Vaccines, Stimulus, ‘The Phantom Tollbooth’: Your Tuesday Evening Briefing
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Good evening. Here’s the latest.
1. The new battle over coronavirus vaccines access.
Demand is still outstripping the nation’s vaccine supply, and states have set widely varying rules amid a dearth of definitive evidence about who should have priority access.
At least 37 states allow people with certain health conditions to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, according to a Times survey. At least 15 states have deemed some smokers eligible, and at least 30 have prioritized vaccines for people who are overweight or obese — though some set the bar at a body mass index of 25, and others at 30 or 40.
The inconsistencies, which can even vary from county to county, have set off a free-for-all as people with varying health conditions try to persuade health and political officials to add them to vaccine priority lists. Above, Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Ca., has been used as a mass vaccination site.
2. The House is planning to vote Wednesday morning to clear President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan and send it to the White House for his signature.
Millions of people are still out of work, and neither the initial losses nor the subsequent rebound has been distributed evenly. Significantly fewer Black and Hispanic women are working than in any other demographic, according to the latest government data — and women are lagging behind men across all races and ethnicities.
3. Most Canadian nursing-home residents have been vaccinated, but restrictions are still in place that have left many people sequestered mostly in their rooms.
Some say they feel like caged animals and are wondering: What, exactly, am I being kept alive for? “I have so many things I want to do, I can’t do them,” said Devora Greenspon, 88, above. “I may never get to do them. I may die before the pandemic is over.”
In other international developments, Italy surpassed 100,000 coronavirus deaths, a year after its first lockdown. The country is facing new lockdown measures because of a large wave of infections driven by new variants.
4. New U.S. guidelines will expand lung cancer screening to include many more women and Black people.
The disease is the leading cause of U.S. cancer deaths, and the goal of the expanded screening is to find it earlier in people at high risk because of smoking. In those individuals, annual CT scans can reduce the risk of death from the cancer by 20 to 25 percent, large studies have found.
The new recommendations, by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, add more women and African-Americans to the pool eligible for screening because they tend to smoke less heavily than the white male study participants on whom earlier guidelines were based. One concern: Some who need CT scans most may not be able to afford them.
5. Myanmar’s army and its brutal practices have been in the global spotlight since a coup last month. But the military has a long legacy of atrocities that has instilled an omnipresent fear in the country.
During the last three years alone, the Tatmadaw, as the military is known, has waged war against ethnic rebel armies in three states — Rakhine, Shan and Kachin — and displaced 700,000 Rohingya Muslims. The campaign against the Rohingya included killings and systemic rape, with men and boys often used as human shields by soldiers.
“If we protest, we may be shot dead,” said one man who fled the fighting in Kachin. “It’s better to walk through a minefield.”
6. Nearly 48 hours after a tell-all interview with Prince Harry and Meghan, Buckingham Palace finally broke its silence.
“The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan,” the palace said in a statement. “The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.”
Amid news media reports of a palace in turmoil, there was no shortage of voices from across Britain’s political spectrum, and comparisons to the turmoil that Diana, Princess of Wales, went through some 25 years ago. We looked at the many parallels between Meghan and Diana.
And when Meghan referred to the British royal family as “the Firm” on Sunday, she evoked an institution that is as much a business as a fairy tale. Our London bureau chief explained the term’s significance.
7. “There was once a boy named Milo who didn’t know what to do with himself, not just sometimes, but always.”
So begins “The Phantom Tollbooth,” about a bored boy’s fantastical journey when a tollbooth inexplicably appears in his room. Written by Norton Juster, the book became a beloved touchstone of children’s literature when it was first published in 1961.
Mr. Juster died Monday at 91. The cause was complications from a recent stroke.
“The idea of children looking at things differently is a precious thing,” Mr. Juster once said. “The most important thing you can do is notice.”
8. The torture devices of fashion are looking awfully good right about now.
High heels or waddle-inducing pencil skirts were constricting when woman were pressured into wearing them, writes Lou Stoppard. But “locked down, we can appreciate what makes us feel free: what we want, what we miss.”
She spoke to other women about what they miss most about dressing up. “I want sequins, I want painful beauty treatments, I want lamé,” one said.
Most designers have agreed on one thing: By the time new clothes hit stores, we will be ready to take wing. And we’re going to want to dress for the moment. Here are some ideas from Loewe, Versace and Thom Browne — plus a hard-core Givenchy.
9. Two days, 10 dogs, 150 miles in the Alaskan wilderness.
The Junior Iditarod, the longest race in Alaska for competitors under 18, is a chance for young mushers to prove their skills: They need to know how to steer a sled, use survival equipment, brave icy winds and avoid hypothermia. This year’s winner, Morgan Martens, 14, finished in 16 hours 40 minutes 20 seconds.
“Nothing in the entire world can beat being out alone with your dogs, with your team,” said Anna Coke, 17, above, who has been mushing for years. “It brings you a lot of peace.
10. And finally, the perfect schnitzel.
Most breaded-and-fried cutlets of the world — like Italian cotoletta alla Milanese, Japanese tonkatsu, Colombian chuleta valluna, even American Shake ‘N Bake — feature a crust that is bound to the meat.
But for our Food columnist J. Kenji López-Alt, the magic of Viennese schnitzel is in the way the cook coaxes the crust to puff away from the meat. There are a few basic techniques that can help, like using very fine bread crumbs and more eggs than it seems you’ll need. But the real secret to success: brushing the raw cutlets with a thin layer of vodka. Here’s how he does it.
Have a delicious night.
Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern.
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