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SALAR DE ATACAMA, Chile —Rarely does a country get achance to lay out its ideals as a na-tion and write a new constitutionfor itself. Almost never does theclimate and ecological crisis playa central role.
That is, until now, in Chile,where a national reinvention isunderway. After months of pro-tests over social and environmen-tal grievances, 155 Chileans havebeen elected to write a new consti-tution amid what they have de-clared a “climate and ecologicalemergency.”
Their work will not only shapehow this country of 19 million isgoverned. It will also determinethe future of a soft, lustrous metal,lithium, lurking in the salt watersbeneath this vast ethereal desertbeside the Andes Mountains.
Lithium is an essential compo-nent of batteries. And as the globaleconomy seeks alternatives tofossil fuels to slow down climatechange, lithium demand — andprices — are soaring.
Mining companies in Chile, theworld’s second-largest lithiumproducer after Australia, are keento increase production, as are poli-ticians who see mining as crucialto national prosperity. They facemounting opposition, though,from Chileans who argue that thecountry’s very economic model,based on extraction of natural re-sources, has exacted too high anenvironmental cost and failed tospread the benefits to all citizens,including its Indigenous people.
And so, it falls to the Constitu-tional Convention to decide whatkind of country Chile wants to be.Convention members will decidemany things, including: Howshould mining be regulated, andwhat voice should local communi-ties have over mining? ShouldChile retain a presidential sys-tem? Should nature have rights?How about future generations?
Chile Is Rewriting ConstitutionTo Battle ‘Ecological Emergency’
By SOMINI SENGUPTA
A lithium processing plant in Chile. Concerns over mineral wealth, global warming and water are at the heart of an effort to rewrite the nation’s defining document.MARCOS ZEGERS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
RACE TO THE FUTURE
A Country Rethinks Its Priorities
Continued on Page A9
This is the story of the incredi-ble cloning tax break.
In 2004, David Baszucki, freshoff a stint as a radio host in SantaCruz, Calif., started a tiny videogame company. It was eligible fora tax break that lets investors insmall businesses avoid millions ofdollars in capital gains taxes if thestart-ups hit it big.
Today, Mr. Baszucki’s company,Roblox, the maker of one of theworld’s most popular video-gam-ing platforms, is valued at about$60 billion. Mr. Baszucki is worth
an estimated $7 billion.Yet he and his extended family
are reaping big benefits from a taxbreak aimed at small businesses.
Mr. Baszucki and his relativeshave been able to multiply the taxbreak at least 12 times. Amongthose poised to avoid millions ofdollars in capital gains taxes areMr. Baszucki’s wife, his four chil-
dren, his mother-in-law and evenhis first cousin-in-law, accordingto securities filings and peoplewith knowledge of the matter.
The tax break is known as theQualified Small Business Stock, orQ.S.B.S., exemption. It allowsearly investors in companies inmany industries to avoid taxes onat least $10 million in profits.
The goal, when it was estab-lished in the early 1990s, was tocoax people to put money intosmall companies. But over thenext three decades, it would becontorted into the latest tax dodgein Silicon Valley, where new bil-
Tech Giants Exploit a Tax Dodge for Start-UpsBy JESSE DRUCKER
and MAUREEN FARRELLHow an Incentive to Aid
Small BusinessesGot Twisted
Continued on Page A15
MOSCOW — Russia’s SupremeCourt ruled on Tuesday that thenation’s most prominent humanrights organization must close,signaling President Vladimir V.Putin’s longstanding determina-tion to control the narrative ofsome of the most painful and re-pressive chapters of Russian his-tory.
The court ordered the liquida-tion of Memorial International,which chronicled the harrowingpersecutions in the infamousStalin-era labor camps in an effortto preserve the memory of its vic-tims. The group, founded by theNobel Peace Prize laureate An-drei Sakharov and other dissi-dents more than three decadesago, became a symbol of the coun-try’s emerging democracy afterthe collapse of the Soviet Union.
The decision comes after a year
of broad crackdown on oppositionin Russia as the Kremlin movedaggressively to stifle dissent — inthe news media, in religiousgroups, on social networks and es-pecially among activists and polit-ical opponents, hundreds of whomhave been harassed, jailed orforced into exile.
Shutting down Memorial is alsoanother step in Mr. Putin’s effortto recast Russia’s legacy as a se-ries of glorious accomplishmentsand soften the image of the often-brutal Soviet regime. While thestate opened a comprehensive gu-lag history museum in Moscowand Mr. Putin laid flowers at a newmonument to the victims of Sovietrepression, the increasingly em-boldened Kremlin has moved ag-gressively to remove alternativeinterpretations of Russian history
As Putin Airbrushes History,Gulag Chronicler Is Shut Down
By IVAN NECHEPURENKO and ANDREW E. KRAMER
Continued on Page A8
New York City, home to the na-tion’s largest school system, willeliminate its current policy ofquarantining entire classroomsexposed to Covid, and will insteaduse a ramped-up testing programto allow students who test nega-tive for the coronavirus and do nothave symptoms to remain inschool.
The new policy, which MayorBill de Blasio referred to as “StaySafe and Stay Open” during hisannouncement on Tuesday, willtake effect on Monday, when thenearly one million students whoattend the city’s public schools arescheduled to return from holidaybreak. More than 27,000 new viruscases were reported in New YorkCity on Tuesday, and more than2,300 people were hospitalizedwith Covid-19, according to thestate’s most recent count.
Mr. de Blasio, Gov. KathyHochul and Mayor-elect Eric Ad-ams, who takes office on Saturday,appeared together at a news con-ference to present a united frontagainst school closures, despitean enormous surge in cases driv-en by the Omicron variant thathas only worsened in the dayssince city schools closed for win-ter break last week.
“Your children are safer inschool; the numbers speak forthemselves,” Mr. Adams said.
Instead of delaying the start ofin-person school and pivoting toremote learning, the city will dou-ble the amount of random surveil-lance testing it conducts, in hopesof detecting more infections whilemitigating disruptions.
Ms. Hochul on Tuesday calledremote learning a “failed experi-ment,” while lauding “the verybest efforts of incredibly hard-
TO KEEP SCHOOLSOPEN, CITY TURNSTO MORE TESTING
MASS QUARANTINES OUT
Mitigating the Disruptionfor Students WhileBattling Omicron
By ELIZA SHAPIRO
Continued on Page A13
The family of a 14-year-old girl de-scribed the terrifying moments beforeshe was killed in Los Angeles. PAGE A12
NATIONAL A12-17
Dreams Dashed by Stray BulletA lock of the composer’s hair, above, isamong the treasures on display at theNew York Public Library. PAGE C1
ARTS C1-8
Comb Over, BeethovenHarry M. Reid, a Nevada Democrat,used his pugilistic instincts to steer aneconomic stimulus deal and the healthcare act to passage. He was 82. PAGE A18
OBITUARIES A18-19
Senate Power in the Obama Era
British exports to the European Unionare down, and companies are frustratedby higher costs, time-consumingcustoms paperwork and countless lostopportunities. PAGE B1
BUSINESS B1-5
Brexit’s Blow to U.K. TradeAn ambitious government project aimsto put taps in every home, easing theburden on millions who fetch waterfrom village pumps. PAGE A10
INTERNATIONAL A4-11
India’s Quest for Clean Water
The White House asked the Jan. 6 panelto withdraw or delay demands for somesensitive documents. PAGE A12
Holding Off on Trump RecordsStarring in the thriller “Yellowjackets,”the actress Juliette Lewis has discov-ered how to regenerate. PAGE C1
Invincible, and Vulnerable, Too
Building owners may have saved onmaintenance when workers went re-mote, but now pandemic-related costslike air filters and enhanced cleaningare part of the bill. PAGE B1
Added Expenses for OfficesMad about hoops, a town in Italy wantsthe Vatican to recognize a veneratedfigure as the sport’s patron. PAGE A4
Patron Saint of Basketball
As the virus derails a rising number ofcollege bowl games, Friday’s playoffmatchups may be at risk. PAGE B7
SPORTS B6-8
Will There Be a Champion?
Michelle Cottle PAGE A20
OPINION A20-21
The latest coronavirus surgesweeping the United States, muchof it driven by the highly conta-gious Omicron variant, hasproduced a worrisome spike inhospitalizations among children,not to mention heightened anxietyamong parents nationwide.
Several states have reported in-creases of about 50 percent in pe-diatric admissions for Covid-19 inDecember. New York City has ex-perienced the most drastic rise,with 68 children hospitalized lastweek, a fourfold jump from twoweeks earlier.
But even as experts expressedconcern about a marked jump inhospitalizations — an increasemore than double that amongadults — doctors and researcherssaid they were not seeing evi-dence that Omicron was morethreatening to children.
In fact, preliminary data sug-gests that compared with theDelta variant, Omicron appears tobe causing milder illness in chil-dren, similar to early findings foradults.
“I think the important story to
Children CrowdU.S. Hospitals;Few Dire Cases
By ANDREW JACOBS
Continued on Page A13
John Madden, the Hall of Famecoach who became one of Ameri-ca’s most recognizable ambassa-dors of professional football,reaching millions, and genera-tions, from the broadcast boothand through the popular videogame that bears his name, died onTuesday. He was 85.
The National Football Leagueannounced his death in a state-ment that didn’t include the cause.
In his irrepressible way, andwith his distinctive voice, Maddenleft an imprint on the sport on parwith titans like George Halas,Paul Brown and his coaching idol,Vince Lombardi. Madden’s influ-ence, steeped in Everyman sensi-bilities and studded with wild ges-ticulations and paroxysms of ono-
matopoeia — wham! doink!whoosh! — made the N.F.L. moreinteresting, more relevant andmore fun for over 40 years.
“John Madden is as importantas anybody in the history of foot-ball,” Al Michaels, his broadcastpartner from 2002 through 2008with ABC and NBC, said in an in-terview in 2013. “Tell me some-body who did all of the things that
The N.F.L.’s Exuberant Face, Voice and ScribblerBy BEN SHPIGEL
John Madden coaching in 1970. He later won a Super Bowl with the Raiders before moving to TV.ASSOCIATED PRESS
JOHN MADDEN, 1936-2021
Continued on Page A19
U.S. CASE RECORD The seven-dayaverage of infections topped267,000 on Tuesday. PAGE A14
Late Edition
VOL. CLXXI . . . No. 59,287 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2021
Today, cloudy, morning rain anddrizzle, high 46. Tonight, cloudy,mild for the season, low 43. Tomor-row, mostly cloudy, showers, high48. Weather map is on Page B9.
$3.00
