New exhibitions, a forthcoming open call for artists and public programs highlight the multifaceted relationship between technology and the arts
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A family spokesman for Damar Hamlin tells The Associated Press the Buffalo Bills safety still faces a long rehabilitation despite enjoying a remarkable recovery some three weeks after having to be resuscitated on the field during a game in Cincinnati. Jordon Rooney says Hamlin still requires oxygen and is having his heart monitored regularly to ensure there are no setbacks or after effects. Rooney provided the update to emphasize Hamlin still faces hurdles since being discharged from Buffalo General Medical Center on Jan. 11, and began making regular visits to the Bills facility this week.
With hundreds of new movies released each year, many of us depend on the expertise of film critics to help curate our own watching. It's a thoroughly communal yet deeply personal experience. To honor the supporting role that entertainment journalism can play in this beloved pastime, The Associated Press on Thursday unveiled its inaugural AP Top 25 Movies ranking. The AP Top 25 Movies ranking is a distinctive honor roll of films that premiered in 2022, as determined by a truly representative panel of 26 of the country’s top movie experts working for AP-affiliated news outlets.
A new study found that the night sky is growing brighter every year, and the stars are looking dimmer. The study published Thursday analyzes data from more than 50,000 amateur stargazers over more than a decade. It shows that artificial lighting is making the night sky about 10% brighter each year. That’s a much faster rate of change than scientists had previously estimated looking at satellite data. A study author said he hoped that policymakers would do more to curb light pollution. The research was published Thursday in the journal Science.
Snoop Dogg, Gloria Estefan, Sade, Jeff Lynne, Glen Ballard, Teddy Riley and Liz Rose have been chosen to join the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The class includes the writers of such iconic songs as “Man In the Mirror,” “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You.” The seven songwriters from the class of 2023 will be inducted at a gala June 15 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Snoop Dogg's hits include “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and “Gin & Juice." He will join such rappers as Missy Elliott and Jay-Z in the hall.
Emerson is taking public its bid to buy National Instruments for $7.6 billion. Emerson is offering $53 per share in cash, an enhanced offer that was made in November. It initially offered $48 per share in May. Last week National Instruments Corp. said that it was conducting a strategic review and put in place a “poison pill.” That's a financial maneuver that companies use to ward off unwelcome suitors. Emerson is interested in National Instruments’ differentiated electronic test and measurement offerings and technology stack of intelligent devices, controls and software.
Federal prosecutors will not seek the death penalty for a man accused of fatally shooting nearly two dozen people in a racist attack at a West Texas Walmart in 2019. The U.S. Department of Justice disclosed the decision not to pursue capital punishment against Patrick Crusius in a one-sentence notice filed with the federal court in El Paso on Tuesday. Crusius is accused of targeting Mexicans during the mass shooting that left dozens wounded and killed 23 people. The 24-year-old is charged with federal hate crimes and firearms violations and has pleaded not guilty. Crusius could still face the death penalty if convicted on a state capital murder charge.
The top U.S. military officer has traveled to a site near the Ukraine-Poland border and talked with his Ukrainian counterpart face to face for the first time. The meeting underscores the growing ties between the two militaries and comes at a critical time as Russia's war with Ukraine nears the one-year mark. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Mark Milley, met for a couple of hours Tuesday with Ukraine’s chief military officer, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, at an undisclosed location in southeastern Poland. The leaders have talked frequently about the war and Ukraine’s military needs over the past year but had never met.
Kevin Spacey used a colorful Italian term to thank a film museum for having the courage to invite him after #MeToo-era allegations derailed his career. The two-time Academy Award winner received a lifetime achievement award from the National Cinema Museum in Turin and discussed his key roles to a sold-out crowd Monday. He told a master class audience the museum should be applauded for “making a strong defense of artistic achievement.” Spacey is scheduled to go on trial in London in June on charges alleging he sexually assaulted four men. He has pleaded not guilty. Last year, a civil jury in the U.S. found he did not sexually abuse an actor who was then 14.
Sheriff's officials say six people including a 17-year-old mother and her 6-month-old baby were killed in a shooting early Monday at a home in central California, and authorities are searching for at least two suspects. The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office says deputies responded around 3:30 a.m. Monday to reports of multiple shots fired in Goshen. Officials say deputies found two victims dead in the street and a third person fatally shot in the doorway of the residence. Three more victims were found inside the home, including a man who was still alive but later died at a hospital. Investigators believe there is a gang connection to the killings.
Officials say search teams have retrieved the flight data and cockpit voice recorders of a passenger plane that plummeted into a gorge on approach to a new airport in the foothills of the Himalayas. Investigators are looking for the cause of Nepal’s deadliest plane crash in 30 years. At least 69 of the 72 people aboard were killed, and officials believe the three missing are also dead. Rescuers are still searching the debris Monday for them. It is scattered down a 300-meter-deep gorge.
Long before beleaguered billionaire Elon Musk purchased Twitter in October, he had set his sights on Tesla, the electric automaker where he serves as CEO and from which he derives most of his wealth and fame. Musk claimed in a August 7, 2018 tweet that he had lined up the financing to pay for a $72 billion buyout of Tesla, which he then amplified with a follow-up statement that made a deal seem imminent. But the buyout never materialized and now Musk will have to explain his actions under oath in a federal court in San Francisco. The trial, which begins on Tuesday with jury selection, was triggered by a class-action lawsuit on behalf of investors who owned Tesla stock for a 10-day period in August 2018.
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry backs the United Arab Emirates’ decision to appoint the CEO of a state-run oil company to preside over the upcoming U.N. climate negotiations in Dubai, citing his work on renewable energy projects. The former U.S. secretary of state acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday that the Emirates and other countries relying on fossil fuels to fund their state coffers face finding “some balance” ahead. However, he dismissed the idea that Sultan al-Jaber’s appointment should be automatically disqualified due to him being the leader of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. But activists on Thursday, when the authorities announced his nomination, equated this to asking “arms dealers to lead peace talks.”
Storm-ravaged California is scrambling to clean up and repair widespread damage. A new storm gaining strength Wednesday is expected to be limited to the north while the south gets a break. That will be followed by two more storms this weekend and next week. Crews are working to reopen roads closed by rockslides, swamped by flooding or smothered with mud. More than half of California’s 58 counties were declared disaster areas. At least 18 people have died in storms since late December.
The making of a film has reignited efforts to repatriate the remains of America’s first Black Navy pilot, who died in 1950 during the Korean War. Fred Smith is the founder of Memphis-based FedEx and financed the film “Devotion,” which tells the story of Jesse Brown and his fellow naval aviator, Tom Hudner. Smith's family connected with Brown's relatives at Hudner's funeral in 2018 in Arlington. Smith has paid for imaging of the site where Brown's remains are believed to be located. Jessica Knight Henry, Brown’s granddaughter, said it was her grandmother's wish to have his remains returned.
Texas has executed a former suburban Houston police officer for hiring two people to kill his estranged wife nearly 30 years ago. Robert Fratta received a lethal injection Tuesday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was put to death after courts rejected arguments from his lawyers that prosecutors withheld evidence. An effort to delay his lethal injection over allegations of expired execution drugs was also unsuccessful. He was condemned for the November 1994 fatal shooting of his wife, Farah, during a contentious divorce and custody fight. Prosecutors say Fratta organized the murder-for-hire plot in which a middleman, Joseph Prystash, hired the shooter, Howard Guidry. Prystash and Guidry were also sent to death row.
President Joe Biden, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are seeking to downplay their frustrations with one another on migration and trade as they meet for the North American Leaders Summit. The leaders are offering a unified front despite tensions that have put a strain on their relationships even as Biden has made repairing alliances a cornerstone of his foreign policy agenda. As they closed Tuesday's summit in Mexico City with a joint new conference, the leaders offered an optimistic outlook. Biden said, “We’re true partners the three of us,” and “We share a common vision for the future, grounded on common values.”
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