Human Race: California surprise

In a state where Democrats have dominated for decades, Republican candidate Steve Hilton appears to have secured second place in California’s crowded primary to replace Gavin Newsom as governor. Hilton, a British-born former Fox News host backed by President Donald Trump, came in behind Democratic front-runner Xavier Becerra, a former Biden administration official, with progressive billionaire Tom Steyer coming in third. Under the state’s top-two primary system, the two candidates with the most votes advance to the November general election, regardless of party affiliation. Hilton promised dramatic reform after 15 years of Democratic governance, while Becerra cast himself as an experienced politician who could withstand intrusions from the Trump administration. Cracks in California’s one-party rule also were on display in the Los Angeles mayoral race. Former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, a Republican, initially appeared to finish in second place, surpassing far-left city councilwoman Nithya Raman to face Democratic incumbent Karen Bass, until late-return vote tallies appeared to favor Raman. With sleek AI-generated campaign ads and slogans such as “Califordable” and “Make California Golden Again,” Hilton and Pratt appealed to frustration over the state’s excessive cost of living, rampant problems with drugs and homeless encampments, and deteriorating infrastructure and academic achievement.

Virus smugglers

Federal agents charged two scientists on June 2 with trying to smuggle vials of monkeypox virus from Africa into the United States. Vincent Munster, who is Dutch, and Claude Kwe, a Cameroonian, lied to investigators about their efforts, U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. said. Munster, 53, works as the chief of the virus ecology section at Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Mont., and Kwe, 38, works as a research fellow, according to a criminal complaint. Prosecutors said samples had been deactivated, meaning the vials didn’t pose an active viral threat. —Liz Lykins

Out of prison

Tina Peters, a county clerk in Colorado convicted for promoting claims that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, is out of prison. Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, commuted Peters’ 9-year sentence after Trump pressured him to show leniency. A jury convicted Peters in 2024 of attempting to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, violation of duty, and other crimes related to the 2020 election results. In the letter commuting her sentence, Polis noted that although her crimes were serious, the sentence was “extremely unusual and lengthy” for a first-time, nonviolent offender. Peters says she plans to challenge her conviction, vowing to take the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. —Leigh Jones

Miracle baby

A Florida boy is celebrating his first birthday after a groundbreaking surgery allowed him to be “born twice” and saved his life. At 19 weeks pregnant, Greg and Keishera Joubert learned their unborn son, Cassian, had CHAOS, a potentially fatal condition that blocks the airway. At 25 weeks, doctors partially delivered Cassian during a C-section while he remained attached to the placenta. They inserted a temporary airway tube, then returned him to the womb. Keishera delivered the boy six weeks later, and after 132 days in the NICU, Cassian came home. Although he faces the likelihood of health challenges in the future, his mother told reporters, “God turned what was our greatest heartbreak into a leap of medical science, and now there’s a whole new era of treatment for these babies.” —Kim Henderson

Tennis comeback

After a nearly four-year retirement, tennis legend Serena Williams will pick up her racket once again. On June 1, Williams announced she had accepted a wild-card invitation to play doubles at the HSBC Championships held in London the following week. “The G.O.A.T is BACK,” the Women’s Tennis Association wrote on social media. Throughout her two-decade career, Williams won numerous accolades, including 23 Grand Slam singles titles, four Olympic gold medals, and 14 doubles titles with her sister Venus. Although future matches have yet to be confirmed, Williams said in a statement that the London match would kickstart her career’s “next chapter.” —Bekah Bernhardt

Breaking news?

CBS News fired Scott Pelley, a prominent correspondent for its flagship program 60 Minutes, on June 2 amid an ongoing shakeup at the network. Pelley claims Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss and the program’s newly installed executive producer, Nick Bilton, fired him after he criticized editorial decisions that amounted to “murdering” the program. Pelley lambasted Bilton’s lack of traditional broadcast news experience and also claimed editors had asked him to “inject falsehoods and bias” into his work, without offering specifics. Pelley is the fourth correspondent to leave the program since Weiss joined the network last year. In late May, Weiss announced plans to make changes to 60 Minutes, which first aired in 1968. It is the longest-­running prime-time show in TV history. —Leigh Jones

Ready to land

Joan Prince Crandall, who claims to be the longest serving flight attendant in the U.S. airline industry, is preparing to retire after 66 years in the air. Crandall began her career at Pacific Airlines in 1959, a time when flight attendants were vetted for their looks and expected to bring a sense of glamour to air travel. She first served on propeller planes with a maximum capacity of 24 passengers. Now she flies on Airbus passenger jets with seats for 306 people. Crandall has worked for Delta Airlines since 2008. Once she retires, she plans to write a book and continue traveling the world. —Leigh Jones

A whole new world

A senior Disney executive has admitted to a growing “affection” for a humanoid assistant. Jason Cox, executive director of AI R&D and engineering at the Walt Disney Company, used OpenClaw to develop an AI bot he calls Sam. According to a June 1 report in the New York Post, some of Cox’s coworkers feel uncomfortable about what Cox has described as a father-son-like relationship. Per his personal website, Cox admits to being curious about the onset of “digital soul[s].” Cox said Sam has enormous capacity for empathy-like responses. “In the attempts to create an intelligent autocompleter that is trained on all human knowledge, we may have indeed created an image of ourselves,” he wrote. —Bekah Bernhardt