On this version of Hot off the Wire:
» Actors will join screenwriters in a combined strike that will have huge consequences for Hollywood. Leaders of SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents the actors, voted Thursday to strike after contract talks collapsed with the studios and streaming services that hire them.
» Temperatures in Death Valley National Park, the largest national park in the Lower 48 states, are expected to intensify over the weekend, potentially setting new records amid a major U.S. heat wave.
» Vermont continues to recover from severe storms as more wet weather is on the way to the Northeast.
» China is accusing the United States of militarizing outer space, a day after it protested the passage of a Navy P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine aircraft through the Taiwan Strait.
» Russian President Vladimir Putin says he has offered mercenaries from the Wagner private military company to keep serving as single unit under the same officer.
» The Wimbledon women's final is set, Northwestern fires another coach, lawsuit stemming from Georgia football car crash, March Madness expansion on hold, the SEC rewards its boss and the Jets lock up an All-Pro defensive end.
» The gunman who killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 is eligible for the death penalty.
» Wall Street’s winning streak barreled into a fourth day following the latest signal that inflation is easing its chokehold on the economy.
» U.S. officials have approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill, a major change that will broaden access for women and teenagers.
» No fingerprints or DNA turned up on the baggie of cocaine found in the West Wing lobby last week despite a sophisticated FBI crime lab analysis, and surveillance footage of the area didn’t identify a suspect, according to summary of the Secret Service investigation obtained by The Associated Press.
» President Joe Biden says it is “irresponsible” of an Alabama senator to block confirmation of military officers in protest of a Defense Department policy that pays for travel when a service member has to go out of state to get an abortion or reproductive care.
» Biden says he’s serious about pursuing a prisoner exchange for a Wall Street Journal reporter who has been detained in Russia for more than 100 days.
» The NCAA Division I men’s basketball committee discussed possible expansion of March Madness at its meetings this week but said no moves were imminent to increase the field beyond the current 68 teams.
Ukrainian servicewomen fight for uniforms that fit, and more of today's top videos
Servicewomen in Ukraine are fighting for their own uniforms after only using men's, why summer blockbusters are flopping in theaters, and more of today's top videos.
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For the past 12 days temperatures in Phoenix, Arizona have risen over 110 degrees. Now experts say they aren’t sure when it will break and the…