The mayor of Houston said today that the city was launching an investigation into the fatal shooting of a Mexican man by a federal immigration officer. The city’s announcement came after three witnesses disputed the Department of Homeland Security’s account. The witnesses said that the man — Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who had lived in the U.S. without authorization for 35 years — had not tried to run over a federal agent.

“We are not settling to wait for an F.B.I. report,” the mayor, John Whitmire, said. “We want answers.”

Video of the Tuesday shooting has not emerged, and the ICE agents were not wearing body cameras, officials said. The agents tried to stop Araujo’s van because they believed a passenger resembled the target of an ICE investigation, officials said. The actual subjects of the investigation were not in the vehicle.

The shooting brought into focus an aggressive ramp-up of immigration arrests across the country that has largely occurred outside the public eye.

U.S. says Strait of Hormuz will soon be declared open

American officials said today that they expected Iran to publicly acknowledge in the coming days that all channels through the Strait of Hormuz were open. If Iran did not — or it continued to attack ships passing through the waterway — “we’re not going to have a good outcome for them,” the officials said.

Earlier in the day, President Trump said he had agreed to continue negotiations with Iran, but that “the Cease Fire is OVER!” after this week’s spasm of tit-for-tat violence. The American officials said that Iranian negotiators had blamed recent ship attacks on rogue military units who had been trying to undermine the U.S.-Iran truce.

The U.S. strikes on Iran this week were among the most intense in the war so far. American forces hit more than 170 Iranian military targets on Tuesday and Wednesday, officials said, including air defense systems, military speedboats and, seemingly, a railway bridge more than 700 miles from the Strait of Hormuz.

Major housing bill could become law without Trump’s signature

The president said today that he would not sign a bipartisan bill that lawmakers in both parties have celebrated as a significant effort to drive down housing prices. Trump said he was holding out to “protest” Senate Republicans failing to pass a voting restriction bill.

Nevertheless, the housing measure will become law later tonight unless Trump vetoes it, which he did not say he would do. The bill adjusts a host of federal regulations to make it easier and cheaper to build housing, and has won broad support from economists and policy experts.

In other news from Washington:

China moves one step closer to competing with SpaceX

China’s space program launched a rocket today and then, six minutes later, caught the bottom part with a sea platform fitted with nets. The demonstration suggested that the Chinese engineers were getting closer to a partly reusable rocket — the technology that allowed SpaceX, Elon Musk’s American rocket maker, to dominate the satellite industry for years.

As of now, SpaceX has more than 10,000 satellites in orbit, compared with just over 400 combined from two of its Chinese rivals.

More top news

America has fallen for Haaland

For anyone who tuned out the World Cup after the U.S. team lost, you are missing out on the glorious summer of Erling Haaland. As Norway’s top goal scorer, he has emerged as the most captivating superstar of this year’s tournament.

Don’t believe it? Read my colleague Sam Anderson’s delightful story about becoming a Norway faithful. “Haaland seems to have been summoned from a secret fjord, out of a potion of dragon fire and glacier water, to take over all the world’s screens,” Sam writes. “Everything he does is flamboyant and cartoonish and mythic.”

They aren’t giving up on ‘Disaster Mansion’

In early 2018, a couple that had just moved to New York’s Hudson Valley bought their first house, a long-abandoned 1869 mansion that they got for $53,500 at a tax auction. They knew the home had plenty of issues, but they loved its character.

Eight years later, the couple is still renovating. They try not to rely too much on contractors, instead learning to make windows and tiles themselves. It’s been a long and expensive journey — they learned exactly what a collapsing lime mortar stone wall sounds like — but they’re still excited to move in. See photos of the home.

Flowers can be more than mere garnish

Many restaurants add flower petals to dishes to make them feel a bit more bright and summery. Some chefs go a step further, using the actual flavors and textures of a blossom to upgrade the eating experience.

We talked to three chefs about how they pull that off. Rhonda Saltzman, for example, steeps jasmine flowers — which have a delicate, sweet flavor — into the glaze of her doughnuts, before adding more petals on top. The chefs shared their recipes.

Have a fresh weekend.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back on Monday — Matthew

Keith Bedford was our photo editor.

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