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OAKLAND, Calif. — In 1978, aLos Angeles businessman namedHoward Jarvis led an insurgentcampaign to pass Proposition 13, aballot measure that limited Cali-fornia property taxes and inspireda nationwide tax revolt. The lawhas been considered sacrosanctever since, something Californiagovernors and legislators chal-lenge at their peril.
Now, as a pandemic tearsthrough local budgets, a well-fi-nanced campaign backed byteachers’ unions has mounted aserious challenge to a major por-tion of the law: its application tocommercial property.
If voters approve the effort nextweek, they will give labor and pro-gressive groups a striking victoryin raising the low tax rates thatlongtime property owners enjoy.If it fails, the campaign will have
spent tens of millions of dollarsonly to affirm that Proposition 13is untouchable.
The new initiative, Proposition15, would amend the state’s Con-stitution so that properties like of-
fices and industrial parks wouldno longer be protected by Proposi-tion 13. By creating a “split roll”system, in which residential prop-erty would continue to be shieldedfrom tax increases but commer-cial property would not, backershope to capitalize on Democraticenergy to raise taxes on large cor-porations without alarming home-owners.
“We can’t afford to continue to
New Challenges Push Californians to Rethink Tax Revolt of 1978By CONOR DOUGHERTY Once Thought Sacred,
a Measure Is Tested
Continued on Page A23
ERIC THAYER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
As a pair of rapidly growing wildfires threatened homes across Orange County, officials told 90,000 people to evacuate. Page A22.Thousands Flee California Blazes
The financial crisis was in fullswing when Donald J. Trump trav-eled to Chicago in late September2008 to mark the near-completionof his 92-floor skyscraper.
The fortunes of big companies,small businesses and millions ofAmericans — including theTrumps — were in peril. But thefamily patriarch was jubilant ashe stood on the terrace of hisgleaming glass tower.
“We’re in love with the build-ing,” Mr. Trump gushed. “We’revery, very happy with what’s hap-pened with respect to this buildingand how fast we put it up.”
He and his family hoped theTrump International Hotel &Tower would cement their compa-ny’s reputation as one of theworld’s marquee developers ofluxury real estate.
Instead, the skyscraper becameanother disappointment in a port-folio filled with them. Construc-tion lagged. Condos proved hardto sell. Retail space sat vacant.
Yet for Mr. Trump and his com-pany, the Chicago experience also
turned out to be something else:the latest example of his ability tostrong-arm major financial insti-tutions and exploit the tax code tocushion the blow of his repeatedbusiness failures.
The president’s federal incometax records, obtained by The NewYork Times, show for the first timethat, since 2010, his lenders haveforgiven about $287 million in debtthat he failed to repay. The vastmajority was related to the Chi-cago project.
How Mr. Trump found trouble inChicago, and maneuvered his wayout of it, is a case study in doingbusiness the Trump way.
When the project encounteredproblems, he tried to walk awayfrom his huge debts. For most in-
How Trump Wriggled Out of Trouble in ChicagoThis article is by David Enrich,
Russ Buettner, Mike McIntire andSusanne Craig.
A Faltering Skyscraper,Defaults, Lawsuits
and Tax Dodges
Continued on Page A14
BRITAIN Health workers arefacing a second wave, but thistime with less support. PAGE A7
MILWAUKEE — The patientwho died on Tuesday morning atAurora St. Luke’s Medical Centerwas rolled out of her room under awhite sheet. One nurse, fightingback tears, stood silently in thehall as the outline of the bodypassed by — one more death in aneight-month-old pandemic thathas no end in sight.
“Those moments, they hit thesoul,” said Jodie Gord, a nursemanager who oversees a team ofabout 120 people at the hospital inMilwaukee.
Aurora St. Luke’s is far fromalone in coming under strain. Hos-pitals around the United Statesare reeling from the rampagingspread of the coronavirus, manyof them in parts of the country thatinitially had been spared theworst.
Approaching the eve of the elec-tion, President Trump has down-played the steep rise in cases, at-tributing much of it to increasedtesting. But the number of peoplehospitalized for the virus tells adifferent story, climbing an esti-mated 46 percent from a monthago and raising fears about the ca-pacity of regional health care sys-tems to respond to overwhelmingdemand.
The exploding case numberspoint to a volatile new phase in thepandemic, coming after earlierwaves hit large cities such as NewYork, then Sun Belt states likeFlorida and Arizona. While someof those places have begun tobring the virus under control, thesurge of hospitalizations is crip-pling some cities with fewer re-sources.
In El Paso, where the number ofpeople hospitalized with Covid-19has more than tripled over the lastthree weeks, doctors at UniversityMedical Center have started air-lifting some patients to hospitalsas far away as San Antonio whiletreating others in a field hospitalin a nearby parking lot. Across theborder in Mexico, the mayor of Ci-udad Juárez, himself hospitalizedafter testing positive for the virusfor the second time, is urging atemporary ban on U.S. citizenscrossing into his city.
“We have never seen this in ElPaso,” said Dr. Joel Hendryx, chiefmedical officer at University Med-ical Center, one of the largest hos-pitals along the border. Citing theneed for field hospitals, Dr.Hendryx drew a sharp contrast tothe city’s earlier surge in July,when mitigation measures drovecase numbers down.
Dr. Hendryx’s hospital had 195inpatient coronavirus cases as ofTuesday compared with about 30
CRUSHING NEEDSSTRAIN HOSPITALSAMID VIRUS SURGE
BEDS IN SHORT SUPPLY
An Explosive New PhaseHits Regions Spared
by Earlier Waves
This article is by Giulia McDon-nell Nieto del Rio, Simon Romeroand Mike Baker.
Continued on Page A7
Fungie, who for 37 years has poweredan Irish town’s tourist industry, isfeared to have left for good. PAGE A10
INTERNATIONAL A8-11
Beloved Dolphin Goes MissingEven amid food insecurity, and withlimited ingredients, chefs on the islandcook in ways that are soul-nourishing.Above, arroz con pollo. PAGE D1
FOOD D1-8
Puerto Rican Comfort Food
“Swirling,” the group’s first album ofnew recordings in 20 years, is an affir-mation of how vital the band remainsunder the direction of the 96-year-oldsaxophonist Marshall Allen. PAGE C1
ARTS C1-8
Sun Ra Arkestra’s JourneyThe home rental company is racing toaddress the risks that rowdy guestspose before it goes public. PAGE B1
BUSINESS B1-6
Airbnb’s ‘Party House Problem’Astor Place Hairstylists, a beacon ofNew York cool for decades, could notrecover from the pandemic and willclose before Thanksgiving. PAGE A4
TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-7
An East Village Casualty
U.S. drones and allies killed several topQaeda operatives in the past week. Butthe group isn’t going away. PAGE A9
Al Qaeda’s Staying Power
A law that Republicans say lets Face-book and Twitter mute conservativeviews is likely to take center stage at aSenate hearing on Wednesday. PAGE B1
Targeting Tech’s Legal Shield
Despite the continued shutdown ofmovie houses throughout New YorkCity, indie theaters just may survive:They are less reliant on Hollywood andhave a loyal audience. PAGE C1
Resilience of Small CinemasPfizer’s chief executive said that much-anticipated results from its clinical trialwouldn’t be coming this month. PAGE A6
Tamping Down Vaccine Hopes
Thomas L. Friedman PAGE A24EDITORIAL, OP-ED A24-25A Russian biathlete was stripped of his
Olympic medals as the doping scandalshowed no signs of abating. PAGE B9
SPORTSWEDNESDAY B7-9
Tarnished Olympic GoldFeeling that the nation is destabilizedand fearful of unrest, more people arebeginning to arm themselves. PAGE A12
NATIONAL A12-23
American Arsenal
WASHINGTON — The Trumpadministration has recently re-moved the chief scientist at theNational Oceanic and Atmos-pheric Administration, the na-tion’s premier scientific agency,installed new political staff whohave questioned accepted factsabout climate change and im-posed stricter controls on commu-nications at the agency.
The moves threaten to stifle amajor source of objective UnitedStates government informationabout climate change that under-pins federal rules on greenhousegas emissions and offer an indica-tion of the direction the agencywill take if President Trump winsre-election.
An early sign of the shift camelast month, when Erik Noble, aformer White House policy advis-er who had just been appointedNOAA’s chief of staff, removedCraig McLean, the agency’s act-ing chief scientist.
Mr. McLean had sent some ofthe new political appointees amessage that asked them to ac-knowledge the agency’s scientificintegrity policy, which prohibitsmanipulating research orpresenting ideologically drivenfindings.
The request prompted a sharpresponse from Dr. Noble. “Re-spectfully, by what authority areyou sending this to me?” he wrote,according to a person who re-ceived a copy of the exchange af-ter it was circulated within NOAA.
Mr. McLean answered that hisrole as acting chief scientist madehim responsible for ensuring thatthe agency’s rules on scientific in-tegrity were followed.
The following morning, Dr. No-ble responded. “You no longerserve as the acting chief scientistfor NOAA,” he informed Mr. Mc-Lean, adding that a new chief sci-entist had already been ap-pointed. “Thank you for yourservice.”
It was not the first time NOAA
President ActsTo UndermineScience Agency
A New Staff QuestionsClimate Change
By CHRISTOPHER FLAVELLEand LISA FRIEDMAN
The National Oceanic and At-mospheric Administration.
STEFANI REYNOLDS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Continued on Page A15
WARM SPRINGS, Ga. — Jo-seph R. Biden Jr. reached for polit-ical history on Tuesday as heswept into a red-state town withdeep Democratic resonance andmade a direct pitch to voters whoflocked to President Trump in2016, urging them to give him achance to “heal” the country aftera year of crippling crises.
One week from Election Day,Mr. Biden chose to expend pre-cious political time and capital onGeorgia, a state that has not votedfor a Democratic presidential can-didate since 1992, but where pub-lic and private polling indicate hecan win if he assembles a coalitionof staunch Democrats, Black vot-
ers, white suburban women andenough white voters in rural areaslike Warm Springs to put him overthe top.
Delivering a speech intended tobe part of his closing argument tovoters in the homestretch, Mr. Bi-den traveled to the onetime re-treat of Franklin D. Roosevelt,making a let-us-come-togetherappeal that evoked the sort ofcommon purpose that sustainedthe country during the Great De-pression and World War II andthat Mr. Biden said was needed toovercome the coronavirus.
With language that at timessounded more like that of a presi-
Biden Reaches Across a DivideAnd All the Way Back to F.D.R.
By JONATHAN MARTIN and KATIE GLUECK
Continued on Page A16
The Supreme Court decisionon Monday barring the countingof mail-in ballots in Wisconsinthat arrive after Election Daywas not a surprise for many
Democrats, whohad pressed for itbut expected tolose.
But a concurring opinion byJustice Brett M. Kavanaugh setoff alarms among civil rights andDemocratic Party lawyers, whoviewed it as giving public sup-port to President Trump’s argu-ments that any results countedafter Nov. 3 could be riddled withfraudulent votes — an assertionunsupported by the history ofelections in the United States.
The decision also unnervedDemocrats and local electionofficials in Pennsylvania, whereRepublicans are asking the Su-preme Court to weigh in again onwhether the state can acceptballots received up to three daysafter Election Day. While Demo-crats in Wisconsin had beenappealing for an extension, thecurrent rules in Pennsylvaniaallow for ballots to arrive threedays after the election. Anychange could threaten the morethan 1.4 million absentee ballots
Justice EchoesTrump’s View
On Balloting
By JIM RUTENBERGand NICK CORASANITI
NEWSANALYSIS
Continued on Page A13
TOM PENNINGTON/GETTY IMAGES
Los Angeles beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 3-1, to end a 32-year World Series title drought. Page B7.Dodgers Are Back on Top
Late Edition
VOL. CLXX . . . No. 58,860 + © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2020
Today, mostly cloudy, morning rain,high 59. Tonight, mostly cloudy, low50. Tomorrow, cloudy, rain much ofthe day, heavy in the afternoon, high54. Weather map is on Page A26.
$3.00
