Evening Briefing: Voters head to the polls

November 2, 2021

By Remy Tumin

Good evening. Here's the latest at the end of Tuesday.

Chesterfield county residents casting their vote at Robious Elementary School in Midlothian, Va.Carlos Bernate for The New York Times

1. Voters are heading to the polls in crucial off-year contests.

Races across the country offer signals for the fate of President Biden's agenda, none more than the increasingly tight Virginia governor's race. Though Virginia has been getting bluer, fatigue has been a challenge to the comeback attempt by Terry McAuliffe, the former governor, against his Republican rival, Glenn Youngkin. The race has become a proving ground for each party's electoral strategy.

In New York, voters will decide who should lead the city after eight years of the de Blasio administration. Eric Adams could become the city's second Black mayor ever; Alvin Bragg is poised to become Manhattan's first Black district attorney and will inherit the Trump investigation.

Atlanta and Boston will also elect new mayors. And in the city where a police officer killed George Floyd, voters will decide whether to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a Department of Public Safety.

Polls begin closing at 7 p.m. Eastern. We'll have live updates all night.

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President Biden capped two days of climate talks in Glasgow.Erin Schaff/The New York Times

2. As President Biden prepared to leave Europe, nations at the COP26 climate summit joined together on two significant advances on climate change: promises to curb emissions of methane and an agreement to end deforestation by 2030.

Biden called the agreement to limit methane by 105 countries a "game-changing commitment." Some major polluters, like the U.S., the E.U. and Brazil, have signed on, but others have not, including China, India and Russia. And more than 100 countries, including Russia, China and Brazil, have pledged to end deforestation in the coming nine years.

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But the most important goals remain elusive: Leaders failed to secure aggressive commitments to reach net-zero carbon emissions globally, to slow rising temperatures.

In domestic political news, Democrats reached a deal to control prescription drug costs in Biden's social safety net plan.

Vials of pediatric doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine.Pfizer/via Reuters

3. Advisers to the C.D.C. endorsed Pfizer's Covid vaccine for use in children ages 5 to 11. If the agency's director signs off, as expected, kids could begin receiving shots this week.

The C.D.C. panel's endorsement arrives as Americans prepare for a potentially risky holiday season, and it is likely to buttress defenses against a possible winter surge. Cases in the U.S. have steadily been falling, but experts have warned that indoor gatherings may send the rates soaring again.

Anticipating the agency's decision, the Biden administration has enlisted more than 20,000 pediatricians, family doctors and pharmacies to administer the vaccines.

Facebook is shuttering a feature that automatically identified people who appeared in users' photos.Carlos Barria/Reuters

4. Facebook plans to delete face scan data from over one billion users, shutting down a facial recognition feature that became a privacy and regulatory headache.

Facebook introduced the feature in 2010, which automatically identified people who appeared in users' digital photo albums and suggested users "tag" them all with a click. Facebook has now built one of the largest repositories of digital photos in the world, partly thanks to this software. By shuttering the system this month, the platform said it wanted "to find the right balance" with the technology.

In other regulatory news, the Justice Department is suing to block a $2.18 billion merger between Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, signaling a new antitrust focus in D.C.

Workers at the Opel factory in Eisenach, Germany, who have been put on paid furlough, protested last week.Felix Schmitt for The New York Times

5. The auto industry's turmoil is being felt far from the assembly line.

Because so many jobs depend on automaking — the industry accounts for about 3 percent of global economic output — production problems are causing the pain to ripple around the globe. The shock waves from the semiconductor crisis alone could be strong enough to push some countries into recession. In Japan, parts shortages caused exports to fall by 46 percent in September compared with a year earlier.

In other economic news, the Federal Reserve is expected tomorrow to announce a plan to taper off its bond buying in an effort to wean the economy off the program. But with inflation surging, economists' eyes are already turning to interest rates.

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Fighters from the Tigray Defence Forces outside the regional capital, Mekelle, in June.Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times

6. Ethiopia declared a state of emergency for six months and called on its citizens to pick up arms and prepare to defend the capital.

The announcement comes as Tigrayan rebel forces pressed toward Addis Ababa, the country's capital, after capturing two crucial towns about 160 miles away. The Tigrayans, who have been fighting the government for the past year, have joined forces with another rebel group as they advance. The war threatens to tear apart Africa's second-most populous country.

The state of emergency grants Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a former Nobel Peace Prize winner, sweeping powers. President Biden said he would revoke trade privileges to Ethiopia on account of "gross violations of internationally recognized human rights."

Laurie Erickson's requirement that everyone be vaccinated steered some guests away.Dakota Santiago for The New York Times

7. Forget about how long to cook the turkey, there's another big question looming over Thanksgiving this year: Are you vaccinated?

As many Americans plan larger celebrations, the inoculation status of dinner guests is becoming a topic of conversation, concern and conflict. While some are making vaccine mandates of their own, others are planning to tiptoe around the subject, in some cases avoiding a meal with those they may disagree with.

If you're uncertain of how to proceed with unvaccinated guests, we asked several experts about how to make Thanksgiving safer. If you're traveling, here's what to expect for the holiday season and beyond.

Michael C. Hall in Central Park, NY. Michael C. Hall plays Dexter Morgan in the mystery series Dexter.Victor Llorente for The New York Times

8. The finale of Showtime's gruesome hit "Dexter" often ranks among the worst finales in TV history — even for the show's star.

"It wasn't some tremendous burden," Michael C. Hall said. "But I had been preoccupied with the unfinished-business feelings."

On Sunday, Hall returns to the title serial killer role in "Dexter: New Blood." The story picks up 10 years after the title character's most recent kill. But in the haze of reboots, "New Blood" feels like a deliberate redress to the sloppiness of the original's last several seasons and an attempt by Hall to recuperate his defining character.

Aside from television's current fascination with reboots, revivals, prequels and sequels, another growth area is adult animation. These shows are worth watching, our critic writes.

Wayne Shorter said he had been lifted by the dedication of Esperanza Spalding, a fellow traveler.From left: Erik Carter for The New York Times; Jasmine Clarke for The New York Times

9. Wayne Shorter, a saxophonist and composer, had a decades-long dream to produce a full opera. Then Esperanza Spalding pledged to help her mentor.

Spalding, the Grammy-winning virtuoso bassist and vocalist, took a year off from her professorship at Harvard, and the collaborators moved into an empty home owned by Frank Gehry, an architect and the opera's set designer, to get to work. This month, "Iphigenia," an update of the ancient Greek myth eight years in the making, will begin a run of performances.

In New York, the Metropolitan Opera is staging its longest work, Wagner's nearly six-hour "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg," requiring more than 400 artists and stagehands, spirited fight scenes and two 40-minute intermissions. "There's always room for epics," the Met's general manager said.

Spectators wave as Rose Queen Anna Hallmark drives by on her float during the Tyler Rose Parade.Eli Durst for The New York Times

10. And finally, the rose queen of Texas returns.

Tyler, Texas, is the rose capital of the U.S., with 80 percent of the country's roses processed there thanks to the area's sandy soil and typically mild winters. For 88 years, the town has celebrated its hallmark with a three-day celebration, the Texas Rose Festival.

Upended by the pandemic, the tradition returned this year in full bloom, with costumes from a former Broadway designer ("Opera fully prepared me for this") and the crowning achievement — the rose queen. Anna Grace Hallmark wore a silk-trimmed train bursting with giant ribbon roses that took five months to build, and weighed 42 pounds. Take a look.

Have a beautiful night.

Eve Edelheit compiled photos for this briefing.

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