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Ambrose: Do we need protection from ‘Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah’?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:27 GMT

Listen, I don’t want to sound authoritarian, but I hereby announce that the coming week is “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Week” and that everyone 16 or older is required to sing its lyrics in public at least once a day. After all, the oomph of this delightful ditty has been making millions feel bubbly for decades, and now its Disney owners are banning it from their domain.The Disney bosses featured the song in two “Magic Happens” parades a day in Disneyland until the COVID-19 virus hit hard. They are now finally restoring the parades using a Peter Pan song as a substitute. The reasoning is that the snappy, peppy “Zip” tune and lyrics were first sung in a 1946 Disney movie, “Song of the South,” which was racist.The singer, however, was James Baskett, the first Black actor to win an Oscar. He was not racist and neither is the song, which won an Academy Award. What’s more, few likely know much if anything about the 1946 movie and wouldn’t think the song objectionable if they did. At th...

Julian Assange’s father pleads his case in ‘ITHAKA’ doc

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:27 GMT

As a father dedicated to freeing his son, the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the world’s most famous political prisoner, John Shipton embodies the mantra at the heart of a new documentary: “A father, a family, a fight for justice.”That documentary chronicling Shipton’s years-long efforts is called “ITHAKA” – a reference to a Greek poem emphasizing that it’s the journey not the destination. It screens Thursday at the Salem Film Festival (salemfilmfest.com)  which seems an all too appropriate setting for Assange, 51, held since 2019 in a London prison and whose supporters see him as the victim of a 21st century witch hunt.Shipton, 78 and Australian, is actively trying to help his son who for the last four years has been kept in solitary confinement in Belmarsh prison, diagnosed as depressed and considered potentially suicidal. Assange is the first publisher ever to be accused of espionage, a charge that threatens the guarantee of the United States Constitution’s First Amendment fre...

Dear Abby: Would-be parent wants children to aim high

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:27 GMT

Dear Abby: I’m a medical student. I don’t have kids or a family of my own yet, but I’d like it to happen one day. When I have kids of my own, I intend to push them to be the very best in whatever they want to do. I will ingrain in them “tough love” and demand excellence from them.My classmates, friends and I grew up similarly. We did well enough in high school to get into a good college and have successful lives after that. My friends and I did all the same things in college we did in high school. We joined clubs, volunteered, took leadership roles, earned good grades and got good recommendation letters in order to outcompete our peers and get where we wanted to go.When I have kids, I want them to emulate what I did, achieve the same way academically and succeed. Am I wrong? I know it will be challenging to raise kids to outcompete their peers for things they want to do or are passionate about. I know I won’t have complete control over them becaus...

Bullfighting ban faces critical legislative vote in Colombia

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:27 GMT

VILLAPINZON, Colombia (AP) — A 61-year-old matador nicknamed “Little gypsy of America” fell headfirst into the dust when he was headbutted by a bull. He recovered to the applause of the crowd, and later killed the bull with a sword thrust to the back of its neck.He was among six veteran bullfighters performing for free on a recent Saturday in front of about 150 people at an emerald-green hacienda in Colombia’s Andes. The festival was to raise money for a foundation hoping to save the centuries-old tradition from a national ban being pushed by politicians who argue bullfighting is cruel and unethical.“Colombia’s art and culture must endure,” the matador, Jelain Fresneda, said after the difficult bout, shaking dust off his tight-fitting suit. “We need to ensure our freedoms are respected.”Colombia is one of just eight countries where bullfights are still legal. But the tradition has taken some blows around the world recently with courts and municipal governments in cities like Barcelo...

In Trump case, NY grand jury appears near end of its work

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:27 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York grand jury investigating Donald Trump over a hush money payment to a porn star appears poised to complete its work soon as law enforcement officials make preparations for possible unrest in the event of an indictment.Trump over the weekend claimed without any evidence that he would be arrested on Tuesday, with his representatives later saying he was citing media reports and leaks. There was no indication that prediction would come true, though the grand jury appeared to take an important step forward by hearing Monday from a witness favorable to Trump, presumably so prosecutors could ensure the panel had a chance to consider any testimony that could be remotely seen as exculpatory.The next steps in a grand jury process shrouded in secrecy remained unclear, and it was uncertain if additional witnesses might be summoned. But a city mindful of the riot by Trump loyalists at the U.S. Capitol more than two years ago took steps to gird itself from any violence t...

Army of lobbyists helped water down banking regulations

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:27 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — It seemed like a good idea at the time: Red-state Democrats facing grim reelection prospects would join forces with Republicans to slash bank regulations — demonstrating a willingness to work with President Donald Trump while bucking many in their party. That unlikely coalition voted in 2018 to roll back portions of a far-reaching 2010 law intended to prevent a future financial crisis. But those changes are now are being blamed for contributing to the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank that prompted a federal rescue and stoked anxiety about a broader banking contagion.The rollback was was leveraged with a lobbying campaign that cost tens of millions of dollars and drew an army of hundreds of lobbyists into the effort. It also was seeded with ample campaign contributions.The episode offers a fresh reminder of the power that bankers wield in Washington, where the industry spends prodigiously to fight regulation and often hires former members of...

Asian stocks rise ahead of Fed’s next interest rate decision

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:27 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher on Tuesday ahead of a Federal Reserve decision on another possible interest rate hike amid worries about global banks.Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul advanced. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday. Oil prices declined.Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index rose 0.9% on Monday after U.S., European and Japanese central banks announced measures to ease strains on the financial system, including lending more dollars if necessary.The collapse of two U.S. banks and the takeover of troubled Credit Suisse have heightened fears other lenders might crack under the strain of repeated rate hikes to cool economic activity and inflation that is near multi-decade highs.Traders expect the Fed to go ahead with another rate hike Wednesday but think it might be held to 0.25 percentage points, down from the 0.5 points previously expected.“Can the Federal Reserve really continue to hike rates in the face of a banking crisis?R...

You Paid For It: East St. Louis residents upset over neighborhood mess

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:27 GMT

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. - Residents in East St. Louis are upset over a multi-million dollar project that was supposed to make their neighborhood better, but instead made it worse.The city paid the contractor part of the $3.4 million to fix up the neighborhood by paving streets, redoing sidewalks, and driveways. However, after weeks on the job, the contractor left the streets, sidewalks, and driveways unfinished. It’s a nightmare for residents along North 24th Street."And they took up all the side wall. Took up the curb, and people can’t get halfway in or out," said Willis Jenkins, an East St. Louis resident. "How do you give a $2 million contract and nobody follow up with what’s going on. The only thing I could say is if I could get $2 million and not do the work I would do. Somebody dropped the ball. This is uncalled for, at least put the sidewalks in.”The project started with a budget of $2 million. The city added more money to it, bringing it to $3.4 million. FOX 2 was told that the...

Avs wallop unrecognizable Chicago Blackhawks, 5-0, with Cale Makar out with lower-body injury

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:27 GMT

The Chicago Blackhawks look unrecognizable, even from the team that delivered a gut check to Colorado’s season in January. The Avalanche have looked unbeatable since then.Against a shell of the Blackhawks’ former selves, the Avs sailed to a 5-0 win Monday night at Ball Arena behind Alexandar Georgiev’s 26-save shutout, his fifth of the season.“Definitely pretty confident right now, and we know some of the opponents are fighting for their jobs and maybe don’t have much to lose,” Georgiev said. “It’s important for us to approach every game like an important one and not let it slide.”Colorado (41-22-6) was gasping to stay above .500 and keep up in the playoff race after a 3-2 loss Jan. 12 at United Center. It was the end of a 1-6-1 stretch coming out of the holiday break. At the 40-game mark, the Avs were 20-17-3.They have the best record in the NHL (21-5-3) since that day, punctuated by their current six-game win streak.“Espe...

Former corrections officer in Los Angeles sentenced to 10 years for sexual assault of female detainee in COVID-19 isolation 

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:27 GMT

A former corrections officers with the Federal Bureau of Prisons was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting a female detainee who was quarantined due to COVID-19, officials with the United States Department of Justice announced.  The assault occurred in 2020 when the former BOP officer, identified as 49-year-old Jose Viera, a resident of Monterey Park, worked at the Metropolitan Detention Center-Los Angeles. Viera was assigned to supervise incarcerated women who were in isolation as a result of COVID-19 exposure and infection.  “During the morning of December 20, 2020, Viera entered the cell of the victim, who was in isolation from COVID-19, as he had done on previous occasions to bring her break,” a U.S. DOJ news release stated. “Instead, Viera laid down next to the victim in her bed, sandwiching her between his body and the wall. Then, he sexually assaulted her. Viera committed this assault despite knowing that the victim did not consent and that ...