| 1. NEW YORK PRIDE MARCH ONE OF THE BIGGEST IN MOVEMENT’S HISTORY: Pride events took place around the world on Sunday, including New York’s Pride march, which was one of the biggest in the history of the gay-rights movement. The event, which also coincided with WorldPride and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, had 677 contingents and some 150,000 marchers. Other major Pride marches on Sunday took place in Chicago and San Francisco. Associated Press: “Marchers and onlookers took over much of midtown Manhattan with a procession that lasted hours and paid tribute to the uprising that began at the tavern when patrons resisted officers on June 28, 1969. The parade in New York and others like it across the nation concluded a month of events marking the anniversary. … Earlier in the day, a crowd of about 2,000 people gathered outside the Stonewall Inn. At the Queer Liberation March near the bar, some participants said the larger Pride parade had become too commercialized and heavily policed.” 2. TRUMP’S FOURTH OF JULY EVENT TO HAVE TICKETED V.I.P. SECTION: President Donald Trump’s “Salute to America” event on July 4 in Washington will have a V.I.P. section accessible only to friends, family, and people who have tickets distributed by the White House. According to the U.S. Secret Service, the section will span the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the midpoint of the reflecting pool. The planned area is the latest development in Trump’s new Fourth of July event, which still poses many questions surrounding logistics and content. Washington Post: “However, some details—including how the V.I.P. section will operate and how it will affect the access and sightline for the general viewing area—still are unclear. Local and federal officials on Friday held a news conference to address security issues and deliver updates on the plans still unfurling just days before usually large crowds descend on the Mall from across the region and the country. The ongoing shifts to what had been established security and crowd-control protocols have left officials in the District and some federal agencies confused about logistics as basic as what Metro stops and roads might be open or closed, and for what period, and how many fireworks displays will launch." 3. DEMOCRATIC DEBATE DRAWS RECORD RATINGS: The telecast of the Democratic presidential debate on Thursday drew a record 18.1 million viewers across NBC, MSNBC, and Telemundo. The debate, which featured 10 candidates including Senator Kamala Harris of California and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr, took place in Miami, seven months before the Iowa caucuses. The New York Times: “The ratings, released by Nielsen on Friday, beat the 15.5 million viewers who watched the previous record-holder for a Democratic debate, a meeting of five candidates on CNN in October 2015. The audience was also greater than the one for Wednesday’s round of the Miami debate, which featured fewer star politicians and was seen by roughly 15.3 million viewers. The numbers are a reminder of the power that prime-time television still holds to gather a national audience, even in an age of fractured and niche media platforms.” | 