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Israel launches a ground operation in Lebanon. North Carolina residents raise questions over disaster responseNorth Carolina residents are only beginning to pick up the pieces after Helene roared through the western part of the state, causing devastating flooding and catastrophic damage. At least 49 people have died and dozens of others are missing in western North Carolina, which includes hard-hit Asheville. But some North Carolina residents are criticizing what they view as a lack of preparation for the storm. In recent weeks, Israel has launched attacks using exploding pagers and walkie talkies, unleashed heavy bombings in Lebanon and killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Persons: Vance, Tim Walz, Helene, Roy Cooper, ”, Deanne Criswell, Sara Legatski, “, Hassan Nasrallah, Read, Sen, JD Vance, Donald Trump’s, Walz, Kamala Harris ’, Vance’s, —, Biden, Harris, longshoremen, Carter, Jimmy Carter, Claudia Sheinbuam, Pete Rose, League Baseball’s, Sing, Jon, Adrian Velazquez, Gadiel del Orbe, del Orbe, — Sandra Lilley, Elizabeth Robinson Organizations: NBC, Asheville . North Carolina Gov, FEMA, Spokespeople, Reuters, AFP, Getty Israel, Lebanon's, Israel Defense Forces, Minnesota Gov, CBS, Getty, Vance’s Yale Law, Democratic Party, International Longshoremen’s Association, United States Maritime Alliance, Workers, League, Sing Sing, del, Vanderbilt University Locations: Asheville , North Carolina, Israel, Lebanon, North Carolina, Carolina, Asheville ., Asheville, Florida, Buncombe County, didn’t, Beirut, Ohio, New York, Springfield , Ohio, East Coast, Gulf Coast, Georgia, NYPD, Kentucky, Spain

Jon-Adrian Velazquez spent close to 27 years caught in the criminal justice system — nearly all of it behind bars in New York's Sing Sing prison, convicted of a murder he insisted he did not commit. Andrew Cuomo granted Velazquez executive clemency, citing his work in Sing Sing on an educational initiative by those incarcerated to combat gun violence, and he was freed after serving almost 24 years of a 25-year-to-life sentence. The results determined Velazquez's DNA was not on the key evidence. Since his release from prison, Velazquez has used his experience to become an advocate for criminal legal reform and even played himself in the 2023 drama "Sing Sing," based on an actual Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at the prison. The podcast "Letters from Sing Sing" was a finalist for a 2024 Pulitzer Prize in audio reporting and Slepian's book about the case, "The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice," was released this month.

Persons: Jon, Adrian Velazquez, Velazquez, —, Mr, Abraham Clott, Dan Slepian, Velazquez's, NBC's, Andrew Cuomo, JJ, Lester Holt, I've, Adrian, Velasquez, Maria Velazquez Velazquez, Albert Ward, Attorney Alvin Bragg, Bragg, ” Velazquez, Holt, Dan, I’d, didn't Organizations: New York, NBC, New York Gov, NBC News, Attorney, Justice Locations: Manhattan, New, New York City, Sing, Harlem, attorney's, reinvestigations

☆ How Tennessee artist Aaron Lee Tasjan is using music to combat hate
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-19 | by ( Randi Kaye | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Tasjan regrets not standing up for him at the time, fearing he would be ostracized by association. “It just feels very instinctual to me, to just fall in love with people.”Aaron Lee Tasjan in 2018 in San Francisco, California. Tim Mosenfelder/Getty ImagesAs an artist and an advocate, Tasjan has his work cut out for him. He lives in Nashville Tennessee, a state that in recent years has passed numerous pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation with more proposed. His LGBTQ-advocacy work in Tennessee, along with his music, is part of that.

Persons: CNN — Long, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Lady Gaga, Jack White, ” Tasjan, CNN’s Randi Kaye, Rufus Wainwright, ”, Tasjan, “, ” Aaron Lee Tasjan, Tim Mosenfelder, …, Bob Dylan, Childish Gambino, Chappell Roan Organizations: CNN, Midwest, Human Rights Locations: Albany Ohio, San Francisco , California, Nashville Tennessee, Tennessee

☆ Summer movie preview 2024: Sequels, some superheroes and more sequels are upon us
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Dan Heching | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +19 min

‘Summer Camp’ (May 31)Kathy Bates, Diane Keaton and Alfre Woodard in "Summer Camp." The movie, costarring Vanessa Hudgens, follows 2020’s “Bad Boys for Life” (it seems that title’s promise didn’t quite stick). The film looks dutifully creepy, and stars the talented Dakota Fanning (“Ripley”) as an artist who finds herself in a strange forest in Ireland. ‘Cuckoo’ (August 2)Hunter Schafer in “Cuckoo.” NEONStarring “Euphoria’s” Hunter Schafer in her first lead film role, this horror film looks positively creepy and a bit, well, cuckoo. ‘Blink Twice’ (August 23)A scene from “Blink Twice.” MGMJam packed with a starry cast, “Blink Twice” looks like a perfect late summer movie – attractive people, elaborate action sequences, and mindless mayhem.

Persons: Tom Burke, Anya Taylor, Joy, “, Max, ” Jasin Boland, Warner Bros . Pictures George Miller’s, Mad Max, Max Saga ”, Charlize Theron, ’, Furiosa, Chris Hemsworth, ‘, Garfield, Chris Pratt, Mario, “ Garfield, ”, Pratt, Samuel L, Jackson, Ving Rhames, Nicholas Hoult, Ted Lasso’s ” Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein, Cecily Strong, Bowen Yang, ‘ Ezra ’, Robert DeNiro, Boby Cannavale, William A, Fitzgerald, “ Ezra, ” Wayferer, Robert De Niro, Bobby Cannavale, Rose Byrne, Whoopi Goldberg, Vera Farmiga, Tony Goldwyn, Ezra, Lokiz, Kathy Bates, Diane Keaton, Alfre Woodard, Quantrell Colbert, Eugene Levy, ” Keaton, Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Frank Masi, Sony Pictures Will Smith, costarring Vanessa Hudgens, Georgina Campbell, Dakota Fanning, “ Ripley, Franka Potente, Tom Tykwer, “ Lola ”, –, Marks, Lola, Pixar’s Oscar, Riley, Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, Stephen Fry, Lena Dunham, “ Wilde, Hong Chau, Jesse Plemons, Atsushi Nishijima, Oscar, Emma Stone, Yorgos Lanthimos, ” costarring Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou, Hunter Schafer, Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Kyle Kaplan, Elvis, Butler, Costarring Tom Hardy, ‘ Thelma ’, Squibb, Fred Hechinger, Thelma, “ Thelma ”, Lupita, Gareth Gatrell, John Krasinski’s, Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Hounsou, Jamie Campbell Bower, Kevin Costner, Richard Foreman, Warner, ” Kevin Costner, Steve Carell’s, Well Ferrell, Mia Goth, Halsey, ” Justin Lubin, MaXXXine ”, Pearl ”, Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Monaghan, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, Kevin Bacon, Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Dan McFadden, maven, Woody Harrelson costars, Longlegs ’, Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Daisy Edgar, Jones, Anthony Ramos, Glen Powell, Melinda Sue Gordon, Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, ‘ Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Wolverine, Logan, Deadpool, Dìdi ’, Izaac Wang, “ Didi, ‘ Harold, Rel Howery, Benjamin Bottani, Zachary Levi, Harold, Hopper Stone, Crockett Johnson, “ Harold ”, “ Euphoria’s ” Hunter Schafer, Schafer, Dan Stevens, David “, ” Giraudy, Sean San José, Colman Domingo, “ Rustin, ” Colman Domingo, Domingo, ‘ Kneecap ’, ” Curzon, that’s, Michael Fassbender, Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Sabrina Lantos, hasn’t, Taylor Swift, Justin Baldoni, Blake Lively, Nicole Rivelli, Colleen Hoover, Costarring Justin Baldoni, Jenny Slate, Hasan Minhaj, Cate Blanchett, Ariana Greenblatt, Kevin Hart, Florian Munteanu, Jamie Lee Curtis, they’re, “ Barbie, Romulus ’, David Jonsson, Andy, Romulus, Fede Alvarez, Priscilla ”, Spaeny –, Sigourney Weaver, Elliot Page, ” Elliot Page, Sam, Costarring Hillary Baack, Wendy Crewson, Channing Tatum’s, Naomi Ackie, Alia Shawkat, Kyle MacLachlan, Christian Slater, Haley Joel Osment, Geena Davis, Zoë Kravitz, Bill Skarsgard, Larry Horricks, Brandon Lee, James O’Barr, soulmate Shelly, Casey Affleck, Laurence Fishburne, Bleecker, Bleecker Street Laurence Fishburne, Saturn, ‘ Reagan ’, Dennis Quaid, Reagan, Rawhide Pictures Dennis Quaid, Ronald Reagan, Penelope Ann Miller, Nancy Reagan Organizations: CNN, Labor, Warner Bros . Pictures, Fury, Garfield, Mario Bros, Academy, ”, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, Apple, Pixar, Searchlight, Magnolia Pictures, Squibb, “ Nebraska, Paramount Pictures, “, Sony, FBI, Lambs, Universal Pictures, Marvel, Century Fox, Disney, Columbia, Sundance, Warner Bros ., Lionsgate, Galaxy, Oscar, MGM, Bleecker Street, Rawhide Pictures Locations: Hollywood, New York City, Ireland, Berlin, “, Poland, Hong, 60s Chicago, “ MaXXXine, “ Longlegs, New York State, ‘, United States

☆ Eurovision is back, but will Baby Lasagne or Nemo triumph? Your complete guide
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Rob Picheta | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

“People are like ‘OK, Sweden is the spiritual home of Eurovision’ – I see Eurovision as this moving entity,” she tells CNN. “The whole product, ABBA, is a vibe, isn’t it?”ABBA sing "Waterloo" at Eurovision 50 years ago. But ABBA are the past; Baby Lasagne, Windows95Man and Nemo – a person, not a fish – are very much the present. This year’s slim favorite is Baby Lasagne, whose arena-pounding anthem “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” describes a brain drain affecting Croatian towns. He credits his fiancée with helping him launch his career – “She’s the lasagne, and I’m just the baby,” he tells CNN.

Persons: Paul Anka, Abba –, Loreen, –, “, Loreen –, they’ve, ” Loreen, Olle Lindeborg, Lasagne, Nemo, Sarah Bonnici, aga, you’d, Music ”, Dominic Lipinski, Marcus, Martinus, ”, – “, I’m, Switzerland’s Nemo, ” Nemo, ” Joost Klein's, Jens Büttner, Joost Klein, Teemu Keisteri, he’s, Windows95Man, it’s, Belgium’s Mustii, Bonnie Tyler’s, Sanjin, Marina Satti, Hera Bjork, ” Saba, Slimane, who’s, ” Poland’s Luna, Jeff Spicer, ” we’re, Luna “, doesn’t, we’re, ” Portugal’s, … “, Alyona Alyona, Jerry Heil, Jens Bittner, ” Joost Klein, bro, airdropped, Angelina, Greta Thunberg, Eden Golan, audibly, they’ll, oddballs gunning Organizations: CNN, Waterloo, Malmo, Eurovision, Getty, Pulitzer, aga … aaa, aaa, United, Music, MAG, San, ” “ Hurricanes, Israel, European Broadcasting Union Locations: Sweden, AFP, Malmo, Europe, Armenia, wail, Gaza, Israel

☆ Michael Stipe Is Writing His Next Act. Slowly.
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-03 | by ( Jon Mooallem | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

entered its epoch of megasuccess, beginning with the explosion of “Losing My Religion” in 1991, Stipe had learned to manage his limitations. posted a video online in which Stipe read a stilted press release. When Rolling Stone asked if he planned to make a solo album, he answered, “It’s unfathomable to me right now.”“I just folded my hands and sat for a while,” Stipe told me. Around 2015, Stipe stepped in to produce a record that his friends in the band Fischerspooner were struggling to finish. In 2019, Stipe started sporadically releasing singles, four of them over the course of five years, all to benefit climate groups.

Persons: Stipe, R.E.M, “, ”, Rolling Stone, ” “, ” Stipe, Aaron Dessner, ” That’s, ’ Organizations: Red

NEW YORK (AP) — Colman Domingo has a commanding physical presence, an expressive face and soulful eyes. His performance in George C. Wolfe's “Rustin" — Domingo's first time atop the call sheet — has made the 53-year-old journeyman actor a favorite for a best actor Oscar nomination. Though celebrated — Colman shared in an Obie award for ensemble — once the play closed, Domingo found himself bartending again. “I would be talking with Mark Rickler the production designer, ‘Oh, Colman could do that.’ Part of my brain would go, ‘Oh, Colman could do that,’' recalls Wolfe. “And she clutches her heart and says, ‘Oh, Colman.’ And then we started hiking again.”___Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

Persons: — Colman Domingo, Bravo’s “ Zola, Bayard Rustin, “ Rustin, ”, Steven Spielberg’s “, Domingo, isn’t, ” Domingo, “, There’s, George C, Wolfe's “ Rustin, —, Oscar, It’s, I’ve, “ Rustin ”, Michelle Obama, Domingo’s, he’s, wasn’t, I’m, Blitz Bazawule, “ Colman, Bogart, Daniel, Colman, Rustin, Martin Luther King Jr, Rachelle Horowitz, ‘, ’ ” Domingo, — Colman, bartending, Donna Summer, Oprah Winfrey, Oprah, Tony, Victor Strand, Barry Jenkins, Beale, “ Zola ”, ‘ Zola, ’, Janicza Bravo, ’ Wolfe, “ Ma, Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Cutler, Mark Rickler, ‘ Oh, Oh, Wolfe, Winfrey, Ava DuVernay’s, “ Selma ”, Jake Coyle Organizations: Productions, Temple University, Netflix, Public Theater, Broadway, Scottsboro Boys, Bravo, Hollywood Locations: “, Steven Spielberg’s “ Lincoln, Philadelphia, wasn’t, Washington, Manhattan, Central, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Domingo, Hawaii

NEW YORK (AP) — Sister Helen Prejean remembered when she first spoke with Jake Heggie about adapting her book “Dead Man Walking.”“I don’t know boo-scat about opera,” she told him. It’s established in a lot of these abolitionist countries that there is no death penalty — the government, we don’t kill people for their crimes. The Met and Carnegie Hall plan to present excerpts at Sing Sing on Sept. 28 with DiDonato, Sister Helen as the narrator and inmates as the chorus. There have been 1,575 executions in the U.S. since the Supreme Court allowed the death penalty to be reinstated in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Twenty-four states have death penalty laws, 23 do not and three have governor-imposed moratoriums, the center said.

Persons: Helen Prejean, Jake Heggie, ”, “, you’re, Tony, Olivier, Ivo van Hove, Joyce DiDonato, Helen, ” Heggie, it’s, It’s, ” Prejean, Saint Joseph of Medaille, Prejean, Jason Epstein, Knopf Doubleday, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Heggie, Frederica von Stade, Lotfi Mansouri, Terrence McNally, Mansouri, ” McNally, ” “ Sondheim, Stephen Sondheim's, Robbins, McNally, Joe Mantello, Susan Graham, von, ” Joshua Kosman, ” DiDonato, DiDonato, “ I’ve, ” Von Hove, Graham, de, I’ve Organizations: Metropolitan Opera, Knopf, UCLA, UCLA's Center, Art, Cal, San Francisco Opera, Opera House, von Stade, San Francisco Chronicle, New York City Opera, Houston, City Opera, Sing, Illinois Youth Center, Carnegie Hall Locations: New Orleans, New York, New, Madrid, Francisco’s, Ossining , New York, Chicago, U.S

☆ George Santos's elaborate lies has seen the Congressman compared with a 19th-century huckster. History bears that out.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Allegra Rosenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

My obsession is summed up pretty well by a tweet from @blagojevism: "George Santos is essentially a 19th-century character. Media depicting these characters found inspiration from real life: in a time before digital records and facial recognition, opportunity was everywhere. George Santos's brand of full-throated scammery is particularly American, something that belongs to this country as much as Abraham Lincoln and apple pie. The phrase "and if you believe that, I've got a bridge to sell you" comes from his legendary real-life method. But Santos, so far, has avoided jail time, giving him at least one leg up over the Yellow Kid.

☆ Singapore minister says country won't take sides as there's no win-win scenario in fractured world
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Su-Lin Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

"Global businesses have a voice and need to make their voice heard, that you prefer an integrated world, and not a fragmented world," Singapore's Education Minister Chan Chun Sing (pictured here in 2019) said. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images"It's important to remember that a more interdependent world is a safer world. He cited Russia's war in Ukraine and the World Trade Organization dispute settlement crisis as some of the cracks in the system. "Global businesses have a voice and need to make their voice heard, that you prefer an integrated world, and not a fragmented world," Chan said. "World trade as a percent of GDP had in the past been going up very fast, which contributed to the very low rate of inflation.

☆ Made Men: A photo tour of the most notorious sites of New York Mafia history – and what they look like now
▼ + stars: | 2021-07-23 | by ( Andrew Lichtenstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +25 min

Andrew Lichtenstein for InsiderManhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, on the western edge of Midtown, got its name from its crowded tenements. On March, 13, 2019, Gambino family crime boss Frankie Cali was shot dead in the driveway outside his Todt Hill home. Andrew Lichtenstein for InsiderThe service road to the Belt Parkway runs through the northern edge of the Brighton Beach neighborhood. John Gotti's Family Home, Howard Beach, QueensThe home where John Gotti, the leader of the Gambino crime family. It's here that John Gotti, the leader of the Gambino crime family and thus the 'Godfather' of the American mafia, lived and raised his family.

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