Go for the gold: Your Weekend Briefing

June 27, 2021

Welcome to the Weekend Briefing. We're covering the latest from Surfside, Fla., Latin America's education crisis and Pride.

Rescue workers searching in the rubble at the Champlain Towers South condominium.Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

1. As the search for victims of a collapsed Florida condo building stretches into a fourth day, news has surfaced of a report from 2018 that warned of major structural damage.

Five people have been confirmed dead, and as many as 156 people remain unaccounted for at the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Fla. Debris must be moved piece by piece to ensure that the unstable pile of rubble doesn't collapse further, and smoke and debris from the collapsed building are posing health risks. Here's what we know so far.

The cause of the collapse has not been determined, but an engineer warned in 2018 of "major structural damage" to the slab below the pool deck and "abundant" cracking and crumbling in the parking garage under the 13-story building.

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava of Miami-Dade County announced a 30-day audit of all buildings 40 years and older along South Florida's beaches, where salt air tends to eat away at steel and concrete structures.

Residents of the building complex — who spoke English, Spanish, Hebrew and Portuguese — reflected Miami's cultural and global reach, and the losses may touch many parts of the world.

Handy Kennedy founded a cooperative for Black farmers to improve their chances of success.Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

2. President Biden has promised to put racial equity at the center of everything he does. But his efforts are running into legal and political obstacles.

A small-business program that prioritized applications from women and people of color has had to change its rules after a lawsuit was filed on behalf of white restaurant owners. This week, a judge stopped an Agriculture Department program to forgive the debts of Black farmers and other minority farmers that had been intended to redress years of discrimination.

Republicans are also promising to attack the president's equity efforts on the campaign trail and tie it to a broader culture war during the 2022 midterm elections.

In other politics news: A Times analysis looks at how deceptive campaign fund-raising often ensnares older Americans into making contributions. Over four months last year, one 90-year-old man unknowingly made 400 donations totaling nearly $11,500.

Gloria Vásquez with her 8-year-old daughter, Ximena, at their home in Soacha, Colombia.Federico Rios for The New York Times

3. The coronavirus is devastating education in Latin America.

Deep into the second year of the pandemic, Latin America has suffered the longest school shutdown of any region in the world. By one estimate, 100 million children across the continent are still in full or partial distance learning, and the consequences are alarming: With economies still reeling, students are leaving school in large numbers, experts say, sometimes to work wherever they can.

In the U.S., many parents worried about the side effects from the coronavirus vaccine have held off from allowing their children to get them. Some states and cities are seeking to relax medical-consent rules, and some defiant teens are taking matters into their own hands.

The Sydney Opera House is closed due to a citywide lockdown.Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

4. Australian officials introduced a strict two-week lockdown for all of greater Sydney as an outbreak of the Delta variant spreads rapidly.

The stay-home orders mark the first full-city lockdown for Australia's largest city since early 2020. Over the past 10 days, a cluster that began with an airport limousine driver has jumped to nearly 100 cases, with dozens more expected over the coming days. Most people in Sydney are unvaccinated.

The U.K. on Saturday recorded its highest daily number of coronavirus infections since early February, raising questions over whether England will be able to end lockdown restrictions next month as planned. Britain's health minister, Matt Hancock, resigned after violating Britain's social-distancing guidelines.

New York Attorney General Letitia James.Richard Drew/Associated Press

5. Johnson & Johnson will pay New York $230 million under a settlement that ensures it will get out of the opioid business in the U.S.

The agreement came just days before opening arguments in a sweeping trial of several defendants, including the drug company. That trial will be the first of its kind to go before a jury, and the first to target the entire opioid supply chain, from drugmakers to distributors to a pharmacy chain.

The money is not intended to compensate people harmed by the opioid crisis but rather for abatement, including education and addiction treatment, said Letitia James, New York's attorney general. The company said that the settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing. The opioid epidemic has killed more than 800,000 Americans in the last 20 years.

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The Quinault Indian Nation in Taholah, Wash., has been planning a retreat from the ocean.Josue Rivas for The New York Times

6. Many Native people were forced into the most undesirable areas of America. Now, climate change is forcing them to face the loss of home, again.

While other communities struggle on a warming planet, Native tribes are experiencing an environmental peril exacerbated by policies — first imposed by white settlers and later the U.S. government — that forced them onto marginal lands that are becoming uninhabitable.

In Canada, the government forcibly removed at least 150,000 Indigenous children from their homes from the 1880s through the 1990s, and sent them to residential schools designed to assimilate them. Two recent discoveries of what Indigenous groups say are the remains of hundreds of those children have strengthened their resolve to hold the country accountable for its brutal past.

The action on Centre Court starts Monday.Pool photo by Thomas Lovelock

7. Wimbledon, the oldest of all the major tennis tournaments, begins tomorrow. The seedings look a little different this year.

For the first time, Wimbledon seedings did not take into account a player's past performance on grass, adhering instead exclusively to the world rankings. Serena Williams, still chasing a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title, has a promising draw. Novak Djokovic, the world No. 1 and the reigning men's singles champion, is heavily favored to defend his title.

Some big names will miss this year's tournament, including Simona Halep, Dominic Thiem, Rafael Nadal, Naomi Osaka and others.

And on ice, the Tampa Bay Lightning will play the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup tomorrow night. Tampa Bay has a chance to repeat as the champion, while Montreal will look for its first title since 1993.

The L.G.B.T.Q. trailblazers Jerry Jordan, Lee Soulja, Brenda Holder, Rick Davy and Kevin Aviance.Richard Williams for The New York Times

8. "We have a voice, we have contributed to history and to culture in this country."

Lee Soulja, an artist and founder of NYC Center for Black Pride, is part of a group of unsung heroes who have been opening doors for other L.G.B.T.Q. people of color through their art, activism, entrepreneurship and mentorship. We spoke to them about creating a legacy of empowerment.

Times Opinion asked readers how the coronavirus pandemic affected the way people came out. Some found comfort in TikTok's queer community; others took away a lesson from the pandemic: "Life's too short to operate out of fear."

There are plenty of ways to celebrate Pride this weekend. Here's what to do if you're in New York City.

Pastis is a favorite pastime in the south of France.Lanna Apisukh for The New York Times

9. This may be the perfect summer cocktail.

For our wine critic, Eric Asimov, pastis is the ideal summer aperitif. Popular in the south of France, pastis is both the name of an anise-flavored spirit and an easy drink that requires adding only cold water to that liqueur. And the preparation has built-in entertainment — adding water to the spirit quickly makes it turn milky and pearlescent in a transformation known as the louche.

"Drinking a pastis in summer," Asimov writes, "gives one the wisdom to understand that repose, not unwarranted exertion, is the preferred course of action."

Committing just a few key ratios to memory can make at-home mixology a breeze. Here are three equal-parts drink recipes to get you started.

Joni Mitchell.Jim Marshall Photography

10. And finally, kick back and read.

Joni Mitchell's "Blue" at 50. The abandoned houses of Instagram. Fighting terrorism on in-line skates. These stories and more await you in The Weekender.

Our editors also suggest these 8 new books, the new season of "The Good Fight," and new music from Ed Sheeran and others.

Did you follow the news this week? Test your knowledge. And here's the front page of our Sunday paper, the Sunday Review from Opinion and today's Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. If you're in the mood to play more, find all our games here.

Have a celebratory week.

Marcus Payadue compiled photos for this briefing.

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