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WASHINGTON — As alarms blare about Russian interference in U.S. elections, the Trump administration is facing criticism that it has no clear national strategy to protect the country during the upcoming midterms and beyond.
Both Republicans and Democrats have criticized the administration’s response as fragmented, without enough coordination across federal agencies. And with the midterms just three months away, critics are calling on President Donald Trump to take a stronger stand on an issue critical to American democracy.

As the search for missing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts continues, her father is pleading for anyone who might have information on her whereabouts – no matter how “remotely out of the ordinary” it may be – to come forward.
“It doesn’t matter what we’re going through; we just need people to think – because somebody knows something and they don’t even know it’s important,” Rob Tibbetts told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “We can get Mollie back; we just have to have somebody call.”

Maine’s largest city is considering a significant increase in the fees charged to property owners who offer short-term rentals through services such as Airbnb.

AUGUSTA — The final two defendants were sentenced Monday for the drug-related beating death of an Augusta man in 2015, with the state’s attorney saying the sentences reflected the defendants’ early cooperation in the investigation and their acceptance of responsibility.
Both Michael “Dirty” Sean McQuade, 47, of Augusta and Damik “Doughboy” Davis, 28, of Queens, New York, pleaded guilty 11 months ago to felony murder and robbery in the killing of Joseph Marceau and signed agreements with the state that spelled out their sentencing parameters.

SAN DIEGO — A new report from the Rand Corp. analyzed survey data from thousands of active-duty military members and found Marines are more likely to be heavy drinkers, use tobacco and engage in riskier sexual behavior than the sailors, soldiers and airmen of the other branches.
Rand found that incidents of binge drinking and hazardous drinking among Marines were almost double what they were in the Air Force.

Corey Coleman, who resigned June 18, hired fraternity brothers and women he met at bars, investigators say.
The personnel chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency – who resigned just weeks ago – is under investigation after being accused of creating an atmosphere of widespread sexual harassment over years in which women were hired as possible sexual partners for male employees, the agency’s leader said Monday.

MINNEAPOLIS — Two Minneapolis police officers who shot and killed a black man last month were justified in using deadly force, a prosecutor announced Monday, saying the man was fleeing police and turned toward them with a loaded gun before he was shot.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Thurman Blevins had refused commands to stop and show his hands, and was clearly a danger to the officers and community.

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department is considering a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans through a change that would not need approval from Congress, officials said, a move that would follow a package of tax cuts last year that also benefited the super-rich.
The agency is studying whether to allow investment income, known as capital gains, to be adjusted for inflation in a way that shields more of it from taxation. Most capital gains are paid by wealthier Americans, who disproportionately hold large portfolios of investments.

PARKLAND, Fla. — The first practice of the new season was over, and the only sound on the campus of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was dozens of football players screaming in delight.
It was 2:15 a.m., and they were having a water balloon fight.
At last, on a campus shaken by tragedy, there was joy.

Eight states are filing suit against the Trump administration over its decision to allow a Texas company to publish downloadable blueprints for a 3D-printed gun, contending the hard-to-trace plastic weapons are a boon to terrorists and criminals and threaten public safety.
The suit, filed Monday in Seattle, asks a judge to block the federal government’s late-June settlement with Defense Distributed, which allowed the company to make the plans available online. Officials say that 1,000 people have already downloaded blueprints for AR-15 rifles.