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L.A. business brace for ripple effects of Hollywood writers’ strike

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:21 GMT

Last time there was a Hollywood writers’ strike, in 2007, the resulting halt in filmmaking activity depleted the savings of Pam and Jim Elyea’s prop house History for Hire, so much so that they had to defer a dream of owning their own warehouse.Years later, COVID-19 brought another formidable challenge for their North Hollywood business, which has supplied props including period-appropriate luggage for “Titanic” and cameras for Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans.”Now history is repeating itself with a new writers’ strike that began on Tuesday, which is causing a significant portion of local production to shut down.“COVID didn’t kill us,” Pam Elyea said. “I don’t want this to be the thing that kills us.”This week, the Writers Guild of America, which represents 11,500 members, hit picket lines to demand better pay and treatment after contract talks with the major studios broke down.Writers are seeking i...

New Jets tight end Zack Kuntz models his game after Mike Gesicki of Patriots

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:21 GMT

Zack Kuntz compares himself to a player on a divisional rival.Kuntz, a seventh-round draft pick by the Jets in last week’s NFL draft, began his college career at Penn State before transferring to Old Dominion for his final two years of eligibility. So it is natural Kuntz models his game after former Penn State tight end Mike Gesicki, who spent five seasons with the Dolphins before signing with the Patriots this offseason.“I’m familiar with him through our roots at Penn State,” Kuntz said about Gesicki. “Some of the coaches that we had and the offenses that we fit in. Obviously, it’s an easy comparison for me.“He’s an athletic freak, as everybody knows. He’s a guy that I kind of see as similar.”If Kuntz’s career mirrors anything close to Gesicki’s, the Jets could have one of the steals of the 2023 draft. In five seasons with the Dolphins, Gesicki caught 231 passes for 2,617 yards and 18 touchdowns. Gesicki parlay...

Mets Notebook: Carlos Carrasco’s return still in limbo because of illness … ‘he’s not doing well’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:21 GMT

Carlos Carrasco’s return looked imminent earlier this week, but his mid-May timeline now appears to be in doubt.Carrasco, who has been sidelined with bone spurs in his right elbow, was slated to make a rehab start this weekend. But an illness is preventing him from going out on a rehab assignment. His start was moved from Friday to Saturday, then to Sunday, and now the Mets are unsure when and where it will take place as the 36-year-old right-hander continues to deal with some sort of illness.“He’s not doing well,” manager Buck Showalter said Saturday before the Mets played the second game of a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies at Citi Field. “He’s got the mask on and staying away from everyone and wiping everything down because he does have to throw.”Carrasco has been present in the Mets clubhouse since the club returned home from Detroit for the weekend series against Colorado, and the Mets can’t seem to figure out what ...

San Diego is the 4th best city for runners: Runner's World

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:21 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Headed out for a run today? If so, you’ll be trekking through the fourth best city for runners in the U.S., according to Runner's World.San Diego is among the top 10 best running cities based on a new study conducted by ARRIS, which analyzed U.S. cities with a population of more than 500,000.Runner's World says factors that were considered during this study included pedestrian fatality rates, average air quality index, percent of residents living within a 10-minute walk of a park and average annual rainfall. Air pollution improving in California, but still worst in the nation, report shows According to the study, one in three Americans like to run in parks and the ideal outdoor temperature among runners is 63 degrees.With over more than 400 parks and 26 miles of shoreline from Sunset Cliffs to La Jolla, according to the city's parks and recreation webpage, it looks like San Diego has what runners are looking for when they lace up their shoes for an on foot venture ou...

Newton Minow, ex-FCC chief who dubbed TV ‘wasteland,’ dies

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:21 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Newton N. Minow, who as Federal Communications Commission chief in the early 1960s famously proclaimed that network television was a “vast wasteland,” died Saturday. He was 97.Minow, who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, died Saturday at home, surrounded by loved ones, said his daughter, Nell Minow.“He wanted to be at home,” she told The Associated Press. “He had a good life.”Though Minow remained in the FCC post just two years, he left a permanent stamp on the broadcasting industry through government steps to foster satellite communications, the passage of a law mandating UHF reception on TV sets and his outspoken advocacy for quality in television.“My faith is in the belief that this country needs and can support many voices of television — and that the more voices we hear, the better, the richer, the freer we shall be,” Minow once said. “After all, the airways belong to the people.”Minow was appointed as FCC chief...

In London, Brazil’s Lula calls for efforts to free Assange

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:21 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — After attending the coronation of King Charles III in London, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva denounced the lack of concerted efforts to free WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has spent four years in Britain’s Belmarsh Prison.“It is an embarrassment that a journalist who denounced trickery by one state against another is arrested, condemned to die in jail and we do nothing to free him. It’s a crazy thing,” Lula told reporters. “We talk about freedom of expression; the guy is in prison because he denounced wrongdoing. And the press doesn’t do anything in defense of this journalist. I can’t understand it.”Lula offered the remarks in response to a question about Assange, who is a native Australian. He said he had forgotten to discuss the matter with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, but that he would write to him upon returning to Brazil. Assange has been fighting extradition to the United States, and Lula’s comments come at a mom...

Here's what the USPS does with lost mail — and how you might get it back

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:21 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – Were you expecting a package that never arrived? A present, maybe? A birthday card? Or perhaps a care package from your Aunt Linda with some crisp new socks inside?If it was shipped via the United States Postal Service, chances are it’s in Atlanta. Or at least it was, at some point.There are several reasons that the U.S. Postal Service might fail to deliver a package or piece of mail to its intended recipient in a timely manner: e.g., the sender may have provided the wrong address (or an illegible one), or maybe the item was shipped with insufficient postage. It’s also possible the contents of the package somehow came loose in the mail, making it tough to determine where they came from. In these cases, USPS workers try to return those packages or items right back to the sender.But when that’s not immediately possible (usually because there’s no return address), those items get shipped off to USPS’ consolidated Mail Recovery Center in Atlanta. Forever stamps, First-Clas...

Gov. Abbott delivers keynote address at DPS graduation ceremony, mentions recent APD partnership

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:21 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) –  Gov. Greg Abbott delivered Friday a keynote address at the Texas Department of Public Safety graduation ceremony, where 60 new troopers were honored for completing their 29-week training programs. In Abbott’s address, he talked about tasks they will perform and exalted the new troopers for being “tougher” than ever. He also spoke about the need for flexibility, referencing the recent partnership between the Austin Police Department and DPS to address APD’s staffing shortages.  "We made an agreement between the Texas Department of Public Safety and the City of Austin to get crime under control in the state's Capital City. The fact is there were too many murders, too much violent crime taking place. And it required us, as a state, to tap into your mission to ensure public safety. Even if it comes from the Texas Department of Public Safety, as opposed to local law enforcement. But there are times like this when we must work together,” Abbott said at the cerem...

Police arrest woman in Saugerties for DWI

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:21 GMT

SAUGERTIES, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The Saugerties Police Department has charged Kari Becker, 27, of Saugerties, with Driving While Intoxicated. Becker was initially stopped after driving into and parking in the Saugerties Police Headquarters employee parking lot (a restricted area). Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! On May 5 at 10:55 p.m., police say that Becker was found parked in the lot, with her vehicle running, listening to music with another person. When an officer inquired as to what the two were doing, the officer found that both individuals were highly intoxicated, and Becker was administered field sobriety tests.Following the tests, Becker was brought into police headquarters where Becker was processed for Driving While Intoxicated. Becker, who told officers that she had been out all evening drinking while celebrating Cinco De Mayo, submitted to a chemical test of her breath, which resulted in a Blood Alcohol Content of...

In deal for property tax relief, Democrats look again to make TABOR refunds equal

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:21 GMT

Lower-income Coloradans will see a boost to their tax rebates next year under a new bill aimed at smoothing the passage of a property tax relief proposal that had drawn criticism for not benefiting the state’s renters.The plan to flatten rebates under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, introduced Saturday, would hinge on voters passing a proposal in November aimed at blunting spiking property taxes. It would be a similar policy to the one that led to most taxpayers receiving $750 checks, or $1,500 if they filed jointly, at the end of last summer. If this proposal fails, TABOR rebates likely would return to the six-tier mechanism that returns more money to higher-income Coloradans.Under the proposal, Coloradans earning up to $50,000 a year would earn about $200 more on their rebates, said Rep. Chris deGruy Kennedy, the Lakewood Democrat sponsoring the bill. Earners making $50,000 to $100,000 would make about $50 more, he said. Those figures double for couples, he said.Under c...