Hurricane Dorian, Walmart, Linda Hamilton: Your Tuesday Evening Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/briefing/hurricane-dorian-walmart-linda-hamilton.html

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Good evening. Here’s the latest.

1. “A crisis of epic proportions.”

At least five people are dead in the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian pummeled the islands for more than two days. The death toll is expected to grow, one official said. Frantic calls have poured in for help, but many police and government vehicles are submerged from the storm surge and flooding rains. About 60 percent of the land is under water.

Dorian is now inching toward Florida as a Category 2 storm. Forecasts put the hurricane “dangerously close” to the Atlantic Coast, where it is expected to move slowly northward along Georgia and South Carolina. Here’s the latest and maps helping to track its path.

What role did climate change play in Dorian’s strength? The answer is complicated, but one scientist said it was another example of slow-moving tropical systems we should expect to see more often.

2. Walmart will stop selling certain types of ammunition that can be used in assault rifles.

The nation’s largest retailer made the announcement after weeks of discussion about how best to respond to the mass shooting in its El Paso store last month, above, in which 22 died.

The company said that after “selling through our current inventory commitments,” it would discontinue the sale of certain short-barrel rifle ammunition and all handgun ammunition.

The move is expected to reduce Walmart’s share of the nation’s ammunition market to as low as 6 percent, from 20 percent.

3. Boris Johnson, derailed, called for elections.

The prime minister made good on his threat to call a snap general election immediately after Parliament won the power to try to stop a “no deal” withdrawal from Britain.

There is little time left before the Brexit deadline of Oct. 31. Parliament would have to agree to the election.

The accelerating pace of events suggests that Britain’s Brexit nightmare may finally be approaching an endgame after years of paralysis.

Lost? Here’s what you need to know about the political chaos.

4. Hong Kong was once passionate about China. Now, it’s indifferent or contemptuous.

Andrew Higgins, our Moscow correspondent, is a longtime China hand. He returned to Hong Kong recently after many years away and was struck by the loss of what, before the British handover in 1997, had been a “deeply felt role as a place inextricably tied to the rest of China, not just economically but intellectually and emotionally.”

As protests continue in the semiautonomous territory, and distrust between the public and the police grows, tension continues at home for one couple our video journalists talked to. She’s a protester, and he’s a police officer. They’re on opposite sides of the barricades.

5. Officials have called off the search for survivors of a devastating fire on a commercial scuba diving boat off the coast of Southern California.

The Santa Barbara County sheriff said that 20 bodies had been recovered and divers had seen between four and six additional bodies in the wreckage, but were not yet able to recover them.

The deadly fire was the worst maritime disaster in California in recent memory. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the fire on the boat, which the Coast Guard said had been in compliance with safety regulations.

6. A bit of good news: There are fewer unwanted animals, and more furry friends are finding forever homes.

Pet euthanasia rates have plummeted in big U.S. cities in recent years, falling more than 75 percent since 2009, according to a Times analysis. A rescue, an adoption or a return to an owner or community is now a far likelier outcome, a shift that experts say has happened nationwide. Above, Nixon, a dog at Dallas Animal Services.

The analysis also found that spaying and neutering are now the norm. A cognitive scientist who studies dogs looks at the history of that trend and argues in an Op-Ed essay that it shouldn’t be the standard policy.

7. “This job, it is total, it is total demand.”

Marjorie Salmon is a home health aide for a 77-year-old man with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, which means she serves as social worker, diaper changer, dietitian and more — all for a dismal wage. Our reporter spent time with Ms. Salmon, who is on call 24 hours a day, 27 days a month.

We also looked into one hospital in New Mexico that has filed thousands of lawsuits over unpaid medical bills. People across the country are coping with soaring medical costs, opaque pricing, surprise bills and now lawsuits — especially in towns with only one hospital.

8. The fifth-seeded Daniil Medvedev has taken up a unique role at the U.S. Open this summer: villain.

The 23-year-old has advanced to his first Grand Slam semifinal and turned a booing New York crowd into a bunch of amusing adversaries.

In women’s singles, Elina Svitolina defeated Johanna Konta to reach her first U.S. Open semifinal. These are boom times in women’s tennis, our reporter writes, with multiple generations colliding and a resurgence of stylistic variety.

Next up: Serena Williams plays Wang Qiang for a spot in the semifinals tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern and Roger Federer plays Grigor Dimitrov at 8:15 p.m. We’ll have live updates here.

9. She’s baaaaack.

“Terminator: Dark Fate” will be the first time Linda Hamilton has starred as Sarah Connor in almost three decades. What’s she been up to? Treasuring her alone time since fleeing Hollywood.

We also talked to Ruby Rose, who stars in CW’s “Batwoman,” as part of our fall arts preview.

In the world of letters, the authors Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie are on the shortlist for this year’s Booker Prize.

10. And finally, some bird news.

Bar-headed geese climb more than 26,000 feet in as little as eight hours during their annual migration, earning them the nickname “astronauts of the bird world.” Researchers who raised a flock of the goslings and tested them in a wind tunnel uncovered some of their secrets for high-altitude endurance.

There’s also a new study on how full moons help some barn owls hunt voles. The small rodents freeze for a crucial moment when moonlight reflects off the birds’ plumage — but only if the barn owls hunting them are white, rather than reddish brown.

Have a soaring night.

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