Game World!: Your Weekend Briefing

Welcome to the Weekend Briefing. We’re covering the fallout of the latest devastating jobs report, what it will take to reopen New York City and a happy hour-inspired tulip farm.

Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press

1. The U.S. just lost 20 million jobs. Lawmakers now face a make-or-break moment.

As the nation confronts unemployment levels not seen since the Great Depression, Congress and the Trump administration must decide whether to continue spending trillions in stimulus money or bet that state reopenings will jump-start the U.S. economy.

A wrong move could turn temporary layoffs into permanent job losses. Above, a job center in Pasadena, Calif.

Economists, both liberal and conservative, warn that ending aid to businesses and workers without a new strategy could result in partial recoveries, rising infection rates and insufficient support for businesses and the unemployed.

The unemployment rate soared to 14.7 percent, hitting nearly every sector of the labor market. That means barely more than half the adult population of the U.S. now has a job. Here’s what some of the newly jobless had to say.

Have you been keeping up with the headlines? Test your knowledge with our news quiz. And here’s the front page of our Sunday paper, the Sunday Review from Opinion and our crossword puzzles.

Victor J. Blue for The New York Times

2. Climate deniers and some conservatives are promoting fringe claims that the death toll from the coronavirus is being inflated. They’re finding an audience in the White House.

The toll has become a pivotal political indicator for President Trump. According to administration officials, he has begun privately questioning government models and official statistics.

The dysfunction of the White House’s pandemic response was laid out in a whistle-blower complaint filed this week by the former head of an agency in charge of vaccines.

More than 1.3 million people in the U.S. have been infected, and at least 78,700 have died. A Times analysis found that nearly a third of those deaths were linked to long-term-care homes for older adults. Above, moving a body to a temporary morgue outside a Brooklyn hospital.

Samuel Corum for The New York Times

3. The Justice Department’s extraordinary decision to drop charges against Michael Flynn stunned career prosecutors and legal experts.

After Mr. Flynn had already twice pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about contacts with the Russian government, his allies helped reorient the mistrust of some Republicans over his cooperation with law enforcement and painted him as an innocent victim of a justice system run amok.

While on a call with ex-aides, former President Barack Obama said that by dropping the case, the Justice Department was endangering the “rule of law.” President Trump has begun musing about rehiring Mr. Flynn, pictured above in 2018.

Sean Rayford/Getty Images

4. Ahmaud Arbery was killed in February. Why did arrests take months?

The delayed arrests and charges — which came after a local lawyer released a graphic video of the fatal confrontation between Mr. Arbery, who was black, and two white men — were just the latest in a series of troubling episodes involving the Glynn County Police Department. We examined the Georgia department’s flawed past.

Black runners have long taken steps to avoid racial profiling and violence. After the shooting death of Mr. Arbery, who was out running when he was killed, many say their fear has taken on a new urgency. Above, a memorial to Mr. Arbery near the site where he was killed in Brunswick, Ga.

Andrew Seng for The New York Times

5. What will it take to reopen New York City?

The reasons for the outbreak’s spread, especially the city’s density, complicate a return to normalcy. And despite all the plans and initiatives, reopening remains a long way off. The key is containing the virus, which will require a system of testing and contact tracing unlike anything the U.S. has ever seen, public health experts say.

Here’s how America’s biggest city is thinking about coming back to some semblance of normal life. In the meantime, these are some of the things that we New Yorkers achingly miss (some of them may surprise you). Above, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which remains closed.

More than 19,000 people have died in New York City. We broke the outbreak down by ZIP code.

Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

6. Seoul shut down all bars and nightclubs indefinitely after at least 27 new coronavirus infections were traced to a single nightlife district.

South Korea’s aggressive pandemic response — powered by contact tracing and mass testing — has largely halted the virus, and the country has been encouraging people to socialize, carefully, under the slogan “a new daily life with Covid-19.” The new cluster underlines how loosened social restrictions can generate further waves.

Above, diligent mask-wearing last week in Seoul.

Elsewhere in Asia, one group is seeing a benefit to the lifting of social distancing measures. Our correspondent’s overheated schnauzer needed a trim in Bangkok, and the government opened up pet groomers just in time.

Alonso Gonzalez/Reuters

7. We remember Little Richard, the flashy wild man of rock ’n’ roll who drew deeply from gospel and the blues to create a thrilling, dangerous new sound. He died at 87 on Saturday. The cause was bone cancer.

The musician, above, born Richard Penniman, was, as one music historian put it, “crucial in upping the voltage from high-powered R&B into the similar, yet different, guise of rock ’n’ roll.”

And there was another notable Covid-19 death. Roy Horn, who levitated tigers, made elephants vanish and mesmerized Las Vegas for decades as half of Siegfried & Roy, died with the virus at 75. Read more from our “Those We’ve Lost” series.

Photo Illustration by Jessica Lehrman for The New York Times

8. Blame Pluto.

The prominent astrologer Susan Miller placed responsibility for the coronavirus on the distant dwarf planet in March after her earlier, pre-pandemic prediction of a “great” 2020 seemed to miss the mark.

There were some taunts. But the fact that astrologers did not see the virus coming hasn’t made their practice any less popular. In fact, horoscope sites have reported rising traffic as people look to the stars to give shape to a formless quarantine life.

Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

9. Five old high school friends in Washington State went to a happy hour and wound up buying a tulip farm. Their timing could not have been worse.

A delicate and colorful symbol of spring that for growers reaches a financial peak on Mother’s Day quickly became another victim of the pandemic. But within weeks, the power of friendship and innovation saved their enterprise.

In case you forgot to get Mom flowers, here are some other suggestions to make her happy: Have a socially distanced picnic, make ice cream in a Mason jar, or watch one of these flicks with unorthodox matriarchs. These recipes may help, as well.

Jeff Minton for The New York Times

10. And finally, dig into one of our Best Weekend Reads.

This week our journalists explore Val Kilmer’s deep faith in destiny, a look at the future of travel, walks that help us cope, and more. Above, Mr. Kilmer in his offices in Hollywood.

For more ideas on what to read, watch and listen to, may we suggest these 10 new books our editors like, a glance at the latest small-screen recommendations from Watching, and our music critics’ latest playlist.

Happy Mother’s Day to all who are celebrating, and if you’re not, we hope you find a way to treat yourself this week.

Your Weekend Briefing is published Sundays at 6 a.m. Eastern.

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