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Picture a storm charging to-ward New York City, pushing asurge of seawater like the one thatflooded the region during Hurri-cane Sandy. But this time, man-made islands with retractablegates stretch from the Rockawaysin Queens to a strip of land in NewJersey south of Staten Island.

The gates swing shut. A six-mile-long wall blocks the deluge,saving property and lives.

The giant barrier is the largestof five options the Army Corps ofEngineers is studying to protectthe New York area as storms be-come more frequent, and destruc-tive, on a warming Earth.

The proposals have fueledfierce debate as New York, like

other coastal cities, grapples withthe broader question of how and towhat degree it must transform itslandscape and lifestyle to surviverising seas.

Those who support a barriermiles from Manhattan’s coast —one in the outer New York Harbor,out of sight of many residents andtourists — say it would be the bestsolution for protecting the mostpeople, properties and land-marks, including the Statue of Lib-erty, from a storm surge swellingthe East and Hudson Rivers, with-out cutting off the city from its wa-terfront.

Catherine McVay Hughes, who

$119 Billion SeaWall Could SaveNew York, or Bathe It in Sewage

By ANNE BARNARD

Continued on Page A20

For months, the filmmakersKirby Dick and Amy Ziering had apair of dream partners: OprahWinfrey and Apple, who had com-mitted to back their documentaryabout women who have accusedthe hip-hop mogul Russell Sim-mons of sexual misconduct.Booked for the Sundance Film

Festival and Apple’s new stream-ing platform, the film was primedto be the next high-profile mediamoment of the #MeToo era.

Then the film’s future wasabruptly cast into doubt last weekafter Ms. Winfrey withdrew as ex-ecutive producer and pulled itfrom Apple, citing creative differ-ences with the directors and sug-gesting that the picture was beingrushed to Sundance “before I be-lieve it is complete.”

But what preceded Ms. Win-frey’s announcement was morethan just a dispute over filmmak-ing. It involved an intense cam-paign by Mr. Simmons and hissupporters to get Ms. Winfrey to

pull the plug. That campaign alsotargeted some of the women in thefilm on social media and, in atleast one case, through direct con-tact with a family member, in whatthe women viewed as attempts tothreaten and intimidate themahead of the film’s premiere atSundance, still scheduled for Jan.25.

Ms. Winfrey acknowledged to

Oprah, Apple and the Decision to Exit a #MeToo DocumentaryBy BEN SISARIO

and NICOLE SPERLINGLocking Horns With a

Hip-Hop Mogul

Continued on Page A18

President Trump enlisted theformer independent counsel KenStarr and the celebrity lawyerAlan Dershowitz to join his de-fense team on Friday, turning totwo veterans of politicallycharged legal cases to secure hisacquittal in the Senate impeach-ment trial that gets underway inearnest next week.

Mr. Starr, whose investigationinto President Bill Clinton led tohis impeachment for perjury andobstruction of justice in 1998, willbe joined by Robert W. Ray, hissuccessor as independent coun-sel, who negotiated a settlementwith Mr. Clinton as he left theWhite House that included a fineand the suspension of his law li-cense.

Mr. Dershowitz, a Harvard LawSchool professor emeritus who

became famous as a defense coun-sel for high-profile defendants likeO.J. Simpson, Claus von Bülowand Mike Tyson, will have a morelimited role, presenting oral argu-ments at the Senate trial “to ad-dress the constitutional argu-ments against impeachment andremoval,” the legal team said in astatement.

In choosing the three promi-nent lawyers, the president as-sembled what he regards as an all-star television legal team, enlist-ing some of his favorite defendersfrom Fox News. But each of thembrings his own baggage. Mr. Der-showitz represented Jeffrey Ep-stein, the convicted sex offender.Mr. Starr was pushed out as a uni-versity president because of hishandling of sexual misconduct bythe football team. And Mr. Raywas once charged with stalking aformer girlfriend.

PRESIDENT GIVING HIS DEFENSE TEAMA CELEBRITY CAST

STARR AND DERSHOWITZ

Valued Allies From TVWho Have Problems

of Their Own

By MAGGIE HABERMANand PETER BAKER

Ken Starr, whose report led toBill Clinton’s impeachment.

SARAH A. MILLER/TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH

Continued on Page A16

WASHINGTON — The Trumpadministration moved on Fridayto roll back school nutrition stand-ards championed by MichelleObama, an effort long sought byfood manufacturers and someschool districts that have chafedat the cost of Mrs. Obama’s pre-scriptions for fresh fruit and vege-tables.

The proposed rule by the Agri-culture Department, coming onthe former first lady’s birthday,would give schools more latitudeto decide how much fruit to offerduring breakfast and what typesof vegetables to include in meals.It would also broaden what countsas a snack.

A spokeswoman for the depart-ment said that it had not intendedto roll out the proposed rule onMrs. Obama’s birthday, althoughsome Democratic aides on CapitolHill had their doubts. Food com-panies applauded the proposal,while nutritionists condemned it,predicting that starchy foods likepotatoes would replace green veg-etables and that fattening foodslike hamburgers would be serveddaily as “snacks.”

“Schools and school districtscontinue to tell us that there is stilltoo much food waste and thatmore common-sense flexibility isneeded to provide students nutri-tious and appetizing meals,”Sonny Perdue, the agriculturesecretary, said in a statement.“We listened and now we’re get-ting to work.”

Combating childhood obesitywas Mrs. Obama’s signature is-sue, a rallying cry for her support-ers and a lightning rod for conser-vative critics who saw it as epito-mizing the liberal “nanny state” ofthe Obama era.

Mrs. Obama pressed to updatefederal nutrition standards and tobring healthier foods to schools.She planted the White Housekitchen garden on the South Lawn— the first real garden since Elea-nor Roosevelt’s World War II “Vic-tory Garden” — and invited stu-dents to sow and harvest it eachyear. And she created the firstTask Force on Childhood Obesityand developed the “Let’s Move!”campaign that aimed to get chil-dren to engage in 60 minutes ofphysical activity each day.

Mrs. Obama’s work “improvedthe diets of millions of children, es-pecially vulnerable children infood insecure households,” saidJuliana Cohen, a nutrition profes-sor at Harvard University’sSchool of Public Health. More stu-dents are eating vegetables andwhole grain-rich foods because ofthe former first lady.

“Food waste was a problem be-fore the healthier standards were

U.S.D.A. TriesTo Relax RulesOn School Food

Easing Meal StandardsObamas Encouraged

By LOLA FADULU

Continued on Page A15

TRIPOLI, Libya — Russia hassent hundreds of mercenaries toback militias laying siege to Lib-ya’s capital. The United ArabEmirates has sent jets and drones,while Egypt has provided logisti-cal support.

To stop them, Turkey has sentdozens of military advisers and isnow shipping in hundreds of Syr-ian militiamen.

Walid Khashib, a 35-year-oldLibyan bank clerk, just wishesthey would all leave.

“We Libyans don’t want Turk-ish or Syrian or Russian or anyother foreign troops,” said Mr.Khashib, who had taken advan-tage of a temporary cease-fire tovisit the rubble of his bombed-outhome in eastern Tripoli. “We justwant the issue to be resolved.”

The conflict in oil-rich Libya hasbecome one of the Middle East’smost intractable proxy wars. Rus-sia, the United Arab Emirates andEgypt are backing the former Lib-yan army general Khalifa Hifter,who is attacking the capital, Trip-oli. Turkey is defending the UnitedNations-backed governmentthere.

Most of the international pow-ers with an interest in Libya willgather in Berlin on Sunday in thelatest effort to find a way out ofwhat has become a multinationalfree-for-all.

Mr. Hifter, a 76-year-old would-be strongman, began an assaulton the capital last April. As his ad-vance stalled out in the fall, Russiaand Turkey jumped in on oppos-ing sides, establishing themselvesas potential kingmakers. But their

Foreign ForcesMagnify ChaosIn a Frail Libya

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICKand DECLAN WALSH

A funeral for a man who died in a bombing of a Libyan military academy early this month by the militia led by Khalifa Hifter.IVOR PRICKETT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A6

WINTERSET, Iowa — Almostexactly three years ago, LeilaSchlenker marveled at the crowdsat the Women’s March in DesMoines, which drew more than26,000 people to the grounds of theState Capitol and reminded her ofthe large social protests of the1960s.

Her daughter, now a motherherself, used to roll her eyes whenher mother would talk about theimportance of fighting for issueslike abortion rights and equal pay.But Ms. Schlenker has seen howthe current political moment hasconvinced her daughter that herrights could be taken away, andthat sexism remains a force intheir lives. And she has watched inhorror as the Trump administra-tion has worked to roll back fund-ing for clinics specializing in re-productive health care, the field

she worked in for more than aquarter century.

Yet as she sat in the front row ofa crowded banquet hall on Mon-day morning, waiting for PeteButtigieg, the former mayor ofSouth Bend, Ind., to take the stage,Ms. Schlenker, 66, made clear thatthere was at least one area of herlife where gender was not a deter-mining factor.

“I would love to see a woman inoffice,” she said. “But I still likePete.”

In the final weeks before theIowa caucuses, the two leading fe-male candidates remaining in theDemocratic primary are embrac-

ing their gender as an asset, deci-sively pushing back against con-cerns that a woman cannot beelected president. Those sensitiveconversations burst into publicview this week at the Democraticdebate, in a nationally televiseddiscussion about sexism and ex-perience between Senators Eliza-beth Warren of Massachusettsand Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Since Donald J. Trump took of-fice, women have emerged as thebackbone of the DemocraticParty, leading protests, creatingnew political organizations andrunning for office. A record num-ber of women are serving in Con-gress, and the #MeToo movementhas raised awareness of sexual as-sault and gender bias. Saturdaymarks the fourth annual Women’sMarch, with events taking placearound the country and the world.

Yet the sisterhood may stop be-fore the White House. In inter-

Taking Feminism to Heart, if Not to the CaucusesBy LISA LERER Beating Trump Matters

More Than Electing a Woman, to Some

An Iowa woman said she “would love to see a woman in office,” but backed Pete Buttigieg, above.TAMIR KALIFA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A12

A growing number of academics arechallenging the common wisdom thatdevices are bad for children. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-7

Stop Panicking About PhonesOur critic explores the ex-pro wrestlerReza Shafahi’s loopy acrylics, above, andVivian Maier’s photography. PAGE C7

ARTS C1-7

Outsider Art Fair Favorites

The Supreme Court agreed to decidewhether Electoral College members cango rogue. It will also decide whether theTrump administration may allow em-ployers to limit access to free birthcontrol under Obamacare. PAGE A14

NATIONAL A9-18

On the Justices’ DocketAs Amanda Anisimova’s tennis careerwas soaring last summer, her father’ssudden death changed everything. Nowshe’s back in Australia. PAGE B8

SPORTSSATURDAY B8-12

Finding Solace in Her Tennis

Four smaller companies told lawmak-ers that Amazon, Apple, Facebook andGoogle had “bullied” them. PAGE B1

Public Pleas to Stop Big Tech

Prosecutors said the defense was “sys-tematically eliminating every youngwhite woman” from the pool. PAGE A19

NEW YORK A19-21

Weinstein Jury Is Chosen

An ICE official said the murder of aQueens women could have been pre-vented with “a phone call.” PAGE A19

Rebuking Sanctuary Cities

Trying to grasp some state and federalfunding tied to the census count, somecities with declining population areannexing property. PAGE A11

Land Grab Before the Census

Timothy Egan PAGE A22

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23 Armando Iannucci’s new interplanetarycomedy, “Avenue 5,” is a long, long wayfrom his political satire “Veep.” PAGE C1

A Spaceship of Fools on HBO

Rarely have the Lakers and the Clip-pers been this good concurrently. Vis-iting opponents are struggling mightilywhen they play them on back-to-backnights at Staples Center. PAGE B8

N.B.A. Quicksand: Los Angeles

Thunderstorms doused some of Aus-tralia’s fires that had been burning formonths. More rain was expected insome areas over the weekend. PAGE A7

INTERNATIONAL A4-8

Rain Drenches Parts of Sydney

VOL. CLXIX . . . No. 58,576 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 2020

Late EditionToday, mostly cloudy, afternoonsnow, 1 to 3 inches, high 37. Tonight,cloudy, evening rain and snow, low34. Tomorrow, partly sunny, windy,high 39. Weather map, Page C8.

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