Daily Briefing: The people of 'South Park' apologize
'South Park' creators 'apologize' for latest episode
The day after one of the most controversial episodes in the show's history, 'South Park' creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone said 'we're terribly sorry" for the ruckus they caused. The Season 27 premiere of 'South Park' blasted President Donald Trump, showing him literally getting into bed naked with Satan, and referenced their Paramount bosses' settlement with the president, the '60 Minutes' flap and the surprise cancellation of CBS's "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." It all followed an agreement between Paramount and the "South Park" creators for 50 new episodes and a lucrative new streaming deal on Paramount+. The episode ended with the people of South Park settling with Trump and agreeing to do pro-Trump messaging as part of their deal.
Trump's visit to Fed is latest twist in feud over interest rates
President Trump and Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell clashed as they toured ongoing renovations of the Fed's headquarters, with the chairman correcting the president over the scale of cost overruns.
The takeaway: It's not unprecedented for U.S. presidents to push for lower interest rates boost the economy. But no president has tried to bully a Fed chief as persistently and overtly.
More news to know now
What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here.
Blistering heat may grip your city this weekend
An unrelenting heat wave that has baked the Midwest for days promises temperatures approaching 100 degrees in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., on Friday. Record high temperatures are "likely to be challenged" in parts of the Northeast over the next two days, meteorologists said, and all regions affected are also likely to see some record warm minimum temperatures broken. A "heat dome" has mixed a cocktail of high heat and humidity to push heat indices over 100 degrees in many areas. And the heat dome could linger.
Advocates for homeless react to executive order
~ Jesse Rabinowitz of the National Homelessness Law Center, in reaction to Trump's executive action on Thursday making it easier for cities and states to remove homeless people from the streets.
Today's talkers
Hulk Hogan, WWE Hall of Famer and wrestling legend, dies at 71
Wrestling icon Hulk Hogan died at the age of 71 after suffering cardiac arrest. Considered one of the most popular pro wrestlers of all time, Hogan was instrumental in the rise of pro wrestling's popularity, considered one of the first larger-than-life personas. He influenced several stars that joined the business after him. Read more about his life and legacy.
Photo of the day: Alone at the front of the pack
Tadej Pogačar didn't win the hardest stage of the 2025 Tour de France on Thursday, but the defending champion and this year's favorite showed again that there's likely nobody capable of taking the yellow jersey from him. Riders had to overcome 5,450 meters in climbs up three different summits. Pogačar's lead leaves little room for drama with just three stages remaining.
Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com.
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Top photos this week from Latin America and the Caribbean
Colombia's former President Alvaro Uribe was convicted of witness tampering and bribery in a historic trial. Latin American nations with a Pacific coast braced for a tsunami that never materialized after one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded, off the coast of Russia. Meanwhile, Chilean investigators closed in on the notorious Venezuelan gang targeted by Trump.
San Francisco Chronicle
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North Carolina Senate race sets up as a fight over who would be a champion for the middle class
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Democrats still in the dumps over last year's elections have found cause for optimism in North Carolina, where former Gov. Roy Cooper jumped into the race for that state's newly open seat with a vow to address voters' persistent concerns about the challenges of making ends meet. Even Republicans quietly note that Cooper's candidacy makes their job of holding the seat more difficult and expensive. Cooper had raised $2.6 million for his campaign between his Monday launch and Tuesday, and more than $900,000 toward allied groups. Republicans, meanwhile, are hardly ceding the economic populist ground. In announcing his candidacy for the Senate on Thursday, Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley credited President Donald Trump with fulfilling campaign promises to working Americans and painted Cooper as a puppet of the left. Still, Cooper's opening message that he hears the worries of working families has given Democrats in North Carolina and beyond a sense that they can reclaim their place as the party that champions the middle class. They think it's a message that could help them pick up a Senate seat, and possibly more, in next year's midterm elections, which in recent years have typically favored the party out of power. 'I'm Roy Cooper. And I know that today, for too many Americans, the middle class feels like a distant dream,' the former governor said in a video announcing his candidacy. 'Meanwhile, the biggest corporations and the richest Americans have grabbed unimaginable wealth at your expense. It's time for that to change.' Cooper's plainspoken appeal may represent just the latest effort by Democrats to find their way back to power, but it has some thinking they've finally found their footing after last year's resounding losses. 'I think it would do us all a lot of good to take a close look at his example,' said Larry Grisolano, a Chicago-based Democratic media strategist and former adviser to President Barack Obama. Whatley, a former North Carolina GOP chairman and close Trump ally, used his Thursday announcement that he was entering the race to hail the president as the true champion of the middle class. He said Trump had already fulfilled promises to end taxes on tips and overtime and said Cooper was out of step with North Carolinians. 'Six months in, it's pretty clear to see, America is back,' Whatley said. 'A healthy, robust economy, safe kids and communities and a strong America. These are the North Carolina values that I will champion if elected.' Still, the decision by Cooper, who held statewide office for 24 years and has never lost an election, makes North Carolina a potential bright spot in a midterm election cycle when Democrats must net four seats to retake the majority — and when most of the 2026 Senate contests are in states Trump won comfortably last November. State Rep. Cynthia Ball threw up a hand in excitement when asked Monday at the North Carolina Legislative Building about Cooper's announcement. 'Everyone I've spoken to was really hoping that he was going to run,' said the Raleigh Democrat. Democratic legislators hope having Cooper's name at the top of the ballot will encourage higher turnout and help them in downballot races. While Republicans have controlled both General Assembly chambers since 2011, Democrats managed last fall to end the GOP's veto-proof majority, if only by a single seat. Republican strategists familiar with the national Senate landscape have said privately that Cooper poses a formidable threat. The Senate Leadership Fund, a GOP super PAC affiliated with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, wasted no time in challenging Cooper's portrayal of a common-sense advocate for working people. 'Roy Cooper masquerades as a moderate,' the narrator in the 30-second spot says. 'But he's just another radical, D.C. liberal in disguise.' Cooper, a former state legislator who served four terms as attorney general before he became governor, has never held an office in Washington. Still, Whatley was quick to link Cooper to national progressive figures such as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, former Vice President Kamala Harris and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Whatley accused Cooper of failing to address illegal immigration and of supporting liberal gender ideology. He echoed the themes raised in the Senate Leadership Fund ad, which noted Cooper's vetoes in the Republican-led legislature of measures popular with conservatives, such as banning gender-affirming health care for minors and requiring county sheriffs to cooperate with federal immigration officials. 'Roy Cooper may pretend to be different than the radical extremists,' Whatley said. 'But he is all-in on their agenda.' Cooper first won the governorship in 2016, while Trump was carrying the state in his first White House bid. Four years later, they both carried the state again. Cooper, who grew up in a small town 60 miles (96.6 kilometers) east of Raleigh, has long declined requests that he seek federal office. He 'understands rural North Carolina,' veteran North Carolina strategist Thomas Mills said. 'And while he's not going to win it, he knows how to talk to those folks.' As with most Democrats, Cooper's winning coalition includes the state's largest cities and suburbs. But he has long made enough inroads in other areas to win. 'He actually listens to what voters are trying to tell us, instead of us trying to explain to them how they should think and feel,' said state Sen. Michael Garrett, a Greensboro Democrat. In his video announcement, Cooper tried to turn the populist appeal Trump made to voters on checkbook issues against the party in power, casting himself as the Washington outsider. Senior Cooper strategist Morgan Jackson said the message represents a shift and will take work to drive home with voters. 'Part of the challenge Democrats had in 2024 is we were not addressing directly the issues people were concerned about today,' Jackson said. 'We have to acknowledge what people are going through right now and what they are feeling, that he hears you and understands what you feel.' Pat Dennis, president of American Bridge 21st Century, a group that conducts research for an initiative called the Working Class Project, said Cooper struck a tone that other Democrats should try to match. 'His focus on affordability and his outsider status really hits a lot of the notes these folks are interested in,' Dennis said. 'I do think it's a model, especially his focus on affordability.' 'We can attack Republicans all day long, but unless we have candidates who can really embody that message, we're not going to be able to take back power.'
Axios
18 minutes ago
- Axios
Trump's 35% tariffs on Canada take effect as trade talks deadline lapses
President Trump's tariffs order for countries yet to strike a trade deal with the U.S. went into effect just after midnight on Friday, though most levies aren't due to start until Aug. 7. Why it matters: While countries like Mexico struck trade deal extensions ahead of Trump's deadline, others face steep tariffs. The president increased Some Canadian goods imported to the U.S. on Thursday to 35%, effective 12:01am Friday ET. An appeals court is now considering the legality of the tariffs, and the judges have indicated they're wary of the Trump administration's argument that global trade imbalances amounted to a national emergency. Zoom in: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday he had expected trade talks to continue beyond the deadline, but his pledge to recognize Palestinian statehood prompted Trump to say it "will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal" with the North American neighbor. Trump said at a Thursday briefing he "didn't like" Carney's plans, but it's "not a deal-breaker." He told NBC News late Thursday that he hadn't spoken with Carney but didn't plan to strike a deal before the deadline. The reason a White House fact sheet gave on the tariffs was the Trump administration's belief that Canadian officials had "failed to cooperate in curbing" the flow of drugs into the U.S. from the border. The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on trade is exempt from the tariffs hike. The latest: Carney said in a statement early Friday that pledged to continue negotiating with the Trump administration that the USMCA exemption meant that "the average U.S. tariff rate on Canadian goods remains one of the lowest for all of its trading partners." His statement that was posted to his social media channels noted that Canada accounts for 1% of U.S. fentanyl imports and that Canadian officials were working to further reduce this and the country's government was making "historic investments" in border security. State of play: Trump made a series of trade deals in the leadup to the Aug. 1 deadline, including with the European Union, the U.K. and Japan. Despite the deadline date, many of the tariffs will become effective seven days after Trump's July 31 order. Some nations got substantially lowered rates versus what was first announced in April. Trump confirmed Thursday that imports from most nations would face a baseline tariff rate of 10%, but he increased the levy of close trading partner Canada to 35% as threatened.
