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| It's summer but we have to say there's been a blizzard of news from Washington. Stick with us through four highlights, and you'll be rewarded with one of our most fun pieces today. |
 Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times |
| 1. With Congress's summer recess imminent, Capitol Hill was churning. |
| The Senate gave final approval to a bill that would give lifetime health care coverage and other compensation to emergency workers who became ill from toxic exposure amid the World Trade Center's rubble after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. |
| The bill heading to President Trump's desk ensures $10.2 billion over the next 10 years. Jon Stewart, the comedian who championed the legislation, embraced first responders after its passage, above. |
| The Senate also confirmed Mark Esper, a former soldier and lobbyist, as defense secretary, filling a gap that had lasted since December. |
| And a centrist group of House Democrats set an ambitious target for U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, calling for a reduction to net-zero by 2050. Supporters of the Green New Deal say that's not enough. |
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 Doug Mills/The New York Times |
| 2. President Trump was also busy today. |
| For 80 minutes he addressed 1,400 teenagers at the Teen Student Action Summit, a conservative convention, deepening his criticisms of some of the four Democratic congresswomen he's been focused on lately, and painting a dark picture of immigrants and the election system. |
| Our Washington team also looked at how, for all the president's appeals to his base, he most frequently sides with corporate interests. |
| Mr. Trump has a new ally across the pond: Boris Johnson will visit Queen Elizabeth II with Theresa May on Wednesday to formalize his ascension to prime minister. Brexit and Iran will be his immediate challenges. |
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 Doug Mills/The New York Times |
| 3. Looming over Washington is tomorrow's testimony from the special counsel Robert Mueller, above in May. |
| In the back-to-back hearings beginning at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, members of Congress will be trying to find ways to highlight the report's findings — or undermine them. Here's what you need to know. (And in case you missed it, here are 19 questions our reporters have for Mr. Mueller.) |
| Mr. Mueller will have Aaron Zebley, a longtime aide, appear next to him at the witness table during the House Judiciary Committee hearing to assist as needed. |
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 Rachel Mummey for The New York Times |
| 4. Former Senator Al Franken is back in the news. And that has focused attention on Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, his onetime friend. |
| In some of his first public comments since his resignation over allegations of sexual misconduct, Mr. Franken told Jane Mayer of The New Yorker that he "absolutely" regretted his decision to step down. Ms. Gillibrand, above, the first Democratic colleague to call for him to step down, expressed no regrets. |
| We're also looking at how women running for president are avoiding the term "glass ceiling" and opting for metaphors like "shake the table," "break things" and "persist." |
| And since entering the race, Senator Elizabeth Warren has taken pictures with more than 38,000 people. Here's how she orchestrates her photo line. |
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 Sam Panthaky/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
| 5. As promised, FUN. |
| Agree or disagree: Celery juice is gross. Ice cream is disgusting. Natural deodorants are a scam and you smell. The only acceptable beer to bring to a cookout is light beer. Never ask friends to go camping. |
| Our Styles desk rounded up the hottest takes of summer. Vote them up or down. |
| And now back to the rest of the news. |
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 Chandan Khanna/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
| 6. In today's business news: |
| The Justice Department will open an antitrust review of big tech, expanding its challenge of the power held by companies like Facebook and Google. |
| The department did not name specific companies in a news release announcing the review, but noted that it would look into concerns about search, social media and some retail services. |
| Separately, Jeffrey Epstein moved money overseas from Deutsche Bank this year in transactions that the bank reported as suspicious. The financier, who is charged with sex trafficking, had dozens of accounts at the bank. |
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 Buzz Aldrin/NASA, via Associated Press |
| 7. Our investigative team is looking at Neil Armstrong's death and a $6 million settlement. |
| After the astronaut died in 2012 at 82, his sons believed that incompetent medical care had cost him his life, according to 93 pages of documents The Times received by mail from an unknown sender. |
| The medical dispute and secret deal, never before reported, comes to light days after the 50th anniversary of Mr. Armstrong's moon walk. |
| Separately, the next act of spaceflight is upon us: solar sailing. The Planetary Society, a group founded by the cosmologist Carl Sagan, successfully deployed LightSail 2. Its thin mylar sails blossom like a space-lotus to collect the sun's energy to move through the cosmos. |
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 Yousur Al-Hlou/The New York Times |
| 8. The volunteers of Sea-Watch say they're the last remaining lifeline for migrants when their desperate attempts to cross the Mediterranean go wrong. Italian officials call them smugglers. |
| Our journalists boarded the ship with those differing assessments in mind, and documented a standoff at sea with the Italian government when Sea-Watch found 65 migrants in a rubber boat off the coast of Libya. Watch the video. |
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 Jane Hahn for The New York Times |
| 9. The N.B.A. is aiming for a foothold in Africa. Can it compete with soccer? |
| It's a gamble the league is willing to take. The N.B.A. has set up youth training facilities and stadiums in Senegal, aiming both to strengthen the pipeline of players to the N.B.A. and to lay the groundwork for a robust Africa League. Above, an N.B.A. Academy in Saly, Senegal. |
| In baseball: The Chicago White Sox became the first M.L.B. team to extend its protective netting all the way to the end of the field. |
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 Ellen Silverman for The New York Times |
| 10. And finally, our first interactive restaurant review. (We just wish it could include taste testing.) |
| At Mercado Little Spain, the brainchild of the chef and restaurateur José Andrés, our critic found more great things to eat per square foot than anywhere else in New York: "on-the-spot eating of almost unparalleled quality." |
| He rounded up the 20 most delicious things inside the labyrinth of restaurants, bars, kiosks, counters and shops in Hudson Yards, including liquid olive, piña borracha and, of course, churros y chocolate. |
| Buenas noches. |
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| What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes.com. |
