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Writers union ratifies its new contract with Hollywood and TV studios

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

(CNN) — Members of the Writers Guild of America union ratified a new contract with Hollywood and television studios, the WGA said in a statement released Monday.Of the 8,525 valid votes cast, 99% of WGA members voted to ratify the new contract, which will last from September 25, 2023, through May 1, 2026, the release said.“Through solidarity and determination, we have ratified a contract with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of our combined membership,” said WGA West President Meredith Stiehm. “Together we were able to accomplish what many said was impossible only six months ago.”WGA East President Lisa Takeuchi Cullen said that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers now needs to negotiate a fair contract with SAG-AFTRA, the actors union, which has been on strike since July.“Until the studios make a deal that addresses the needs of performers, WGA members will be on the picket lines, walking side-by-side with SAG-AFTRA in solidarity,...

Flag football among new sports being considered for 2028 Olympics

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

(CNN) — The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee (LA28) has proposed five new sports for inclusion in the 2028 Games: flag football, baseball/softball, cricket, lacrosse and squash.LA28 said that its proposal will be reviewed and put forward by the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Executive Board for ratification at an IOC Session in Mumbai, India, on October 16.“LA28’s proposed sports ignite the imagination on the field of play and drive culture off it,” LA28 Chairperson Casey Wasserman said in a statement.“They’re relevant, innovative and community-based, played in backyards, schoolyards, community centers, stadiums and parks across the US and the globe.“They will bring new athletes to the Games, engage diverse fanbases and expand the Games’ presence in digital spaces, further amplifying LA28’s mission to deliver an unparalleled experience.”If approved, the new additions will mark an Olympic return for several of th...

11 Americans killed in Israel; Hamas ‘made a mistake of historic proportions,’ Benjamin Netanyahu says as Israel military orders ‘complete siege’ on Gaza

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

At least 11 Americans have been killed in Israel amid Hamas’ terrorist attacks, while other U.S. citizens still remained unaccounted for on Monday after the terrorist group took hostages during the “savage” and “mindboggling” onslaught, according to officials.Israel’s military on Monday ordered a “complete siege” on Gaza, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israel will “exact a price” on Hamas that “will be remembered by them and Israel’s other enemies for decades to come.”President Biden on Monday confirmed that at least 11 American citizens have been killed since Hamas attacked Israel over the weekend.“It’s heart wrenching,” Biden said in a statement. “These families have been torn apart by inexcusable hatred and violence. We also know that American citizens still remain unaccounted for, and we are working with Israeli officials to obtain more information as to their w...

Battenfeld: Massachusetts Democrats and liberals face blowback for comments on Israel

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

Massachusetts Democrats and other liberals who have criticized Israel are now getting blowback after calling for a cease-fire following Hamas’s terrorist attacks that left more than 1,000 people, including Americans, dead or captured.U.S. Sen. Edward Markey got loudly booed at a rally in support of Israel on Monday after suggesting de-escalation in the Middle East was the right response to Hamas’ vicious surprise assault.Markey is urging the White House to encourage peace talks between Israel and Hamas – which appears ridiculous given Israel’s declaration of war.Markey’s Democratic colleague, U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) strongly rebutted Markey while speaking directly after the senior senator at the rally.“De-escalation is not possible when they are taking hostages,” Auchincloss said to cheers as Markey stood by awkwardly clapping.Members of the leftist “Squad” and other critics of Israel are also being forced to condemn Hamas after the terrorist group launched its deadly a...

Robbins: Coddled by Left, armed by Iran, Hamas stages massacre

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

On Saturday morning, several thousand young Israelis were celebrating a Jewish holiday at an all-night music festival in southern Israel, a few miles from the border fence that separates Israel from the Gaza Strip. Shortly after sunrise, hundreds of Hamas operatives armed with machine guns and grenades broke through the fence and headed  for the festival, murder on their minds, wielding the tools with which to carry out a massacre.Descending on the terrified youngsters, who ran for their lives, the Hamas gunmen mowed down the children with everything they had, chasing them by car, surrounding them and blowing them to pieces. They slit these youngster’s throats. They bound the limbs of these kids, some lifeless and some barely clinging to life, and rammed their bloody bodies onto their vehicles, speeding back into Gaza, where Palestinians on the street screamed with joy, passed around celebratory sweets and once again displayed the bloodlust which so tragically has come to characteri...

Lucas: Gov fumbles migrant hotel mess

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

Gov. Maura Healey does not have to go to the southern border to witness the illegal invasion of America.All she has to do was go to Foxboro and try to book a hotel room for the iconic Army/Navy football game on Dec. 9 to be played at Gillette Stadium. There is no room at the inn, however.Had she even made a reservation in advance, it would have been canceled since all the rooms at the Comfort Inn in Foxboro and other hotels near Gillette Stadium have been taken over by illegal immigrants her administration has sent there.As reported by the Herald’s Joe Battenfeld, scores of service academy graduates, families and veterans are now scrambling to find hotel and motel rooms that were cancelled to make way for the illegal immigrants.And the hotel operators love it because it is a financial bonanza for the hotel and motel operators. The state (taxpayer) is paying jacked up prices to house the immigrants and there is no set date for them to leave.It’s a wonder Healey did not provide the im...

Harvard students called ‘morally repugnant’ for blaming Israel for attacks

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

Harvard students who authored a letter blaming Israel for the Hamas terror attacks is being ridiculed as “intellectually weak and morally repugnant.”U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Salem, and former Harvard president Larry Summers are lining up to call out the Cambridge university students — and the “leadership” remaining silent.“Terrorism is never justified nor someone else’s fault. As hundreds of Israelis and others, including several Americans, remain kidnapped, injured, or dead, the 31 Harvard organizations that signed a letter holding Israel ‘entirely responsible’ for Hamas’ barbarous terrorism should be condemned, as should Harvard leadership for whom silence is complicity,” said Moulton, who added “I cannot recall a moment when I’ve been more embarrassed by my alma mater.”Summers tweeted: “In nearly 50 years of @Harvard affiliation, I have never been as disillusioned and alienated as I am today.”Summers is the former Treasury Secretar...

President Biden interviewed as part of special counsel investigation into classified documents

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has been interviewed as part of an independent investigation into his handling of classified documents, the White House said late Monday. Spokesperson Ian Sams says in a statement that the interview was voluntary and conducted at the White House on Sunday and Monday. The Associated Press

Alabama library mistakenly adds children’s book to “explicit” list because of author’s name

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama public library mistakenly added a children’s picture book to a list of potentially inappropriate titles because the author’s last name is “Gay,” the library’s director said. “Read Me a Story, Stella,” a children’s picture book by Canadian author Marie-Louise Gay, was added to a list of books flagged for potential removal from the children’s section of the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library because of “sexually explicit” content. But the book, which is about a pair of siblings reading together and building a dog house, should not have been on the list and was only added because of the keyword “gay,” Cindy Hewitt, the library’s executive director told AL.com on Sunday. The book was one of 233 books set to be reviewed and potentially moved. “We wanted to be proactive and allow our library staff to look at our collection and make decisions about moving material to an older age group and not have someone from ou...

Casino industry spurs $329 billion in US economic activity, study by gambling group shows

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — The casino gambling industry in the U.S. generates nearly $329 billion a year in economic activity, according to a new study by the industry’s national trade association.The American Gaming Association released a study Monday showing the industry’s economic impact in 2022 was up 26% from 2017, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.Commercial and tribal casinos support 1.8 million jobs, including 700,000 jobs at casinos themselves or related businesses, about the same as in 2017. Those jobs generated $104 billion in wages across the country, up 40% from 2017, according to the study.The industry paid $52.7 billion last year in taxes to federal, state and local governments, up 29% since 2017, the report said.The report was the first such study released by the association since 2018, which presented 2017 data. Bill Miller, president and CEO of the association, said the numbers show the casino industry’s “resiliency and continued strength” since th...