Plus: Government Shutdown Hits 23-Day Milestone, Food Assistance Could Soon Be Impacted

Good evening,

Bye-bye, American Pie. A new study reveals what Gen Z actually wants to see in movies and TV — and it’s not sex or romance.

According to UCLA’s annual “Teens & Screens” report, nearly half of respondents (48%) say there’s too much sexual content on screen. Instead, they want stories centered on friendship.
- More than half (54%) of those surveyed reported wanting more stories about people “aren’t interested in romantic relationships at that point
  in time.”
  - Popular coming-of-age films aimed towards Gen Z already reflect that. Lady Bird, Booksmart, and Eighth Grade all center around teens dealing with platonic friendships or family relationships, not necessarily finding a guy/girl.
- Maybe they’ve got a point? 🎧 On the Mo News podcast, we interviewed Atlantic writer Sophie Gilbert about her new book on how early 2000s pop culture (think teen sex comedies and the rom-com boom) turned a generation of Millennial women against themselves. Listen on Apple or Spotify.

Also on brand for the generation raised on Pixar and animé, an increased percentage of Gen Z (49% from 42% last year) prefers animation over live-action.

A perfect combo of those two trends: Inside Out 😀😥😡😱🤢

Lauren & Sam
Producers

🚨 ONE IMPORTANT THING

FBI Arrests NBA Players, Coaches In Mafia-Linked Gambling Probe

Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, and former NBA player and coach Damon Jones were among more than 30 people arrested Thursday as part of a sweeping FBI operation targeting organized crime and illegal sports betting.

FBI Director Kash Patel said the arrests capped a multi-year investigation into a sprawling gambling and game-rigging scheme, some of which was backed by the Italian-American mafia known as the La Cosa Nostra crime families.

INTO THE STING
Authorities detailed two operations, codenamed “Operation Zhen Diagram” and “Operation "Nothing But Bet.” The first centered on rigged underground poker games using high-tech cheating technology, where victims lost more than $7 million since 2019. The second centered on insider information used in sports betting.

Patel said the FBI conducted a coordinated takedown across 11 states, with charges ranging from wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, robbery, and illegal gambling.
The poker scheme: Billups, a 17-year NBA veteran, Hall of Famer, and five-time All-Star, was reportedly arrested in connection with the illegal poker activity, which involved a card-counting machine, hand signal communications, and marked cards. Law enforcement said he was enlisted to sit at poker tables to make them seem legitimate.
The sports-betting scheme: Rozier, a 10-year NBA veteran, was arrested in connection with the sports gambling component of the investigation, mostly making bets on individual player performances and statistics. Authorities allege he helped manipulate multiple game statistics — like faking an injury, so that his associates could profit by betting against him.
- The 31-year-old is currently in the final season of a four-year, $96 million contract he signed with the Charlotte Hornets in 2021 before being traded to Miami.
- Rozier’s lawyer said he in “not a gambler” and accused the feds of wanting the “misplaced glory of embarrassing a professional athlete with a perp walk,” telling Newsweek, “They appear to be taking the word of spectacularly incredible sources rather than relying on actual evidence of wrongdoing.”

SPORTS BETTING ON THE RISE
It’s been seven years since the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on state authorization of sports betting. Now, 39 states plus D.C. allow it. About 22% of U.S. adults say they’ve placed a sports bet in the past year — up from 19% three years ago, according to a Pew Research survey out this month. The increase is driven by online sports betting.

Revenues from in-game sports bets could triple to more than $14 billion by 2030, according to a recent report from Citizens Bank.

But public concern is also rising: 43% of Americans now say legalized sports betting is bad for society, up from 34% in 2022, according to Pew, citing concerns about gambling addiction and other societal harms.

🚨 ONE THING WE’RE FOLLOWING

Govt. Shutdown Hits Milestone With No End in Sight — Food Aid Next To Be Impacted

We’re in the 23rd day of the federal government shutdown — making it the second-longest shutdown in U.S. history. With no end in sight, it’s quickly approaching the longest, which lasted 35 days back in 2018-2019.

While the standoff is about health care this round, the impacts of the shutdown are starting to be felt beyond the D.C. area, where work for hundreds of thousands of federal employees has been suspended and pay paused.

SNAP BENEFITS
In just over a week, 25 states plan to pause the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — the nation’s largest anti-hunger initiative — and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) starting Nov. 1. The programs help nearly 50 million people combined.

Recipients, on average, receive $187 per month (roughly $6 per day) on prepaid cards they can use to buy groceries.
“The state funding can’t begin to match what the federal government provides,” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) said Wednesday. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said there is nothing the administration can do “without the government being open.”

Food banks nationwide are bracing for a surge in need just before Thanksgiving, while pantries are already strained by record demand.

ALSO HITTING SOON
Open enrollment for Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans begin in November. With the pandemic-era enhanced subsidies set to expire — benefits which are at the heart of Democrats’ demands — millions of Americans could see their bills double.

If the subsidies are not extended, the 24 million people using the marketplace will pay about $1,904 in annual premiums in 2026, up from $888 this year, according to the nonpartisan health policy group KFF.

HOW THIS ENDS?
As the shutdown drags on — with Republicans and Democrats locked in a stalemate over extending ACA subsidies — some lawmakers are moving to protect critical workers from missing paychecks, including air traffic controllers and TSA staff.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R–Tex.) introduced a bill this week to guarantee pay for air traffic controllers during the shutdown, who are set to miss their first full paycheck Tuesday. Back in 2019, airport staffing shortages ultimately forced Washington to end a similar standoff.
Earlier today, Senate Democrats blocked a separate GOP measure that would have paid some federal employees working without compensation, arguing it would give President Trump too much power to decide which workers get paid while the government remains closed — and which did not.

“[Trump] is not going to negotiate with the Democrats, who have taken the American people hostage. We’re not going to pay a ransom to reopen the government,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said Tuesday.

Unless something changes — or air travel grinds to a halt like in 2019 when unpaid air traffic controllers stopped showing up to work — the U.S. could soon see this shutdown become the longest in history.

⏳ THE SPEED READ

🚨NATION

Trump backs off federal deployment in San Francisco after Huang, Benioff phone calls (CNBC)
Illinois Gov. Pritzker signs order aimed at documenting “unlawful attacks” by federal immigration enforcement agents (CBS)
Eric Adams endorses Andrew Cuomo for NYC mayor (MO NEWS)
Former world chess champion may face discipline for allegations against Daniel Naroditsky (AP)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

VP Vance says he was “insulted” by Israeli parliament vote on West Bank settlements (MO NEWS)
Carney announces goal to double Canada’s non-U.S. exports in the next decade (CBC)
Russian court releases French endurance cyclist Sofiane Sehili, who was arrested for illegally crossing Russian border (FRANCE 24)
Peru declares 30-day state of emergency in Lima to tackle rising crime (REUTERS)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

Trump pardons convicted Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CNBC)
Elon Musk said he needs $1 trillion to stop ‘corporate terrorists’ from wresting control of Tesla (CNN)
Cancer survival appears to double with common vaccine, researchers say (FOX)
New evidence reveals dinosaurs were thriving right up to the moment the asteroid hit (NATIONAL GEOGRPAHIC)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

‘Stranger Things’ two-hour series finale will play in movie theaters (VARIETY)
Bestselling author Jodi Picoult pushes back after her musical is canceled by Indiana high school (AP)
Broadway strike avoided as musicians, Broadway League come to an agreement (PLAYBILL)
Bon Jovi announces 2026 tour after he recovers from vocal surgery (NEW YORK POST)

ICYMI FROM THE 📲

In case you missed it… King Charles III and Queen Camilla prayed with Pope Leo XIV in the Sistine Chapel on Thursday, marking the first time an English monarch has publicly prayed with the head of the Catholic Church since the Reformation in 1534.

Anglican Christians split off from the Catholic Church nearly 500 years ago after King Henry VIII wanted a divorce and the Pope refused Since Henry’s time, the acting British monarch has also acted as the head of the Church of England.

The Anglican and the Catholic churches have experienced warming relations in recent decades.