Vol. I: Issue 029                                                                                             July 10th, 2026

Breaking news out of Oilseed Springs, where the next chapter for our beloved BotWursts appears to be taking shape far from the mainland.

The BotWursts are now preparing for a move to the Bavariafield Archipelago, after receiving a city-backed grant from Oilseed Springs to help establish a new settlement on the big island of Riesenknödel.

The plan follows weeks of growing concern over the BotWursts’ future, and credit where credit is due, NowTime’s own correspondents helped bring that situation into focus. Shannon raised the alarm, while Zepha Ray, drawing on her college work, pointed out that the islands of Bavariafield might offer the kind of space and isolation the BotWursts need. What began as a casual observation may have helped plant the seed for a real solution, and for a group still searching for a place of their own, that seed appears to be taking root.

Under the terms of the grant, Oilseed Springs will provide support for the new settlement’s startup costs. In return, the city will receive a 10 percent share of revenue from mineral sales tied to resources extracted by the BotWurst community. It is an unusual arrangement, but one city officials say could give the bots a real foundation while also offering Oilseed Springs a long-term return on its investment.

Now here is where the story gets complicated.

The Bavariafield Archipelago existed long before the formation of The Continental Concordia, and its legal status has always been a little hazy. On old maps, the islands appear to be loosely divided between two Concordian states and the Frozen Zone to the north. But those borders were based more on classical mapmaker assumptions than any modern settlement agreement.

For years, that ambiguity did not matter much. With no permanent population across the islands, there were no residents to govern, no local disputes to settle, and no practical reason for anyone to press the issue. But a new BotWurst settlement on Riesenknödel could change that in a hurry.

The big question now is simple. Who has jurisdiction once people, or in this case bots, begin living and working there? That answer could have real consequences for land rights, mineral claims, state authority, and relations with the Frozen Zone.

For the BotWursts, this is a hopeful move toward independence and community. For Oilseed Springs, it is a bold investment. And for the wider Concordia, it may be the start of a very serious conversation about borders that have been left alone for far too long.

So yes, this story begins with a grant and a fresh start, but it may lead to something much larger. A new settlement, an old map, and a future full of questions. I’ll be keeping an eye on this one, and I’ll let you know where things land, because Duke’s Gotcha covered!

 

Hiya friends.

While I am so excited for the BotWursts, I’ll be honest, I’ve been feeling a little down myself. As The Mumph probably already knows, Calypso Island is getting ready to join the CFL with its very first football team, the Calypso Island Cowfish. And in all that excitement, Finley got an offer he just could not pass up: head coach of a real CFL team. Which is amazing. Truly amazing. I am so proud of him. But it also means he has to move in about two weeks, and with no QuickSkip tunnels out there on the island, well…I dont know… I just really love spending time with him. Still, we’ll make it work. Piece of cake. Probably.

But speaking of cake, cupcakes to be exact, let’s head over to Frostfield, home of Papa’s Cupcakeria, and take a peek at the week ahead.

It is looking awfully pleasant overall, with lots of warm sunshine, comfortable afternoons, and just a couple little interruptions from clouds and scattered showers here and there. The start of the stretch looks especially lovely, then things turn a touch grayer around the middle before brightening back up again with some really nice summer weather.

So keep the sunglasses handy, don’t worry too much about those passing shower chances, and enjoy a week that looks sweet and easygoing over in Frostfield.

 

The Mumph here, and the possibility of a new football team, the Cowfish, has the sports world buzzing right now. The CFL has been lopsided in the Sweet League for the last five years, ever since the long struggling Frostfield Yetties shut their doors. So Zepha, I am sorry for the complications around it, honestly, but I have to say it. That is a big opportunity for Finley.

Alright, enough football for one day. Let’s get over to CMLB, where the San Fresco Urchins and Calypso Island Coconuts opened things up.

San Fresco wasted no time, putting up two in the first and two more in the second. Calypso Island scratched one across in the bottom of the first, but after that, the Urchins kept the Coconuts quiet. Limonte settled in on the mound, the defense did its job, and San Fresco added one more in the seventh just to pad the cushion.

MVP goes to Melendrez out in center field, and that tells you this was not just about the bat. Center field is where you save extra bases, cut off rallies, and make pitchers breathe a little easier. Melendrez gave San Fresco exactly that, steady play, smart routes, and the kind of presence that keeps a good lead from getting messy.

Final score, San Fresco Urchins 5, Calypso Island Coconuts 1. Winner, San Fresco. MVP, Melendrez.

My two cents, when you score early, defend clean, and never let the other club find rhythm after the first inning, that is a professional opening win.

 

Hello out there…

Big news out of Tastyville this week, where what may be the city’s first credible Sugarsquatch sighting has people asking some very interesting questions.

I was on the scene with Didar, a member of the Mystery Mountain Club and a committed Sugarsquatch enthusiast, who was already doing some investigating of his own by the time I arrived. We compared notes and started piecing together the timeline.

According to Yuko, owner of Lovely Leftovers, the encounter happened at approximately 12:42 a.m. on Tuesday. She had stayed late at her vintage shop cleaning up after a burst pipe in the bathroom and was taking trash out to the shared dumpster behind the shopping plaza. At first, she assumed the movement near the dumpster was just another raccoon or some other common nighttime scavenger. But then, as she got closer, the creature lifted its head and looked directly at her.

And then it stood up.

Yuko described it as huge, hairy, much taller than an average person, but not a bear either. Startled, she screamed and ran back inside the shop to call the police.

After hearing her describe what happened, Didar and I headed into the wooded area nearby to keep looking. That is where things became far more interesting. Didar uncovered what appeared to be a print on a piece of slate rock, not some vague impression in soft mud that can be laughed away or trampled over by skeptics. This was a distinct mark left in sludge, likely tracked from the bottom of the dumpster, and pressed clearly enough onto stone to hold its shape.

Didar carefully chiseled away the section of slate so it could be studied further, though not before I took a detailed photograph of the print myself.

Now, I am always cautious about declaring something definitive too early. But if this turns out to be what it appears to be, we may be looking at some of the most credible physical evidence of the Sugarsquatch ever collected.

That is not a small claim. And it is certainly not a small story.

I will be keeping a close eye on what Didar finds next.

And that’s The Scoop.

 

Vol. I: Issue 028                                                                                             July 3rd, 2026

Breaking news out of Whiskview today, and I will admit right up front, this one comes with a proud father’s smile attached.

Recent Whiskview High graduate and, yes, overall cool guy Deuce Gotcha has received a scholarship to the prestigious Twincrest School of Design in Oniontown. There, he will be honing his craft in the school’s state-of-the-art Digital+Practical Movie FXs major, where artistic skill meets the smoke, sparks, creatures, and screen magic of the movie world.

Now, is this strictly breaking news by the usual newsroom standard? Perhaps not. But when your son earns a scholarship to chase the thing he loves, you take a moment, straighten your tie, and let the headline breathe. Congratulations, Deuce. Your old man is proud.

In other news, Tacodale is preparing for its annual Fireworks Extravaganza this Saturday night, and as usual, the show will light up the sky above the iconic TACODALE sign along the Fajitian Hills.

The nighttime spectacle will be paired with the town’s Jubilee Fair at the Tacodale Speedway, giving visitors a full evening of food, rides, games, and front-row views of the fireworks display. It is one of Tacodale’s biggest summer traditions, and if past years are any sign, the crowds will be out in full force.

So here is the part you need to know. Arrive early. Parking is expected to fill quickly, and prime seating space near the Speedway will not last long once the evening crowd rolls in.

Whether you are celebrating a graduate’s next big step or looking up at the Tacodale sky this Saturday night, there is plenty worth cheering for this week. Stay sharp, plan ahead, and don’t worry because Duke’s Gotcha covered!

 

Hiya friends!

Well, here it is, my latest kitchen masterpiece, the one that went viral on HeadCase with over 6,000 Yikes! And believe it or not, that was supposed to be a chicken pot pie. I know, I know. #NailedIt. At this point, I am starting to think my smoke alarm deserves a co-host credit.

Now, with that little culinary tragedy out of the way, let’s take a peek at the week ahead in Philly Heights.

It is looking a bit cooler than you might expect for this time of year, with plenty of clouds, a light breeze, and a damp little stretch settling in toward the start of the week. Things do brighten up a touch later on, with a little more sun and some comfortable afternoons mixed in, but overall this one feels more gray and mellow than hot and summery.

So keep a light jacket nearby, don’t let those spotty showers sneak up on you, and enjoy a week that feels a little softer over in Philly Heights.

 

The Mumph here, and whoa, I would have never guessed that was a pie. Zepha, I say this with respect, but Hambone and I were talking, and maybe the next kitchen experiment should be dog treats. Dogs tend to be a little less judgmental when it comes to snacks.

I’ll send you a list of Hambone’s favorites. Fair warning, that bulldog has a sweet tooth the length of his tongue.

But let’s talk about the subject at hand, baseball, where a different flock of birds came out hot.

Oilseed Springs and Tastyville gave us a wild one early. The Roosters put four on the board in the first, and the Tomatoes answered right back with three of their own, so right away this thing felt like it might turn into a full-on slugfest. Tastyville tied it in the third, and from there, both clubs started tightening the screws.

That is where Pankratz earns the MVP. After that bumpy start, he settled in and gave Oilseed Springs the calm they needed. No panic, no unraveling, just steady work until the Roosters scratched across the go-ahead run in the sixth. Tastyville had plenty of time to answer, but Pankratz and that Roosters defense kept the door shut the rest of the way.

Final score, Oilseed Springs Roosters 5, Tastyville Tomatoes 4. Winner, Oilseed Springs. MVP, Pankratz on the mound.

My two cents, when you give up four early and still find a way to steady the whole ballgame, that is not just pitching, that is backbone.

 

Hello out there…

First, let us take a moment to congratulate Deuce on his scholarship. When he stopped by the newsroom back in March, he showed me the portfolio he planned to submit to Twincrest, and it was stellar. His makeup effects work was the sort of thing that makes you do a double take and lean in closer. I told him then that he had better come back around Halloween and put those talents to proper use on the rest of us.

Now, speaking of faces a person does not easily forget, let us move to a man who has managed the rare trick of being both notorious and oddly difficult to find.

Guy Mortadello.

With a history like his, you would think tracking him down would be simple. I originally wanted to interview him on the tenth anniversary of his first court case, but despite a fair amount of digging and more than a few calls to the sorts of people who usually know how things move behind the scenes, I came up empty. So I set the idea aside.

But the question never really left me.

So here we are. Consider this the first installment of a segment I am calling: Where in the world is… Guy Mortadello?

For anyone needing a refresher, Guy opened the first Mortadello’s Meat Pies in Oniontown back in June of 2002. The concept took off quickly. Before long, the chain had expanded across the continent, and by 2005, Mortadello’s Meat Pies had become the largest restaurant chain on Gurth.

That sort of rapid rise usually comes with consequences, and in Guy’s case, the consequences arrived hot and undercooked.

As the business expanded, quality began to slip. Corners were cut. Profits were protected. And before long, the pies themselves had become the butt of late-night jokes and online ridicule, largely thanks to their growing reputation for causing a rather unfortunate range of digestive distress.

Then, in 2006, a new name entered the picture: Papa Louie.

With the opening of Papa’s Pizzeria in Tastyville, Papa Louie took the familiar idea of customizable meals and built something far more appealing around it. Pizza, for starters, has a natural advantage over a meat pie of questionable integrity. More importantly, Papa Louie understood something Guy apparently did not. Expansion works best when it adapts. Instead of cloning the same concept endlessly, he diversified, building restaurants around local tastes, regional flavors, and actual demand.

That was the beginning of the end for Guy Mortadello.

Less than a decade later, nearly all Mortadello’s Meat Pies locations were gone. The final holdout in Toastwood eventually closed its doors and was swiftly replaced by a Papa’s Cheeseria. That, apparently, was the final insult. In an effort to sabotage Papa Louie’s opening night in Toastwood, Guy stole an entire trailer full of instruments belonging to the opening band. He was arrested and held without bond until his court date in April 2016, when Ty Quilton, a man whose name has a habit of appearing whenever consequences need softening, managed to get him back out in remarkably short order.

From there, Guy’s path grew smaller, sadder, and somehow even shadier. He scraped by selling counterfeit watches, bootleg DVDs, and whatever other bait-and-switch hustle happened to be within reach. Then, in 2022, he resurfaced with another doomed venture, Mortadello’s Bird Meat, a fried chicken sandwich shop in Oilseed Springs launched on forged documents and borrowed money.

It went about as well as you would expect.

The restaurant was eventually shut down over repeated health code violations, and in its collapse, Guy left his employees, the BotWursts, stranded in Oilseed Springs with no real safety net to speak of.

Which brings us back to the question at hand.

What happened to Guy Mortadello?

Outside of bankruptcy filings and the occasional dry paper trail, I have not been able to find a single solid sign of him in nearly three years. Not a confirmed sighting. Not a reliable lead. Not so much as a blurry rumor with legs. In fact, the absence became strange enough that I went so far as to file a missing persons report with local authorities.

So no, it does not look like that long-delayed interview will be happening anytime soon.

And strange as it may sound, I do hope the man is alive and in one piece. But when someone with a past this loud vanishes this completely, it does not feel ordinary. It feels like the sort of silence that ought to mean something.

I will keep asking.

And that’s The Scoop.

 

Vol. I: Issue 027                                                                                             June 26th, 2026

Breaking news out of Starlight City, where the north end of the Starlight Strip is about to get a very big new landmark.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held today for Georgito Grand Resorts’ newest entertainment complex, a massive cone-shaped venue being called, simply enough, The Cone. And simple name or not, there is nothing small about it.

Plans call for a towering 450-foot structure with a 500-foot base diameter, a design that is all but guaranteed to make an instant mark on the Starlight City skyline. The exterior will be clad in an estimated 837,000 programmable LED pucks, giving The Cone the ability to transform its entire surface into a glowing, moving display visible across the Strip.

And the inside sounds just as ambitious. Georgito Grand Resorts says The Cone will feature a fully immersive movie and concert venue, complete with a 4K surround screen and haptic seating for up to 10,000 guests. In other words, this is not being built as just another theater. This is being pitched as an experience venue, one where the show does not simply happen in front of you, but all around you.

Speaking after the ceremony, Georgito said The Cone is part of a larger push to bring a new kind of visitor to Starlight City. Not just tourists drawn by games of chance or sports betting, but guests looking for sights, sounds, and spectacle they cannot find anywhere else on the Gurth.

It is a bold bet, and in Starlight City, bold bets are something of a local language. If The Cone delivers on even half of what was promised today, it could become one of the most recognizable entertainment destinations on the continent.

So keep your eyes on the north end of the Strip. The foundation is being laid, the skyline is about to change, and I’ll be tracking every phase of construction, every new detail, and every milestone along the way, so you always know what’s coming next, because Duke’s Gotcha covered!

 

Hiya friends!

Oh, that sounds so exciting! Word on the street is that Twysta Limón will be starting up a residency over there with shows every weekend, and I have to say, that sounds like a pretty fabulous excuse for a trip to Starlight City. I may just have to make that happen.

Now, speaking of Starlight City, the weather over there is looking downright sizzling this week.

We’re talking blazing sunshine, very dry air, and the kind of desert heat that does not play around. Even the “cooler” days are still going to feel awfully hot, so this is definitely one of those weeks where shade, water, and a little extra patience are going to be your best friends.

So if you’re heading out for a show, a stroll, or rolling the dice, make sure to stay hydrated and do your best to beat that afternoon heat, because Starlight City is going to be absolutely baking this week.

 

The Mumph here, and this weekend Hambone and I are heading up to the Tastyville Rib Cook-Off. We’ll be posted up right next to Bertha’s booth, signing a few autographs, judging a few ribs, and in Hambone’s case, probably judging every rib within smelling distance. So if you see us out there, come say hello. Just maybe keep your plate above bulldog level.

Now, on to the diamond, where Whiskview came out swinging and never really let Oniontown get comfortable.

The Black Birds jumped on the Crushers early, putting up one in the first, three in the second, and two more in the third. That is a 6 to 0 lead before Oniontown could even get its cleats under itself. The Crushers finally punched back in the fourth with a three-run inning, and for a second there, you could feel the old Oniontown crowd trying to talk itself into a comeback.

But Kneedler kept the lid on it. He settled things down after that fourth, gave Whiskview steady innings, and never let the Crushers turn one good frame into a full-blown rally. Whiskview added one more in the sixth, and from there the Black Birds kept it clean the rest of the way.

Final score, Whiskview Black Birds 7, Oniontown Crushers 3. Winner, Whiskview. MVP, Kneedler on the mound.

My two cents, opening games are about making a statement, and Whiskview made theirs early. When you hang six runs in the first three innings, you are not asking permission to win, you are grabbing the game by the seams.

 

Hello out there…

You know I don’t enjoy being the person who darkens the room, but today’s news out of Starlight City shines a rather harsh light on a problem that has been quietly building for years.

Ever since the Shared Utility Act of 1927, every state in the Continental Concordia, and every city within them, has had the right to draw from a centralized pool of public utilities. Power, water, and other essentials are distributed under that system for a flat monthly cost shared across the board. In principle, it was a noble idea. A common grid, a common good, a common understanding that basic services should not depend entirely on geography.

But principles age. Infrastructure ages. And laws written at the dawn of the electrical era do not always survive contact with the appetite of the modern world.

Much of that shared electrical burden still traces back to the aging Glowdin Power Plant, perched on the banks of the Karipop River just outside our own hometown of Whiskview. When the Shared Utility Act was drafted, nobody could have imagined the sheer scale of modern energy consumption in a place like Starlight City, a city now built on spectacle, excess, and enough flashing light to rival a second sunrise.

Which brings us to The Cone.

Projects like that may rise in Starlight City, but the cost of keeping them glowing does not stay there. Under the current system, it spreads outward, quietly, evenly, and inconveniently, into households across Gurth. So while The Cone may be marketed as a marvel for one city, many people elsewhere may soon feel it reflected in their electric bills.

And I say many people, not all, because some cities have already chosen another path. Philly Heights, for example, opted out of the Shared Utility Act model and invested in independent wind energy. A serious choice. A forward-looking one. And, I would argue, the kind of decision that looks wiser with every oversized vanity project somebody else decides to illuminate.

If Starlight City wants to keep greenlighting energy-hungry monuments to itself, then it ought to start taking responsibility for the strain those choices place on everyone else. That means investing in its own sustainable solutions, easing the burden on the shared grid, and showing at least some interest in fairness beyond its own skyline.

Because public utilities are supposed to serve the public, not subsidize spectacle.

And that’s The Scoop.