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Alabama, Salma Hayek, Net Neutrality: Your Thursday Briefing

Cleaning up burned lots in Santa Rosa, Calif. Wildfires, a high cost of living and the threat of earthquakes have left California with a net outflow of residents for more than three decades.Credit...Jason Henry for The New York Times

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Good morning.

Here’s what you need to know:

• With House and Senate negotiators reaching an agreement on a final version of their rewrite of the tax code, the party is closing in on its first major legislative achievement since assuming political control this year.

Final votes on the revised legislation, whose overall cost remains unclear, could come next week.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve predicted that the measure would modestly increase economic growth for the next few years without stoking inflation.

One thing the debate over the tax overhaul has shown: the peril Americans face in making financial decisions based on the tax code.

• We’re still sifting through the once-unimaginable Republican defeat in Tuesday’s special Senate election in Alabama. These maps compare the turnout with that of the 2016 presidential election.

Roy Moore’s loss again pointed to divisions between the party’s establishment and its populist wing, led by Stephen Bannon.

President Trump — who our White House correspondents note “does not exactly do humble” — shrugged off the upset on Wednesday.

Black voters, motivated by concerns that the nation is turning back the clock, were essential to electing the Democrat Doug Jones. In Alabama, “You can’t go two miles without some Confederate emblem or icon or flag taunting you,” one man said.

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Exit polling shows 98 percent of female African-American voters supported Doug Jones in the Senate election in Alabama. We spoke to some of them to learn what was so important to them in this election.CreditCredit...Drew Angerer/Getty Images

• In recent interviews, four women spoke about a pattern of violent sexual behavior by Russell Simmons, the co-founder of Def Jam Recordings. Disclosing incidents from 1988 to 2014, three of the women said that he had raped them.

In a statement, Mr. Simmons said: “I vehemently deny all these allegations. These horrific accusations have shocked me to my core and all of my relations have been consensual.”

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Russell Simmons, pictured in February. He announced he was stepping down from his companies last month after he was accused of sexual assault.Credit...Tibrina Hobson/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Separately, PBS stopped distributing a talk show hosted by Tavis Smiley after an investigation found “credible allegations” of misconduct.

As revelations of sexual harassment break, women have been discussing the fallout and how to move forward. In this week’s Times Magazine, women from across the working world take on this complicated conversation.

And in an Op-Ed for The Times, the actress Salma Hayek writes: “Harvey Weinstein was a passionate cinephile, a risk taker, a patron of talent in film, a loving father and a monster. For years, he was my monster.”

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Lt. Gov. Tina Smith of Minnesota was appointed to the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, replacing Al Franken, who resigned after accusations of sexual harassment. Her appointment, by Gov. Mark Dayton, keeps a Democrat in Mr. Franken’s seat for at least a year.Credit...Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

• For many of the state’s residents, one question is omnipresent: Is this worth it?

The threat of earthquakes, annual wildfires and high taxes have contributed to a net outflow of residents for more than three decades.

Still, “the wrath of God has failed to deter companies from thinking this is a great place to be, although it is expensive and crowded,” one economist said.

The Daily Poster

Listen to ‘The Daily’: The History of Net Neutrality

What would the internet of 2017 look like without regulation?
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Omarosa Manigault Newman, who achieved a measure of fame playing a villain on “The Apprentice” and cemented a relationship with Donald Trump that led to a White House appointment, will be leaving her position in January, the administration said on Wednesday.Credit...Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Disney said today that it had reached a deal to buy most of the assets of 21st Century Fox, the conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch, in an all-stock transaction valued at roughly $52.4 billion.

Here’s what Disney is getting in the deal.

The F.C.C. is expected to vote today to dismantle so-called net neutrality rules, which have prohibited internet service providers from blocking websites or charging them for higher quality delivery to consumers.

It would be the biggest victory in Ajit Pai’s eventful 11-month tenure as the agency’s chairman.

This was the year tech giants realized that running powerful online platforms brings real-world responsibility, our columnist writes. “The big mystery of 2018 and beyond is what, exactly, that responsibility will look like.”

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Credit...Doug Chayka

Walmart is giving its 1.4 million workers early access to part of their paychecks. Critics say the company and others in the retail and service industries should also raise wages.

U.S. stocks were mixed on Wednesday. Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.

You probably know you need a flu shot every year, but here’s why.

Five easy skin care tips for men this winter.

Recipe of the day: Cumin-roasted salmon.

The New York City that never was.

In today’s 360 video, explore an exhibition at the Queens Museum showcasing projects that, had they been built, would have drastically changed how the city looks.

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Visit the New York City that could have been in this 360 video and explore the exhibition at the Queens Museum called “Never Built New York,” showcasing hundreds of projects that could have dramatically changed the look of the city.CreditCredit...Shimahara Illustration. Technology by Samsung

Partisan writing you shouldn’t miss.

Writers from across the political spectrum discuss Roy Moore’s loss in Alabama.

The glory of pizza.

The pizza makers of Naples — called pizzaiuoli — have been added to Unesco’s annual Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Our correspondent visited the Italian city as it celebrated, as one pizza maker said, “a product that has conquered the world.”

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“It started in Naples and survived the centuries, despite all the difficulties, the earthquakes, Vesuvius, the war, the wars,” said one pizza maker.Credit...Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times

Best of late-night TV.

Samantha Bee saluted the women who came forward with accusations of sexual misconduct against the Republican candidate in Alabama: “I hope that they are having a great day because thanks to them, Roy Moore sure isn’t.”

Quotation of the day.

“It was exhausting. It was like making a record while swimming in rough seas.”

Drew Dixon, a former executive at Def Jam Records, who said fending off advances from the label’s co-founder Russell Simmons was a “full-time job.” She has accused Mr. Simmons of sexual assault.

“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” the first Hollywood film to portray a kiss between a black man and a white woman, was released 50 years ago this week.

It came out only six months after Loving v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court case that struck down laws against mixed marriages in 16 states.

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Their kiss was a milestone: Sidney Poitier and Katharine Houghton in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”

Set against the backdrop of the civil rights era, the film — in which a white woman introduces her black fiancé to her parents — didn’t strike hard enough against racism, some critics said. The star, Sidney Poitier, was already a hit with white audiences, and he played a charming, Yale-educated doctor.

Our review noted that “in a burst of incisive recognition that might also characterize the blue-chip film,” one character says, “Civil rights is one thing but this here is something else.”

Even so, the film was a milestone for race relations in America, and it embodies how times have changed. The same year, the secretary of state, Dean Rusk, offered to resign if his daughter’s marriage to a black man caused embarrassment to President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Their wedding photo later appeared on the cover of Time magazine.

Charles McDermid contributed reporting.

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Follow Chris Stanford on Twitter: @stanfordc.

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