friend - The New York Times
1
U(D54G1D)y+#!#!#!?!= I lost my sister brother father mother daughter son grandparents friend One-third of Americans have lost someone to the coronavirus. They have coped with sudden pain and immeasurable sorrow. We spoke to the people the pandemic left behind. PAGES A4-17 MINNEAPOLIS — Late last year, a 14-page questionnaire be- gan to arrive in mailboxes across Minneapolis and its suburbs. It asked if the recipient had watched the video of George Floyd dying under a police officer’s knee. What about the protests against police brutality, it wanted to know — did you go? How do you feel about Black Lives Matter? It asked respondents to list their education level, any martial arts training, even their favorite podcasts. And then there was the essay prompt, followed by a daunting expanse of blank paper: Tell us everything you have heard about the death of Mr. Floyd. The questionnaire went out to potential jurors for the trial of Derek Chauvin, the white former police officer accused of murder- ing Mr. Floyd, who was Black. The case has touched the lives of mil- lions and sparked the largest movement for racial justice in America since the 1960s, but the trial will ultimately decide the guilt or innocence of one man. Jury selection is set to begin on Monday, in a courtroom built to comply with pandemic protocols Hurdle for Trial In Floyd Killing: Find a Fair Jury By TIM ARANGO and SHAILA DEWAN Continued on Page A15 ALBANY, N.Y. — In a poten- tially crippling defection in Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s efforts to maintain control amid a sexual harassment scandal, the powerful Democratic leader of the New York State Senate declared on Sunday that the governor should resign “for the good of the state.” The stinging rebuke from the Senate leader, Andrea Stewart- Cousins — along with a similar sentiment from the Assembly speaker, Carl E. Heastie, who questioned the “governor’s ability to continue to lead this state” — suggested that Mr. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, had lost his party’s support in the State Capi- tol, and cast doubt on his ability to withstand the political fallout. Once hailed as a pandemic hero and potential presidential con- tender, the governor has seen his political future spiral downward over eight perilous days in the wake of a New York Times report about Charlotte Bennett, a former aide to Mr. Cuomo. In a series of interviews with The Times, Ms. Bennett, 25, said that Mr. Cuomo, 63, had asked her invasive personal questions last spring about her sex life, includ- ing whether she had slept with older men, and whether she thought age made a difference in relationships. Ms. Bennett is one of five wom- en who have come forward in re- cent days with allegations of sexu- al harassment or inappropriate behavior against Mr. Cuomo, with one predating his tenure as gover- nor. Mr. Cuomo, however, was ada- mantly resisting calls for his res- ignation, arguing he was elected by the people, not “by politicians.” “I’m not going to resign be- cause of allegations,” the gover- nor said, calling the notion “anti- democratic,” and a violation of the due process clause of the Consti- tution. “There is no way I resign.” The governor’s statements on Sunday afternoon came not long after Ms. Stewart-Cousins had in- formed Mr. Cuomo in a phone call that she was about to call for him to step down, according to a per- son with knowledge of the conver- sation; the governor then quickly convened his own news confer- ence to pre-empt her announce- ment. He told reporters that his re- marks were directed at “some leg- islators who suggest that I re- sign.” Undeterred, Ms. Stewart-Cous- ins fired back, releasing her state- ment not long after Mr. Cuomo concluded his news conference. “We need to govern without daily distraction,” said Ms. Stew- art-Cousins, citing the allegations of sexual harassment and a “toxic work environment,” and his han- dling of the state’s nursing homes during the pandemic. “Governor Cuomo must resign.” Ms. Stewart-Cousins is the most prominent New York State official to call for Mr. Cuomo’s res- ignation, and her statement car- ries significance: Her Senate would be the jury for any im- peachment trial of the governor, if such an action were passed by the Assembly. It also carries symbolic weight: STATE DEMOCRATS TURN UP PRESSURE ON CUOMO TO EXIT Governor Defiant as Senate Leader Says He ‘Must Resign’ Over Allegations By JESSE McKINLEY and J. DAVID GOODMAN Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has resisted all calls to resign. PETER FOLEY/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCK Continued on Page A14 BIRCH CREEK, Alaska — As the turboprop plane rumbled to a halt at the edge of a frozen landing strip, Vennessa Joseph and her fellow villagers were racing to meet it, their snowmobiles kicking up a flurry of powder behind them. Within minutes, six residents of Birch Creek, bundled in parkas and gloves in the 25-below-zero af- ternoon, had piled into the fraying seats, and the engine was roaring again. As the plane lifted off to the north, headed toward Fort Yukon, Ms. Joseph looked out across the vast wetlands, where stunted spruce trees cast long shadows in the winter sun. Vaccination day had arrived. With a population of about two dozen that relies on a subsistence life, fishing pike in the summer and hunting moose in the fall, Birch Creek operates like numer- ous villages in Alaska, with no road access, no running water and no neighbors for miles. But de- spite the natural isolation — more than 100 miles from Fairbanks and on the edge of the Arctic Cir- cle — the coronavirus had still managed to find its way in. In the fall, Ms. Joseph was laid up for days with illness. People in two of the nearest villages died. In a state where the Indigenous population has been ravaged by global disease outbreaks for gen- erations, the coronavirus pan- demic has killed Alaska Natives at quadruple the rate of white resi- dents. The virus has taken hold in remote communities, setting up an urgent race between infections and vaccinations during a season in which weather can limit travel, From left, Winston James, Vennessa Joseph and Isaac James on a charter flight home to Birch Creek, Alaska, after being vaccinated. ASH ADAMS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Covid Infiltrates Deep Alaska; Now So Must Crucial Vaccines By MIKE BAKER and SERGE F. KOVALESKI Continued on Page A8 WASHINGTON — A year ago, Anique Houpe, a single mother in suburban Atlanta, was working as a letter carrier, running a side business catering picnics and set- tling into a rent-to-own home in Stone Mountain, Ga., where she thought her boys would flourish in class and excel on the football field. Then the pandemic closed the schools, the boys’ grades col- lapsed with distance learning, and she quit work to stay home in hopes of breaking their fall. Ex- pecting unemployment aid that never came, she lost her utilities, ran short of food and was recover- ing from an immobilizing bout of Covid when a knock brought mar- shals with eviction papers. Depending on when the snap- shot is dated, Ms. Houpe might ap- pear as a striving emblem of up- ward mobility or a mother on the verge of homelessness. But in ei- ther guise, she is among the peo- ple Democrats seek to help with a mold-breaking plan, on the verge of congressional passage, to pro- vide most parents a monthly check of up to $300 per child. Obscured by other parts of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package, which won Sen- ate approval on Saturday, the child benefit has the makings of a policy revolution. Though framed in technocratic terms as an expan- sion of an existing tax credit, it is essentially a guaranteed income for families with children, akin to children’s allowances that are common in other rich countries. The plan establishes the benefit for a single year. But if it becomes permanent, as Democrats intend, With $300 Monthly, Relief Bill Ushers Revolution in Child Aid By JASON DePARLE Continued on Page A6 Amy Sherald wanted her portrait, above, of the woman killed by the police to be seen in the city where she died. PAGE C1 ARTS C1-6 Honoring Breonna Taylor Bruce Meyers said inventing the Dune Buggy “was just about having fun.” His vehicle ignited the off-road craze of the 1960s. He was 94. PAGE B7 OBITUARIES B7-8 Beach Boy at Heart Senator Kyrsten Sinema angered some fellow Democrats by voting against a minimum-wage increase. PAGE A13 NATIONAL A13-17 Thumbs-Down Rankles Left Mara Gay PAGE A18 EDITORIAL, OP-ED A18-19 Kathryn Hahn discussed playing the powerful, malevolent Agatha Harkness in the “WandaVision” TV series. PAGE C1 She’s a Good Bad Witch When a healthy 41-year-old died a year ago, an autopsy blamed heart disease. But his family wants to know whether it was really the coronavirus. PAGE A4 TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-9 A Family Seeks Answers Senator Joe Manchin III said he would not kill off a tool that supports biparti- sanship, but would reform it. PAGE A7 Open to Filibuster Tweaks Mindful of the pandemic, thousands of freshly minted Silicon Valley million- aires are opting to be conservative with their money. PAGE B1 BUSINESS B1-6 Millionaires Go Slow Figures throughout sports recalled the uncertainty and scrambling they faced last March 11 to 13 as the reality of the pandemic set in. PAGES D4-5 SPORTSMONDAY D1-7 When the Clock Stopped Those who know Senator Josh Hawley hear a change in tone. ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES Most Republicans who spoke at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Fla., avoided acknowledging the events of Jan. 6. But less than 30 seconds into his speech, Senator Josh Hawley confronted them head on. That day, Mr. Hawley said, had underscored the “great crisis mo- ment” in which Americans cur- rently found themselves. That day, he explained, the mob had come for him. The “woke mob,” that is. In the weeks since, they had “tried to cancel me, censor me, expel me, shut me down.” To “stop me,” Mr. Hawley said, “from representing you.” “And guess what?” he went on, his tempo building, the audience applauding: “I’m here today, I’m not going anywhere, and I’m not backing down.” The appeal from Missouri’s ju- nior senator reflected what has become standard fare in a Repub- lican Party still in thrall to Donald Voices From Hawley’s History Wonder, Why So Angry Now? By ELAINA PLOTT and DANNY HAKIM Continued on Page A16 A year after Meghan Markle married Prince Harry in a fairy- tale wedding, she said in an ex- traordinary interview broadcast on Sunday night, her life as a member of the British royal fam- ily had become so emotionally desolate that she contemplated suicide. At another point, members of the family told Harry and Me- ghan, a biracial former actress from the United States, that they did not want the couple’s unborn child, Archie, to be a prince or princess, and expressed concerns about how dark the color of the baby’s skin would be. An emotional but self-pos- sessed Meghan said of her suicid- al thoughts: “I was ashamed to have to admit it to Harry. I knew that if I didn’t say it, I would do it. I just didn’t want to be alive any- more.” Meghan, 39, made the disclo- sures in an eagerly anticipated, and at times incendiary, interview on CBS with Oprah Winfrey that aired in the United States in prime time. In describing a royal life that began as a fairy tale but quickly turned cruel, her blunt answers raised the combustible issues of Depth of Pain From Royal Life Spills Into View By MARK LANDLER Continued on Page A12 The first pope ever to visit Iraq, Francis voiced sorrow and hope for a shrunken Christian community. PAGE A11 INTERNATIONAL A10-12 Pope Soothes a War-Torn Flock As the Biden administration prepares to counter Russian hacking, it also consid- ers confronting China. PAGE A11 Cyberthreats on 2 Fronts Late Edition VOL. CLXX . . . No. 58,991 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2021 Today, sunshine, more seasonable, high 44. Tonight, partly cloudy, low 36. Tomorrow, sunshine, patchy clouds, noticeably milder, high 60. Weather map appears on Page D6. $3.00
Transcript of friend - The New York Times
C M Y K Nxxx,2021-03-08,A,001,Bs-4C,E2
U(D54G1D)y+#!#!#!?!=
I lost mysisterbrotherfathermotherdaughtersongrandparentsfriend
One-third of Americans have lost someone to thecoronavirus. They have coped with sudden pain
and immeasurable sorrow. We spoke to the peoplethe pandemic left behind. PAGES A4-17
MINNEAPOLIS — Late lastyear, a 14-page questionnaire be-gan to arrive in mailboxes acrossMinneapolis and its suburbs. Itasked if the recipient had watchedthe video of George Floyd dyingunder a police officer’s knee. Whatabout the protests against policebrutality, it wanted to know — didyou go? How do you feel aboutBlack Lives Matter?
It asked respondents to listtheir education level, any martialarts training, even their favoritepodcasts. And then there was theessay prompt, followed by adaunting expanse of blank paper:Tell us everything you have heardabout the death of Mr. Floyd.
The questionnaire went out topotential jurors for the trial ofDerek Chauvin, the white formerpolice officer accused of murder-ing Mr. Floyd, who was Black. Thecase has touched the lives of mil-lions and sparked the largestmovement for racial justice inAmerica since the 1960s, but thetrial will ultimately decide theguilt or innocence of one man.
Jury selection is set to begin onMonday, in a courtroom built tocomply with pandemic protocols
Hurdle for TrialIn Floyd Killing:Find a Fair Jury
By TIM ARANGOand SHAILA DEWAN
Continued on Page A15
ALBANY, N.Y. — In a poten-tially crippling defection in Gov.Andrew M. Cuomo’s efforts tomaintain control amid a sexualharassment scandal, the powerfulDemocratic leader of the NewYork State Senate declared onSunday that the governor shouldresign “for the good of the state.”
The stinging rebuke from theSenate leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins — along with a similarsentiment from the Assemblyspeaker, Carl E. Heastie, whoquestioned the “governor’s abilityto continue to lead this state” —suggested that Mr. Cuomo, athird-term Democrat, had lost hisparty’s support in the State Capi-tol, and cast doubt on his ability towithstand the political fallout.
Once hailed as a pandemic heroand potential presidential con-tender, the governor has seen hispolitical future spiral downwardover eight perilous days in thewake of a New York Times reportabout Charlotte Bennett, a formeraide to Mr. Cuomo.
In a series of interviews withThe Times, Ms. Bennett, 25, saidthat Mr. Cuomo, 63, had asked herinvasive personal questions lastspring about her sex life, includ-ing whether she had slept witholder men, and whether shethought age made a difference inrelationships.
Ms. Bennett is one of five wom-en who have come forward in re-cent days with allegations of sexu-al harassment or inappropriatebehavior against Mr. Cuomo, withone predating his tenure as gover-nor.
Mr. Cuomo, however, was ada-mantly resisting calls for his res-ignation, arguing he was electedby the people, not “by politicians.”
“I’m not going to resign be-cause of allegations,” the gover-nor said, calling the notion “anti-democratic,” and a violation of thedue process clause of the Consti-tution. “There is no way I resign.”
The governor’s statements onSunday afternoon came not long
after Ms. Stewart-Cousins had in-formed Mr. Cuomo in a phone callthat she was about to call for himto step down, according to a per-son with knowledge of the conver-sation; the governor then quicklyconvened his own news confer-ence to pre-empt her announce-ment.
He told reporters that his re-marks were directed at “some leg-islators who suggest that I re-sign.”
Undeterred, Ms. Stewart-Cous-ins fired back, releasing her state-
ment not long after Mr. Cuomoconcluded his news conference.
“We need to govern withoutdaily distraction,” said Ms. Stew-art-Cousins, citing the allegationsof sexual harassment and a “toxicwork environment,” and his han-dling of the state’s nursing homesduring the pandemic. “GovernorCuomo must resign.”
Ms. Stewart-Cousins is themost prominent New York Stateofficial to call for Mr. Cuomo’s res-ignation, and her statement car-ries significance: Her Senatewould be the jury for any im-peachment trial of the governor, ifsuch an action were passed by theAssembly.
It also carries symbolic weight:
STATE DEMOCRATSTURN UP PRESSURE
ON CUOMO TO EXITGovernor Defiant as Senate Leader Says
He ‘Must Resign’ Over Allegations
By JESSE McKINLEY and J. DAVID GOODMAN
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo hasresisted all calls to resign.
PETER FOLEY/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCK
Continued on Page A14
BIRCH CREEK, Alaska — Asthe turboprop plane rumbled to ahalt at the edge of a frozen landingstrip, Vennessa Joseph and herfellow villagers were racing tomeet it, their snowmobiles kickingup a flurry of powder behindthem.
Within minutes, six residents ofBirch Creek, bundled in parkasand gloves in the 25-below-zero af-ternoon, had piled into the frayingseats, and the engine was roaringagain. As the plane lifted off to thenorth, headed toward Fort Yukon,Ms. Joseph looked out across thevast wetlands, where stuntedspruce trees cast long shadows inthe winter sun.
Vaccination day had arrived.With a population of about two
dozen that relies on a subsistencelife, fishing pike in the summerand hunting moose in the fall,
Birch Creek operates like numer-ous villages in Alaska, with noroad access, no running water andno neighbors for miles. But de-spite the natural isolation — morethan 100 miles from Fairbanksand on the edge of the Arctic Cir-cle — the coronavirus had stillmanaged to find its way in. In thefall, Ms. Joseph was laid up fordays with illness. People in two ofthe nearest villages died.
In a state where the Indigenouspopulation has been ravaged byglobal disease outbreaks for gen-erations, the coronavirus pan-demic has killed Alaska Natives atquadruple the rate of white resi-dents. The virus has taken hold inremote communities, setting upan urgent race between infectionsand vaccinations during a seasonin which weather can limit travel,
From left, Winston James, Vennessa Joseph and Isaac James on a charter flight home to Birch Creek, Alaska, after being vaccinated.ASH ADAMS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Covid Infiltrates Deep Alaska;Now So Must Crucial Vaccines
By MIKE BAKER and SERGE F. KOVALESKI
Continued on Page A8
WASHINGTON — A year ago,Anique Houpe, a single mother insuburban Atlanta, was working asa letter carrier, running a sidebusiness catering picnics and set-tling into a rent-to-own home inStone Mountain, Ga., where shethought her boys would flourish inclass and excel on the footballfield.
Then the pandemic closed theschools, the boys’ grades col-lapsed with distance learning, andshe quit work to stay home inhopes of breaking their fall. Ex-pecting unemployment aid thatnever came, she lost her utilities,ran short of food and was recover-ing from an immobilizing bout ofCovid when a knock brought mar-shals with eviction papers.
Depending on when the snap-shot is dated, Ms. Houpe might ap-pear as a striving emblem of up-
ward mobility or a mother on theverge of homelessness. But in ei-ther guise, she is among the peo-ple Democrats seek to help with amold-breaking plan, on the vergeof congressional passage, to pro-vide most parents a monthlycheck of up to $300 per child.
Obscured by other parts ofPresident Biden’s $1.9 trillionstimulus package, which won Sen-ate approval on Saturday, thechild benefit has the makings of apolicy revolution. Though framedin technocratic terms as an expan-sion of an existing tax credit, it isessentially a guaranteed incomefor families with children, akin tochildren’s allowances that arecommon in other rich countries.
The plan establishes the benefitfor a single year. But if it becomespermanent, as Democrats intend,
With $300 Monthly, Relief BillUshers Revolution in Child Aid
By JASON DePARLE
Continued on Page A6
Amy Sherald wanted her portrait, above,of the woman killed by the police to beseen in the city where she died. PAGE C1
ARTS C1-6
Honoring Breonna TaylorBruce Meyers said inventing the DuneBuggy “was just about having fun.” Hisvehicle ignited the off-road craze of the1960s. He was 94. PAGE B7
OBITUARIES B7-8
Beach Boy at Heart
Senator Kyrsten Sinema angered somefellow Democrats by voting against aminimum-wage increase. PAGE A13
NATIONAL A13-17
Thumbs-Down Rankles Left
Mara Gay PAGE A18
EDITORIAL, OP-ED A18-19Kathryn Hahn discussed playing thepowerful, malevolent Agatha Harknessin the “WandaVision” TV series. PAGE C1
She’s a Good Bad Witch
When a healthy 41-year-old died a yearago, an autopsy blamed heart disease.But his family wants to know whether itwas really the coronavirus. PAGE A4
TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-9
A Family Seeks Answers
Senator Joe Manchin III said he wouldnot kill off a tool that supports biparti-sanship, but would reform it. PAGE A7
Open to Filibuster Tweaks
Mindful of the pandemic, thousands offreshly minted Silicon Valley million-aires are opting to be conservative withtheir money. PAGE B1
BUSINESS B1-6
Millionaires Go Slow
Figures throughout sports recalled theuncertainty and scrambling they facedlast March 11 to 13 as the reality of thepandemic set in. PAGES D4-5
SPORTSMONDAY D1-7
When the Clock Stopped
Those who know Senator Josh Hawley hear a change in tone.ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Most Republicans who spoke atthe recent Conservative PoliticalAction Conference in Orlando,Fla., avoided acknowledging theevents of Jan. 6. But less than 30seconds into his speech, SenatorJosh Hawley confronted themhead on.
That day, Mr. Hawley said, hadunderscored the “great crisis mo-ment” in which Americans cur-rently found themselves. Thatday, he explained, the mob hadcome for him.
The “woke mob,” that is. In the
weeks since, they had “tried tocancel me, censor me, expel me,shut me down.” To “stop me,” Mr.Hawley said, “from representingyou.”
“And guess what?” he went on,his tempo building, the audienceapplauding: “I’m here today, I’mnot going anywhere, and I’m notbacking down.”
The appeal from Missouri’s ju-nior senator reflected what hasbecome standard fare in a Repub-lican Party still in thrall to Donald
Voices From Hawley’s HistoryWonder, Why So Angry Now?
By ELAINA PLOTT and DANNY HAKIM
Continued on Page A16
A year after Meghan Marklemarried Prince Harry in a fairy-tale wedding, she said in an ex-traordinary interview broadcaston Sunday night, her life as amember of the British royal fam-ily had become so emotionallydesolate that she contemplatedsuicide.
At another point, members ofthe family told Harry and Me-ghan, a biracial former actressfrom the United States, that theydid not want the couple’s unbornchild, Archie, to be a prince orprincess, and expressed concernsabout how dark the color of thebaby’s skin would be.
An emotional but self-pos-sessed Meghan said of her suicid-al thoughts: “I was ashamed tohave to admit it to Harry. I knewthat if I didn’t say it, I would do it. Ijust didn’t want to be alive any-more.”
Meghan, 39, made the disclo-sures in an eagerly anticipated,and at times incendiary, interviewon CBS with Oprah Winfrey thataired in the United States in primetime. In describing a royal life thatbegan as a fairy tale but quicklyturned cruel, her blunt answersraised the combustible issues of
Depth of PainFrom Royal LifeSpills Into View
By MARK LANDLER
Continued on Page A12
The first pope ever to visit Iraq, Francisvoiced sorrow and hope for a shrunkenChristian community. PAGE A11
INTERNATIONAL A10-12
Pope Soothes a War-Torn Flock
As the Biden administration prepares tocounter Russian hacking, it also consid-ers confronting China. PAGE A11
Cyberthreats on 2 Fronts
Late Edition
VOL. CLXX . . . No. 58,991 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2021
Today, sunshine, more seasonable,high 44. Tonight, partly cloudy, low36. Tomorrow, sunshine, patchyclouds, noticeably milder, high 60.Weather map appears on Page D6.
$3.00
