(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.)

Good evening. Here’s the latest.

1. Health care is off the table, but in Democrats’ war chest. Above, Democrats at a health care rally at the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

President Trump announced that Republicans would drop efforts to overhaul health care until after the 2020 election. The move, set in motion by the usually sharp strategist Mitch McConnell, ensures the issue will be central in the campaigning. (Note: A new study found that Americans borrowed $88 billion to pay for health care last year.)

Mr. Trump also had words for Puerto Rico. He cast its leaders as “incompetent and corrupt,” increasing partisan tensions over aid bills blocked in Congress. Democrats object to the limits on aid to the U.S. territory, while Republicans insist on more aid for Midwest farmers.

Puerto Ricans have been dumbfounded. Their governor tweeted back: “Mr. President, once again, we are not your adversaries, we are your citizens.”

_____

2. Joe Biden’s physical style with friends and strangers was well known in Washington.

But now he is facing accusations of unwelcome touching from a second woman, even as he is expected to announce whether he’ll run in the 2020 presidential election. Our political reporter unpacks where Mr. Biden stands in the modern age of #MeToo.

From Opinion, Jennifer Senior argues that dismissing women’s ideas is a more pervasive problem than sexual harassment.

Separately, our executive editor, Dean Baquet, and our top newsroom lawyer, David McCraw, are discussing press freedom at 7 p.m. Eastern as part of our TimesTalks series. Join here for a YouTube stream, or go to @nytimes to watch the livestream on Twitter, where you can leave your questions.

_____

3. Prime Minister Theresa May has been driven to gambling.

In a surprise announcement, the British leader, pictured above today, said she would seek another extension for Brexit and would work with the opposition Labour Party to come up with a joint plan.

That would involve negotiating with the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and shifting toward a softer Brexit. The E.U.’s chief Brexit negotiator warned Britain’s Parliament that a chaotic “no-deal” exit was becoming “day after day more likely.”

But don’t call British lawmakers one-note. They simply couldn’t ignore a nearly naked climate-change protest in Parliament’s viewing gallery on Monday.

_____

4. After Lion Air Flight 610 plunged into the Java Sea last October, killing all 189 people onboard, urgent questions confronted the aviation industry. Above, parts recovered from the doomed flight.

After another Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed five months later, it became clear that Lion Air, Boeing, subcontractors, investigators and regulators all put up barriers that made it difficult to share information about what went wrong, leaving many in the dark. Our reporters uncovered a climate of distrust and a lack of communication.

Separately, Boeing’s software update for its troubled 737 Max jetliners has been delayed for several weeks before it can be submitted to the F.A.A.

_____

5. India’s antisatellite test is wreaking havoc in space.

NASA said that debris created by India’s test last week, above, in which it shot down its own satellite with a rocket, could threaten the International Space Station. Six crew members are currently aboard.

The U.S. space agency identified 400 pieces of debris from the test, some of which pose a risk to the station because of the speed at which they travel, up to 29,000 miles per hour.

“That kind of activity is not compatible with the future of human spaceflight that we need to see have happen,” NASA’s administrator said Monday.

_____

6. Today, Chicago becomes the largest American city to elect a black woman as its mayor.

The only question is which one. The race is between Lori Lightfoot, a lawyer and former federal prosecutor, and Toni Preckwinkle, the president of the Cook County Board and the chairwoman of the county’s Democratic Party.

The polls close at 7 p.m. local time, and we expect results within hours. We’ll have updates at nytimes.com.

And in Ferguson, Mo., Lesley McSpadden, whose son, Michael Brown, was killed there, is eyeing a seat on the City Council. Should she win, a seat would give her a role in overseeing the very police department that killed her son.

_____

7. Was the only oil well drilled in Alaska’s Arctic refuge a potential gusher or a dud?

The findings were a closely guarded secret for three decades. Now, as the Trump administration plans to open the area to drilling, we found answers in a Cleveland courthouse that could embolden opponents and prompt second thoughts among potential lease bidders.

“The discovery well was worthless,” said a retired lawyer who was involved in a long-since-forgotten lawsuit filed there in 1987.

_____

8. For your leisure time:

The Australian stand-up comic Hannah Gadsby declared she was quitting comedy in her hit Netflix special last year, “Nanette.” Last week, she returned to the Australian stage with “Douglas,” a new show named after her dog.

In advance of her American tour this month, she chatted with us about receiving an autism diagnosis late in life, and what it’s like getting back on stage.

And we have 10 new books to watch for in April and a Q. and A. with Lori Gottlieb, author and psychotherapist, who dishes about what your therapist is thinking about in your therapy session.

_____

9. Our 52 Places Traveler played tourist in his own city.

Walking the length of Manhattan (it took more than eight hours), Sebastian Modak noticed details he had missed for years and faced a rude awakening when he came upon the city’s largest development in decades, Hudson Yards. Entering Central Park, pictured above, made him “ecstatic.”

But he couldn’t help gravitating to the familiar.

“All of a sudden, this megacity, one that can be so elusive to so many — even me — felt a whole lot like home,” he wrote.

_____

10. Finally, does the air fryer deliver on its golden promise?

Our food columnist Melissa Clark had to find out. The fast-selling appliance, celebrated for its faux-frying, low-mess, odorless ability, has been panned in review circles.

She took on French fries, chicken wings, brussels sprouts, doughnuts and jalapeño poppers, to name a few.

“Here’s the thing I realized about the air fryer,” she concluded. “‘Frying’ is the thing it does worst of all.”

We hope you have a more appetizing night.

_____

Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern.

And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing. Sign up here to get it by email in the Australian, Asian, European or American morning.

Want to catch up on past briefings? You can browse them here.

What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at [email protected].

Source: Read Full Article