1. Karoline Leavitt Is Leaving the White House
Trump’s 28-year-old press secretary will leave at the end of August and become an outside adviser; it is AP’s No. 1 most-read story this morning. (AP News)
2. ICE Plans to Give Agents Electric-Shock Gloves
ICE plans to spend as much as $20 million on gloves capable of delivering painful electrical shocks, immediately raising civil-liberties and use-of-force questions. It is also among AP’s most-read stories. (Reuters)
3. Pollsters Missed Badly in Wisconsin
David Crowley narrowly won the Democratic governor primary after polls had shown progressive Francesca Hong ahead by roughly 20 points, another striking polling failure heading toward the midterms. (Axios)
4. A Credible Missile Threat Forced Trump Off Air Force One
The Secret Service secretly moved Trump onto another aircraft in Turkey after intelligence about a possible missile attack; Trump was moved through the airport in a catering vehicle while Air Force One departed separately. (Reuters)
5. Inflation Eased — But Gas Is Still Hurting
Consumer inflation slowed to 3.4% in July, but gasoline was averaging about $4.04 nationally Wednesday, making household fuel costs a continuing political problem. (Spectrum Local News)
6. The Lakers Are Selling for $12.5 Billion
Bob Iger and Josh Kushner are leading a deal to buy the Los Angeles Lakers at a record $12.5 billion valuation, the highest ever for a U.S. professional sports franchise. (AP News)
7. Trump’s Childhood Vaccine Order Is Drawing Heavy Attention
Trump ordered changes aimed at spacing childhood vaccinations across separate visits and eventually separating the MMR vaccine into individual shots, despite opposition from major medical groups. (AP News)
There is also one wonderfully strange indicator of what people actually click: AP’s No. 2 most-read story this morning is about John Gotti’s grandson repeatedly trying to delay prison so he could donate a kidney to his mother. (AP News)
For our purposes, the ICE shock gloves story jumps out at me immediately. There is considerably more hiding in that one than the headline.