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☆ Barack Obama shares his summer playlist including songs by Tupac Shakur and Tina Turner
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Alli Rosenbloom | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Former President Barack Obama is staying cool this summer with a summer playlist of 40-plus songs that showcase his eclectic tastes. There are also some repeat artists on the list that Obama was listening to in the summer of 2021 – including the Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, SZA, Michael Kiwanuka and Bob Dylan – who show up here with different songs. Obama’s 2023 summer list includes country singer Luke Combs’s cover of Tracy Chapman’s 1988 classic “Fast Car,” which recently reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, making Chapman the first Black woman to top that chart in its 33-year existence. Obama traditionally releases these wide-ranging playlists for the summer, holidays and even for some workout motivation.

Persons: Barack Obama, ” Obama, Tina, Ike Turner’s, ”, 2Pac, Dre, Roger Troutman, Obama’s, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Dr, Feelgood, Aretha Franklin, Nicki Minaj’s, Diana ”, Rauw Alejandro, Rosalía, Obama, Stevie Wonder, Michael Kiwanuka, Bob Dylan –, Luke Combs’s, Tracy Chapman’s, Chapman, “, Jorja Smith, Ashley McBryde, Pearl Jam Organizations: CNN, Twitter, Spice, Pearl Locations: California, United States

☆ Former Disney, Marvel exec Ike Perlmutter plans major donation to back Trump for president
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

US President Donald Trump shakes Ike Perlmutter, CEO of Marvel Entertainment, hand before signing an executive order at the US Department of Veterans Affairs April 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. Ike Perlmutter, the former chairman of Marvel Entertainment at Disney , is planning a key donation to back former President Donald Trump's 2024 run for president, according to his spokesman. His wife gave over $2 million to the same pro-DeSantis PAC, according to the records. Disney doesn't have the right to get involved with politics," Perlmutter reportedly told DeSantis in a phone call. Perlmutter told the publication he doesn't remember such a call taking place.

Persons: Donald Trump, Ike Perlmutter, Donald Trump's, Perlmutter, Trump, Perlmutter's, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron, DeSantis, Bob Iger, Iger Organizations: Marvel Entertainment, US Department of Veterans, Disney, Trump, PAC, Commission, Department of Veterans Affairs, Marvel, Republican, Florida Republican Gov, DeSantis PAC, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Star Wars Locations: Washington , DC, Florida

☆ BP settles US natgas market manipulation case for $10.75 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) alleged that BP violated the Natural Gas Act by manipulating the next-day gas market at Houston Ship Channel from mid-September through Nov. 30, 2008. BP paid a civil penalty of $24,356,686 in December 2020 and disgorgement of unjust profits of $250,295 in January 2021 in the case. FERC said under the settlement BP will not seek return of the $250,295 of disgorgement it has paid. The case related to actions by BP traders to take advantage of market dislocations around the time Hurricane Ike smashed into the Houston area in September 2008. FERC's Office of Enforcement alleged BP traders made uneconomic physical gas sales to suppress the Houston Ship Channel Gas Daily index and boost the value of BP's financial position.

Persons: Ike, Scott DiSavino, Bill Berkrot Organizations: Bp, BP, U.S . Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Houston Ship Channel, U.S ., Appeals, Fifth Circuit, FERC, U.S . Court, Federal, FERC's, Enforcement, Houston Ship Channel Gas, Thomson Locations: U.S, Houston

☆ How ‘Swagger’ Raised Its Game
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Calum Marsh | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The first season of “Swagger,” a sports drama set in the high-stakes world of high school basketball in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Seat Pleasant, Md., was released in fall 2021 to moderate critical acclaim. The creator, Reggie Rock Bythewood, and his cast and crew were proud of what they had accomplished. But for the show’s second season, which premiered on Apple TV+ last week, Bythewood’s ambitions were much bigger. And he wanted to use the story of a prep school sports team to make a statement about the country. The second season jumps ahead to Jace’s senior year as the demands of budding fame and the pressure of mounting expectations reach a fever pitch.

Persons: “ Swagger, ”, Reggie Rock Bythewood, ” Bythewood, ‘ Swagger ’, Jace Carson, Isaiah Hill, Jace, Jenna, Shinelle, Quvenzhané Wallis, Ike, O’Shea Jackson Jr, Jace’s Organizations: D.C, Apple Locations: Washington, Seat Pleasant, Md

June 15 (Reuters) - Mediterranean restaurant chain Cava Group (CAVA.N) notched a valuation of $4.7 billion in a stellar market debut on Thursday, signaling the IPO market was gaining momentum after a lull in 2022. Shares opened at $42 apiece on the NYSE, nearly double the IPO price of $22, last up 89%. Cava sold about 14.4 million shares in the offering, raising $318 million. “We think the markets are always welcoming long-term sustainable growth stories, especially category defining brands, as we try and define the Mediterranean category,” Cava Co-founder and CEO Brett Schulman said. Cava was founded by three friends with Greek roots — Ted Xenohristos, Ike Grigoropoulos and Dimitri Moshovitis — and opened its first restaurant Cava Mezze in Rockville in 2006.

Persons: Cava, Matthew Kennedy, Johnson, Brett Schulman, Ted Xenohristos, Ike Grigoropoulos, Dimitri Moshovitis —, Morgan, Jefferies, Manya Saini, Savyata Mishra, Echo Wang, Vinay Dwivedi Organizations: NYSE, Renaissance Capital, Reuters, Rivian, ”, Restaurant Brands, Cava, Citigroup, Thomson Locations: Cava, CAVA, United States, ” Cava, Rockville, Bengaluru, Echo, New York

For Felisha Robinson, it was the scene in the biopic “What’s Love Got to Do With It” in which Tina Turner runs across the highway, face bloodied from having been beaten by her then-husband and performing partner, Ike Turner, to escape her abusive marriage with nothing but 36 cents and a Mobil card in her pocket. As Robinson, 42, was getting out of her own abusive marriage in 2020, she found herself gravitating toward the 1993 film that made waves around the world for starkly depicting the violence Tina Turner had endured. She had watched it when she was younger, but felt she now understood all that it took for Turner get there. Looking back at the singer’s interviews, books and songs helped Robinson process her own experience. “The desperation that was in her, like, ‘I have got to get out of this situation.

Persons: Felisha Robinson, Tina Turner, Ike Turner, Robinson, “, ”, Turner Organizations: Mobil

☆ This Town Made Tina Turner. She Made It Famous.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Rick Rojas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ms. Ewing lost touch, but she admired Ms. Turner’s resilience, particularly as she clawed her way back from her abusive relationship with Ike Turner. “Knowing you can have calamities but if you’re strong enough, strong-minded and have a strong will, you can make it to the top of the hill,” she said. Pam Stephens, a resident who attended the memorial, often cautions outsiders who know of the community only from “Nutbush City Limits” to temper their expectations. “There’s not even a stop sign,” she said, “unless you pull off the main road.”But the Tina Turner Museum, at her childhood schoolhouse, has given visitors another reason to exit the interstate. The refurbished white wooden building is filled with artifacts that Ms. Turner personally sent for display.

☆ Tina Turner, a Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll Covers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones got the treatment, too, and so did “Louie Louie,” with a sultry, little-known rendition which — I’m not even making this up — louielouie.net (“The blog for all things Louie Louie”) called “one of the essential Louie Louie recordings!” with some all-caps emphasis. Tina Turner was a seismic, once-in-a-lifetime musical force, but I don’t need to tell you that; I’ll let this playlist do the talking. And I’ll let my colleague Wesley Morris, who wrote an appraisal worthy of the queen, do some of it too: “They’re saying she was 83? It shot from her — from her feet, thighs, hands, arms, shoulders, out of her hair, out of her mouth.”Listen along on Spotify as you read. “Gimme, gimme, gimme a honky tonk man.” (Listen on YouTube)

☆ Iconic singer Tina Turner dies at 83
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Stefan Sykes | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Singer Tina Turner has died at the age of 83 after a long illness, according to a statement posted on her official Facebook page Wednesday. "It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner. In a separate statement to Sky News, a spokesperson said Turner died "peacefully" at her home in Küsnacht, near Zurich, Switzerland. Tuner began her career as a teenager in the late 1950s singing backup for musician Ike Turner's blues band Kings of Rhythm. "I'm so saddened by the passing of my wonderful friend Tina Turner," tweeted Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger.

Abuja, Nigeria CNN —A Nigerian senator, his wife and a doctor were on Friday jailed in the UK over an organ harvesting plot, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement. Senator Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice and Dr. Obinna Obeta were sentenced at the UK’s Old Bailey court to nine years and eight months, four years and six months, and 10 years in prison respectively. Some of the country’s political class wrote to the UK court appealing for leniency ahead of his sentencing, including Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Ekweremadu served as speaker of the ECOWAS parliament between 2011 and 2015. But the calls for clemency failed to hold sway over the UK court and some in Nigeria questioned why high profile politicians were using their influence to advocate for a convicted criminal.

☆ Nigeria: Clemency pleas for senator found guilty of organ harvesting plot in UK
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Abuja, Nigeria CNN —Nigerian MP Ike Ekweremadu will be sentenced in the UK Friday after being found guilty of an organ harvesting plot, but fellow lawmakers in his country have joined growing calls for leniency in his case. Many of the country’s political class have written to the UK courts appealing for leniency during his sentencing, including Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo. … The conviction has already been done but we are seeking clemency because this is the first time our colleague is getting involved in this kind of thing,” Lawan said. Ekweremadu served as speaker of the ECOWAS parliament between 2011 and 2015. But the calls for clemency are unlikely to hold any sway over the UK court and some in Nigeria have raised eyebrows that high profile politicians are using their influence to advocate for a convicted criminal.

☆ A Missouri official called the ATF 'unconstitutional' but says it's not because the agency raided his brother's gun shop
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Ike Skelton's brother, Jim, had his gun shop raided by the ATF in 2021 and lost his federal firearms license. They cited Missouri's Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA), which penalizes authorities who enforce federal gun laws. Kevin L. Jamison, Jim Skelton's attorney, told Insider that his client did not receive "sufficient advice" before opening his shop. We're not restricting them from enforcing their unconstitutional law," Ike Skelton told Insider. The only thing that my brother's raid did was confirm everything I thought about the ATF," Ike Skelton told Insider.

☆ The Missouri official refusing to comply with the ATF has past experience with the bureau. His brother's gun shop was previously raided by the feds.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Ike Skelton's brother, Jim, had his gun shop raided by the ATF in 2021 and lost his federal firearms license. I can't just take their packet, slap it to my forehead and absorb it," Jim Skelton told KRCG-TV at the time. Kevin L. Jamison, Jim Skelton's attorney, told Insider that his client did not receive "sufficient advice" before opening his shop. We're not restricting them from enforcing their unconstitutional law," Ike Skelton told Insider. The only thing that my brother's raid did was confirm everything I thought about the ATF," Ike Skelton told Insider.

☆ Missouri officials refuse to work with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, saying all federal 'so-called' gun laws are unconstitutional
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Officials in Camden County, Missouri are refusing to cooperate with the ATF, according to local reports. Officials cited a since-struck-down state law that kept police from enforcing federal gun laws. Six top elected officials in Camden County signed a letter to the ATF saying as much, according to NPR affiliate KCUR 89.3. Last month, a federal judge struck down the 2021 law, which prohibited local police from enforcing federal gun laws, calling it "invalid, null, void, and of no effect." "Any and all federal firearms laws, so-called laws, in my opinion, and many others' opinion, are unconstitutional," Skelton told KCUR.

☆ Inside Disney it's 'Revenge of the Creatives' and 'Shields Up!' against outside foes as returned CEO Bob Iger is taking no prisoners
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Since returning as Disney CEO, Bob Iger has vanquished foes and dumped many of predecessor Bob Chapek's hires. But it's a supercharged Bob Iger who is really taking command. "If I'm inside Bob's head coming back, after the downfall of Bob Chapek, this is all about taking no prisoners," said Will Schutte, a high-level executive coach. Disney World is scheduled to host a major conference on gay rights in September, according to the Miami Herald. Even if he wants to be the Bob Iger of old he can't be.

☆ Disney names first brand chief as Iger refocuses on core properties
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Walt Disney Company is looking to update its image. On Thursday, the company named Asad Ayaz as its first-ever chief brand officer, a position that will require the Disney vet to create a singular vision of the company for marketing campaigns. The company also recently rolled out its first wave of layoffs as it seeks to cut 7,000 jobs this year. On Wednesday, the company tapped Joe Earley to take over the role of president of direct-to-consumer for Disney Entertainment. Ayaz will continue as president of marketing for Walt Disney Studios, where he has overseen marketing and publicity for the studio's films and TV series, as well as Disney+, since 2018.

☆ Ex-Marvel chief speaks out on firing, cost cutting & Nelson Peltz
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailEx-Marvel chief speaks out on firing, cost cutting & Nelson PeltzCNBC's 'Squawk on the Street' anchors discuss news from former Disney employee Ike Perlmutter.

☆ Ousted Marvel Entertainment Chairman Ike Perlmutter to retain Disney shares
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 5 (Reuters) - Marvel Entertainment's former chairman Ike Perlmutter on Wednesday said he will hold on to his Disney (DIS.N) shares, a week after reports of his termination from the role. Reuters reported last Wednesday that Disney had laid off Perlmutter, 80, as part of a cost-cutting campaign. News of Perlmutter's termination had come after he supported activist shareholder Nelson Peltz's unsuccessful bid to obtain a seat on Disney's corporate board. "Trian CEO Nelson Peltz has a long history of improving shareholder returns at many leading consumer businesses," Perlmutter said in a public statement on Wednesday. According to the WSJ report from earlier in the day, he owns about 30 million shares of Disney, worth about $3 billion.

☆ Ike Perlmutter: Disney Fired Me From Marvel, I Wasn’t Laid Off
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Robbie Whelan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

‘All they talk about is box office, box office,’ Ike Perlmutter, the former Marvel Entertainment chairman, said of Disney executives and Marvel Studios leadership. Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter says Walt Disney Co. fired him as chairman of Marvel Entertainment because he pushed Disney too aggressively to cut costs and ran afoul of the creative executives whom newly returned Chief Executive Robert Iger wants to empower. In a rare interview, the 80-year-old Mr. Perlmutter spoke to The Wall Street Journal about his dismissal from Disney last week, his relationship with Mr. Iger, and missteps he feels Disney has made in recent years.

☆ How Disney and DeSantis started feuding
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Ron DeSantis won praise from the right for retaliating against Disney for its CEO’s decision to (rather timidly) wade into the public discourse over a contentious state law. In that first round of Florida’s GOP vs The Walt Disney Company, DeSantis landed a body blow that ultimately cost Disney CEO Bob Chapek his job. DeSantis signed the bill into law, and then set his sights on punishing Disney for daring to challenge him. “This essentially makes Disney the government,” said Ron Peri, a DeSantis pick for the new board, last week. Last week, Iger announced Disney would lay off 7,000 people as part of a $5.5 billion cost-reduction plan.

☆ The return of Bob Iger: Disney CEO makes moves that should please investors
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

When Iger returned as CEO of Disney back in November 2022 , he promised to implement cost reductions and clean up the House of Mouse. Disney ditches metaverse The news: CNBC confirmed on Tuesday that Disney is getting rid of a small division focused on deploying metaverse initiatives. Disney's metaverse layoffs are part of Iger's broader corporate restructuring plan. Under Iger, Disney bought Marvel from Perlmutter in 2009 in a $4 billion deal. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

March 29 (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) has laid off Marvel Entertainment Chairman Isaac "Ike" Perlmutter as part of a cost-cutting campaign, a source confirmed Wednesday. Dan Buckley, president of Marvel Entertainment, will remain and report to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, the second source said. Perlmutter, who outmaneuvered billionaire Carl Icahn for control of the comic book publisher in the late 1990s, sold Marvel to Disney for $4 billion in 2009. Disney CEO Bob Iger later restructured Marvel in 2015, placing Marvel Studios under Walt Disney Studios. Perlmutter retained the title of chairman of Marvel Entertainment, a unit responsible for publishing, games, digital media and some consumer products.

☆ Disney Lays Off Marvel Entertainment Chairman Ike Perlmutter
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Robbie Whelan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Walt Disney Co. has laid off Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter, chairman of Marvel Entertainment LLC, and plans to fold the comic-book publishing business into Disney Entertainment, the company’s content-production division. Mr. Perlmutter, who remains one of Disney’s largest individual shareholders, has long had a rocky relationship with Chief Executive Robert Iger . In 2015, Mr. Iger removed him as head of Marvel Studios after a power struggle with current studio chief Kevin Feige . Those layoffs began this week, and included the elimination of Disney’s metaverse unit. The moves represent reversals of the agenda championed by former Disney CEO Bob Chapek , who was close with Mr. Perlmutter and who championed the metaverse initiative.

☆ What Disney laying off Ike Perlmutter suggests
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWhat Disney laying off Ike Perlmutter suggestsNew York Times reporter James Stewart joins 'Closing Bell' to discuss Bob Iger's return to Disney, and laying off Ike Perlmutter, chairman of Marvel Entertainment.

☆ Disney layoffs are expected to hit ABC News this week, sources say, with scores of roles to be eliminated following cuts from TV, engineering, and metaverse teams
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Claire Atkinson | Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Cuts at Disney's ABC News are coming before the end of the week, according to sources. Disney firings are expected to affect its ABC News division this week, according to two company insiders familiar with the situation. TV production and acquisition execs at Hulu, Freeform, and 20th Television were also impacted, according to a report in Deadline. Leaders will be communicating the news directly to the first group of impacted employees over the next four days. I want to thank each of you again for all your many achievements here at The Walt Disney Company.

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