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FLINT, Mich. — A queue of carsstretched for more than a half
mileoutside a church in Flint on Thurs-day morning, filled with
residentswaiting for free cases of bottledwater, as they have since
taintedwater began streaming out oftheir taps six years ago.
Miles away in downtown Flint,something more novel was hap-
pening: A line of state officials,most prominently Rick
Snyder,the former governor, werecharged with crimes connected tothe
crisis.
After a criminal investigationthat stretched close to two
years,prosecutors in Michigan onThursday announced 41 counts —34
felonies and seven misdemean-ors — against nine officials whoonce
worked in the highest eche-lons of state government. Alongwith the
former governor were his
trusted advisers, top medical offi-cials and two emergency
manag-ers who had been tasked withguiding Flint out of financial
dis-tress.
Prosecutors said the officialsfailed to protect the safety
and
health of Flint residents, whowere sickened by increased
levelsof lead and by Legionnaires' dis-ease after the city’s water
supplywas switched to the Flint River inApril of 2014. At least
nine peopledied of Legionnaires’ in the Flintregion from June of
2014 throughOctober of 2015; two of the offi-cials on Thursday were
chargedwith nine counts of involuntarymanslaughter.
“The Flint water crisis is not
Charges for 9 Officials Give Flint Some Relief, but ‘Trust Is
Gone’By KATHLEEN GRAYand JULIE BOSMAN
Pain and Anger Endure in the Water Crisis
Continued on Page A18
ULET IFANSASTI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
The funeral in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Thursday of a flight
attendant who died when a Sriwijaya AirBoeing 737-500 plunged into
the Java Sea last week, killing all 62 passengers and crew
members.
Agony After an Air Disaster
WASHINGTON — A day afterthe House impeached PresidentTrump for
inciting a violent insur-rection at the Capitol, Democratsand
Republicans in the Senatewere developing plans on Thurs-day to try
the departing presidentat the same time as they beginconsidering
the agenda of the in-coming one.
Democrats, poised to take uni-fied power in Washington nextweek
for the first time in a decade,worked with Republican leadersto try
to find a proposal to allowthe Senate to split time betweenthe
impeachment trial of Mr.Trump and consideration of Presi-dent-elect
Joseph R. Biden Jr.’scabinet nominees and his $1.9 tril-lion
economic recovery plan to ad-dress the coronavirus.
“It’s far from ideal, no question,”said Senator Richard
Blumenthal,Democrat of Connecticut. But, hesaid, “a dual track is
perfectly do-able if there is a will to make ithappen.”
He said a trial would bestraightforward.
“The evidence is Trump’s ownwords, recorded on video,”
Mr.Blumenthal said. “It’s a questionof whether Republicans want
tostep up and face history.”
Although Senator Mitch Mc-Connell, Republican of Kentuckyand the
majority leader, has pri-vately told advisers that he ap-proves of
the impeachment driveand believes it could help his partypurge
itself of Mr. Trump, he re-fused to begin the proceedingsthis week
while he is still incharge. That means the trial willnot
effectively start until after Mr.Biden is sworn in on
Wednesday,
Parties DebateHow to HandleTrial in Senate
By NICHOLAS FANDOSand CATIE EDMONDSON
Thousands of armed National Guard members were rushed to
Washington to bolster security for next week’s inaugural
celebration.T.J. KIRKPATRICK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Continued on Page A15
Ten months after the coronavi-rus crisis decimated the
labormarket, the resurgent pandemickeeps sending shock wavesthrough
the American economy.
Though more than half of the 22million jobs lost last spring
havebeen regained, a new surge of in-fections has prompted
shutdownsand layoffs that have hit theleisure and hospitality
industriesespecially hard, dealing a setbackto the recovery.
The latest evidence came onThursday when the Labor De-partment
reported that initialclaims for state unemploymentbenefits rose
sharply last week,exceeding one million for the firsttime since
July.
Just days earlier, the govern-ment announced that employershad
shed 140,000 jobs in Decem-ber, the first net decline in
employ-ment since last spring, withrestaurants, bars and hotels
re-cording steep losses.
“We’re in a deep economic hole,and we’re digging in the wrong
di-rection,” said Daniel Zhao, senioreconomist with the career
siteGlassdoor. “The report obviouslyshows that the rise in claims
isworse than expected, and there isreason to think that things are
go-ing to get worse before they aregoing to get better.”
That prospect is all the moretroubling because a major ele-ment
of the relief package signedby President Trump last month —a $300
weekly federal supplementto other unemployment benefits— is set to
run out in mid-March.
President-elect Joseph R. BidenJr. has said he will push a
newstimulus package through Con-gress to provide a lifeline
forworkers and employers until thepandemic can be brought
undercontrol. His plan will include di-rect payments to most
householdsalong with aid to small businessesand local and state
governments.
The recent economic data hasbrought a new sense of urgency
tosuch efforts, with millions strug-gling to make ends meet even
asmore job losses could be in the off-ing.
The Labor Department said onThursday that 1.15 million work-ers
filed initial claims for state un-employment benefits during
thefirst full week of the new year. Afurther 284,000 claims were
filedfor Pandemic Unemployment As-sistance, an emergency
federal
1 Million New Claimsfor Unemployment
By SYDNEY EMBER
Continued on Page A9
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Thurs-day
proposed a $1.9 trillion rescuepackage to combat the
economicdownturn and the Covid-19 crisis,outlining the type of
sweeping aidthat Democrats have demandedfor months and signaling
the shiftin the federal government’s pan-demic response as Mr.
Biden pre-pares to take office.
The package includes morethan $400 billion to combat thepandemic
directly, includingmoney to accelerate vaccine de-ployment and to
safely reopenmost schools within 100 days. An-other $350 billion
would help stateand local governments bridgebudget shortfalls,
while the planwould also include $1,400 directpayments to
individuals, moregenerous unemployment bene-fits, federally
mandated paidleave for workers and large subsi-dies for child care
costs.
“During this pandemic, millionsof Americans, through no fault
oftheir own, have lost the dignityand respect that comes with a
joband a paycheck,” Mr. Biden said ina speech to the nation. “There
isreal pain overwhelming the realeconomy.”
He acknowledged the highprice tag but said the nation couldnot
afford to do anything less.“The very health of our nation is
atstake,” Mr. Biden said, adding thatit “does not come cheaply, but
fail-ure to do so will cost us dearly.”
Mr. Biden took swift action toshape the agenda at a time of
na-tional crisis and a day after Presi-dent Trump’s impeachment in
theHouse. While it reflects the politi-cal shift in Washington as
Demo-
BIDEN PLAN CALLSFOR $1.9 TRILLIONTO BUOY ECONOMY
Cost Signals Shift inCovid Response
By JIM TANKERSLEYand MICHAEL CROWLEY
AMR ALFIKY/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Continued on Page A7
Joseph R. Biden Jr. proposed$1,400 checks for individuals.
At the Whitney, the legacy of theKamoinge photography collective
isfinally in the spotlight. PAGE C1
WEEKEND ARTS C1-14
Catching Up to Black ArtistsHospitals and nursing homes are
pullingout the stops to persuade wary frontlineworkers to get
vaccinated. PAGE B1
BUSINESS B1-7
Cash, Breakfasts and FiringsAfter a summer of protests,
LetitiaJames, the New York attorney general,wants a federal monitor
to overseefuture police responses. PAGE A19
NATIONAL A14-20
State Sues N.Y.P.D. on Tactics
Siegfried Fischbacher was half ofSiegfried & Roy, the show
team thatdazzled Las Vegas. He was 81. PAGE A21
OBITUARIES A21, A24
Magician of Lions and TigersBird song competitions,
resemblingmeditation more than competitivesports, fascinate
Suriname. PAGE A10
INTERNATIONAL A10-13
Battle of the Singing Stars
Dr. Harold N. Bornstein, who attestedthat President Trump was
the “healthi-est president ever,” was 73. PAGE A24
Longtime Trump DoctorIf a resident raven at the Tower ofLondon
died, will a centuries-old proph-ecy of doom come true? PAGE
A13
Omen for Britain, EvermoreDavid Brooks PAGE A23EDITORIAL, OP-ED
A22-23
Regina King’s first film is about a meet-ing of Cassius Clay,
Malcolm X, SamCooke and Jim Brown. PAGE C1
After the 1964 Title Fight
Rudolph W. Giuliani is among the fewallies still eager to jump
into the foxholewith the president. PAGE A16
One of Trump’s Last Allies
In Cleveland County, Okla., thechairman of the local
RepublicanParty openly wondered “why vio-lence is unacceptable,”
just hoursbefore a mob stormed the U.S.Capitol last week. “What the
crapdo you think the American revolu-tion was?” he posted on
Facebook.“A game of friggin pattycake?”
Two days later, the Republicanchairman of Nye County in Neva-da
posted a conspiracy-theory-filled letter on the local
committeewebsite, accusing Vice PresidentMike Pence of treason and
callingthe rioting a “staged event meantto blame Trump
supporters.”
And this week in Virginia,Amanda Chase, a two-term Re-publican
state senator running forgovernor, maintained that Presi-dent Trump
might still be sworninto a second term on Jan. 20 andthat
Republicans who blockedthat “alternative plan” would bepunished by
the president’s sup-porters.
“They’ve got Mitch McConnellup there selling out the
Republi-
can Party,” Ms. Chase, who spokeat the protest in Washington
lastweek, said in an interview. “Theinsurrection is actually the
deepstate with the politicians workingagainst the people to
overthrowour government.”
As Mr. Trump prepares to exitthe White House and face a sec-ond
impeachment trial in the Sen-ate, his ideas continue to exert
agravitational pull in Republicancircles across the country.
Thefalsehoods, white nationalism andbaseless conspiracy theories
hepeddled for four years have be-come ingrained at the
grass-rootslevel of the party, embraced by ac-tivists, local
leaders and electedofficials even as a handful of Re-
Beyond Washington, a G.O.P. ‘Totally Realigned’By LISA LERER
and REID J. EPSTEINTrump Keeps Grip on
Party at State andLocal Level
Continued on Page A17
Laura Engle, 78, lives alone inan apartment in Midtown
Man-hattan. She uses a walker and hasa chronic lung disease. She is
ex-actly the kind of person who mostneeds a coronavirus
vaccine.
And yet, she has found it impos-sible to make an appointment
andhas become lost in the confusingsystem set up by the city and
thestate.
Computer-literate, she navi-gated New York City’s vaccinefinder
page on Monday, found theclosest provider and sent an emailwith her
name and number to setup an appointment. When no onecalled, she
reached out to the ur-gent care’s corporate office, whichtold her
to wait.
She wanted to register at thenew Javits Convention
Centermegasite, which she heard abouton the news, but could not
figureout how.
“I’m willing to wait my turn,”she said, frustrated, “but I
wouldlike to have some feeling that Ihave a turn.”
In the city, over a million olderNew Yorkers started the
weekwith optimism that they would fi-nally gain access to the
vaccine af-ter months of fearing they wouldfall victim to the
coronavirus. Butthe reality of actually getting theshots has proved
to be far moremaddening.
Buggy websites, multiple sign-up systems that act in parallel
butdo not link together and a lack ofoutreach are causing
exaspera-tion and exhaustion among olderNew Yorkers and others
trying toset up vaccination appointments.It is also stymieing New
York’searly efforts to get the vaccine tomany of the city’s most
vulnera-ble, creating a situation that
Older People Who Want ShotsRun Into a Tangle of Red Tape
By SHARON OTTERMAN
Continued on Page A8
The Jacksonville Jaguars hired UrbanMeyer, who led Florida and
Ohio Stateto national titles before retiring in 2018,as their new
head coach. PAGE B11
SPORTSFRIDAY B9-11
College Legend Joins N.F.L.
Acquiring James Harden gives theteam three stars used to
handling theball — a lot. On Pro Basketball. PAGE B9
A Lesson for the Nets: SharingThe two were on a team from
theW.H.O. that is investigating the originsof the coronavirus in
Wuhan. PAGE A4
TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-9
China Denies Scientists Entry
Late Edition
VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 58,939 © 2021 The New York Times Company
NEW YORK, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2021
Today, variably cloudy, mild, high 46.Tonight, cloudy, rainy,
breezy, low45. Tomorrow, rain ending, variablycloudy, isolated
showers, high 46.Weather map appears on Page B8.
$3.00
