A spectacular closing ceremony hands the Olympic Games over to Los Angeles. The U.S. rushes firepower to the Middle East. And a false JD Vance rumor sparks a misinformation row. 

Here’s what to know today.

A glorious farewell to Paris Olympics

Au revoir to the Paris Games.

Au revoir to the Paris Games.

The Games culminated in a spectacular closing ceremony. More than 10,000 athletes paraded through the Stade de France, with gold medalists Katie Ledecky and Nick Mead representing Team USA as its flag bearers. Tom Cruise accepted the handover of the Olympic flag to Los Angeles with true Hollywood panache, rappelling down into the stadium and speeding away on a motorcycle.

The commanding performances and stunning victories helped turn this year’s Games into a worldwide cultural phenomenon, satisfying a hunger for escapism and enthusiasm after the pandemic years. Ledecky lapped up four medals, becoming the most decorated American woman in Olympic history. Simone Biles, Suni Lee and the rest of the U.S. women’s gymnastics squad dazzled on their “redemption tour.” Sha’Carri Richardson led the U.S. women to Olympic relay gold. Noah Lyles took on a new title after winning the men’s 100-meter: fastest man in the world.

The viewership numbers were robust and the internet was flooded with memes. Social media lit up with images of “Pommel Horse Guy” Stephen Nedoroscik of the U.S. men’s gymnastics team and too-cool-for-school Turkish pistol shooter Yusuf Dikeç.

The lavish ceremony provided a fitting end to more than two weeks of competition boasting extraordinary feats of strength and resilience — particularly for Team USA, which collected a staggering 125 medals, including 40 golds.

Read more:

🥇 The U.S. and China each won 40 gold medals in the first Summer Games draw in Olympic history.

🎶 Californian artists H.E.R., the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish and Snoop Dogg performed as a nod to the next host city.

🥉 Gymnast Jordan Chiles lost her bronze medal because an appeal was filed 4 seconds too late. The case is a rare instance of an athlete having to return a medal for reasons other than a doping violation.

💪 If American women were their own nation, they would have won the third-most medals, only behind the U.S. and China — and that would be true even without Chiles’ bronze.

▶️ Watch top highlights

Democrats joke about a false JD Vance rumor after years of criticizing Trump for misinformation 

After years of condemning former President Donald Trump for spreading disinformation and conspiracy theories, Democrats are now poking fun at his running mate using a vulgar falsehood.

The rumor, first posted on X last month, involves a fake passage about a sex act and a couch supposedly in Sen. JD Vance’s 2016 book, “Hillbilly Elegy.” The lie spread like wildfire, spawning memes, even as the original joke’s author clarified that it wasn’t real and later made his account private. News outlets published fact-checks of the claim.

The fervor reached a peak in Philadelphia, the day Vice President Kamala Harris named Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate. Walz told an arena filled with thousands of excited supporters: “I got to tell you, I can’t wait to debate [Vance]. That is if — if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up.” Republicans online were quick to chastise Walz for referring to the false story, sparking an argument over the fuzzy line between humor and misinformation.

Read more on the election: 

JD Vance defended his 2021 comments about allocating more votes to people with children, saying they were a “thought experiment.”
President Joe Biden, former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have been confirmed as speakers at the Democratic National Convention.
Kamala Harris pledged to eliminate taxes on tipped wages for service workers, matching a proposal from former President Donald Trump.

After Dobbs decision, more women are managing their own abortions

As more states implement abortion restrictions, the number of women undergoing self-managed abortions is rising, according to a new study from the research group Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health at the University of California, San Francisco. Researchers surveyed 7,000 women ages 15 to 49 and found that in the year before the Dobbs decision, 2.4% reported self-managing abortions. In the year after Dobbs, that percentage increased to 3.4%, according to the report published recently in JAMA Network Open.

Dr. Nisha Verma, a Georgia OB-GYN and complex family planning specialist, said some women self-manage because they prefer privacy and confidentiality or have had negative experiences with the health care system. “I see every day in my patients the utter relief when I am able to provide them with the abortion care they need, and I also see the desolation in the eyes of those for whom I am not able to provide care,” Verma said.

Read the full story here.

U.S. rushes firepower to the Middle East as Israel braces for retaliation from Iran

The United States is sending a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and hastening the arrival of an aircraft carrier strike group, as Israel braces for retaliatory attacks from Iran and its proxies after the assassination of senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah.

The Pentagon confirmed late last night that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had ordered the dispatch of the USS Georgia guided missile submarine to the region, as well as the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group. The orders, and the rare step to publicly announce the deployment of a submarine, came as Austin reaffirmed Washington’s “commitment to take every possible step to defend” Israel.

The moves came amid mounting fears that Iran might soon respond to the assassination of Hamas’ political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in his home in Tehran last month. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed “severe punishment” for the assassination, which saw Yahya Sinwar, the alleged mastermind of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, named as the group’s new political leader.

A reckoning is coming for Florida’s condo owners as buildings face millions in repairs

Across Florida, aging condo buildings are facing rising expenses and millions of dollars in structural repairs to comply with new regulations following the collapse of the Champlain Towers condominium, which killed 98 people in 2021. In Florida, like across the country, the soaring cost of housing has become a major pressure point on household finances. Home prices in Florida have increased 67% since 2020 and homeowners insurance was up 42% last year.

While new building requirements are intended to prevent a similar tragedy, the costs are pushing some condo owners to the brink financially and jeopardizing one of the last bastions of relatively affordable housing along Florida’s coastline.

Politics in Brief

Trump campaign: Former President Donald Trump’s campaign has said it was hacked by an Iranian group.

Music debacle: Céline Dion’s management team and record label said the use of her song “My Heart Will Go On” at a Donald Trump campaign rally in Montana on Friday was “unauthorized.”

Abortion rights: JD Vance says former President Donald Trump wouldn’t ban abortion pill days after Trump indicated he would be open to it.

Staff Pick: How it feels to lose a home to fire twice in six years

FoFour families in California narrowly escaped the Camp Fire in 2018, lost their homes and were forced to rebuild their lives. Now, six years later, they’re going through loss and heartbreak again after the Park Fire roared through areas not far from Paradise. The families’ stories show how risky it can be to make a life in fire-prone parts of California. “We had our peace. We had our spot,” said Michael Daneau, whose family resettled in nearby Cohasset in 2019. “It’s gone once again.”

— Evan Bush, science reporter

In Case You Missed It

A large desert tortoise named “Stitch,” was rescued from an Arizona highway after escaping from a ostrich ranch three miles away.
Ryan Reynolds’ “Deadpool & Wolverine” remained the top movie in U.S. theaters for the third straight week, with $54.2 million in ticket sales.
An Atlantic front is forming into a tropical storm that is heading toward the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Two people were killed and one person was injured in an explosion at a house in Bel Air, Maryland.
The New York apartment building of Columbia University’s chief operating officer was vandalized with red paint and crickets, police said.

NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified

A new school year is upon us, and NBC Select has a few suggestions for what to buy. The best school supplies on Amazon, including notebooks, backpacks, lap desks and more. A new electric scooter, for those who are looking for a quick way to move around town. One NBC Select editor road tested one, and he rounded up other top-rated, safety-certified models.

Sign up to The Selection newsletter for hands-on product reviews, expert shopping tips and a look at the best deals and sales each week.

Thanks for reading the Morning Rundown. Today’s newsletter was curated for you by Elizabeth Both.