The Daily

Political and legal history are being made in a Lower Manhattan courtroom as Donald J. Trump becomes the first former U.S. president to undergo a criminal trial. Jonah Bromwich, who covers criminal justice in New York, explains what happened during the opening days of the trial, which is tied to Mr. Trump’s role in a hush-money payment to a porn star. Guest: Jonah E. Bromwich, who covers criminal justice in New York for The New York Times.

The Environmental Protection Agency has begun for the first time to regulate a class of synthetic chemicals known as “forever chemicals” in America’s drinking water. Kim Tingley, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, explains how these chemicals, which have been linked to liver disease and other serious health problems, came to be in the water supply — and in many more places. Guest: Kim Tingley, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine.

A Times investigation shows how the country’s biggest technology companies, as they raced to build powerful new artificial intelligence systems, bent and broke the rules from the start. Cade Metz, a technology reporter for The Times, explains what he uncovered. Guest: Cade Metz, a technology reporter for The New York Times.

Overnight on Saturday, Iran launched its first direct attack on Israeli soil, shooting hundreds of missiles and drones at multiple targets. Eric Schmitt, a national security correspondent for The Times, explains what happened and considers whether a broader war is brewing in the Middle East. Guest: Eric Schmitt, a national security correspondent for The New York Times.

At the center of the criminal case against former President Donald Trump in Manhattan is the accusation that Trump took part in a scheme to turn The National Enquirer and its sister publications into an arm of his 2016 presidential campaign. The documents detailed three “hush money” payments made to a series of individuals to guarantee their silence about potentially damaging stories in the months before the election. Because this was done with the goal of helping his election chances, the case implied, these payments amounted to a form of illegal, undisclosed campaign spending. And because Trump created paperwork to make the payments seem like regular legal expenses, that amounted to a criminal effort at a coverup, argued Alvin Bragg, the district attorney of Manhattan. Trump has denied the charges against him. For Lachlan Cartwright, reading the indictment was like stepping through the looking glass, because it described a three-year period in his own professional life, one that he has come to deeply regret. Now, as a former president faces a criminal trial for the first time in American history, Cartwright is forced to grapple with what really happened at The Enquirer in those years — and whether and how he can ever set things right.

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence. A massive scam targeting older Americans who own timeshare properties has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars sent to Mexico. Maria Abi-Habib, an investigative correspondent for The Times, tells the story of a victim who lost everything, and of the criminal group making the scam calls — Jalisco New Generation, one of Mexico’s most violent cartels. Guest: Maria Abi-Habib, an investigative correspondent for The New York Times based in Mexico City.

For former President Donald J. Trump, 2024 was supposed to be dominated by criminal trials. Instead, he’s found ways to delay almost all of them. Alan Feuer, who covers the criminal cases against Mr. Trump for The Times, explains how he did it. Guest: Alan Feuer, who covers extremism and political violence for The New York Times.

By the time his first term was over, Donald J. Trump had cemented his place as the most anti-abortion president in U.S. history. Now, facing political blowback, he’s trying to change that reputation. Lisa Lerer, a national political correspondent for The Times, discusses whether Mr. Trump’s election-year pivot can work. Guest: Lisa Lerer, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.

When Elon Musk set up Tesla’s factory in China, he made a bet that brought him cheap parts and capable workers — a bet that made him ultrarich and saved his company. Mara Hvistendahl, an investigative reporter for The Times, explains why, now, that lifeline may have given China the tools to beat Tesla at its own game. Guest: Mara Hvistendahl, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.

Today, millions of Americans will have the opportunity to see a rare total solar eclipse. Fred Espenak, a retired astrophysicist known as Mr. Eclipse, was so blown away by an eclipse he saw as a teenager that he dedicated his life to traveling the world and seeing as many as he could. Mr. Espenak discusses the eclipses that have punctuated and defined the most important moments in his life, and explains why these celestial phenomena are such a wonder to experience. Guest: Fred Espenak, a.k.a. “Mr. Eclipse,” a former NASA astrophysicist and lifelong eclipse chaser.

Chris Kerr was 12 when he first observed a deathbed vision. His memory of that summer in 1974 is blurred, but not the sense of mystery he felt at the bedside of his dying father. Throughout Kerr’s childhood in Toronto, his father, a surgeon, was too busy to spend much time with his son, except for an annual fishing trip they took, just the two of them, to the Canadian wilderness. Gaunt and weakened by cancer at 42, his father reached for the buttons on Kerr’s shirt, fiddled with them and said something about getting ready to catch the plane to their cabin in the woods. “I knew intuitively, I knew wherever he was, must be a good place because we were going fishing,” Kerr told me. Kerr now calls what he witnessed an end-of-life vision. His father wasn’t delusional, he believes. His mind was taking him to a time and place where he and his son could be together, in the wilds of northern Canada. Kerr followed his father into medicine, and in the last 10 years he has hired a permanent research team that expanded studies on deathbed visions to include interviews with patients receiving hospice care at home and with their families, deepening researchers’ understanding of the variety and profundity of these visions.

Decades of efforts to cut carbon emissions have failed to significantly slow the rate of global warming, so scientists are now turning to bolder approaches. Christopher Flavelle, who writes about climate change for The Times, discusses efforts to engineer our way out of the climate crisis. Guest: Christopher Flavelle, who covers how the United States tries to adapt to the effects of climate change for The New York Times.

The Israeli airstrike that killed seven workers delivering food in Gaza has touched off global outrage and condemnation. Kim Severson, who covers food culture for The Times, discusses the World Central Kitchen, the aid group at the center of the story; and Adam Rasgon, who reports from Israel, explains what we know about the tragedy so far. Guest: Kim Severson, a food correspondent for The New York Times. Adam Rasgon, an Israel correspondent for The New York Times.

In his campaign for re-election, President Biden has said that raising taxes on the wealthy and on big corporations is at the heart of his agenda. But under his watch, overall net taxes have decreased. Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy for The Times, explains. Guest: Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy at the White House for The New York Times.

Long after schools have fully reopened after the pandemic, one concerning metric suggests that children and their parents have changed the way they think about being in class. Sarah Mervosh, an education reporter for The Times, discusses the apparent shift to a culture in which school feels optional. Guest: Sarah Mervosh, an education reporter for The New York Times.

Ronna McDaniel’s time at NBC was short. The former Republican National Committee chairwoman was hired as an on-air political commentator but released just days later after an on-air revolt by the network’s leading stars. Jim Rutenberg, a writer at large for The Times, discusses the saga and what it might reveal about the state of television news heading into the 2024 presidential race. Guest: Jim Rutenberg, a writer at large for The New York Times.

Maybe you have an idea in your head about what it was like to work at Guantánamo, one of the most notorious prisons in the world. Think again.

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence. It’s been nearly six months since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel, when militants took more than 200 hostages into Gaza. In a village called Nir Oz, near the border, one quarter of residents were either killed or taken hostage. Yocheved Lifshitz and her husband, Oded Lifshitz, were among those taken. Today, Yocheved and her daughter Sharone tell their story. Guest: Yocheved Lifshitz, a former hostage. Sharone Lifschitz, daughter of Yocheved and Oded Lifshitz.

Over the past few years, Donald Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, has been dismissed as a money-losing boondoggle. This week, that all changed. Matthew Goldstein, a New York Times business reporter, explains how its parent venture, Truth Media, became a publicly traded company worth billions of dollars.

Against all odds and expectations, Speaker Mike Johnson keeps managing to fund the government, inflame the far right of his party — and hold on to his job. Catie Edmondson, a congressional correspondent for The Times, explains why it might be Democrats who come to his rescue.

Last week, the Justice Department took aim at Apple, accusing the company of violating competition laws with practices intended to keep customers reliant on their iPhones. David McCabe, who covers technology policy for The Times, discusses the latest and most sweeping antimonopoly case against a titan of Silicon Valley.

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence. More than a hundred people died and scores more were wounded on Friday night in a terrorist attack on a concert hall near Moscow — the deadliest such attack in Russia in decades. Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The Times, discusses the uncomfortable question the assault raises for Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin: Has his focus on the war in Ukraine left his country more vulnerable to other threats?

By the time Sam Apple pulled up with his goldendoodle, Steve, to their resting place, he was tired from the long drive and already second-guessing his plan. He felt a little better when they stepped inside the Dogwood Acres Pet Retreat. The lobby, with its elegant tiled entrance, might have passed for the lobby of any small countryside hotel, at least one that strongly favored dog-themed decor. But this illusion was broken when the receptionist reviewed their reservation — which, in addition to their luxury suite, included cuddle time, group play, a nature walk and a “belly rub tuck-in.” Venues like this one, on Kent Island in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, didn’t exist when Apple was growing up in the 1980s. If you needed a place to board your dog back then, you went to a kennel, where your dog spent virtually the entire day in a small — and probably not very clean — cage. There were no tuck-ins, no bedtime stories, no dog-bone-shaped swimming pools. There was certainly nothing like today’s most upscale canine resorts, where the dogs sleep on queen-size beds and the spa offerings include mud baths and blueberry facials; one pet-hotel franchise on the West Coast will even pick up your dog in a Lamborghini. Apple knew Dogwood Acres wouldn’t be quite as luxurious as that, but the accommodations still sounded pretty nice. So he decided to check his dog in, and to tag along for the journey.

In a pointed speech from the Senate floor this month, the majority leader, Chuck Schumer, called for Israel to hold a new election and for voters to oust the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.Soon after, Annie Karni, a congressional correspondent for the Times, sat down with Mr. Schumer to understand why he did it.

This year, the star of college basketball is Caitlin Clark, a woman who is changing everything about the game — from the way it’s played, to its economics, to who is watching. Matt Flegenheimer, a profile writer for The Times, discusses Clark’s extraordinary impact.

For decades, an invisible hand has been guiding and controlling the American real estate industry, dictating how much buyers and sellers pay to their agents and how homes are sold. A few days ago, after a stunning legal settlement, that control — wielded by the National Association of Realtors — collapsed. Debra Kamin, who reports about real estate desk for The Times, explains how the far-reaching change could drive down housing costs.

Over the past week, Donald J. Trump has burned down and rebuilt the Republican National Committee, gutting the leadership and much of the staff. Shane Goldmacher, a national political correspondent for The Times, explains why the former president is trying to reinvent such a crucial piece of campaign apparatus so close to an election.

Warning: this episode contains a discussion about domestic abuse. As cars become ever more sophisticated pieces of technology, they’ve begun sharing information about their drivers, sometimes with unnerving consequences. Kashmir Hill, a features writer for The Times, explains what information cars can log and what that can mean for their owners.

In October 2022, amid a flurry of media appearances promoting their film “Tàr,” the director Todd Field and the star Cate Blanchett made time to visit a cramped closet in Manhattan. This closet, which has become a sacred space for movie buffs, was once a disused bathroom at the headquarters of the Criterion Collection, a 40-year-old company dedicated to “gathering the greatest films from around the world” and making high-quality editions available to the public on DVD and Blu-ray and, more recently, through its streaming service, the Criterion Channel. Today Criterion uses the closet as its stockroom, housing films by some 600 directors from more than 50 countries — a catalog so synonymous with cinematic achievement that it has come to function as a kind of film Hall of Fame. Through a combination of luck, obsession and good taste, this 55-person company has become the arbiter of what makes a great movie, more so than any Hollywood studio or awards ceremony.

Russians go to the polls today in the first presidential election since their country invaded Ukraine two years ago. The war was expected to carry a steep cost for President Vladimir V. Putin. Valerie Hopkins, who covers Russia for The Times, explains why the opposite has happened. Guest: Valerie Hopkins, an international correspondent for The New York Times.

Jeanna Smialek, who covers the U.S. economy for The Times, will be 33 in a few weeks; she is part of a cohort born in 1990 and 1991 that makes up the peak of America’s population. At every life stage, that microgeneration has stretched a system that was often too small to accommodate it, leaving its members — so-called peak millennials — with outsize economic power but also a fight to get ahead. Guest: Jeanna Smialek, a U.S. economy correspondent for The New York Times.

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence and self harm. Last fall, an Army reservist killed 18 people at a bowling alley and restaurant in Lewiston, Maine, before turning the gun on himself. Dave Philipps, who covers military affairs for The Times, had already been investigating the idea that soldiers could be injured just by firing their own weapons. Analyzing the case of the gunman in Lewiston, Dave explains, could change our understanding of the effects of modern warfare on the human brain. Guest: Dave Philipps, who covers war, the military and veterans for The New York Times.

In 2020, motivated to try a different way to combat drug use, Oregon voted to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of hard drugs including fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine. Things didn’t turn out as planned. Mike Baker, a national reporter for The Times, explains what went wrong. Guest: Mike Baker, a national reporter for The New York Times.

For years, a mysterious company has been buying farmland on the outskirts of Silicon Valley, eventually putting together a plot twice the size of San Francisco. At every step, those behind the company kept their plans for the land shrouded in secrecy. Conor Dougherty, an economics reporter at The Times, figured out what they were up to. Guest: Conor Dougherty, an economics reporter for The New York Times.

That people will travel to Mars, and soon, is a widely accepted conviction within NASA. Rachel McCauley, until recently the acting deputy director of NASA’s Mars campaign, had, as of July, a punch list of 800 problems that must be solved before the first human mission launches. Many of these concern the mechanical difficulties of transporting people to a planet that is never closer than 33.9 million miles away; keeping them alive on poisonous soil in unbreathable air, bombarded by solar radiation and galactic cosmic rays, without access to immediate communication; and returning them safely to Earth, more than a year and half later. But McCauley does not doubt that NASA will overcome these challenges. What NASA does not yet know — what nobody can know — is whether humanity can overcome the psychological torment of Martian life. A mission known as CHAPEA, an experiment in which four ordinary people would enact, as closely as possible, the lives of Martian colonists for 378 days, sets out to answer that question.

President Biden used his State of the Union address last night to push for re-election and to go on the attack against Donald J. Trump, his likely adversary in November. Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy at the White House for The Times, discusses the speech’s big moments.

When Google released Gemini, a new chatbot powered by artificial intelligence, it quickly faced a backlash — and unleashed a fierce debate about whether A.I. should be guided by social values, and if so, whose values they should be. Kevin Roose, a technology columnist for The Times and co-host of the podcast “Hard Fork,” explains.

Millions of voters in states across the country cast their ballots in the presidential primary on Super Tuesday, leaving little doubt that the November election will be a rematch between President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump. But in a race that is increasingly inevitable, a New York Times/Siena College poll found a critical group of voters who are making the outcome of that race anything but certain. Nate Cohn, The Times’s chief political analyst, explains who these voters are and why they present a particular threat to Mr. Biden.

Late last week, an effort to get food into northern Gaza turned deadly, as thousands of desperate Gazans descended on aid trucks, and Israeli troops tasked with guarding those trucks opened fire. Exactly how people died, and who was responsible, remains contested. Hiba Yazbek, a reporter-researcher in Jerusalem for The Times, explains what we know about what happened and what it tells us about hunger in Gaza.

A single piece of unverified intelligence became the centerpiece of a Republican attempt to impeach President Biden. Michael S. Schmidt, an investigative reporter for The Times, explains how that intelligence was harnessed for political ends, and what happened once it was discredited.

At the end of a quiet, leafy street in the Valley in Los Angeles, the reality TV star Tom Sandoval has outfitted his home with landscaping lights that rotate in a spectrum of colors, mimicking the dance floor of a nightclub. The property is both his private residence and an occasional TV set for the Bravo reality show “Vanderpump Rules.” After a series of events that came to be known as “Scandoval,” paparazzi had been camped outside, but by the new year it was just one or two guys, and now they have mostly gone, too. “Scandoval” is the nickname for Sandoval’s affair with another cast member, which he had behind the backs of the show’s producers and his girlfriend of nine years. This wouldn’t be interesting or noteworthy except that in 2023, after being on the air for 10 seasons, “Vanderpump” was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding unstructured reality program, an honor that has never been bestowed on any of the network’s “Housewives” shows. It also became, by a key metric, the most-watched cable series in the advertiser-beloved demographic of 18- to 49-year-olds and brought in over 12.2 million viewers. This happened last spring, when Hollywood’s TV writers went on strike and cable TV was declared dead and our culture had already become so fractured that it was rare for anything — let alone an episode of television — to become a national event. And yet you probably heard about “Scandoval” even if you couldn’t care less about who these people are, exactly. As “Vanderpump” airs its 11th season, Tom Sandoval reflects on his new public persona.

President Biden and Donald J. Trump both made appearances at the southern border on Thursday as they addressed an issue that is shaping up to be one of the most important in the 2024 election: immigration. Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent for The Times, discusses Mr. Biden’s risky bid to take perhaps Trump’s biggest rallying point and use it against him.

A Times investigation has revealed how applesauce laced with high levels of lead sailed through a food safety system meant to protect American consumers, and poisoned hundreds of children across the U.S. Christina Jewett, who covers the Food and Drug Administration for The Times, talks about what she found.

U.S. officials have acknowledged a growing fear that Russia may be trying to put a nuclear weapon into orbit. Eric Lipton, an investigative reporter for The Times, explains that their real worry is that America could lose the battle for military supremacy in space.

In the past few weeks, activists in Michigan have begun calling voters in the state, asking them to protest President Biden’s support for the Israeli military campaign in Gaza by not voting for him in the Democratic primary. The activists are attempting to turn their anger over Gaza into a political force, one that could be decisive in a critical swing state where winning in November is likely to be a matter of the slimmest of margins. Jennifer Medina, a political reporter for The Times, explains how the war in Gaza is changing politics in Michigan.

A surprise ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court has halted fertility treatments across the state and sent a shock wave through the world of reproductive health. Azeen Ghorayshi, who covers sex, gender, and science for The Times, explains what the court case means for reproductive health and a patient in Alabama explains what it is like navigating the fallout.

The closest thing to a bat signal for stoners is the blue lettering of the Cookies logo. When a new storefront comes to a strip mall or a downtown shopping district, fans flock to grand-opening parties, drawn by a love of the brand — one based on more than its reputation for selling extremely potent weed. People often compare Cookies to the streetwear brand Supreme. That’s accurate in one very literal sense — they each sell a lot of hats — and in other, more subjective ones. They share a penchant for collaboration-based marketing; their appeal to mainstream audiences is tied up with their implied connections to illicit subcultures; and they’ve each been expanding rapidly in recent years. All of it is inextricable from Berner, the stage name of Gilbert Milam, 40, Cookies’ co-founder and chief executive, who spent two decades as a rapper with a sideline as a dealer — or as a dealer with a sideline as a rapper. With the company’s success, he is estimated to be one of the wealthiest rappers in the world, without having ever released a hit record.

Last week, when a civil court judge in New York ruled against Donald J. Trump, he imposed a set of penalties so severe that they could temporarily sever the former president from his real-estate empire and wipe out all of his cash. Jonah Bromwich, who covers criminal justice in New York, and Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent for The Times, explain what that will mean for Mr. Trump as a businessman and as a candidate.

Last week, the Russian authorities announced that Aleksei A. Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader and an unflinching critic of President Vladimir V. Putin, had died in a remote Arctic prison at the age of 47. Yevgenia Albats, his friend, discusses how Mr. Navalny became a political force and what it means for his country that he is gone.

Over the past few weeks, a growing sense of alarm across Europe over the future of the continent’s security has turned into outright panic. As Russia advances on the battlefield in Ukraine, the U.S. Congress has refused to pass billions of dollars in new funding for Ukraine’s war effort and Donald Trump has warned European leaders that if they do not pay what he considers their fair share toward NATO, he would not protect them from Russian aggression. Steven Erlanger, the chief diplomatic correspondent for The Times, discusses Europe’s plans to defend itself against Russia without the help of the United States.

This episode contains strong language and descriptions of war. After months of telling residents in the Gaza Strip to move south for safety, Israel now says it plans to invade Rafah, the territory’s southernmost city. More than a million people are effectively trapped there without any clear idea of where to go. Two Gazans describe what it is like to live in Rafah right now.

A Times investigation has found that dentists and lactation consultants around the country are pushing “tongue-tie releases” on new mothers struggling to breastfeed, generating huge profits while often harming patients. Katie Thomas, an investigative health care reporter at The Times, discusses the forces driving this emerging trend in American health care and the story of one family in the middle of it.

Today we’re sharing the latest episode of Modern Love, a podcast about the complicated love lives of real people, from The New York Times. Anna Martin, host of the show, spoke to David Finch, who wrote three Modern Love essays about how hard he had worked to be a good husband to his wife, Kristen. As a man with autism who married a neurotypical woman, Dave found it challenging to navigate being a partner and a father. Eventually, he started keeping a list of “best practices” to cover every situation that might come up in daily life – a method that worked so well he wrote a best-selling book on it. But almost 11 years into his marriage, Kristen said she wanted to be “unmarried.” Dave was totally thrown off. He didn’t know what that meant, or if he could do it. But he wasn’t going to lose Kristen, so he had to give it a try. For more episodes of Modern Love, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop Wednesdays.

In tense proceedings in Georgia, a judge will decide whether Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, and her office should be disqualified from their prosecution of former President Donald J. Trump. Richard Fausset, a national reporter for The Times, talks through the dramatic opening day of testimony, in which a trip to Belize, a tattoo parlor and Grey Goose vodka all featured. Guest: Richard Fausset, a national reporter for The New York Times.

A crisis of confidence is brewing inside China, where the government is turning believers in the Chinese dream into skeptics willing to flee the country. Li Yuan, who writes about technology, business and politics across Asia for The Times, explains why that crisis is now showing up at the United States’ southern border. Guest: Li Yuan, who writes the New New World column for The New York Times.

Questions about President Biden’s age sharpened again recently after a special counsel report about his handling of classified information described him as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent for The Times, explains why Mr. Biden’s condition can no longer be ignored.

Voters in New York are choosing the successor to George Santos, the disgraced Republican who was expelled from Congress in December. Nicholas Fandos, who covers New York politics and government for The Times, explains how the results of the race will hold important clues for both parties in November. Guest: Nicholas Fandos, a reporter covering New York politics and government for The New York Times.

When a piece of an Alaska Airlines flight blew out into the sky in January, concern and scrutiny focused once more on the plane’s manufacturer, Boeing. Sydney Ember, a business reporter for The Times, explains what has been learned about the incident and what the implications might be for Boeing. Guest: Sydney Ember, a business reporter for The New York Times.

The first death happened before the academic year began. In July 2021, an undergraduate student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute was reported dead. The administration sent a notice out over email, with the familiar, thoroughly vetted phrasing and appended resources. Katherine Foo, an assistant professor in the department of integrative and global studies, felt especially crushed by the news. She taught this student. He was Chinese, and she felt connected to the particular set of pressures he faced. She read through old, anonymous course evaluations, looking for any sign she might have missed. But she was unsure where to put her personal feelings about a loss suffered in this professional context. The week before the academic year began, a second student died. A rising senior in the computer-science department who loved horticulture took his own life. This brought an intimation of disaster. One student suicide is a tragedy; two might be the beginning of a cluster. Some faculty members began to feel a tinge of dread when they stepped onto campus. Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts is a tidy New England college campus with the high-saturation landscaping typical of well-funded institutions. The hedges are beautifully trimmed, the pathways are swept clean. Red-brick buildings from the 19th century fraternize with high glass facades and renovated interiors. But over a six-month period, the school was turned upside down by a spate of suicides.

In December, the Colorado Supreme Court issued a bombshell ruling that said Donald Trump was ineligible to be on the state’s ballot for the Republican presidential primary, saying he was disqualified under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution because he had engaged in insurrection on Jan. 6. The Supreme Court has taken on the case and on Thursday, the justices heard arguments for and against keeping Trump on the ballot. Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The Times, analyzes the arguments, the justices’ responses, and what they can tell us about the likely ruling in a case that could alter the course of this year’s race for president. Guest: Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The New York Times and writes Sidebar, a column on legal developments.

Warning: this episode contains strong language and descriptions of violence. A few days ago, for the first time, an American jury convicted a parent for a mass shooting carried out by their child. Lisa Miller, who has been following the case since its beginning, explains what the historic verdict really means. Guest: Lisa Miller, a domestic correspondent for The New York Times

El Salvador has experienced a remarkable transformation. What had once been one of the most violent countries in the world has become incredibly safe. Natalie Kitroeff, the New York Times bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, discusses the cost of that transformation to the people of El Salvador, and the man at the center of it, the newly re-elected President Nayib Bukele. Guest: Natalie Kitroeff, the New York Times bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.

Late last month, an explosive allegation that workers from a crucial U.N. relief agency in Gaza had taken part in the Oct. 7 attacks stunned the world and prompted major donors, including the United States, to suspend funding.Patrick Kingsley, the Jerusalem bureau chief for The Times, explains what this could mean for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and how it might complicate Israel’s strategy in the war. Guest: Patrick Kingsley, the Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times.

President Biden has struggled to sell Americans on the positive signs in the economy under his watch, despite figures that look good on paper. That could have important ramifications for his re-election hopes. Nate Cohn, the chief political analyst for The Times, explains why, to understand the situation, it may help to look back at another election, 76 years ago. Guest: Nate Cohn, the chief political analyst for The New York Times.

Of all the dozens of suspected thieves questioned by the detectives of the Train Burglary Task Force at the Los Angeles Police Department during the months they spent investigating the rise in theft from the city’s freight trains, one man stood out. What made him memorable wasn’t his criminality so much as his giddy enthusiasm for trespassing. That man, Victor Llamas, was a self-taught expert of the supply chain, a connoisseur of shipping containers. Even in custody, as the detectives interrogated him numerous times, after multiple arrests, in a windowless room in a police station in spring 2022, a kind of nostalgia would sweep over the man. “He said that was the best feeling he’d ever had, jumping on the train while it was moving,” Joe Chavez, who supervised the task force’s detectives, said. “It was euphoric for him.” Some 20 million containers move through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach every year, including about 35 percent of all the imports into the United States from Asia. Once these steel boxes leave the relative security of a ship at port, they are loaded onto trains and trucks — and then things start disappearing. The Los Angeles basin is the country’s undisputed capital of cargo theft, the region with the most reported incidents of stuff stolen from trains and trucks and those interstitial spaces in the supply chain, like rail yards, warehouses, truck stops and parking lots. In the era of e-commerce, freight train robberies are going through a strange revival.

The Democratic presidential nomination process begins tomorrow in South Carolina, and President Biden is running largely uncontested. But his campaign is expending significant resources in the race to try to reach a crucial part of his base: Black voters. Maya King, a politics reporter at The Times, explains.

For the past few weeks, Democrats and Republicans were closing in on a game-changing deal to secure the U.S.-Mexico border: a bipartisan compromise that’s unheard-of in contemporary Washington. Karoun Demirjian, who covers Congress for The Times, explains why that deal is now falling apart.

In a major advance in science, DNA from Bronze Age skeletons is providing clues to modern medical mysteries. Carl Zimmer, who covers life sciences for The Times, explains how a new field of study is changing the way we think about treatments for devastating diseases.

Inside the Republican Party, a class war is playing out between the pro-Trump base, which is ready for the nomination fight to be over, and the anti-Trump donor class, which thinks it’s just getting started. Astead Herndon, a political correspondent for The Times and the host of “The Run-Up,” explains the clash. Guest: Astead W. Herndon, a political correspondent and host of The Run-Up for The New York Times.

This episode contains strong language and audio excerpts of violence. About a decade ago, police departments across the United States began equipping their officers with body cameras. The technology was meant to serve as a window into potential police misconduct, but that transparency has often remained elusive. Eric Umansky, an editor at large at ProPublica, explains why body cameras haven’t been the fix that many hoped they would be.

On April 26, 2019, a beluga whale appeared near Tufjord, a village in northern Norway, immediately alarming fishermen in the area. Belugas in that part of the world typically inhabit the remote Arctic and are rarely spotted as far south as the Norwegian mainland. Although they occasionally travel solo, they tend to live and move in groups. This particular whale was entirely alone and unusually comfortable around humans, trailing boats and opening his mouth as though expecting to be fed. News of the friendly white whale spread quickly. In early May, a video of the beluga went viral, eventually earning a spot on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” By midsummer, he had become an international celebrity, drawing large groups of tourists. All the while, marine experts had been speculating about the whale’s origin. Clearly this animal had spent time in captivity — but where? In the years since the whale, publicly named Hvaldimir, first entered the global spotlight, the very qualities that make him so endearing — his intelligence, curiosity and charisma — have put him in perpetual danger. Hvaldimir is now at the center of a dispute over his welfare. Even as he swims freely through the ocean, he is caught in a tangle of conflicting human ambitions, some noble, others misguided, nearly all distorted by inadequate understanding. Whether to intervene, and how to do so, remain contentious subjects among scientists, activists and government officials.

Across the United States, millions of families are confronting a seemingly impossible question: When dementia changes a relative, how much should they accommodate their new personality and desires? Katie Engelhart, a writer for The New York Times Magazine, tells the story of one family’s experience.

The era of hybrid work has spawned a new kind of office culture — one that has left many workers less connected and less happy than they have ever been. Emma Goldberg, a business reporter covering workplace culture for The Times, explains how mixing remote and office work has created a malaise, as workers confront new challenges and navigate uncertainty, and employers engage in a wave of experiments.

On Tuesday, Donald J. Trump beat Nikki Haley in New Hampshire. His win accelerated a push for the party to coalesce behind him and deepened questions about the path forward for Ms. Haley, his lone remaining rival. Jonathan Weisman, a political correspondent for The Times, discusses the real meaning of the former president's victory.

Nominations for the Oscars are announced on Tuesday and “Oppenheimer,” a film about the father of the atomic bomb, is expected to be among the front-runners. Catie Edmondson, a congressional correspondent for The Times, explains how the film sent her on a quest to find the secret story of how Congress paid for the bomb, and what it reveals about the inner workings of Washington.

In the International Court of Justice, South Africa is accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Amanda Taub, a human rights lawyer-turned-journalist at The Times, walks through the arguments of the case, and the power that the rules of war have beyond any verdict in court.

Liz Flatt drove to Austin, Texas, mostly out of desperation. She had tried talking with the police. She had tried working with a former F.B.I. profiler who ran a nonprofit dedicated to solving unsolved murders. She had been interviewed by journalists and at least one podcaster. She had been featured on a Netflix documentary series about a man who falsely confessed to hundreds of killings. Although she didn’t know it at the time, Flatt was at a crossroads in what she had taken to calling her journey, a path embarked on after a prayer-born decision five years earlier to try to find who killed her sister, Deborah Sue Williamson, or Debbie, in 1975. It was now 2021. She had come to Austin for a conference, CrimeCon, which formed around the same time that Flatt began her quest, at a moment now seen as an inflection point in the long history of true crime, a genre as old as storytelling but one that adapts quickly to new technologies, from the printing press to social media. Flatt met a woman who would later put her in touch with two investigators who presented at the conference that year: George Jared and Jennifer Bucholtz. They were podcasters, but Jared was also a journalist and Bucholtz an adjunct professor of forensics and criminal justice at the for-profit American Military University. Their presentation was on another cold case, the murder of Rebekah Gould in 2004, whose killer they claimed to have helped find using a technique that has quickly become a signature of the changing landscape of true crime: crowdsourcing.

On its surface, the case before the Supreme Court — a dispute brought by fishing crews objecting to a government fee — appears to be routine. But, as Adam Liptak, who covers the court for The Times explains, the decision could transform how every industry in the United States is regulated. Guest: Adam Liptak, a Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times.

Attacks by Houthi militants on shipping in the Red Sea, a crucial global trade route, once seemed like a dangerous sideshow to the war in Gaza. But as the attacks have continued, the sideshow has turned into a full-blown crisis. Vivian Nereim, the Gulf bureau chief for The Times, explains what cause is served by the Houthis’ campaign. Guest: Vivian Nereim, the Gulf bureau chief for The New York Times.

Concerned about the effect on diversity, many colleges have stopped requiring standardized tests. New research suggests that might be a mistake. David Leonhardt, a senior writer for The Times, discusses the future of SATs and why colleges remain reluctant to bring them back. Guest: David Leonhardt, a senior writer for The New York Times.

At the Iowa Republican caucuses on Monday night, Donald J. Trump secured a runaway victory. The only real drama was the fight for second place. Reid Epstein, who covers politics for The Times, takes us inside one of the caucuses, and Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter, walks us through the final results. Guest: Reid J. Epstein, a politics correspondent for The New York Times, and Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The New York Times.

Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Chiefs, the N.F.L.’s defending champions, is a very loud place. During a 2014 game, a sound meter captured a decibel reading equivalent to a jet’s taking off, earning a Guinness World Record for “Loudest crowd roar at a sports stadium.” Around 11 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 7, Brian Melillo, an audio engineer for NBC Sports’ flagship N.F.L. telecast, “Sunday Night Football,” arrived at Arrowhead to prepare for that evening’s game against the Detroit Lions. It was a big occasion: the annual season opener, the N.F.L. Kickoff game, traditionally hosted by the winner of last season’s Super Bowl. There would be speeches, fireworks, a military flyover, the unfurling of a championship banner. A crowd of more than 73,000 was expected. “Arrowhead is a pretty rowdy setting,” Melillo said. “It can present some problems.” Broadcasting a football game on live television is one of the most complex technical and logistical challenges in entertainment. Jody Rosen went behind the scenes of the mammoth broadcast production.

On Monday, Iowa holds the first contest in the Republican presidential nominating process and nobody will have more on the line than Ron DeSantis. The Florida governor staked his candidacy on a victory in Iowa, a victory that now seems increasingly remote. Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The Times, and the Daily producers Rob Szypko and Carlos Prieto explain what Mr. DeSantis’s challenge has looked like on the ground in Iowa. Guest: Shane Goldmacher, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.

A recent string of attacks across the Middle East has raised concerns that the war between Hamas and Israel is spreading, and might put pressure on other countries like Iran and the United States to get more involved. Eric Schmitt, who covers national security for The Times, discusses the risk that the conflict is becoming an even wider war, and explains the efforts underway to prevent that. Guest: Eric Schmitt, a national security correspondent for The New York Times.

Donald Trump has consistently argued that as a former president, he is immune from being charged with a crime for things he did while he was in office. Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The Times, explains what happened when Trump’s lawyers made that case in federal court, whether the claim has any chance of being accepted — and why Trump may win something valuable either way. Guest: Adam Liptak, a Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times.

Across the United States, hundreds of towns and cities are trying to get guns off the streets by turning them over to businesses that offer to destroy them. But a New York Times investigation found that something very different is happening. Mike McIntire, an investigative reporter at The Times, explains the unintended consequences of efforts by local officials to rid their communities of guns.

Tonight, millions of Americans are expected to tune in to watch one of the biggest sports events of the year, college football’s national championship game. On the field, the game will be determined by the skill of the players and coaches, but behind the scenes, secretive groups of donors are wielding enormous influence over what fans will see. David A. Fahrenthold, an investigative reporter for The Times, discusses the shadowy industry upending college football, and how it has brought amateur athletics even closer to the world of professional sports. Guest: David A. Fahrenthold, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.

Fifty years ago, eight Americans set off for South America to climb Aconcagua, one of the world’s mightiest mountains. Things quickly went wrong. Two climbers died. Their bodies were left behind. Here is what was certain: A woman from Denver, maybe the most accomplished climber in the group, had last been seen alive on the glacier. A man from Texas, part of the recent Apollo missions to the moon, lay frozen nearby. There were contradictory statements from survivors and a hasty departure. There was a judge who demanded an investigation into possible foul play. There were three years of summit-scratching searches to find and retrieve the bodies. Now, decades later, a camera belonging to one of the deceased climbers has emerged from a receding glacier near the summit and one of mountaineering’s most enduring mysteries has been given air and light.

In a landmark ruling last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned nearly 50 years of precedent and banned the use of affirmative action in college admissions. The decision eliminated the most powerful tool for ensuring diversity on America’s college campuses and forced college admission officers and high school seniors to figure out what the college admissions process should look like when race cannot be taken into account. Jessica Cheung, a producer on “The Daily,” explains how, over the past year, both students and college officials have tried to navigate the new rules.

A puzzling new pattern has taken hold on American roads: pedestrian traffic deaths, which had been on the decline for years, have skyrocketed. Emily Badger, who covers cities and urban policy for The Upshot at The New York Times, discusses her investigation into what lies behind the phenomenon.

Yesterday, we went inside Donald Trump’s campaign for president, to understand how he’s trying to turn a mountain of legal trouble into a political advantage. Today, we turn to the re-election campaign of President Biden. Reid Epstein, who covers politics for The Times, explains why what looks like a record of accomplishment on paper, is turning out to be so difficult to campaign on.

As former President Donald J. Trump enters an election year leading his Republican rivals by wide margins in the polls, multiple court cases are taking up an increasing amount of his campaign schedule. They have been integrated into his messaging and fund-raising efforts, and his campaign staff has been developing a strategy to lock up his nomination, regardless of what happens in court. Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent for The Times, discusses what Mr. Trump’s campaign will look and feel like amid the many court dates for his cases.

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran. Major League Baseball is putting in effect some of the biggest changes in the sport’s history in an effort to speed up the game and inject more activity. As the 2023 season opens, Michael Schmidt, a Times reporter, explains the extraordinary plan to save baseball from the tyranny of the home run. Guest: Michael S. Schmidt, a national security correspondent for The New York Times.

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran. With mountains, intense mud, fast-running rivers and thick rainforest, the Darién Gap, a strip of terrain connecting South and Central America, is one of the most dangerous places on the planet. Over the past few years, there has been an enormous increase in the number of migrants passing through the perilous zone in the hopes of getting to the United States. Today, we hear the story of one family that’s risking everything to make it across. Guest: Julie Turkewitz, the Andes bureau chief for The New York Times

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran. Days after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Kremlin made it a crime to oppose the war in public. Since then, it has waged a relentless campaign of repression, putting Russian citizens in jail for offenses as small as holding a poster or sharing a news article on social media. Valerie Hopkins, an international correspondent for The Times, tells the story of Olesya Krivtsova, a 19-year-old student who faces up to 10 years in prison after posting on social media, and explains why the Russian government is so determined to silence those like her. Guest: Valerie Hopkins, an international correspondent for The New York Times, covering Russia and the war in Ukraine.

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since. Warning: This episode contains descriptions of death. When fires swept West Maui, Hawaii, many residents fled for their lives — but soon discovered they had nowhere to go. Thousands of structures, mostly homes, had been reduced to rubble. Husks of incinerated cars lined the historic Front Street in Lahaina, while search crews nearby made their way painstakingly from house to house, looking for human remains. Ydriss Nouara, a resident of Lahaina, recounts his experience fleeing the inferno, and Mike Baker, the Seattle bureau chief for The Times, explains how an extraordinary set of circumstances turned the city into a death trap. Guest: Mike Baker, the Seattle bureau chief for The New York Times.

A New York Times/Siena College poll has found that voters disapprove of President Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza, though voters are split on U.S. policy toward the conflict and whether or not Israel’s military campaign should continue. Jonathan Weisman, a political correspondent for The Times, breaks down the poll and what it means for U.S.-Israeli relations and Biden’s 2024 campaign.

The accidental killing of three hostages by Israel’s military has shocked Israelis and is raising new questions about the way Israel is conducting its war against Hamas. Afterward, Israel’s defense minister appeared to announce a shift in strategy, giving the clearest indication to date that Israel may slow down its military operation in Gaza after weeks of pressure. Patrick Kingsley, Jerusalem bureau chief for The Times, and Hiba Yazbek, a reporter for The Times, discuss Israel’s military campaign and the ensuing humanitarian crisis.

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that former President Donald J. Trump is barred from holding office under the 14th Amendment, which disqualifies those who engage in insurrection, and directed Mr. Trump’s name to be excluded from the state’s 2024 Republican primary ballot. Adam Liptak, who covers the court for The New York Times, explains the ruling and why the case is likely headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.