In honor of BuzzFeed shuttering its news division, we must pay homage to some of the best BuzzFeed article titles ever. There were many to choose from, but these spoke to us in a special way:

• What Type of Grilled Cheese Are You?

• 13 Potatoes That Look Like Channing Tatum

• Make a Sandwich and We'll Guess What Shrek Character You Are in Bed

No words.... only a new incognito tab to see what we get on the last one.

In today's edition:

• Starship goes boom

• Baldwin gets bailed out

• 20 Questions!

🔑 Key Stories

BuzzFeed News Shutters

BuzzFeed’s CEO announced the company is shutting down BuzzFeed News

• BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 as a viral content outlet. It IPO’d with a $1.5B valuation in 2021

• Buzzfeed’s funding helped it open numerous divisions, including BuzzFeed News, which split off from the main BuzzFeed page in 2016

• But investors dropped BuzzFeed as it continued to lose money. Last year, the company lost $201M, and its valuation is now 7% of that at its IPO

• On Thursday, BuzzFeed’s CEO announced the company is cutting 15% of its staff and closing its news division

Dig Deeper

• “We’ve determined that the company can no longer continue to fund BuzzFeed News as a standalone organization,” the CEO said. He said the company's news effort will now be conducted through The Huffington Post, which it bought in 2020

Starship Goes Boom

SpaceX’s Starship rocket blew up minutes after lifting off for its inaugural test flight

• SpaceX is an Elon Musk-owned private space company. Its newest rocket design, Starship, is the tallest and most powerful rocket ever built

• SpaceX scheduled Starship’s inaugural launch into Earth’s orbit for Monday, but that was postponed at the last minute because of a technical issue

• On Thursday, the unmanned rocket took off from the launchpad. Minutes in, its engines failed and the rocket was forced to self-destruct

• Despite that, the trial was widely seen as a success

Dig Deeper

• “Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting first…flight test of Starship!” the company tweeted shortly after

• “Congrats to @SpaceX… Every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward,” NASA’s head tweeted

A's Moving to Vegas

The owner of the MLB’s Oakland Athletics (“A’s”) announced plans to move the A’s to Vegas by 2027

• The As are one of the MLB’s oldest and winningest teams, but they’ve lost their top players, were the only MLB team to average <10,000 fans per game in 2022, and now have the MLB’s worst record (3-16)

• Their stadium is considered one of the worst and talks to build a new one in Oakland have failed

• On Wednesday, the A’s owner said the team will buy land near the Las Vegas Strip to build a new stadium. They will be the 3rd pro team to leave Oakland since 2019 and the 3rd to move to Vegas since 2017

Dig Deeper

• The A’s stadium is considered one of the worst in baseball. When the A’s hosted the New York Mets last weekend, the Met’s broadcasters had to call the game from an auxiliary booth, because a possum had occupied the usual booth. The possum had reportedly been living in the stadium for months, with exterminators unable to get rid of it

House Passes Trans Athlete Bill

The US House passed a bill to ban biological males from competing in women’s sports at federally-funded schools, regardless of gender

• Last year, the Biden administration proposed expanding civil rights law to include gender identity. This year, he proposed prohibiting outright bans on trans students competing in women’s sports

• On Thursday, the House approved a bill to prohibit people “whose sex is male” from playing in women’s sports. It defined sex as biology at birth. All Republicans voted for it; all Democrats opposed it

• The bill likely won’t pass the Democratic-controlled Senate

Dig Deeper

• The House Speaker, a Republican, called Thursday a “great day for America, a great day for girls and women and for fairness in sports”

• The House minority leader, a Democrat, said, “We will not stand by quietly while right-wing extremists in the Congress bully transgender children”

A Global Affairs Newsletter by Former Diplomats

Together with International Intrigue

There's too much global news amid today’s international chaos. If you can’t keep up, though, International Intrigue can

• Their team of former diplomats sends a free daily newsletter brief that covers global news in under 5 minutes

• Join over 20,000 thought leaders, global thinkers, and decision-makers and sign up for International Intrigue today!

🍿 Popcorn

ICYMI

• Shakin' off that Rust: Prosecutors are expected to drop the manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin in the death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust in 2021

• Putin' our nose in it: The first feature film shot in space premiered in Russian theaters. Putin remarked, "We are the first to have shot a feature film in orbit. Once again the first"

• Not blue da ba dee da ba di: Blue checkmarks have started to disappear on Twitter for verified accounts that refuse to pay the new $8/month fee 

Wildcard

• Teach a YouTuber to fish...: An arrest warrant is out for a YouTuber who is accused of illegally fishing in a Canadian national park as partof his 30-day survival challenge

• Apple didn't fall far...: El Chapo's sons tortured rivals with corkscrews, chiles, and electrocution, per a new DOJ indictment. It also says they fed the victims to tigers

• Worms get munchies, too: Worms crave junk food after consuming cannabis, according to new research. It is not clear if the worms got high, but their appetites changed

👇🏻 What do you think?

Today's Question:

Just 20 Questions!

See yesterday's results below the Wrap! 

🗣 20 Questions

Every Friday, we ask the Roca readers 20 questions, then feature our favorite answers the following week.

Was there any better feeling than coming home from school to watch your favorite show? Since we’re feeling nostalgic, let’s reminisce on the characters that made the most iconic animated shows memorable! This week we’ve got….

Rate This: Cartoon Character Edition!

We’ll give you a variety of characters from 1928 to the present day, and you’ll let us know what you think of them by rating them on a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being the best).

Here's the link. Have an AMAZING WEEKEND!

If you have thoughts, let us know at [email protected]!

🌊 Roca Clubhouse

Yesterday's Poll:

Do you trust tap water at hotels?

Yes: 38.7%

No: 61.3%

Yesterday's Question:

What's something you've never tried but would like to?

Wendy from Canada: "Just talked to my friend about this at lunch today, and the answer is brisket. I have lived my whole life (so far, 52 years) without having brisket and apparently, I'm missing out. I need to get invited over to someone's house for dinner who knows how to make it."

Heather from Arkansas: "I would love to tandem skydive or go parasailing at least once with my husband!"

Adam from Arizona: "I would love to take a ride-a-long in a U.S. fighter jet!"

Last Week's 20 Qs Responses:

1. Pretzels: Take 80%, Leave 20%

2. Peanuts: Take 70%, Leave 30%

3. Salted almonds: Take 65%, Leave 35%

4. Popcorn: Take 85%, Leave 15%

5. Potato chips: Take 85%, Leave 15%

6. Edamame: Take 51%, Leave 49%

7. Cheese +crackers: Take 86%, Leave 14%

8. Olives: Take 42%, Leave 58%

9. Pickles: Take 70%, Leave 30%

10. Cheese curds: Take 49%, Leave 51%

11. Sunflower seeds: Take 57%, Leave 43%

12. Tortilla chips: Take 88%, Leave 12%

13. Pita chips: Take 60%, Leave 40%

14. Beef jerky: Take 58%, Leave 42%

15. Pistachios: Take 76%, Leave 24%

16. Saltine crackers: Take 60%, Leave 40%

17. Seaweed crisps: Take 20%, Leave 80%

18. Trail mix: Take 70%, Leave 30%

19. Triscuits: Take 57%, Leave 43%

20. Veggies + ranch: Take 70%, Leave 30%

🧠 Final Thoughts

If there's anyone who needs this weekend, it's probably this person: The furniture company CEO who told her employees, “‘You can visit Pity City, but you can’t live there.’ So, people, leave Pity City,” in response to them asking about bonuses. A recording of that went viral, and she's now in the hot seat.

Whether or not you need a weekend as badly as she does, we.., we hope yours is great. We'll be back with more unbiased news on Monday – unless you're on the app, in which case we'll see you all weekend ;)

–Max and Max