NYC Building Collapse, Jane Goodall, & Coffee Habits

News without the noise

Adam Rogers
October 02, 2025

Good Morning! Today’s edition is 915 words, a 4-minute read.

What’s on tap:

First-time reader? Sign up here!

An incinerator shaft on a 20-story public housing building in the Bronx collapsed Wednesday morning after a reported gas explosion, sending bricks crashing down and ripping air conditioners from apartment windows. No injuries were immediately reported.
Officials evacuated some apartments as a precaution while firefighters and utility crews investigated the cause. The collapse occurred at the Mitchel Houses, a city-owned building where incinerator shafts were once used to burn trash on site but have largely been replaced with compactors.
Around 500,000 New Yorkers live in aging buildings run by the nation's largest housing authority, NYCHA. Tenants have complained for decades about dangerous conditions, including rodents, mold, and heat outages. Many properties date to the 1940s-60s.

Walmart will eliminate synthetic dyes from all private-label food products by January 2027, affecting Great Value, the nation's largest consumer brand found in 90% of households. The retailer will reformulate over 1,000 products using natural ingredients like beets and spirulina instead of artificial colors.
Some products will have more subdued colors or lose vibrancy entirely. Reformulated cereal appears less bright, while sports drinks may turn cloudy instead of their original bright colors. Walmart will also remove 30 other ingredients, including certain preservatives and artificial sweeteners, by the deadline.
The announcement follows Health Secretary RFK Jr. and FDA pressure for voluntary phase-outs of artificial colors by late 2027. Companies including PepsiCo, Kraft Heinz, and General Mills have announced similar plans. Walmart says the move reflects customer demand for simpler ingredients and has been planned for years.

Jane Goodall, the renowned primatologist and conservationist, died Wednesday in California at age 91. Her research changed how the world understood animal intelligence and the relationship between humans and other species
Working in Tanzania during the 1960s without a college degree, Goodall documented chimpanzees using tools and displaying individual personalities - behaviors scientists believed were uniquely human. Her observations showed chimps form complex social bonds and experience emotions like joy and grief. National Geographic features and documentaries made her work famous worldwide.
She spent her later decades traveling nearly 300 days yearly to advocate for environmental protection and humanitarian causes. Goodall received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025 and the Templeton Prize in 2021.

The Supreme Court blocked Trump from immediately firing Fed board member Lisa Cook, saying she can stay while they hear arguments on his firing power in January. (More)

Hurricane Imelda heads toward Bermuda after killing two in Cuba, while its waves collapsed five North Carolina beach homes and created dangerous rip currents along the entire East Coast. (More)

Thirty percent of Americans say violence may be necessary to fix the country—up 11 points since April—driven by Democrats jumping from 12% to 28%, an NPR/Marist poll found. (More)

Four Caribbean nations launched EU-style free movement\, letting citizens live and work across Barbados, Belize, Dominica, and St Vincent without permits, hoping to reduce brain drain to wealthier countries. (More)

Rescuers in Indonesia are racing to find 90 students buried when their boarding school collapsed Monday, killing three and injuring 100. (More)

A Royal Caribbean cruise ship rescued about 10 people from a falling-apart raft drifting between Mexico and Cuba after a passenger spotted a flashing light Sunday night. (More)

US stock markets closed higher on Wednesday (S&P +0.34%, Nasdaq +0.42%, Dow +0.09%). The S&P closed at a record high as investors banked on a short-lived government shutdown. (More)

US companies cut 32,000 jobs in September instead of adding the expected 45,000, with small businesses hit hardest as the labor market continues weakening, according to payroll processor ADP. (More)

Amazon launched Amazon Grocery, a budget brand with over 1,000 items mostly priced under $5, as its grocery business struggles. Walmart, Kroger, and other grocery chains' stocks dropped 1-2% on the news. (More)

The Cleveland Browns will start rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel in London on Sunday, benching veteran Joe Flacco after the team's offense averaged just 14 points through four games this season. (More)

The Yankees beat the Red Sox 4-3 on Wednesday behind Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s eighth-inning dash from first base, setting up a winner-moves-on Game 3 Thursday. (More) The Dodgers beat the Reds in the NL Wild Card and move on to face the Phillies. (More)

A Connecticut woman won a record $1,035,155 on Wheel of Fortune, becoming only the fourth person ever to hit the show's million-dollar prize in the bonus round. (More)

MIT scientists found that sentences with unique, distinctive meanings are easier to remember than ones that sound similar. Clear, unusual meanings stand out in memory, while overlapping ideas blur together and get forgotten. (More)

Rising cancer diagnoses in younger adults are mostly due to better screening rather than more actual disease, a new study found. Only colorectal and endometrial cancers showed increased deaths among under-50s. (More)

NASA's Cassini data revealed new organic compounds in geysers from Saturn's moon Enceladus, boosting evidence that its hidden ocean could support life. (More)

Meet eight bizarre deep-sea creatures. (w/video)

Being organized and active may lead to a longer life.

Polar bears claim an abandoned weather station as their home.

Your feedback helps us provide the best newsletter possible.