Your Monday Evening Briefing

Your nightly rundown of the day's top stories delivered straight to your inbox. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Monday, July 3, 2017 [NYTimes.com »]( [Your Monday Evening Briefing]( By KAREN ZRAICK AND SANDRA STEVENSON Good evening. Here’s the latest. Andrew Mills/NJ Advance Media 1. ’Tis the season to negotiate state budgets. Or fail to. Maine has shut down nonessential state offices. Illinois is on the brink of a devastating credit downgrade. New Jersey’s state parks and beaches are closed, despite a heat wave. In all three, outspoken [Republican governors are clashing]( with Democrat-controlled legislative bodies. The most outspoken of them all, Gov. [Chris Christie of New Jersey, is dealing with the fallout]( from a widely circulated photograph that caught him and his family enjoying Island Beach State Park — near the governor’s official retreat — while others were being turned away. “That’s just the way it goes,” Mr. Christie retorted. “Run for governor, and you can have a residence.” _____ Brandon Thibodeaux for The New York Times 2. Scott Pruitt, the E.P.A. administrator, has rolled back dozens of environmental regulations. But he hit his first legal setback, one that suggests an uphill battle in the courts for President Trump’s plans to erase his predecessor’s environmental record. A federal appeals court ruled that the [E.P.A. cannot suspend]( an Obama-era rule to restrict methane emissions from new oil and gas wells. Above, an oil pump jack in Oklahoma. _____ Charlie Gard Family, via Associated Press 3. Pope Francis and President Trump both weighed in gently on the case of a [British infant with an extremely rare genetic disease](. Not quite a year old, Charlie Gard cannot see or hear, or move or breathe on his own. The hospital went to court for permission to take him off life support, but his parents are fighting to take him to the U.S. for an experimental treatment. The courts are pondering whether that would only prolong his suffering. A Vatican spokesman said Francis had been following the case “with affection and sadness” and praying for the parents, and Mr. Trump said if the U.S. could help, “we would be delighted to do so.” _____ Thomas Coex/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images 4. Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu is facing an uproar]( from American Jews after he stopped a plan to provide a space for non-Orthodox men and women to worship together at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Mr. Netanyahu was facing pressure from ultra-Orthodox factions. His government also approved a bill giving the chief Orthodox rabbi a monopoly over conversions to Judaism. The moves reawakened a decades-old dispute over who is a Jew, and Israel’s relationship with the Jewish diaspora. _____ Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times 5. A New York Times investigation [into low-income housing projects]( reveals a surprising factor that keeps American cities so segregated. Federal money. Such projects, which rely on federal tax credits, face public and political opposition in wealthier, whiter areas, and so are more often built in poorer, minority areas. That means the government is essentially helping to maintain entrenched racial divides, despite federal law requiring government agencies to promote integration. _____ Jake Michaels for The New York Times 6. Another Fox executive lost his job amid sexual harassment allegations: [Jamie Horowitz, above center, programing director for Fox Sports](. The company is investigating those claims; his lawyer denies any wrongdoing. And the [backlash against mistreatment]( of women in Silicon Valley is mushrooming after [our story on sexual harassment in tech](. One of the accused, the prominent investor Dave McClure, resigned from 500Startups and wrote a public apology titled: “[I’m a Creep. I’m Sorry.]( _____ Andrew Cullen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images 7. Young American men are working less — 15 to 30 fewer hours a year — and economists have an idea why: they are [playing new, more engaging video games](. Games like World of Warcraft “provide a sense of waking in the morning with one goal: I’m trying to improve this skill, teammates are counting on me, and my online community is relying on me,” said a video game scholar and game designer. “There is a routine and daily progress that does a good job at replacing traditional work.” _____ Nicolas Tucat/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images 8. The National Institutes of Health is starting a six-year, $100 million, international clinical trial to test for the first time [whether a drink a day]( really does prevent heart attacks. And it’s raising ethical eyebrows. The study is being paid for by the alcohol industry, and many of the scientists involved in the study have financial links to industry money, either personally or through an institution. And there are other concerns. As one medical ethicist warned, “If there is some health benefit for people over 50 from one drink a day, many people will just hear that alcohol is good for you, and some will say, ‘I can drink all the beer I want.’” _____ Tony Cenicola/The New York Times 9. In other consumption news, Oreo has been [experimenting with limited-edition flavors](. Our food writer found some choice words [for them](. The Blueberry Pie version “tastes precisely like one of those oversize blueberry muffins that no one bought the day before.” The Waffle & Syrup tastes “as if it had sat under a sofa cushion for quite some time.” The Firework, though, won her over with tiny flecks of carbon dioxide in the creme that burst on the tongue. “I loved this cookie, though I imagine that if you’re not expecting it to do what it does, it could make you think you’re just about to die.” _____ Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times 10. Finally, we asked dozens of people in three states [what it means to be patriotic]( — a difficult question at a divided time. “Respect” came up a lot. And we collected tips from current Times photographers on [how to take great pictures of fireworks](. The key is to add another visual element — like a local landmark, or spectators in the foreground. “It’s the things other than the fireworks that actually make the picture interesting,” explained Fred Conrad, a former staffer. Have a great Fourth of July. We’ll be back on Wednesday. _____ Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing [this version]( of the briefing should help. Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a.m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s [Friday]( briefing](. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at [briefing@nytimes.com](mailto:briefing@nytimes.com?subject=Evening%20Briefing%20Feedback). ADVERTISEMENT Sponsor a Subscription Inspire the future generation of readers by contributing to The Times’s [sponsor-a-subscription program](. For questions, email sponsor@nytimes.com or call [1-844-698-2677](. 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