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RALEIGH, N.C. — Republicanswith a firm grip on the North Car-olina legislature — and, until Jan-uary, the governor’s seat — en-acted a conservative agenda in re-cent years, only to have a steadystream of laws affecting votingand legislative power rejected bythe courts.

Now lawmakers have seized ona solution: change the makeup ofthe courts.

Judges in state courts as of thisyear must identify their party af-filiation on ballots, making NorthCarolina the first state in nearly acentury to adopt partisan courtelections. The General Assemblyin Raleigh reduced the size of thestate Court of Appeals, deprivingGov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, ofnaming replacements for retiringRepublicans.

And this month, lawmakers

drew new boundaries for judicialdistricts statewide, which criticssay are meant to increase thenumber of Republican judges ondistrict and superior courts andwould force many African-Ameri-cans on the bench into runoffsagainst other incumbents.

“Instead of changing the waythey write their laws, they want tochange the judges,” Mr. Coopersaid as he sat in a 19th-century,high-ceiling library at the Execu-tive Mansion, which he has occu-pied uneasily since succeedingPat McCrory, a Republican. Thelegislature has overridden nearlya dozen of his vetoes. The latestwas on Monday, when lawmakerssustained a bill to eliminate judi-cial primary elections, which Mr.Cooper called part of an effort to“rig the system.”

They Couldn’t Beat the Courts,So They Voted to Change Them

By TRIP GABRIEL

Continued on Page A15

PORTLAND, Ore. — TheDarSalam Iraqi restaurant, withits steaming plates of falafel andkebab, has for years served as apopular community gatheringspot here. The Iraqi family whoran it felt welcome in this eclecticcity.

But all of that changed onenight last spring when a man witha shaved head walked in and tooka seat. As other customers chat-ted, he refused to order, insteadstaring at photos of the Iraqi coun-tryside on the wall.

After about a half-hour, he gotup, walked over to the cash regis-ter, began cursing about Iraq, andthrew a chair at a waiter’s head,sending him dazed to the floor.

Portland has been on edge overa sharp increase in hate crimesthis year. Swastikas showed up onschool walls; a mosque received athreatening letter that read “I willenjoy the sight of the blood of youand your fellow vermin runninginto the streets.” Two men werekilled in an attack by an avowedwhite supremacist on a commutertrain.

Determined to take a stand, theauthorities came down hard onthe restaurant attacker, a 40-year-old California man named DamienRodriguez. Though similar crimestypically merit misdemeanorcharges, lawyers said, prosecu-tors charged him with felony-levelhate crime and assault chargesthat carry a mandatory prisonsentence.

That is where people who knowMr. Rodriguez say the case took awrong turn. Mr. Rodriguez was adecorated Marine sergeant major

who was forced to retire after hisarrest. He had spent years in com-bat. Friends and family say his ac-tions were not provoked by hatebut by post-traumatic stress dis-order for which, despite repeatedefforts, he never received effec-

tive treatment.As the case unfolded over the

summer, it raised questions aboutwhat constitutes a hate crime andhow effectively the legal systemtreats combat veterans who suffer

Marine Cites Trauma, but Others See Hate CrimeBy DAVE PHILIPPS

Damien Rodriguez, a decorated sergeant major, was deployed towar zones four times. He was forced to retire after his arrest.

AMANDA LUCIER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A21

ROME — After reading the hor-rors in Dante’s “Inferno,” Italianstudents will soon turn to the dan-gers of the digital age. While jug-gling math assignments, they’llalso tackle work sheets preparedby reporters from the nationalbroadcaster RAI. And separatefrom the weekly hour of religion,they will receive a list of whatamounts to a new set of Ten Com-mandments.

Among them: Thou shalt notshare unverified news; thou shallask for sources and evidence;thou shall remember that the in-ternet and social networks can bemanipulated.

The lessons are part of an ex-traordinary experiment by theItalian government, in coopera-tion with leading digital compa-nies including Facebook, to train ageneration of students steeped insocial media how to recognizefake news and conspiracy theo-ries online.

“Fake news drips drops of poi-son into our daily web diet and weend up infected without even real-izing it,” said Laura Boldrini, thepresident of the Italian lowerhouse of Parliament, who hasspearheaded the project with theItalian Ministry of Education.

“It’s only right to give these kidsthe possibility to defend them-selves from lies,” said Ms.Boldrini, who is left-leaning butnot affiliated with any political

Taught in Italy:Reading, MathAnd Fake News

By JASON HOROWITZ

Continued on Page A8

WASHINGTON — PresidentTrump’s condolence call to thewidow of a slain soldier explodedinto a vicious row that swampedthe White House on Wednesday,with the soldier’s grieving motheraccusing the president of disre-specting her family and a defiantMr. Trump complaining that hiswords had been cynically twistedfor political purposes.

The back-and-forth made a furi-ous spectacle of what is, at thebest of times, one of the most emo-tionally wrenching contacts be-tween the commander in chief anda bereaved citizen. It overshad-owed any talk of Mr. Trump’s leg-

islative priorities and instead re-called his history of feuding withmilitary families or even, as in thecase of Senator John McCain, awar hero.

Twelve days after four Ameri-cans were killed in an Oct. 4 am-bush in Niger, the president calledthe widow of Sgt. La David T.Johnson, who was among theslain, and said that her husband“knew what he signed up for,” re-ferring to the soldier only as “yourguy,” according to Sergeant John-son’s mother and a Democraticcongresswoman, who both lis-tened to the call.

Mr. Trump angrily disputedthat account, insisting that he“had a very nice conversationwith the woman, with the wife,who sounded like a lovely wom-an.” The White House accused thecongresswoman, Frederica S. Wil-son of Florida, of politicizing a sa-cred ritual after Mr. Trump ini-tially said she “fabricated” it.

It was, to a great extent, a self-

CONDOLENCE CALLTO WIDOW IGNITESTRUMP IMBROGLIO

FAMILY SEES DISRESPECT

New Feud OvershadowsTalk of Legislative

Priorities

By MARK LANDLERand YAMICHE ALCINDOR

Continued on Page A20

Myeshia Johnson, the widowof Sgt. La David T. Johnson.

WPLG, VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

FACT CHECK President Trump’suse of the word “bailout” to de-scribe payments to insurers ismisleading. PAGE A17

STABILITY Most customers will beunharmed by the president’smove to cut off subsidies. TheUpshot. PAGE A17

WASHINGTON — PresidentTrump on Wednesday backedaway from his endorsement of abipartisan Senate proposal to sta-bilize health insurance markets,throwing the legislative effort intodoubt even as the chief architectof the deal predicted that it wouldbecome law before the end of theyear.

The latest actions by the WhiteHouse confused Republicans onCapitol Hill and irked Democrats— but in the end, their effect wasnot clear. The effort to calm roiledinsurance markets appears des-tined for a showdown in Decem-ber, when supporters of the com-promise, drafted by SenatorsLamar Alexander, Republican ofTennessee, and Patty Murray,Democrat of Washington, willhave the most leverage.

The mixed signals began Tues-day, when Mr. Trump appeared togive his blessing to the deal to re-store subsidies to health insurersthat he said days before he wouldcut off. Mr. Alexander and Ms.Murray agreed on legislation thatwould continue federal paymentsto insurance companies through2019 to reimburse them for dis-counts that they are required toprovide to millions of low-incomepeople who have coverage underthe Affordable Care Act, popularlyknown as Obamacare.

On Wednesday, the WhiteHouse sent a different message.

“I am supportive of Lamar as aperson & also of the process, but Ican never support bailing out insco’s who have made a fortune w/O’Care,” Mr. Trump said in a Twit-ter post.

The White House press secre-tary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders,said later that Mr. Trump did notsupport the deal in its currentform but indicated that changescould win him over.

“We want something that does-n’t just bail out the insurance com-panies but actually provides relieffor all Americans,” she said, add-ing that the deal was “a good stepin the right direction.”

Republicans in Congress have

President CoolsOn Senate Deal

For Health Fix

Reversal Muddies Planto Stabilize Markets

By THOMAS KAPLANand ROBERT PEAR

Continued on Page A16

Its de facto capital is falling.Its territory has shriveled fromthe size of Portugal to a handfulof outposts. Its surviving leaders

are on the run.But rather than declare the

Islamic State and its virulentideology conquered, many West-ern and Arab counterterrorism

officials are bracing for a new,lethal incarnation of the jihadistgroup.

The organization has a proventrack record as an insurgencyable to withstand major militaryonslaughts, while still recruitingadherents around the worldready to kill in its name.

Islamic State leaders signaledmore than a year ago that theyhad drawn up contingency plansto revert to their roots as a guer-rilla force after the loss of theirterritory in Iraq and Syria. Nordoes the group need to governcities to inspire so-called lone

wolf terrorist attacks abroad, astrategy it has already adoptedto devastating effect in Manches-ter, England, and Orlando, Fla.

“Islamic State is not finished,”said Aaron Y. Zelin, who studiesjihadist movements at the Wash-ington Institute for Near East

Policy. “I.S. has a plan, and thatis to wait out their enemies lo-cally in order to gain time torebuild their networks while atthe same time provide inspira-tion to followers outside to keepfighting their enemies fartheraway.”

Even as American-backedforces said on Tuesday that theyhad captured Raqqa, the capitalof the group’s self-declared ca-liphate, European counterterror-ism officials were worryingabout sleeper cells that may

As Caliphate Crumbles, ISIS May Revisit Insurgent Roots

NEWS ANALYSIS

Reeling and on the Run,but Still Able to Sow

Lethal Chaos

Continued on Page A12

This article is by Margaret Coker,Eric Schmitt and Rukmini Calli-machi.

The Harlem School of the Arts hasrecovered from crippling debt and aimsto expand its community role. PAGE A22

NEW YORK A22-25

An Arts School’s Renaissance

To land Amazon’s second headquarters,the city is playing up its tech talent pooland infrastructure. PAGE A22

New York’s Pitch to AmazonIn a sequel to “His Dark Materials,”Philip Pullman answers a few questionsand poses some new ones. PAGE C2

Another Trilogy Begins

Ksenia Sobchak, a TV journalist whohas long paraded her glamorous life onsocial media, says she will be the voiceof Russians without one. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-13

A Socialite Challenging Putin

Analysts believe Iran helped resolvethe standoff of Kurdish and Iraqi forces,both armed by the U.S. PAGE A13

Iran’s Hand in Kirkuk

A legal watchdog’s group lawsuit press-ing the president to divest plays out in afederal court. PAGE A18

NATIONAL A14-21

Examining Trump’s Business

Kenneth I. Chenault, one of corporateAmerica’s few black C.E.O.s, will retirefrom American Express. PAGE B1

Amex Chief to Step Down

Discovered in a church basement inLithuania, a trove of documents providenew insights into Jewish life. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-8

Yiddish Artifacts, Rescued

Haider al-Abadi PAGE A27

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27

Stephanie Mack, the widow of BernardL. Madoff’s son, has started a newstyling business. PAGE D1

THURSDAY STYLES D1-8

A Madoff Moving Forward

The role gay managers played in creat-ing rock stars was not often discussed.Now it is a source of pride. PAGE D1

Classic Rock’s Gay Architects

The F.D.A. has approved a second treat-ment that re-engineers a patient’s owncells to fight cancer. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-7

Green Light for Gene Therapy

KEVIN FRAYER/GETTY IMAGES

A Chinese military band played on Wednesday after President Xi Jinping laid out his sweeping goals for his country. Page A6.The Tone in Beijing

The Yankees beat the Houston Astros atYankee Stadium for the third time inthree days to move to within one win ofthe American League pennant. PAGE B8

SPORTSTHURSDAY B8-12

Shutout in the Bronx

Late Edition

VOL. CLXVII . . . No. 57,755 © 2017 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2017

Today, plenty of sunshine, warm,high 72. Tonight, mainly clear, star-studded skies, low 57. Tomorrow,abundant sunshine, warm, high 72.Weather map appears on Page B14.

$2.50