Your Morning: Protesters, police clash outside Harris campaign after-party

Protests: Pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with New York City police Wednesday while trying to confront Democratic leaders at an after-party following a campaign event for Vice President Kamala Harris. Shortly after Mayor Eric Adams and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul endorsed the Harris-Walz ticket, protesters set off smoke bombs and reportedly caused thousands of dollars worth of damage to the venue. The chaos comes less than a week after pro-Palestinian protesters heckled Harris during a rally in Michigan. The latest >

DNC concerns: The outbursts have concerned officials ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week. However, the concern isn’t about the protests themselves, especially since there are dozens of protests planned to occur during the DNC, but rather that the protests will turn violent. Read more >

Losing faith: A top Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, said the militant group is losing faith in the United States’ ability to mediate a cease-fire in Gaza. Hamdan said Hamas will only participate in cease-fire talks if they focus on implementing a proposal detailed by President Joe Biden in May. Read more > 

New round of talks: International mediators were expected to hold a new round of cease-fire talks Thursday with a goal of pausing the Israel-Hamas war and securing the release of hostages. The U.S., Qatar and Egypt were set to meet with an Israeli delegation in Qatar as the Palestinian death toll from the 10-month-old war has surpassed 40,000, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. The latest >

Hacking: Advocates fear that a possible tsunami of identity theft is coming after a hacking group was able to steal the personal records of nearly 3 billion people. What you need to know > 

Zoom in: The theft happened in April, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in Florida. It says the hacking group known as USDoD stole the records from National Public Data, which offers personal information to employers, private investigators and others who do background checks. USDoD reportedly tried to sell the data for $3.5 million but has now posted most of it for free on an online exchange for stolen personal data. Details >

Stash house: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is warning about a trend of Airbnbs being used as stash houses for human smuggling. This alert follows a recent operation in El Paso, Texas, where U.S. Border Patrol agents and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers uncovered a stash house harboring migrants from Mexico and Guatemala. The property owner became suspicious after noticing unusual activity and contacted Homeland Security Investigations. Read more > 

Boat carrying migrants: A Mexican man who says smugglers offered to cut his debt by nearly half if he piloted a boatful of migrants to Imperial Beach, California, is facing federal felony charges. The U.S. Coast Guard said the man served as the captain of a suspicious small cuddy boat transporting several people just off the California coast on Sunday near Imperial Beach. The latest > 

Cartels abduct migrants: Police in Chihuahua, Mexico, say they have freed 1,245 migrants from criminal gangs in the past seven months. Abducted migrants typically are kept captive in overcrowded stash houses, mostly in Juarez just south of the border from El Paso, Texas, Mexican officials said. Details > 

Razor wire: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says National Guard troops are installing more razor wire along the Rio Grande in South and West Texas, as some environmentalists say they see a drawdown in activity. What to know >

‘Make America affordable again’: With the economy a top issue for many voters, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have made swing state North Carolina a priority this week to discuss their plans to bring down prices. Trump held a rally in Asheville on Wednesday, where he touched on the economy. Trump blamed Harris and President Joe Biden for inflation and compared it to the economy under his administration, promising to “make America affordable again.” He also questioned why Harris hadn’t taken action to address inflation or prices already in her role as vice president. Recap of the rally > 

Harris tries differentiating herself: Harris is looking to separate herself from Biden’s agenda on the campaign trail as the 2024 election ramps up. While Harris is working to build off what their administration has accomplished in certain areas, she appears to be trying to break away when it comes to economic policy. NewsNation has learned Harris, in her upcoming rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, will not push a “Medicare for All” plan despite previously supporting the effort. She is expected to talk about her plan to lower the cost of health care, housing and food. Read more >

Deals struck: Federal officials reached deals with drug companies to lower the price for 10 of Medicare’s most popular and costliest drugs, White House officials said. They added that they expect U.S. taxpayers to save $6 billion on the new prices, while older Americans could save roughly $1.5 billion on their medications. Details of how the administration arrived at the figures were not released. Details >

Hunter Biden: Hunter Biden asked the U.S. ambassador to Italy for help on an energy project a Ukrainian gas company was pursuing while his father served as vice president, The New York Times reported. The son of President Joe Biden wrote a letter to the ambassador in 2016 seeking help for Burisma, the newspaper said, citing newly released records and interviews. The latest >

Demanding change: Attorney Ben Crump and the family of Illinois woman Sonya Massey, who was fatally shot by a former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy after calling 911 for help, pushed for legislative change at a Wednesday news conference. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which has been stalled at the federal level, is one bill the family wants lawmakers to reconsider. The legislation is currently “sitting in purgatory at the United States Congress while we continue to see innocent American citizens killed unjustly,” Crump said. Breakdown of the bill > 

Sonya Massey: Authorities said on July 6, Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman, called 911 to report a suspected prowler at her Springfield residence. Body camera video shows now-former deputy Sean Grayson, who is white, yelling across a kitchen counter in Massey’s home, telling her to set down a pot of hot water. After Grayson threatened to shoot her, Massey, who was unarmed, ducked and briefly rose. When she picked up the pan again, Grayson fired his 9 mm pistol three times, hitting Massey just below the eye. Grayson was fired, arrested and charged. He has pleaded not guilty. Full report >

Sentenced: U.S. and Russian citizen Ksenia Karelina was sentenced to 12 years in a Russian penal colony Thursday morning for donating money to Ukraine. It comes a week after state media reported the ballerina pleaded guilty to treason for giving $51 to a charity providing aid to Ukraine. Karelina is the first American sentenced to years of prison time since the swap earlier this month freed retired Marine Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. Her family says it’s been tough to communicate with her >

Message in a bottle: The powerful waves from Hurricane Debby have uncovered a new mystery dating back to World War II. A Florida woman is now searching for the writer or intended recipient of a message in a bottle dated March 4, 1945, which she discovered while cleaning up debris from the hurricane exactly one week ago. Read more >

Warning: As social media is flooded with back-to-school photos of children, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is recommending that parents be more careful about what they post about their kids. Parents often post photos of their children holding signs on their first day of school signifying they’re starting the year. The BBB is telling parents to be cautious about the information they include in their children’s signs. According to the BBB, scammers or predators could use the information on the signs to commit identity theft or earn a child’s trust. What to know >

Calculator: Millions of Americans count on Social Security benefits to make ends meet, so it’s important to know how much you can expect each month. The vast majority of beneficiaries, roughly 75%, are retired workers who received an average monthly check of $1,918 as of June. But the size of that benefit varies depending on how long you worked, how much you made over your career and when you started collecting. Estimate your monthly benefit here >

UFOs: When John F. Kennedy became president in the early 1960s, there was a lot he knew about unidentified flying objects, aka UFOs, former Australian intelligence official Geoff Cruickshank told NewsNation’s “Reality Check with Ross Coulthart.” But it’s what he wasn’t told that may be the more fascinating story, according to Cruickshank. Details > 

Watch: “Reality Check with Ross Coulthart” can be found on NewsNation’s YouTube channel each week. Watch the latest episode >

Raygun saga: Rachel Gunn, the Australian professor who represented her country at the Olympics in breaking, also known as breakdancing, is the target of an online petition calling for a review of the process that led to her selection. The petition accuses Gunn, known as “Raygun,” of creating the governing body that chose her to be Australia’s sole female breaker at the recently completed Olympics in Paris. Raygun has been a viral sensation for her kangaroo-inspired dance that earned her zero points and quick elimination in the breaking competition. Read more >