Joe Biden, ISIS, Jazz Fest: Your Thursday Evening Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/briefing/joe-biden-isis-jazz-fest.html

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Good evening. Here’s the latest.

1. 20 in 2020.

Former Vice President Joe Biden announced his candidacy for president, framing the election in terms of one question: Which candidate can beat President Trump?

“We are in the battle for the soul of this nation,” Mr. Biden, 76, said in a three-minute announcement video. He is the 20th Democrat to jump in the race.

Mr. Biden, pictured above in Delaware today, is an early front-runner for the Democratic nomination, but the party is quite different from how it was when he first entered politics.

In an attempt to defuse one of his most glaring vulnerabilities as he begins his presidential bid, Mr. Biden called Anita Hill this month to express regret over “what she endured” at the Clarence Thomas hearings. She said, afterward, that she felt unsatisfied.

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2. A month after losing the last of its territory in Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State is believed to have pulled off one of its deadliest attacks.

The coordinated attacks in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday are thought to have been carried out by a local group that had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The attacks show that ISIS doesn’t need to control territory to be a major threat — it is now decentralized and reliant on its affiliates to spread its message. Above, St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo just before it was bombed.

Sri Lankan officials have warned of more attacks, locking down Colombo, the capital, and mounting a manhunt for six more suspects. Two of the eight suspects in the suicide bombings are the sons of one of Sri Lanka’s wealthiest spice traders.

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3. The measles outbreak in the U.S. is now the largest since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000.

The number of cases has risen to 695. The outbreak, linked to skepticism about vaccines, has led to extraordinary measures, including $1,000 fines and bans on unvaccinated children in public. Such a sign is pictured above in Brooklyn, N.Y.

“The longer these outbreaks continue, the greater the chance measles will again get a sustained foothold in the United States,” the C.D.C. said in a statement. Here are some common questions about the measles outbreak.

And it’s not just the U.S.: On Thursday, Unicef released a report that showed that in the past eight years, nearly 170 million children worldwide had missed their first dose of the measles vaccine.

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4. San Francisco had an ambitious plan to tackle segregation. It made it worse.

The city allows parents to apply to any elementary school in the district, hoping that by giving parents more choices, low-income and working-class students of color would have a chance to fill seats at coveted schools. But it didn’t work for a slew of reasons, including transportation issues. Above, the Rooftop School in the Twin Peaks neighborhood.

The “lottery” system that the school uses was once thought to be a national model. But it now seems that without remedies like wide-scale busing or school zones drawn deliberately to integrate students, school desegregation will remain out of reach.

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5. Scrutiny over Facebook’s handling of user privacy continues to grow.

An investigation by Canadian regulators found that Facebook violated privacy laws by allowing third parties to gain access user data, a serious failing that the company acknowledged but refused to fix.

And in New York, the state’s attorney general plans to open an investigation into how Facebook collected the email address books of 1.5 million new users.

Separately, Uber is said to be planning to offer its shares for $44 to $50 each, valuing the company at as much as $90 billion.

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6. Can humans help trees outrun climate change?

A dark synergy of extreme weather and emboldened pests could imperil vast stretches of woodland. Foresters are only starting to wrestle with solutions, some of which may include testing how people can help forests adapt. One controversial idea, known as assisted migration, involves deliberately moving trees.

Separately, satellite data suggest 2018 wasn’t as bad as the previous two years for tropical deforestation, but the overall trend of losing trees continues. Brazil, above, still loses the most tree cover each year by far.

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7. The N.F.L. draft begins tonight at 8 p.m., and we’ll have live updates here.

But if you’re more of an esoteric sports fan, we head to the Sahara. Amy Palmiero-Winters’s latest ultramarathon venture was the treacherous Marathon des Sables. It was her first attempt — and the first for any female amputee in the 34 years of the race.

She trained for the heat of the desert by doing lunges and burpees in a sauna. She also placed her fiancé’s two young boys on her back while she did bear crawls to grow accustomed to the heaviness of a backpack. We were with her as she completed it.

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8. A generation of black playwrights is challenging audiences and critics to think about race and racism in a new way.

With fury and some humor, their work tackles issues like persistent inequities and the legacy of slavery. We spoke with four playwrights, each under 40 and each of whom produced Off Broadway this season, about their plays and the context in which their work has been presented. Above, “Marys Seacole” by the playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury.

Our critic at large wrote about the radical moment in American theater, and our theater critic discussed the current state of race on Broadway.

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9. The first New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival started small. Tickets were $3 and only about 300 people showed up. Now, it’s Jazz Fest.

Over a half-century, the eclectic and beloved live music and food event has grown inseparable from the cultural ecosystem of its hometown. Above, Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers in 2017.

Its 50th official run begins today. Our music reporter looks at how this music festival has come to define a city.

“Jazz Fest is everything that you love about New Orleans to begin with,” said Ivan Neville, the keyboardist who made his first appearance there in 1977.

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10. Finally, we’ll take unstoppable for $1,000.

James Holzhauer is dominating “Jeopardy!.” In just 15 games, he’s won more than $1 million, second in the show’s history behind the legendary Ken Jennings. Mr. Jennings’s $2.5 million winnings came in 74 games.

Mr. Holzhauer’s profession might have something to do with his success: He is a professional sports bettor from Las Vegas. We talked to him about his strategy, and his secret weapon for learning trivia — children’s books.

Mr. Holzhauer’s 16th game airs tonight.

Have a winning night.

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