Deseret News

• Jay Evensen: Why do we still allow private fireworks in Utah?
• Northern Utah GOP legislator of 40 years concedes loss to primary challenger
• 3 GOP candidates concede 4th District primary race to Burgess Owens
• Sean Reyes maintains lead in GOP race for Utah attorney general as more ballots counted
• Cox maintains lead over Huntsman as new results are released Wednesday
• Health official warned staff about Utah County businesses tied to COVID-19 hot spots as county refused to identify them
• Moore, Stevenson remain close for GOP nomination in 1st Congressional District
• Dueling protests face off in downtown Provo 2 days after demonstration turned violent

Salt Lake Tribune

• Cox widens lead over Huntsman by about 600 votes but 112,000 ballots are still to be counted
• June was a bad month, but Gov. Gary Herbert says Utah still plans to reopen schools
• After coming out as gay, Nathan Ivie loses in conservative Utah County
• Northern Utah voters oust Lyle Hillyard, the state’s longest-serving senator
• A close race in Utah’s 1st Congressional District hardly budges after updated vote tally

Other

• Burgess Owens tackles GOP 4th District nomination, sets sights on McAdams (Daily Herald)
• Utah County health official warned staff about hotspot businesses as county refused to identify them (Daily Herald)
• Moore holds on to narrow lead on GOP side in 1st District U.S. House race (Standard-Examiner)

• Utah tech company is helping churches across the country resume services safely (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Businesses pledge to ‘Stay Safe to Stay Open’ in new Salt Lake Chamber campaign (Deseret News)
• Salt Lake City among top cities for millennial homebuyers, report says (Deseret News)
• Over $5 billion in federal help has been crucial to Utah businesses, officials say, but it may be a one-time shot (Deseret News)

• Big Three CENSOR Stocks after ‘Best Quarter’ in 20-Plus Years, Despite Virus Spike (NewsBusters)
• Trump 'glorifying white supremacy' with July 4 fireworks at Mount Rushmore, Democrats say (Washington Times)
• Lawsuit: 'I Won't Let the State Force Me to Express Messages That Contradict My Beliefs' (PJ Media)
• White Privilege Exists (National Review)
• Stare Decisis is an Old Latin Phrase that Means 'Let the Decisions of the Warren Court Stand' (Reason)
• Black Florida sheriff has a message for would-be rioters (The Blaze)
• New York Times compares America’s enduring caste system to India, Nazi Germany (Twitchy)
• Spygate: The Man Who Knew An Awful Lot (The Lid)
• Breakdown: The unwinding of law and order in our cities has happened with stunning speed (City-Journal)
• How the Seattle CHOP zone went from socialist summer camp to deadly disaster (New York Post)
• Zuckerberg said to say of Facebook ad boycott: ‘All these advertisers will be back’ soon enough (MarketWatch)

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." John F. Kennedy

Russian bounty-gate

Russia was reportedly paying bounties to Taliban fighters of up to $100,000 per dead American soldier [NYT].

President Donald Trump called the reports of Russia paying bounties for the killing of American troops a "hoax" [NPR].

President Trump's resistance to intelligence reports about Russia led his national security team to brief him less often about Russia-related threats [CNN].

The White House is not planning any immediate response to the intelligence reports on Russian bounties targeting U.S. troops [WaPo].

Coronavirus

The U.S. reported 50,000 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, another single-day record [NYT].

President Trump said Wednesday that he would have "no problem" wearing a face mask in public, but he reiterated his belief that the virus would "disappear" at some point [CNN].

Coronavirus cases in the U.S. jumped by nearly 50 percent in June, led by states that reopened their economies first [WaPo].

The number of coronavirus cases are decreasing in only two states [Axios].

Hospitals are bracing for another surge of Covid-19 cases [CNN].

A new study says the death toll from the coronavirus in the U.S. may be undercounted by as much as 75 percent [CNBC].

Economy

U.S. manufacturing rebounded in June [AP].

Military bases

President Trump threatened to veto the annual defense policy bill if it contained a provision requiring the renaming of U.S. military installations honoring Confederate figures [Politico].

What?

The Senate stripped language from an intelligence bill requiring presidential campaigns to report offers of foreign help [CNN].