C M Y K Nxxx,2021-05-31,A,001,Bs-4C,E1

U(D54G1D)y+$!@!#!?!#

Roller-coaster operators andlemonade slingers at Kennywoodamusement park, a Pittsburghsummer institution, won’t have tobuy their own uniforms this year.Those with a high school diplomawill also earn $13 as a startingwage — up from $9 last year —and new hires are receiving freeseason passes for themselves andtheir families.

The big pop in pay and perks forKennywood’s seasonal workforce, where nearly half of em-ployees are under 18, echoes whatis happening around the countryas employers scramble to hirewaiters, receptionists and otherservice workers to satisfy surgingdemand as the economy reopens.

For American teenagers look-ing for work, this may be the bestsummer in years.

As companies try to go fromhardly staffed to fully staffed prac-tically overnight, teens appear tobe winning out more than any

demographic group. The share of16- to 19-year-olds who are work-ing hasn’t been this high since2008, before the unfolding globalfinancial crisis sent employmentplummeting. Roughly 256,000teens in that age group gained em-ployment in April — counting forthe vast majority of newly em-ployed people — a significantchange after teenagers suffered

As Employers Race to Fill Jobs, America’s Teenagers Cash InBy JEANNA SMIALEKand DAVID McCABE

Shaylah Bentley, 18, working atKennywood amusement park.

ROSS MANTLE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A15

JERUSALEM — The longest-serving prime minister in Israelihistory, Benjamin Netanyahu,faced the most potent threat yet tohis grip on power Sunday after anultranationalist power-broker,Naftali Bennett, said his partywould work with opposition lead-ers to build an alternative govern-ment to force Mr. Netanyahu fromoffice.

If the maneuvering leads to aformal coalition agreement, itwould be an uneasy alliance be-tween eight relatively small par-ties with a diffuse range of ideolo-gies. The prime minister’s postwould rotate between two unlikelypartners: Mr. Bennett, a formersettler leader who rejects the con-cept of a sovereign Palestinianstate and champions the religiousright — and Yair Lapid, a formertelevision host who is considereda voice of secular centrists.

“I will work with all my power toform a national unity governmenttogether with my friend YairLapid,” Mr. Bennett said in aspeech Sunday night.

He added, “If we succeed, wewill be doing something huge forthe state of Israel.”

Mr. Bennett’s announcementcame shortly after an armed con-flict with Palestinians in Gaza thatmany thought had improved Mr.Netanyahu’s chances of hangingon to his post.

Because of the profound ideo-logical differences within theemerging coalition, which wouldinclude both leftist and far-rightmembers, its leaders have indi-cated their government would ini-tially avoid pursuing initiativesthat could exacerbate their politi-cal incompatibility, such as thoserelated to the Israeli-Palestinianconflict, and focus instead on in-frastructure and economic policy.

If forced from office, Mr. Netan-yahu is unlikely to leave politics.Either way, however, he has left alasting legacy. He shifted the ful-crum of Israeli politics firmly tothe right — Mr. Bennett’s promi-nence being a prime example —and presided over the dismantlingof the Israeli-Palestinian peace

UNEASY ALLIANCEMAY GIVE ISRAELNEW LEADERSHIP

NETANYAHU FACES PERIL

A Right-Wing NationalistJoins Forces With a

Secular Centrist

By PATRICK KINGSLEY

Continued on Page A10

WASHINGTON — If PresidentBiden gets his way, it will soon befar easier to immigrate to theUnited States. There will be short-er, simpler forms and applicantswill have to jump through fewersecurity hoops. Foreigners willhave better opportunities to jointheir families and more chances tosecure work visas.

A 46-page draft blueprint ob-tained by The New York Timesmaps out the Biden administra-tion’s plans to significantly ex-pand the legal immigration sys-tem, including methodically re-versing the efforts to dismantle itby former President Donald J.Trump, who reduced the flow offoreign workers, families and ref-ugees, erecting procedural barri-ers tougher to cross than his “big,beautiful wall.”

Because of Mr. Trump’s immi-gration policies, the average timeit takes to approve employer-sponsored green cards has dou-bled. The backlog for citizenshipapplications is up 80 percent since2014, to more than 900,000 cases.Approval for the U-visa program,which grants legal status for im-migrants willing to help the police,has gone from five months toroughly five years.

In almost every case over thelast four years, immigrating to theUnited States has become harder,more expensive and takes longer.

And while Mr. Biden made clearduring his presidential campaignthat he intended to undo much ofhis predecessor’s immigrationlegacy, the blueprint offers newdetails about how far-reaching theeffort will be — not only rollingback Mr. Trump’s policies, but ad-dressing backlogs and delays thatplagued prior presidents.

The blueprint, dated May 3 andtitled “D.H.S. Plan to RestoreTrust in Our Legal ImmigrationSystem,” lists scores of initiativesintended to reopen the country tomore immigrants, making goodon the president’s promise to en-sure America embraces its “char-acter as a nation of opportunityand of welcome.”

“There are significant changesthat need to be made to reallyopen up all avenues of legal immi-gration,” said Felicia Escobar Car-rillo, the chief of staff at U.S. Citi-zenship and Immigration Serv-ices, of the efforts to reverse Mr.

An Easier PathFor ForeignersIn Biden’s Plan

Immigration Overhaulto Undo Trump Rules

By MICHAEL D. SHEARand ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS

Continued on Page A15

Eric Adams was not Represent-ative Adriano Espaillat’s originalchoice to become New York City’snext mayor, but now that he hadlanded the coveted endorsement,Mr. Adams was in a forgivingmood.

It was more of a come-to-Ericmoment than a come-to-Jesus mo-ment, but he credited divine inter-vention with winning over Mr. Es-paillat, the first Dominican-Amer-ican to serve in Congress.

“Today, all of that praying, all ofthose candles that I’ve burned, allof those incense that I put in place,all of those Hail Marys that Icalled up,” Mr. Adams, the Brook-lyn borough president, thunderedearlier this month. “Finally, JesusChrist looked down on me andbrought me Congressman Espail-lat!”

Less than one month before theDemocratic primary that will al-most certainly determine thecity’s next mayor, the battle forLatino voters and endorsers is ac-celerating, and the fight for thatdiverse constituency is emergingas one of the most crucial and un-certain elements of the race tolead New York.

All the leading Democraticmayoral candidates sense oppor-tunity. In the race’s final weeks,they are pressing their casesthrough advertising, Spanish-lan-guage phone banks and Latino af-finity groups, deployment of sur-rogates and rallies in heavily His-panic neighborhoods across thecity.

Andrew Yang, the former presi-

Mayor HopefulsVie to Win OverKey Latino Vote

By KATIE GLUECK

Continued on Page A17

Five years ago, a powerful NewYork-based political strategistwas rooting around for someonewhom voters could envision as thecity’s next mayor, someone withthe right type of experience andgravitas to take on the weakenedincumbent, Bill de Blasio.

The strategist, Bradley Tusk,believed he had found his candi-date: Shaun Donovan, a veteranof the Obama administration anda former city commissioner underMayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Mr.Tusk believed that Mr. Donovan’scredentials would be irresistible

to voters, saying then that NewYorkers “want the competency ofBloomberg, but they want some-thing that’s more progressive.”

Mr. Donovan recently recalledthat moment with some wistful-ness. He remembered thinkinghow he had missed so much timewith his two sons because of hiswork for President BarackObama, first as housing secretaryand then budget director. He de-

cided then that running for mayorwould have to wait.

Mr. Tusk never found his candi-date, and Mr. de Blasio went on toeasily capture his second term.

Things have since changed dra-matically. Mr. de Blasio is in his fi-nal year as mayor, and Mr. Dono-van is one of 15 Democrats and Re-publicans seeking to replace him.Mr. Tusk’s firm now manages thecampaign of Andrew Yang, one ofthe race’s front-runners.

But Mr. Donovan, 55, has notbeen able to live up to Mr. Tusk’sinitial ambition. He remains an-chored among the second tier ofmayoral contenders, despite the

He Has the Résumé and the Money. But Votes?By JEFFERY C. MAYS

Shaun Donovan at the Futa Islamic Center in the Bronx, not far from where he began his campaign.JORDAN GALE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

A Campaign for MayorPitches Leadership

Continued on Page A20

NASHVILLE — She struggledthrough the night as she had somany times before, restless fromsickle cell pain that felt like knivesstabbing her bones. When morn-ing broke, she wept at the edge ofher hotel-room bed, her stomachwrenched in a complicated knot ofanger, trepidation and hope.

It was a gray January morning,and Lisa Craig was in Nashville,three hours from her home inKnoxville, Tenn., preparing to seea sickle cell specialist she hoped

could do something so many phy-sicians had been unable to do:bring her painful disease undercontrol.

Ms. Craig, 48, had clashed withdoctors over her treatment foryears. Those tensions had only in-creased as the medical consensusaround pain treatment shifted andregulations for opioid use becamemore stringent. Her anguish hadgrown so persistent and drainingthat she sometimes thought she’dbe better off dead.

She was willing to try just aboutanything to stop the deteriorationof her body and mind — and her

hope on this day in January 2019rested in a Nigerian-born physi-cian at Vanderbilt UniversityMedical Center who had longtreated the disease, which mostlyafflicts people of African descent.

That morning, she slipped on acream-colored cardigan and anecklace with a heart-shaped pen-dant. She played some WhitneyHouston before sliding behind thewheel of her black S.U.V. Her hus-

band, in the passenger’s seat,punched their destination into hisphone’s navigation system.

“Live as if everything is a mir-acle,” reads a framed quote on Ms.Craig’s beige living room wall, andthat’s exactly what she was hop-ing for.

People with sickle cell, a rare,inherited blood disorder causedby a mutation in a single gene,typically endure episodes of debil-itating pain as well as chronicpain. Roughly 100,000 Americansand millions of people globally,mostly in Africa, have the disease.

Caught Between Sickle Cell Agony and a Wary Medical SystemBy JOHN ELIGON

Lisa Craig, who struggles with sickle cell disease, received an echocardiogram at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.WILLIAM DESHAZER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

THE ERRANT GENE

A Woman’s Invisible Pain

Continued on Page A12

The Northwest Angle, a slice of Minne-sota accessible only from Canada, stillfeels the pandemic’s pain. PAGE A4

TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-6

Tourist Town Frozen in PlaceHuge murals in the Brazilian city aresplashing flair, poetry and pointedcommentary on its skyline. PAGE A8

INTERNATIONAL A7-10

In São Paulo, Art Writ LargeRestorers at the Medici Chapel haveunleashed grime-eating bacteria onMichelangelo’s masterpieces. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-6

Microbes With Good Taste

Prices soar as Uber and Lyft say theydon’t have enough drivers to matchrebounding customer demand. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-5

Ride-Hailing Surge

Charles M. Blow PAGE A18

OPINION A18-19

Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic andRoger Federer, the Big Three of men’stennis, are back together at the FrenchOpen, approaching the tournament withdifferent motivations. PAGE D1

The Stars’ Itineraries in Paris

Sedona Prince, who exposed genderinequities in college basketball duringthe N.C.A.A. tournament in March, wasraised to speak out and shaped by anear-death experience. PAGE D1

SPORTSMONDAY D1-7

Her Hard-Earned PulpitThe death of a QAnon follower on thesteps of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 left awake of pain, and her family full ofquestions. PAGE A11

NATIONAL A11-17, 20

Fatal Conspiracy Addiction

The Himalayan country may declare ahealth emergency to help contain asecond wave from India. PAGE A6

Cases Soar in NepalAs the Venezuelan economy collapses,organized crime groups are taking overparts of the capital. PAGE A9

Gang Rule Spreads in Caracas

Virginia Theological is sending pay-ments to the descendants of those whohad been forced to work there. PAGE A14

A Seminary’s Reparations

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 59,075 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, MONDAY, MAY 31, 2021

Today, cloudy, becoming sunny,warmer, high 69. Tonight, partlycloudy, low 58. Tomorrow, partlycloudy, warmer, seasonable, high 77.Weather map appears on Page D8.

$3.00