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San Francisco is naming the nation’s first drag laureate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:31 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Anti-trans legislation is roiling the nation. Bills prohibiting drag performances are cropping up in statehouses. Violence and vitriol are turning children’s drag story hour events into headline-news protests.San Francisco is fighting back Thursday by naming the nation’s first drag laureate, an ambassador-style position designed to represent the city’s famous LGBTQ+ community at a time when rights are under attack.In a city known for its support of LGBTQ+ rights, San Francisco Mayor London Breed says it was a natural step to create a position that not only embraces drag culture but puts government resources toward it. D’Arcy Drollinger, a well-known drag performer and nightclub owner, will receive a $55,000 stipend in her 18-month role as the city’s inaugural drag laureate.“My goals are to make San Francisco sparkle. I think drag performers bring a lot of sparkle and humor and glamor and silliness to the world. I think that is part of why drag is so ...

Stock market today: Wall Street stalls a day after big rally

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:31 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are stalling on Wall Street as hopes dim that the Federal Reserve could finally take a pause on its aggressive hikes to interest rates. The S&P 500 was 0.1% lower in early trading Thursday. The Dow slipped 96 points and the Nasdaq rose slightly. Treasury yields rose as traders reduced bets that the Fed could stand pat on rates at its next meeting in June, which would be the first time that’s happened in more than a year. Economic reports also came in mixed. Walmart rose after its results for the latest quarter beat Wall Street’s expectations. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street pointed modestly higher before the opening bell Thursday on hopes U.S. political leaders can reach an agreement to avoid a potentially disastrous default on government debt.Futures for the benchmark S&P 500 index rose 0.2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose less than 0.1%.Wall Street rallied Wednesday after President Joe Biden expr...

Top Lebanese official in IMF talks calls for central bank head to resign amid corruption allegations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:31 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — The Lebanese official heading talks with the International Monetary Fund to bailout Lebanon’s tanking economy called Thursday for the country’s embattled central bank chief to resign, amid allegations of corruption and an international arrest warrant issued against him.Once seen as the guardian of Lebanon’s financial stability, Central Bank Gov. Riad Salameh is now widely blamed for an economic meltdown that began in 2019. The Lebanese pound has since plunged in value and partly wiped out the savings of ordinary Lebanese, plunging an estimated three-quarters of the population into poverty.Lebanon’s caretaker deputy prime minister, Saade Chami, told The Associated Press in an interview that the allegations against the central bank chief put the government’s credibility at risk and “could threaten the country’s financial relations with the rest of the world,” including with the IMF and other global financial institutions. Chami is the highest-ranking Lebanese...

Husband of 2-time Olympic champion Justyna Kowalczyk killed in avalanche

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:31 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The husband of two-time Olympic champion Justyna Kowalczyk was killed Thursday in an avalanche in the Swiss Alps, the Polish Mountaineering Support Foundation said.Sports climber Kacper Tekieli, who was 38, last posted on Facebook on Tuesday from Konkordia Hut in Fiescherthal, Switzerland.Tekieli was a climbing instructor who climbed in the Himalayas on the Makalu, the fifth highest mountain in the world, and on Broad Peak, as well as in the Alps. He married Kowalczyk in 2020. The couple have a 20-month-old son.Kowalczyk, a cross-country skier who won gold medals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the 2014 Sochi Games, has retired from competition.___AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_SportsThe Associated Press

Harry and Meghan’s run-in with paparazzi is another episode in their battle with the media

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:31 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The latest chapter in the drama surrounding Prince Harry and Meghan’s treatment by the tabloid media was much ado about something.But exactly what happened Tuesday night in New York when the royals left a gala event and were followed by a group of photographers was not completely clear. What was evident is that the pursuit would likely only fuel Harry’s fury with the media as well as his greatest fear that his wife could meet the same fate as his mother, Princess Diana, who died in a car crash while being chased by paparazzi.The couple’s representatives claimed they had been pursued by paparazzi in a “near catastrophic car chase” through the streets of Manhattan. Police said the pursuit was relatively short, led to no injuries, collisions or arrests and warranted no further investigation. And a photo agency later contended it was Harry and Meghan’s security guards who acted recklessly.Harry’s perception of what happened — and his whole relationship with the media...

Review: This ‘White Men Can’t Jump,’ with Jack Harlow, has no game

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:31 GMT

Nineties nostalgia has extended now to 1992’s “White Men Can’t Jump” returning to the blacktop courts where Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson hustled and Rosie Perez studied “Jeopardy!” answers for foods beginning with the letter “Q.”Why, you ask? The principal reason seems to be giving Jack Harlow, a charismatic, fast-rising white rapper making his acting debut, a vehicle for his laid-back charm.The original “White Men Can’t Jump” thrived on Harrelson’s goofball energy and the “You can’t hear Jimmy” trash talk of Snipes, a criminally underrated comic actor (see “Dolemite Is My Name”). The contributions of Perez, a hooped-earrings firecracker who makes any movie a little better, shouldn’t be minimized, either. “White Men Can’t Jump,” the rare sports movie where the woman (Perez) walks out on the guy (Harrelson), hinged mostly on its off-court drama.This limp, half-hearted, breezy remake makes some modest improvements. The film, directed by Calmatic, bounces to a hip-hop ...

Biden campaign sees multiple ‘viable pathways’ to 2024 election win

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:31 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden ‘s reelection campaign is vowing to hold the states that won him the White House in 2020 but also compete in places it lost like North Carolina and increasingly Republican-dominated Florida, providing what it says are “a number of viable pathways to the 270 electoral votes” needed to clinch four more years. Offering her first extensive comments on strategy since she was named manager of Biden’s campaign last month, Julie Chavez Rodriguez wrote in a memo to “interested parties” that the 2024 race presents “significant opportunities to grow Democratic support.” It was released while Biden was traveling in Japan, but he is skipping previously planned, subsequent stops in Australia and Papua New Guinea to focus on debt limit talks in Washington.Rodriguez said the reelection campaign is planning early investments to try to retain battleground states Biden won in 2020 including Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada and New Hampshire, a...

Engagement ring lost down toilet recovered over year later in California

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:31 GMT

(KTLA) - More than a year after an engagement ring was accidentally flushed down a residential toilet, public works crews in Chino Hills, California, recovered it and returned it to its owner, city officials said Wednesday.  The ring was first reported missing in March 2022, when a resident called the Chino Hills Public Works Department to report that a man had lost his fiancee’s ring down the toilet’s drain.  “Once he realized the ring was missing, he did what he could to try and retrieve it, even removing the toilet from the flange,” a news release from the city stated.  The man told public works crews that he then rented a sewer inspection camera to search the drainpipes for the ring, and that while he was able to see it, he may have accidentally pushed the ring even farther into the pipes.  Since the residence was located at the end of a cul-de-sac, city crews believed the ring could not have traveled that far even after several days of showers taken and laun...

Apple to release more accessible features for users with visual, speech impairments

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:31 GMT

(The Hill) -- Apple Inc. unveiled an array of new features to make its products more accessible to users who suffer from cognitive, visual and speech impairments. In a news release Wednesday, Apple said its new features which include Assistive Access, Live Speech, Personal Voice and Point and Speak, will “draw on advances in hardware and software,” including ensuring user privacy and expanding on the company's "long-standing commitment to making products for everyone."“Accessibility is part of everything we do at Apple,” Sarah Herrlinger, senior director of Global Accessibility Policy and Initiatives, said in a statement. “These groundbreaking features were designed with feedback from members of disability communities every step of the way, to support a diverse set of users and help people connect in new ways.”The Assistive Access feature allows users with cognitive disabilities an easier, more enjoyable, and more customizable experience using their Apple products, which includes co...

Blue Bell, Dr Pepper team up to release new ice cream flavor

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:31 GMT

(KXAN) -- What do Texas and Blue Bell have in common? An affinity for Dr Pepper, it seems. Blue Bell teamed up with Dr Pepper to release a new flavor. Dr Pepper Float starts selling in stores Thursday. The flavor will be a "creamy vanilla ice cream swirled together w/Dr Pepper flavored sherbet," according to the announcement. Blue Bell announced the flavor on Twitter early Thursday morning after previously tweeting several teasers about the new flavor.The ice cream company at first didn't overtly say the flavor had anything to do with the soda, but the tweets led to speculation that it would be connected to Dr Pepper. One of the hints Blue Bell tweeted included a video depicting a Dr Pepper-colored deep red can of soda being poured, with a caption reading, "The sound of 23 flavors." Dr Pepper is a Texas-based company known for having 23 flavors packed into one soda. MORE: Made in Texas: Viewers name the top Texas brands, businesses they love Blue Bell is also a Texas-based compa...