The Perseverance rover and its sibling,the Ingenuity helicopter, will be on theprowl around a Martian crater. PAGE D4

Digging Into the Red PlanetThe country’s kidnap-for-ransom indus-try is booming, regularly targetingchildren at boarding schools. PAGE A10

Abductions in Nigeria

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ANDREW TESTA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Tending to a coronavirus patient at Homerton Hospital in London. The British government has plotted a slow reopening as vaccinationscontinue at a rapid pace, but intensive care units — and mortuaries — are still teeming. Page A5.

ON FRONT LINES OF AN UNRELENTING BATTLE

Throughout the debate overstimulus measures, one questionhas repeatedly brought gridlockin Washington: Should the statesget no-strings federal aid?

Republicans have mostly saidno, casting it as a bailout forspendthrift blue states. Demo-crats have argued the opposite,saying that states face dire fiscalconsequences without aid, and in-cluded $350 billion in relief forstate and local governments inPresident Biden’s $1.9 trillion fed-eral stimulus bill, which narrowlypassed the House this past week-end. It faces a much tougher fightin the Senate.

As it turns out, new data showsthat a year after the pandemicwrought economic devastationaround the country, forcing statesto revise their revenue forecastsand prepare for the worst, formany the worst didn’t come. Onebig reason: $600-a-week federalsupplements that allowed peopleto keep spending — and states tokeep collecting sales tax revenue— even when they were jobless,along with the usual state unem-ployment benefits.

By some measures, the statesended up collecting nearly asmuch revenue in 2020 as they didin 2019. A J.P. Morgan surveycalled 2020 “virtually flat” with2019, based on the 47 states thatreport their tax revenues everymonth, or all except Alaska, Ore-gon and Wyoming.

A researcher at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, anonpartisan think tank, found thattotal state revenues from Aprilthrough December were downjust 1.8 percent from the same pe-riod in 2019. Moody’s Analyticsused a different method and foundthat 31 states now had enoughcash to fully absorb the economicstress of the pandemic recessionon their own.

“You can see it’s just a com-pletely different story this time,”said Louise Sheiner, a Brookings

STATE ECONOMIESLARGELY FEND OFFHARM FROM VIRUS

BUOYED BY FEDERAL AID

Rebound in Revenues —More Resilience Than

in Past Downturns

By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH

Continued on Page A18

During a half century of mili-tary rule, Myanmar’s totalitariantools were crude but effective.Men in sarongs shadowed democ-racy activists, neighbors in-formed on one another and thugsbrandished lead pipes.

The generals, who staged acoup a month ago, are now back incharge with a far more sophis-ticated arsenal at their disposal:Israeli-made surveillance drones,European iPhone cracking de-vices and American software thatcan hack into computers and vac-uum up their contents.

Some of this technology, includ-ing satellite and telecommunica-tions upgrades, helped people inMyanmar go online and integratewith the world after decades ofisolation. Other systems, such asspyware, were sold as integral tomodernizing law enforcementagencies.

But critics say a ruthless mili-

tary, which maintained a domi-nance over the economy and pow-erful ministries even as it brieflyshared power with a civilian gov-ernment, used the facade of de-mocracy to enable sensitivecybersecurity and defense pur-chases.

Some of these “dual-use” tech-nologies, tools of both legitimatelaw enforcement and repression,are being deployed by the Tat-madaw, as the Myanmar militaryis known, to target opponents ofthe Feb. 1 coup — a practice thatechoes actions taken against crit-ics by China, Saudi Arabia, Mex-ico and other governments.

In Myanmar, they are the digitalweapons of repression for an in-tensifying campaign in which se-curity forces have killed at least 25people and detained more than1,100, including the ousted civilianleader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. On

A Digital Arsenal of RepressionCrushes Resistance in Myanmar

By HANNAH BEECH

Continued on Page A11

WASHINGTON — PresidentBiden’s two immediate predeces-sors had ambitious goals to re-build the country’s infrastructure,but both left office having madelittle progress in fixing the na-tion’s bridges, roads, pipes andbroadband. President Donald J.Trump announced so many mean-ingless infrastructure weeks thatthe term became a running joke ofhis administration.

As a candidate, Mr. Biden wentfurther than either Mr. Trump orPresident Barack Obama bypromising to pass a multitrillion-dollar package intended to createjobs and help the United Statescompete with China. And if any-thing, his first month in office, inwhich a power crisis in Texas left

millions of people in need of waterand electricity, has underscoredthe urgency of upgrading the na-tion’s aging structural underpin-nings.

But while the goal of addressingthe United States’ infrastructureis bipartisan, the details are not.That includes how much to spend,what programs count as “infra-structure” and, most important,whether to raise taxes to pay for it.

As a result, Mr. Biden couldhave an even tougher time gain-ing Republican support for an in-frastructure bill than what he hasfaced in his first big legislativepush, a $1.9 trillion economic aidpackage that passed the House onSaturday with every Republican

Biden’s Infrastructure PackageMay Be Trickier Than Aid Bill

By ANNIE KARNI and JIM TANKERSLEY

Continued on Page A16

Just eight weeks after the Capi-tol riot, some of the most promi-nent groups that participated arefracturing amid a torrent of back-biting and finger-pointing. Thefallout will determine the future ofsome of the most high-profile far-right organizations and raises thespecter of splinter groups thatcould make the movement evenmore dangerous.

“This group needs new leader-ship and a new direction,” the St.Louis branch of the Proud Boysannounced recently on the en-crypted messaging service Tele-gram, echoing denunciations byat least six other chapters also

rupturing with the national orga-nization. “The fame we’ve at-tained hasn’t been worth it.”

Similar rifts have emerged inthe Oath Keepers, a paramilitarygroup that recruits veterans, andthe Groyper Army, a white nation-alist organization focused on col-lege campuses and a vocal propo-nent of the false claim that DonaldJ. Trump won the 2020 presiden-

tial election.The shake-up is driven in part

by the large number of arrests inthe aftermath of the Capitol riotand the subsequent crackdown onsome groups by law enforcement.As some members of the far rightexit more established groups andstrike out on their own, it may be-come even more difficult to trackextremists who have becomemore emboldened to carry out vio-lent attacks.

“What you are seeing right nowis a regrouping phase,” said DevinBurghart, who runs the Institutefor Research and Education onHuman Rights, a Seattle-basedcenter that monitors far-right

Far-Right Groups Splinter Amid Rifts and BlameBy NEIL MacFARQUHAR Fallout From Infighting

Creates Conditionsfor Lone Attacks

Continued on Page A19

THE JACOB AND GWENDOLYN KNIGHT LAWRENCE FOUNDATION, SEATTLE/ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK; AMR ALFIKY/THE NEW YORK TIMES

“Immigrants admitted from all countries,” a second missing Ja-cob Lawrence panel, surfaced just blocks from the first. Page C1.

Lightning Strikes Twice

Anna Ruch had never met Gov.Andrew M. Cuomo before encoun-tering him at a crowded New YorkCity wedding reception in Sep-tember 2019. Her first impressionwas positive enough.

The governor was working theroom after toasting the newly-weds, and when he came upon Ms.Ruch, now 33, she thanked him forhis kind words about her friends.But what happened next instantlyunsettled her: Mr. Cuomo put hishand on Ms. Ruch’s bare lowerback, she said in an interview onMonday.

When she removed his handwith her own, Ms. Ruch recalled,the governor remarked that sheseemed “aggressive” and placedhis hands on her cheeks. He askedif he could kiss her, loudly enoughfor a friend standing nearby tohear. Ms. Ruch was bewildered bythe entreaty, she said, and pulledaway as the governor drew closer.

“I was so confused and shockedand embarrassed,” said Ms. Ruch,

Wedding GuestAsserts Cuomo

Unsettled HerBy MATT FLEGENHEIMER

and JESSE McKINLEY

Continued on Page A20

Just a few days after RaymondJ. McGuire officially joined theNew York City mayor’s race in De-cember, a courtesy call came infrom one of his Democratic rivals,Eric Adams.

Mr. Adams, who, like Mr. Mc-Guire, is Black, offered some pro-vocative words of wisdom.

“Being in politics is just like be-ing in a prison yard,” Mr. Adamssaid, according to several peoplefamiliar with the video call. “Youneed to put a wall around yourfamily because you might getshanked.”

Mr. Adams’s campaign de-scribed the sentiment as “friendlyadvice.” Several people in Mr. Mc-Guire’s campaign saw it differ-ently, characterizing it as a “veiledthreat” from a front-runner tryingto intimidate a new challenger.

For two years, Mr. Adams, theBrooklyn borough president, hadbeen regarded as one of the favor-ites in the 2021 mayor’s race.

He was a former police officerwho had nuanced views of how so-

2 Black RivalsCollide in RaceFor N.Y. Mayor

By JEFFERY C. MAYS

Continued on Page A21

As the president looks to undo his pred-ecessor’s immigration policies, he willseek help across the border. PAGE A12

INTERNATIONAL A10-13

Biden Reaches Out to MexicoA rural area outside Phoenix is one ofthe first places in the U.S. to open vacci-nations up to the general public. This iswhat success looks like. PAGE A9

TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-9

In This County, Vaccines for AllThe workers who make the Japaneseshows the world is binge-watching mayearn as little as $200 a month. Many arereassessing their careers. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-5

Anime’s Dark SecretNarrative medicine programs teachdoctors “sensitive interviewing skills”to improve patient care. PAGE D6

SCIENCE TIMES D1-8

Listening to PatientsEven with no date for a ceremony yetchosen, the voting for the awards showhas gotten underway. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-6

Unstoppable Tonys

A New Jersey high school gave “pastdue” recognition to the track exploits ofa well-known gay activist. PAGE A14

NATIONAL A14-21

A Letterman, 63 Years Late

The regulator was caught in a tide offury that swelled after millions were leftwithout power during a storm. PAGE A18

Texas Utilities Official Resigns

The electronic Chinese yuan is nowbeing tested in cities such as Shenzhen,Shanghai and Beijing. PAGE B1

China’s Digital Currency

Unlike other losing major league teams,the Royals seek to improve, not teardown, Tyler Kepner writes. PAGE B7

SPORTSTUESDAY B6-7, 10

Against Baseball’s Grain

Amid some moving moments, the showincluded technical glitches and puzzlingcelebrity Zoom backgrounds. PAGE C1

Evaluating the Globes

Michelle Goldberg PAGE A23

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 58,985 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2021

Today, sunny skies, colder, windy attimes, high 36. Tonight, mostly clear,low 30. Tomorrow, mostly sunny, be-coming much milder, high 52.Weather map appears on Page B10.

$3.00