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Review: Wright is brilliant in smart, funny ‘American Fiction’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:36 GMT

By Lindsay Bahr | Associated PressJeffrey Wright’s Thelonious “Monk” Ellison is at the end of his rope at the beginning of ” American Fiction, ” a crowd-pleaser that’s both funny and smart in its satire of race, media, artists, identity politics and even Hollywood. It opens in theaters this week.A classic frustrated artist, Monk is a professor and an author who writes literary stories that he wants to see in the world. He’s not interested in race, or at least the kind of “Black misery porn” stories that seem to be omnipresent, whether it’s in the Black history month advertisement on television with images of addicts and slaves, or at a book convention.The latest hit that has him fuming is a book called “We’s Lives In Da Ghetto,” written by a comfortably upper middle class Black woman (Issa Rae) who gives interviews about how dismayed she was in her post-college job at a literary agency that she didn’...

CDC sounds alarm about low vaccination rates amid rising respiratory virus activity

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:36 GMT

By Deidre McPhillips | CNNThe US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is an “urgent need” to boost vaccination coverage amid increasing levels of respiratory disease.“Low vaccination rates, coupled with ongoing increases in national and international respiratory disease activity caused by multiple pathogens, including influenza viruses, SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19), and RSV, could lead to more severe disease and increased healthcare capacity strain in the coming weeks,” the agency wrote in a Health Alert Network advisory Thursday. “In addition, a recent increase in cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) following SARS-CoV-2 infection in the United States has been reported.”RELATED: California is on pace to have fewest annual deaths in four years, from all causesAbout 7 million fewer adults have gotten their flu shot so far this season compared with the last virus season. Overall, uptake is about 36% for both adults and children...

Abcarian: Cheney’s tell-all book shows GOP losing its principles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:36 GMT

You don’t read a book like former Wyoming U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney’s tell-all looking for literary pearls.You read it to find out what was going on behind the scenes in Congress after the 2020 election, as Donald Trump’s Republican sycophants and enablers schemed with him to overturn the results of a legitimate U.S. election. You read it to remember just how feckless Trump was when he was in power, and to remind yourself exactly what he is capable of should the nightmare of a second Trump term come to pass.Oh, and of course you read it because who could ever tire of revelations about former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s spinelessness and treachery? God, what a snake. No, strike that. Snakes actually have spines.After forcefully blaming Trump for Jan. 6, McCarthy went to Mar-a-Lago to suck up to the former president, Cheney writes in “Oath and Honor,” because he needed money. Nearly every major corporate donor had threatened to withdraw support from R...

Andre Braugher diagnosed with lung cancer months before death

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:36 GMT

By Alli Rosenbloom | CNNEmmy-winning actor Andre Braugher, who died earlier this week at age 61, had been diagnosed with lung cancer a few months prior to his death, his publicist Jennifer Allen told CNN on Thursday.The news was first reported by the New York Times.Allen stated at the time Braugher’s death was announced on Monday that he had suffered a “brief illness” and specified on Thursday it was lung cancer.Known for his Emmy-winning role on “Homicide: Life on the Street” and for his comedic chops in NBC’s “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” Braugher was a beloved actor known to many.Following his stunning debut as a soldier in the 1989 war-era film “Glory,” Braugher amassed dozens of film and TV credits throughout his career.Braugher earned a second Emmy in 2006 for the FX miniseries “Thief,” amassing 11 nominations overall.Related ArticlesTV Streaming | Jury in Jonathan Majors assault trial to begin deliberations TV Streaming | Ivanka Trump appears with ‘pa...

Former Facebook executive pleads guilty to stealing $4 million from company

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:36 GMT

By Olivia LaBorde | CNNAn Atlanta woman pleaded guilty to stealing more than $4 million from Facebook while she was an executive at the company.Barbara Furlow-Smiles attends the 2020 Sisters’ Awards at Skirball Cultural Center in March 2020 in Los Angeles, California.(Robin L Marshall/Getty Images) Barbara Furlow-Smiles who worked as a lead strategist, global head of employee resource groups and diversity engagement at Facebook, Inc., now known as Meta, from about January 2017 to September 2021 according to U.S. Attorney Northern District of Georgia Ryan K. Buchanan’s Office.“This defendant abused a position of trust as a global diversity executive for Facebook to defraud the company of millions of dollars, ignoring the insidious consequences of undermining the importance of her DEI mission,” said Buchanan in a statement.According to the US Attorney, Furlow-Smiles used her Facebook expense account to live a luxurious lifestyle in California and Georgia.Furlow-Smiles fraud...

Navy officer released from Japanese prison booked into California federal prison

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:36 GMT

By Jake Tapper and Jennifer Hansler | CNNUS Navy officer Lt. Ridge Alkonis, who was jailed in Japan for negligent driving that resulted in the death of two people, has been booked into a federal prison in Los Angeles following his transfer to the US, according to a family spokesperson and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.“We can confirm Ridge Alkonis is in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) Los Angeles,” a BOP spokesperson told CNN.A family spokesperson, Jonathan Franks, said in a statement that “Lt. Alkonis is now housed in a notorious federal lockup in Los Angeles, and BOP tells us it will take up to 90 days to approve Brittany and the kids to visit him. We believe the BOP can and should release Ridge immediately – it is outrageous he is spending the night in jail.”The BOP spokesperson said the bureau had nothing to add when asked by CNN when Alkonis’ family might be able to visit him.Earlier Thursday, the Alkonis family said...

Coastal Commission slams a group of Santa Cruz County homeowners with $4.7 million in penalties

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:36 GMT

SANTA CRUZ — The California Coastal Commission issued more than $4.7 million in fines Thursday against a group of beachfront homeowners in Aptos in what is the highest penalty the agency has levied in Santa Cruz County history.“I do think the penalties are a little light given the intensity of the restriction, of the violations,” said Commissioner Donne Brownsey shortly before the vote after the commissioner had spent more than two hours on the agenda item. “It’s sad, I think, that this particular area – which is (a) very beautiful beachfront – kind of looks like a crime scene now.”All five enforcement actions from the commission, a combination of cease-and-desist orders and penalties, were agreed to unanimously among its 12 voting members.The fees were handed to the Rio Del Mar Beach Island Homeowners Association and its 27 members owning a row of properties along Beach Drive as well as Gaurav Singh and Sonal Puri, who own a home at 202 Beach Drive, where the pathway in question be...

2 attacks launched from rebel-held Yemen strike container ships in vital Red Sea corridor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:36 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A ballistic missile fired from rebel-held territory in Yemen slammed into a cargo ship Friday in the Red Sea near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, following another attack only hours earlier that struck a separate vessel, authorities said. The missile attack on the MSC Palatium III and the earlier assault on the Al Jasrah escalate a maritime campaign attributed to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The attacks also endanger ships traveling through a vital corridor for cargo and energy shipments for both Europe and Asia from the Suez Canal out to the Indian Ocean.The Houthis say their attacks aim to end the pounding Israeli air-and-ground offensive targeting the Gaza Strip amid that country’s war on Hamas. However, the links to the ships targeted in the rebel assaults have grown more tenuous as the attacks continue. A U.S. defense official and the private intelligence firm Ambrey said the MSC Palatium III, a Liberian-flagged contain...

US and Israel discuss when to scale back Gaza combat but agree fight will take months, envoy says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:36 GMT

Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Friday, Dec. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)(AP/Leo Correa) Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Friday, Dec. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)(AP/Leo Correa) RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The United States agrees with Israel that the fight against Hamas will take months, but officials are discussing the timetable for scaling back from high-intensity combat to more precise ways of targeting the militant group’s leaders, a top U.S. envoy said Friday amid growing American unease about the mounting death toll in Gaza.U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan planne...

Darden Restaurants: Fiscal Q2 Earnings Snapshot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:36 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI) on Friday reported fiscal second-quarter net income of $212.1 million.On a per-share basis, the Orlando, Florida-based company said it had net income of $1.76. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs and to account for discontinued operations, came to $1.84 per share.The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.71 per share.The owner of Olive Garden and other chain restaurants posted revenue of $2.73 billion in the period, which did not meet Street forecasts. Twelve analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.74 billion.Darden Restaurants expects full-year earnings in the range of $8.75 to $8.90 per share, with revenue expected to be $11.5 billion._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on DRI at ...