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☆ North Dakota weighs ban of 'sexually explicit' library books
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Books containing “sexually explicit” content — including depictions of sexual or gender identity — would be banned from North Dakota public libraries under legislation that state lawmakers began considering Tuesday. Though supporters of North Dakota’s bill repeatedly called the sexual content “obscene,” opponents said the material in question is not actually considered legally obscene. Library Director Christine Kujawa at Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library said the library has a book with two little hamsters on the cover. Bills to restrict mature content in school libraries became laws last year in Tennessee, Utah, Missouri, Florida and Oklahoma. The investigation followed a complaint by the ACLU and appeared to be the first based on a nationwide movement to ban school library books dealing with sexuality and gender.

☆ Fact Check-Coronavirus does not translate to ‘heart attack virus’ in Latin
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Despite the Google translation for “cor ona virus” from Latin to English showing up as “heart attack virus,” language experts consulted by Reuters said this is not an accurate translation of the three words (cor, ona, and virus). While entering these words with this spacing into Google Translate does result in the words “heart attack virus” (bit.ly/3QF10bC), experts told Reuters this is not an accurate translation into Latin. The Latin word “corona,” however, is “actually a borrowing from Greek and has nothing to do with Latin cor, cordis ‘heart’,” he added. Experts told Reuters that “coronavirus” in Latin does not translate to “heart attack virus,” despite a Google Translate query shared on social media. The term is formed by two Latin words, “corona” and “virus” and the etymology stems from the virus’s physical appearance.

☆ Davos 2023: What you need to know about the WEF on Monday
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 16 (Reuters) - The World Economic Forum (WEF) returned to Davos for its first winter session in three years with high expectations. Soccer club Manchester United set out a dazzling shop front on the Davos high street, but insisted its lounge was to entertain clients and partners rather than to attract buyers. United's executive co-chairman Avram Glazer, a Davos regular, is expected to arrive later this week. Idris and Sabrina Elba are one of the recipients of this year’s prestigious Crystal Awards. "We are here at Davos to highlight the people and countries who are not making the headlines as much as my husband," said Sabrina Dhowre Elba, looking at her partner.

☆ Pioneering U.S. television journalist Barbara Walters dead at 93
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Bill Trott | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/2] Television personality Barbara Walters arrives for the premiere of the film "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" in New York September 20, 2010. "I asked Yeltsin if he drank too much, and I asked Putin if he killed anybody," Walters told the New York Times in 2013. "These two men were really quite brutal to me and it was not pleasant," Walters told the San Francisco Examiner. The New York Times called her "arguably America's best-known television personality" but also observed that "what we remember most about a Barbara Walters interview is Barbara Walters." Walters' three marriages - to businessman Robert Katz, theatrical producer Lee Guber and television executive Merv Adelson - ended in divorce.

CNN —Barbara Walters, the pioneering TV journalist whose interviewing skills made her one of the most prominent figures in broadcasting, has died, her spokesperson confirmed to CNN. She was a trailblazer not only for female journalists but for all women,” Walters’ spokesperson Cindi Berger told CNN in a statement. At that network, Walters launched “The Barbara Walters Specials” and “10 Most Fascinating People” before becoming a co-host and correspondent for ABC News’ “20/20” in 1984. Barbara Walters sits on the set of NBC's "Today" show in New York on April 23, 1976. Barbara Walters is seen at a news conference on September 30, 1976, in New York.

☆ Pat Boone Is the Last of the Hollywood Squares
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Matthew Hennessey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HollywoodIf you’re under 50, you may not recognize the name Pat Boone . Consider this: For most of the latter half of the 20th century, there wasn’t a person in America who didn’t know who Mr. Boone was and what he stood for. He was the All-American; the kid in the white buck shoes; the clean-cut alternative to early rock-’n’-rollers like Elvis Presley , Little Richard and Chuck Berry; the star of a dozen Hollywood movies, none of which contained anything resembling profanity, social subversion or a love scene. Life magazine put Mr. Boone on its cover in February 1959, dubbing him “The Million-Dollar Idol of U.S. Teen-Agers.”

☆ Secret 9/11 memo reveals Bush rewriting the history of the 9/11 attacks and the warnings he'd tuned out
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

The ten members of the 9/11 Commission got to ask him and Vice President Dick Cheney any question they wanted about the September 11th attacks. What the new memo makes clear is that the White House's lack of urgency in facing down the domestic Al Qaeda threat wasn't all that complicated. Fortunately for Bush, the 9/11 Commission Report was careful not to point the finger directly at the sitting president. Still, when set beside the newly declassified memo, their official version of history as described by the 9/11 Commission Report feels incomplete, and sanitized. On the question of whether Al Qaeda came up during the August 17 briefing, Morell said he did not remember.

☆ An Agatha Christie play that's been running in London's West End for 70 years is finally coming to Broadway
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Stephanie Stacey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

After 70 years in the West End, The Mousetrap will finally open in New York next year. The Mousetrap's Broadway transfer was announced on Friday to mark the play's 70th anniversary. When it first opened in London, Christie and the original producer agreed that the show would not transfer to Broadway. Spiegel said: "After the longest out-of-town try-out in history, The Mousetrap is finally ready to transfer to Broadway." In her autobiography, Christie recounts a conversation she had with Peter Saunders, the play's original producer, on its opening night in the West End.

☆ More than 100 people rescued from overloaded sailboat before it hit sandbar in Florida Keys, Coast Guard says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Chantal Da Silva | Chantal Da Silva Is A Breaking News Editor For Nbc News Digital Based In London. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

More than 100 people were rescued from an overloaded sailboat before it hit a sandbar in the Florida Keys on Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard said. A good Samaritan reported the vessel to Key West watch standers at around 5 a.m. local time, the Coast Guard’s 7th District tweeted. They encountered “6-10 ft seas, 25 mph winds to safely remove the people from the vessel,” the Coast Guard said. Initially, the Coast Guard said 22 people were rescued from the overloaded sailboat. Coast Guard Cutter Pablo Valent’s crew rescued nine people and recovered one body, while on Sunday and Monday, crews recovered five bodies, the Coast Guard's 7th District said in a news release.

☆ Late Zappos founder Tony Hsieh said he believed he was 'crystallizing' and part of 'a simulation' in month before death, court documents reveal
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Bethany Biron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Court documents filed this week provide more insight into the final weeks of the life of Zappos founder Tony Hsieh. According to the documents, the month before his death, Hsieh, who was 46 at the time, was taken to the hospital after he said he believed he was "crystallizing." The documents, which also noted that Hsieh had begun chewing on cigarettes as his health declined, state that Hsieh first began using ketamine in November 2019 before openly experimenting with nitrous oxide, KTNV reported. Per KTNV, Andrew Hsieh was offered a $1 million salary to care for his brother. According to the filings, Andrew Hsieh also requested that "vitamins and protein supplements" be added to his brother's food, as he was becoming increasingly emaciated, KTNV reported.

A California couple who fled the country after being convicted in a multimillion-dollar Covid relief scam have been extradited from Montenegro, the Justice Department said Friday. They are expected to appear at the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Friday afternoon. They were among eight members of a California crime ring convicted of stealing more than $18 million in Covid relief loans. Following their conviction in June 2021, the couple cut off their ankle monitoring bracelets and fled their home, leaving behind their three children. It wasn’t immediately clear what led to the couple’s extradition, but the Justice Department said in a press release that the government of Montenegro provided significant assistance.

☆ How Patti Smith Found the Dark Side of ‘You Light Up My Life’
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( Rich Cohen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

The tune had been written by ad man Joseph Brooks for the soundtrack of Brooks’s self-produced, self-directed film of the same name. Brooks made an inspired choice in Boone. She was young (21), pretty in a generic West Coast sort of way, operatic and the inheritor of a great schlock tradition. Her father Pat Boone’s cover versions of R&B hits by Fats Domino and Little Richard are what people really mean when they denounce cultural appropriation. Pat Boone singing Little Richard is a crime.

☆ Massachusetts voters approve 'millionaire tax.' What it means for the wealthy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Kate Dore | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

If you make more than $1 million a year in Massachusetts, you may soon be subject to a "millionaire tax" approved by voters this week through a ballot initiative. The new law creates a 4% tax on annual income above $1 million, on top of the state's current 5% flat income tax, aiming to fund public education, roads, bridges and public transportation. It's expected the levy will affect roughly 0.6% of Massachusetts households, according to an analysis from the Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University. However, California voters rejected a similar tax, aiming to pay for zero-emissions vehicle programs and wildfire response and prevention. "It's very state-specific," Auxier said, explaining how the tax ballot initiatives may hinge on funding priorities, current state tax structure and other factors.

☆ Voters in one of the most competitive House races in the country sound off on abortion, inflation, January 6, and 2024
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

One of this year's most competitive House races is in Virginia's 7th district, just southwest of DC. Some GOP voters insisted Trump won the 2020 election, while Democrats said they want younger leaders. Martin Cevala, a construction superintendent, thinks Trump won the 2020 election. Jill and James Sherk want a full ban on abortion with no exceptions except for the life of the mother. She said she voted for Trump with her "nose held" and that she doesn't know whether he won the 2020 election.

☆ 'Millionaire tax' plans are on the ballot in California and Massachusetts. Here's what that means for taxpayers
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Kate Dore | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Whether voters support higher income taxes or not, revenue plans often affect the results on Election Day, experts say. "And we've seen them embrace income tax changes that would affect many." "Massachusetts has been talking about creating a progressive tax rate for a long time," said Richard Auxier, senior policy associate at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, noting the current flat income tax is 5% regardless of income. "Part of this is they want that ability to shift some of the overall state's tax burden up the ladder," he said. By contrast, California has a graduated state income tax system, with a top rate of 13.3% for individuals making over $1 million per year.

☆ Jerry Lee Lewis, rock ’n’ roll pioneer who sang ‘Great Balls of Fire,’ dies at 87
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Brandon Griggs | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

And I’ve been on one all my life,” Lewis said in “Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story,” a 2014 biography by Rick Bragg. Jerry Lee Lewis performs on stage at the Country Music Festival held at Wembley Arena, London in April 1982. In 1989 “Great Balls of Fire!”, a biopic starring Dennis Quaid as Lewis, brought new attention to Lewis’ life and music. Jerry Lee Lewis speaks at the Country Music Hall of Fame 2022 inductees presented by CMA at Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on May 17, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. Well, forget about it, let me hear that song.’”Lewis is survived by his wife, Judith Coghlan Lewis, his children Jerry Lee Lewis III, Ronnie Lewis, Pheobe Lewis and Lori Lancaster, sister Linda Gail Lewis, cousin Swaggart and many grandchildren, nieces and nephews, according to his representative’s statement.

☆ $14 billion Schonfeld is launching a new credit unit as the hedge fund continues its growth tear
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Alyson Velati | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

$14 billion Schonfeld Strategic Advisors has rolled out a credit unit within its new macro trading business that launched earlier this year. Silverman and Aubrey joined in July and August, respectively, following Anchorage shutting its $7.4 billion hedge fund last December. The expanding credit business is part of Schonfeld's recent growth tear. In January, the firm is rolling out long/short credit strategies across the credit quality spectrum in the US and plans to add APAC and EMEA strategies over time. The HFRI Asset Weighted Index gained 1.1% for September, increasing the year-to-date return to 3.8%, according to Hedge Fund Research data.

☆ A court just ruled that CFPB's funding is unconstitutional, and that could be 'catastrophic' for mortgage markets
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Stephanie Dhue | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Mortgage rules at riskIf the agency's legal authority is undermined, it could have a profound affect on home lending markets — an industry that's prone to disruption when laws are murky, especially as interest rates rise. That extended the potential damages to the Wall Street banks as well as mortgage investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Appeal likelyIf the Fifth Circuit decision is upheld, it could call into question those long-standing mortgage rules. "The loss of the CFPB mortgage regulations and the effect on the market would catastrophic," said Andreano. "Potential changes in how the CFPB are funded aren't likely to have an immediate effect on the mortgage market."

General view of Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal in Saudi Arabia May 21, 2018. JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs made nearly $77 million and $42 million respectively in investment banking fees in Saudi Arabia last year, Refinitiv data showed. "For the most part, I do not see U.S. companies actively avoiding Saudi Arabia due to recent political tensions," said Adel Hamaizia, managing director at Highbridge Advisory and a visiting fellow at Harvard University. FDI FLATForeign direct investment still lags behind targets, though there has been movement in new sectors as the kingdom opens up. As Boeing netted an $80 million defence contract last year, Fedex announced a $400 million 10-year investment plan in the country, the Arab world's biggest economy.

☆ Joanna Simon, acclaimed singer, TV correspondent, dies at 85
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK — Joanna Simon, an acclaimed mezzo-soprano, Emmy-winning TV correspondent and one of the three singing Simon sisters who include pop star Carly, has died at age 85. Simon, the eldest of four, died Wednesday, just a day before her sister Lucy died, according to Lucy’s daughter, Julie Simon. Joanna Simon, who died of thyroid cancer, rose to fame in the opera world and as a concert performer in the 1960s. “I am filled with sorrow to speak about the passing of Joanna and Lucy Simon. “I have no words to explain the feeling of suddenly being the only remaining direct offspring of Richard and Andrea Simon,” Carly Simon said.

CNN —Singer Carly Simon paid tribute to her two sisters, Joanna and Lucy, who died just a day apart of each other this week, both from cancer. Joanna Simon, 85, died of thyroid cancer on Wednesday and Lucy Simon, 82, died of metastatic breast cancer Thursday, Simon’s manager, Larry Ciancia, confirmed to CNN. “I am filled with sorrow to speak about the passing of Joanna and Lucy Simon. Joanna Simon was an opera singer and Lucy Simon was a performer and composer who was nominated for a Tony Award for the score of the “The Secret Garden” musical. “As sad as this day is, it’s impossible to mourn them without celebrating their incredible lives that they lived,” Simon said.

☆ Donald Trump subpoena by Jan. 6 committee doesn't mean he'll testify
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Richard A. Serafini | Is A Criminal Defense Attorney | Former Senior Trial Attorney For The Justice Department S Criminal Division. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Near the conclusion of Thursday’s U.S. House hearing into the events of Jan. 6, 2021, the committee voted unanimously to subpoena former President Donald Trump. In a letter Friday morning to the committee, Trump didn’t say whether he planned to comply in this case. The Jan. 6 committee is a select committee, not a standing committee or subcommittee of the House. When it comes to the Jan. 6 committee specifically, Trump has pushed former aides from his inner circle to take his approach. Even when the Justice Department does act, that doesn’t always guarantee the result.

☆ Art Laboe, beloved California DJ who popularized ‘oldies but goodies,’ dies at 97
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Scottie Andrew | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Laboe died on Friday after a short bout of pneumonia, his spokesperson Joanna Morones confirmed to CNN. Laboe helped desegregate Southern CaliforniaLaboe, born Arthur Egnoian, started DJing in 1943 as a teenager, he said in an interview with the Orange County Register. Most recently, he hosted “The Art Laboe Connection” on station KDAY. In September, the 79th anniversary of Laboe’s radio debut, the nonprofit station dublab flipped the script on Laboe and sent dedications to him. Over an hour and a half, fans called in to give Laboe songs (and kisses): One requested “18 With a Bullet” because Laboe played it for her when she turned 18.

☆ Exclusive: Russia aiming to fly solo without Airbus and Boeing
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Gleb Stolyarov | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

"Foreign aircraft will drop out of the fleet," Rostec said in a written response to Reuters questions about its plans and the situation in Russia's aviation industry. "We believe that this process is irreversible and Boeing and Airbus planes will never be delivered to Russia," it said. Russian airlines, including Aeroflot, splurged on Boeing and Airbus aircraft as they sought to rebuild their fleets after the chaos of the 1990s. The MS-21 has been Russia's attempt to break into the main part of the jet market dominated by Airbus and Boeing. Then we will install PD-8 engines on this type of aircraft," Rostec said.

☆ Man United set financial goals for year after quarterly loss narrows
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Net debt, a bone of contention for the fan base, grew nearly 23% to 514.9 million pounds, hurt by a weaker sterling. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe 20-time English champions have seen several changes this year, including welcoming CEO Richard Arnold, who effectively replaced Executive Vice-chairman Ed Woodward. The club forecast total revenue for the 2022-23 period to be between 580 million and 600 million pounds and is targeting adjusted core profit between 100 million to 110 million pounds. The English Premier League soccer club reported a net loss of 70.7 million pounds for the three months to June 30, compared with a loss of 107.7 million pounds a year earlier. ($1 = 0.8855 pounds)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Yadarisa Shabong and Chris Peters in Bengaluru Editing by Keith Weir and Toby ChopraOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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