National News at a Glance

Republicans Show Little Urgency on Legislation to Protect Mueller

Republican lawmakers warned President Donald Trump on Sunday not to fire Robert Mueller, but showed little sense of urgency to advance legislation to protect the special counsel despite a report that Trump had tried to remove him last June. “I don’t think there’s a need for legislation right now to protect Mueller,” Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, House majority leader, said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” McCarthy’s comments come amid bipartisan outrage over a report last week in The New York Times that Trump sought in June to fire Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Close Is Out at the National Gallery of Art. Is Picasso Next?

Museums around the world are wrestling with the implications of a decision, by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, to indefinitely postpone a Chuck Close exhibition because of allegations of sexual harassment involving potential portrait models that have engulfed the prominent artist in controversy. Close has called the allegations “lies” and said he is “being crucified.” The postponement news Thursday has raised difficult questions about what to do with the paintings and photographs of Close and whether the work of other artists accused of questionable conduct needs to be revisited or recontextualized.

Indian Slavery Defies Mythos of Latino Past

Many Latinos are finding ancestral connections to a flourishing slave trade on the blood-soaked frontier now known as the American Southwest. Their captive forebears were Native Americans — slaves frequently known as Genízaros who were sold to Hispanic families when the region was under Spanish control from the 16th to 19th centuries. Many Indian slaves remained in bondage when Mexico and later the United States governed New Mexico. The revelations have prompted some painful personal reckonings over identity and heritage. They have also fueled a larger, politically charged debate on what it means to be Hispanic and Native American.

Rubio Fires Chief of Staff After Misconduct Allegations

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida announced late Saturday that he had fired his chief of staff after allegations of improper conduct. After an internal investigation, he determined that the employee had “violated office policies regarding proper relations between a supervisor and their subordinates,” Rubio said in a statement. “I further concluded that this led to actions which in my judgment amounted to threats to withhold employment benefits.” Rubio’s statement did not identify his chief of staff by name. Clint Reed is listed in that position in the Washington Information Directory published by Congressional Quarterly.

Is This Shiny Satellite Sky Art or ‘Space Graffiti’?

A spinning, silver geodesic sphere is moving through space and blinking as it orbits Earth every 90 minutes. Known as the Humanity Star, it was built to reflect the sun’s light and “encourage people to consider their place in the universe,” according to its website. Some astronomers are not pleased. Space is already polluted by artificial light, making it more difficult for astronomers to monitor cosmic events, Caleb A. Scharf, director of the Columbia Astrobiology Center at Columbia University, wrote in Scientific American. Michael E. Brown, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology, said it was “space graffiti.”

One Killed, 2 Wounded in Shooting at Stoplight in New York

A night out ended in a hail of bullets for a man who was killed and two others who were wounded early Sunday near Kennedy International Airport in New York, police said. The victims were sitting at a stoplight when two gunmen walked up to their Mercedes-Benz SUV and opened fire, police said. The front passenger, Sherwood Beverly, 51, of Brooklyn, was fatally struck in the head. The driver, a 50-year-old man, was grazed on the neck, and a 50-year-old woman in the back seat was hit in the left shoulder. Investigators were searching for the gunmen and a motive.

Displaced by Storm, Puerto Rican Students Land in New York

Four months after Hurricane Maria, hundreds of schools in Puerto Rico are in the dark. A group of educational institutions in the 50 states has offered to help. Public university systems in New York and Connecticut have extended in-state tuition rates to students from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as did the City University of New York, which says 78 students are enrolled under that arrangement. Private universities, like NYU and Tulane in New Orleans, have given students a free ride for the semester, though they ask that they pay tuition to their home institutions.