Friday morning news: July 28, 2023

Gender hearing » At a House hearing On Capitol Hill Thursday, several witnesses testified about the dangers of the transgender social agenda.

Nineteen-year-old Chloe Cole testified:

COLE: My childhood was ruined along with thousands of detransitioners that I know through our networks. This needs to stop. Enough children have already been victimized by this barbaric pseudo-science.

She said she was confused and uncomfortable with changes in her body in early puberty … and told her parents she kind of felt like a boy.

COLE: The gender specialist I was taken to see told my parents that I needed to be put on puberty blocking drugs right away. He asked my parents a simple question, ‘Would you rather have a dead daughter or a living transgender son?’

Then came testosterone and surgery.

Cole said she was not suicidal at the time, though that changed after she underwent those treatments.

Clinical researcher Dr. Jennifer Bauwens testified that those who keep calling transgender procedures “life-saving” care are misleading the public.

BAUWENS: Despite years of empirical study, this claim is also not supported by the literature.

Another witness, former NCAA Division 1 swimmer Paula Scanlan, testified about being forced to share a locker room with transgender athlete Leah Thomas. When some female athletes raised concerns to school officials:

SCANLAN: We were offered psychological services to attempt to reeducated us to become comfortable with the idea of undressing in front of a male.

Democrats on the panel accused Repbulican-led states enacting protections from transgender procedures on minors and for women's sports of pursuing anti-transgender policies.

Special counsel » Special counsel Jack Smith has added new charges in the classified document case involving former President Donald Trump. He and a staffer are accused of asking an employee to erase video footage to obstruct a Justice Department probe. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher reports.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: Smith filed a separate indictment against an alleged co-conspirator as well as another espionage act charge against the former president. The charges stem from the storage of classified documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Trump’s lawyers met with Smith’s team in Washington on Thursday. Trump said earlier this month that he had received a notice from Smith … saying he was the target of a federal, criminal investigation related to the Capitol riots of January 6th, 2021, and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

SCOTUS pipeline » The Supreme Court has allowed construction to resume on a contested natural-gas pipeline through Virginia and West Virginia.

A federal appeals court had blocked work on the Mountain Valley Pipeline even after Congress ordered the project's approval as part of the bipartisan bill to raise the debt ceiling.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday.

MCCARTHY: That’s good news and the right call for American workers and helping to make American energy independent.

Environmental groups opposed the $7-billion-dollar project.

Meloni in Washington » President Biden on Thursday welcomed Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni at the White House, her first official visit as premier.

Biden had expressed some skepticism about Meloni’s right-leaning government. But those concerns were eased by Italy’s partnership in opposing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Meloni affirmed the bond between the two countries.

MELONI: Our relations are historically strong. They cross governments and remain strong regardless of their political colors. We know who our friends are in times that are tough.

White House officials said talks between the leaders focused on Ukraine and China as well as the stream of migration from North Africa to Europe's southern shores.

Biden heat measures » President Biden on Thursday also announced new safety rules for workers that he said will help to keep them safe amid the heat of a particularly brutal summer.

BIDEN: I've asked acting Labor Secretary Julie Su to issue a heat hazard alert. It clarifies that workers have a federal heat related, have federal heat related protections. We should be protecting workers from hazardous conditions, and we will.

Millions of Americans are currently under excessive heat advisories from states from Arizona to New York.

GDP » The U.S. economy surprisingly accelerated to nearly two-and-a-half-percent annual growth from April through June.

Mark Hamrick is Senior Economic Analyst at Bankrate.com

HAMRICK: The economy continues really to defy the odds. We have averted a recession so far, and it really does raise the likelihood of a so-called soft landing here as we look to close out 2023.

A ‘soft landing’ meaning reining in inflation without triggering a recession. Many economists questioned whether the Federal Reserve would be able to pull that off while repeatedly raising interest rates to fight inflation.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Culture Friday with Samuel Sey. Plus, your Listener Feedback.

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