NATIONAL HEADLINES

Did you know you can get breaking newz as it happens?   We update breaking news on our Facebook page often during the day.  Always on.  Always free.  Always ad free.  LIKE US on Facebook to get breaking news as it happens. 

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Wednesday issued a sweeping emergency order directing all federal agencies to immediately patch critical vulnerabilities in certain devices and software made by F5, a technology vendor, after confirming a nation-state cyber actor gained unauthorized access to F5's source code.   CISA — a part of the Department of Homeland Security that manages risks to the U.S.'s cyber and physical infrastructure — issued Emergency Directive 26-01 following the company's disclosure that a foreign threat actor had maintained long-term, persistent access to its internal development and engineering environments using source code.

Click here to read about how President Donald Trump on Wednesday confirmed he had authorized CIA action in Venezuela, and indicated his administration is exploring land strikes inside the South American country. 

Officials have reversed more than half of the about 1,300 layoff notices sent to staff members at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sparing personnel who were leading the response to measles outbreaks in the United States and an Ebola outbreak abroad. But details emerged about the other health officials who lost their jobs.  Click here for more.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday is expected to posthumously award conservative activist Charlie Kirk the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.   Click here for the full story.  

When Ann Walter looked outside her rural West Texas home, she didn't know what to make of the bulky object slowly drifting across the sky.  She was even more surprised to see what actually landed in her neighbor's wheat field: a boxy piece of scientific equipment about the size of a sport-utility vehicle, attached to a massive parachute, adorned with NASA stickers. She called the local sheriff's office and learned that NASA, indeed, was looking for a piece of equipment that had gone lost.  Click here for the full story and photos!

Dolly Parton posted a video to Instagram on Wednesday reassuring fans she is doing "okay" amid concern for her health.  "I ain’t dead yet!" she captioned the video, where she spoke to fans directly.  Click here for more on this story.  

A former Wyoming library director who was fired amid an uproar over books with sexual content and LGBTQ+ themes that some people complained were inappropriate for youngsters and who sought their removal from youth shelves will be paid $700,000 after settling a lawsuit.  Click here for more on this story.  

Homecoming day at Jericho High School on New York's Long Island looked very different this year. Same big display of school spirit on the gym floor, but up in the stands, there were no cell phones at this pep rally, because this year students have to put them away for the whole school day, "bell to bell."  New York, along with most other states (including our Lone Star state), has mandated cell phone restrictions in public schools. Other states are considering legislation, too – which means a whole new world for kids.  Click here for the rest of this story.  

As we all know, torrential rains triggered flash flooding in central Texas on July 4th, killing more than 100 people, including dozens of children who were at summer camps along the Guadalupe River. The river rose more than 20 feet in less than two hours. People are still missing.  As search and rescue continues, charities are on the ground providing aid. You can help by clicking HERE or using the form below.  The need is still great and so is the caring.  Your help is still needed.