Your Monday Evening Briefing

Ralph Northam, Venezuela, Super Bowl View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Monday, February 4, 2019 [NYTimes.com »]( [Your Monday Evening Briefing]( By REMY TUMIN AND HIROKO MASUIKE Good evening. Here’s the latest. Parker Michels-Boyce for The New York Times 1. Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia showed no sign of resigning over a racist photograph on his medical school yearbook page, fending off pressure from his aides and Democratic allies. [The weekend-long tumult]( over the image came to a head on Monday as state legislators returned to a Capitol thrown into chaos, and with the governor’s possible successor, [Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, emphatically denying]( an accusation of sexual assault. As for the governor’s performance at his weekend news conference, he [showed no sense of history and little shame]( our critic-at-large writes. _____ Meridith Kohut for The New York Times 2. The world is increasingly [taking sides on who should be the rightful leader of Venezuela](. Seven E.U. countries joined the U.S., Canada, Australia and much of Latin America in recognizing Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader who declared himself interim president on Jan. 23. Russia and Cuba continue to support Nicolás Maduro, whose election last year was widely considered fraudulent. Above, Mr. Guaidó with a relative of a victim killed by government forces during a street protest. Mr. Guaidó has [been working tirelessly]( to get more government insiders, particularly military leaders who have stood by Mr. Maduro, to flip sides. Over the weekend, [he got at least one](. _____ Kevin D. Liles for The New York Times 3. How boring was the Super Bowl? So boring [the punts were the most exciting plays](. The [halftime show was forgettable]( and even [the commercials were tame](. But the New England Patriots are happy. Fly with us [through 3-D scenes]( that show their two decisive moments. The N.F.L.’s overture to have civil rights leaders perform the coin toss struck some as cynical, but it was an [effort by the league to thread the needle]( between appeasing conservative fans and addressing the questions and criticism it has received over racial issues. We also take a look at [the Super Bowl that should have been](. _____ Sarah Silbiger/The New York Times 4. In Washington: President Trump said he had picked his nominee to lead the Interior Department, following the resignation of Ryan Zinke. His choice: [David Bernhardt]( a former oil lobbyist, far right. While Mr. Zinke had been the face of rollbacks of public-land protections, Mr. Bernhardt, as deputy chief of the department, quietly developed the plans to open millions of acres of public land and water to oil, gas and coal companies. If confirmed, he will play a crucial role in carrying out what Mr. Trump has described as an “energy dominance” agenda for the country. The Times is gearing up for Mr. Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night. A forecast: The House’s new Democratic majority [will confront Mr. Trump on the state of the country’s disunion](. _____ Eve Edelheit for The New York Times 5. Head Start, the country’s biggest preschool program, is getting better — thanks to bipartisan cooperation. More than a decade after Congress got together to [impose new standards]( on the program, including periodic classroom audits, the share of classrooms ranked good or excellent has risen more than fourfold and the overall quality has improved. Above, a Head Start classroom in Jacksonville, Fla. “The fact that both parties were behind it meant you couldn’t just end it on a whim,” said former Representative George Miller, a California Democrat who pushed the overhaul. “Programs understood they had to step up their game.” _____ Yana Paskova for The New York Times 6. The federal jail in Brooklyn that has been largely without heat for over a week is the subject of a new lawsuit calling the situation a “humanitarian crisis.” Lawyers with the federal public defender’s office say the inmates have been locked down in frigid, dark cells since an electrical fire and power failure on Jan. 27 put the jail on emergency power. The suit says that a decision by the jail, made during the partial government shutdown, to [cut off inmates’ legal visits with their lawyers]( violates their constitutional rights. Protesters and family members [gathered outside the jail on Sunday]( “If there is no heat,” a sister of an inmate shouted, “bang on the windows!” The sound of pounding filled the street. _____ Dominic Valente for The New York Times 7. Automation is splitting the American labor force in two. Our economics reporter pictures an island — a relatively small group of highly educated professionals making good wages — awash in a sea of workers without college degrees, stuck at businesses like hotels, restaurants and nursing homes that generate much smaller profits per employee and stay viable primarily by keeping wages low. Above, an assembly line for Tasers at Axon in Scottsdale, Ariz. “Jobs grow in health care, social assistance, accommodation, food services, building administration and waste services,” [he writes](. “Not only are some of the tasks tough to automate, employers have little financial incentive to replace low-wage workers with machines.” _____ Christophe Petit Tesson/EPA, via Shutterstock 8. Chanel’s elaborately staged ready-to-wear shows are a much-anticipated staple of the fashion calendar — and [this one in Paris last fall was especially transporting]( 80 barefoot models walked down a runway of sandy beach while waves lapped at their feet. In the Grand Palais. We mention it as New York Fashion Week begins this week. And just in time, one of the best people-watching restaurants in Paris just landed in New York. [Our chief fashion critic visited the French canteen.]( _____ Illustration by Thoka Maer 9. A young maid from Santo Domingo discovers that she must travel back in time to save the world. A troubled young man living in Cape Town tries to break a family curse. We’re launching a new column called [Globetrotting]( your sneak preview of books coming out in 2019 from around the world. Need a new book for February? [Here are 12 to check out](. Separately, Pamela Paul, The Times’s Book Review editor and co-author of the forthcoming book “How to Raise a Reader,” makes her case in an [essay for our Opinion section]( for letting children be bored. “Boredom leads to flights of fancy,” she writes. “But ultimately, to self-discipline. To resourcefulness.” _____ JSC/NASA 10. Finally, we end with the restless magnetic north pole, seen above through the Aurora borealis. The point on Earth that helps compasses determine direction is constantly shifting, thanks to the liquid iron sloshing within our planet’s outer core. Its accelerating path from Canada toward Siberia has rendered navigation systems incorrect, but a new [World Magnetic Model should fix the problem](. The pole’s recent journey, along with other changes — like a weakening of Earth’s magnetic field — has led some scientists to wonder whether the north and south magnetic poles might be preparing to flip. Have a stellar night. _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing. [Sign up here]( to get it by email in the Australian, Asian, European or American morning. Want to catch up on past briefings? [You can browse them here](. What did you like? What do you want to see here? 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