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  • This train route is being revived after over 100 years | CNN

    This train route is being revived after over 100 years | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Taking a long-distance train journey often feels like going back in time. Now, a new route opening up fast, direct access between two European countries will spin passengers back more than a century to the times of the Habsburg empire.

    A new high-speed route between Italy and Slovenia is now on the cards, thanks to a newly signed agreement between state operators Trenitalia and SŽ Passenger Transport, or Slovenian Railways.

    A Frecciarossa train will run eastwards from Milan to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, in seven hours. It’ll pass through storied Italian cities Venice and Trieste, as well as making stops for some of Slovenia’s noted nature attractions, including Postojna Caves and Skocjan Caves, as well as Lipica, where the famous Lipizzaner horses have been bred since 1580.

    Today, the horses with their “dancing” feet are best known for the displays at Vienna’s Spanish Riding School – which makes sense, since this part of the world, on the modern Slovenia-Italy border, used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian empire (or the Habsburg empire, before 1867).

    In fact the train itself should have a feeling of winding back the centuries to that earlier period. It is thought that this is the first train from Milan to Ljubljana since the empire was dissolved in 1918.

    It’s also picking up the route of a night train from Budapest to Venice, which passed through Ljubljana, but finished in 2011.

    Since 2018, there has been a regional train from Trieste to Ljubljana, but train staff of the two operators switch at the border at Villa Opicina station.

    Although a Trenitalia representative told CNN that there is no set date for the launch, Slovenian Railways have told media that they want to start “as soon as possible” – which could mean from April. It’s expected that there will be one service per day initially, eventually expanding to two.

    April will also see the launch of a Rijeka-Trieste (Villa Opicina) route from Croatian Railways.

    It'll arrive in Ljubljana after seven hours.

    Frecciarossa (Red Arrow) trains are capable of reaching speeds of 300 kph (284 mph) on the Italian network, although it’s unlikely they’ll go that fast on this route, at least at first, since east of Venice speeds tend to slow down.

    In March 2023, the Italian government pledged 1.8 billion euros (nearly $2 billion) to upgrade the Venice-Trieste line to fully high-speed. The Slovenian lines will now be tested to see if they can also be upgraded.

    “It was about time that a serious rail connection was restored between Trieste and Ljubljana – It sounds like a joke, but it is often the case in the region that the railway connections were better a century ago than they are today,” says journalist Giovanni Vale, founder of the Extinguished Countries project, which publishes guidebooks to countries that no longer exist, and is currently working on one to the Habsburg Empire.

    “Trieste and Ljubljana were first connected by train in 1857, when both cities were part of the Habsburg Empire. The South Railway Company (Südbahn-Gesellschaft), which ran from Vienna to Trieste via Ljubljana, was one of the flagships of the Empire’s infrastructure. Trieste was at that time one of the most important ports in the world and its connection to Vienna was very important for the Empire.

    “With the end of the First World War, Trieste became a city in the far northeast of Italy, in an almost peripheral position and rail connections to the east with Ljubljana, Zagreb, Belgrade or Budapest were often lacking.

    “Let’s hope that this is the beginning of a new season for rail connections between Trieste and the Balkans.”

    Italy's high-speed Frecciarossa trains can reach speeds of nearly 200 mph.

    The agreement follows Trenitalia’s similar initiatives with its Eurocity and Euronight trains, which connect Italy with Switzerland, Germany and Austria with direct trains. It’ll be a Eurocity route, operated by a Frecciarossa.

    Trenitalia has also signed a preliminary agreement with Deutsche Bahn to bring the Frecciarossa into service on Italy-Germany routes before the end of 2026. A Milan-Munich route is on the cards, with extensions from there to other German destinations.

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  • Airplane bounces along Heathrow runway during Storm Gerrit | CNN

    Airplane bounces along Heathrow runway during Storm Gerrit | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel’s weekly newsletter. Get the latest news in aviation, food and drink, where to stay and other travel developments.



    CNN
     — 

    It’s been a stormy tail end to Christmas for the UK and Ireland, as the countries were hit by Storm Gerrit coming in from the Atlantic on Wednesday, bringing gale force winds and flooding in its wake.

    It caused havoc for aviation, with flights being canceled across the countries. Air traffic restrictions saw major delays at Heathrow, with flight cancellations across the UK, including Manchester and Glasgow. The UK’s flag carrier British Airways canceled 13 flights because of the weather. In Ireland, Dublin Airport remained unscathed, though Cork saw four diversions, to Dublin and Shannon.

    Planes that managed to take off faced an equally difficult fate: trying to land in the storm.

    One American Airlines flight was caught on camera during a particularly bumpy landing at Heathrow on December 27.

    The Boeing 777, coming in from Los Angeles, was seen wobbling from side to side as it came down, toppling briefly towards the left, before appearing to bounce or “bunny hop” on the runway before sticking to terra firma and slowing down.

    The “insane” landing was filmed by Big Jet TV owner Jerry Dyer, who regularly sets up livestreams at airports around the world to watch flights coming in, and has a particular soft spot for stormy weather.

    Dyer told CNN in 2022 that he’s drawn to the “battle” between man and nature during a storm at an airport.

    “Whenever there’s windy conditions, stormy conditions, I’m always up at Heathrow,” he said at the time.

    “It’s a lot more exciting to watch than aircraft just landing down and touching down and all that kind of stuff. It’s the battle, isn’t it? It’s the forces of nature against an alloy tub with wings on it that we built and we have to control it down onto the ground in Mother Nature’s winds.

    “It’s a fantastic thing to watch.”

    His livestream of Storm Eunice in 2022, in which planes battled to land at Heathrow despite 122 mile-per-hour winds battering the UK, captivated the entire country.

    There were more than 200 severe wind gust reports across Britain and Ireland on Wednesday, with a possible tornado sighting in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. A level 2 of 3 threat for a severe storm remained for far southeastern Ireland and west-central UK until early Thursday morning, according to the European Storm Forecast Experiment (ESTOFEX).

    Streaming the AA flight, Dyer’s famously enthusiastic commentary noted the air “vortex” around the wings as it came in, before lamenting “oh stop it, stop that” as the plane bounced down the runway.

    “How he did not go around I just have no idea,” he commented.

    Despite the conditions, flight AA134, which had departed LA on December 26, touched down just one minute late – at 11.41 a.m. on December 27, according to flight tracker FlightRadar.

    It then took off again around two hours later, making its way to Dallas, where it landed early. Luckily with a different crew.

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  • 7 countries, 7 traditional Christmas feasts | CNN

    7 countries, 7 traditional Christmas feasts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Christmas is celebrated in many ways in many corners of the globe, and the cuisine that marks the holiday is as diverse as the people feasting on it.

    Christmas and Advent food traditions are comforting at a time when many people have had a challenging year. And Christmas dishes are particularly special in many households.

    The typical Christmas meal may be different by destination, but the idea of indulging in a feast, be it on the day itself or the night before, isn’t.

    Here’s a look at how locals celebrate Christmas through cuisine in seven countries. We asked hospitality experts about these traditions, and they shared their perspective on what’s typical for them as well as their families and friends.

    The French enjoy their lavish holiday meal on December 24, says Francois Payard, the renowned pastry chef who grew up in Nice.

    Locals sit down for dinner around 8 p.m., he says, and savor a first course of seafood. That usually means a lobster thermidor – a baked dish of the cooked crustacean mixed with mustard, egg yolks and brandy – or a shrimp scampi.

    Then it’s on to a large capon – a male chicken that’s renowned for its tenderness – and a medley of sides including mashed potatoes and chestnuts sauteed with butter and topped with sage. “Chestnuts are a fixture in any Christmas meal for us,” says Payard.

    Dessert, the grand finale, is a yule log, or bûche de Noël – the French version of a Christmas cake. Often two are served – one chocolate, the other chestnut. To drink, it’s the finest wine you can get your hands on, usually red from Burgundy that’s not too full-bodied for the capon.

    On Christmas Day, the French savor a hearty brunch that may include creamy scrambled eggs, smoked salmon and toast. The meal finishes with assorted cheeses such as Brie, Gruyere and Munster, Payard says.

    Tortellini in brodo is part of many an Italian Christmas Eve spread.

    Similar to France, Italians celebrate Christmas with their biggest spread on the eve of the big day. Luca Finardi, the general manager of the Mandarin Oriental Milan, says that locals usually attend midnight Mass and enjoy a sumptuous meal before heading to church.

    Smoked salmon with buttered crostini or a smoked salted cod is the precursor to the main meal. Italians from coastal areas such as the Amalfi Coast may start with a crudo such as sea bass with herbs and sea salt, says Finardi.

    Next up is tortellini in brodo – stuffed pasta bathed in a hot broth of chicken and Parmesan cheese – the latter of which must come from the namesake region in Italy.

    For the main meal, northern Italians tend to have stuffed turkey while those from seaside areas may tuck into a large baked sea bass surrounded by roasted potatoes and vegetables.

    “The must no matter where you’re from is panettone – a typical sweet bread,” says Finardi. “The secret is to warm it up for just a few minutes.” Spumante, a sparkling wine, is the drink of choice.

    As for the famous Italian Christmas meal of the feast of the seven fishes, Finardi says it’s limited mainly to the Campania region, which includes the Amalfi Coast and Naples.

    Christmas Day is more about connecting with family and less about food, Finardi says. “We eat leftovers and recover from the day before.”

    Christmas pudding, sometimes flaming with brandy, finishes the traditional English Christmas feast.

    England

    The Brits don’t typically indulge in their big holiday meal on Christmas Eve. “The 24th is for cooking with our families and going to the local pub for a pint,” says Nicola Butler, the owner of the London-based luxury travel company NoteWorthy.

    The real festivities start on Christmas morning with a glass of champagne and a breakfast of smoked salmon and mince pieces, she says. Later that day, after the Queen’s annual Christmas speech is aired, it’s time for dinner.

    That means a turkey or roast beef and a host of sides such as roasted parsnips and carrots, buttered peas and Brussels sprouts. Some families include Yorkshire pudding, a savory baked good of flour, eggs and milk made with meat drippings.

    Dessert is Christmas pudding, which is actually a dark and dense cake made with dried fruits, spices and usually a splash of brandy. “We have lots of wine to go along with the food,” says Butler.

    Christmas honey cookies are part of a typical Greek holiday spread.

    Maria Loi, the celebrity Greek chef, says that the country’s holiday celebrations begin on Christmas Eve around 7 p.m.

    “Families sit around the fireplace and eat a special wheat bread that we make only at Christmas,” she says. “Some households also eat pork sausages. It’s the only [occasion] Greeks eat pork because the meat is not common in our cuisine.”

    After attending an early morning holy communion on Christmas Day, Greeks go home for an all-day eating fest, says Loi.

    Homemade honey cookies with walnuts or almonds come first followed by chicken soup with orzo. A few hours later, it’s on to either a roast chicken stuffed with chestnuts or variations of grilled or braised pork dishes. Sides such as sauteed wild greens, finely shredded romaine with scallions and feta cheese and roasted lemon potatoes accompany the entrée.

    Dessert is light and could be baked apples with honey and walnuts or Greek yogurt topped with honey. To drink, Loi says Greeks favor red wine.

    Posole is a traditional way to start a Mexican Christmas meal.

    Mexicans get the Christmas festivities going on December 24, according to Pablo Carmona and Josh Kremer, co-founders of Paradero Hotels.

    “Families start by breaking a piñata that’s filled with all sorts of locally made candies in chili and tamarind flavors,” says Kremer. Dinner follows usually somewhere between 7 and 10 p.m.

    The meal starts with posole – a stew with big corn kernels and pork or beef that’s accompanied by as many as 20 condiments such as parsley, cilantro, chiles and assorted cheeses.

    In a nod to the American influence in Mexico, the entrée – at least for Carmona and Kremer – is a turkey with all the trimmings such as mashed potatoes and green beans.

    The sweet finish is often a creamy flan plus strawberries and cream. But the meal isn’t complete without tequilas and mezcals to go along with the food.

    On the 25th, many Mexicans heat up the leftovers from the night before. “We’re tired so we don’t want to bother to cook,” says Carmona.

    Homemade tamales are a staple in Costa Rica.

    Many Costa Ricans celebrate Christmas with a middle-of-the-night extravaganza, says Leo Ghitis, owner of Nayara Hotels, in the country’s northern highlands. “We go to midnight Mass and come home and have a huge meal at 2 a.m.,” he says.

    Homemade tamales, filled with either chicken or pork or vegetables and cheese, kick off the spread. Then it’s on to arroz con pollo, Costa Rica’s national rice dish that’s made with green beans, peas, carrots, saffron, cilantro and a chopped up whole chicken.

    The third course is an assortment of grilled proteins. Costa Ricans who live along the coast have seafood such as marlin, tuna, mahi mahi, shrimp and lobster while inlanders tuck into beef, pork and chicken. Sides are the same for both: rice with black beans, boiled palm fruit with sour cream and a hearts of palm salad with avocado.

    Dessert is typically a coconut flan and arroz con leche – rice with milk, sugar and cinnamon.

    “We top off the meal with lots of rum punch and eggnog and don’t finish until 4 or 5 a.m.,” says Ghitis.

    Christmas Day itself is about finishing leftovers and hitting the streets for outdoor parties, he says.

    Peas and rice grace many holiday plates in the Bahamas.

    Christmas Day is the big food celebration for Bahamians, says Vonya Ifill, the director of talent and culture at Rosewood Baha Mar.

    Locals have a big dinner that includes turkey, ham, macaroni and cheese, peas and rice made with coconut milk and potato salad.

    “We have this feast in the evening and then at midnight go off and celebrate Boxing Day with a Junkanoo Festival,” she says. “After dancing and parading around all evening and into the early morning hours, we end the festivities with a boiled fish or fish stew.”

    The seafood, she says, is always accompanied by potato bread or Johnny Cake, a cornmeal flatbread.

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  • A timeline of Elijah McClain's death and the trials of the officers and paramedics accused of wrongdoing | CNN

    A timeline of Elijah McClain's death and the trials of the officers and paramedics accused of wrongdoing | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Three police officers and two paramedics have faced juries on charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide stemming from the 2019 death of Elijah McClain in Aurora, Colorado.

    But the path to court was anything but straightforward.

    McClain, a 23-year-old massage therapist, was confronted by police officers on August 24, 2019, after someone reported seeing a person wearing a ski mask who “looks sketchy.” After officers wrestled him to the ground and paramedics injected him with a potent sedative, McClain suffered a heart attack on the way to a hospital and died days later, authorities said.

    Prosecutors initially declined to bring charges in his death, but the case received renewed scrutiny following the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests in spring 2020. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis appointed a special prosecutor to reexamine the case, and in 2021 a grand jury indicted three officers and two paramedics in McClain’s death.

    The defendants have now faced juries in three separate trials in 2023, to different results. Officer Randy Roedema was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and assault, while officers Jason Rosenblatt and Nathan Woodyard were acquitted of all charges. Paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec will soon learn their fate.

    Here’s a timeline of McClain’s death, the resulting investigation, the protests that brought renewed attention to the case and the criminal trials.

    Three White officers stopped McClain in Aurora on August 24, 2019, while he was walking home from a convenience store in the Denver suburb after 10:30 p.m., according to a police overview of the incident.

    Carrying iced tea in a plastic bag, McClain eventually was in a physical struggle with the officers after, police say, he resisted arrest.

    Early in the encounter, an officer told McClain to stop, and when McClain kept walking, two officers grabbed his arms, the overview reads. McClain says, “Let me go … I’m an introvert, please respect the boundaries that I am speaking,” according to body camera footage from one of the officers.

    After an officer asked him to cooperate so they could talk, McClain tells officers he had been trying to pause his music so he could hear them, and tells them to let him go, the overview reads.

    Eventually, one officer is heard telling another that McClain tried to grab his gun.

    All three officers tackled McClain to the ground, and Woodyard placed him in a carotid hold – in which an officer uses their biceps and forearm to cut off blood flow to a subject’s brain – police said in the overview document. McClain briefly became unconscious, and Woodyard released the hold, the document reads, citing the officers.

    Body camera video of the encounter shows McClain at some point saying he couldn’t breathe.

    Because the hold was used, department policy compelled the officers to call the fire department for help, authorities said. Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics arrived and saw McClain on the ground and resisting officers, the overview says.

    Paramedic Cooper diagnosed McClain with “excited delirium” and decided to inject him with the powerful sedative ketamine, the overview says.

    McClain suffered a heart attack on the way to a hospital, authorities said. Three days later, he was declared brain-dead and taken off life support.

    The Adams County coroner’s office submitted an autopsy report on November 7, stating the cause and manner of death were “undetermined.” The report cited the scene investigation and examination findings as factors leading to that conclusion.

    Roughly two weeks later, the Adams County district attorney, Dave Young, declined to file criminal charges against any of the first responders. In a letter to the Aurora police chief on November 22, Young referred to the undetermined cause of death as one of the factors.

    “The evidence does not support a conclusion that Mr. McClain’s death was the direct result of any particular action of any particular individual,” Young wrote. “Under the circumstances of this investigation, it is improbable for the prosecution to prove cause of death beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury of twelve. Consequently, the evidence does not support the prosecution of a homicide.”

    Also on November 22, after the district attorney’s decision, Aurora police released the officers’ body camera videos.

    “We certainly recognize and understand that this has been an incredibly devastating and difficult process for them over these last several weeks,” then-Police Chief Nick Metz said.

    A police review board concluded that the use of force against McClain, including the carotid hold, “was within policy and consistent with training.”

    City officials announced on February 6 they would hire an independent expert to review the case.

    George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was fatally restrained by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Bystander video of the encounter sets off outrage and leads to widespread protests, including in Aurora, under the Black Lives Matter movement.

    In early June, the three officers who confronted McClain were assigned to administrative duties, primarily due to safety concerns because police and city employees were receiving threats, a police spokesperson said.

    On June 9, Aurora police and city officials announced changes to police policies, including a ban on carotid holds.

    Ten days later, Gov. Polis signed police accountability legislation into law, requiring all officers to use activated body cameras or dashboard cameras during service calls or officer-initiated public interactions. The measure also barred officers from using chokeholds.

    Polis also signed an executive order appointing Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser to investigate McClain’s case, the governor announced on June 25. More than 2 million people had signed a petition urging officials to conduct a new investigation.

    Demonstrators carried a giant placard during protests on June 27, 2020, outside the police department in Aurora.

    On June 27, protesters in the Aurora area gathered on Highway 225, temporarily shutting it down in a demonstration calling for justice in McClain’s death.

    On June 30, the US attorney’s office for Colorado, the US Department of Justice’s civil rights division and the FBI’s Denver division announced they have been reviewing the case since 2019 for potential federal civil rights violations.

    Aurora police on July 3 fired two officers who they say snapped selfie photographs at McClain’s memorial site, located where he was killed, while they were on duty.

    Officer Rosenblatt also was fired, with police saying he received the photo in a text and replied, “ha ha,” and did not notify supervisors. The photos were taken on October 20, 2019.

    A third officer seen in the photos resigned days before a pre-disciplinary hearing, police said.

    On July 20, the Aurora City Council approved a resolution for an independent investigation of McClain’s death to proceed.

    A mural of Elijah McClain, painted by Thomas

    The McClain family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Aurora on August 11.

    “Aurora’s unconstitutional conduct on the night of August 24, 2019, is part of a larger custom, policy, and practice of racism and brutality, as reflected by its conduct both before and after its murder of Elijah McClain, a young Black man,” the lawsuit stated.

    On the same day, Aurora city officials announced the police department would undergo a “comprehensive review” by external experts on civil rights and public safety.

    Aurora city officials released a 157-page report on February 22, detailing the findings of the independent investigation it commissioned into McClain’s death.

    The report asserted that officers did not have the legal basis to stop, frisk or restrain McClain. It also criticized emergency medical responders’ decision to inject him with ketamine and rebuked the police department for failing to seriously question the officers after the death.

    01 elijah mcclain

    Elijah McClain’s mom has watched the bodycam video ‘over and over’

    Sheneen McClain, Elijah’s mother, cried while reading the report.

    “It was overwhelming knowing my son was innocent the entire time and just waiting on the facts and proof of it,” Sheneen McClain told CNN at the time. “My son’s name is cleared now. He’s no longer labeled a suspect. He is actually a victim.”

    Elijah McClain’s father said the report only confirmed what the family already knew. “The Aurora police and medics who murdered my son must be held accountable,” LaWayne Mosley said after the report’s release.

    In response to the report, city officials began work on establishing an independent monitor to scrutinize police discipline, Aurora City Manager Jim Twombly said.

    “I believe the investigative team has identified the issue that is at the root of the case: the failure of a system of accountability,” Twombly said after the report’s release.

    On September 1, the state attorney general announced a grand jury indicted officers Roedema, Rosenblatt and Woodyard and paramedics Cichuniec and Cooper.

    Each was charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide as part of a 32-count indictment.

    The five people charged in the case are (clockwise, from top left): Randy Roedema, Nathan Woodyard, Jeremy Cooper, Peter Cichuniec and Jason Rosenblatt.

    Roedema and Rosenblatt also were indicted on one count of assault and one count of crime of violence. Cooper and Cichuniec were further indicted on three counts of assault and six counts of crime of violence.

    “Our goal is to seek justice for Elijah McClain, for his family and friends and for our state,” Weiser, the state attorney general, said. “In so doing, we advance the rule of law and our commitment that everyone is accountable and equal under the law.”

    The charges brought McClain’s parents to tears. “I started crying because it’s been two years,” Sheneen McClain said. “It’s been a long journey.”

    “Nothing will bring back my son, but I am thankful that his killers will finally be held accountable,” Mosley, his father, said through the attorney’s release.

    On September 15, the Colorado attorney general’s office released a 112-page report that found the Aurora police had a pattern of practicing racially biased policing, excessive force, and had failed to record legally required information when interacting with the community. The report also found the police department used force against people of color almost 2.5 times more than against White people.

    The state investigation also revealed the fire department had a pattern and practice of administering ketamine illegally, the attorney general’s office said.

    The state attorney general’s office and the city of Aurora agreed November 16 on terms of a consent decree to address the issues raised in the office’s report two months earlier.

    On November 19, the city finalized an agreement to pay $15 million to McClain’s family to settle the federal civil rights lawsuit.

    The cause of death in McClain’s case was changed in light of evidence from the grand jury’s investigation, according to an amended autopsy report publicly released September 23.

    The initial autopsy report had said the cause of death was undetermined. But the amended report listed “complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint” as the cause of death.

    The manner of death remained undetermined in the amended report.

    “Simply put, this dosage of ketamine was too much for this individual and it resulted in an overdose, even though the blood ketamine level was consistent with a ‘therapeutic’ concentration,” pathologist Dr. Stephen Cina wrote in the amended autopsy report. “I believe that Mr. McClain would most likely be alive but for the administration of ketamine.”

    Cina could not determine whether the carotid hold contributed to the death, but “I have seen no evidence that injuries inflicted by the police contributed,” he wrote.

    On September 20, Roedema and Rosenblatt, two of the officers who arrested McClain, stood trial on charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault.

    Prosecutors said they used excessive force on McClain, failed to follow their training and misled paramedics about his health status. In contrast, defense attorneys placed blame on McClain for resisting arrest and on the paramedics who treated him.

    Roedema was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and assault. Rosenblatt was acquitted of all charges.

    On October 16, the third officer, Woodyard, stood trial on charges of reckless manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Like in the earlier trial, prosecutors argued he used excessive force on McClain, while defense attorneys argued the force was necessary and blamed the paramedics.

    Woodyard was found not guilty on all charges.

    McClain’s mother Sheneen told CNN affiliate KUSA she no longer has faith in the justice system after Woodyard’s acquittal.

    “It lets us down, not just people of color, it lets down everybody,” she said. “They don’t do the right thing, they always do the bare minimum.”

    Cooper and Cichuniec, the paramedics who treated McClain, stood trial on charges of reckless manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

    Both paramedics testified they believed McClain was experiencing “excited delirium” during his confrontation with Aurora police officers, and their treatment protocol was to administer a ketamine dose they believed was safe and would not kill a person.

    Prosecutors said the paramedics “didn’t take any accountability for any single one of their actions” while testifying at their trial.

    “They both stood there while Elijah got worse and worse and did nothing,” Colorado Solicitor General Shannon Stevenson said. “They are both responsible.”

    Cooper and Cichuniec were found guilty of criminally negligent homicide Friday.

    Cichuniec was also found guilty of a second-degree unlawful administration of drugs assault charge.

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  • 'Tis the season for family holiday projects and gifts that give back | CNN

    'Tis the season for family holiday projects and gifts that give back | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Whether you’re hoping to do something more meaningful with your kids than just hitting the mall, or if you’re just looking for some gifts that give back, here are some ideas that could bring more joy this holiday season.

    Gathering friends or family together to assemble a gift box for a needy recipient could be a new, purposeful holiday tradition that you start this year.

    Kynd Kits are an activity for the whole family. You choose a cause or group of people important to you, and then request the corresponding kit.

    Each kit will contain items specifically requested by people in those groups. You assemble the pieces together, write a card, then send it off. Among the recipients you can choose from this year: the homeless, victims of domestic violence, senior citizens, LGBTQ people and foster children.

    If your family would like to help a foster child this holiday season, Together We Rise is helping kids without permanent homes by providing colorful bags to tote their items around in. (Many foster kids lug their worldly possessions around in trash bags.) They send you a panel to decorate, that you then send back. They attach each artwork panel to a duffel bag, which is stuffed with a teddy bear, a blanket, a hygiene kit and a coloring book.

    A family art project can brighten up the walls of a long-term care facility. The Foundation for Hospital Art will send you a kit, complete with pre-drawn canvases and art supplies. You color it in, create one panel of your own design and send it back with the pre-addressed UPS label.

    If you can knit or crochet, consider helping Knots of Love. You could knit a beanie to support a patient going through chemotherapy or a blanket to warm a baby in the NICU.

    The Salvation Army’s “Angel Tree” program is online again this year, making it easy to shop for a child in need. Just enter your zip code, add the requested items from their registry to your cart, and the Salvation Army does the rest.

    For your caffeine-loving friends, why not send them bird-friendly coffee? These coffee beans are grown under a forest canopy that provides a habitat for birds – important since the North American bird population has decreased by almost three billion birds since 1970.

    And if you want to spend your money at a local bookstore but don’t want to leave the house, consider buying from bookshop.org. They partner with independent book sellers across the country to send your dollars to stores that really need it.

    If you want to support Black-owned businesses this Christmas (or any time of year) the website and app https://www.supportblackowned.com/ helps you find shops and services all over the US.

    The EatOkra app helps you find Black-owned restaurants and food services (buying a gift card helps keep small eateries in business).

    You can also search Instagram by using the hashtag #SupportBlackBusiness.

    Finally, many larger retailers are giving back this season. If you just want a name-brand gift sure to wow a picky tween or teen, many stores and brands partner with charities to give back over the holiday season.

    Some companies even make it a yearlong mission to do good.

    If you are looking for a present for someone worried about the environment, Patagonia gives a portion of all profits to environmental causes.

    Ivory Ella donates up to 50% of its profits to charities helping elephants, including Save the Elephants.

    Sock company Bombas donates a pair of socks to a needy person, for every pair sold.

    And what Christmas stocking couldn’t use a fuzzy pencil case and some unicorn-themed erasers? Yoobi sells colorful pens, pencils and stationery, and for every item purchased, they donate a school supply to a child in need.

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  • Puerto Rico Fast Facts | CNN

    Puerto Rico Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a self-governing US territory located in the Caribbean.

    (from the CIA World Factbook)

    Area: 9,104 sq km

    Population: 3,057,311 (2023 est.)

    Capital: San Juan

    The people of Puerto Rico are US citizens. They vote in US presidential primaries, but not in presidential elections.

    First named San Juan Bautista by Christopher Columbus.

    The governor is elected by popular vote with no term limits.

    Jenniffer González has been the resident commissioner since January 3, 2017. The commissioner serves in the US House of Representatives, but has no vote, except in committees. Gonzalez is the first woman to hold this position.

    It is made up of 78 municipalities.

    Over 40% of the population lives in poverty, according to the Census Bureau.

    Puerto Ricans have voted in six referendums on the issue of statehood, in 1967, 1993, 1998, 2012, 2017 and 2020. The 2012 referendum was the first time the popular vote swung in statehood’s favor. Since these votes were nonbinding, no action had to be taken, and none was. Ultimately, however, Congress must pass a law admitting them to the union.

    In addition to becoming a state, options for Puerto Rico’s future status include remaining a commonwealth, entering “free association” or becoming an independent nation. “Free association” is an official affiliation with the United States where Puerto Rico would still receive military assistance and funding.

    1493-1898 – Puerto Rico is a Spanish colony.

    July 25, 1898 – During the Spanish-American War, the United States invades Puerto Rico.

    December 10, 1898 – With the signing of the Treaty of Paris, Spain cedes Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States. The island is named “Porto Rico” in the treaty.

    April 12, 1900 – President William McKinley signs the Foraker Act into law. It designates the island an “unorganized territory,” and allows for one delegate from Puerto Rico to the US House of Representatives with no voting power.

    March 2, 1917 – President Woodrow Wilson signs the Jones Act into law, granting the people of Puerto Rico US citizenship.

    May 1932 – Legislation changes the name of the island back to Puerto Rico.

    November 1948 – The first popularly elected governor, Luis Muñoz Marín, is voted into office.

    July 3, 1950 – President Harry S. Truman signs Public Law 600, giving Puerto Ricans the right to draft their own constitution.

    October 1950 – In protest of Public Law 600, Puerto Rican nationalists lead armed uprisings in several Puerto Rican towns.

    November 1, 1950 – Puerto Rican nationalists Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola attempt to shoot their way into Blair House, where President Truman is living while the White House is being renovated. Torresola is killed by police; Collazo is arrested and sent to prison.

    June 4, 1951 – In a plebiscite vote, more than three-quarters of Puerto Rican voters approve Public Law 600.

    February 1952 – Delegates elected to a constitutional convention approve a draft of the constitution.

    March 3, 1952 – Puerto Ricans vote in favor of the constitution.

    July 25, 1952 – Puerto Rico becomes a self-governing commonwealth as the constitution is put in place. This is also the anniversary of the United States invasion of Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War.

    March 1, 1954 – Five members of the House of Representatives are shot on the House floor; Alvin Bentley, (R-MI), Ben Jensen (R-IA), Clifford Davis (D-TN), George Fallon (D-MD) and Kenneth Roberts (D-AL). Four Puerto Rican nationalists, Lolita Lebron, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andres Figueroa Cordero and Irving Flores Rodriguez, are arrested and sent to prison. President Jimmy Carter grants Cordero clemency in 1977 and commutes all four of their sentences in 1979.

    July 23, 1967 – Commonwealth status is upheld via a status plebiscite.

    1970 – The resident commissioner gains the right to vote in committee via an amendment to the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970.

    September 18, 1989 – Hurricane Hugo hits the island as a Category 4 hurricane causing more than $1 billion in property damages.

    November 14, 1993 – Commonwealth status is upheld via a plebiscite.

    September 21, 1998 – Hurricane Georges hits the island causing an estimated $1.75 billion in damage.

    August 6, 2009 – Sonia Sotomayor, who is of Puerto Rican descent, is confirmed by the US Senate (68-31). She becomes the third woman and the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.

    November 6, 2012 – Puerto Ricans vote for statehood via a status plebiscite. The results are deemed inconclusive.

    August 3, 2015 – Puerto Rico defaults on its monthly debt for the first time in its history, paying only $628,000 toward a $58 million debt.

    December 31, 2015 – The first case of the Zika virus is reported on the island.

    January 4, 2016 – Puerto Rico defaults on its debt for the second time.

    May 2, 2016 – Puerto Rico defaults on a $422 million debt payment.

    June 30, 2016 – President Barack Obama signs the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), a bill that establishes a seven-member board to oversee the commonwealth’s finances. The following day Puerto Rico defaults on its debt payment.

    January 4, 2017 – The Puerto Rico Admission Act is introduced to Congress by Rep. Gonzalez.

    May 3, 2017 – Puerto Rico files for bankruptcy. It is the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history.

    June 5, 2017 – Puerto Rico declares its Zika epidemic is over. The Puerto Rico Department of Health has reported more than 40,000 confirmed cases of the Zika virus since the outbreak began in 2016.

    June 11, 2017 – Puerto Ricans vote for statehood via a status plebiscite. Over 97% of the votes are in favor of statehood, but only 23% of eligible voters participate.

    September 20, 2017 – Hurricane Maria makes landfall near Yabucoa in Puerto Rico as a Category 4 hurricane. It is the strongest storm to hit the island in 85 years. The energy grid is heavily damaged, with an island-wide power outage.

    September 22, 2017 – The National Weather Service recommends the evacuation of about 70,000 people living near the Guajataca River in northwest Puerto Rico because a dam is in danger of failing.

    October 3, 2017 – President Donald Trump visits. The trip comes after mounting frustration with the federal response to the storm. Many residents remain without power and continue to struggle to get access to food and fuel nearly two weeks after the storm hit.

    December 18, 2017 – Gov. Ricardo Rosselló orders a review of deaths related to Hurricane Maria as the number could be much higher than the officially reported number. The announcement from the island’s governor follows investigations from CNN and other news outlets that called into question the official death toll of 64.

    January 22, 2018 – Rosselló announces that the commonwealth will begin privatizing the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority.

    January 30, 2018 – More than four months after Maria battered Puerto Rico, the Federal Emergency Management Agency tells CNN it is halting new shipments of food and water to the island. Distribution of its stockpiled 46 million liters of water and four million meals and snacks will continue. The agency believes that amount is sufficient until normalcy returns.

    February 11, 2018 – An explosion and fire at a power substation causes a blackout in parts of northern Puerto Rico, according to authorities.

    May 29, 2018 – According to an academic report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, an estimated 4,645 people died in Hurricane Maria and its aftermath in Puerto Rico. The article’s authors call Puerto Rico’s official death toll of 64 a “substantial underestimate.”

    August 8, 2018 – Puerto Rican officials say the death toll from Maria may be far higher than their official estimate of 64. In a report to Congress, the commonwealth’s government says documents show that 1,427 more deaths occurred in the four months after Hurricane Maria than “normal,” compared with deaths that occurred the previous four years. The 1,427 figure also appears in a report published July 9.

    August 28, 2018 – The Puerto Rican government raises its official death toll from Maria to 2,975 after a report on storm fatalities is published by researchers at George Washington University. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, a critic of the Trump administration, says local and federal government failed to provide needed aid. She says the botched recovery effort led to preventable deaths.

    August 29, 2018 – Trump says the federal government’s response to the disaster was “fantastic.” He says problems with the island’s aging infrastructure created challenges for rescue workers.

    September 4, 2018 – The US Government Accountability Office releases a report revealing that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was so overwhelmed with other storms by the time Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico that more than half of the workers it was deploying to disasters were known to be unqualified for the jobs they were doing in the field.

    September 13, 2018 – In a tweet, Trump denies that nearly 3,000 people died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. He expresses skepticism about the death toll, suggesting that individuals who died of other causes were included in the hurricane count.

    July 9, 2019 – Excerpts of profanity-laden, homophobic and misogynistic messages between Rosselló and members of his inner circle are published by local media.

    July 10, 2019 – Six people, including Puerto Rico’s former education secretary and a former health insurance official, are indicted on corruption charges. The conspiracy allegedly involved directing millions of dollars in government contracts to politically-connected contractors.

    July 11, 2019 – A series of protests begin in response to the leaked messages and the indictment, with calls for Rosselló to resign.

    July 13, 2019 – The Center for Investigative Journalism publishes hundreds of leaked messages from Rosselló and other officials. Rosselló and members of his inner circle ridicule numerous politicians, members of the media and celebrities.

    July 24, 2019 – Rosselló announces he will resign on August 2.

    August 7, 2019 – Puerto Rico’s Justice Secretary Wanda Vázquez Garced is sworn in as the third governor Puerto Rico has had in less than a week. Earlier in the day, the August 2nd swearing-in of Rosselló’s handpicked successor, attorney Pedro Pierluisi, is thrown out by the Supreme Court, on grounds he has not been confirmed by both chambers of the legislature.

    September 27, 2019 – The federal control board that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances releases a plan that would cut the island’s debt by more than 60% and rescue it from bankruptcy. The plan targets bonds and other debt held by the government and will now go before a federal judge. The percentage of Puerto Rico’s taxpayer funds spent on debt payments will fall to less than 9%, compared to almost 30% before the restructuring.

    December 28, 2019 – A sequence of earthquakes of magnitude 2.0 or higher begin hitting Puerto Rico, including a 6.4 magnitude quake on January 7 that killed at least one man, destroyed homes and left most of the island without power.

    February 4, 2020 – A magnitude 5 earthquake strikes Puerto Rico. It is the 11th earthquake of at least that size in the past 30 days, according to the US Geological Survey.

    November 3, 2020 – Puerto Ricans vote in favor of statehood, and Pierluisi is elected governor.

    January 2, 2021 – Pierluisi is sworn in.

    April 21, 2022 – The Supreme Court rules that Congress can exclude residents of Puerto Rico from some federal disability benefits available to those who live in the 50 states.

    August 4, 2022 – Vázquez is arrested in San Juan on bribery charges connected to the financing of her 2020 campaign.

    September 18, 2022 – Hurricane Fiona makes landfall along the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico, near Punta Tocon, with winds of 85 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. The hurricane causes catastrophic flooding, amid a complete power outage. Two people are killed.

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  • 2023 In Review Fast Facts | CNN

    2023 In Review Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here is a look back at the events of 2023.

    January 3 – Republican Kevin McCarthy fails to secure enough votes to be elected Speaker of the House in three rounds of voting. On January 7, McCarthy is elected House speaker after multiple days of negotiations and 15 rounds of voting. That same day, the newly elected 118th Congress is officially sworn in.

    January 7 – Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, is pulled over for reckless driving. He is hospitalized following the arrest and dies three days later from injuries sustained during the traffic stop. Five officers from the Memphis Police Department are fired. On January 26, a grand jury indicts the five officers. They are each charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. On September 12, the five officers are indicted by a federal grand jury on several charges including deprivation of rights.

    January 9 – The White House counsel’s office confirms that several classified documents from President Joe Biden’s time as vice president were discovered last fall in an office at the Penn Biden Center. On January 12, the White House counsel’s office confirms a small number of additional classified documents were located in President Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home.

    January 13 – The Trump Organization is fined $1.6 million – the maximum possible penalty – by a New York judge for running a decade-long tax fraud scheme.

    January 21 – Eleven people are killed in a mass shooting at a dance studio in Monterey Park, California, as the city’s Asian American community was celebrating Lunar New Year. The 72-year-old gunman is found dead the following day from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

    January 24 – CNN reports that a lawyer for former Vice President Mike Pence discovered about a dozen documents marked as classified at Pence’s Indiana home last week, and he has turned those classified records over to the FBI.

    January 25 – Facebook-parent company Meta announces it will restore former President Donald Trump’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram in the coming weeks, just over two years after suspending him in the wake of the January 6 Capitol attack.

    February 1 – Tom Brady announces his retirement after 23 seasons in the NFL.

    February 2 – Defense officials announce the United States is tracking a suspected Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon over the continental United States. On February 4, a US military fighter jet shoots down the balloon over the Atlantic Ocean. On June 29, the Pentagon reveals the balloon did not collect intelligence while flying over the country.

    February 3 – A Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials derails in East Palestine, Ohio. An evacuation order is issued for the area within a mile radius of the train crash. The order is lifted on February 8. After returning to their homes, some residents report they have developed a rash and nausea.

    February 7 – Lebron James breaks the NBA’s all-time scoring record, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

    February 15 – Payton Gendron, 19, who killed 10 people in a racist mass shooting at a grocery store in a predominantly Black area of Buffalo last May, is sentenced to life in prison.

    February 18 – In a statement, the Carter Center says that former President Jimmy Carter will begin receiving hospice care at his home in Georgia.

    February 20 – President Biden makes a surprise trip to Kyiv for the first time since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago.

    February 23 – Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly is sentenced to 20 years in prison in a Chicago federal courtroom on charges of child pornography and enticement of a minor. Kelly is already serving a 30-year prison term for his 2021 conviction on racketeering and sex trafficking charges in a New York federal court. Nineteen years of the 20-year prison sentence will be served at the same time as his other sentence. One year will be served after that sentence is complete.

    February 23 – Harvey Weinstein, who is already serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York, is sentenced in Los Angeles to an additional 16 years in prison for charges of rape and sexual assault.

    March 2 – SpaceX and NASA launch a fresh crew of astronauts on a mission to the International Space Station, kicking off a roughly six-month stay in space. The mission — which is carrying two NASA astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates — took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

    March 2 – The jury in the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh finds him guilty of murdering his wife and son. Murdaugh, the 54-year-old scion of a prominent and powerful family of local lawyers and solicitors, is also found guilty of two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in the killings of Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh on June 7, 2021.

    March 3 – Four US citizens from South Carolina are kidnapped by gunmen in Matamoros, Mexico, in a case of mistaken identity. On March 7, two of the four Americans, Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown, are found dead and the other two, Latavia McGee and Eric Williams, are found alive. The cartel believed responsible for the armed kidnapping issues an apology letter and hands over five men to local authorities.

    March 10 – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announces that Silicon Valley Bank was shut down by California regulators. This is the second largest bank failure in US history, only to Washington Mutual’s collapse in 2008. SVB Financial Group, the former parent company of SVB, files for bankruptcy on March 17.

    March 27 – A 28-year-old Nashville resident shoots and kills three children and three adults at the Covenant School in Nashville. The shooter is fatally shot by responding officers.

    March 29 – Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is detained by Russian authorities and accused of spying. On April 7, he is formally charged with espionage.

    March 30 – A grand jury in New York votes to indict Trump, the first time in American history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges. On April 4, Trump surrenders and is placed under arrest before pleading not guilty to 34 felony criminal charges of falsifying business records. Prosecutors allege that Trump sought to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election through a hush money scheme with payments made to women who claimed they had extramarital affairs with Trump. He has denied the affairs.

    April 6 – Two Democratic members of the Tennessee House of Representatives, Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson, are expelled while a third member, Rep. Gloria Johnson, is spared in an ousting by Republican lawmakers that was decried by the trio as oppressive, vindictive and racially motivated. This comes after Jones, Pearson and Johnson staged a demonstration on the House floor calling for gun reform following the shooting at the Covenant School. On April 10, Rep. Jones is sworn back in following a unanimous vote by the Nashville Metropolitan Council to reappoint him as an interim representative. On April 12, the Shelby County Board of Commissioners vote to confirm the reappointment of Rep. Pearson.

    April 6-13 – ProPublica reports that Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, conservative activist Ginni Thomas, have gone on several luxury trips involving travel subsidized by and stays at properties owned by Harlan Crow, a GOP megadonor. The hospitality was not disclosed on Thomas’ public financial filings with the Supreme Court. The following week ProPublica reports Thomas failed to disclose a 2014 real estate deal he made with Crow. On financial disclosure forms released on August 31, Thomas discloses the luxury trips and “inadvertently omitted” information including the real estate deal.

    April 7 – A federal judge in Texas issues a ruling on medication abortion drug mifepristone, saying he will suspend the US Food and Drug Administration’s two-decade-old approval of it but paused his ruling for seven days so the federal government can appeal. But in a dramatic turn of events, a federal judge in Washington state says in a new ruling shortly after that the FDA must keep medication abortion drugs available in more than a dozen Democratic-led states.

    April 13 – 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard is arrested by the FBI in connection with the leaking of classified documents that have been posted online.

    April 18 – Fox News reaches a last-second settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, paying more than $787 million to end a two-year legal battle that publicly shredded the network’s credibility. Fox News’ $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems is the largest publicly known defamation settlement in US history involving a media company.

    April 25 – President Biden formally announces his bid for reelection.

    May 2 – More than 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) go on strike for the first time since 2007. On September 26, the WGA announces its leaders have unanimously voted to authorize its members to return to work following the tentative agreement reached on September 24 between union negotiators and Hollywood’s studios and streaming services, effectively ending the months-long strike.

    May 9 – A Manhattan federal jury finds Trump sexually abused former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll in a luxury department store dressing room in the spring of 1996 and awards her $5 million for battery and defamation.

    June 8 – Trump is indicted on a total of 37 counts in the special counsel’s classified documents probe. In a superseding indictment filed on July 27, Trump is charged with one additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts, bringing the total to 40 counts.

    June 16 – Robert Bowers, the gunman who killed 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, is convicted by a federal jury on all 63 charges against him. He is sentenced to death on August 2.

    June 18 – A civilian submersible disappears with five people aboard while voyaging to the wreckage of the Titanic. On June 22, following a massive search for the submersible, US authorities announce the vessel suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” killing all five people aboard.

    June 20 – ProPublica reports that Justice Samuel Alito did not disclose a luxury 2008 trip he took in which a hedge fund billionaire flew him on a private jet, even though the businessman would later repeatedly ask the Supreme Court to intervene on his behalf. In a highly unusual move, Alito preemptively disputed the nature of the report before it was published, authoring an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in which he acknowledged knowing billionaire Paul Singer but downplaying their relationship.

    June 29 – The Supreme Court says colleges and universities can no longer take race into consideration as a specific basis for granting admission, a landmark decision overturning long-standing precedent.

    July 13 – The FDA approves Opill to be available over-the-counter, the first nonprescription birth control pill in the United States.

    July 14 – SAG-AFTRA, a union representing about 160,000 Hollywood actors, goes on strike after talks with major studios and streaming services fail. It is the first time its members have stopped work on movie and television productions since 1980. On November 8, SAG-AFTRA and the studios reach a tentative agreement, officially ending the strike.

    July 14 – Rex Heuermann, a New York architect, is charged with six counts of murder in connection with the deaths of three of the four women known as the “Gilgo Four.”

    August 1 – Trump is indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, DC, in the 2020 election probe. Trump is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.

    August 8 – Over 100 people are killed and hundreds of others unaccounted for after wildfires engulf parts of Maui. Nearly 3,000 homes and businesses are destroyed or damaged.

    August 14 – Trump and 18 others are indicted by an Atlanta-based grand jury on state charges stemming from their efforts to overturn the former president’s 2020 electoral defeat. Trump now faces a total of 91 charges in four criminal cases, in four different jurisdictions — two federal and two state cases. On August 24, Trump surrenders at the Fulton County jail where he is processed and released on bond.

    August 23 – Eight Republican presidential candidates face off in the first primary debate of the 2024 campaign in Milwaukee.

    September 12 – House Speaker McCarthy announces he is calling on his committees to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Biden, even as they have yet to prove allegations he directly profited off his son’s foreign business deals.

    September 14 – Hunter Biden is indicted by special counsel David Weiss in connection with a gun he purchased in 2018, the first time in US history the Justice Department has charged the child of a sitting president. The three charges include making false statements on a federal firearms form and possession of a firearm as a prohibited person.

    September 22 – New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez is charged with corruption-related offenses for the second time in 10 years. Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, are accused of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes” in exchange for the senator’s influence, according to the newly unsealed federal indictment.

    September 28 – Dianne Feinstein, the longest-serving female US senator in history, dies at the age of 90. On October 1, California Governor Gavin Newsom announces he will appoint Emily’s List president Laphonza Butler to replace her. Butler will become the first out Black lesbian to join Congress. She will also be the sole Black female senator serving in Congress and only the third in US history.

    September 29 – Las Vegas police confirm Duane Keith Davis, aka “Keffe D,” was arrested for the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur.

    October 3 – McCarthy is removed as House speaker following a 216-210 vote, with eight Republicans voting to remove McCarthy from the post.

    October 25 – After three weeks without a speaker, the House votes to elect Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana.

    October 25 – Robert Card, a US Army reservist, kills 18 people and injures 13 others in a shooting rampage in Lewiston, Maine. On October 27, after a two-day manhunt, he is found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot.

    November 13 – The Supreme Court announces a code of conduct in an attempt to bolster the public’s confidence in the court after months of news stories alleging that some of the justices have been skirting ethics regulations.

    November 19 – Former first lady Rosalynn Carter passes away at the age of 96.

    January 8 – Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro storm the country’s congressional building, Supreme Court and presidential palace. The breaches come about a week after the inauguration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who defeated Bolsonaro in a runoff election on October 30.

    January 15 – At least 68 people are killed when an aircraft goes down near the city of Pokhara in central Nepal. This is the country’s deadliest plane crash in more than 30 years.

    January 19 – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden announces she will not seek reelection in October.

    January 24 – President Volodymyr Zelensky fires a slew of senior Ukrainian officials amid a growing corruption scandal linked to the procurement of war-time supplies.

    February 6 – More than 15,000 people are killed and tens of thousands injured after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes Turkey and Syria.

    February 28 – At least 57 people are killed after two trains collide in Greece.

    March 1 – Bola Ahmed Tinubu is declared the winner of Nigeria’s presidential election.

    March 10 – Xi Jinping is reappointed as president for another five years by China’s legislature in a ceremonial vote in Beijing, a highly choreographed exercise in political theater meant to demonstrate legitimacy and unity of the ruling elite.

    March 16 – The French government forces through controversial plans to raise the country’s retirement age from 62 to 64.

    April 4 – Finland becomes the 31st member of NATO.

    April 15 – Following months of tensions in Sudan between a paramilitary group and the country’s army, violence erupts.

    May 3 – A 13-year-old boy opens fire on his classmates at a school in Belgrade, Serbia, killing at least eight children along with a security guard. On May 4, a second mass shooting takes place when an attacker opens fire in the village of Dubona, about 37 miles southeast of Belgrade, killing eight people.

    May 5 – The World Health Organization announces Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency.

    May 6 – King Charles’ coronation takes place at Westminster Abbey in London.

    August 4 – Alexey Navalny is sentenced to 19 years in prison on extremism charges, Russian media reports. Navalny is already serving sentences totaling 11-and-a-half years in a maximum-security facility on fraud and other charges that he says were trumped up.

    September 8 – Over 2,000 people are dead and thousands are injured after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake hits Morocco.

    October 8 – Israel formally declares war on the Palestinian militant group Hamas after it carried out an unprecedented attack by air, sea and land on October 7.

    November 8 – The Vatican publishes new guidelines opening the door to Catholic baptism for transgender people and babies of same-sex couples.

    November 24 – The first group of hostages is released after Israel and Hamas agree to a temporary truce. Dozens more hostages are released in the following days. On December 1, the seven-day truce ends after negotiations reach an impasse and Israel accuses Hamas of violating the agreement by firing at Israel.

    Awards and Winners

    January 9 – The College Football Playoff National Championship game takes place at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The Georgia Bulldogs defeat Texas Christian University’s Horned Frogs 65-7 for their second national title in a row.

    January 10 – The 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards are presented live on NBC.

    January 16-29 – The 111th Australian Open takes place. Novak Djokovic defeats Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets to win a 10th Australian Open title and a record-equaling 22nd grand slam. Belarusian-born Aryna Sabalenka defeats Elena Rybakina in three sets, becoming the first player competing under a neutral flag to secure a grand slam.

    February 5 – The 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony takes place in Los Angeles at the Crypto.com Arena.

    February 12 – Super Bowl LVII takes place at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35. This is the first Super Bowl to feature two Black starting quarterbacks.

    February 19 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wins the 65th Annual Daytona 500 in double overtime. It is the longest Daytona 500 ever with a record of 212 laps raced.

    March 12 – The 95th Annual Academy Awards takes place, with Jimmy Kimmel hosting for the third time.

    March 14 – Ryan Redington wins his first Iditarod.

    April 2 – The Louisiana State University Tigers defeat the University of Iowa Hawkeyes 102-85 in Dallas, to win the program’s first NCAA women’s basketball national championship.

    April 3 – The University of Connecticut Huskies win its fifth men’s basketball national title with a 76-59 victory over the San Diego State University Aztecs in Houston.

    April 6-9 – The 87th Masters tournament takes place. Jon Rahm wins, claiming his first green jacket and second career major at Augusta National.

    April 17 – The 127th Boston Marathon takes place. The winners are Evans Chebet of Kenya in the men’s division and Hellen Obiri of Kenya in the women’s division.

    May 6 – Mage, a 3-year-old chestnut colt, wins the 149th Kentucky Derby.

    May 8-9 – The 147th Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show takes place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, New York. Buddy Holly, a petit basset griffon Vendéen, wins Best in Show.

    May 20 – National Treasure wins the 148th running of the Preakness Stakes.

    May 21 – Brooks Koepka wins the 105th PGA Championship at Oak Hill County Club in Rochester, New York. This is his third PGA Championship and fifth major title of his career.

    May 22-June 11 – The French Open takes place at Roland Garros Stadium in Paris. Novak Djokovic wins a record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam title, defeating Casper Ruud 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 7-5 in the men’s final. Iga Świątek wins her third French Open in four years with a 6-2 5-7 6-4 victory against the unseeded Karolína Muchová in the women’s final.

    May 28 – Josef Newgarden wins the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500.

    June 10 – Arcangelo wins the 155th running of the Belmont Stakes.

    June 11 – The 76th Tony Awards takes place.

    June 12 – The Denver Nuggets defeat the Miami Heat 94-89 in Game 5, to win the series 4-1 and claim their first NBA title in franchise history.

    June 13 – The Vegas Golden Knights defeat the Florida Panthers in Game 5 to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.

    June 18 – American golfer Wyndham Clark wins the 123rd US Open at The Los Angeles Country Club.

    July 1-23 – The 110th Tour de France takes place. Danish cyclist Jonas Vingegaard wins his second consecutive Tour de France title.

    July 3-16 – Wimbledon takes place in London. Carlos Alcaraz defeats Novak Djokovic 1-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 3-6 6-4 in the men’s final, to win his first Wimbledon title. Markéta Vondroušová defeats Ons Jabeur 6-4 6-4 in the women’s final, to win her first Wimbledon title and become the first unseeded woman in the Open Era to win the tournament.

    July 16-23 – Brian Harman wins the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, Wirral, England, for his first major title.

    July 20-August 20 – The Women’s World Cup takes place in Australia and New Zealand. Spain defeats England 1-0 to win its first Women’s World Cup.

    August 28-September 10 – The US Open Tennis Tournament takes place. Coco Gauff defeats Aryna Sabalenka, and Novak Djokovic defeats Daniil Medvedev.

    October 2-9 – The Nobel Prizes are announced. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all,” according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

    November 1 – The Texas Rangers win the World Series for the first time in franchise history, defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 in Game 5.

    November 5 – The New York City Marathon takes place. Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola sets a course record and wins the men’s race. Kenya’s Hellen Obiri wins the women’s race.

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  • No antibiotics worked, so this woman turned to a natural enemy of bacteria to save her husband's life | CNN

    No antibiotics worked, so this woman turned to a natural enemy of bacteria to save her husband's life | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    In February 2016, infectious disease epidemiologist Steffanie Strathdee was holding her dying husband’s hand, watching him lose an exhausting fight against a deadly superbug infection.

    After months of ups and downs, doctors had just told her that her husband, Tom Patterson, was too racked with bacteria to live.

    “I told him, ‘Honey, we’re running out of time. I need to know if you want to live. I don’t even know if you can hear me, but if you can hear me and you want to live, please squeeze my hand.’

    “All of a sudden, he squeezed really hard. And I thought, ‘Oh, great!’ And then I’m thinking, ‘Oh, crap! What am I going to do?’”

    What she accomplished next could easily be called miraculous. First, Strathdee found an obscure treatment that offered a glimmer of hope — fighting superbugs with phages, viruses created by nature to eat bacteria.

    Then she convinced phage scientists around the country to hunt and peck through molecular haystacks of sewage, bogs, ponds, the bilge of boats and other prime breeding grounds for bacteria and their viral opponents. The impossible goal: quickly find the few, exquisitely unique phages capable of fighting a specific strain of antibiotic-resistant bacteria literally eating her husband alive.

    Next, the US Food and Drug Administration had to greenlight this unproven cocktail of hope, and scientists had to purify the mixture so that it wouldn’t be deadly.

    Yet just three weeks later, Strathdee watched doctors intravenously inject the mixture into her husband’s body — and save his life.

    Their story is one of unrelenting perseverance and unbelievable good fortune. It’s a glowing tribute to the immense kindness of strangers. And it’s a story that just might save countless lives from the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant superbugs — maybe even your own.

    “It’s estimated that by 2050, 10 million people per year — that’s one person every three seconds — is going to be dying from a superbug infection,” Strathdee told an audience at Life Itself, a 2022 health and wellness event presented in partnership with CNN.

    “I’m here to tell you that the enemy of my enemy can be my friend. Viruses can be medicine.”

    sanjay pkg vpx

    How this ‘perfect predator’ saved his life after nine months in the hospital

    During a Thanksgiving cruise on the Nile in 2015, Patterson was suddenly felled by severe stomach cramps. When a clinic in Egypt failed to help his worsening symptoms, Patterson was flown to Germany, where doctors discovered a grapefruit-size abdominal abscess filled with Acinetobacter baumannii, a virulent bacterium resistant to nearly all antibiotics.

    Found in the sands of the Middle East, the bacteria were blown into the wounds of American troops hit by roadside bombs during the Iraq War, earning the pathogen the nickname “Iraqibacter.”

    “Veterans would get shrapnel in their legs and bodies from IED explosions and were medevaced home to convalesce,” Strathdee told CNN, referring to improvised explosive devices. “Unfortunately, they brought their superbug with them. Sadly, many of them survived the bomb blasts but died from this deadly bacterium.”

    Today, Acinetobacter baumannii tops the World Health Organization’s list of dangerous pathogens for which new antibiotics are critically needed.

    “It’s something of a bacterial kleptomaniac. It’s really good at stealing antimicrobial resistance genes from other bacteria,” Strathdee said. “I started to realize that my husband was a lot sicker than I thought and that modern medicine had run out of antibiotics to treat him.”

    With the bacteria growing unchecked inside him, Patterson was soon medevaced to the couple’s hometown of San Diego, where he was a professor of psychiatry and Strathdee was the associate dean of global health sciences at the University of California, San Diego.

    “Tom was on a roller coaster — he’d get better for a few days, and then there would be a deterioration, and he would be very ill,” said Dr. Robert “Chip” Schooley, a leading infectious disease specialist at UC San Diego who was a longtime friend and colleague. As weeks turned into months, “Tom began developing multi-organ failure. He was sick enough that we could lose him any day.”

    Patterson's body was systemically infected with a virulent drug-resistant bacteria that also infected troops in the Iraq War, earning the pathogen the nickname

    After that reassuring hand squeeze from her husband, Strathdee sprang into action. Scouring the internet, she had already stumbled across a study by a Tbilisi, Georgia, researcher on the use of phages for treatment of drug-resistant bacteria.

    A phone call later, Strathdee discovered phage treatment was well established in former Soviet bloc countries but had been discounted long ago as “fringe science” in the West.

    “Phages are everywhere. There’s 10 million trillion trillion — that’s 10 to the power of 31 — phages that are thought to be on the planet,” Strathdee said. “They’re in soil, they’re in water, in our oceans and in our bodies, where they are the gatekeepers that keep our bacterial numbers in check. But you have to find the right phage to kill the bacterium that is causing the trouble.”

    Buoyed by her newfound knowledge, Strathdee began reaching out to scientists who worked with phages: “I wrote cold emails to total strangers, begging them for help,” she said at Life Itself.

    One stranger who quickly answered was Texas A&M University biochemist Ryland Young. He’d been working with phages for over 45 years.

    “You know the word persuasive? There’s nobody as persuasive as Steffanie,” said Young, a professor of biochemistry and biophysics who runs the lab at the university’s Center for Phage Technology. “We just dropped everything. No exaggeration, people were literally working 24/7, screening 100 different environmental samples to find just a couple of new phages.”

    While the Texas lab burned the midnight oil, Schooley tried to obtain FDA approval for the injection of the phage cocktail into Patterson. Because phage therapy has not undergone clinical trials in the United States, each case of “compassionate use” required a good deal of documentation. It’s a process that can consume precious time.

    But the woman who answered the phone at the FDA said, “‘No problem. This is what you need, and we can arrange that,’” Schooley recalled. “And then she tells me she has friends in the Navy that might be able to find some phages for us as well.”

    In fact, the US Naval Medical Research Center had banks of phages gathered from seaports around the world. Scientists there began to hunt for a match, “and it wasn’t long before they found a few phages that appeared to be active against the bacterium,” Strathdee said.

    Dr. Robert

    Back in Texas, Young and his team had also gotten lucky. They found four promising phages that ravaged Patterson’s antibiotic-resistant bacteria in a test tube. Now the hard part began — figuring out how to separate the victorious phages from the soup of bacterial toxins left behind.

    “You put one virus particle into a culture, you go home for lunch, and if you’re lucky, you come back to a big shaking, liquid mess of dead bacteria parts among billions and billions of the virus,” Young said. “You want to inject those virus particles into the human bloodstream, but you’re starting with bacterial goo that’s just horrible. You would not want that injected into your body.”

    Purifying phage to be given intravenously was a process that no one had yet perfected in the US, Schooley said, “but both the Navy and Texas A&M got busy, and using different approaches figured out how to clean the phages to the point they could be given safely.”

    More hurdles: Legal staff at Texas A&M expressed concern about future lawsuits. “I remember the lawyer saying to me, ‘Let me see if I get this straight. You want to send unapproved viruses from this lab to be injected into a person who will probably die.’ And I said, “Yeah, that’s about it,’” Young said.

    “But Stephanie literally had speed dial numbers for the chancellor and all the people involved in human experimentation at UC San Diego. After she calls them, they basically called their counterparts at A&M, and suddenly they all began to work together,” Young added.

    “It was like the parting of the Red Sea — all the paperwork and hesitation disappeared.”

    The purified cocktail from Young’s lab was the first to arrive in San Diego. Strathdee watched as doctors injected the Texas phages into the pus-filled abscesses in Patterson’s abdomen before settling down for the agonizing wait.

    “We started with the abscesses because we didn’t know what would happen, and we didn’t want to kill him,” Schooley said. “We didn’t see any negative side effects; in fact, Tom seemed to be stabilizing a bit, so we continued the therapy every two hours.”

    Two days later, the Navy cocktail arrived. Those phages were injected into Patterson’s bloodstream to tackle the bacteria that had spread to the rest of his body.

    “We believe Tom was the first person to receive intravenous phage therapy to treat a systemic superbug infection in the US,” Strathdee told CNN.

    “And three days later, Tom lifted his head off the pillow out of a deep coma and kissed his daughter’s hand. It was just miraculous.”

    Patterson awoke from a coma after receiving an intravenous dose of phages tailored to his bacteria.

    Today, nearly eight years later, Patterson is happily retired, walking 3 miles a day and gardening. But the long illness took its toll: He was diagnosed with diabetes and is now insulin dependent, with mild heart damage and gastrointestinal issues that affect his diet.

    “He isn’t back surfing again, because he can’t feel the bottoms of his feet, and he did get Covid-19 in April that landed him in the hospital because the bottoms of his lungs are essentially dead,” Strathdee said.

    “As soon as the infection hit his lungs he couldn’t breathe and I had to rush him to the hospital, so that was scary,” she said. “He remains high risk for Covid but we’re not letting that hold us hostage at home. He says, ‘I want to go back to having as normal life as fast as possible.’”

    To prove it, the couple are again traveling the world — they recently returned from a 12-day trip to Argentina.

    “We traveled with a friend who is an infectious disease doctor, which gave me peace of mind to know that if anything went sideways, we’d have an expert at hand,” Strathdee said.

    “I guess I’m a bit of a helicopter wife in that sense. Still, we’ve traveled to Costa Rica a couple of times, we’ve been to Africa, and we’re planning to go to Chile in January.”

    Patterson’s case was published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in 2017, jump-starting new scientific interest in phage therapy.

    “There’s been an explosion of clinical trials that are going on now in phage (science) around the world and there’s phage programs in Canada, the UK, Australia, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, India and China has a new one, so it’s really catching on,” Strathdee told CNN.

    Some of the work is focused on the interplay between phages and antibiotics — as bacteria battle phages they often shed their outer shell to keep the enemy from docking and gaining access for the kill. When that happens, the bacteria may be suddenly vulnerable to antibiotics again.

    “We don’t think phages are ever going to entirely replace antibiotics, but they will be a good adjunct to antibiotics. And in fact, they can even make antibiotics work better,” Strathdee said.

    In San Diego, Strathdee and Schooley opened the Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics, or IPATH, in 2018, where they treat or counsel patients suffering from multidrug-resistant infections. The center’s success rate is high, with 82% of patients undergoing phage therapy experiencing a clinically successful outcome, according to its website.

    Schooley is running a clinical trial using phages to treat patients with cystic fibrosis who constantly battle Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a drug-resistant bacteria that was also responsible for the recent illness and deaths connected to contaminated eye drops manufactured in India.

    And a memoir the couple published in 2019 — “The Perfect Predator: A Scientist’s Race to Save Her Husband From a Deadly Superbug” — is also spreading the word about these “perfect predators” to what may soon be the next generation of phage hunters.

    VS Phages Sanjay Steffanie

    How naturally occurring viruses could help treat superbug infections

    “I am getting increasingly contacted by students, some as young as 12,” Strathdee said. “There’s a girl in San Francisco who begged her mother to read this book and now she’s doing a science project on phage-antibiotic synergy, and she’s in eighth grade. That thrills me.”

    Strathdee is quick to acknowledge the many people who helped save her husband’s life. But those who were along for the ride told CNN that she and Patterson made the difference.

    “I think it was a historical accident that could have only happened to Steffanie and Tom,” Young said. “They were at UC San Diego, which is one of the premier universities in the country. They worked with a brilliant infectious disease doctor who said, ‘Yes,’ to phage therapy when most physicians would’ve said, ‘Hell, no, I won’t do that.’

    “And then there is Steffanie’s passion and energy — it’s hard to explain until she’s focused it on you. It was like a spiderweb; she was in the middle and pulled on strings,” Young added. “It was just meant to be because of her, I think.”

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  • 16 luxury hotels that go all-out for Christmas | CNN

    16 luxury hotels that go all-out for Christmas | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel’s weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations opening, inspiration for future adventures, plus the latest in aviation, food and drink, where to stay and other travel developments.



    CNN
     — 

    Twinkling lights, glitter, Champagne and petit fours. It’s time to treat yourself to some holiday cheer.

    Luxury hotels serve up a glamorous way to brighten up the Christmas season, whether for an overnight stay or an elegant afternoon tea.

    These lavish hotels are worth a closer look for a few hours of sipping tea and admiring Christmas decorations or for a spur of the moment escape or a future holiday splurge.

    Natural mineral springs have drawn guests, including US presidents, to The Greenbrier for more than two centuries. The historic hotel opened in 1913.

    Letters to Santa, a fun run and cookie decorating workshops are all part of The Greenbrier’s lineup in the days surrounding December 25.

    On Christmas Eve, there’s a Season’s Greetings Dinner ($125 per adult; $55 per child) and a service in the resort’s chapel. On Christmas Day, puzzles and board games, indoor planetarium presentations and a Christmas musical will keep families entertained.

    Rates start at $609.

    The Greenbrier, 101 Main Street West, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia

    The Fife Arms: Braemar, Scotland

    Fishing, foraging and hiking are just outside at The Fife Arms, an antiques-packed, 19th-century retreat within Cairngorms National Park in the Scottish Highlands.

    The hotel is 14.5 kilometers (nine miles) from Balmoral, the Royal Family’s residence in Scotland.

    For winter guests, there’s a seasonal alpine fondue hut with a cozy fireplace. On the menu, a traditional Swiss option of molten cheese is joined by a Scottish take on the rich classic – a blend of two local cheeses and a local pale ale.

    Rooms start at about $650 in late December. There’s also a special Christmas package, subject to availability.

    The Fife Arms, Braemar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

    “Serenity Season” is right on time at the Ojai Valley Inn, where spa treatments, golf, tennis, yoga and more can be incorporated into a restorative stay at this 220-acre coastal valley resort.

    In December, caroling, a nightly Menorah lighting, breakfast with Santa and story time with Santa’s elves are among the festivities. On December 24, there’s a Jingle Bell Jaunt across the resort grounds.

    Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner will be served at both Olivella and The Oak, and there’s a grand buffet on Christmas Day at The Farmhouse ($195 per adult, including wine; $65 for children 12 and younger).

    December room rates start at $795 per night.

    Ojai Valley Inn, Ojai, California

    The Plaza dazzles with elegant Christmas decorations.

    Tea time and Christmastime coincide at The Plaza’s elegant Palm Court, where three holiday tea menus will be available through December 31.

    The Holiday Signature Tea ($155 per person) features savories and sweets, including a foie gras macaron and an oolong tea cheesecake.

    Eloise, the hotel’s famous fictional resident, lends her name to a children’s tea available for $118 per child.

    There’s a Christmas Day buffet ($325 for adults). And for New Year’s Eve, a lavish grand fête offering comes with a price tag to match: $995 per person.

    The starting rate at The Plaza for Christmas week is $1,800 per night.

    The Plaza, Fifth Avenue at Central Park South, New York

    Anantara Golden Triangle: Chiang Rai, Thailand

    Anantara Golden Triangle's

    As far as memorable holiday experiences go, it’s hard to beat sleeping in a clear bubble with elephants roaming right outside.

    It’s possible at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort in Thailand’s Chiang Rai province. The resort’s two-bedroom Jungle Bubble Lodge is transformed into snow globes for the holidays. Starlit skies and gentle giants add another layer to the magic.

    The resort has a selection of more traditional luxury rooms, and guests can learn more about the beloved residents at Elephant Camp.

    A Christmas Day brunch will showcase fresh, locally sourced ingredients.

    Rooms start at about $1,660, including meals, airport transfers and some activities.

    Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort, Wiang, Chiang Saen District, Chiang Rai

    Families will find a whole host of holiday activities at the Christmas at the Princess festival.

    A sledding mountain, two outdoor skating rinks and a new Aurora Ice Lounge are just part of the annual Christmas at the Princess festival. Add 7.5 million lights, a train and more: It’s safe to say Fairmont Scottsdale Princess doesn’t believe in holding back for the holidays.

    The festival, which runs through January 6, is open to the public. Free for hotel guests, the entrance fee is $35 per wristband with advance purchase; children three and under are admitted for free. Self-parking is $35 in advance.

    Rooms start at $399. There are also holiday packages available.

    Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, 7575 East Princess Drive, Scottsdale, Arizona

    Rock House: Providenciales, Turks and Caicos

    Who says Christmas is all about evergreens? We'll take the palm trees at Rock House in Turks and Caicos.

    There’s certainly a lot to be said for a warm-weather Christmas that involves lounging poolside with a cocktail.

    The luxury resort Rock House on the island of Providenciales in Turks and Caicos offers holiday programming from December 18 through January 3 including live music at al fresco restaurant Vita, a craft market, s’mores and more.

    On Christmas Eve, guests are invited to a boat experience followed by brunch from chef Dennis Boon, and in the evening, a Feast of the Seven Fishes is followed by live entertainment at Vita.

    A “Journey of the Mediterranean” Christmas dinner will features flavors from Greece, Morocco and Italy.

    Christmas week rates start at $1,100 a night.

    Rock House, Blue Mountain Road, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands

    Twinkling holiday lights set off ornate interiors at Paris' famed Hôtel de Crillon.

    Historic Hôtel de Crillon delivers a next-level Parisian holiday.

    From December 11 through January 1, a festive afternoon tea service with pastries and canapés is available at the Jardin d’Hiver for about $95 per person.

    A seven-course Christmas Eve menu at L’Écrin starts at about $650. A lavish Christmas Day brunch, featuring items such as scallop carpaccio, roasted veal rack and black truffle mashed potatoes, is available for about $250 including a glass of Champagne.

    The five-star property, originally built in 1758 under the direction of King Louis XV, overlooks Paris’ Place de la Concorde.

    Over Christmas weekend, rooms start at $2,265.

    Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel, 10 place de la Concorde, Paris

    The Willard is hosting holiday choral performances every evening through December 23.

    In the United States capital, the Willard InterContinental will host free nightly performances by local choral and vocal ensembles in the lobby through December 23, and signature holiday cocktails will be available in the famed Round Robin Bar.

    Holiday afternoon tea – with finger sandwiches and pastries – will be served every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from December 2 through December 30 ($90 per adult or $102 with a glass of champagne; $65 per child).

    Room rates in December start at $289.

    Willard InterContinental, 1401 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC

    Four Seasons: Hampshire and London, England

    Horseback riding and English gardens await guests of Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire.

    An hour from central London, Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire serves up a sophisticated country Christmas in an 18th-century manor on 500 acres of rolling meadows.

    An equestrian center and other outdoor offerings will ensure a hearty appetite for holiday meals at Wild Carrot, afternoon tea in the Drawing Room or a cozy Swiss-inspired meal at the pop-up alpine restaurant Off Piste.

    Hotel Hampshire rates during the Christmas season start at about $1,790.

    For a sparkling city Christmas, guests at Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane will find an enchanted forest of chandeliers in the lobby, Christmas afternoon tea and other special holiday menus. Room rates start around $1,050 this season.

    Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire and Four Seasons Hotel London Park Lane, England

    Madeline Hotel & Residences: Telluride, Colorado

    The Madeline Hotel in Telluride makes for a cozy winter retreat.

    With 14,000-foot peaks as your backdrop, why not have a ski and spa Christmas?

    Madeline Hotel & Residences in Telluride boasts luxurious ski-in/ski-out accommodation, with a spa that offers treatments such as Alpine Remedy Muscle Relief for your after-ski rejuvenation.

    There’s a three-course Christmas Eve dinner that can be packed to-go or enjoyed at Black Iron Kitchen + Bar, featuring juniper-glazed Cornish game hen or herb-crusted Colorado lamb leg, for $175 for adults, $55 per child.

    A Holiday Maker’s Market will be held on select days leading up to Christmas, and the interactive art installation Alpenglow is returning for a second year. The resort has teamed up with a local holiday decorating service to offer a menu of in-room Christmas trees with choices from Tartan & Tradition to the sparkly All That Glitters.

    The starting rate during Christmas is $1,799.

    Madeline Hotel & Residences, Auberge Resorts Collection, Mountain Village Blvd. Telluride, Colorado

    Royal Mansour has four different bûches de Noël this year, including a strawberry and pistachio stunner.

    The holidays are a gourmet affair at the Royal Mansour in Marrakech.

    The property’s restaurants will feature special menus for Christmas and New Year’s Eve from Michelin-star chefs.

    At La Grande Brassiere, which debuted at Royal Mansour on November 1, chef Hélène Darroze is introducing a festive afternoon tea featuring items such as an orange blossom tropézienne and a cardamom opéra.

    Pastry chef Jean Lachenal and Darroze have created four bûches de Noël this year, including a mango and gingerbread yule log topped with a light cream with local cinnamon.

    The hotel will host a Christmas market in its lobby on December 16 with handmade crafts, Christmas sweets and gift items for sale, with proceeds going to local charities.

    Hotel rates start at about $1,420 per night.

    Royal Mansour, Rue Abou El Abbas Sebti, Marrakech, Morocco

    The Breakers dates back to 1896.

    Founded by Standard Oil Co. magnate Henry Morrison Flagler in 1896, The Breakers Palm Beach carries its lovely traditions right through the holiday season.

    The oceanfront Italian Renaissance-style resort dazzles with sparkling lights, and holiday tea is available at HMF on December 20-23 and December 26-30 for $120 per person.

    The Circle will host a buffet brunch on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day ($285 per person; $100 for children 12 and younger). There’s also a Christmas Day buffet in the Ponce de Leon ballroom, and the resort’s Flagler Steakhouse will serve three-course, prix fixe menus on December 24 and 25.

    There’s limited room availability in December with rates starting at $1,090.

    The Breakers, One South County Road, Palm Beach, Florida

    Glittering trees, festive menus and afternoon tea. It's Christmastime at the Ritz Paris.

    The Ritz Paris is putting on exactly what you’d expect from the elegant luxury property.

    Christmas Tea is available at Bar Vendôme and Salon Proust, starting at about $75 per person with a hot beverage or about $95 with a glass of Champagne.

    The Salon d’Eté will serve a lavish holiday brunch on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day for about $325 per person. The Ritz’s new restaurant Espadon is offering a next-level New Year’s Eve tasting menu for about $2,220 per person, including wine pairings.

    Rates around Christmas start at about $2,300 a night.

    Ritz Paris, 15 place Vendôme, Paris, France

    Claridge's 2023 Christmas tree is by Louis Vuitton.

    Guests at Claridge’s will be treated to horse-drawn carriage rides and carol singing over Christmas.

    Three-night Christmas packages feature those festive events, plus a personal Christmas tree, Champagne, a visit from Father Christmas, a Christmas lunch, stockings for all and a full English breakfast each day. (Pricing available upon request).

    Festive afternoon tea, served through January 1, starts at about $130.

    Claridge’s enlists celebrated designers each year to create an eye-catching lobby Christmas tree.

    This year’s tree, from Louis Vuitton, is a sculptural creation situated within two large LV wardrobe trunks. Both Claridge’s and Louis Vuitton were founded in 1854.

    Rooms start at about $1,060.

    Claridge’s, Brook Street, Mayfair , London

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  • How to prevent a hangover, and 3 ways to treat one | CNN

    How to prevent a hangover, and 3 ways to treat one | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN’s Life, But Better newsletter for information and tools designed to improve your well-being.



    CNN
     — 

    You had a little too much to drink last night, and now you’re nursing that dreaded morning aftermath — a hangover.

    What seemed like fun at the time is now causing your hands to shake, your head to pound and your heart to race, not to mention other unpleasant symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, vomiting, light sensitivity and excruciating thirst.

    Why are you suffering? Because the liquor that smoothly passed your lips is now wreaking havoc in your body, causing dehydration, stomach distress and inflammation. These ailments peak about the time all the alcohol leaves your body.

    There is no scientifically proven way to cure a hangover, but experts say you can prevent one — or at least keep that morning-after misery to a minimum. Here’s how.

    Forget a late-night meal after a night of drinking — that’s much too late, experts say. Instead, eat before your first drink and keep noshing as the night goes on.

    “Food in the stomach slows gastric emptying and can reduce hangover symptoms,” said Dr. Robert Swift, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School in Providence, Rhode Island.

    Why does food help? Because most alcohol isn’t absorbed by an empty stomach but via the intestinal tract just below it, Swift said.

    “If somebody does shots on an empty stomach, for example, all that pure alcohol is not diluted by the stomach and is passed to the intestine very quickly,” said Swift, who has studied alcohol abuse since the 1990s.

    “If the stomach contains food, however, there are gastric juices and enzymes that mix the food and the alcohol, and only small amounts of food are passed into the intestine,” he said. “Now the alcohol is diluted in the stomach, and only a small quantity of alcohol is absorbed at any time.”

    Drinking water can help reduce the dehydration that occurs from downing too many alcoholic drinks.

    The same principle applies to water and other nonalcoholic beverages, Swift said. “If alcohol is mixed with fluid, it’s diluted, so when it goes into your intestines, it’s not as irritating. You’re less likely to have inflamed intestines or an inflamed stomach lining.”

    There’s another benefit to downing water between drinks, said Dr. John Brick, former chief of research at the Center of Alcohol Studies, Education and Training Division, at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

    “The primary cause of hangovers is dehydration and the loss of fluids, along with vitamins and minerals,” said Brick, who authored “The Doctor’s Hangover Handbook” and published scientific papers on the biobehavioral effects of alcohol and other drugs.

    Downing just 3½ alcoholic drinks can result in the loss of up to a quart of water over several hours, Brick added. “That’s a good amount of water that has to be replenished.”

    Dehydration from alcohol may affect a woman even more, and she is more likely to suffer a hangover, even if she drinks less than a man, Swift said. That’s because a man has a higher percentage of body water than a woman of the same height and weight, so the same amount of alcohol will be more diluted in a man, he said.

    The alcohol we drink, called ethyl alcohol or ethanol, is the byproduct of fermenting carbohydrates and starches, usually some sort of grain, grape or berry.

    We use byproducts of fermentation in other ways: Ethanol is added to the gasoline in our cars, and methyl alcohol or methanol — a toxic substance — is used as a solvent, pesticide and alternative fuel source. Also called wood alcohol, methyl alcohol made by bootleggers blinded or killed thousands of people during Prohibition.

    That’s not all — the list of byproducts or chemicals added by manufacturers for flavor and taste can read like a list of supplies at an industrial warehouse: ethyl formate, ethyl acetate, n-propanol, isobutanol, n-butanol, isopentanol and isoamyl alcohols. While these congeners, as they are called, are added in small, nontoxic amounts, some people are overly sensitive to their effects.

    Overall, dark-colored beer and spirits tend to contain more congeners and thus may be more likely to cause hangovers, experts say. A 2010 study investigated the intensity of hangovers in people who drank the darker-colored liquor bourbon versus clear vodka.

    “Congeners in bourbon … significantly increased hangover intensity, which is not too surprising since bourbon has about 37 times the amount of congeners as vodka,” Brick said.

    Chemical preservatives called sulfites, known to cause allergic reactions in sensitive people, are also a natural byproduct of fermentation in small quantities. However, many manufacturers of beer and wine add sulfites to their products to extend shelf life. (Sulfites are also added to soda, cereals, sweeteners, canned and ultraprocessed foods, medications and more.)

    Sweet and white wines tend to have more sulfites than red, but red wines contain more tannins, which are bitter or astringent compounds found in the skin and seeds of grapes. Like sulfites, tannins can trigger allergic reactions in people who are sensitive.

    As a result, limiting your drinking to light beers, clear liquors and white wine might help keep hangovers at bay.

    In the end, however, experts say there is only one true preventive — or cure — for a hangover: Don’t drink.

    “There’s no simple cure because there are so many complex factors that are producing the multiple symptoms of a hangover,” Swift said. “And that’s why the only real cure for a hangover is to not drink alcohol or drink such a low amount of alcohol that it won’t trigger a hangover.”

    • Drinking coffee can speed up recovery

    • Electrolytes help

    • Drink as much water as you can

    We know that alcohol dehydrates, so a headache and other hangover symptoms may be partly due to constricted blood vessels and a loss of electrolytes, essential minerals such as sodium, calcium and potassium that your body needs.

    And if you’re a coffee drinker, skipping your morning cup of joe may lead to caffeine withdrawal on top of your hangover.

    “If you have a hangover, have a quarter of a cup of coffee,” Brick suggests. “See if you feel better — it takes about 20 minutes for the caffeine to start to have some noticeable effect.

    “If coffee doesn’t make you feel better, don’t drink anymore.”

    Replacing lost fluids with water or a type of sports drink with extra electrolytes can help boost recovery from a hangover, Swift said.

    And while most alcohol is handled by the liver, a small amount leaves the body unchanged through sweat, urine and breathing.

    Get up, do some light stretching and walking, and drink plenty of water to encourage urination, Brick said.

    “Before you go to sleep and when you wake up, drink as much water as you comfortably can handle,” he said.

    Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the process through which alcohol is absorbed in the body.

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  • Ultraprocessed foods now account for two-thirds of calories in the diets of children and teens | CNN

    Ultraprocessed foods now account for two-thirds of calories in the diets of children and teens | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Children and teens in the United States now get more than two-thirds of their calories from ultraprocessed foods, an analysis of almost two decades worth of data has found.

    Ultraprocessed foods – such as frozen pizza, microwave meals, packaged snacks and desserts – accounted for 67% of calories consumed in 2018, up from 61% in 1999, according to research published in the medical journal JAMA Tuesday. The study analyzed the diet of 33,795 children and adolescents nationwide.

    While industrial processing can keep food fresher longer and allow some foods to be fortified with vitamins, it modifies food to change its consistency, taste and color to make it more palatable, cheap and convenient – using processes that aren’t used in home-cooked meals. They are also aggressively marketed by the food industry.

    “Some whole grain breads and dairy foods are ultra-processed, and they’re healthier than other ultra-processed foods,” said senior author Fang Fang Zhang, a nutrition and cancer epidemiologist at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Boston.

    “But many ultra-processed foods are less healthy, with more sugar and salt, and less fiber, than unprocessed and minimally processed foods, and the increase in their consumption by children and teenagers is concerning.”

    The information on children’s diets used in the study was collected annually by trained interviewers who asked the children or an adult acting on their behalf to detail what they had eaten in the preceding 24 hours. The information was gathered as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

    Between 1999 and 2018, the proportion of healthier unprocessed or minimally processed foods decreased from 28.8% to 23.5% of consumed calories, the study found.

    The remaining percentage of calories came from moderately processed foods such as cheese and canned fruits and vegetables, and flavor enhancers such as sugar, honey, maple syrup and butter, the study said.

    The biggest increase in calories came from ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat meals such as takeout and frozen pizza and burgers: from 2.2% to 11.2% of calories, according to the study. The second largest increase came from packaged sweet snacks and desserts, the consumption of which grew from 10.6% to 12.9%.

    The link between child health and ultraprocessed food is complex but one recent study in the United Kingdom found that children who eat more ultraprocessed food are more likely to be overweight or obese as adults.

    Experts said the study’s implications for future health were significant given that childhood is a critical period for biological development and forming dietary habits.

    “The current food system is structured to promote overconsumption of ultra-processed foods through a variety of strategies, including price and promotions, aggressive marketing, including to youths and specifically Black and Latino youths, and high availability of these products in schools,” wrote Katie Meyer and Lindsey Smith Taillie, both assistant professors in the department of nutrition at the University of North Carolina’ Gillings School of Global Public Health, in a commentary on the study. They were not involved in the research.

    There was good news that suggested efforts to tackle consumption of sugary drinks such as soda taxes had been effective: Calories from sugar-sweetened beverages dropped from 10.8% to 5.3% of overall calories.

    “We need to mobilize the same energy and level of commitment when it comes to other unhealthy ultra-processed foods such as cakes, cookies, doughnuts and brownies,” said Zhang.

    Black, non-Hispanic youths experienced a bigger increase in the proportion of ultra-processed foods in their diet compared to their White counterparts. The study said it did not assess trends in other racial or ethnic groups because of a lack of nationally representative data. However, it noted that Mexican American youths consume ultraprocessed foods at a consistently lower rate, which authors said could reflect more home cooking among Hispanic families.

    The education level of parents or family income didn’t have any impact on the consumption of ultraprocessed foods, suggesting that they are commonplace in most children’s diets, the study added.

    The authors said their study had some limitations: Asking people to recall what they ate isn’t always an accurate measure of dietary intake. Plus, there is a tendency to under report socially undesirable habits such as consumption of unhealthy food.

    In addition, it can be a challenge to accurately classify ultraprocessed food because it requires a full list of ingredients – information unlikely to be given by children answering a questionnaire.

    “Better methods for dietary assessment and classification of foods are needed to understand trends and mechanisms of action of ultra-processed food intake,” Mayer and Taillie wrote.

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  • Woody Allen Fast Facts | CNN

    Woody Allen Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at the life of Oscar-winning filmmaker Woody Allen.

    Birth date: December 1, 1935

    Birth place: Brooklyn, New York

    Birth name: Allan Stewart Konigsberg

    Father: Martin Konigsberg, worked various jobs

    Mother: Nettie (Cherry) Konigsberg, bookkeeper

    Marriages: Soon-Yi Previn (December 22, 1997-present), Louise Lasser (divorced), Harlene Rosen (divorced)

    Children: daughters adopted with Soon-Yi Previn: Manzie Tio Allen (2000), Bechet Dumaine Allen (1998); with Mia Farrow: Satchel Farrow (1987, now goes by Ronan), Dylan O’Sullivan Farrow (1985, adopted daughter), Moses Farrow (1978, adopted)

    Education: Attended New York University and City College of New York.

    He legally changed his name at 17 to Heywood Allen.

    Allen has worked as a comedy writer, stand-up comic, screenwriter, actor, playwright, musician and director.

    He has 24 Oscar nominations and four wins: 16 for writing, with three wins; seven for directing, with one win; and one nomination for acting.

    Allen has one Emmy nomination for writing.

    Allen has appeared in dozens of the movies he’s directed and claims to have never watched his films once they are released.

    Although Allen is best known for comedies, he has explored different genres including dramas (“Interiors”), thrillers (“Match Point”) and musicals (“Everyone Says I Love You”).

    Most of his movies have been filmed in and around New York.

    He plays the jazz clarinet and piano.

    1950-1960 – Comedy writer.

    1961-1964 – A standup comic.

    July 1964 – Releases his first comedy album, “Woody Allen.”

    June 22, 1965 – The first movie he wrote and performed in, “What’s New Pussycat?” is released.

    November 17, 1966 – “Don’t Drink the Water,” Allen’s first play, opens on Broadway.

    February 12, 1969-March 14, 1970 – “Play It Again, Sam,” his second play, runs on Broadway with Allen in the lead. In 1972, he reprises his role in the movie adaptation.

    1978 – “Annie Hall” wins four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay Written for the Screen and Best Actress. Allen earns two of the four Oscars as writer and director. He is also nominated for Best Actor but does not win.

    1987 – Wins the Academy Award for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen for “Hannah and Her Sisters.” He is also nominated for Best Director for the same film.

    1992 – His 12 year relationship with actress Mia Farrow ends when she discovers his affair with her adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn. Subsequently, allegations of sexual molestation are made by their adopted daughter, Dylan, 7. A two-year custody battle for their three children Satchel, Dylan and Moses ensues, which Farrow wins.

    April 1998 – The documentary, “Wild Man Blues,” is released, showcasing Allen’s love for the jazz clarinet and his association with the Eddy Davis New Orleans Jazz Band.

    2002 – Makes his only appearance at an Academy Awards ceremony. He appeals for the continued use of New York as a setting for movies after September 11, 2001.

    2012 – Wins an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for “Midnight in Paris.”

    February 1, 2014 – An open letter written by Dylan Farrow is published in the New York Times, recounting her allegation that Allen sexually assaulted her when she was a child. A representative for Allen releases a statement the next day, denying the charges.

    February 7, 2014 – Allen responds in an op-ed column released by The New York Times. He says the allegations are untrue and rooted in his acrimonious breakup with Mia Farrow.

    September 30, 2016 – Allen’s first video streaming series, “Crisis in Six Scenes” debuts on Amazon.com.

    January 2018 – Several actors who appeared in Allen’s latest film, “A Rainy Day in New York,” announce they will be donating their salaries to charity amid questions about longstanding sexual abuse claims against Allen. The movie has yet to be released.

    September 16, 2018 – In a New York magazine profile, Soon-Yi Previn defends Allen against allegations of molestation.

    February 7, 2019 – Allen and his production company file a lawsuit against Amazon claiming the company backed out of a $68 million four-picture deal.

    November 8, 2019 – Allen and his production company reach a settlement with Amazon in a breach of contract lawsuit.

    March 23, 2020 – Allen’s memoir “Apropos of Nothing” is published by Arcade Publishing. Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, originally acquired the rights to the book but canceled their plans to publish it after employees walked out in protest.

    February 21, 2021 – “Allen v. Farrow,” a four-part HBO docuseries that examines Allen’s relationship with Farrow and sexual-assault allegations by their daughter Dylan premieres.

    March 28, 2021 – In an interview for “CBS Sunday Morning,” Allen denies the sexual abuse allegation by his daughter Dylan.

    June 7, 2022 – “Zero Gravity,” Allen’s new essay collection is published.

    September 27, 2023 – Allen releases his 50th film and first French-language film, “Coupe de Chance.”

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  • Bette Midler Fast Facts | CNN

    Bette Midler Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here is a look at the life of award-winning singer, actress, comedian and activist Bette Midler.

    Birth date: December 1, 1945

    Birth place: Honolulu, Hawaii

    Birth name: Bette Davis Midler

    Father: Fred Midler, house painter

    Mother: Ruth (Schindel) Midler, seamstress

    Marriage: Martin von Haselberg (1984-present)

    Children: Sophie

    Education: Attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa

    Named after actress Bette Davis.

    Nominated for 14 Grammy Awards and has won three.

    Nominated for nine Emmy Awards and has won three.

    Nominated for two Academy Awards and has not won.

    Nominated for one Tony Award and has won once.

    She was the valedictorian of her high school class.

    1965 – Moves to New York City after winning a small part in the movie, “Hawaii.”

    1966 – Makes her Broadway debut in “Fiddler on the Roof.”

    Early 1970s – Performs at the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse in New York, with Barry Manilow as her pianist, arranger and musical director.

    1970 – Midler appears on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson for the first time.

    April 28-May 16, 1971 – Midler stars as the “Acid Queen” in the first professional production of the rock opera, “Tommy.”

    November 1972 – Releases her first album on Atlantic Records, “The Divine Miss M.”

    March 2, 1974 – Wins the Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

    April 1974 – Receives a special Tony Award for “adding lustre to the Broadway season.”

    September 17, 1978 – Wins the Emmy Award for Outstanding Special in a Comedy-Variety or Musical for “Ol’ Red Hair is Back.”

    November 7, 1979 – Her first film, “The Rose,” is released. It is loosely based on the life of Janis Joplin.

    1980 – Simon & Schuster publishes her first book, “A View from a Broad.”

    February 25, 1981 – Wins the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Performance, for her single, “The Rose.”

    January 28, 1985 – Midler joins 45 other stars to record “We Are the World,” USA for Africa’s fund-raising single.

    1985 – Forms All Girl Productions, with partner Bonnie Bruckheimer.

    November 22, 1988 – Releases the soundtrack to the film “Beaches.” The album goes triple platinum, and the title track, “Wind Beneath My Wings,” goes to number one.

    February 21, 1990 – Wins the Grammy Award for Record of the Year for “Wind Beneath My Wings,” with producer Arif Mardin.

    September 15, 1991 – Is presented with the Commitment to Life Award from AIDS Project Los Angeles for her work in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

    August 30, 1992 – Wins an Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Music Program for her May 21, 1992, appearance as one of the two final guests of “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson.

    December 12, 1993 – Stars as “Mama Rose” in the television version of the famed Broadway play, “Gypsy.”

    July 7, 1995 – Midler begins The New York Restoration Project, a non-profit focusing on beautifying the open spaces in under-resourced communities in New York.

    September 14, 1997 – Wins the Emmy for Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Music Program for her HBO special “Diva Las Vegas.”

    2003 – Joins forces with Barry Manilow for the first time since the 1970s to record “Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook.”

    February 20, 2008 – “Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On” debuts at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. The show includes the Harlettes, the Caesar Salad Girls, and a 13-piece band. The show ends its run in January 2010.

    March 20, 2011 – “Priscilla: Queen of the Desert,” opens on Broadway. Midler is co-producer of the show which runs through June 2012.

    June 14, 2012 – Receives the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

    April 24, 2013 – “I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers” opens on Broadway with Midler’s portrayal of the famous Hollywood agent. The show runs through June 2013.

    November 4, 2014 – Releases her 14th studio album “It’s the Girls,” a tribute to the music of famous girl-groups over the years.

    June 11, 2017 – Wins a Tony for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for “Hello Dolly.”

    September 14, 2017 – Takes a tumble during a Broadway performance of “Hello Dolly” after two set pieces collide and gets back on stage after a short break to resume her performance.

    June 29, 2019 – Headlines New York’s Pride Main Event, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Stonewall at WorldPride NYC. The event is held at the Javits Center in Manhattan and includes performances by Cyndi Lauper, Billy Porter and Brandy.

    February 16, 2021 – Midler’s children’s book, “The Tale of the Mandarin Duck,” is published.

    December 5, 2021 – Receives the Kennedy Center Honors lifetime achievement award.

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  • Tiger Woods Fast Facts | CNN

    Tiger Woods Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at one of the most successful golfers in history, Tiger Woods.

    Birth date: December 30, 1975

    Birth place: Cypress, California

    Birth name: Eldrick Tont Woods

    Father: Earl Woods

    Mother: Kultilda (Punsawad) Woods

    Marriage: Elin Nordegren (October 5, 2004-August 23, 2010, divorced)

    Children: Charlie Axel and Sam Alexis

    Education: Attended Stanford University, 1994-1996

    Won the Masters Tournament five times, the US Open three times, the PGA Championship four times and the British Open three times.

    Woods is the PGA career money list leader.

    With 82 PGA Tour wins, Woods is tied with Sam Snead for most all-time career victories.

    His father nicknamed him “Tiger” after a South Vietnamese soldier with whom he had fought alongside during the Vietnam War.

    1978 – At the age of 2, wins a putting contest with Bob Hope. The match was staged for the “Mike Douglas Show.”

    1980 – Appears on the TV show “That’s Incredible.”

    1991 – Wins his first US Junior Amateur golf championship. At 15 years of age, Woods was the youngest champion in history until 14-year-old Jim Liu broke his record in 2010.

    1992 – Wins his second US Junior Amateur golf championship.

    February 27, 1992 – Competes in his first PGA tournament at the age of 16. He is given a sponsor’s exemption in order to play and is the youngest player ever to play in a PGA tournament at that time.

    1993 – Wins his third US Junior Amateur golf championship.

    1994-1996 – Wins three consecutive US Amateur golf championships.

    August 27, 1996 – Turns professional.

    August 1996 – Signs a five-year endorsement deal with Nike worth $40 million.

    October 6, 1996 – Wins his first tournament as a professional at the Las Vegas Invitational.

    1996 – Forms the Tiger Woods Foundation for the promotion of minority participation in golf and other sports. In February 2018, the charity is renamed TGR Foundation to reflect its growth and scope.

    April 13, 1997 – Wins his first Masters Tournament.

    May 19, 1997 – Signs an endorsement deal with American Express worth between $13 and $30 million.

    June 1997 – Becomes the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world after his 42nd week on the PGA Tour. At 21 years, 24 weeks, he is the youngest player ever to hold the No. 1 spot.

    August 15, 1999 – Wins his first PGA championship.

    June 18, 2000 – Wins his first US Open by 15 strokes, the largest margin in US Open history.

    July 23, 2000 – Wins his first British Open.

    September 14, 2000 – Signs a five-year endorsement contract with Nike. It is worth an estimated $85 million, making it the richest endorsement contract in sports history, at the time.

    June 16, 2002 – Wins his second US Open.

    December 8, 2003 – Named PGA Player of the Year for the fifth straight year.

    May 13, 2005 – Woods fails to make the cut at the Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas. It is the first time since 1998 that Woods is eliminated from a tournament.

    November 23, 2005 – Wins the PGA Grand Slam of Golf for a record-breaking sixth time.

    February 10, 2006 – Opens the Tiger Woods Learning Center in Anaheim, California.

    May 3, 2006 – Woods’ father, Earl Woods, dies of prostate cancer.

    July 23, 2006 – Wins his third British Open.

    August 20, 2006 – Wins his third PGA Championship.

    August 12, 2007 – Wins his fourth PGA Championship.

    April 15, 2008 – Undergoes arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. He had two prior surgeries on the same knee, first in 1994 to remove a benign tumor, and another arthroscopic surgery in December 2002.

    June 16, 2008 – Wins the US Open in sudden death, defeating Rocco Mediate.

    June 18, 2008 – Woods announces that he will undergo reconstructive anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery on his left knee and will miss the remainder of the PGA tour season.

    February 26, 2009 – After an eight-month hiatus from golf due to knee surgery, Woods plays the second round of the World Golf Championships Match Play and loses to Tim Clark.

    November 15, 2009 – Wins the Australian Masters.

    November 27, 2009 – Is taken to a hospital after being injured in a car accident in front of his home in Florida. He is released later the same day.

    December 2, 2009 – Woods apologizes for “transgressions” that let his family down – the same day a gossip magazine publishes a report alleging he had an affair. He does not admit to an affair and offers no details about the “transgressions” in his statement.

    February 19, 2010 – Makes a televised statement apologizing for being unfaithful to his wife and letting down both fans and family. “I had affairs, I cheated. What I did was not acceptable, and I am the only person to blame,” he says. Responding to rumors, Woods says that his wife never hit him, as some media reported in connection with the car crash on November 27, 2009, and that there has “never been an episode of domestic violence” in his relationship with his wife. Woods also says that he entered a rehabilitation center for 45 days, from the end of December to early February, and that he will continue to receive treatment and therapy.

    October 31, 2010 – After 281 straight weeks, the longest in Official World Golf Ranking history, Woods loses his No. 1 ranking to Lee Westwood.

    2010 – Loses about $20 million from estimated endorsements after sponsors including Gatorade, AT&T and Accenture end ties. Other sponsors including Nike, Upper Deck and EA Sports remain with Woods.

    June 7, 2011 – Announces he will miss the US Open due to knee and Achilles tendon injuries.

    July 19, 2011 – Woods announces that after a 12-year relationship, he and caddie Steve Williams will no longer be working together.

    August 4, 2011 – Returns to golf at the Bridgestone Invitational, after a nearly three-month break.

    August 11, 2011 – Plays one of his worst first rounds of golf in a major championship. He fails to make the cut at the PGA Championship for the first time in his career.

    October 3, 2011 – For the first time in 15 years, Woods does not make it onto golf’s top 50 players list, according to the official World Golf Ranking.

    October 5, 2011 – Signs a new endorsement deal with Swiss watch-maker Rolex.

    March 25, 2012 – Earns his first PGA Tour win since September 2009, in the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando.

    June 3, 2012 – With his win at the Memorial Tournament, ties Jack Nicklaus with 73 PGA Tour victories.

    July 2, 2012 – Beats Nicklaus’ PGA Tour record with the AT&T National win. Woods’ 74th PGA Tour win ranks him in second place on the all-time list.

    September 3, 2012 – Becomes the first PGA tour participant to earn $100 million.

    March 25, 2013 – Woods wins the Arnold Palmer Invitational for the eighth time, and regains the No. 1 spot.

    March 31, 2014 – Woods undergoes back surgery for a pinched nerve.

    August 23, 2015 – Posts a top 10 finish at his debut at the Wyndham Championships but ends his season as the 257th ranked player in the world. His finish was four shots off eventual winner Davis Love III. Woods has now missed the cut for three majors in a row.

    December 1, 2015 – Announces that he underwent his third microdiscectomy surgery last month – a procedure to remove bone around a pinched nerve to allow space for it to heal – and admits he has no idea when he will be back on the course.

    July 20, 2016 – It is announced that Woods will miss the PGA Championship due to his continued recovery from back surgery. This marks the first time in his career that he has missed all four major championships.

    December 4, 2016 – Woods finishes 14 shots behind the winner in the Hero World Challenge, his first competitive event in more than a year.

    May 29, 2017 – Woods is arrested on suspicion of DUI in Jupiter, Florida. He says in a statement that he had “an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications” and that alcohol was not involved.

    June 19, 2017 – Woods announces that he is receiving professional help to manage medication for back pain and a sleep disorder.

    July 3, 2017 – Announces that he has completed an intensive program for managing his medications.

    October 27, 2017 – Woods pleads guilty to reckless driving. His 12-month probation is contingent on completing any recommended treatment including DUI school, 50 hours of community services and random drug and alcohol testing.

    December 3, 2017 – Making his long-awaited return from a fourth back surgery – his first tournament for 301 days since pulling out of the Dubai Desert Classic in February – Woods finishes in a tie for ninth place in the Hero World Challenge tournament in the Bahamas.

    September 23, 2018 – Wins the Tour Championship at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club, for his first PGA Tour victory since August 2013 and his 80th overall.

    April 14, 2019 – Wins his fifth Masters and 15th major title.

    May 6, 2019 – President Donald Trump presents Woods with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, during a White House ceremony.

    October 27, 2019 – Wins his record-equaling 82nd PGA Tour title at the Zozo Championship in Chiba, Japan. Woods is tied with legendary golfer Sam Snead, who won 82 titles throughout his more than 50-year career.

    May 24, 2020 – Woods and Peyton Manning defeat Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady by one stroke in “The Match: Champions for Charity” golf tournament at the Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida. The event raises over $20 million for coronavirus relief efforts and captures an average of 5.8 million viewers to become the most-watched golf telecast in the history of cable television.

    February 23, 2021 – Woods is hospitalized after a serious one-car rollover accident in Los Angeles County, according to the LA County Sheriff’s Department. Wood’s agent Mark Steinberg said the golfer suffered “multiple leg injuries” and was in surgery following the accident. The next day, Woods is “awake, responsive, and recovering” in the hospital after emergency surgery on his lower right leg and ankle at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. The leg fractures were “comminuted,” meaning the bone was broken into more than two parts, and “open,” meaning the broken bone was exposed to open air, creating risk of an infection, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anish Mahajan says in the statement.

    November 29, 2021 – In an exclusive interview published in Golf Digest, Tiger Woods speaks publicly about his golfing future for the first time since his car crash. “I think something that is realistic is playing the tour one day, never full time, ever again, but pick and choose, just like Mr. (Ben) Hogan did,” Woods tells interviewer Henni Koyack.

    March 9, 2022 – Woods is inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame at the PGA Tour headquarters in Florida.

    April 7, 2022 – Tees off in the first round of the Masters, his first tournament in 14 months, completing a remarkable comeback after sustaining serious leg injuries in his February 2021 car crash.

    October 2022 – Erica Herman, a former girlfriend of Woods, files a complaint in Martin County, Florida after their six-year relationship comes to end. Herman alleges a trust owned by Woods violated the Florida Residential Landlord Tenant Act by breaking the oral tenancy agreement. On March 6, 2023, Herman files a second complaint aimed at nullifying the NDA she signed in 2017. On May 17, 2023, a Florida judge rules against Herman, calling her claims that the NDA is invalid and unenforceable “implausibly pled.” In June 2023, Herman drops her lawsuit alleging a trust owned by Woods violated the Florida Residential Landlord Tenant Act. In November 2023, Herman drops her appeal to nullify the NDA.

    April 19, 2023 – Announces he has completed “successful” surgery on his ankle following his withdrawal from The Masters earlier this month.

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  • ‘All I wanted to do was live’: After years of debate, a suicide safety net for the Golden Gate Bridge is nearing completion. Survivors say it’ll give many a 2nd chance at life | CNN

    ‘All I wanted to do was live’: After years of debate, a suicide safety net for the Golden Gate Bridge is nearing completion. Survivors say it’ll give many a 2nd chance at life | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    On September 25, 2000, Kevin Hines climbed over the rail of the Golden Gate Bridge.

    White fog hung below the gray skies that day. He recalled looking down at the rough, green waters below moments before he did the unthinkable: He jumped.

    “My hands left the rail and I had an instantaneous regret for my actions,” Hines told CNN.

    Hines fell 220 feet at a speed of 75 miles per hour – “equivalent to a pedestrian being struck by a car that is traveling that fast,” according to the Bridge Rail Foundation, a nonprofit working to prevent suicides on the bridge.

    During the 4-second fall, Hines said the feeling of depression left his mind, and was replaced by a survival urge he described as almost instinctual.

    “And at that time, all I wanted to do was live.”

    After he was rescued from the water, Hines needed three vertebrae replaced with a titanium metal plate and pins, ultimately undergoing four and half weeks of recovery. And in the years since, Hines has been traveling the world to share his rare testimony.

    “I have met thousands of people who have survived mild, moderate to extreme suicide attempts who have all said they each had the same instant regret,” Hines said. “They recognized their thoughts didn’t have to become their actions.”

    More than a confirmed 1,800 people have jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge since it was built in 1937, according to the Bridge Rail Foundation. The very first incident happened that same year.

    Hines is one of 39 people known to survive the deadly leap. “Nineteen have come forward to say they all had the exact same instant regret that I had,” Hines said.

    After years of debate over installing a suicide deterrent on the iconic bridge, a net is now nearing completion.

    In 2018, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District began building a net along the perimeter of the 1.7 mile long bridge.

    The $217 million project consists of the installation of a stainless steel net, 20 feet below the sidewalk on both sides of the bridge, according to Golden Gate Bridge spokesperson Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz.

    “The amount of net that we’re installing is the equivalent of seven football fields,” Cosulich-Schwartz told CNN.

    It’s a project proponents hope will offer many people a second chance at life.

    While Hines noted not all those who jump may feel regretful, he said he can’t help but empathize with those who did experience the same feeling but never got another chance to choose life.

    “Recognizing that all the people that passed away might have wished they were still here… it’s a very troubling thing to think about,” he said.

    ‘A symbol of hope and care’

    Kevin Berthia attempted to jump off the Golden Gate on March 11, 2005. But after jumping, he ended up clinging to a railing for over an hour and a half.

    “I swung myself around and smacked into the railing, and got on that 4-inch cord,” Berthia recalled.

    Mental health advocate Kevin Berthia, who has survived his own suicide attempts, poses in 2021 in Sacramento, California.

    And he held onto that cord as California Highway Patrol Officer Kevin Briggs talked to him about reasons to choose life. It was in this 92-minute conversation that Berthia began to experience regret.

    If you suspect someone may be suicidal:

  • 1. Do not leave the person alone.
  • 2. Remove any firearms, alcohol, drugs or sharp objects that could be used in a suicide attempt.
  • 3. Call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
  • 4. Take the person to an emergency room or seek help from a medical or mental health professional.
  • Source: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. For more tips and warning signs, click here.

While he credits Briggs for saving his life, Berthia also said he believes a safety net would have made a world of difference that day.

“I looked over that rail and all I saw was the water,” Berthia told CNN. “If I saw a deterrent, I would have probably been like, ‘OK, maybe this is not meant to be.’”

He desperately needed a sign that someone cared about him, Berthia added: “I needed something to say no.”

While the purpose of the net is “to reduce the number of injuries and deaths from jumping off the bridge,” bridge spokesperson Cosulich-Schwartz said it’s also meant to serve as that sign Berthia was looking for 18 years ago.

“The net is a symbol of hope and care for people who may be experiencing the worst day of their lives,” Cosulich-Schwartz said.

“It is a large, visible and permanent symbol that there are people in the community that care about you,” he continued. “And, if necessary, offer people a second chance.”

The net is currently 80% built, and is set to be completed in December, according to the bridge officials.

The construction of this deterrent won’t be a temporary solution in suicide prevention, according to researchers.

A 1978 study of Golden Gate Bridge suicide attempters found more than 90% of those who were stopped remained alive decades later, and didn’t go on to take their own lives.

Sabrina Hernandez, Golden Gate Bridge District Board President, touches a net during a press on May 16, 2019.

Since the Golden Gate’s opening, suicide prevention groups and nonprofits like the Bridge Rail Foundation have continuously pushed for a deterrent of some sort on the bridge.

“Originally, we wanted to raise the rail,” Hines said, which would be similar to the 11-foot steel fence that encloses the George Washington Bridge in New York City.

The transportation district invited public comment on the potential project, and the opinions of the board and local residents were deeply divided.

“We got shut down with that because it was obstructing the view and people didn’t want to ruin the aesthetics of the bridge,” Hines told CNN. “And I always say, what are the aesthetics of a bridge compared to one human life?”

In 2014, the bridge’s board of directors unanimously approved the funding for the safety net construction.

“Engineers designed the Net to minimize impacts to Bridge views and appearance,” according to a Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District release, which noted the addition would still “slightly diminish the integrity of the the historic features.”

Berthia acknowledged many people enjoy the beauty and history of the Golden Gate. “And I get that, but we don’t listen to enough people that have lost loved ones off that bridge,” he said.

Thirty people or more die by suicide at the bridge each year on average, according to the release, with hundreds more stopped by law enforcement or other citizens.

“Ultimately, a physical barrier is needed to stop this tragedy,” the release said. “The selected design allows open, scenic vistas to remain intact, while preventing anyone from easily jumping to the water below.”

“I’m so grateful that not one more beautiful person with loved ones, and family and friends who care for them is ever again, gonna die by their hands off of the Golden Gate Bridge,” Hines said. “I thank God every day I get to be alive to see it.”

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  • Don’t serve disordered eating to your teens this holiday season | CNN

    Don’t serve disordered eating to your teens this holiday season | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: Katie Hurley, author of “No More Mean Girls: The Secret to Raising Strong, Confident and Compassionate Girls,” is a child and adolescent psychotherapist in Los Angeles. She specializes in work with tweens, teens and young adults.



    CNN
     — 

    “I have a couple of spots for anyone who wants to lose 20 pounds by the holidays! No diets, exercise, or cravings!”

    Ads for dieting and exercise programs like this started appearing in my social media feeds in early October 2022, often accompanied by photos of women pushing shopping carts full of Halloween candy intended to represent the weight they no longer carry with them.

    Whether it’s intermittent fasting or “cheat” days, diet culture is spreading wildly, and spiking in particular among young women and girls, a population group who might be at particular risk of social pressures and misinformation.

    The fact that diet culture all over social media targets grown women is bad enough, but such messaging also trickles down to tweens and teens. (And let’s be honest, a lot is aimed directly at young people too.) It couldn’t happen at a worse time: There’s been a noticeable spike in eating disorders, particularly among adolescent girls, since the beginning of the pandemic.

    “My mom is obsessed with (seeing) her Facebook friends losing tons of weight without dieting. Is this even real?” The question came from a teen girl who later revealed she was considering hiring a health coach to help her eat ‘healthier’ after watching her mom overhaul her diet. Sadly, the coaching she was falling victim to is part of a multilevel marketing brand that promotes quick weight loss through caloric restriction and buying costly meal replacements.

    Is it real? Yes. Is it healthy? Not likely, especially for a growing teen.

    Later that week, a different teen client asked about a clean eating movement she follows on Pinterest. She had read that a strict clean vegan diet is better for both her and the environment, and assumed this was true because the pinned article took her to a health coaching blog. It seemed legitimate. But a deep dive into the blogger’s credentials, however, showed that the clean eating practices they shared were not actually developed by a nutritionist.

    And another teen, fresh off a week of engaging in the “what I eat in a day” challenge — a video trend across TikTok, Instagram and other social media platforms where users document the food they consume in a particular timeframe — told me she decided to temporarily mute her social media accounts. Why? Because the time she’d spent limited her eating while pretending to feel full left her exhausted and unhappy. She had found the trend on TikTok and thought it might help her create healthier eating habits, but ended up becoming fixated on caloric intake instead. Still, she didn’t want her friends to see that the challenge actually made her feel terrible when she had spent a whole week promoting it.

    During any given week, I field numerous questions from tweens and teens about the diet culture they encounter online, out in the world, and sometimes even in their own homes. But as we enter the winter holiday season, shame-based diet culture pressure, often wrapped up with toxic positivity to appear encouraging, increases.

    “As we approach the holidays, diet culture is in the air as much as lights and music, and it’s certainly on social media,” said Dr. Hina Talib, an adolescent medicine specialist and associate professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in The Bronx, New York. “It’s so pervasive that even if it’s not targeted (at) teens, they are absorbing it by scrolling through it or hearing parents talk about it.”

    Social media isn’t the only place young people encounter harmful messaging about body image and weight loss. Teens are inundated with so-called ‘healthy eating’ content on TV and in popular culture, at school and while engaged in extracurricular or social activities, at home and in public spaces like malls or grocery stores — and even in restaurants.

    Instead of learning how to eat to fuel their bodies and their brains, today’s teens are getting the message that “clean eating,” to give just one example of a potentially problematic dietary trend, results in a better body — and, by extension, increased happiness. Diets cutting out all carbohydrates, dairy products, gluten, and meat-based proteins are popular among teens. Yet this mindset can trigger food anxiety, obsessive checking of food labels and dangerous calorie restriction.

    An obsessive focus on weight loss, toning muscles and improving overall looks actually runs contrary to what teens need to grow at a healthy pace.

    “Teens and tweens are growing into their adult bodies, and that growth requires weight gain,” said Oona Hanson, a parent coach based in Los Angeles. “Weight gain is not only normal but essential for health during adolescence.”

    The good news in all of this is that parents can take an active role in helping teens craft an emotionally healthier narrative around their eating habits. “Parents are often made to feel helpless in the face of TikTokers, peer pressure or wider diet culture, but it’s important to remember this: parents are influencers, too,” said Hanson. What we say and do matters to our teens.

    Parents can take an active role in helping teens craft an emotionally healthier narrative around their eating habits.

    Take a few moments to reflect on your own eating patterns. Teens tend to emulate what they see, even if they don’t talk about it.

    Parents and caregivers can model a healthy relationship with food by enjoying a wide variety of foods and trying new recipes for family meals. During the holiday season, when many celebrations can involve gathering around the table, take the opportunity to model shared connections. “Holidays are a great time to remember that foods nourish us in ways that could never be captured on a nutrition label,” Hanson said.

    Practice confronting unhealthy body talk

    The holiday season is full of opportunities to gather with friends and loved ones to celebrate and make memories, but these moments can be anxiety-producing when nutrition shaming occurs.

    When extended families gather for holiday celebrations, it’s common for people to comment on how others look or have changed since the last gathering. While this is usually done with good intentions, it can be awkward or upsetting to tweens and teens.

    “For young people going through puberty or body changes, it’s normal to be self-conscious or self-critical. To have someone say, ‘you’ve developed’ isn’t a welcome part of conversations,” cautioned Talib.

    Talib suggests practicing comebacks and topic changes ahead of time. Role play responses like, “We don’t talk about bodies,” or “We prefer to focus on all the things we’ve accomplished this year.” And be sure to check in and make space for your tween or teen to share and feelings of hurt and resentment over any such comments at an appropriate time.

    Open and honest communication is always the gold standard in helping tweens and teens work through the messaging and behaviors they internalize. When families talk about what they see and hear online, on podcasts, on TV, and in print, they normalize the process of engaging in critical thinking — and it can be a really great shared connection between parents and teens.

    “Teaching media literacy skills is a helpful way to frame the conversation,” says Talib. “Talk openly about it.”

    She suggests asking the following questions when discussing people’s messaging around diet culture:

    ● Who are they?

    ● What do you think their angle is?

    ● What do you think their message is?

    ● Are they a medical professional or are they trying to sell you something?

    ● Are they promoting a fitness program or a supplement that they are marketing?

    Talking to tweens and teens about this throughout the season — and at any time — brings a taboo topic to the forefront and makes it easier for your kids to share their inner thoughts with you.

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  • Academy Awards Fast Facts | CNN

    Academy Awards Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here is some background information about the Academy Awards, also known as the “Oscars.”

    March 10, 2024 – The 96th Annual Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place, with Jimmy Kimmel hosting.

    March 12, 2023 – The 95th Annual Academy Awards ceremony takes place, with Jimmy Kimmel hosting.

    Best Picture

    “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

    Actor in a Leading Role

    Brendan Fraser, “The Whale”

    Actress in a Leading Role

    Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

    Actor in a Supporting Role

    Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

    Actress in a Supporting Role

    Jamie Lee Curtis, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

    Director

    Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

    The full list of winners

    Best Picture
    “CODA”

    Actor in a Leading Role
    Will Smith, “King Richard”

    Actress in a Leading Role
    Jessica Chastain, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”

    Actress in a Supporting Role
    Ariana DeBose, “West Side Story”

    Actor in a Supporting Role
    Troy Kotsur, “CODA”

    Director
    Jane Campion, “The Power of the Dog”

    The full list of winners

    PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm has tallied the ballots since 1934. Newspaper headlines announced the winners before the ceremony until 1941, when the sealed envelope system was put in place. Prior to a PwC envelope mix-up in 2017, when an error was made during the award announcement for Best Picture, only two partners from the firm knew the results until the envelopes were opened. After 2017, new procedures were adopted, which include adding a third balloting partner to also memorize the list of winners. The third partner sits with Oscar producers in the control room while the other two balloting partners are posted on opposite sides of the stage. Additionally, the PwC partners are prohibited from using cellphones and social media backstage during the show.

    Walt Disney is the most honored person in Oscar history. He received 59 nominations and 26 competitive awards throughout his career.

    Composer John Williams is the most nominated living person – 52 nominations (including five wins).

    Meryl Streep is the most nominated performer in Academy history with 21 nominations.

    Jack Nicholson is the most nominated male performer in Academy history with 12 nominations.

    Katharine Hepburn had the most Oscar wins for a performer, with four.

    Daniel Day-Lewis is the only person to have three Best Actor Oscars.

    Tatum O’Neal is the youngest person to ever win a competitive Oscar at 10 years, 148 days old.

    Only three films have won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Writing: in 1934, “It Happened One Night”; in 1975, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”; and in 1991, “The Silence of the Lambs.”

    No one film has ever taken home all six top prizes, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress.

    Scientific and Technical Awards are given out in a separate ceremony for methods, discoveries or inventions that contribute to the arts and sciences of motion pictures.

    May 16, 1929 – The first Academy Awards are held in the Blossom Room at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Tickets cost $5.

    1929 – The first Best Picture award goes to “Wings.”

    1929 – The first statuette ever presented is to Emil Jannings, for his Best Actor performance in “The Last Command.”

    1937 – The first presentation of the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award is given to Darryl F. Zanuck.

    1938 – Due to extensive flooding in Los Angeles, the ceremony is delayed for one week.

    March 19, 1953 – First televised ceremony is from the Pantages Theater in Hollywood.

    1966 – The awards are first broadcast in color.

    1968 – Due to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the ceremony is moved forward two days as the original date is the day of King’s funeral.

    1976-present – ABC broadcasts the Oscars.

    1981 – Due to the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, the ceremony is postponed 24 hours.

    2001 – The Best Animated Feature Film category is added.

    June 23, 2009 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces that beginning in 2010, 10 films will receive nominations in the Best Picture category, instead of five.

    June 26, 2009 – The Academy announces that beginning in 2010, new rules governing the Best Song category may eliminate that category in any given year. Also, the Irving G. Thalberg and Jean Hersholt honorary awards will be given at a separate ceremony in November.

    June 14, 2011 – The Academy announces new rules governing the Best Picture category, the number of movies nominated may vary from 5 – 10 in any given year and will not be known until the nominees are announced. The new rule goes into effect in 2012.

    November 9, 2011 – Eddie Murphy drops out as host of the Oscars in February 2012, one day after producer Brett Ratner quits the show, because of a remark he made that was considered homophobic.

    January 18, 2016 – Following criticism two years in a row about the lack of diversity with Oscar nominees, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the president of the Academy, issues a statement saying that “in the coming days and weeks we will conduct a review of our membership recruitment in order to bring about much-needed diversity in our 2016 class and beyond.”

    January 24, 2017 – The romantic musical, “La La Land,” picks up 14 Oscar nominations, tying the record held by “All About Eve” and “Titanic.” After complaints in 2016 about a lack of diversity, six Black actors receive nominations for their performances, a record.

    February 26, 2017 – Following the moment “La La Land” is mistakenly announced as best picture, “Moonlight” becomes the first film with an all-Black cast to win the Academy Award for best picture. Additionally, Mahershala Ali is the first Muslim actor to win best supporting actor.

    August 8, 2018 – In a letter to members, the Academy announces that it is adding a new category in 2019 for outstanding achievement in popular film. The letter doesn’t specify the criteria for a “popular” film.

    September 6, 2018 – The Academy announces that it is rethinking the decision to add a popular film category. Academy CEO Dawn Hudson says in a statement, “There has been a wide range of reactions to the introduction of a new award, and we recognize the need for further discussion with our members.”

    December 6, 2018 – Kevin Hart steps down from hosting the Oscars after past homophobic tweets surface.

    February 5, 2019 – ABC confirms that the Academy Awards will be hostless. This will be the first time in 30 years that the ceremony will be without a host.

    February 9, 2020 – “Parasite” becomes the first non-English film to win an Oscar for Best Picture. It is also the first film to win both Best International Feature and Best Picture.

    February 9, 2020 – The 92nd Academy Awards draws an average of 23.6 million views, the lowest ratings in the show’s history.

    June 15, 2020 – For the first time in 40 years, the Academy postpones the 93rd Oscars. The last time the Oscars were postponed was in 1981, when the ceremony was delayed 24 hours because of an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. In addition to the delay, the Academy agrees to extend the eligibility window for films, which usually corresponds to the calendar year. For the 2021 Oscars, the new window will be extended until February 28, 2021.

    September 8, 2020 – The Academy announces that movies must meet certain criteria in terms of representation in order to be eligible for the Academy Award for best picture beginning in 2024. Introduced under an initiative called Aperture 2025, the organization says the goal is to “encourage equitable representation on and off screen in order to better reflect the diversity of the movie-going audience.”

    April 25, 2021 – Yuh-jung Youn is named best supporting actress for her role in “Minari” and becomes the first Korean actress to win an Oscar. Chloe Zhao is named best director for “Nomadland” and becomes the first woman of color and the first woman of Asian descent to earn the award. She is also only the second woman to win.

    May 27, 2021 – The Academy announces that the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony will be held in March 2022, a month later than originally scheduled.

    March 27, 2022 – Will Smith slaps Chris Rock on the face after Rock makes a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head while presenting the award for best documentary. Smith then says “Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth!” twice. Censors muted the verbal part of the exchange for viewers at home in the United States.

    March 12, 2023 – Michelle Yeoh is named best actress for her role in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” becoming the first woman of Asian descent to win the award.

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  • Grammy Awards Fast Facts | CNN

    Grammy Awards Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here is a look at the Grammy Awards.

    February 4, 2024 – The The 66th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place in Los Angeles at the Crypto.com Arena.

    February 5, 2023 – The 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony takes place in Los Angeles at the Crypto.com Arena.

    Album of the Year
    “World Music Radio,” Jon Batiste
    “the record,” boygenius
    “Endless Summer Vacation,” Miley Cyrus
    “Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd,” Lana Del Rey
    “The Age Of Pleasure,” Janelle Monáe
    “GUTS,” Olivia Rodrigo
    “Midnights,” Taylor Swift
    “SOS,” SZA

    Record of the Year
    “Worship,” Jon Batiste
    “Not Strong Enough,” boygenius
    “Flowers,” Miley Cyrus
    “What Was I Made For?,” Billie Eilish
    “On My Mama,” Victoria Monét
    “Vampire,” Olivia Rodrigo
    “Anti-Hero,” Taylor Swift
    “Kill Bill,” SZA

    Song of the Year
    “A&W,” Lana Del Rey
    “Anti-Hero,” Taylor Swift
    “Butterfly,” Jon Batiste
    “Dance The Night,” Dua Lipa
    “Flowers,” Miley Cyrus
    “Kill Bill,” SZA
    “Vampire,” Olivia Rodrigo
    “What Was I Made For?,” Billie Eilish

    Best New Artist
    Gracie Abrams
    Fred again..
    Ice Spice
    Jelly Roll
    Coco Jones
    Noah Kahan
    Victoria Monét
    The War And Treaty

    Complete List of Nominees

    Album of the Year
    “Harry’s House,” Harry Styles

    Record of the Year
    “About Damn Time,” Lizzo

    Song of the Year
    “Just Like That,” Bonnie Raitt

    Best New Artist
    Samara Joy

    Complete List of Winners

    1957 – The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, also known as The Recording Academy, is founded in Los Angeles.

    May 4, 1959 – The first Grammy Awards ceremony is held. Winners included Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie and Perry Como.

    1963 – Bing Crosby receives the first Lifetime Achievement Award.

    1971 – Andy Williams hosts the first live Grammy Awards telecast at the Hollywood Palladium.

    1973 – The Grammy Hall of Fame is established.

    1983 – The music video category is added.

    1984 – The Reggae category is added.

    1987 – The New Age category is added.

    1988 – The Rap category is added.

    1988 – The Grammy Foundation is established.

    1990 – The Alternative category is added.

    1993 – The Recording Academy opens its new national headquarters in Santa Monica, California.

    1994 – The Technical Award is established.

    1997 – The Latin Recording Academy is established.

    September 13, 2000 – The first Latin Grammy Awards are presented.

    December 2008 – The Grammy Museum opens in Los Angeles.

    June 2020 – The Recording Academy announces changes to its awards and nominations process, including no longer using the term “urban” to describe music of black origin in its awards. The changes are made as part of the organization’s “commitment to evolve with the musical landscape.”

    January 5, 2021 – According to a joint statement from the Recording Academy, CBS and show producers, the Grammy Awards, originally scheduled for January 31, are postponed until March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    January 5, 2022 – Organizers of the Grammy Awards, scheduled for January 31, postpone the event for a second year in a row, citing the current Covid-19 surge.

    February 5, 2023 – Beyoncé becomes the most awarded artist in Grammys history, with a record 32 wins. The award that put her over the edge was best dance/electronic album, which she won for her record “Renaissance.”

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  • Sophia Loren Fast Facts | CNN

    Sophia Loren Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at the life of award-winning screen legend Sophia Loren.

    Birth date: September 20, 1934

    Birth place: Rome, Italy (grew up in Pozzuoli, outside of Naples)

    Birth name: Sofia Villani Scicolone

    Father: Riccardo Scicolone

    Mother: Romilda Villani

    Marriages: Carlo Ponti (April 9, 1966-January 10, 2007, his death; September 17, 1957-September 3, 1962, annulled)

    Children: Edoardo, Carlo Jr.

    At six, her chin was cut by shrapnel during a bombing in World War II.

    Other screen names used before becoming Sophia Loren were Sofia Lazzaro and Sofia Scicolone.

    Nominated for two Academy Awards and won one. She also received an honorary award.

    Nominated for eight Golden Globes and won five. She also received the honorary Cecil B. DeMille Award.

    Nominated for one Grammy Award and won.

    An accomplished cook, she has written three cookbooks.

    1949 – Enters the Queen of the Sea beauty contest and comes in second, winning a train ticket to Rome, where she begins modeling and acting in B-movies.

    Early 1950s – Is the runner-up in a nightclub beauty contest for Miss Rome. Movie producer Carlo Ponti is one of the judges.

    1951 – Makes her US film debut as an uncredited extra, with no lines, in the film “Quo Vadis?”

    Early 1950s – Adopts the last name Loren.

    October 23, 1953 – “Aida” opens; it’s her first major leading role.

    1957 – Loren appears in her first English-speaking leading role, “The Pride and the Passion.” She learns her lines by using cue cards of English words written phonetically.

    1962 – Wins the Best Actress Academy Award for “La ciociara (Two Women).”

    September 3, 1962 – Her marriage of almost five years to Carlo Ponti is annulled. Neither the Vatican nor Italian law recognizes Ponti’s 1957 divorce by proxy from Giuliana Ponti. Loren and Ponti are forced to annul their marriage after warrants for their arrest are issued.

    1964 – Stars in the movie, “Matrimonio all’italiana (Marriage Italian Style).” Nominated for an Academy Award.

    1964-1965 – Moves to France with Carlo Ponti and becomes a French citizen.

    1965 – Giuliana Ponti obtains a French divorce recognized by Italian law.

    April 9, 1966 – Loren and Carlo Ponti marry for the second time.

    July 24, 1968 – Loren and Ponti cleared of bigamy charges by Rome’s criminal court.

    January 23, 1979 – Loren is tried (in absentia), and acquitted, of complicity with Ponti in income tax evasion, misuse of government subsidies, and illegal export of Italian funds and artwork. Carlo Ponti is convicted and sentenced to four years in prison (two years were pardoned) and fined 22 billion lire ($24 million). All charges against him were cleared in 1987.

    1980 – Portrays both herself and her mother in the made-for-TV movie “Sophia Loren: Her Own Story,” based on her 1979 autobiography, “Sophia: Living and Loving, Her Own Story,” written with A. E. Hotchner.

    May 20, 1982 – Loren begins her 30-day jail term for tax evasion, for unpaid supplementary taxes for 1963-1964.

    June 5, 1982 – Serves 17 days of her 30-day jail term.

    1991 – Receives Honorary Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

    2003 – Winner, Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children (along with Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev) for reading Prokofiev’s “Peter and The Wolf.”

    2009 – Appears in the movie “Nine,” her first role in five years.

    November 2014 – Loren’s memoir, “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: My Life,” is published.

    November 13, 2020 – “The Life Ahead” premieres on Netflix. The film stars Loren and is directed by her son, Edoardo Ponti.

    April 2021 – Loren opens Sophia Loren Original Italian Food, a restaurant and pizzeria, in Florence, Italy.

    September 24, 2023 – Is taken to hospital for surgery after falling in her home and suffering several fractures to her hip and thighbone.

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  • Screen Actors Guild Fast Facts | CNN

    Screen Actors Guild Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at the Screen Actors Guild. In 2012, a merger was completed between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). The SAG-AFTRA labor union has more than 160,000 members.

    June 30, 1933 – Articles of incorporation are filed. The guild is formed to get better working conditions for actors.

    1935 – Granted an American Federation of Labor charter.

    May 1937 – In order to prevent a strike, producers sign a contract with the guild ensuring minimum pay and recognizing the guild.

    1943 – Actress Olivia de Havilland sues Warner Brothers studio for extending her contract. She later wins her case.

    1945 – The US Supreme Court hands down the “de Havilland decision,” which declares that studios may no longer hold contract players for more than seven years. This breaks up the system of the studio maintaining control over an actor’s career.

    1952 – The Guild signs its first contracts for filmed television programs.

    December 1, 1952-February 18, 1953 – The first SAG strike is over filmed television commercials. The strike ends with a contract that covers all work in commercials.

    August 5-15, 1955 – SAG holds its second strike. This time for increased television show residuals.

    March 7, 1960-April 18, 1960 – Third strike over residuals for feature films sold, licensed, or released to television.

    December 19, 1978-February 7, 1979 – SAG strikes for better residuals on television advertisements.

    July 21, 1980-October 23, 1980 – SAG strikes with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). This strike centers on the distribution of profits from pay television and video cassette production.

    March 21, 1988-April 15, 1988 – SAG and AFTRA television commercials strike. The strike is over payment for commercials appearing on cable TV.

    February 25, 1995 – The first annual Screen Actors Guild Awards show is held.

    May 1, 2000-October 30, 2000 – SAG and AFTRA strike against the advertising industry over commercial work compensation for basic cable and internet.

    July 1, 2008 – SAG’s TV/theatrical agreement expires.

    November 22, 2008 – Talks between SAG and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) end after federal mediation fails to jumpstart a five-month stalemate.

    January 26, 2009 – SAG chief negotiator Doug Allen is fired in a bid by the union’s moderate faction to re-enter contract talks with the studios.

    April 19, 2009 – SAG leadership split 53% – 47% to accept a new two-year contract with AMPTP.

    June 9, 2009 – Members ratify the two-year contract covering television and motion pictures.

    January 29, 2012 – Ken Howard, president of the guild, announces during the SAG Awards, that the merger between SAG and AFTRA has been approved by both groups.

    March 30, 2012 – The merger of SAG and AFTRA is completed with more than 80% approval from both unions. The one union is named SAG-AFTRA.

    January 27, 2013 – The first SAG Awards are held under the union banner “SAG-AFTRA One Union.”

    March 23, 2016 – SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard dies. Executive Vice President Gabrielle Carteris assumes his duties until the regularly scheduled national board meeting April 9.

    April 9, 2016 – Carteris is elected president. She will serve the balance of Howard’s unexpired term, which ends in 2017.

    August 24, 2017 – Carteris is elected to a two-year term as president.

    February 10, 2018 – SAG-AFTRA introduces new guidelines for members, called “Four Pillars of Change,” aimed at fighting sexual harassment in the workplace.

    September 2, 2021 – Actress Fran Drescher is elected to a two-year term as president.

    July 14, 2023 – SAG-AFTRA goes on strike after talks with major studios and streaming services have failed. It is the first time its members have stopped work since 1980. On November 8, SAG-AFTRA and the studios reach a tentative agreement, officially ending the strike.

    Ralph Morgan 1933, 1938-1940
    Eddie Cantor 1933-1935
    Robert Montgomery 1935-1938, 1946-1947
    Edward Arnold 1940-1942
    James Cagney 1942-1944
    George Murphy 1944-1946
    Ronald Reagan 1947-1952, 1959-1960
    Walter Pidgeon 1952-1957
    Leon Ames 1957-1958
    Howard Keel 1958-1959
    George Chandler 1960-963
    Dana Andrews 1963-1965
    Charlton Heston 1965-1971
    John Gavin 1971-1973
    Dennis Weaver 1973-1975
    Kathleen Nolan 1975-1979
    William Schallert 1979-1981
    Ed Asner 1981-1985
    Patty Duke 1985-1988
    Barry Gordon 1988-1995
    Richard Masur 1995-1999
    William Daniels 1999-2001
    Melissa Gilbert 2001-2005
    Alan Rosenberg 2005-2009
    Ken Howard 2009-2016
    Gabrielle Carteris-2016-2021
    Fran Drescher 2021-present

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