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Ryan Gosling to present award to 'Barbie' director Greta Gerwig at SFFilm Awards Night

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- "Barbie" director Greta Gerwig will be honored at the SFFilm Awards Night with an award presented by one of the film's stars, Ryan Gosling. Gerwig, an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker, will receive the Irving M. Levin Award for Film Direction at the Dec. 4 event which will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.The award will be presented by Gosling, an Academy Award-nominated actor, who in addition to starring in "Barbie," has appeared in "La La Land," "Drive," and "Lars and the Real Girl." Nearly two dozen Bank of America branches closing across Bay Area Academy Award-winning actor Nicolas Cage will also be on-hand to receive the Maria Manetti Shrem Lifetime Achievement Award for Acting. Cage, a prolific actor who has starred in films that include "Valley Girl," Raising Arizona," "The Rock" and "Wild at Heart," will receive the award previously bestowed on "Barbie" star Margot Robbie.“SFFILM has been part of San Francisco’s cultural landscape for...

Nearly 100K gallons of sewage spills in SoCal, closes beach

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

(KTLA) -- A stretch of the Orange County coast has been closed due after tens of thousands of gallons of sewage was spilled in Laguna Beach.The Orange County Health Care Agency closed the coastal area from Laguna Avenue to Blue Lagoon in Laguna Beach, officials announced Wednesday morning."The spill volume is an estimated total of 94,500 gallons, and was caused by a break in a force main sewer line in Laguna Beach," the agency said in a news release.The water is closed to swimming and water-contact sports until water monitoring meets "acceptable standards," officials said.For information regarding Orange County ocean, bay or harbor postings and closures, call 714-433-6400 or visit OCBeachInfo.com. To report a sewage spill, call 714-433-6419.

LSU’s Angel Reese is back with the No. 7 Tigers after 4-game absence

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU star forward Angel Reese, who has missed four games for undisclosed reasons, is rejoining the No. 7 Tigers in advance of their match-up with ninth-ranked Virginia Tech on Thursday night.Reese had foreshadowed her return when she posted on social media a photo of herself inside LSU’s basketball stadium, the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.LSU coach Kim Milkey has declined to go into detail about why Reese was not with the team for much of the past two weeks beyond saying it stemmed from unspecified “locker-room issues.”Milkey said Wednesday that Reese will play but wouldn’t say whether she would be starting or coming off the bench.Reese, who is one of the most popular and commercially successful players in her sport, missed games at Southeastern Louisiana and against Texas Southern in Baton Rouge before also not accompanying the team to the Cayman Islands for a holiday tournament. LSU defeated Niagara and Virginia in the Cayman Islands Classic last wee...

Feminist website Jezebel will be relaunched by Paste Magazine less than a month after shutting down

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The irreverent feminist website Jezebel is making a comeback less than a month after it was shut down.Paste Magazine, a digital pop culture publication based in Atlanta, announced Wednesday that it was buying Jezebel.com from G/O Media, which closed it and laid off its staff earlier this month.In an announcement on its website, Paste said it “moved quickly to try and save” Jezebel after learning of its closure, calling the site “a beloved platform with a strong focus on women’s issues, pop culture and social commentary.” The acquisition was first reported by the New York Times, which said it was an all-cash deal, though no figures were disclosed. Paste Founder and Editor-in-Chief Josh Jackson said Jezebel’s “acquisition means that the critical information and content that Jezebel readers have come to rely on will live on.”“Our mission has always been to provide insightful, thought-provoking content that resonates with a diverse audience. Jezebel’s unique voice ...

Toppled White House Christmas tree is secured upright, and lighting show will happen as scheduled

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Christmas Tree in front of the White House fell down during high winds but later was hoisted back upright, and its lighting ceremony will go ahead as scheduled.The tree, a 40-food-tall (12-meter-tall) Norway spruce from West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest, had been planted just two weeks ago on the White House Ellipse, an area known as President’s Park. According to the National Park Service, it fell over around 1 p.m. Tuesday during heavy wind gusts that reached as high at 46 mph (74 km/h) at nearby Reagan National Airport.NPS spokeswoman Jasmine Shanti said in an email that after “replacing a snapped cable,” the tree was back upright by 6 p.m. Tuesday. The lighting of the tree is an annual White House holiday tradition with a countdown and musical performances. This year’s tree is a new one, replacing an older tree that, according to the NPS, developed a fungal disease known as needle cast, which caused its needles to turn b...

LSU star forward Angel Reese is rejoining the No. 7 Tigers in advance of their match-up with ninth-ranked Virginia Tech

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU star forward Angel Reese is rejoining the No. 7 Tigers in advance of their match-up with ninth-ranked Virginia Tech.Source

Poland’s new parliament brings back state financing for in vitro fertilization

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s new parliament on Wednesday reinstated government funding for in vitro fertilization, previously banned by the conservative party which lost control of the legislature in the country’s recent general election.The parliament, which began its term this month, has made a point of reversing the ban in one of its first moves as it sets on changing various controversial or restrictive laws introduced by the conservative government. Following a heated debate, lawmakers voted 268-118, with 50 abstentions, to guarantee state funding for IVF procedures, estimated at some 500 million zlotys ($125 million) a year.An aide to President Andrzej Duda, who is an ally of the conservative government, suggested last week that Duda may not use his power of veto against the new law. However, Marcin Mastelerek stressed that the final decision was with the president. State funding of IVF was introduced in 2013 by a liberal government led by Donald Tusk, but the conserva...

IOC lines up French Alps to host 2030 Winter Olympics and Salt Lake City for 2034 edition

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

Salt Lake City being preferred as a shoo-in to host the 2034 Winter Olympics was expected. The surprise was the IOC favoring the French Alps bid for the 2030 edition on Wednesday.Aiming to finalize back-to-back Winter Games hosts next year, the International Olympic Committee executive board has decided to enter exclusive talks with Olympic officials in France and the United States for Salt Lake City.Salt Lake was alone in the 2034 race to bring the games back to Utah, which hosted the 2002 Winter Games, and the American bid’s support from all levels of government up to President Joe Biden was praised Wednesday.“He would guarantee all the expenses,” said IOC member Karl Stoss, who chaired the Olympics panel assessing potential candidates, adding “and they stand really in a strong, strong status behind these games.”A French bid uniting the snowy Alps region and the French Riviera resort Nice came together only in the past few months to compete with Sweden and Switze...

Rosalynn Carter is eulogized before family and friends as husband Jimmy bears silent witness

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Her frail husband a silent witness, Rosalynn Carter was celebrated by her family and closest friends Wednesday at her funeral in the same tiny town where she and Jimmy Carter were born, forever their home base as they climbed to the White House and traveled the world for humanitarian causes.The former first lady, who died Nov. 19 at the age of 96, had her intimate funeral at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, where she and her husband spent decades welcoming guests and where a wooden cross Jimmy Carter fashioned in his woodshop is displayed. Earlier tributes were held in nearby Americus and in Atlanta.The former president was in attendance in his wheelchair, with her one last time in his life.Maranatha Pastor Tony Lowden told the service that Rosalynn Carter wasn’t just the first lady but “served every nation around the world.”Describing her competitive nature, the pastor spoke to the mourners in what he imagined to be the voice of Rosalynn Carter: “She wou...

David Ragan to enter Daytona 500 as part of new #Stage60 program with RFK Racing

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — RFK Racing will enter a third car in next year’s season-opening Daytona 500 for David Ragan, who will pilot the No. 60 Ford as part of a new program for the organization.The #Stage60 program will bring the No. 60 to the Cup Series and RFK plans to use it in additional races that were not part of Wednesday’s announcement. The number is part of Jack Roush’s heritage and was used in nearly 600 races in the second-tier Xfinity Series by Carl Edwards, Mark Martin, Greg Biffle, Chris Buescher and others.The No. 60 won 94 Xfinity races for what was then called Roush Racing, and Biffle won the 2002 Xfinity title in the car.“The 60 car represents an opportunity for us to honor our past and look forward to the future of RFK Racing,” said Steve Newmark, president of RFK Racing.#Stage60 will feature a “modern retro” font for the Ford and use a logo that pays homage to the classic Roush Stage III Mustang.Ragan, who is from Georgia, competed for 13 full s...