Elections

The past week has seen a significant rise in tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia supported by Iran. Back-and-forth attacks have brought the two sides to the brink of their first full-scale war since 2006, when they fought a 34-day conflict that involved an Israeli ground invasion and killed over 1,000 Lebanese and 150 Israelis.Hezbollah and Israel have been trading cross-border missile and drone attacks since last October, forcing the evacuations of tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the frontier. Hezbollah says it is fighting in support of Hamas in Gaza, while Israel says it is acting to secure its northern border.Here is a look at the events of the past week:Tuesday, Sept. 17Hundreds of pagers suddenly and simultaneously blew up across Lebanon in an apparently coordinated attack that targeted members of Hezbollah. At least 12 people were killed and more than 2,000 others injured, according to Lebanese health authorities. Many of those killed and wounded were Hezbollah members, but the stunning blasts also killed two children and wounded Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon. Hezbollah and Lebanese officials blamed Israel, an assessment confirmed by U.S. and other officials. Israel did not explicitly claim responsibility.WednesdayThe next day, walkie-talkies owned by Hezbollah members exploded, killing at least 20 people and wounding hundreds of others. Israel did not claim this attack, either, but experts said both operations required extensive planning and sophistication. Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defense minister, said that the “center of gravity” of Israel’s military effort, which had focused on defeating Hamas in Gaza, was “moving north.”ThursdayHassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, gave a speech from an undisclosed location in which he acknowledged that his group had “endured a severe and cruel blow” but promised to retaliate against Israel. As his speech was broadcast, sonic booms from Israeli fighter jets flying over Beirut frightened residents. Hours later, Israel carried out dozens of airstrikes targeting what it said were Hezbollah rocket launchers, in what Lebanese officials described as one of the heaviest bombardments of southern Lebanon in months.FridayAn Israeli airstrike flattened at least one residential high-rise in the heart of the Dahiya, crowded neighborhoods south of Beirut where Hezbollah holds sway. A top Hezbollah commander, Ibrahim Aqeel, was killed in the strike. The Israeli military also said that “around 10” senior commanders in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force had been killed.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

The fatal shooting of the judge has rocked the town of Whitesburg. On Sunday, friends, family and community members gathered to remember the victim.As a rural Kentucky town reeled from the fatal shooting of a judge, residents over the weekend mourned the victim whom many saw as a kind man who loved his community.The judge, Kevin Mullins, 54, was remembered by many for providing second chances to people struggling with drug addiction in Letcher County, Ky., a tight-knit Appalachian community located about 150 miles southeast of Lexington. Tributes to Judge Mullins poured in on social media over the weekend, from friends, relatives and others who simply knew him as a judge. Some posted memories of him chatting with colleagues outside the courthouse on smoke breaks and talking about his love for his wife and two daughters. “Kevin was a lot of things to a lot of people,” his wife, Kimberly Mullins, wrote on Facebook. “But he was Everything to me and my girls.” Ms. Mullins said on Sunday that she could not comment further.But the mystery around what transpired between Judge Mullins and Shawn Stines, the sheriff who is accused of shooting him, was still top of mind for many in the community.On Thursday afternoon, Judge Mullins and Sheriff Stines, also known as Mickey, ate lunch together before meeting in the judge’s chambers in the Letcher County Courthouse in Whitesburg. According to investigators, the two men got into an argument and, around 3 p.m., Sheriff Stines shot Judge Mullins multiple times in the chest before surrendering to the police. Sheriff Stines is facing a charge of first-degree murder and being held in the nearby Leslie County Detention Center.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

A leader of the Iranian-backed militia said its latest barrage was “just the beginning,” and an Israeli military official said, “Our strikes will intensify.”Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and a top Hezbollah leader vowed on Sunday to increase the intensity of their cross-border attacks, raising fears that the renewed conflict could escalate into all-out war.The Hezbollah official, the deputy secretary-general Naim Qassem, said the Lebanese militia had entered “a new stage” of open warfare against Israel, while Mr. Netanyahu said his nation would take “whatever action is necessary” to diminish the threat posed by its adversary.The statements came after a tumultuous week of hostilities.Early on Sunday, Hezbollah launched about 150 rockets, cruise missiles and drones, according to the Israeli military, targeting what appeared to be the deepest areas it has hit in Israel since the group began firing on it in October, a day after Hamas-led forces attacked southern Israel. Since then, Israel and Hezbollah have been engaging in tit-for-tat attacks. Hezbollah fired more than 100 rockets, drones and missiles into Israeli territory on Sunday morning. The attack came in response to strikes on militia members in Lebanon last week.Shir Torem/ReutersIsrael’s military said that its air defenses had intercepted most of the projectiles fired from Lebanon. One hit Kiryat Bialik, a town of 45,000 just north of Haifa. At least four people were wounded by shrapnel in northern Israel on Sunday, according to Magen David Adom, an Israeli emergency rescue service.Referring to the strikes, Mr. Qassem said that “what happened last night is just the beginning.”“We will kill them and fight them from where they expect and from where they do not expect,” the militant leader told thousands of people gathered in Dahiya, the Hezbollah-dominated neighborhood in southern Beirut, for the funeral of two Hezbollah commanders killed in an Israeli airstrike on Friday.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

The baseball team tied the modern day record for losses on Sunday, dropping a 120th game. In the team’s most loyal neighborhood, some people couldn’t bear to watch. It was the bottom of the second inning on Sunday afternoon before Lauren Eaves, the bartender at BallPark Pub in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago, remembered to turn one of the bar’s six flat-screen TVs to the White Sox game.“Nobody’s asking for it,” she said. In the dwindling days of a spectacularly dreadful season, many White Sox fans are averting their eyes. On Sunday, the team lost for the 120th time this year, tying the major league record for most losses by a modern-day team in a single season. The loss happened nearly 2,000 miles away in San Diego, where the Padres beat the Sox, 4-2. But it landed like one more gut punch on the South Side of Chicago in Bridgeport, the neighborhood where the White Sox have played for more than a century, and home to many families who have loyally cheered for the team for generations.All Sunday afternoon, customers drifted in and out of BallPark, about as Sox-centric as a bar can be. The walls are covered with Sox memorabilia: a mural depicting the notorious Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park in 1979 that ended in a riot, a black-and-white portrait of the former maverick team owner Bill Veeck, a yellow vintage sign advertising $3 grandstand seats. Patrons at BallPark Pub, near where the Chicago White Sox play their home games, watched the Chicago Bears and other N.F.L. teams play on Sunday.Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times“Welcome Sox Fans!” a large sign by the door beckons. These days, few fans who walk through the door of BallPark are here to watch the Sox. We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Leslie Boileau, a sheriff’s deputy in Marion County, Fla., said that he had “accidentally discharged” a loaded gun at his girlfriend, as they were cleaning and dry-firing guns during a lesson.A sheriff’s deputy in Florida has been charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of his girlfriend, the police said.Leslie Boileau, 32, a sheriff’s deputy in Marion County, Fla., said he “accidentally discharged” a loaded gun at his girlfriend, Polina Wright, 25, as they were cleaning and testing guns at his home on Thursday evening, the Ocala Police Department said on Friday.Mr. Boileau was arrested on Friday and released on $30,000 bond on Saturday, his attorney, Jimmie Sparrow, said.Chief Mike Balken of the Ocala Police Department said his agency was working with the State Attorney’s Office to “ensure justice is served.”“We are deeply saddened by this tragic incident,” Chief Balken said in a statement posted on Facebook. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victim’s family and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time.”According to the arrest affidavit, the Ocala Police Department responded to a call of a shooting at 10:52 p.m. on Thursday at Mr. Boileau’s home in southeast Ocala, in Central Florida. In his emergency call, Mr. Boileau described the shooting as an “accidental discharge,” the document said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

On This Week’s Episode:Kids feeling the pressure and hype to make their final year of high school as good as the movies.Jennifer HeuerNew York Times Audio is home to the “This American Life” archive. Download the app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter. More

Most of the senior staff members on Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s campaign for North Carolina governor resigned on Sunday, dealing a seismic blow to the embattled Republican who has faced widespread criticism after an explosive CNN report that he had made a series of disturbing comments on a pornographic website.Among the resignations was his top campaign consultant, Conrad Pogorzelski III, who for years had been one of Mr. Robinson’s most loyal confidants and who had been the only consultant to take a chance on him during his run for lieutenant governor four years ago.Mr. Pogorzelski confirmed his resignation in a text message on Sunday evening, saying he and seven other campaign staffers had resigned on “our own accord.”The other resignations included Chris Rodriguez, the campaign manager; Heather Whillier, the finance director; and Jason Rizk, the deputy campaign manager. Two political directors, John Kontoulas and Jackson Lohrer, and the director of operations, Patrick Riley, also resigned.The 11th-hour shake-up in the campaign less than 50 days before the election will only exacerbate the troubles already plaguing Mr. Robinson, the fiery Trump acolyte who has been widely criticized for comments perceived as racist, antisemitic, transphobic and hateful.CNN reported on Thursday that Mr. Robinson had written on a porn site years ago that he was a “black NAZI,” that he enjoyed watching transgender pornography and that slavery was not bad. He also recounted on the site how he went “peeping” on women in public gym showers as a teenager. Mr. Robinson has denied that he wrote the posts and ignored calls from some fellow Republicans to withdraw from the race.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

The owners of Rayne Beau, the 2-year old Siamese cat, have no idea how their cat made it back, but call his return a “miracle.”When a cat dashed into the woods of Yellowstone National Park during a camping trip in June, his California owners, Benny and Susanne Anguiano, thought they’d never see him again.The couple searched for five days through the woods near their campground at Fishing Bridge R.V. Park but never found their 2-year-old male Siamese cat, Rayne Beau, pronounced “rainbow.” Mrs. Anguiano said that Rayne Beau’s sister, Starr, started to meow through the screen door of the trailer. Eventually, when the couple made the tough decision to drive home to Salinas, Calif., Starr, who had never been away from her brother, meowed all the way back.“Leaving him was unthinkable,” Mrs. Anguiano said. “I felt like I was abandoning him.”But almost two months later, Rayne Beau was found wandering the streets of Roseville, Calif., three hours north of where the Anguianos live and more than 800 miles away from Yellowstone National Park, as first reported by the news station KSBW.When a worker from a local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals notified the couple that rescuers had identified Rayne Beau from his microchip, Mr. Anguiano said they were shocked that the cat had made it back to California.The couple met Rayne Beau and his sister when they were 11 weeks old and decided to foster and then adopt them. Rayne Beau, who at first seemed timid compared with his playful sister, quickly adjusted to his new home and developed an adventurous streak. Mrs. Anguiano described him as being like a “dog cat” who played fetch and came to her when she called his name.She said he was also clever. One night he climbed over the fence in their backyard, but he returned home the following morning.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More