Go for the gold: Your Weekend Briefing

July 25, 2021

Welcome to the Weekend Briefing. We're covering vaccine hesitancy, staff shortages at summer camps and the Olympics.

Marcel Bryant, 60, received a vaccine in Portland, Ore., after learning about a pop-up event.Tojo Andrianarivo for The New York Times

1. America is at a crossroads as the nation confronts a new surge of the coronavirus, but only slowly embraces the vaccines that could stop it.

With about only half of the population fully vaccinated, the country is facing what federal health officials have called a "pivotal point" in the pandemic. Some Americans who have been hesitant to roll up their sleeves for a shot — not because they oppose vaccinations, but because they are reluctant, anxious or procrastinators — are finally doing so. How many people ultimately join this group, and how quickly, could determine the course of the pandemic in the U.S.

One of the hurdles to vaccination efforts has been the spread of misinformation. An osteopathic physician in Florida spreads more coronavirus misinformation online than anyone, researchers say. He makes millions doing it.

Vaccines remain effective against the worst outcomes of Covid-19, including from the highly contagious Delta variant. But Biden administration health officials increasingly think people who are 65 and older or who have compromised immune systems will need booster shots.

Chase Kalisz won the men's 400 individual medley.Doug Mills/The New York Times

2. The Olympics get rolling.

The swimmer Chase Kalisz became the first American to win a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. The U.S. women's soccer team bounced back with a "ruthless" 6-1 victory over New Zealand. Skateboarding and the gymnastic qualifiers got underway; swimming will dominate the first week of the Games. Here's a recap of the action on Day 1 in Tokyo.

Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast of all time, arrives at her second Olympics prepared to soar above the sport's devastating recent history. "Biles, 24, has been compared to Serena Williams, Tom Brady and Tiger Woods," our gymnastics reporter writes. "But the analogy minimizes her athletic brilliance because those competitors lose from time to time — and she doesn't."

A crew from Santa Fe, N.M., checking for hot spots and smoldering debris near Paisley, Ore.Kristina Barker for The New York Times

3. Times journalists were on the ground at the edge of the Bootleg Fire in Oregon, the largest active wildfire in the country. It looked as if the earth was roasting.

Hundreds of firefighters from many states have struggled to beat back a blaze that has burned more than 400,000 acres. As of Saturday, it was only 42 percent contained. The fire, made worse by drought, is one of the many stark examples of the impact of climate change.

As if the recent record-breaking temperatures weren't punishing enough, the forecast for the coming week suggests that there will be few places in the contiguous U.S. to find relief. Extreme heat will be the product of a "heat dome," much like the one that oppressed the Pacific Northwest this summer.

Lina Khan, who heads the Federal Trade Commission, in April.Saul Loeb/Pool, via Reuters

4. President Biden has assembled the most aggressive antitrust team in decades as he prepares to take on corporate titans.

The team includes three legal crusaders — Jonathan Kanter, Lina Khan and Tim Wu — who have spent their careers challenging corporate consolidation and Big Tech. The appointments show both the Democratic Party's renewed antitrust activism and the Biden administration's growing concern that Big Tech's power has hurt consumers and stunted economic growth.

Social media's impact may be everlasting. Determining what to do with our data after we die may be one of the great ethical and technological imperatives of our time.

Campers picked teams before playing football at Timber Lake Camp in Shandaken, N.Y. on Friday.Bryan Anselm for The New York Times

5. The latest victim of the tight job market: s'mores and singalongs at summer camp.

Some parents are being asked to pick up their campers as summer camps struggle to reopen amid labor shortages and without the international seasonal workers. Some camp directors complain that hired staff members are failing to show up or leaving their jobs without notice. And some counselors say that they are underpaid and stretched thinner than in past years. A few camps have even been forced to close.

Millions of families with children started receiving a little extra cash this month because of an expanded child tax credit. For tax purposes, there may be reasons for some families to decline the money, for now.

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Evidence of oil spills and pollution in the water of the Niger Delta in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 2018.Ron Bousso/Reuters

6. Big Oil has made billions in profits in the vast Niger Delta region from decades of extraction. Now some companies are pulling out — and leaving a mess behind.

Environmentalists say companies like Chevron often leave without decommissioning their aging infrastructure, which is done to restore the environment and prevent leaching. Today, the delicate ecosystem of the Niger Delta is one of the most polluted places on the planet. Now hundreds of women, who do most of the fishing in the creeks and marshes, are trying to call the oil companies to account.

Thousands of marchers at the annual Pride parade in Budapest on Saturday.Janos Kummer/Getty Images

7. Thousands of Hungarians marched through Budapest to defy Prime Minister Viktor Orban's efforts to marginalize Hungary's L.G.B.T.Q. community.

This year's Budapest Pride march on Saturday was partly a celebration, but it was also a protest, its organizers said, against a recently passed law that critics say equates homosexuality with pedophilia and places limits on sexual education. Many participants said that the law was another alarming sign of Hungary's slide toward authoritarianism under Orban.

Elsewhere in Europe, the government in Spain promised in 2015 to grant citizenship to the descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled during the Spanish Inquisition. But a wave of more than 3,000 rejections in recent months is raising questions about how serious Spain is about its promise of reparations to correct one of the darkest chapters of its history.

Siblings Raven and Arthur reunite in the wild after their trek from captivity.Alana Paterson for The New York Times

8. Our Science desk covered grizzly bears, deep space and more this week.

Researchers in British Columbia are taking on a unique challenge: raising orphan grizzly cubs until they are big enough to release back to the wild. Next spring, the bears will be fitted with battery-operated radio collars and tracked for several years in the hopes that they can avoid the conflicts with humans that led to their mothers' deaths.

Also on the frontier of science:

For the first time, astronomers detected moons forming around a distant exoplanet — a finding that will help scientists address how planets and moons form.
Two decades after the draft sequence of the human genome was unveiled to great fanfare, a team of 99 scientists has finally deciphered the entire thing.
Cockatoos in Sydney, Australia, invented a technique for opening trash bins. As one bird learned from another, the skill spread quickly through the suburbs like a new dance move.

A picnic in the park featuring a grilled zucchini salad and strawberry-tomato soda.Fujio Emura. Styled by Tim Ferro

9. This may be a golden age of outdoor eating.

We spent the past year figuring out how best to eat and socialize outside, and this summer is an opportunity to apply what we've learned. T Magazine compiled a guide to the perfect picnic, tips on creating a table as stimulating as the company and playlist suggestions to accompany your summer meal. Our staff swears by these 20 summer potluck dishes.

For dessert, consider the Texas sheet cake — a chocolate cake with a pecan-laden, chewy fudge frosting made in a shallow jelly roll pan. For many Texans, it has become a cultural touchstone after more than a century of regular appearances at large gatherings. Maybe it should be at yours, too.

Participants on the Netflix dating series "Sexy Beasts" wear a large quantity of special effects makeup.via Netflix

10. And finally, catch up on your summer reading.

Why it's never too late to play cello. Communicating with Redwoods on the California Coast. A dating show that requires contestants to wear beastly masks. The Weekender has some of the best stories of the week.

Our editors also suggest these 11 new books, new music from Lil Nas X and others as well as the second season of "Ted Lasso."

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 of our games here.

Have a rejuvenating week.

David Poller compiled photos for this briefing.

Your Weekend Briefing is published Sundays at 6:30 a.m. Eastern.

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