Your Thursday Evening Briefing |
Good evening. Here's the latest. |
 | | Doug Mills/The New York Times |
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The budget proposal, which will be formally released tomorrow, underscores the administration's belief that the fiscal situation is manageable and that given historically low interest rates, now is the time to make major investments to combat climate change, reduce inequality and make the U.S. economy more competitive. |
Documents obtained by The Times call for total spending to rise to $8.2 trillion by 2031, with deficits running above $1.3 trillion throughout the next decade. Biden plans to fund his agenda by raising taxes on corporations and high earners. |
While the budget is only a request to Congress, Biden faces some of the best odds of any president in recent history in getting much of his agenda approved as Democrats control both chambers. |
 | | Mike Kai Chen for The New York Times |
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2. The Santa Clara transit gunman had three semiautomatic handguns and 32 high-capacity magazines, and was "very deliberate" in killing his co-workers, according to the police. |
The police were still seeking a motive for the 57-year-old gunman, who shot and killed nine co-workers at a rail yard in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday. The weapons appeared to be legal to purchase in California. Here's the latest. |
The gunman killed himself as sheriff's deputies rushed into the rail yard from their headquarters next door. The victims ranged in age from 29 to 63. Here is what we know about them. Above, a woman mourns her co-workers. |
 | | Roman Pilipey/EPA, via Shutterstock |
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3. Many scientists welcomed an investigation into the origins of the pandemic, but most still believe a leak from a lab in Wuhan, China, is unlikely. |
Virologists still largely lean toward the theory that infected animals — perhaps a bat, or another animal raised for food — spread the coronavirus to humans outside of a lab. President Biden said he planned to release the results of the intelligence report, even as officials said the inquiry was likely to extend beyond the 90-day deadline. Some researchers warn that the answers may not arrive any time soon — if ever. |
 | | Rahmat Gul/Associated Press |
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4. The military in several rural outposts in Afghanistan is surrendering to the Taliban as U.S. troops leave the country. |
Since the U.S. began withdrawing its troops on May 1, soldiers and the police in outposts and bases in four provinces have handed over their weapons and equipment in exchange for safe passage to a government-controlled area. The tactic has removed hundreds of government forces from the battlefield, secured strategic territory and reaped weapons, ammunition and vehicles for the Taliban — often without firing a shot. |
"We told them, 'Look, your situation is bad — reinforcements aren't coming,'" said a village elder sent by the Taliban to negotiate the surrenders. |
 | | Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times |
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5. Tens of thousands of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo are fleeing one of the world's most dangerous volcanoes. |
After a fiery fissure ripped open on Saturday, sending a stream of lava rushing down Mount Nyiragongo toward the city of Goma and killing more than two dozen people, the local authorities ordered as many as one million people to evacuate, fearing a new eruption. |
 | | Abdul Aziz for The New York Times |
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Some, like Syracuse and Detroit, have committed to replacing stretches of interstate with walkable neighborhoods. Others, like Dallas and New Orleans, above, are facing pressure from residents and activists to address the pollution, noise and safety hazards brought by the mega-roads. |
President Biden's infrastructure plan proposed spending $20 billion to help reconnect neighborhoods divided by highways. But rebuilding a neighborhood from scratch isn't easy, or quick. |
 | | Jason Reed/Reuters |
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7. The Tasmanian devils are back. Whether they can survive is another question. |
About 3,000 years ago, the Tasmanian devils were wiped out on the Australian mainland. This month, researchers working in a wildlife preserve found seven pink, hairless joeys — a successful step in a conservation project that aims to bring them back. |
It remains unclear how the animals would fare outside the fenced preserve in New South Wales where they were born. The marsupials face declining numbers in the only place where they exist in the wild: the island of Tasmania, south of mainland Australia. |
But a conservationist said it was a first step for the devils "to breed and survive, and they did." |
 | | Jonny Cournoyer/Paramount Pictures, via Associated Press |
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8. "A Quiet Place Part II" — John Krasinski's alien-invasion blockbuster sequel — is brasher and louder. |
This new installment is, like its predecessor, wonderfully acted and intuitively directed, our reviewer writes, but it has also largely replaced the hushed horror of the original with full-on action. |
"A Quiet Place Part II" opens in theaters tomorrow, making it one of the first major films to be released in the not-quite-postcoronavirus era. The reception may reveal whether moviegoers are willing to return to theaters. We spoke to Krasinski about the project recently. |
 | | Ryan Gillett |
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9. Summer is almost here. It's time to plan your literary escape. |
But if you want to read John Steinbeck's werewolf murder mystery, you'll probably have to wait. A scholar of American literature is pushing for the book to be published, but the agents for Steinbeck's estate vehemently refused. |
 | | NASA, via Associated Press |
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10. And finally, who wants to be an astronaut? |
So many companies are preparing trips to the International Space Station that it could begin to look more like a Hollywood soundstage or a hotel for wealthy tourists than an orbiting laboratory. |
The Discovery Channel is looking to cast its new reality show — "Who Wants to Be an Astronaut?" — in which 10 people will compete for a chance to fly to the I.S.S. on a SpaceX rocket. Separately, Russia's space agency is planning to send up an actress and filmmaker for a movie next year. Above, the SpaceX Crew Dragon. |
Closer to home, Virgin Galactic and Blue Orbit are hoping to fly tourists on suborbital flights that will offer a few minutes of weightlessness. Axiom Space, a Houston company, is aiming to launch its first flight as early as January, carrying three passengers who are spending $55 million each. |
Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. |
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