The Denver Nuggets are NBA Champions, yet the night’s biggest winner wasn’t even on the court. Stan Kroenke, the billionaire owner of the Nuggets, has now won championships with all 3 of his major US sports teams in just the last 2 years: The NBA's Nuggets, the NFL's LA Rams, and the NHL's Colorado Avalanche. Stan, doesn’t the falling confetti get old? Needs to spread the love… especially to Buffalo.

In today's edition:

• Tucker v. Fox heats up

• 660 miles to save a bird egg

• Train Nation

 🔑 Key Stories

JPMorgan Settles For $290M

JPMorgan settled a lawsuit that accused the bank of enabling Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes

• JPMorgan – the US’ largest bank – managed Epstein’s fortune from the late 1990s until 2013

• Last year, an unnamed Epstein victim filed a class action lawsuit against JPMorgan, claiming it turned a “blind eye” to his crimes. The woman – “Jane Doe 1” – sued on behalf of a “large number” of women

• JPMorgan has denied past knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. On Monday, though, it agreed “in principle” to settle the lawsuit for $290M. The bank said that it was a “mistake” to work with Epstein

Dig Deeper

• Another civil case brought against JPMorgan by the US Virgin Islands (USVI) – where Epstein owned a private island – is still pending. A USVI spokesperson said it will pursue that lawsuit to ensure “full accountability”

Tuck vs. Fox Heating Up

Fox News sent Tucker Carlson a cease-and-desist letter demanding he stop posting videos on Twitter, Axios reported

• Fox fired Carlson in late April, but his contract remains in effect. It bans him from working for rival news organizations or making some media appearances w/o Fox’s approval. That contract lasts through 2025

• Carlon vowed to fight that and recently posted the first 2 segments of his new Twitter-based show, “Tucker on Twitter.” Together, those got 170M views. Carlson plans to post his third Twitter episode on Tuesday

• In response, Fox sent Carlson a cease-and-desist letter ordering him to stop

Dig Deeper

• “Doubling down on the most catastrophic…decision in the history of the cable news industry, Fox is now demanding that Tucker Carlson be silent,” Carlson’s lawyer said in a statement. “Tucker will not be silenced by anyone”

• Fox hasn’t issued a statement in response to the reports

Boris Johnson Out

Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson resigned from the UK’s government on Monday

• Johnson represented a part of London in the UK’s government. He had also formerly served as the UK’s prime minister (PM) from 2019 until last July

• Johnson has faced a long-term investigation into allegations that he partied during pandemic lockdowns. A committee investigating “Partygate” said it would release a major report on that this week

• On Friday, Johnson said he would resign before that report is released, calling it a “witch hunt” and a “kangaroo court.” He officially resigned on Monday

• The report is expected to be released on Wednesday, and initial reports say it found that Johnson "deliberately misled parliament"

Dig Deeper

• In a statement, Johnson said the committee investigating Partygate is “determined” to “drive [him] out of Parliament” despite “not…a shred of evidence” proving their claims

Dr. Deep Sea Resurfaces

A University of South Florida professor resurfaced on Friday after spending 100 days underwater

• The professor, Joseph Dituri, is a retired US naval officer and biomedical professor. On March 1, he dove to a Florida hotel ~22 feet underwater and began living there. He left on Friday after 100 days, breaking the previous record of 72 days underwater

• Dituri hypothesized that sustained pressure can help humans live longer and prevent age-related diseases. He shrunk by half an inch and noted other health effects, like better sleep and lower cholesterol

• His exploit earned him the nickname “Dr. Deep Sea”

Dig Deeper

• Dituri’s team recorded data before, during, and after his submersion and will analyze it over the next several months. The results will be presented at a medical conference in November

• “My greatest hope is that I have inspired a new generation of explorers and researchers to push past all boundaries,” Dituri said

Erase Yourself from the Web

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• Incogni is a personal data removal service that scrubs your personal information from the web

• It contacts and follows up with data brokers all over the world on your behalf. For an individual to do that, it can take hundreds of hours

• With Incogni, you can kick back and worry less about identity theft, health insurers raising your rates based on info from data brokers, robo calls, scammers taking out loans in your name, and all the other terrible things bad actors do with personal data (we at Roca are certainly tired of spam calls!)

Dig Deeper

• While other personal data removal services only focus on one type of data broker, Incogni helps remove your personal information from all broker types, including People Search Sites. Roca readers exclusively get 55% off Incogni annual plans with code ‘ROCA10’

🍿 Popcorn

ICYMI

• Call of DC: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is suing to block Microsoft’s $69B acquisition of Call of Duty and Candy Crush maker Activision Blizzard on antitrust grounds

• Daytona 3-games-below .500: The Jacksonville Jaguars are reportedly exploring the use of the Daytona 500 racetrack as a temporary home stadium while it builds a new one

• LIV and learn? The US Senate has opened an investigation into the LIV and PGA Tour merger. It will examine the Saudi government’s role in the deal

Wildcard

• Longhorn legend: A Texas man who accidentally ran over a bird’s nest while clearing land drove 660 miles to save the one remaining egg. The roadrunner egg hatched in a wildlife center

• No-longer-Free Solo: A British man who climbed halfway up South Korea’s second-tallest skyscraper with his bare hands has been detained

• Time for a new PR team? Photos and videos surfaced from Kanye West’s birthday party showing sushi arrangements on top of fully nude women 

👇 What do you think?

Today's Question:

In 20 years, which state do you think will have a bigger population, and why: Florida (21.8M people as of 2021), or New York (19.8M people as of 2021)?

Reply to this email with your answers!

See yesterday's results below the Wrap! 

🌯 Roca Wrap

Around 7 PM last Friday, a passenger train was traveling south in eastern India.

Moving at full speed, it crashed into a parked freight train. The passenger train’s cars derailed and flew into another passenger train traveling in the opposite direction.

The trains were carrying a collective ~2,000 people, many of whom were migrant workers from India’s poorer north headed to jobs in the country’s richer south. When the dust settled, 288 people had died with many more injured. India’s worst train accident since 1999, it quickly erased decades of progress.

In that 1999 accident, 2 trains collided and exploded, killing 290+ people.

At the time, India was far poorer: Its GDP per capita was just $441, 20% of what it is today. Its trains were also far more dangerous: India was recording about 400 accidents annually.

In the years that followed, India developed rapidly and its government sought to improve rail safety. It set a goal of eliminating all train accidents by 2020.

By 2010, India was recording around 170 accidents annually – less than half the figure a decade prior. For every million train kilometers, there were .1 accidents.

Those numbers continued to fall.

Last year, India recorded .03 accidents per million train kilometers – 30% of the 2010 figure. And there were just 34 accidents – less than a quarter of the 2010 number.

India’s accident rate remained far higher than developed countries – the UK’s is around a thirtieth of India’s – but India had ceased to be a particularly dangerous place to ride a train.

That progress was invaluable for the country, given how vital trains are to it.

India’s first passenger train traveled in 1853.

The British built out the network in the following decades, until it became the world’s third longest, after the US’ and China’s.

Today, Indian Railways – the government-owned company that operates the passenger train network – is the world’s tenth largest employer, with 1.4M employees.

Each day, around 13,000 trains carry 20M people – roughly the population of Australia – between 7,349 stations. Overnight trips between cities cost anywhere from a few dollars to $80.

Train cars for the poorest people have passengers pushing each other to get on board and sleeping on luggage racks; those for wealthier people have beds and air conditioning.

India’s current prime minister – Narendra Modi, who has been in power since 2014 – has made improving India’s roads and railways a priority. This year, India will spend a record amount – about .9% of its GDP – on improving its railways.

Huge amounts have been spent to make India’s trains faster and more comfortable; to improve train stations; and to make the train system entirely electric.

Yet last week’s accident – which some officials have blamed on mechanical error and others on human interference – has left people wondering if in the pursuit of upgrading its trains, the government has failed to keep them safe.

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

 🌊 Roca Clubhouse

Yesterday's Poll:

Pick one:
Boxing Mike Tyson for 1 minute 🥊: 8%
Returning a punt in an NFL game 🏈: 92%

Yesterday's Question:

What was the highlight of your weekend? Pictures are always welcome!

Gary from Nicaragua: “The highlight of my weekend was having my sister visit us in Nicaragua and going to Selva Negra.”

Bill from Arlington, Texas: “My weekend highlight was getting to fish with my son on Saturday. We used to fish together frequently, but at my age now (78) and some physical issues I have we don't get to do that much anymore. Catch or don't catch fish - it's still a great time!”

Dale: “We had a party at our house featuring a crab boil with 40 lbs of crawfish, 18 lbs of shrimp, smokes sausage, potatoes and corn. Other foods included sandwich trays, salads and desserts. Many different beverages were also slated to be consumed. Most importantly was all the friends having a good time.”

🧠 Final Thoughts

Happy Tuesday, Roca Nation. We don't have much to add to today's edition. Just hope you learned something new from it and are having a good week so far!

—Max and Max