Here’s what you need to know at the end of the day.
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Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.
1. The Trump Organization and its C.F.O. were charged with fraud and tax crimes.
The real estate business that catapulted Donald Trump to tabloid fame, television riches and ultimately the White House was charged with criminal tax fraud, falsifying business records and running a conspiracy to help executives evade taxes. Here’s what we know so far.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which has been conducting the investigation, accused Allen Weisselberg, Trump’s chief financial officer, of avoiding taxes on $1.7 million in perks that should have been reported as income. He faces grand larceny, tax fraud and other charges.
While Trump was not charged, the indictment of his company is a blow to the former president. The Trump Organization said in a statement that Weisselberg was being used as a “pawn in a scorched-earth attempt to harm the former president.”
Weisselberg, who has served as the Trump Organization’s financial gatekeeper for more than two decades, is coming under increasing pressure to turn on the family. His lawyers have said he would plead not guilty. Read the indictment.
2. The Supreme Court upheld voting restrictions in Arizona, signaling that challenges to new state laws making it harder to vote would be difficult.
In a blow to Democrats and voting rights activists, Justice Samuel Alito said courts should strike down voting restrictions only when they impose substantial burdens on minority voters that effectively block their ability to vote. The court’s 6-to-3 ruling was issued as disputes over voting rights have taken center stage in American politics.
In another 6-to-3 decision, the court ruled that California may not require charities soliciting contributions in the state to report the identities of their major donors, siding with conservative challengers.
3. President Biden offered words of comfort to the families of victims in Surfside, Fla.
Biden’s meeting with the families came as local officials announced a halt in the search for survivors of a condo building collapse amid concerns about the stability of the part of the structure that remains standing.
“The waiting, the waiting, is unbearable,” he told the families, many of whom have been waiting for more than a week for word about whether anyone might still be alive under the concrete and steel. Eighteen people are known to have died in the collapse of the Champlain Towers South, and as many as 145 people remain missing.
Separately, many condo boards around the country have little money set aside for big repairs. Since the collapse in Surfside, some are looking to force a change.
4. In most parts of the country, Americans have reason to cheer. But the summer is turning out to be joyless for the nurses and doctors grappling with a resurgence in coronavirus cases.
In recent weeks, a familiar sense of dread has returned to the South and Mountain West as the more transmissible Delta variant has gained traction. The rise in hospitalizations comes as health care workers are already reeling from burnout and the prolonged stress of dealing with the pandemic.
“They’re weary and they’re also disappointed that the country has started the end zone dance before we cross the goal line,” one doctor said.
In other news about health care, the Biden administration took its first steps to finalize a ban on surprise medical bills signed into law by Donald Trump. Millions of Americans get such bills each year, including those hospitalized with Covid-19.
In north central Queens, N.Y., once the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S., a vibrant energy has returned. But recovery feels very far away.
5. China’s rise is unstoppable, Xi Jinping declared.
To celebrate 100 years of the Chinese Communist Party, thousands of performers assembled on Tiananmen Square, chanting slogans honoring the party’s leadership. Xi, China’s leader, delivered a defiant speech that seemed aimed at the U.S. as much as Chinese citizens.
“The Chinese people will never allow foreign forces to bully, oppress or enslave us,” he said, dressed in a Mao suit. “Whoever nurses delusions of doing that will crack their heads and spill blood on the Great Wall of steel built from the flesh and blood of 1.4 billion Chinese people.”
The anniversary has also inspired a wave of state-approved art.
6. The Arctic’s “last ice area” is melting quicker than previously thought.
The Wandel Sea, just north of Greenland, and nearby waters north of Canada are a region often referred to as the “last ice area.” It provides a refuge for polar bears and other Arctic wildlife dependent on sea ice.
But scientists last summer found ice in the area that was much thinner than previously thought. Researchers now say that the warming climate thinned the ice, and an unusual shift in winds pushed much of it out of the sea.
Separately, hundreds of heat-related deaths have been confirmed in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia in a record heat wave as climate change drastically intensifies normal temperature fluctuations.
7. William and Harry reunited for the unveiling of Diana’s statue.
For a few minutes at Kensington Palace in London, the brothers set aside ill feelings to pay tribute to their mother, Princess Diana of Wales, on what would have been her 60th birthday.
“Every day, we wish she were still with us,” they said in a rare joint statement.
The brothers — who are barely on speaking terms after Harry and his wife, Meghan, criticized the royal family in a series of interviews — kept a palpable distance from each other as they gazed at the statue in the Sunken Garden, a refuge for Diana where she played with her children when they were young.
8. In the world of whiskey, more women are calling the shots.
Women have long held underappreciated roles in the whiskey business, but in the last few years, they have started to take on leadership positions — like blending and distilling — that have long been dominated by men.
There’s a reason besides hard work that makes women natural distillers and blenders. Women have more nuanced senses of smell than men; 35 percent of women qualify as supertasters, while only 15 percent of men do, according to one estimate.
It’s not just whiskey. Nicola Nice, a social scientist and spirits entrepreneur, says the history of the cocktail’s rise to social prominence has largely ignored women, in particular female homemakers.
9. This animated series fuses civic lessons with music from Janelle Monáe, Bebe Rexha, Brandi Carlile, and others.
“We the People,” a 10-episode series premiering on July 4, aims to teach young people about the government in the vein of “Schoolhouse Rock!” But this time, the music was conceived to be something to play on the radio, or in a club — “a thing about civics that teenagers would actually click on,” a producer explained. The series counts the Obamas as executive producers.
If you still haven’t made plans for the long weekend, there’s still time. Here’s how to do it on a budget.
10. And finally, a better way to play video games.
That’s what’s promised by cloud gaming, which allows gamers to ditch their consoles and stream across multiple devices. Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon all want to become top players.
While the nascent technology faces hurdles, including frustrating glitches and the requirement of a strong internet connection, resolving these issues could usher in a new era.
“The whole point of cloud is, ‘Dude, let’s chill out, now!’” a vice president of Facebook Gaming said. “If things are easy and simple and fast, people will do it.”
Have an entertaining evening.
David Poller compiled photos for this briefing.
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Source: Elections - nytimes.com
