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☆ 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

☆ The End of Affirmative Action
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The current Supreme Court has been out of step with public opinion in some of its highest-profile rulings, including on abortion and environmental protection. Yesterday’s ruling restricting race-based affirmative action at colleges and universities was different. Even in liberal California, the public has voted twice to prohibit affirmative action. The public’s views could make it difficult for Democrats to rally Americans in support of affirmative action as they have with abortion rights since the court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. Still, Democrats quickly condemned the affirmative action ruling.

Persons: Roe, Wade, Biden Locations: California

☆ On Ukraine’s Front Lines
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The war slogs on in the meantime: Russian soldiers kill or wound as many as thousands of Ukrainian troops a week, adding to the invasion’s toll. My colleagues Yousur Al-Hlou, Masha Froliak and Ben Laffin published a striking video today from the front lines, following Ukrainian combat medics. I urge you to watch the video, which changed how I look at the sacrifice Ukrainians have been forced to make. I spoke to Yousur and Masha about their experience following these medics for a week. German: What is the mood among Ukrainian medics, more than a year into the war?

Persons: Wagner, group’s, Yousur Al, Hlou, Masha Froliak, Ben Laffin, Yousur, Masha, ” Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Ukrainian

☆ Conservative Court, Moderate Decision
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Yesterday, the Supreme Court took a step in a high-profile case to preserve democratic checks and balances. The court ruled that state legislatures do not have unchecked power over elections and that other government officials can question and overturn their decisions. The Constitution, Roberts wrote, “does not exempt state legislatures from the ordinary constraints imposed by state law.”Why does the ruling matter? Because it makes it more difficult for partisan state legislatures to flout the law or norms to keep their party in power, at a time when most legislatures have one-party supermajorities. Under the Supreme Court ruling, other officials can step in if they feel state lawmakers went too far in rewriting election law.

Persons: Moore, Harper, John Roberts, Roberts, “ Locations: North Carolina

☆ 115 Degrees Fahrenheit
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Today, New Orleans will reach 113 degrees in the heat index. And those are only a few of the places that will experience dangerous heat this week. About 45 million people — or 14 percent of the U.S. population — live in areas that are expected to reach dangerous temperatures in the coming days. Today and tomorrow, the heat will be concentrated in Texas, Louisiana and parts of the South. By the end of the week, it is expected to spread in the South and to the West, as these maps show:

Persons: Jackson Organizations: Houston Locations: New Orleans, Mobile, Ala, Miss, U.S, Texas , Louisiana

☆ Murders, on the Decline
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

And with less confidence in the justice system, some Americans resort instead to violence to resolve conflicts. Between 2014 and 2016, murders also increased after widely publicized police killings of Black men in Ferguson, Mo. This year, Memphis is among a minority of big cities where murders have increased — and Memphis is also where officers were charged in the beating and killing of Tyre Nichols in January. Crime is an incredibly complicated topic, involving personal disputes, the economy, social services, the political system and more. A few decades, much less a couple of years, is typically too little time to explain a trend definitively.

Persons: Tyre Nichols, Jeff Asher Organizations: Baltimore Banner Locations: Ferguson, Mo, Baltimore, Memphis

☆ Permission to Build
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

So in 2010, developers started planning a large power-line project connecting Kansas with Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. They wanted to move the clean energy generated in Kansas, from both wind turbines and solar panels, to states with much bigger populations. Thirteen years later, however, full construction has not yet started on the project, known as the Grain Belt Express. Because in addition to federal permission, the project needs approval from every local and state jurisdiction it passes through. That decentralization makes it hard to coordinate the large, interstate projects needed to connect clean energy to the grid.

Persons: Nadja Popovich, Brad Plumer Locations: Kansas, U.S, Missouri , Illinois, Indiana, North America

☆ The Three Other Trump Investigations
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At least three investigations could bring more criminal charges against him. Separately, a grand jury in Georgia could charge Trump by September for his attempts to change the state’s election results. “It is certainly possible that there will be more indictments,” my colleague Alan Feuer, who is covering the federal inquiries, told me. “But it is also certainly possible that there aren’t.”A trial or a conviction also would not necessarily stop Trump from running for president. Some legal experts believe he could even try to govern from prison, should he win the presidency.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, Alan Feuer, ”, Eugene Debs Organizations: Capitol, Trump Locations: Georgia

☆ What’s in the Debt Deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the Republican House leader, announced yesterday that they had reached a deal to increase the amount of money the government can borrow. The deal includes caps on federal spending, additional work requirements for food stamps and welfare, and reforms to build energy projects more quickly. Altogether, it is the kind of spending deal that Democrats and Republicans have agreed to multiple times over the past few decades. Today’s newsletter will explain the deal struck by Biden and McCarthy — and the main thing that could still go wrong. Many Republicans wanted steeper cuts, and many Democrats wanted no cuts.

☆ The Evidence for Therapy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Millions of Americans go to talk therapy. But does it work? Talk therapy does produce great benefits for some people, but not for everyone, so it might not work for you, my colleague Susan Dominus wrote for The New York Times Magazine’s therapy issue, published this week. Some studies have found that therapy has a higher chance of helping than not. Other research has shown more limited results, suggesting that therapy helps some patients but not many or even most.

☆ Averting a Debt Limit Crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

As the debt limit deadline drew closer, and as Democrats started to negotiate, Republicans softened their stance. Moderate Republicans have said they are willing to compromise. But their votes would not be needed to pass a bill if moderate Republicans joined with Democrats. Republicans further to the right say that a deal needs to include work requirements for all three programs. More liberal Democrats say that they will oppose any new work requirements.

☆ Prescription Drug Shortages
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Americans are confronting a shortage of several major drug treatments. medication shortage, which is reflective of many of the broader drug supply problems. The Food and Drug Administration first acknowledged the shortage in October. Patients complain that they have to shop around at pharmacies to get their medications, if they can find them at all. After a week without the drug, he went to bed one day at 7 a.m. “It’s a bit of a curse to not have control over your own energy,” he said.

☆ $5 Million in Damages
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Yesterday, a jury found the former president liable for the sexual abuse and defamation of the magazine writer E. Jean Carroll, ordering him to pay her $5 million. The case was a civil trial, which means that Trump is not subject to prison time. But the verdict indicates that jurors believed Carroll’s claim that Trump assaulted her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. She said that she saw him outside the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan nearly three decades ago, and that he had asked her to help find a gift for a female friend. Trump then motioned her into a dressing room, where he threw her against the wall, used his weight to pin her down and raped her, according to Carroll.

☆ America’s New Drug Policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In fact, needle exchange programs can reduce overdoses and drug use over time, by acting as hubs that educate people on safe practices and connect them to addiction treatment. First, lawmakers grew desperate to reduce overdose deaths, which have climbed for decades and surpassed 100,000 annually for the first time in 2021. Second, the overdose crisis is now so widespread that many more people, including members of Congress, know someone hurt by it. “Every single member of the House and Senate has grieving constituents coming in, having buried kids or brothers or sisters or moms or dads,” Keith Humphreys, a Stanford University drug policy expert, said. Previous drug crises disproportionately hurt marginalized populations — such as Black people during the 1980s crack epidemic and poor white people during the 1990s-2000s meth epidemic.

☆ Another Bank Failure
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

So when First Republic’s investment strategy began backfiring, depositors started to pull out their money in large numbers — a classic bank run. “The failure of Silicon Valley Bank made Americans more concerned about the safety of their deposits,” my colleague Maureen Farrell, who covers finance, said. “And First Republic looked a lot like Silicon Valley Bank.” The threat of further contagion is what led regulators and the financial system to move to try to stabilize the situation. The Fed also placed some of the blame on Congress, which in 2018 reduced the central bank’s oversight of so-called midsize banks like First Republic and Silicon Valley Bank. Some analysts argue that the worst is over: Silicon Valley Bank, Signature and First Republic were all outliers, and their similarities made them unusually vulnerable to the current moment.

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