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☆ A spell-off that wasn’t, and a gantlet of schwas: Takeaways from the spelling bee.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Maggie Astor | Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

After 14 rounds of words like “probouleutic” and “zwitterion” and “schistorrhachis,” Dev Shah, an eighth grader from Florida, reached the apotheosis of his craft, correctly spelling “psammophile” to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night. He denied the spelling community another thrilling spell-off, outlasted the dominant Texans and didn’t let the schwa make him schweat. If you weren’t able to watch the finals on Thursday night, here are a few takeaways. The schwa is a stone-cold killerThe schwa — the “uh”-like sound that can be represented by any vowel in the English alphabet, also known as the bane of competitive spellers’ existence — knocked out several finalists, as it routinely does.

Persons: “, ” Dev Shah, ”, didn’t, — Organizations: Scripps, Spelling, Texans Locations: Florida

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

☆ Remy Cointreau keeps outlook as annual profit beat forecasts
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, June 1 (Reuters) - French spirits group Remy Cointreau (RCOP.PA) reported a higher-than-expected rise in operating profit for its 2022/23 fiscal year and stuck to its cautious prospects for this year. The maker of Remy Martin cognac and Cointreau liquor reiterated a prediction of flat organic sales in financial year 2023-2024, with steady profitability, to reflect weaker U.S. demand and high year-ago comparables. This beat expectations for a 14.4% rise in a company compiled consensus of 18 analysts. Already reported group sales were 1.55 billion euros, marking an organic rise of 10.1%. ($1 = 0.9084 euros)Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Benoit Van OverstraetenOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Remy Cointreau, Remy Martin, Dominique Vidalon, Benoit Van Overstraeten Organizations: Thomson Locations: China, United States

A meeting of the word panel was held on Sunday at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md., to finalize the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee words. Here is a guide to the rules for the Scripps National Spelling Bee — and their small changes for this year’s competition, including a shorter allotted time to answer. A speller advances through them by correctly spelling a word and answering a multiple-choice question about its meaning. After the pronouncer says the spelling word, the clock starts. If one speller is correct, that person will be given a spelling word drawn from the Championship Word List.

Persons: spellers, Corrie Loeffler, “, ”, Jacques A . Bailly, Loeffler, Merriam, Johnny Diaz Organizations: Scripps, Spelling, Webster Locations: Oxon Hill, Md

☆ How to Watch the 95th Scripps National Spelling Bee
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For nearly 100 years, the Scripps National Spelling Bee has showcased the biggest words from the youngest lexicologists. The words have only gotten harder, the pressure greater and the national spotlight larger. The finals cap nearly a week of competition at the National Harbor, a resort and waterfront development in Maryland. Many Americans grew familiar with the bee from its national broadcast on ESPN, where it expanded in popularity, viewership and pop culture over the past few decades. But that changed last year when the bee moved to Ion, a Scripps subsidiary, in the hopes of finding viewers beyond paid TV subscribers.

Persons: Frank Neuhauser, ” Organizations: Scripps, Spelling, Smithsonian Museum, ESPN Locations: Louisville, Maryland

☆ Disney still has plans to spend billions in Florida despite its battle with DeSantis
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Ron DeSantis, Disney remains committed to the state of Florida. Those figures have been repeated by CEO Bob Iger and parks chief Josh D'Amaro over the past few months, as tensions between Disney and Florida lawmakers have continued to ratchet up. Disney recently scrapped plans to open up a new employee campus in Lake Nona, Florida, citing "changing business conditions." "And this includes things like the transformation of Epcot," he explained. "It includes things like there's a new Star Tours attraction coming, we have a new Tiana attraction that's coming.

☆ An Auction of Prosthetics, Mermaids and Creepy Dolls to Benefit Sea Turtles
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

When Jace Tunnell spotted what appeared to be a leg on the Gulf of Mexico shoreline in Texas, he thought that his greatest fear — a body washing up on the beach — was coming true. It’s happening,’” said Mr. Tunnell, who is director of the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve in Port Aransas, Texas. The leg, after all, was wearing pants. But when Mr. Tunnell went to lift it up, the leg turned out to be a prosthetic, one of the many items of flotsam and jetsam that come ashore along the Texas coastline each year. The prosthetic leg will be up for auction on Saturday, along with other curious pieces salvaged from among the more than 500 tons of marine debris that, according to the reserve, wash up on the beaches of Texas every year.

☆ Desert Monoliths Reveal World’s Oldest Architectural Plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Priyanka Runwal | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Massive prehistoric stone structures found in desert landscapes from Saudi Arabia to Kazakhstan have baffled archaeologists for decades. Each can stretch for up to a few miles, and resembles a kite with tail strings in overall shape. Recent studies have built a consensus that the so-called desert kites were used to trap and kill wild animal herds. Engraved between 7,000 and 9,000 years ago, these representations are by far the oldest known to-scale architectural plans recorded in human history, the team reported on Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE. They also highlight how carefully planned the desert kites may have been by the ancient peoples who relied on them.

☆ Staff Members Attacked With Bat at Congressman’s Virginia Office
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A person armed with a baseball bat attacked two congressional staff members at a district office in Northern Virginia on Monday after asking to speak with Rep. Gerry Connolly, the congressman said in a statement. Mr. Connolly, a Democrat, said the individual committed “an act of violence” at his Fairfax, Va., office against two members of his staff, who were taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The Fairfax City Police said on Twitter that an individual was in custody. My District Office staff make themselves available to constituents and members of the public every day,” Mr. Connolly said in a statement. “The thought that someone would take advantage of my staff’s accessibility to commit an act of violence is unconscionable and devastating.”Mr. Connolly represents a swath of the Northern Virginia suburbs west of Washington, D.C.

☆ How MTV Broke News for a Generation
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A little over a year into his first term, President Bill Clinton made good on a promise to return to MTV if young voters sent him to the White House. The town hall-style program in 1994 was meant to focus on violence in America, but it was a question of personal preference that made headlines and helped put MTV News on the media map. Now, a generation after MTV News bridged the gap between news and pop culture, Paramount, the network’s parent company, announced this week that it was shuttering the news service. They brought viewers on the presidential campaign trail and face to face with world leaders like Yasir Arafat, and took them into college dorms in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. They also embraced the messy chaos of 1990s and early 2000s celebrity, as when Courtney Love interrupted an interview with Madonna.

☆ She Wrote of Grief After Her Husband Died. Now She’s Charged in His Murder.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ms. Richins published “Are You With Me?” on March 7, just over a year after her husband’s death. A lawyer for Ms. Richins did not immediately respond to a request for comment. She made her husband a Moscow mule, a cocktail, in the kitchen around 9 p.m. and brought it to their bedroom, where Mr. Richins drank it in bed. Ms. Richins later told investigators that she went to bed and woke up around 3 a.m., because one of the boys was having a nightmare. When she returned to the couple’s bedroom, Ms. Richins told investigators, she “felt Eric and he was cold to the touch.” She called 911, according to court documents.

☆ ‘Catastrophic’ Congo Flooding Kills More Than 400 People
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Emma Bubola | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The death toll of last week’s deadly floods and landslides in the Democratic Republic of Congo climbed to more than 400 people, the government said on Monday, as rescue workers and family members searched through debris and mud for victims and survivors of the disaster. The flooding began on Thursday, as heavy rains pushed rivers to overflow their banks, causing rushing water and mud to flow into villages, washing away homes and ravaging farmland. “The situation is catastrophic,” said Remy Kasindi, a representative for a civil society group in South Kivu, where the floods took place. “It’s a humanitarian crisis that troubles our consciences.”Mr. Kasindi said that survivors were looking for their family members in the mud, and that some bodies were pulled from nearby Lake Kivu.

☆ Casey White Pleads Guilty in Alabama Jail Escape
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

An Alabama inmate whose escape from jail last spring set off a nationwide manhunt pleaded guilty on Thursday to the escape in exchange for the state dropping a felony murder charge in the death of the former corrections officer who helped him. The inmate, Casey White, 39, appeared for a routine status hearing on Thursday morning at the Lauderdale County courthouse in northern Alabama. In a surprise move to both the prosecution and his own defense team, Mr. White pleaded guilty to a first-degree escape charge. “You’re probably just as surprised by today’s turn of events as we are,” Robert Tuten, a lawyer for Mr. White, said after the hearing. Mr. White and the officer, Vicky White, who was no relation, were on the run for nearly two weeks after leaving the Lauderdale County Jail in Florence, Ala., for a courthouse appointment that was later revealed to be a ruse.

Gunfire erupted at a mall north of Dallas on Saturday, sending shoppers running from stores and the police to investigate reports that people had been wounded. Jessica Pond of the Collin County Sheriff’s Office said that “there’s some possibly wounded” in the shooting at the Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, Texas, but could not provide further details. The Allen Police Department said on Twitter that law enforcement was at the mall and that an “active investigation is underway.”A video circulating on social media showed people running through a parking lot in front of a shopping center with loud popping sounds in the background.

☆ What to Know About the Case of Richard Glossip, Death Row Prisoner
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But after a parole board was split on whether to recommend clemency last month, Mr. Stitt signaled that he would not issue another stay. Mr. Glossip, 60, was convicted of arranging the 1997 murder of Barry Van Treese, who owned a motel in Oklahoma City where Mr. Glossip worked as a manager. Prosecutors argued that Mr. Glossip promised the motel handyman, Justin Sneed, $10,000 to kill him. According to interviews from inmates incarcerated with Mr. Sneed on unrelated charges, Mr. Sneed said he had acted alone to rob Mr. Van Treese of money that Mr. Sneed and his girlfriend planned to use to buy drugs. Mr. Sneed also has a history of mental illness, which was not disclosed at the time.

☆ One Dead and 4 Injured in Shooting at Atlanta Medical Building, Police Say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Johnny Diaz | Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The address belongs to Northside Family Medicine and Urgent Care. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that officers had responded to the facility. Northside Hospital said on Twitter that it was cooperating with the authorities “following the shooting at our midtown #Atlanta location.”The hospital added, “This tragedy is affecting all of us, and we ask for patience and prayers at this time.”The police issued a public safety alert for people in the area. Atlanta Public Schools said “several” schools were in lockdown as a precaution. The police shared initial images from security cameras inside the building that showed a man wearing a mask, a gray hooded sweatshirt, dark pants and a cross-body bag.

☆ A Baillie Gifford manager who oversees a $564 million fund details 4 of the top investing themes she's pursuing, including 3 stocks she likes right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Marley Jay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The firm is known for growth investing, but she says she's picking defensive, stable winners. Mileva told Insider about some of the industries and stocks she likes the most today. How is a company that's known for board games and fantasy figurines anything like a company that owns world famous luxury brands with products like high fashion accessories, champagne, and yachts? That's the view of Milena Mileva, the manager of Baillie Gifford's $564 million Developed EAFE All Cap fund, and an expert on international stocks. These are the ones that historically have been the most successful examples," she told Insider in a recent interview.

☆ Jerry Springer, Host of Unapologetically Brash Talk Show, Dies at 79
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Jerry Springer, the brash talk show host who mediated tumultuous relationships and family feuds and who briefly served as mayor of Cincinnati, died on Thursday at his home in Chicago. Mr. Springer’s death, after a brief illness, was confirmed in a statement by Jene Galvin, a family friend and executive producer of Mr. Springer’s podcast. “The Jerry Springer Show” ran for nearly three decades, reaching its peak viewership in the 1990s. No matter what sort of drama had taken place in front of a studio audience and viewers tuning in from home, Mr. Springer ended each segment with a signature sign-off: “Take care of yourself, and each other.”A complete obituary will follow.

— The Montana House of Representatives took the extraordinary step of blocking the state’s only transgender lawmaker from the House floor for the remainder of the legislative session on Wednesday after an escalating standoff over her ability to speak in the House led to heated protests and arrests on Monday and the abrupt cancellation of Tuesday’s session. The barred lawmaker, Representative Zooey Zephyr, will still be allowed to cast votes during House proceedings for the remainder of session, which concludes on May 5, but must do so remotely. The move is the culmination of a weeklong battle between House leadership and Ms. Zephyr, who was prohibited from participating in deliberations on the House floor after she made impassioned comments during debate over a bill that would prohibit hormone treatments and surgical care for transgender minors. It was one of a half-dozen similar bills targeting transgender youth that the Legislature had considered in the last week alone. And it comes amid an avalanche of similar legislation in Republican-controlled legislatures across the country.

☆ Scottish Island for Sale, Amenities Not Included
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

For sale: An uninhabited, 25-acre island with pristine views of the Scottish coastline. The catch: Reaching the island is challenging, and staying there for any length of time even more so. Barlocco Island was listed for sale on Thursday by the Scottish real estate firm Galbraith. It is only accessible by boat or, at low tide, by all-terrain vehicle or foot over a rock causeway. While there are no dwellings or buildings on the island, there is a pebble beach and a flood pond where rainwater could gather in extreme rainfall and provide water for livestock and wildlife.

☆ Fuel Tanker Explosion on Connecticut Bridge Kills at Least One Person
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Buildings below the Golden Star Memorial Bridge, a pair of steel truss bridges on the Thames River, were also on fire, the Connecticut State Police said on Twitter. “Injuries reported but extent is unknown at this time,” the police wrote, warning people to avoid the area. Officials closed the highway between exits 86 and 88, Trooper Muniz said, and the bridge was closed in both directions for part of the day. Amtrak reported some delays along the Northeast corridor, which has tracks near the accident. Several agencies, including the Coast Guard, are responding.

☆ A Mysterious Spiral in the Alaska Sky Had an Earthly Explanation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At first, Ronnie Cole thought the bright light in the sky over southern Alaska was an airplane. “Then, it moved out of the clouds and the spiral was still there, and it was just getting bigger in the sky. That’s when I realized that it was something else.”The blue spiral made its way across the sky’s green and red hue of the northern lights for about three minutes before disappearing over the tree line near Trapper Creek, about 100 miles northwest of Anchorage. “I’ve spend about 1,000-plus hours out watching the night sky every winter,” Mr. Cole said. “I see a lot of weird things in the sky, but that was definitely the most unusual.”

☆ Republicans Call for Censure of Transgender Lawmaker Who Condemned Care Ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Representative Zooey Zephyr took to the floor of the Montana Legislature on Tuesday to make an impassioned plea for her colleagues to reject a bill that would ban transition care for transgender minors, saying that denying such care would be “tantamount to torture.”“This body should be ashamed,” Ms. Zephyr, a first-term Democrat and the Legislature’s first transgender member, said. “If you vote yes on this bill and yes on these amendments I hope the next time there’s an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands.”The Montana Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative lawmakers, responded by accusing Ms. Zephyr in a letter of “attempting to shame the legislative body” by using “hateful rhetoric.” The letter, which misgendered Ms. Zephyr, called for her to be censured. On Thursday, however, the House adjourned without taking that step. It was unclear if they planned to take up the matter on Friday.

☆ Netflix Put His Photo in a True-Crime Film. Now, He’s Suing.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In 2019, Taylor Hazlewood posted a picture of himself holding a friend’s hatchet on Instagram as a tribute to his favorite childhood book, “Hatchet,” a young-adult wilderness survival novel by Gary Paulsen. Mr. Hazlewood is suing Netflix for using his photo in “The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker,” a true-crime documentary about a hitchhiker turned convicted murderer. He is seeking $1 million in damages for defamation and the misappropriation of his likeness..Reached by phone on Tuesday, Mr. Hazlewood referred requests for comment to his lawyer, Angela Buchanan. In a statement, Ms. Buchanan said “there should have been no confusion” if Netflix had done “its homework.”“Because of the lack of due diligence,” she said, “Mr. Hazlewood has a constant fear regarding the impact the film will have on his personal relationships, his employment and his reputation in general.”

☆ Why fans say trips to Disney World are now 'incredibly complicated' to pull off
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Monica Pitrelli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

But some travelers aren't thrilled about what it takes to pull off a trip to Walt Disney World these days. He said he goes to Disney World about "once a month." They will leave thinking food at Disney World is a "cheeseburger and a hot dog … which could not be farther from the truth," he said. Walt Disney World comprises four theme parks, two water parks and dozens of themed hotels, plus a shopping and entertainment area called Disney Springs. He called Disney World an "amazing spa destination" and said Disney Springs, formerly known as Downtown Disney, has shopping, live music and fantastic restaurants.

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