It’s Wednesday, June 11. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: A Philadelphia curriculum leaves students historically illiterate yet primed for activism; assisted dying passes in New York; the father of funk dies at 82.
But first: Olivia Reingold on the socialist who could be mayor.
Three months ago, I started noticing something: Friends who normally roll their eyes at politics were suddenly posting nonstop on Instagram about a Democratic Socialist named Zohran Mamdani. On the F train, I saw tote bags and backpacks pinned with “Zohran for New York City” buttons. In Queens, where I was reporting other stories, bodegas had his posters in the windows.
Now, the polls are catching up to the vibes.
In just a few months, Mamdani—a 33-year-old socialist and state assemblyman—has gone from polling at one percent to becoming a genuine contender, just two points behind former governor Andrew Cuomo in a new head-to-head poll.
What’s unfolding in New York City right now is Andrew Cuomo’s nightmare scenario. The scion of a New York political dynasty thought the Democratic primary would be a cakewalk. Instead, he’s in a dog fight.
I’ve been following Mamdani’s rise since the beginning, and I’ve spent the last few weeks reporting my latest story, on a race that is much closer than Cuomo—or anyone else in the Democratic establishment—expected. It’s a story about what the political class is still missing—and how the biggest city in America could end up with a socialist for mayor.
—Olivia Reingold
In Philadelphia public schools, social studies students were asked to “replace” the national anthem after “critically examining race and racism.” It’s just one shocking example revealed by Frannie Block in her new report on the city’s radical curriculum that one teacher described as “teaching opinions and couching it as. . . the truth.”
On Sunday, we published Maddy Kearns’ big read on legislation in New York that would legalize assisted dying with some of the loosest safeguards in the country. The bill could be voted on any day, Maddie reported. And sure enough, on Monday it passed the state senate.
ICYMI: Read Maddie Kearns’ original report on the fight over the law that “risks turning suicide into a medical treatment option.”
Sly Stone, the father of funk music who died Monday night at 82, was that rare breed of musician: the innovator who also achieves chart-topping success. Eli Lake explains the psychedelic maestro’s profound legacy.
Did Anthony Bourdain really ruin food culture? Was DOGE doomed to fail? Should American universities put American students first? All that and more in the latest batch of letters to the editor.
And if you’ve read something in The Free Press that has changed your mind, angered you, or sparked an interesting conversation, we want to hear from you! Send your thoughts to letters@thefp.com.
Mayor Karen Bass announced a curfew for downtown LA on Tuesday. After days of disorder in the city, anti-ICE protests are spreading across the country. There have been protests in New York, San Francisco, and Texas, and on Saturday, activists are planning a nationwide day of defiance to coincide with Trump’s military parade in Washington, D.C.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has emerged as a possible replacement for Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, according to Bloomberg. Powell’s term ends next May. Trump has said he will select a replacement “very soon,” but demurred on whether he was considering Bessent for the job. However, one observer noted, “Given the amount of trust and confidence that the global financial community has in Scott Bessent, he’s an obvious candidate.”
Ten people were killed in a school shooting in Austria, after a 21-year-old former student opened fire before taking his own life, with no clear motive. It was the first such incident in Austria, whose chancellor said that the shooting was “a national tragedy that shocks us deeply.”
Stephen Hubbard, a retired American teacher and former Air Force service member taken from his home in Ukraine by Russian forces and feared lost, was finally located in a Russian prison. He is now the sole wrongfully detained American held by Russia, who convicted him of fighting as a mercenary soldier for Ukraine. Messages between Hubbard and his family show no evidence of such claims. For a deeper dive, read The Free Press’s Maddy Kearns on Americans wrongfully detained abroad.
Russia sent 315 drones into Ukraine in an attack on Kyiv early Tuesday morning, launching what Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called “one of the largest” attacks on the capital, as Russia separately struck Odesa. The strikes came amid stalled peace negotiations and an exchange of prisoners of war under the age of 25.
For the second time this week, U.S. officials have arrested a Chinese scientist allegedly trying to smuggle biological materials into Detroit’s airport. The scientist, identified by the FBI as Chengxuan Han, is a doctoral student at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, and planned to spend a year at the University of Michigan.
The FDA announced it will use AI to “radically increase efficiency” in the drug approval process. The new plans, written by Dr. Marty Makary and Dr. Vinay Prasad, also include a focus on “healthier food for children, and commonsense approaches to rebuild the public trust.”
A federal judge dismissed Justin Baldoni’s $400 million countersuit against Blake Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, over an allegedly toxic environment on the set of their movie It Ends with Us. For the full exposition of the Baldoni drama, read Kat Rosenfield on The Art of the Smear.
Yuk. Punish the messenger. As a SF resident who doesn’t know the NYC political vibe, I will spectate. Thanks for reporting.
Thank you for the daily reminder that I will never vote Democrat again