Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 📰 Should newspapers endorse presidential candidates?
• 🎮 Militaries are adopting a Tom Clancy-based videogame
• 🗳️ Where votes count the most – and least

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.98-minute read (1,325 words).

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“Always seek out the seed of triumph in every adversity.”

–Augustine "Og" Mandino II (1923-1996)

On Friday, the Washington Post announced it will no longer endorse presidential candidates, ending a practice that stretched back to 1988.

WaPo is the second major newspaper to recently decide against making a presidential endorsement, following a similar decision by the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.

• In a note, WaPo publisher Will Lewis said the move represents a “statement in support of our readers’ ability to make up their own minds.” He also stressed that “most of all, our job as the newspaper of the capital city of the most important country in the world is to be independent.”
• His comments echo the explanation from LA Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, who said he feared endorsing a candidate would add to America’s division. “I shared with our editors that maybe this year we have a column, a page, two pages, if we want, of all the pros and all the cons and let the readers decide,” he told Spectrum News.

The moves have drawn backlash from employees and outside critics. WaPo saw one editor resign in response to Friday’s announcement, while 18 of the paper’s opinion columnists signed on to a combined dissent of the decision. The newspaper’s union also published a statement, attributing the decision to billionaire owner Jeff Bezos and saying it "undercuts the work of our members at a time when we should be building our readers’ trust, not losing it."

• Over at the LA Times, three members of the editorial board and several other staffers resigned in protest of Soon-Shiong’s decision, with many critics arguing the job of a newspaper’s editorial board is to take a stand and argue it persuasively – as opposed to the news side, which gives neutral analysis.

Big picture: Both newspapers have solely endorsed Democrats in recent history – the LA Times every election since 2004, and WaPo since 1988. Overall, the majority of newspapers with opinion pages have endorsed presidential candidates in recent election years (outside of notable exceptions like the Wall Street Journal) – though that trend appears to be reversing.

📊 Flash poll: In your opinion, should newspapers’ opinion pages or editorial boards regularly endorse presidential candidates?

• Yes
• No
• Unsure/other

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🇮🇱🇮🇷 Israel launched a retaliatory airstrike on military targets in Iran. US and Israeli officials say the pre-dawn airstrikes, carried out early on Saturday, focused on Iran's air defense system, missile and drone bases, and weapon production sites across three regions: Tehran, Ilam, and Khuzestan. Israeli officials characterize the airstrikes as retaliation for Iran's massive ballistic missile attack on October 1. Iran’s government says it defeated the Israeli attack, which only caused "limited damage.” It marks the first time in history Israel’s military has openly attacked Iran.

🗳️ The presidential candidates have narrowed their campaigns to mostly swing states. Since Vice President Harris became the Democratic nominee on August 5, both her and former President Trump have spent the most time in Pennsylvania and Michigan, while entirely avoiding events in 36 non-swing states. Outside of in-person events, both candidates’ last-minute online campaigns are in full swing, including Trump’s appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience on Friday.

🎮🗺️ A civilian-made videogame is gaining popularity with the US military and allies. The wargame, called Command: Professional Edition, didn’t originate with a defense contractor or institute, as is typical. Instead, the simulation program was built and marketed by gamers with almost no military background, and rooted in Tom Clancy novels. The game has recently become a surprise hit among military groups, including the US Air Force, Britain’s Strategic Command, and Taiwanese defense analysts, who use it to simulate complex military maneuvers or hypothetical situations such as nuclear warfare.

Adults looking to relive at least some of their college experience may soon be in luck. A recent proposal from the Pew Charitable Trusts and architecture-design firm Gensler posits that converting empty office buildings into a series of micro-apartment units could help solve America’s housing shortage and affordability problem.

• Bridging the gap: ~20% of US office buildings are still vacant following Covid (a figure even higher in certain areas), while at the same time the country is facing a residential housing shortage in the ballpark of 4 million–7 million homes.

The idea comes with a catch

In order to make the units cheap ($500–$1,250/month), they’d have to be small – 120 sq. ft–208 sq. ft, depending on the location. Amenities such as living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and laundry facilities would be shared with others on the same floor to save money on office-to-residential conversions, while the small apartment sizes would enable builders to squeeze in ~3x as many units as typical apartment buildings.

But… Not every office building is an economically viable candidate for conversion. And while the idea for small private apartments within communal spaces isn’t new, it’s hard to pull it off successfully (remember WeLive from WeWork?).

🏘️ Zoom out: Nationwide, the median rent reached $1,411 in July 2024, a 22% increase over January 2020. This rise has led to a record 50% of renters being cost-burdened, meaning they spend 30+% of their income on rent, according to a report by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.

+Dive deeper: Pew and Gensler published in-depth feasibility studies focused on three cities: Seattle, Denver, and Minnesota. Explore them here (pages 6–73).

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“‘Gate lice’ beware.”

Add another item to the list of ways to be humiliated at the airport. American Airlines is testing new technology that audibly alerts passengers and gate agents if someone tries to board before their group is allowed.

Complaints about “gate lice,” a term referring to passengers who try to sneak aboard with an earlier group than the number on their ticket (often to secure overhead space), have increased over the last decade. The term was first popularized in the early 2010s, shortly after airlines first started charging to check bags.

American’s fix? A loud public shaming.

• The airline’s new system makes a loud sound when an out-of-order boarding pass is recognized, alerting gate agents in addition to everyone in Terminal A that someone is attempting to cut the line. The passenger-in-question’s boarding pass wouldn’t be accepted by the tech until it’s actually their turn to board.
• American Airlines says the system is testing well at trial airports in DC, Albuquerque, and Tucson.

United Airlines reserves the right to comment “first.” American may be reaching for the medicated shampoo, but they aren’t the first airline to apply it. United already has a somewhat similar system in place, Gary Leff of the airline industry website View from the Wing tells NPR.

• ☝️ History repeats itself: Los Angeles Dodgers 1B Freddie Freeman – who’s hobbled with a sprained ankle – channeled Kirk Gibson on Friday night, hitting a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning of Game 1 of the World Series (video); the Dodgers also won Game 2 over the Yankees, with the series now heading back to New York for three games (if needed).

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Going

• 💰 US markets were mixed last week (S&P: -1.0%; Dow: -2.7%; Nasdaq: +0.2%). | 💪 Nvidia briefly surpassed Apple as the world's most valuable company on Friday; the chipmaker ended the day with a market cap of $3.47 trillion (compared to Apple's $3.52 trillion). | 📈 Tesla shares rose 3% on Friday, continuing their upward climb following the company’s Q3 earnings report.
• 🚀 Boeing is reportedly exploring a sale of its space business. | ✈️ Spirit Airlines revealed plans to cut costs and raise cash (by selling planes) amid bankruptcy rumors.
• 🤖🚗 Waymo has way mo' money: The Alphabet-owned robotaxi developer/operator raised $5.6 billion to expand its robotaxi service.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🍿 Venom: The Last Dance earned $51 million at the domestic box office in its opening weekend; the figure is $14 million below projections, and the lowest domestic opening of the Venom trilogy.
• 🤖📰 Meta signed a multi-year deal with Reuters to use its news content in Meta’s AI chatbot; it marks Meta’s first news deal of the AI era.
• 🎮 Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 arrived on XBox, PlayStation, and PC on Friday; it’s the first game of its size to be available on Microsoft Game Pass at release.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with MANSCAPED®

• 🧑‍🚀 A NASA astronaut was briefly hospitalized for an undisclosed medical issue after returning from a nearly eight-month stay onboard the ISS.
• 🤖💻 Google is reportedly developing an AI model that would be able to carry out tasks for users by taking over their computers.
• 🧠 The human brain can parse and process certain full sentences in as quickly as 125 milliseconds, or roughly the blink of an eye, according to a new study.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🍔🦠 The ongoing E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald's Quarter Pounders has spread; at least 75 people are now sick across 13 states.
• ⚖️🖱️ Three major industry trade associations are suing the FTC to block its newly adopted “click-to-cancel” rule.
• 🇷🇺🚀 Elon Musk, whose SpaceX is a major US government contractor, "has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022," per a Wall Street Journal report. | 🇨🇳📲 Chinese hackers targeted former President Trump, his running mate Sen. JD Vance, staff members of VP Harris, and other US political leaders in a recent breach of Verizon's phone networks, per a New York Times report; it’s not yet clear what data, if any, was obtained.

CLICKBAIT

• 🤔🐘 Can an elephant sue to leave a zoo? Colorado’s top court must now decide.

🍬 Stat of the Day: What’s crunchy on the outside, gummy on the inside, and prints enough cash to rival the Federal Reserve? The answer is Nerds Gummy Clusters, a candy first introduced in 2020 despite testing so poorly in focus groups the company almost decided against its release.

In 2018, Nerds had less than $50 million in sales across the entire company. This year, Nerds Gummy Clusters alone have already generated $500+ million in sales. Thanks almost entirely to GC’s, which comprise ~90% of the company’s overall revenue, Nerds’ sales now rival that of candy powerhouses like Starburst, Sour Patch Kids, and Skittles, per TD Cowen analyst Robert Moskow.

🤔 Did You Know? An individual’s vote has the most impact in Wyoming, and the least impact in Michigan. Based on 2020 turnout, a vote in Wyoming counts for 1/90,000th of an electoral vote – while in Michigan, each vote counts for 1/369,000th of an electoral vote.

📰 Worth a Read: How Have Song Lyrics Changed Since the 1960s? A Statistical Analysis → (Stat Significant)

Monday: World Series Game 2

Tuesday: One week to Election Day; Olivia Rodrigo’s new concert special hits Netflix

Wednesday: Speak Up For Service Day

Thursday: Halloween; Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, begins (ends Friday)

Friday: October jobs report

+More: 181 companies report earnings this week, daylight saving time ends this weekend, and the NYC Marathon takes place on Sunday.

On Friday, we covered a new study that found US infant mortality rates rose by more than expected over the 18 months following Dobbs v. Jackson, the SCOTUS ruling that overturned the federal right to an abortion.

❓ Our question to you: In general, how do you want your state to handle abortion?

• Enact strict abortion restrictions: 17%
• Establish strong abortion rights: 50%
• Something in the middle: 21%
• Unsure/other: 12%

Click here to read more of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 3,687 votes and 359 longform responses.

In Oaxaca, Mexico, a jaguar creeps up on its prey before pouncing and tearing into its lunch. The prey isn’t a live animal, however, but a jute sack stuffed with chicken meat strung from the end of a pole. 

🐯 Stalk and *hair flip* slay: The hunting exercise is part of a training program at Jaguars in the Wild, a school founded in 2015 that rehabilitates jaguars and releases them back into to their natural environment.

Guess the definitions of the following Greek/Latin root words:

1. Bronch
2. Calor
3. Clud
4. Dys
5. Extrem

Working your way towards a sweet tumbler? Airpods? The $100 gift card? Good news: prizes stack, so when you’re emailed to claim your prizes, you don’t have to wait. Just reply to this email for more info or with any questions🍩✌️.

1. Bronch = Windpipe (e.g., bronchitis)
2. Calor = Heat (calorie)
3. Clud = Close (exclude)
4. Dys = Ill (dysplasia)
5. Extrem = Outermost (extremity)