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Best TV of 2023: In a tumultuous year for Hollywood, standouts include Chicago-set ‘The Bear’ and Netflix’s ‘The Diplomat’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:00 GMT

Nina Metz | Chicago Tribune (TNS)We close the book on a year that saw Hollywood weather a writers and actors strike, resulting in almost no work for nearly six months. Tough times for anyone who makes a living in TV.But it also functioned as an overdue course correction. Streamers have been loathe to admit they’re churning out more shows than audiences can keep up with — and providing inadequate budgets to market them all — and the 2023 work stoppage was an excuse to cut back on things instead. How convenient.The strikes hit TV networks the hardest. Broadcasters resorted to an unsatisfying mix of reruns and reality. But weekly episodic TV was already in a diminished state, and this is ironic considering older seasons of these very shows, from “NCIS“ to “Grey’s Anatomy,“ are among the most popular on streaming platforms. Only NBC managed to premiere new shows in the fall (completed before the strike and held back just in case) with “The Irrational“ and “Found.” Though mediocre, at le...

Massachusetts AG files lawsuit against neo-Nazi group NSC-131

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:00 GMT

Massachusetts’ attorney general has filed suit against prominent New England neo-Nazi group the Nationalist Social Club, also known as NSC-131, alleging the group’s activities have violated state civil rights laws and interfered with public safety.“NSC-131 has engaged in a concerted campaign to target and terrorize people across Massachusetts and interfere with their rights. Our complaint is the first step in holding this neo-Nazi group and its leaders accountable for their unlawful actions against members of our community,” Attorney General Andrea Campbell said in a statement Thursday. “My office will continue to do all it can to protect our residents’ and visitors’ civil rights and public safety.”The suit filed Thursday in Suffolk Superior Court targets the organization itself as well as two of its leaders, Christopher Hood and Liam McNeil. It cites what the AG’s office calls “an escalating series of unlawful and discriminatory incidents” between July 2022 and January of this year...

No promise of funding additional parking by Ford government in Ontario Place development document

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:00 GMT

New details coming to light about what the Ford government is promising private companies when it comes to parking at a redeveloped Ontario Place.While the Ford government has not disclosed any details of its long-term lease with Therme, the Austria-based company which was given a 95-year lease to build and operate a water park and private spa at Ontario Place, Ontario’s acting auditor general said Wednesday the deal binds them to provide a number of dedicated parking spaces for the spa between 2028 and 2030 or face a financial penalty.CityNews has obtained the 2019 Call For Development (CFD) for Ontario Place, which sets out the parameters companies needed to consider when making an application to develop the waterfront theme park. The document shows that while the Ford government is obligated to provide 1,200 parking spaces to LiveNation for its Budweiser Stage, there is no mention of building additional parking, let alone a 2,100-car underground parking garage.“Partic...

Ontario giving $20.5M for hate prevention; priority given to Jewish, Muslim groups

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:00 GMT

Ontario is offering faith-based and cultural groups an additional $20.5 million this year to help address incidents of hate, with priority being given to Jewish and Muslim groups.The funding is on top of $12.5 million that has already been given to more than 1,400 groups through the first round of the government’s Anti-Hate Security and Prevention Grant.Citizenship and Multiculturalism Minister Michael Ford says Ontario has seen a rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic acts in recent weeks and they have no place in Ontario. Related: 'Staggering' rise in hate crimes across Toronto: police chief The grants give groups up to $20,000 to better protect community facilities, synagogues, mosques, schools and child-care centres from graffiti, vandalism and other hate-motivated damage.The money can be used for measures such as hiring security staff, buying surveillance cameras, conducting security assessments, enhancing cybersecurity, and making building repai...

‘Crossed my line’: Calgary traffic reporter goes viral after response to body comment

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:00 GMT

CALGARY — TV traffic reporter Leslie Horton developed a thick skin over the years because of nasty feedback from viewers, but she unleashed a viral smackdown last week after she says one of them “crossed my line.”The usually unflappable host, who has been at Global Calgary since 1995, was about to give a live report on the morning show when she decided to read out a message she received during a break.“I’m just gonna respond to an email that I just got saying, ‘Congratulations on your pregnancy. If you’re gonna wear old bus-driver pants, you have to expect emails like this,'” Horton said. “So thanks for that,” she responded.“No, I’m not pregnant. I actually lost my uterus to cancer last year. And this is what women of my age look like. So if it is offensive to you, that is unfortunate.“Think about the emails that you send.” Horton, 59, said she has been getting “nasty” messages for the last fou...

Community-building businesses look to fill societal gap

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:00 GMT

TORONTO — When Joshua Zachariah was a teenager, he was enamoured with bars — or at least his idea of them. Too young to visit them himself, he envisioned Enlightenment-style salons as described by his great-grandfather’s memoirs, which suggested bars were the only place that fostered true intellectual thought.When Zachariah was old enough to go to pubs, he found they were not, by and large, bastions of intellectualism, but he loved them nonetheless. So much so that he wanted to create the modern-day salon of his dreams: “A place for people to gather and talk about interesting things, and to build movements, and to discuss issues and to learn things,” he said, bemoaning a lack of public places for people to connect.“Over time, that idea became less about the salon and more about the community,” said Zachariah, now the proprietor of Danu Social House in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood.Danu is among a crop of business focused on filling a growing ho...

The GOP’s slim House majority is getting even tighter with Kevin McCarthy’s retirement

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson’s margin for error in getting Republican priorities through the House is getting slimmer, complicating future votes and magnifying the ability of individual lawmakers to force concessions.Republicans had just a 222-213 margin before Rep. George Santos of New York was expelled in a broad, bipartisan vote a week ago. Then, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California announced Thursday he would be retiring at the end of the month. He was the first speaker ever booted from the position, a victim of a process he had agreed to implement that allowed just a few defections from within the GOP ranks to oust him.The margins before both representatives’ exits allowed Republicans to lose up to four votes on a party-line ballot and still get a bill over the finish line, assuming every lawmaker was in attendance. Now that margin is down to three votes. It could even drop to two if Democrats flip the Santos seat in a special election set for Feb. 13, ...

Advocates say a Mexican startup is illegally selling a health drink from an endangered fish

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:00 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Environmental watchdogs accused a Mexico-based startup Thursday of violating international trade law by selling a health supplement made from endangered totoaba fish to several countries including the U.S. and China.Advocates told The Associated Press they also have concerns that the company, The Blue Formula, could be selling fish that is illegally caught in the wild.The product, which the company describes as “nature’s best kept secret,” is a small sachet of powder containing collagen taken from the fish that is designed to be mixed into a drink. Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, to which Mexico and the U.S. are both signatories, any export for sale of totoaba fish is illegal, unless bred in captivity with a particular permit. As a listed protected species, commercial import is also illegal under U.S. trade law.The environmental watchdog group Cetacean Action Treasury first cited the company in Novem...

Shots fired outside Jewish temple in upstate New York as Hanukkah begins, shooter’s motive unknown

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:00 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A 28-year-old man was in police custody for allegedly firing two rounds from a shotgun outside a Jewish temple in upstate New York on Thursday, hours before the start of Hanukkah. Officials said no one was injured and police said they did not know the man’s motive.The shots were fired outside of Temple Israel just before 2 p.m. and a suspect was in custody, said Albany police spokesperson Megan Craft. “We will update New Yorkers as we know more, but thankfully, there have been no injuries or fatalities,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a prepared statement. “I have spoken to the Rabbi at Temple Israel and assured her the State will do everything in our power to restore the sense of security her community needs.”Hochul said she directed the state police and New York National Guard to be on high alert and to increase existing patrols of at-risk sites that were planned for Hanukkah, which begins Thursday evening at sundown. “Any act of antisemitism is unaccept...

Armenia and Azerbaijan announce deal to exchange POWs and work toward peace treaty

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:27:00 GMT

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed Thursday to exchange prisoners of war and work toward signing a peace treaty in what the European Union hailed as a major step toward peace in the long-troubled region.The two countries said in a joint statement they “share the view that there is a historical chance to achieve a long-awaited peace.” They said they intend “to normalize relations and to reach the peace treaty on the basis of respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.”Azerbaijan waged a lightning military campaign in September in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The offensive ended three decades of rule there by ethnic Armenians and resulted in the vast majority of the 120,000 residents fleeing the region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.Until Thursday’s announcement, the two countries had bitterly argued on the outline of a peace process amid mutual distrust.As part of the deal, Armenia agree...