News of the Day From Across the Nation, July 31

1 U.N. ambassador: The Senate confirmed Kelly Craft to become the next U.S. envoy to the United Nations despite Democratic concerns about her inexperience and potential conflicts of interest. Craft, a longtime GOP activist from Kentucky, is currently U.S. ambassador to Canada. She was confirmed 56-34, ending a more than seven-month vacancy in the key diplomatic position. She and her husband, Joe Craft, have donated millions of dollars to GOP candidates, and she will be first major political donor to occupy the top U.N. post for any administration. Joe Craft is the chief executive of Alliance Resource Partners, one of the largest coal producers in the country.

2 Epstein trial: The soonest Jeffrey Epstein will stand trial on sex trafficking charges is June 2020, though his defense lawyers are pushing for a later date. The 66-year-old financier was back in a New York court Wednesday for a pretrial hearing on the charges, which accuse him of having sex with girls as young as age 14. Unlike previous court appearances where Epstein was communicating with his lawyers and looking through papers, he appeared subdued with his hands folded in front of him throughout the brief hearing. There were no visible signs of any injuries after he was found on the floor of his cell last week with neck bruises.

3 Opioids lawsuit: Saying the opioid crisis requires bold measures, the state of Arizona filed an audacious lawsuit in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, asking the justices to order members of the Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma, to return what the state said were billions of dollars looted from the company. “We want the Supreme Court to make sure that we hold accountable those individuals who are responsible for this epidemic,” said Mark Brnovich, Arizona’s attorney...