It’s Debate Night – The New York Times

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Tens of millions of Americans will tune in tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern to watch President Biden and Donald Trump take the stage at an audience-free CNN studio in Atlanta for their first debate of the 2024 presidential campaign. It could be the most consequential 90 minutes of the race.

Almost everyone already has opinions about both candidates, most of them negative. But as our national political correspondent Shane Goldmacher told me, many people haven’t seen either Biden or Trump speak at length in a long time: “This is a chance to shape public perspective straight with the voters who matter, and because there is not another debate until September, those perceptions could be lasting,” he said.

The Times will carry the debate live, with real-time analysis and fact checks from 60 of my colleagues.

Expectations for tonight are higher for Trump than they are for Biden, according to a recent Times poll. However, Shane said, there might be more at stake for Biden: His team pushed for the historically early debate to nudge voters away from viewing the election as an up-or-down vote on Biden’s tenure, and to allow more time for them to consider the profound differences between the candidates.

The Supreme Court ruled today that members of the wealthy Sackler family cannot be shielded from lawsuits over their role in the opioid crisis.

Oklahoma’s state superintendent today directed all public schools to teach the Bible, including the Ten Commandments. He described the Bible as an “indispensable historical and cultural touchstone” and said it must be taught in certain grade levels.

The directive, the latest conservative push testing the boundaries between religious instruction and public education, is very likely to be challenged in court.

  • Auction: The original cover art for the first edition of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” the work of a 23-year-old art school graduate, sold for $1.92 million.

For the next two years or so, the free first-floor gallery of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art will be home to an ensemble of eight kinetic robots made by the celebrated artist Kara Walker.

The artwork is a nod to the displaced and dispossessed Black population in America, its design informed by Walker’s thoughts of death and dying, the pandemic’s disproportionate effect on Black lives, and the loss of her father. Seven of the figures enact a ritualized dance. On a separate pedestal, a robot named Fortuna spits fortunes from her mouth. “Your last shred of dignity is often your best,” one reads.

Kevin Costner has been planning to make a movie about the post-Civil War settlement of the American West for almost 40 years. He commissioned a script in 1988, and he nearly signed a deal with Disney, but no one would finance it. So Costner turned the film into a four-part epic using $38 million of his own money, and gave up his big “Yellowstone” paychecks to do it.

“Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1,” which Costner directed and starred in, arrives in theaters tomorrow. The second chapter is set to debut in theaters in August, but it’s not clear whether Costner has the money to finish the series.

Here’s our review.

It’s been 15 years since the High Line gardens first opened on an old elevated rail line in Manhattan. Since then, the 1.5-mile-long park has become one of the best-known naturalistic gardens anywhere, attracting millions of visitors each year.

It has also offered a master class in how to maintain a naturalistic garden, our columnist Margaret Roach wrote. The landscape may look shaped by nature, but the High Line employs 10 horticulturists who extensively edit the plants. “You have to have a good understanding of how the plants move or change over time,” one of the horticulturists said.

Have a flourishing evening.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew

Emree Weaver was our photo editor today.

We welcome your feedback. Write to us at [email protected].



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