Good evening. Here's the latest at the end of Wednesday. |
 | | A pregnant woman receives a Covid vaccine in Schwenksville, Pa., in February.Hannah Beier/Reuters |
|
1. With the Delta variant surging, efforts to get more shots into arms are picking up. |
The C.D.C. urged pregnant people to be immunized against Covid-19, strengthening its recommendation after new safety data found no increased risk of miscarriage among those who were immunized during the first 20 weeks of a pregnancy. Until now, the agency had simply said that the vaccine could be offered during pregnancy. |
In California, schoolteachers and school staff members must have proof of vaccination against Covid-19 or else face weekly testing, Gov. Gavin Newsom said, making the state the first in the nation to do so. |
And in Texas, where some hospitals are nearing capacity and bracing for an influx of patients, two judges ruled that local officials could oppose a ban by Gov. Greg Abbot on mask mandates to help curb a rise in cases. |
 | | "I want people to know that I'm ready for this," said Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York.Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York Times |
|
2. "I am fully prepared." |
Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul was quick to distance herself from Gov. Andrew Cuomo in her first remarks since he announced his resignation. Hochul, who is set to take office on Aug. 24, promised a turnover in staff and culture in the executive office, which a state attorney general's report portrayed as hostile, retaliatory and driven by loyalty to Cuomo at all cost. |
"At the end of my term, whenever it ends, no one will ever describe my administration as a toxic work environment," Hochul said. |
Cuomo's not-so-contrite apology set off a wave of criticism from advocates and political rivals who have long grumbled that the governor championed women's rights when it suited him but also used the cause for his own purposes. |
 | | The U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.Tom Brenner for The New York Times |
|
3. The Senate approved a $3.5 trillion budget plan along party lines late last night. But key Democrats say the price tag is too high. |
Senator Joe Manchin said he was unlikely to support the proposed package, just hours after he helped approve a blueprint that would allow his party to craft legislation with that price tag. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a fellow moderate, said she would also not support a final $3.5 trillion package, which currently includes funding for climate initiatives and health care while raising taxes on the wealthy. |
One cause for concern among moderate Democrats is rising inflation, which jumped again in July. While the cost of many essentials have risen faster than incomes for decades, the Biden administration argues its initiatives could ease the pressure. |
 | | The New York Times |
|
4. The heat wave that sizzled the Pacific Northwest appears to have been much deadlier than official estimates say, according to a Times analysis. |
During one week in late June, when temperatures in Oregon and Washington climbed more than 30 degrees Fahrenheit higher than average, about 600 more people died between the two states than would have been typical. The additional deaths point to a hidden toll — the official tally is fewer than 200 heat-related fatalities. This week, the region is once again bracing for dangerous heat. |
In Greece, the island of Evia became the latest victim of wildfires to ravage the country. The blaze has destroyed more than 120,000 acres of forest, many homes and displaced hundreds of people across the island. |
 | | The Smith family of Las Vegas has faced eviction several times since the start of the pandemic.Joe Buglewicz for The New York Times |
|
5. The eviction moratorium was extended last month. But for many people, it was already too late. |
With state moratoriums expiring and the expectation that the federal guidelines would be gone soon, court dockets overflowed with eviction cases. Even with the extension, many local governments and courts were not sure how to apply the new protections. Federal guidelines gave some leeway to judges to instead apply state laws, which at times allowed for evictions. |
More than 1.4 million Americans expect to be evicted in the next two months and that prospect is "somewhat likely" for another 2.2 million people, according to a survey by the U.S. Census Bureau. |
 | | Black soccer players in England have been targets of racist abuse on Facebook.Matt Williams |
|
6. English soccer officials pushed Facebook for two years to stem racist abuse against Black players. As a new season begins on Friday, little has changed. |
Facebook's stance has been clear: It is up to the players and the clubs to protect themselves online. The racist attacks came to a head after the European Championship last month, when three of England's Black players were subjected to torrents of racial epithets on social media for missing penalty kicks in the final game's decisive shootout. |
Soccer officials say that Facebook still hasn't taken the issue seriously enough, even as Facebook executives privately acknowledge that racist speech against English soccer players is most likely to continue. |
Also out of Britain: Most certified hairdressers never learn how to cut Black hair, nor have they been required to do so, leading to a dearth of services for Black people. New standards for the hair salon industry in the U.K. aim to address that. |
 | | "The biggest thing I learned from camp was that I'm not alone," said Zach, now an au pair in Hawaii. Lindsay Morris for The New York Times |
|
7. "At camp, it was just me being me." |
Fourteen years ago, the mother of a gender-nonconforming son organized a "summer camp" where her child and others like him could express themselves. Only three other families showed up that first summer at Camp I Am, but it quickly grew. In 2008, the photographer Lindsay Morris took her son there and began taking pictures of some of his fellow campers. |
More than a decade later, she asked many of them to be photographed again as they entered adulthood. "I remember when I arrived that first year, I saw all the other boys had American Girl dolls, and I was like, 'You're like me!'" said Zach, 22, who grew up in a Mormon family. "I realized I wasn't as weird as Utah told me I was." |
 | | "You've got to cross paths with Aretha, especially if you want to be great," Jennifer Hudson said.Bethany Mollenkof for The New York Times |
|
8. Aretha Franklin once told Jennifer Hudson that she should play her in a biopic. Now she is. |
The two were close friends for about a decade and Hudson often paid tribute to Franklin, even singing "Amazing Grace" at Franklin's funeral in 2018. So when the plan for a biopic arose, Hudson decided to both star in it and executive produce, giving her the power to dictate that songs like "Ain't No Way" be included. |
"Respect" chronicles Franklin's life to her triumphant emergence as the Queen of Soul from her childhood as a vocal prodigy, and the pressures and drinking that threatened all she had achieved. The film is out this week. |
 | | Darrel Morrison's mesic prairie design at the University of Wisconsin.Robert Jaeger |
|
9. Your garden may be pretty, but is it ecologically sound? |
Some gardeners react to any mention of ecological landscaping — the merging of environmental science and art — as if it were a compromise. But in a changing world, a garden can't just be for show. |
Our garden columnist checked in with Darrel Morrison, 84, the elder statesman of ecological landscaping, who has summarized his teachings into four goals: It must be environmentally sound, rich in nonvisual pleasure, dynamic over time and native to the location. |
When humans alter ecosystems, evolutionary progress can pivot drastically. Researchers have found that forest fires in New Zealand most likely caused little winged insects called stoneflies to lose their ability to fly. |
 | | Meet the new "Jeopardy!" hosts: Mike Richards and Mayim Bialik.Left, Natas/Daytime Emmys, via Associated Press; Carol Kaelson/Jeopardy Productions, Inc., via Associated Press |
|
10. And finally, new "Jeopardy!" hosts for $1,000. |
For more than seven months, "Jeopardy!" has tested out over a dozen guest hosts, including Richards, Bialik, LeVar Burton, who had a legion of online supporters rooting for him, and Ken Jennings, a "Jeopardy!" champion. The show's 38th season starts on Sept. 13. |
P.S. The Perseids meteor shower peaks tonight into Thursday morning. |
| Angela Jimenez compiled photos for this briefing. |
Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. |
|
