TV News LIES

Michael Madsen, a prolific actor whose career was punctuated by a longstanding collaboration with Quentin Tarantino, has died at 67.

Madsen died Thursday, July 3, following a cardiac arrest, manager Ron Smith confirmed to USA TODAY.

Madsen, who appeared in some of Tarantino's biggest films, including "Reservoir Dogs," "Kill Bill: Vol. 2" and "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," was known for playing a tough guy on screen and enjoyed success in the movie business for over four decades, racking up some 300 credits.

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is placing staffers who signed a letter of dissent against the Trump administration’s actions and policies on leave.

The EPA says it has placed 144 staffers on administrative leave as it investigates the letter. It’s not entirely clear whether they will face further punishment after the probe.

“The Environmental Protection Agency has a zero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging, and undercutting the administration’s agenda as voted for by the great people of this country last November,” EPA spokesperson Brigit Hirsch said in a written statement.

In a letter made public on Monday, current and former EPA staffers said that the administration’s policies “undermine the EPA mission of protecting human health and the environment.”

They expressed concerns about five issues in particular, saying that the administration is undermining public trust, ignoring scientific consensus to benefit polluters, reversing EPA’s progress in America’s most vulnerable communities, dismantling the Office of Research and Development and promoting a culture of fear.

“Your decisions and actions will reverberate for generations to come. EPA under your leadership will not protect communities from hazardous chemicals and unsafe drinking water, but instead will increase risks to public health and safety,” the staffers wrote to Administrator Lee Zeldin.

In response, the EPA said Monday that it would “continue to work with states, tribes, and communities to advance the agency’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment.”

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The fight is over: Republicans’ sweeping bill to cut taxes and slash benefit programs like Medicaid has passed out of Congress and is on its way to President Donald Trump’s desk to be signed into law during a July 4 ceremony at the White House.

The 218-214 House vote came after a full day of negotiations July 2, an overnight debate and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, delivering the longest House speech on record. Trump met at the White House with skeptical GOP lawmakers, worked the phones and cheered the members on during votes on social media.

It’s a major victory for Trump and Republican leadership in Congress, which captured a trifecta during the 2024 elections and has used that political muscle to force what they've dubbed their "One Big, Beautiful Bill" through both chambers at a rapid-fire pace, despite deep reservations within their own party and unanimous opposition from Democrats who see it as a ticket to winning back congressional majorities in 2026.

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Israeli forces killed at least 74 people in Gaza on Monday with airstrikes that left 30 dead at a seaside cafe and gunfire that left 23 dead as Palestinians tried to get desperately needed food aid, witnesses and health officials said.

One airstrike hit Al-Baqa Cafe in Gaza City when it was crowded with women and children, said Ali Abu Ateila, who was inside.

“Without a warning, all of a sudden, a warplane hit the place, shaking it like an earthquake,” he said.

Dozens were wounded, many critically, alongside at least 30 people killed, said Fares Awad, head of the Health Ministry’s emergency and ambulance service in northern Gaza.

The decision was taken "to put America's interests first" and followed a Department of Defense review of US "military support and assistance to other countries", White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said on Tuesday.

The US has sent tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, leading some in the Trump administration to voice concerns that US stockpiles are too low.

The Ukrainian government has not commented on the announcement. US officials did not immediately say which shipments were being halted.