The Wall Street Journal

How do you curate a stylish, considered fall closet in the midst of unpredictable weather, an exhausting supply of content creators jostling for your attention and a relentless stream of microtrends? By borrowing from the best of the old days, while strategically embracing the new. Here's a look at ways to map out your ideal fall wardrobe. 🔗: https://on.wsj.com/4gtCTd0

Next time you step into a Starbucks, take a moment and listen to what the baristas are saying ("Welcome to Starbucks!"), how they interact with you, the way they move you and your order through the cafe. You're part of a carefully designed script, choreographed by Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol. His plan to turn around the coffee chain runs through its cafes -- and making its baristas work like a finely tuned machine. “Pause for a second to make eye contact." "Don’t rush the moment." "Thank with eye contact." Via Heather Haddon, The Wall Street Journal

From a heavily guarded mountain hideout in the heart of the Sierra Madre, 59-year-old Nemesio “Mencho” Oseguera reigns as the new drug king of Mexico, aided in his ascendance by America’s resurging love of cocaine and the Trump administration’s escalating war on fentanyl. Oseguera spent decades building his Jalisco New Generation Cartel into a transnational criminal organization fierce enough to forge a new underworld order in Mexico, displacing the Sinaloa cartel, torn by warring factions, as the world’s biggest drug pusher. The Sinaloans, Mexico’s top fentanyl traffickers—and with whom Osegeura got his start in the trade—got caught in the crosshairs of the Trump administration, which promised to eradicate the synthetic opioid. The crackdown has left an open field for Jalisco and its lucrative cocaine trade, elevating Oseguera to No. 1. Another break for Oseguera: Trump's campaign to deport immigrants in the U.S. illegally has taken federal agents away from drug-traffic interdiction. Cocaine sold in the U.S. is cheaper and as pure as ever for retail buyers. Consumption in the western U.S. has increased 154% since 2019 and is up 19% during the same period in the eastern part of the country, according to the drug-testing company Millennium Health. In contrast, fentanyl use in the U.S. began to drop in mid-2023 and has been declining since, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Oseguera, who grew up poor selling avocados, is making a killing from cocaine buyers in the U.S. His cartel transports cocaine by the ton from Colombia to Ecuador and then north to Mexico’s Pacific coast via speedboats and so-called narco subs. “‘Mencho’ is the most powerful drug trafficker operating in the world,” said Derek Maltz, who served this year as interim chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration. “What is happening now is a pivot to much more cocaine distribution in America.” Read more: 🔗 https://on.wsj.com/3Vo63AM

Welcome to the Super Bowl of wastewater treatment. America’s elite sewage operators are headed to Chicago this month to test their skills to the limit, from high-speed pump repairs to a mock manhole rescue. Teams are gearing up by refining choreographed sequences like Nascar pit crews. Many team names honor the raw material of the trade. The 54 contestants at last year’s challenge in New Orleans included the Turdinators from Indiana, the Predaturds from North Carolina, the Surprise Turdologists from Arizona and the Sewer Turdles from Helsinki. But an era-defining rivalry is gripping the profession like a wrench tightening a flange nut on a sludge pipe, and all eyes are on the two teams at the top. Reigning champions Elevated Ops, representing Denver’s Metro Water Recovery, and Controlled Chaos of Mount Pleasant Waterworks in South Carolina, are vying for all-time-great status after trading the national title for six years straight. Insiders expect a nail-biter. “They are two powerhouse teams—loaded with talent, really smart, really athletic,” said Donnie Cagle, widely hailed as the greatest ever to don a custom-painted hard hat. Read more: 🔗 https://on.wsj.com/3Iz5iln

President Trump’s speech to the U.N. General Assembly will tout his assertion of unilateral U.S. power abroad to a global body where his administration has surrendered much of its once-leading role.

The WSJ recently unpacked Nick Maggiulli’s 0.01% rule and asked readers how much they allow themselves to spend worry-free. Here are some of their responses.

Comfort in a home office isn’t frivolous, it’s functional. “If the place you work makes you feel happy, it can spark creativity.” Here, some decorating moves for your home-office desk that can boost your productivity: https://on.wsj.com/46v5cTP

Whenever a young man is at the center of a widely publicized shooting or suicide, parents ask themselves the same questions: What warning signs were missed? What could have been done? “Boys are trapped in a vortex of three things: the past view of masculinity, what they know in their hearts it means to be a good man and this newer, distorted notion of toxic masculinity which says that all men are bad, violent animals,” says Michael Kimmel, professor emeritus at Stony Brook University and author of several books, including “Angry White Men.” The result has been a growing sense of loneliness and resentment that’s given rise to online communities where men find belonging, but often in ways that fuel their rage. In a culture where gaming, memes and steady streams of social video have become the baseline for teen-boy life, how can parents discern when things might be taking a dark turn? Mental-health experts who have dealt with this firsthand detail the signals suggest a boy could be struggling—and how parents can talk to their sons about their online lives. Read more: 🔗 https://on.wsj.com/4nAlfXf

Bank of America stands to earn $130 million for its work on the railroad megadeal between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern.

Homeowners are spending big on catios, enclosed outdoor patios designed to keep cats safe while outside. “I’m giving them the most enriched life they can have while keeping them safe.” 🔗 https://on.wsj.com/46dCat5