Good morning. In this edition:

• 📺 Jimmy Kimmel’s show pulled
• 🎶 AI record deal
• 🧀 Music and the taste of cheese

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.92-minute read (1,043 words).

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“Quality is not an act, it is a habit.”

–Aristotle (384 B.C. – 322 B.C.)

On Wednesday, Disney, ABC's parent company, pulled late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s TV show from ABC indefinitely following recent on-air comments from Kimmel about the Charlie Kirk assassination.

• In the Monday night broadcast of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host said “the MAGA gang (is) desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
• He later added that “many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk,” among other comments critical of Republican officials’ reaction to Kirk’s death.

Disney’s move to pull Kimmel’s show came hours after Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr called the late-night host’s comments “truly sick,” and said that his agency has a strong case for holding Kimmel, ABC, and Disney accountable for spreading misinformation that Kirk’s assassin was a right-wing Trump supporter.

• “This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney,” Carr said on the Benny Johnson podcast.
• “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Nexstar, the owner of 32 ABC affiliate stations, also denounced Kimmel’s Kirk take and said it would replace his show with other content. Another ABC affiliate station operator, Sinclair, also said it wouldn’t air Kimmel’s show, even if it is reinstated, until ABC donates to Kirk’s organization.

But the FCC’s role in approving industry mergers might’ve played a part in the TV giants’ decisions, according to industry analysts:

• Nexstar will need the FCC to greenlight its $6.2 billion planned merger with broadcaster Tegna.
• ABC’s parent company, Disney, is also looking for FCC approval for its subsidiary ESPN’s acquisition of the NFL Network.

It’s part of a broader trend

Disney pulling Jimmy Kimmel Live! from air is the latest example of employers across the US firing workers who are perceived as celebrating Kirk’s death—efforts which have been bolstered by an online campaign from conservative officials, including VP JD Vance and President Trump.

• MSNBC fired analyst Matthew Dowd after he said on-air that you can’t say “awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place.”
• Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah said she was fired for posts about gun control and race, which included Kirk’s 2023 quote accusing several prominent Black women of “steal[ing] a white person’s slot.”
• Employees at major law firms, airlines, financial giants, professional sports teams, and even the Secret Service have also been fired or suspended for their public commentary about Kirk.

But Kimmel’s firing in particular has drawn pushback. While US free speech laws don’t extend to private employers, several prominent Democrats have accused Republican lawmakers of overreaching when it comes to getting Kimmel’s show pulled off air.

• Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said: “An inexcusable act of political violence by one disturbed individual must never be exploited as justification for broader censorship or control,” referring to Carr’s threats against ABC on Wednesday.
• She also accused the Trump admin of “increasingly using the weight of government power to suppress lawful expression.”

Looking ahead…While no return date for Jimmy Kimmel Live! has been set, Disney reportedly sees a path to the show potentially going back on air in the next several days.

📊 Flash poll: How do you feel about Disney’s decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel’s TV show indefinitely following recent on-air comments about the Kirk assassination?

• Support
• Oppose
• Unsure/other

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

🌐 41% of American adults say they're “almost constantly” online, according to a new Pew Research Center survey conducted across 24 countries.

💳 The national average FICO score has fallen by two points over the past year—the most since 2009—including a three-point average drop for Gen Z, per the inaugural FICO Score Credit Insights report.

🎃 30% of Americans have two or more Halloween costumes planned for this year, signaling that workplace celebrations are on the rise, according to HalloweenCostumes.com’s annual survey.

⚖️ The number of Americans registering to take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) increased 71% between September 2024 and September 2025, according to Harper’s Index.

😍 60% of single Americans believe in love at first sight, a 30% increase compared to 2014, per Match and The Kinsey Institute’s annual survey.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🤝 Nvidia plans to acquire $5 billion stake in Intel and form new product partnership with its struggling rival chipmaker; Intel’s shares closed up 23%, posting their best day in 38 years, while Nvidia stock rose 3.5%.
• 💳 American Express raises the annual fee for a Platinum card to $895, from $695 previously; move follows JPMorgan and Citigroup, which revamped cards for affluent customers this year.
• 🏛️ President Trump asks the Supreme Court to let him remove Fed Gov. Lisa Cook over alleged mortgage fraud, which she has denied.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with WarriorWOD

• 🏃 US track star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone ran a blistering 47.78 seconds in the women’s 400-meter—the second-fastest time in history—to win gold at the World Athletics Championships.
• ⚾ Dodgers SP Clayton Kershaw is retiring at the end of this season; the 3x Cy Young winner and 2014 NL MVP has a career 2.54 ERA, the lowest of any MLB starter since 1920 (minimum 100 starts).
• 🤖 Xania Monet, an AI-powered artist created by a woman who writes her own lyrics but uses AI platform Suno to make them into music, signed a multimillion-dollar record deal.

*From our partners: 🪖 Be a hero to our heroes… 6M+ veterans carry invisible wounds. WarriorWOD uses exercise, nutrition, and mentorship to combat PTSD—achieving a 29% reduction in symptom intensity for 1,500+ veterans. Save a veteran by donating to WarriorWOD today.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🧊 Scientists can generate electricity by bending salt-infused ice, according to a new study; findings indicate modified ice could be a potential renewable energy source.
• 🤖 Google’s Gemini 2.5 AI delivered a gold medal performance at the International Collegiate Programming Contest, tying four of the 139 human teams for the top score at solving coding problems.
• 💉 RFK Jr.-backed vaccine panel votes against recommending a combined shot for measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) for children under age 4.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🎓 Erica Kirk, widow of the late Charlie Kirk, named CEO of Turning Point USA.
• 🗣️ President Trump said he plans to designate antifa, the left-wing, anti-fascist political movement, as a “major terrorist organization.”
• 🏛️ Senate confirms 48 of President Trump’s nominees in a single vote, which occurred due to a rule change that came in response to Democratic lawmakers’ attempts to delay such votes.

☝️ You’re looking at some of the winners from this year’s Ocean Photographer of the Year Awards, with Indonesia-based Yury Ivanov taking the top prize for his shot depicting amphipods called “ladybugs of the sea.”

🤔 Did you know? Cheese can taste different depending on what music it listens to. A Swiss study (the country, not the cheese) from 2019 revealed that exposing cheese to round-the-clock music could give it more flavor, with different genres of music revealing different taste profiles.

📰 Worth a read: The long, sweaty history of working out

🖱️ Clickbait: Couples who ‘truly trust’ each other talk about 10 things regularly

Food poisoning hits during your dream vacation. Dental infections flare during holidays. Murphy's Law is real, and it has terrible timing. The Jase Case puts 5 prescription antibiotics plus emergency meds in your medicine cabinet—because CVS being closed shouldn't be a medical emergency.

How well did you pay attention this week? Find out here.

1. I’m a two-digit number that is divisible by 4, 5, and 6. What am I?
2. Which number is the product of the first three even numbers?
3. Which number comes next in this pattern: 2, 6, 12, 20, …?

🍕 New Haven made pizza history earlier this month, when it claimed the Guinness World Record title for the largest pizza party ever held. 4,525 people showed up for a slice (or two), besting Tulsa, OK—which held the record since 2023. 

1. 60
2. 48 (2 × 4 × 6 = 48)
3. 30 (Pattern: add consecutive even numbers: +4, +6, +8, +10…)