Daily Briefing: Hunter Biden's day in court

President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, faces new challenges on the eve of a scheduled court appearance. Also in the news: Heat is still reigning over portions of the U.S. and the Federal Reserve is likely to raise interest rates again today.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. Here's what to know about X's and Xeets.

Now, here we go with Wednesday's news

A new slew of challenges on the horizon for Hunter Biden

Increased efforts to investigate the president and his oldest son foreshadowed Hunter Biden's scheduled appearance at a court hearing in Wilmington Wednesday, when he is expected to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax crimes.

On the eve of the court appearance, the GOP chairman of the Ways and Means Committee took the unusual step of filing court documents urging the judge who could potentially reject the deal to consider testimony from IRS whistleblowers.

• The whistleblowers alleged the Justice Department interfered with investigations into Biden, a charge that has been denied by the lead prosecutor in the case, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump.

• Judges rarely throw out plea bargains, but the effort to intervene by GOP lawmakers amounted to a high-profile push to raise questions about the deal.

• The case became even more complicated hours after the lawmakers filed their motion with an accusation of misrepresentation that Hunter Biden's defense team said was a simple misunderstanding.

Heat wave takes aim at Midwest, Northeast

After punishing the western and southern U.S. with record-smashing temperatures over the past month or so, the intense summer heat will finally make an appearance across much of the Midwest and Northeast over the next few days. Overall, at least 45 states and more than 100 million Americans will endure temperatures of 90 degrees or higher at some point this week, AccuWeather reported. As the heat dome expands eastward, millions of people in the mid-Atlantic may experience triple-digit temperatures that haven't been reached in years, experts advised. Read more

• The Atlantic Ocean current could collapse soon. How you may endure dramatic weather changes.

• 101.1 degrees? The water temperatures off the Florida Keys are currently among hottest in the world.

• ''100% coral mortality'' found at Florida Keys reef due to rising temperatures, a restoration group says.

More news to know now

• Three U.S. Marines were found dead inside a car at a North Carolina gas station near Camp Lejeune.

• Legacy admissions at Harvard are at the center of a new Biden administration investigation.

• A Ukrainian man pleaded guilty in a dark web scheme that stole millions of Social Security numbers.

• A firefighting plane crashed in Greece as fires rage out of control and new evacuations were ordered.

• On today's 5 Things podcast, a federal judge in Oakland blocks a Biden administration rule that limits migrants' access to asylum. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your smart speaker.

What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here.

Will the Federal Reserve pause, hike, then pause again?

Get ready for one more rate hit – the 11th interest rate hike since March 2022 — when the Fed announces its decision on rates on Wednesday. The move could surprise some who were lulled into imagining that interest rates would stop climbing as one rate pause last month surely could signal one move after another by the Fed to hold rates steady. The Fed playbook, according to some experts, now could very likely turn into: Pause, hike, pause. The Fed had been raising rates at each meeting since March 2022 and paused for the first time in June. Read more

• Inflation? Recession? How Fed rate hikes and economy's outlook compares with soft landings of past.

• Florida rentals are cooling off, partly because at-home workers are back in the office.

• The IRS has ended in-person visits, but scammers still have ways to trick people.

Ohio to vote on amendment to protect abortion rights in the state

A proposed amendment to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution submitted enough valid signatures to make the November ballot, the Ohio Secretary of State's Office announced Tuesday. Backers of the measure to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution submitted more than 700,000 signatures earlier this month. Over the past several weeks, local boards of elections officials checked those signatures, tossing duplicates and ones from people who were not registered to vote. The proposed amendment would ensure Ohioans have a right to make their own reproductive decisions, including contraception, fertility treatment, continuing a pregnancy, miscarriage treatment and abortion. Read more

• Patients sued Vanderbilt after transgender health records turned over in insurance probe.

• ''Lose the courts, lose the war'': The battle over voting in North Carolina.

Just for subscribers:

• NYC subways join airports, police in using AI surveillance. Privacy experts are worried.

• A judge was recorded scrolling on Facebook and texting while presiding over a trial for a 2-year-old's death.

• $155-million teardown: Billionaire W. Lauder is razing Rush Limbaugh's old Palm Beach estate.

• Many people continue driving with dementia despite road safety concerns, a study found.

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UPS, Teamsters reach agreement after threats of a strike

Just hours after resuming talks Tuesday, UPS and the Teamsters, the union representing roughly 340,000 UPS workers, reached a tentative agreement on a new five-year contract. The tentative consensus, which UPS CEO Carol Tomé described as a "win-win-win agreement," helped the company and the U.S. economy avoid a potentially crippling blow to the nation’s logistics network. The tentative agreement comes after months of intense negotiations and Teamsters threatening to enact what would have been the largest single employer strike in U.S. history. Read more

• Snoop Dogg postponed his Hollywood Bowl show honoring debut album due to the actors' strike.

• Bryan Cranston slammed artificial intelligence during a SAG-AFTRA rally: ''We ask you to hear us.''

Quick hits

• Here's where to find the national monument sites dedicated to Emmett Till's memory.

• Justin Herbert agreed to a massive deal with the Chargers, becoming NFL's highest-paid quarterback.

• Lionel Messi scored the game-winner for Inter Miami in the 94th minute in his MLS debut.

• ''Haunted Mansion'' review: Don't expect a ton of chills in Disney's safe ghost ride.

• Shark Week 2023 is here! Shop nautical merch from these brands to celebrate the occasion.

Photo of the day: USWNT ramps up for Netherlands World Cup match

After swiftly defeating Vietnam, here comes the USWNT's biggest World Cup test yet: a group game against the Netherlands. It's a rematch of the 2019 World Cup final, which the USWNT won 2-0. The game will kick at 9 p.m. ET, which is 1 p.m. Thursday in New Zealand. The USWNT, of course, knows it has a target on its back, but its players are embracing the pressure.

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot 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.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hunter Biden, heat weave, climate change, interest rates, abortion, UPS, strike, USWNT: Daily Briefing