🌊 Prince Andrew Arrested

Plus: Meta trial, Mamdani tax hike, & IMG's cartel money

Down goes Andrew.

Some breaking news this morning out of the UK: Authorities have arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

Known as Prince Andrew until his brother, King Charles, stripped him of the title last year, Andrew maintained a close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein for years. UK police arrested him this morning on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The Epstein files both contained an image of Andrew above the body of a young woman and revealed that he shared secret information about a UAE-China oil deal with Epstein. Andrew will likely be in detention for 12-24 hours before being released. King Charles III has called for a “full, fair and proper process.”

This is a stunning development. All we can say is wow. Or, sorry, blimey.

🇺🇸 US war with Iran “imminent”?

💰 Mamdani’s NYC tax hike

😳 IMG fined for taking cartel money

– Max and Max

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News Trivia

These questions are related to the day’s news; the answers are at the end of the newsletter!

1. What was New York City originally called when it was settled by the Dutch?

2. What website did Mark Zuckerberg create while at Harvard that served as the predecessor to Facebook?

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KEY STORY

Axios: US War With Iran “Imminent”

Axios reported that Israeli officials believe an American war with Iran could begin “within days.”

On Tuesday, the US gave Iran a two-week deadline to modify its positions in negotiations after a second round of talks failed to produce any breakthroughs. Iran has said it would negotiate about its nuclear program, but not its support for proxies, like Hezbollah, or its ballistic missile arsenal. President Trump has demanded that Iran give up its nuclear program, missile arsenal, and proxy support. The US gave Iran a similar two-week deadline in June, then struck three days later.

On Wednesday, Axios reported that an American war with Iran increasingly appears to be “imminent,” while Israel is actively preparing for war “within days.”

Dig Deeper

On Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance told Fox News that Iran had failed to acknowledge Trump’s “red lines.” While both sides say they are open to continuing negotiations, there’s no indication that a breakthrough is near. Roca Members can read the full story here.

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KEY STORY

Zuckerberg Testifies in Addiction Trial

Mark Zuckerberg testified in a Los Angeles courtroom in a trial over whether Meta’s platforms addicted and harmed children

• The case involves a woman who started using Instagram and YouTube as a child and claims the platforms fueled depression and suicidal thoughts. TikTok and Snapchat settled before trial

• On Wednesday, the plaintiff’s attorney questioned Zuckerberg about congressional testimony where he said Meta didn’t set goals to maximize time on its apps. The attorney presented emails from 2014 and 2015 showing Zuckerberg set goals to increase user time spent by double-digit percentages

Dig Deeper

• Meta’s lawyers argued the plaintiff’s mental health issues stemmed from her troubled childhood and that social media served as a creative outlet rather than a harmful influence

• The trial is one of thousands of similar cases filed by families, school districts, and states. Several countries have moved to restrict social media use by young people, with Australia banning social media access for users under 16

• Roca Members can read the full story here

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KEY STORY

Mamdani Proposes Property Tax Hike

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) proposed a 9.5% property tax increase to address the city's $5.4B budget deficit over the next two years.

Mamdani campaigned on raising taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations to fund initiatives like free child care and free bus services. However, increasing income taxes requires approval from the state legislature and Governor Kathy Hochul (D), who has opposed such increases.

On Tuesday, Mamdani said the property tax increase — which wouldn’t require Hochul’s approval — is a "last resort" that would take effect only if the state does not approve his preferred option of raising income taxes on high earners and corporations.

Dig Deeper

City Council leaders opposed Mamdani’s plan, writing, “At a time when New Yorkers are already grappling with an affordability crisis, dipping into rainy day reserves and proposing significant property tax increases should not be on the table whatsoever.” The mayor’s proposed budget marks the start of months of negotiations with the City Council, which must approve the final budget by June 30 before the next fiscal year begins. Roca Members can read the full story here.

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KEY STORY

Avalanche Kills Eight in California

Eight backcountry skiers died and one remains missing after an avalanche struck near Lake Tahoe in Northern California on Tuesday

• A group of 15 people was on a three-day backcountry trip led by mountain guides in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The area near Castle Peak was rated at high risk due to a winter storm

• Six skiers were rescued Tuesday evening. At least 46 emergency responders joined the search effort, but rescue teams faced challenges reaching the avalanche site due to heavy snow and continued avalanche danger

Dig Deeper

• Six of the skiers – one guide and five clients – were rescued Tuesday and taken off the mountain by emergency crews. Two of the six rescued skiers were transported to a hospital for treatment

• Search crews have found eight bodies and are still searching for one skier who is presumed dead

• Roca Members can read the full story here

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ROCA’S SPONSOR

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

If you believe everything you read, better not read.

-Japanese proverb

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WE THE 66

Breaking Down Epstein’s “Pizza” Emails

In the latest batch of Epstein files, the word “pizza” is mentioned at least 820 times

• One of the oddest emails captivating the internet reads: “lets go for pizza and grape soda again. No one else can understand”

• Others reference beef jerky — including recipes, assessing its nutritional value, and testing it in a lab — fueling theories that Epstein was a cannibal

• In today’s WeThe66, we dig into the food code words we found in the Epstein files. Read it here

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RUNDOWN

Some Quick Stories for the Office

🏳️ Russia, Ukraine, and the US held talks in Geneva this week that ended with no major agreement, though negotiators said they made some headway on military matters like ceasefire monitoring and where the front line sits.

💉 The FDA will review Moderna's flu vaccine trial after previously blocking the study, setting an August deadline to approve or deny the shot.

💰 The US Department of the Treasury fined IMG Academy – an elite sports boarding school in Florida – $1.72M for taking tuition money from two students whose parents were connected to a Mexican drug cartel.

👷🏻 The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has halted nearly all travel for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) staff amid a funding standoff, limiting hundreds of workers from deploying to disaster-affected areas.

🧑🏻‍⚖️ A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against Buffalo Wild Wings that claimed the chain deceives customers by calling boneless wings "boneless wings" instead of "chicken nuggets."

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What does Roca Nation think?

🇺🇸 Yesterday’s Question: Is there a city or state in America that gives you hope about the future?

The article y’all wrote about Mississippi’s reading scores gives me hope. Several members of my family are teachers in Tennessee and from their view point the future is bleak. I’m really hoping that more states will follow Mississippi’s lead.

Lindsay from TN

My city, which is Bradenton, Florida is a dream come true for me after moving here in 2001 from Los Angeles, CA. It has a decent mix of liberal, vs. conservatives without lot of conflicts. There are an adequate amount of concerns about the environment and over development of the land without the hate and fighting. Deemed the “Friendly City, it lives up to the name as our neighbors are a good mix of cultures, sexuality, ages with the genuineness of hospitality and concern for one another It was if they took my Indiana hometown from 1970s and dropped it smack dab on the Gulf of Mexico (America?). There are no state taxes, sale taxes are refunded by the government, boat ramps, beach parking is free, lots of financial help to senior citizens, and no one gives you a hassle about owning backyard chickens or taking your dogs to the beach.

Sharon from Florida

New York City remains the most vibrant city on the planet. Despite all the headlines, there’s so much life here. And the fact that every generation predicts its downfall and yet it keeps growing says a lot. It’s truly an amazing place.

Tom from Manhattan

🇺🇸 Today’s Question: What’s your favorite part about this newsletter? Your least favorite?

Reply to this email with your response!

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POPCORN

Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🎮 Virtual Real Estate: Zillow has partnered with Blizzard Entertainment to launch “Zillow for Warcraft,” a site showcasing player-created homes in the video game World of Warcraft (WoW).

🚐 Subprime Navigation: An Amazon delivery van became stuck on mudflats in Essex, England, after the GPS led the driver off-road.

🤖 Paw-sible Deniability: An Indian university sparked controversy at Delhi’s AI summit after a professor claimed they invented a robotic dog (the dog is commercially available and was invented in China).

🥈 Loose Lips Sink Ski Trips: Norwegian biathlete Sturla Holm Lægreid says he’s learned to watch his words after revealing that he had cheated on his girlfriend in a post-medal Olympic interview.

🏩 Penny for Your Thoughts (and Your Suite): Spanish police arrested a 20-year-old man accused of hacking a hotel booking website to reserve luxury rooms worth up to €1,000 ($1,180) per night for just one euro cent.

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ROCA WRAP

Medgar Evers

This civil rights leader spent his career fighting segregation in one of America’s most dangerous places to do so, and paid with his life.

Born in Decatur, Mississippi, in 1925, Medgar Evers grew up walking 12 miles each day to attend racially segregated schools. His early experience with injustice would define his life’s mission, and ultimately end it.

Evers joined the Army at 17 and served in the 657th Port Company during World War II, landing at Normandy and later supporting Allied supply lines across France. His experience watching black soldiers in France being treated as equals to white troops left a mark on Evers, and he returned home determined to change things. After earning a degree in business from Alcorn State, he became a life insurance salesman, but then found his real calling during the civil rights movement.

In 1954, the Supreme Court struck down segregated public schools in Brown v. Board of Education. Evers immediately applied to the all-white University of Mississippi Law School as a test case, but he was rejected. That same year, he became the NAACP’s first field secretary in Mississippi, a role that put him at the center of some of the most dangerous civil rights work in the country. Evers organized boycotts, ran voter registration drives, investigated the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till, and worked to integrate public facilities across the state.

Evers faced unrelenting threats for his work. In the weeks before his death, a Molotov cocktail was thrown into his carport. Ten days later, someone nearly ran him over outside the NAACP office in Jackson, MI. On June 12, 1963, hours after President Kennedy’s nationally televised Civil Rights Address, Evers pulled into his driveway carrying T-shirts that read “Jim Crow Must Go.” Byron De La Beckwith, a member of the White Citizens’ Council, shot him in the back with a rifle. He staggered 30 feet before collapsing at his front door. He was 37.

De La Beckwith was arrested days later. All-white juries deadlocked twice in the 1960s, and so he walked free for 30 years until new evidence brought him back to trial in 1994. He was then finally convicted, and sentenced to life in prison. After his assassination, Evers’ widow Myrlie became a prominent activist herself, eventually serving as national chairperson of the NAACP. In recognition of his commitment to justice in the country, his home became a National Monument, and in 2024, President Biden awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The man who served his country in WWII reminded everyone that democracy is defended not only on distant battlefields but at home, too.

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NEWS TRIVIA ANSWERS

1. New Amsterdam

2. Facemash

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Final Thoughts

One reader response yesterday bummed us out. They said we’re becoming too negative “like Big News.” It’s been hard to stay upbeat with the news cycle of the last few months, but we do our best through our videos, intros, and the bios at the end. Nevertheless, we will try to inject more good news no matter what the news cycle feeds us.

Also don’t forget to try LMNT!

–Max and Max