Good morning. The United States and Iran say they are closing in on a deal. Japan’s population is plummeting. And my colleagues talked to Olivia Rodrigo. I’m going to start today, though, in the pool.
Pool problemsThere are many surprising things to learn about the current renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. For one thing, the company doing the repairs didn’t have to bid for the job, and it’s receiving a puffed-up profit margin, according to my colleague David Fahrenthold, an investigative journalist in our Washington bureau. Federal construction projects like this one generally yield a profit of 6 to 12 percent, according to a National Park Service analysis that David obtained. The estimate from the firm fixing the reflecting pool yields 20 percent. That added at least $850,000 to the cost. Of course, it’s a difficult job. The pool is 167 feet wide and over 2,000 feet long. The water within it could fill roughly a half dozen Olympic-size swimming pools. And President Trump wants everything done in time for the celebration of America’s 250th birthday in July. The government thought the firm deserved extra for hustling. The cost they eventually settled on: $13.1 million, some seven times the amount the president initially said it would cost. That included the 20 percent profit margin and an additional 20 percent for “overhead,” which the Park Service analysis said “appears excessive.” The documents David obtained show something else, too: The contractor’s attempts earlier this month to seal gaps in the pool’s bottom failed, compelling the company and the Park Service to grasp for new solutions. And the waterproof paint it’s using on the bottom of the pool — “American Flag blue” — has bubbled or developed small holes in some places. Uneven spraying has left some areas with different shades of blue. Same as it ever was
Those problems may come as no surprise to anyone who owns a pool. Think of the upkeep and the ongoing costs: chemicals, pumps, cleaning, draining, covering, uncovering, filling, filtering, repeat. Something’s always going wrong. I have a friend with a pool. (Beats having a pool.) I asked him about it. He was forceful: “It’s a lot.” Similarly, the reflecting pool has been a headache for the federal government almost from its start, in 1922. Contractors built a cavity for the pool, but their construction soon settled into the muddy wetlands below it. The water burbled under the harsh sun of Washington summers, growing murky as algae bloomed. And, yes, it leaked — eventually some 16 million gallons of water per year. In 2010, the Obama administration drained the pool and embarked on an expensive two-year renovation meant to seal the leaks and improve the filtration system. I found a Times article that ran right after it reopened in the fall of 2012. The first sentence may sound familiar: “The National Park Service has again drained the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial to clean an algae buildup that formed after a $34 million overhaul.”
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Happy, an Asian elephant who had delighted Bronx Zoo visitors since the 1970s, died this week at 55. She was euthanized after a period of hospice care, prompted by a recent deterioration in her health. Happy was a particularly brilliant pachyderm. In the 2000s, she touched an X marked on her head with her trunk while looking in a mirror, acing a test of self-awareness that only humans, apes and dolphins had previously passed. That set off a legal fight from an animal rights group, which argued that confinement in a zoo was inhumane for a creature of such intellect.
Sandeep Vaheesan and Claire Kelloway say Americans can save on groceries if the country carves up Big Beef. Andrew Weissmann, a former general counsel of the F.B.I., has suggestions for how to stop Trump’s vindictive prosecutions. Here’s a column by M. Gessen on Viktor Orban’s defeat. Morning readers: Save on the complete Times experience. Experience all of The Times, all in one subscription — all with this introductory offer. You’ll gain unlimited access to news and analysis, plus games, recipes, product reviews and more.
Agentic agent: A journalist tried to sell his home with the help of a chatbot. He beat the market. Hand to God: A Florida sheriff’s deputy pulled over a woman for holding a phone in her right hand, but she has no right hand. Genetic testing: What happens when your employer knows the diseases you might get? Your pick: Yesterday’s most clicked story in The Morning was about three questions that can help solve a stressful situation.
9th— That is the finishing position of the decathlete Russ Hodge at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His mother, the high jumper Alice Arden, finished in the same position at the 1936 Berlin Games. They were the first mother and son to have competed for the United States in the Olympics. Hodge died this month at 86.
N.H.L.: Claude Lemieux, a four-time Stanley Cup champion and one of the fiercest playoff performers in the league’s history, died, the NHL Alumni Association said. He was 60. N.B.A.: The Western Conference finals are headed to a seventh game after the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 118-91 in Game 6. Victor Wembanyama scored 28 points. French Open: Jannik Sinner, the world No. 1 and winner of 30 straight matches, lost in a shocking upset to Juan Manuel Cerúndolo of Argentina. Sinner was up two sets and serving for the match when the 90-degree Paris heat apparently took a toll on him.
If you can get your hands on some wild salmon this weekend, use it in Melissa Clark’s lovely recipe for a grilled salmon salad with lime, chiles and herbs. If you can’t, use chicken instead. Maybe it’s just me, but I taste desperation in the farmed fish — these animals meant to swim thousands of miles from rivers to ocean and back again but raised, instead, in a pen. The wild ones taste of freedom.
Jean Smart came to an interview with The Times wearing a crisp merlot suit, gold hoop earrings and a swirly updo. Hannah Einbinder had arrived before her, in ripped jeans and a shirt that read “Planet Earth: Love It or Leave It.” Smart saw her. She narrowed her lips exactly as she does on “Hacks,” their HBO Max comedy, which ended last night. “I see you dressed,” she said coolly. The conversation that followed is a delightful read, though I must warn you that there are spoilers within it. More on culture
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