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Virus, Ahmaud Arbery, Solo Travel: Your Wednesday Evening Briefing

Here’s what you need to know at the end of the day.

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.)

Good evening. Here’s the latest.

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Credit...Chandan Khanna/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

1. The U.S. is hitting new coronavirus peaks.

The 35,000 cases identified across the U.S. on Tuesday constitute the country’s highest single-day total since late April and the third-highest total of any day of the pandemic.

Case numbers we’re tracking are rising in 27 states, mostly in the South and West, including Florida, Texas and Arizona, which have recorded new daily highs. The surge is a result of worsening conditions across much of the country, not just increased testing. Above, a testing site in Miami.

Some states and counties are delaying and even reversing steps to reopen. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut — states where the outbreak appears to be under control — will require, as of midnight, that people arriving from hard-hit states quarantine for two weeks.

Here are our latest updates and maps tracking the outbreak.


The Times is providing free access to much of our coronavirus coverage, and our Coronavirus Briefing newsletter — like all of our newsletters — is free. Please consider supporting our journalism with a subscription.


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Credit...Sean Rayford/Getty Images

2. Murder indictments in Ahmaud Arbery’s killing.

A Georgia grand jury indicted three white men for chasing, detaining and fatally shooting Mr. Arbery, a black man who had been running in a South Georgia neighborhood.

His death, in February, prompted nationwide protests, particularly after a graphic video of his shooting, taken by one of the suspects, was released online.

Nikole Hannah-Jones, the creator of The Times Magazine’s 1619 Project on the history of American slavery, examines how centuries of violence and discrimination prevented black Americans from building wealth, the root of enduring racial inequalities.

“If black lives are to truly matter in America, this nation must move beyond slogans and symbolism,” she writes. “It is time for this country to pay its debt. It is time for reparations.”


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Credit...Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

3. A divided panel orders an end to Michael Flynn case.

Two judges on a federal appeals court panel ordered a lower court to immediately dismiss the case against President Trump’s former national security adviser, delivering a major victory to Mr. Flynn and to his backers at the Justice Department. However, a third judge criticized his colleagues for overstepping. The full appeals court can review the case.

The unusual order came as a surprise in the twisting drama surrounding Mr. Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to F.B.I. agents about his conversations in December 2016 with the Russian ambassador to the U.S.

Also today, two current Justice Department officials delivered stinging congressional testimony, accusing political appointees of intervening in criminal and antitrust cases to serve the personal interests of President Trump and Attorney General William Barr. One said Mr. Trump’s friend Roger Stone was a beneficiary.

The hearings are part of a broader effort by House Democrats to scrutinize the Justice Department under Mr. Barr, who is to testify next month.


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Credit...Olivier Douliery/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

4. The global economic downturn is looking worse.

The International Monetary Fund said it expected the world economy to shrink 4.9 percent this year. In April, it had predicted 3 percent.

“We are definitely not out of the woods,” an I.M.F. official said. Markets fell sharply.

Around the world, governments that had appeared to tame the pandemic are adjusting to the reality that the disease seems to be here to stay. But in a shift away from damaging lockdowns, they are looking for targeted ways to keep local outbreaks from becoming powerful new waves.


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5. Joe Biden has opened up a big lead.

Joe Biden is ahead of President Trump by 14 percentage points, garnering 50 percent of the vote compared with 36 percent for Mr. Trump, according to a new poll by The New York Times and Siena College.

It’s among the most dismal showings of Mr. Trump’s presidency. Most stark may be Mr. Biden’s towering advantage among white women with college degrees. He has also narrowed Mr. Trump’s advantage with less educated white voters. Here’s a look at the poll’s findings.

In a possible sign of the president’s waning popularity, a 24-year-old real estate investor, Madison Cawthorn, has won a Republican nomination in North Carolina, unexpectedly defeating Lynda Bennett, who had been endorsed by Mr. Trump.


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Credit...Josh Edelson/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

6. Bayer will pay $10 billion to settle Roundup cancer lawsuits but will keep the weed killer on the market.

The company said the money would cover an estimated 95,000 U.S. claims — many filed by homeowners and groundskeepers — that Roundup causes cancer, and includes $1.25 billion to deal with potential future claims from users who develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Bayer inherited Roundup’s legal problems when it bought Monsanto in 2018. Now the world’s largest producer of seeds and pesticides, Bayer still faces at least 25,000 claims from plaintiffs who have not agreed to be part of the settlement.


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Credit...Vincent Tullo for The New York Times

7. The upheaval over race has hit the Met, America’s biggest art museum.

Keith Christiansen, above, the Met’s chairman of European paintings, praised a French archaeologist who during the French Revolution tried to defend historic monuments from “revolutionary zealots,” asking on Instagram, “How many great works of art have been lost to the desire to rid ourselves of a past of which we don’t approve?”

An uproar erupted from staff members who saw it as critical of protests over monuments and the Black Lives Matter movement. Mr. Christiansen took down the post and then closed his Instagram account.

In contrast: The French city of Bordeaux, which prospered from the slave trade, has not removed monuments but rather put up plaques to acknowledge and explain history.


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Credit...Karsten Moran for The New York Times

8. The 50th annual New York City Marathon has been canceled.

Organizers and city officials decided the risks of running the world’s largest marathon were too high, even though the number of coronavirus cases in the region has dropped.

Tens of thousands of registered runners will be able to choose a refund or defer their entry to one of the next three years. Organizers will also announce details of a virtual marathon in July.

Berlin also called off its marathon, and Boston canceled in May. Of the other major international marathons, Tokyo went forward in March with only elite runners, and races in London and Chicago remain scheduled for the fall, though organizers have yet to commit.


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Credit...Jeremy M. Lange for The New York Times

9. Lending money to family can be a minefield.

Some of the tens of millions of Americans who’ve lost work in the pandemic are turning to their families for help. Dramas are not far behind.

Financial advisers offered some tips: Set ground rules. Tell the relative how much you can afford to lend and why, and make sure there’s a repayment plan before any money moves.

Above, Mariel Beasley, co-founder of the Common Cents Lab at Duke University, suggests reflecting on whether you’d be OK if you never got the money back.

“People tend to be over-optimistic,” she said. “They plan a best-case scenario, where they say, ‘Great, they’ll be back to work in two months and they’ll be able to pay me back 50 bucks a month.’ They forget unexpected expenses and setbacks can happen.”


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Credit...Erik Endress

10. And finally, how to travel in relative isolation.

The travel industry is pivoting with new pandemic-aware offerings: from self-guided rowing tours to wilderness camping in tents, yurts and tree houses, or a road trip in a top-of-the-line bus modeled on rock-star tours. You can also rent a llama to carry your load on a trek in Colorado. Above, a private campsite in the Adirondacks.

More Americans are spending time outdoors, according to a recent survey, with adult bike sales soaring 121 percent and sales of fishing licenses in Vermont going up 50 percent.

Have an adventurous evening.


Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern.

Want to catch up on past briefings? You can browse them here.

What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes.com.

Carole Landry is a writer and editor for the Briefings Team at The New York Times. Before coming to The Times, she covered the United Nations in New York for Agence France-Presse. She has reported on diplomacy, wars, politics and culture on three continents from postings in Moscow, Washington, Johannesburg and Paris, where she was based for 15 years and raised her family. She speaks French, Russian and Spanish. More about Carole Landry

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