First Run News

It was past 1 a.m. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, on Memorial Day weekend, on Fulton Street between Throop and Nostrand. A few bodegas and a fried chicken spot were open, supported by gaggles of hungry young people bubbling up from the subway every few minutes. Hip-hop from passing cars with windows open or tops down melted into the night. But for the most part, it was quiet.

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. President Trump confronted Vladimir Putin over Russian meddling in the 2016 election during a longer-than-expected sit-down session at the Group of 20 summit meeting in Hamburg. Mr. Putin denied any interference, and asked for evidence.

One of the savviest, wisest, most revealing museum exhibitions of the summer may not have much actual art in it. But it circles the subject relentlessly like a satellite around a planet, wobbling in and out of art’s force field. We’re along for the ride, courtesy of a series of often riveting, mostly wordless visual dialogues between artists, conducted entirely by cellphone. In each of these dozen pictorial tête-à-têtes, two artists share images — scores, sometimes hundreds — and the occasional brief video.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve’s view of the American economy, which it updated Friday in a semiannual report to Congress is out: steady growth still impeded by a range of problems. The report gives the reasons for confidence, describing the steady growth of consumer spending on the foundation of a solid economic expansion.

Over the last few months, incoming numbers on the job market made it seem that the United States was closing in on full employment — the state where very nearly everyone who wants a job has one, and efforts to boost the economy further just create inflation. The June numbers

Automobile sales may be slowing, e-commerce is putting the squeeze on bricks-and-mortar stores, and overall economic growth is limp. But the labor market has nevertheless managed to charge ahead. Employers added an impressive 222,000 jobs in June, the government reported on Friday.

Automobile sales may be slowing, e-commerce is putting the squeeze on bricks-and-mortar stores, and overall economic growth is limp. But the labor market has nevertheless managed to charge ahead. Employers added an impressive 222,000 jobs in June, the government reported on Friday.

WASHINGTON — Maxine Waters runs around the U.S. Capitol these days — moving fast in heels as she balances back-to-back television interviews, speeches, hearings and hugs from millennials who have called her “Auntie Maxine” to celebrate her outspoken style. It is an odd new celebrity for a 78-year-old Washington fixture who has logged more than 25 years in the House, representing Los Angeles, from gritty but gentrifying Inglewood to largely white, working-class Torrance.

WASHINGTON — Maxine Waters runs around the U.S. Capitol these days — moving fast in heels as she balances back-to-back television interviews, speeches, hearings and hugs from millennials who have called her “Auntie Maxine” to celebrate her outspoken style. It is an odd new celebrity for a 78-year-old Washington fixture who has logged more than 25 years in the House, representing Los Angeles, from gritty but gentrifying Inglewood to largely white, working-class Torrance.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who made a career of promoting local control of education, has signaled a surprisingly hard-line approach to carrying out an expansive new federal education law, issuing critical feedback that has rattled state school chiefs and conservative education experts alike. President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015 as the less intrusive successor to the No Child Left Be