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U(DF463D)X+?!/!,!?!" Still in her prime, Maya Moore sacrificed her career, stepping away as one of the greats in bas- ketball for a long-shot bid to help free a prisoner she was convinced had been wrongfully convicted. There would be no fifth W.N.B.A. championship, no bid for another Olympic gold medal, no fans gasping at the perfect jump shot. In a shock to the sport, she left the game — temporarily, she said — in early 2019 to free Jonathan Irons, a Missouri man who contin- uously claimed innocence as he served a 50-year prison sentence for burglary and assault with a gun. And on Wednesday, her sacri- fice paid the ultimate dividend. Irons, 40, walked out of a Mis- souri prison a free man after spending 23 years behind bars. After an appeal Moore partly funded and publicly backed, Irons’s sentence had been over- turned. In a scene of tearful cele- bration outside the front doors of the Jefferson City Correctional Center, Moore and her family at long last greeted the man they had come to consider one of their own. “I’m pumped that people are understanding where the real change lies as far as giving some- thing up,” Moore said at a news conference on Thursday. “That’s all of us, giving something up, if you have any sort of power.” Athletes across sports have joined calls for social and racial justice, especially in the most re- cent wave spurred by deaths of Black people at the hands of the police. And female athletes like Moore have often been at the forefront but outside the limelight as men, working in leagues with higher television ratings, tend to get the lion’s share of coverage. “The N.B.A. and N.F.L. get no- ticed and the accolades, but the W.N.B.A and women in sport so of- ten tend to be ahead of everybody else,” said Victoria Jackson, a sports historian at Arizona State University. “Look at Maya — she essentially gave up her career at a peak moment to put her heart and soul into this.” LeBron James garnered quick headlines with his backing of Hil- lary Clinton in the 2016 presiden- tial election, his opening of a char- ter school in Akron, Ohio, his will- ingness to snipe back against con- As Athletes Pursue Justice, Women Are a Force Without Fanfare By KURT STREETER Maya Moore departed the W.N.B.A. to help Jonathan Irons, who was freed from prison this week. JULIA HANSEN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Continued on Page A17 The girl was 14 years old when she met the financier Jeffrey Ep- stein and his companion, Ghis- laine Maxwell, in the 1990s. They tried to become her friend, taking her shopping and to the movies. Ms. Maxwell asked about her fam- ily and school. Then, Ms. Maxwell began un- dressing in front of the girl and re- cruiting her to participate in sexu- alized massages of Mr. Epstein, prosecutors said. The pattern con- tinued for years, as Ms. Maxwell fed Mr. Epstein’s dark desires and participated in some of the abuse herself, according to a newly un- sealed indictment. Ms. Maxwell, the daughter of a publishing magnate and once a fixture on New York’s social scene, was arrested on Thursday in New Hampshire, where the au- thorities said she had been hiding. She was charged with luring mul- tiple underage girls into Mr. Ep- stein’s orbit. The arrest of Ms. Maxwell, Mr. Epstein’s former girlfriend and longtime associate, was the latest twist in a legal saga that has been a source of international intrigue and conspiracy theories. The case has drawn in prominent academ- ics, politicians, business leaders and even British royalty. Ms. Maxwell’s arrest came al- most exactly one year after Mr. Epstein was charged in a federal Associate Accused of Recruiting Teen Girls for Epstein Is Arrested This article is by Nicole Hong, Benjamin Weiser and Mihir Zaveri. Charges of Perjury and Aiding Sexual Abuse Continued on Page A17 Employers brought back mil- lions more workers in June as businesses began to reopen across the country. But the recent surge in coronavirus cases is threatening to stall the economic recovery long before it has reached most of the people who lost their jobs. U.S. payrolls grew by 4.8 million in June, the Labor Department said Thursday. It was the second month of strong gains after April’s huge losses, when businesses laid off or furloughed tens of millions of workers as the pandemic put a large swath of economic activity on ice. The job growth surpassed econ- omists’ forecasts, and it was broad based, cutting across industries and demographic groups. But the thaw is far from com- plete. There were still nearly 15 million fewer jobs in June than in February, before the pandemic forced businesses to close. The unemployment rate fell to 11.1 per- cent in June, down from a peak of 14.7 percent in April but still higher than in any previous peri- od since World War II. The rate would have been about one per- centage point higher, the Labor Department said, had it not been for persistent data-collection problems. In an appearance at the White House on Thursday morning, President Trump hailed the num- bers as “spectacular news for American workers and American families and for our country as a JUNE JOBS GAINS EXCEED OUTLOOK, WITH A WARNING 4.8 MILLION COME BACK More Shutdowns Bring Fears After Second Month of Growth By BEN CASSELMAN and NELSON D. SCHWARTZ ’17 ’18 ’19 ’20 –10 –5 +5 MILLION JUNE 2020 4.8 million added JUNE 2016 144 million total jobs FEB. Source: Labor Dept. Cumulative change in U.S. jobs. Since February: 14,661,000 fewer THE NEW YORK TIMES Continued on Page A9 On the website for American Legion Post 410 in Lakehills, Texas, an image shows a bald ea- gle soaring in front of an Ameri- can flag. But just below the patri- otic picture is the bad news that the unrelenting spread of the coro- navirus has mostly grounded the tiny community’s Fourth of July celebrations. “Due to the Governor of Texas shutting down the state again — the Parade has been cancelled,” the site says. “The live band has been cancelled.” It is a familiar reality from coast to coast, as the nation staggers to- ward a holiday weekend burdened by a pandemic that is only grow- ing worse. On Thursday, the United States set a single-day case record for the sixth time in nine days, reach- ing 53,000 new coronavirus cases. And in a dramatic reversal, the governor of Texas, one of the worst-hit states this week, or- dered residents in counties with more than 20 virus cases to wear masks in public. In the face of cases reaching dis- heartening new highs, with at least 15 states setting single-day reporting records this week, health officials around the coun- try have urged Americans to scale back their holiday plans. State leaders in Nebraska sug- gested that holiday cookout hosts keep guest lists to make contact tracing easier if there was an out- break. The Oregon Health Author- ity warned residents that “the safest choice this holiday is to cel- ebrate at home.” And in Los Ange- les County, Calif., where more than 12,000 new cases have been an- nounced since last Friday, the health department ordered beaches closed and fireworks shows canceled. Elsewhere, the pleas were simi- lar: Skip the party. Stay home. Do not make a bad situation worse. “We don’t want any more clo- sures, but our numbers are going through the roof,” Dr. Cameron Kaiser, the public health officer in Riverside County, Calif., said. “Please don’t mix households, even if you think everyone is healthy, and instead celebrate the holiday with the people you live with. We started seeing more and more cases after Memorial Day and we can’t afford another jump after the Fourth of July.” The cancellations have lent a sullen tone to the typical listings of Independence Day events: “What Can You Do This Fourth of July in Idaho?” a headline asks on the website of a Boise TV station, be- fore suggesting ways to socially distance while celebrating. At the same time, the anti-rac- Expect a Fourth With More Fizzle Than Bang This article is by Richard Fausset, Mitch Smith and Sabrina Tavernise. A coronavirus testing site in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, the same day the governor issued a broad mask-wearing order. Page A9. TAMIR KALIFA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Officials Say Celebrate Freedom by Staying Home This Year Continued on Page A6 College students across the country have been warned that campus life will look drastically different in the fall, with tempera- ture checks at academic build- ings, masks in half-empty lecture halls and maybe no football games. What they might not expect: a lack of professors in the class- room. Thousands of instructors at American colleges and universi- ties have told administrators in re- cent days that they are unwilling to resume in-person classes, be- cause of the pandemic. More than three-quarters of col- leges and universities have de- cided students can return to cam- pus this fall. But they are facing a growing faculty revolt. “Until there’s a vaccine, I’m not setting foot on campus,” said Dana Ward, 70, an emeritus professor of political studies at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., who teaches a class in anarchist history and thought. “Going into the class- room is like playing Russian roulette.” This comes as major outbreaks have hit college towns this sum- mer, spread by partying students Colleges Face Rising Revolt By Professors By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS Continued on Page A10 WASHINGTON — Last Satur- day night, over dinner at the White House, Bernard Marcus, a top Republican donor, told Presi- dent Trump he was alarmed at Mr. Trump’s plummeting poll num- bers and Jared Kushner’s stew- ardship of his father-in-law’s re- election effort. Mr. Trump sought to assuage Mr. Marcus’s concerns, assuring the billionaire Home Depot founder that his political fortunes would soon change in part be- cause he was bringing in “good people” to steady his campaign, according to a person briefed on their conversation. The next morning, before set- ting off for a round of golf, the president tweeted a video from a Florida retirement community that featured a Trump supporter yelling, “white power,” setting Mr. Trump’s aides on a scramble to reach him on the course and have him delete the message. As Mr. Trump heads to Mount Rushmore on Friday to spend the Independence Day holiday in the carved presence of presidential greatness, he is suffering through the most trying stretch of his ad- ministration thanks in large part to his self-inflicted wounds. June represented the political nadir of his three and a half years in the Oval Office, when a race in which he had been steadily trail- ing, but faring respectably, broke open and left him facing the possi- bility of not just defeat but humili- ation this fall. The disconnect between the surge in coronavirus cases and Mr. Trump’s dismissive stance to- ward the pandemic has been par- ticularly pronounced, mystifying Democrats and Republicans alike; this week, as some states halted their reopening because of a record-setting number of new cases, the president predicted the virus would “just disappear.” In addition to public surveys showing him losing decisively to Joseph R. Biden Jr. in a number of battleground states, private Re- Crisis Missteps By Trump Hurt His Campaign A Demoralizing Month for Top Republicans This article is by Maggie Ha- berman, Jonathan Martin and Alex- ander Burns. Continued on Page A15 Nancy Baker Cahill uses augmented reality to add meaning to historical sites. Above, Rockaway Beach. PAGE C1 WEEKEND ARTS C1-14 Reanimating the Past Custom-van sales are booming as travel-starved people aim to put the pandemic behind them. PAGE B1 BUSINESS B1-6 ‘Escape Pods’ That Roll At least 26 women and girls have been killed during the lockdown in Britain. Others were trapped with abusers as calls for help went unanswered. PAGE A5 TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-10 Vulnerable at Home in U.K. The justices will decide whether Con- gress has the right to view blacked-out passages in the Mueller report, but a ruling almost certainly won’t come before the election. PAGE A16 NATIONAL A14-19 Court to Weigh Mueller Secrets Hugh Downs, a longtime host of televi- sion shows like “Today” and “20/20,” was known for his honeyed delivery and low-key style. He was 99. PAGE A20 OBITUARIES A20-21 A Small-Screen Fixture N.F.L. team owners and the players’ union are considering how to spread out reductions in the salary cap if few or no fans attend games. PAGE B7 SPORTSFRIDAY B7-8 A New Financial Game Plan The filmed version of the hit Broadway musical is more vital and challenging than ever, A.O. Scott writes. PAGE C1 A Bigger Room for ‘Hamilton’ Social media’s freewheeling culture is changing into something more account- able, Kevin Roose writes. PAGE B1 Taming the Wild Wild Web Thousands of Black Lives Matter pro- testers are making their voices — and bells — heard in mass bicycle rides in New York, combining creativity and a bit of two-wheeled flair. PAGE A18 Doing Wheelies for Justice Masks were mandatory on the casino floors of Atlantic City, and food, drinks and smoking were forbidden. PAGE A7 Taking a Chance in New Jersey Paul Krugman PAGE A23 EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23 At least 162 died when a waste pile slid into a jade mine, setting off a towering wave of mud and water. PAGE A11 INTERNATIONAL A11-13 Mine Collapses in Myanmar VOL. CLXIX . . . No. 58,743 © 2020 The New York Times Company FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2020 Printed in Chicago $3.00 Mostly sunny. Hot. Isolated after- noon and evening thunderstorms north. Highs in upper 80s to middle 90s. Mostly clear tonight. Lows in 60s to 70s. Weather map, Page A24. National Edition
