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FRANCOIS-XAVIER MARIT/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

Synchronized swimmers accuse coaches of bullying, harassment and psychological abuse. Page B8.Art, Sport, Scandal

When Prince Harry’s wife, Me-ghan, referred to the British royalfamily as “the Firm” in their dra-matic interview with Oprah Win-frey on Sunday, she evoked an in-stitution that is as much a busi-ness as a fantasy. It is now a busi-ness in crisis, after the coupleleveled charges of racism and cru-elty against members of the fam-ily.

Buckingham Palace respondedon Tuesday that “the whole familyis saddened to learn the full extentof how challenging the last fewyears have been for Harry andMeghan.” The allegations of rac-ism, the palace statement said,were “concerning,” and “whilesome recollections may vary, theyare taken very seriously and willbe addressed by the family pri-vately.”

Harry and Meghan’s story, ofcourse, is a traumatic personaldrama — of fathers and sons,brothers and wives, falling outover slights, real or imagined. Butit is also a workplace story — thestruggles of a glamorous, inde-

At Royal ‘Firm,’Pressing WorryIs Family Image

By MARK LANDLER

Continued on Page A13

WASHINGTON — The momentChuck Schumer achieved hislongtime dream of becoming Sen-ate majority leader, he was in a se-cure room hiding from a violentpro-Trump mob that was rampag-ing through the Capitol.

As rioters prowled the hallshunting for top lawmakers — Mr.Schumer, Democrat of New York,later heard that one had beenlooking for his desk, saying,

“Where’s the big Jew?” — he wasbeing evacuated with other lead-ers to a safe room at an undis-closed location.

It was then that news outletsconfirmed that Jon Ossoff, a Dem-ocrat, had won the final GeorgiaSenate race that would give theparty the majority, handing Mr.Schumer the top job. SenatorMitch McConnell, Republican ofKentucky, turned to the man whohad engineered his defeat and of-fered a brief concession and con-gratulations.

With that, Charles Ellis Schu-mer, 70, the Brooklyn-raised sonof an exterminator and a home-maker, became the first NewYorker ever to lead the UnitedStates Senate.

“Jan. 6 was the best of times,”Mr. Schumer said in a recent inter-view in his office, where hecracked open a Diet Coke. “And itwas the worst of times.”

His dream job has come withhuge challenges and a practicallynonexistent margin for error. Mr.Schumer rose to power on thestrength of his skills as a partymessenger and relentless cam-

Schumer Ascends to Dream Job, But It Places Him on a Tightrope

By LUKE BROADWATER

Senator Chuck Schumer issteering the Biden agenda,with no margin for error.

ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A15

Who’s Still Not Working, a Year Into the Pandemic

Data not seasonally adjusted. Hispanic workers may be of any race. | Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

HISPANIC

WOMENPREPANDEMICLEVEL

MEN

BLACK

WOMEN MEN

ASIAN

WOMEN MEN

WHITE

WOMEN MEN

’19 ’20 ’21

Hispanic

Hispanic

Asian

Asian

White

White

Black

Black

40

50

60

70%

’19 ’20 ’21

Share of the working-age population that is employed

No group in the United States has recovered its losses, but women have been hit the hardest. Page A8.

MENWOMEN

ELLA KOEZE/THE NEW YORK TIMES

PANDEMIC RECESSION

PEAK JOB LOSSES, APRIL 2020

AS OF LAST MONTH

Percent change in employment since Feb. 2020.

–8%

–24%

–5

–17

–10

–18

–6

–15

–5

–19

–4

–17

–5

–18

–5

–13

ROCKY MOUNT, Va. — Onesunny day last spring, BridgetteCraighead was dancing the Elec-tric Slide with three police officersin the grass next to the farmers’market. It was the first BlackLives Matter protest this ruralVirginia county had ever had, andMs. Craighead, a 29-year-old hair-dresser, had organized it.

She had not known what to ex-pect. But when the officers ar-rived, they were friendly. Theyheld her signs high and stood nextto her, smiling. Later an officerbrought pizzas and McDonald’s

Happy Meals. They even politelyignored her cousin’s expired li-cense plate.

This, she thought, was the bestof America. Police officers andBlack Lives Matter activistslaughing and dancing together.They were proving that, in somesmall way, their Southern countywith its painful past was chang-

ing. They had gotten beyond theracist ways of older people. Thismade her feel proud. In a photo-graph from that day, Sgt. ThomasRobertson is smiling, and Ms.Craighead is standing behind him,her face tilted toward the sun andher fist held high.

She did not see the officersaround Rocky Mount much afterthat. But in early January, some-one sent her a photograph. Itshowed Officer Jacob Fracker andSergeant Robertson posing insidethe U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, the daythe building was stormed by Don-ald J. Trump’s most fervent sup-porters.

After Rally and Riot, a Virginia County FracturesBy SABRINA TAVERNISE Storming the Capitol

Crushes the Hopesof Racial Progress

Continued on Page A18

As states have begun vaccinat-ing Americans with medical con-ditions that may raise their riskfor a severe case of Covid-19, theyare setting widely varying rulesabout which conditions to pri-oritize.

The morass of guidelines hasset off a free-for-all among peoplewith underlying health problemslike cancer or Type 2 diabetes topersuade state health and politicalofficials to add conditions to anevolving vaccine priority list.

In Royal Oak, Mich., MeganBauer, who lives with cystic fibro-sis, a genetic disease that cancause serious lung infections, saidshe was grateful that other peoplewith heightened risks were get-ting vaccinated: health care work-ers, teachers, her 81-year-oldgrandmother. If Ms. Bauer lived inMontana, New Mexico, Virginia,Washington, D.C., or at least 14other states, she could get the vac-cine now, too. But not in Michigan.

“The wait seems never-end-ing,” Ms. Bauer said. “With cysticfibrosis, every day is precious, solosing this time is difficult.”

In the initial months of the vac-cine rollout, states sought to bal-ance between prioritizing olderpeople, who are most likely to diefrom the virus, and people in pro-fessions most likely to be exposedto it. Under recommendationsfrom the Centers for Disease Con-trol and Prevention, people withmedical conditions that have beenassociated with an increased riskfor severe virus symptoms wereslated to come next.

At least 37 states, as well asWashington, D.C., are now allow-ing some residents with certainhealth problems to receive vac-cines, according to a New YorkTimes survey. But the health is-sues granted higher priority differfrom state to state, and evencounty to county.

Some people with Down syn-drome may get vaccines in at least

HIGH-RISK ADULTSJOCKEY FOR SHOTS

AS RULES EVOLVE

A VACCINE FREE-FOR-ALL

Risk Group Prioritized in One State May Have

to Wait in Another

By AMY HARMONand DANIELLE IVORY

Continued on Page A6

Ellyn Marie Marsh was gettingready to appear in a new off-Broadway musical last year whenthe pandemic struck, theaterswere shut and her work evapo-rated.

Those months of lost wages car-ried another cost that only be-came clear much later: She didnot get enough work to qualify tokeep the health insurance she hadbeen getting as a member of Ac-tors’ Equity.

She is far from alone. HaleyBennett was an associate musicdirector on “Diana,” a musical thatwas in previews when Broadwayshut down. She is one of the hun-dreds of musicians in the NewYork area who are losing the in-surance they received throughLocal 802 of the American Federa-tion of Musicians.

And in Los Angeles, BradSchmidt, a television and film ac-tor who was hospitalized withCovid-19 early in the pandemic,did not get enough work after herecovered to keep the insurancehe had been getting through hisunion, SAG-AFTRA. He said thatwhile he still did not feel fully him-self, he had been skipping follow-up doctor visits because under hisnew insurance plan, he simplycould not afford them.

“My lungs were shutting down,”he said. “Clearly I should go in andsee how my lungs are now. And Iwill, hopefully, God willing, atsome point. I just can’t do it rightnow.”

Thousands of actors, musi-cians, dancers and other enter-tainment industry workers arelosing their health insurance orbeing saddled with higher costs inthe midst of a global health crisis.Some were simply unable to workenough hours last year to qualifyfor coverage. But others were inplans that made it harder to qual-ify for coverage while they strug-gled to remain solvent as the col-lapse of the entertainment indus-try led to a steep drop in the em-ployer contributions they rely on.

The insurance woes com-pounded a year in which perform-ers faced record unemployment.Several provisions in PresidentBiden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus

Jobs Dried UpFor Performers;So Did Benefits

Anxiety of Lost HealthCare in a Pandemic

By MATT STEVENS and JEREMY FASSLER

Continued on Page A6

California bakers are producing some ofthe most delicious versions around, andfinding ways to expand. PAGE D1

A West Coast Bagel Boom

Decades after she posed for NormanRockwell, a model has come across thepainting, and her younger self. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-8

Seeing Your Past on Canvas

Listening to Taylor Swift’s “Folklore,”an album stocked with references to theinsights of teenagers. PAGE C1

Youth Sounds Like This

Jamelle Bouie PAGE A23

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23

An unofficial cease-fire is an example ofhow weary citizens have negotiatedways to stop the fighting. PAGE A12

In One Afghan District, Peace

Ten years after Japan’s 2011 earth-quake, a nursing student vows to helpcomfort an aging population. PAGE A10

INTERNATIONAL A10-13

Offering Hope to a Hometown

A half-million people have signed up forDr. B, a service that matches them withclinics struggling to equitably dole outextra doses before they expire. PAGE A4

TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-9

Vaccinations on Short NoticeMore women and African-Americansmay now qualify for yearly lung cancerscreenings. PAGE A16

NATIONAL A14-21

New Guidance for Ex-Smokers

The former president is urging support-ers to send donations to his PAC — notto traditional party coffers. PAGE A16

Trump Chases G.O.P. Dollars

Roger Mudd unsettled Senator EdwardM. Kennedy in 1979 with a simple ques-tion: “Why do you want to be presi-dent?” He was 93. PAGE B11

OBITUARIES B11-12

Longtime Anchor With an Edge

In a time of takeout, two New Yorkrestaurants have come up with betterways to preserve their pizzas. PAGE D7

FOOD D1-8

Slices That Are Made to SavorAs more investors favor companies thatare environmentally friendly, the cryp-tocurrency’s huge carbon footprintcould become a red flag. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-7

Bitcoin’s Climate Problem

Changes to the Paycheck ProtectionProgram aimed at sole proprietors haveled to gridlock and uncertainty. PAGE B1

New Hurdles for Relief Loans

A mediator was asked to look intoclaims of racial bias in administeringconcussion settlements. PAGE B10

SPORTSWEDNESDAY B8-10

N.F.L., Dementia and Race

American political leadershave learned a few things in thepast 12 years, since the nationlast tried to claw its way out ofan economic hole.

Among them: People likehaving money. Congress has thepower to give it to them. In aneconomic crisis, budget deficitsdon’t have to be scary. And it isbetter for both the economy andthe democratic legitimacy of arescue effort when elected lead-ers choose to help people byspending money, versus whenpointy-headed technocrats helpby obscure interventions infinancial markets.

Lawmakers rarely phrasethings so bluntly, but those arethe implications of a pivot inAmerican economic policy overthe last year, culminating withthe Biden administration’s $1.9trillion pandemic relief bill. It isset to pass the House within daysand be signed by President Bi-den soon afterward. And whilethis vote will fall along partisanlines, stimulus bills with similargoals passed with bipartisansupport last year.

Leaders of both parties havebecome more willing to use theirpower to extract the nation fromeconomic crisis, taking the pri-mary role for managing the upsand downs of the economy thatthey ceded for much of the lastfour decades, most notably in theperiod after the 2008 globalfinancial crisis.

It is an implicit rejection of anera in which the Federal Reservewas the main actor in trying tostabilize the nation’s economy.Now, elected officials are em-bracing the government’s abilityto borrow and spend — the“great fiscal power of the UnitedStates,” as the Fed chair JeromeH. Powell has called it — as theprimary tool to fight a crisis.

“That’s really been the story ofthis recovery,” Mr. Powell said ata recent hearing. “Fiscal policyhas really stepped up.”

The new relief bill is similarlya rejection of the concerns ofcentrist economists, including

The ElectedMove to TapFiscal Power

Favor Cash PayoutsOver Fed’s Tinkering

NEWS ANALYSIS

By NEIL IRWIN

Continued on Page A15

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 58,993 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 2021

Today, mostly sunny, cooler thanyesterday for most, high 54. Tonight,cloudy, low 46. Tomorrow, partlysunny, warmer, a gusty breeze, high68. Weather map is on Page A20.

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