Meanwhile

 Axios - Land O'Lakes is churning out packages of "pre-portioned" half-tablespoon domes of butter for everyday use, Axios Twin Cities co-author Torey Van Oot reports.

• Bite-size butter spheresThe company says are a centerpiece of restaurant bread baskets. But Land O'Lakes says it's the first to sell the product directly to consumers.

The product is tailored to consumers who picked up cooking during the pandemic. So if you want the easiest possible way to meter out a half tablespoon of butter, this ball's for you.

Maine has proudly allowed salty, naughty vanity-plate language, including body parts and sex acts.Two dozen current plates spell out the F-word.The "Vacationland" free-for-all is supposed to end when a Vanity Plate Review Committee revs up later this year, The Wall Street Journal reports. A state draft rule "regarding obscene license plates" says staff "will recall or reject plates which":

• "Encourage violence or that may result in an act of violence or other unlawful activity because of the content of the language or configuration of letters and numbers."
• "Connote genitalia or relate to sexual acts."
• "Contain language or a configuration of characters that include forms of slang terms, abbreviations, phonetic spellings, or mirror images of a word or term otherwise prohibited by this section, even if expressed in a language other than English."

 Several current Maine plates, when seen in a rearview mirror, describe sex acts, The Journal notes."For help with arcane lingo, the committee will consult the Urban Dictionary."

US automakers report nearly 400 crashes involving partial or fully automated driving systems between July and May; Tesla accounted for 273 crashes out of an estimated 830,000 such vehicles on the road (More)

Total US home equity increased 20% in the first quarter of 2022 to a record $27.8T (More) 

Guardian - When it comes to extreme heat, Phoenix, Arizona, is shattering just about every record. Temperatures last week exceeded 110F on four days straight, breaking two daily records. Nighttime temperature never fell below 80F. On many days, the sidewalks are hot enough to burn dogs’ paws. 

An online corruption hearing into Peruvian president Pedro Castillo was interrupted on Wednesday by a dancing stripper.