The Government Reopened

The federal government was back up and running today for the first time since September, after the longest shutdown in history came to an end last night. Agencies reopened, hundreds of thousands of furloughed workers were welcomed back and federal courts resumed their normal dockets.

However, it could take some time before operations are back to normal. Work piled up over the last 43 days, and some federal programs could take days or weeks to be fully restored. Federal employees are expecting to see paychecks again as early as Nov. 20, and delayed food stamp benefits are expected to arrive by Monday.

The White House’s top economist said that the shutdown cost $14 billion per week, or as much as 1.5 percent of gross domestic product. It was especially hard on the Washington, D.C., area, where more than 400,000 federal employees live. For some of them, the anxiety is not going away.

One result of the end of the shutdown: When the House reconvened to fund the government, members effectively forced a vote to demand the release of the government’s documents on Jeffrey Epstein. Here’s what we learned from yesterday’s release of new Epstein emails, several of which hinted that he had damaging information on President Trump.

Ukraine’s dilemma in Pokrovsk

Leaders in Kyiv are facing a cruelly familiar choice as Russian troops move closer to capturing Pokrovsk, a crucial city in the Donetsk region that Vladimir Putin has long coveted. Ukraine could concede defeat and save lives. Or it could fight on, delaying a victory for Moscow.

When Ukraine had to make similar decisions in Bakhmut and Avdiivka, it fought on. Officials argued that the decisions forced Russia to expend resources and showed a fighting spirit to the West. Critics argued that a timely retreat could have saved soldiers — Ukraine’s most precious resource. President Volodymyr Zelensky has shown no sign that he will order a retreat from Pokrovsk.

For more: Take a look through the lens of our photographer as he saw Pokrovsk transform into a zone of destruction.

The U.S. is expected to significantly cut housing grants

The Trump administration has developed plans for the most consequential shift in homelessness policy in a generation.

According to a confidential plan reviewed by The Times, the U.S. would slash its main source of support for homelessness — $3.5 billion in long-term housing programs for disabled recipients — and redirect most of it to programs that prioritize work and drug treatment, and that help the police dismantle encampments.

Why can’t anyone fix Penn Station?

More than 25 years ago, President Bill Clinton stood beside the New York governor and announced plans to rebuild Penn Station, the nation’s busiest transit hub, for the modern age. Five presidencies and four governors later, it’s still cramped, congested, gloomy, grimy and prone to delays.

The station — which is abhorred by many of the 600,000 people who use it daily — has become a symbol of the country’s failure to get big projects done. My colleague Patrick McGeehan, who covers infrastructure, explained what’s standing in the way.

More top news

• Congress: Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania fell and was hospitalized after what his office described as “a ventricular fibrillation flare-up.”

• Washington State: Katie Wilson, a socialist newcomer, will be Seattle’s next mayor after the incumbent conceded.

• Politics: The 17-year-old at the center of the Matt Gaetz scandal wanted money for braces and ended up having sex for money with powerful men. She now wants the public to better understand her victimization.

• Space: Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ space company, landed a booster from its giant New Glenn rocket after launching a small NASA mission to Mars.

• Middle East: Extremist Israeli settlers burned a mosque in the West Bank as settler violence has escalated in the territory.

• Travel: Air travel from Canada to the U.S. has dropped nearly 24 percent, and car travel by more than 30 percent, compared with the same time last year.

• Voting: Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, is set to allow voters to cast their ballots on smartphones in upcoming local elections.

• Alcohol: Cognac sales in the U.S. peaked at $2.1 billion in 2021. This year, imports are projected to be half that, and celebrity endorsements aren’t helping.

An ode to 1950s Paris

Richard Linklater’s new film, “Nouvelle Vague,” is a glamorous portrait of young moviemakers in Paris who, in the late 1950s, upended cinematic norms. It focuses on Jean-Luc Godard’s efforts to create his first (now legendary) film, “Breathless.”

Linklater’s film is both a homage to the era and, our critic wrote, “an expression of a certain approach — a consciousness — toward cinema’s pleasures and possibilities, one that at once embraces the art’s past and insists on its future.”

Arriving in theaters: Glen Powell stars as an Everyman battling it out in a near-future America in an adaptation of the Stephen King novel “The Running Man.”

Ancient dogs were already amazingly diverse

As a species, dogs are mind-bogglingly diverse. Just think about the differences between a Shih Tzu and a Great Dane.

Typically, researchers have traced the variation to the Victorian era, when dog fanciers created a wide range of breeds. But now, a new analysis of very old canine skulls suggested that half the variation we see in dogs was in place 10,000 years ago.

These scrappy soccer players are ready for the game of their lives

The Faroe Islands are an archipelago of 18 green specks in the North Atlantic, where it rains all the time and wind is often intense. There are 55,000 residents and zero indoor soccer fields. Yet the men’s national soccer team has a chance of qualifying for next year’s World Cup.

The team — which includes carpenters, electricians, a C.E.O. and a car salesman — is on a three-game winning streak. Tomorrow, it has a win-or-go-home match against Croatia, an international powerhouse. “We have a small chance,” the coach said. “But we have a chance.”

Have an odds-defying evening.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew

Philip Pacheco was our photo editor.

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