Good evening. Here's the latest on Wednesday. |
 | | A "Bans Off Our Bodies" protest at in Austin on Wednesday.Montinique Monroe for The New York Times |
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1. A near-total ban on abortions took effect in Texas after the Supreme Court failed to act on a request to block it. |
In the meantime, though, access to abortion in Texas has become extremely limited, the latest example of a Republican-led state imposing new constraints on ending pregnancies. |
The law bans abortions after about six weeks, before many women are even aware that they are pregnant, and effectively allows private individuals to sue clinics and others who violate the law, including taxi drivers who transport patients to a clinic. |
In its next term, which starts in October, the Supreme Court will determine the fate of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion. |
 | | A protest outside the headquarters of Purdue Pharma in Stamford, Conn., in 2018.Jessica Hill/Associated Press |
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2. Purdue Pharma was dissolved in a bankruptcy settlement that will require the company's owners, the Sackler family, to pay $4.5 billion to end thousands of opioid-related lawsuits. |
The agreement includes a much-disputed condition: It largely absolves the Sacklers of liability in a public health crisis that led to the deaths of more than 500,000 people across the U.S. As such, they will remain among the richest families in the country. |
In exchange for the protections, the Sacklers agreed to the payments that will mainly go to addiction treatment and prevention programs across the country. The settlement has been harshly criticized for shielding the owners of Purdue Pharma, maker of the highly addictive painkiller OxyContin. Several states opposed to the deal were preparing to file an appeal as soon as the judge approved the settlement. |
 | | Members of the Taliban Badri 313 battalion at the airport on Tuesday in Kabul.Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times |
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3. The Taliban are preparing to establish a new Islamic government in Afghanistan following the U.S. withdrawal. |
Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban's top religious leader, will be the country's supreme leader, officials say, taking a similar role to that of Iran's supreme leader. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban, was expected to be in charge of day-to-day affairs as head of government. Whether foreign governments will recognize the Taliban is still up for debate. |
 | | Extra water tanks were delivered to the main campus of Ochsner Hospital in Jefferson, La.Edmund D. Fountain for The New York Times |
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4. Nearly one million homes and businesses in Louisiana are still without power, days after Hurricane Ida tore through the state. |
 | | Ambulances fill the emergency entrance at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, Ga.Scott Rogers/The Times, via Associated Press |
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5. The Delta variant retreated unexpectedly in Britain and India, but has begun to rebound. The U.S. may take an even bumpier path. |
Expert opinions on the trajectory of the current U.S. virus surge vary widely. But while new infections seem to be plateauing for now, school and workplace reopenings may lead to fresh outbreaks in the fall. "I don't think we're really going to turn the corner until next spring," one expert said. |
 | | Elijah McClain's death touched off protests across the Denver region.David Zalubowski/Associated Press |
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6. A Colorado grand jury handed down criminal charges against three police officers and two paramedics in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain. |
The police officers and emergency responders involved in McClain's death will each face one charge of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, as well as a variety of assault charges. |
 | | Stefanos Tsitsipas after defeating Andy Murray on Monday.Seth Wenig/Associated Press |
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7. What is Stefanos Tsitsipas doing in the bathroom during his matches? |
Tennis players are often accused of abusing rules on bathroom breaks or medical timeouts to change the momentum of the match, and after a seven-minute bathroom break at the U.S. Open on Monday, Andy Murray had his suspicions about his opponent, Tsitsipas. Murray, who eventually lost the match, said Tsitsipas employs stall tactics too often. Reilly Opelka suggested he is probably just changing his socks. Tsitsipas plays Adrian Mannarino at 8:15 p.m. Eastern tonight in the third round. |
 | | Monica Lewinsky is taking back the narrative.Ryan Pfluger for The New York Times |
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8. Monica Lewinsky is reluctantly revisiting being "that woman." |
The good news for Lewinsky is that this time she's framing the story as a producer on "Impeachment," the latest installment of Ryan Murphy's "American Crime Story" series, which revisits the events leading up to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton through the perspectives of the women involved. |
The bad news, perhaps, is that it means reliving the darkest period of her life — and introducing it to a generation that wasn't around to see it. "The reality is that this story has been part of a collective conversation for 20 years, and as I evolve, as the world evolves, it comes to have different meanings," Lewinsky said. |
 | | The spotted skunks' handstands earned them the nickname "the acrobats of the skunk world."Jerry W. Dragoo |
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9. Everybody knows the striped skunk. But have you met its cousin, the spotted skunk? |
Spotted skunks perform a spread-eagled handstand before they spray you, earning the nickname "the acrobats of the skunk world." Scientists have worked out that there are 7 species of spotted skunks, based on more than 200 DNA samples collected from British Columbia to Costa Rica. |
 | | A man shows off his back tattoo in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.OK McCausland for The New York Times |
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10. And finally, party like it's 1978. |
Parking lots outside Grateful Dead shows were the stuff of lore, and that tradition has continued with Dead & Company, the post-Jerry Garcia incarnation of the band featuring John Mayer. The party is alive and well as the band tours the U.S. this summer. As Mordechai Rubinstein writes, "it's electric and contagious." |
Fans are in uniform in favorite shirts they've worn to hundreds of shows. Vendors, some of whom have been traveling in the scene for 50 years, sell memorabilia out of their vans, all while the band plays on inside the venue. "Everyone seems to know each other, and no one looks out of place," writes Rubinstein. "It's not about what they wear; it's how they wear it." |
| Marcus Payadue compiled photos for this briefing. |
Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. |
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