Good morning. In this edition:

• 🇬🇧 UK to lower its voting age
• ✉️ President Trump’s alleged letter to Jeffrey Epstein
• 🍿 The stories behind TV pilots that crashed and burned

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.81-minute read (1,014 words).

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"In matters of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim with the current.”

–Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

Yesterday, the UK government announced plans to lower the country’s voting age from 18 to 16 before the next general election in 2029.

• Supporters describe the plan as essential for getting younger residents more interested in the democratic process, amid a sharp decline in overall election turnout.
• But opponents of the law denounce it as an attempt by the UK Labour Party to tilt the electoral playing field in their favor, arguing that 16-and-17-year-olds aren’t mature enough for voting rights.

The change still needs to make it through the Labour-controlled Parliament before it can take effect. However, analysts say approval likely won’t be an issue.

The age-old question: When are you an adult?

For decades, America has regarded 18 as both the legal voting age and de-facto age of adulthood—but that wasn’t always the case.

The original Constitution left specific voting qualifications up for states to decide, with virtually all early state laws instituting a voting age of 21 (following British legal tradition).

• The first major challenge to America’s voting age came during World War II, when the military draft age was lowered from 21 to 18—causing a handful of states to similarly lower their voting ages.
• The issue picked back up during the Vietnam War, which featured a deeply unpopular military draft that also covered men as young as 18.
• Critics rallied under the argument of "old enough to fight, old enough to vote," resulting in the 26th Amendment in 1971 establishing a minimum voting age of 18 for all US elections (federal, state, and local).

Outside of voting laws, military participation, and tobacco use, most age restrictions are set by each individual US state.

• Some allow 18-year-olds to run for office, go to strip clubs, and drink alcohol under the age of 21 (in certain circumstances), with other states opting for stricter age limits.
• In Alaska, teenagers as young as 14 can get married with a court order, while age of consent laws vary between 16-18 across the US.

Bottom line: For decades, the consensus among researchers has been that most humans’ brains don’t fully develop until age 25. This finding has fueled an ongoing debate among policymakers over what young adults should be legally allowed to do, when science indicates they use less restraint and discipline compared to older folks.

📊 Flash poll: In your opinion, what should be the general legal age of adulthood?

• 14-15
• 16-17
• 18
• 19-20
• 21+

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📝 US retail sales increase 0.6% in June; above analysts' expectations of 0.1%. | New jobless claims fall to a three-month low.
• 🪙 Crypto theft totals ~$3 billion so far this year, eclipsing 2024's full-year figures; data comes amid a wave of physical attacks targeting crypto holders and their relatives.
• 📺 Netflix Q2 revenue grows 16% YoY, reaching ~$11.1 billion, about in-line with analysts' expectations; streamer also boosted its full-year revenue forecast.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with Upwork

• 🏆 Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark pulls out of WNBA All-Star Weekend (starts tomorrow) due to recent groin injury. | Day 1 of the British Open ends with five-way tie on top; Day 2 action teed off at 12:30 am CT this morning.
• 📺 CBS cancels Late Show with Stephen Colbert after next season ends in May 2026.
• 🙏 Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner, the first skydiver to fall faster than the speed of sound, dies in paraglider crash; he was 56 years old.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🤖 OpenAI unveils ChatGPT Agent, a new AI agent model that lets users automate tasks like online shopping or creating spreadsheets/PowerPoints.
• 🚬 FDA reportedly approves Juul Labs’ signature vape and refill cartridges with tobacco/menthol flavors only.
• 🏜️ Ongoing megadrought across US Southwest—which has persisted for the past ~25 years—could last through 2100, per new research. | Perseid meteor shower kicks off this weekend; the month-long event is one of the most prolific meteor showers, with up to 75/hour at its peak.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

in partnership with NativePath

• 📝 President Trump sent Jeffrey Epstein a “bawdy” letter for his 50th birthday in 2003 that signed off with “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” according to a new WSJ report; Trump denies writing the letter and called it “a fake thing"; also said he'll sue the publication.
• 🏛️ Trump diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a common vein condition, after he identified “mild swelling” in his legs. | US strikes on Iran last month likely destroyed one of Tehran’s three nuclear sites and severely damaged the other two, leaving years worth of repairs, per new US government assessment reported by NBC News.
• ⚖️ DOJ requests one-day sentence for one of the ex-Louisville police officers involved in 2020 raid that killed Breonna Taylor. | Federal judge reverses Biden-era rule that would have prevented some medical debt from showing up on Americans’ consumer credit reports.

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☝️ You’re looking at some of the finalists from the 2025 ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year Awards, which drew over 5,500 entries from 69 countries.

🤔 Did You Know? The first actor to ever headline three separate #1 movies at the domestic box office is Jim Carrey, who in 1994 starred in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber.

📰 Worth a Read: Archimedes knew the golden power of boredom—so why can’t we stop bringing our phones into the bathroom?

🖱️ Clickbait: The reason Dairy Queen can't legally sell "ice cream"

Here are five stats from this past week that made our team go “whoa.” Hopefully you will, too.

🚗 Charging an EV at home cost the equivalent of ~$1.41/gallon last year, less than half of what the average driver paid at the pump ($3.30).

✈️ US airlines earn ~$3.80 in profit from a $383 plane ticket, the average fare last year, per Sherwood News.

📰 Newsletter platform Substack had a record 73.9 million site visitors last month, outpacing the traffic to both WSJ.com and CBS.com.

⛈️ The National Weather Service has issued 3,045 flash flood warnings so far in 2025—more than in any other year on record (since 1986).

🏘️ The est. annual income a US household needs to earn to afford a median-priced home has risen from $67,000 to $114,000 over the past six years.

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🎨 Thousands of art lovers came together across the US as part of One Nation/One Project’s ambitious nationwide project, Arts for Everybody. The project spans 16 states and involves a multitude of different art installations and community events, and has been more than a year in the making.

🇧🇷 An annual UN report indicates that severe food insecurity dropped by 85% in Brazil in 2023.

💪 The Watch Me! sports bar in Long Beach is one of a handful of sports bars in the US dedicated solely to broadcasting women's sports. "[It] means so much for us to be creating a space not just for [young girls watching], but also for the older generation who didn't get their due,” said bar owner, Jackie Diener.

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

Below are three lists of ingredients. Your job is give us the completed dish they make.

☝️ Recipe #1:

• Corkscrew-shaped pasta
• Italian-style salad dressing
• Mayo
• Rotisserie chicken
• Bacon
• Cherry tomatoes
• Muenster cheese
• Celery
• Green bell pepper
• Avocado

✌️ Recipe #2:

• Butter
• Buttermilk
• Flour
• Baking soda & powder
• Sugar
• Salt
• Blueberries
• Water
• Cornstarch
• Lemon juice
• Salt
• Whipped cream

3️⃣ Recipe #3:

• Chicken breasts
• Garlic powder
• Paprika
• Salt & pepper
• Chicken stock
• Bourbon
• Soy sauce
• Ketchup
• Ground ginger
• Garlic
• Neutral oil
• Butter
• Green onions
• Crushed red pepper
• Linguine pasta

🍿 Interesting: The stories behind TV pilots that crashed and burned.

🚴 Take the tour: A visual explainer of how the Tour de France works.

🕷️ Creepy fact: Spiders can fly using electricity.

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☝️ Recipe #1: Chicken club pasta salad

✌️ Recipe #2: Blueberry grunt

3️⃣ Recipe #3: One pan tipsy chicken and noodles

+Clue for the Games newsletter: A mentalist and/or listing agent will have a head start in today’s Conjoiner sequence.

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