Elections

Milagros PicoIn 2018, the district judge for our area of south-central Montana was retiring and encouraged my husband, Ray, to run to fill his seat. Ray, a lawyer with 30 years of experience in civil and criminal practice, was new to politics. He expected to be the underdog. While all judicial races in the state are nonpartisan, we were not members of the dominant Republican Party. And we had lived in Montana for only 20 years, long enough to know we would still be considered newcomers.I told Ray: “They just need to get to know you. Then they’ll love you.”The district covers three rural counties, too big to gather all those voters together at a campaign event, so wooing them with Ray’s barbecued brisket was out. We would, we decided, go to them.Over six months, we knocked on the doors of over 8,000 registered voters from across the political spectrum. We didn’t know what to expect, but we certainly didn’t anticipate how eager people were to share very personal stories — not just eager, but, it seemed, compelled.There’s an immediate intimacy in having a conversation on someone’s doorstep. It is, after all, a threshold between public and private, but who would have thought that political canvassing would be so conducive to such unvarnished honesty? Perhaps because of the fracturing of our communities, we encountered an almost universal need to be witnessed and validated, to trust.Listening will not, alone, alleviate suffering — It has to be accompanied by, as a start, better access to public services. Neither is listening a magic cure for our political divisions. But I believe that any system in which some people feel they don’t matter is doomed to fail. I have no idea what it will take to heal our divisions, but I believe it will have something to do with sharing stories.Instead of talking about ourselves, we focused on the people we met. We would take note of some detail around the house, most often their gardens or their dogs — there were always dogs, big dogs and little dogs, an abundance of old and cherished dogs.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

Whitney White will direct the first Broadway production of Jason Robert Brown’s popular musical, which plans to open next spring.Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren are planning to star in a production of “The Last Five Years” on Broadway next spring.Jonas appeared in several Broadway shows as a child; his one starring role was in 2012, when he stepped into a production of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” and his most recent appearance on Broadway was for a Jonas Brothers concert stand last year.Warren is a Tony Award winner for playing the title role in “Tina.” She also had roles in Broadway productions of “Shuffle Along, or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed” and “Bring It On.”“The Last Five Years,” by Jason Robert Brown, is about the breakup of a marriage. Critics have rarely warmed to it, but it has a huge fan base, and is widely staged. It has never been on Broadway, in part because it is so small — just two characters and one act. The show also has an unusual structure: the male protagonist, a novelist named Jamie, tells the story from beginning to end, while the female protagonist, an actress named Cathy, tells it in reverse chronological order.It was first staged in Illinois, at Northlight Theater, in 2001, with Norbert Leo Butz and Lauren Kennedy, and then had an Off Broadway run at the Minetta Lane Theater in 2002, with Butz and Sherie Rene Scott. In the decades since, there have been numerous national and international productions and adaptations. There was a film adaptation, starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan, in 2015. More recently, Cynthia Erivo and Joshua Henry starred in a concert version in 2016, and at the height of the pandemic Out of the Box Theatrics and Holmdel Theater Company staged a memorable streaming production filmed inside an apartment with Nicholas Edwards and Nasia Thomas. (The number of licensed productions of the show doubled during the pandemic because the small cast and idiosyncratic narrative structure made it conducive to social distancing.)The Broadway production, directed by Whitney White (a Tony nominee for “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”), will be produced by Seaview, an increasingly prolific producing entity run by Greg Nobile; ATG Productions, a subsidiary of British theater owner ATG Entertainment; and the Season, which is the new producing entity of theater marketers Mike Karns and Steven Tartick. More

Has your mortgage come back from the dead? It probably wasn’t really gone, it was likely just hiding. For most buyers, mortgages are the cornerstone of purchasing a home. Sometimes a second mortgage is necessary, too, to cover the down payment, for instance. But what happens if that second mortgage seems to have been forgiven but actually still exists? Introducing: the “zombie mortgage.”These aren’t creatures from the underworld, but mortgages that homeowners forgot about or lenders said they would write off, but didn’t, only to reappear years later, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. As home prices continue to soar, zombie mortgages are seeing a “second wave,” said David Weber, a professor at the Creighton University School of Law. (The first wave, he said, occurred after the recession in the fall of 2008.)“The zombie nomenclature stuck because it was so catchy,” Mr. Weber said. “With these second mortgage issues that are going on right now, it’s not that they’re coming back to life. It’s just that they were laying dormant.” A homeowner might have no idea that a secondary lender is on the title to their property, Mr. Weber said, and the lender can choose to exercise their rights to the property when it becomes financially viable for them to do so. Here’s what to know about zombie mortgages and how to protect yourself. What is a zombie mortgage? The term originates from the aftermath of the foreclosure crisis in 2008 amid an increase in residential mortgage loans that defaulted, according to Andrea Boyack, a professor at the University of Missouri School of Law. Lenders would start the foreclosure process or announce a default, but never follow up because they didn’t think they would be able to recoup their investment. 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 Tonys are tonight. Many of the shows have a new sound.Tonight is the one night of the year when millions of Americans are focused on Broadway. That’s because it’s the annual Tony Awards, which, by virtue of being televised, are often the first way that many people learn about what’s new onstage.I write full time about theater, so I’m always thinking about what’s changing in that world, and this year I’ve been struck by the notion that the source of Broadway’s sound is shifting. More and more musicals are being written by artists who built their careers in pop music, and fewer by people trained in theater.I did the math, and here’s what I found: Just over half of the 15 new musicals that opened on Broadway during the 2023-24 season featured scores credited to artists whose primary credentials are in the music business. They include Alicia Keys, Barry Manilow and Britney Spears; Huey Lewis, Sufjan Stevens and David Byrne; Jamestown Revival and Ingrid Michaelson (whose song “My Days,” from “The Notebook,” is taking off on social media).Pop musicians are even helping to make plays. The leading contender for best play tonight is “Stereophonic,” a behind-the-music drama with bespoke song fragments by Will Butler, a former member of Arcade Fire, and this fall a Broadway production of “Romeo and Juliet” will feature music by Jack Antonoff, a frequent collaborator of Taylor Swift.“Stereophonic,” features songs by a former member of Arcade Fire.Sara Krulwich/The New York Times“We haven’t had this since Tin Pan Alley — folks who are trained at creating an entire world in four minutes, now creating pieces that are two and a half hours long,” said Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of “Hamilton.” “I find it exciting,” he added. “I always think musical theater is more interesting when it’s in conversation with the world.”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

Federal regulators are seeking $81,950 from a Texas woman who acted erratically and was violent toward crew members during an American Airlines flight in 2021.An American Airlines passenger who kicked and spat at flight attendants and passengers and attempted to open the cabin door before she was secured to a seat with duct tape has been sued by the Federal Aviation Administration for $81,950, the largest-ever fine assessed by the agency for unruly behavior.The passenger, Heather Wells, 34, of San Antonio, was traveling first class from the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Texas to the Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, N.C., on July 7, 2021. About an hour into the flight she ordered a whiskey and became agitated and said she “wanted out” of the plane, according to a lawsuit filed on June 3 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.Ms. Wells began running toward the back of the plane, where she dropped to her knees in the aisle and began “talking incoherently to passengers, before crawling back toward the main cabin,” the lawsuit said.When a flight attendant responded, Ms. Wells “became verbally aggressive and told the flight attendant that she would ‘hurt him’ if he didn’t get out of her way,” according to the court document.She then pushed him and moved to the front of the plane where she “lunged toward and attempted to grab” the cabin door, “all the while screaming and yelling profanities.”That was when two flight attendants and a passenger tried to physically restrain Ms. Wells, who struck one of the flight attendants in the head multiple times, the lawsuit 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

The authorities said the shooting in Rochester Hills, Mich., appeared to be random and that the gunman exited a car and opened fire.A gunman opened fire at a Michigan splash park on Saturday in what the authorities said was a random attack that left at least nine people, including a child, wounded, the police said.The shooting occurred at Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad in Rochester Hills, Mich., a Detroit suburb, the authorities said. Officers were called to the scene just after 5 p.m.“It appears to be a random active shooter,” Michael Bouchard, the Oakland County sheriff, said at a news conference. More

Republicans’ latest efforts capitalize on the issue’s prominence in the 2024 election. But the fate of their proposals is still being litigated.Nearly a year since Texas adopted a law empowering state and local police officers to arrest undocumented migrants who cross into its territory, Republican lawmakers in at least 11 states have tried to adopt similar measures, capitalizing on the prominence of immigration in the 2024 presidential election.The fate of the proposals — six have been enacted or are under consideration, with Louisiana expected to sign its measure into law as early as next week — is still being litigated. In a case before a federal appeals court, Texas is defending its law by arguing that illegal immigration is a form of invasion, allowing it to expand its power to protect its borders. Federal courts have previously ruled that, from a constitutional perspective, the definition of the term invasion is limited to military attacks.States have tested the limits of their power over immigration before, but lawyers and legal scholars said the push this year was accompanied by what had amounted to a public-relations campaign.In campaign speeches, political ads and the halls of Congress, more Republicans are echoing former President Donald J. Trump by arguing that the rise of migration at the southern border is an “invasion.” President Biden, under pressure from both Republicans and Democrats to tackle the issues at the border, signed an executive order this month to curb asylum, and he could have more actions coming next week.The measure expected to be signed by Gov. Jeff Landry, Republican of Louisiana, includes provisions allowing Mr. Landry and his attorney general to establish a compact with Texas to address border security. Mr. Landry has already met with Gov. Greg Abbott, Republican of Texas, and dispatched Army National Guard soldiers from Louisiana to Texas’ border with Mexico.Valarie Hodges, the state senator in Louisiana who wrote the legislation, joined other Republicans in calling Mr. Biden’s recent action “too little, too late,” saying in an interview that state measures like hers were essential because the Biden administration had failed to enforce immigration laws.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

Former President Donald J. Trump, courting Black voters at a church on the west side of Detroit on Saturday, sought to harness animus toward migrants crossing the border, sanitized his track record on race and sold himself as the best president for Black Americans since Abraham Lincoln.As he spoke to roughly 200 people, Mr. Trump largely ignored his history of racist statements and his decades of calls for tougher policing that have fueled his three presidential campaigns.Instead, during short remarks before a panel with Black residents of Detroit at the city’s 180 Church, Mr. Trump tried to cast Mr. Biden as anti-Black, focusing intently on the president’s role in shepherding the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a sweeping bill that criminal justice experts have said laid the groundwork for mass incarceration that disproportionately hurt America’s Black communities.Though Black voters have overwhelmingly favored Democrats since the civil rights era, recent polls have shown the party losing some of their support.Brittany Greeson for The New York TimesMr. Trump, at one point, seemed determined to ensure that Mr. Biden’s role in the crime bill would be the event’s main takeaway. He falsely accused Mr. Biden of coining the term “super predators” and then insisted that those in the audience should not forget Mr. Biden’s role, as a U.S. senator, in championing the bill and helping pass it.“He was the one with the super predators,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Biden. “So just please remember that if you’re going to vote Democrat — because you shouldn’t vote Democrat.”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