Your Tuesday Evening Briefing |
Good evening. Here’s the latest. |
 | | Pool photo by Bill O'Leary |
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1. Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department had not uncovered voting fraud at a scale that could have tipped the results of the presidential election. |
And Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader, above, referred for the first time to a “new administration” in discussions about more pandemic stimulus money for 2021. |
And even as Rudy Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s lawyer, has continued to promote groundless election fraud claims, he has discussed with the president as recently as last week the possibility of receiving a pre-emptive pardon before Mr. Trump leaves office, according to two people told of the discussion. |
 | | Christopher Lee for The New York Times |
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The guidelines, developed after months of deliberation, will be shared with states, which are preparing to receive their first vaccine shipments as soon as mid-December. Above, the I.C.U. ward of United Memorial Medical Center in Houston last week. |
But first, a vaccine must be approved. British regulators are considering two vaccines for emergency approval using different criteria than U.S. regulators. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that “if everything goes right, this could be available just in a few weeks.” |
And the White House is feeling the heat. Mark Meadows, President Trump’s chief of staff, summoned the F.D.A. commissioner to explain why regulators have not yet approved the emergency use of Pfizer’s vaccine. |
 | | Lucy Hewett for The New York Times |
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3. The U.S. economy is uneasily hanging in limbo between the Trump and Biden administrations. |
President-elect Joe Biden tried to inject a sense of urgency and stability by formally introducing his economic team and called on Congress to come together to pass a “robust” relief package to help households and businesses like Swift & Sons, above, in Chicago. |
 | | Rosem Morton for The New York Times |
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4. As the pandemic progresses, at least one consensus has emerged: Schools should bring back younger children first. |
New York City became the highest-profile example of the trend when Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last weekend that elementary schools would reopen starting Dec. 7. Districts including Chicago, Washington and Philadelphia have already begun to bring back only young children, or have plans to do so. |
Giving priority to younger students was pioneered in Europe, where many countries have kept primary schools open even as most other parts of public life closed during the continent’s second wave. |
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 | | Mauricio Lima for The New York Times |
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5. Russia and President Vladimir Putin try out a peacekeeper role. |
Russia has long been a provocateur in the broader Caucasus region, but Mr. Putin negotiated a tense truce between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Russian peacekeeping troops are enforcing. It’s a new set of tactics by the Kremlin that combines hard and soft power. |
The departure from Moscow’s usual iron-fisted playbook is a test and an opportunity for Russia, which is struggling to hold on to its influence in the former Soviet regions. |
It seems to have paid off in this case: Russia will maintain influence in both Armenia and Azerbaijan and has established a military foothold in the region. And Russia’s ongoing involvement will be pivotal in determining the future status of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is still unclear. |
 | | Haruka Sakaguchi for The New York Times |
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6. Salesforce said it would buy Slack for $27.7 billion, the biggest deal among a recent wave that attempts to capitalize on the shift to remote work. |
The acquisition would signify the end of the workplace messaging company’s brief run as an independent, publicly traded company. It would also cap an acquisitive streak by Salesforce, with its largest deal since it was founded 21 years ago as a marketing and sales software firm. |
 | | Michael Noble Jr. for The New York Times |
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7. A college student without a home. Immigrant families adjusting to remote learning. A pandemic-delayed kidney transplant. |
These are a few of the stories featured this year by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, which has supported a global community of less fortunate people since 1911. For its 109th annual campaign, the Fund focused on stories of hardship caused by the pandemic. Today, on Giving Tuesday, consider taking a break from online shopping to read about their struggles. |
“Just thinking of yourself in a higher light and always being optimistic will allow you to do the things you need to get done in your life,” said Demetria Mack, above, who aged out of foster care and received money from the Fund to help pay rent while she attends Howard University. |
 | | Vijat Mohindra |
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8. Miley Cyrus is finally embracing her rock ’n’ roll heart. |
“After years of restless reinventions, it sounds like Cyrus has found a fitting context, and as a bonus, rock music has found its most earnest and high-profile millennial ambassador,” writes Lindsay Zoladz. |
Another cultural mainstay taking on the music of the ’80s: The fourth season of “The Crown.” We talked to the show’s music supervisor about some of the season’s most notable musical moments. |
 | | Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich. Prop Stylist: Randi Brookman Harris. |
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9. The perfect holiday cookie box. |
Every December, the Food columnist Melissa Clark goes into a holiday baking frenzy, part of a quest to put together the most delicious cookie box to send out to friends and loved ones. What has she learned over two decades? Every box needs a fruity, jammy note, and something sparkly and colorful is a must. |
She plans to continue the tradition this year in the pandemic. It’s “a tangible way to spread joy when we need it more than ever,” she writes. |
 | | Ross Bernards |
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10. And finally, the demise of the Utah monolith. |
A photographer said he saw four men dismantling the mysterious metal object that has captivated the country since it appeared in a remote part of the desert on Nov. 18. |
Ross Bernards, an adventure photographer, said he had driven out to the monolith’s location on Friday night to take photos, when the men appeared and began removing the monolith. “As they walked off with the pieces, one of them said, ‘Leave no trace,’” he said. |
The men may not have been the same people who installed the monolith, leaving the mystery of its origin unsolved. |
Have an enigmatic evening. |
Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. |
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