O.J. Simpson lived a life that made him one of the most famous people in America. He was a Heisman Trophy winner and a star for the Buffalo Bills, and he made fortunes as a Hollywood actor and a commercial pitchman — he was the first Black star of a national television advertising campaign. Then, in 1994, he was charged in the double murder of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.
Simpson, who was 76, died yesterday at his home in Las Vegas. The cause was cancer, according to his family. You can read his full obituary here.
Simpson’s 1995 murder trial held up a cracked mirror to Black and white America and mesmerized the nation, which followed along on daily national television broadcasts. The jury acquitted him, but questions about his guilt or innocence never went away.
He was found liable for the deaths in a 1997 civil trial and was ordered to pay $33.5 million, although he paid little of the debt and struggled to stay out of trouble. He sold a book manuscript giving a “hypothetical” account of the murders, but after a public outcry, Ronald Goldman’s family secured the book rights.
In 2007 he was arrested after invading a Las Vegas hotel room and taking a trove of sports collectibles. Simpson was found guilty of armed robbery and kidnapping; he served nine years in prison and was released in 2017.
Look back: Here was The Times’s front-page story on the day Simpson was acquitted.
The U.S. is preparing for Iran to retaliate soon
The top U.S. military commander for the Middle East arrived in Israel today to coordinate with the Israeli military ahead of an expected attack by Iran.
Despite recent friction, President Biden said U.S. support for Israel was “ironclad,” and he warned that Iran was threatening a “significant” attack. Over the last 10 days, Iran’s leaders have repeatedly vowed to punish Israel for a strike that killed several senior Iranian commanders in Syria.
Prosecutors said Ohtani’s interpreter stole $16 million
Federal prosecutors in California today charged Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for the baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani, with bank fraud. The authorities accused Mizuhara of orchestrating a sprawling scheme over years to steal $16 million of Ohtani’s money to feed a gambling addiction.
The prosecutors said that the money had been taken from an account where Ohtani’s baseball salary was paid, and that there was no evidence that Ohtani had authorized the withdrawals. The authorities added that there was no indication that Mizuhara had bet on baseball.
The global stockpile of cholera vaccine has run dry
Seventeen countries have recently seen cholera outbreaks, driven by climate change and conflict. Doses of cholera vaccine are being given to patients as fast as they are produced, and the global stockpile has run completely dry.
The only company that currently makes the vaccine has been working at a pace that experts describe as “heroic” to expand production. And three new vaccine makers are setting up production lines. Yet the supply this year will be, at best, a quarter of what is needed.
In other vaccine news, a new shot appears to offer strong protection against dengue fever but isn’t being made fast enough to stop a huge outbreak sweeping Latin America.
A civil war film set in a near-future America
Kirsten Dunst stars as a war photographer in a version of the U.S. where Texas and California have combined forces to fight a bloody and devastating war against what remains of the federal government. That’s the premise of Alex Garland’s new film, “Civil War,” which arrives in theaters tomorrow. Our critic called it “mesmerizingly, horribly gripping.”
Garland said the film was made to warn against the dangers of extreme partisanship. We spoke with him about what inspired the story.
Look out for more wedding dresses with dropped waists
One of the hottest trends from this month’s New York Bridal Fashion Week was the dropped waist — dresses that lower their seam line to the hips (as pictured above). “Expect this style to stay around for a while,” one bridal shop owner said.
The joys and challenges of caring for an octopus
Cal Clifford wanted an octopus since he was 3 years old. Every year, he would ask for one; and every year his parents would get him octopus toys, clothes or a trip to the aquarium. Then last year, on Cal’s ninth birthday, he finally was given a real pet octopus. He named it Terrance.
Cal and his family quickly came to adore the octopus, who turned out to be quite social, but what they didn’t know was that Terrance was a female. She laid 50 eggs, forcing the family to scramble to keep the hatchlings alive and to find them homes.
Have a supportive evening.
Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew
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