Mail-in ballots are already heading out in the Garden State.

The Hudson River sparkled from the lights of New York City's skyline when a group of open water swimmers first arrived at Pier 25 on a recent morning. The sun was barely peeking through the clouds and fog when they boarded a motor boat, the Melissa Marie, which would accompany the four swimmers as they circumnavigated Manhattan. Just over eight hours and nearly 29 miles later, the proud and pruney relay team crossed the finish line, a tall wooden piling on a dock just off Battery Park. “We thought we were gonna have high winds and bad weather, but it just got better and better,” said Derek Yach, a cancer survivor who initiated the swim as a fundraiser for cancer treatment equipment in Kenya. Seeing the sights of Manhattan from the water, he said, is “just spectacular.” While most New Yorkers might shudder at the thought of swimming in the waterways surrounding the city, these swimmers are part of a growing group advocating for increased access to the harbor, buoyed in part by improved water quality and, perhaps, nerve.

The monitor overseeing NYC's jail reforms accused the Department of Correction of “actively engaging in efforts to evade transparency and impede cooperation and collaboration.” Things have smoothed over — but it surprised people who've expected real reform is on the way.

This Hispanic Heritage Month, peppers are plentiful at local Greenmarkets.

What is the sweetest thing in the world?

And human debaters face-off with chatbots

The New Yorker staff writer examines America’s unique problem with gun violence, and why he thinks under-policing is at the root of our problem.