COVID COMEBACK: School districts in Kentucky and Texas have cancelled classes because of a surge in illness, including Covid. Illinois reports a rise in Covid cases.

  The Centers for Disease Control reports a 21 percent surge in both Covid cases and deaths. The numbers are still a fraction of what they were in the fall of 2021.

  The CDC also says that the new BA.2.86 variant might be more capable of causing infection in people who have previously had COVID-19 or who have received COVID-19 vaccinations because it has evolved to evade immune systems. Scientists are evaluating the effectiveness of the new booster expected to be approved next month.

MUGSHOT MERCH: Immediately after his criminal booking in Georgia Thursday, former President Donald Trump was fundraising and merchandising his menacing mugshot. He’s selling everything from mug shot bumper stickers to t-shirts with his mug on them. He posted his mugshot on Twitter/X with a link to fundraising. The first president ever to have his mugshot taken is not only unashamed, he’s cashing in on it.

  Meanwhile, a second defendant in the Georgia election interference case, former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, has asked for a speedy trial, which means it could happen this fall. The first defendant to do so is Kenneth Chesebro, one of the architects of the fake elector scheme.

  Powell is charged with conspiracy to commit election fraud, racketeering, conspiracy to defraud the state, and more … seven counts in all. 

  Early trials could give the rest of the defendants an early look at the evidence and skill of the prosecutors. The downside is that convictions could have them quaking.

  Also yesterday, lawyers for former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows filed a request to have his case moved to federal court on the theory that whatever he did, he did as a federal official. The problem with that is that the White House and federal government have no jurisdiction over state elections … and anything having to do with any election is not part of the chief of staff’s job.

GO DIRECTLY: Half the country thinks Donald Trump should go to prison if he is convicted in the federal case accusing him of inspiring the January 6^th insurrection, according to a Politico/Ipsos poll. That percentage is heavily weighted with 87 percent of Democrats and 51 percent of independent.

  About half the country also believes Trump is guilty of committing crimes, the poll says.

  The poll also says that 59 percent of respondents said that the federal trial in Trump’s 2020 election subversion case should take place before the 2024 Republican primaries next year. Again, 90 percent of Democrats responded in the affirmative.

  Roughly between one-quarter and a third of respondents said that they do not understand the charges in the pending cases, leaving room for movement in the opinion polls. One factor: the poll says that Trump’s claims of political “weaponization” of the Justice Department is getting little traction.

THE HIGH WINDOW: Russia officially denied yesterday that the Kremlin or Vladmir Putin were behind the jet crash that is presumed to have killed Wagner Group mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and nine other people on board. “An absolute lie,” said Dmitri S. Pskov, the Kremlin spokesman. Pskov is the man who denied that Russia planned to invade Ukraine only days before Russia invaded Ukraine.

LAST KISS: A single inappropriate kiss has stirred turmoil in Spanish soccer. The head of the Spanish soccer federation has been suspended after refusing to resign for kissing a player full on the lips after his team’s win in the women’s World Cup.

  The player, Jennifer Hermoso, is furious over suggestions that she encouraged the kiss. “I want to clarify that, as seen in the images, at no time did I consent to the kiss he gave me,” Hermoso said in a statement issued by the country’s soccer union. 

  Now some players on the Spanish women’s national team say they will refuse to play until “the current managers,” including Rubiales, are gone.

THE SPIN RACK: Two people in the stadium were wounded by gunfire last night in Chicago during a baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the Oakland Athletics. — Four astronauts were launched from the Kennedy Space Center earlier today, headed to relieve members of the crew on the International Space Station. — The heart attack suffered by USC freshman basketball player Bronny James, son of the legendary LeBron James, was the result of a treatable heart defect the family says, and that Bronny will be able to return to the game. — The French government has decided to spend $186 million to support wine producers by destroying excess amounts of wine that are dragging down the price. Some of the alcohol will be recovered for use in hand sanitizer, cleaning products, and perfume.

BELOW THE FOLD: It’s the monster mash. As many as 200 searchers are gathering this weekend to conduct a renewed search for the Loch Ness monster, the creature that lives forever in the imagination. Tales of the monster date back 1300 years with expeditions to find her in the 1960s and 80s coming up with nothing.

  This time around they’re going to use drones both above and below the surface of the water, as well as a hydrophone that can pick up acoustic signals 60-feet below the surface. 

  Like previous searches, the conclusion is not likely to be that Nessie doesn’t exist, but that the expedition merely failed to find her.

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