Today's Election story

Cuomo announces third-party run for NYC mayor

What happened
Former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo announced yesterday that he will remain in the New York City mayoral race as an independent candidate running against progressive Democratic powerhouse Zohran Mamdani, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa. Once heavily favored to win, Cuomo was soundly defeated in the Democratic primary this month by Mamdani, who Cuomo said offered "slick slogans but no real solutions" in his campaign announcement.

Who said what
I'm "in it to win it," Cuomo said in an announcement video that marked a "reset" for the candidate "criticized for running a low-energy bid during the primary," said Politico. He will run under the independent "Fight and Deliver" party he created as a "backup plan in the event he lost the primary," said The Wall Street Journal. His candidacy is being "urged on" by supporters "anxious" that withdrawal would "nearly guarantee" a Mamdani victory and "put New York City in the hands of the far left," said The New York Times.

What next?
Cuomo "avoided mentioning any of the other candidates in the race" in his announcement video, said Gothamist. Many of his supporters have acknowledged that his candidacy alongside Adams will "aid Mamdani," said Politico.

Today's politics Story

SCOTUS greenlights mass DOE firings

What happened
The Supreme Court yesterday paved the way for President Donald Trump's administration to conduct mass layoffs across the Department of Education without approval from Congress. The decision lifts a May injunction blocking Trump's executive order aimed at carrying out his campaign promise of closing the department. All three liberal justices dissented.

Who said what
Trump celebrated the decision on his Truth Social platform, calling it a "major victory" for students and parents. The ruling "lifts the handcuffs off" the administration so it can "get education back to the states," Education Secretary Linda McMahon (pictured above) told Fox News. But Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a 19-page dissent that the court was expediting the administration's "intent to break the law" and that "the threat to our Constitution's separation of powers is grave."

The DOE's staff of 4,000 has already been "greatly diminished" — by about half — since January, said The New York Times. Eliminating it entirely would require an act of Congress, and "most Americans want to preserve the department," The Wall Street Journal said, citing polling. Still, the ruling "continues a winning streak for the president's efforts to trim the federal government and assert his authority over the executive branch," said The Washington Post.

What next?
Legal challenges to the executive order will continue in lower courts, but some employees received notice of their termination almost immediately following the SCOTUS decision.

It's not all bad

Every summer, a teaching hospital in Darmstadt, Germany, opens its doors to children and their stuffed animals in order to help kids feel better about medical procedures. This year, more than 600 children participated in the event, watching as doctors treated their toys and explained how to take temperatures and put on Band-Aids. They also got to explore an ambulance manned by a teddy bear named Tom and see another stuffed bear, Fridolin, undergo open heart surgery.

Under the radar

North Korea built it. But will they come?

The hermit kingdom has opened a huge resort on its east coast in a bid to boost its struggling economy. The Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Area, which can accommodate 20,000 people, is a "pet project" for leader Kim Jong Un, who was pictured by state media "watching a man flying off a water slide in the resort," said France 24.

Other photos released by state media showed children with "tubes and inflatable balls dipping into the sea," said The Associated Press. The "mammoth" resort is the "biggest tourist complex in North Korea" and is "at the heart" of Kim's push to boost tourism and improve the country's "struggling economy."

North Korea "sealed itself off from the world" when Covid-19 struck, and tourists only began to trickle back in last year, said The Economist. "Visits have since been sporadic and mostly for Russians only." Yet despite the country's "reputation as a joyless place," it does have an "active domestic tourism industry" aimed at its own middle classes.

The first Russian visitors were due to arrive last week amid the "booming" military relationship between the two nations, said ABC News. But Chinese tourism, which made up 90% of visitors to the country before the pandemic, remains "stalled." Analysts say Beijing's relationship with North Korea has "cooled" due to China's reluctance to join an "anti-Western alliance" with Pyongyang and Russia.

Observers say the "huge investment" that has come out of North Korea's "limited budget" to build the resort will eventually push Kim to welcome Chinese and other foreign tourists in order to bring in more visitors and "break even" on the project. But it's unlikely Western tourists will be able to visit the resort "anytime soon."

On this day

July 15, 1799

French soldiers raiding an Egyptian village rediscovered the Rosetta Stone, an ancient tablet carved with a series of decrees. The stone dated to Egypt's Ptolemaic dynasty and became the subject of significant public interest after its finding. The stone has been kept in the British Museum in London since 1802 and is one of its most popular attractions.

TODAY'S newspaperS

'Remarkable shift' from Trump

Donald Trump is "hastening arms" to Ukraine, says The New York Times, as he "carries out a remarkable shift in tone." The president's latest move "shores up Kyiv," says The Washington Post, and he's "weighing in" on Ukraine's side "more forcefully" than ever. The operation to recover flood victims' bodies could "last six months," reports the Houston Chronicle, and it could even "take years" for the region to "fully recover." Meanwhile, the US is set to reach a "10-year high" for executions this week, as Florida prepares to administer a lethal injection for a double murder.

► See the newspaper front pages

Tall tale

AI, Esq.

A Canadian man was scolded by a judge for using AI to generate his legal argument. Nosakhare Ohenhen sought the return of $32,000 seized from his Toronto property by police, but the documents he submitted contained "at least two nonexistent or fake precedent court cases," Justice Lisa Brownstone wrote in her decision. "Every person who submits authorities to the court has an obligation to ensure that those authorities exist."

Morning Report was written and edited by Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Jessica Hullinger, Justin Klawans, Summer Meza, Martina Nacach Cowan Ros, Chas Newkey-Burden, Rafi Schwartz and Kari Wilkin, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.