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Hollywood writers strike declared over after boards vote to approve contract with studios

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:00 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Leaders of Hollywood’s writers union declared their nearly five-month-old strike over Tuesday after board members approved a contract agreement with studios.The governing boards of the eastern and western branches of the Writers Guild of America both voted to accept the deal, and afterward declared that the strike would be over and writers would be free to work starting at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.The writers still have to vote to ratify the contract themselves, but lifting the strike will allow them to work during that process, the Writers Guild told members in an email.Hollywood actors remain on strike with no talks yet on the horizon.A new spirit of optimism animated actors who were picketing Tuesday for the first time since writers reached their tentative deal Sunday night.“For a hot second, I really thought that this was going to go on until next year,” said Marissa Cuevas, an actor who has appeared on the TV series “Kung Fu” and “The Big Bang Theory.” “Knowing t...

Taylor Swift-themed party to be held at Gramps in Wynwood

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:00 GMT

By now, it’s become pretty obvious that we live in “The World, Taylor’s version.” And while Taylor won’t be bringing her Eras Tour to the 305 until next year, Deco found a party happening this weekend that’s putting you center-stage.If by shimmer you mean, shimmy, you’re totally into something, Miss Swift.That’s the spirit. And if you’re in the mood to shake it off, shake it off, you’re in luck.Gramps in Wynwood is getting the total Taylor Swift treatment this Saturday as Le Petite Fete’s Swiftie themed dance party returns to SoFlo.Courtney Gibson: “We love Gramps. They’re always amazing and the energy there is always so fun, so we’re so excited to be back.”This time around, the event is celebrating…Courtney Gibson: “The start of sad girl fall with ‘Tis the Damn Season.'”It’s all about the Folkmore and Evermore albums.But that doesn’t mean you’re gonna miss o...

Orioles fans honor Brooks Robinson at Camden Yards: ‘He was Baltimore baseball’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:00 GMT

Orioles fan J.T. Fauber stopped at the iconic statue of his all-time favorite player, Brooks Robinson, as he walked into Camden Yards on Tuesday. After smiling for a photo, another fan gingerly approached — his grim face and the tears in his eyes telegraphing his message: Robinson, a baseball legend uniquely beloved in Baltimore for his glove and his spirit, had just died. He was 86.Fauber, a 61-year-old Virginia resident, responded the only way he could: by recounting cherished memories of the Hall of Fame third baseman.When Fauber (who played third base, he noted) and his Little League Team won their championship one year, their reward was to visit Memorial Stadium and watch the Orioles. There, for the first time, he got to witness Robinson dive into foul territory and throw out would-be base runner at first base. Even more than Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas, Fauber recalled, Robinson was his favorite athlete growing up.Decades later, Fauber got Robinson’s ...

Boston councilors blast Wu administration for skipping Mass and Cass hearing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:00 GMT

Four city councilors seeking a state of emergency declaration in the Mass and Cass zone were incensed when the Wu administration blew off a Tuesday City Council hearing on the matter.The snub was largely shrugged off, however, by many other councilors who either left immediately after stating that they, like the mayor’s team, were prioritizing a Thursday hearing on Michelle Wu’s anti-encampment ordinance, or chose to skip out on the day’s session entirely.“I do think it’s a shame that the administration is willing to forgo this opportunity,” City Councilor Erin Murphy, who chaired the day’s committee hearing, said. “We all know it’s a tragedy and it’s, in my opinion, unprecedented in our city’s history in both its severity and its duration.”She added, “We will all be judged on how we respond to this tragedy. So far, I’m afraid, I think many would agree that the city has fallen short in its response and the lack of accountability is deeply troubling to me.”Murphy joined three other c...

With spying charges behind him, NYPD officer now fighting to be reinstated

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A suspended New York City police officer who had been accused — then later cleared — of spying for China is fighting to be reinstated, but the department wants him fired for refusing to be interrogated by the bureau of internal affairs exploring possible disciplinary action.The fate of the officer, Baimadajie Angwang, now rests with an NYPD disciplinary judge who is considering arguments made before her Tuesday.The police department argues Angwang should be fired for insubordination, saying he willfully disobeyed orders to submit himself to questioning in June. That came two months after Angwang filed a lawsuit against the city saying he was wrongfully arrested when he was taken into custody in September 2020 by authorities with guns drawn as he prepared to report for duty at his Queens precinct.The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Jan. 19 that it was dropping all spying charges against the officer, saying prosecutors had uncovered new information w...

South Korean court denies arrest warrant for opposition leader Lee in corruption allegations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:00 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean judge on Wednesday denied an arrest warrant for the country’s opposition leader on broad corruption allegations, saying there wasn’t a clear risk that he would destroy evidence.Lee Jae-myung, who awaited the decision at a detention facility where he would have been held had the judge approved his arrest, praised the court for “safeguarding constitutional order” and lamented that politics had become a “war about killing and eliminating the opponent.”He did not answer reporters’ questions about the ongoing investigation into the allegations as he left the facility, walking gingerly with a cane and escorted by leading members of his liberal Democratic Party as hundreds of supporters chanted his name.Lee, a former presidential candidate who ended a 24-day hunger strike on Saturday, attended the arrest warrant hearing at Seoul Central District Court that went on for more than nine hours on Tuesday.The hearing was set up after South Korea’s o...

Judge finds province has duty to consult First Nations on mineral tenure claims

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:00 GMT

VANCOUVER — A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has given the province 18 months to fix its mineral rights system after a court challenge by First Nations who claimed they were owed a duty to consult under the Constitution. In October 2021, the Gitxaala Nation filed a petition challenging the province’s online mineral tenure registry, which automatically granted mineral rights on its territory without consultation. The Ehattesaht First Nation filed a similar petition in June 2022, and the B.C. Supreme Court heard the cases together this spring. The court’s ruling released Tuesday says the B.C. government claimed in court that the system did not “create adverse impacts” great enough to trigger a constitutionally mandated duty to consult First Nations.The nation’s original court petition not only sought to change the system, but also wanted the court to quash specific mineral claims granted on territory where it asserts Aboriginal rights and title, whi...

Alaska man charged with threats against Florida sheriff who spoke against antisemitic activity

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:00 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska man facing murder charges in state court has now also been indicted on federal charges of cyberstalking and threatening a Florida sheriff who spoke out against antisemitic activity, authorities said Tuesday.Joshua Wahl, 31, is accused of emailing a threat to Michael Chitwood, the sheriff of Volusia County, Florida, and posting threats against Chitwood on a social media platform popular with far-right extremists, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Alaska announced.Chitwood garnered national attention in February when he spoke out against people who had distributed antisemitic flyers and who had broadcast a message supporting Adolf Hitler, the Anchorage Daily News reported. According to the indictment, Wahl allegedly emailed a threat to Chitwood in late March and began posting threats against him in April. The threats continued until at least July, the indictment states.Wahl, who is from the southwest Alaska community of Dillingham, is facing murder...

A fire at a wedding hall in northern Iraq kills at least 100 people and injures 150 more

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:00 GMT

MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — A fire at a wedding hall in northern Iraq killed at least 100 people and injured 150 others, authorities said Wednesday, warning the death toll could rise higher.The fire happened in Iraq’s Nineveh province in its Hamdaniya area, authorities said. That’s a predominantly Christian area just outside of the city of Mosul, some 335 kilometers (205 miles) northwest of the capital, Baghdad. Television footage showed charred debris inside of the wedding hall as an man shouted at firefighters.Health Ministry spokesman Saif al-Badr gave the casualty figure via the state-run Iraqi News Agency. “All efforts are being made to provide relief to those affected by the unfortunate accident,” al-Badr said.Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered an investigation into the fire and asked the country’s Interior and Health officials to provide relief, his office said in a statement online. Najim al-Jubouri, the provincial governor of Nineveh, said some of the i...

Former Speaker Paul Ryan says Republicans will lose if Donald Trump is nominee

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:00 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Former House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday that Republicans will lose the presidential election if Donald Trump is the nominee and that he expects hard-right followers of Trump to force a government shutdown within days.Ryan, who left office in 2019 and had a sometimes contentious relationship with Trump, said he hoped that another Republican nominee would gain enough momentum early next year to overtake Trump after the first primaries. Ryan represented southeastern Wisconsin in Congress for 20 years, the last four as speaker.“The party that puts the first fresh face forward wins this election,” Ryan said at an event on the University of Wisconsin campus organized by the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs.If the race is between Trump and President Joe Biden, Ryan said, “I think Biden wins.”“I think leaders should endeavor to be honest, ethical, moral people who try to set standards for themselves and lead by example across the country,&#...