6/26/2025: House Party Havoc

PLUS: Student Loan Credit Crunch; Bezos-Sanchez Wedding Disruption; and The Queen’s Park

Today is Thursday, June 26, 2025.

It is the 177th day of the year.

188 days remain.

Photo by Haley Lawrence on Unsplash

PROGRAMMING NOTE

We will have an amended publication schedule next week ahead of the Independence Day weekend.

• MONDAY, JUNE 30 - WEDNESDAY, JULY 2: We’ll send our “lite” version, including similar content but fewer pieces.

• THURSDAY, JULY 3: A special Independence Day edition with holiday-themed facts and trivia.

• FRIDAY, JULY 4: No newsletter.

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WHAT’S ON TAP

NOTABLE & NOTEWORTHY: The conflict with Iran moves from BOMBS to bytes.

Prosecutors pullback on some claims against DIDDY and SHOWBIZ

The CHRISLEY’s open up about their reaction to being pardoned with LARA TRUMP. Details in CASTING CALL.

The formal memorial for QUEEN ELIZABETH takes a step forward in ROYALS.

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While a ceasefire might halt violent military offensives between Iran, Israel, and the United States, the Islamic Republic’s hackers have been trying to wreak havoc from behind computer screens.

ABC News reports that hackers funded by the regime have been targeting American banks, defense contractors, and energy companies to disrupt the economy and critical infrastructure, but so far have not caused significant disruption.

As much as American military power won the day in the region (for now), our population’s reliance on digital services and technology make the nation particularly susceptible to cyberwarfare. On Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security issued a nationwide alert to raise general awareness of such concerns. [via ABC News]

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An estimated 5 MILLION student loan borrowers are expected to enter default on their balances by the end of September unless they get current. Credit reporting agency TransUnion expects at least one MILLION more borrowers to enter default each month over the summer.

The Trump Administration has already resumed collections through the Education Department. Beginning in the coming weeks, borrowers with balances at least 270 days past due could see wage garnishment up to 15% of their wages. [via WSJ]

WORTH REMEMBERING: During the initial pandemic-era student loan payment pause, the Education Department instituted a 0% interest rate, and past-due balances were not reported, so credit scores were unaffected. Interest rates and credit reporting did not resume for over three full years – during which time only an estimated 18% of borrowers made any progress at all on their balances, despite 0% interest and an average monthly payment of under $140.

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FERRARI is putting its second fully-electric model on hold for at least two more years, pushing back the rollout from next year until at least 2028.

GO FIGURE: The elite automaker says there’s just not enough demand for a Ferrari that runs on a battery.

Still, Ferrari will begin to roll out its first fully electric model later this year with a formal world premiere next spring. But as Reuters points out, “sustainable demand is non-existent for an electric sports car.” [via Reuters]

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A North Carolina man hired to maintain the lawn of a Charlotte-area home faces charges after he threw a house party while the owners were away.

Over the weekend, 37-year-old Michael Brown was arrested at the property after neighbors called in noise complaints and traffic hazards for an otherwise quiet area. The Sheriff’s office says Brown invited “several hundred people” to the shindig.

OF COURSE HE DID: Brown also reportedly charged his guests a cover to use the house for the festivities.

Brown now faces a slew of charges, including breaking and entering, second-degree trespassing, contributing to the delinquency of the minor, injury to real property, and obtaining property by false pretenses.

In a statement about the arrest, the sheriff’s office pretty smart-assedly said that Brown was "specifically told he was a guest at our Detention Center, not a resident, and ordered not to throw any parties in our phone cell while trying to secure a bonding company.” [via ABC News]

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A New Jersey lifeguard was impaled by a 6-foot-long beach umbrella while working along the Jersey Shore this week.

Going in her shoulder and out her back, first responders had to use a bandsaw to cut the stake into smaller pieces before loading her into the ambulance.

No word on exactly how the impaling occurred, though it's been suggested she was chasing a rogue umbrella down the beach and fell on it. Fortunately, her prognosis is good – she was reportedly conscious and, according to the local fire chief, “in good spirits” on her way to the hospital.

FOR THE RECORD: Injuries from airborne beach umbrellas have become so common that the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a voluntary safety standard for manufacturers. [via NY Post]

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