rife with risks on edge in year · sanders haul senator bernie sanders opened with the largest 2020...

VOL. CLXVIII . . . No. 58,250 © 2019 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019

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Oregon is expected to enact the nation’sfirst statewide rent control law. Otherstates are watching closely. PAGE A12

NATIONAL A12-19

Trying to Curb Housing Costs

BEIJING — China’s leader, XiJinping, abruptly summoned hun-dreds of officials to Beijing re-cently, forcing some to reschedulelong-planned local assemblies.The meeting seemed orchestratedto convey anxious urgency. TheCommunist Party, Mr. Xi told theofficials, faces major risks on allfronts and must batten down thehatches.

Whether dealing with foreignpolicy, trade, unemployment, orproperty prices, he declared, offi-cials would be held responsible ifthey slipped up and let dangersspiral into real threats.

“Globally, sources of turmoiland points of risk are multiply-ing,” he told the gathering in Janu-ary at the Central Party School. Athome, he added, “the party is atrisk from indolence, incompe-tence and of becoming divorcedfrom the public.”

The speech was one of Mr. Xi’sstarkest warnings since he cameto power in 2012, and has beenechoed at hundreds of local partymeetings nationwide.

It underscores how slowinggrowth and China’s grinding tradefight with the United States havemagnified the party leadership’schronic fears of social unrest.Trade talks in Washington be-tween American and Chinese offi-cials ended last week without anofficial agreement, although Pres-ident Trump delayed a deadline toincrease tariffs on Chinese goods,saying that negotiators were mak-ing progress.

“Beijing is confronting signifi-cant pressure from the interna-tional community over its politicaland business practices that onlyadds to its difficulties in dealingwith its domestic issues,” saidElizabeth C. Economy, a senior fel-low at the Council on Foreign Re-lations in New York who wrote“The Third Revolution,” a study ofMr. Xi.

There are no political challeng-ers on the horizon who could posean immediate threat to the Com-munist Party or Mr. Xi. But his re-marks made clear that especiallyin 2019 — a year of politically sen-sitive anniversaries — the partywould aggressively extinguishsparks that could ignite protestsand turbulence.

CHINESE LEADERON EDGE IN YEAR

RIFE WITH RISKS

STARK WARNING FROM XI

Sensitive Anniversariesand Trade War Could

Ignite Turbulence

By CHRIS BUCKLEY

Continued on Page A9

CHICAGO — The sparkle ofdowntown, the influx of tech jobs,the tourist dollars pouring intocity coffers: None of those thingsare keeping many in Chicago’sblack neighborhoods from loadingtheir belongings into car trunksand moving vans and seeking bet-ter lives someplace else.

As Chicagoans go to the polls onTuesday to choose a new mayor inone of the most wide-open elec-tions the nation’s third-largest cityhas experienced in generations,many African-Americans havecast their votes another way. Theyhave moved out.

Downtown Chicago is booming,its skyline dotted with construc-tion cranes. Yet residents only afew miles to the south and west

still wrestle with entrenched gangviolence, miserable job prospectsand shuttered schools — some ofthe still-being-identified forces,experts say, that are pushingblack Chicagoans to pack up andget out.

Of the nation’s largest five cit-ies, only Chicago saw its popula-tion decline in 2017, the third yearin a row. Over all, the drops in thiscity of 2.7 million residents are

only slight. But the trend is alarm-ing to city leaders, and demogra-phers say it reveals a larger truth:Black residents are leaving by thethousands each year even as newwhite residents flow in.

The Rev. Ira Acree said mem-bers of his West Side congregationhave begun approaching him ingrowing numbers to say goodbye;

Elect Mayor? Many Black Chicagoans Give City Itself a ‘No’ VoteBy MONICA DAVEY

Continued on Page A19

WASHINGTON — The routinewas always the same. PresidentTrump’s lawyers would drive toheavily secured offices near theNational Mall, surrender theircellphones, head into a window-less conference room and resumetense negotiations over whetherthe special counsel, Robert S.Mueller III, would interview Mr.Trump.

But Mr. Mueller was not alwaysthere. Instead, the lawyers tan-gled with a team of prosecutors,including a little known but formi-dable adversary: Andrew D.Goldstein, 44, a former Time mag-azine reporter who is now a leadprosecutor for Mr. Mueller in theinvestigation into whether thepresident obstructed justice.

Mr. Mueller is often portrayedas the omnipotent fact-gatherer,but it is Mr. Goldstein who has a

much more involved, day-to-dayrole in one of the central lines ofinvestigation.

Mr. Goldstein, the lone prosecu-tor in Mr. Mueller’s office whocame directly from a corruptionunit at the Justice Department,has conducted every major inter-view of the president’s advisers.He questioned Donald F. McGahnII, Mr. Trump’s former WhiteHouse counsel, and Michael D. Co-hen, Mr. Trump’s former fixer andlawyer, for dozens of hours. Hesigned Mr. Cohen’s plea agree-ment. He conducted grand juryquestioning of associates of RogerJ. Stone Jr., the former adviser toMr. Trump who was indicted lastmonth.

And he was one of two prosecu-tors who relayed to the president’slawyers dozens of questions about

Cautious and Calm ProsecutorQuietly Anchors Mueller Team

By NOAH WEILAND and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT

Continued on Page A16

NIPAM H. PATEL

Split-sex creatures may help researchers fight diseases. Above, the middle butterfly has male and female characteristics. Page D1.Male, Female, All of the Above

DES MOINES — At the veryfirst event of her first full day inIowa as a presidential candidate,Senator Kamala Harris wasgreeted by a Democratic voterwho delivered a pointed recom-mendation about the best path tothe White House.

The voter, Rahul Parsa, whoteaches at Iowa State University’sbusiness school, said he told Ms.Harris at a gathering of Asian andLatino activists that she needs tothink of the Democratic Party inthe Midwest like a struggling re-tail business — and that sheshould seek out not just the regu-lar customers, but those who arenot loyal supporters as well.

“Kamala needs to find out whythe people voted for Trump, whatare their issues?” said Mr. Parsa,adding that he had one overarch-ing demand for the burgeoningfield of would-be nominees: “Youneed to bring some states in theMidwest.”

As the Democratic race takesflight, with one or more candi-dates entering the race almost ev-ery week, Mr. Parsa’s viewpointrepresents one side of a long-sim-mering debate within the party:Should Democrats redouble theirefforts to win back the industrialheartland that effectively deliv-ered the presidency to Donald J.Trump? Or should they turn theirattention to more demographical-ly promising Sun Belt states likeGeorgia and Arizona?

With polls indicating that elec-toral viability is as important tovoters as any policy issue, a hand-ful of the party’s prospects are al-ready holding up their Midwest-ern credentials to make the casethat they are the ones who canturn Big Ten country — Pennsyl-vania, Michigan, Wisconsin —blue again.

Senator Amy Klobuchar of Min-nesota went immediately to next-door Wisconsin after declaringher candidacy earlier this month,making a hard-to-miss pointabout her eagerness to compete ina state Hillary Clinton never vis-ited in the 2016 general election.Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio,who has not officially entered therace, used his first Iowa trip tomake a beeline for a county thatwent for former President BarackObama by over 20 points in 2012

Different Paths For DemocratsTo Win in 2020

Rust Belt or Sun Belt?Some Aim for Both

By JONATHAN MARTINand ALEXANDER BURNS

Continued on Page A18

Armchair investors have beenselling stock.

So have pension funds and mu-tual funds, as well as a whole othercategory of investors — nonprofitgroups, endowments, private eq-uity firms and personal trusts.

The stock market is off to itsbest start since 1987, but these in-vestors are expected to dumphundreds of billions of dollars ofshares this year.

So who is pushing priceshigher? In part, the companiesthemselves.

American corporations flushwith cash from last year’s tax cutsand a growing economy are buy-ing back their own shares at an ex-traordinary clip. They have goodreason: Buybacks allow them toreturn cash to shareholders, bur-nish key measures of financialperformance and goose theirshare prices.

The surge in buybacks reflectsa fundamental shift in how themarket is operating, cementingthe position of corporations as thesingle largest source of demandfor American stocks. The bingehas helped sustain a bull marketapproaching its 10th birthday,

even in the face of political, inter-national and economic uncer-tainty.

Since the market rally began inMarch 2009, the S&P 500 has risenmore than 300 percent as theUnited States recovered from theworst financial crisis since theGreat Depression. But few expectthose kinds of gains over the next

As Companies Buy Back Shares,A Sell-Off Wears a Bull’s Horns

By MATT PHILLIPS

Uncertainty persists, but buy-backs have buoyed the market.

BRENDAN McDERMID/REUTERS

Continued on Page A15

BRYAN DENTON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

This year’s Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest religious gathering, is the most expensive ever. But a holy man rated it “a zero.” Page A11.Millions in India Converge to Wash Away Sins

LOS ANGELES — Somethingseismic was happening during theAcademy Awards ceremony onSunday night. The Hollywood es-tablishment, excoriated for itslongtime exclusion of women andminorities, recognized African-American production design andcostume virtuosos for the firsttime. Asian-American filmmakerswere honored. A movie about agay rock star collected four tro-phies.

“I want to thank the academyfor recognizing a film centeredaround an indigenous woman,” Al-fonso Cuarón said as he acceptedthe award for best director for“Roma,” about a domestic workerin Mexico City.

But then came “Green Book.”In a choice that prompted im-

mediate blowback — from, amongothers, the director Spike Lee,who threw up his hands in frustra-tion and started to walk out of thetheater — the Academy of MotionPicture Arts and Sciences gavethe best-picture Oscar to a segre-gation-era buddy film. While ad-mired by some as a feel-good de-piction of people uniting againstthe odds, the movie was criticized

by others as a simplistic take onrace relations, both woefully ret-rograde and borderline bigoted.

It was the ultimate Lucy-pulling-away-the-football mo-ment for those who had hoped thefilm academy was going to revealitself as a definitively progressiveorganization. That the 2017 selec-tion of “Moonlight” as best picture

Diversity Ruled at the Oscars. Then Came a Final Plot Twist.

By BROOKS BARNES

“Green Book” proved to be adivisive best-picture winner.

JASON MORGAN

Continued on Page A14

SANDERS HAUL Senator BernieSanders opened with the largest2020 donor network. PAGE A18

G.O.P. leaders worked to get the troopsin line ahead of a House vote to rejectan emergency declaration. PAGE A17

Worries Over Border Action

A shift by the Labour leader, JeremyCorbyn, to back a second referendum isno guarantee that the “people’s vote”will happen. PAGE A8

INTERNATIONAL A4-11

New Support for Brexit Revote

Liquid natural gas producers will fuelthe country, complicating relationsbetween Russia and the U.S. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-5

Keeping Poland’s Lights On

Mayor Bill de Blasio is canceling adisappointing school improvementprogram, $773 million later. PAGE A20

NEW YORK A20-21, 24

End of an Education Initiative

The museum’s biennial displays worksof 75 artists. Above, Brendan Fernan-des’s “The Master and Form.” PAGE C1

ARTS C1-9

In Shape for the Whitney

The Patriots owner Robert K. Kraft nowfaces two first-degree misdemeanorcounts of soliciting prostitution. PAGE B6

SPORTSTUESDAY B6-9

Kraft’s Charges Are Escalated

Olivia Moultrie signed with an agent andwith Nike, giving up the college schol-arship she had accepted at 11. PAGE B8

She’s a Soccer Pro. She’s 13.

Michelle Goldberg PAGE A23

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23

John Mulaney and Seth Meyers poke funat the composer with a faux documenta-ry that doubles as a tribute. PAGE C1

Satirizing Sondheim

In Milan, fashion’s rulers seemed unin-terested in addressing political or socialissues, Vanessa Friedman writes.

FASHION C10

Stylishly Uncommitted

Fueled by dark energy, the universe isgrowing faster than expected. PAGE D1

SCIENCE TIMES D1-6

Rewriting Cosmic History

A judge in Australia unsealed the con-viction of Cardinal George Pell forsexually abusing two children. PAGE A7

Cardinal’s Conviction Revealed

Late EditionToday, sunshine and patchy clouds,breezy, cold, high 36. Tonight, partlycloudy, cold, low 21. Tomorrow,clouds and limited sunshine, cold,high 30. Weather map, Page A24.

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