James Burrows, the Steven Spielberg of sitcoms, dies at 85

U.S. and Iranian officials left Switzerland with a fragile diplomatic opening after their first round of talks produced what mediators called “encouraging progress” and a plan for more technical negotiations. The session ended early Monday after a tense weekend focused on an interim agreement to end the Iran war, with the fighting in Lebanon still hanging over the wider effort.

On Tehran’s side, the process has been driven by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, three figures who now sit at the center of Iran’s approach to Washington. The talks have also been shadowed by the same regional fault lines that could make or break any deal, especially Lebanon and the Strait of Hormuz, where a breakdown would reverberate far beyond the Middle East.

A separate American crisis is playing out on city streets. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says pedestrian deaths have risen 78% from their low point in 2009 and now account for 18% of crash fatalities, a climb that has tracked the market’s shift toward larger vehicles. IIHS also found that vehicles with hoods more than 40 inches off the ground were about 45% more likely to cause pedestrian fatalities than vehicles with hood heights under 30 inches and sloped front ends, while pedestrian automatic emergency braking was associated with a 27% lower rate of pedestrian crashes. SUVs, pickups, vans and minivans were also substantially more likely than cars to hit pedestrians while turning.

The day also brought news from television: James Burrows, the veteran director and co-creator of Cheers who was widely called the “Steven Spielberg of sitcoms,” died at 85 on June 19. Over a five-decade career, Burrows won 11 Emmy Awards and received 47 nominations, leaving a body of work that helped define the modern American sitcom.