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Bernstein’s children give thumbs-up to ‘Maestro’

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

LIDO, Venice, Italy – Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro’ looks at the legendary gay Jewish conductor-composer’s life as husband and father.Cooper,48, not only stars as the magnetic, talented and driven Leonard opposite Carey Mulligan’s loyal wife Felicia, he produced, directed and co-wrote this epically scaled, decades-spanning biopic.Bernstein’s meteoric rise to fame coincides with his decision to marry the Costa Rica-born Felicia Montealegre. If unconventional partners, they are traditional parents with their three children.Last summer when first photos from the film were released – and before anyone had seen the movie – Cooper’s use of a prosthetic nose trended on social media. Some branded it as “Jewface,” negatively stereotyping the “West Side Story” composer.Bernstein’s children – Jamie, Nina and Alexander – immediately defended Cooper, as did the Anti-Defamation League.Jamie Bernstein, has been especially supportive of this project that years ago had Martin Scorsese as director (he o...

Editorial: Musk has opportunity, obligation to fight online hate

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

Does it really matter whether Elon Musk, owner of X (formerly known as Twitter), visited Israel to stem the loss of ad revenue from deep-pocketed companies, or out of a genuine desire to battle antisemitism?He went, he toured the site of the Hamas slaughter of Oct. 7, he watched footage of the assault and no doubt learned things he did not know before. That’s far more than many in Congress and on our college campuses have done after displaying ignorance, apathy and a zeal to spread anti-Jewish propaganda.Hopefully, Musk’s trip will inspire others to do their own reality checks.As has been reported, Musk had agreed on Nov. 15 with a post on X that falsely claimed Jewish people were stoking hatred against white people, saying the user who referenced the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory was speaking “the actual truth.”After his post, major U.S. companies including Walt Disney, Warner Bros Discovery and Comcast ended their ads on X.  Paris Hilton...

Viola: Tim Scott did right thing by thinning GOP field

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina has dropped out of the GOP presidential primary. Scott has many admirable qualities that would have made him a compelling candidate in another year,. Still, given the state of the Republican race, his decision should be welcomed.With former president Donald Trump holding a wide lead in public polling, the only remaining candidates with so much as a prayer to pull off an upset are Florida governor Ron DeSantis and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley. Scott’s continued presence in the race would have made that less likely. Scott did the right thing, and it behooves other candidates to cede to the campaigns that have a shot at defeating Trump.DeSantis and Haley are the highest-polling candidates behind Trump, and they significantly differ in their approaches to politics.Supporters and detractors have seen Haley as a hearkening back to the pre-Trump Republican Party, focusing on an aggressive foreign policy abroad and economic opportunity at home.DeSantis...

Dear Abby: Readers have options for tech-averse

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

Dear Abby: This is in response to “Love My Cheap Phone” (Aug. 28). As a millennial who has worked in retail my whole adult life, I’m tired of the excuse that the older generation can’t or won’t use smartphones.Personal computers have been out for decades, and smartphones have been around more than 16 years. These things are designed to make our lives easier and should be embraced rather than shunned.The only person holding them back is themself, and most of the time smartphones are more intuitive than previously thought. They also all don’t cost $1,000; many basic use smartphones can be bought for under $200, not to mention certain phone companies offer big discounts on people’s first smartphone with a new account. I don’t feel bad for “Love.” I suggest they get with the times, because these devices aren’t going away. — Millennial in OregonDear Millennial: Thank you for writing. After that letter appeared, I was...

Cities crack down on homeless encampments. Advocates say that’s not the answer

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Tossing tent poles, blankets and a duffel bag into a shopping cart and three wagons, Will Taylor spent a summer morning helping friends tear down what had been their home and that of about a dozen others. It wasn’t the first time and wouldn’t be the last.Contractors from the city of Portland had arrived to break down the stretch of tents and tarps on a side street behind a busy intersection. People had an hour to vacate the encampment, one of more than a dozen cleared that July day, according to city data. Whatever they couldn’t take with them was placed in clear plastic bags, tagged with the date and location of the removal and sent to an 11,000-square-foot (1,020 square meter) warehouse storing thousands like them.“It can get hard,” said Taylor, 32, who has been swept at least three times in the four years he’s been homeless. “It is what it is. … I just let it go.”Angelique Risby, 29, watched as workers in neon-yellow vests shove...

Michigan Democrats poised to test ambitious environmental goals in the industrial Midwest

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan is on the verge of implementing one of the nation’s most ambitious clean energy mandates, aiming to be carbon-free by 2040 in what is a pivotal test of the Democrats’ environmental goals in a state with a long-standing manufacturing legacy.Michigan will join four other states in requiring utility providers to transition to 100% carbon-free energy generation by 2040 under legislation that will soon be signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer The state has also set a goal for utilities to generate 50% of their energy from renewable sources by 2030, a significant leap from the current 12%.The state-level mandates support the Biden administration’s goals of a carbon pollution-free electricity sector by 2035 and a net-zero emissions economy by no later than 2050. The clean energy package, which was approved by Democrats in the Michigan Legislature this month, has been lauded by environmental groups. Lisa Wozniak, executive director of the Michigan League of Co...

Tensions are bubbling up at thirsty Arizona alfalfa farms as foreign firms exploit unregulated water

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

WENDEN, Ariz. (AP) — A blanket of bright green alfalfa spreads across western Arizona’s McMullen Valley, ringed by rolling mountains and warmed by the hot desert sun. Matthew Hancock’s family has used groundwater to grow forage crops here for more than six decades. They’re long accustomed to caprices of Mother Nature that can spoil an entire alfalfa cutting with a downpour or generate an especially big yield with a string of blistering days.But concerns about future water supplies from the valley’s ancient aquifers, which hold groundwater supplies, are bubbling up in Wenden, a town of around 700 people where the Hancock family farms. Some neighbors complain their backyard wells have dried up since the Emirati agribusiness Al Dahra began farming alfalfa here on about 3,000 acres (1,214 hectares) several years ago. It is unknown how much water the Al Dahra operation uses, but Hancock estimates it needs 15,000 to 16,000 acre feet a year based on what his own alf...

Germany is having a budget crisis. With the economy struggling, it’s not the best time

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — With its economy struggling, Germany now is wrestling to find a way out of a budget crisis after a court struck down billions in funding for clean energy projects and help for companies and consumers facing high utility bills because of Russia’s war in Ukraine.Chancellor Olaf Scholz plans to lay out how he and his quarrelsome governing coalition aim to fix things in a speech to parliament Tuesday. The government must hastily find cuts in the almost-finished spending plan for next year, analysts say, which could further slow what is already the world’s worst-performing major economy. A long-term solution, however, could take years, possibly until after the next national elections scheduled for 2025. That’s because the strict legal limits on borrowing cited in the Nov. 15 court decision are enshrined in the country’s constitution, and a two-thirds majority in parliament is required to soften them.Economists say spending cuts will only ...

Alex Murdaugh, already convicted of murder, will be sentenced for stealing from 18 clients

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

For years, South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh looked his anguished clients in the eyes and promised to help them with their medical bills, their suffering or simply to survive. Then he stole most, if not all, of what he won for many of them.On Tuesday, those folks get to look right back at Murdaugh, in a prison jumpsuit, and tell him whatever they want as the disgraced lawyer, also convicted of murder, is sentenced for a decade worth of thefts from clients and his law firm.The courtroom drama will mark yet another step in the fall of a powerful and respected attorney whose family name dominated the legal scene in a small Hampton County for generations, and whose alleged crimes have been a perennial favorite of podcasts, books and online discussions. State prosecutors and Murdaugh’s lawyers negotiated a 27-year prison sentence for the man who is already serving a life term without parole after a jury found him guilty of killing his wife, Maggie, with a rifle, and younger son...

‘Past Lives,’ Lily Gladstone win at Gotham Awards, while Robert De Niro says his speech was edited

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Celine Song’s wistful romance “Past Lives” earned top honors at the Gotham Awards on Monday evening at an award-season kickoff where the night’s biggest drama came in a political speech by Robert De Niro that the actor claimed had been edited without his permission. “Past Lives,” a breakout at the Sundance Film Festival in January and an arthouse hit in June for A24, may be poised to be an Oscar sleeper this year after winning best feature film at the Gothams. Affection is strong for Song’s directorial debut, starring Greta Lee as a woman born in Seoul who, after marrying an American (John Magaro), reconnects with a childhood friend from South Korea (Teo Yoo).“This is the first film I’ve ever made and a very personal film about an extraordinary feeling I had in an ordinary bar in the East Village, not too many blocks away from here,” said Song, accepting the award. “As this film has been shared with the world, it has taught me — and taught us — that...