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Tag: Children's entertainment

  • For Buffalo shooting victims’ kin, Mother’s Day is a reminder of loss, a lesson in navigating grief

    For Buffalo shooting victims’ kin, Mother’s Day is a reminder of loss, a lesson in navigating grief

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    BUFFALO, N.Y. — Tirzah Patterson will dedicate this Mother’s Day to the hardest part of a mother’s job, trying to help her child make sense of tragedy.

    Patterson and her husband had divorced but remained close for the sake of their son. Then Heyward Patterson was gunned down along with nine people in a racist attack at a Buffalo supermarket a year ago Sunday.

    Tirzah and 13-year-old Jaques “Jake” Patterson recently opened up about coping with immense grief after a mass shooting, an unceasing story across the nation.

    Jake’s compass through grief, his mother has told him, should be his faith and prayer. That guidance would serve so many mothers and fathers as the death toll from gun violence in America climbs and spreads, she said.

    A beloved church deacon known for offering rides home from the supermarket for people without cars, Heyward Patterson made a heartfelt call to his ex-wife last Mother’s Day, telling his ex-wife what a great mother she was and how happy he was about how she was raising his son.

    “He poured his heart out to me and, a week later, he left,” Patterson said. “He gave me closure.”

    “He probably didn’t know why he was doing it,” she said. “God knows.”

    The May 14 assault-rifle attack on Tops Friendly Market was one of the most brazen race-motivated atrocities in modern U.S. history.

    “What I’ve been doing with Jake is constantly reinforcing and reiterating that this is a healing process,” Tirzah said while seated next to her son in their East Buffalo home.

    “You will never forget (your dad). He may not be here physically, but he will always be in your heart.”

    Heyward Patterson, 67, had two adult daughters. Jake, his youngest child, was his only son.

    “He used to call him, ‘Boy.’ He never called him by his name,” Tirzah recalled as a wide grin spread across her son’s face.

    “I would say, ‘You’re going to make that boy think his name is Boy!’”

    “He’s truly missed,” she added.

    Heyward was at the Tops Friendly Market assisting a shopper with groceries when he was shot and killed by an assault-rifle-toting white supremacist. The nine others killed, all Black, ranged in age from 32 to 86. The attacker, Payton Gendron, was 18 when he drove more than 200 miles from his home in rural New York, looking for Black people to kill in Buffalo’s largely minority and working-class East side.

    In February, Gendron was sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to murder and other charges brought by local prosecutors. A federal criminal hate crimes case is still pending, as U.S. Justice Department officials weigh whether to seek the death penalty if Gendron is convicted.

    The city of Buffalo will pause Sunday to mark the passing of one year since the attack. Events include a moment of silence and the chiming of church bells. Tirzah said she and Jake hadn’t planned on participating in events locally.

    She hasn’t burdened Jake with details of the criminal cases. Tirzah is much more focused on her son’s mental health.

    “Right now, he’s being very fearful, very low key. He doesn’t really like to go out,” she said. “So I’m trying to teach him that that one incident doesn’t mean it’s going to happen all the time, or if you go out, something’s going to happen.

    “I want him to grow up and be the best he can, because he’s very smart, very gifted.”

    Nearly a year ago, during a press conference with the Rev. Al Sharpton, civil rights attorney Ben Crump and other shooting victims’ families, a grief-stricken Tirzah wondered whether she was cut out to raise Jake without her ex-husband’s help.

    “His heart is broken, he half eats, he half sleeps,” she tearfully told reporters, with Jake, then 12, at her side, his face covered with his hands.

    “As a mother, what am I supposed to do to help him get through this? I need a village to help me raise and be here for my son,” she pleaded.

    In the AP interview, Jake said his appetite is much improved. His go-to McDonald’s order includes a crispy McChicken sandwich, a large fries and a large Coke.

    He’s an avid gamer. On the weekends, his older brother, Tirzah’s son from another relationship, takes Jake to kickboxing lessons. And the teen is interested in becoming a musician.

    Heyward Patterson had a talent for singing in church. His son still cries when he hears certain songs during Sunday service. But other memories bring smiles and laughs.

    Heyward was not a talented cook, Jake said laughing, recalling how his father once badly burned Spam, the canned meat. Jake’s trips to the movies with Dad and Mom were always funny, because Heyward would spill so much theater popcorn around his seat that you’d be forgiven for thinking children had been sitting there.

    Still, there are moments where grief and sadness hit Jake unexpectedly. As an adolescent, he copes the best way he can and has advice for others his age grappling with the same feelings.

    “I would just say, don’t really think about it too much. If you feel like it’s about to come, if you feel you’re about to cry or something, play (a game) or listen to some music to escape. Get your mind to escape from it.”

    Jake paused and then added, “Just keep moving on.”

    At Tirzah and Jake’s home, an apartment located just a few blocks northeast of Tops Friendly Market, several award plaques honoring Heyward lean against a TV stand. A large picture of the church deacon, displayed on an easel, overlooks the kitchen. The placement of these reminders of him are all deliberate, Tirzah said.

    One memento that Jake cherishes more than others is a large woven blanket that bears an image of him and his father: a smiling Heyward sporting a black skull cap, a pair of tinted glasses, a salt-and-pepper goatee, a tan colored check patterned suit with pink necktie and handkerchief.

    An inscription woven next to Jake and his dad reads, in part, “My Father taught me everything I know except how to live without him.”

    “I haven’t slept with this cover yet, Mom,” Jake said, holding the blanket up for display. “It’s just on the bed.”

    This Mother’s Day, the 13-year-old has a glowing review, or rather a score, for his mom. Nine thousand points out of a possible 10,000, he said.

    Tirzah grinned.

    “What keeps us going is the joy, the memories, the good memories we have, the laughter,” she said. “So, anybody that experiences this: Pray, keep God first and just take one day at a time. Because after a while, it’ll get better.”

    ___

    Aaron Morrison is a New York-based member of the AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. Follow him on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/aaronlmorrison

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  • For turning ‘mines to vines,’ founder of Roots of Peace wins World Food Prize

    For turning ‘mines to vines,’ founder of Roots of Peace wins World Food Prize

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    DES MOINES, Iowa — A California peace activist who has worked to remove land mines from war-torn regions and replace them with grape vines, fruit trees and vegetables was named the 2023 World Food Prize laureate Thursday at a ceremony in Washington.

    The Des Moines, Iowa-based foundation awarded its annual prize to Heidi Kühn, founder of Roots of Peace. Since founding her nonprofit in the basement of her San Rafael, California, home in 1997, Kühn’s organization has helped remove thousands of mines and assist farmers in more than a half-dozen countries. The group recently signed an initial agreement to begin work in Ukraine.

    Kühn, 65, said she formed the idea of starting her group after hosting an event at her home for dignitaries advocating for the eradication of land mines.

    “Looking back on it, perhaps it was a vision of turning blood into wine, killing fields into vineyards and hatred into love,” Kühn said in an interview last week.

    Kühn was named the winner of the prize, which carries a $250,000 award, at an event featuring Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and Terry Branstad, the World Food Prize Foundation president and former U.S. ambassador to China. Kühn, who was visiting minefields in Azerbaijan when the award was announced, will be formally given the prize at an event in October in Des Moines.

    “Her work shows the world the vital role that agriculture must have in the resilient recovery from conflict to restoration of peace,” Branstad said during the announcement. “For making her mission to turn mines to vines, I am so pleased to announce that the 2023 World Food Prize laureate is Heidi Kühn.”

    Kühn said she created her nonprofit after becoming sick with cancer at age 30 while heading a TV production company and raising three children, ages 1, 3 and 5.

    “My little prayer was, ‘Dear God, grant me the gift of life and I will do something special with it,’” said Kühn, who survived the cancer and had another child.

    After learning about the world’s estimated 60 million land mines, and in part inspired by Princess Diana’s efforts to ban the explosives, Kühn said she met with vintners in California’s Napa Valley and began a fledgling effort that has steadily grown over the decades.

    Roots of Peace started in Croatia and then went on to establish programs in Afghanistan, Angola, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Israel, Iraq, Palestinian areas, and Vietnam.

    Besides lining up crews to remove mines, Roots of Peace completes market assessments to help determine how farmers can make a living off the newly cleared land. In Vietnam, for example, the group helped plant more than a million pepper trees that resulted in a harvest of high-grade pepper that is now sent to the U.S.

    While her organization has become established with funding from a variety of government and private sources, Kühn said, her transition from raising four young children to heading an international mine-clearing organization still can seem strange, even to her.

    “It is rather bizarre to be raising four kids, and then their mother is going off to a mind field,” Kühn said. “It is unusual.”

    Norman Borlaug, an Iowa native who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work to alleviate hunger through wheat research and other efforts, established the World Food Prize in 1986. The award has been given to 52 people in honor of their achievements in improving the quality, quantity and availability of the world’s food supply.

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  • Utah author of book on grieving death charged with murder

    Utah author of book on grieving death charged with murder

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    A Utah woman who wrote a children’s book about dealing with grief after her husband died last year was charged with his murder by prosecutors who say the man died from a fentanyl overdose

    BySAM METZ Asociated Press

    SALT LAKE CITY — After her husband died last year, she wrote a children’s book on grief. Now she’s charged with his murder.

    Kouri Richins was arrested on Monday in Utah and is accused in charging documents of poisoning her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl at their home in Kamas, a small mountain town near Park City.

    Prosecutors allege that Richins called authorities in the middle of the night in March 2022 to report that her husband, Eric Richins, was “cold to the touch.” The mother of three told officers that she had made her husband a mixed vodka drink to celebrate him selling a home and then went to soothe one of their children to sleep in their bedroom. She later returned and upon finding her husband unresponsive, called 911.

    A medical examiner later found five times the lethal dosage of fentanyl in his system.

    In addition to the murder charge, Richins also faces charges involving the alleged possession of GHB — a narcolepsy drug frequently used in recreational settings, including at dance clubs.

    The charges — which are based on officers’ interactions with Richins that night and the account of an “unnamed acquaintance” who claims to have sold her the fentanyl — come two months after Richins appeared on local television to promote “Are you with me?” a picture book she wrote to help children cope after the death of a loved one.

    For a segment entitled “Good Things Utah,” Richins called her husband’s death unexpected and described how it sent her and her three boys reeling. For children, she said, grieving was about “making sure that their spirit is always alive in your home.”

    “It’s — you know — explaining to my kid just because he’s not present here with us physically, doesn’t mean his presence isn’t here with us,” she told the anchors, who commended her for being an amazing mother.

    Richins’ attorney, Skye Lazaro, declined to comment on the charges.

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  • Ex-FCC chief, public TV advocate Newton Minow dead at 97

    Ex-FCC chief, public TV advocate Newton Minow dead at 97

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    CHICAGO — Newton N. Minow, who as Federal Communications Commission chief in the early 1960s famously proclaimed that network television was a “vast wasteland,” died Saturday. He was 97.

    Minow, who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, died Saturday at home, surrounded by loved ones, said his daughter, Nell Minow.

    “He wanted to be at home,” she told The Associated Press. “He had a good life.”

    Though Minow remained in the FCC post just two years, he left a permanent stamp on the broadcasting industry through government steps to foster satellite communications, the passage of a law mandating UHF reception on TV sets and his outspoken advocacy for quality in television.

    “My faith is in the belief that this country needs and can support many voices of television — and that the more voices we hear, the better, the richer, the freer we shall be,” Minow once said. “After all, the airways belong to the people.”

    Minow was appointed as FCC chief by President John F. Kennedy in early 1961. He had initially come to know the Kennedys in the 1950s as an aide to Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson, the Democrats’ presidential nominee in 1952 and 1956.

    Minow laid down his famous challenge to TV executives on May 9, 1961, in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, urging them to sit down and watch their station for a full day, “without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit-and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you.”

    “I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland,” he told them. “You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, Western bad men, Western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials — many screaming, cajoling and offending.”

    As he spoke, the three networks were just about all most viewers had to choose from. Pay television was barely in the planning stage, PBS and “Sesame Street” were several years away, and HBO and niche channels such as Animal Planet were far in the future.

    The speech caused a sensation. “Vast wasteland” became a catch phrase. Jimmy Durante opened an NBC special by saying, “Da next hour will be dedicated to upliftin’ da quality of television. … At least, Newt, we’re tryin’.”

    Minow became the first government official to get a George Foster Peabody award for excellence in broadcasting. The New York Times critic Jack Gould (himself a Peabody winner) wrote, “At long last there is a man in Washington who proposes to champion the interests of the public in TV matters and is not timid about ruffling the industry’s most august feathers. Tonight some broadcasters were trying to find dark explanations for Mr. Minow’s attitude. In this matter the viewer possibly can be a little helpful; Mr. Minow has been watching television.”

    CBS President Frank Stanton strongly disagreed, calling Minow’s comments a “sensationalized and oversimplified approach” that could lead to ill-advised reforms “on the ground that any change is a change for the better.”

    For the criticism over his speech, Minow said he didn’t support censorship, preferring exhortation and measures to broaden public choices. But he also said a broadcasting license was “an enormous gift” from the government that brought with it a responsibility to the public.

    His daughter, Nell Minow, told The Associated Press in 2011 that her father loved television and wished he would have been remembered for championing the public interest in television programming, rather than just a few words in his much broader speech.

    “His No. 1 goal was to give people choice,” she said.

    Among the new laws during his tenure were the All-Channel Receiver Act of 1962, that required that TV sets pick up UHF as well as VHF broadcasts, which opened up TV channels numbered above 13 for widespread viewing. Congress also passed a bill that provided funds for educational television, and measures to foster communications satellites.

    In a September 2006 interview on National Public Radio, Minow recalled telling Kennedy that such satellites were “more important than sending a man into space. … Communications satellites will send ideas into space, and ideas live longer than people.” On July 10, 1962, Minow was one of the officials making statements on the first live trans-Atlantic television program, a demonstration of AT&T’s Telstar satellite.

    Children’s programming was a particular interest of Minow, a father of three, who told broadcasters the few good children’s shows were “drowned out in the massive doses of cartoons, violence and more violence. … Search your consciences and see if you cannot offer more to your young beneficiaries whose future you guide so many hours each and every day.”

    Minow resigned in May 1963 to become executive vice president and general counsel for Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. in Chicago.

    Nell Minow said her father also was instrumental in getting presidential debates televised, starting with Kennedy and Richard N. Nixon, after watching Stevenson struggle to use the new medium during his 1956 presidential run.

    “Minow was appalled by … the whole charade of having to image-make on television,” said Craig Allen, a mass communications professor at Arizona State University who wrote a 2001 book about Minow.

    In 1965, Minow returned to his law practice in Chicago, and later served as board member at PBS, CBS Inc. and the advertising company Foote Cone & Belding Communications Inc. He was director of the Annenberg Washington Program in Communications Policy Studies of Northwestern University.

    He also gave Barack Obama a summer job at the law firm, where the future president met his wife, Michelle Robinson. Minow also was one of Obama’s earliest supporters when the then-Illinois senator considered running for president, Nell Minow said.

    Television is one of our century’s most important advances “and yet, as a nation, we pay no attention to it,” Minow said in a 1991 Associated Press interview.

    He continued to push for reforms such as free airtime for political ads and more quality programming while also praising advances in diversity in U.S. television.

    “In 1961, I worried that my children would not benefit much from television. But in 1991 I worry that my grandchildren will actually be harmed by it,” he said.

    ___

    Former Associated Press writer Polly Anderson in New York contributed to this story.

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  • Ex-FCC chief, public TV advocate Newton Minow dead at 97

    Ex-FCC chief, public TV advocate Newton Minow dead at 97

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    CHICAGO — Newton N. Minow, who as Federal Communications Commission chief in the early 1960s famously proclaimed that network television was a “vast wasteland,” died Saturday. He was 97.

    Minow, who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, died Saturday at home, surrounded by loved ones, said his daughter, Nell Minow.

    “He wanted to be at home,” she told The Associated Press. “He had a good life.”

    Though Minow remained in the FCC post just two years, he left a permanent stamp on the broadcasting industry through government steps to foster satellite communications, the passage of a law mandating UHF reception on TV sets and his outspoken advocacy for quality in television.

    “My faith is in the belief that this country needs and can support many voices of television — and that the more voices we hear, the better, the richer, the freer we shall be,” Minow once said. “After all, the airways belong to the people.”

    Minow was appointed as FCC chief by President John F. Kennedy in early 1961. He had initially come to know the Kennedys in the 1950s as an aide to Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson, the Democrats’ presidential nominee in 1952 and 1956.

    Minow laid down his famous challenge to TV executives on May 9, 1961, in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, urging them to sit down and watch their station for a full day, “without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit-and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you.”

    “I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland,” he told them. “You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, Western bad men, Western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials — many screaming, cajoling and offending.”

    As he spoke, the three networks were just about all most viewers had to choose from. Pay television was barely in the planning stage, PBS and “Sesame Street” were several years away, and HBO and niche channels such as Animal Planet were far in the future.

    The speech caused a sensation. “Vast wasteland” became a catch phrase. Jimmy Durante opened an NBC special by saying, “Da next hour will be dedicated to upliftin’ da quality of television. … At least, Newt, we’re tryin’.”

    Minow became the first government official to get a George Foster Peabody award for excellence in broadcasting. The New York Times critic Jack Gould (himself a Peabody winner) wrote, “At long last there is a man in Washington who proposes to champion the interests of the public in TV matters and is not timid about ruffling the industry’s most august feathers. Tonight some broadcasters were trying to find dark explanations for Mr. Minow’s attitude. In this matter the viewer possibly can be a little helpful; Mr. Minow has been watching television.”

    CBS President Frank Stanton strongly disagreed, calling Minow’s comments a “sensationalized and oversimplified approach” that could lead to ill-advised reforms “on the ground that any change is a change for the better.”

    For the criticism over his speech, Minow said he didn’t support censorship, preferring exhortation and measures to broaden public choices. But he also said a broadcasting license was “an enormous gift” from the government that brought with it a responsibility to the public.

    His daughter, Nell Minow, told The Associated Press in 2011 that her father loved television and wished he would have been remembered for championing the public interest in television programming, rather than just a few words in his much broader speech.

    “His No. 1 goal was to give people choice,” she said.

    Among the new laws during his tenure were the All-Channel Receiver Act of 1962, that required that TV sets pick up UHF as well as VHF broadcasts, which opened up TV channels numbered above 13 for widespread viewing. Congress also passed a bill that provided funds for educational television, and measures to foster communications satellites.

    In a September 2006 interview on National Public Radio, Minow recalled telling Kennedy that such satellites were “more important than sending a man into space. … Communications satellites will send ideas into space, and ideas live longer than people.” On July 10, 1962, Minow was one of the officials making statements on the first live trans-Atlantic television program, a demonstration of AT&T’s Telstar satellite.

    Children’s programming was a particular interest of Minow, a father of three, who told broadcasters the few good children’s shows were “drowned out in the massive doses of cartoons, violence and more violence. … Search your consciences and see if you cannot offer more to your young beneficiaries whose future you guide so many hours each and every day.”

    Minow resigned in May 1963 to become executive vice president and general counsel for Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. in Chicago.

    Nell Minow said her father also was instrumental in getting presidential debates televised, starting with Kennedy and Richard N. Nixon, after watching Stevenson struggle to use the new medium during his 1956 presidential run.

    “Minow was appalled by … the whole charade of having to image-make on television,” said Craig Allen, a mass communications professor at Arizona State University who wrote a 2001 book about Minow.

    In 1965, Minow returned to his law practice in Chicago, and later served as board member at PBS, CBS Inc. and the advertising company Foote Cone & Belding Communications Inc. He was director of the Annenberg Washington Program in Communications Policy Studies of Northwestern University.

    He also gave Barack Obama a summer job at the law firm, where the future president met his wife, Michelle Robinson. Minow also was one of Obama’s earliest supporters when the then-Illinois senator considered running for president, Nell Minow said.

    Television is one of our century’s most important advances “and yet, as a nation, we pay no attention to it,” Minow said in a 1991 Associated Press interview.

    He continued to push for reforms such as free airtime for political ads and more quality programming while also praising advances in diversity in U.S. television.

    “In 1961, I worried that my children would not benefit much from television. But in 1991 I worry that my grandchildren will actually be harmed by it,” he said.

    ___

    Former Associated Press writer Polly Anderson in New York contributed to this story.

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  • ‘Ramadan Camp’ reaches Muslim children across the globe

    ‘Ramadan Camp’ reaches Muslim children across the globe

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    Amin Aaser remembers as a child growing up in Minnesota that his Muslim faith often made him feel like an outsider, and being required to follow its practices and tenets “sometimes felt like going to the dentist.”

    Those memories are part of what spurred Aaser, now a married man with a 5-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son, to spend Ramadan producing an online, interactive “Ramadan Camp” for Muslim children ages 5-12 throughout the world.

    The Noor Kids Ramadan Camp started two years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, about 90,000 families have signed up, and about 3,000 families join live every night, he said.

    The camp is streamed from a warehouse in Brooklyn Park that is designed to resemble a treehouse. Children spend between 30 minutes and an hour hearing stories, playing games, making projects, listening to guest speakers and sharing prayers.

    It’s all intended to find fun ways to help the children learn and discuss the tenets of their faith while meeting other Muslim children around the world.

    Aaser said Ramadan is the most important time of the year for Muslims, who fast from sunup to sundown while focusing on improving themselves and building their faith. Busy Muslim parents who are fasting can often struggle to bring the spirit of Ramadan into their hearts and homes, he said, and the camp is designed to ease that burden.

    Anum Ahmad, the mother of a 6-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter in Toronto, said the camp has become an almost daily ritual for her family. Although Toronto has a large Muslim population, her son attends a public school with only one other Muslim child, she said.

    “It makes a big difference for him to see other kids his age, speaking the same terms we use at home,” Ahmad said. “I can see in his expression how excited he is to see that there are so many other people like him around the world. For the first time I’ve seen a spark related to his religious identity.”

    The camp is a continuation of Aaser’s mission since 2012 to help Muslim children embrace their faith and feel accepted, particularly in areas where they are a religious minority.

    He said that as a child he was so embarrassed when his friends laughed at his mother’s hijab while he played baseball that he asked her to pick him up 15 minutes after the game ended. And the only other Muslims he saw were at a mosque or on television.

    As he grew, he wondered how he could help other Muslim children — including his niece and two children — to be confident and accept their Islamic beliefs.

    In 2012, he and his brother, Mohammed, began Noor Kids, which has grown to provide child-centered books and online programs that emphasize building character with age-appropriate stories about traits such as gratitude, resilience and courage.

    In 2016, after his mother died and in the midst of a divisive U.S. presidential election, Aaser decided to leave a career in venture capital and, with his wife, focus solely on building the Noor Kids brand.

    Today, Noor Kids has a team of about 15 people across the world, with most concentrated in Brooklyn Park.

    Ahmad said her family has read the Noor Kids books for years because they contain analogies that explain Islamic teachings in a colorful way that appeals to children.

    “Sometimes when parents try to explain difficult concepts, it may become a bit preachy, so I feel like I’m maybe not doing the best job of that” she said. “And sometimes if (her son) hears the teaching from someone that he thinks is really cool, like Amin, it can have a very different impact. It’s important to hear it from someone other than parents.”

    Aaser said he doesn’t want the interaction in Ramadan Camp to stop when the holiday ends this week, so Noor Kids has launched Muslim Treehouse, which will provide twice-a-week programs to his young audience.

    “I hope that through Noor Kids and our online programs we can build a better future for kids,” he said. “The mind of a child is where change begins, and if you can plant the seeds of character and citizenship, my hope is it will pay off for these individuals in the long term.”

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  • Hilary Swank gives birth to twins, shares 1st photo

    Hilary Swank gives birth to twins, shares 1st photo

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    Hilary Swank has given birth to twins — a boy and a girl

    ByNARDOS HAILE Associated Press

    NEW YORK — Hilary Swank has given birth to twins — a boy and a girl.

    The 48-year-old “Million Dollar Baby” actor posted a photo of her and her twins looking at the sunset on Instagram Sunday evening with the caption: “It wasn’t easy. But boy (and girl!) was it worth it.”

    She added on Instagram that she’s “posting from pure heaven.” She and entrepreneur Philip Schneider have been married since 2018.

    Over the course of her pregnancy, Swank had been filming her new ABC show “Alaska Daily.” She shared in an interview in October that when her pants didn’t fit during filming, she cut them open and put a jacket on to hide her bump.

    “You don’t tell for 12 weeks for a certain reason. But then, like, you’re growing and you’re using the bathroom a lot and you’re eating a lot. I’m sure there’s been conversations, and when I get back to the set, people will be like, ‘Oh, it all makes sense now,’ the two-time Oscar winner said.

    At January’s Golden Globes, Swank joked on the red carpet that she had “three months to go and I walked into a store the other day and this woman goes, ‘Honey, you better start jumping up and down to get that baby out.’ And this other woman like she’s like, ‘Oh, my God, three more months.’”

    Ahead of the birth, She lightheartedly shared with her Instagram followers that she was contemplating putting Salt-N-Pepa’s “Push It” on her delivery playlist.

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  • Dalai Lama apologizes after video shows him kissing boy

    Dalai Lama apologizes after video shows him kissing boy

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    Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has apologized after a video showing him kissing a child on the lips triggered criticism

    DHARAMSALA, India — Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama apologized Monday after a video showing him kissing a child on the lips triggered criticism.

    A statement posted on his official website said the 87-year-old leader regretted the incident and wished to “apologize to the boy and his family, as well as his many friends across the world, for the hurt his words may have caused.”

    The incident occurred at a public gathering in February at the Tsuglakhang temple in Dharamsala, where the exiled leader lives. He was taking questions from the audience when the boy asked if he could hug him.

    The Dalai Lama invited the boy up toward the platform he was seated on. In the video, he gestured to his cheek, after which the child kissed him before giving him a hug.

    The Dalai Lama then asked the boy to kiss him on the lips and stuck out his tongue. “And suck my tongue,” the Dalai Lama can be heard saying as the boy sticks out his own tongue and leans in, prompting laughter from the audience.

    The footage triggered a backlash online with social media users condemning his behavior as inappropriate and disturbing.

    “His Holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras,” the statement from the Dalai Lama read.

    The Dalai Lama has made the hillside town of Dharmsala his headquarters since fleeing from Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. India considers Tibet to be part of China, though it hosts Tibetan exiles.

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  • Jill Biden keeps ‘EGGucation’ theme for Easter Egg Roll

    Jill Biden keeps ‘EGGucation’ theme for Easter Egg Roll

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Jill Biden wants the White House’s annual Easter Egg Roll to be about more than just coaxing hard-boiled eggs across the lawn to a finish line.

    A teacher for 30 years, the first lady is again turning the annual tradition into an “EGGucational” experience. A variety of stations on the South Lawn and Ellipse will help teach thousands of children about farming, healthier eating, exercise and more, the White House announced on Thursday.

    In a nod to Biden’s “EGGucation” theme, NASA sent a souvenir wooden White House Easter egg to the International Space Station for the astronauts to help teach students about gravity.

    About 30,000 people, most of them children, are expected to participate in the festivities in nine waves between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Monday, the White House said.

    Participants include military and veteran families, caregivers and survivors, including those from the USS Delaware and the USS Gabrielle Giffords. Both Navy vessels are sponsored by the first lady. Tickets for the general public were distributed through an online lottery.

    Monday’s egg roll will be the second hosted by President Joe Biden and the first lady. The event was not held in 2021, Biden’s first year in office, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The American Egg Board is continuing its longtime sponsorship this year and donating about 30,000 eggs that were hand-dyed by a North Carolina farm, said Emily Metz, board president and CEO.

    Inflation, an outbreak of bird flu and increased demand for eggs during the holiday baking season combined to send egg prices skyrocketing last year. Metz said the donation of 30,000 eggs is a fraction of the 100 billion eggs that are produced and consumed yearly in the United States.

    “It’s a really important, time-honored tradition for our farmers to participate in,” she said in an interview. The White House Easter Egg Roll dates back to 1878.

    The egg board is also donating more than 5 million eggs to food banks nationwide in the weeks leading up to Passover and Easter to help with holiday meals, Metz said.

    And this year for the first time, the hard-boiled eggs used for the traditional egg roll and egg hunt on Monday will be composted afterward and used to fertilize gardens and parklands throughout the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia region, Metz said.

    Various cartoon characters, children’s book authors, celebrities and athletes, including former Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes and actress Halle Bailey, who starred as “Ariel” in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” and others will roam the White House grounds during the event.

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  • Lanterns and crescents: more retailers court Ramadan buyers

    Lanterns and crescents: more retailers court Ramadan buyers

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    With her 3-year-old daughter sitting inside a red Target shopping cart, Aya Khalil looked through the aisles with anticipation. The author was on a mission: See for herself that her children’s book about a boy and his grandmother baking for an Islamic feast was actually carried by her local Target store in Toledo.

    “Oh my God! … It’s right there,” Khalil said on spotting “The Night Before Eid.”

    “Oh yeaaaaah!” her daughter joyously exclaimed. Khalil giggled.

    For Khalil, it was a pinch-me moment as an author — and also a big deal as a mother.

    “This didn’t happen when I was growing up. It was like, ‘Are things really changing now?’” she said. “I’m just really happy that now my own kids will be able to see that and that they’ll know that their stories are valid and … are out there like a totally normal thing.”

    For this year’s Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which started last week, Target rolled out its first dedicated Ramadan and Eid collection, including decoration kits with crescent and lantern-shaped cutouts. It’s one of the latest signs of big retailers in the United States catering to Muslim shoppers’ needs.

    Many Muslim Americans enthusiastically welcomed the recognition, applauding retailers that are making it easier for them to bring their families the cheer that ubiquitously and publicly marks some other faiths’ holidays.

    “As stores have accommodated for Easter and Christmas for centuries, I’m glad to see them bring in Ramadan items,” said Hass Beydoun of Dearborn Heights, Michigan. “We welcome it, because they are welcoming our culture and beliefs in their stores.”

    Others echoed the sentiment on Target’s website: “Thank you so much for making Ramadan decor mainstream,” one shopper wrote. “We feel seen and heard!” wrote another.

    Still, some have been debating the merits of buying Ramadan decor from big box retailers in America, where Muslims make up a small but growing part of the population, to encourage representation, versus supporting small, Muslim-owned businesses that have made such items. Some others caution against excessively commercializing a religious period.

    Ramadan is a month of fasting, increased worship and charity. It’s often a time for festive gatherings; on social media, some share photos of their decorated homes or swap ideas for DIY Ramadan decor and children’s activities. Ramadan is followed by the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

    Target’s new Ramadan and Eid collection is sold online and in a few hundred stores in areas with numerous Muslim shoppers. The retailer, which didn’t provide sales figures, said it received positive feedback from shoppers and that the collection is part of its commitment to diversity and inclusion.

    Party supplies retailer Party City started selling Ramadan and Eid items in 2018 and has since increased such products amid growing demand. More than 280 stores, particularly in locations with large Muslim populations, carry the items, which include lantern string lights and table runners reading “Ramadan Mubarak,” or “Blessed Ramadan.”

    “Our goal is to offer authentic and inclusive celebration options to all of our customers, particularly those who are underrepresented in the retail industry,” said Susan Sanderson, Party City’s senior vice president of brand marketing.

    Walmart Inc., the nation’s largest retailer, said it recently started carrying items related to Ramadan and Eid but the merchandise is sold only online, not in stores.

    Still, that’s a change from when Jomana Siddiqui received an Eid present in Christmas gift wrap in 2011; at the time, Siddiqui, whose business is based in Fullerton, California, said she didn’t see American retailers carrying merchandise for Ramadan or Eid. She tried to get malls and stores to put up signage acknowledging the Muslim holy days but was rebuffed.

    From 2014 to 2016, she worked with Macy’s at South Coast Plaza mall in Costa Mesa, California, to design the display towers with “Happy Ramadan” signs for an event. In 2018, she started selling her own items at a pop-up shop at Macy’s in Westminster, California.

    Even now, Siddiqui is struggling to convince major retailers to sell her modern-style items like “Ramadan Blessings” platters — and Ramadan and Eid-appropriate gift wrap sheets. She contends many retailers treat American Muslims, who are racially and culturally diverse, as a monolith and says they should avoid cultural stereotypes.

    “Putting camels and palm trees on something doesn’t speak to Indonesian Muslims or a Mexican Muslim,” she said.

    Fatima Siddiqui, who lives in the metro Detroit area and owns a calligraphy art business, wrote on Facebook that amid the excitement at retailers carrying Ramadan decorations, community members shouldn’t forget to support Muslim-owned small businesses.

    Responses varied. Some shoppers said that while supporting such businesses is important, so is buying from the big, national ones to encourage more representation and for Muslim children to feel celebrated. Others argued that decorations offered by many of the small businesses were often expensive or that big retailers were more accessible. Others suggested buying from both.

    “Why wouldn’t retailers partner up with small businesses to showcase their products that are handcrafted with thoughtful meanings?” said Fatima Siddiqui. This year, she organized a Ramadan market in Canton, Michigan, where vendors sold items including banners, wreaths and serving trays.

    “Ramadan decor boosts our excitement and mood,” she said. “It helps our younger generation feel special because of the obvious displays of Christmas and other non-Islamic holidays.”

    The decor can spark educational conversations with non-Muslims, said Yasmen Bagh, who lives in Jersey City and has founded a business selling outdoor inflatables in such shapes as mosques and lanterns.

    “It brings awareness to your neighbors,” she said. “The images that they see on TV and what Muslims look like is usually like a bad guy; it’s changing that.”

    Bagh is conflicted about big retailers stepping into the Ramadan and Eid space. “As a Muslim, it makes me happy; as a business owner, it makes me worry.”

    Some other business owners say there’s room for everyone. And while some Muslims argue a focus on decor and other material items can distract from the month’s spiritual essence, others say a balance can be struck and that the products help children get engaged.

    Mainstream retailers have gradually paid more attention to Muslim customers. Macy’s sells modest wear, including hijabs. Nike unveiled a hijab for Muslim female athletes in 2017, sparking mixed reactions and a discussion about inclusivity in sports. Other activewear brands followed with their own athletic hijabs. Since 2021, Mattel’s American Girl brand has been selling an Eid al-Fitr celebration outfit, which includes a long-sleeved turquoise abaya dress, for its 18-inch dolls.

    The move to embrace Muslim shoppers is part of a broader strategy by retailers to better connect with increasingly diverse generations of customers. Some critics dismiss the effort as a marketing tactic to boost the bottom line.

    Sabiha Ansari, co-founder and vice president at American Muslim Consumer Consortium, a nonprofit dedicated to developing the American Muslim consumer market, said she doesn’t mind whether the goal is to make a dollar. She’s just happy companies are embracing products catering to Muslims.

    “People want to be recognized,” she said.

    Back in Toledo, Khalil, the author, said her book is, first, for the Muslim children and, even adults, who haven’t seen themselves in books. It tells the story of Zain, who helps his grandmother who is visiting from Egypt, where Khalil was born, bake traditional cookies covered in powdered sugar for the feast. He shares the treats with his classmates, who love them.

    For this Ramadan, Khalil spruced up her home with lights, lanterns and signs, mostly from small businesses. Her kids also painted a craft kit—that one was bought from Target.

    ___

    Associated Press reporter Mike Householder in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, contributed.

    ___

    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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  • Lanterns and crescents: more retailers court Ramadan buyers

    Lanterns and crescents: more retailers court Ramadan buyers

    [ad_1]

    With her 3-year-old daughter sitting inside a red Target shopping cart, Aya Khalil looked through the aisles with anticipation. The author was on a mission: See for herself that her children’s book about a boy and his grandmother baking for an Islamic feast was actually carried by her local Target store in Toledo.

    “Oh my God! … It’s right there,” Khalil said on spotting “The Night Before Eid.”

    “Oh yeaaaaah!” her daughter joyously exclaimed. Khalil giggled.

    For Khalil, it was a pinch-me moment as an author — and also a big deal as a mother.

    “This didn’t happen when I was growing up. It was like, ‘Are things really changing now?’” she said. “I’m just really happy that now my own kids will be able to see that and that they’ll know that their stories are valid and … are out there like a totally normal thing.”

    For this year’s Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which started last week, Target rolled out its first dedicated Ramadan and Eid collection, including decoration kits with crescent and lantern-shaped cutouts. It’s one of the latest signs of big retailers in the United States catering to Muslim shoppers’ needs.

    Many Muslim Americans enthusiastically welcomed the recognition, applauding retailers that are making it easier for them to bring their families the cheer that ubiquitously and publicly marks some other faiths’ holidays.

    “As stores have accommodated for Easter and Christmas for centuries, I’m glad to see them bring in Ramadan items,” said Hass Beydoun of Dearborn Heights, Michigan. “We welcome it, because they are welcoming our culture and beliefs in their stores.”

    Others echoed the sentiment on Target’s website: “Thank you so much for making Ramadan decor mainstream,” one shopper wrote. “We feel seen and heard!” wrote another.

    Still, some have been debating the merits of buying Ramadan decor from big box retailers in America, where Muslims make up a small but growing part of the population, to encourage representation, versus supporting small, Muslim-owned businesses that have made such items. Some others caution against excessively commercializing a religious period.

    Ramadan is a month of fasting, increased worship and charity. It’s often a time for festive gatherings; on social media, some share photos of their decorated homes or swap ideas for DIY Ramadan decor and children’s activities. Ramadan is followed by the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

    Target’s new Ramadan and Eid collection is sold online and in a few hundred stores in areas with numerous Muslim shoppers. The retailer, which didn’t provide sales figures, said it received positive feedback from shoppers and that the collection is part of its commitment to diversity and inclusion.

    Party supplies retailer Party City started selling Ramadan and Eid items in 2018 and has since increased such products amid growing demand. More than 280 stores, particularly in locations with large Muslim populations, carry the items, which include lantern string lights and table runners reading “Ramadan Mubarak,” or “Blessed Ramadan.”

    “Our goal is to offer authentic and inclusive celebration options to all of our customers, particularly those who are underrepresented in the retail industry,” said Susan Sanderson, Party City’s senior vice president of brand marketing.

    Walmart Inc., the nation’s largest retailer, said it recently started carrying items related to Ramadan and Eid but the merchandise is sold only online, not in stores.

    Still, that’s a change from when Jomana Siddiqui received an Eid present in Christmas gift wrap in 2011; at the time, Siddiqui, whose business is based in Fullerton, California, said she didn’t see American retailers carrying merchandise for Ramadan or Eid. She tried to get malls and stores to put up signage acknowledging the Muslim holy days but was rebuffed.

    From 2014 to 2016, she worked with Macy’s at South Coast Plaza mall in Costa Mesa, California, to design the display towers with “Happy Ramadan” signs for an event. In 2018, she started selling her own items at a pop-up shop at Macy’s in Westminster, California.

    Even now, Siddiqui is struggling to convince major retailers to sell her modern-style items like “Ramadan Blessings” platters — and Ramadan and Eid-appropriate gift wrap sheets. She contends many retailers treat American Muslims, who are racially and culturally diverse, as a monolith and says they should avoid cultural stereotypes.

    “Putting camels and palm trees on something doesn’t speak to Indonesian Muslims or a Mexican Muslim,” she said.

    Fatima Siddiqui, who lives in the metro Detroit area and owns a calligraphy art business, wrote on Facebook that amid the excitement at retailers carrying Ramadan decorations, community members shouldn’t forget to support Muslim-owned small businesses.

    Responses varied. Some shoppers said that while supporting such businesses is important, so is buying from the big, national ones to encourage more representation and for Muslim children to feel celebrated. Others argued that decorations offered by many of the small businesses were often expensive or that big retailers were more accessible. Others suggested buying from both.

    “Why wouldn’t retailers partner up with small businesses to showcase their products that are handcrafted with thoughtful meanings?” said Fatima Siddiqui. This year, she organized a Ramadan market in Canton, Michigan, where vendors sold items including banners, wreaths and serving trays.

    “Ramadan decor boosts our excitement and mood,” she said. “It helps our younger generation feel special because of the obvious displays of Christmas and other non-Islamic holidays.”

    The decor can spark educational conversations with non-Muslims, said Yasmen Bagh, who lives in Jersey City and has founded a business selling outdoor inflatables in such shapes as mosques and lanterns.

    “It brings awareness to your neighbors,” she said. “The images that they see on TV and what Muslims look like is usually like a bad guy; it’s changing that.”

    Bagh is conflicted about big retailers stepping into the Ramadan and Eid space. “As a Muslim, it makes me happy; as a business owner, it makes me worry.”

    Some other business owners say there’s room for everyone. And while some Muslims argue a focus on decor and other material items can distract from the month’s spiritual essence, others say a balance can be struck and that the products help children get engaged.

    Mainstream retailers have gradually paid more attention to Muslim customers. Macy’s sells modest wear, including hijabs. Nike unveiled a hijab for Muslim female athletes in 2017, sparking mixed reactions and a discussion about inclusivity in sports. Other activewear brands followed with their own athletic hijabs. Since 2021, Mattel’s American Girl brand has been selling an Eid al-Fitr celebration outfit, which includes a long-sleeved turquoise abaya dress, for its 18-inch dolls.

    The move to embrace Muslim shoppers is part of a broader strategy by retailers to better connect with increasingly diverse generations of customers. Some critics dismiss the effort as a marketing tactic to boost the bottom line.

    Sabiha Ansari, co-founder and vice president at American Muslim Consumer Consortium, a nonprofit dedicated to developing the American Muslim consumer market, said she doesn’t mind whether the goal is to make a dollar. She’s just happy companies are embracing products catering to Muslims.

    “People want to be recognized,” she said.

    Back in Toledo, Khalil, the author, said her book is, first, for the Muslim children and, even adults, who haven’t seen themselves in books. It tells the story of Zain, who helps his grandmother who is visiting from Egypt, where Khalil was born, bake traditional cookies covered in powdered sugar for the feast. He shares the treats with his classmates, who love them.

    For this Ramadan, Khalil spruced up her home with lights, lanterns and signs, mostly from small businesses. Her kids also painted a craft kit—that one was bought from Target.

    ___

    Associated Press reporter Mike Householder in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, contributed.

    ___

    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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  • Mourners gather for 1st Nashville school shooting funeral

    Mourners gather for 1st Nashville school shooting funeral

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    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Family and friends of Evelyn Dieckhaus, one of three children who were killed in a school shooting in Nashville this week, remembered her Friday as a “shining light” and said farewell to a girl who loved art, music, animals and snuggling with her older sister on the couch.

    The funeral at the Woodmont Christian Church in Nashville’s Green Hills neighborhood was closed to the media. Before the service, the church’s senior minister, the Rev. Clay Stauffer, echoed what Evelyn’s family has shared about her.

    “She was a shining light. She was radiant,” Stauffer told The Associated Press. “I think our challenge is to take her light and keep spreading it to a world that has so much darkness and pain.”

    Evelyn’s was the first funeral held for the victims of Monday’s mass shooting at The Covenant School, where authorities say a 28-year-old former student killed six people before being shot and killed by police.

    The church is a couple of miles from the school and is across the street from the Woodmont Baptist Church, which served as the reunification point for surviving children and their parents after the attack.

    Dozens of people poured into the Woodmont Christian Church’s main sanctuary for the service. Many of the women and girls wore pink dresses to honor the grieving family’s request to dress in pink and green “in tribute to Evelyn’s light and love of color.”

    With the pinkish-purple flowers of redbud trees blooming and mourners donning pastel colors, it looked as much like an Easter service as a funeral for a 9-year-old girl who brought joy and comfort to her loved ones.

    The other two children who died in the attack, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, were also 9. The three adults who were killed were the 60-year-old head of the school, Katherine Koonce, a 61-year-old custodian, Mike Hill, and Cynthia Peak, a 61-year-old substitute teacher.

    In an obituary given to The Associated Press by a family friend, Evelyn was described as “a constant beacon of joy” who loved crafting and drawing, playing with her two dogs Mable and Birdie, singing along to tunes by Taylor Swift and from the Broadway show “Hamilton,” and hanging out with her beloved big sister, Eleanor.

    Stauffer, the minister, said he has been trying to impress upon Evelyn’s family, whom he described as “incredible people,” that they’re not going through this alone.

    “We’ll celebrate her life this afternoon, and then we’ll continue to show up and to be there to love and support the family,” he said.

    That work started as soon as the ambulances, fire trucks and police cars went past his church on the day of the shooting. He went across the street to Woodmont Baptist to help reunite the frightened children and parents.

    “It’s been surreal and a nightmare that we are waiting to wake up from,” said Stauffer. “It’s been one of the hardest weeks you could imagine.”

    ___

    Associated Press reporter Adrian Sainz in Memphis contributed to this report.

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  • Mexican kid’s comic Xavier López, ‘Chabelo,’ dies at 88

    Mexican kid’s comic Xavier López, ‘Chabelo,’ dies at 88

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    Xavier López, a Mexican children’s comic better known by his stage name, “Chabelo,” has died at 88

    MEXICO CITY — Xavier López, a Mexican children’s comic better known by his stage name “Chabelo,” has died at 88, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wrote Saturday.

    López’s best-known work, the Sunday variety show “En Familia con Chabelo”, ran for an astonishing 48 years from 1967 to 2015, Mexico‘s longest-running TV show.

    The Mexican president wrote in his Twitter account that his own eldest son, José Ramón, “woke up early to see him (on television) more than 40 years ago.”

    López, who was no relation to the president, usually performed dressed in kid’s clothing well into his 80s. He helped found a genre of adult comics dressed as kids that became a staple for decades on Mexican television.

    His longevity — he performed in a child’s raspy squeak throughout his career — led to joking speculation he would outlive everyone else in show business.

    López’s agent, Jessica Nevilley, said he died Saturday morning. A private funeral will be held for him later Saturday.

    A U.S. citizen — he was born in Chicago to Mexican parents — López returned to Mexico with his family at a young age and trained as a doctor. But he found his calling in acting.

    The comic’s family wrote on his fan page that López “died suddenly on abdominal complications.”

    He was survived by several children and his wife.

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  • Drag community shows up to protest Nebraska drag show bill

    Drag community shows up to protest Nebraska drag show bill

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    LINCOLN, Neb. — A bill that would criminalize exposing anyone 18 or younger to a drag show in Nebraska was the last one to get a public hearing in this year’s legislative session late Friday. But those opposed to the bill made sure the final hearing went out with a flash of glitter and sequins.

    Among scores of people who showed up to voice their opposition were more than a dozen dressed in drag, including heavy makeup, wigs and evening gowns.

    The bill’s main sponsor, conservative Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, said the legislation is intended to protect children “from being exposed to overly-sexualized and inappropriate behavior far too early.”

    The bill defines drag as a performance by someone presenting a gender identity that is different than the performer’s gender assigned at birth. It would make exposing a minor to a drag show a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. The bill comes amidst a national push by conservatives to restrict drag shows, transgender health care, bathroom access and how LGBTQ topics are discussed in schools.

    “Those who allow this kind of perversion should be held accountable,” Murman said.

    But Murman struggled to answer questions from Judiciary Committee members about how his bill would be enforced without violating the constitutional rights of drag performers, parents and others. Sen. Carol Blood, a Democrat from Bellevue asked how he would draw a line between drag and, say, musicians or actors who dress up in makeup and showy costumes for performances.

    When Murman said the difference would come down to how scantily dressed the performer was, another Democrat, Sen. Wendy DeBoer, asked whether that would include a cheerleader in uniform twerking at a game. Murman said it would not.

    “What you’re doing is cherry-picking a demographic, and that’s wrong,” Blood said.

    The fact that the hearing didn’t begin until after 5 p.m. Friday did little to dissuade the public from turning out to speak on it. The crowd filled the Judiciary Committee hearing room and spilled out nearly 100 deep into the Capitol hallways.

    Those supporting the bill expressed conspiracy theories of alleged efforts to indoctrinate children into queer society and used words like “groomers” and “woke culture” to describe drag shows.

    But the vast majority of those attending opposed the bill, including two who identify themselves as Polly Pocket and Baby Girl, who often read picture books to children at an Omaha church’s story hour. They defended such events and drag shows as simple fun and read from the children’s book “Unicorns Are the Worst!” at a rally held before the hearing to protest the drag bill and another to ban gender-affirming care for minors.

    “It’s just queer people showing queer art,” Polly Pocket said.

    The church where they perform, Urban Abbey, has been hosting drag story hours since 2018. But last Saturday, the show was interrupted by an emailed bomb threat that also threatened the church’s pastor and several staff members.

    “I have never in my life received an email that said, ‘Today you will die,’” Urban Abbey’s pastor, the Rev. Debra McKnight, said. “They listed my home address and the addresses of several staff members.”

    Sunday service the next day was also interrupted by an emailed bomb threat, she said, noting that Omaha police and the FBI are investigating.

    The bill could later be advanced or die in committee.

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  • ‘Scream as loud as you can’: 5 boys rescued from NYC tunnel

    ‘Scream as loud as you can’: 5 boys rescued from NYC tunnel

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    Five mischievous boys had to be rescued after they crawled through a storm drain tunnel in New York City and got lost

    NEW YORK — Five mischievous boys had to be rescued after they crawled through a storm drain tunnel in New York City and got lost, authorities said.

    In audio released by the fire department, 911 dispatchers work to pinpoint the boys’ exact location and then tell them to scream once rescuers are close enough to hear.

    “Now you can scream as loud as you can,” a dispatcher says. “They want you to scream and yell.”

    The five boys, aged 11 and 12, crawled into a storm drain on Staten Island at about 6 p.m. Tuesday, fire department officials said at a news conference Wednesday.

    The boys walked about a quarter mile and then called 911 when they couldn’t find their way back, officials said.

    “We’re stuck in the sewer,” one of the boys says on the recording. “You’re stuck where?” a dispatcher responds.

    A second dispatcher says he is familiar with the area and tries to determine exactly where the boys are. “Once you went down, was the sewer left, right, straight — where was it?” the dispatcher asks. “I need you to guide me.”

    When sirens can be heard, the dispatcher tells the boys to scream. At first the boys fear that the rescuers aren’t stopping.

    “It sounded like they went past us,” one boy says.

    The dispatcher assures the boys, “They’re not going anywhere, we’re going to get you out of there.”

    Soon an emergency responder can be heard saying “We might have hands on the kids right now,” and then, “We have all five children removed from the sewer.”

    Firefighters said the boys were in the tunnel for about an hour. The boys and one firefighter were taken to a hospital for evaluation, but none had significant injuries, officials said.

    “Amazing that the cellphone worked in the tunnel,” FDNY Chief of Department John Hodgens told reporters. “That was a key component of us finding them.”

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  • Robert Blake, actor acquitted in wife’s killing, dies at 89

    Robert Blake, actor acquitted in wife’s killing, dies at 89

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    LOS ANGELES — Robert Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted in the killing of his wife, died Thursday at age 89.

    A statement released on behalf of his niece, Noreen Austin, said Blake died from heart disease, surrounded by family at home in Los Angeles.

    Blake, star of the 1970s TV show, “Baretta,” had once hoped for a comeback, but he never recovered from the long ordeal which began with the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001. The story of their strange marriage, the child it produced and its violent end was a Hollywood tragedy played out in court.

    Once hailed as among the finest actors of his generation, Blake became better known as the center of a real-life murder trial, a story more bizarre than any in which he acted. Many remembered him not as the rugged, dark-haired star of “Baretta,” but as a spectral, white-haired murder defendant.

    In a 2002 interview with The Associated Press while he was jailed awaiting trial, he bemoaned the change in his status with his fans nationwide: “It hurt because America is the only family I had.”

    He was adamant that he had not killed his wife and a jury ultimately acquitted him. But a civil jury would find him liable for her death and order him to pay Bakley’s family $30 million, a judgment which sent him into bankruptcy. The daughter he and Bakley had together, Rose Lenore, was raised by other relatives and went for years without seeing Blake, until they spoke in 2019. She would tell People magazine that she called him “Robert,” not “Dad.”

    It was an ignominious finale for a life lived in the spotlight from childhood. As a youngster, he starred in the “Our Gang” comedies and acted in a movie classic, “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.” As an adult, he was praised for his portrayal of real-life murderer Perry Smith in the movie of Truman Capote’s true crime best seller “In Cold Blood.”

    His career peaked with the 1975-78 TV cop series, “Baretta.” He starred as a detective who carried a pet cockatoo on his shoulder and was fond of disguises. It was typical of his specialty, portraying tough guys with soft hearts, and its signature line: “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time,” was often quoted.

    Blake won a 1975 Emmy for his portrayal of Tony Baretta, although behind the scenes the show was wracked by disputes involving the temperamental star. He gained a reputation as one of Hollywood’s finest actors, but one of the most difficult to work with. He later admitted to struggles with alcohol and drug addiction in his early life.

    In 1993, Blake won another Emmy as the title character in, “Judgment Day: the John List Story,” portraying a soft-spoken, churchgoing man who murdered his wife and three children.

    Blake’s career had slowed down well before the trial. He made only a handful of screen appearances after the mid-1980s; his last project was in David Lynch’s “Lost Highway,” released in 1997. According to his niece, Blake had spent his recent years “enjoying jazz music, playing his guitar, reading poetry, and watching many Hollywood Classic films.”

    He was born Michael James Gubitosi on Sept. 18, 1933, in Nutley, New Jersey. His father, an Italian immigrant and his mother, an Italian American, wanted their three children to succeed in show business. At age 2, Blake was performing with a brother and sister in a family vaudeville act called, “The Three Little Hillbillies.”

    When his parents moved the family to Los Angeles, his mother found work for the kids as movie extras and little Mickey Gubitosi was plucked from the crowd by producers who cast him in the “Our Gang” comedies. He appeared in the series for five years and changed his name to Bobby Blake.

    He went on to work with Hollywood legends, playing the young John Garfield in “Humoresque” in 1946 and the little boy who sells Humphrey Bogart a crucial lottery ticket in the Oscar-winning “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.”

    In adulthood, he landed serious movie roles. The biggest breakthrough was in 1967 with “In Cold Blood.” Later there were films including, “Tell Them Willie Boy is Here” and “Electra Glide in Blue.”

    In 1961, Blake and actress Sondra Kerr married and had two children, Noah and Delinah. They divorced in 1983.

    His fateful meeting with Bakley came in 1999 at a jazz club where he went to escape loneliness.

    “Here I was, 67 or 68 years old. My life was on hold. My career was stalled out,” he said in the AP interview. “I’d been alone for a long time.”

    He said he had no reason to dislike Bakley: “She took me out of the stands and put me back in the arena. I had something to live for.”

    When Bakley gave birth to a baby girl, she named Christian Brando — son of Marlon — as the father. But DNA tests pointed to Blake.

    Blake first saw the little girl, named Rosie, when she was two months old and she became the focus of his life. He married Bakley because of the child.

    “Rosie is my blood. Rosie is calling to me,” he said. “I have no doubt that Rosie and I are going to walk off into the sunset together.”

    Prosecutors would claim that he planned to kill Bakley to get sole custody of the baby and tried to hire hitmen for the job. But evidence was muddled and a jury rejected that theory.

    On her last night alive, Blake and his 44-year-old wife dined at a neighborhood restaurant, Vitello’s. He claimed she was shot when he left her in the car and returned to the restaurant to retrieve a handgun he had inadvertently left behind. Police were initially baffled and Blake was not arrested until a year after the crime occurred.

    Once a wealthy man, he spent millions on his defense and wound up living on social security and a Screen Actor’s Guild pension.

    In a 2006 interview with the AP a year after his acquittal, Blake said he hoped to restart his career.

    “I’d like to give my best performance,” he said. “I’d like to leave a legacy for Rosie about who I am. I’m not ready for a dog and fishing pole yet. I’d like to go to bed each night desperate to wake up each morning and create some magic.”

    ___

    Deutsch, the primary writer of this obituary, retired from The Associated Press in 2014.

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  • Robert Blake, actor acquitted in wife’s killing, dies at 89

    Robert Blake, actor acquitted in wife’s killing, dies at 89

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    LOS ANGELES — Robert Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted in the killing of his wife, died Thursday at age 89.

    A statement released on behalf of his niece, Noreen Austin, said Blake died from heart disease, surrounded by family at home in Los Angeles.

    Blake, star of the 1970s TV show, “Baretta,” had once hoped for a comeback, but he never recovered from the long ordeal which began with the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001. The story of their strange marriage, the child it produced and its violent end was a Hollywood tragedy played out in court.

    Once hailed as among the finest actors of his generation, Blake became better known as the center of a real-life murder trial, a story more bizarre than any in which he acted. Many remembered him not as the rugged, dark-haired star of “Baretta,” but as a spectral, white-haired murder defendant.

    In a 2002 interview with The Associated Press while he was jailed awaiting trial, he bemoaned the change in his status with his fans nationwide: “It hurt because America is the only family I had.”

    He was adamant that he had not killed his wife and a jury ultimately acquitted him. But a civil jury would find him liable for her death and order him to pay Bakley’s family $30 million, a judgment which sent him into bankruptcy. The daughter he and Bakley had together, Rose Lenore, was raised by other relatives and went for years without seeing Blake, until they spoke in 2019. She would tell People magazine that she called him “Robert,” not “Dad.”

    It was an ignominious finale for a life lived in the spotlight from childhood. As a youngster, he starred in the “Our Gang” comedies and acted in a movie classic, “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.” As an adult, he was praised for his portrayal of real-life murderer Perry Smith in the movie of Truman Capote’s true crime best seller “In Cold Blood.”

    His career peaked with the 1975-78 TV cop series, “Baretta.” He starred as a detective who carried a pet cockatoo on his shoulder and was fond of disguises. It was typical of his specialty, portraying tough guys with soft hearts, and its signature line: “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time,” was often quoted.

    Blake won a 1975 Emmy for his portrayal of Tony Baretta, although behind the scenes the show was wracked by disputes involving the temperamental star. He gained a reputation as one of Hollywood’s finest actors, but one of the most difficult to work with. He later admitted to struggles with alcohol and drug addiction in his early life.

    In 1993, Blake won another Emmy as the title character in, “Judgment Day: the John List Story,” portraying a soft-spoken, churchgoing man who murdered his wife and three children.

    Blake’s career had slowed down well before the trial. He made only a handful of screen appearances after the mid-1980s; his last project was in David Lynch’s “Lost Highway,” released in 1997. According to his niece, Blake had spent his recent years “enjoying jazz music, playing his guitar, reading poetry, and watching many Hollywood Classic films.”

    He was born Michael James Gubitosi on Sept. 18, 1933, in Nutley, New Jersey. His father, an Italian immigrant and his mother, an Italian American, wanted their three children to succeed in show business. At age 2, Blake was performing with a brother and sister in a family vaudeville act called, “The Three Little Hillbillies.”

    When his parents moved the family to Los Angeles, his mother found work for the kids as movie extras and little Mickey Gubitosi was plucked from the crowd by producers who cast him in the “Our Gang” comedies. He appeared in the series for five years and changed his name to Bobby Blake.

    He went on to work with Hollywood legends, playing the young John Garfield in “Humoresque” in 1946 and the little boy who sells Humphrey Bogart a crucial lottery ticket in the Oscar-winning “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.”

    In adulthood, he landed serious movie roles. The biggest breakthrough was in 1967 with “In Cold Blood.” Later there were films including, “Tell Them Willie Boy is Here” and “Electra Glide in Blue.”

    In 1961, Blake and actress Sondra Kerr married and had two children, Noah and Delinah. They divorced in 1983.

    His fateful meeting with Bakley came in 1999 at a jazz club where he went to escape loneliness.

    “Here I was, 67 or 68 years old. My life was on hold. My career was stalled out,” he said in the AP interview. “I’d been alone for a long time.”

    He said he had no reason to dislike Bakley: “She took me out of the stands and put me back in the arena. I had something to live for.”

    When Bakley gave birth to a baby girl, she named Christian Brando — son of Marlon — as the father. But DNA tests pointed to Blake.

    Blake first saw the little girl, named Rosie, when she was two months old and she became the focus of his life. He married Bakley because of the child.

    “Rosie is my blood. Rosie is calling to me,” he said. “I have no doubt that Rosie and I are going to walk off into the sunset together.”

    Prosecutors would claim that he planned to kill Bakley to get sole custody of the baby and tried to hire hitmen for the job. But evidence was muddled and a jury rejected that theory.

    On her last night alive, Blake and his 44-year-old wife dined at a neighborhood restaurant, Vitello’s. He claimed she was shot when he left her in the car and returned to the restaurant to retrieve a handgun he had inadvertently left behind. Police were initially baffled and Blake was not arrested until a year after the crime occurred.

    Once a wealthy man, he spent millions on his defense and wound up living on social security and a Screen Actor’s Guild pension.

    In a 2006 interview with the AP a year after his acquittal, Blake said he hoped to restart his career.

    “I’d like to give my best performance,” he said. “I’d like to leave a legacy for Rosie about who I am. I’m not ready for a dog and fishing pole yet. I’d like to go to bed each night desperate to wake up each morning and create some magic.”

    ___

    Deutsch, the primary writer of this obituary, retired from The Associated Press in 2014.

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  • Polish TV report: John Paul II knew of abuse as archbishop

    Polish TV report: John Paul II knew of abuse as archbishop

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    WARSAW, Poland — St. John Paul II knew about sexual abuse of children by priests under his authority and sought to conceal it when he was an archbishop in his native Poland, a television news report has alleged.

    In a story that aired late Monday, Polish channel TVN24 named three priests whom the future pope then known as Archbishop Karol Wojtyla had moved among parishes or sent to a cloister during the 1970s, including one who was sent to Austria, after they were accused of abusing minors.

    Two of the priests, Eugeniusz Surgent and Jozef Loranc, eventually served short prison terms for the abuse, TVN24 said its 2 and 1/2 year-long investigation found. Wojtyla served as archbishop of Krakow from 1964 to 1978, when he became Pope John Paul II. He died in 2005 and was declared a saint in 2014 following a fast-tracked process.

    TVN24 quoted from documents of Poland’s communist-era secret security services, which sought to discredit the Catholic Church and had informers there. The documents are held in the archives of the state National Remembrance Institute. Journalist Marcin Gutowski also spoke with a number of victims and a man who said he informed Wojtyla during the 1970s about the abuse by Surgent. None of the priests were defrocked.

    The TV channel also quoted from a letter that it said Wojtyla wrote to the archbishop of Vienna at the time, Franz Koenig, recommending a priest to his care. Wojtyla did not say in the letter that Boleslaw Sadus had abused young boys, and he was made a parish priest in Austria. Wojtyla kept in touch with Sadus also after becoming pope.

    TVN24’s investigation concluded that there was no doubt Wojtyla knew about abuse by priests in his archdiocese and sought to conceal it.

    The broadcast featured a journalist who has written about cases of priestly abuse in Krakow diocese and who argued that Wojtyla reacted in line with Catholic Church procedures of the time.

    The findings will gradually lead to a “deconstruction of the image of John Paul II that we have been using so far,” Dominican friar Paweł Gużyński said on TVN24 on Tuesday, noting that some people may not be prepared to cope with the new facts.

    Gużyński stressed, however, that “there is no equality sign between sainthood and total absence of mistakes, even crimes, in someone’s actions.”

    The channel’s investigation has unleashed heated reactions in Poland, with some observers deriding it as an attempt by left-wing forces to destroy the memory of John Paul II and others demanding for the Catholic Church to reveal the truth.

    Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, a Catholic, tweeted a photo of John Paul II greeting a crowd in Poland and added the late pope’s motto “Do not be afraid,” without any comment.

    A Polish Jesuit priest, Krzysztof Madel, wrote on Twitter that that the focus should be on the victims, who need the truth to be told.

    An official at the Ministry of Education, Radoslaw Brzozka, said on Twitter that John Paul II’s reputation was under attack from people who want to eliminate Catholicism from Poland’s national identity.

    John Paul II is not the only pope under scrutiny for dealing with predator priests.

    His immediate successor, Benedict XVI, who had a much stricter stance and defrocked hundreds of abusive priests, was faulted by an independent report commissioned by the German Catholic Church for his handling of four cases while he was Munich bishop.

    Accusations of having failed to react to cases of abuse by priests in his native Argentina and in Chile, while bishop and then pontiff, have been also addressed to Pope Francis.

    Commentators noted that the Catholic Church hierarchy has mostly sought to protect the image of the institution over the needs of victims.

    The choice of Wojtyla for pope in 1978 energized Poland’s predominantly Catholic population to openly oppose the nation’s communist system and eventually topple it.

    Until recently, the Catholic Church in Poland has played a significant role in the country’s public life. Revelations about pedophile priests and the church’s close ties with the current right-wing government have depreciated its standing.

    ____

    Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.

    ___

    Follow AP’s coverage of sexual abuse by clergy: https://apnews.com/hub/sexual-abuse-by-clergy

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  • As Tennessee, others target drag shows, many wonder: Why?

    As Tennessee, others target drag shows, many wonder: Why?

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    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — “If I hadn’t been a girl, I’d have been a drag queen.”

    Dolly Parton has uttered those words famously and often. But if she really were a drag queen, one of Tennessee’s most famous daughters would likely be out of a job under legislation passed Thursday and soon heading to Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who has promised to sign it.

    Across the country, conservative activists and politicians complain that drag shows contribute to the “sexualization” or “grooming” of children. Several states are considering restrictions, but none has acted as fast as Tennessee to ensure drag shows cannot take place in public or in front of children. Organizers of LGBTQ Pride events say such bans put a chill on their popular parades. And advocates note that the bills, pushed largely by Republicans, burden businesses in an un-Republican fashion.

    The protestations have arisen fairly suddenly around a form of entertainment that has long had a place on the mainstream American stage.

    Milton Berle, “Mr. Television” himself, was appearing in drag on the public airwaves as early as the 1950s on “Texaco Star Theater.” “RuPaul’s Drag Race” is a bona fide cultural phenomenon. Highly popular drag brunches bring revenue to restaurants. That such spectacles are now being portrayed as a danger to children boggles the minds of people who study, perform and appreciate drag.

    “Drag is not a threat to anyone. It makes no sense to be criminalizing or vilifying drag in 2023,” said Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes, a professor of culture and gender studies at the University of Michigan and author of “Translocas: The Politics of Puerto Rican Drag and Trans Performance.”

    “It is a space where people explore their identities,” said La Fountain-Stokes, who has done drag himself. “But it is also a place where people simply make a living. Drag is a job. Drag is a legitimate artistic expression that brings people together, that entertains, that allows certain individuals to explore who they are and allows all of us to have a very nice time. So it makes literally no sense for legislators, for people in government, to try to ban drag.”

    Drag does not typically involve nudity or stripping, which are more common in the separate art of burlesque. Explicitly sexual and profane language is common in drag performances, but such content is avoided when children are the target audience, such as at drag story hours. At shows meant for adults, venues or performers generally warn beforehand about age-inappropriate content.

    The word “drag” does not appear in the Tennessee bill. Instead, it changes the definition of adult cabaret in Tennessee’s law to mean “adult-oriented performances that are harmful to minors.” It also says “male or female impersonators” now fall under adult cabaret among topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers and strippers.

    The bill then bans adult cabaret from public property or anywhere minors might be present. It threatens performers with a misdemeanor charge, or a felony if it’s a repeat offense.

    The Tennessee Pride Chamber, a business advocacy group, predicted that “selective surveillance and enforcement” will lead to court challenges and “massive expenses” as governments defend an unconstitutional law that will harm the state’s brand.

    “Tourism, which contributes significantly to our state’s growth and well-being, may well suffer from boycotts disproportionately affecting members of our community who work in Tennessee’s restaurants, arts, and hospitality industries,” chamber President Brian Rosman wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “Corporations will not continue to expand or relocate here if their employees — and their recruits — don’t feel safe or welcomed in Tennessee.”

    John Camp, a Pride organizer in Knoxville, said the event in Tennessee’s third-largest city will be somber this October — describing it as “more of a march than a celebration.” There were 100 drag performers last year, he said, but he is unsure how many can participate this year.

    Several other states, including Idaho, Kentucky, North Dakota, Montana and Oklahoma, are considering similar bans. And the Arkansas governor recently signed a bill that puts new restrictions on “adult-oriented” performances. It originally targeted drag shows but was scaled back following complaints of anti-LGBTQ discrimination.

    “I find it irresponsible to create a law based on a complete lack of understanding and determined willful misinterpretation of what drag actually is,” Montana state Rep. Connie Keogh said in February during floor debate. “It is part of the cultural fabric of the LGBTQ+ community and has been around for centuries.”

    Tennessee Sen. Jack Johnson, the Republican sponsor, says his bill addresses “sexually suggestive drag shows” that are inappropriate for children.

    Months ago, organizers of a Pride festival in Jackson, west of Nashville, came under fire for hosting a drag show in a park. A legal complaint spearheaded by a Republican state representative sought to prevent the show, but organizers reached a settlement to hold it indoors, with an age restriction.

    And in Chattanooga, false allegations of child abuse spread online after far-right activists posted video of a child feeling a female performer’s sequined costume. Online commentators falsely said the performer was male, and it has gone on to be used as a rationale to ban children from drag shows.

    “Rather than focus on actual policy issues facing Tennesseans, politicians would rather spend their time and effort misconstruing age-appropriate performances at a library to pass as many anti-LGBTQ+ bills as they can,” Sarah Warbelow, legal director for the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement last week.

    At times, the vitriol has become violence. Protesters, some of them armed, threw rocks and smoke grenades at one another outside a drag event in Oregon last year.

    The Tennessee drag bill marks the second major proposal targeting LGBTQ people that lawmakers in the state have passed this year. Last week, lawmakers approved legislation that bans most gender-affirming care. Lee says he plans on signing the bill.

    Lee was fielding questions Monday from reporters about the legislation and other LGBTQ bills when an activist asked him if he remembered “dressing up in drag in 1977.” He was presented with a photo that showed the governor as a high school senior dressed in women’s clothing that was published in the Franklin High School 1977 yearbook. The photo was first posted on Reddit over the weekend.

    Lee said it is “ridiculous” to compare the photo to “sexualized entertainment in front of children.” When asked for specific examples of inappropriate drag shows taking place in front of children, Lee did not cite any, only pointing to a nearby school building and saying he was concerned about protecting children.

    ___

    McMillan reported from northeastern Pennsylvania. Associated Press writers Jonathan Matisse in Nashville and Amy Beth Hanson in Helena, Montana, contributed to this report.

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  • DeSantis takes over Disney district, punishing company

    DeSantis takes over Disney district, punishing company

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    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a bill that gives him control of Walt Disney World’s self-governing district, punishing the company over its opposition to the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law.

    The bill requires DeSantis, a Republican, to appoint a five-member board to oversee the government services that the Disney district provides in its sprawling theme park properties in Florida.

    “Today the corporate kingdom finally comes to an end,” he said at a bill signing ceremony in Lake Buena Vista. “There’s a new sheriff in town, and accountability will be the order of the day.”

    The signing came as DeSantis gears up for an expected presidential run and marks a high-profile legislative victory for a governor whose leveraging of cultural and political divides has pushed him to the fore of national Republican politics.

    The takeover of the Disney district began last year when the entertainment giant, facing intense pressure, publicly opposed “Don’t Say Gay,” which bars instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade and lessons deemed not age-appropriate.

    DeSantis moved to quickly to penalize the company, directing lawmakers in the GOP-dominated Legislature to dissolve Disney’s self-governing district during a special legislative session, beginning a closely watched restructuring process. DeSantis and other Republican critics of Disney slammed the company for coming out against the education law, calling it a purveyor of “woke” ideology that inject inappropriate subjects into children’s entertainment.

    This month, the governor called on lawmakers to return to the Capitol for another special session to finalize state control of the district, as well as approve legislation around some of his other key legislative priorities on immigration and voter fraud.

    In taking on Disney, DeSantis furthered his reputation as a culture warrior willing to battle perceived political enemies and wield the power of state government to accomplish political goals, a strategy that is expected to continue ahead of his potential White House run.

    The feud also reinforced the governor’s brash, go-it-alone leadership style, penalizing a massive employer, tourism driver and political donor in the state over the company’s stance on a piece of legislative policy.

    DeSantis, whose book, “The Courage to be Free,” is coming out Tuesday, has moved in recent weeks to expand his political network through fundraisers and meetings with donors, elected officials and conservative influencers, adding to the speculation around his larger political aspirations.

    The coming months will be critical to DeSantis as he builds his profile out beyond Florida. He is expected to utilize the coming regular legislative session, which begins next week, to bolster his conservative agenda before he announces his candidacy for president.

    The new law changes the district’s name from the Reedy Creek Improvement District to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District and subjects it to various layers of state oversight. Board members were previously named through entities controlled by Disney.

    It leaves the district and its financial abilities and debt obligations intact, addressing a chief concern of surrounding governments. It also prevents people who have worked with or contracted with a theme park in the past three years from serving on the district’s new governing board.

    At his news conference, DeSantis said he would appoint Tampa attorney Martin Garcia as the chairman of the district’s new governing board, along with new board members Bridget Ziegler, a conservative school board member and wife of the Florida Republican party chairman Christian Ziegler; Brian Aungst Jr., an attorney and son of a former two-term Republican mayor of Clearwater; Mike Sasso, an attorney; and Ron Peri, head of The Gathering USA ministry.

    Having a separate government allows the district to issue bonds and provide zoning, fire protection, utilities and infrastructure services on its land. Republican critics of the district argue it gives Disney a commercial advantage unavailable to others.

    Disney did not immediately return an emailed request for comment.

    The creation of the self-governing district was instrumental in Disney’s decision to build near Orlando in the 1960s. The company had told the state it planned to build a futuristic city that would include a transit system and urban planning innovations, so the company needed autonomy in building and deciding how to use the land. The futuristic city never materialized and instead morphed into a second theme park that opened in 1982.

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