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Tropical Storm Bertha made landfall in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana on Wednesday afternoon with 45 mph sustained winds, while a forecast second landfall along the upper Texas coast remained unconfirmed as of the 1 a.m. Thursday NHC advisory. The storm prompted a tropical storm warning stretching from southeast Louisiana to Sargent, Texas, with storm surge of 1 to 3 feet and up to 6 inches of rainfall possible in isolated areas. No Bertha-specific federal emergency declarations or damage estimates had been issued at the time of the latest available advisories.

The Senate confirmed Benjamin M. Flowers to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on July 22, 2026, with every vote for and against falling strictly along party lines. Flowers, a former Ohio solicitor general who argued the successful Supreme Court challenge to the Biden administration's COVID-19 workplace vaccine mandate, will fill the seat of Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton when Sutton takes senior status on October 1. The confirmation leaves the Sixth Circuit's active roster unchanged at 10 judges appointed by Republican presidents and 6 appointed by Democratic presidents.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the Senate Appropriations Committee on July 21 that the Pentagon's Iran conflict cost estimate has risen from $29 billion in May to $37.5 billion, covering military pay, operations, and projected costs through the end of fiscal year 2026 but excluding infrastructure repairs. The White House is seeking $87.6 billion in supplemental funding, of which $67.1 billion is designated for the Pentagon and includes items beyond direct war costs such as Space Force and cybersecurity programs. Senators pressed Hegseth on why additional funds are needed while roughly $75 billion from a prior reconciliation measure remains unspent; he said 95 percent of that balance would be obligated by September 30.

The confirmed U.S. death toll in the Iran conflict reached 18 as of July 20, comprising 10 hostile and 8 non-hostile deaths across Army, Navy, and Air Force personnel. President Trump's July 22 appearance at Dover Air Force Base honored four service members killed in Jordan and Iraq in July, a separate group from the six Army Reserve soldiers killed in Kuwait in March. More than 450 troops have been reported injured, a figure that earlier congressional statements citing lower totals did not reflect.

The House approved H.R. 9770 on July 21, extending federal programs at fiscal 2026 rates through December 4 to prevent a shutdown when fiscal year 2027 begins October 1. Six Democrats joined 213 Republicans in support, while Republican Thomas Massie was the only member of his party to vote no. The bill has not passed the Senate, where the 60-vote threshold typically required means Democratic support will likely be necessary, and Senate Majority Leader Thune has indicated he may bring a separate measure to the floor rather than take up the House bill directly.

West Virginia's flood response as of July 23 involved 310 National Guard personnel, 85 confirmed rescues by the Division of Natural Resources, and 19 helicopters assigned to missions following rainfall that reached 4.5 inches in 37 minutes in some locations. A statewide emergency declaration covering all 55 counties has been active since July 21, but a federal major-disaster declaration for the Buckhannon and Upshur County flooding had not been publicly confirmed as requested or granted. The casualty picture remained unresolved, with zero confirmed fatalities but an undetermined number of unaccounted-for residents as of the latest available update.

Central Command has now completed 12 consecutive nights of strikes against Iran, with the latest package targeting maritime capabilities, missile and drone storage, and air-defense assets. Separately, Trump has twice threatened to strike Pickaxe Mountain, an underground complex near Natanz, though the Institute for Science and International Security assessed through July 2026 that the site is not yet operational. Whether Iran has moved enriched uranium or centrifuges there remains unverified.

A unanimous three-judge Second Circuit panel ruled on July 21, 2026 that a Vermont federal district court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction to release Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi from ICE detention via habeas petition. The panel found that because Mahdawi's detention arguments were materially identical to his removal arguments, the Immigration and Nationality Act required those claims to proceed through the immigration system and then to a federal court of appeals. The ruling does not resolve whether the government violated the First Amendment by targeting Mahdawi for his speech; that question remains live in separate removal proceedings.