Your Thursday Evening Briefing

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November 14, 2019

Your Thursday Evening Briefing

By remy tumin and marcus payadue

Good evening. Here's the latest.

David Walter Banks for The New York Times

1. A teenager shot five fellow students, two fatally, at a high school north of Los Angeles, then turned the gun on himself. It was at least the 11th school shooting this year.

The authorities said the 16-year-old gunman pulled a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol from his backpack in the school's quad just after 7:30 a.m. and opened fire at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita.

Here's the latest. Parents reunited with their children in a nearby park, above.

The students killed were identified as a 16-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy. The gunman was in grave condition after shooting himself in the head, the authorities said. Today was his birthday.

Erin Schaff/The New York Times

2. Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused President Trump of bribery for withholding vital military assistance from Ukraine at the same time he was seeking an investigation of his political rivals.

By using bribery — mentioned in the Constitution's impeachment clause — to describe Mr. Trump's conduct, Ms. Pelosi suggested that Democrats were moving toward a more specific set of charges. Our congressional editor explains why her word choice matters on "The Latest."

We also had two of our veteran reporters analyze the strategies of the House Democrats and Republicans, and the geopolitical gravity of it all.

On Friday, Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine, will testify starting at 9 a.m. Eastern. The Times will live-stream the proceedings and have a team of reporters in Washington providing real-time analysis.

Separately, President Trump asked the Supreme Court to bar the release of his tax returns. The result could yield a major ruling on presidential immunity.

Bryan Woolston/Reuters

3. Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky, above, conceded after a recanvass of votes confirmed the victory of Andy Beshear, a Democrat, in last week's governor's race.

Mr. Bevin, who had raised unspecified allegations of voter fraud, lost by about 5,000 votes to Mr. Beshear, the state's attorney general and the son of a two-term Democratic governor.

In other political news, Deval Patrick, a Democrat and former two-term governor of Massachusetts, made a late entry into the 2020 presidential race, less than three months before the Iowa caucuses.

Omar Haj Kadour/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

4. A month ago, our video journalists proved that the Russian Air Force bombed a Syrian hospital. Then, last week, Russia did it again.

A U.N. investigation into hospital attacks in Syria had raised some hopes of accountability for what could be a war crime. But the investigation is limited in scope, according to an internal document seen by The Times, and diplomats say Russia has sought to keep the findings secret.

Tim Peacock for The New York Times

5. City dwellers want cleaner, healthier air and less traffic. So what to do about all those dang cars?

London tightened limits on pollution; Beijing installed a license plate lottery; Madrid banned most conventional cars in a portion of the city center. Under pressure from their citizens, city officials around the world are experimenting with new ways to reimagine the role of cars.

Separately, a new report found that failing to limit emissions leads to health problems caused by infectious diseases, worsening air pollution, rising temperatures and malnutrition — and children will bear the brunt of all of that.

Sarah Blesener for The New York Times

6. New York City is trying a new approach to steer the almost 4,000 people who live on the streets into shelters.

The city will train 18,000 of its municipal workers to use 311 apps to send real-time information to social workers. The service requests will go through a new homeless services joint command center. There are 79,000 homeless people in the city, most of whom are in shelters.

And for perhaps the most unusual gathering in New York politics: the annual exodus of the state's political class to Puerto Rico. Think of it as spring break for public officials and the lobbyists who woo them.

Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

7. The Makah, the only Native Americans with a treaty right to hunt whales, have not been allowed to do so for 20 years. That could soon change.

A judge is considering a proposal from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to exempt the Makah from the federal ban on whaling, which would allow the tribe to catch as many as four Eastern North Pacific gray whales every two years for the next decade. Above, the skeleton of the last whale hunted by members of the tribe.

Tribal members say they see it as a fight over honoring indigenous treaty rights. Conservationists and animal rights activists have vowed to take the fight to court.

Sophie Mutevelian/Netflix

8. "The Crown," back for a third season, is as "scintillating" as ever, our TV critic says.

It's 1966 when the Netflix drama picks back up, with a new cast to bring the royals into midlife, including Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II and Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip. The new season, arriving Sunday, offers "10 entertaining episodes of personal history that are equal parts political, poignant and juicy."

Here's his full review.

Our chief fashion critic also looked at a new book by the queen's dresser that spills some surprising style secrets. (Hint: The best way to polish diamonds is with gin and water.)

Laetitia Vancon for The New York Times

9. There was a milestone in the botany world that shed light on a critical moment in evolution.

Researchers published the genomes of two algae that are among the closest known living relatives of land plants. They already had some of the key genes that plants would need to thrive on dry land.

Also from our Science desk: Caribou have long been credited with the world's longest migration, but that claim relied solely on one study. Scientists decided it was time to double-check.

Jennifer Kingson

10. And finally, the llama will see you now.

Llamas and alpacas are growing more common as therapy animals to help ease people's stress in places like hospitals, college campuses and senior centers.

The novelty factor is a big part of the appeal, along with the creatures' big-eyed, empathetic gaze. Llama owners say their pets have a sixth sense about people who are needy, ill or frail. Above, Knock and Tic visited the Stockdale Residence and Rehabilitation Center in Texas.

"They love the llamas," said the nursing home's activities director. "One lady, she can be in the foulest of moods, and when the llamas come, she just gets a whole new aura to her."

Have a comforting night.

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