The super PAC supporting Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) is turning a newspaper story about former Rep. Mary Peltola's treatment of her staff into a grainy black-and-white attack ad in the Alaska Senate race.
Why it matters: Nearly every political operative in Washington, D.C., read the New York Times story last week. The Last Frontier PAC wants to make sure Alaska voters are familiar with its contents over the next five weeks.
Luke Pettit, who was instrumental in launching Trump Accounts for children, will leave the Treasury Department for the private sector in October after the next milestone for Trump Accounts, the kickoff of auto-enrollment.
Pettit, who formerly was a senior adviser to Sen. Bill Hagerty (R‐Tenn.), was Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions and, beginning last year, Acting Under Secretary for Domestic Finance.
Pettit also worked on fast-evolving AI policy as leader of the Office of Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection.
Why it matters: The world's largest chip company has resisted calls to slow AI development over safety fears — arguing now that technological guardrails can keep rogue AI agents under control.
Pope Leo XIV told reporters that warnings from AI researchers should be "taken seriously" and are not "fake news."
Why it matters: Leo is leading the Catholic Church as AI raises sweeping societal concerns, and he has made confronting those risks a key part of his papacy.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has assigned personnel to use "advanced intelligence and cyber capabilities to identify, disrupt, and neutralize foreign interference" in the upcoming elections, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The threat of foreign election interference has been a biennial U.S. concern for the past decade. This effort will use the most advanced artificial intelligence capabilities to date, officials said.
Iran on Monday denied any involvement in a suspected terrorist plot at an air base in southwest England used by the U.S. for operations in the Middle East.
The big picture: U.K. counterterrorism investigators detained and moved to release five British men and are reportedly examining a possible link, though police have not identified a motive or confirmed any connection with Tehran.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has asked for a temporary injunction against OpenAI and ChatGPT, claiming the company doesn't have the ability to properly regulate its own technology.
Why it matters: The legal fight could further test how far states can go to restrict AI companies despite the federal government declining to enact guardrails.
The historic immigration surge that reshaped the U.S. population after the pandemic left a big imprint on the economy: boosting growth with surprisingly little disruption to native-born workers — but also adding to rent inflation.
Why it matters: Those findings — unveiled in new research presented at the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity last week — offer the most detailed economic postmortem yet of one of the largest immigration waves in modern U.S. history.
David Zervos, a longtime Wall Street strategist known for his out-of-consensus views on markets and the economy, is joining the Trump administration as a senior adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Why it matters: Zervos has spent much of his career challenging conventional thinking on markets and monetary policy and brings a distinctly out-of-consensus voice inside the administration.
CNN is partnering with YouTube-focused Jubilee Media for a Texas Senate town hall with Democratic candidate James Talarico, the company told Axios.
Why it matters: The deal gives CNN access to Jubilee's young, digitally native audience while providing Jubilee a platform that could further legitimize its role as a channel for political debates.
AI companies, private equity firms and unions are looking beyond 2026 in the data center debate, banding together to form a new multimillion-dollar coalition to make the case for responsible growth in seven key states.
Why it matters: The new group, the American Infrastructure Alliance, wants to partner with state and local officials to create standards and guardrails for data centers in 2027. In return, the coalition hopes to head off moratoriums on new construction.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is launching a six-week campaign blitz that will take him to more than 40 congressional districts across 22 states through Election Day, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Johnson is going all-in on defending Republicans' House majority at a moment when the political terrain is shifting toward Democrats.
Dario Amodei went from a MAGA smear campaign target, to a "Saturday Night Live" punching bag, to a private White House dinner with President Trump — all in the space of 72 hours this weekend.
Such is life for the face of AI in America.
The big picture: He may not have sought the status, but Anthropic's quirky, intellectual CEO has become the frontman for a technology that seems to be changing the world by the day.
