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Movie review: Wes Anderson’s ‘Asteroid City’ never quite comes together

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:16 GMT

Was Wes Anderson maybe … TRYING to put us to sleep?That is the recurring question in our mind as we absorbed “Asteroid City,” the acclaimed filmmaker’s latest star-packed and quirky affair, a slow, dreamlike comedy set in the 1950s and folding together the American West and Broadway.A scene late into the writer-director’s 11th film suggests Anderson at least knows we may be on the verge of sleep by then, but we’ll say no more about that specifically.On the surface, “Asteroid City” is set in the town of that name, a dot on the map in the American Southwest that’s home to 87 people, a one-pump gas station, a luncheonette, a small motor-court hotel and a telephone booth. Just outside of town resides a large meteor crater and an observatory.We quickly learn, though, that it actually is a setting created for a broadcast of a play from the Tarkington Theatre, “in an area much like New York’s Great White Way,” as the film’s production notes state.Bryan Cranston portrays the host of a broad...

Trump adviser faces possible disbarment over his efforts to overturn 2020 election

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:16 GMT

By STEFANIE DAZIO AND MICHAEL R. BLOOD (Associated Press)LOS ANGELES (AP) — Attorney John Eastman, a lead architect of some of former President Donald Trump’s efforts to remain in power after the 2020 election, faces possible disbarment in disciplinary proceedings that began Tuesday in Los Angeles.Eastman faces 11 disciplinary charges stemming from his development of a dubious legal strategy aimed at helping Trump overturn the election by disrupting the counting of state electoral votes. The State Bar Court of California will hear testimony, including from Eastman, in a proceeding that could result in him losing his license to practice law in the state. Others who will testify include Greg Jacob, a former attorney for then-Vice President Mike Pence. Jacob had pushed back against Eastman’s plan to have Pence stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory. Pence didn’t have the power to overturn the election and has said so. In a memo critics have likened ...

4 dead after battery causes fire at New York City e-bike shop that spreads to apartments

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:16 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A fire at a New York City e-bike shop quickly spread to upper-floor apartments and killed four people early Tuesday in the latest deadly blaze linked to exploding lithium ion batteries.The fire, reported shortly after midnight, happened at a shop that was cited last summer for safety violations related to the storage and charging of batteries, officials said. Investigators determined that it was an accident caused by a lithium ion battery, which can overheat while being charged and explode in an intensely hot flare of flame, fire officials said.A pile of burned bikes, scooters and other debris lay on the sidewalk outside the shop, HQ E-Bike Repair, which was on the ground floor of a six-story building in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood.So far this year, there have been more than 100 fires and 13 deaths linked to battery explosions in the city, said Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh.“There was a very large number of both batteries and e-bikes,̶...

Wind-driven brush fire burns 30 acres in rural East County

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:16 GMT

SAN DIEO -- Crews are working to extinguish a brush fire in rural East County.The wind-driven fire was reported shortly after 11:30 a.m. Tuesday on the Campo Indian Reservation, near Black Wood and Old Mine roads, according to Cal Fire San Diego. Body of missing hiker found at Three Sisters Falls The blaze, dubbed the Blackwood Fire, is 30 acres in size and is burning at a moderate rate of spread, fire officials said. About five structures are threatened.Check back for updates on this developing story.

Idaho man charged with 4 counts of murder in shooting deaths of his neighbors, including one minor

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:16 GMT

KELLOGG, Idaho (AP) — A northern Idaho man has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary after prosecutors said he broke into his neighbors’ home and shot and killed the people there, including a minor.Majorjon Kaylor, 31, of Kellogg, was arrested Sunday night shortly after the shooting in the small mining community.A magistrate judge identified the victims as Kenneth Guardipee, Kenna Gaurdipee, Devin Smith and an unnamed juvenile during Kaylor’s first court appearance on Tuesday. The family lived in the same multi-home building as Kaylor. If convicted, Kaylor could face the death penalty. He is being held without bond and has not yet entered a plea.Few details have been released about the shooting, and authorities have not said what they believe Kaylor’s motive may have been. But prosecuting attorney Benjamin Allen said the crime was “relatively horrific” and noted that one of the victims was a child. He also said Kaylor admitted the killings whe...

Women pushed into ravine at German castle were recent Illinois college graduates

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:16 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A U.S. hiker who fell to her death during a savage attack in Germany and a friend who tried to protect her had just graduated together from the University of Illinois with computer degrees.Authorities haven’t released the names of anyone involved in the June 14 incident due to German privacy rules. But the Rev. Mark Zhang of Living Water Evangelical Church in Naperville, Illinois, said Tuesday that 21-year-old Eva Liu and her parents attended the church and Liu’s parents told him that she had been killed.“It’s a very tough situation,” Zhang said. “Our words are powerless. We just mourn together with them and pray for them. When one family suffers, our whole church suffers.”Weihan Chang of Normal, Illinois, said that his daughter, 22-year-old Kelsey Chang, survived the attack. She was released from a hospital on Sunday and was on a plane bound for home Tuesday. He said he hadn’t had a chance to talk with her very much.“She’s pretty d...

Scent like marijuana enough to warrant police search, Wisconsin Supreme Court rules

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:16 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A car smelling like marijuana is enough for police in Wisconsin to justify searching a person in the vehicle, even though substances legal in the state can smell the same, the state Supreme Court said on Tuesday.The court’s conservative majority ruled 4-3 that Marshfield police had grounds to search the driver of a vehicle that smelled like marijuana, overturning lower court rulings that said officers couldn’t be sure that what they smelled was not CBD, a legal, marijuana-derived substance. The scents of CBD and marijuana are indistinguishable.Two officers searched Quaheem Moore in 2019, who was alone in a vehicle that smelled like marijuana when he was pulled over for speeding. Moore told police that a vaping device he had contained CBD and that the car was a rental belonging to his brother. Police did not smell marijuana on Moore.Moore argued in court that police had no reason to believe he was responsible for the smell.To justify searching someone, poli...

CP NewsAlert: Search-and-rescue operation ongoing after RCAF helicopter crash

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:16 GMT

PETAWAWA, Ont. — The Canadian military says the search-and-rescue operation to locate two people missing since a Royal Canadian Air Force helicopter crashed overnight near Garrison Petawawa in eastern Ontario is still ongoing.Earlier, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters he had spoken with Gen. Wayne Eyre, chief of the defence staff, to express condolences for the members “who’ve been killed” and promised a “thorough investigation” into the crash.The Prime Minister’s Office offered no immediate explanation for why Trudeau said the military personnel had been killed in his English remarks to reporters.More coming. The Canadian Press

GTA Metro workers vote in favour of strike ahead of contract negotiations

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:16 GMT

TORONTO — Unifor says Metro grocery workers in the Greater Toronto Area voted 100 per cent in favour of striking ahead of their first contract negotiations since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic.Unifor Local 414 represents 3,700 workers across 27 Metro stores and is expected to begin negotiations with the grocer on June 26. The union says the vote shows workers are united and determined to arrive at a collective agreement that addresses key issues faced by them and by Metro customers. The union’s national president Lana Payne says in a press release that Metro needs to address low wages, which have been further reduced by inflation. Unifor Local 414 president Gord Currie says in the press release that workers have three key priorities: fair pay for all workers, greater access to better benefits, and more secure work hours and full-time jobs. The union says Metro workers are committed to bargaining a fair collective agreement that reflects their contributions to the grocer̵...

Former Oklahoma and Major League pitcher George Frazier dies at age 68

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:16 GMT

Oklahoma has announced that former pitcher George Frazier, a World Series champion who had a nearly three-decade run as a television broadcaster, has died at age 68.The Denver Post reported he died Monday in Tulsa after a recent illness.In two seasons at Oklahoma, he played on College World Series teams in 1975 and 1976 and posted a 12-4 career record with eight saves and a 2.62 earned run average.Frazier played parts of 10 Major League Baseball seasons with five clubs. He appeared in the 1981 World Series with the New York Yankees and helped the Chicago Cubs win their first division title in 1984 before becoming a world champion with the Minnesota Twins in 1987. He pitched two scoreless innings for the Twins during Game 4 of that World Series against St. Louis. He posted a career 4.20 ERA with 35 wins and 29 saves in 415 Major League appearances.After that, he spent 18 years as a television broadcaster with the Colorado Rockies.He returned to Oklahoma in 2015 as a color analyst on ...