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☆ Biden to host French President Macron at his first state dinner
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Peter Nicholas | Peter Nicholas Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

White House executive chef Cris Comerford gave a media preview Wednesday of the state dinner for French President Emmanuel Macron. “You need France.”Then-President Trump hosted French President Macron at a state dinner in 2018. The state dinner may be the Biden administration’s way of apologizing for an unforced error of such magnitude, Fried said. “We owed the French one after that.”A dish is previewed for the Macron state dinner. The last state dinner at the White House was in 2019.

In 2019, Martin Scorsese said that Marvel movies were “not cinema” and worried cinema was being “invaded” by them. As it happens, I’m not a fan of Marvel films either. For almost the entire history of movies, women haven’t had access to the capital required to make them. There were at least 15 women directors in the commercial film industry during that time. That’s dismal but more than twice as high as the number of female film directors of the same era.

☆ Twitter's newest sales chief Chris Riedy is relocating from Dublin to San Francisco to try to revive its ailing ad business under Elon Musk
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Chris Riedy is the latest executive to lead ad sales at Elon Musk's Twitter. He is replacing Robin Wheeler, who was let go after she refused to fire more people from a depleted ad sales team. Riedy hosted an all-hands meeting with Musk for Twitter's sales staff on Sunday. Another week under Elon's ownership, another ad sales chief at Twitter. Bloomberg also earlier reported that Musk didn't discuss the impending sales team layoffs that followed the call.

☆ Police chief in Pennsylvania 'shocked' he wasn't stiffed by Donald Trump on a bill for rally security
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Wilkes-Barre Township Police Chief Will Clark had low expectations when billed Donald Trump's political action committee. Clark's own department in Pennsylvania still has an unpaid bill for extra security at a "Make America Great Again Rally," back in 2018. Along with the Trump campaign, Clark also tried sending the bill to the Republican National Committee and Lou Barletta, the Trump-endorsed former Pennsylvania congressman who failed to oust Democratic Sen. Bob Casey in that race. To date, there's only one other known instance of late — also unexplained — where the Trump campaign paid some of the money it owed a municipal government. In this case, it was the city of La Crosse, Wisconsin, for a 2020 campaign event that then-Vice President Mike Pence headlined.

☆ Singer Roberta Flack Has ALS, Finds It ‘Impossible to Sing’
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Ginger Adams Otis | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Roberta Flack won back-to-back Grammy awards for record of the year in 1973 and 1974. Grammy award-winning artist Roberta Flack has ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig ‘s disease, and can no longer sing, her representative said Monday. Ms. Flack, 85, had hoped to attend Thursday’s premiere of “Roberta,” a feature-length documentary about her that’s being screened at DOC NYC, an annual documentary film festival in New York.

☆ Police chief 'shocked' he wasn't stiffed by Donald Trump on a bill for rally security
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Wilkes-Barre Township Police Chief Will Clark had low expectations when billed Donald Trump's political action committee. Along with the Trump campaign, Clark also tried sending the bill to the Republican National Committee and Lou Barletta, the Trump-endorsed former Pennsylvania congressman who failed to oust Democratic Sen. Bob Casey in that race. The Trump campaign said in 2020 that public safety billing inquiries should go to the Secret Service. To date, there's only one other known instance of late — also unexplained — where the Trump campaign paid some of the money it owed a municipal government. In this case, it was the city of La Crosse, Wisconsin, for a 2020 campaign event that then-Vice President Mike Pence headlined.

☆ Roberta Flack has ALS, now ‘impossible to sing,’ rep says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

A representative for Roberta Flack announced Monday that the Grammy-winning musician has ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and can no longer sing. The progressive disease “has made it impossible to sing and not easy to speak,” Flack’s manager Suzanne Koga said in a release. Flack also plans to publish a children’s book co-written with Tonya Bolden, “The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music,” that month. Flack had a stroke in 2016 and spoke to The Associated Press a little over two years later about returning to performing. “I could sing any number of songs that I’ve recorded through the years, easily, I could sing them, but I’m going to pick those songs that move me,” Flack said.

☆ Roberta Flack can no longer sing after ALS diagnosis
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Story Reuters | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Grammy-winning musician Roberta Flack, whose hits include “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” has been diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and can no longer sing, her representatives said on Monday. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive disease, “has made it impossible to sing and not easy to speak,” a statement from her publicists said. “But it will take a lot more than ALS to silence this icon.”A documentary about Flack’s life is set to debut at a film festival in New York next week. Flack, 85, also is releasing a children’s book in January. ALS breaks down nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that make muscles work, leading to progressive paralysis and death.

☆ Elon Musk has just given this little-known Twitter exec the toughest job in advertising right now
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Twitter executive Robin Wheeler is leading the company's global ad sales teams. But she is now de facto Twitter ad sales chief, and those who know her say she's used to navigating complex problems. Advertisers describe a sales team hampered by an information vaccuum as Musk unleashes chaos through his tweetsOne of Wheeler's biggest tasks is getting a depleted ad sales team organized and running. From AOL to Twitter, Wheeler has managed sales teams in crisis beforeWheeler has operated successfully in chaotic environments before. In 2020, she become the commercial lead for MoPub, Twitter's ad network that helped publishers and app developers sell mobile ads.

☆ John Fetterman vs. Mehmet Oz: Pennsylvania's US Senate election
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Grace Panetta | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Mehmet Oz are facing off for US Senate in Pennsylvania. Senate Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Mehmet Oz are facing off for an open US Senate seat in Pennsylvania. Oz, meanwhile, has hammered Fetterman for his policy positions and sought to tie him to Biden's low approval ratings and the economy. Oz has raised $40.4 million, spent $37.7 million, and has $2.6 million in cash on hand, as of October 19.

☆ U.S. job growth seen smallest in nearly two years in October, unemployment rate up
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Lucia Mutikani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"The labor market is basically OK, but it does seem to be slowing," said Guy Berger, principal economist at LinkedInin San Francisco. "The Fed is going to try to thread the needle where they slow down the labor market enough to put downward pressure on wages and inflation, without causing a recession." Still, the labor market remains tight, with 1.9 job openings per unemployed person at the end of September. Stripping out any distortions from the weather and calendar quirk, wage growth is cooling. "We believe we've seen wage growth peak," said Michelle Green, principal economist at Prevedere in Columbus, Ohio.

☆ Sam Shields: Super Bowl champion regrets playing in NFL; says his head is 'all mushed together' with concussions
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Ben Morse | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Former Green Bay Packers cornerback Sam Shields has said he regrets playing in the NFL, pointing to the effects concussions and head injuries had on his career and his later life. The spotters “serve as another set of eyes, watching for possible injuries at every NFL game,” according to NFL Football Operations. Concussions and their prevention have become an important issue in recent years due to their connection to brain disease later in life. The neurodegenerative brain disease can be found in individuals who have been exposed to repeated head trauma. The researchers hypothesized about a relationship between head trauma and ALS because of a similar link detected between football and the neurodegenerative disease CTE.

☆ As chaos continues with Twitter under Musk, advertiser patience is starting to wear thin
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Lindsay Rittenhouse | Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Advertisers weigh whether to pull ad spend from Twitter or stay. He plans to hold a virtual meeting with advertisers this Thursday but patience is wearing thin. But the Twitter team is in such disarray, attendees aren't clear who would be on the call to settle advertisers' nerves. A separate source said Meg Haley, Twitter VP of revenue product specialists, has been taking charge of conversations concerning advertiser partnerships in the interim. Some in the advertising community also question how committed Musk's Twitter will be to advertising in the long-term.

☆ Julia Roberts says Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King paid the hospital bill for her birth
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Ariana Brockington | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

In honor of Julia Roberts’s 55th birthday, fans are recirculating the unbelievable historical fact that connects her to Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. “The King family paid for my hospital bills.”The television personality emphasized the significance and clarified, “Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King. As Obsev reported, one of those children was the Kings’ daughter Yolanda King, who died in 2007 at the age of 51. Yolanda King was cast as the love interest of a white actor in one of the school’s productions and the two shared a kiss in a scene. Yolanda King said, “It was an extended family, it really was.

☆ Julia Roberts reveals Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King paid the hospital bill for her birth
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Lisa Respers France | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —A previously little known fact about Julia Roberts is now more widely known, thanks to social media. Roberts explained that Dr. King and his wife, Coretta Scott King, took care of the hospital expenses since her parents couldn’t pay the bill. “My parents had a theater school in Atlanta called the Actors and Writers’ Workshop,” Roberts said. That led to the Kings paying for the birth of the woman who would go on to become an international star. “They helped us out of a jam,” Julia Roberts said.

☆ Summer heat and 'flash drought' dried up the Mississippi River, choking a crucial shipping corridor. It could devastate America's agricultural exports.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Drought has driven the Mississippi River to historic low levels, choking US agricultural exports. The Mississippi River basin produces about 92% of US agricultural exports, including 60% of US grain exports, which travel down the river to the Gulf to ship across the world. Coal is in high demand right now, Calhoun said, and the low water levels present a challenge to ship it out of the country. He said higher food prices at the grocery store are just the first way consumers will start feeling the impact of low water levels. A barge tow passes under the Mississippi River bridges in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on October 11, 2022.

☆ Elon Musk closed his deal to buy Twitter, and it could cost the platform big with advertisers
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Lucia Moses | Lindsay Rittenhouse | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Elon Musk's $44 billion deal for Twitter has big implications for its advertising-driven business. Musk reportedly will eliminate lifetime bans, and advertisers were already worried Twitter would be less brand safe. This article was updated October 28 to reflect news that Musk closed a deal to buy Twitter. Just before he closed on the deal on Thursday, Musk tweeted a message to advertisers assuring them the platform wouldn't become a "free-for-all hellscape. When Musk balked on following through with the deal, that uncertainty further hurt the company's revenue, Twitter said during its second quarter.

☆ No U.S.-born Black players expected on World Series rosters
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

The Houston Astros celebrate winning the American League Championship Series to advance to the World Series at Yankee Stadium on Oct. 23. In 1979 alone, Willie Stargell and Dave Parker were among 10 Black players on the “We Are Family” Pittsburgh Pirates champions. “It’s been a story that’s been ongoing since the late 1980s, the decline of Black baseball players,” he said. Hall wasn’t on the Phillies’ roster for any of the first three rounds this postseason and isn’t expected to be on the World Series roster. Many Afro Latino players embrace Black identity, yet perhaps not for the same reasons that Black U.S. players do.

☆ Startup Parrots is using 5G to develop a bird-shaped, AI-powered machine that helps people with disabilities communicate
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Karen Fischer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Polly, a hardware and software service, helps people with disabilities live more independently. Parrots' founder is in talks with the VA to give Polly to veterans with neurological disorders. This article is part of "How 5G Is Changing Everything," a series about transformational 5G tech across industries. Hojah acknowledged that Parrots could have taken flight without 5G but said the timeline would have been much slower: "5G is expanding our growth rapidly." In 2019, Parrots won Verizon's Built on 5G Challenge, and Hojah got mentorship and technological assistance from the wireless-telecommunications giant.

☆ Fetterman Oz debate for Pennsylvania Senate seat sends message to stroke survivors
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Judith Hannah Weiss | Judith Hannah Weiss Is A Freelance Writer Whose Work Has Appeared In The Iowa Review | The Rumpus | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

John Fetterman suffered days before winning the Democratic Senate nomination in May. The stroke added a new wrinkle to a race that could determine which party takes control of the 50-50 U.S. Senate. The Oz campaign is clearly hoping that perception will hurt Fetterman. In one egregious example, Oz issued a list of “concessions” for their debate Tuesday night that many see as mocking. Benjamin Abella, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, criticized the Oz campaign for shaming a stroke survivor.

☆ Mississippi unveils Emmett Till statue near where white men kidnapped and killed Black teen decades earlier
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

“It’s beautiful to be here,” said Webster, attending the ceremony on a sunny afternoon during a visit with Mississippi relatives. In 2007, a Mississippi prosecutor presented evidence to a grand jury of Black and white Leflore County residents after investigators spent three years re-examining the killing. This year, a group searching the Leflore County Courthouse basement found an unserved 1955 arrest warrant for “Mrs. Roy Bryant.” In August, another Mississippi grand jury found insufficient evidence to indict Donham, causing consternation for Till relatives and activists. The Till statue in Greenwood will be watched by security cameras.

☆ Democrat John Fetterman and Mehmet Oz battle for an open US Senate seat in Pennsylvania
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Grace Panetta | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Mehmet Oz are facing off for US Senate in Pennsylvania. Fetterman is the state's lieutenant governor and Oz is a celebrity doctor and first-time candidate. Pennsylvania Senate candidatesFetterman and Oz are vying to succeed GOP Sen. Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, a battleground Senate race critical to both parties' fortunes in the US Senate — and a seat Democrats are aiming to flip back from Republican control. Fetterman, a progressive, is centering his campaign around being a reliable 51st vote for Democratic priorities in the Senate. Oz has raised $34.9 million, spent $32.2 million, and has $2.5 million in cash on hand, as of September 30.

☆ Analysis: Foreign banks amass reserves at the Fed, bracing for funding stress
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

So when the Fed embarked on QT, the expectation was that bank reserves held at the Fed would decline. But the decline in bank reserves has been more rapid than what some had anticipated. As of Oct. 5, bank reserves at the Fed fell under $3 trillion to $2.972 trillion, down roughly $1.3 trillion from a peak of $4.3 trillion in December 2021. As domestic bank reserves diminish, those held by FBOs at the Fed have gotten more scrutiny. "If there are structural reasons that make foreign banks more eager to hold reserves while large domestic banks' reserves declined, then there may be a risk of another inadvertent case of gridlock," said Lou Crandall, chief economist, at money market research firm Wrightson.

☆ 'She-Hulk' shows off its superpower and Achilles heel in a truly weird finale (SPOILERS)
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Brian Lowry | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers about “She-Hulk’s” season finale. CNN —“She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” revealed both its superpower and Achilles heel in the season finale: It’s a TV show for people who watch too much TV in general and too much of Marvel’s output in particular. Designed to test the parameters of how far Marvel could go with this sort of exercise, “She-Hulk” clearly delivered an unabashed out-there comedy. It’s tempting to credit “She-Hulk” for taking chances, but frankly, that has clearly been the plan with Marvel’s expansion into streaming for some time now. Part of the show’s legacy, as noted, will be the way it reintroduced Daredevil.

☆ Dunkin customers are 'breaking up' with its revamped rewards program: 'It's not me, it's you'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Mike Winters | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Lou Balzani has ordered through Dunkin's app three to four times a week for years — but he's rethinking his loyalty in light of the coffee chain's new rewards program. "The new Dunkin' Rewards system is honestly insulting... We're we're breaking up. Under the new Dunkin' Rewards program, premium drinks like the Signature Latte now require $90 in purchases, more than double what customers previously paid. Dunkin' Rewards offers a "Boosted Status," which awards 1.2 points for every dollar spent for customers who visit a Dunkin' location 12 or more times per month. CNBC Make It reached out to Dunkin' for comment about its new rewards program.

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