Raising an 11-year-old daughter has apparently prepared Republican strategist Kellyanne Conway well for her new role as an adviser to Donald Trump. In an interview with The Washington Post published Wednesday, Conway, who is tasked with increasing Trump's popularity among female voters, admitted she handles Trump's refusal to be told what to do in much the same way she deals with her daughter's aversion to it:

She illustrates the point with a story about her 11-year-old daughter.

When Claudia emerged from her room on Memorial Day sporting turquoise, Conway asked her to change into blue. "She goes, 'Turquoise is blue.' And it is. But it wasn't a shade available to Betsy Ross when she stayed up through the night sewing the damn flag."

She chose not to argue with the preteen, which would have delayed their morning. Instead she laid out four Betsy Ross blue choices on her bed. "Minutes later," she says, "she came out in one of those shades."

Conway follows the same approach with the Republican presidential nominee. Never command. That could insult him. Always make suggestions, backed with information in 10-second soundbites: Betsy Ross lacked turquoise. Female voters want compassion. [The Washington Post]

Head over to The Washington Post for more on how Conway plans to transform Trump into a candidate more women will like. Becca Stanek

The Drug Enforcement Administration will not reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, despite two petitions asking for it be reconsidered. Instead, marijuana will remain categorized with the most restricted drugs, like heroin and LSD, ABC News reports.

"Marijuana remains a Schedule I controlled substance because it does not meet the criteria for currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, there is a lack of accepted safety for its use under medical supervision, and it has a high potential for abuse," the DEA said. By comparison, Ritalin, Adderall, and oxycodone are lower-level Schedule II drugs.

The DEA reviewed marijuana "to help facilitate scientific research and the development of cannabinoid-based medicines," but said they still need to do more research to determine the extent of the medical effects of the drug. Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Maine, and Nevada are considering the full legalization of marijuana on the ballot this November, with Arkansas and Florida voting on medical marijuana proposals. The drug is already legalized for recreational use in Alaska, Oregon, Washington State, the District of Columbia, and Colorado. Jeva Lange

Days after endorsing Donald Trump and Mike Pence, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) admitted Hillary Clinton wouldn't be an entirely terrible option for president. Though King, a notoriously conservative Tea Party member, said he and Clinton "don't agree on very much," he said that moments when he's "sat across the table with Hillary Clinton eye-to-eye" have made him confident they could work together despite their partisan differences. "[W]hen you're working outside of staff and outside of the press she is somebody I can work with," said King, who represents what the Des Moines Register describes as Iowa's "most heavily conservative northwest corner."

However, King was quick to clarify his comments about Clinton didn't mean he would vote for her. King is still on the Trump Train. Becca Stanek

As summer dwindles to its final days, President Obama gave everyone a peek at what he's been listening to through the Washington, D.C. heat and humidity. On Thursday, he tweeted out his summer playlist, which came in two parts: daytime and nighttime.

For daytime, POTUS has been enjoying some throwbacks, like the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations," Prince's "U Got The Look," and Aretha Franklin's "Rock Steady," balanced out with some newer tracks by Leon Bridges, Courtney Barnett, and Jay Z. When the sun goes down, Obama has been putting on Chance the Rapper, D'Angelo, Mary J. Blige, and Fiona Apple.

Take a look at the full playlists below. Becca Stanek

Since all six trials in connection to the 2015 death of Baltimore's Freddie Gray ended in mistrial, acquittal, or dropped charges, the officers involved will now return work in Baltimore's police force, pending administrative review.

The four who were charged with felonies will also receive tens of thousands of dollars in back pay for the time they were suspended from work while under investigation. The most money — nearly $127,000 — will go to Lt. Brian Rice, the highest-ranking officer tied to Gray's death, to cover the salary he would have earned had he been working for the 13 months he was suspended.

The payment was authorized by Baltimore's Board of Estimates, which has already approved $87,705 in back pay for Caesar Goodson Jr., the officer who was driving the van in which Gray sustained spinal cord injuries leading to his death. The panel is expected to likewise allot back pay to the other two officers who faced felony charges. Bonnie Kristian

Reports suggest the NFL is after the British songstress Adele to perform in the Super Bowl LI halftime show in February, following her wildly successful year. "There is nobody bigger in the world than Adele right now and organizers are doing absolutely everything they can to try to persuade her to sign up," an NFL insider allegedly told The Sun. "She's sold out every date on her tour, everyone wants a piece of her and they know they can bank on her bringing in the viewers."

However, that same insider said, the NFL is reportedly having a tough time getting Adele to sign on because of anxiety over performing in front of big crowds. "It's Adele's nerves that are the issue — it hasn't been an easy sell," the insider reportedly said.

Neither Adele nor the NFL has confirmed whether there's any truth to the rumors, or if we're all just chasing pavements. Becca Stanek

How many ground troops has the United States deployed against the Islamic State? No one knows, because the Pentagon won't say.

What the Department of Defense will share is the "force management level," which counts only the permanent troop deployments in Iraq and Syria. That tally comes to around 4,000 soldiers, but it's a serious undercounting of the total anti-ISIS forces the U.S. has on the ground in the Mideast, as temporary deployments are extremely common thanks to troop caps set by the White House.

In response to repeated media requests for a full count, the Pentagon has been silent, telling The Hill it simply will not "release those numbers due to the fluid nature of their presence; those numbers fluctuate on a daily basis."

Beyond temporary deployments, that variation also includes the presence of U.S. contractors — at least 1,600 of them in Iraq alone — who participate in the fight against ISIS but aren't themselves enlisted. All told, the number of Americans fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria could be north of 10,000. A likewise murky number of Americans are also on the ground in Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, and now Libya. Bonnie Kristian

It may be time to say goodbye to your local Macy's. As sales continue to sag, Macy's Inc. announced Thursday that it's planning to close 100 of its department stores, adding to another 40 store closures announced earlier this year. Macy's sales have declined six quarters in a row.

Macy's has yet to announce which store locations will be closing, but CNNMoney reported it will be stores that have "suffered a steady decline in sales and profitability." Most of the closures are slated for early next year, Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren said.

Following the announcement Thursday morning, Macy's shares jumped more than 14 percent in early trading. Becca Stanek