Good morning. It’s go time.😎

In today’s edition:

• 🤔 Sabotage on the Nord Stream pipelines?
• 🌋 The world has a new island
• ⚖️ Student loan forgiveness faces its first legal challenge

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.82 minutes to read.

“Honesty’s preferred, respect is what you earn, and trust is something you gain when loyalty is returned.”

–Symba (the rapper, not the Disney lion | b. 1999)

A public interest lawyer in Indiana filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Education yesterday in an effort to block its student loan forgiveness plan, marking the policy’s first major legal challenge.

🎓 Background: Last month, the Biden admin announced it would cancel $10,000 worth of federal student debt per borrower for individuals making less than $125,000 per year, or couples making less than $250,000.

• Borrowers who received federal Pell Grants – which are for college students with “exceptional financial need” – and who fall under the income levels mentioned above will have $20,000 forgiven.

The plan is projected to cost ~$420 billion over the next 30 years, per new estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office published this week.

⚖️ That brings us to yesterday’s lawsuit… which appears to have the one thing legal experts say is necessary for a legitimate case against student loan forgiveness: a client with legal standing to sue.

The plaintiff, Frank Garrison, is an employee of the libertarian Pacific Legal Foundation, which is backing the lawsuit. In it, they assert that the executive branch lacks the authority to bypass Congress and unilaterally forgive student loans, and that Garrison would be harmed by instituting the policy.

• Garrison is currently in the process of having his federal student loans canceled through a program that does so for public servants after 10 years of payments and service.
• Participants in this program don’t have to pay any federal or state taxes on the loan forgiveness – but Garrison is arguing Biden’s forgiveness plan would instead subject him to over $1,000 worth of local taxes for the $20,000 in forgiven debt.

+Bonus: Here’s everything you need to know about student loan forgiveness – covering applications, key dates, eligibility, and more. (TL;DR: The application won’t be available until “early October,” per the Biden admin.)

📊 Flash poll: Do you agree with President Biden’s plan to forgive some student loan debt?

Yes

No

Unsure/other

After knocking out the power to all of Cuba and strengthening into a Category 4 storm, Hurricane Ian is expected to make landfall later today in Florida – where some 2.5 million residents are currently under evacuation orders along the western coast.

🌀 More deets… The storm seems to be on par with projections so far; Ian was projected to briefly strengthen into a Category 4 hurricane before dropping back to Category 3 by the time it makes landfall around 8 pm ET tonight near Sarasota. Experts say it’ll be the strongest storm to hit the Tampa Bay metropolitan area in over a century.

• The latest forecasts project a storm surge (aka flooding caused by the hurricane) of 8 to 12 feet across a 90-mile stretch north of Fort Myers, while the city of Tampa is expected to see a six-foot surge.

🙅‍♀️ Closures & cancellations: As of yesterday evening, airlines had canceled 1,600+ flights at five major Florida airports that were scheduled for today, per data-tracker FlightAware. Over 80% of school districts across the state have announced hurricane-related closures, per Florida’s Department of Education.

• Disney World, Universal Orlando, and Legoland will be closed for at least today and tomorrow due to Ian, while major retailers like Walmart/Sam’s Club, Publix, and Trader Joes also closed dozens of stores in Florida ahead of the hurricane’s landfall.

European authorities are investigating mysterious leaks from the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines that churned up in the Baltic Sea this week, raising international concerns of potential sabotage.

☝️ First things first: The leaks have no impact on Europe’s gas supply, since both pipelines aren’t currently in use. Germany paused the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in February over Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, and Moscow indefinitely halted all gas flowing through Nord Stream earlier this month.

• But experts say the leaks could damage the climate and be costly to repair – though it’s still unclear what originally caused them.

🤔💥 A leading theory… Seismologists in Sweden and Denmark said their instruments detected signs of two “probable explosions” in the Baltic Sea on Monday, around the same time both Nord Stream pipelines underwent dramatic falls in pressure (signaling a leak).

• Separately, German news outlet Der Spiegel reported yesterday that the German government was warned by the CIA weeks ago about potential attacks on gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

🇷🇺🇺🇦 In other Russian-related news: Moscow is set to formally annex occupied territories in Ukraine, following the conclusion of referendums widely seen as a sham and considered illegal under Ukrainian and international law.

Residents from the occupied areas said the vote featured coercion and threats from Russian soldiers, who in some cases went door-to-door forcing people to vote at gunpoint, per the WSJ.

• Russia’s parliament will consider formally annexing the provinces next Tuesday, per state media.

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Somebody scramble the Google Maps car ASAP, cuz a new island just formed in the South Pacific.

According to NASA's Earth Observatory, a volcano on what's known as the Home Reef seamount began to erupt on September 10. Eleven hours later, an island emerged from the water.

🏝 A deeper dive… Just to be clear, we’re not talking about a continent-sized landmass – as of September 19, the island was only ~9 acres. And it could disappear at any moment… or not. Islands created by underwater volcanic activity can exist for years, though they typically don't last long, per NASA.

• Case in point: The Home Reef region’s submarine volcanoes flared up in 1852, 1857, 1984, and 2006, producing new islands each time – that were all eventually swallowed back up by the ocean.
• But, but, but: An island created by the nearby Late'iki Volcano in 1995 lasted for 25 years, NPR reports. So this recently-created, unnamed island has that going for it… which is nice.

🌋 Fun fact(s): More than 80% of the Earth's surface – above and below sea-level – is volcanic in origin. Gaseous emissions from volcanoes also forged our planet's atmosphere.

Nowadays, there are ~500 known active volcanoes in the world, per the US Geological Survey. And more than half are part of the “Ring of Fire," a region that encircles the Pacific Ocean.

+Dive deeper: How can we tell when a volcano will erupt?

💬 Quoted…​​ "Forever."

• How long Costco's $1.50 hot-dog-and-soda/pop combo will last, according to CFO Richard Galanti, who let the info slip on the company's most recent quarterly earnings call.

📉 Stat of the Day: ~87% of companies that went public last year were trading below their IPO prices as of Friday's market close, per data from Dealogic.

🌎 Around the World: Shakira, a-near-a… to jail time, potentially. A Spanish judge approved a trial for the Colombian pop singer yesterday on charges of tax fraud – for which prosecutors are seeking an eight-year prison sentence and $24 million fine.

🤯 Did You Know?... The US gov’t has ~1.4 billion pounds of cheese stockpiled in a cave in Springfield, Missouri. Here’s why.

📖 Worth a Read: The American Mall’s Long Goodbye → (The Sunday Long Read)

• ☝️ You’re looking at a concept design for Amsterdam’s latest housing project – a building with apartments that hang over the Amstel River; all 440 apartments are energy-neutral thanks to 75,000+ square feet of solar panels.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🪵📉 Lumber prices have fallen back to pre-pandemic levels.
• 🏦 11 of the world’s largest banks and brokerages agreed to collectively pay $1.8 billion in fines to resolve regulatory investigations over their employees’ use of messaging apps that broke record-keeping rules.
• ⚡🏍️ Harley-Davidson spun off its electric motorcycle division, called LiveWire, in a $1.8 billion SPAC merger yesterday. (Opens browser, searches “1.8 billion angel number meaning”)

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏌️⚖️ Phil Mickelson and three other LIV golfers have dropped out of their lawsuit against the PGA Tour, leaving both leagues to battle against each other without any golfers’ involvement.
• 🦸 Wolverine is coming to the MCU: Hugh Jackman will reprise his role as the clawed superhero alongside Ryan Reynolds in the upcoming Deadpool 3.
• 🙏⛰️ US mountaineer Hilaree Nelson went missing in the Himalayan mountain range on Monday; rescue efforts uncovered her body on Mount Manaslu this morning.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🦟💉 ​​Genetically modified mosquitoes were used to vaccinate participants in a new malaria vaccine trial at the University of Washington.
• 💊 An experimental Alzheimer's drug developed by Eisai and Biogen significantly slowed cognitive and functional decline in a Phase 3 trial of patients in the early stages of the disease, the companies said yesterday.
• 🙈🧥 UK startup Vollebak has developed a prototype of a thermal camouflage jacket that essentially functions as an invisibility cloak, though it has to be plugged into a computer to work (and isn’t for sale yet).

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🏛️ ​​The White House released a five-point plan to end hunger and improve nutrition in the US by 2030.
• 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia's King Salman issued a royal decree yesterday appointing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the country’s prime minister.
• 🏫 More than 1,000 students walked out of Virginia middle and high schools yesterday to protest Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s new transgender policy for schools, organizers said. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 💥📸 The aftermath of NASA's satellite crash with the binary Didymos asteroid, in photos.

Quick recap: We’re aiming to crowdsource details about epic trips, then provide the whole playbook for the experience to y’all.

• Have a trip you’d like to share? Just reply to this email or fill out this form.

From Athens, GA to San Francisco, CA

🚶‍♂️ Who: Eli G. from Athens, GA.

☀️ Length of trip: Three months.

💬 Quick recap: I used a combination of hitchhiking and couchsurfing to make it across the US for next to nothing on a gap semester during university. I started with a friend, and a cheap bus trip to New Orleans. From there we hitched to Austin, and I stayed there a few months with some hippies. After overstaying my welcome I hit the road and grabbed a ride with an avocado trucker all the way to Los Angeles. Worked my way up the coast to a small farm I stayed at (via WWOFF) and worked at in exchange for food and board. Finally flew home after a month there.

🤔 Want to learn more?... Dive deeper into Eli's must-dos, must-don'ts, and trip expenses here.

P.S. Have your own epic trip you’d like to share? Just reply to this email or fill out this form for a chance to be featured in next Wednesday’s newsletter.

Bitty and Beau's coffee shop is a favorite among the locals of Melrose, Massachusetts.

• The coffee shop, which just celebrated its one-year anniversary, employs people with intellectual disabilities behind the counter. 

❤️☕️ More than a cup of joe... For many of the workers, Bitty and Beau's is their very first job. Such is the case for 18-year-old Joe Sullivan, who couldn't help but jump for joy when his first paycheck finally came through. 

• "I say it every time I leave here; I leave with a full heart," said Joe's mother Tonya. "A lot of times I say you might not be able to change the whole world, but we can change our world right? That's what [Joe is] doing. One coffee at a time."

How many gallons of water are in the Great Lakes?

• Hint: It's in the single-digit quadrillions🤯

(keep scrolling for the answer)

👆 Check out the referral prizes you can get, all for introducing people you know to little old us. 

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.)

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A: Roughly 6 quadrillion gallons, covering a combined area of ~94,000 square miles.

+Clarification: Yesterday, we mistakenly referred to Northern Ireland as "North Ireland"; our editing tool corrected Northern → North and we just missed it.🤦‍♀️