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      More Than Half of Puerto Rico Remains Without Power

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      It will take at least another day to fully restore service after a series of failures blacked out the whole island on Wednesday, officials said.Nearly 60 percent of Puerto Rico’s more than 1.4 million utility customers remained without power on Thursday, the morning after a blackout knocked all of the island’s functioning power plants offline and left the entire island in the dark.Service was unlikely to be fully restored before the early hours of Friday, Josué Colón, Puerto Rico’s energy czar, said in a news conference early Thursday. That was how long it would take, he said, to get all the power plants back online after the systemwide shutdown.“There’s still a long road for the recovery of more than 50 percent of the island,” Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón said.As of 7 a.m. Thursday, about 610,000 customers — about 41.5 percent of the total — had electricity, according to Luma Energy, the private contractor that operates the island’s power transmission system. A utility customer may be a house, an apartment building, a business, a government building or some other facility.Critical institutions that were back online Thursday included a number of hospitals and the airport in San Juan, the capital, Luma said in a statement.The blackout happened because of a series of failures in the power transmission system, the company said, but why they happened has not yet been established. Luma has asked for three days to identify the likely cause.The utility said that a preliminary review showed that something had gone wrong with a protective system that is intended to keep the entire power grid from shutting down when there is a breakdown on a single line — and that a transmission line in western Puerto Rico might have been affected by overgrowth.Ms. González-Colón, who was elected last year after campaigning on a promise to cancel Luma’s contract, said the utility was required to patrol its lines by helicopter to spot overgrowth and prevent it from causing disruptions. Luma said it had been complying with that requirement, but the governor said she was skeptical and exasperated.“It can’t happen that every time there’s a little branch, it knocks out not just a line but the entire system,” she said.The governor also questioned whether the system was able to handle the higher demand for power during holidays, noting that the blackout on Wednesday happened during Holy Week, when many Puerto Ricans are on vacation, and that a similar blackout happened on New Year’s Eve.Puerto Rico faces a looming power generation shortage. Officials warned last month that there would probably be insufficient power supply to meet peak demand over the summer. The government has solicited bids for an additional operator or operators to provide more power on the island. More

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      Sculpture Museum in Dallas Names a New Director

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      Carlos Basualdo, a veteran curator who has spent most of his career at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, will take over the Nasher Sculpture Center next month.Carlos Basualdo visited Dallas for the first time in October with interest in seeing the Nasher Sculpture Center, a prized small museum. It mingles 20th-century European sculpture by Pablo Picasso, Constantin Brancusi and Alberto Giacometti with contemporary works by American artists like Arlene Shechet and Carol Bove.“I fell in love with the building and the garden,” said Basualdo, a veteran curator who has spent most of his career at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.He will be returning to the Nasher on May 12 with the title of director, his first time overseeing an institution.The Nasher is relatively intimate, with a collection of about 500 works and an annual operating budget of about $13 million, but it has long commanded an outsize reputation for its holdings. It is housed in a jewel of a building: a light-flooded, travertine-and-glass structure by Renzo Piano. From the museum’s entrance you can see, in a nearly seamless glance, through the interior and across the length of the sculpture garden out back.A sculpture by Otobong Nkanga at the Nasher, which has a collection of about 500 works.Nitashia Johnson for The New York Times“When I walked into the place, coming out of the street, it was super-powerful,” Basualdo said. “It’s open, it’s very present, it’s not ostentatious, it’s generous, it’s full of light.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

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      Magnolias Are in Bloom. It’s Time to Eat Them.

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      Plus: a boutique hotel near Joshua Tree, the rise of Japanese wine and more recommendations from T Magazine.Welcome to the T List, a newsletter from the editors of T Magazine. Each week, we share things we’re eating, wearing, listening to or coveting now. Sign up here to find us in your inbox every Wednesday, along with monthly travel and beauty guides, and the latest stories from our print issues. And you can always reach us at tmagazine@nytimes.com.Stay HereA Tranquil Hotel at the Edge of Joshua Tree National ParkThe rooms at Hotel Wren, in Twentynine Palms, Calif., feature custom millwork and vintage décor that make each space distinct.Ethan JonesJust 15 minutes from Joshua Tree National Park, an arrow-shaped sign beckons drivers off historic Route 62 and down brush-lined roads to the Mojave Desert’s newest accommodations, Hotel Wren. Initially built in the 1940s as a motor lodge, the 12-room hotel in Twentynine Palms, Calif., that opened in March offers kitchenettes and private patios that open onto the desert, along with access to a saltwater pool, hot tub and native plant garden. A two-and-a-half hour drive from Los Angeles and three-and-a-half hours from Las Vegas, the adults-only property was remodeled with an emphasis on tranquillity. The rooms, which feature pitched ceilings, vintage décor and furniture made in Joshua Tree, are absent of TVs. Though the original midcentury carport remains, the bones of the buildings were softened with hand-troweled plaster, corners were rounded and the floors were replaced with flagstones and tiles embedded with fossilized plant material and animal tracks. The on-site bodega, Windsong, is stocked with wine and provisions, including organic Italian pasta and tinned fish. There is also a community pantry with free herbs and seasonings, and the complimentary breakfast includes eggs and locally made bagels. The less-visited north entrance to Joshua Tree National Park is close by, but guests can just as easily take in the area’s rugged beauty from their rooms. Rates from about $330 a night, hotelwren29.com.Smell ThisMarin Montagut’s First Fragrance Channels Summer in SicilyMarin Montagut’s new perfume, L’Eau Douce, comes in marbled-paper packaging.©Romain RicardThe Parisian illustrator and designer Marin Montagut is known for his fanciful objects and romantic aesthetic. His work, whether it’s a porcelain jug or a hand-drawn postcard, prioritizes craftsmanship and often references the past. Now he’s releasing his first eau de parfum, L’Eau Douce. Four years ago, he began attempting to encapsulate his fond memories of Sicilian summers in a fragrance. Collaborating with the nose Maïa Lernout, who has worked with Dior, Kenzo and Burberry, among other fashion brands, Montagut began with the scent of orange blossoms. He then added white musk to evoke the smell of freshly washed linen strung out to dry in the sun. Notes of mint, lemon, fig and bergamot round out the perfume. For its packaging, Montagut used marbled paper, a signature of his brand, to create an illustrated box. Each bottle is decorated with a gold medallion featuring two hands that can be removed and worn as a necklace. “I wanted to give a gift in a gift,” he says. Montagut’s name, Marin, has Latin roots pertaining to the sea, and L’Eau Douce, fittingly, translates to “freshwater.” From about $190, marinmontagut.com.In SeasonThe New York Chefs Making Magnolia Blossoms LastLeft: the New York chef Hannah Musante’s magnolia blossoms stuffed with sourdough toast ice cream. Right: magnolia branches in New York’s Union Square Park.Left: courtesy of Hannah Musante. Right: James Andrews/istock/Getty ImagesOn a drizzly April afternoon in Brooklyn, the New Jersey-based forager Tama Matsuoka Wong pulled up to the Prospect Heights restaurant Cafe Mado with a bounty in the back of her van. One of her produce bins was filled with plastic clamshells that held dozens of pointy pink saucer magnolia buds. Her chef clients “are always wanting flowers,” she says. And in the northeast, saucer magnolia is “one of the earliest blooming,” a herald of spring that typically emerges in March and lasts about a month. The petals have a gingery taste and a texture similar to a squash blossom. Wong foraged the buds in Pennsylvania and Maryland at the start of the season, before making her way north to New Jersey. Cafe Mado’s chef, Nico Russell, is preserving the flowers in sour honey. He plans to serve them in a dessert with buttermilk and local strawberries when the latter is in season around June. The restaurant’s bar team is working on a nonalcoholic cocktail that combines amazake, a Japanese fermented rice drink, with magnolia tea. Wong also provides the buds to Flynn McGarry, the chef at Gem Home in NoLIta and the forthcoming Hudson Square restaurant Cove (scheduled to open this fall). He’s been soaking the petals in vinegar and plans to serve them “like pickled ginger,” he says, with crudo at Cove. The Brooklyn-based chef Hannah Musante collected her own flowers from a friend’s backyard, then stuffed them with sourdough toast ice cream. She covered other buds in sugar to create a syrup, and used the leftover macerated flowers to fill a tart shell that she topped with crème fraîche and dried thyme flowers. “The first products of spring are always so exciting,” she says.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. 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      4 Men Charged With Trying to Smuggle Thousands of Ants From Kenya

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      The men, including two Belgian teenagers, pleaded guilty to smuggling thousands of live queen ants, which the Kenyan authorities said were destined for markets in Europe and Asia.Four men, including two Belgian teenagers, pleaded guilty in a Kenyan court this week on charges of trafficking thousands of live ants, which the Kenyan authorities said they had intended to sell as pets. The Belgians, David Lornoy and Seppe Lodewijckx, both 19, were found with the insects this month at a guesthouse near Lake Naivasha, one of several popular nature areas in Kenya. They had thousands of live queen ants, packed in syringes and test tubes designed to keep the insects alive for months, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service.The court said the ants were worth the equivalent of around $7,000 and, citing intelligence reports, said they had been destined for exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia. The unusual case underscores what Kenyan officials say is a trend in wildlife smuggling, which has often been associated with high-value species and animal products: There is money to be made in smuggling smaller, lesser-known species, too. Live beetles have been found hidden in snack packs from Japan; live bits of coral are more and more often being secreted through U.S. ports. “This case highlights a growing global threat: the biopiracy of native species,” the Kenya Wildlife Service said in a statement. It said that the unauthorized collection of the ants “not only undermines Kenya’s sovereign rights over its biodiversity but also deprives local communities and research institutions of potential ecological and economical benefits.”The queen ants the men pleaded guilty to smuggling are highly valued by rare insect collectors, who often keep colonies of the ants in formicariums, or artificial ant farms, where they can be observed building complex colonies and tunnel systems. The species they were collecting, the Messor cephalotes native to Kenya, is the largest harvester ant in the world. Two other men, Dennis N’gang’a of Kenya, and Duh Hung Nguyen, a Vietnamese citizen, were also charged in a separate case with illegally collecting ants and dealing in live wildlife species. They were found with hundreds of live garden ants, worth around $1,500, the wildlife service said.In announcing the arrests, the Kenya Wildlife Service released photos of a living room littered with test tubes, cotton swabs and packing materials. The delicately packed tubes — some containing multiple live ants in separate compartments — were designed to sustain the animals for around two months, the wildlife service said. In a court appearance on Tuesday, Mr. Lornoy and Mr. Lodewijckx appeared distraught and said they had been collecting the ants for fun, The Associated Press reported. They pleaded guilty and were awaiting sentencing. Edwin Okoth contributed reporting. More

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      I.R.S. Is Said to Be Considering Whether to Revoke Harvard’s Tax-Exempt Status

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      The move would be a major escalation of the Trump administration’s attempts to choke off federal money and support for the leading research university.The Internal Revenue Service is weighing whether to revoke Harvard’s tax exemption, according to three people familiar with the matter, which would be a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s attempts to choke off federal money and support for the leading research university.President Trump on Tuesday publicly called for Harvard to pay taxes, continuing a standoff in which the administration has demanded the university revamp its hiring and admissions practices and its curriculum.Some I.R.S. officials have told colleagues that the Treasury Department on Wednesday asked the agency to consider revoking Harvard’s tax-exempt status, according to two of the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal conversations.An I.R.S. spokeswoman declined to comment. The Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment. CNN first reported that the I.R.S. was looking at potentially rescinding Harvard’s tax-exempt status.Federal law bars the president from either directly or indirectly requesting the I.R.S. to investigate or audit specific targets. The I.R.S. does at times revoke tax exemptions from organizations for conducting too many political or commercial activities, but those groups can appeal the agency’s decision in court. Any attempt to take away Harvard’s tax exemption would be likely to face a legal challenge, which tax experts expect would be successful.Harrison Fields, a White House spokesman, said the I.R.S.’s scrutiny of Harvard began before the president’s social media post.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

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      Review: Caryl Churchill Times Four Makes an Infinity of Worlds

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      “Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp,” a new collection of one-acts by the great British playwright, is a cause for celebration, wonderment and grief.A girl made of glass. A god — or, really, all of them. Ghosts, but of the future. An imp who may be trapped in a bottle.Just another day in Caryl Churchill’s world.The arrival of new work by Churchill is like the arrival of a new theorem in a supposedly settled body of knowledge. “Cloud Nine” (1979) explored gender as colonialism; “Escaped Alone” (2016) domesticated the apocalypse. “Drunk Enough to Say I Love You” (2006) reframed the alliance of Britain and the United States as a sloppy date. Clones and multiverses are part of her world. With a mathematician’s precision, she posits ways of thinking about the universe and its inhabitants that, even when baffling, give more dimension to our experience of both.Her latest investigations take the form of a collection of four one-act plays at the Public Theater, under the portmanteau title “Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.” Written separately over the last few years, each is pointed enough on its own: short and edgy. But together, in a splendid and surprisingly emotional production directed by James Macdonald, a frequent Churchill collaborator, they are so sharp you hardly feel them slicing your skin.“Glass” is the most literally shattering. The life of a girl made of the substance, who lives on a mantelpiece for safety, is encompassed in 13 minutes. Her mother frets over her, her brother brags about her, her mantelpiece neighbors — an old clock, a plastic dog, a painted vase — compete with her. (She may be pretty, the clock says, but he’s useful.) Soon the girl (Ayana Workman) meets a flesh-and-blood boy (Japhet Balaban) who is entranced by the transparency of her feelings: He can see straight into them, with no need for words. When his own feelings are spoken, in the form of whispers we do not hear, the express bus to tragedy departs.The way intimacy opens to loss is a theme here; the way abstractions become characters is a miracle. Somehow, it takes just a moment to adjust to the bizarre setup and the ensuing complications. (The mother warns that if the girl goes out for a walk with the boy, she had better wear Bubble Wrap.) Nor do we trouble ourselves that the production makes no attempt to literalize the figurines. They’re just us.In a 12-minute monologue, Deirdre O’Connell looks down on the ancient parade of human viciousness.Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesWe 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

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      NYT Crossword Answers for April 17, 2025

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      Ilan and Shimon Kolkowitz give us good advice as they make their New York Times Crossword debut.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — Ilan and Shimon Kolkowitz — brothers who are, respectively, a doctor and a physics professor — are men of science. They have been trained to approach problems broadly at first, as expressed in the medical aphorism “When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.”I mention this because the Kolkowitz brothers are making their New York Times Crossword debut today with an entertaining puzzle that teaches a similar lesson. While we’re solving, let’s not lose sight of why we’re here. We’re here to have fun and maybe learn something.Before we discuss the puzzle, you should know that applications are now open for the New York Times Diverse Crossword Constructor Fellowship.The fellowship provides mentorship and support for constructors from underrepresented groups in the constructor community, including women, people of color and the L.G.B.T.Q. community. We want our puzzles to reflect the experiences of as many people as possible, which means publishing work that displays a wide range of cultural reference points and language usage. The fellowship is for constructors who have not yet been published by The New York Times. Fellows will get to work one on one with an editor for about three months, and by the end will have a crossword they can submit to The Times for possible publication.Today’s ThemeBefore we get started, today’s puzzle is not a rebus. You’re welcome.Our job is to see the FOREST for the TREES, as the idiom about shortsightedness goes. Someone who does not see the forest for the trees is considering only the granular details, and not the larger picture.That crossword forest is appropriately hidden while you are solving today’s puzzle, but reveals itself upon finishing in a way that I thought was very interesting. More about that later.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

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      A Columbia Activist Sought Middle Ground on Gaza. The U.S. Detained Him.

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      Mohsen Mahdawi was arrested at a citizenship interview in Vermont. He had spent a decade trying to understand the conflict that shaped his life, his supporters say.As Columbia University’s student protest movement careened toward the center of the nation’s political discourse last year, one of its most ardent leaders suddenly fell quiet.Mohsen Mahdawi had been a key organizer of pro-Palestinian demonstrations, but he said he walked away from that role in March 2024 — well before the rallies reached a fever pitch as students set up encampments and broke into a campus building.A fissure had been growing. By the fall of 2024 it had widened: Parts of the movement were becoming more radical, and some students were distributing fliers during a campus demonstration glorifying violent resistance. Mr. Mahdawi, meanwhile, was approaching Israeli students, hoping to find middle ground in the divisive Israeli-Palestinian conflict that, for decades, had unleashed horrors on both sides and in his own life.He told friends that he was being sidelined in part because he wanted to engage in dialogue with supporters of Israel, a stance many pro-Palestinian activists reject.His calls for compassion did not protect him from President Trump’s widening dragnet against pro-Palestinian student organizers on campus.At an appointment to obtain U.S. citizenship on Monday in Vermont, Mr. Mahdawi, who is expected to graduate next month from Columbia, was taken into custody by immigration police.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