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Oscars 2024: As ‘The Color Purple’ arrives, the best picture race comes into focus

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

LOS ANGELES — Oprah Winfrey believes the new film version of “The Color Purple” is “divinely touched.”And at the movie’s first public screening, held a couple of weeks ago at the film academy’s Samuel L. Goldwyn Theater, nobody was going to argue with her. About half of the thousand people in the room, in fact, rose to applaud the closing credits, well before Oprah took the stage along with the film’s director, the memorably named Blitz Bazawule, and several members of its ensemble, including Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks, Taraji P. Henson and Colman Domingo.If the closing credits received a standing ovation, you can imagine the roar when these folks took the stage.Bazawule’s “The Color Purple” is an adaptation of the 2005 Broadway musical, which, of course, was based on Alice Walker’s revered 1982 novel, just as Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film was. The movie is centered on the journey of Celie (Barrino, repris...

Food Pantries for the Capital District "Fill the Truck Challenge"

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

CAPITAL REGION, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The Food Pantries for the Capital District is looking to fill as many trucks as possible with 10,000 pounds of food in its Fill the Truck Challenge. Get the latest news, weather, sports and more delivered right to your inbox! Local businesses are encouraged to form teams to raise money. The competition starts as soon as a team signs up. Five teams have signed up already. It runs through Sunday, December 31st at midnight.Teams create a fundraising page through the Food Pantries website.Organizers say $1600 fills a truck with 10,000 pounds of food.If you have questions or would like more information, please email Development and Communications Manager, Angie Weber at [email protected].

Man shot in front of church in South Los Angeles 

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

A man was shot in front of a church in South L.A.’s Gramercy Park neighborhood early Saturday morning. Shots first rang out just before 1:25 a.m. near the intersection of 98th Street and Western Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.   Wife of LASD deputy who died by suicide files claim against department Officers responded to the scene near the Church of the Living God on Western Avenue and found a man in his 40s with multiple gunshot wounds. A man was shot in front of a church in South L.A.’s Gramercy Park neighborhood on Dec. 9, 2023. (RMGNews)Bullet casings littering the sidewalk following a shooting in South L.A. on Dec, 9, 2023. (RMGNews)An LAPD squad car at the scene of a shooting in South L.A. on Dec. 9, 2023. (RMGNews)The victim was walking on Western when a vehicle approached and a suspect fired multiple rounds at him, LAPD confirmed to KTLA. Video from the scene shows bullet casings littering the sidewalk as police began their invest...

San Jose bride-to-be’s generous gesture for nonprofit goes viral

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

A San Jose bride-to-be who canceled her wedding just three weeks before the big event turned her disappointment into generosity by donating a $15,000 reception last Saturday to the nonprofit Parents Helping Parents — an act that generated headlines around the world.When the woman — whom I’m not naming to protect her privacy — discovered her fiancé had done some unsavory stuff behind her back, she made the tough call to cancel her wedding which was supposed to take place Dec. 5. Unfortunately, that was too late to get back her deposits so she reached out to Parents Helping Parents, a San Jose nonprofit that works with families who have special needs. The agency ended up getting a party at Eagle Ridge Golf Club in Gilroy with dinner, a DJ and fireworks that they enjoyed with about 100 clients, family members and staff.Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, left, poses with Paige Kowalski at a party held for Parents Helping Parents at Eagle Ridge Golf Club ...

Alameda County DA won’t seek charges against Fremont cop after second look at fatal 2021 shooting

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

OAKLAND — The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office will not pursue criminal charges against a Fremont motorcycle police officer who killed a 34-year-old Oakland man during a shootout on Highway 84 near the Dumbarton Bridge in 2021.The decision follows a second look at the case by the Public Accountability Unit formed in January by District Attorney Pamela Price.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Berkeley police video shows officer shooting suspect during November incident Crime and Public Safety | While Oakland’s 911 system was dangerously understaffed, 1,000 operator applications went unprocessed Crime and Public Safety | Former California police chief gets 11-year sentence for role in Jan. 6 Capitol riot Crime and Public Safety | Lawyers argue over deadly California Costco shooting by off-duty officer — was it justified? Crime and Public Safety | Antioch releases video of officers shooting less ...

Let it snow: Free, one-day winter wonderland planned for Nicholl Park in Richmond at end of December

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

A winter wonderland is coming to Richmond’s Nicholl Park either Dec. 20 or 21 — depending on the weather — after roughly 20 tons of ice is delivered via truck and churned into fake snowflakes.This inaugural, one-day event will be free for residents and the city’s winter camp participants, complete with machine-generated snow and a ramp that children can slide down.All Season’s Ice Company is planning to donate roughly $13,000 worth of the white stuff to the Community Services and Recreation Department for the event at the park, located on Macdonald Avenue about five blocks southeast of the Richmond Civic Center Plaza.While generating snow won’t be a problem for the company, which delivers ice across the East Bay — to convenience stores, restaurants, bars, schools, churches and private homes — trying to keep that snow from melting too quickly may be a trickier wrinkle in Richmond’s chilly plan; according to data from The Weather Channel, temperatures during th...

“Disastrous” funding cuts to domestic violence, child sexual abuse services will hit South County hard

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

The Children’s Advocacy Center of Santa Clara County recently received a heart-rending call: A middle-school-aged girl had been a victim of sexual assault.Afraid to call authorities because of her father’s immigration status, she instead reached out to an advocate at the center, who helped her file a police report, obtain a medical exam and connect to services that might help her cope with a moment of profound trauma.The San Jose-based center helps many child survivors of physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. Since the start of the pandemic, the need for its services — and those of a handful of other victims’ advocacy centers around the county — has only grown.But the design of a 50-year-old law could slash funding for such groups unless Congress or the state of California intervenes, resulting in cuts to services and staff that many describe as potentially devastating.“To think that somebody who goes through something so traumatic as a rape or an assault, or heaven ...

Strike a pose — see AP’s top entertainment photos of 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — 2023 was the year Barbie busted out of her box and Taylor triumphed again (and again). Actors abandoned red carpets and grabbed picket signs even as, around the world, the entertainment industry shook off the last remnants of the pandemic.Fashion houses resumed large-scale, eye-popping shows. The Oscars returned to full capacity and moved past The Slap. “Everything Everywhere All At Once” took the top prize, bringing Oscar glory to Michelle Yeoh and reviving the once-dormant career of the infectiously optimistic Ke Huy Quan.Fun was back.Phoebe Waller-Bridge and newcomer Ethann Isidore playfully posed in Cannes at the premiere of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” Bryan Cranston, Tom Hanks and other “Asteroid City” stars looked overjoyed to be together at the glitzy French Riviera festival, which feted Michael Douglas and gave Johnny Depp his biggest comeback platform yet.Jared Leto left Met Gala guests puzzled with a realistic full cat costume based on late des...

US golden at Grand Prix Final: Malinin wins men’s title, Chock and Bates top ice dance in Beijing

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

Ilia Malinin could have been thrown off by a fall on his opening jump — the quad axel — at the Grand Prix Final.Then again, nobody else in the world even tries it.So instead, the 19-year-old American brushed off the mistake, put together a near-flawless free skate the rest of the way, and easily topped Japanese rival Shoma Uno to win the gold medal Saturday at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing. Malinin finished with a career-best 314.66 points, the sixth-highest men’s total in history under the current scoring system.Uno made a mistake on a triple axel and finished with 297.34 points. Yuma Kagiyama of Japan was third.“I’m feeling just amazing. I just don’t have words for what just happened,” said Malinin, who captured the title 24 years after his mother, Tatiana Malinina, won the Grand Prix Final representing Uzbekistan in Saint Petersburg, Russia. “I’m still trying to express and think of what just went on,” Malinin said. “It’s incredible ...

La increíble historia de un hispano que se ganó $100,000 en un “raspadito” y otras noticias insólitas

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

Si crees que lo has visto todo, estás equivocado. Estas son las noticias más insólitas de la semana.NO ERAN $100, SINO $100,000: HISPANO SE GANA LA LOTERÍAIncrédulo. Así recibió un hispano residente de Kentucky la noticia de que se había ganado la lotería, pues era muchísimo más del dinero que creía.Ricardo Vásquez compró un “raspadito” en una gasolinera Speedway de Lexington. Ese día, casualmente le dijo al trabajador de la gasolinera: “Véndeme el boleto ganador”, sin imaginar que sería una realidad. Cuando llegó a su auto, empezó a raspar el boleto. Al principio pensó que eran $100, pero luego se dio cuenta que habían tres ceros más. Así, sin pensarlo ni siquiera imaginarlo, se ganó el premio mayor del “raspadito” de $100,000. LA PATADA EN LA CARA DE UN CANGURO FUGITIVOUn canguro fugitivo que pasó cuatro días huyendo en Canadá fue capturado por la policía el lunes, pero no antes de que lograra golpear a un oficial en la cara.El...