💬 Quoted: “It sounds like a giant hive of bees. You know it’s coming because it’s pretty loud.”

Pickleball advocates will be happy to know their sport isn’t the only newfangled thing making loud noises in the neighborhood. Amazon’s buzzing budding drone program is also delivering a daily dose of irritation to local residents of College Station, Texas. In a recent letter to the FAA, College Station Mayor John Nichols said his city’s residents have grown tired of the drones’ constant loud buzzing near their homes in recent months. Mayor Nichols also pushed back against Amazon’s recent FAA requests seeking to more than double the company’s allowance of daily flights, which would allow Amazon drones to operate between 7am-10pm (rather than just daylight hours), as well as increase its drones’ delivery area by 4x.

• The complaints mark the latest challenge for Amazon’s drone delivery program, which has struggled to get off the ground since being established in 2022 due to a combination of regulatory hurdles, missed deadlines, and widespread cost-cutting efforts at Amazon (including layoffs).

🔋⛽ Stats of the Day: Golfers aren’t the only ones trying to squeeze some extra yardage out of their drives. Extended-range EVs (EREVs) are currently the fastest-growing propulsion system for cars in China, with sales more than doubling over the past year to reach 30% of all domestic plug-in hybrid sales. The recent spike in EREV popularity is attributed to their ability to drive 600+ miles on a single charge – compared with ~300 miles for a typical EV – thanks to a small gas-powered engine whose sole purpose is to automatically recharge the battery (a feature that kicks in on ~5% of trips). EREVs will begin arriving in America next year when Stellantis rolls out the Ramcharger, an electric version of its Ram 1500 pickup truck that features a 690-mile driving range.

🤔 Did You Know? The British overseas territory of Gibraltar forgot it was a city for 180 years. In 2022, Gibraltar applied to become a city as part of UK Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee, but was passed over for selection. However, it ended up becoming a city anyways after researchers discovered Queen Victoria had granted Gibraltar that status in 1842.

📰 Worth a Read: Deep in the Amazon rainforest lives a community whose hearts age more slowly → (BBC)