Republican Party, Russia, Venezuela: Your Wednesday Evening Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/26/briefing/republican-party-russia-venezuela.html

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Good evening. Here’s the latest.

1. The Senate rejected a measure that would have repealed major parts of the Affordable Care Act but would not have provided a replacement. The vote was a sign that the “clean repeal” bill that conservatives have embraced cannot get through Congress. See how each senator voted.

Votes on other proposals, including the “skinny repeal,” are still ahead; we parsed those plans here. On the latest episode of our podcast “The Daily,” we discussed the health care bill and Senator John McCain’s dramatic return to Washington.

Above, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, one of two Republicans who voted on Tuesday against beginning debate on repealing the health law.

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2. President Trump bookended his day with efforts to appeal to his Republican base.

He announced on Twitter that the U.S. will no longer “accept or allow” transgender people in the military. Transgender troops we spoke with called it a misguided action. Above, military flag bearers at the L.G.B.T. pride parade in San Diego earlier this month.

Hours later, Mr. Trump joined the chairman of Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics supplier for Apple and other tech giants, for a big announcement: The company will open its first American factory in Wisconsin.

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3. The Treasury Department announced new financial sanctions on current and former Venezuelan officials. The Trump administration is threatening further action if President Nicolás Maduro proceeds with a constituent assembly on Sunday that critics consider a danger to democracy. Above, a scene from a protest in Caracas.

And Russian legislators called for “painful” measures against the U.S. in response to plans for new American sanctions. The House voted on Tuesday to bolster sanctions to punish Moscow for aggression toward its neighbors and election interference. The bill goes to the Senate next.

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4. “You can think of California as a giant laboratory.”

That was a Berkeley professor as Gov. Jerry Brown signed a new law expanding the state’s cap-and-trade program to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The state now plans to rethink every corner of its economy, from urban planning to dairy farms.

And there’s a big scandal rocking the University of Southern California. The Los Angeles Times published an exposé about the former dean of the medical school, who was seen on camera taking hard drugs and partying with much younger companions.

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5. Thousands of people were evacuated from homes and vacation sites in southeastern France as strong winds fueled wildfires that had been raging across the region for days.

At least two homes and 2,000 acres of forest were gutted, but there have been no reports of fatalities so far. The fire started at a campsite near Bormes-les-Mimosas, a town on the Mediterranean coast, where the population surges with vacationers during the summer.

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6. At least four people, including two teenagers, have died since Monday trying to cross the Rio Grande into Texas, in another deadly sign of the extremes to which migrants will go to reach the U.S.

The river is normally just a trickle there, but heavy rains have transformed it into a dangerous torrent. Seven people were also rescued near El Paso, above.

The deaths came days after the authorities discovered the bodies of eight migrants packed in a sweltering tractor-trailer in San Antonio.

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7. New York City’s subway system is a disaster at the moment — plagued by delays, breakdowns and even derailments.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a “state of emergency” in June. Now he’s going to Washington to meet with Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and the state’s congressional delegation about the crisis.

If you’re wondering why the governor is in charge of the subway — and not the mayor — you’re not alone. Here’s the back story.

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8. A first-of-its-kind traveling exhibition of objects from Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp, will begin a tour of 14 cities across Europe and North America later this year.

The organizers said it’s more urgent than ever as the last survivors age, and anti-Semitism persists in many quarters.

The exhibit will include letters and testimonials, a tin that contained Zyklon B gas pellets and other grim reminders from the complex’s gas chambers. Above, a wooden box made in Auschwitz by a Polish prisoner.

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9. Is your Roomba plotting to spy on you?

The company that makes the robotic vacuum, iRobot, is considering selling the mapping data the devices collect to a company like Google or Amazon.

The data could be a windfall for marketers, and the implications are easy to imagine — as are the legal questions and privacy concerns that could arise.

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10. Finally, the late-night hosts had their hands full trying to make sense of the health care debate in the Senate. (We sympathize.)

But they managed. “Ahead of the health care vote senators were saying that they had no clue what they’d be voting on,” Jimmy Fallon quipped. “Then Americans said, ‘Hey, just like us during the election.’”

Tonight, Stephen Colbert talks to Michael Moore about his forthcoming one-man show on Broadway on “The Late Show.”

Have a great night.

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