Epstein Conspiracy Theories and Credit Scores

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Emergency workers and volunteers are continuing to search for dozens of people who remain missing after devastating floods hit central Texas on Friday. At the top of the show, you heard from Kerr County employee Ida Mendo za. Reporters also spoke with Julia Hatfield. She and her husband narrowly escaped flash flooding at an RV park in Kerr County. The hardest part was there was a little boy who started floating downstream and he was screaming, asking for help, but there just wasn't anything anybody could do at that point. I I was about to jump in and my husband had to hold me back. He said, You're gonna go too and there's nothing you can do if you jump in. I didn't know how I was gonna live with that . And uh thankfully by the end of the day yesterday I saw his face uh online and he had been rescued. Also in Kerr County, Camp Mystic said it was grieving the loss of twenty-seven campers and counselors. Ten girls and one counselor were still unaccounted for yesterday, which was the fourth day of the search. Children make up about a third of the total casualties. Experts warned that children around the globe are increasingly at risk from extreme weather events. In our newsletter today, you can find We also have some advice for you if you or your child is heading to camp this summer. Find both in the link in our show notes. Number two. President Donald Trump threatened to impose new tariffs on fourteen countries. Yesterday, President Trump posted a string of near-identical letters on Truth Social, his social media site. They informed 14 countries, including Japan, South Korea, and Thailand, that the U.S. plans to impose tariffs on their imports at the start of next month. The tariffs would range from 25 to 40 percent. Economists, business owners, and foreign officials struggled to interpret the onslaught of new tariff propos als. It was unclear, they said, whether the administration was serious in its plans or just hoping to jumpstart stalled conversations, but both scenarios added to mounting economic uncertaint y . Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. That's number three. Last night, the Israeli leader joined President Trump for dinner. The meeting came at a key moment during the ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas . During an extended session with reporters, both leaders spoke of a need for shorter term agreements, but they didn't agree on an approach to a long-term solution. Still, they lavished each other with praise. At one point, Netanyahu handed Trump a letter nominating the president for the Nobel Peace Prize. So I want to present to you, uh, Mr. President, the letter I sent to the Nobel Prize Committee. Well uh it's nominating you for the Peace Prize , which is well deserved. And you should get it. Trump has long called himself a master peacemaker and made clear his desire for the Nobel Prize . Tesla investors called on its board to restrain CEO Elon Musk. That's number four. Back in April, Musk made a promise to Tesla investors. He said he would step back from his work inside the Trump administration and would focus much more time on his electric vehicle company. But just a few months on, Musk's step back from politics doesn't seem to have stuck. He's been feuding with President Trump, his former al ly, and this weekend he announced plans to start a new political party. That news has upset Tesla investors. The company's stock closed about 7% lower yesterday, and one long time supporter of Musk said he was hearing from many shareholders that the frustration is, quote, hitting a tipping point. Number five. The Justice Department contradicted conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein. In a memo released over the weekend, the Justice Department and FBI said that files related to the sex offender and former financi er did not include an incriminating client list. Contradicting conspiracy theories some Trump administration officials and supporters have backed. Some right-wing pundits and conspiracy theorists have accused the federal government of a massive cover-up to protect powerful people who may have abused teenage girls. They have also questioned the official account of Epstein's death, which was also mentioned in the memo. It confirmed that Epstein killed himself in 2019 in a federal prison The memo was released months after Attorney General Pam Bondi implied in a Fox News interview that an Epstein client list was on her desk to review. Right-wing media personalities who have promoted conspiracy theories about Epstein lambasted Bondi on social media yesterday. They called the attorney general a liar and demanded answers from the Trump administration. The way your credit score is calculated could change this fall. That's number six. The Fair Isaac Corporation, you know it as FICO, has a announced new version of its scoring algorithms, which will include buy now pay later loan data. The change comes as consumers increasingly rely on these plans to cover essentials like groceries . As of fall 2023, 14% of adults had used these kinds of loans at least once in the prior 12 months. That's according to a Federal Reserve Board research post. The appeal of these loans is that they require little paperwork and they don't charge interest as long as the installments are paid on time. But this kind of lending has come under criticism for encouraging credit poor consumers to load up on debt through multiple loans. At the same time, supporters of the change say it'll help people who otherwise haven't used credit products to qualify for other bigger loans, so long as they pay their installments on time and keep a good credit rating. Check out the post's guide to boosting your credit score by personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary. We'll put a link to it in our newsletter, which you can find in our show not es. And at number seven, a top fencer was cleared after giving a surprising explanation for a failed drug test. Isora Tiba is an Olympic medalist from France and a 2022 world champion fencer. She faced a four-year ban from competition after she tested positive for the anabolic substance osterine last year, osterine is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency. It's in a class of drugs that can mimic the effects of testosterone and anabolic steroids, allowing users to alter their hormones quickly to build muscle. Yesterday, a panel ruled that her positive drug test result could have been caused by repeated kisses with her partner. Tiba said that she was likely contaminated during a nine day period in which she repeatedly kissed her partner, who she said was ingesting ostrene without her knowledge. Tiba's successful kiss defense is not the first of its kind. In 2009, a doping case against French tennis player Richard Gasquet was dismissed after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that he was accidentally contaminated with cocaine. After he said he 'd shared a drink with and repeatedly kissed a woman who used it . And for your next lesson, the latest episode of Try This is out today. It's the final episode in a new series about your gut health. Find try this wherever you listen to podcasts. Also, try this just launched a newsletter today. You'll get