Welcome to the Bulletin,

• Trump's poll shocker: Donald Trump is only ahead of President Joe Biden in Florida in a head-to-head matchup by four points, according to a new poll. Here's what that means for Democrats in November.
• Hunter Biden trial: A man spoke exclusively with Newsweek about his passion for protesting outside Hunter Biden's federal trial. Here's what he told us.
• Extreme weather: Several cities were scorched by daily heat records on Thursday amid "extreme" heat in the southwestern United States. Here's the record-breaking temperature that Las Vegas hit yesterday.
• Cheese recall: Tillamook County Creamery Association is warning consumers that packages of cheese sold at Costco stores may contain "foreign plastic material." See which products are affected.
• In the ongoing war in Ukraine, Russia is inflicting "significant" damage on Ukraine's energy grid that could impact Kyiv's "warfighting capabilities," according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Find out more.

Can Samuel Alito Survive Flag Controversy?

TL/DR: The justice's neighbor says a spat with Alito's wife occurred one month after a pro-Trump flag flew in front of Alito's house.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is under scrutiny as his former neighbor, Emily Baden, disputes his account of the Stop The Steal flag controversy.

Why it matters: On Wednesday, Baden gave her first TV interview about the bitter dispute with Alito's wife, Martha-Ann Alito. Alito's claim that his wife was responsible for flying the pro-Donald Trump flag in reaction to a public argument with their neighbor Baden, a Democrat, has been challenged. Baden argues that Alito's timeline is incorrect. This controversy has profound implications, including impeachment calls for Alito, who, as a Supreme Court justice, is prohibited from endorsing political candidates.

Read more in-depth coverage:
Samuel Alito's Neighbor Disputes Flag Story: 'Outright Lying'

What happens now? Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia, told Newsweek that the weakness of the Supreme Court's ethics guidelines may save Alito from recusal. He said the conflict-of-interest standard in the Supreme Court ethics code was lower than the legally binding conflict-of-interest standard expected of lower court judges.

Abortion Could Be on Ballot in These States in November

TL/DR: Voters will decide on abortion access in at least four states this November, as similar efforts continue in several other states.

Voters in at least four states will have a say on abortion rights this fall. Measures to enshrine abortion access are securely on the ballot in Colorado, Florida, Maryland, and South Dakota.

Why it matters: There have been increased efforts to put abortion rights questions to voters since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Since then, most Republican-controlled states have had new abortion restrictions in effect, including 14 that ban it at every stage of pregnancy. But voters have sided with abortion rights supporters every time the issue has been on the ballot since Roe's demise.

Read more in-depth coverage:
Professors Sue Biden Admin Over Abortion Rule: 'Pregnancy Is Not a Disease'

What happens now? Other efforts are underway to get abortion-related measures on the ballot for voters in several other states, including Arizona, Nevada and New York.

Russia-France Tensions Are Boiling Over

TL/DR: Russian officials based in France said earlier this week that French media had launched a "new Russophobic campaign."

A series of recent incidents have pushed Paris and Moscow, already at odds over the Kremlin's war effort in Ukraine, even further apart.

Why it matters: French President Emmanuel Macron is more open than other NATO leaders about sending military trainers to Ukraine, a move many allies avoid to prevent direct conflict with Russia. The Kremlin's reaction includes arresting a French citizen in Moscow for alleged espionage. Separately, French authorities arrested a Ukrainian-Russian man in Paris after an explosion. Paris also canceled Russia's invitation to the D-Day 80th anniversary, attended by Ukraine's President Zelensky.

Read more in-depth coverage:
French Military Trainers Could Be Sent to Ukraine in Days: Reports

What happens now? Reports from late May had suggested Paris could be poised to send military trainers to Ukraine, a move publicly delicate with many NATO countries eager to avoid a direct conflict with Russia in Ukraine. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in remarks reported by Russian state media that "all instructors who train Ukrainian troops have no immunity" from Russian strikes, "whether they are French or not."

'Hurricane Season From Hell' Could Make Parts of Texas Uninsurable

TL/DR: "A really bad storm, or a series of storms can be extremely detrimental to the private property insurance markets” in Texas, Florida and Louisiana," Charles Nyce, Florida State University associate professor of risk management and insurance, told Newsweek.

A "hurricane season from hell" this year, as forecasting service WeatherBELL Analytics described it, could upend the vulnerable Texas home insurance market, experts told Newsweek.

Why it matters: Texas homeowners pay the fourth-highest home insurance costs in the U.S. – the 2023 average annual premium was $4,450, according to Insurify. These already-high home insurance premiums could skyrocket should the state get hit by devastating storms or hurricanes this year. Only about 14 percent of the state's homeowners are covered by flood insurance.

Read more in-depth coverage:
Hurricane Season 2024 Predictions: 'This Year Stands On Its Own'

What happens now? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts an active Atlantic hurricane season from June-November. A range of 17 to 25 named storms are forecasted; eight to 13 are expected to become hurricanes.

Married-Couple Households Continue To Plummet Across US

TL/DR: The report used data from the 2019 American Community Survey and the Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Surveys.

U.S. Census Bureau data reveals that married households continue to plummet across the U.S. as the number of one-person and non-married households rise.

Why it matters: The findings from the bureau's "America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2022" report reveal that the percentage of married-couple households fell from around 71 percent in 1970 to about 47 percent of all households in 2022. The largest decline was seen among married couples with children under 18, which fell from 40.3 percent in 1970 to 17.8 percent in 2022. Married-couple households without children saw a minor decline, while other family households, including non-married partners, rose from 10.6 percent to 17.4 percent.

Read more in-depth coverage:
Map Reveals States With Most Married Couples

What happens now? Commenting on the findings, the U.S. Census Bureau said: "These trends showcase the importance of collecting detailed demographic and economic information about how the situation of American families and households changes over time.

Former Apple Boss Teases iPhones of the Future

When Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, it was more than just a new gadget.

It marked a new dawn in the technology landscape, merging a phone, an iPod, and an internet communicator into one sleek device, setting the stage for the smartphone era.

Since then, the device has steadily seen incremental improvements year-on-year, but how could the iPhone function even further down the line?

Newsweek spoke to early Apple executive James Canton, who is also chief futurist and CEO of the Institute for Global Futures, and the author of Future Smart, to find out.