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  • Democrat Tom Suozzi wins N.Y. congressional race in Santos’ former district

    Democrat Tom Suozzi wins N.Y. congressional race in Santos’ former district

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    Democrat Tom Suozzi has won the special election in the 3rd Congressional District in New York, the Associated Press projects.

    According to the AP, with approximately 85% of the expected vote tallied in Queens as of 11:50 p.m. Tuesday, Suozzi had 53.9% of the vote, while Republican Mazi Pilip had 46.1% of the vote.

    “Despite all the attack, despite all the lies about Tom Suozzi and the Squad, about Tom Suozzi being the godfather of the migrant crisis, about ‘sanctuary Suozzi,’ despite the dirty tricks, despite the vaunted Nassau County Republican machine, we won,” Suozzi said during his victory speech Tuesday night.

    The district covers the neighborhoods of Little Neck, Whitestone, Glen Oaks, Floral Park and Queens Village in Queens, as well as large stretches of Long Island’s Nassau County.

    Suozzi previously held the congressional seat for three terms. He gave up his seat to pursue an unsuccessful run for governor.

    Throughout his campaign in a district that flipped from Democratic to Republican representation in November 2022, Suozzi tried to convince voters that he’s a Democrat who is not afraid to work with all parties.

    The special election was called to replace George Santos, who became the sixth House member to be ousted from Congress in U.S. history.

    Santos, who has pleaded not guilty to 23 federal charges, was only in office for 11 months.

    With days leading up to Election Day, polls showed it was a tight race, with Suozzi slightly in the lead.

    “We, you, won this race,” he said, “because we addressed the issues and we found a way to bind our divisions.”

    Pro-Palestine protesters interrupted Suozzi toward the beginning of his speech. The protesters accused Suozzi, a staunch supporter of Israel, of “supporting genocide,” and called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

    Later in his remarks, Suozzi referenced the protest, saying there are divisions in the country where people can only yell and scream at each other, and that that “is not the answer to the problems we face in our country.”

    “The answer is to try and bring people of goodwill together to try and find that common ground,” he continued.

    Pilip, a Nassau County legislator, conceded the election results before Suozzi spoke.

    “We all [worked] so hard every single day in the last eight weeks and we did a great job,” Pilip said. “Yes, we lost, but it doesn’t mean we’re going to end here.”

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    Deanna Garcia

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  • Senate passes $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

    Senate passes $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

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    The Senate early Tuesday passed a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, pushing ahead after months of difficult negotiations and amid growing political divisions in the Republican Party over the role of the United States abroad.

    What You Need To Know

    • The Senate early Tuesday passed a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan
    • A small group of Republicans opposed to the $60 billion for Ukraine held the Senate floor through the night, using the final hours of debate to argue that the U.S. should focus on its own problems before sending more money overseas, but more than a dozen GOP lawmakers joined Democrats to pass the bill 70-29
    • In a statement, President Joe Biden called the bill “critical to advancing America’s national security interests” and urged the House to get it to his desk quickly
    • But Speaker Mike Johnson cast new doubt on the package in a statement Monday evening, making clear that it could be weeks or months before Congress sends the legislation to President Biden’s desk — if at all

    The vote came after a small group of Republicans opposed to the $60 billion for Ukraine held the Senate floor through the night, using the final hours of debate to argue that the U.S. should focus on its own problems before sending more money overseas. But more than a dozen Republicans voted with almost all Democrats to pass the package 70-29, with supporters arguing that abandoning Ukraine could embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin and threaten national security across the globe.

    “It’s been years, perhaps decades, since the Senate has passed a bill that so greatly impacts not just our national security, not just the security of our allies, but also the security of western democracy,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who worked closely with Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on the legislation.

    The bill’s passage through the Senate was a welcome sign for Ukraine amid critical shortages on the battlefield. Yet the package faces a deeply uncertain future in the House, where hardline Republicans aligned with former President Donald Trump — the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, and a critic of support for Ukraine — oppose the legislation.

    In a statement, President Joe Biden called the bill “critical to advancing America’s national security interests” and urged the House to get it to his desk quickly.

    “I applaud the bipartisan coalition of Senators who came together to advance this agreement, and I urge the House to move on this with urgency,” Biden said. “We cannot afford to wait any longer. The costs of inaction are rising every day, especially in Ukraine.”

    “There are those who say American leadership and our alliances and partnerships with countries around the world do not matter,” he continued. “They do. If we do not stand against tyrants who seek to conquer or carve up their neighbors’ territory, the consequences for America’s national security will be significant. Our allies and adversaries alike will take note. It is time for the House to take action and send this bipartisan legislation to my desk immediately so that I can sign it into law.”

    But Speaker Mike Johnson cast new doubt on the package in a statement Monday evening, making clear that it could be weeks or months before Congress sends the legislation to President Biden’s desk — if at all.

    Still, the vote was a win for both Senate leaders. McConnell has made Ukraine his top priority in recent months, and was resolute in the face of considerable pushback from his own GOP conference.

    Speaking directly to his detractors in a floor speech on Sunday, McConnell said that “the eyes of the world” were on the U.S. Senate.

    “Will we give those who wish us harm more reason to question our resolve, or will we recommit to exercising American strength?” McConnell asked.

    Dollars provided by the legislation would purchase U.S.-made defense equipment, including munitions and air defense systems that authorities say are desperately needed as Russia batters the country. It also includes $8 billion for the government in Kyiv and other assistance.

    In addition, the legislation would provide $14 billion for Israel’s war with Hamas, $8 billion for Taiwan and partners in the Indo-Pacific to counter China, and $9.2 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza.

    The bill’s passage followed almost five months of torturous negotiations over an expansive bill that would have paired the foreign aid with an overhaul of border and asylum policies. Republicans demanded the trade-off, saying the surge of migration into the United States had to be addressed alongside the security of allies.

    But a bipartisan deal on border security struck by Republican Sen. James Lankford fell apart just days after its unveiling, a head-spinning development that left negotiators deeply frustrated. Republicans declared the bill insufficient and blocked it on the Senate floor.

    After the border bill collapsed, the two leaders abandoned the border provisions and pushed forward with passing the foreign aid package alone — as Democrats had originally intended.

    While the slimmed-down foreign aid bill eventually won enough Republican support to pass, several GOP senators who had previously expressed support for Ukraine voted against it. The episode further exposed divisions in the party, made more public as Trump dug in and a handful of lawmakers openly called for McConnell to step down.

    Sen. J.D. Vance, an Ohio Republican, argued that the U.S. should step back from the conflict and help broker an end to it with Russia’s Putin. He questioned the wisdom of continuing to fuel Ukraine’s defense when Putin appears committed to fighting for years.

    “I think it deals with the reality that we’re living in, which is they’re a more powerful country, and it’s their region of the world,” he said.

    Vance, along with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and other opponents, spent several hours on the floor railing against the aid and complaining about Senate process. They dug in their heels to delay a final vote, speaking on the floor until daybreak.

    Supporters of the aid pushed back, warning that bowing to Russia would be a historic mistake with devastating consequences. In an unusually raw back-and-forth, GOP senators who support the aid challenged some of the opponents directly on the floor.

    North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis angrily rebutted some of their arguments, noting that the money would only help Ukraine for less than a year and that much of it would go to replenishing U.S. military stocks.

    “Why am I so focused on this vote?” Tillis said. “Because I don’t want to be on the pages of history that we will regret if we walk away. You will see the alliance that is supporting Ukraine crumble. You will ultimately see China become emboldened. And I am not going to be on that page of history.”

    Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., became emotional as he talked about the drudgery of the Senate and spending time away from his family to get little done. “But every so often there are issues that come before us that seem to be the ones that explain why we are here,” he said, his voice cracking.

    Moran conceded that the cost of the package was heavy for him, but pointed out that if Putin were to attack a NATO member in Europe, the U.S. would be bound by treaty to become directly involved in the conflict — a commitment that Trump has called into question as he seeks another term in the White House.

    At a rally Saturday, Trump said that he had once told a NATO ally he would encourage Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to members that are “delinquent” in their financial and military commitments to the alliance. The former president has led his party away from the foreign policy doctrines of aggressive American involvement overseas and toward an “America First” isolationism.

    Evoking the slogan, Moran said, “I believe in America first, but unfortunately America first means we have to engage in the world.”

    While the vast majority of House Republicans have opposed the aid and are unlikely to cross Trump, a handful of GOP lawmakers have signaled they will push to get it passed.

    House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, traveled to Ukraine last week with a bipartisan delegation and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Turner posted on X, formerly Twitter, after the trip that “I reiterated America’s commitment to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia.”

    But Speaker Johnson is in a tough position. A majority of his conference opposes the aid, and he is trying to lead the narrowest of majorities and avoid the fate of his predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted in October.

    Johnson, R-La., said in a statement Monday that because the foreign aid package lacks border security provisions, it is “silent on the most pressing issue facing our country.” It was the latest — and potentially most consequential — sign of opposition to the Ukraine aid from House GOP leadership, who had rejected the bipartisan border plan as a “non-starter,” contributing to its rapid demise.

    “Now, in the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters,” Johnson said. “America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo.”

    Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a Virginia Democrat, traveled to Kyiv last week with Turner and other House members. She said the trip underscored to her how Ukraine is still in a fight for its very existence.

    As the group traveled through Kyiv in armored vehicles, she said, they witnessed signs of an active war, from sandbagged shelters to burned-out cars and memorials to those killed. During the meeting with Zelenskyy, she said the U.S. lawmakers tried to offer assurances that the American people still stand with his country.

    “He was clear that our continued support is critical to their ability to win the war,” Spanberger said. “It’s critical to their own freedom. And importantly, it’s critical to U.S. national security interests.”

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    Associated Press

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  • Senate passes $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

    Senate passes $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

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    The Senate early Tuesday passed a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, pushing ahead after months of difficult negotiations and amid growing political divisions in the Republican Party over the role of the United States abroad.

    What You Need To Know

    • The Senate early Tuesday passed a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan
    • A small group of Republicans opposed to the $60 billion for Ukraine held the Senate floor through the night, using the final hours of debate to argue that the U.S. should focus on its own problems before sending more money overseas, but more than a dozen GOP lawmakers joined Democrats to pass the bill 70-29
    • In a statement, President Joe Biden called the bill “critical to advancing America’s national security interests” and urged the House to get it to his desk quickly
    • But Speaker Mike Johnson cast new doubt on the package in a statement Monday evening, making clear that it could be weeks or months before Congress sends the legislation to President Biden’s desk — if at all

    The vote came after a small group of Republicans opposed to the $60 billion for Ukraine held the Senate floor through the night, using the final hours of debate to argue that the U.S. should focus on its own problems before sending more money overseas. But more than a dozen Republicans voted with almost all Democrats to pass the package 70-29, with supporters arguing that abandoning Ukraine could embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin and threaten national security across the globe.

    “It’s been years, perhaps decades, since the Senate has passed a bill that so greatly impacts not just our national security, not just the security of our allies, but also the security of western democracy,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who worked closely with Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on the legislation.

    The bill’s passage through the Senate was a welcome sign for Ukraine amid critical shortages on the battlefield. Yet the package faces a deeply uncertain future in the House, where hardline Republicans aligned with former President Donald Trump — the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, and a critic of support for Ukraine — oppose the legislation.

    In a statement, President Joe Biden called the bill “critical to advancing America’s national security interests” and urged the House to get it to his desk quickly.

    “I applaud the bipartisan coalition of Senators who came together to advance this agreement, and I urge the House to move on this with urgency,” Biden said. “We cannot afford to wait any longer. The costs of inaction are rising every day, especially in Ukraine.”

    “There are those who say American leadership and our alliances and partnerships with countries around the world do not matter,” he continued. “They do. If we do not stand against tyrants who seek to conquer or carve up their neighbors’ territory, the consequences for America’s national security will be significant. Our allies and adversaries alike will take note. It is time for the House to take action and send this bipartisan legislation to my desk immediately so that I can sign it into law.”

    But Speaker Mike Johnson cast new doubt on the package in a statement Monday evening, making clear that it could be weeks or months before Congress sends the legislation to President Biden’s desk — if at all.

    Still, the vote was a win for both Senate leaders. McConnell has made Ukraine his top priority in recent months, and was resolute in the face of considerable pushback from his own GOP conference.

    Speaking directly to his detractors in a floor speech on Sunday, McConnell said that “the eyes of the world” were on the U.S. Senate.

    “Will we give those who wish us harm more reason to question our resolve, or will we recommit to exercising American strength?” McConnell asked.

    Dollars provided by the legislation would purchase U.S.-made defense equipment, including munitions and air defense systems that authorities say are desperately needed as Russia batters the country. It also includes $8 billion for the government in Kyiv and other assistance.

    In addition, the legislation would provide $14 billion for Israel’s war with Hamas, $8 billion for Taiwan and partners in the Indo-Pacific to counter China, and $9.2 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza.

    The bill’s passage followed almost five months of torturous negotiations over an expansive bill that would have paired the foreign aid with an overhaul of border and asylum policies. Republicans demanded the trade-off, saying the surge of migration into the United States had to be addressed alongside the security of allies.

    But a bipartisan deal on border security struck by Republican Sen. James Lankford fell apart just days after its unveiling, a head-spinning development that left negotiators deeply frustrated. Republicans declared the bill insufficient and blocked it on the Senate floor.

    After the border bill collapsed, the two leaders abandoned the border provisions and pushed forward with passing the foreign aid package alone — as Democrats had originally intended.

    While the slimmed-down foreign aid bill eventually won enough Republican support to pass, several GOP senators who had previously expressed support for Ukraine voted against it. The episode further exposed divisions in the party, made more public as Trump dug in and a handful of lawmakers openly called for McConnell to step down.

    Sen. J.D. Vance, an Ohio Republican, argued that the U.S. should step back from the conflict and help broker an end to it with Russia’s Putin. He questioned the wisdom of continuing to fuel Ukraine’s defense when Putin appears committed to fighting for years.

    “I think it deals with the reality that we’re living in, which is they’re a more powerful country, and it’s their region of the world,” he said.

    Vance, along with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and other opponents, spent several hours on the floor railing against the aid and complaining about Senate process. They dug in their heels to delay a final vote, speaking on the floor until daybreak.

    Supporters of the aid pushed back, warning that bowing to Russia would be a historic mistake with devastating consequences. In an unusually raw back-and-forth, GOP senators who support the aid challenged some of the opponents directly on the floor.

    North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis angrily rebutted some of their arguments, noting that the money would only help Ukraine for less than a year and that much of it would go to replenishing U.S. military stocks.

    “Why am I so focused on this vote?” Tillis said. “Because I don’t want to be on the pages of history that we will regret if we walk away. You will see the alliance that is supporting Ukraine crumble. You will ultimately see China become emboldened. And I am not going to be on that page of history.”

    Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., became emotional as he talked about the drudgery of the Senate and spending time away from his family to get little done. “But every so often there are issues that come before us that seem to be the ones that explain why we are here,” he said, his voice cracking.

    Moran conceded that the cost of the package was heavy for him, but pointed out that if Putin were to attack a NATO member in Europe, the U.S. would be bound by treaty to become directly involved in the conflict — a commitment that Trump has called into question as he seeks another term in the White House.

    At a rally Saturday, Trump said that he had once told a NATO ally he would encourage Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to members that are “delinquent” in their financial and military commitments to the alliance. The former president has led his party away from the foreign policy doctrines of aggressive American involvement overseas and toward an “America First” isolationism.

    Evoking the slogan, Moran said, “I believe in America first, but unfortunately America first means we have to engage in the world.”

    While the vast majority of House Republicans have opposed the aid and are unlikely to cross Trump, a handful of GOP lawmakers have signaled they will push to get it passed.

    House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, traveled to Ukraine last week with a bipartisan delegation and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Turner posted on X, formerly Twitter, after the trip that “I reiterated America’s commitment to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia.”

    But Speaker Johnson is in a tough position. A majority of his conference opposes the aid, and he is trying to lead the narrowest of majorities and avoid the fate of his predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted in October.

    Johnson, R-La., said in a statement Monday that because the foreign aid package lacks border security provisions, it is “silent on the most pressing issue facing our country.” It was the latest — and potentially most consequential — sign of opposition to the Ukraine aid from House GOP leadership, who had rejected the bipartisan border plan as a “non-starter,” contributing to its rapid demise.

    “Now, in the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters,” Johnson said. “America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo.”

    Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a Virginia Democrat, traveled to Kyiv last week with Turner and other House members. She said the trip underscored to her how Ukraine is still in a fight for its very existence.

    As the group traveled through Kyiv in armored vehicles, she said, they witnessed signs of an active war, from sandbagged shelters to burned-out cars and memorials to those killed. During the meeting with Zelenskyy, she said the U.S. lawmakers tried to offer assurances that the American people still stand with his country.

    “He was clear that our continued support is critical to their ability to win the war,” Spanberger said. “It’s critical to their own freedom. And importantly, it’s critical to U.S. national security interests.”

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    Associated Press

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  • Photos Super Bowl LVIII

    Photos Super Bowl LVIII

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    Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs are back-to-back Super Bowl champions.

    Mahomes threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman with 3 seconds left in overtime, and the Chiefs rallied to beat the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 on Sunday, becoming the first repeat Super Bowl champs in 19 years and ninth overall.

    With pop star Taylor Swift watching boyfriend Kelce from a suite, the Chiefs captured their third title in five years and firmly established themselves as a dynasty.

    .

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    Associated Press

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  • Photos Super Bowl LVIII

    Photos Super Bowl LVIII

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    Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs are back-to-back Super Bowl champions.

    Mahomes threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman with 3 seconds left in overtime, and the Chiefs rallied to beat the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 on Sunday, becoming the first repeat Super Bowl champs in 19 years and ninth overall.

    With pop star Taylor Swift watching boyfriend Kelce from a suite, the Chiefs captured their third title in five years and firmly established themselves as a dynasty.

    .

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    Associated Press

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  • Consumers expect prices to fall this year, Federal Reserve Bank of New York says

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    Americans expect inflation to improve in the coming years, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s January Survey of Consumer Expectations.

    Respondents said they expect inflation to be 3% in one year and 2.5% in five years — the same as they expected at the end of 2023.

    What You Need To Know

    • Consumers expect inflation to be 3% in one year and 2.5% in five years, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s January Survey of Consumer Expectations

    • Survey respondents expect prices to fall in the coming year for gas, food, rent, medical care and college

    • They expect their household spending will increase 5% this year

    • Consumers are optimistic about their earnings increasing and credit availability improving

    In three years, they expect inflation to drop to 2.4%. A 0.2% decrease since December, the three-year projection was the lowest it has been since March 2020.

    Inflation was 3.4% in December, according to the most recent Consumer Price Index. The Federal Reserve will release CPI figures for January on Tuesday.

    While consumer expectations about home price growth were unchanged for a fourth consecutive month at 3%, they are more optimistic about prices falling in the coming year for all other goods, including gas, food, rent, medical care and college educations.

    Despite the falling prices, they expect their household spending to increase 5% — the same expectation as last month.

    They are also more optimistic about earnings growth a year from now. Respondents said they expect their earnings to increase 0.3% to 2.8% in January 2025. The increase was driven largely by people over the age of 40 who do not have a college degree.

    Despite their earnings confidence, more respondents in January thought the U.S. unemployment rate would be higher in a year, though their perceived probability of losing their own job or voluntarily leaving their position both fell.

    Consumers’ expectations of credit availability improved in the January survey, with fewer respondents saying it was harder to get credit now compared with a year ago. Respondents also felt better about their ability pay off debt, with the average perceived probability of missing a minimum debt payment in the next three months decreasing 0.3% — a level similar to 2019.

    A larger share of respondents (76.%) in January’s survey said they expect to be financially the same or better off a year from now — the highest level since September 2021.

    In a statement, a White House official hailed the report as evidence that President Joe Biden’s economic plans are a success — an effort by the Democratic president’s administration to sell his policies to the American people ahead of November’s election.

    “This report is further evidence that the Biden economy is delivering for Americans today and giving them more confidence about where we’re headed tomorrow,” White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Jared Bernstein said in a statement. “The data show that more Americans think their financial situation will be better a year from now than any time since the pandemic first hit.

    This builds on a recent surge in consumer confidence that makes clear we are on the right path, even as we have more work to do to lower costs,” Bernstein continued. “Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress want to cut taxes for the wealthy and big corporations, while repealing the very measures that are cutting costs and supporting growth.”  

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    Susan Carpenter

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  • Christopher Nolan, Celine Song win at Directors Guild Awards

    Christopher Nolan, Celine Song win at Directors Guild Awards

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    LOS ANGELES — Christopher Nolan was awarded the top prize at the Directors Guild Awards for “Oppenheimer” Saturday, solidifying his front-runner status for next month’s Oscars.

    Other winners at the untelevised ceremony in Los Angeles included Celine Song, for first time directorial achievement for her romantic drama “Past Lives,” and Mstyslav Chernov for the documentary “20 Days in Mariupol,” a joint project between The Associated Press and PBS “Frontline.”

    The Directors Guild of America also recognizes achievements in scripted and nonscripted television, with the drama series prize going to Peter Hoar for “The Last of Us” episode “Long, Long Time,” and the comedy trophy for Christopher Storer for the “Fishes” episode of “The Bear.”

    The DGA award is a first for Nolan who had been nominated for the same award four times previously, for “Memento,” “The Dark Knight,” “Inception” and “Dunkirk.” This year, Nolan was up against some formidable competition in Martin Scorsese for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Yorgos Lanthimos for “Poor Things,” Alexander Payne for “The Holdovers” and Greta Gerwig for “Barbie,” who some pundits thought might have been capable of an upset win in response to her snub in the same category at the Oscars.

    The guild’s voting body consists of over 19,000 members, which is nearly double the entire membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. But even with different voter makeups, only eight times in 75 years has the DGA winner not also gone on to take the directing Oscar. The most recent divergence was in 2019, when Sam Mendes won the DGA for “1917” and the Oscar went to Bong Joon-ho for “Parasite.” Last year, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert won both for “Everything Everywhere All At Once.”

    At the Oscars on March 10, Nolan’s fellow best director nominees include Scorsese, Lanthimos, Jonathan Glazer for “The Zone of Interest” and Justine Triet for “Anatomy of a Fall.” Final Oscar voting begins on Feb. 22.

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    Associated Press

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  • Christopher Nolan, Celine Song win at Directors Guild Awards

    Christopher Nolan, Celine Song win at Directors Guild Awards

    [ad_1]

    LOS ANGELES — Christopher Nolan was awarded the top prize at the Directors Guild Awards for “Oppenheimer” Saturday, solidifying his front-runner status for next month’s Oscars.

    Other winners at the untelevised ceremony in Los Angeles included Celine Song, for first time directorial achievement for her romantic drama “Past Lives,” and Mstyslav Chernov for the documentary “20 Days in Mariupol,” a joint project between The Associated Press and PBS “Frontline.”

    The Directors Guild of America also recognizes achievements in scripted and nonscripted television, with the drama series prize going to Peter Hoar for “The Last of Us” episode “Long, Long Time,” and the comedy trophy for Christopher Storer for the “Fishes” episode of “The Bear.”

    The DGA award is a first for Nolan who had been nominated for the same award four times previously, for “Memento,” “The Dark Knight,” “Inception” and “Dunkirk.” This year, Nolan was up against some formidable competition in Martin Scorsese for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Yorgos Lanthimos for “Poor Things,” Alexander Payne for “The Holdovers” and Greta Gerwig for “Barbie,” who some pundits thought might have been capable of an upset win in response to her snub in the same category at the Oscars.

    The guild’s voting body consists of over 19,000 members, which is nearly double the entire membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. But even with different voter makeups, only eight times in 75 years has the DGA winner not also gone on to take the directing Oscar. The most recent divergence was in 2019, when Sam Mendes won the DGA for “1917” and the Oscar went to Bong Joon-ho for “Parasite.” Last year, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert won both for “Everything Everywhere All At Once.”

    At the Oscars on March 10, Nolan’s fellow best director nominees include Scorsese, Lanthimos, Jonathan Glazer for “The Zone of Interest” and Justine Triet for “Anatomy of a Fall.” Final Oscar voting begins on Feb. 22.

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    Associated Press

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  • Israel-Hamas war: Latest updates

    Israel-Hamas war: Latest updates

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    Get the latest updates on the war between Israel and Hamas.

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    Spectrum News Staff

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  • Dems, GOP react to Biden special counsel report

    Dems, GOP react to Biden special counsel report

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    Democrats were on the offensive in the aftermath of the Justice Department’s report about President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents after his vice presidency, taking particular umbrage with special counsel Robert Hur’s comments about his memory and mental acuity.

    Republicans, on the other hand, seized upon the opportunity to declare the Democratic president unfit for office as he seeks another term in the White House.

    They also used the opportunity to try and paint a picture of a double standard between Biden’s case, which Hur declared was not warranting of criminal charges, and that of former President Donald Trump, who faces 40 felony charges for alleged mishandling of classified documents — though there are key differences in the two cases, namely in that the Republican also faces charges for allegedly trying to hamper the government’s efforts to retrieve them.

    The report puts the president’s age into the spotlight, a concern among voters, per recent polling, as he makes his case for reelection this fall in a likely rematch against Trump — who despite being only three years Biden’s junior and committing gaffes of his own, does not appear to have the same level of scrutiny from voters on that issue.

    In the report, Hur wrote that in a possible trial, “Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview with him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

    Biden fired back at an impromptu press conference on Thursday evening, declaring that his “memory is fine,” though a gaffe he committed in his comments about the Israel-Hamas war likely did little to quell those concerns. He also took particular umbrage with the report claiming that Biden had trouble remembering details surrounding the death of his son, Delaware attorney general Beau Biden, from brain cancer in 2015.

    “I don’t need anyone, anyone, to remind me when he passed away,” Biden said angrily. “How the hell dare he raise that. Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself, was it any of their damn business?”

    Biden also sought to emphasize that he sat for hours of interviews in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, which quickly shifted to all-out war in Gaza: “The simple truth is that I sat for five hours, two days, over events going back 40 years. At the same time I was managing a national crisis.”

    Biden’s lawyers also disputed the portion of Hur’s report about Biden’s memory, saying it “uses highly prejudicial language to describe a commonplace occurrence among witnesses: a lack of recall of years-old events.”

    “The inappropriate criticisms of the President’s memory are inaccurate, gratuitous, and wrong,” Ian Sams, White House spokesman for oversight and investigations, wrote on social media.

    Democrats accuse Hur of partisanship, overstepping mandate

    The president’s fellow Democrats rushed to his defense, with Connecticut Sen. Chris Blumenthal telling HuffPo that “there’s certainly no crime in being a well-meaning elderly man.”

    Of Hur, Blumenthal charged that he appeared to overstep his mandate as special counsel, telling the outlet that his role was “to judge whether a crime was committed,” not to “speculate on what the jury would do, not to speculate on how full or sharp Joe Biden’s mind is.”

    Delaware Sen. Chris Coons told the outlet that the report “went a little far.”

    Former Attorney General Eric Holder said that Hur’s report “contains way too many gratuitous remarks and is flatly inconsistent with long standing DOJ traditions.”

    “Had this report been been subject to a normal DOJ review these remarks would undoubtedly have been excised,” Holder wrote on social media.

    Some critics pointed out Hur’s ties to Republican officials. He was a clerk for the late William Rehnquist, a staunch conservative who was nominated by Richard Nixon to the Supreme Court and, later, tapped by Ronald Reagan to succeed Warren Burger as Chief Justice. In 2017, Hur was appointed by Biden’s predecessor, then-President Trump, to serve as U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, a role he held until 2021.

    During a Democratic press call on Friday, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman called Hur a “Trump appointee” and accused him of having an “agenda.”

    “The president was very clear that he is absolutely in full control,” the Pennsylvania Democrat said, later charging that Hur’s report “was just a smear and cheap shots and just taking things out of context.”

    “Clearly there is an agenda there, and what’s true is that the president now is going to be our guy,” Fetterman added. “And he has done an incredible job.”

    New York Rep. Dan Goldman told ABC News that he believes “what everyone will soon realize is that this is a Republican special counsel who completely went out of his way to editorialize, to include material in his report that it unnecessary and irrelevant to what he was tasked with doing.”

    Goldman went on to charge that Hur put “something in there to help his fellow Republicans” because he wanted to avoid Trump’s ire because he did not recommend criminal charges against Biden.

    Jim Messina, who ran President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012, compared the situation to FBI Director James Comey announcing he was reopening a probe into Hillary Clinton’s emails 11 days before the 2016 presidential election.

    “Let’s be clear–the special counsel isn’t a dummy and we should be very careful not to take the bait after Comey pulled this in 2016,” Messina charged in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Hur, a lifelong Republican and creature of DC, didn’t have a case against Biden, but he knew exactly how his swipes could hurt Biden politically.”

    Longtime Democratic strategist Stephanie Cutter, another Obama administration and campaign alumni, appeared to concur with Messina’s assessment, charging that “Hur knew exactly what he was doing here.”

    “To provide political cover for himself for not prosecuting, he gratuitously leveled a personal (not legal) charge against the president that he absolutely knows is a gift to Trump,” Cutter charged in a post on X. “And, guess what we are all talking about? NOT that the president cooperated, self-reported, testified for two days, and otherwise did the right thing A jury would be hugely sympathetic to a president who respects the law. That’s why he’s not prosecuting. But, too hard for a Trump appointee to throw himself before the wrath and fury of Trump.”

    Republicans call Biden ‘unfit’ for office, call for his removal or resignation

    President Biden’s Republican critics were quick to make the case for a double-standard between the Trump and Biden classified documents probes, and at least one member of the GOP called for his removal from office.

    While Trump — who was coming off of a victory in Nevada’s caucuses on Thursday night — mainly sought to point out the disparity in his facing felony charges for allegedly mishandling classified documents while his opponent will not, he shared posts on his Truth Social platform from several GOP allies in Congress, including Florida Rep. Greg Steube, Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville and Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn questioning the Democratic president’s mental fitness.

    Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, the last remaining candidate running against Trump for the Republican nomination, used the opportunity to attack both presidential frontrunners.

    “It is unbelievably disturbing that they are showing that they see Biden to not have a good memory, that they see him as diminished, that they see that it’s a problem, and they point-blank say that,” Haley said on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Thursday night. “This is actually dangerous.”

    “People make fun of the fact that I say we need to have mental competency tests,” before citing polling that says Americans don’t want a Trump-Biden rematch in November. “The party that gets rid of their 80-year-old candidate is gonna be the party that wins.”

    In a post on social media, Haley called on Biden to “take a mental competency test immediately” and share those results with the American public.

    House Republican Leadership, including Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote in a statement that the findings from Hur’s report about Biden’s memory are “disturbing.”

    “A man too incapable of being held accountable for mishandling classified information is certainly unfit for the Oval Office,” they wrote.

    Several House Republicans, including Majority Leader Steve Scalise, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson all echoed the message that they believe Biden to be “unfit” for office.

    “The Special Counsel’s report and Biden’s embarrassing press conference last night make clear: He should either resign as unfit or face criminal prosecution,” Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley wrote on social media. “Can’t have it both ways.”

    New York Rep. Claudia Tenney sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who appointed Hur as special counsel to lead the probe into Biden, urging the Cabinet to “explore” using the 25th Amendment of the Constitution to remove the Democratic president from office.

    “It is incumbent upon you to explore proceedings to remove the President pursuant to the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution,” Tenney wrote in a letter obtained by Fox News. “President Biden needs to be charged, or he needs to be removed. There is no middle ground.”

    “After concluding that President Biden knowingly and willfully removed, mishandled, and disclosed classified documents repeatedly over a period of decades, Mr. Hur nevertheless recommended that charges not be brought against him,” she wrote in the letter. “Special Counsel’s reasoning was alarming. He recited numerous instances in which President Biden exhibited dramatically compromised mental faculties and concluded that a jury would be likely to perceive President Biden as a sympathetic and forgetful old man.”



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  • Dems, GOP react to Biden special counsel report

    Dems, GOP react to Biden special counsel report

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    Democrats were on the offensive in the aftermath of the Justice Department’s report about President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents after his vice presidency, taking particular umbrage with special counsel Robert Hur’s comments about his memory and mental acuity.

    Republicans, on the other hand, seized upon the opportunity to declare the Democratic president unfit for office as he seeks another term in the White House.

    They also used the opportunity to try and paint a picture of a double standard between Biden’s case, which Hur declared was not warranting of criminal charges, and that of former President Donald Trump, who faces 40 felony charges for alleged mishandling of classified documents — though there are key differences in the two cases, namely in that the Republican also faces charges for allegedly trying to hamper the government’s efforts to retrieve them.

    The report puts the president’s age into the spotlight, a concern among voters, per recent polling, as he makes his case for reelection this fall in a likely rematch against Trump — who despite being only three years Biden’s junior and committing gaffes of his own, does not appear to have the same level of scrutiny from voters on that issue.

    In the report, Hur wrote that in a possible trial, “Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview with him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

    Biden fired back at an impromptu press conference on Thursday evening, declaring that his “memory is fine,” though a gaffe he committed in his comments about the Israel-Hamas war likely did little to quell those concerns. He also took particular umbrage with the report claiming that Biden had trouble remembering details surrounding the death of his son, Delaware attorney general Beau Biden, from brain cancer in 2015.

    “I don’t need anyone, anyone, to remind me when he passed away,” Biden said angrily. “How the hell dare he raise that. Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself, was it any of their damn business?”

    Biden also sought to emphasize that he sat for hours of interviews in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, which quickly shifted to all-out war in Gaza: “The simple truth is that I sat for five hours, two days, over events going back 40 years. At the same time I was managing a national crisis.”

    Biden’s lawyers also disputed the portion of Hur’s report about Biden’s memory, saying it “uses highly prejudicial language to describe a commonplace occurrence among witnesses: a lack of recall of years-old events.”

    “The inappropriate criticisms of the President’s memory are inaccurate, gratuitous, and wrong,” Ian Sams, White House spokesman for oversight and investigations, wrote on social media.

    Democrats accuse Hur of partisanship, overstepping mandate

    The president’s fellow Democrats rushed to his defense, with Connecticut Sen. Chris Blumenthal telling HuffPo that “there’s certainly no crime in being a well-meaning elderly man.”

    Of Hur, Blumenthal charged that he appeared to overstep his mandate as special counsel, telling the outlet that his role was “to judge whether a crime was committed,” not to “speculate on what the jury would do, not to speculate on how full or sharp Joe Biden’s mind is.”

    Delaware Sen. Chris Coons told the outlet that the report “went a little far.”

    Former Attorney General Eric Holder said that Hur’s report “contains way too many gratuitous remarks and is flatly inconsistent with long standing DOJ traditions.”

    “Had this report been been subject to a normal DOJ review these remarks would undoubtedly have been excised,” Holder wrote on social media.

    Some critics pointed out Hur’s ties to Republican officials. He was a clerk for the late William Rehnquist, a staunch conservative who was nominated by Richard Nixon to the Supreme Court and, later, tapped by Ronald Reagan to succeed Warren Burger as Chief Justice. In 2017, Hur was appointed by Biden’s predecessor, then-President Trump, to serve as U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, a role he held until 2021.

    During a Democratic press call on Friday, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman called Hur a “Trump appointee” and accused him of having an “agenda.”

    “The president was very clear that he is absolutely in full control,” the Pennsylvania Democrat said, later charging that Hur’s report “was just a smear and cheap shots and just taking things out of context.”

    “Clearly there is an agenda there, and what’s true is that the president now is going to be our guy,” Fetterman added. “And he has done an incredible job.”

    New York Rep. Dan Goldman told ABC News that he believes “what everyone will soon realize is that this is a Republican special counsel who completely went out of his way to editorialize, to include material in his report that it unnecessary and irrelevant to what he was tasked with doing.”

    Goldman went on to charge that Hur put “something in there to help his fellow Republicans” because he wanted to avoid Trump’s ire because he did not recommend criminal charges against Biden.

    Jim Messina, who ran President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012, compared the situation to FBI Director James Comey announcing he was reopening a probe into Hillary Clinton’s emails 11 days before the 2016 presidential election.

    “Let’s be clear–the special counsel isn’t a dummy and we should be very careful not to take the bait after Comey pulled this in 2016,” Messina charged in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Hur, a lifelong Republican and creature of DC, didn’t have a case against Biden, but he knew exactly how his swipes could hurt Biden politically.”

    Longtime Democratic strategist Stephanie Cutter, another Obama administration and campaign alumni, appeared to concur with Messina’s assessment, charging that “Hur knew exactly what he was doing here.”

    “To provide political cover for himself for not prosecuting, he gratuitously leveled a personal (not legal) charge against the president that he absolutely knows is a gift to Trump,” Cutter charged in a post on X. “And, guess what we are all talking about? NOT that the president cooperated, self-reported, testified for two days, and otherwise did the right thing A jury would be hugely sympathetic to a president who respects the law. That’s why he’s not prosecuting. But, too hard for a Trump appointee to throw himself before the wrath and fury of Trump.”

    Republicans call Biden ‘unfit’ for office, call for his removal or resignation

    President Biden’s Republican critics were quick to make the case for a double-standard between the Trump and Biden classified documents probes, and at least one member of the GOP called for his removal from office.

    While Trump — who was coming off of a victory in Nevada’s caucuses on Thursday night — mainly sought to point out the disparity in his facing felony charges for allegedly mishandling classified documents while his opponent will not, he shared posts on his Truth Social platform from several GOP allies in Congress, including Florida Rep. Greg Steube, Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville and Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn questioning the Democratic president’s mental fitness.

    Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, the last remaining candidate running against Trump for the Republican nomination, used the opportunity to attack both presidential frontrunners.

    “It is unbelievably disturbing that they are showing that they see Biden to not have a good memory, that they see him as diminished, that they see that it’s a problem, and they point-blank say that,” Haley said on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Thursday night. “This is actually dangerous.”

    “People make fun of the fact that I say we need to have mental competency tests,” before citing polling that says Americans don’t want a Trump-Biden rematch in November. “The party that gets rid of their 80-year-old candidate is gonna be the party that wins.”

    In a post on social media, Haley called on Biden to “take a mental competency test immediately” and share those results with the American public.

    House Republican Leadership, including Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote in a statement that the findings from Hur’s report about Biden’s memory are “disturbing.”

    “A man too incapable of being held accountable for mishandling classified information is certainly unfit for the Oval Office,” they wrote.

    Several House Republicans, including Majority Leader Steve Scalise, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson all echoed the message that they believe Biden to be “unfit” for office.

    “The Special Counsel’s report and Biden’s embarrassing press conference last night make clear: He should either resign as unfit or face criminal prosecution,” Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley wrote on social media. “Can’t have it both ways.”

    New York Rep. Claudia Tenney sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who appointed Hur as special counsel to lead the probe into Biden, urging the Cabinet to “explore” using the 25th Amendment of the Constitution to remove the Democratic president from office.

    “It is incumbent upon you to explore proceedings to remove the President pursuant to the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution,” Tenney wrote in a letter obtained by Fox News. “President Biden needs to be charged, or he needs to be removed. There is no middle ground.”

    “After concluding that President Biden knowingly and willfully removed, mishandled, and disclosed classified documents repeatedly over a period of decades, Mr. Hur nevertheless recommended that charges not be brought against him,” she wrote in the letter. “Special Counsel’s reasoning was alarming. He recited numerous instances in which President Biden exhibited dramatically compromised mental faculties and concluded that a jury would be likely to perceive President Biden as a sympathetic and forgetful old man.”



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    Justin Tasolides

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  • Trump sweeps Nevada Republican caucuses

    Trump sweeps Nevada Republican caucuses

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    Donald Trump swept Nevada’s caucuses on Thursday, The Associated Press projected, a widely expected result for the former president in a race where he faced no real competition.

    Nevada’s caucuses were an unusual contest that also featured a nonbinding primary in the state earlier this week.

    What You Need To Know

    • Former President Donald Trump, as expected, swept Nevada’s caucuses on Thursday, according to a projection from The Associated Press

    • The caucuses were held just two days after Nevada held a nonbinding primary, which saw Trump’s only remaining major competition, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, lose to the option of “none of these candidates” by more than 30 points

    • The dual contest stems from a split between recent state law requiring primary elections and Nevada’s Republicans wanting to keep their caucuses they have been holding since the 1980s

    • On the Democratic side, meanwhile, President Joe Biden cruised to an easy victory on Tuesday, winning the contest and the state’s 36 delegates with nearly 90% of the vote
    • The Nevada contest came after Trump clinched a win in the U.S. Virgin Islands’ Republican caucus earlier Thursday


    Trump’s supporters waited in long lines on Thursday to cast their votes for the GOP frontrunner. One site, a Reno-area elementary school, saw nearly 1,000 people waiting in line to try and help the former president win another primary contest on his road to a third Republican presidential nomination.

    At a watch party in Las Vegas, Trump hailed “tremendous turnout” and the “enthusiasm” of his supporters in the Silver State contest.

    “Is there any way we can call the election for next Tuesday? That’s all I want,” he added.

    The contest came after Trump clinched a win in the U.S. Virgin Islands’ Republican caucus, giving him another four delegates. Trump beat his only remaining major GOP rival, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, with nearly 74% of the vote.

    “I want to thank you all. We had a tremendous victory,” he said by phone to supporters in St. Thomas. “We expected to win, but we didn’t expect to win by that much. You are incredible people I will never forget.”

    The nature of the Silver State’s dueling contests stems from a split between recent state law requiring primary elections and Nevada Republicans wanting to keep their caucuses they have been holding since the 1980s.

    The result? A pair of contests, one which sees the frontrunner Trump in the caucuses — with just little-known long shot candidate Ryan Binkley on the ballot with all 26 of the state’s delegates at stake — and the other a state-sanctioned primary on Tuesday that yielded no delegates.

    Haley, who participated in Tuesday’s contest, sought to downplay the results, which saw her lose to the option of “none of these candidates” by more than 30 points.

    “Nevada, it’s such a scam,” she said in an interview with FOX 11 Los Angeles in California on Wednesday, adding: “We knew months ago that we weren’t going to spend a day or a dollar in Nevada because it wasn’t worth it.”

    “We didn’t even count Nevada,” she said. “That wasn’t anything we were looking at. We knew it was rigged from the start, our focus is on South Carolina, Michigan and Super Tuesday.”

    Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney echoed those claims earlier this week: “We have not spent a dime nor an ounce of energy on Nevada. We aren’t going to pay $55,000 to a Trump entity to participate in a process that is rigged for Trump. Nevada is not and has never been our focus.”

    Nevada State Republican National Committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid pushed back on those criticisms, per ABC News, calling Haley’s remarks “baseless allegations.”

    Haley, DeGraffenreid said, “deliberately chose to not compete with the leading candidates and now wants a scapegoat,” per the outlet.

    On the Democratic side, meanwhile, President Joe Biden cruised to an easy victory, winning the contest and the state’s 36 delegates with nearly 90% of the vote over “none of these candidates” (5.8%) and Marianne Williamson, who suspended her campaign on Wednesday after her loss in Nevada.

    While Republicans could vote in both contests, Trump recently urged his supporters to keep their eyes on the prize: “Don’t worry about the primary, just do the caucus thing.”

    Republicans are increasingly converging behind Trump while he faces a deluge of legal problems, including 91 criminal charges in four separate cases. Trump is flexing his influence both in Congress — where Republicans rejected a border security deal after he pushed against it — and at the Republican National Committee, as chairwoman Ronna McDaniel could resign in the coming weeks after he publicly questioned whether she should stay in the job.

    Trump still faces unprecedented jeopardy for a major candidate. A federal appeals panel ruled this week that Trump can face trial on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, rejecting his claims that he is immune from prosecution. The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday heard arguments in a case trying to keep Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. The justices sounded broadly skeptical of the effort.

    But none of those developments seem to be hurting his standing among Republicans, including in Nevada.

    Spectrum News’ Joseph Konig and The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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    Justin Tasolides

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  • Here’s what you can expect from Super Bowl commercials this Sunday

    Here’s what you can expect from Super Bowl commercials this Sunday

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Big name advertisers will be pulling out all the stops on Super Bowl Sunday — enlisting high-profile actors, investing in dazzling special effects and, they hope, going for laughs as they seek to win over viewers during game breaks.

    What You Need To Know

    • In an increasingly fractured and polarized media environment — and with fewer people watching live TV — the Super Bowl is an anomaly

    • The big game’s viewership has actually increased, with a record 115.1 million people tuning in last year

    • Many Super Bowl commercials have already been released

    In an increasingly fractured and polarized media environment — and with fewer people watching live TV — the Super Bowl is an anomaly. The big game’s viewership has actually increased, with a record 115.1 million people tuning in last year.

    So marketers will use the game on Sunday, which will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+, to draw attention to new products, brand extensions and their marketing message as they again vie for the eyes of more than 100 million expected viewers.

    Almost as an escape from the divisive U.S. presidential election and conflicts deepening around the world, most Super Bowl advertisers appear to be doubling down on flights of fantasy or light humor, often with a dose of nostalgia and a lot of mini-reunions of TV characters.

    “Serious is out,” said Kimberly Whitler, marketing professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. “Marketers have figured out entertainment, enjoyment and escapism is the name of the ad game.”

    Many Super Bowl commercials have already been released. Here’s what we know heading into this year’s big game.

    TV show mini reunions

    Perhaps taking a cue from the success of last year’s PopCorners ad that featured a reunion of “Breaking Bad” actors stars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, this year there’s a slew of mini TV show reunions in ads.

    T-Mobile, which has been reuniting Scrubs co-stars in Super Bowl ads since 2022, teams up Zach Braff and Donald Faison to sing a version of “Flashdance…What a Feeling,” with Jason Momoa — along with a cameo by Jennifer Beals.

    In an ad stuffed with celebrity cameos — including “Judge Judy” Judy Sheindlin — e.l.f. cosmetics reunited “Suits” stars Gina Torres, Rick Hoffman and Sarah Rafferty in a courtroom spoof.

    NBC sitcoms have quite a few reunion moments during the game. In an Uber Eats ad, which shows people forgetting things so they remember Uber Eats can deliver a wide variety of items, Jennifer Anniston seemingly forgets she ever worked with her “Friends” co-star David Schwimmer.

    In an ad for Mtn Dew Baja Blast, Aubrey Plaza says she can have a ‘Blast’ doing anything, including reuniting with her “Parks and Rec” boss Nick Offerman as they fly on dragons.

    And in an ad for Booking.com, Tina Fey hires body doubles to stay at different lodging because she has so many options on the site, including her “30 Rock” co-stars Jane Krakowski and Jack McBrayer.

    Bringing well-known TV show characters together can help connect to the audience, said Northwestern University marketing professor Tim Calkins.

    “A younger, more on-trend figure might be more exciting, but could lack the awareness of these well-established characters,” he said. “Surprise is a key element of Super Bowl advertising, so unexpected reunions can work well.”

    Nostalgia, light hijinks

    Humor and a touch of nostalgia can be found in many ads. Molson Coors ‘ ad brings back their “Chill Train” that last appeared in advertisements nearly two decades ago, in 2005. A tongue-in-cheek ad shows the train crashing into a football watching party to bring partiers Coors Light. LL Cool J turns out to be the conductor.

    For Sofia Colucci, chief marketing officer for Molson Coors, which is advertising for the second year after Anheuser-Busch ended its decades long exclusive sponsorship of the game, the Super Bowl is a unique venue to reach existing customers and attract new ones.

    “One of the things we’re really trying to be thoughtful about is making sure that we are retaining and protecting our core drinkers at the same time attracting new drinkers,” she said. “The Super Bowl is a huge stage where you do have that opportunity to talk widely to those audiences.”

    In another hijink-filled ad, Doritos introduces its new Dinamita chips — the 24th year Doritos is advertising in the Super Bowl — by depicting two grandmotherly women in a store with actress Jenna Ortega. They reveal their action-prowess by taking off to pursue “Top Gun: Maverick” actor Danny Ramirez who grabbed the last bag of chips from a store shelf.

    Frito-Lay North America CMO Brett O’Brien says Dinamitas is aiming to reach a “multicultural young audience” aged 16 to 24.

    Celebrities abound

    There are always tons of celebrities in ads, and the star power seems to go up and up every year.

    “It’s celebrity on steroids right now,” Virginia Commonwealth University Brandcenter’s Jessica D. Collins said. While that is not necessarily new or surprising for the Super Bowl, she added, “it’s just going to be so heightened this year.”

    That means big names like Arnold Schwarzenneger starring in a State Farm ad, Ice Spice making an appearance for Starry, Christopher Walken facing imitations of himself for BMW, and Super Bowl Halftime Show headliner Usher showing up in an Uber Eats’ spot.

    Many ads have stuffed multiple celebrities in ads. Beyond the TV show reunions, Michelob Ultra features soccer legend Lionel Messi, “Ted Lasso” star Jason Sudeikis and retired Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino. BetMGM features Vince Vaughn, Tom Brady and Wayne Gretsky. And Paramount+ touts a star-filled lineup, including Drew Barrymore, Sir Patrick Stewart and Creed.

    Squarespace also hired a big name for behind the camera with Martin Scorcese directing his first Super Bowl ad for the domain hosting site.

    While star-power is exciting, it’s always possible to overdo it. Advertisers can risk viewers remembering what stars they saw in a commercial but not the brand name, University of Minnesota associate professor of marketing Linli Xu notes.

    One organic way advertisers can pull off celebrity appearances is to choose a featured star that already has a connection to the brand, Collins said, or tap into a recent pop culture moment.

    “A lot of times you’ll see a celebrity just show up and you’re like, ‘That person would have never used that product. Why are they there?’” she said.

    Some serious moments

    Of course, this year’s Super Bowl commercials won’t all be laughs.

    Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism has said it will run an ad featuring Martin Luther King Jr.’s speechwriter Dr. Clarence B. Jones. Dove’s ad focuses on the fact that low body-confidence leads to girls quitting sports. And Google’s heartstring-pulling ad follows a blind man as he uses “Guided Frame” — Google’s A.I.-powered accessibility feature for the Pixel camera that uses a combination of audio cues, high-contrast animations and tactile vibrations — to take pictures of the people and places in his life.

    Surprises

    As always, there will still be some game day surprises. Some advertisers such as Amazon have stayed mum on any plans. Upstart e-commerce site Temu has reportedly bought several ads. In a presidential election year, it’s possible we might see a candidate ad. And while there have been no indications of such, many wonder if advertisers will capitalize on this year’s Taylor Swift buzz in some way.

    Regardless of whether or not she makes her way into the commercial-side of the big game, marketers say advertisers are taking note of the “Taylor Swift effect” and trying to reach everyone, not just sports fans.

    “We have people that have never watched Football a day in their life now watching the entire game — not just for the ads, but for the game itself and for the celebrity sightings,” Collins said.

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  • CDC investigating a stomach illness on cruise ship Queen Victoria

    CDC investigating a stomach illness on cruise ship Queen Victoria

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    SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating an outbreak on a luxury cruise ship where more than 150 people have reported gastrointestinal illness, including diarrhea and vomiting.

    The Queen Victoria, operated by Cunard Cruise Line, departed San Francisco Wednesday on its way from Florida to Hawaii. The ship is carrying 1,800 passengers and 970 crew members.

    The cause is unknown. Cunard told the CDC that the ship increased cleaning and disinfection, and isolated ill passengers and crew.

    The reported cases are totals for the entire voyage and do not represent how many people are actively sick at any one time, the CDC said.

    The company did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking more details.

    The ship originated in Germany Jan. 9 and departed Florida Jan. 22, according to ship tracker Cruise Mapper. Its next stop is Honolulu, Hawaii, on Feb. 12 and ends in Australia next month.

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    Associated Press

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  • Weather Explained: Groundhog Day

    Weather Explained: Groundhog Day

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    Groundhog Day is arguably the biggest weather holiday of the year. On Feb. 2 each year, Punxsutawney Phil emerges from his burrow at Gobbler’s Knob in Pennsylvania. Thousands of people gather around, curious to know if Phil sees his shadow.

    As the legend has it, when Phil sees his shadow, it means there are six more weeks of winter ahead of us. No shadow indicates an early spring.

    Phil has forecast the weather on Groundhog Day for more than 120 years. But as it turns out, he isn’t that good at his job.

    Watch the video above to see how many times he’s gotten the forecast wrong and find out how we came to rely on Phil in the first place.

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    Meteorologist Nick Merianos

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  • Meteorologist or imposter: Probing groundhogs’ precision

    Meteorologist or imposter: Probing groundhogs’ precision

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    Are our rodent friends really as accurate as they think?

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    Meteorologist Zach Covey

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  • Wagering with an edge: How weather affects sports betting

    Wagering with an edge: How weather affects sports betting

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    Sports betting has become increasingly popular over recent years, and bettors are always trying to find an edge.

    For outdoor sporting events, weather is one of the biggest variables, and RotoGrinders Chief Meteorologist Kevin Roth has spent the past 10 years combining his weather knowledge and passion for sports to help bettors.

    What You Need To Know

    • Weather can heavily influence outdoor sporting events


    • Knowing how weather affects a game can help bettors


    • Altitude is the biggest advantage for a home team

    From football, baseball and golf, to NASCAR, tennis, soccer and even the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, if it’s outdoors and sports-related, he’s made a forecast for it.

    After earning a master’s degree in meteorology and working on TV for 10 years, Kevin Roth saw that there was a need in the fantasy sports world for real forecasts provided by an actual meteorologist, not just a low-quality automated forecast.

    He provides forecasts and live weather updates for outdoor sporting events, and breaks down how the weather could affect the game with the lens of a fantasy sports player or a sports bettor.

    In football, fantasy sports players get an entire week to digest the latest forecast and can decide who to start until kickoff. Sports bettors don’t get the same luxury if they want to maximize their profit, since betting lines and totals are fluid.

    Football

    You might think that ‘cold weather teams’ like Kansas City, Buffalo or Green Bay have a built-in advantage during the playoffs when the calendar flips to January, and the weather could offer bitter cold temperatures, high winds and snow.

    Earlier this month on Jan. 13, the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Miami Dolphins during the AFC Super Wild Card Weekend in a frigid matchup. The kickoff temperature was -4 degrees with a wind chill of -20 degrees, making it the fourth coldest game in NFL history.

    But Roth says he’s a firm believer that cold or snowy weather doesn’t inherently favor a ‘cold weather team’ over a ‘warm weather team,’ like Tampa Bay or Miami.

    “The cold, wind and snow impacts all humans the same in a physiological way. Patrick Mahomes [Kansas City Chiefs quarterback] will get the same cold fingers in those conditions that Tua [Miami Dolphins quarterback] would.”

    In football (and other sports), the weather can really make its presence known with high winds. Kicking a field goal or throwing a deep ball is much more difficult with a brisk wind in your face, versus when it’s at your back. 

    Baseball

    According to Roth, baseball is the most interesting sport for weather effects since every single factor (rain, wind, temperature, humidity, elevation) plays a significant role in the expected outcome.

    Since there are 162 games a year, and hundreds of pitches thrown each game, there is a large sample size to help isolate variables and determine how weather affects the game. Baseball is the only major team sport where every ballpark has unique dimensions, so the impacts can vary depending on where ballplayers play the game.

    Roth says “in Chicago’s Wrigley Field, a southerly wind creates a jet stream effect that helps balls sail over the fence for home runs. A 15 mph wind blowing out in Wrigley can increase home run probabilities by over 50%. If you were to take that same wind, blowing out at 15 mph, to San Francisco’s Oracle Park, the wind only accounts for a 5% increase in home runs, as that stadium was specifically designed to minimize the impact of those winds.”

    Temperature and humidity is a variable that applies to all ballparks more equally. Most of the season (April through October) athletes play in the thick of the warm summer months. Since hotter air is less dense, offensive players score more runs during the dog days of summer since the air is thin. Routine pop-ups can carry further, sometimes becoming a home run.

    In the northern climates, teams there play those early and late season games in temperatures between 30 to 40 degrees. Roth says “the cold, dense air mass will limit how far a well-hit ball will travel, and what would have been a home run in 70 degree weather suddenly becomes a fly out.”

    Best “home field advantage?”

    If you’re a sports fan, you’ve heard of home field advantage. Oddsmakers and sports books will factor in 2 to 3 extra points for the home team in football games when creating lines, determining the favorite and underdog.

    Some factors baked into home field advantage include the crowd, home stadium familiarity, potential officiating bias and the lack of travel, sometimes visiting teams travel across multiple time zones. But how does the weather factor in?

    Roth says you have to consider elevation, since it’s the exception to the ‘this impacts everyone equally rule.’ “Our bodies take time to adjust to elevation, so any visiting team thrust into a game at elevation (i.e. – Denver) is immediately at a disadvantage when compared to players whose bodies are already acclimated to the thinner air at elevation.”

    Denver Broncos defensive end Matt Henningsen (91) leaves the field during an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Rusty Jones)

    Roth says that Colorado teams have the best home field advantage, since the elevation change and thin air can cause fatigue in more active sports, and change the way a pitch breaks in baseball.

    What’s next?

    Roth says he’s focusing on “quantitative over qualitative.” He’s been compiling weather data on every outdoor baseball game since 2000 and the statistical results (runs, home runs, ERA, strikeouts, etc) of those games.

    The large sample size has allowed him to isolate weather as an individual variable, and the next step he plans is taking that data and applying it to the gambling odds or totals.

    Instead of saying “it’s hot and winds are blowing out, that’s great for hitting,” he can definitively say “in 72 games with similar heat and wind in this ballpark, we’ve seen a 48% increase in home runs and a 20% increase to runs scored compared to average.”

    You can check out RotoGrinders Chief Meteorologist Kevin Roth’s forecasts here:

    Our team of meteorologists dive deep into the science of weather and break down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.

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    Meteorologist Reid Lybarger

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  • Warming temperatures and gender disparities in sea turtles

    Warming temperatures and gender disparities in sea turtles

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    Few species have their sex determined by temperatures, but for sea turtles it’s almost a certainty.

    However, this natural occurrence could become a biological disadvantage as global temperatures continue to rise, leading to larger gender disparities.

    What You Need To Know

    • A sea turtle’s gender is determined by the temperatures in its surrounding environment

    • Higher nest temperatures produce females, while cooler temperatures yield males

    • A warming planet will likely upset gender diversity in the sea turtle population

    Temperature-driven gender reveals

    The differences in reproduction between humans and sea turtles extend beyond the obvious ‘one lays eggs while the other does not.’ One key difference between the two is how sex is determined.

    For humans and many other species, gender is determined from the by sex chromosomes when fertilization occurs. But this is not the case with sea turtles and other reptiles, given that they lack sex chromosomes.

    For them, the gender of their offspring is determined after fertilization, and the deciding factor all depends on temperature. This kind of sexual determination is called temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD).

    Building their nest onshore, a female will lay their eggs in the sand, where they will continue to develop before hatching about two months later.

    A baby Olive Ridley sea turtle crawls to the sea past discarded turtle eggs at Ostional beach on the northern Pacific coast of Costa Rica, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2007. (AP Photo/Kent Gilbert)

    During that time, the temperature of the surrounding sand can activate an enzyme, aromatase, in the embryos responsible for converting sex hormones, and determining gender.

    Higher temperatures stimulate more aromatase activity. This yields an increase in female hormones and thus, the baby sea turtle will hatch as a female.

    On the contrary, cooler temperatures limits aromatase activity. This promotes male hormones to dominate, and so the sea turtles that hatch will be male.

    (AP Photo/Cody Jackson)

    According to NOAA, sand temperatures of 88.8 degrees or more will yield female sea turtles, while sand temperatures of 81.86 degrees or less will produce males.

    Eggs incubated in sand temperatures falling between these two thresholds will cause a mix of male and female sea turtles.

    A warming world and gender inequality

    Following the world’s warmest year on record in 2023, rising global temperatures will likely upset gender diversity within sea turtle populations in the years to come.

    (NOAA)

    Researchers from Florida Atlantic University Marine Lab announced warmer nest temperatures in recent years have produced more female hatchlings, some years even recorded no male offspring at all. 

    As the male sea turtle populations continue to decrease, growing disparities in gender could ultimately endanger the species’ existence in the future.

    Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.

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    Meteorologist Shawnie Caslin

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  • Where does the rain go? Understanding river basins and watersheds

    Where does the rain go? Understanding river basins and watersheds

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    Have you ever wondered where all the rain goes? It goes to the same place as snowmelt when temperatures thaw out in the spring.

    It’s called a river basin, or a watershed, and whether you know it, all the land we stand on is part of a river basin. 

    What You Need To Know

    • Rain and snowmelt goes into river basins


    • A river basin channels runoff into larger bodies of water


    • Some water soaks into the ground

    Some water will seep into the shallow ground, moving through the soil and helping keep grass, trees and plants healthy. It can even travel deeper down, recharging groundwater aquifers.

    Once the ground becomes saturated, a river basin collects runoff and excess water and drains it into a larger body of water.

    Depending on where in the basin, it can move into small bodies of water like creeks, streams and rivers, and eventually to outflow points into larger bodies of water like a reservoir, bay or the ocean.

    In the U.S., most rain runoff eventually finds its way into the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, or the Great Lakes. 

    This map below from Grasshopper Geography shows all the permanent and temporary streams and rivers of the Lower 48 in the U.S., divided into catchment areas. 

    River basins of the United States. (Robert Szucs/www.grasshoppergeography.com)

    The Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin (highlighted in pink) is one of the largest in the world. It includes parts or all of 31 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces, collecting precipitation for 41% of the contiguous United States.

    The Mississippi River’s water level closely correlates to precipitation totals across the basin. Persistent, heavy rainfall or excessive snowmelt can cause high water levels and put sections of the river into flood stage, threatening communities along the river.

    Conversely, severe drought across the Mississippi River basin can lead to low water levels, which can disrupt the shipping industry and expose some oddities from the bottom of the river.

    Snowmelt

    When snow melts, the water goes to the same place that rain would go. Generally, 10 to 12 inches of snowfall produces 1 inch of liquid water.

    In the western U.S. mountains, environmental and utility experts work to conserve that water and replenish lakes and reservoirs that shrink or dry up during times of drought. In the Central U.S., most of the snowmelt ends up in the Mississippi River.

    The annual snowpack in mountain ranges can help forecast potential flooding concerns when temperatures warm up. If there’s a large snowpack, rapid snowmelt can cause flooding.

    Below, you can see a video from Dec. 2023, after heavy rainfall and snowmelt from warm temperatures combined and led to significant flooding and high waters in Fairfax, Vt. 

    It’s more common during the spring, but also possible if temperatures climb well above normal during winter.

    Snowmelt can be just as important as rain for areas when it comes to recharging groundwater and supplying freshwater for people and animals. Less snowfall means less snowmelt and less water that could be resourceful for us. 

    Our team of meteorologists dive deep into the science of weather and break down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.

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    Meteorologist Reid Lybarger

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  • Why we don’t officially name winter storms

    Why we don’t officially name winter storms

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    Every spring, the World Meteorological Organization releases a list of names for hurricanes that season.

    But why don’t we name any other storm, particularly winter storms?

    What You Need To Know

    • The U.S. does not officially name winter storms

    • Other countries name non-tropical storms year round

    • The National Weather Service has no plans for naming winter storms

    History of naming storms

    We have unofficially named winter storms throughout history.

    Storms such as The Great Blizzard of 1888, a storm that brought feet of snow to the Northeast and killed over 400 people, or a more recent storm in 2010, Snowmageddon, that crippled the mid-Atlantic with snow.

    But naming winter storms didn’t become regular until 2012, when a television weather company did so. At the time, this decision divided the weather community. Some saw the practice as more of a publicity stunt than a way to save lives, as they did not consult any official weather agency.

    After 5 years of The Weather Channel naming winter storms, an ad hoc committee of the American Meteorological Society conducted a study and agreed that there was no evidence to support that the naming of storms increases the safety of the public.

    The flip side

    Even though the U.S. does not name storms other than tropical cyclones, the UK Met Office started officially naming storms in 2015. They not only name winter storms, but powerful storms that form throughout the year that cause substantial impact.

    Each area in the UK has different criteria for naming storms, but the fun part is that the public can suggest names for the upcoming year.

    Taking a stand

    However, the National Weather Service still stands on the side of not naming winter storms, but what is the reason?

    I talked to Maureen O’Leary, a spokesperson for the National Weather Service, and she said, “unlike tropical storms, winter storms are diverse with conditions that evolve throughout the storm’s life. That is why our forecasts, watches and warnings focus on specific impacts such as wind conditions, snowfall, ice, temperature, visibility and other impacts.

    “Winter storm conditions can vary widely and over a very large area, from community to community. It’s critical that people understand how a storm will impact them, in their area, or where they are going.”

    She also said there are no plans to consider naming winter storms.

    Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.

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    Meteorologist Shelly Lindblade

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