National News at a Glance

Women Rewrite the Political Playbook

The surge of women’s activism in the Trump era has produced a record number of women running for office. And after years of being told to put on a suit and recite their résumé, female candidates are revealing themselves in more complex ways. They’re running as individuals — something like the voters they are trying to reach. On the trail, women are mixing discussion of health care and tax policy with intimate stories of debt and divorce, exposing their tattoos and, among African-American candidates, wearing natural hair. Campaign professionals say going personal doesn’t always work; candidates have to tie their stories to issues.

Cleaning Toilets, Following Rules: A Migrant Child’s Days in Detention

Lights out by 9 p.m., lights on at dawn. Mop the bathroom, scrubbing the sinks and toilets. Then form a line for the walk to breakfast. The list of the no-no's at the facility in South Texas included this: Do not touch another child, even if that child is your little brother or sister. In response to an international outcry, President Donald Trump recently issued an executive order to end his administration’s practice of forcibly removing children from migrant parents who had entered the country illegally. Under that policy, thousands of children were sent to holding facilities, sometimes hundreds or thousands of miles from where their parents were being held for criminal prosecution.

Hand-picked by GOP for Missouri’s Senate Race, but It’s Not Easy

Ten months after he was sworn in, Missouri's attorney general, Josh Hawley, announced his Senate candidacy. He was recruited by party leaders who thought his résumé — Stanford and Yale, law professor, father of two — made him the perfect candidate to challenge the incumbent Democrat, Claire McCaskill. Polls suggest it could be a close race, and Hawley has opened a new front against her with President Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. But both Democrats and Republicans offered criticism that his swift rise made him a political opportunist who was looking ahead to a Senate bid when he ran for attorney general two years ago. Hawley rejected the criticism.

Before an Arrest, Officers Tossed a (Virtual) Coin

Sarah Webb, 24, had been running late for work when she sped past a patrol car April 7 in Roswell, Georgia. A body camera recorded an officer’s comments to Webb, but it would be two months before Webb learned what happened between the time she was pulled over and she was put in handcuffs: Officers turned to a coin toss while deciding what to do using an app on one officer’s cellphone. Webb said she filed a motion of discovery to see the video, leading prosecutors to drop the charges. Officials said Officers Kristee Wilson and Courtney Brown had been put on administrative leave.

‘See Ya Later, Suckas!’ The Obituary of a 5-Year-Old Boy in His Own Words

Garrett Matthias, 5, thought about what his funeral would look like one day. He wanted a carnivallike atmosphere. “Funerals are sad. I want five bouncy houses (because I’m 5), Batman and snow cones.” He shared all of this — and much more — with his parents over about 10 months battling a rare form of cancer. Garrett once told his parents that his favorite superheroes were Batman, Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk and Cyborg. In that vein, his family honored Garrett on Saturday night with a symbolic Asgardian burial ceremony, with a boat adorned with a shield and an archer shooting a flaming arrow into the sky. He died July 6.

Judge Criticizes Trump Administration for Response to Family Reunification Order

Judge Dana M. Sabraw of U.S. District Court in San Diego, who ordered the swift reunification of thousands of migrant families, sharply chastised the Trump administration late Friday, after it said that complying with the judge’s order would increase the risk of harm to children. Officials outlined a new plan to return nearly 3,000 migrant children to their parents by a July 26 deadline, but said doing so required faster vetting and would likely place the children with abusive parents or adults falsely claiming to be their parents. Sabraw said the government's position was inconsistent with explicit statements from top government officials — including the president — that the reunifications proceed, and do so quickly.

Soon There Will Be Only One Blockbuster Left in the United States

The Blockbuster video store in Bend, Oregon, stands steely and determined, defending itself against the expanding forces of digital streaming services like Netflix and HBO, whose charm is that customers need not get up from the couch. Soon the store, about 150 miles southeast of Portland, will be the final survivor of the once-popular chain after two Blockbuster stores in Alaska close. In Alaska, difficulty getting Wi-Fi or broadcast reception had helped keep the brick-and-mortar shops there afloat. But the managers of the stores in Anchorage and Fairbanks announced in a Facebook post Thursday that they would close and planned to sell their inventories.