These are the headlines you Need2Know:
* **Extreme Weather Continues Nationwide:**
As torrential rains drench the East, excessive heat engulfs the West. Dangerous wildfires have forced officials to close Yosemite Park, which will remain shuttered until at least Sunday. More on SoCal weather from the [LA Times](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-socal-heat-wave-20180724-story.html).
* **Another Bailout?**
As trade tensions escalate, farmers may get some relief. The Trump administration announced a new aid package Tuesday to ease damages caused by the latest trade policies. Through the plan, affected farmers of crops like soybeans, cotton, and dairy would be issued a collective $12 billion in aid. Reuters with [the full story](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-farmers/trump-to-give-farmers-billions-in-aid-politico-idUSKBN1KE1YE).
* **Trump-Cohen Recordings Released:**
CNN obtained and released on Tuesday the much-discussed secret recordings of Donald Trump and former attorney Michael Cohen. In the tapes, recorded in 2016, the pair addresses Trump’s payoff of an ex-Playboy model who claimed she had an affair with the president. More at [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/07/24/cohen-trump-audio-recording-cuomo-vpx.cnn).
* **Demi Lovato Reportedly in Stable Condition:**
Treated with the opioid suppresant-Narcan after an overdose Tuesday, the singer, flanked by friends and family, is stable. Many celebrities took to Twitter to wish Lovato the best in her battle with sobriety. In the past, Lovato has been open about her struggle with drugs and alcohol. People [with more](https://people.com/music/demi-lovato-overdose-hospitalized-stable/).
Cheddar's Jill Wagner gets into the latest.
Subscribe to the Need2Know newsletter [here](https://theneed2know.com).
Lawmakers probing the cause of last month’s deadly Maui wildfire did not get many answers during Thursday's congressional hearing on the role the electrical grid played in the disaster.
President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that federal disaster assistance is available for Louisiana, which is working to slow a mass inflow of salt water creeping up the Mississippi River and threatening drinking water supplies in the southern part of the state.
A new law in California will raise the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 per hour next year, an acknowledgment from the state's Democratic leaders that most of the often overlooked workforce are the primary earners for their low-income households.
From Sunday, workers at the main United States base in Antarctica will no longer be able to walk into a bar and order a beer, after the U.S. federal agency that oversees the research program decided to stop serving alcohol.
House Republicans launched a formal impeachment hearing Thursday against President Joe Biden, promising to “provide accountability” as they probe the family finances and business dealings of his son Hunter and make their case to the public, colleagues and a skeptical Senate.
The FBI and other government agencies should be required to get court approval before reviewing the communications of U.S. citizens collected through a secretive foreign surveillance program, a sharply divided privacy oversight board recommended on Thursday.
The federal government is just days away from a shutdown that will disrupt many services, squeeze workers and roil politics as Republicans in the House, fueled by hard-right demands, force a confrontation over federal spending.
The Biden administration is finalizing a new rule that would cut federal funding for colleges that leave graduates with low pay and high debt after graduating.
The Biden administration is finalizing a new rule that would cut federal funding for colleges that leave graduates with low pay and high debt after graduating.
