C M Y K Nxxx,2019-09-15,A,001,Bs-4C,E2

LOS ANGELES — When Presi-dent Trump flies into San Fran-cisco next week for his first visit tothe Bay Area as president he willset down in a state that has neverfully welcomed him.

Harmeet K. Dhillon, a memberof the Republican National Com-mittee and a host of a fund-raisingluncheon on Tuesday where seatsfor a couple at the president’s ta-ble go for $100,000, likened his vis-it to a trip “behind enemy lines.”

Behind those lines, Mr. Trump’sdetractors have been remarkablyactive, as Democrats have beenenergized by anger against thepresident to enact a sweeping lib-eral agenda that in almost everyway offers a counternarrative tothe deregulation, anti-immigrantstance and conservative policiesof the Trump administration.

Just in recent days, Californiahas approved statewide rent con-trol and moved to reshape the gigeconomy by forcing companieslike Uber and Lyft to classify theirdrivers as employees, setting newlabor standards that could givemomentum to similar efforts inother states.

Almost three years into hispresidency, Mr. Trump has cata-lyzed California into moving moreaggressively to the left, providingan alternative vision, althoughwith mixed results, to almost ev-erything the Trump presidencyhas stood for.

“Donald Trump has been theimpetus for putting everything onwarp speed,” said Garry South, aDemocratic political strategist inCalifornia. “It has pushed Demo-crats in California to take actionsthat might otherwise have beenviewed as a little less urgent if wehad a Democrat in the WhiteHouse.”

On perhaps the two biggest is-sues animating political life inAmerica today — immigrationand climate — the two sides arepushing in opposite directions.While Mr. Trump champions hisborder wall and imposes new re-strictions on asylum seekers, Cali-fornia is expanding medical carefor undocumented immigrantsand recently passed a new lawoutlawing private prisons, includ-

For California,Liberal PoliciesAt Warp Speed

Trump Agenda Inspiresa State of Resistance

This article is by Tim Arango,Thomas Fuller and Jose A. Del Real.

Continued on Page 24

FLEMING-NEON, Ky. — In thepre-dawn hours when all is darkand quiet, Amanda Lucas leavesher house and begins the longdrive to her job at a hospital anhour away.

In years past, it was the menwho would empty out of the hol-lows of Letcher County beforesunrise. All day long they wouldbe underground, digging out coalas their fathers and often theirgrandfathers had done. Ms. Lu-cas’s husband, Denley, had a jobwith one of the big mining compa-nies, with good benefits and an in-come approaching six figureswhen all the overtime was added.She stayed at home to raise theirfour children.

“We had a good life,” she said.Then everything changed.It has been a hot and mean sum-

mer in Letcher County, with a rashof coal mine bankruptcies and lay-offs even crueler than the onesthat came before. From thebarstools at the American Legionpost to the parking lot of the un-employment office, there was lit-tle debate: The coal business

around here is going under. Theonly question was what wouldkeep everyone afloat.

These days, the answer hasbeen: women. From 2010 to 2017,Letcher County saw a greatershift in the gender balance of itslabor force than almost any othercounty in the United States.

The share of women in the workforce rose substantially in placesthroughout Central Appalachia,

as well as in parts of the industrialMidwest and the rural South. Butfew places have seen a more dra-matic change than LetcherCounty, in hilly Eastern Kentucky,where for generations the arche-typal worker was a brawny, coal-dusted man in reflective overalls.Just 10 years ago, nearly three-fifths of the work force was male.Now the majority is female.

“The mines have shut down and

the women have gone to work,”said Billy Thompson, a district di-rector of the United Steelworkersunion, which represents thou-sands of medical support workersin the region. “It’s not complicatedat all.”

There are over a thousandfewer coal mine jobs in LetcherCounty than there were a decade

Mine Jobs Left,So the Women

Went to WorkBy CAMPBELL ROBERTSON

Her eye on a faltering coal industry, Amanda Lucas decided to go back to school to train for a job.MADDIE McGARVEY FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page 26

BRISTOL, Wis. — The drugbust shattered the early-morningstillness of this manicured subdi-vision in southeastern Wisconsin.The police pulled up outside awhite-shuttered brick condo, jolt-ing neighbors out of their bedswith the thud of heavy banging ona door.

What they found inside was notcrystal meth or cocaine or fen-tanyl but slim boxes of vaping car-tridges labeled with flavors likestrawberry and peaches andcream. An additional 98,000 car-tridges lay empty. Fifty-seven Ma-son jars nearby contained a sub-stance that resembled dark hon-ey: THC-laced liquid used for vap-ing, a practice that is now at theheart of a major public healthscare sweeping the country.

Vaping devices, which havesoared in popularity as a way toconsume nicotine and THC, thepsychoactive ingredient in mari-juana, have been linked in the lastseveral months to nearly 400 ill-

Wisconsin RaidShows the Risk

Of Illicit Vapes

By JULIE BOSMANand MATT RICHTEL

Continued on Page 23

PARIS — The April fire that engulfedNotre-Dame contaminated the cathedralsite with clouds of toxic dust and exposednearby schools, day care centers, publicparks and other parts of Paris to alarminglevels of lead.

The lead dust came from the cathedral’sincinerated roof and spire, which con-tained about 460 tons of the dangerousmetal, and it created a public health threatthat stirred increasing anxiety in Paristhroughout the summer.

Five months after the fire, French au-thorities have refused to fully disclose the

results of their testing for lead contamina-tion, sowing public confusion, while issu-ing reassuring statements intended to playdown the risks.

Their delays and denials have openedthe authorities to accusations that they putreconstruction of the cathedral — whichPresident Emmanuel Macron has pledgedto complete in five years — ahead of thehealth of thousands of people.

A comprehensive investigation by TheNew York Times has helped fill out anemerging picture of a failed official re-sponse. It found significant lapses byFrench authorities in alerting the public tohealth risks, even as their understandingof the danger became clearer.

The April 15 blaze nearly destroyed the850-year-old cathedral and brought imme-diate scrutiny to whether adequate fireprotections had been in place to safeguarda gem of Gothic architecture visited bysome 13 million people a year.

Millions around the world watched inhorror as the cathedral’s roof and spiresuccumbed to the flames that night andcollapsed. But the billowing smoke carriedits own perils. It contained massive quanti-ties of lead, according to test results in con-fidential reports and others released by thegovernment.

The Times’s investigation drew on confi-

Notre-Dame’s Toxic Fallout

THE NEW YORK TIMESSources: Regional Health Agency, France; City of Paris; Google Earth

120,774 microgramsper square foot

88,736

43,664

16,537

1,2822,638

2,587

1,850

Lead levels near the cathedral measured as much as 1,300 times higher than French safety guidelines.

An elementary school cafeteria tested high for lead levels.

A preschool had high lead levels in its classrooms and library.

This school could not open for the new school year because of high lead levels.

NOTRE-DAME

Lead roof

Workers in Notre-Dame operated without enough protective equipment in the weeks after the fire.

A contaminated day care center kept hosting children for a few weeks after the fire.

Levels of leadmeasured aroundNotre-Damecathedral P A R I S

With Children at Risk, Paris Delayed Confronting Perils of Lead DustThis article is by James Glanz, Jeremy

White, Elian Peltier and Weiyi Cai.

Continued on Page 14

Addiction to crystal meth is a relativelynew problem in Iraq, but one that isgrowing fast. PAGE 12

INTERNATIONAL 4, 8-19

Iraq’s Drug ProblemPrograms intended to move homelesspeople closer to a support system arerife with disappointment. PAGE 20

NATIONAL 20-26, 29

Bus Ticket to NowhereKim Gordon, the former frontwoman ofSonic Youth, has left New York for thecreative hubbub of Los Angeles. “I’vemoved on,” she said. PAGE 1

SUNDAY STYLES

A Rocker Rolls On

Casper acknowledges that it needs todo more than sell mattresses in boxes.So ahead of a possible initial publicoffering, the start-up is trying to recastitself as “the Nike of sleep.” PAGE 1

SUNDAY BUSINESS

Not Just a Mattress Company

Thousands of workers in and aroundthe capital, many of them Salvadorans,were in the United States legally be-cause of adversity at home. Now theyface expulsion. PAGE 1

They’re Washington’s Builders

Michelle Goldberg PAGE 4

SUNDAY REVIEW

Women lead the athletic departments ofjust four of the 65 colleges in thewealthiest and most powerful sportsconferences. PAGE 1

SPORTSSUNDAY

The Power 5’s Power Imbalance

Questions about Justify’s failed drugtest and the euthanizing of 30 horses inCalifornia. On Horse Racing. PAGE 1

A Tough Year at the Track

U(D547FD)v+%!/!_!#!}

CHICAGO — America’s nextfight with China is unfolding at aglistening new factory in Chicago,which stands empty except for theshells of two subway cars andspace for future business that isunlikely to come.

A Chinese state-owned com-pany called CRRC Corporation,the world’s largest train maker,completed the $100 million facilitythis year in the hopes of winningcontracts to build subway carsand other passenger trains forAmerican cities like Chicago andWashington.

But growing fears about China’seconomic ambitions and its poten-tial to track and spy on Americansare about to quash those plans.Congress is soon expected to ap-prove legislation that would effec-tively bar the company from com-peting for new contracts in theUnited States, citing national se-curity and economic concerns.The White House has expressedits support for the effort.

Washington’s attempt to block a

China TargetedOver U.S. Fears

Of ‘Spy Trains’

By ANA SWANSON

Continued on Page 10

Drone attacks claimed by Yem-en’s Houthi rebels struck two keyoil installations inside Saudi Ara-bia on Saturday, damaging facili-ties that process the vast majorityof the country’s crude output andraising the risk of a disruption inworld oil supplies.

The attacks immediately esca-lated tensions in the Persian Gulfamid a standoff between theUnited States and Iran, even askey questions remained unan-swered — where the drones werelaunched from, and how theHouthis managed to hit facilitiesdeep in Saudi territory, some 500miles from Yemeni soil.

Secretary of State Mike Pom-peo accused Iran of being behindwhat he called “an unprecedentedattack on the world’s energy sup-ply” and asserted that there was“no evidence the attacks camefrom Yemen.” He did not, however,specify an alternative launch site,and the Saudis themselves re-frained from pointing the fingerdirectly at Iran.

President Trump condemnedthe attack in a phone call withSaudi Crown Prince Mohammedbin Salman and offered supportfor “Saudi Arabia’s self defense,”the White House said in a state-ment, adding that the UnitedStates “remains committed to en-suring global oil markets are sta-ble and well supplied.”

The Houthis said they hadlaunched the aerial attacks with 10drones, which would amount totheir most audacious strike onSaudi Arabia since the kingdomintervened in Yemen’s war morethan four years ago. The Saudi-ledbombing campaign has devastat-ed the impoverished country andexacerbated the world’s worst hu-manitarian crisis.

The Houthis are part of a re-gional network of militant groupsaligned with and backed by Iran,Saudi Arabia’s regional rival.American and Saudi officials sus-

SAUDI OIL SUPPLYIS PUT IN DANGERBY DRONE STRIKES

POMPEO POINTS TO IRAN

Attacks Amplify TensionBetween Washington

and Tehran

This article is by Ben Hubbard,Palko Karasz and Stanley Reed.

Continued on Page 19

President Trump’s plan to deter mi-grants is similar to one used by Austral-ia. And Europe has tried it, too. PAGE 18

Comparing Asylum HurdlesSchools say they want more low-incomestudents, but the thirst for tuition reve-nue makes it hard to do. PAGE 42

THE MAGAZINE

The College Admissions GameLeana Wen, fired in July as PlannedParenthood chief, is at odds with thegroup over her departure terms. PAGE 29

Untimely Exit Grows Ugly

Late Edition

VOL. CLXVIII . . . No. 58,451 © 2019 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2019

Today, partly sunny, warmer, high80. Tonight, cloudy, mild for Septem-ber, low 65. Tomorrow, clouds andsunshine, afternoon showers high81. Weather map is on Page 28.

$6.00