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Lifetime rolls out first sexy Christmas movie

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:02:33 GMT

Ho ho ho! Lifetime Channel might be on Santa’s naughty list this year.This season’s “It’s a Wonderful Lifetime” lineup of 12 new holiday movies includes “A Cowboy Christmas Romance,” a Christmas flick a la “Yellowstone” that includes a first for the franchise: a steamy sex scene.“We think that there’s an audience out there that’s hungry for grown-up romance, and we’re looking forward to adding some smolder to the usual holiday sugar and spice,” Tia Maggini, senior vice president of scripted content at Lifetime, told Variety.“We love trying new things, and we’re excited about this new ‘first’ for us for a holiday movie.”The movie, starring Jana Kramer and Adam Senn, follows a real estate “closer” who begrudgingly returns to her Arizona hometown just before Christmas. There, she sets out to convince a dreamy rancher to sell his family’s land. Anyone who&#...

Lucy Worsley takes on Agatha Christie in new PBS series

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:02:33 GMT

Lucy Worsley is familiar to PBS viewers for her investigative portraits of legendary royals like Henry VIII and his many wives.  Now, she uncovers in her 3-part Sunday night series, “Agatha Christie: Lucy Worsley on the Mystery Queen” the secrets behind the world’s best-selling writer.“She stands out in the so-called ‘Golden Age’ of crime writing,” the 1920 and ‘30s, Worsley, 49, said of Christie (1890-1976) in a Zoom interview from London.  “Two things she can be credited with that were picked up by other writers were the serial killer story with ‘The ABC Murders’ — that’s the first of the genre — and the second is the detective story set in the past, like ‘Death Comes as the End’ set in ancient Egypt. That was unique.”As for the biggest misconceptions about Christie, who is outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare?“Where to start?” Worsley asked.  “That’s why she’s so fascinating. To start with a really obvious one, people tend to think of her as ‘a little old lady in...

Dear Abby: Worried about pal’s homeless plight

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:02:33 GMT

Dear Abby: A good friend of 20 years has been homeless for several months. After a short stint of staying in various Airbnbs, she is now mostly living in her car. She has a good-quality, FREE living option available to her. But it would require her to move five hours away, and she doesn’t want to leave her job here. Meanwhile, I have a guest room.Since experiencing homelessness, my friend has stayed with me and my family on three different occasions, each time for about a week. But it’s not a sustainable or long-term option. Long story short, we don’t want a roommate.The last time she stayed with us, my friend turned down an affordable living situation with a roommate because the house was too “gross” for her. I found it frustrating. Housing in our area is expensive, and she works part-time at most. Her talk of getting more work has gone nowhere so far.I know I shouldn’t take on her problems as my own. But it’s hard to wonder about my friend...

Barbie doll honoring Cherokee Nation leader is met with mixed emotions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:02:33 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An iconic chief of the Cherokee Nation, Wilma Mankiller, inspired countless Native American children as a powerful but humble leader who expanded early education and rural healthcare.Her reach is now broadening with a quintessential American honor: a Barbie doll in the late Mankiller’s likeness as part of toymaker Mattel’s “Inspiring Women” series. A public ceremony honoring Mankiller’s legacy is set for Tuesday in Tahlequah in northeast Oklahoma, where the Cherokee Nation is headquartered.Mankiller was the nation’s first female principal chief, leading the tribe for a decade until 1995. She focused on improving social conditions through consensus and on restoring pride in Native heritage. She met with three U.S. presidents and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.She also met snide remarks about her surname — a military title — with humor, often delivering a straight-faced response: “Mankiller is actu...

Lacking counselors, US schools turn to the booming business of online therapy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:02:33 GMT

Trouble with playground bullies started for Maria Ishoo’s daughter in elementary school. Girls ganged up, calling her “fat” and “ugly.” Boys tripped and pushed her. The California mother watched her typically bubbly second-grader retreat into her bedroom and spend afternoons curled up in bed. For Valerie Aguirre’s daughter in Hawaii, a spate of middle school “friend drama” escalated into violence and online bullying that left the 12-year-old feeling disconnected and lonely.Both children received help through telehealth therapy, a service that schools around the country are offering in response to soaring mental health struggles among American youth. Now at least 16 of the 20 largest U.S. public school districts are offering online therapy sessions to reach millions of students, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. In those districts alone, schools have signed provider contracts worth more than $70 million.The growth reflects a booming new business born from America’s yo...

Chinese developer Evergrande risking liquidation if creditors veto its plan for handling huge debts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:02:33 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong court will convene a hearing Monday on troubled Chinese property developer Evergrande’s plans for restructuring its more than $300 billion in debts and staving off liquidation. The company, the world’s most indebted property developer, ran into trouble when Chinese regulators cracked down on excessive borrowing in the real estate sector.Last month, the company said Chinese police were investigating Evergrande’s chairman, Hui Ka Yan, for unspecified suspected crimes in the latest obstacle to the company’s efforts to resolve its financial woes. The Hong Kong High Court has postponed the hearing over Evergrande’s potential liquidation several times. Judge Linda Chan said in October that Monday’s hearing would be the last before a decision is handed down. Evergrande could be ordered to liquidate if the plan is rejected by its creditors. In September, Evergrande abandoned its initial debt restructuring plan after authorities banned it from issuing new d...

Kissinger’s unwavering support for brutal regimes still haunts Latin America

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:02:33 GMT

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — In Chile, leftists were tortured, tossed from helicopters and forced to watch relatives be raped. In Argentina, many were “disappeared” by members of the brutal military dictatorship that held detainees in concentration camps.It all happened with the endorsement of Henry Kissinger, the former U.S. secretary of state who died Wednesday at age 100.As tributes poured in for the towering figure who was the top U.S. diplomat under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, the mood was decidedly different in South America, where many countries were scarred deeply during the Cold War by human rights abuses inflicted in the name of anti-communism and where many continue to harbor a deep distrust of their powerful neighbor to the north.“I don’t know of any U.S. citizen who is more deplored, more disliked in Latin America than Henry Kissinger,” said Stephen Rabe, a retired University of Texas at Dallas history professor who wrote a book about Kissinger’s relationship wi...

Venezuelans to vote in referendum over large swathe of territory under dispute with Guyana

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:02:33 GMT

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans will vote Sunday in a referendum to supposedly decide the future of a large swath of neighboring Guyana their government claims ownership of, arguing the territory was stolen when a north-south border was drawn more than a century ago.Guyana considers the referendum a step toward annexation and the vote has its residents on edge. It asks Venezuelans whether they support establishing a state in the disputed territory known as Essequibo, granting citizenship to current and future area residents, and rejecting the jurisdiction of the United Nations’ top court in settling the disagreement between the two South American countries. The International Court of Justice on Friday ordered Venezuela not to take any action that would alter Guyana’s control over Essequibo, but the judges did not specifically ban officials from carrying out Sunday’s five-question referendum. Guyana had asked the court to order Venezuela to halt parts of the vote.Th...

Texas blasts Oklahoma State 49-21 to win Big 12 title, Longhorns await CFP fate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:02:33 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas needed to finish off its Big 12 Conference era in style in hopes of impressing the College Football Playoff selection committee enough to have a shot at garnering a top-four ranking.The Longhorns certainly did that, pounding Oklahoma State 49-21 in the Big 12 title game Saturday at Cowboys Stadium. All the Longhorns can do now is wait until Sunday to learn its CFP fate. It's the fourth Big 12 title in the program's history.MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than the Score sports newsletter at kxan.com/newsletters"This has been a heck of a journey," Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian said. "As much as we look at this season, it has been a process from Day 1. These guys know that we've been talking about being champions since the summer, and the guys never backed off of that and never blinked."Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers had a career day to help his squad win the conference title, throwing for 452 y...

Late Nuggets comeback falls short in Sacramento despite Nikola Jokic’s 30-point triple-double

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:02:33 GMT

A four-game win streak came to an end for the Nuggets on Saturday night in Sacramento, where the Kings opened up a 17-point lead in the first half and held on for a 123-117 win.After playing five games in the last seven days, Denver (14-7) has three days off before visiting the Clippers on Wednesday.Back-to-back good fortune was upThe defending champions were one of only three NBA teams with five back-to-backs in the first six weeks of the 2023-24 schedule. It was an unlucky draw for the Nuggets after a short offseason, but they have somehow managed to turn lemons into lemonade for the most part, winning the second game of all four back-to-backs before Sacramento (Utah, Chicago, at Detroit, at Los Angeles). In two of those four, they were without Nikola Jokic during crunch time.It was only a matter of time before that good fortune ran out, and Sacramento was coming off two days of rest. All things considered, it’s impressive that Denver has allowed only 106.6 points per game i...