In 2012, Gmail completed a New England Patriots 28-3 style comeback on Microsoft’s Hotmail to become the most popular email domain in the world. For those keeping score at home, Yahoo technically had the most registered users at the time, but it was not used as much as the others. 11 years later, Gmail dominates the market. Now it feels like finding a rare Pokémon when we see a new Hotmail or AOL address pop up on our subscriber list. Say what you want about those AOL people, but they are loyal. In fact, they may be the only ones you can trust these days.

In today's edition:

• Putin blames US for inciting airport riot

• Meth lab house hits market for $1.55M

• Roca Reports Part 3: Berlin Adventures

 🔑 Key Stories

No Charges in Flint Water Case

Criminal prosecutions of public officials over the Flint water crisis are now over, prosecutors said

• Starting in 2014, residents of Flint, Michigan were exposed to unhealthy levels of lead and other contaminants in their drinking water. 12 died due to a related Legionnaire outbreak

• Prosecutors charged several public officials, including Michigan’s former governor, over their role in the crisis. Those cases have stalled in court for years after the defendants challenged a legal procedure used to bring the charges against them

• On Tuesday, Michigan’s Supreme Court declined to revisit an earlier court decision invalidating the criminal charges. Following that, prosecutors said criminal cases of public officials are now officially over

Dig Deeper

• As of now, it appears that prosecutors do not plan to bring new criminal charges. That does not affect civil litigations: Michigan agreed earlier this year to pay Flint residents $600M over the crisis, adding to other civil penalties that have been awarded to city residents

• If you are from Flint or know anyone affected by the crisis, let us know by replying to this email! We’re writing an exclusive Wrap on the Flint water crisis

Saudi Arabia Hosting 2024 World Cup

Saudi Arabia is all but guaranteed to host the 2034 World Cup after Australia declined to submit a bid

• FIFA has numerous rules regulating who can host a World Cup, such as one that requires that the bidding country not be from a continent that has hosted either of the past two World Cups

• Earlier this month, FIFA opened the bidding process for 2034, but said only countries in Asia and Oceania could apply. Saudi Arabia – which has invested billions of dollars into soccer and other sports — quickly applied. The only likely competitor would have been Australia

• On Tuesday, Australia said it wouldn’t submit a bid for the Cup, making Saudi Arabia the sole bidder. That means it will almost certainly win

Dig Deeper

• The US, Canada, and Mexico are hosting the 2026 tournament. Earlier this month, FIFA announced that the 2030 Cup would be jointly hosted by Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. It later unexpectedly announced the first three games of the 2030 tournament will be held in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. That invalidated countries from North America, South America, Europe, and Africa from hosting the 2034 World Cup

Putin: US Incited Riot

Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed “agents of Western special services” for instigating an anti-Israel riot at a Russian airport

• Dagestan is a majority-Muslim region of southern Russia. On Sunday, hundreds of protesters stormed an airport there after news spread that a flight bound from Tel Aviv, Israel was supposed to land there

• Verified footage showed rioters pushing past airport security, swarming the tarmac, and stopping cars in an apparent search for Israeli passengers. Some protesters waved Palestinian flags and held signs that read “We are against Jewish Refugees”, “There is no place for child-killers in Dagestan”, and other slogans

• On Monday, Putin blamed the US and Ukraine for instigating the riot. “The events in Makhachkala last night were instigated through social networks, not least from Ukraine, by the hands of agents of Western special services,” he told security officials

• The spokesperson for the US National Security Council denounced Putin’s claims as “absurd.” He added, “When something goes bad in your country, you blame somebody else”

Dig Deeper

• “The West had nothing to do with this. This is just hate, bigotry and intimidation,” the spokesperson added

• He also supported comparisons between the riot and the pogroms, which were violent riots against Jewish people that occurred in Russia during the late-19th and early-20th centuries

WeWork to Declare Bankruptcy

WeWork is expected to declare bankruptcy as early as next week, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported

• WeWork is an office space leasing company founded in 2010 by tech entrepreneur Adam Neumann. It reached a peak valuation of $47B but lost much of its value after a failed attempt to bring it public

• The company has since gone public but has continued to lose hundreds of millions of dollars annually. In August, WeWork released an earnings report warning of “substantial doubt” about the company’s “ability to continue” operating

• Per the WSJ, the company is now preparing to declare bankruptcy by as early as next week, which would allow it to continue operating while restructuring its operations

Dig Deeper

• A spokesperson declined to confirm the rumors but said that the company has “a clear, long-term vision for the future.” Its stock fell ~12% on Tuesday to $2.28 per share, down from a peak of $520.90 in 2021

MANSCAPED^® Holiday Gifts That Men Will Actually Use

Sponsored by MANSCAPED

It’s never too early to start playing holiday music, and it’s never too early to start thinking about holiday gifts. Whoever it is you’re shopping for, our friends at MANSCAPED have you covered on gifts for each guy in the family:

• Dad: The revolutionary Weed Whacker^® 2.0 electric nose & ear hair trimmer designed for maximum comfort & performance

• Husband or Boyfriend: The all-new Performance Package 5.0 Ultra all-in-one grooming kit featuring The Lawn Mower^® 5.0 Ultra body hair trimmer, the Weed Whacker^® 2.0 ear & nose hair trimmer, ball aftershave lotion, ball deodorant, FREE anti-chafing boxers, and a FREE travel bag

• Brother: The Body Care Kit featuring the highest quality hair and skincare products that will step up any man’s shower routine. Includes the Body Buffer silicone body scrubber, UltraPremium Body Wash, 2-in-1 Shampoo + Conditioner, and cologne-quality fragrance Deodorant

• Friend: The Shears 3.0 precision nail grooming kit featuring the following professional-grade stainless steel tools: Nail clipper, toenail clipper, nail file, slant-tip tweezer, and cuticle scissors

Dig Deeper

• For a limited time only, MANSCAPED^® is offering all RocaNews readers 20% off sitewide and free shipping on all orders! Get a heard start on your Holiday shopping today and click here to activate your discount
  

🍿 Popcorn

ICYMI

• Not lovin’ it: McDonald’s and Chipotle plan to increase their menu prices in California next year to offset the state’s minimum wage hike for fast-food workers

• (Im)pure Michigan: Seven women are suing Airbnb and the owner of “The Castle” – a Victorian-style rental home in Michigan – after a bat infestation resulted in bites and a night of “horror”

• Unholy mistake: An Italian priest faced backlash after he enlisted an altar girl to serve the holy communion, instead of a priest or an appointed layperson. Italians called it a “liturgical horror”

• Heeling better: Eliminate foot, knee, and back pain: Discover all day comfort and alignment with Fulton insoles! This week only, Roca readers get 15% off; discount automatically applied!*

Wildcard

• The honorable what? Missouri’s governor appointed the Honorable Ginger Gooch to the state’s Supreme Court. The appointment cements the court’s first female majority in state history

• Jesse Pinkman, this you? A six-bedroom luxury home in San Jose, California is on the market for $1.55M, despite including a “meth lab and meth contamination”

• Trick or cavity: A West Virginia dentist recommended trick-or-treaters eat their Halloween candy in one sitting to protect their dental health

• Wine not? Take a five minute quiz to discover a tailored wine selection just for you! Brought to you by Bright Cellars, a wine club for real people*

*Sponsored Popcorn by Roca’s partner picks!

👇 What do you think?

Today's Question:

What is the best costume you saw (or wore!) this Halloween? Pictures always welcome!

Reply to this email with your answers!

See yesterday's results below the Wrap! 

🌯 Roca Wrap

Since we launched Roca, we’ve wanted to do consistent on-the-ground reporting. Starting with this email, we are.

In the past, we’ve reported from Ukraine, Colombia, the US/Mexico border, Ethiopia, and elsewhere. With each of these trips, we’ve sought to not just tell the news but bring our readers with us on the adventures.

Roca Reports will now deliver that immersive journalism every week. Our co-founder and editor Max Frost has spent the last two months in Europe traveling and reporting in six countries. We’ll be publishing that coverage here, starting with Germany, where he hitchhiked around the country meeting far-right activists.

We ran the first two dispatches in Monday’s and Tuesday’s newsletter. The third dispatch is below. We hope you enjoy!

It’s difficult to imagine a city that has witnessed more history in the last 100 years than Berlin.

It was where the Nazis took power, where the Nazis were destroyed, where the West and USSR competed face-to-face, where the Wall came down, and so much more. Throughout that, the city developed its own character: Rebellious, progressive, hip, and weird.

I stayed in Kreuzberg, once a majority Turkish neighborhood that’s now a center of nightlife and hipster culture. Every building on my block was covered in graffiti. “F*CK GENTRIFIERS,” read one sign near my apartment. “Make the rich pay for Covid-19,” said another. That’s Berlin street politics in a nutshell.

Although jetlagged from my trip, I learned that my favorite musician – British DJ and singer Fred Again.. – was performing in Berlin that night, so I bought a ticket. I spent my first day in Germany trying to stay awake for that concert and get some leads for my investigation into Germany’s far-right politics.

My first lesson in German politics came immediately.

I mentioned the concert to my Airbnb host – an Australian who had moved to Berlin after falling in love with a German girl – who told me I could walk to the venue through a park. “It’s safe, but there’s a bunch of black guys selling weed,” he said, “They’re nice, just politely say no. Or buy it, whatever.”

While crossing that park minutes later, I encountered a young woman putting up a poster. She told me it was to promote both a screening for a movie about refugees and a clothing drive for EU-bound migrants. She said non-white migrants to Germany face a lot of racism, while refugees from Ukraine don’t.

“I wish people from the Middle East and Africa received the same welcome as people from Ukraine,” she said. “It shows there’s clearly a racial component.”

As I crossed the park after our conversation, no fewer than 20 African migrants approached me to sell drugs. I later joked to a Berliner that there were so many drug dealers, I felt safe. Not funny, he said: A 27-year-old woman had just been raped in the park, making national news. A subsequent Google search revealed that there had been 11 rapes in the park in the year to August. Since 2018, the park had experienced five killings and 708 instances of bodily harm. Most crimes had been linked to African immigrants, putting the park at the center of a national debate around immigration and crime.

Ahead of the show I met nearly a dozen people – from Belarus, Poland, Australia, and elsewhere – only one of whom was German. He and others told me they consider Berlin an English-speaking city. I asked if he knew anyone who supported the AFD: “No, I’m not friends with extremists.”

The concert was sold out, but my last-minute floor seat only cost $75 on resale. Tickets to the same tour in New York City cost over $200. A German I mentioned this to explained that Germany has made it illegal to substantially upcharge for concert tickets. In fact, reselling a German concert ticket for more than 25% above the original price is illegal.

Concert tickets aren’t the only thing that’s cheaper in Germany: At the 17,000-person stadium, a half-liter beer (like a tall-boy) cost $6. In New York City, it may cost triple that.

Two Americans I met at the concert said costs were one reason they moved to Berlin. Another reason was creative stimulation: One was a filmmaker and the other was a DJ, and they told me no city could compete with Berlin’s creativity.

One added that “there is a lot of class structure in the US that we don’t have here.”

Artists in Berlin may feel that way, but others in the country did not. The AFD voters I would meet said the opposite: According to them there was a class structure in Germany – with Berliners at the top and them at the bottom.

***

Subscribe here to receive Roca Reports directly in your inbox on Saturday mornings, and to support our mission of delivering enjoyable, unbiased, and independent news. You’ll also gain access to our exclusive community and on-the-ground reporting!

 🌊 Roca Clubhouse

Roca Reports Feedback:

Jessica: “This immersive and on the ground reporting is great! It's a form of authentic journalism. I dislike other forms of reporting where it's a "he-said she-said they-said", second hand reporting. Reporters less and less go out into the field to compile the facts & report the facts of the occurrence without bias. I am very excited about this, and will be excited to share this newsletter with friends and family”

Stephanie from Canada: “I really liked the street perspective of locals! It felt like I was there with you, very insightful and something I would never have known.”

Yesterday's Poll:

Have you done a ‘dry January’ before?
Yes: 29%
No: 71%

Yesterday's Question:

If you could witness any moment in history — past, present, or future — what would it be and why?

Rick: “I would go back to watch Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel.”

Andrew from Florida: “If I could witness any event in history, without intervening, it would be one of Jesus’ sermons. I don’t speak or understand Aramaic, but I would love to see his passion, his engagement and how the people received his message. No other person in history has had the effect Jesus had, and I would love to see it first hand.”

Steve from New Hampshire: “If I could go back and witness an event I would have to say the falling of the Berlin Wall. I was a teenager living in West Germany for several years leading up to the fall. My dad was transfered back to the US a few months before it happened. It would have been great to see the start of the unification of the 2 countries in person.”

🧠 Final Thoughts

That’s all for today, Roca! Thanks for the incredible feedback to Roca Reports.

Happy Wednesday!

—Max and Max