It’s Thursday, October 29.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
Today: A former NYPD detective on why New York City assaults are so high—and how to fix it.
asserted
assaults → fix → it
Coleman Hughes meets the Republican challenging Letitia James.
asserted
Hughes → meet → James
Kara Kennedy on how parenting became the suffering Olympics.
asserted
parenting → become → ?
What is the government doing about it?
asserted
government → do → it
Last week, the U.S. government celebrated the release of Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired schoolteacher arrested in 2022 after Russian forces accused him of manning a Ukrainian military checkpoint.
asserted
forces → celebrate → checkpoint
Once Hubbard was back in the United States, the State Department boasted that “there are currently no Americans determined to be wrongfully detained in Russia.”
asserted
Department → boast → Russia
But that’s not the whole story.
asserted
that → ’ → ?
There are at least five Americans or American residents who are still in Russian prison today and whose advocates say were targeted for political reasons.
asserted
advocates → be → reasons
Among those locked up are Chuck Zimmerman, a U.S. Navy veteran pulled over by the Russian Navy while sailing in international waters and charged with arms trafficking after disclosing that he had a weapon on his boat.
asserted
he → lock → boat
Olga Jezler was sentenced to prison after traveling to Russia to care for her sister with breast cancer.
asserted
Jezler → sentence → cancer
Border agents allegedly discovered hashish oil in Jezler’s bag and charged her with drug trafficking.
uncertain
agents → discover → trafficking
And then there is Aleksandr Antonov, who fled the Soviet Union in the 1990s, became a U.S. citizen, and was arrested in 2025 while on a business trip.
asserted
who → be → trip
He was crossing the border from Russia to Estonia when guards searched his phone and found pro-Ukraine messages.
asserted
guards → cross → messages
Antonov was charged with inciting terrorism and sentenced to time in a Russian gulag.
asserted
Antonov → charge → gulag
Why haven’t these people been declared “wrongfully detained,” a status that elevates their cases to the top levels of the U.S. government?
asserted
that → declare → government
And what, if anything, is the U.S. government doing to try to free them?
asserted
government → do → them
I spoke to families, campaigners, and officials in search of answers to those questions.
asserted
I → speak → questions
Flávio Bolsonaro arrived in Miami on Wednesday after fleeing Brazil to escape what he called “the politicization of the justice system.”
asserted
he → arrive → system
He also claimed that he is the rightful president-elect despite losing to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
asserted
he → claim → Silva
The Trump administration plans to issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family.
asserted
administration → plan → Bolsonaro
The percentage of black freshmen fell for the third year in a row following the Supreme Court ruling overturning race-based affirmative action in college admissions.
asserted
percentage → fall → admissions
Two high-speed trains crashed into each other on a railway in central Spain on Wednesday, killing at least 68 people.
asserted
trains → crash → people
Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the accident was caused by an “inexplicable” order from a rail control center, not train engineers.
asserted
accident → say → center
The Senate race in deep-red South Carolina is neck-and-neck, according to a new New York Times/Siena University poll.
uncertain
race → accord → poll
Republican Darline Graham, who was appointed to her brother Lindsey’s seat after his death in July, leads Democrat Annie Andrews by less than one percentage point.
asserted
who → appoint → point
South Carolina last elected a Democrat to the Senate in 1998.
asserted
Carolina → elect → 1998
Iran rejected a new peace deal proposed through mediators from Qatar, calling the terms “unacceptable.”
asserted
Iran → reject → terms
The war with Iran has cost at least $47.1 billion as of mid-October, up from about $37.5 billion in July.
asserted
war → cost → July
The Aporia
