Is that election snail mail legit?

By Julia Shumway | Editor

As Election Day draws closer, a new type of junk mail will join the grocery circulators and unsolicited credit card offers in most of our mailboxes. Groups use mailing lists and public records, like the ability to see if — but not how — a person voted in prior elections to send sometimes official-looking letters like “voter report cards” that compare a resident’s voting history to their neighbors. In today’s top story, Shaanth Nanguneri shares tips from election officials for how to be sure election-related mail is legitimate.

Also in today's edition:

Oregon, 11 other states settle Paramount lawsuit
Trump administration clears way for killing endangered species
News outlets sue over White House ban

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Oregon secretary of state encourages voters to verify authenticity of election mail

By Shaanth Nanguneri

Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read speaks at a press conference at Portland Community College on Monday, July 20, 2026. He recently urged Oregon voters to work to check the validity of their election-related mail. (Photo by Shaanth Nanguneri/Oregon Capital Chronicle)

As Oregon officials begin to send ballots out for the upcoming November election, the state’s top elections officer is encouraging voters to verify whether their election-related mail comes from an official source.

Oregon, 11 other states reach settlement with Paramount, Warner Bros. over merger

By Mia Maldonado

In an aerial view, the Paramount logo is displayed on a water tower at the Paramount Studios lot on July 13, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. Twelve state attorneys general, led by California, filed a lawsuit in July seeking to block Paramount Skydance’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. They argued that the merger would violate the Clayton Act, an antitrust law that prevents anticompetitive practices. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery may move forward with a merger under the conditions that they boost film production, support displaced workers and preserve competition among cable channels over the next five years, 12 Democratic-led states and the attorneys representing the companies agreed in a court settlement Monday.

Trump administration says developers, loggers can kill endangered species

By Alex Baumhardt

Grizzly bears in the lower 48 states are federally protected as a threatened species. A new memo from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik says that endangered animals may be killed as long as the action was not “intentionally directed at a particular animal or animals.” (Photo courtesy of Terry Tollefsbol/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

The Trump administration’s top wildlife official issued a directive last week that expands a recent rollback of endangered species protections much further than the feds had told the public.