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Preparing for an election takes months, sometimes years. From registering voters to maintaining voting machines, state and local election officials do the work, with support from the federal government. But in the middle of this midterm election year, the bipartisan federal agency that helps coordinate those efforts is effectively unable to function. The agency lost its remaining commissioners after they were removed by President Donald Trump last week. @GeoffRBennett sat down with Thomas Hicks, who served on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission for more than a decade, including as its chair, until he was fired.

Tuesday's cost-of-living report showed inflation eased more than expected last month. It's welcome news for President Donald Trump, who has made lowering prices at the grocery store and the gas pump a central focus of his economic agenda. Even so, months of higher-than-expected inflation have continued to squeeze many American households and raised questions about when consumers will feel meaningful relief. @GeoffRBennett spoke with @ElizLanders to help unpack what the report means and the political pressure the president faces over the cost of living.

The U.S. carried out another wave of strikes ahead of its planned reimposition of a blockade on Iran's ports, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military operation. to.pbs.org/3RcRxxa

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett shared her experience of receiving threats against her life and being swatted during a hearing before a House Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday. Barrett said statistics about an increase in threats to Supreme Court justices “sound abstract, but being on the receiving end of them is not.” The threats “have required my children to think about and see things that children should not have to see or think about.” Barrett recalled walking into her house with a bulletproof vest given to her by her security detail following the leak of the court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. She said she put down the vest on a table and turned around to see her 12-year-old son standing in the doorway, curious about what the vest was and why she had it. “I didn't know how to respond because maybe I lack imagination,” Barrett said. “But I didn't expect that performing this service was going to put me in the position of explaining to my children what a bulletproof vest was and why I had to wear one.” The justice also pointed to recent reports that she had been the target of a swatting incident, when people falsely report gunshots to provoke law enforcement officials to respond. “I was very, very grateful that I had Supreme Court police outside my home because they were able to stop and meet with and explain to the county police that it had been a false alarm and so the police did not actually attempt to enter our home,” she said. Members of the Supreme Court have not testified before Congress since 2019. Barrett and Justice Elena Kagan’s appearances in both House and Senate hearings Tuesday are focused on requesting more funding for security, as threats and incidents of harassment and intimidation aimed at the judiciary have risen. The justices are making their rare appearance after the Supreme Court wrapped up its latest term late last month with major decisions on birthright citizenship, transgender rights, executive authority, campaign finance rules and mail-in voting – all topics that may come up in lawmakers’ questioning, in addition to the security funds request.

Tuesday night, the U.S. is launching its fourth night of strikes in a row, and it's relaunching its naval blockade of all Iranian ports. It's the most formal step toward resuming full-scale war with Iran. President Donald Trump says the move is designed to starve Iran's regime of oil revenue. Iran, in return, continues to attack ships and U.S. allies in the Gulf and refuses to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. @nickschifrin reports.

On Monday, a 26-year-old Colombian national was shot and killed in Biddeford, Maine, after ICE agents attempted to pull him over while he was driving. ICE says the man, Joan Sebastian Guerrero tried to flee and used his vehicle as a weapon, prompting an agent to fire in what ICE says was self-defense to protect the public. Video reviewed by the News Hour does not, on its own, confirm those claims. As questions mount, the administration is also defending ICE's tactics more broadly. Border Czar Tom Homan said the agency has temporarily paused certain vehicle stops while it reviews recent incidents but insisted agents acted appropriately and expects those operations to resume. ICE says Guerrero was not the target of the original investigation. His death comes after another person in Houston was killed by ICE while behind the wheel of a vehicle. And a third man in Florida, who was running away from immigration agents Tuesday, was hit and killed by a tractor-trailer as he tried to cross a busy street. @GeoffRBennett spoke with @SenAngusKing of Maine, who is among a growing number of officials calling for a full investigation into the Maine shooting.

Mikel Oyarzabal scored from the penalty spot after a heady play by teenager Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro added another goal and Spain advanced to its first World Cup final since winning in 2010 with a 2-0 victory over France on Tuesday. to.pbs.org/4pjq61n

President Trump gave Iraq's new prime minister an effusive welcome at the White House, promoting the "tremendous chemistry" between him and a fellow wealthy businessman who arrived at the seat of governmental power without any prior political experience. to.pbs.org/4w4ldLW

Senate Democrats blocked a $1 trillion annual defense bill Tuesday, refusing to advance the bipartisan package that would substantially increase Pentagon spending, including a pay raise for the troops, in protest of President Donald Trump's war against Iran. to.pbs.org/4wFMO65

President Donald Trump announced Monday that he will scale back the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah. to.pbs.org/3TB2n0w

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Gulf allies asked him to move from tolls to trade deals when it came to the Strait of Hormuz. to.pbs.org/44tUIDG

Astronomers have detected a type of sugar in space that's also found in raspberries and self-tanners. to.pbs.org/4vqzce9

The last prisoner strapped to a table in Florida's death chamber was 74 years old — the oldest the state has executed in modern times. The next two set to die are older still. to.pbs.org/4wAl8zE

A federal judge in Florida issued a scathing ruling Monday regarding President Donald Trump's lawsuit against the IRS, saying it was filed for "an improper purpose." Judge Kathleen Williams, an Obama appointee, also referred the lawyer who brought the case to the Florida bar for possible disciplinary action. Trump had sued the IRS for $10 billion over the leak of his tax information by an agency contractor. The DOJ settlement of the case included the creation of a $1.8 billion so-called anti-weaponization fund, which was scrapped after bipartisan criticism.

Family members are pressing for answers in the death of 18-year-old Nolan Wells in Mississippi. Wells disappeared during a Fourth of July boat trip with a group of high school friends to an island off the Gulf Coast. Wells, who was Black, was the only member of the group who did not return to the mainland. His body was found in the water days later. The friends he was traveling with are white. Authorities say there are no signs of foul play and that Wells drowned, though the investigation remains ongoing. His family, meanwhile, is seeking an independent autopsy and calling for a full and transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death. @GeoffRBennett spoke with civil rights attorney Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump), who has been retained by the Wells family, for more on the investigation.

Tonight on the @NewsHour -- we speak with former Election Assistance Commission member Thomas Hicks, who was recently removed by President Trump, about his firing, the future of the agency, and what it could mean for election administration ahead of November.

California and 11 other states are challenging Paramount's takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. In a lawsuit filed Monday, they argue the $81 billion deal would extinguish competition and threaten jobs in the media industry. The Justice Department has already signed off on the deal, which would combine the likes of HBO Max and CNN with CBS and Paramount+, among others. A Paramount spokesperson said Monday the company plans to "vigorously defend the transaction."

The term weaponized vehicle has become commonplace at news conferences and in statements released by federal officials during the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. to.pbs.org/4522Yeb

Sen. Lindsey Graham's death and Sen. Mitch McConnell's hospitalization have come amid an ongoing reckoning about the nation's aging leaders. to.pbs.org/3R84zMr

Darline Graham, the sister of the late South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, was sworn in by the Senate on Tuesday afternoon — filling the seat just three days after her brother's death. to.pbs.org/4f1tjiv