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Your Thursday Evening Briefing Your Thursday Evening Briefing
(32 minutes later)
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Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.
1. The Biden administration proposed new rules on transgender athletes.1. The Biden administration proposed new rules on transgender athletes.
The Title IX rule change would prohibit schools from “categorically” banning transgender students from athletic teams that are consistent with their gender identities. But the proposal allowed for limits that address “fairness in competition,” which could permit high schools and universities to restrict transgender athletes.The Title IX rule change would prohibit schools from “categorically” banning transgender students from athletic teams that are consistent with their gender identities. But the proposal allowed for limits that address “fairness in competition,” which could permit high schools and universities to restrict transgender athletes.
The Education Department said the proposal, which must undergo a period of public comment, was meant to offer “much needed clarity” on a topic that has led to often vociferous debate, particularly regarding women’s sports.The Education Department said the proposal, which must undergo a period of public comment, was meant to offer “much needed clarity” on a topic that has led to often vociferous debate, particularly regarding women’s sports.
Under the proposed rules, elementary school students would generally be able to participate in school sports consistent with their gender identities. But for older students, questions of fairness and injury could come into play, and the impact could vary across sports.
In related news, the Supreme Court ruled that a transgender girl may compete on girls’ teams at a West Virginia school, while her challenge of a state law moves forward.
2. The Tennessee House is moving to expel three Democrats over a gun control protest.
In the wake of a school shooting that left six people dead in Nashville last week, three Democratic lawmakers joined teenagers and other demonstrators on the floor of the state’s legislative chamber to rally for stricter gun control. Now those three elected officials are in the process of getting expelled from the Republican-controlled chamber.
In a dramatic act of political retribution, the House voted to remove State Representative Justin Jones this afternoon. Votes to remove Representatives Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson are expected soon, which would make them the first three partisan expulsions in the state’s modern history.
Special elections would be held to fill the seats of any expelled lawmakers.
3. The U.S. acknowledged that it should have started evacuations from Afghanistan sooner.
In a new review of the 2021 U.S. withdrawal, which led to the swift collapse of the Afghan government, officials declined to explicitly call President Biden’s decision to hastily evacuate troops from Kabul a mistake. But they did say that, in the future, the government would carry out evacuations in foreign countries sooner.
The report put much of the blame on Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, accusing him of failing to share relevant transition materials with his successor’s team.
In other news from Washington, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who is working to unite the fractious Republican House majority around a spending plan, has said he has little trust in his Budget Committee chairman.
Also, the U.S. unveiled an $80 billion plan to overhaul tax collection.
4. In Beijing, France’s president urges Xi Jinping to “bring Russia back to reason.”
During a state visit full of pomp and pageantry, both President Emmanuel Macron of France and Xi, China’s top leader, called for a rapid return to peace talks to end the war in Ukraine. But Macron pushed China to go further: He called for Xi to use his close relationship with Moscow to influence Russia’s decisions.
Xi, who has embarked on a charm offensive toward France, did not indicate whether he would be willing to personally attempt to persuade the Russians. And it was unclear how China’s self-described “no-limits” friendship with Russia, which is implicitly anti-Western, might be compatible with Macron’s requests.
In other news from the war, Russia, which had hoped to seize the entire Donbas region during a winter offensive, has largely failed. We mapped out how it ran aground.
5. In pristine Alaska, an oil giant prepares to drill for decades to come.
The Willow project, an $8 billion effort to extract oil from beneath the Arctic Circle, has begun. ConocoPhillips, the company behind Willow, is massing employees and equipment on the warming tundra where it plans to produce more than 600 million barrels of oil over 30 years.
The Biden administration last month approved the project despite widespread opposition from environmental activists and climate scientists, who have warned that new drilling projects threaten the planet.
ConocoPhillips executives defend the project, saying that a fully renewable energy transition wouldn’t be possible anytime soon. They’re not alone: Hundreds of such projects have been approved worldwide in the past year.
In other climate news, the U.S. moved to cut toxic air pollutants from chemical plants, a rule that would affect the majority of chemical manufacturers.
6. Immigrant families face hurdles in getting aid, adding to child poverty.
The fastest growing group of American youths — children of immigrants — have poverty rates more than twice those of other children, partly because immigrant families earn less and because they face more barriers to government support.
While most of the children are U.S. citizens, about half have an undocumented parent, a status that bars the whole household from some government benefits. For parents who immigrated legally, obstacles include waiting periods, language barriers and lack of knowledge about programs.
For more: In the early days of the pandemic, the U.S. built a European-style welfare state. It’s now largely over.
7. The first Masters of the LIV Golf era.
Most of the world’s best golfers teed off at Augusta National Golf Club for the first of four days of play in one of the sport’s most hallowed tournaments. Fans got their first look at some of this year’s most interesting questions: How will Tiger Woods play? Will Rory McIlroy finally complete a career Grand Slam? Or will we get a repeat winner?
But this year’s Masters is also different because LIV, the upstart league bankrolled by Saudi Arabia, has split the game in two. It would be a breakthrough for LIV if one of its players wins this year’s green jacket — and a gut punch to the PGA Tour.
You can follow the Masters live all weekend long with The Athletic. Get ready with a guide to the course.
8. Was Pablo Picasso one of the world’s best artists? Or was his influence malignant?
Yes, our critic Deborah Solomon writes, to both of those questions.
He was a derelict parent and a malicious womanizer, who produced sensitive and empathetic images of women. He used the inspiration of African artists to break the rules of Western painting, but he also notoriously snapped: “African art? Never heard of it.” There is no unified answer, just as there are no unities of form in his work.
We spoke with 10 artists who shared their own complicated impressions of Picasso, whose work influenced them all. We also suggest six shows to check out around the world, if you’re interested in witnessing Picasso’s work yourself.
9. What to do tonight:
Cook: For a fresh twist, try this jicama fruit salad.
Watch: “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” is a propulsive thriller based on an environmental manifesto.
Listen: “The Run-Up,” The Times’s election season podcast, returned today.
Stream: All 10 episodes of “Beef,” a comedy about a road-rage incident, are now on Netflix.
Hunt: Which Manhattan one-bedroom would you buy with a $350,000 budget?
Brush: Oral hygiene is crucial to overall health.
Play: Today’s Spelling Bee, Wordle and Mini Crossword. For more, find all our games here.
10. And finally, the glorious and barbarous Settlers of Catan.
The 1995 board game — in which players build settlements in a new land by collecting brick, lumber, wool, ore and grain — has attracted millions of fans with its mix of strategy, luck and persuasion. Many revisited their fond memories of Catan this week when the death of its creator, Klaus Teuber, was announced.
His legacy can be found in the countless hours spent sitting around the board: the agonizing decision over placing your initial settlements, the question of whether to expand your army or your roads, and the arguments between friends (or soon-to-be ex-friends) that always ensue.
Have a delightful night.
Sarah Hughes compiled photos for this briefing.
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