Iran ceasefire ends … again
On Wednesday, after the U.S. and Iran traded strikes, President Donald Trump said he believed that the ceasefire agreement is “over,” adding that he thought the ongoing negotiation for a permanent peace deal was “just a waste of time.” After Iran struck three tanker ships navigating the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, the U.S. military responded with a series of “powerful” strikes against Iranian targets. U.S. Central Command explained that the strikes were designed to “impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians” in the Strait. CENTCOM added, “Iran’s demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire.” The Trump administration also revoked a sanctions waiver that had allowed Iran to sell oil. Unsurprisingly, Tehran has maintained its defiance, directing a number of strikes at U.S. bases in the region.

A big legal win for election integrity
U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II ruled on Tuesday that DHS had violated a settlement with Florida and other states by disabling part of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system in compliance with a June ruling. The SAVE system has long been used to verify the status of those receiving federal benefits, but it was boosted by the Trump administration to enable easy verification of citizenship status for possible voters. Wetherell presided over the November 2025 settlement and retained jurisdiction, ruling that Trinidad-born DC District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan’s ruling requiring DHS to disable access to Social Security numbers to verify immigration status violated his earlier settlement. Wetherell did not defer to the more recent ruling or proceedings and ruled that the June decision was causing ongoing harm and immediately ordered the disabled parts of the system reactivated.

Another fatal ICE shooting
Illegal Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo is dead following an altercation with ICE. This story is developing. An official ICE statement reports that during a targeted vehicle stop, Lorenzo attempted to evade arrest, rammed an ICE vehicle, “refused to follow multiple verbal commands, and weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer resulting in our officer firing his weapon in self-defense.” Emergency services were immediately contacted, and Lorenzo was transported to a hospital, where he died. The event occurred in Houston, where local Democrat officials are already demanding independent investigations. Juan Proaño, CEO of a “Latinx” civil rights organization, has said the government cannot be trusted to investigate itself. Naturally, the Leftmedia is already spinning this situation without waiting for evidence.

Another double-digit ObamaCare premium increase
For the second year in a row, premiums for ObamaCare subsidized health insurance plans are expected to increase by double digits. According to analysis by the health policy group KFF, ObamaCare premiums are projected to increase roughly 14%. Last year, premiums rose 20%. With the COVID-era enhanced subsidies ending, those enrolled in ObamaCare plans will pay more. Those who earn less than four times the federal poverty level, which is $62,000 for an individual, will continue to receive subsidies under ObamaCare. The increasing premiums appear to have chased some people off the program, as nearly three million previously enrolled in ObamaCare have dropped it. The Trump administration attributes that more to its efforts to crack down on fraud than to increases in premium costs.

DeSantis’s former gubernatorial opponent is now a druggie
Back in 2018, Andrew Gillum was viewed as a rising star in Democrat circles, coming within 34,000 votes of winning the Florida gubernatorial election against Republican Ron DeSantis. Eight years later, the two men’s career trajectories couldn’t be more different. DeSantis is nearing the end of his second term as America’s best governor. Meanwhile, Gillum has been essentially forgotten by Democrats. He was arrested in 2020 in a Miami hotel room in a drug-intoxicated state with two other men. He later entered a drug rehab facility. The father of three then came out as bisexual. In 2022, he was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. And last week, Gillum was arrested in Alabama on drug possession charges. Character matters, and thankfully, Floridians’ choice of DeSantis has served the Sunshine State well. Imagine where Florida would be today if Gillum had won.

Trump supports use of reconciliation to pass parts of SAVE Act
President Trump has apparently changed his opinion on Republican lawmakers’ strategy to get some of the SAVE America Act passed via a Senate filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process. Just last month, Trump, when asked if he would support a reconciliation strategy, said, “No, not really.” However, on Tuesday, in a social media post, he called Speaker Mike Johnson’s strategy “reconciliation 3.0.” He wrote, “The SAVE AMERICA ACT, which everyone is asking for, paired with the full funding of our Great Department of War, can be passed very quickly, ensuring that the United States of America stays FREE for Generations to come.” Johnson believes that Republicans can get a proof of citizenship and voter ID requirement passed this way.

Blue states object to National Guard protecting DC
Minnesota and Michigan are letting the administration know that keeping the nation’s capital safe is absolutely not what their National Guardsmen signed up for. Minnesota’s Guard contingent, which deployed to the capital to keep America’s 250th festivities safe, is set to depart this Saturday rather than July 23 as planned. Michigan think tanks and labor groups have asked Governor Gretchen Whitmer to withdraw Michigan’s National Guardsmen as well, citing evidence that some Guardsmen may be keeping neighborhoods safe and performing basic law enforcement duties. Trump has used his authority as president to deploy Guardsmen to the city since last year, but the troop count surged in recent weeks in preparation for the Great American State Fair and other large-crowd events.

Court blocks Florida law banning woke teaching
To prevent critical theory indoctrination, Florida’s legislature passed the Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act, which Governor DeSantis signed in 2022. District courts immediately imposed a preliminary injunction, and on Tuesday, the 11th Circuit Court allowed it to remain in effect. The 2-1 ruling recharacterized the law as controlling the speech of employees and college professors and described it as “a breathtaking assertion of power to ban unpopular ideas from public discourse.” The lone dissenter is a Trump appointee who argued that the First Amendment protects all viewpoints, but that the state may decide what is and is not taught in its classrooms. Judge Britt Grant, also a Trump appointee, wrote the opinion upholding the injunction, saying she agreed that courts shouldn’t decide school curricula, but that they should intervene when the government “unduly restricts speech.”

Toyota Tacoma heading back to Texas
Toyota, the largest automobile manufacturer worldwide, has announced a $3.6 billion investment in a new assembly line at its San Antonio campus. The expansion is expected to create about 2,000 new jobs. Currently, the San Antonio location assembles the Toyota Tundra and Sequoia, but this new line will bring the Tacoma back from a Mexico location to Texas. Toyota expects to add 2.5 million square feet to its manufacturing campus, doubling its size by 2030. Once this project is completed, Toyota will employ approximately 6,000 Texans in the San Antonio area.

Headlines

• GOP leaders speak with McConnell amid questions about health (WSJ)

• Hochul bribes sheriffs to shield criminal illegals from ICE raids (RedState)

• Abbott orders probe after Texas hospital advertises “birth packages” in Mexico (Fox News)

• French court clears way for Marine Le Pen to run in 2027 but under a condition she rejects (NY Post)

The Executive News Summary is compiled daily by Jordan Candler, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, and Sophie Starkova. For the archive, click here.