Weeks after dangerous air choked the Northeast, residents of several major cities in the Midwest — including Chicago, Detroit and Indianapolis — were urged to stay indoors today as smoke again blanketed large parts of the country.
The air across much of the region experienced a sharp increase in potentially harmful pollutants, with the air quality indexes reaching well into the “very unhealthy” category. In Cincinnati, officials told residents to limit their time outside; in Cleveland, public pools were closed; and in Chicago, the skyline disappeared into the smog. (Our maps show what’s expected in your area.)
The smoke is the result of one of Canada’s worst wildfire seasons in decades. Nearly 500 active wildfires were burning there today.
“We are only in June and it is not even peak wildfire season yet, so we can expect to see a lot more smoke affecting our lives in the United States throughout the summer,” my colleague Julie Bosman, who reported today from Chicago, told me. “This is definitely not the last of it.”
Experts warned Americans to prepare for the possibility of dangerous air quality for weeks to come, while officials in New York expected the air to worsen there over the next day.
In the South, a dangerous heat wave continues to affect tens of millions of Americans. Both the heat and the smoke are fueled in part by the same thing: human-caused climate change.
The Kremlin insisted that the army has Putin’s back
Late last night, my colleagues reported that U.S. officials believed that a senior Russian general had advance knowledge of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plans to rebel against Russia’s military leadership. The report raised the possibility that Prigozhin might have had support within Russia’s top ranks.
Today, a Kremlin spokesman addressed the report, minimizing the ties between Prigozhin and the general, Sergei Surovikin, and insisting that Russia’s army had unified around President Vladimir Putin — without denying the reporting.
In Ukraine’s counteroffensive, its troops face an enemy nearly as daunting as the Russians: the terrain. We mapped out the front lines to show the obstacles the Ukrainians are facing.
Biden claimed credit for the economic recovery
Flanked by blue signs with the word “Bidenomics” on them, President Biden this afternoon trumpeted the success of his economic agenda as the 2024 campaign cycle heats up. He asserted that his willingness to more directly support key industries like silicon chips has revitalized manufacturing, while investments in infrastructure are paving the way for future growth.
“I’m not here to declare victory in the economy,” he said. “I’m here to say we have a plan that is turning things around incredibly quickly.”
In other White House news, the administration is weighing additional curbs on China’s ability to gain access to critical technology, such as chips used to power A.I.
Another Trump investigation is moving forward
Just two weeks after Jack Smith, the special counsel investigating Donald Trump, indicted the former president on federal charges related to his retention of classified documents, his office was seeking cooperators for a different case.
Last week, prosecutors interviewed Rudolph Giuliani, Trump’s former personal lawyer, about Trump’s efforts to remain in power after his 2020 election loss. The voluntary conversation happened under what is known as a proffer agreement, an understanding between prosecutors and people who are subjects of criminal investigations that can precede a formal cooperation deal.
More top news
Politics: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has used his family name, libertarian bent and support from the tech world to secure a foothold in the 2024 contest.
Washington: Democrats have approved 100 District Court judges since Biden took office, reshaping the federal courts even faster than Republicans did during the Trump presidency.
Submersible: Debris from the Titan was returned to land nearly a week after a search-and-rescue effort ended and 5 passengers were presumed dead.
Transgender care: A judge temporarily blocked part of a Kentucky law that aimed to ban puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender people younger than 18.
New York: Daniel Penny, the Marine veteran who killed Jordan Neely, a homeless man, in the subway, pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.
Business: DoorDash said it would begin giving its delivery drivers the option to be paid an hourly minimum wage.
Environment: A study found that climate change is increasing the risk of landslides, making mountain regions more dangerous.
Court: Kevin Spacey appeared in a London courtroom for the first day of a trial on multiple charges of sexual assault.
Sports: The star gymnast Simone Biles appears to be planning a comeback a year before the Paris Games.
EVENING WIND DOWN
Singing opera while pregnant
Opera is a rare business in which pregnancy and childbirth can directly and positively affect the core product — the voice. After childbirth, it seems to become enriched with warmth, creaminess and depth of color.
Yet women in the industry are beginning to speak out about the way they are treated before and after childbirth. All too often, they say, they are sidelined or fired from their roles during their pregnancy because of their appearance.
What’s A.I. and what’s not?
Now that computers powered by artificial intelligence can generate startlingly lifelike images that can trick humans (like one of the Pope in a puffer coat), a new wave of companies has begun offering tools to detect what is a real photo and what’s not. They use sophisticated algorithms to see beyond what humans can, but they can still be fooled.
We tested five new services using more than 100 images, both synthetic and real. The results show that the services are advancing rapidly, but at times fall short. Consider the images above: At least one service was fooled by the images on the right, while all five were tricked by the picture of a giant on the left.
Dinner table topics
The “forbidden planet”: The giant world Halla should have been swallowed by its star long ago. Scientists now think they know how the planet cheated death.
Is originality overrated?: A play disguised as a magic show seeks a totally original work, showing how rare a truly new work is.
“A sight for sore eyes”: How one man’s ocean rescue unfolded.
Street Style: Outside the men’s wear shows in Milan and Paris, almost everything seemed possible when it came to getting dressed.
WHAT TO DO TONIGHT
Cook: To many, the banana pudding at Magnolia Bakery is even more iconic than the store’s cupcakes.
Watch: Only 650 people got to experience one of the 21st century’s artistic feats — Taylor Mac’s history of popular music — until this documentary.
Read: “The 272,” by Rachel Swarns, recounts the decision by Georgetown University to sell nearly 300 enslaved people.
Garden: Here’s how to make Clematis flowers last all summer.
Warm up: You really shouldn’t mix alcohol and exercise. But if you do, here’s what to know.
Nosh: The Wirecutter selected its favorite old-school-style ice cream sandwiches.
Play: Here are today’s Spelling Bee, Wordle and Mini Crossword. For more, find all our games here.
ONE LAST THING
Kiki or Bouba?
If you look at the two shapes above, which one strikes you as “kiki” and which seems more like “bouba”? If those sound like nonsense words, that’s because they are. Yet a surprisingly large majority of people agree that the shape on the right is “kiki.”
The phenomenon, which offers insight into what intuitively makes a “good match,” has yet to be fully understood. But there are some theories: One academic paper credited the widespread agreement to the shape our mouths make when we say “kiki” and “bouba.”
Our quiz tests the effect on animals, colors and Meryl Streep. See if you agree with the masses.
Have an instinctive evening.
Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew
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