The Daily

Long after schools have fully reopened after the pandemic, one concerning metric suggests that children and their parents have changed the way they think about being in class.

Sarah Mervosh, an education reporter for The Times, discusses the apparent shift to a culture in which school feels optional.

Guest: Sarah Mervosh, an education reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading:

• ​School absences have “exploded” across the United States.
• Data shows that the more time students spent in remote instruction during the pandemic, the further they fell behind.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Ronna McDaniel’s time at NBC was short. The former Republican National Committee chairwoman was hired as an on-air political commentator but released just days later after an on-air revolt by the network’s leading stars.

Jim Rutenberg, a writer at large for The Times, discusses the saga and what it might reveal about the state of television news heading into the 2024 presidential race.

Guest: Jim Rutenberg, a writer at large for The New York Times.

Background reading:

• Ms. McDaniel’s appointment had been immediately criticized by reporters at the network and by viewers on social media.
• The former Republican Party leader tried to downplay her role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. A review of the record shows she was involved in some key episodes.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Maybe you have an idea in your head about what it was like to work at Guantánamo, one of the most notorious prisons in the world. Think again.

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence.

It’s been nearly six months since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel, when militants took more than 200 hostages into Gaza.

In a village called Nir Oz, near the border, one quarter of residents were either killed or taken hostage. Yocheved Lifshitz and her husband, Oded Lifshitz, were among those taken.

Today, Yocheved and her daughter Sharone tell their story.

Guest:

• Yocheved Lifshitz, a former hostage.
• Sharone Lifschitz, daughter of Yocheved and Oded Lifshitz.

Background reading:

• Yocheved Lifshitz was beaten and held in tunnels built by Hamas for 17 days.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Over the past few years, Donald Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, has been dismissed as a money-losing boondoggle.

This week, that all changed. Matthew Goldstein, a New York Times business reporter, explains how its parent venture, Truth Media, became a publicly traded company worth billions of dollars.

Guest: Matthew Goldstein, a New York Times business reporter.

Background reading:

• What to know about Trump Media’s high-flying stock debut.
• Ethics experts say the publicly traded company could present a new way for foreign actors or others to influence Mr. Trump, if he is elected president.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Against all odds and expectations, Speaker Mike Johnson keeps managing to fund the government, inflame the far right of his party — and hold on to his job.

Catie Edmondson, a congressional correspondent for The Times, explains why it might be Democrats who come to his rescue.

Guest: Catie Edmondson, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading:

• Ultraconservatives immediately turned on Mr. Johnson after Congress passed spending legislation.
• Enraged over the spending bill, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene began the process of calling for a vote to oust the speaker.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Last week, the Justice Department took aim at Apple, accusing the company of violating competition laws with practices intended to keep customers reliant on their iPhones.

David McCabe, who covers technology policy for The Times, discusses the latest and most sweeping antimonopoly case against a titan of Silicon Valley.

Guest: David McCabe, who covers technology policy for The New York Times.

Background reading:

• The lawsuit caps years of regulatory scrutiny of Apple’s suite of devices and services.
• Read about five major U.S. cases targeting Big Tech.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence.

More than a hundred people died and scores more were wounded on Friday night in a terrorist attack on a concert hall near Moscow — the deadliest such attack in Russia in decades.

Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The Times, discusses the uncomfortable question the assault raises for Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin: Has his focus on the war in Ukraine left his country more vulnerable to other threats?

Guest: Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading:

• In Russia, fingers point anywhere but at ISIS for the concert hall attack.
• The attack shatters Mr. Putin’s security promise to Russians.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

By the time Sam Apple pulled up with his goldendoodle, Steve, to their resting place, he was tired from the long drive and already second-guessing his plan. He felt a little better when they stepped inside the Dogwood Acres Pet Retreat. The lobby, with its elegant tiled entrance, might have passed for the lobby of any small countryside hotel, at least one that strongly favored dog-themed decor. But this illusion was broken when the receptionist reviewed their reservation — which, in addition to their luxury suite, included cuddle time, group play, a nature walk and a “belly rub tuck-in.”

Venues like this one, on Kent Island in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, didn’t exist when Apple was growing up in the 1980s. If you needed a place to board your dog back then, you went to a kennel, where your dog spent virtually the entire day in a small — and probably not very clean — cage. There were no tuck-ins, no bedtime stories, no dog-bone-shaped swimming pools. There was certainly nothing like today’s most upscale canine resorts, where the dogs sleep on queen-size beds and the spa offerings include mud baths and blueberry facials; one pet-hotel franchise on the West Coast will even pick up your dog in a Lamborghini. Apple knew Dogwood Acres wouldn’t be quite as luxurious as that, but the accommodations still sounded pretty nice. So he decided to check his dog in, and to tag along for the journey.

In a pointed speech from the Senate floor this month, the majority leader, Chuck Schumer, called for Israel to hold a new election and for voters to oust the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Soon after, Annie Karni, a congressional correspondent for the Times, sat down with Mr. Schumer to understand why he did it.

Guest: Annie Karni, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading:

• Mr. Schumer, America’s highest-ranking Jewish elected official, said he felt obligated to call for new leadership in Israel.
• His speech was the latest reflection of the growing dissatisfaction among Democrats with Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.