Good morning and welcome to a new week. We’ve got the rock if you’re ready to roll.

Let’s go.🤘

In today’s edition:

• 🎓 Student debt cancelation: legal or nah?
• ☄️ NASA is going into super-smash mode
• ♟️ The cheating allegation dividing chess

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.52 minutes to read.

“They who are not contented with what they have, would not be contented with what they would like to have.”

–Socrates (470 B.C. – 399 B.C.)

We’ve previously covered the details of President Biden’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 worth of federal student loan debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 per year. But today we’re focusing on a different angle: is the move actually legal?

⚖️🎓 A deeper dive… According to experts, it’s unclear whether the Biden admin’s rationale for waiving student debt would hold up in court.

• The government’s case revolves around a 2003 law called the HEROES Act, which allows relief from student loan repayments during times of war or national emergency – but only if that relief is “necessary to ensure [that borrowers] aren’t placed in a worse position” because of said war or emergency.

❗ Why it matters: If a legal challenge makes it all the way to the Supreme Court, experts say Biden’s debt-cancelation plan would probably be overturned under this reasoning.

• In several recent cases, the Court’s conservative majority has ruled against expanding the Executive Branch’s authority when it’s not explicitly spelled out in legislation from Congress.

✋ Yes, but… It’s unclear whether any lawsuit challenging Biden’s student debt plan will even make it to court in the first place.

In order to file suit against student debt cancelation, a person or organization would have to prove two things: 1) actual harm was done to them as a result of the measure, and 2) blocking the measure would undo that harm.

• As for if something could happen, stay tuned. Republican lawmakers and organizations have indicated they’re in the midst of searching for a way to legally challenge the debt forgiveness.

📊 Flash poll: Do you think Biden’s plan to cancel federal student debt will ultimately be enacted?

Yes

No

Unsure/other

The total number of homicides across major US cities fell during the first half of this year compared to 2021, per a recent survey of law-enforcement agencies… but they’re up 50% when compared to pre-pandemic numbers from 2019. (*Cue the Mad Max/Covid comparisons.)

🔢 By the numbers… The survey covered 70 of America’s largest cities, including all of the top ten by population. And to paint a broad picture, violent crime in the US has risen ~23% over the past three years, with rape being the only category where reported incidents decreased (-5%).

• 4,511 homicides occurred from January through June of this year, up from 3,004 in 2019; aggravated assaults also increased by 36% compared to pre-pandemic.

☝️ One thing to note: This recent survey isn’t considered official federal crime data, that’ll come next month with the FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Report.

🇺🇸📈 Zoom out: Big cities aren’t the only ones who saw murder rates soar during the pandemic – they jumped in rural areas, too. The number of homicides in rural America increased by 25% in 2020, per CDC data, good for the largest such increase since record-keeping began in 1999.

🇺🇦 Ukraine’s military is staging a counterattack. Ukraine has recaptured more than 1,158 square miles from Russian invaders in the east and south over the past week, military officials said yesterday, up from 385 square miles as of Friday. The overall war crossed the 200-day mark on Sunday.

🇬🇧 Succession proceedings continue in the UK. Charles III was proclaimed king of England, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and 11 other Commonwealth nations on Saturday, and Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin arrived in Edinborough, Scotland, yesterday. One interesting thing we discovered over the weekend: 74% of British residents aged 65+ think "the institution of the monarchy is good ... for Britain," compared to 24% of 18- to 24-year-olds, per a recent YouGov poll.

🇨🇳 China is headed to mine the Moon. Beijing announced plans to send three new unmanned missions to the Moon over the next decade, after becoming the third country to discover a new mineral on the planet. Called Changesite-(Y), it's reportedly been recognized by the International Mineralogical Association, and scientists say it could be used as a future energy source.

😒 We all know the struggle of standing in the snack aisle for an uncomfortably long time with a glazed expression… but Good Food Brands can make that a thing of the past.

🎉 Hispanic Heritage Month starts Sep. 15th, and it's the perfect time to try something new at Good Food Brands – like delicious treats from Hispanic and Latinx-owned businesses.

• Try some Ranch Tortilla Chips from Siete.
• Or some healthy fruity soda from Perfy (available in Fruit Punch, Blood Orange Yuzu, and Tropical Citrus). 
• Then when you're done chowing, wash up with cactus soap from Nopalera.

Every food sold at Good Food Brands is made with all-natural ingredients, and every brand is a small business in need of your support. You can subscribe to monthly boxes featuring brands from different communities or select individual items and make your own. Businesses can also curate their own boxes to gift to employees for heritage days and months.👍

Shipping is always free. And you can save 30% just by signing up with your email!😋

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with delicious snacks from Good Food Brands.

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission published the first view of its target last week, a binary asteroid called Didymos. And for those who don't remember our previous coverage, the $325 million mission involves launching a custom spacecraft towards Didymos... and then smashing them together.

🤔 Ummm, why?... To test diverting an impact from Earth. Asteroids are immensely powerful, with the ability to greatly alter the course of all living things – just ask the dinosaurs. And if you’re looking for some hard numbers to communicate their majesty, look no further than ~12,800 years ago.

A group of scientists and historians theorize a giant meteorite struck Earth around that time, all but wiping out human civilization and most animal species. According to the group, the impact:

• Incinerated ~10% of the Earth’s entire biomass, due to its launching of burning ejectorate that led to widespread wildfires.
• Instantly liquidized the ice caps at the North Pole, creating a tsunami wave ~1,000 feet tall that flooded an area the size of Europe and China combined.

And if that wasn’t enough, debris from the impact combined with ash from the fires to block out the Sun completely, sending the planet into a 1,200-year Ice Age. So yeah… avoiding that is kind of a big deal.

👀 Looking ahead… The official DART collision is scheduled for September 26.

💬 Quoted…​​ “Chess is in chaos.”

Magnus Carlsen, the No. 1-ranked chess player in the world, had his 53-game unbeaten streak snapped last week by 19-year-old American grandmaster Hans Moke Niemann at the Sinquefield Cup, a prestigious tournament in St. Louis.

• Shortly after losing, Carlsen withdrew from the whole event without explanation (and posted some cryptic messages), which many chess experts say is a sign he believes his opponent was cheating.
• Niemann has forcefully denied ever cheating at in-person chess – even saying he'll play fully naked to prove it – while conceding that he had previously cheated online.

The bottom line (for now, at least): Tournament organizers and ‘chess detectives’ have repeatedly analyzed the match in question over the past week. So far, nothing suspicious has been unearthed.

🫁 Stat of the Day: The US officially recorded one million organ transplants on Friday – the very first of which occurred in 1954 at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

🤯 Did You Know?... The British Royal Family owns a postage stamp collection with an estimated value of ~$100 million.

📖 Worth a Read: Why Costco still charges only $1.50 for its hot dog-and-soda combo → (MarketWatch)

• ☝️ NYC’s Tribute in Light, held for 24 hours on September 11 of each year, honors those who lost their life due to the attacks; “It’s about the souls of the people and going up to the heavens,” says Alice Greenwald, President and CEO of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📈 US markets rose across the board on Friday, as all three major indexes snapped a three-week losing streak (Dow: +1.2% | S&P: +1.5% | Nasdaq: +2.1%).
• 💳 Visa, Mastercard, and AmEx are planning to start separately categorizing sales at standalone gun shops.
• 🏢 Evergrande, the embattled Chinese property developer, had its $1.2 billion Hong Kong headquarters seized by a creditor.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏆 The Emmy Awards will be held tonight and hosted by Kenan Thompson; of the 106 total actors nominated this year, 48% shared a category with at least one of their castmates, up from 44% last year and 33% in 2020.
• 🎾 US Open results: 19-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz became the youngest-ever player ranked No. 1 in the world after winning the men’s title yesterday; on the women’s side, world No. 1 Iga Swiatek took home her third Grand Slam title.
• 🏈 Football is back, baby: Unranked Appalachian State upset No. 6 Texas A&M 17-14, and unranked Marshall toppled No. 8 Notre Dame 26-21. (Full CFB Week 2 results) | The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 19-3 in the NFL’s inaugural Sunday Night Football matchup. (Full Week 1 results)

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 💊 Your posture when you swallow pills can impact how quickly your body absorbs the medicine, per new peer-reviewed research from Johns Hopkins University.
• 🗣️📱 People consistently underestimate how much their friends want to hear from them, according to a new peer-reviewed study.
• 🚀 NASA tentatively set two new launch dates for its Artemis I mission: September 23 and 27. (Background)

EVERYTHING ELSE

• ⚡ California’s power grid operators have been warning the state’s residents to conserve their energy use for more than a week now, as an ongoing heat wave has sent electric demand to record levels.
• 🗳️ Michigan voters will decide in November whether the state's constitution should be amended to add abortion rights following a state Supreme Court decision. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

Monday: The inaugural Monday Night Football (Broncos v. Seahawks)

Tuesday: Consumer Price Index for August

Wednesday: National Parents Day Off

Thursday: Weekly unemployment claims

Friday: Monthly consumer sentiment data

Albert Van Limbergen never travels unless he has a very good reason to. But the Belgium man recently rode his bike ~900 miles to the town of Nice, France, for... drumroll, please... a purple croissant. 

💜 Lavender love... Albert's favorite plant, flavor, smell, and color is lavender. So when he discovered a small bakery in France that infused their fluffy croissants with locally-harvested lavender water, he knew he had to try it. 

• The trek took him two weeks, but it was all worth it when he finally took that first buttery bite. 
• "We chatted for a few hours about lavender, nature and life in general," the baker, Frédéric Roy, said. "He came back the next day, and we spoke for a few hours more."

🤔 Today's message?... Love yourself like Albert loves lavender. Then all will be right with the world.🤗

Can you guess the definitions of these Greek/Latin root words?

1. Ped
2. Cogn
3. Gladi
4. Iter
5. Lamin

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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What to do: Copy your unique link below, then send it to anyone who you think would like the DONUT. Once you hit each milestone, you'll get an email with a link to claim your prize. (Pro tip: there's no need to ration points, you're entitled to a prize at each tier.)

Start referring.👇

1. Ped: Foot (e.g., bipedal)
2. Cogn: Know (cognizant)
3. Gladi: Sword (gladiator)
4. Iter: Again (reiterate)
5. Lamin: Layer (laminate)