jtrent238 test blog: Evening Briefing: Death toll in California shooting rises to 11

January 23, 2023

By Matthew Cullen

Good evening. Here's the latest at the end of Monday.

Hong Lee and her son paying their respects outside the Star Ballroom Dance Studio.Alisha Jucevic for The New York Times

1. The death toll from the Monterey Park, Calif., shooting rises as the police seek a motive.

Another victim of the mass shooting at a popular Southern California ballroom died at a hospital today, bringing the death toll to 11. The weekend massacre, which occurred during a celebration of the Lunar New Year in a mecca for Chinese immigrants, was the deadliest shooting in the U.S. since the attack in Uvalde, Texas, in May.

Investigators believe the gunman, identified by the police as Huu Can Tran, 72, specifically targeted some of the victims. The suspect tried to carry out a second attack at a nearby family-run ballroom, but was disarmed by its third-generation operator. He was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot after a daylong manhunt.

Officials identified two of the 10 people who were found dead at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio as My Nhan, 65, and Lilan Li, 63. "No one could get out," a witness told The Times.

My colleagues in The Morning explained how mass shootings have become a common American tragedy.

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About 16 percent of Americans 5 and older have received the latest Covid booster shot.Alisha Jucevic for The New York Times

2. The F.D.A. proposed offering Americans a single dose of a Covid vaccine each fall.

The agency is suggesting an annual dose of an updated bivalent vaccine, much like the strategy long used to immunize against the flu.

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The proposal took some scientists by surprise, including a few of the F.D.A.'s own advisers, who said there was little research to support the suggested plan. The advisers are scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss the country's vaccine strategy.

In other federal agency news, the E.P.A. is still reeling from the exodus of more than 1,200 scientists and policy experts during the Trump administration. Some important regulations are months behind schedule.

3. Inflation seems to be turning a corner. But the road back to normal is an uncertain one.

After six consecutive months of consumer price moderation, many experts and everyday workers alike are finally beginning to believe that the worst of the inflation is behind us. However, economists have virtually no agreement on what happens next.

Some expect prices to remain stubbornly elevated, while others foresee a steep deceleration. Many predict something in between. The speed and scope of the cool-down will inform how high the Fed will raise rates, how long they remain elevated and how much pain they inflict on the economy.

In other financial news, tax season began today. The I.R.S. is looking to bolster its customer service.

The German-made Leopard 2 has sophisticated targeting capabilities, even in rough terrain.Darek Delmanowicz/EPA, via Shutterstock

4. Poland said it will push to send tanks to Ukraine.

Poland's prime minister vowed to ask Germany for permission to send German-made tanks to the front lines in Ukraine, but also insisted that, whether Berlin approved or not, he would find a coalition willing to donate the powerful weapons.

The Germans have resisted sending their tanks, but they have said that no other country has formally asked for authorization. Yesterday, Germany's foreign minister signaled that Berlin was open to allowing allies to send the tanks to Ukraine.

In other news from the war, some Russians have dared to lay bouquets and other offerings at a statue of a Ukrainian poet in Moscow, protesting the recent Russian strike on civilians in Dnipro.

Also, American and European officials believe that Russian military intelligence officers directed associates of a white supremacist militant group based in Russia to carry out a recent letter bomb campaign in Spain.

Charles McGonigal supervised investigations of Russian oligarchs, including Oleg Deripaska, above.Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

5. A former top F.B.I. official was accused of illegally aiding a Russian oligarch.

Charles McGonigal was the special agent in charge of the bureau's counterintelligence division in New York before he retired in 2018. He has been indicted on charges that he conspired to violate U.S. sanctions by taking secret payments from Oleg Deripaska, an aluminum magnate with ties to Vladimir Putin, in return for investigating a rival oligarch.

In other legal news, the trial of Alex Murdaugh, a South Carolina lawyer accused of murdering his wife and one of his two sons, began today.

Also, four additional members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia were found guilty of seditious conspiracy.

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The relationship between Kevin McCarthy and Marjorie Taylor Greene has been nurtured by one-on-one meetings as often as once a week.Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

6. One key ally of Speaker Kevin McCarthy helps explain his rise.

Soon after McCarthy won his gavel in a protracted fight with hard-right Republicans, he gushed to a friend about the ironclad bond he had developed with an unlikely collaborator, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. "I will never leave that woman," McCarthy said. "I will always take care of her."

Their political union — between an affable establishment fixture and a far-right rabble-rouser — helps explain the lengths to which McCarthy will go to accommodate the extreme forces in his party, and how much influence they have in the new House Republican majority.

On the other side of the aisle, Representative Ruben Gallego, a progressive Democrat from Phoenix, said he would run for Senate in 2024, setting up a potential face-off with Senator Kyrsten Sinema.

Also, Georgia's inquiry into Donald Trump's possible election interference in 2020 has entered the indictment phase. However, it remains unclear whether he will face charges.

The Anecdote, on a biotech campus in South San Francisco, operates like a restaurant.Carolyn Fong for The New York Times

7. The corporate cafeteria is broken.

As the American office emerges from its pandemic slumber, cafeterias — long seen as a valuable builder of workplace camaraderie — have become especially lonely. So companies are blowing up the cafeteria and designing new food options to attract younger workers in a job market badly in need of them, like cocktail bars or oyster-shucking parties.

In other corporate news, Spotify is laying off 6 percent of its work force. What's behind all the tech layoffs? No more easy money.

A baby long-tail macaque being examined at the National Primate Research Center of Thailand in 2020.Mladen Antonov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

8. What do we owe lab animals?

The Covid vaccines, which saved an estimated 20 million lives in their first year of use alone, were tested on mice and monkeys — and developed quickly thanks to decades of animal-based work on mRNA technology.

Opponents of animal testing have long said the practice is unethical. But until animal-free testing is an available option, some experts have suggested repayment, through adoption or donation.

In other science news, the Earth's core may be reversing its spin. We're not sure why.

Iga Swiatek has now faltered in both of her two most recent significant tournaments.Joel Carrett/EPA, via Shutterstock

9. After four rounds, the Australian Open is without several of its top stars.

Iga Swiatek, the Polish star and clear No. 1 women's player coming into the tournament, could not keep up with Elena Rybakina's "easy power," losing 6-4, 6-4 yesterday. She became the second top seed to fall before the quarterfinals; Rafael Nadal, the men's No. 1, lost last week.

Coco Gauff, the 18-year-old American, also lost in the fourth round. A hobbling Andy Murray lost in the third, but the U.S. men have a deep bench.

Behind the scenes, a coterie of power players has engaged in a high-stakes battle to control, and fix, tennis.

In other sports news, the N.F.L. playoffs are now down to four teams. All four are led by quarterbacks in their 20s for the first time in more than a decade.

"If I would have told my younger self I can make a living caring for dogs," Bethany Lane said, "I never would have believed it."Calla Kessler for The New York Times

10. And finally, it's a lucrative time to be a dog walker.

In expensive cities such as New York, where many white-collar workers are returning to the office, pet owners are paying top dollar for someone to care for their pandemic puppies. Seasoned dog walkers said they were charging as much as $35 per walk and earning $100,000 or more a year.

One walker, Bethany Lane, found the career after earning a college degree and moving to the city to pursue a job in public health. After a decade in the dog-walking business, she purchased a weekend home in Tuckerton, N.J. "If I would have told my younger self I can make a living caring for dogs," she said, "I never would have believed it."

Have a tail-wagging night.

Brent Lewis compiled photos for this briefing.

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