Social Responsibility

Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey returned Monday to the familiar territory of Hudson County, N.J., a Democratic bastion where he rose to political prominence, to publicly address the corruption charges that now threaten his career and his freedom.Standing alone at a lectern, accused of bribery for the second time in a decade, he indicated that he had no intention of bowing to the chorus of voices calling for his resignation.The allegations, he said, were framed by prosecutors to “be as salacious as possible.”“I recognize that this will be the biggest fight yet,” Mr. Menendez, a Democrat, said as heavy…

A spokesman for former President Donald J. Trump posted a video on Monday showing him at a gun shop in South Carolina, declaring that he had just bought a Glock pistol.The post on X, formerly known as Twitter, included video of Mr. Trump, the front-runner for the Republican Party’s nomination for president who is facing four criminal indictments. He looked over the dullish gold firearm, a special Trump edition Glock that depicts his likeness and says “Trump 45th,” as he visited the Palmetto State Armory outlet in Summerville, S.C. “I want to buy one,” he said twice in the video.“President…

When you mention the question of music in schools, two issues will typically come up: the pandemic and shrinking funding. Both of these are important, but they’re also missing the fundamental problem. Pandemic disruptions and the temporary halt of in-person teaching certainly exacerbated problems around musical education, but they didn’t create them. According to a study conducted over seven years in Texas, beginning in 2013, public school students in grades six to 12 had a band attrition rate of 80 percent, with the greatest declines happening between the first and second year of instruction. In a separate prepandemic study, California…

Of all the details in the federal indictment of Senator Robert Menendez, one of the most eye-popping may be the assertion that a sizable chunk of the graft he is charged with collecting came in the form of gold bars.The indictment does not say why Mr. Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, and his wife would accept such bribes along with the roughly $550,000 in cash and luxury car that prosecutors say were found in searches of the couple’s home and a safe deposit box.Although gold is widely considered a dubious investment because it yields no revenue, can be costly to…

Our busy schedules can make it hard to find time to spend in nature, and it may seem especially hard in urban areas. But at a time when so many Americans are struggling with loneliness and isolation, spending a few moments outdoors can help us feel more connected.Fortunately, there are several easy things you can do to get out in nature, no matter where you live. You can start by sinking your bare feet in a patch of dirt and consider the ways by which the soil nourishes the plants and animals that in turn nourish us. Maybe you can…

American spy agencies provided information to Ottawa after the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in the Vancouver area, but Canada developed the most definitive intelligence that led it to accuse India of orchestrating the plot, according to Western allied officials.In the aftermath of the killing, U.S. intelligence agencies offered their Canadian counterparts context that helped Canada conclude that India had been involved. Yet what appears to be the “smoking gun,” intercepted communications of Indian diplomats in Canada indicating involvement in the plot, was gathered by Canadian officials, allied officials said.While Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has called on…

Greg Marston, a British voice actor, recently came across “Connor” online — an A.I.-generated clone of his voice, trained on a recording Mr. Marston had made in 2003. It was his voice uttering things he had never said.Back then, he had recorded a session for IBM and later signed a release form allowing the recording to be used in many ways. Of course, at that time, Mr. Marston couldn’t envision that IBM would use anything more than the exact utterances he had recorded. Thanks to artificial intelligence, however, IBM was able to sell Mr. Marston’s decades-old sample to websites that…

When it comes to his view of the United States government, Representative Bob Good, a right-wing Republican who represents a Virginia district that was once the domain of Thomas Jefferson, doesn’t mince words.“Most of what Congress does is not good for the American people,” Mr. Good declared in an interview off the House floor as the chamber descended into chaos last week. “Most of what we do as a Congress is totally unjustified.”Though his harsh assessment is a minority opinion even among his Republican colleagues, it encapsulates the perspective that is animating the hard right on Capitol Hill and, increasingly,…

Ophelia was downgraded to a tropical depression on Saturday night after making landfall in the morning as a tropical storm near Emerald Isle, N.C., bringing high winds that knocked out power for thousands and heavy rains and storm surge that flooded roadways in parts of the Mid-Atlantic.As of 8 p.m. on Saturday, the storm was about 60 miles south-southwest of Richmond, Va., and its maximum sustained winds had decreased to 35 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm is expected to cause “considerable flash, urban, and small stream flooding,” from North Carolina to New Jersey, the center…