Last night, Donald Trump and Joe Biden competed for airtime in a pair of dueling town hall debates. Apple News Spotlight has a roundup of coverage. The Washington Post looks at the record levels of early voting seen in this election cycle. And BuzzFeed News says the long lines seen at polling places this week don’t necessarily suggest voter suppression, but rather voter enthusiasm. ProPublica goes behind the scenes at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and reveals how politics has undermined trust in the agency, even among the people who work there. CNN profiles the rapid rise of Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand. Three years ago, at the age of 37, Ardern became the youngest woman ever elected to the role. Now she is on the verge of winning a second term. Scientific American breaks down one astronomer’s math that there’s a 50/50 chance we are living in a simulation.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.