Clean Power Plan, California, Major League Baseball: Your Tuesday Briefing – New York Times

“This is my neighborhood, in flames,” one resident said. If you’ve been affected, The Times would like to hear from you.

Is the recent spate of natural disasters normal? In a video, our climate reporter explains.

• A murder scene’s uncertain future.

From Columbine to Sandy Hook to the Pulse nightclub, people have had to grapple with what to do with sites of mass shootings.

Our reporter looks at the unique issues confronting Las Vegas.

On Monday, the police altered the timeline of last week’s attack, saying the gunman shot a security guard before, not after, concertgoers. The news conference offered no insight into a motive.

• Odd bedfellows in Catalonia.

Anarchists, free marketeers and social democrats in the Spanish region are united in their quest for sovereignty but agree on little else.

The Catalan leader is to address the region’s Parliament today, and officials could declare independence from Spain.

• A warning from women.

A presidential election in Liberia today will almost certainly bring a man to power, after 12 years under Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first democratically elected female president.

Women have a message for the male candidates: Keep us out of war.

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• “The Daily,” your audio news report.

In today’s show, we discuss the Trump administration’s reversal of two of former President Barack Obama’s signature laws.

Listen on a computer, an iOS device or an Android device.

Business

• To influence American politics, Russian agents used the passion and misinformation that real Americans were sharing on social media, a Times examination found.

Separately, Google has evidence that Russia-connected accounts bought election ads on its networks. Congress has asked the search giant to testify, along with Facebook and Twitter.

• China has become a big supporter of electric cars, forcing automakers to transform or risk being left behind in the world’s largest car market.

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• Did you get some of the limited-edition Szechuan sauce at McDonald’s? Consider yourself lucky.

• U.S. stocks were down on Monday. Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

Smarter Living

Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.

• Traveling for the holidays? Here’s how to save money.

• Opioids aren’t the only pain drugs to worry about.

• Recipe of the day: For classic, diner-style hamburgers, smash the patties.

Noteworthy

• Celebrating the Boeing 747.

In today’s 360 video, a pilot discusses his love of the plane, which some airlines are retiring.

• Partisan writing you shouldn’t miss.

Writers from across the political spectrum discuss the war of words between President Trump and Senator Bob Corker.

• In memoriam.

Y.A. Tittle, a Hall of Fame quarterback, led the New York Giants to three consecutive N.F.L. championship games in the early 1960s, after being discarded by the San Francisco 49ers as too old and too slow. He died at 90.

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• In sports.

ESPN suspended the “SportsCenter” host Jemele Hill after she suggested that fans boycott the Dallas Cowboys’ advertisers. The team’s owner had said he would bench players who “disrespect the flag.”

In the baseball playoffs: The Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers advanced, the New York Yankees forced a Game 5, and the Chicago Cubs are a win away from another championship series.

• Missing what’s in front of us.

Expectations shape what we see in the world, a new study shows.

• Best of late-night TV.

Jimmy Fallon addressed the firing of the movie producer Harvey Weinstein after accusations of sexual harassment: “They said if he keeps it up he’ll wind up with his own show on Fox News.”

• Quotation of the day.

“I will try to spend it as irrationally as possible.”

— Richard Thaler, who won this year’s Nobel in economics for his work showing that people are predictably irrational, on how he would spend the $1.1 million in prize money.

Back Story

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last week in a case that could reshape American politics: whether political gerrymandering violates the Constitution.

The practice of redrawing voting districts to gain political advantage is named after Elbridge Gerry, who as governor of Massachusetts signed a bill in 1812 creating a long, thin district designed to undermine Federalist candidates. An illustrator at a Boston dinner party is said to have drawn a picture of the district that looked like a salamander, and a political term was born.

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Critics say the drawing of districts should be assigned to an independent or bipartisan commission, as it already is in some states and Australia, Britain, Canada and most of Europe. (One exception is France, where the constitutionality of a 2010 redistricting committee was contested by lawmakers.)

A bill introduced in Congress this summer would create such a commission and let voters rank lists of House candidates in order of preference instead of vote for only one.

The Supreme Court’s ruling could invalidate maps in more than 20 states, as well as expose at least a dozen House districts to court challenges.

Jennifer Jett contributed reporting.

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