August 9, 2023 4:29 pm
(AP) – One of rock’s greatest songwriters and musicians, Robbie Robertson, has died at 80. His manager said he died Wedensday in Los Angeles, surrounded by family. As the guitarist and lead writer for The Band, Robertson mined American music and history for such classics as “The Weight” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.” He later worked on the soundtracks for several Martin Scorsese movies, including “The Departed” and “The Irishman.” Robertson was a self-taught musicologist and storyteller who absorbed everything American from the novels of William Faulkner to the scorching blues of Howlin’ Wolf to the gospel harmonies of the Swan Silvertones.
August 9, 2023 4:18 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Today marks the 100th day of the Hollywood writers strike. The Writers Guild of America has been striking since May 2 after talks broke down with TV and movie studios. The strike is as long as the landmark strike in 2007-2008. A negotiating session last week ended with little progress. Actors belonging to SAG-AFTRA joined the WGA on strike on July 14.
August 9, 2023 3:53 pm
AP) – Special counsel Jack Smith’s team obtained a search warrant in January for records related to former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account, and a judge levied a $350,000 fine on the company for missing the deadline to company. That’s according to court documents released Wednesday. The details were included in a decision from the federal appeals court in Washington rejecting San Francisco-based Twitter’s claim it should not have been held in contempt or sanctioned. It’s unclear what information Smith may have sought from the platform. Possibilities include data about when and where the posts were written, their engagement and the identities of other accounts that re-posted Trump’s content.
August 9, 2023 5:11 am
(AP) – At least six people have been killed in wildfires that have raced across parts of Maui, Mayor Richard Bissen said. Bissen confirmed the deaths during a press conference Wednesday, but did not provide details, such as where the people were when they died. Three separate wildfires have been burning on the Hawaiian island of Maui, including one that destroyed much of the historic town of Lahaina. The fires prompted 13 evacuations, Bissen said. Just one road was open for fleeing Lahaina residents. Officials have released very little information about the scope of damage caused by the wildfires, but satellite images from NASA appeared to show active flames throughout much of the historic town of Lahaina. Another Maui wildfire was burning near the town of Kihei. (Photo: AP)
August 9, 2023 5:09 am
TOKYO (AP) — Nagasaki has marked the 78th anniversary of the U.S dropping an atomic bomb on the city, with its mayor urging an end to nuclear weapons. Mayor Shiro Suzuki made the remark Wednesday after the Group of Seven leaders at another summit in May adopted a nuclear disarmament document justifying atomic weapons for deterrence. Suziki said that also poses threat. The U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, killed 70,000 people, three days after the attack on Hiroshima killed 140,000.
August 9, 2023 5:07 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Bringing back factory jobs is one of the most popular of White House promises — regardless of who happens to be the president. Donald Trump, Barack Obama and George W. Bush each pledged to boost manufacturing. But factory jobs seemed to struggle to fully return after each recession. On Wednesday, President Joe Biden will make the case in a New Mexico speech that his policies of financial and tax incentives have revived U.S. manufacturing. His claim is supported by a rise in construction spending on new factories. But factory hiring has begun to slow in recent months, a sign that the promised boom has yet to fully materialize.
August 9, 2023 5:05 am
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio voters have resoundingly rejected a Republican-backed measure that would have made it more difficult to pass abortion protections. The vote sets up a fall campaign that will become the nation’s latest referendum on the issue since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a nationwide right to abortion last year. The defeat of Issue 1 keeps in place a simple majority threshold for passing future changes to the Ohio Constitution, rather than requiring a 60% supermajority. Ohio Republicans placed the question on the summer ballot in hopes of undercutting a citizen initiative voters will decide in November that seeks to enshrine abortion rights in the constitution. Tussday’s result marks the latest setback for Republicans in a conservative-leaning state.
August 9, 2023 5:03 am
Someone in Florida won a $1.58 billion Mega Millions jackpot Tuesday night, ending a stretch of lottery futility that had stretched for nearly four months. A Publix grocery store in Neptune Beach sold the winning ticket, according to the Florida Lottery. The winning numbers drawn were: 13 19 20 32 33 and the yellow ball: 14. Before the big win Tuesday night, there had been 31 straight drawings since the last time someone won the game’s jackpot on April 18. That enabled the prize to steadily grow to be the third-largest ever in U.S. history. The $1.58 billion payout would go to the winner if they opt for an annuity, doled out over 30 years. But people usually prefer a lump sum option, which for Tuesday’s jackpot is an estimated $783.3 million.
August 9, 2023 4:56 am
SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — Crews across the eastern U.S. are working to clear downed trees and power lines and restore electricity following severe storms that killed at least two people, cut power hundreds of thousands, and forced thousands of flight delays and cancellations. The storms that pounded a swath of the country stretching from Alabama and Tennessee to the Carolinas and New York on Monday continued to lash northern New England with wind and rain on Tuesday. The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado touched down Tuesday in the Atlantic Coast town of Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. The town’s Select Board says the twister damaged homes, downed trees and power lines, and may have damaged the water treatment plant, which remains operational.
August 9, 2023 4:54 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Authorities have released the names of two of three people killed in a bus crash on a Pennsylvania interstate near Harrisburg. The Dauphin County coroner’s office said Tuesday that 39-year-old Alioune Diop of the Bronx and 26-year-old Serigne Ndiaye died of multiple traumatic injuries in the crash late Sunday. The office is still working to confirm the identity of a third victim. State police say the bus was on Interstate 81 just north of Harrisburg heading from New York to Ohio in heavy rain when it left the road, struck an embankment, turned onto its right side and struck a sport utility vehicle that had stopped in traffic.
