Biden Recordings, Ferrari EV, & Filter Cleaning

News without the noise

Adam Rogers
May 28, 2026

Good Morning! Today’s edition is 1,024 words, a 4-minute read.

What’s on tap:

First-time reader? Sign up here!

Former President Joe Biden sued the Justice Department to block the release of audio recordings from private conversations with his memoir ghostwriter, arguing the materials are exempt from disclosure under privacy laws. Without court intervention, the recordings will be released on June 15.
The recordings date to 2016, when Biden was working on his memoir with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer. The Justice Department under Biden had withheld the materials. Under Trump, it reversed course and now plans to release them to Congress and the Heritage Foundation, a conservative group that filed a Freedom of Information Act request. The DOJ said the recordings "clearly demonstrate a significant decline in his cognitive abilities as far back as 2016."
Biden's attorney argues the release violates his right to privacy in personal conversations held in his own home. The case connects directly to special counsel Robert Hur's 2023 report, which described Biden as "painfully slow" and struggling to remember events — findings the White House denied at the time but which were later confirmed by released audio of Hur's interview with Biden.

Stock trading app Robinhood announced that users can now let AI agents trade stocks on their behalf, marking one of the first mainstream attempts to bring autonomous AI into personal investing.
Users create a separate account for their AI agent, pre-load it with funds, and set the parameters. The agent can then analyze portfolios, identify opportunities, and execute trades independently.
Users receive notifications of all trades and can require their own approval before orders are placed. Robinhood has built in fraud detection, with a team reviewing suspicious activity. The feature launches in beta for stocks only, with options, crypto, and futures support planned. The company is also launching a virtual credit card for AI agents, allowing them to make payments within user-set monthly limits.
Robinhood is not alone — Stripe, Amazon, and Google are all building products that enable AI agents to spend money on users' behalf.

Ferrari's first-ever electric car received a papal blessing and a stock crash on the same day. Company president John Elkann presented the Luce to Pope Leo XIV at his summer residence outside Rome. Hours later, Ferrari stock fell 8.4% in Milan and 5.3% in US trading.
The Luce offers 1,000 horsepower, hits 60 miles per hour in 2.5 seconds, and has a range of 329 miles. Critics and internet commenters weren't impressed — because the battery runs under the full length of the car, the Luce sits taller than Ferrari's iconic low-slung models, and many said it simply doesn't look like one. Media reports put the price at 500,000 euros. (See photos here)
The release comes as Ferrari has already scaled back its electrification ambitions, dropping its fully electric lineup target from 40% to 20% by 2030. The broader EV market is growing; one in four new cars sold globally last year was electric, but experts warn demand is more legislation-driven than consumer-driven.

A former CIA officer was charged with theft after agents found 300 gold bars worth over $40 million at his home, which he allegedly pocketed after requesting the gold from the agency as work expenses. (More)

One worker died and nine remain missing after a chemical tank imploded Tuesday at a Nippon Dynawave paper mill in Longview, Washington, flooding the site with caustic chemicals and halting rescue operations overnight. (More)

A federal judge declined to jail Timothy Hudson, 16, while he awaits trial as an adult for killing and sexually assaulting his stepsister Anna Kepner aboard a Carnival cruise ship in November 2025. (More)

Uganda closed its border with Congo on Wednesday as a rare Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak with nearly 1,000 suspected cases and 220 deaths. (More)

Israel killed Hamas military wing leader Mohammed Odeh in a Gaza City airstrike Tuesday, Hamas confirmed Wednesday, less than two weeks after Israel killed his predecessor. (More)

Rescuers found five of seven men alive Wednesday inside a flooded Laos cave where the group has been trapped since May 20, but extracting them through a partially submerged, 23-inch-wide tunnel remains ahead. (More)

US stock markets closed higher on Wednesday (S&P +0.02%, Nasdaq +0.07%, Dow +0.36%), as falling oil prices helped the Dow close at a record high. (More)

Snowflake shares jumped 35% after the company reported first-quarter revenue of $1.39 billion, up 33% year over year. It also announced a $6B billion commitment to AWS cloud. (More)

SK Hynix hit a $1 trillion valuation on Wednesday, one day after Micron crossed the same milestone, as surging AI chip demand has all three major memory makers riding historic highs. (More)

Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez broke a 115-year-old team record Wednesday, throwing seven more scoreless innings to extend his streak to 44⅔ innings in a 3-0 win over San Diego. (More)

Matthew Perry's personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa was sentenced to three years and five months for injecting the actor with the fatal ketamine dose that killed him in October 2023. (More)

Iran's World Cup team will base itself in Tijuana, Mexico, after the US declined to host the squad overnight. Iran still plays its group matches in the US. (More)

Spotify launched narrated magazine articles from outlets including Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, and Vogue, available to Premium subscribers within their monthly audiobook listening hours. (More)

The American Cancer Society added a blood test called Shield to its recommended colorectal cancer screenings, targeting the roughly one-third of Americans who skip colonoscopies. (More)

Scientists announced the discovery of "witch croc," a bipedal, toothless crocodile relative that lived in New Mexico 200 million years ago and looked like dinosaurs that came much later. (More)

How often should you clean the filters in your house.

What your salary needs to be to net $100K in every state.

The highest altitudes where people live.

Do pedestrian buttons do anything?

Your feedback helps us provide the best newsletter possible.