President Biden's plan to increase funding for the Internal Revenue Service is now targeting fellow Republicans, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: By running a six-figure ad targeting Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), the Coalition to Protect American Workers is opening a new front in the fight over how to pay for Biden’s spending proposals, including the $579 billion bipartisan infrastructure package.

J.D. Vance, venture capitalist and author of "Hillbilly Elegy," announced Thursday he's entering the crowded Republican race for the Ohio U.S. Senate seat of retiring Sen. Rob Portman.

The big picture: Vance's top issues will be the culture wars (including cancel culture, critical race theory and Big Tech), immigration and economic populism (with an emphasis on inflation), Axios' Mike Allen reported earlier this week.