promoearn: 'Our work is far from over.'

Wednesday, August 17

U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) departs after speaking to supporters during a primary night event on August 16, 2022 in Jackson, Wyoming.

Defeated Cheney will keep fighting Trump.

Wyoming's GOP primary served as a win for Trump's camp. Atlantic hurricane season is trending earlier in the year – and human-caused climate change may be to blame. Some of the country's biggest schools are short-changing female athletes' scholarships.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, and here's Wednesday's news.

🌅 Up first: Is your state one of the best to live in? WalletHub ranked the 50 states based on scores in five categories: affordability, economy, education and health, quality of life, and safety. Massachusetts topped 2022's list, touting a score of 62.65 out of 100. New Jersey came in second, dropping from the top spot last year. Read more

Trump foe Liz Cheney defeated in Wyoming GOP primary

Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, Donald Trump's fiercest Republican adversary in Congress, was defeated – badly – in the state's GOP primary to Trump-backed Harriet Hageman, who is likely to win her November race in the reliably red state. Cheney, who is vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee, told supporters Tuesday night she would continue her fight against Trump, saying: "Our work is far from over." Read more

What it means: Cheney's loss shows the strong grip former President Donald Trump has on the Republican Party and gives a look at the direction the country could take with the next Congress.

•	Who is Harriet Hageman? She was once Cheney's ally. Now she says Cheney doesn't know what Wyoming needs.
•	Alaska primary recap: Murkowski and Palin show the deepening fissures in the Republican Party.
•	Text with USA TODAY staffers: Get elections news on your phone from our top reporters.

Wyoming Republican congressional candidate Harriet Hageman waves as she takes a picture with children during a primary election night party on August 16, 2022 in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Michael Smith, Getty Images

More news to know now:

•	🦴 A fifth set of skeletal remains were found at Lake Mead after some Western states were hit with drought-inflicted water cuts.
•	🟡 Russia blamed sabotage for the current ''state of emergency'' in Crimea.
•	🟣 A Florida court ruled a ''parentless'' 16-year-old wasn't ''mature'' enough to have an abortion.
•	🎒 Bulletproof backpack sales are on the rise as parents send their kids back to school.
•	🏀 The WNBA playoffs kick off Wednesday with the top two teams in the league – the No. 1 seeded Las Vegas Aces and the defending champs Chicago Sky.

🎧 On today's 5 Things podcast, hear the context surrounding Rudy Giuliani's potential testimony before a grand jury investigating election interference. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your smart speaker.

Will Rudy Giuliani appear before a Georgia grand jury?

Rudy Giuliani is scheduled to appear Wednesday in an Atlanta courthouse to testify before a special grand jury in an investigation into possible illegal attempts to influence the 2020 election in Georgia. It's not clear how much the former New York mayor and attorney for former President Donald Trump will be willing to say now that his lawyers have been notified that he's a target of the investigation. Any questioning that does happen today will take place behind closed doors because the special grand jury proceedings are secret. Read more

•	Related: A federal judge rejected Sen. Lindsey Graham's bid to quash a grand jury subpoena in the Georgia case.
•	About the Georgia investigation: Local court orders for Trump allies are markers of potential legal peril for the former president.
•	Mar-a-Lago update: Two top lawyers in Donald Trump's White House have been interviewed by the FBI in relation to the ongoing investigation into the storage of classified documents at the former president's estate.

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks during a news conference on June 7, 2022, in New York.

Mary Altaffer, AP

Just for subscribers:

•	⚫ Muslims in Albuquerque are working to to shed fear after the suspect in a Muslim killing spree was one of their own.
•	💉 When should I get a COVID booster? Next-generation antibody tests could help.
•	🍃 Marijuana is legal in parts of the US. That's not helping everyone with convictions.
•	🌈 Queer conversion therapy is still practiced in the US. Experts say we need to talk about it.

These articles are for USA TODAY subscribers. You can sign up here. Already a subscriber and want premium content emailed to you every day? We can do that! Sign up for the Your Day newsletter.

Is the Atlantic hurricane season cranking up earlier?

Changes in the Atlantic hurricane season are unlikely caused by just "chance," experts say. Warming sea temperatures driven by climate change are likely propelling the hurricane season to start about five days earlier per decade since 1979, according to a new study published in Nature Communications. The first named storms to make U.S. landfall are also trending earlier, with "preseason" storms prompting officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to consider adjusting the current season marker to start earlier than its current date, June 1. Read more

•	Studying hurricanes: These seafaring ''robot surfboards'' will float into a hurricane soon – for science.
•	More climate news: Feds cut Colorado River allocation for Arizona and Nevada in 2023, citing the need for ''urgent action.''
•	Everyone's talking about a ''megaflood'' hitting dry, sunny California. But it's happened before.

A saildrone was launched earlier this month from St. Petersburg, Florida. Two of the saildrones will track hurricane data in the Gulf of Mexico for the first time. The other five will collect data in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea.

NOAA/ Monica Allen

Female athletes stiffed on scholarships at some of the biggest colleges in the country

Each year, thousands of the nation's top college female athletes get the short end of the same stick. The majority of public schools that competed in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision – the highest echelon of college sports – failed to comply with Title IX's requirement that schools distribute athletic scholarship dollars equitably, USA TODAY's investigation found. The schools that underfunded women would have needed to give them $23.7 million more in athletic scholarships in 2020-21 alone to comply with the law, the analysis found – nearly a half-million per school. Click here to take a deeper dive.

•	Background: USA TODAY answers your questions about Title IX and its role in college sports.
•	These 5 charts show athletic scholarships' bias toward football — and against women.
•	Perspective: Women's sports pays for those who are now investing.
•	Read: USA TODAY's series ''Title IX at 50'' explores how the policy is falling short of its goals.

Shamier Little wins women's 400m hurdles heat in 55.22 during the US Olympic Team Trials at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., on June 25, 2021.

Shamier Little, who attended Texas A&M on a rare full scholarship as a track athlete.

Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports

ICYMI: Some of our top stories yesterday

•	📰 Tens of thousands of Afghan allies were left behind. Why have so few reached US safety?
•	👂 Hearing aids can now be purchased without a doctor's exam or referral.
•	💲 ITT Tech students will get $4 billion in federal loan forgiveness. Here's what borrowers should know.
•	🎟 Springsteen tickets for $4,000? How dynamic pricing works and how you can beat the system.
•	⛳ Tiger Woods is reported to be meeting with PGA Tour players in effort to fend off LIV Golf.

Rapper A$AP Rocky to be arraigned on assault with firearm charges

A$AP Rocky's arraignment on two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm for pulling a gun on a former friend and firing in Hollywood last year is scheduled for Wednesday, Los Angeles District Attorney's Office said. Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Athelaston Mayers, was arrested in April in relation to November shooting and later released from custody after posting bail of $550,000. He is in a relationship with Rihanna, and the two had a son in May. Read more

•	A$AP Rocky talks fatherhood, teaching son shared with Rihanna about ''diversity and versatility.''

ET_ASAPRockyRihanna

Entertain This!

📷 Photo of the day: Climate crisis in Europe as drought and severe heatwave lead to wildfires, dry lakes 📷

Drought. Wildfire. Unprecedented heat. Climate change is showing itself more apparently across Europe this summer in severe forms. And in the name of protecting public health, scientists have given heat waves names for the first time. After temperatures reached 112 degrees Fahrenheit in Spain a heat wave was named Zoe to help inform people about the risks of such high temperatures. Read more

Click here to see more photos of the climate crisis across Europe.

Part of the Guadiana river has dried up and gives way to dry land under the Puente de la Mesta medieval bridge in Villarta de los Montes, in the central-western Spanish region of Extremadura, on August 16, 2022.

THOMAS COEX, AFP via Getty Images

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY. Send her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com or follow along with her musings on Twitter. Support journalism like this – subscribe to USA TODAY here.

Associated Press contributed reporting.