It’s Free for ALL Friday! Each week I keep track of some of the off-the-path things I've found, and work extra-hard to make sure you never hit a paywall. (If you do find links that don’t work, let me know!)
Before we dive in, I was talking with my mom yesterday and I asked if she’d had a chance to read Thursday’s newsletter.
Not yet, she said. But I plan to listen to it later.
And so it was, dear reader, that I learned that Substack now has an AI voice bot thing that you can use to listen to Understandably rather than just read it.
I don’t think I had any idea at all that this was an option. So, a poll:
Free for ALL Friday
After 30 Years, Judge Judy Is Stepping Down From Her TV Bench
Judith B. Sheindlin, the star of “Judge Judy” and spinoff shows, will wrap up a television career filled with acerbic takedowns of litigants.
Judith B. Sheindlin, who delivered sharp yet amusing one-liners while issuing no-nonsense rulings on her “Judge Judy” show, will step down from the bench after dominating daytime television for decades.
“Judge Judy” first aired on Sept. 16, 1996. In half-hour episodes, Sheindlin presided over small claims cases, adjudicating disputes between roommates over rent, overdue car payments and even dognapping cases.
Sheindlin’s popularity grew when she dug for answers and skewered litigants with her “Judy-isms,” such as: “Either you are playing dumb or it’s not an act,” and “Are you trying to justify to me the fact that you’re an idiot?”
The show, which won multiple Emmy Awards, drew nine to 10 million viewers each day for years. In 2018, Forbes named Sheindlin the country’s highest-paid television host, reporting that she earned $47 million a year.
Link: New York Times
Not Even a Stroke Can Stop These Aging Rock Stars From Going on Stage
Artists over 60 aren’t stopping touring, even if they may need to sit down during their greatest hits
Charlie Wilson, one of the most potent voices in 1980s funk, played more than 35 shows last year before suffering multiple strokes in October. He relearned how to walk and was back on stage roughly eight months later.
Wilson is a spring chicken at 73. Lionel Richie still tours at 77; Rod Stewart at 81; Barry Manilow at 83. “You can’t stop these guys; [performing] is in their blood,” said Michael Paran, who manages Wilson. “A racehorse wants to race.”
“This is what these guys live for: Getting up in front of the crowd and performing,” said Pat Francis, the host of the “Rock Solid” podcast. “When being a rock star is your job, why would you ever want to retire?”
Link: Wall Street Journal
The New Chris Rock: The Comedy Icon on Directing ‘Misty Green’ and Not Returning to the Oscars Unless He’s Nominated
I have a hard-and-fast “no Will Smith” rule, since 2022 when he sucker-punched Chris Rock on stage during the Oscars. Here’s an interesting and insightful interview with Rock — I’ll tell you this, he does not come across as the kind of guy people would have a reason to sucker-punch.
Rock:
I’ve been lucky. I’ve made some money. I’m not swimming in it. I’m not on jets all the time. I don’t own a boat. But I always tell people: Your monthly nut — that’s your religion. How much are your monthly bills? Because if you can keep your monthly low enough, you can say no to things.
Holly Robinson’s mom, the great Dolores Robinson, was a talent manager, and she used to say, “You have to spend income, not if-come.” That’s the problem with most people in Hollywood. They’re spending if-come. If-come will ruin your life.
…
A long time ago, I went to a comedy club on a freaking whim. I got onstage and did about five minutes, and the owner of the club said, “You should come back.” If he didn’t say that, I probably wouldn’t have come again. That one night changed the whole trajectory of not just me, but my whole family.
Link: Variety
We Asked Chefs What They Think of You. Here’s What They Said.
A dozen of the chefs from the 2026 edition of our 50 favorite restaurants list talk GLP-1s, diner drinking habits, A.I. and more.
Feel like you’re being watched? You are — by the chefs and owners on the list of our 50 favorite restaurants of 2026. More than anyone, they notice what we order and how much we’re willing to spend.
Sachi Statz (Tin Tin, Miami): “I joke about Ozempic all the time, but it does make a difference in how much people order. Before, you’d see people have a couple appetizers, a couple entrees, dessert, maybe wine and cocktails. Now it’s more like, ‘We’ll share an appetizer. We’ll share two entrees.’”
Margarito Pérez (Paprika, Austin, Texas): “There are 20 of you every day in my inbox asking for something. At first it was funny. Then it was aggravating.”
Jimmy Bannos Jr. (Kouklas Greek Eatery, Niles, Ill.): “5 p.m., the floodgates are open. It’s a madhouse. By 9 or 9:30 p.m., we’re winding down.”
Link: New York Times
How the Restaurant Burger Went From Cheap Indulgence to Luxury Meal
The wholesale price of ground beef has soared, and restaurateurs say a $30 burger now reflects the reality of current restaurant economics.
The Burger Américain, a fastidious and Frenchified version of the Big Mac served at Le Diplomate, set diners back $14 when Stephen Starr debuted his stylish brasserie in Washington in 2013. Thirteen years later, the same burger and fries cost $29.
Starr had a one-word reaction when informed about the 100-percent-plus price increase: “Unbelievable.”
“Restaurants are not gouging people,” Starr said in an interview. “They are simply responding to their own expenses.”
“To me, a hamburger should be an everyday enjoyment that should be affordable, and it should be something that people can comfortably do and not have to break the bank over,” said Andrew Schnipper, managing partner of Hamburger America.
Link: Washington Post/Yahoo
When Students Attend These Colleges, Taxpayers Often Pay. Here’s Why.
Five hundred colleges and universities in the U.S. now share one alarming distinction: At least 40% of recent students who borrowed federal loans aren’t paying them back.
Five-hundred colleges and universities in the U.S. now share one alarming distinction: At least 40% of recent students who borrowed federal loans aren’t paying them back. That’s according to the latest federal nonpayment-rate data published by the U.S. Education Department.
“These numbers are really jaw-dropping,” says Eileen Connor, head of the Project on Predatory Student Lending, a nonprofit that advocates for borrowers and that reviewed the data.
At many schools, more than half of recent borrowers are at least three months late on their payments or have already passed nine months, which means they’re in default.
“If a private lender were looking at a school that has a 40%, 50% delinquency rate on past loans, they would probably say, ‘We’re not going to lend to that school.’ Why does it make sense for the federal government and for taxpayers?” says Preston Cooper, who studies higher education at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute.
Link: NPR
Gas Prices Are About to Take a Big Jump, Analysts Say, With the Worst Still to Come
The forecast of economic impacts beyond November’s midterms contrast with the Trump administration’s optimistic messaging.
The effects of the U.S.-led war on Iran are about to intensify in the form of huge jumps in the prices of gasoline and diesel, analysts predict. And despite the Trump administration’s assurances, a new and potentially even more economically damaging phase of the war may be about to begin.
The national average price for regular gasoline stood at $4.44 on Thursday, according to AAA, with a range of $6.09 in California to $3.92 in Indiana. Diesel, which has a big influence on trucking and retail prices, has continued to hit records, with the national average at $6.40 on Thursday.
Damage inflicted on Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline last week, along with continuing strikes on oil infrastructure and contested control over a key waterway, threaten to elevate what had been a shipping crisis into a broader disruption of oil.
Link: Washington Post
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend. See you in the comments!
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