Today's FEDERAL story

Trump taps Missouri AG to help lead FBI

What happened
The Justice Department said yesterday that Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, an ardent backer of President Donald Trump, had been appointed FBI co-deputy director. Bailey said he would resign as Missouri's top prosecutor to join conservative podcaster Dan Bongino in the bureau's No. 2 spot.

Who said what
Bailey's appointment is the "latest unusual personnel move at the FBI as the Trump administration aims to dramatically reshape the bureau" under Director Kash Patel, The Washington Post said. The deputy director is usually a "respected veteran with deep experience at the FBI" who can run day-to-day operations. Neither Bailey nor Bongino had any experience at the bureau.

The decision "bewildered many current and former FBI agents, who said they had never heard of a co-deputy director," The New York Times said. But Bongino has "vocally complained about the toll the job has taken on him," and his "future has appeared tenuous after a furious fight" with Attorney General Pam Bondi over the Justice Department's decision not to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.

What next?
Bailey said he will resign as Missouri attorney general on Sept. 8. It was "unclear how Bongino and Bailey will split the responsibilities of the job," which doesn't require Senate confirmation, the Post said. It's also "unclear whether Bongino plans to remain at the FBI" once he has to share the No. 2 position with another person, Semafor said.

Today's PUBLIC HEALTH Story

Texas declares end to measles outbreak

What happened
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) yesterday officially declared an end to the state's deadly measles outbreak, though the vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada. The Texas outbreak, centered in western Gaines County, led to the deaths of two unvaccinated children and an unvaccinated man in New Mexico.

Who said what
Texas quashed the virus "through a comprehensive outbreak response" including "testing, vaccination, disease monitoring" and education, said DSHS Commissioner Jennifer Shuford. It was a "bittersweet" victory for local officials as it "did not appear to end" because of a surge in vaccinations, The New York Times said. Rather, it "seemed that the virus had ripped through the community" until it "ran out of vulnerable people to infect."

With 1,356 confirmed cases nationwide, the U.S. is "having its worst year for measles in more than three decades, as childhood vaccination rates against the virus decline," The Associated Press said. At least 718 of the 762 confirmed cases in Texas were in patients "who are unvaccinated or have unknown vaccine status," the Fort Worth Star-Telegram said.

What next?
"The end of this outbreak does not mean the threat of measles is over," the Texas health department said. Along with the U.S. cases, an outbreak in Mexico linked to Gaines County has "ballooned to 3,854 cases and 13 deaths," and Canada has about 4,000 cases, the AP said. "It only just takes a traveler" coming into a susceptible community "to start a new outbreak," said Lubbock public health director Katherine Wells.

It's not all bad

Blowing into a conch shell may relieve symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), according to new research from India's Eternal Heart Care Center and Research Institute. OSA causes people to temporarily stop breathing during sleep due to an airway blockage, and symptoms include gasping and loud snoring. In a study of 30 people with the disorder, those who practiced conch blowing were 34% less sleepy during the day and had higher blood oxygen levels at night. A larger trial is now being planned.

Under the radar

Atoms into gold: alchemy's modern resurgence

The ancient practice of alchemy — chemically transforming minerals into gold — is generally considered a pseudoscience by modern standards, but new developments in nuclear power have some researchers reconsidering.

Notably, Marathon Fusion has released an action plan detailing its purported ability to "synthesize stable gold from the abundant mercury isotope." Known as transmutation, this is "essentially the process of turning one element into another by tweaking its nucleus," said Gizmodo. The exact science here involves "introducing mercury-198 into a fusion reactor and bombarding it with neutrons until it transforms into mercury-197," which then "decays into gold-197."

If Marathon's nuclear alchemy is successful, the "3,500-odd metric tons of gold currently mined every year could soon be dwarfed by the amount produced by fusion," The Times said. But there are "lots of reasons to be skeptical about this claim of abundant gold." While Marathon hopes that the "millions of dollars made from selling the precious metal could be used to offset the cost" of nuclear power, and "experimental fusion reactors that can make electricity have been built," The Atlantic said, the technology "hasn't advanced enough to allow fusion to be practical on a commercial scale."

Marathon's alchemy would also require a significant amount of power to run, and scientists are "only beginning to crack the point at which fusion plants generate more energy than they require to operate," said Futurism. Additionally, any gold created from mercury could be "radioactive," and may "have to be stored" between "14 to 18 years before it's safe to handle."

On this day

August 19, 1839

The French government presented the daguerreotype as a "gift to the world." The groundbreaking photo-taking process, created by Louis Daguerre, was the predecessor to modern photography. In 2025, there will be at least 2.1 trillion photos taken worldwide, according to the photography website Photutorial.

TODAY'S newspaperS

'Little movement toward deal'

"Zelenskyy and allies press Trump for security guarantees," The New York Times says on Tuesday's front page. "In Ukraine talks, little movement toward deal," The Washington Post says. "Trump seeks end of mail-in voting," The Wall Street Journal says. "Texas Democrats come back to Austin," ending walkout over redistricting plans, says the Houston Chronicle. "U.S. Postal Service to honor Jimmy Carter with a stamp," says The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ketamine "dealer to plead guilty" in Matthew Perry "overdose," the Los Angeles Times says. "Can you afford to keep your friendships?" says USA Today.

► See the newspaper front pages

Tall tale

Polly want a plea deal

A parrot named Mango helped bust a narcotics gang in Blackpool, England, after police found videos of the bird playing with stacks of drug money and using the term "two for 25," a "drug dealing phrase," said ITV News. Authorities also found notes showing price lists and additional footage of one gang member rapping about being a criminal. Fifteen people were charged in connection with the bust, and all pleaded guilty.

Morning Report was written and edited by Helen Brown, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.