First Run News

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) called on Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk to build a Hyperloop in Texas after the billionaire tweeted he had received "verbal approval" from the "government" to build a Hyperloop transit system between Washington, D.C. and New York City. "Build it in Texas," Castro tweeted Thursday.

Every day, thousands of people who are consumed by the nation’s opioid epidemic connect on the popular discussion website Reddit. They swap advice on getting high and offer encouragement to those who have managed to stay clean or are teetering between recovery and relapse. Addicts lament the deaths of fellow users who have suddenly stopped posting. And until last week, buyers and sellers could easily find each other, relying on coded messages that communicated their intent. Reddit banned the forum, known as opiaterollcall, last week but would not disclose what led to its closing.

Everybody knows about Lyme disease. But experts say the Northern United States may be in for a bad tick season this summer, raising concerns about Lyme and other scary tick-borne diseases, including the Powassan virus, which causes encephalitis and can leave people with permanent neurological damage. “This spring definitely seems worse than others I remember,” said Dr. Catherine Wiley, chief of general pediatrics at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.

Everybody knows about Lyme disease. But experts say the Northern United States may be in for a bad tick season this summer, raising concerns about Lyme and other scary tick-borne diseases, including the Powassan virus, which causes encephalitis and can leave people with permanent neurological damage. “This spring definitely seems worse than others I remember,” said Dr. Catherine Wiley, chief of general pediatrics at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.

Our recommendations this week include fare for readers of all ages and stages, starting with “Welcome: A Mo Willems Guide for New Arrivals,” a witty life manual for savvy infants and their attendant grown-ups. “Questions Asked” taps the philosophical tendencies of 5-year-olds and up — all the way up — by venturing playfully into unanswerable territory: “Can anyone do real magic tricks? Do miracles happen sometimes?” A debut Y.A. novel by Andrew McCarthy delves into a 15-year-old girl’s discovery of a family secret.

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.) Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: • In Poland, the government-controlled upper house of Parliament could vote as soon as today on a bill that would give the populist government the power to replace Supreme Court judges.

DALLAS — Usain Bolt of Jamaica appeared on a video screen in a white singlet and black tights, sprinting in slow motion through the final half of a 100-meter race. Each stride covered nine feet, his upper body moving up and down almost imperceptibly, his feet striking the track and rising so rapidly that his heels did not touch the ground. Bolt is the fastest sprinter in history, the world-record holder at 100 and 200 meters and the only person to win both events at three Olympics.

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department on Thursday fined Exxon Mobil $2 million for violating sanctions that the United States imposed on Russia in 2014 while Rex W.

He has tumbled in the public eye from revered football hero and actor, to reviled wife abuser and murder defendant, to indebted and hapless convicted robber, but O. J.

He has tumbled in the public eye from revered football hero and actor, to reviled wife abuser and murder defendant, to indebted and hapless convicted robber, but O. J.