Your Friday Evening Briefing |
Good evening. Here's the latest. |
 | | Erin Schaff/The New York Times |
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1. Donald Trump will remain barred from Facebook for at least two years. |
The decision denies Trump a megaphone at least through the midterm elections, but a decision on his possible return to Facebook would come before the next presidential election. |
Facebook also said it was ending a policy of keeping up posts from politicians by default even if their speech broke its rules. |
 | | Charles Krupa/Associated Press |
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2. America's job market is clambering back, but employment is still far below prepandemic levels. |
A new report showed that employers added 559,000 jobs last month, raising hopes about the pandemic recovery. The unemployment rate fell to 5.8 percent. Above, an employment agency in Manchester, N.H. |
As infections ebb, vaccinations increase and businesses reopen, the economy has started to regain its footing, but the path has not been smooth. "It's probably going to be a bumpy ride from here till September," one economist said. |
President Biden described the job gains as "historic progress." The average monthly gain over March, April and May was about 540,000 positions. If that rate continues, it will be well into 2022 before the labor market returns to pre-pandemic levels. |
 | | Department of Defense, via Associated Press |
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3. U.S. intelligence has found no evidence that U.F.O.s are alien spacecraft. They also can't rule it out. |
A new report cannot explain the objects witnessed by Navy pilots in more than 120 incidents over the past two decades. The only conclusive finding is that the unexplained aircraft were not part of a program the government meant to keep secret, according to officials briefed on the report. |
"What is true, and I'm actually being serious here," Barack Obama said last month, "is that there is footage and records of objects in the skies that we don't know exactly what they are.'' |
An unclassified version of the report is expected to be released to Congress by June 25. |
 | | Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press |
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4. California is considering changes to discourage home building in fire-prone areas. |
The proposals could remake the real estate market in parts of California and are a sign of how climate change is beginning to wreak havoc on parts of the American economy. |
The proposals include halting state funding for infrastructure in certain areas prone to fire, leaving vacant lots undeveloped and expanding stringent building codes. |
California has been struggling to cope with years of record-breaking wildfires starting in 2017. Those fires led to unmatched insurance claims from homeowners, which in turn caused huge losses for insurers, wiping out decades' worth of profits. |
 | | Pool photo by Behrouz Mehri |
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5. The first Olympic team has landed in Japan, shut off from a country with restrictions galore. |
With seven weeks to go before the Games, the Australian softball players, above, will experience much of their Olympic moment living in small hotel rooms far from Tokyo, getting daily coronavirus tests and doing gym workouts in groups no larger than six. All fully vaccinated, they cannot go to bars, restaurants or shrines. |
In Britain, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was endorsed by the country's drug regulator for use by 12- to 15-year-olds, as the country reported its highest rate of coronavirus cases since late March. |
 | | Gabby Jones for The New York Times |
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6. Subway musicians returned to New York after more than 14 months away. |
Performers, like Charles Davis, above, were back on the platforms after city transportation authorities resumed a music program that was put on pause in March 2020. |
Not that the musicians returned to any big crowds. Even with infection rates steadily declining and ever more New Yorkers getting vaccinated, many are still leery of returning to the subway. |
As New York recovers and traffic returns, there is a growing tug of war over the city's streets. The next mayor will have to decide how to curb congestion and improve pedestrian and cyclist safety. |
 | | Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times |
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7. Lockdowns shrank the worlds of most people. In transition, Gina Chua expanded hers. |
Now perhaps the most senior transgender journalist in the country, she said in an interview that she was speaking publicly because "it's good to just have people be able to say, 'Here is an example of somebody who can transition and not get fired.'" |
 | | Joshua Rashaad McFadden for The New York Times |
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8. Tom Hanks wants us to learn about the Tulsa massacre. |
In a guest essay for Opinion, Hollywood's Everyman admits he had never heard of the 1921 mob that killed hundreds of Black Tulsans until last year, and laments how U.S. education glosses over racial violence. |
"How different would perspectives be had we all been taught about Tulsa in 1921, even as early as the fifth grade?" Hanks asks. "Today, I find the omission tragic, an opportunity missed, a teachable moment squandered." |
To learn more, you can go straight to the source. Our art critic says Greenwood Rising, a museum in Tulsa about racial violence that is set to open next month, also serves as a monument. |
 | | Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press |
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9. The road seems a bit uncertain for LeBron James. At 36, he is fighting the inevitable effects of age. |
After avoiding injuries for most of his career, the basketball star experienced serious ones during two of the last three seasons. Marred by injuries, the Lakers lost in the playoffs to the Suns, ending James's hopes of leading the team to back-to-back championships. With his team's future in doubt, James faces basketball mortality. |
 | | Courtesy of OMA |
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10. And finally, a bit of Paris in Jersey City. |
Jersey City's government has been working to establish itself as a haven for the arts, just across the Hudson River from New York City, If the plan is approved by the City Council, the Pompidou will finance the building's renovation and operate the museum, which would open in 2024. |
The museum would have access to the Pompidou's collection of around 120,000 art works and to its array of experts — as well as the benefit of being associated with one of Paris's most popular cultural attractions. |
Hope you have an artful weekend. |
Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. |
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