Eric Schneiderman, Iran, Met Gala: Your Tuesday Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/briefing/eric-schneiderman-iran-met-gala.html

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Good morning.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Eric Schneiderman, the New York State attorney general, resigned on Monday, hours after a report in which four women accused him of physical assault. Mr. Schneiderman contested the allegations.

All of the women had been romantically involved with Mr. Schneiderman and said the violence was not consensual. (Read the article from The New Yorker here.)

Throughout his career, Mr. Schneiderman cultivated a reputation as an advocate for women, including a lawsuit against the company once run by Harvey Weinstein. Here are some of Mr. Schneiderman’s comments on women’s rights.

• The former attorney general had raised his profile nationally by taking on President Trump’s agenda in the courts. New York State lawmakers are to begin discussing his replacement today.

• If European diplomats are correct, President Trump will announce today that he is withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal, after allies failed to convince him that doing so would result in a new confrontation with Tehran.

Mr. Trump has called the signature foreign policy achievement of the Obama administration a “disaster” and “insane.” In exchange for the end of crippling sanctions, Tehran agreed in 2015 to give up the overwhelming majority of its nuclear fuel, and to forgo producing more. Here’s more on how the agreement restricted Iran, and what could happen now.

• Separately, evidence has surfaced that opponents of the deal engaged in a sophisticated effort to dig up dirt on one of its staunchest backers, a top national security aide to former President Barack Obama.

• The state has one of the lowest overall opioid-related death rates in the country, but there has been a sharp rise in heroin use across the rural north.

Our correspondent traveled to Humboldt County, where the opioid death rate is five times higher than the state average, to find out what’s driving the epidemic.

• Part of the problem is homelessness. California has the world’s fifth-largest economy, but its growth has also brought eye-popping housing costs and endless traffic.

• Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia — three states that broadly supported President Trump in 2016 — are holding important Senate primaries today.

The winners will all face Democratic incumbents in November, and those races could determine the balance of the Senate. Here’s a closer look at what’s at stake.

• Mr. Trump has waded into the West Virginia election at the urging of the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell. (One candidate has made deeply personal attacks targeting Mr. McConnell’s family.) The president suggested that Republicans risked another embarrassing defeat in a reliable stronghold, similar to that of Roy Moore last year in Alabama.

• “Like a mosquito in a nudist colony”: That’s how Mick Mulvaney was described as he looks to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

• Warren Buffett likes companies with “moats,” competitive advantages such as distribution networks, pricing power and brand reputation. Elon Musk has criticized the idea as old-fashioned. Our business columnist examines their spat.

• Could Bitcoin go mainstream? The New York Stock Exchange’s parent company is considering a trading platform that would allow large investors to buy and hold the virtual currency.

• U.S. stocks were up on Monday. Here’s a snapshot of global markets today.

Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.

• Some runners use marijuana for a mental or physical boost.

• Mother’s Day is Sunday. (You remembered, right?) Check out our gift guide.

• Recipe of the day: Classic chicken Marsala is ready in 30 minutes.

• Your questions about “The ISIS Files”

Since our recent investigation into thousands of internal Islamic State documents, some readers have asked about The Times’s right to collect and keep the papers, if researchers will be able to use them, and whether names should have been redacted.

If you have legal or ethical questions, we’d like to hear them.

• A glimpse of the colonial era

Excavation for a development in the Old Town district of Alexandria, Va., revealed the bones of ships that had been scuttled centuries ago to expand the coastline.

Here’s more from this week’s Science section.

• Cannes begins with controversy

The Cannes Film Festival starts today already shadowed by a dispute: It won’t show Netflix films in competition because they weren’t getting theatrical releases.

Our critics debated whether it matters where you see a movie.

• The Met Gala goes Catholic

The theme for Monday’s event was the influence of Catholicism on fashion.

The singer Rihanna embraced the idea, dressing like the female pope that the Vatican has never had, complete with a papal tiara and a bejeweled crucifix necklace. See photos from the red carpet here.

• Best of late-night TV

Rudolph Giuliani has become the latest punching bag for the comedy hosts.

• Quotation of the day

“The feeling at Oregon State right now is that our team is winning, so they’ve moved on. What does that say to the little girl in this case? What does it say to all survivors?”

— Brenda Tracy, a victims’ rights activist, on fans who cheer for Luke Heimlich, a star college pitcher who pleaded guilty to sexually molesting his 6-year-old niece when he was 15, but now denies wrongdoing.

• The Times, in other words

Here’s an image of today’s front page, and links to our Opinion content and crossword puzzles.

• What we’re reading

Prashant Rao, our deputy Europe business editor, recommends this Freakonomics presentation (podcast and transcript): “As a first-time pet owner, I’m fascinated by the decisions my cat makes and his behavior. Obviously, I’m not the only one. This goes even further, and delves into whether animals engage in economic activity — can a dog make a fair and deliberate exchange of one bone with another dog?”

When the contestants in the Eurovision Song Contest take the stage in Lisbon starting today, they will be part of a giant edition of the zany annual pop competition. Forty-three countries will compete for the prize, which will be awarded in a grand final on Saturday.

At the first contest in Switzerland in 1956, there were just 14 entries — two each from seven West European nations. But socialist Yugoslavia joined in 1961, and the competition since then has become ever more international and inclusive.

Israel first appeared in 1973; Australia, which had broadcast the competition without taking part since the 1980s, has been sending contestants since 2015.

Despite its distinctly “euro” sensibility — which can be puzzling to the uninitiated — Eurovision is now a global phenomenon with fans all over the world.

In the U.S., Eurovision has found perhaps its most enthusiastic audience among gay men. Ricardo Mohammed, who is originally from Trinidad, holds Eurovision viewing and dance parties at a gay bar in Manhattan.

“ ‘What the hell is going on?’ is the first reaction,” he said. “The second is, ‘Why is everybody on the dance floor and singing along?’ ”

Mr. Mohammed laughed. “That’s pretty consistent with Americans reacting to Eurovision for the first time.”

Matthew Anderson and Elisabeth Vincentelli wrote today’s Back Story.

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