SERIES

Young Sheldon Sheldon (Iain Armitage) fakes being sick to avoid a swim test at school. Also, Dr. Sturgis (Wallace Shawn) spies on Meemaw’s (Annie Potts) new boyfriend (guest star Craig T. Nelson) in this new episode of the comedy spinoff. Zoe Perry and Lance Barber also star. 8 p.m. CBS

Ellen’s Greatest Night of Giveaways Justin Timberlake and Jason Momoa are Ellen DeGeneres’ guests in this new episode. 8 p.m. NBC

Supernatural Sam, Dean and Castiel (Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins) land in unexpected places with unlikely allies in this new episode. 8 p.m. The CW

Whale Wars: Watson’s Last Stand As the Brigitte Bardot limps toward land with its exhausted skeleton crew, the Steve Irwin sends three activists to infiltrate the Shonan Maru 2 in the first of two new episodes. 8 and 10 p.m. Animal Planet

Kids Baking Championship In a “North Pole Edition” of this popular cooking competition, hosts Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman challenge the young bakers to think on their feet with “Santastic” sweets. 8 p.m. Food Network

The Unicorn Wade (Walton Goggins) has his first crush since becoming single and Grace and Natalie (Ruby Jay, Makenzie Moss) take advantage of their dad going on dates by having friends over in this new episode of the family comedy. 8:30 p.m. CBS

Mom Bonnie (Allison Janney) relives painful Christmas memories when Christy (Anna Faris) recounts tales from her childhood in this new episode. 9 p.m. CBS

Superstore Jonah and Sandra (Ben Feldman, Kaliko Kauahi) represent the employees at union contract negotiations with corporate while Amy, Dina and Cheyenne (America Ferrera, Lauren Ash and Nichole Bloom) look for the perfect Christmas tree in this holiday episode of the workplace comedy. 9 p.m. NBC

Legacies Hope (Danielle Rose Russell) joins forces with an unlikely ally to take down a Christmas monster in a holiday-themed episode of the supernatural series. 9 p.m. The CW

The Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition Emma Bunton and Anthony “Spice” Adams return as hosts for a fifth season of this festive competition, welcoming 10 new bakers. Paul Hollywood (“The Great British Baking Show”) and pastry chef Sherry Yard are back to judge the efforts of the competitors. 9 p.m. ABC

Santa’s Baking Blizzard Casey Webb challenges three teams of Christmas bakers and their ice sculptor partners to create colossal Christmas tree cake displays complete with edible presents, ornaments and pyrotechnics in this new episode. 9 p.m. Food Network

Carol’s Second Act The doctors investigate a case of food poisoning at an office holiday party while Carol (Patricia Heaton) plans an early Christmas celebration for Jenny (Ashley Tisdale), but is preoccupied with her secret first date with Daniel (Jean-Luc Bilodeau) in this new episode. 9:30 p.m. CBS

Perfect Harmony When Rev. Jax‘s (Rizwan Manji) charismatic parents visit, Arthur (Bradley Whitford) tries to help him overcome his feelings of inadequacy and a lifelong sense that he is living in their shadow in a new holiday episode of the musical comedy. Also, Ginny and Wayne (Anna Camp, Will Greenberg) plan a secret fling. Tymberlee Hill also stars. 9:30 p.m. NBC

Project Runway Taking inspiration from the movie “Cats,” the designers create stylish looks that can compete on the runway and in the Flash Sale challenge. 9:30 p.m. Bravo

Evil Kristen, David and Ben (Katja Herbers, Mike Colter and Aasif Mandvi) are called to investigate a strangely addictive Christmas song that’s spreading among students in this holiday episode of the supernatural series. 10 p.m. CBS

SPECIALS

Toy Story That Time Forgot The characters from the animated Disney-Pixar movies return in this made-for-TV special. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Kristen Schaal and Don Rickles provide the voices. 8:30 p.m. ABC

MOVIES

Olaf’s Frozen Adventure Shown in theaters as a featurette accompanying “Coco,” this animated tale continues the saga of characters from the hit 2013 Disney-Pixar movie “Frozen.” Josh Gad again voices Olaf, who tries to ensure that this Christmas for Anna and Elsa (voices of fellow returnees Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel) is one that they’ll never forget. 8 p.m. ABC

Stockholm Writer-director Robert Budreau’s 2018 dramedy explores the incident that originated the term “Stockholm syndrome,” that psychological phenomenon where a hostage begins to form a bond with those holding him or her captive. Ethan Hawke stars as a bank robber who takes hostages, but the robbery is also a ploy to get his best friend and partner (Mark Strong) released from prison. Noomi Rapace also stars. 9 p.m. Starz

TALK SHOWS

CBS This Morning Presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-South Bend, Ind.). (N) 7 a.m. KCBS

Today Ryan Reynolds. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC

KTLA Morning News (N) 7 a.m. KTLA

Good Morning America Elizabeth Hurley; Grace Gold; a performance by the cast of “Jagged Little Pill.” (N) 7 a.m. KABC

Good Day L.A. Michelle Williams; eliminated contestant from “The Masked Singer”; holiday gifts: Mona Shaw. (N) 7 a.m. KTTV

Live With Kelly and Ryan Jack Black; Monsta X performs. (N) 9 a.m. KABC

The View Jack Black. (N) 10 a.m. KABC

Rachael Ray Patricia Heaton; the Illusionists perform. (N) 10 a.m. KTTV

The Wendy Williams Show (N) 11 a.m. KTTV

The Talk Kathy Bates; Vanessa Williams guest co-hosts. (N) 1 p.m. KCBS

Tamron Hall Nikki Haley (“With All Due Respect”); parents of a hazing victim; ending the stigma of HIV. (N) 1 p.m. KABC

The Dr. Oz Show One of R. Kelly’s first accusers; a mom tells police her young children committed suicide. (N) 1 p.m. KTTV

The Kelly Clarkson Show Jason Aldean; JoJo Siwa; Candace Cameron Bure; Salvation Army Choir performs. (N) 2 p.m. KNBC

Dr. Phil Vigilante “pedophile hunters” meet a man who says he was falsely accused of grooming a child. (N) 3 p.m. KCBS

The Ellen DeGeneres Show Octavia Spencer (“Truth Be Told”); George “Tank Sinatra” Resch. (N) 3 p.m. KNBC

The Doctors Medical debt; body dysmorphia; hallucinogenic mushrooms; a simple secret to a better workout. (N) 3 p.m. KCOP

Amanpour and Company (N) 11 p.m. KCET; 1 a.m. KLCS

The Daily Show With Trevor Noah (N) 11 p.m. Comedy Central

Conan John Lithgow. (N) 11 p.m. TBS

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Ryan Reynolds; Niall Horan; Camila Cabello; DaBaby. (N) 11:34 p.m. KNBC

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank); Sharon Van Etten and Norah Jones perform. (N) 11:35 p.m. KCBS

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Jimmy Kimmel Live! Awkwafina; Paul Walter Hauser; Mark Ronson; Anderson .Paak. (N) 11:35 p.m. KABC

The Late Late Show With James Corden Jeff Goldblum hosts; Sam Rockwell; Camila Morrone. (N) 12:37 a.m. KCBS

Late Night With Seth Meyers Keri Russell; Michelle Wolf; Coady Willis. (N) 12:37 a.m. KNBC

Nightline (N) 12:37 a.m. KABC

A Little Late With Lilly Singh Author Deepak Chopra. (N) 1:38 a.m. KNBC

SPORTS

NFL Football The New York Jets visit the Baltimore Ravens, 5 p.m. Fox

College Basketball Iowa visits Iowa State, 5 p.m. ESPN2

NBA Basketball The Philadelphia 76ers visit the Boston Celtics, 5 p.m. TNT; the Portland Trail Blazers visit the Denver Nuggets, 7:30 p.m. TNT

NHL Hockey The Kings visit the Ducks, 7 p.m. Fox Sports Net and FS Prime

For more sports on TV, see the Sports section.

In Juneau, Alaska, on Sunday, the sun will dip below the horizon at 3:06 p.m. And because the sun rose about 9 a.m., that means a little more than six hours of daylight. This also is one of the stormiest times of the year in Southeast Alaska. Probably not a great time to go touring.

But it is a great time to start planning a ship trip to Alaska. Cruising is booming; visitor numbers are expected to set records for the fifth straight year. Nearly 1.44 million passengers are planning to visit in 2020, a 6% increase, according to Cruise Lines International Assn. Alaska.

In 2020, 10 new ships and 29 more ports of call are expected; Juneau, Ketchikan and Skagway are expected to be the top destinations. Almost every cruise line, including luxury and expedition-style ships, will sail to the 49th state, most from Seattle or Vancouver, Canada.

If you hate to fly, you can avoid it by sailing round trip from Los Angeles on 14-day May or June trips with Princess Cruises. Inside cabins start at $1,419 per person, double occupancy.

Why visit in 2020? Here are five reasons to add an Alaskan cruise to your shopping list.

Deals

Cruise lines are beginning to announce their specials for what they call “wave season,” which typically begins in December or January and runs until mid-March.

Think of it as a wave of bookings, sort of a three-month-long Black Friday for cruise lines. That’s when cruise lines and travel agents try to book as many cabins as possible so they entice passengers to book early by offering discounted fares, free drinks and dining packages, free WiFi and onboard credit.

You won’t find rock-bottom prices, but you will find upgrades to nicer cabins and onboard credit for things such as spa treatments, excursions and merchandise in the onboard shops. You can often find inside cabins for as little as $100 a day per person.

Evaluate the offers before you buy. Don’t worry if you can’t decide; you can usually book later. Cruise lines usually have last-minute sales throughout the year.

Shoulder-season bargains

For the most part, cruise lines sail Alaskan waters May through September (Alaskan Dream Cruises has added sailings as early as March), but most people book for July and August.

The upside: Kids are out of school and the salmon are running, making it easier to spot bears fishing. But there are major downsides: It’s crowded. Multiple cruise lines sometimes arrive in ports the same day, and prices are at their highest.

May and September cruises are bargains; you may save $200 or more per person on the cruise alone because the weather may be imperfect. You’ll find other bargains on airfare and hotel rooms if you steer away from summer.

Statistically, May has fewer rainy days than any other month. In September, you can see fall color. Another advantage: You may find a wider availability of ships and cabins during these shoulder seasons. A disadvantage: The warmest weather is in the summer; temperatures may top out only in the 50s in May and September, but summer months often hit 70s and sometimes 80s.

Choice of scenery

Whether your cruise follows an Inside Passage itinerary or a Gulf of Alaska route, you’ll have multiple opportunities to see jaw-dropping scenery that includes fiords, lakes, mountains and some of the nation’s wildest national parks. You can book shore excursions that will take you hiking, kayaking, snowmobiling or “flightseeing,” often considered a highlight of an Alaska trip.

Most cruise lines schedule visits to villages where passengers can learn about local customs. Or you can walk off the ship at a port stop and wander around on your own.

Multigenerational perks

Alaska is a destination unlike any other, still wild and teeming with endless adventure. There aren’t many places you can see moose, grizzly bears, caribou and glaciers. Your kids and grandchildren will love it, and you’ll make memories.

Don’t put it off. It’s disappearing: The effects of global warming in Alaska include melting permafrost, receding glaciers, eroding coasts, disappearing sea ice and mounting problems for native species, such as caribou, sea otters, salmon and polar bears. The dramatic temperature changes in Alaska are causing the landscape to change faster than anywhere else in the United States, a government report issued last summer said. Go now, before it’s gone.

As Dwyane Wade enjoys his first year of retirement in L.A., the retired basketball star is still looking to wrap up some real estate business across the country. The three-time NBA champion floated his Miami Beach mansion for sale in September at $32.5 million, but with no takers, he just lowered the price to $29 million.

The listing arrived about a year after he and his wife, actress Gabrielle Union, paid around $6 million for an 8,650-square-foot home in Sherman Oaks. The pair are adjusting to life in the Valley now, and Wade’s oldest son Zaire plays basketball with LeBron James’ son for Sierra Canyon in Chatsworth, The Times previously reported.

His home in Florida is even bigger than his new place. Clocking in at nearly 12,000 square feet, the waterfront Mediterranean mansion sits on an acre overlooking Biscayne Bay.

The two-story spot wraps around a verdant courtyard, and out back, a spiral staircase from the second story descends to an entertainer’s patio with a swimming pool and private dock. Other outdoor amenities include a cabana with a kitchen and a Miami Heat-themed basketball court.

Inside are six bedrooms and 11 bathrooms, as well as a handful of expansive living spaces under wood beams. A trio of arched French doors line the living room. The chef’s kitchen adds a massive center island. For entertaining, there’s a wine cellar and movie theater. The master suite expands to an office and marble bathroom, as well as an ocean-view deck.

Brett Harris of Douglas Elliman holds the listing.

Wade, 37, spent most of his 17-year career with the Miami Heat, leading the team to three NBA championships and winning Finals MVP in 2006. A 13-time All-Star, he’s the Heat’s all-time leader in points, games, assists and steals.

He shelled out $10.645 million for the property in 2010, records show, and the home was built five years later.

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — 

Shares in Saudi Aramco gained on the second day of trading Thursday, propelling the oil and gas company to a more than $2-trillion valuation, where it holds the title of the world’s most valuable listed company.

Shares jumped in trading to reach up to 38.60 Saudi riyals, or $10.29, before noon, three hours before trading closed.

Aramco has sold a 1.5% share to mostly Saudi investors and local Saudi and Gulf-based funds.

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With gains made from just two days of trading, Aramco sits comfortably ahead of the world’s largest companies, including Apple, the second largest company in the world valued at $1.19 trillion.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is the architect of the effort to list Aramco, touting it as a way to raise capital for the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund.

He had sought a $2-trillion valuation for Aramco when he first announced in 2015 plans to sell a sliver of the state-owned company.

International investors, however, thought the price was too high, given the relatively lower price of oil, climate change concerns and geopolitical risks associated with Aramco. The company’s main crude oil processing facility and another site were targeted by missiles and drones in September, knocking out more than half of Saudi production for some time. The kingdom and the U.S. have blamed the attack on rival Iran, which denies involvement.

In the lead-up to the flotation, there had been a strong push for Saudis, including princes and businessmen, to contribute to what’s seen locally as a moment of national pride, and even duty. Gulf-based funds from allied countries also contributed to the IPO, though it has largely been propelled by Saudi capital.

At a ceremony Wednesday for the start of trading, Aramco Chairman Yasir Rumayyan described the sale as “a proud and historic moment for Saudi Aramco and our majority shareholder, the kingdom.”

Here’s a look at what roughly $400,000 buys right now in Beaumont, Menifee and Mountain Center in Riverside County.

BEAUMONT: For those looking to run their business from home, this striking green single-story house is commercially zoned.

Address: 651 Elm Ave., Beaumont, 92223

Listed for: $389,950 for four bedrooms, two bathrooms in 1,471 square feet (13,929-square-foot lot)

Features: Multicolored common spaces; living room with stone fireplace; sunroom; fenced backyard

About the area: In the 92223 ZIP Code, based on 73 sales, the median sale price for single-family homes in October was $345,000, with no change year over year, according to CoreLogic.

MENIFEE: This cul-de-sac ranch in the master-planned community of Audie Murphy Ranch boasts eye-catching landscaping in the front and a hot tub out back.

Address: 25176 Renegade Court, Menifee, 92584

Listed for: $420,000 for three bedrooms, two bathrooms in 1,698 square feet (8,712-square-foot lot)

Features: Open floor plan; master suite with farmhouse doors; side yard; neighborhood pool and sports courts

About the area: In the 92584 ZIP Code, based on 86 sales, the median sales price for single-family homes in October was $381,000, down 1.7% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

MOUNTAIN CENTER: Tucked among the mountains, this cabin-style home with no HOA fees comes with a detached guesthouse complete with its own deck.

Address: 59225 Avenida La Cumbre, Mountain Center, 92561

Listed for: $399,000 for three bedrooms, three bathrooms in 1,303 square feet (2.38-acre lot)

Features: Two viewing decks; wood-covered living spaces; stone wall fireplace; gated lot

About the area: In the 92561 ZIP Code, based on six sales, the median sales price for single-family homes in October was $580,000, up 12% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

BEAUMONT: Tapered columns frame the front porch outside this turnkey-ready home. Inside, living spaces are full of neutral tones.

Address: 85 Emory Ave., Beaumont, 92223

Listed for: $395,432 for four bedrooms, three bathrooms in 2,952 square feet (6,534-square-foot lot)

Features: Plantation shutters; crown molding; pantry with glass doors; grassy backyard

About the area: In the 92223 ZIP Code, based on 73 sales, the median sales price for single-family homes in October was $345,000, with no change year over year, according to CoreLogic.

MENIFEE: A variety of trees surround this price-reduced two-story home with tile living spaces and a lofted bonus room.

Address: 33405 Agate St., Menifee, 92584

Listed for: $425,000 for five bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms in 3,192 square feet (10,019-square-foot lot)

Features: Clay tile roof; double-door entry; open floor plan; landscaped backyard

About the area: In the 92584 ZIP Code, based on 86 sales, the median sales price for single-family homes in October was $381,000, down 1.7% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

MOUNTAIN CENTER: Highlights of this one-acre property include a second-story deck with panoramic views and a two-car garage that’s been converted into an entertainer’s space with a bar.

Address: 69660 Burlwood Dr., Mountain Center, 92561

Listed for: $380,000 for four bedrooms, 3.75 bathrooms in 2,016 square feet (1.1-acre lot)

Features: Dormer windows; Saltillo tile floors; beamed ceilings; fire pit

About the area: In the 92561 ZIP Code, based on six sales, the median sales price for single-family homes in October was $580,000, up 12% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

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Thank you again to our radically RAD incredible friends @demimoore @mastergia @nlyonne #elvismitchell for hosting our #RADScreeningWithPurpose Dinner at @wehoedition AND to all our incredible #radvocacy friends for joining us for a beautiful evening at @ardorweho✨?

A post shared by RAD (@radvocacy) on Nov 20, 2019 at 10:57pm PST

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For the record:

11:10 AM, Dec. 11, 2019
An earlier version of this post gave an incorrect location for the RAD-organized “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” charity dinner. It took place in Los Angeles, not New York. It also incorrectly stated that the Motion Picture Academy was a partner for the charity-focused screening of “If Beale Street Could Talk.” The partner was Annapurna Pictures.

The buzzy dinner — like the screening series it was organized to promote — was exactly the kind of win-win co-founders costume designer Arianne Phillips and luxury brand consultant Carineh Martin had in mind when they officially launched their endeavor at the Golden Globes in January.

For that awards show, RAD worked with actress Elisabeth Moss and stylist Karla Welch to lock in donations to the American Civil Liberties Union from each of the brands Moss wore on the red carpet.

Since then, RAD has connected singer Camila Cabello with Armani Prive for a Grammys red carpet turn that raised funds — and awareness — for Save the Children, paired Levi Strauss with “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” actress Margot Robbie (Phillips was that film’s costume designer) for a Los Angeles dinner that benefited Australian charity Youngcare; connected Olivia Wilde and Oscar de la Renta for the New York premiere of Wilde’s “A Vigilante” in support of Henry Street Settlement; and partnered with Annapurna Pictures for a screening of “If Beale Street Could Talk,” with host Tracee Ellis Ross and Gucci donating to the Me Too Movement and Essie Justice Group.

At this year’s 71st Primetime Emmy Awards, thanks to the efforts of Phillips, Martin and a battalion of celebrity stylists, St. Jude pins accessorized many a red carpet look in a bid to raise awareness about childhood cancer. Although they haven’t said exactly how much their matchmaking efforts have raised since launching, they described it generally as in the seven figures, between public and private donations.

The win-win-win formula of the “Beale Street” screening is similar to what RAD’s partnership with the Edition hotel will look like, said Phillips, who has dubbed the project “a screening series with a purpose.” She described it working this way: A film studio supplies a movie for screening and related talent (directors, actors, writers and the like), and RAD, the studio and a sponsoring brand will choose a celebrity host.

The brand makes a $20,000 donation directly to a charitable cause that fits with the theme of the film and on behalf of the host. The guest list for the invite-only screening at the hotel at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Doheny Drive will be a mix of influencers and tastemakers, film industry insiders (including the folks whose votes matter when it comes to handing out awards) and news media.

The RAD X Edition screening series is set to get underway in January, a time of year traditionally thick with for-your-consideration campaigns. Although no specific studio-film-charity pairings have been announced yet, Martin and Phillips said they have commitments “from numerous studios and streaming services.”

Additional information on RAD’s efforts to connect content with cause can be found at the organization’s website, wearerad.org.

WASHINGTON — 

After months of political wrangling, House Democrats agreed Tuesday to President Trump’s revamped version of a 25-year-old North American free trade agreement. But they pried some concessions out of the Trump administration before saying they’d go along.

Tuesday’s announcement by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) probably clears the way for congressional approval of Trump’s U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, though pockets of resistance remain and powerful business lobbies said they still needed to study the details of the latest version.

With characteristic brio, the president took to Twitter to declare: “It will be the best and most important trade deal ever made by the USA.”

More than anything, though, USMCA would just restore certainty to $1.4 billion worth of annual trade between the three countries more than two years after Trump began contentious negotiations on a new regional trade pact.

Some questions and answers about new agreement:

What is USMCA?

The pact is Trump’s replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement, which took effect in 1994. NAFTA slashed tariffs and tore down most trade barriers between the United States, Canada and Mexico, unleashing a burst of trade among the three countries.

U.S. farmers especially enjoyed increased access to their neighbors’ large markets. But NAFTA also encouraged U.S. manufacturers to move factories south of the border to take advantage of low-wage Mexican labor. Trump and other critics called NAFTA a job killer.

Supporters of the deal said it created a powerful regional bloc — a competitive counter to Europe and East Asia — with each NAFTA country taking advantage of its strengths: low-cost manufacturing in Mexico, and high-skilled labor and proximity to cutting-edge research and to customers in the United States and Canada.

Trump insisted on a revamped deal and threatened to withdraw from NAFTA if he couldn’t get one he liked. Negotiations on a replacement began in August 2017. The three countries signed USMCA a year ago. Now Congress must ratify the deal.

How does USMCA change trade between the three countries?

Trump’s version mostly continues to allow the free flow of trade across North American borders of the three countries. But it updates the pact to reflect the rise of e-commerce and other aspects of the digital economy that didn’t exist when NAFTA was negotiated.

For instance, USMCA allows U.S. companies to transfer data across borders without encountering discriminatory barriers. Jason Oxman, president of the tech trade group ITI, said the pact’s digital provisions set “a new and important precedent for modern trade rules.”

Does USMCA do anything to protect U.S. manufacturing jobs?

Yes. To qualify for USMCA’s duty-free benefits, car makers must get 75% of their automotive content from within North America — up from 62.5% under NAFTA. That means more content would have to be homegrown in higher-wage North America, not imported more cheaply from China and elsewhere.

At least 40% of vehicles would also have to originate in places where workers earn at least $16 an hour. That would benefit the United States or Canada — not Mexico, where auto assembly workers are paid a fraction of that amount. The wage requirement is likely to push up the cost of cars built in North America.

Under USMCA, Mexico was required to formally authorize workers to form independent unions. Mexican unions had traditionally been co-opted by employers and the government and done little for workers. Laborers have been fired for trying to bargain on their own for better pay and working conditions. That is one reason Mexican wages remained so low — and attractive to U.S. manufacturers aiming to cut costs.

What changes did Democrats get?

Democrats complained that the deal with Trump’s team shared a defect with the treaty it was supposed to replace and improve upon: It would be hard to enforce. In negotiations with Trump’s top trade official, Robert Lighthizer, the Democrats successfully pushed to strike language allowing countries or companies to avoid sanctions simply by refusing to participate in dispute-settlement panels.

They also insisted on closing loopholes that would have made it hard to enforce provisions protecting workers from intimidation and violence and on a committee that will monitor Mexico’s labor reforms.

The Democrats also won a significant concession from the administration on drug prices. Gone is what Democrats considered a giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry: a provision that offered expensive biologic drugs — which are made from living cells — 10 years of protection from cheaper knockoff competition.

“If you go back and look at trade agreements over the last 20 years, most of the verbiage deals with protection for pharmaceuticals,” said Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, the Democratic chairman of the House trade subcommittee. “They have been the big winners and they got shut out in this agreement.”

What will USMCA mean to the U.S. economy?

Probably not much. Trade is a relatively small part of the U.S. economy and trade with Mexico and Canada is smaller still. In an April analysis, the independent International Trade Commission calculated that USMCA would add 0.35%, or $68 billion, to economic growth and generate 176,000 jobs over six years — blips in a $22-trillion economy with 152 million nonfarm jobs.

Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, dismissed USMCA’s economic benefits as “negligible.”

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“The intrinsic importance of the deal is not what it does to modernize NAFTA but rather what it prevents: a potentially disastrous breakdown of trade between the U.S. and its most important trading partners,” Daco wrote in a research note Tuesday.

Is everybody happy with the new agreement?

No. But USMCA still probably has enough support to clear Congress. In an unusual move, the top U.S. labor group — the AFL-CIO, which routinely opposes trade pacts — came out in favor of the worked-over USMCA.

But business groups want to take a closer look at the text. And some Republicans may balk at the concessions the administration made to win Democratic support.

“There are serious problems with this agreement, Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Patrick J. Toomey told reporters Tuesday.

Among other things, he objects to a so-called sunset provision that would end USMCA after 16 years unless the three countries agree to continue it and to the removal of the protection for biologic drugs.

Daniel Ujczo, a trade attorney with Dickinson Wright PLLC in Columbus, Ohio, said the concessions made to Democrats are likely to dampen the enthusiasm that businesses expressed while lobbying for the pact. “The business ‘wins’ that have been championed for the last year are now just a ‘whew’ we have relative certainty in North America,” Ujczo said.

JERUSALEM — 

Israel is heading to elections for the third time in less than a year after its parliament, the Knesset, failed to muster a majority of votes necessary to nominate any candidate for prime minister.

Although expected, the outcome on Wednesday, when a deadline for forming a new government expired, caused an earthquake in the Israeli political sphere, which finds itself on uncertain political and constitutional ground.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, who was served with criminal indictments in several cases of corruption last month, will lead Israel as a caretaker premier until the March election.

Israel has been without a regular government for almost a full year.

After losing several ministers in his coalition government, Netanyahu announced early elections in December 2018. He then failed to assemble a new coalition after the April 9 elections, in which he eked out a narrow victory over his principal rival, the former army chief Benny Gantz, a centrist.

Gantz squeezed by Netanyahu, a right winger, in the unprecedented second election, on Sept. 17, but since then, both leaders have been unsuccessful in their attempts to puzzle together a government.

Israel’s constitutional Basic Law on government operations permits a serving prime minister to remain in office if indicted, but Israeli civil law does not allow any indicted individual to be appointed to high office — leaving the country in an uncharted legal desert. Netanyahu is expected to ask parliament for immunity from prosecution.

Ariel Bendor, a professor of constitutional law at the Bar Ilan University School of Law, said in a radio interview that Israel was “developing constitutional law minute by minute now.”

Alluding to the possibility of far-reaching, structural changes, Bendor said: “We always thought our system worked, but if it cannot form a government for this long, however undesirable it is, the system may need revision.”

For now, Israel is poised to tumble into a heated campaign the likes of which it has never seen.

Late Wednesday, with the parliamentary deadline looming, Netanyahu repeated his contention that the criminal charges against him were an “attempted coup d’état.”

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — 

A Texas inmate was executed by lethal injection Wednesday evening for killing a supervisor at a state prison shoe factory in Amarillo nearly 17 years ago.

Travis Runnels, 46, was convicted of slashing the throat of 38-year-old Stanley Wiley on Jan. 29, 2003. Runnels was executed at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.

Prosecutors say Runnels killed Wiley at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Clements Unit in Amarillo because he didn’t like working as a janitor at the shoe factory. They said Runnels had wanted to transfer to a job at the prison barber shop and was angry at Wiley because that hadn’t happened.

Runnels, belted to the death chamber gurney, responded “no” when the warden asked whether he had a final statement. As the lethal dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital began, he smiled and mouthed words and a kiss toward three female friends and two of his attorneys who watched through a window a few feet from him. Then he blurted out, “Woof, woof!” just before taking four quick breaths and snoring four times before all movement stopped.

Runnels was pronounced dead at 7:26 p.m. Central time, 22 minutes after the drug began flowing into his arms, making him the 22nd inmate put to death this year in the U.S. and the ninth in Texas.

He never looked at the sister and brother-in-law of his victim, who watched through a window in an adjacent witness room.

Outside the Huntsville Unit prison, several hundred Texas corrections officers stood in formation, and Wiley’s sister, Margaret Robertson, hugged or shook the hands of many of them as she and her husband left the prison.

Runnels had been serving a 70-year sentence for an aggravated robbery conviction in Dallas when he killed Wiley with a knife used to trim shoes. The factory makes shoes for inmates in the state prison system.

The execution was delayed about an hour until the U.S. Supreme Court turned down an appeal by Runnels’ attorneys, who said that a prosecution witness at his 2005 trial provided false testimony and that no defense was presented because his lawyers advised him to plead guilty and called no witnesses.

Janet Gilger-VanderZanden, one of his more recent attorneys, said Runnels changed during his 14 years on death row.

“There is true and authentic remorse for the death of Mr. Wiley. There are no excuses, rather there is a commitment to finding some kind of light in what was once a world of only darkness,” Gilger-VanderZanden said.

Lower courts and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had also turned down Runnels’ attorneys’ requests to stop his execution.

Four inmates who were convicted in the deaths of state correctional officers or other prison employees have been put to death since 1974, while three others remain on death row, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

At the factory, Runnels approached Wiley from behind, pulled his head back and used enough force for the knife to go through his trachea and cut Wiley’s spinal cord.

“It was cowardly,” prosecutor Randall Sims told jurors at Runnels’ trial.

Wiley, who grew up in the Texas Panhandle city of Amarillo, began working as a state corrections officer in 1994. He was later promoted to a supervisory position.

Inmate Bud Williams Jr., who also worked at the shoe factory, testified that Wiley “was a good guy.”

At his trial, Runnels’ lawyers didn’t present any witnesses or evidence, including information about Runnels’ troubled childhood and family history of drug and alcohol abuse, Gilger-VanderZanden said.

In their petition to the Supreme Court, Runnels’ attorneys argued that his death sentence was mainly a consequence of the testimony of prison expert A.P. Merillat, who told jurors that inmates like Runnels could not be held in a secure environment if sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the death sentences of two inmates, in 2010 and 2012, after ruling that Merillat gave jurors incorrect information.

The Texas attorney general’s office pointed to assaults by Runnels on other guards after Wiley’s death, including throwing feces and a light bulb at them, as evidence that he was a future danger and merited a death sentence.

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In his clemency petition to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, Runnels included letters from more than 25 individuals from around the world who said Runnels had worked to make amends for what he did.

“He has become a light that shines bright even in the darkest of spaces. The tragedy that he is responsible for will only be compounded if his valuable light were to be extinguished,” Kristin Procanick, from Syracuse, N.Y., wrote in one of the letters.

Here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:

TOP STORIES

Why So Many Roads Still Lead to Russia

When the House Judiciary Committee began its historic session last night night to consider two articles of impeachment against President Trump, one issue went largely unspoken: Russia.

Yet almost every aspect of the Ukraine scandal is tied to Moscow’s interference in U.S. politics, Trump’s scorched-earth battle for political survival, and his conspicuous solicitousness toward Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Indeed, the scheme at the center of the impeachment proceedings began as an attempt to defend the president against special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation.

More From Washington

— The Justice Department’s internal watchdog, Inspector General Michael Horowitz, went before a Senate committee to push back strongly at Trump and other critics who have rejected his conclusion that the FBI was justified in starting a counterintelligence investigation in July 2016 into whether the Trump campaign was cooperating with Russia.

— Congress has reached a deal on a spending bill that would require the military to stop using toxic firefighting foam — but it also abandons an effort to enact tougher regulations on the chemicals in them, known as PFAS, which are contaminating Americans’ drinking water.

— A key House Democrat wants to shut down the Trump administration’s system to detect biological attacks, citing “serious concerns” about the technology’s failures and pointing to The Times’ investigation earlier this year.

— Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) underwent surgery in Washington to have a heart stent placed after having chest pains, his chief of staff said.

When Language Barriers Can Be Deadly

L.A. is home to a multitude of languages, including a wide array of indigenous languages common in immigrant communities. Later this month, L.A. Police Department officers will begin carrying pocket cards that can help them identify indigenous languages such as Q’anjob’al and Zapotec, and if necessary, call an interpreter. It comes nine years after the fatal police shooting of a Guatemalan man who spoke K’iché but was ordered to drop a weapon in English and Spanish.

Mexico’s Culture War

A cereal box-sized painting that challenges the masculine image of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata by portraying him nude and in high heels has triggered a violent backlash, as well as a discussion about free speech and tolerance for diverse representations of gender and sexuality. Artist Fabián Cháirez completed the painting in 2013, but its installation in a prominent government-curated exhibition has set off the firestorm in recent days.

Sticking the Landing

She’s been in “American Horror Story,” “Black Panther,” “Rampage” and “Watchmen,” as well as the upcoming Clint Eastwood film “Richard Jewell.” You may know Sadiqua Bynum’s name better from her decorated gymnastics career at UCLA. But these days, Bynum is breaking through as one of the youngest and most successful black stuntwomen in Hollywood.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

This photo of two little girls watching the animated Christmas activities in a downtown Los Angeles department store window appeared in the Dec. 12, 1949, Los Angeles Times. The caption at the time said that “children often had a hard time getting through all the adults” who were similarly transfixed. Here’s another photo from the following year.

CALIFORNIA

— California and other states are preparing to erase tens of thousands of marijuana convictions from people’s criminal records — a key part of a progressive effort to right the wrongs of a decades-old drug war.

— Toll lanes could be coming to a bunch of freeways in Orange County.

— Federal authorities arrested six protesters, including two doctors, outside a Border Patrol facility near San Diego. Migrant advocates have been pushing authorities to let doctors give flu shots to detained kids.

— Bel-Air’s Chartwell estate, perhaps better known as “The Beverly Hillbillies” mansion, has just sold for about $150 million, a new California price record.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

— The Screen Actors Guild Award nominations are out, and the biggest surprise might be the momentum “Parasite” is picking up in the Oscars race as a result. Though Bong Joon Ho’s film is acclaimed, Hollywood awards rarely give foreign-language films the big prizes. Here are all the movie and TV nominees.

— Harvey Weinstein has reached a $47-million settlement with his sexual assault accusers and his creditors, lawyers involved say. Meanwhile, as he awaits trial, his bail was raised from $1 million to $5 million over allegations he mishandled his electronic ankle monitor.

— How Lizzo became the one thing everybody loved this year.

NATION-WORLD

— Fears that a deadly shooting at a Jewish market in Jersey City was an anti-Semitic attack are growing after authorities recounted how a man and woman deliberately pulled up in a stolen rental van with at least one rifle and got out firing.

— Britons went to the polls today in a bitterly divisive national election that could help propel the country out of the European Union, prolong a debilitating Brexit impasse, or give a glimmer of hope to those who want to remain part of the 28-nation bloc.

— Israel is heading for its third elections in less than a year after its parliament failed to name a consensus candidate for prime minister.

— Underscoring her fall from grace, Aung San Suu Kyi called reports of genocide “misleading” a day after a tribunal heard damning accounts of atrocities inflicted on Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority.

— Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg was named Time magazine’s youngest Person of the Year.

BUSINESS

— After three successive interest rate cuts, the Federal Reserve has signaled it will probably keep its key interest rate unchanged through all of next year. That may be easier said than done.

— After the first deadly Boeing 737 Max crash, the Federal Aviation Administration estimated there could be 15 more if Boeing didn’t fix a crucial flight-control system, a newly disclosed analysis shows — yet it didn’t ground the plane until after a second crash months later.

SPORTS

— Major League Baseball and its players’ union have agreed on a new drug policy that adds opioid testing and won’t punish marijuana use.

— The Angels have signed elite third baseman Anthony Rendon to a seven-year, $245-million contract.

— The Dodgers are signing relief pitcher Blake Treinen to a one-year, $10-million deal, people familiar with the matter say.

— Mike Bohn’s old Cincinnati colleague Brandon Sosna is joining him at USC as senior associate athletic director.

OPINION

— The intrusive Kentucky abortion law the Supreme Court has just let stand endangers not only women’s rights but also medical ethics, biomedical ethicist Ruth Faden writes.

— Given the serious threat of rising seas, California must work with urgency with local governments and state agencies to forge strategies to adapt, the editorial board writes.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

— We know what he did this summer: Donald Trump Jr. went to Mongolia, got special treatment from the government and killed an endangered argali sheep. (ProPublica)

— For black fans in Baltimore, the success of quarterback Lamar Jackson “resonates way beyond football.” (The Undefeated)

— A new book reconsiders Michelangelo‘s architecture and personal life. (Literary Review)

ONLY IN L.A.

Here is some mammoth news on the La Brea Tar Pits’ new digs: Three fiberglass mammoths that have inhabited the Lake Pit since the late 1960s will be staying put in the winning proposal to redesign the tar pits park, museum and research site. One of the plans that had been under consideration would have moved them inside. Instead, visitors will get a new vantage point to contemplate the fate of a fake mammoth sinking into a tar pit that isn’t really a tar pit but a man-made lake.

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