The Boston Globe - 27.08.2019

A2 The Boston Globe TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2019

The Nation

Tropical Storm Dorian was
gaining strength in the Atlan-
tic Ocean and moving toward
Barbados and the eastern Ca-
ribbean on Monday. The storm
could develop into a hurricane
as it closes in on Puerto Rico
and the Dominican Republic
this week, forecasters said.
The National Hurricane
Center said Monday that
Dorian, the fourth tropical
storm of the hurricane season,
was 200 miles east-southeast
of Barbados. It was moving
west at 14 miles per hour, with
maximum sustained winds of
60 miles per hour.
A tropical storm warning
was in effect for Barbados, St.
Lucia, and St. Vincent and the
Grenadines. By Wednesday,
forecasters said, Dorian could

sideswipe southwestern Puer-

to Rico as a Category 1 hurri-

cane, then make landfall in the

Dominican Republic early

Thursday.

In Puerto Rico, where

memories of the devastation of

hurricanes Irma and Maria in

2017 remain fresh, people

raced to big-box retail stores

over the weekend. They lined

up around the block with

shopping carts and emptied

some of the stores of supplies,

including bottled water.

At a news conference Sun-

day, officials said they were far

better prepared for Dorian

than they were before Maria

two years ago. “Puerto Rico is

ready,” said Zoé Laboy, the

governor’s chief of staff.

NEW YORK TIMES

CaribbeanbracesforTropicalStormDorian

NEW YORK — Actress An-

nabella Sciorra will testify

against Harvey Weinstein at

his trial on rape and other sex-

crime charges in January,

Manhattan prosecu-

tors said in court

Monday.

Sciorra, who is

known for her work

in “The Sopranos,”

has publicly accused

Weinstein of sexually

assaulting her in her

Gramercy Park

apartment in 1993,

but the incident was

too old to be prose-

cuted under state

law.

Now, however, the Manhat-

tan district attorney has ob-

tained a new indictment from

a grand jury that will let Scior-

ra tell her story on the witness

stand under the legal theory

that her testimony will sup-

port charges of predatory sex-

ual assault, even though her

alleged encounter

with the producer

happened too long

ago to be charged

separately as rape,

prosecutors said.

Weinstein, 67,

once one of Holly-

wood’s most powerful

producers, pleaded

not guilty to the new

indictment in state

Supreme Court in

Manhattan on Mon-

day. He maintains his

sexual encounters with Sciorra

and two other women were

consensual.

NEW YORK TIMES

ActresstotestifyagainstWeinstein

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.
— Three employees of a nurs-
ing home where 12 people
died in sweltering heat after a
hurricane cut power turned
themselves in on Monday to
face charges, their attorneys
said.
Attorneys Jim Cobb and
Lawrence Hashish told The
Associated Press they were un-
certain what charge their cli-
ents faced but expected it to be
manslaughter.
Hollywood police, who are
responsible for issuing the ar-
rest warrants, did not respond
to e-mails and voice messages.
Patients at the Rehabilita-
tion Center at Hollywood Hills
began dying days after Hurri-

cane Irma swept through in

September 2017, knocking out

power at the home.

The center did not evacuate

patients as temperatures in-

side began rising, even though

a fully functional hospital was

across the street, investigators

said. The home’s license was

suspended days after the

storm and it was later closed.

Two nurses whose names

were not released and former

nursing home administrator

Jorge Carballo turned them-

selves in at the jail on Monday.

The attorneys also weren’t

sure if a third nurse who was

to be charged had turned her-

self in.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Fla.nursesfacechargesinpatientdeaths

NEWARK, N.J. — New Jer-

sey’s biggest city on Monday

announced a plan to borrow

$120 million to dramatically

cut the time it will take to re-

place pipes causing elevated

lead levels in drinking water.

City, state, and county offi-

cials said the plan is expected

to cut the time from 10 years

to under 30 months to replace

about 18,000 lead lines in

Newark.

The announcement came

about two weeks after the city

began distributing water bot-

tles to residents in about

14,000 homes. Water from two

houses tested positive for lead

above the federal threshold of

15 parts per billion.

The plan depends on ap-

proval by city and county offi-

cials. Authorities had called on

the federal government to help

but said Monday they would

move forward with their own

plan to speed lead pipe re-

placement.

Nearly 800 lines have been

replaced since March, using

money from the state. Home-

owners were going to be re-

sponsible for paying 10 per-

cent of the replacement cost

since the lines aren’t owned by

the city, but officials said they

won’t have to pay under the

new plan.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Newarktospeedpipereplacement

Daily Briefing

By Amanda Coletta
and Robert Barnes
WASHINGTON POST
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Supreme
Court Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg on Monday made
her first public appearance
since completing radiation
treatment for her latest bout
with cancer, saying it was
‘‘both a joy and a sorrow’’ to
appear at an event organized
by a college friend who died
late last year.
The 86-year-old justice re-
ceived an honorary degree in
the morning and regaled a
packed performing arts hall in
the evening.
She was invited last year by
Wayne Wisbaum, a friend
from her undergraduate days
at Cornell.
Wisbaum died in Decem-
ber, but not before making
sure Ginsburg could still at-
tend the event, which included
an honorary degree at the Uni-

versity at Buffalo law school.

‘‘When I promised I would

come, I did not know that this

day would be preceded by

three weeks of radiation,’’ she

said.

Ginsburg was escorted

across the stage at the Klein-

hans Music Hall Monday

night, and earlier in the day at

the university.

But she spoke with a clear,

strong voice at both events

about her pioneering career,

her friendship with retired

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor,

and her late-in-life fame as

‘‘the Notorious R.B.G.’’

‘‘I am now 86 years old, yet

people of all ages want to take

their picture with me. Amaz-

ing,’’ Ginsburg said at the

morning event.

If she is notorious, Gins-

burg continued, ‘‘it is because

I had the good fortune to be

alive and a lawyer’’ in the

1960s and 70s.

That is when ‘‘it became

possible to urge before courts,

successfully, that equal justice

under law required all arms of

government to regard women

as persons equal in stature to

men.’’

In her conversation with

Aviva Abramovsky, the first fe-

male dean of the University at

Buffalo’s law school, Ginsburg

said proposals to increase the

number of Supreme Court jus-

tices are ‘‘a very bad idea.’’

As she often does, Ginsburg

lamented the absence of ‘‘a

true bipartisan spirit in Con-

gress’’ when it comes to judi-

cial nominations.

‘‘I hope one day there will

be people who care about our

country — both Democrats

and Republicans — who will

come together and say enough

of this dysfunctional legisla-

ture,’’ Ginsburg said.

Before a capacity crowd of

about 1,700 at UB’s Center for

the Arts, the court’s oldest

member mused over her celeb-

rity status, evident in ‘‘Satur-

day Night Live’’ parodies, T-

shirts bearing her image, a

CNN documentary, and the

movie, ‘‘On the Basis of Sex.’’

‘‘It was beyond my wildest

expectation that I would one

day become the notorious

R.B.G,’’ the justice said to ap-

plause and cheers.

She called her contribu-

tions to gender equality ‘‘exhil-

arating.’’

‘‘The progress I have seen

in my lifetime makes me opti-

mistic for the future,’’ Gins-

burg told the audience of

mostly students and faculty.

‘‘Our communities, nation and

world will be increasingly im-

proved as women achieve

their rightful place in all

fields.’’

Ginsburg’s visit drew more

attention than most because of

the recent disclosure of her lat-

est medical problems.

It was the second treatment

for cancer in nine months for

the court’s oldest member and

leader of its liberal wing.

Ginsburg had a lobe of her

left lung removed in Decem-

ber, and in the past was treat-

ed for colon and pancreatic

cancer.

The court said the three-

week treatment for her cur-

rent condition began this

month at Memorial Sloan Ket-

tering Cancer Center in New

York, and no additional treat-

ment is planned.

‘‘The tumor was treated de-

finitively and there is no evi-

dence of disease elsewhere in

the body,’’ the court’s spokes-

woman said in a statement.

‘‘Justice Ginsburg will contin-

ue to have periodic blood tests

and scans. No further treat-

ment is needed at this time.’’

Ginsburg is one of the old-

est justices to serve on the Su-

preme Court, and her health is

a constant matter of concern

and speculation.

Her inability to serve would

provide President Donald

Trump with a chance to nomi-

nate a third conservative to

the high court and shift it fur-

ther to the right.

Ginsburg said in speeches

and in an interview last month

that her health was fine, and

that she would continue to

serve as long as she felt up to

the job.

During her treatment,

Ginsburg took in a couple of

shows in New York.

She is scheduled to appear

at the National Book Festival

laterthisweek,andgivealec-

ture in Arkansas next week.

Material from the Associated

Press was used in this report.

Ginsburg appears at public event in Buffalo

Justicetalks

aboutcareer,

celebritystatus

RCorrection:Because of incorrect information provided to the

Globe, an article on Thursday and another on Monday in the

Metro section about the National Day of Healing marking the

400th anniversary of African slaves’ arrival in Colonial America

gave the wrong location for a bell-ringing ceremony. The event

took place at Old South Church. The Globe regrets the errors.

The Globe welcomes information about errors that call for

corrections. Information may be sent to [email protected] or

left in a message at 617-929-8230.

Fortherecord

By Maggie Astor

and Weiyi Cai

NEW YORK TIMES

The National Rifle Associa-

tion has significantly fewer al-

lies in Congress than it did a

decade ago, a decline driven by

the near-total fraying of the

group’s ties to Democrats in

the House and the Senate, ac-

cording to a New York Times

analysis of the group’s letter

grades and endorsements.

The NRA still has consider-

able clout with Republicans,

including President Trump

and Senate leaders, and it is

now flexing its muscles in the

debate over background

checks. Yet for many years, the

group’s influence was broader

and deeper because of its large

numbers of friends in both

parties. These political allies

received “A” ratings from the

NRA and often feared grade re-

ductions if they crossed it.

Now, the number of Demo-

crats in the House with “A” rat-

ings has fallen from 63 after

the 2008 elections to three af-

ter the 2018 midterms.

This makes the NRA’s politi-

cal position more precarious.

The group was once largely in-

sulated from shifts in partisan

control: It could block gun re-

strictions no matter which par-

ty controlled Congress and the

White House. In the long term,

the loss of the NRA’s Demo-

cratic buffer poses a threat to

the group’s influence no matter

what happens in the current

gun control debate.

Voters, meanwhile, are gen-

erally not punishing members

of Congress who turn away

from the NRA, making it a less

threatening force in elections.

The Times’s analysis looked

at complete data on NRA rat-

ings and endorsements for six

election cycles, from 2008

through 2018. The group uses

“A” ratings to signify consistent

support for gun rights and op-

position to restrictions; “F” rat-

ings signify the opposite. The

group advertises its grades to

supporters, who use them to

guide their votes. Many A-rat-

ed candidates receive an en-

dorsement, which can bring

support like money, mailers,

and campaign ads.

The NRA has denied losing

clout and says it has more

members than ever. An NRA

spokesman, Lars Dalseide,

gave a brief statement in re-

sponse to The Times’s detailed

explanation of its findings.

“The NRA alerts our mem-

bers on races where candidates

have been identified as sup-

porters or opponents of the

Second Amendment. Our fo-

cus has never been on party af-

filiation but rather on which

candidates will best defend the

rights of law-abiding gun own-

ers,” he said.

Pressed on specific data

points, Dalseide did not re-

spond.

Support for the NRA has al-

ways been much stronger

among Republicans than Dem-

ocrats, both in Congress and in

the electorate. But until recent-

ly, a significant minority of

Democrats were on board with

the group.

In 2008, voters elected 67

A-rated Democrats to Con-

gress, where they accounted

for about a quarter of the par-

ty’s caucus. Another 13 Demo-

crats were elected with B rat-

ings, meaning the NRA consid-

ered them “generally pro-gun”

despite some past disagree-

ments.

Now, only three congressio-

nal Democrats — Representa-

tives Sanford Bishop of Geor-

gia, Collin Peterson of Minne-

sota, and Henry Cuellar of

Texas — have A grades. Just

two more, Jeff Van Drew of

New Jersey and Kurt Schrader

of Oregon, have B’s. There is

not a single A- or B-rated Dem-

ocrat left in the Senate.

F ratings are now the norm

for Democrats, and many of

them treat it as a badge of hon-

or. In the current Congress,

slightly more than half of all

members have F’s. Each of the

past four congressional elec-

tions has brought in more F-

rated legislators than the last.

AnalysisfindsNRA

haslostmanyallies

inHouse,Senate

Declinedriven

byfrayingofties

toDemocrats

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

AMONG GIANTS OF HISTORY —A couple posed for a selfie in front of busts of former US presidents Monday

in Williamsburg, Va. Howard Hankins, who owns a local salvage business, rescued the statues in 2010 from the

closed Presidents Park in Williamsburg when he was commissioned to destroy them.

Harvey

Weinstein

pleaded not

guilty.

‘Ihopeonedaytherewillbepeoplewhocare

aboutourcountry—bothDemocratsand

Republicans—whowillcometogetherandsay

enoughofthisdysfunctionallegislature.’

SUPREMECOURTJUSTICERUTHBADERGINSBURG,duringherfirst

public appearance since completing radiation treatment for cancer