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President Biden’s plan to cancel student debt and modify payments for millions of Americans could cost as much as $1 trillion, according to budget analysts, challenging the administration’s efforts to scale down the federal deficit.⁠ ⁠ Analysts expect strong interest in both debt cancellation and in programs that allow borrowers to pay a lower percentage of their income to keep up with their loans. The expected popularity of the policy could drive up costs and raise questions about whether the expense can be offset by other Biden administration policies, as the White House says.⁠ ⁠ The total price tag for the program could reach $1 trillion, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model, a widely regarded analysis frequently cited by policy makers. Other analysts say the total bill could be nearly $500 billion, a range that shows the uncertainty and complexity of projecting the student-loan portfolio’s performance.⁠ ⁠ The White House hasn’t released comparable estimates of the policy’s total cost, though it said the debt-cancellation portion of the plan alone would reduce revenue the government receives from student-loan payments by about $240 billion over a decade.⁠ ⁠ The White House hasn’t proposed to raise taxes or other forms of revenue to offset the cost of the student-loan programs, but it says the debt-forgiveness portion is paid for through the reduction in the federal deficit that has occurred this fiscal year. The Biden administration has touted recent deficit reduction as an economic achievement and part of its strategy to counter inflation.⁠ ⁠ Some analysts say the student-loan programs move the federal budget in the other direction.⁠ “This action by the president will make the deficit bigger than it would be otherwise,” said Douglas Elmendorf, who served as director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office during the Obama administration.⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Photo: Shawn Thew/Shutterstock

Kim Kardashian and a former partner at Carlyle Group are launching a new private-equity firm focused on investing in and building consumer and media businesses.⁠ ⁠ Kardashian is teaming up with Jay Sammons, who ran consumer investing at Carlyle, to launch SKKY Partners, they said in separate interviews. SKKY will make investments in sectors including consumer products, hospitality, luxury, digital commerce and media as well as consumer-media and entertainment businesses.⁠ ⁠ Kardashian has steadily grown her own business empire in recent years. The undergarment and apparel business she started in 2019, Skims, was valued at $3.2 billion in January. The company raised $240 million at that time in a funding round led by Lone Pine Capital. This year she launched a skin-care line, SKKN BY KIM, a nine-product collection.⁠ ⁠ Best known for investing in hot brand names such as Beats By Dre and streetwear brand Supreme, Sammons left Carlyle at the end of July after more than 16 years at the firm. He said he expects to continue making similar investments as he did at Carlyle.⁠ ⁠ SKKY plans to make both control and minority investments in companies. Kardashian said the idea of working closely with entrepreneurs to help them grow companies is what attracted her to the idea of starting SKKY. She said she would bring experiences from her own businesses to bear when working to help portfolio companies thrive.⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Photo: Bonnie Cash/Pool/Shutterstock

A simple digital card praising Islamist militants for an attack on a Taliban position in Afghanistan last month is the first known nonfungible token created and disseminated by a terrorist sympathizer, according to former senior U.S. intelligence officials.⁠ ⁠ It is a sign that Islamic State and other terror groups may be preparing to use the emerging financial technology to sidestep Western efforts to eradicate their online fundraising and messaging, they said.⁠ ⁠ The NFT, visible on at least one NFT trading website and titled “IS-NEWS #01,” bears Islamic State’s emblem. It was created by a supporter of the group, likely as an experiment to test a new outreach and funding strategy for ISIS, the former officials said. Regulators and national-security officials have expressed concern about the potential for terrorists to exploit new financial technologies and markets, including NFTs.⁠ ⁠ An NFT is a unit of data stored on a blockchain—a database of transactions organized without the need for a central trusted authority. The technology first emerged as a means of tracking, valuing and trading digital assets, but developers say that it has much broader applications, such as digital concert tickets and branded collectibles like digital trading cards.⁠ ⁠ IS-NEWS #01 doesn’t appear to have been traded, but its existence on the blockchain—distributed across countless systems connected to the internet—makes it nearly impossible for the Justice Department and other law-enforcement agencies to take it off the internet.⁠ ⁠ Western officials are concerned that remnants of the group—both online and on the ground—could foster a revival. ⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Photo: Stringer/Reuters

Elizabeth Holmes, founder of defunct blood-testing startup Theranos who was convicted of fraud, has asked a federal judge for a new trial after she said one of the prosecution’s star witnesses visited her house to express regret for his role in her trial, according to new court filings.⁠ ⁠ Holmes said in a filing Tuesday that Adam Rosendorff, a former Theranos lab director who testified for five days in her criminal-fraud trial, showed up unannounced at her home Aug. 8. During his visit, Dr. Rosendorff spoke to Holmes’s partner and said that the government had twisted his testimony that Theranos was “working so hard to do something good and meaningful,” and that he felt guilty “to the point where he had difficulty sleeping,” according to the court filing.⁠ ⁠ Holmes is arguing that Dr. Rosendorff’s alleged statements to her partner qualifies her for a new trial or a hearing to discuss the evidence.⁠ ⁠ The filing is the latest twist in a spectacle-laden criminal-fraud saga that began to play out in court a year ago and became one of the most closely watched white-collar cases in Silicon Valley history. Holmes in January was convicted on four counts of criminal fraud for deceiving investors while running a yearslong scheme at Theranos, where she was chief executive. Her one-time business and romantic partner, former Theranos president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, was convicted of 12 fraud counts in July.⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Photo: Dai Sugano/AP

Juul agreed to pay at least $438.5 million in a settlement with more than 30 U.S. states, the latest step by the beleaguered e-cigarette maker to resolve allegations that it marketed its products to underage users.⁠ ⁠ Under the deal, which includes 33 states and Puerto Rico, Juul is barred from depicting people under 35 in its marketing, product placements in film and television, advertising on billboards and social media, selling Juul-branded merchandise and funding education programs in schools, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said Tuesday.⁠ ⁠ The total settlement amount could increase depending on how long Juul takes to make its payments, Tong said. He said Juul had engaged in “predatory marketing” and cited the toll that underage vaping has taken on families. The agreement follows an investigation begun in 2020 by a consortium of 39 states.⁠ ⁠ Since last year, Juul has agreed to pay a total of $87 million in settlements with four other states that brought lawsuits against the company, including Louisiana, Arizona and North Carolina. Thousands of other lawsuits against Juul are pending, including cases brought by nine other attorneys general.⁠ ⁠ Juul in 2018 soared to the top of the e-cigarette market and drew criticism from regulators and school administrators, who blamed the company’s sleek vaporizers, fruity flavors and hip marketing for fueling a surge in underage vaping. The company since then has been trying to regain the trust of regulators and the public. It limited its marketing and in 2019 stopped selling sweet and fruity flavors. The company on Tuesday said the settlement was part of its effort to resolve issues from the past.⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

Amazon said more than 25 million people around the world sampled the premiere of its highly anticipated series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” on Sept 2., the biggest debut in the streaming service’s history.⁠ ⁠ This marks the first time Amazon has released viewership data for its content. The company declined to say how the show’s ratings compared with other content on the platform.⁠ ⁠ Based on the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, the series is the most expensive television production ever. WSJ reported that the budget to make the show, coupled with the fee to acquire the rights from the Tolkien estate, was about $715 million.⁠ ⁠ Amazon Studios Chief Jennifer Salke called the series and the initial response a “proud moment” for the company. “It is the tens of millions of fans watching—clearly as passionate about Middle-earth as we are—who are our true measure of success,” she said in a statement.⁠ ⁠ “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” was a passion project for Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos, who was very involved in the effort to land the rights to make the series.⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Photo: Prime Video

Companies and individuals are bringing Lego products into the office, saying it helps with creativity, anxiety and communication. ⁠ ⁠ One driver of growth for Lego, the Danish maker of colorful building-block toys, is a program called Lego Serious Play. LSP is a training tool where employees are asked to address company concerns or aspirations by first building a small Lego model from a handful of bricks, then describing what they constructed and why. ⁠ ⁠ The system is designed to improve communication and enhance a company’s performance, according to Robert Rasmussen, a business consultant in Denmark who helped develop the program more than two decades ago. LSP has been used by the U.S. Naval Warfare Division, Harvard Business School and spread across energy, transport and finance industries. Companies including Google, Ernst & Young, Microsoft, Visa, Lexus and Procter & Gamble have used it. ⁠ ⁠ Other companies are using Lego products in different ways.⁠ ⁠ Google’s New York campus has a Lego room where employees can get out of creative ruts and stimulate new ideas through building Lego models, according to former employee Adam Singer and a representative from the company. Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., use plastic bricks to plan and show concepts through construction design.⁠ ⁠ The use of Lego in the workplace has been the subject of multiple studies that show how communicating through the bricks can help companies develop problem-solving skills, improve communication and overcome creativity challenges. There is further research on how it helps work-related stress and anxiety. ⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ 📷: Julia Vandenoever for @wsjphotos

Starbucks, the chain that made espresso ubiquitous in America, now faces daily crises in dispensing it. ⁠ ⁠ U.S. stores designed a decade ago struggle to meet today’s consumer demand. Cafes that once averaged 1,200 orders a day are now trying to make 1,500. Executives recently visited one East Coast cafe that averaged $1 million in annual sales a decade ago. Now, it is ringing up nearly $3 million in sales in the same 1,500-square-foot space.⁠ ⁠ Many U.S. locations need to be overhauled, said Katie Young, who as senior vice president of global growth and development is in charge of figuring out what new cafes should look like. Having so much demand is a privilege for Starbucks, but also a problem, she said.⁠ ⁠ Workers have cited problems with store designs, equipment and kitchen resources. Their frustrations played into a unionization effort that began last year. Jon Hudson, a union barista at a Starbucks in Anderson, S.C., said workers want to make drinks and food for customers as quickly as possible, but the store’s layout and equipment often get in the way.⁠ ⁠ “We love our regulars. We have their orders memorized,” said Hudson, who has worked for Starbucks for more than four years. “We know it’s annoying to wait for that food or when our equipment is down.”⁠ ⁠ Since late 2018, Starbucks has used a 20,000-square-foot technology lab at its Seattle headquarters to develop new beverages, equipment and cafe procedures. It began pairing baristas, beverage developers and engineers to figure out how to carve seconds off the time it takes to prepare coffee drinks, particularly complex cold ones.⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ 📷: @meron_photo for @wsjphotos

Eric Greensmith heard that he might get bored in retirement. So as his medical career started winding down in 2021, his thoughts turned to the summer job of his teens: lifeguarding on the New Jersey shore.⁠ ⁠ The chief of the Sea Isle City Beach Patrol—the only guard left from his 1970s stint—said he would offer Greensmith a position if he passed the requalifying test in May this year. The test involved running a half-mile in 3 minutes and 45 seconds and swimming 500 meters in 10 minutes. Greensmith was 67.⁠ ⁠ “I was 50 years older and 40 pounds heavier than my rookie year as a lifeguard,” says Greensmith, now 175 pounds at 5-foot-8. “The concept of a comeback seemed so preposterous that, at first, I didn’t even share my secret hopes with my wife.”⁠ ⁠ He had planned to retire from his job as an anesthesiologist in January. He worked through April because of a staff shortage but scaled back to three days a week so he could train. On April 2, he embraced twice-daily workouts: swimming in the mornings, running and lifting weights in the afternoons.⁠ ⁠ By the time of the May test, Greensmith had dropped 35 pounds. Despite never having run below 3 minutes and 50 seconds in training, he finished his half-mile run in 3 minutes and 40 seconds. On July 22, the 50th anniversary of the month he first started guarding in Sea Isle City, he climbed the lifeguard stand again.⁠ ⁠ “I haven’t been in this good of shape since the Navy,” he says. “I used to say I’m in good shape for my age, but now I don’t need to use that caveat.”⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ 📷: Steve Boyle for @wsjphotos

Aided by new technologies, individual investors are buying homes across the U.S. to rent out, with many viewing the properties as a core investment alongside stock or bond funds. ⁠ ⁠ Data services help would-be landlords pick neighborhoods with precision, feeding them detailed reports on sales prices, crime rates and local schools. Online real-estate marketplaces connect these laptop landlords with financing or local managers who can handle property maintenance and leasing. Content publishers and web forums offer up investment strategies and tips on where to buy.⁠ ⁠ “It can all be done online,” said real-estate consultant John Burns in Irvine, Calif. “That’s been the game-changer.”⁠ ⁠ Home purchases by investors large and small climbed to record levels during the pandemic, reaching a high of 28% of all single-family home sales in February of 2022, up from 17% during the same month in 2019, according to housing data firm CoreLogic. Individuals or other small enterprises that own 10 or fewer homes accounted for about half of all investor purchases.⁠ ⁠ A separate measure of investor purchases by Attom Data Solutions, prepared for the Journal, shows that the niche of out-of-state small investors has also grown. Members of this group, who purchased between two and 10 homes a year, bought 2.1% of all American homes sold in the second quarter of 2022, up from 1.5% during the same quarter in 2019. Purchases of just one house were excluded to rule out vacation homes.⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.

It’s not your imagination: More and more things that used to be free are now costing you money.⁠ ⁠ From food delivery to the unexplained “convenience fee,” add-ons and extras are everywhere, often boosting actual costs well over headline prices. New line items on power and cable bills often slip by unnoticed. Even securing a hard copy of your own bank statement might come at a cost.⁠ ⁠ In many ways, the situation is a reflection of how we shop. Online search engines have made it easier to compare prices. In response, companies have “unbundled” their pricing, so that they can advertise low prices or rates, and then recoup the money in added fees.⁠ ⁠ At the link in our bio, read more about fees that have bedeviled Americans recently⁠ ⁠ 🎨: @schneider_studios

After a few hours of heads-down work at her office in Washington, D.C., Michele Late will stand up from her desk, get down on all fours and begin a series of cat-cow yoga poses in her cubicle.⁠ ⁠ If her back is hurting, she might just lie flat on the ground. She can do so without a shred of self-consciousness or fear that a co-worker might walk by because she goes into the office on the day everyone else avoids: Friday.⁠ ⁠ “No one is going to see me,” says Late, 51, who works as the deputy director of communications for the American Public Health Association and is required to be in the office two days a week. “I just love Fridays.”⁠ ⁠ As hybrid work models have taken root in the corporate world and many employees have been given some choice in when they go into the office, Tuesdays, Thursdays and especially Wednesdays have emerged as the most popular days, according to data from Kastle Systems, which tracks security badge swipes in most major U.S. cities. But a subset of workers is purposely going in on the days most of their colleagues prefer to stay home—Mondays and Fridays. It’s a small club but members cite benefits like being spared distracting small talk and weird-smelling food wafting from the microwave. They’d be delighted if you didn’t join.⁠ ⁠ “There’s no pings from emails or speakerphone conversations,” says Late, who is one of two or three people who regularly goes in on Mondays and Fridays. “To me, it’s heaven.”⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Photo: Mark Barna

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced Tuesday by a federal judge to 20 years in prison for what prosecutors said was a decadelong scheme to help disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls.⁠ ⁠ After a trial late last year, a federal jury found Maxwell guilty of five of the six counts she faced. Four women testified during the trial that Maxwell recruited underage girls for Epstein, enabling his sexual abuse at properties in New York, Florida, New Mexico and elsewhere.⁠ ⁠ The most serious count, sex trafficking of minors, carried a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. Prosecutors had asked for a term of at least 30 years, while defense lawyers said a term of significantly less than 20 years would be appropriate because they said Epstein was the principal abuser.⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Photo: U.S. Attorney’s Office/ZUMA Press

It looks much like any modern gym on the inside. Except there are no cellphones, no Kindles or tablets, virtually no electronics of any kind, and only muted conversation among the smattering of patrons engaged in late-morning workouts.⁠ ⁠ They were exercising at the Central Intelligence Agency’s ultramodern “field house,” a stone’s throw from the spy agency’s hulking headquarters buildings on its fortified Northern Virginia campus in Langley, Va.⁠ ⁠ The 43,000-square-foot facility opened March 14, ending a more than two-decade quest to replace a pair of cramped and moldering basement gyms and finally bring the agency up to par with the athletic facilities found at military bases and on Capitol Hill. The gym symbolizes a recognition by its leaders, they said, that the agency needs to focus more on its people after over two decades of playing front-line roles in conflict zones around the world.⁠ ⁠ Named Langley Field House, the gym is intended to help the spy agency attract and retain workers as it competes with the private sector for technological expertise, those involved in its design and construction said. It sports the latest in accessibility features to accommodate the CIA’s disabled employees, including military personnel who retired and joined the CIA after being wounded in U.S. counterterrorism wars.⁠ ⁠ “The pressures and strains faced by our officers and their families are unrelenting—with two decades shaped by counterterrorism threats followed by two years of COVID,” CIA Director William Burns wrote in response to questions about the new gym. “As an organization, we have learned that in order to maintain a high-performing, resilient organization, we need to take care of our officers.”⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Photo: Central Intelligence Agency

Deshaun Watson’s sexual misconduct hearing is set to begin and the National Football League is preparing to make its case for one of the stiffest suspensions in the sport’s history.⁠ ⁠ The NFL is pushing for an indefinite suspension that would last no shorter than one year for Watson, people familiar with the matter said. That would mean he would be out for one season, at least, before he could apply to be reinstated. ⁠ ⁠ A resolution on his future in the league is expected in the coming days, more than a year since the first allegations against Watson surfaced. The people familiar with the case anticipate an outcome the week of July 4, although there remains a chance of it coming sooner. His arbitration hearing is scheduled to begin this upcoming week. ⁠ ⁠ The NFL Players Association and Watson’s lawyers, meanwhile, are preparing to vigorously fight such a tough ban of the embattled Cleveland Browns quarterback. Watson has been accused by dozens of women of sexual assault or other forms of misconduct during massage therapy sessions. Watson, who has denied any wrongdoing, settled 20 of the 24 civil suits against him in the last week. ⁠ ⁠ Watson’s is the first case under the NFL’s new collectively bargained personal conduct policy, which places the initial ruling in the hands of a neutral arbitrator. In this case, that is former U.S. District Court judge Sue Robinson, who was picked mutually by the league and the players’ union. If she determines Watson violated the league’s personal conduct policy and suspends him, either side can appeal the length of that suspension to commissioner Roger Goodell or someone he designates. ⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Photo: Nick Cammett/Getty Images