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Virus, Ahmaud Arbery, Solo Travel: Your Wednesday Evening Briefing

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Here’s what you need to know at the end of the day.
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.)
Good evening. Here’s the latest.
1. The U. S. is hitting new coronavirus peaks.
The 35,000 cases identified across the U. S. on Tuesday constitute the country’s highest single-day total since late April and the third-highest total of any day of the pandemic.
Case numbers we’re tracking are rising in 27 states, mostly in the South and West, including Florida, Texas and Arizona, which have recorded new daily highs. The surge is a result of worsening conditions across much of the country, not just increased testing. Above, a testing site in Miami.
Some states and counties are delaying and even reversing steps to reopen. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut — states where the outbreak appears to be under control — will require, as of midnight, that people arriving from hard-hit states quarantine for two weeks.
Her are our latest updates and maps tracking the outbreak.
The Times is providing free access to much of our coronavirus coverage, and our Coronavirus Briefing newsletter — like all of our newsletters — is free. Please consider supporting our journalism with a subscription.
2. Murder indictments in Ahmaud Arbery’s killing.
A Georgia grand jury indicted three white men for chasing, detaining and fatally shooting Mr. Arbery, a black man who had been running in a South Georgia neighborhood.
His death, in February, prompted nationwide protests, particularly after a graphic video of his shooting, taken by one of the suspects, was released online.
Nikole Hannah-Jones, the creator of The Times Magazine’s 1619 Project on the history of American slavery, examines how centuries of violence and discrimination prevented black Americans from building wealth, the root of enduring racial inequalities.
“If black lives are to truly matter in America, this nation must move beyond slogans and symbolism,” she writes. “It is time for this country to pay its debt. It is time for reparations.”
3. A divided panel orders an end to Michael Flynn case.
Two judges on a federal appeals court panel ordered a lower court to immediately dismiss the case against President Trump’s former national security adviser, delivering a major victory to Mr. Flynn and to his backers at the Justice Department. However, a third judge criticized his colleagues for overstepping. The full appeals court can review the case.
The unusual order came as a surprise in the twisting drama surrounding Mr. Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to F. B. I. agents about his conversations in December 2016 with the Russian ambassador to the U. S.
Also today, two current Justice Department officials delivered stinging congressional testimony, accusing political appointees of intervening in criminal and antitrust cases to serve the personal interests of President Trump and Attorney General William Barr.

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