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NYC Election Day is a Week from Today:

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Early voting in New York City's primary has surged already with double the turnout on the first day of voting this past Saturday from the previous Mayor's race four years ago.

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This is the second year the city is using 'ranked choice' voting in its primaries, which allows voters to select up to five candidates and rank them in order of their preference.   

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The New York Times Editorial Board, which indicated it would not endorse a candidate in the primary, is out with a piece called 'Our Advice to Voters in Vexing Race for New York Mayor.'  You can read the full piece at this gift link, with key excerpts below:

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The Times Editorial Board writes: New York needs a mayor who understands why the past decade has been disappointing. Crucial to that understanding is an acknowledgment that a certain version of progressive city management has failed, in New York and elsewhere.

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"We do not believe that [Zohran] Mamdani deserves a spot on New Yorkers’ ballots. His experience is too thin, and his agenda reads like a turbocharged version of de Blasio’s dismaying mayoralty."

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The Editorial Board writes: "Bill De Blasio, whose eight-year tenure as New York’s mayor began in 2014...bears significant responsibility for the city’s problems. His main legacy is to have contributed to the city’s recent decline, according to the Times Editorial Board.

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The answer instead is a more effective and thoughtful liberal governance, in which city leaders use empirical evidence and effective management to achieve results. At his best, Michael Bloomberg, New York’s mayor from 2002 to 2013, used this approach, the Editorial Board writes.

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The Editorial Board writes that, "Cuomo has the strongest policy record of the candidates. He has won the most impressive collection of endorsements, too, including from [Mike] Bloomberg; Jessica Ramos, a progressive state senator who initially sought the nomination herself; and labor unions representing health care workers, hotel workers, blue-collar laborers and firefighters."

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Read the full editorial at this gift link.

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For NYC Voters:  Early voting runs from June 14 until June 22. Polling locations for early voting are often at different sites than on Primary Day (June 24), so visit the NY Board of Election website here to find your polling place and to check wait times.

Mideast Latest.

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Israel to Continue Strikes Despite Reports Iran Seeks Talks (Bloomberg)

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“We’re going to go about our operation to remove these two threats,”  Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said Monday, referring to Iran’s missile and nuclear programs. “Whether Iran will decide to meet with the United States and agree to terms that they should have taken a month ago, or two weeks ago, or two months ago, you know, that’s up to Iran to decide.”

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The Iron Dome: Israel’s Air Shield Is Tested Like Never Before as Iran Fires Ballistic Missiles (Bloomberg)

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The attacks by Iran since Friday have been far deadlier and more damaging than when the Islamic Republic fired missiles and drones at Israel in April and October last year.

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Back then, Iran concentrated mostly on military and intelligence targets. This time, its firing larger numbers of projectiles and more are heading toward civilian areas.

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Reversing DOGE: Voice of America Brings Back 75 Staff for Iranian Language News Service as Israel-Iran Attacks Escalate (Washington Post)

What I'm Reading.

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Today's Daily Read Podcast is Up! Click here to listen to the latest episode of the AI-generated companion of today's newsletter on Spotify. It's also available on Apple Podcasts.  Take a listen today — and subscribe.

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Departure from Alberta: Trump Leaves G-7 Summit Early as Israel-Iran Tension Spikes (Bloomberg)

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Donald Trump’s hasty exit from the Group of Seven conference in Canada deepened questions about his promise to bring peace to an increasingly violent world and added fresh evidence of his skepticism toward the institutions that have long underpinned US diplomacy.

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Russian Strikes Pound Kyiv as Trump Goes Slow on Sanctions (Bloomberg)

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Russian air strikes killed at least 14 people in Kyiv in what President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described as “one of the most horrific attacks” as multiple locations in the Ukrainian capital were struck by drones and missiles or hit by debris.

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Minnesota Latest: How the Minnesota Shootings Suspect Was Caught (New York Times)

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Officers spotted Vance Boelter and used a drone to track him from overhead as he crawled through thick shrubs, Elliot Faust, a deputy police chief in Brooklyn Park, Minn., said. They converged on him, and although he was armed, no force was used while arresting him, officials said. He was captured not far from the home outside Green Isle, Minn., where he lived with his wife and children.

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Critics Call Out Conflict of Interest: Trump Family Launches Branded Mobile Phone Service in US (Bloomberg)

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Trump’s sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., unveiled the service, dubbed Trump Mobile, on the 10-year anniversary of their father’s announcement that he would run in the 2016 presidential election.

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The service will use network capabilities from all three major US carriers — T-Mobile US Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc., according to a statement. The family is also launching a Trump-branded mobile phone, the T1 — a “sleek gold” model that will be made in the US and cost $499.

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This new business venture stands to escalate concerns over how the president’s expanding business enterprises conflict with his government responsibilities. Unlike his predecessors, Trump didn’t divest his wealth or move his assets into a blind trust with an independent overseer. His sprawling business empire is managed by two of his sons and operates in several areas that intersect with presidential policy. 

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Watch This: Doctors Say Strict Abortion Laws in Texas Put Pregnant Women and their Physicians at Serious Risk (CBS 60 Minutes)

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Our Latest AI Offering: Investors to Streamline Alpha-Generating Research with Bloomberg's Document Search & Analysis (The Desk)

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Bloomberg is expanding the artificial intelligence capabilities of the Bloomberg Terminal with Document Search & Analysis, or DSX. The new service allows users to question documents using everyday language and receive structured, distilled, comparative data in response. This information can then be compared with Bloomberg data and analytics and internal research notes.

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The new research solution will be released to Bloomberg Terminal users by the end of 2025, and it's powered by Bloomberg’s 40 years of domain expertise and more than 15 years of applying responsible AI in finance. Read the official Bloomberg announcement here, or try it yourself at DSX <GO>.

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"Big Bill" Latest: Harvard Wins Reprieve, SALT Stalls: Tax Bill Winners and Losers (Bloomberg)

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US businesses and wealthy universities scored major wins in the Senate Republicans’ version of Donald Trump’s tax bill, while low-income Americans and clean energy providers are poised to be hit the hardest.

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Higher Ed Latest: Trump’s Higher-Ed Fight Comes for Public Schools in States That Voted for Him (Bloomberg)

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There are signs Donald Trump’s attacks on higher education and immigration are having a chilling effect. The University of Central Missouri’s foreign student enrollment was down about 1,050 this spring compared to last year, putting international students at about 2,750. Officials are preparing to lose more in the fall.

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Speaking Up for Science: To Protest Budget Cuts, Young Scientists Try Letters to the Editor (New York Times)

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Getting Kids Back in School: Chronic Absenteeism Is a Vital Sign for Kids’ Health. New Framework Seeks a Cure (The 74)

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Drs. Joshua Sharfstein and Bechara Choucair detail a new public health framework, developed by education and public health experts at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Kaiser Permanente and Attendance Works, that offers a comprehensive, community-driven approach with three core elements: data, partnerships and prevention.

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Juneteenth 2025: The Best Juneteenth Events in NYC (Time Out)

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Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, is celebrated annually on June 19, and has been formally recognized as a federal holiday since 2021.

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If you are in New York City this week, you have a range of events and ways to commemorate this special holiday across the five boroughs — from the free, outdoor Broadway Celebrates Juneteenth concert in Times Square on Thursday, June 19, from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM (rain or shine) to the Brooklyn Children's Museum's slate of Juneteenth programming from 11am - 3pm, also this Thursday, at Shirley Chisholm Circle in Brower Park.

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And if you're in Washington, DC, visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which will be celebrating Juneteenth during the entire month of June.

Using Art to Improve Street Safety.

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Saving Lives: Bloomberg Philanthropies' Asphalt Art Initiative has supported 90 street-design projects in cities across North America and Europe that have used art and community engagement to increase pedestrian safety and revitalize public spaces. According to the Asphalt Art Safety Study released in 2022, Asphalt Art has helped reduce car crashes involving pedestrians or cyclists by 50 percent.

This life-saving effort is coming to ten more cities across Canada, Mexico, and the United States, including Ottawa, Ontario; Mexico City; and Santa Barbara. Each has been selected to receive $100,000 grants and technical support to develop asphalt art projects of their own, work that will bring significant benefits to each community.

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Watch the full video here. And congratulations to the winning cities!

Scene from the Asphalt Art project, designed to improve safety and bring increased foot traffic to a neighborhood business district, in previous grant winner Columbus, Indiana.

Best of Late Night.

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On Don Jr. and Eric Trump's announcement that the Trump family is launching a new cell phone service, "Trump Mobile":

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“The Trump Organization today unveiled plans for a new Trump mobile phone service. Best of all, you won’t have any need for a friends and family plan.” 

— Seth Meyers

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“A lot of words come to mind when you think of Trump, but ‘mobile’ isn’t really one of them.”

— Jimmy Fallon

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“Meanwhile, Boost Mobile heard and was like, ‘Hey, we’re no longer the worst wireless company.’”

— Jimmy Fallon

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“It’s the perfect phone to call your friends and be like, ‘Yeah, I’m at the parade. There’s no one here.’”

— Jimmy Fallon

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