Times Square on March 11, 2020. Ashley Gilbertson for The New York Times
“A year ago, we realized everything was about to change.
We rushed to the store to get cleaning supplies and canned goods. Our bosses told us to stay home. Millions of students across the country started remote learning. For a while, toilet paper was a hot commodity. And so much more.
This week was the anniversary of the World Health Organization’s declaring a global pandemic, but also of something deeper: It has been a year since we had to unexpectedly and dramatically alter the way we live. Most of those changes are still part of our daily routines.
In the early days of the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that ‘things will get worse before they get better.’ Far worse, it turned out.
Veronica Salazar at the funeral service in Orange, Calif., for her father, Israel Salazar, who died in January from Covid-19. Alex Welsh for The New York Times
At least 533,904 Americans have died from the coronavirus; the global death toll stands at 2.6 million. One in three Americans is grieving the loss of someone who died of Covid-19. Many of the virus’s victims were vulnerable, while others had been entering new chapters in their lives.
The pandemic is not over, and the U.S. death rate remains at nearly 1,500 people every day. The scarring is likely to linger for years to come.
But a year in, we are dining out on a sliver of optimism. President Biden has held out two distinct dates of hope: May 1, when all adults in the U.S. will be eligible to receive vaccines, and July 4, when modest Independence Day celebrations might start to show a resemblance to life like it once was….
Serena Williams serving to Victoria Azarenka in an empty Arthur Ashe Stadium at the U.S. Open in September. Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
In sports, it was more obvious: The clocks stopped. In the days between March 11 and March 13 last year, sports arenas fell silent overnight, and tournaments were canceled. The virus took the sports world as much by surprise as it did the other parts of our society….
Isolation hit in different ways, and our relationships became defined by distance.
More than 5,500 young people wrote in to The Times about how the pandemic had affected their lives. Being a teenager in the U.S. during the pandemic was lonely, disorienting, depressing and suffocating, they said. As one 16-year-old said of the generation’s pivotal moment: ‘Making history is way overrated.’
And we learned to cope differently. The enforced separations of the pandemic have brought a particular kind of mourning to many grandparents.
‘It feels like a double loss,’ said Kathy Koehler of Ann Arbor, Mich. ‘I’m losing time with this newborn that I’ll never get back. And I didn’t get to see my daughter and son-in-law fall in love with him and become parents. I felt so cheated.’
We navigated being together while being apart, redefining romantic and platonic relationships — and self-reliance….
Lockdowns looked different depending on your class, race and gender. Higher-income families could more easily work from home and avoid dangerous in-person interactions. Essential workers kept the country running, while millions lost their jobs.
Those of us who could work from home mostly did (and still do). Making a home office the office prompted us to ask: What are we putting up with? And why? This forced period of slowing down has been a chance to find out, Roxane Gay writes….
We found new creative outlets.
While our favorite restaurants shuttered, we started making their famous recipes at home. These 19 songs got us through the quiet. And we turned to books for comfort, distraction and escape in a tremendously upsetting year.
Great art will be made from this time, about this time, inspired by this time. Until then, we asked 75 artists to open up about their creative travails and triumphs this year.
Saturday nights had a different rhythm.
Do you remember what it felt like to be held and kissed by friends and strangers? ‘Remember we memorialized special occasions in sweat on foreheads,’ Yolanda Wisher writes in Opinion, ‘the melting heat of a room made only for your joy?’ Her essay offers a visceral reminder.
The arts superfan Edward Minieka of Chicago saw 105 live performances in the before time. Now he watches TV. We also gathered scenes from around New York City as the lights on Broadway dimmed and the 24-hour city sighed to sleep. These pictures tell a story of a city ruptured — and of resilience.
Now, the “After” may soon be upon us.
About 68.9 million people have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine,including about 36.9 million people who have been fully vaccinated, with an average of 2.54 million shots administered daily. Hurdles remain — getting shots into arms, improving access to communities of color and addressing global disparities — but there is finally a light at the end of this.
‘Just as we were emerging from a dark winter into a hopeful spring and summer is not the time to not stick with the rules,’ President Biden said Thursday. ‘This is not the time to let up.’
‘Keep wearing a mask,’ he said, because ‘beating this virus and getting back to normal depends on national unity.’ Read more at New York Times
“President Biden is finding it increasingly difficult to unwind his predecessor’s immigration regulations as the administration grapples with a surge of migrants at the southern border.
Trump officials put in place some 1,000 different immigration measures, according to figures compiled by the Immigration Policy Tracking Project, creating a complex and lengthy process for an administration that is seeking to turn the page on the Trump era.
The administration is trying to unravel those rules in the face of immediate challenges. Officials on Saturday night said the Federal Emergency Management Agency will launch a 90-day effort to care for the influx of unaccompanied migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border.” Read more at The Hill
“Republicans are going on the attack against the newly signed $1.9 trillion coronavirus bill as they scramble to find a messaging foothold against Democrats' first big win heading into 2022.
GOP lawmakers, who voted in unison against the legislation, are gambling that they'll be able to tamp down the bill’s popularity in the long run, even as polls have shown it garners broad approval, including from their own voters.
The focus among congressional Republicans is twofold: highlighting provisions they hope will be damaging to Democrats and accusing their political opponents of trying to take credit for an economic recovery Republicans say was set in motion by the Trump administration.” Read more at The Hill
“Armed with hope for the first time in years that immigration legislation can pass through Congress, Democrats on Capitol Hill are moving forward this week on bills that could help create a pathway to citizenship for millions of individuals living in the United States without legal status.
The House will begin action on both the American Dream and Promise Act and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's office said Thursday.
Congress has struggled for decades to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
The last comprehensive bill, sponsored by a group of bipartisan Senators, was brought up in 2013. That legislation, which included a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants and tighter border security, passed the Senate with bipartisan support but died in the House. It's been more than three decades since Congress last enacted broad immigration reforms.
The bills the House will take up are separate from President Joe Biden’s comprehensive immigration reform — the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 — which would create an eight-year pathway to citizenship for nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants, with a shorter pathway available for DACA recipients and farm workers.
More:Biden restarts program to help migrant children fleeing violence in Central America
Biden’s immigration bill likely will face an uphill battle in Congress, particularly in a Senate split 50-50 where all Democrats and at least 10 Republicans would need to vote in favor of the bill to avoid a filibuster.
But Democrats and activists believe that the two standalone bills moving through the House have a better chance of passing the full Congress. The Dream Act and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act both passed in the House in 2019, but the legislation was never brought up in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., a co-sponsor of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, said Thursday that she is ‘hopeful’ about the legislation's chances in the Senate. She added that she's spoken with several Senators who are working to try and move the legislation forward in that chamber….
Several activist groups have voiced support for these bills, and are pushing Democrats and the Biden Administration to move quickly on offering protections for millions of undocumented immigrants….
Some activists are also urging lawmakers to include a pathway to legalization for Dreamers, farm workers and essential workers in other legislation, like the next package that is part of Biden's COVID-19 recovery, which is expected to largely focus on infrastructure. A new bill has yet to be introduced in Congress for the next phase of recovery from the coronavirus pandemic….
Here's what each of the bills moving through the House this week would cover:
American Dream and Promise Act
The American Dream and Promise Act creates a pathway to legal status for ‘Dreamers,’ the term used to describe undocumented individuals who were brought to the United States as children. The legislation will grant conditional permanent resident status for 10 years and cancel removal proceedings if they meet certain requirements. Those requirements include being physically present in the U.S. on or before January 1, 2021, were 18 years old or younger on the initial date of entry into the U.S., and have not been convicted of crimes like domestic violence, sexual assault or human trafficking.
Under the legislation, ‘Dreamers’ could gain full lawful permanent resident status by either acquiring a degree from a university or college, completing at least two years of military service or being employed for at least three years where the individual had employment authorization for 75% of the time they were employed.
More:Immigration was a scorching topic at the Supreme Court last year. With Trump gone, that's changed.
In addition, the bill includes protections and a pathway to citizenship for individuals who were eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) on or before Sept. 17, 2017, and individuals who had Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) status as of Jan. 20, 2021. Individuals who are beneficiaries of either of those programs and have been in the United States for a period of 3 years before the act’s enactment are also eligible for the protections and pathway to citizenship.
The Farm Workforce Modernization Act
This bill creates a process for farm workers to earn temporary status as Certified Agricultural Workers for individuals who have worked at least 180 days in agriculture over the last 2 years. Spouses and children can also apply for temporary status under the act.
More:Gov. Greg Abbott in South Texas says Biden administration 'invites illegal immigration'
The legislation also creates a pathway for workers to get a green card by paying a $1,000 fine and engaging in additional agricultural work depending on how long they have worked in agriculture in the United States.
The bill also would reform the H-2A visa program, streamlining the process to get the visa and also reforming wages for H-2A visa holders.” Read more at USA Today
“The House Oversight Committee is demanding that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) release a contract with a private company for a new delivery vehicle fleet that is reportedly worth up to $6 billion.
Oversight and Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on Friday voicing several concerns about potential interference and asking for documents relating to a contract with Oshkosh Defense.
The USPS is contracted to purchase up to 165,000 new fuel efficient or electric postal vehicles.
USPS announced the deal with the Wisconsin-based company in late February, under which it paid a $482 million initial investment. The Postal Service said in a statement that the contract was the first part of a multi-billion dollar, 10-year effort to replace its delivery fleet.
According to Maloney, the contract was a ‘surprise announcement’ and marked the end of a ‘highly secretive’ selection process that lasted six years.
In her letter, Maloney voiced concerns that the vehicles would not be fuel efficient. The New York lawmaker noted that part of President Biden's plan to combat climate change is to transition to a fully-electric fleet.
Maloney wrote that Oshkosh submitted a prototype with a gasoline engine despite prototypes from competitors incorporating electric powertrains. The initial announcement claimed that Oshkosh's vehicles would be fuel efficient or contain electric powertrains.
However, Maloney noted that DeJoy told the committee in a hearing last month that only 10 percent of the initial order for the fleet would be electric.
Maloney further voiced concerns about the contract, pointing to a report from Bloomberg News, which alleges that an unknown party purchased $54.2 million worth of stock in Oshkosh the night before the deal was announced.” Read more at The Hill
“The deadline to submit signatures is Wednesday in the campaign to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom.Recall supporters say they have more than the 1.5 million verified signatures needed to start the process. The court-determined deadline was extended to this week due to the pandemic.” Read more at CNN
“Rachel Levine, the nominee for assistant health secretary for Health and Human Services, appears before a Senate committee Wednesday. If all goes well, Levine will be the first openly transgender federal official confirmed by the Senate.” Read more at CNN
“House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy plans on introducing a resolution to remove Rep. Eric Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee, according to a tweet he posted Friday night.
‘Pelosi just reappointed Eric Swalwell to the Intelligence Committee. Based on the briefing she and I received together, Swalwell should not be on the panel in charge of guarding our nation's secrets,’ McCarthy said of his fellow Californian. ‘Next week, I will offer a resolution to remove him from the Intel Committee.’
Swalwell has been a constant target of GOP lawmakers since a December 2020 Axios report said a suspected Chinese intelligence operative helped fundraise for the California Democrat during his 2014 reelection campaign. According to the report, Christine Fang, or Fang Fang, allegedly targeted politicians – primarily in California but also including two Midwestern mayors – before leaving the country in 2015, when she became the subject of a federal investigation.” Read more at USA Today
“An industry hit hard by the pandemic will get together for music's biggest night at 8 p.m. ET. The Grammy Awards will look a little different this year -- with comedian Trevor Noah hosting and performances by stars including Taylor Swift, Cardi B and BTS.” Read more at CNN
“Marvin Hagler, the middleweight boxing great whose title reign and career ended with a split-decision loss to “Sugar” Ray Leonard in 1987, died Saturday. He was 66.” Read more at USA Today
“Scary-real deepfakes have arrived. A series of forged videos that appear to show Tom Cruise performing magic tricks and cracking jokes have proliferated on TikTok, raising fears about the rapid sophistication of the technology — and its dangerous potential.” Read more at NPR
“Sharks: an unexpected ecological hero. Scientist Melissa Christina Marquez explains just how important the creatures are to keeping oceans healthy — including their role in mitigating climate change.” [NPR] Short Wave
“Rick Steves built his no-frills take on traveling into a powerful, $100 million brand. But he never planned on making it big. NPR’s Guy Raz talks to Steves about how he went from backpacking through Europe on $2 a day to creating a travel business trusted by millions.” [NPR] How I Built This
Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez take a selfie as they arrive at the 26th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles, California on 19 January 2020. Photograph: Matt Sayles/Invision/AP
“Singer Jennifer Lopez and former New York Yankees baseball star Alex Rodriguez said on Saturday they were ‘working through some things’ and that reports of them splitting up after almost four years together were inaccurate.
Celebrity website TMZ, the New York Post’s Page Six and multiple entertainment sites on Friday cited unidentified sources close to the couple, sometimes known in the media as J-Rod, as saying the pair had called off their engagement.
‘All the reports are inaccurate. We are working through some things,’ Lopez, 51, and Rodriguez, 45, one of the biggest celebrity couples in the United States, said in a joint statement provided to Reuters.” Read more at The Guardian