The Evening: A sweltering July 4

July 2, 2026

	By Evan Gorelick

Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.

Heat sweeps across the Eastern U.S.
Trump readies Washington for the Fourth of July
Plus, Taylor Swift’s wedding

A woman in a wide-brimmed cotton hat, her hair pulled back through a hole in the top, carrying a hand fan with Chinese characters.

Chinatown in Manhattan today. Carolina Herrera for The New York Times

Heating up

It’s around 100 degrees today in New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Atlanta. Some 163 million people, from Missouri to Maine and south to Mississippi, live in areas likely to experience dangerous heat. For many, it’ll last till Sunday. Follow our live coverage here.

When your core body temperature hits 104 degrees, you can get heat stroke. In this scorching heat and humidity, it takes a lot of energy to prevent that: An adult must expend around 210,000 joules, or 50 calories, to reduce body temperature by nearly two degrees. That means a person on the cusp of heat stroke must expend around 150 calories to reach a healthy temperature again, even just temporarily. That’s roughly the same as:

Running a mile and a half;

Playing volleyball for 45 minutes;

Swimming laps for 20 minutes.

A lot of energy. So stay hydrated — it helps your body sweat and expel heat — and pace yourself.

An illustration of different government agency seals, each representing an election-related action taken by President Trump.

Charlie Smart/The New York Times

Trump’s midterms gambit

President Trump has taken at least 14 actions to nationalize elections. He has taken at least 21 actions to tighten voting restrictions. He has cut security, pushed for mid-decade redistricting, questioned previous results and punished those who didn’t question previous results.

It all amounts to an extraordinary effort to reshape election rules. See all the ways Trump is trying to tip the scales for the 2026 midterms.

Russia attacks Ukraine

The Russian military blasted Ukraine’s capital with waves of ballistic missiles and drones overnight and into the morning, a deadly show of force after weeks of Ukrainian attacks heaped pressure on President Vladimir Putin. At least 27 people were killed and 85 injured in the attacks on Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said.

Still, Russia’s wider military campaign has largely stalled in recent months, analysts say. Ukraine’s military expansion has led to widespread fuel shortages across Russia, eroding Putin’s ability to insulate Moscow from the war. But Ukraine’s increased attacks do not seem to have dented his resolve.

Two Army soldiers in fatigues in front of a Ferris wheel on a lawn.

The Great American State Fair last week. Alex Kent/The New York Times

A busy weekend in Washington

The Fourth of July is nearly here, and it’s not just any Fourth of July: It’s the country’s 250th birthday. Trump isn’t going to let the occasion pass without a proper romp. (His plans include a record-breaking fireworks show with 850,000 pyrotechnics.)

A company run by his allies is organizing many of the weekend’s biggest events, funded in part by $68 million in taxpayer money. But because the Trump administration has routed funds through an opaque nonprofit, it is unclear how much the company will make.

Trump has closed off or militarized large swaths of the nation’s capital in preparation for the festivities. The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is surrounded by fencing. So is the Great American State Fair on the National Mall. People are expected to flock to the area on Saturday for concerts, military flyovers and the fireworks.

Related: David Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, was indicted on charges that he vandalized the algae-clouded reflecting pool.

More top news

Iran: A six-day funeral for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader killed during U.S.-Israeli strikes in February, is set to begin tomorrow. Tens of millions of people are expected to participate.
Israel: U.S. officials believed the country might have been plotting to kill Iran’s top negotiators in the midst of peace talks this spring.
Immigration: ICE doubled its daily arrest numbers — with 10,000 in the last five days — without the visibility of last year’s large urban operations.
Vatican: The Roman Catholic Church excommunicated members of the Society of St. Pius X, a breakaway conservative faction.
Health: New research indicates that regular fentanyl users have developed such a strong tolerance that medications used for withdrawal and treatment no longer work.
China: Last week, a pilot flew a small plane into Beijing’s tallest building. The authorities said he had been suffering from insomnia and anxiety and expressed a desire to end his life.
Food: Hoping to cut food waste, California banned “sell by” labels and standardized language around expiration dates.
Fashion: Chanel said it was acquiring the world’s oldest shirt maker in a bid to add men’s wear savoir-faire to its portfolio.

TIME TO UNWIND

People on ladders working on maroon curtains that hang in a tall window above a Madison Square Garden entrance sign.

Preparations at Madison Square Garden today. Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York Times

Wedding planning (Taylor’s Version)

If — theoretically! — a couple wanted to choose the most ostentatious and logistically complex time and place for a wedding celebration, they might choose Madison Square Garden in Manhattan over the Fourth of July weekend.

Taylor Swift and her fiancé, Travis Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, are poised to pull it off. They’ve invited around 100 people to a rehearsal dinner at the Garden tonight, starting right as I’m sending this newsletter, according to an internal police memo. Tomorrow, as many as 1,000 guests are expected there for a larger celebration.

The logistical blitz has involved private security, street-closing permits and transportation for a phalanx of A-listers. Take a look behind the scenes.
Ahead of Swift’s Manhattan nuptials, explore some of her favorite haunts around the city.
Swifties are getting emotional.

An illustration of a bowl of yellow potato salad on a red-and-white checkered tablecloth.

Photo Illustration by The New York Times; Photos: Armando Rafael for The New York Times; Kryssia Campos/Getty Images

In potato salad we trust

Forget the hot dogs and apple pie. The Times critic Wesley Morris has one thing on his mind this weekend: potato salad. The moment has stirred up some strong feelings for the summer staple.

This week on “Cannonball,” Wesley takes to the streets of New York City and back to The Times’s Cooking Kitchen to answer an essential question: Does potato salad belong on the Mount Rushmore of national dishes?

Listen to the episode here.

Folarin Balogun of the U.S. steps on the ankle of Bosnia’s Tarik Muharemovic as he goes for the ball.

Folarin Balogun fouls Tarik Muharemovic of Bosnia. Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

Dinner table topics

Did America’s star striker deserve a red card? World Cup fans cried foul after Folarin Balogun was ejected during the U.S. win against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Lexi Minetree beat out 5,000 other actors to play the heroine in “Elle,” a “Legally Blonde” prequel. In her audition tape, she reclined in a hot tub and juggled limes.
An 800-foot-tall “Trump Castle” was planned but never built. Forty years later, we’ve discovered the architectural plans.
America is a melting pot. So The Times built a map where you can explore, in exquisite detail, the mosaic of ancestries and family origins around the country.

WHAT TO DO THIS WEEKEND

A bowl of corn chip, corn and black bean salad.

Rachel Vanni for The New York Times

Cook: Corn salad, cold tofu, gazpacho and more no-cook recipes for a heat wave.

Read a novel featuring pulse-pounding intrigue and bloody murder.

Snag a great hand-knotted area rug from Etsy.