IN POLITICAL CASES TO TIGHTEN LEASH BARR QUIETLY ACTSFeb 15, 2020 · Lisa Taddeo PAGE A27...
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U(D54G1D)y+"!/!]!$!z Two sprawling metro areas, one rich, one poor — San Francisco, above, and Manila, top — are a window into the watery future facing the 600 million people who live directly on the world’s coastlines. History, wealth, and the political and personal choices people make today will shape how they fare as climate change inevitably brings the waves to their doorsteps. Page A5. SEAS RISE TO THE FRONT DOOR PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHANG W. LEE/THE NEW YORK TIMES Lisa Taddeo PAGE A27 EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27 WUHAN, China — In the hospi- tal where Yu Yajie works, nurses, doctors and other medical profes- sionals fighting the new coro- navirus have also been fighting dire shortages. They have used tape to patch up battered protec- tive masks, repeatedly reused goggles meant for one-time use, and wrapped their shoes in plastic bags for lack of specialized cover- ings. Ms. Yu is now lying at home, fe- verish and fearful that she has been infected with the virus. She and other employees at the hospi- tal said a lack of protective wear had left medical workers like her vulnerable in Wuhan, the central Chinese city at the heart of the epi- demic that has engulfed this re- gion. “There are risks — there simply aren’t enough resources,” Ms. Yu, an administrator at Wuhan Cen- tral Hospital, said in a brief tele- phone interview, adding that she was too weak to speak at length. On Front Line, And Searching For Protection This article is by Chris Buckley, Sui-Lee Wee and Amy Qin. Chinese hospital workers are facing supply shortages. CHINATOPIX, VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS Continued on Page A10 WASHINGTON — Russia is in- tensifying a pressure campaign on U.S. military forces in north- eastern Syria following the Amer- ican withdrawal from much of that area ahead of a Turkish cross-bor- der offensive last fall, American military and diplomatic officials say. Russian military personnel have increasingly had run-ins with U.S. troops on highways in the region, breaking agreements between the two countries to steer clear of each other. Russian heli- copters are flying closer to Ameri- can troops. And on Wednesday, a U.S.-led convoy returned fire after it came under attack near a check- point manned by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad of Syr- ia, who are backed by Russia. American officials say these ac- tions by Russian personnel and their Syrian allies are devised to present a constant set of chal- lenges, probes and encroach- ments to slowly create new facts on the ground and make the U.S. military presence there more ten- uous. About 500 American troops remain deployed in Syria with a mission to protect oil fields and help fight remnants of the Islamic State. “These are not daily occur- rences but they have been in- creasing in number, and thus is troubling,” James F. Jeffrey, the top American diplomat oversee- ing Syria issues, told reporters last week. The confrontations risk escalat- ing to a significant hostile encoun- ter between Washington and Mos- cow in the country’s northeast, even as Russian-backed Syrian government troops have stepped Russia Applies Pressure on U.S. In Syria’s North By ERIC SCHMITT Continued on Page A9 WASHINGTON — “Bit!” Ayana Smith called out as she paced the alphabet rug in front of her kindergarten students at Gar- rison Elementary School. “Buh! Ih! Tuh!” the class re- sponded in unison, making karate chop motions as they enunciated the sound of each letter. In a 10- minute lesson, the students chopped up and correctly spelled a string of words: Top. “Tuh! Ah! Puh!” Wig. “Wuh! Ih! Guh!” Ship. “Shuh! Ih! Puh!” Ms. Smith’s sounding-out exer- cises might seem like a common- sense way to teach reading. But for decades, many teachers have embraced a different approach, convinced that exposing students to the likes of Dr. Seuss and Maya Angelou is more important than drilling them on phonics. Lagging student performance and newly relevant research, though, have prompted some edu- cators to reconsider the ABCs of reading instruction. Their effort gained new urgency after national test scores last year showed that only a third of American students were proficient in reading, with widening gaps between good readers and bad ones. Now members of this vocal mi- nority, proponents of what they call the “science of reading,” con- gregate on social media and swap lesson plans intended to avoid cre- ating “curriculum casualties” — students who have not been effec- tively taught to read and who will continue to struggle into adult- hood, unable to comprehend med- ical forms or job listings. The bible for these educators is a body of research produced by linguists, psychologists and cog- nitive scientists. Their findings have pushed some states and school districts to make big changes in how teachers are A New, Yet Old, Reading Exercise: Sound It Out By DANA GOLDSTEIN Lackluster Test Scores Have Teachers Going Back to the Basics Ari Cotton, a first grader, at Garrison Elementary School in Washington, one of two jurisdictions that had rising scores on national reading tests. Educators are rethinking how to teach reading. LEXEY SWALL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Continued on Page A23 SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The news was alarming: Children in some of South Bend’s poorest neighborhoods had a higher rate of lead poisoning than children in Flint, Mich. At a meeting of anxious par- ents, it was revealed that two county agencies had lost funding to help combat the poisoning. Pete Buttigieg, then the city’s mayor, did not control the agencies, but his response at the meeting still struck some as a politician pass- ing the buck. “We have state rep- resentatives. We have a state health department. We have a new governor,” he said. “They should be hearing from our com- munity.” Mr. Buttigieg eventually took action, after pressure by an ad hoc community group and by The South Bend Tribune, which edito- rialized that it was “time to get cracking” on lead. The mayor won $2.3 million from Washington to repair rundown homes with peel- ing paint, the cause of the lead poi- soning. “His first instinct was to say, Hey, we’re covering what we’re in charge of,” said Kathy Schuth, who organized the meeting of par- ents in January 2017 where the mayor spoke. “And his second look at it was to say, This is a big problem. And there are ways we could play a strong role.” The experience Mr. Buttigieg gained as a mayor is a central part of his pitch as a presidential candi- date, but it has also recently be- come a bull’s-eye for some of his rivals, who are trying to undercut his momentum in the race by sow- ing doubts about whether he is Hard Lessons And Big Ideas Of Mayor Pete By TRIP GABRIEL Continued on Page A14 WASHINGTON — While Attor- ney General William P. Barr as- serted his independence from the White House this week, he has also been quietly intervening in a series of politically charged cases, including against Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. Mr. Barr installed a phalanx of outside lawyers to re-examine na- tional security cases with the pos- sibility of overruling career pros- ecutors, a highly unusual move that could prompt more accusa- tions of Justice Department politi- cization. The case against Mr. Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. in the Russia in- vestigation, is a cause célèbre for Mr. Trump and his supporters, who say the retired general was ensnared in a “deep state” plot against the president. The disclosures came as Mr. Trump made clear on Friday that he believes he has free rein over the Justice Department and its cases, rejecting Mr. Barr’s public demand of a day earlier that the president stop commenting on such cases. Citing Mr. Barr’s assertion in an interview on Thursday that Mr. Trump had never asked him to act in a criminal case, the president declared on Twitter: “This doesn’t mean that I do not have, as Presi- dent, the legal right to do so, I do, but I have so far chosen not to!” Hours later, the Justice Depart- ment told defense lawyers for An- drew G. McCabe, the former act- ing F.B.I. director whom Mr. Trump has vilified for his role in the Russia case, that Mr. McCabe would not be charged in connec- tion with a leak case, ending a nearly two-year criminal investi- gation. “We consider the matter closed,” the department wrote to BARR QUIETLY ACTS TO TIGHTEN LEASH IN POLITICAL CASES Assigning Team to Review Investigations, Including Prosecution of Flynn By CHARLIE SAVAGE and ADAM GOLDMAN William P. Barr ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES Continued on Page A19 A CASE ENDS Supporters of the ex-F.B.I. deputy director saw the inves- tigation against him as tainted by attacks from the president. PAGE A18 COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP President Trump thought William Barr would protect him and go after his opponents. Now he’s not sure. PAGE A19 An overhaul aims to make commercial garbage pickup safer for pedestrians, workers and the environment. PAGE A24 Streamlining Trash Removal Suspicions that the Wall Street giant tried to influence the overhaul of the pension system stir protesters. PAGE B1 BlackRock Draws Ire in France The police tried to use an antiterror law to demand information about who leaked crime photos to a reporter. PAGE A25 NEW YORK A24-25 The Post, the Police and Twitter In the two months since Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain won a big election victory, he has moved to take control of the levers of power. PAGE A4 INTERNATIONAL A4-12 Johnson Consolidates Power Evan Hansen, a senior at Wabash Col- lege in Indiana, was a captain of the football team. After looking up the disease on his laptop in September 2018, he shot himself. PAGE B7 SPORTSSATURDAY B7-10 Dead at 21, With C.T.E. THIS WEEKEND Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for the adult film star Stormy Daniels, was convicted of trying to extort Nike. PAGE A17 NATIONAL A13-23 A Trump Nemesis Is Convicted An analysis shows inconsistencies and errors in tallying results of the Demo- cratic Party’s caucuses. PAGE A13 Fuzzy Math in Iowa Caroline Baumann resigned as director of the design museum after an inquiry into how she procured her wedding dress and the site for the vows. PAGE C1 ARTS C1-7 Behind a Cooper Hewitt Ouster A government watchdog will review whether $28 billion was mismanaged and unfairly allocated. PAGE B3 BUSINESS B1-6 Farm Bailout Investigated VOL. CLXIX . . . No. 58,604 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020 Late Edition Today, sunny to partly cloudy, cold, high 32. Tonight, cloudy, not as cold as last night, low 28. Tomorrow, milder, clouds then some sunshine, high 48. Weather map is on Page C8. $3.00
Transcript of IN POLITICAL CASES TO TIGHTEN LEASH BARR QUIETLY ACTSFeb 15, 2020 · Lisa Taddeo PAGE A27...
C M Y K Nxxx,2020-02-15,A,001,Bs-4C,E2
U(D54G1D)y+"!/!]!$!z
Two sprawling metro areas, one rich, one poor — San Francisco, above, and Manila, top — are awindow into the watery future facing the 600 million people who live directly on the world’s
coastlines. History, wealth, and the political and personal choices people make today will shapehow they fare as climate change inevitably brings the waves to their doorsteps. Page A5.
SEAS RISE TO THE FRONT DOOR
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHANG W. LEE/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Lisa Taddeo PAGE A27
EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27
WUHAN, China — In the hospi-tal where Yu Yajie works, nurses,doctors and other medical profes-sionals fighting the new coro-navirus have also been fightingdire shortages. They have usedtape to patch up battered protec-tive masks, repeatedly reusedgoggles meant for one-time use,and wrapped their shoes in plasticbags for lack of specialized cover-ings.
Ms. Yu is now lying at home, fe-verish and fearful that she hasbeen infected with the virus. Sheand other employees at the hospi-tal said a lack of protective wearhad left medical workers like hervulnerable in Wuhan, the centralChinese city at the heart of the epi-demic that has engulfed this re-gion.
“There are risks — there simplyaren’t enough resources,” Ms. Yu,an administrator at Wuhan Cen-tral Hospital, said in a brief tele-phone interview, adding that shewas too weak to speak at length.
On Front Line,And Searching
For ProtectionThis article is by Chris Buckley,
Sui-Lee Wee and Amy Qin.
Chinese hospital workers arefacing supply shortages.
CHINATOPIX, VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Continued on Page A10
WASHINGTON — Russia is in-tensifying a pressure campaignon U.S. military forces in north-eastern Syria following the Amer-ican withdrawal from much of thatarea ahead of a Turkish cross-bor-der offensive last fall, Americanmilitary and diplomatic officialssay.
Russian military personnelhave increasingly had run-inswith U.S. troops on highways inthe region, breaking agreementsbetween the two countries to steerclear of each other. Russian heli-copters are flying closer to Ameri-can troops. And on Wednesday, aU.S.-led convoy returned fire afterit came under attack near a check-point manned by forces loyal toPresident Bashar al-Assad of Syr-ia, who are backed by Russia.
American officials say these ac-tions by Russian personnel andtheir Syrian allies are devised topresent a constant set of chal-lenges, probes and encroach-ments to slowly create new factson the ground and make the U.S.military presence there more ten-uous. About 500 American troopsremain deployed in Syria with amission to protect oil fields andhelp fight remnants of the IslamicState.
“These are not daily occur-rences but they have been in-creasing in number, and thus istroubling,” James F. Jeffrey, thetop American diplomat oversee-ing Syria issues, told reporterslast week.
The confrontations risk escalat-ing to a significant hostile encoun-ter between Washington and Mos-cow in the country’s northeast,even as Russian-backed Syriangovernment troops have stepped
Russia AppliesPressure on U.S.In Syria’s North
By ERIC SCHMITT
Continued on Page A9
WASHINGTON — “Bit!”Ayana Smith called out as shepaced the alphabet rug in front ofher kindergarten students at Gar-rison Elementary School.
“Buh! Ih! Tuh!” the class re-sponded in unison, making karatechop motions as they enunciatedthe sound of each letter. In a 10-minute lesson, the studentschopped up and correctly spelleda string of words:
Top. “Tuh! Ah! Puh!”Wig. “Wuh! Ih! Guh!”Ship. “Shuh! Ih! Puh!”Ms. Smith’s sounding-out exer-
cises might seem like a common-sense way to teach reading. Butfor decades, many teachers have
embraced a different approach,convinced that exposing studentsto the likes of Dr. Seuss and MayaAngelou is more important thandrilling them on phonics.
Lagging student performanceand newly relevant research,though, have prompted some edu-cators to reconsider the ABCs ofreading instruction. Their effortgained new urgency after nationaltest scores last year showed thatonly a third of American students
were proficient in reading, withwidening gaps between goodreaders and bad ones.
Now members of this vocal mi-nority, proponents of what theycall the “science of reading,” con-gregate on social media and swaplesson plans intended to avoid cre-ating “curriculum casualties” —students who have not been effec-tively taught to read and who willcontinue to struggle into adult-hood, unable to comprehend med-ical forms or job listings.
The bible for these educators isa body of research produced bylinguists, psychologists and cog-nitive scientists. Their findingshave pushed some states andschool districts to make bigchanges in how teachers are
A New, Yet Old, Reading Exercise: Sound It OutBy DANA GOLDSTEIN Lackluster Test Scores
Have Teachers GoingBack to the Basics
Ari Cotton, a first grader, at Garrison Elementary School in Washington, one of two jurisdictionsthat had rising scores on national reading tests. Educators are rethinking how to teach reading.
LEXEY SWALL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Continued on Page A23
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Thenews was alarming: Children insome of South Bend’s poorestneighborhoods had a higher rateof lead poisoning than children inFlint, Mich.
At a meeting of anxious par-ents, it was revealed that twocounty agencies had lost fundingto help combat the poisoning. PeteButtigieg, then the city’s mayor,did not control the agencies, buthis response at the meeting stillstruck some as a politician pass-ing the buck. “We have state rep-resentatives. We have a statehealth department. We have anew governor,” he said. “Theyshould be hearing from our com-munity.”
Mr. Buttigieg eventually tookaction, after pressure by an ad hoccommunity group and by TheSouth Bend Tribune, which edito-rialized that it was “time to getcracking” on lead. The mayor won$2.3 million from Washington torepair rundown homes with peel-ing paint, the cause of the lead poi-soning.
“His first instinct was to say,Hey, we’re covering what we’re incharge of,” said Kathy Schuth,who organized the meeting of par-ents in January 2017 where themayor spoke. “And his secondlook at it was to say, This is a bigproblem. And there are ways wecould play a strong role.”
The experience Mr. Buttigieggained as a mayor is a central partof his pitch as a presidential candi-date, but it has also recently be-come a bull’s-eye for some of hisrivals, who are trying to undercuthis momentum in the race by sow-ing doubts about whether he is
Hard LessonsAnd Big IdeasOf Mayor Pete
By TRIP GABRIEL
Continued on Page A14
WASHINGTON — While Attor-ney General William P. Barr as-serted his independence from theWhite House this week, he hasalso been quietly intervening in aseries of politically charged cases,including against Michael T.Flynn, President Trump’s formernational security adviser, peoplefamiliar with the matter said onFriday.
Mr. Barr installed a phalanx ofoutside lawyers to re-examine na-tional security cases with the pos-sibility of overruling career pros-ecutors, a highly unusual movethat could prompt more accusa-tions of Justice Department politi-cization. The case against Mr.Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty tolying to the F.B.I. in the Russia in-vestigation, is a cause célèbre forMr. Trump and his supporters,who say the retired general wasensnared in a “deep state” plotagainst the president.
The disclosures came as Mr.Trump made clear on Friday thathe believes he has free rein overthe Justice Department and itscases, rejecting Mr. Barr’s publicdemand of a day earlier that thepresident stop commenting onsuch cases.
Citing Mr. Barr’s assertion in aninterview on Thursday that Mr.
Trump had never asked him to actin a criminal case, the presidentdeclared on Twitter: “This doesn’tmean that I do not have, as Presi-dent, the legal right to do so, I do,but I have so far chosen not to!”
Hours later, the Justice Depart-ment told defense lawyers for An-drew G. McCabe, the former act-ing F.B.I. director whom Mr.Trump has vilified for his role inthe Russia case, that Mr. McCabewould not be charged in connec-tion with a leak case, ending anearly two-year criminal investi-gation.
“We consider the matterclosed,” the department wrote to
BARR QUIETLY ACTSTO TIGHTEN LEASHIN POLITICAL CASES
Assigning Team to Review Investigations,Including Prosecution of Flynn
By CHARLIE SAVAGE and ADAM GOLDMAN
William P. BarrERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Continued on Page A19
A CASE ENDS Supporters of the ex-F.B.I. deputy director saw the inves-tigation against him as tainted by attacks from the president. PAGE A18
COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP President Trump thought William Barr wouldprotect him and go after his opponents. Now he’s not sure. PAGE A19
An overhaul aims to make commercialgarbage pickup safer for pedestrians,workers and the environment. PAGE A24
Streamlining Trash RemovalSuspicions that the Wall Street gianttried to influence the overhaul of thepension system stir protesters. PAGE B1
BlackRock Draws Ire in France
The police tried to use an antiterror lawto demand information about who leakedcrime photos to a reporter. PAGE A25
NEW YORK A24-25
The Post, the Police and TwitterIn the two months since Prime MinisterBoris Johnson of Britain won a bigelection victory, he has moved to takecontrol of the levers of power. PAGE A4
INTERNATIONAL A4-12
Johnson Consolidates PowerEvan Hansen, a senior at Wabash Col-lege in Indiana, was a captain of thefootball team. After looking up thedisease on his laptop in September2018, he shot himself. PAGE B7
SPORTSSATURDAY B7-10
Dead at 21, With C.T.E.THIS WEEKEND
Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for the adultfilm star Stormy Daniels, was convictedof trying to extort Nike. PAGE A17
NATIONAL A13-23
A Trump Nemesis Is Convicted
An analysis shows inconsistencies anderrors in tallying results of the Demo-cratic Party’s caucuses. PAGE A13
Fuzzy Math in Iowa
Caroline Baumann resigned as directorof the design museum after an inquiryinto how she procured her weddingdress and the site for the vows. PAGE C1
ARTS C1-7
Behind a Cooper Hewitt Ouster
A government watchdog will reviewwhether $28 billion was mismanagedand unfairly allocated. PAGE B3
BUSINESS B1-6
Farm Bailout Investigated
VOL. CLXIX . . . No. 58,604 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020
Late EditionToday, sunny to partly cloudy, cold,high 32. Tonight, cloudy, not as coldas last night, low 28. Tomorrow,milder, clouds then some sunshine,high 48. Weather map is on Page C8.
$3.00
