Grieving family members of local aunt Laurie Shelton confirmed Monday that the 48-year-old womans unexpected death had caused a major breach in their gossip pipeline, suddenly disrupting access to the latest dirt on all their relatives. Since Aunt Laurie passed, news about how Stephanies new boyfriend cant hold down a job and updates on Uncle Jeffs gambling habit have slowed to a trickle, said Sheltons niece Arielle, mourning the loss of a woman who for years had reportedly ensured a steady stream of the juiciest tidbits about relatives layoffs, unplanned pregnancies, personal bankruptcies, and misdemeanor shoplifting charges. All the best gossip flowed through her, and now shes gone. For all I know, the twins in North Carolina could have been caught smoking pot, Grandma could be back together with Leon, and Uncle Mike could be considering a vasectomy. Its a devastating loss for the whole family. Several in the family expressed hope that, for the time being, a sufficient supply of idle chatter could be rerouted through Cousin Staci to meet their immediate needs. 