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Actors, union members hold panel on strike, AI technology at Comic-Con

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:31 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The writers and actors strike is making an impact at Comic-Con. Union members and actors participated in a panel to discuss the recent strike. “We’re in an infliction point in history right now, you can choose to fight and die on that hill or you will be summerly executed there,” said Zeke Alton, SAG/AFTRA negotiating member.  “The Performers Perspective” panel put on by the National Association of Voice Actors and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. (SAG/AFTRA) centered around the writers' and actors' strikes. The panel also discussed the strikes in relation to AI technology in entertainment. “It’s a moment where we could either make sure those protections are in place for the humans that are behind those creative works or our likeliness and work and our art will get taken,” actor Ashly Burch said.The Writers Guild of America (WGA) began striking in May against major studios over contracts, including higher pay. &...

Israel’s Netanyahu taken to hospital for heart procedure, placed under sedation

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:31 GMT

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early Sunday he was going to the hospital for an emergency procedure to receive a pacemaker, but vowed to press ahead with his controversial judicial overhaul plan.In a brief videotaped statement released at 2 a.m., Netanyahu said he had been fitted with a monitoring device after being briefly hospitalized last week for what his office had said was dehydration. He said an alarm on the device beeped Saturday night, meaning he needed a pacemaker immediately.“I feel excellent, but I listen to my doctors,” he said.In a short statement, Netanyahu’s office said Israel’s leader would be placed under sedation. A top deputy, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, was to stand in for him.Netanyahu’s office made the announcement as Israel faces widespread street protests over Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul plan. The plan has triggered months of protests, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets Saturday night to d...

Man attempts to set fire to himself and police during arrest in Vaughan

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:31 GMT

A 28-year-old man from Vaughan is facing arson and assault charges after allegedly setting fire to a car in a hospital parking garage in Newmarket. Emergency crews were called to Southlake Regional Health Centre on Thursday, July 20, at around 9:45 p.m. for reports of a fire in the garage of the hospital on the south side of Davis Drive, east of Prospect Drive.Upon arrival, officers found a Porsche engulfed in flames on the fourth floor of the garage.York police say while there was extensive damage to the unoccupied vehicle, as well as to the surrounding property, hospital operations were unaffected. Surveillance video showed a man loitering in the area before approaching the vehicle and apparently placing an accelerant on it before igniting it. Investigators say with the help of tips from the public they were able to identify the man and on Saturday went to a home in Vaughan to arrest him.“As two officers arrested him, the suspect poured an accelerant on himself and the offic...

Judge orders Montana health clinic to pay nearly $6 million over false asbestos claims

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:31 GMT

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A health clinic in a Montana town plagued by deadly asbestos contamination must pay the government almost $6 million in penalties and damages after it submitted hundreds of false asbestos claims, a judge ruled.The 337 false claims made patients eligible for Medicare and other benefits they shouldn’t have received. The federally funded clinic has been at the forefront of the medical response to deadly pollution from mining near Libby, MontanaThe judgement against the Center for Asbestos Related Disease clinic comes in a federal case filed by BNSF Railway in 2019 under the False Claims Act, which allows private parties to sue on the government’s behalf. BNSF — which is itself a defendant in hundreds of asbestos-related lawsuits — alleged the center submitted claims on behalf of patients without sufficient confirmation they had asbestos-related disease.After a seven-person jury agreed last month, U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen said in a July 18 order ...

Person held captive by human smugglers rescued, APD says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:31 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Austin Police Department's trafficking unit was able to rescue a person held captive by human smugglers this week, APD Asst. Chief Jeff Greenwalt said on Twitter.According to APD, it worked for 20 hours straight after receiving a report of an adult was being held captive.More than 60 people from nine different units were able to rescue the person and arrested two suspects, according to APD.This is the 16th recovered human smuggling victim this year, police said.

State of Texas: Buoys, razor wire sparks fight on Texas border issues

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:31 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The Department of Justice is preparing to sue Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for the state’s latest border security initiative under Texas’ Operation Lone Star, according to a DOJ letter obtained by Nexstar. Department of Justice warns of lawsuit over Texas border buoys along Rio Grande First reported by the Houston Chronicle, the DOJ sent Abbott a letter on Thursday warning that the buoy barrier the state deployed along the Rio Grande is unlawful. Texas announced the initiative in early June as a way to deter migrants from crossing the Mexican side of the river into Texas, near Eagle Pass.Abbott responded on Twitter Friday writing “Texas has the sovereign authority to defend our border, under the U.S. Constitution and the Texas Constitution.”We have sent the Biden Administration numerous letters detailing our authority, including the one I hand-delivered to President Biden earlier this year.The tragic humanitarian crisis on the border was created because...

Twins first baseman Alex Kirilloff exhibits power surge

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:31 GMT

The good, productive at-bats have been there since Alex Kirilloff joined the Twins in early May. Now, the Twins are seeing the power, too.Kirilloff entered Saturday night’s game against the White Sox with four home runs in his last six games, playing a major role in the Twins’ offensive resurgence post All-Star break.“I think for a lot of guys — and I think this is happening with AK — you hit first and you find the barrel first and you find the good at-bats and zero in on certain parts of the zone, swing at the right pitches, and then as you get more confident on certain pitches you know that you can get the barrel out there a little bit more on those pitches,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “You can turn on some of those balls a little bit more, but not at the expense of all those other good qualities, those positive things that they’re doing in the box right now.”Kirilloff himself said he can’t quite put a finger directly on why, exactly, the power barrage is happening, but he has a...

WNBA power Las Vegas outclasses Lynx again

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:31 GMT

The Minnesota Lynx do not face A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces again this season.Four losses to the league’s best team could cause a cynic to say that is a good thing; coach Cheryl Reeve wouldn’t go quite that far.“I like learning,” she said after the Lynx fell 98-81 Saturday afternoon at Target Center, the closest of the four matchups. Las Vegas won the games by an average of 23.3 points.“Playing against really good teams brings out the things that you’re trying to share with players. So, when they do it in a game, when they go, ‘Ah, that’s what the coach was talking about. ’”The latest lessons came against an Aces team that could be historically good. The defending league champion join the 1998 Houston Comets and 2010 Seattle Storm as the only teams in WNBA history to start the season 21-2.“They just have really good players, like one through seven can go off and score 20 any night,” said Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier. “They have the talent, they have the chemistry, they played ...

Cubs top Cardinals, 8-6, after lengthy rain delay

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:31 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Cody Bellinger drove in four runs and Nico Hoerner had three of Chicago's 15 hits, helping the Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 8-6 on Saturday in a wet and wild matchup of NL Central rivals.Chicago trailed 1-0, 3-1, 5-3 and 6-5 before moving in front for the first time with three runs in the sixth inning. Bellinger yanked a two-run single into right field and Seiya Suzuki followed with an RBI single, giving the Cubs an 8-6 lead.After the start was delayed for 25 minutes, it rained intermittently before another downpour stopped play. Two members of the grounds crew were nearly swallowed by the tarp as they pulled it over the diamond in the middle of the seventh, and the Wrigley Field crowd of 40,425 sang along to Creedence Clearwater Revival's “Have You Ever Seen The Rain?” during the 87-minute delay.Bellinger, a possible trade target ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline, continued his torrid hitting. The 2019 NL MVP is batting .382 (42 for 110) with 21 RBIs in his last 30 g...

Missing 13-year-old girl found safe in East Los Angeles

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:31 GMT

A missing girl who disappeared in East Los Angeles was found safe Saturday afternoon.The critically missing teen was identified as Victoria Berenice Pacheco, 13, by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department."Thank you to the public, the media, Aero Bureau, and deputy personnel for their tireless efforts in the search for Ms. Pacheco," said LASD.At the time, Pacheco was last seen on Friday night in the 1300 block of South Downey Road around 11 p.m.She had no history of running away in the past and her family was very concerned for her well-being, officials said.A “critically missing person” is defined as:-A person in critical need of medical attention-The victim of a crime or foul play-A person who has no pattern of running away or disappearing-The victim of a kidnapping or parental abduction-A person who is mentally impaired to the extent that such person is unable to care for him or herself or is an immediate danger to his or her own safety or the safety of othersNo fur...