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☆ How Technology Has Outpaced the Law
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( German Lopez | More About German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It was reasonable to expect the number of abortions in the U.S. to decline. The dynamic encapsulates a broader trend: The combination of a relatively new technology (the web) and an old one (the mail) has made it easier for Americans to bypass laws that they don’t like. Gun owners assemble untraceable firearms, known as ghost guns, from parts ordered online or made with 3-D printers, another relatively new technology. Today’s newsletter will cover some of the ways that technology has outpaced the law. The number of ghost guns seized at crime scenes increased more than tenfold from 2016 to 2021.

Persons: Roe, Fentanyl’s Organizations: U.S . Gun Locations: Florida, U.S, China, India

☆ The Rise of Sports Betting
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-05 | by ( German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

In the coming days, the country’s best men’s and women’s college basketball teams will clash in the N.C.A.A. For fans, these are some of the biggest events of the year — a chance to see the best young athletes in the highest-stakes games. They are also some of the most lucrative events for sports betting apps. Six years ago, sports betting was illegal under federal law. Commercial sports betting revenue has increased 12-fold since 2019, as this chart by my colleague Ashley Wu shows:

Persons: Ashley Wu Organizations: American Gaming Association

☆ America Pulls Back from Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

For two years, Ukraine has relied on American weapons to fight Russian invaders. It has bombarded Russian lines with U.S. artillery, destroyed tanks with Javelin missiles and stopped aerial attacks with Patriot launchers. House Republicans have blocked additional aid to Ukraine, and the Biden administration cannot send many more weapons. (The $300 million package announced this week will likely help Ukraine for only a few weeks.) Intelligence officials warned Congress this week that Ukraine’s losses signal what is to come from an undersupplied war effort.

Persons: Biden Organizations: Javelin, Patriot, House Republicans, . Intelligence Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Avdiivka, Ukrainian

San Francisco is in the middle of a drug crisis. How did San Francisco get to this point? But San Francisco’s drug crisis has outpaced the country’s. As of last year, its rate was more than double the national average, and San Francisco was No. The country’s overdose crisis worsened over the past decade as fentanyl spread, but San Francisco’s worsened much more quickly.

Persons: Francisco’s Locations: San Francisco, Francisco

☆ San Francisco’s “Pro-Drug Culture”
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Culture can sound like an abstract concept, but it matters for drug policy. In San Francisco and other liberal cities, the opposite shift has happened with hard drug use. When I asked people living on the streets why they are in San Francisco, the most common response was that they knew they could avoid the legal and social penalties that often follow addiction. Some came from as close as Oakland, believing that San Francisco was more permissive. As Keith Humphreys, a drug policy expert at Stanford University, told me, San Francisco “is on the extreme of a pro-drug culture.”

Persons: Keith Humphreys, San Francisco “, ” Organizations: Stanford University Locations: Francisco, San Francisco, Oakland

☆ The End of Economic Pessimism?
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

By many measures, the U.S. economy is strong right now. But many Americans are not feeling it, and say the economy is in bad shape. The persistent pessimism has baffled many economists. American confidence in the economy has picked up in recent months, surveys show. Why have Americans resisted the good economic news?

Persons: Biden’s Locations: U.S

☆ Is Shoplifting Really Surging?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Target and other retail chains have warned of widespread theft. But the increase in shoplifting appears to be limited to a few cities, rather than being truly national. In most of the country, retail theft has been lower this year than it was a few years ago, according to police data. There are some exceptions, particularly New York City, where shoplifting has spiked. But outside New York, shoplifting incidents in major cities have fallen 7 percent since 2019, before the Covid pandemic.

Locations: U.S, New York City, New York

☆ America’s Other Drug Problem
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( German Lopez | More About German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When political leaders talk about America’s current drug crisis, they are typically referring to opioids like painkillers, heroin and fentanyl. And when they have passed laws to deal with the problem in the past decade, those policies have centered on opioids. They have, for example, focused on boosting access to medications that treat only opioid addiction or reverse only opioid overdoses. These types of problems are why experts have long urged policymakers to take a comprehensive approach to drug addiction. More support for opioid addiction medications is important, but so is funding underused treatments that address meth and cocaine addiction (such as paying people to stop using drugs).

Persons: Jan Hoffman, Jan, dumpsters

☆ A Drop in American Gun Violence
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( German Lopez | More About German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The smaller thingsThe national conversation about gun violence focuses on big federal policy ideas. Activists and pundits often speak about the need for a federal law enacting universal background checks or banning assault weapons. “But the idea is these kinds of regulations accumulate.”After all, America’s gun problem is rooted in easy access to firearms. But when these problems turn violent, quick access to guns makes that violence much more likely to become lethal. Anything that adds barriers to picking up a firearm in such moments reduces deaths, whether it’s incremental state policies or broader federal laws.

Persons: Sharkey, Kang, “, ” Sharkey Locations: Canada, Europe, Japan, U.S, America

A writers’ strike has frozen Hollywood for months. Writers and studios have reached a tentative deal, the Writers Guild of America announced yesterday. The tentative deal includes most of what the writers sought. In the coming days, union members will vote on whether to approve the agreement. “We can say, with great pride, that this deal is exceptional — with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership,” the W.G.A.

Organizations: Studios, Writers Guild of America

☆ What’s Next for Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( German Lopez | More About German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The types of routs that let Ukraine retake thousands of square miles in the northeast last year are rare. Fighting frequently involves chipping away at an enemy, like Ukraine’s retaking of a small but strategic village in the east yesterday. It was true most famously during the trench warfare of World War I but also in World War II, the Korean War and the U.S. Civil War. Ukraine is fighting one of the world’s strongest militaries. If Ukraine could succeed in forcing Russia to retreat in a significant way, it was always more likely to take years than months.

Persons: ”, George Barros, “ It’s Organizations: U.S ., Institute for Locations: Ukraine, U.S . Civil, U.S, Russia

☆ Treating Overdoses Over the Counter
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( German Lopez | More About German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The F.D.A.’s approval of Narcan, a nasal spray, in 2015 made naloxone easier to administer. So police officers and other emergency responders started to carry it to reverse overdoses they would have been powerless to stop before. But public health advocates have called for many more Americans to carry naloxone to try to stop overdoses. Greater availability of the medication is one of the most effective interventions against the drug crisis, experts have said. “Everyone should be thinking about putting this into their first aid kit,” Dr. Kevin Ban, Walgreens’s chief medical officer, told CNN.

Persons: ’, Dr, Kevin Ban, “ It’s Organizations: The Times, CNN

After the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade last year, it looked like the number of abortions would soon plummet across the country. The number of legal abortions has held steady, if not increased, nationwide since 2020, our colleagues Amy Schoenfeld Walker and Allison McCann reported today. The increase in use of those options has offset the decrease in abortions resulting from new state bans, Amy and Allison found. As you can see, states bordering those with bans largely saw increases in the number of abortions in the first half of 2023 compared with the same period in 2020. In Illinois, for example, estimated abortions rose 69 percent.

Persons: Roe, Wade, Amy Schoenfeld Walker, Allison McCann, Amy, Allison Organizations: Guttmacher Institute Locations: In Illinois

☆ Crime Is Nonpartisan
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( German Lopez | More About German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

You can find examples of blue states and cities doing worse than Florida, and of other red states and cities doing better. Looking at all the data, it is hard to make much of any connection between political partisanship and crime. To put it another way, prominent Republicans are misrepresenting the country’s crime problem. Big cities generally have higher crime rates than rural and suburban areas, thanks to their density and other factors. Democrats run most big cities because urban areas tend to contain more liberal voters.

Persons: you’ll, Fort Worth and Oklahoma City — Organizations: Republican, Democratic, Fort Worth and Oklahoma City, Seattle —, Democrats, Republicans Locations: Florida, Jacksonville, Fort Worth and Oklahoma, New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Chicago

☆ Finding Climate Havens
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( German Lopez | More About German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The weather extremes are enough to drive some people to pick up their lives and look for more climate-friendly places to live. Jesse Keenan, a climate adaptation expert at Tulane University living in low-lying New Orleans, is among them. “I tell my students this: ‘Within your lifetime, Tulane will no longer be a university. Your alma mater will relocate or disappear because of where it is.’”Are there places that are better suited to deal with climate change? Still, Americans are not moving to climate-friendly places today.

Persons: Jesse Keenan, ”, “, it’s Organizations: Tulane University, Tulane Locations: Hawaii, California, New Orleans, Great, U.S, Canada, Russia, Scandinavia, Phoenix

☆ China’s Two Climate Directions
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( German Lopez | More About German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

And it has pursued, and surpassed, aggressive goals: China vowed to double its capacity of wind and solar power by 2030. China’s investments suggest it is enthusiastic about clean energy. So China continues using fossil fuels to meet its needs. As clean energy becomes cheaper and more competitive, China could replace fossil fuels and over time reduce how much it pollutes. That is the optimistic scenario, and China’s quick embrace of clean energy suggests such a future is increasingly plausible.

Persons: ” David Locations: China, U.S

☆ Ohio’s One-Issue Election
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( German Lopez | More About German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A few months later, the state’s legislature put a measure on the August ballot anyway, one that would make it harder to pass constitutional amendments. Republicans, who control the legislature, are trying to block a potential victory for abortion rights. If the measure passes, it could pre-empt a November vote on whether to enshrine abortion rights in Ohio’s Constitution. Today’s initiative would raise the threshold for approving constitutional amendments from a simple majority to 60 percent of the vote. Supporters have been clear that the measure is meant to make it harder for November’s abortion rights amendment to pass.

Persons: Frank LaRose, Republican who’s, “, ” Organizations: Republicans, Republican, U.S . Senate Locations: Ohio, Ohio’s Constitution

☆ From Portugal to Portland
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( German Lopez | More About German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

When Oregon was getting ready to vote on whether to decriminalize all drugs in 2020, I was covering the story for Vox. During my interviews with the leaders of the decriminalization campaign, they often cited Portugal. Even as Portugal ended prison time for drug possession, it created a unique system that pushed people to stop using drugs — sometimes with the continued threat of penalties, like the revocation of a person’s professional license. Oregon didn’t plan to enact similarly tough penalties, and advocates for decriminalization did not have a clear explanation for why their law would work as well as Portugal’s. Our conversations left me wondering whether Oregon could repeat Portugal’s successes if the decriminalization initiative passed.

Persons: Vox Locations: Oregon, Portugal

The two previous indictments of Donald Trump focused on his personal conduct, one involving a sex scandal and the other his handling of classified documents. Yesterday’s indictment is different. It involves arguably the most central issue in a democracy: an attempt to subvert an American election. “At the core of the United States of America vs. Donald J. Trump is no less than the viability of the system constructed” by the founders, our colleague Peter Baker, The Times’s chief White House correspondent, wrote. The chargesThe new indictment lays out a scheme that, by now, is widely known: Trump falsely claimed the 2020 election results were rigged and tried to rally federal officials, state lawmakers and his supporters, including rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to overturn his loss to President Biden.

Persons: Donald Trump, Donald J, Trump, Peter Baker, Biden Organizations: “, White House, U.S, Capitol Locations: United States, America

☆ More Charges Against Trump
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( German Lopez | More About German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Donald Trump is facing more criminal charges in a federal case accusing him of mishandling classified documents. The new allegations are in a revised indictment from the special counsel’s office released last night. It added three charges: attempting to “alter, destroy, mutilate, or conceal evidence”; asking someone else to do so; and a new count under the Espionage Act. Prosecutors said that Trump asked the property manager of Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home, to have surveillance camera footage deleted. He told a Mar-a-Lago information technology expert that “‘the boss’ wanted the server deleted,” according to the revised indictment.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, Carlos De Oliveira, ’, De Oliveira, ” Organizations: Prosecutors, Mar Locations: Florida

☆ Rethinking the Circus
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-23 | by ( German Lopez | More About German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The idea of Cirque du Soleil might invite images of extravagant live shows with clowns, acrobats and fire breathers. Cirque du Soleil came out of the pandemic in rough shape. “Cirque is a funny example of an attempt at cultural reinvention because I don’t even think of circuses as trying to be relevant,” Emma told me. “They were asking the question, ‘Why isn’t Gen Z interested in the circus?’ That almost feels rhetorical. Because they were talking about the circus instead of, say, banking, people dropped phrases like, “I think there’s a real opportunity to elevate the art of clowning” and “Don’t focus on the Cirque, focus on the Soleil.”

Persons: Soleil, Emma Goldberg, ” Emma, “, Gen Z, ”

☆ Big Business Gets Bigger
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( German Lopez | More About German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Courts push backThe Biden administration released guidelines this week that seek to toughen antitrust law, which restricts anticompetitive practices. Under Khan, the F.T.C. has also pushed courts to effectively lower the burden of proof required to show that a merger is anticompetitive. “But it often seems that courts will not let plaintiffs win an antitrust case based on circumstantial evidence.”The F.T.C. The last major shift in antitrust law, in the 1970s, came after decades of work by conservatives to push the law and courts in their direction.

Persons: Biden, Khan, ”, Douglas Melamed, ’ Organizations: Stanford Law School, Microsoft, Activision Locations: Europe

☆ A Looming Indictment
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( German Lopez | More About German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

With a third indictment of Donald Trump now seeming quite likely — this one involving his attempts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election — today’s newsletter will cover three big questions about the case. One, what would be the specifics of such an indictment? Two, would an indictment include significant new evidence, or focus on information that’s already known? Such a letter is typically a sign of an imminent indictment, my colleague Charlie Savage wrote. (Hours after Trump revealed the letter, Michigan authorities charged 16 people in the fake elector scheme.)

Persons: Donald Trump, —, Trump, Charlie Savage, Congress’s Locations: Michigan

☆ Compounding Disasters
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( German Lopez | More About German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Wildfire smoke recently blanketed the Midwest and Northeast — at times giving U.S. cities the worst air quality in the world. These events show one danger of global warming: Simultaneous climate disasters can play off one another, further worsening extreme weather and straining limited resources. Consider some examples:For years, the U.S. and Australia shared firefighting resources because their fire seasons do not typically overlap. In both cases, the two conditions, exacerbated by climate change, compounded each other to cause more disasters. States often support each other during natural disasters by sending equipment or opening residents’ homes to people who have been displaced.

Persons: York can’t Locations: Arizona , Texas, Florida, New York, Vermont, Midwest, Northeast, U.S, Australia, California, Western U.S, Pakistan, York, North Carolina , Michigan, Connecticut

☆ Ukraine’s Struggles
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( German Lopez | More About German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

If Ukrainian forces then break through, the rest of the Russian lines could panic and fall apart, allowing Ukraine to take back a lot more territory. “The big push could still come.”This scenario could look similar to Ukraine’s recapture of the southern city of Kherson last year. Ukraine spent months in the summer using smaller strikes to wear down Russian forces and exhaust their supplies around the city. Ukrainian forces moved into Kherson starting in late August, and Russia announced its retreat in November. It seemed like a sudden turn of events at the time, but it came after months of grinding work by Ukraine.

Persons: Putin, ”, Julian Barnes Organizations: Times Locations: Ukraine, Kherson, Ukrainian, Russia

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