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The 39th president will be buried later at his Georgia home. Here’s the latest.

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The 39th president will be buried later at his Georgia home. Here’s the latest.

A weeklong series of tributes to former President Jimmy Carter culminates on Thursday with a solemn state funeral in Washington that will bring together all five of the nation’s living presidents, who will temporarily put down their partisan swords to bid farewell to one of their own.

Mr. Carter, who has lain in state for the past two days at the Capitol, is being brought to Washington National Cathedral for a 10 a.m. service featuring all the rituals of a national send-off. Then he will be flown back to his hometown, Plains, Ga., for burial outside the modest ranch house where he lived most of his life and died last week.

The service represents the pinnacle of America’s honors to its 39th president, who sought to heal the nation after the traumas of the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War as he presided over a tumultuous time, from 1977 to 1981.

Here’s what to know:

  • Eulogies from two presidents: President Biden will deliver a eulogy, and the eulogies written by former President Gerald R. Ford and former Vice President Walter F. Mondale before their own deaths will be read by their sons, Steven Ford and Ted Mondale. Mr. Carter defeated Mr. Ford in the 1976 election but they later became friends, while Mr. Mondale was his close partner for four years in the White House. Jason Carter, the former president’s grandson, and Stuart E. Eizenstat, a longtime friend and White House domestic adviser to Mr. Carter, will also deliver eulogies. Here is a look at the speakers and performers.

  • Going home: Mr. Carter’s coffin will be brought from the cathedral to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland for his last flight aboard a presidential jet used as Air Force One. After a final private service at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, where Mr. Carter taught Sunday school deep into his 90s, a motorcade with the coffin will make a last journey through Plains to the Carter home. Navy jets will conduct a flyover in missing-man formation and then Mr. Carter will be interred in a family plot next to Rosalynn Carter, his wife of 77 years, who died in late 2023. Here is the schedule for the day.

  • Five living presidents: In addition to Mr. Biden, former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, as well as President-elect Donald J. Trump, are also expected to attend, making the funeral the first gathering of the so-called presidents club since Mr. Trump’s election win in November. The same group is expected to gather again just 11 days later for his inauguration. Mr. Trump will be the odd man out among the presidents, who view him as a dangerous force and in some cases have denounced him harshly. Even Mr. Bush, the only other Republican in the group, has written in other candidates rather than cast a ballot for Mr. Trump.

  • Day of mourning: Mr. Biden, who may be the surviving president who was closest to Mr. Carter, has declared Thursday a national day of mourning and closed the federal government to all but necessary operations while flags fly at half-staff. Here’s a look at the tradition.

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San Francisco Film Patrons Are Found Dead on Side of Highway

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San Francisco Film Patrons Are Found Dead on Side of Highway

Three San Francisco couples set out Monday for their annual road trip to Ashland, Ore., for the town’s famous Shakespeare festival. They drove separately and planned to meet at 6:30 p.m. on the terrace of their favorite Japanese restaurant there.

They had booked a table for six, but only four showed up for dinner.

Judith and Wylie Sheldon were found dead in their running car on the side of the road to Oregon, shocking their friends and family and leaving a hole in San Francisco’s arts and film world.

Ms. Sheldon, 84, was the daughter of William Wyler — who won three Oscars for best director — and chaired the board of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Mr. Sheldon, 86, was a prominent lawyer.

David Smith, who had befriended the couple more than 40 years ago, said in an interview that he and the others at the dinner table had grown nervous as time ticked on and their friends did not answer repeated calls to their cellphones. They learned they had not checked into their hotel either.

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The friends eventually learned from one of the couple’s sons that the California Highway Patrol had found the couple at 5:46 p.m., both dead inside their running Jeep Compass. It was parked on the side of Interstate 5, north of Redding, Calif., more than 100 miles from their destination, the authorities said. Ms. Sheldon was driving, while Mr. Sheldon was in the passenger seat, according to the authorities.

The Redding area on Monday was under an extreme heat warning issued by the National Weather Service. Temperatures reached 109 degrees, according to the Weather Service.

Mr. Smith said he learned from the son that the couple had been found without any water or other liquids in the car. The fan was on high, but the air conditioning was not working, meaning they might have been blasted with hot air, Mr. Smith said. The windows were rolled down. The car had plenty of gas, and there were no signs of mechanical failure or foul play, Mr. Smith said the son told him.

“They didn’t crash. They stopped. They both just died there,” Mr. Smith said. “The entire thing is so bizarre. We’re still in a state of shock.”

The circumstances and cause of the couple’s death is under investigation but “appears to be medically related,” the Highway Patrol said in a statement.

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Whether the heat contributed to the couple’s death “may be determined” by an autopsy, a spokesman for the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office said, adding that one had not been scheduled yet and could take several weeks to complete.

“We’ll just have to see,” the spokesman, Tim Mapes, said.

The Sheldons met at Stanford University and had two sons. They lived in a large home in San Francisco’s upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood that had views of the bay from the front and a garden out back.

They hosted many parties there on behalf of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival and sometimes let revelers pose for photos with Mr. Wyler’s Oscar statuettes. Ms. Sheldon fell in love with silent movies after first seeing those created by her father — before his better known blockbusters like “Ben-Hur” and “Roman Holiday” — only about 30 years ago, said Anita Monga, artistic director of the festival.

Stacey Wisnia, the festival’s executive director, said the couple was generous, delightful and unassuming.

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Back in Ashland, Ore., Mr. Smith said the four remaining friends had distracted themselves from their grief by attending plays, including “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Come From Away.” They were able to give away their friends’ tickets.

Ms. Monga had last seen Ms. Sheldon just last month at the film festival, which was held at the newly remade Castro Theater.

“This is such a shock,” Ms. Monga said of the deaths. “Also because it’s still a mystery.”

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Luigi Mangione’s lawyers withdraw plans for psychiatric defense

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Luigi Mangione’s lawyers withdraw plans for psychiatric defense

Luigi Mangione appears for a pretrial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, June 17, 2026.

Angelina Katsanis/AP


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Angelina Katsanis/AP

New York — In a dramatic reversal, Luigi Mangione’s legal team on Thursday backed away from a plan to use a psychiatric defense when his case goes to trial in state court in September. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to murdering health insurance CEO Brian Thompson in 2024 on a Manhattan street.

At a hearing only a day earlier before state Judge Gregory Carro, Mangione’s attorneys confirmed that Mangione had been undergoing psychiatric evaluation. They signaled that his defense would be based at least in part on the argument that Mangione was experiencing “extreme emotional disturbance.”

But in a one-line letter sent to Carro on Thursday, Mangione’s team said that “at this time” they no longer intend to introduce psychiatric evidence during the trial. It’s unclear what sparked the shift. Mangione’s team didn’t respond to NPR’s request for comment.

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Former Manhattan prosecutor and legal analyst Gary Galperin told NPR it was a “stunning reversal” for Mangione to withdraw from the psychiatric defense. “One can only speculate at this point as to the reasons,” he said.

“What remains, of course, at this point is the question of what defense they will pursue at trial,” he added.

This maneuver came after Carro ordered Mangione’s attorneys to quickly share psychiatric information with prosecutors.

“They need to know what the malady is that this defendant suffers and how that triggered extreme emotional distress,” he said, during Wednesday’s hearing. “I’m not going to let you surprise people on the eve of trial. Get it done.”

Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Joel Seidemann repeatedly complained that Mangione’s team was “stonewalling” the prosecution by withholding medical information about his psychiatric state. “We have gotten nothing,” Seidemann said.

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Mangione’s lead attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo denied her team was delaying the court process or improperly withholding information.

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Inside Trump’s Touring Exhibition of American Heroes

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Inside Trump’s Touring Exhibition of American Heroes

Video by Zack Wittman for The New York Times

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The museums, designed by conservative nonprofits and Trump appointees, tell the story of early America, from colonization to revolution. The one exhibition looking beyond the early years is the “Wall of American Heroes.” It is a list of 51 people, chosen to illustrate 250 years of American history.

A White House spokesman said they were “individuals who shaped this nation’s history, culture and spirit across generations.”

The people pictured on this national honor roll — and the people left out — help illustrate what this administration sees as the highlights of American history.

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Amid the administration’s efforts to reshape the nation’s relationship with its past, Trump appointees heavily weighted the list toward a single era of American history — and a few specific kinds of hero.

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MOUNT RUSHMORE, 1927

1936-1937

1933-1934

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1939

MOUNT RUSHMORE, 2025

Some of those featured are American icons who would be on just about anyone’s list of the country’s heroes. Many are already honored with monuments, holidays or their faces on coins.

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Photo cards show Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr., the Wright Brothers, Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton and Sacagawea.

But nine of the 51 people fit one surprising mold: They were all in show business in the 1960s.

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Photo cards show John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, Walt Disney, Irving Berlin, Elvis Presley and Louis Armstrong.

The list also focuses on just one of America’s wars. All four people shown in military uniform served in World War II.

Photo cards show George S. Patton, Louis Zamperini, Audie Murphy and Grace Hopper.

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All four religious leaders on the wall are Christian.

The wall also features some of the wealthiest people of their time.

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Cards show Steve Jobs, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and Henry Ford.

Tens of millions of people have immigrated to America in the past 250 years. But the “Wall of American Heroes” includes only four immigrants, all white men born in the 19th century.

Photo cards show Irving Berlin, Alexander Graham Bell, Andrew Carnegie and Albert Einstein.

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The center of the display includes a long quotation by President Trump.

A wall featuring 51 photographs of people, with the space in the middle dedicated to a quotation from President Trump.

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The other exhibitions in the Freedom Trucks were crafted by a pair of conservative nonprofits, PragerU and Hillsdale College. But the “Wall of American Heroes” was created by Freedom 250, a nonprofit effort whose leaders were chosen by President Trump and that was created to lead the planning of celebrations of the nation’s 250th birthday, overshadowing a bipartisan congressional commission.

A spokeswoman for Freedom 250 said Mr. Trump was not directly involved in the selection of those featured.

But the list clearly tracks Mr. Trump’s own lifetime and the heroes of the conservative political movement.

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In May, a Freedom Truck stopped at the Villages Public Library in Wildwood, Fla. Zack Wittman for The New York Times

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The wall’s tilt toward heroes of the baby boomer generation, for instance, extends beyond Hollywood stars and musicians. Of the four religious leaders on the list, two — Archbishop Fulton Sheen and the Rev. Billy Graham — also appeared on TV regularly in the 1950s and 1960s. The only painter on the list is Norman Rockwell, known for his idealized depictions of American life in that period.

By contrast, there is only a handful of figures from the first decades of American independence.

“That’s a disservice, if your intention is to present the last 250 years,” said Sarah Weicksel, the executive director of the American Historical Association. “Because all of the people on this list are building on the work and struggles and progress that was made by the people in the 150 years prior.”

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The “Wall of American Heroes” was inspired by a similar display in a traveling museum created by the State of Virginia. But Virginia’s display celebrates little-known historical figures.

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Virginia’s display of heroes highlights little-known figures. Jason Andrew for The New York Times

Mr. Trump’s, by and large, celebrates people who are already well-known — and, often, people who were famous in their own time. For example, it praises P.T. Barnum, a circus impresario who used hoaxes and freak shows to draw crowds. The wall calls him an “icon of American sensationalism.”

The spokeswoman for Freedom 250 said that many of the names on the wall were drawn from a list of 250 people that Mr. Trump wants to include in a “Garden of American Heroes” in Washington.

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The spokeswoman declined to say what criteria were used to narrow down the list.

The only president whose name appears on the wall — not on the list of heroes, but alongside his quotation — is Mr. Trump himself.

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Explore the Wall of Heroes

Navigate the display by dragging from side to side.

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Zack Wittman for The New York Times

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