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Good morning, Broadsheet readers! The woman behind “Cat Person” nabbed a seven-figure contract, Glenn Thrush will stay on at The New York Times, and two women are joining the defamation suit against Bill O’Reilly. Happy Solstice!

EVERYONE'S TALKING

• Thrush stays. The New York Times is under fire (at least on my social feeds) for its decision to retain star reporter Glenn Thrush, who has been accused of unwanted touching and kissing by four women. The paper says Thrush will change beats—he previously covered the White House—and that he is "undergoing counseling and substance abuse rehabilitation on his own and that he would receive training 'to improve his workplace conduct.'" Not surprisingly, many observers are calling out the move by the Times—which has been at the forefront of the current wave of sexual harassment reporting that has sparked numerous firings elsewhere—as hypocritical. The New York Times

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

• No cash for creeps. Some investors are choosing not to fund the hot startup HQ, a live trivia app, specifically citing reports that one of its founders, Colin Kroll, exhibited "creepy" behavior towards women. As Fortune's David Z. Morris puts it, the report is "one of the most concrete indications yet that this year’s stirring backlash against sexual harassment could have far-reaching impacts in the workplace." Fortune

• Sadler, out. Catt Sadler, the host of E! News, has left her job, after learning that her male co-host Jason Kennedy earned what she describes as “close to double” her salary for several years. Sadler’s requests to renegotiate her salary were rebuffed by the network. "I’ve sacrificed time away from my family and I have dedicated my entire career to this network," she said. "And when you learn something like that, it makes you feel very small and underappreciated and undervalued. It’s heartbreaking.” Fortune

• An Olympic secret. Olympic gold medalist McKayla Maroney signed a confidential $1.25 million settlement agreement with USA Gymnastics in 2016 over her abuse by the national team’s longtime doctor, Larry Nassar. This year, Nassar pleaded guilty to federal child-pornography charges and was sentenced to 60 years in prison. He also pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual abuse charges. It remains unknown if USA Gymnastics paid settlements to any of Nassar's other victims. WSJ

• More Fox fallout. Andrea Mackris and Rebecca Gomez Diamond, both of whom reached sexual harassment settlements with Bill O’Reilly, have joined a defamation lawsuit against the former host and Fox News on Wednesday, asserting that statements that he and the network made "depicted them as liars, political operatives and extortionists." They joined a lawsuit filed earlier this month by former Fox News employee Rachel Witlieb Bernstein. New York Times

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

• Close the loophole. This opinion piece from The New York Times editorial board—part of a larger series on gun violence that also looks at the horrific statistics on the murder of women in the U.S.—focuses on the "boyfriend loophole," something that may be familiar to regular Broadsheet readers. It refers to the technicality that lets unmarried partners escape the gun ownership restrictions that are imposed on those who commit domestic violence. Congress now has the opportunity to help close that loophole using a bill introduced by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI). Will it act to protect American women? New York Times

• Inside Eight. Code Eight, the new Walmart subsidiary run by Rent the Runway co-founder Jennifer Fleiss, is testing a personal shopping service that allows customers to get product recommendations and make purchases using text messaging. Recode

• Seven lives? Kristen Roupenian, whose debut story in The New Yorker, "Cat Person," went uber-viral this month, has reportedly received a seven-figure book deal. New York Times

• Coffee breakthrough. Women do 70% of the work in getting coffee to market—but often miss out on the profits they help create. That's one reason why City Girl Coffee Company, run by Alyza Bohbot, gets its beans from women-run farms and cooperatives and donates 5% of its profits to organizations that support women in the coffee industry. New York Times

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