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At funeral home where 115 decaying bodies found, troubles went unnoticed by regulators

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:45 GMT

DENVER (AP) — As legal and financial troubles piled up at the Colorado funeral home where authorities last week discovered at least 115 decomposing bodies, the troubles went unnoticed by state officials who have long struggled to effectively oversee the industry.Colorado has some of the weakest rules for funeral homes in the nation with no routine inspections or qualification requirements for funeral home operators. 1 officer found guilty of homicide in Elijah McClain case, 2nd officer acquitted The operators of the Return to Nature Funeral Home didn’t pay their taxes, got evicted from one of their properties and got sued for unpaid bills by a crematory that quit doing business with them almost a year ago, according to public records and interviews.None of the problems appeared to attract the attention of regulators, who hadn't even checked on the company after November when its state registration expired. That registration allowed Return to Nature Funeral Home...

Singer Colbie Caillat starts new chapter with new country album ‘Along the Way’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:45 GMT

Colbie Caillat is best known for her pop hits like “Bubbly” and “I Never Told You,” but now she’s ditching pop for country. She’s dropping a brand-new country album, called “Along the Way,” that’s inspired by her recent life changes.Colbie Caillat (singing): “The moment we found our favorite song.”Singer Colbie Caillat is starting a new chapter with her debut country album, called “Along the Way.”Colbie Caillat: “The music that’s coming out is just personal experiences and storytelling. I moved to Nashville seven years ago and started my country band with, you know, my fiancé at the time and two best friends, and it was just this really fun process, and then now, in the last few years, after my break-up and the band ending, I finally felt like writing songs again.”The new music was inspired by the changes in her personal life, including her recent break-up with ex-fiancé Justin Young.Colb...

Ambrose: Biden must stop appeasing Iran

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:45 GMT

If it wants to survive, Israel surely must annihilate Hamas, this ever more venomous, maniacal Islamic group of terrorists misruling a next-door neighbor, Gaza. But should Hamas’s proud, strong, enabling boss Iran also be a target? Even with Hamas gone for good, an untethered Iran would still have Hezbollah to boss around and the means of forging new Hamas-style invaders with civilization the final loser.Yes, it was absolutely horrendous, the Hamas invasion of Israel with thousands of missiles launched as an introduction of massacre intentions. The assault was not for the purpose of combat with largely missing Israeli soldiers as much as for the joyful torture of civilians, including the rape of young women, the killing of children while their parents watched and even cutting off the heads of babies. There was also the taking of hostages Hamas is now threatening to kill If Israel continues to fight back.These unexpected, cleverly skilled barbarians killed the most Jews assassinated ...

Orioles GM Mike Elias, hush on 2024 payroll plans, says team’s 2023 ‘shortcomings’ fall on him

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:45 GMT

Mike Elias’ focus Thursday was reflecting on 2023. But plenty of questions face the Orioles in the months before the 2024 season begins.In an end-of-season news conference Thursday morning, the Orioles’ executive vice president and general manager said the team’s inability to advance past the American League Division Series after a 101-win regular season falls on him, not the players, and made no promises the club would carry a higher payroll next season.Before fielding and answering questions for almost half an hour inside Camden Yards’ auxiliary clubhouse, Elias first thanked the members of the Orioles’ roster, a group of players who brought Baltimore its first AL East title since 2014 despite several forecasts the team would finish last in the division.“I’ll never forget getting the chance to work with these guys, and luckily, we’re gonna be working with many, many, many of them going forward,” Elias said. “We ...

‘The Road Dance’ sweeping tale of love, trauma & war

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:45 GMT

The lavish, Scottish gothic-romantic entry “The Road Dance” is based on the bestselling 2002 novel by John MacKay and set against the magnificent location of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides just before and during World War I. The people, a crofting community in the windswept hills live modestly in small stone-walled, thatch-roofed homes, where they tend sheep and plant potatoes.But the surroundings are breathtaking. When the story’s protagonist Kirsty Macleod (Hermione Corfield, “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword”) discovers that her beau Murdo MacAulay (Will Fletcher, “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”) has been hiding a copy of Charles Dickens’ “The Old Curiosity Shop” inside the cover of a Bible, she whispers, “Sacrilege.” The form of Christianity practiced by her and Murdo’s people is as severe as the weather. Murdo, who has returned from the military where he worked as a typist, also admires the work of American poet Robert Frost. Kirsty and Mu...

D’Onta Foreman — pushed out of the running back mix early — is ready for his opportunity with the Chicago Bears: ‘This is what I do’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:45 GMT

D’Onta Foreman has been here before — biding his time, waiting for his shot. And suddenly the opportunity arises.Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry fractured his right foot in 2021. The Carolina Panthers traded running back Christian McCaffrey in 2022. The Chicago Bears lost three running backs to injury in the same game Oct. 5 in a 40-20 win against the Washington Commanders.The first two times, Foreman felt as if he delivered for the teams that called him into action. And he’s hoping to do it again Sunday for the Bears against the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field.“Honestly I was prepared for that moment. I’m prepared for this moment,” Foreman said. “This is what I do. I’m calm. I’m confident. And I’ve just got to go show it. I feel like a lot of people are counting me out. I’ve been seeing a lot of stuff about myself. So I’ve got to go prove something.”Foreman called it “cr...

‘Dangerous Waters’ sails familiar seas with skill

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:45 GMT

Ray Liotta, 67, died in 2022 in his sleep in the Dominican Republic while making “Dangerous Waters,” and while his presence in the film is severely truncated, it turns out that the low-budget action thriller from director-cowriter-cinematographer John Barr (“Blood and Money”) is better-than-average. One thing giving the film an interesting slant is its setting for the most part on the high seas.The film’s notably resilient protagonist Rose (the talented Odeya Rush, “Lady Bird”) works the graveyard shift at a Florida hotel, while her mother Alma (Saffron Burrow, speaking in a workable American accent) works the swing shift at a local diner.Alma’s new boyfriend Derek Stipes (Eric Dane) has invited Alma and Rose on a 10-day voyage aboard his sailboat by way of vacation. Alma is gung-ho; Rose not so much, especially after she finds Derek’s AR-15 decorated with a dagger-through-a-rose symbol stowed under a seat cushion. OK, I never said the film was subtle. Barr and co-...

Bork, Molineaux & Rodgers: Polarized America needs a shared story

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:45 GMT

About 250 years ago this fall, the Boston Gazette republished several inflammatory editorials calling for opposition to the Tea Act 1773, the most recent of numerous onerous impositions by the British Parliament.In response, Samuel Adams dusted off the plans he had used to prevent implementation of the Stamp Act. According to the book “American Tempest:” “He would send his mob to frighten East India Company agents into resigning, then prevent ships from landing and offloading their tea.”  However, this time, the brewing resentment would culminate in a piece of public theater that would launch a new nation.The resulting Tea Party was held in Boston Harbor on Dec. 16 of that year. Patriots, dressed as Native Americans to disguise their identity, dumped 46 tons of tea in the water.  It became the story that ignited the imagination of revolutionaries throughout the colonies, united in their desire for liberation from the shackles of an oppressive, distant authority.For sever...

BSO spotlights Shostakovich’s rebel journey

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:45 GMT

Who never wrote a bad note? If Mozart springs to mind, you’re in good company. Boston Symphony Orchestra music director Andris Nelsons would agree with you. But next to Wolfgang Amadeus, Nelsons would also offer up a more controversial choice: Dmitri Shostakovich.For a decade, Nelsons has been exploring Shostakovich with the BSO. The project has won the maestro and symphony an armful of Grammys and may earn them a few more when the final installment of the recordings of the composer’s symphonies, featuring nos. 2, 3, 12, and 13, is released on Oct. 20. And that exploration continues this week, through Oct. 15, with Nelsons conducting Yo-Yo Ma through both of Shostakovich’s cello concertos at Symphony Hall.Nelsons, who grew up in Latvia during Soviet rule, learned about Shostakovich as a boy in music school.“I remember reading Russian books that said, ‘15th symphony of Shostakovich is a milestone, a wonderful work where the confused artist has lost his orientation and then he finds t...

‘Joan Baez I Am a Noise’ captures voice of iconic artist

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:45 GMT

Executive produced by Patti Smith, “Joan Baez I Am a Noise” begins with the artist digging through a large collection of notebooks, drawings, videotapes and recordings. She is excavating one of the most remarkable and notably political artistic careers in American history. A lifelong advocate for civil rights and a staunch, early opponent of the war in Vietnam (and later the war in Iraq), Baez has combined musical stardom with political outspokenness in ways that few have before or after her heyday. For people who grew up in the 1960s, Baez, who made her debut on Harvard Radio and in clubs in Boston and Cambridge in the late 1950s, was a powerful voice in more ways than one.A tall, slender, olive-skinned “Madonna” as she was often described, Baez was hard to pin down. Was she white? Was she Black? Both? As it turns out, the artist, who spent 60 years on the road, performing and trying to make the world a better place, was of Mexican descent with a Quaker background.The film, directe...