Good morning. In this edition:

• 💵 The US dollar isn’t traveling well
• ⛽ Beavers, billionaires, and backlash in Colorado
• 🎵 Willie Nelson’s IRS album

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.36-minute read (1,161 words).

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“Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them.”

–W. Clement Stone (1902-2002)

That feeling when stopping for churros in Spain digs more into your pocket than expected: US greenbacks are significantly in the red versus its international peers so far this year, placing a major damper on the purchasing power of American travelers going abroad.

• The ICE US Dollar Index, which compares the dollar to currencies from six other countries, just wrapped up its worst first half in over five decades (-10.8%).
• The dollar has fallen 13% against the euro, 6% against the Japanese yen, and 8% against the British pound, making goods that much more expensive for Americans overseas.

It marks a stark reversal of currency conditions as recently as last year, when a strong dollar lifted Americans’ purchasing power on imported goods and fueled an international travel boom.

Making cents of it all

Analysts say the dollar’s fall so far this year is due to global investors reacting negatively to recent trade tensions, rising government deficits, and uncertainty over Federal Reserve policy. Many experts project the US dollar will drop further in the coming months as these factors persist, despite a relatively strong US economy.

But this could be good for some businesses. A weaker dollar makes US exports cheaper internationally, and also juices company profits from overseas units after converting back to dollars. The dollar’s falling exchange rates in Q2 are expected to boost the bottom lines of large multinational companies, who kick off earnings season this week.

Big picture: S&P 500 companies collectively generate more than 40% of their revenue from international sales.

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Americans are increasingly rockin’ down to Electric Avenue—or at least the well-worn part of it. New data shows a growing number of US consumers are exploring the used EV market, amid falling prices and a soon-to-expire tax credit from the federal government.

By the numbers: Prices for used EVs fell ~32% in 2024 to reach an average of $30,900, in line with prices for gas-powered cars, according to auto-research site iSeeCars.com. For reference, the average new EV sells for $17,000+ more than a comparable gas model.

• This disparity has been reflected in recent sales trends. While sales for new EVs have fallen in each of the last three months, used EV sales topped 100,000 for the first time last quarter, new data from Cox Automotive reveals.

Why is used so much cheaper than new? EVs lose value far quicker than gas-powered cars once they drive off the lot. This is due to a variety of factors, including concerns about battery life and longevity, new tech quickly making old EV models obsolete, and high repair costs associated with specialized parts/labor.

Looking ahead…Time is running out to snag the best EV deals. The Biden admin’s recent electric vehicle tax credit ($7,500 for new, $4,000 for used) is now set to expire on September 30, or seven years earlier than initially intended, after President Trump signed his tax-and-spending megabill into law earlier this month.

Buc-ee’s multi-state expansion plans have hit a dam in Colorado: The Texas-sized gas station-chain known for its brisket, beaver swag, and bathroom bragging rights is facing serious resistance over a new location it’s planning to build off the I-25 highway near Palmer Lake, a city between Denver and Colorado Springs (pop. 2,500).

The company and local officials say the planned location, a 74,000-sq.-foot store with 60 gas pumps and parking for nearly 800 cars, would generate $1 million/year in tax revenue for the city, a 30% increase from its current levels.

But that’s not compelling to many residents, who want to heave the Beave. They say any commercial development could impact already strained water supplies, add light pollution, and damage local mom-and-pop businesses.

They have a powerful ally: Billionaire land baron John Dutton Malone, the second-largest landowner in the US, whose portfolio includes 17,000 acres near the plot of land in question. Malone—who called the Buc-ee’s beaver mascot “an invasive species from Texas” in a local newspaper guest editorial he co-wrote—has offered to foot legal bills for opponents if needed, and to buy the land in question rather than have Buc-ee’s develop it.

Zoom out: This development/conservation back-and-forth isn’t isolated to Colorado. The western US lost 6.6 million acres to urban development from 2017 to 2022, an area about the size of Massachusetts, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🏡 Around one-third of America's 100 largest housing markets are showing annual price declines, per new data from ICE (the mortgage technology firm, not the gov't agency).
• 🚗 Tesla's first federal jury trial begins in a Miami court; the case centers around a fatal crash involving an Autopilot-equipped Tesla Model S.
• ☕ Starbucks requiring white-collar workers to work from the office 4x/week, up from three, and relocate to either Seattle or Toronto by October; will offer a buyout to employees who don't want to comply.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with Worthy

• 🎰 DraftKings in talks to acquire prediction market Railbird Exchange; it marks the latest example of sportsbooks looking to push into the prediction markets space.
• ⚖️ HOF quarterback John Elway won't face charges related to the death of Jeff Sperbeck, his longtime friend, business partner and former agent, who died from injuries sustained after falling off a golf cart driven by Elway.
• ⚾️ Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh won last night's MLB Home Run Derby. | The MLB All-Star Game takes place at 7 pm CT tonight; click the link to see lineups and how to watch.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🦠 Some gut microbes are capable of processing toxic PFAS "forever chemicals" from the body; study may lead to probiotics to replace bloodletting or drug therapies.
• 🌌 Physicists detect a gravitational wave signal from the biggest merger between two black holes ever observed; the newly created black hole has a mass ~225x our Sun.
• 🤖 Google to combine Android mobile operating system with ChromeOS, the software that runs across the company's Chromebook laptops, Google exec reveals; a tie-up between the two systems has been rumored for months. | Several AI companies, including Anthropic, xAI, and OpenAI, awarded an up-to-$200 million US government contract to modernize the Defense Dept.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

in partnership with NoNetz

• 🇺🇦 President Trump announces deal to sell weapons—including Patriot missile defense systems—to Ukraine via NATO; Trump also threatens “very severe tariffs” on Russia if no peace deal is reached within 50 days.
• 🗽 Former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo will stay in NYC mayoral race as an Independent following loss in Democratic primary to Zohran Mamdani.
• 🧑‍⚖️ Supreme Court clears the Trump administration to lay off over 1,300 employees at the Dept. of Education, functionally eliminating the agency.

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☝️ You’re looking at some of the winners from the 2025 Shark Photographer of the Year awards, published yesterday on Shark Awareness Day.

🤔 Did You Know? In 1992, country music legend Willie Nelson released an album called The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories? featuring only him and a guitar, with all the proceeds going to the IRS in order to clear his tax debts.

📰 Worth a Read: Meet the 25-year-old leveraging social media to run for Congress

🖱️ Clickbait: Why you shouldn’t buy an iPhone right now

Yesterday, we covered how Congress is on the verge of remaking the US financial system to embrace crypto, with a series of bills set for approval after House Republicans declared the next five days “Crypto Week.”

❓ Our question to you: In general, how do you feel about GOP lawmakers’ push to approve a series of new crypto-related bills in Congress?

• Support: 21%
• Oppose: 55%
• Unsure/other: 24%

Click here to read some of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 2,168 votes and 239 longform responses.

❓ Trivia: How many characters are in the classic version of the board game Clue?

🐻 True or false? When a female grizzly bear and a male polar bear mate, the offspring is called a pizzly bear.

🤔 Riddle me this: What 7-letter word becomes longer when you remove a letter?

❤️ Golden retrievers Emma and Ellie are therapy dogs at Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC. They started visiting five-year-old leukemia patient Amara last September, and quickly made a furever fan.

🧶 Jocelyn Rose DeGroot-Lutzner applied to bartend at a local West Philadelphia restaurant in 2013. When she got the job, she had no idea she would be working with her future husband—who grew up only four blocks from her. Read their amazing love story here.

❤️ The Locavore Variety Store is a Greenwich Village shop opened by small business advocate Caroline Weaver, who's dedicated her life to watching small businesses thrive through community.

+Note: These stories previously appeared in an Oct. 2024 edition of Positive DONUT, our weekly newsletter surfacing all the good things you don't hear about in the news.

❓ Trivia: Six

🐻 T/F: True

🤔 Riddle: Lounger

+Clue for the Games newsletter: We’re not keeping the third answer to today’s Conjoiner sequence under lock and key.