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Black bear gets stuck in tree in Northampton

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:43:22 GMT

A black bear drew a crowd Sunday morning when it got stuck in a tree in downtown Northampton. Massachusetts Environmental Police were called in to help the bear, which got stuck on Gothic Street near Main Street.Officers tried to lure the bear down, but eventually had to sedate it. The bear was then moved safely to another location.

Aerosmith announces ‘Peace Out’ farewell tour, hits TD Garden New Year’s Eve

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:43:22 GMT

LOS ANGELES — Aerosmith will be touring a city near you for the last time to celebrate the rock band’s 50-plus years together.The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band announced Monday the dates for their farewell tour called “Peace Out” starting Sept. 2 in Philadelphia. The 40-date run of shows, which includes a stop in the band’s hometown of Boston on New Year’s Eve, will end Jan. 26 in Montreal.“I think it’s about time,” guitarist Joe Perry said.Perry said the group, with frontman Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer and guitarist Brad Whitford, learned from the staging and production from their recent Las Vegas residency shows.Perry believes the time to say goodbye is now, especially with every founding band member over the age of 70. Tyler, 75, is the oldest in the group.“It’s kind of a chance to celebrate the 50 years we’ve been out here,” Perry said. “You never know how much longer ev...

Review: A gutsy memoir by child of an Andy Warhol superstar

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:43:22 GMT

“Don’t Call Me Home,” by Alexandra Auder (Viking)It takes guts and a sense of humor to kick off your debut memoir with an insult from Andy Warhol. “Seeing Alexandra was sad — a big rug-rat hanging off Viva — she’ll probably turn out a mess.” But Alexandra Auder uses it as the epigraph for her impossible-to-put-down memoir, “Don’t Call Me Home,” a must-read for children of narcissistic parents.The book recounts Auder’s childhood growing up in the 1970s and ’80s in the grungy glory of Manhattan’s Chelsea Hotel, where she shared a tiny apartment with her mother, Viva, the Warhol underground film star, and her half-sister, Gaby Hoffmann, an actor. The earliest moments of Alexandra’s life, including Viva going into labor in the hotel lobby, were captured on video by her father, Michel Auder, an experimental filmmaker.As you might expect, a lot of art world luminaries make cameos in the book, including Michel Auder’s second wife, the photographer Cindy Sherman. But the heart of the story ...

Stock market today: Markets steady after latest bank failure

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:43:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The latest historic failure for the U.S. banking industry is making few waves so far, and stocks are relatively steady in early trading on Wall Street. The S&P 500 was little changed Monday after regulators seized First Republic Bank and sold off most of it in hopes of preventing more turmoil in the industry. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 56 points, or 0.2%, while the Nasdaq composite was off 0.2%. First Republic has been in the spotlight for nearly two months, as investors bet on whether it would be next to topple following March’s failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.NEW YORK (AP) — Early Wall Street trading is relatively subdued Monday in the wake of the third U.S. bank failure in less than two months.Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow industrials shifted between small gains and losses, essentially unchanged before the opening bell. There are banking holidays around ...

Taiwan’s president hopes to deepen US security exchanges

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:43:22 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s president told visiting ex-U.S. national security adviser John Bolton on Monday that her country is willing to deepen cooperation with the U.S. and “other like-minded partners” to safeguard peace, as the self-governed island faces increasing military threats from China.President Tsai Ing-wen also expressed hopes to Bolton, a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2024, for more military and security exchanges and economic cooperation between the two sides, her office said in a statement. Bolton began his weeklong visit to Taiwan last Wednesday and has called for deeper interaction between the two sides’ national security teams. His visit reflects the importance of the democratic island as an issue in the U.S. presidential election amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing. Later Monday, Tsai said at a separate event that China’s military exercises have affected the stability and peace of the Indo-Pacific re...

Trump lawyer seeks mistrial in rape case, citing judge bias

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:43:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s attorney requested a mistrial Monday in his client’s rape case, saying the judge overseeing the civil proceedings in federal court has ruled in a biased manner against Trump.Attorney Joe Tacopina cited “pervasive unfair and prejudicial rulings” by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan as his basis for the mistrial request, made in a letter to the judge.Since mistrials, though sometimes frequently requested at trials, are rarely granted, Tacopina was more likely hoping the judge would grant a version of his alternative requests.In those, Tacopina asked that Kaplan correct the record for any rulings that mischaracterized the evidence or permit Tacopina more latitude in questioning E. Jean Carroll, a columnist who sued Trump in November under a New York state law letting sexual assault victims temporarily sue others for attacks that happened even decades ago.Carroll, 79, testified at a trial that began last week that Trump raped her in the dressing...

Tornado in Virginia Beach destroys homes, causes gas leaks

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:43:22 GMT

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va (AP) — The City of Virginia Beach declared a state of emergency after a tornado moved through the area and damaged dozens of homes, downed trees and caused gas leaks.Between 50 and 100 homes were damaged after the tornado touched down around 6 p.m., city officials said in a statement Sunday. City Manager Patrick Duhaney declared a state of emergency.There were no immediate reports of injuries.The National Weather Service’s Wakefield office confirmed the tornado based on “debris signature on radar, damage reports, and videos of the storm.” The agency said in a tweet Monday that a crew was surveying the damage to determine the rating, or severity, of the tornado.The agency confirmed another tornado over the weekend in Florida in a weekend filled with hazardous weather across the U.S., including high water on the Mississippi River which tested flood defenses in Iowa and Illinois as it crests in the area Monday. Virginia Natural Gas responded to several homes wi...

Met’s sumptuous Lagerfeld show focuses on works, not words

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:43:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Seven words from Karl Lagerfeld adorn a doorway at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s sumptuous new exhibit honoring the late, legendary designer: “Fashion does not belong in a museum.”Andrew Bolton, who masterminds the New York museum’s blockbuster Costume Institute shows each year, chuckled as he led a visitor through that doorway this weekend, a few days before opening, with crews nearby bustling to prepare for Monday’s splashy Met Gala.“That’s what Karl said to me when I met him,” the star curator said. “He believed fashion was not art — it belonged on the street. So, I really don’t know what he would think of all this! I’m not sure he would come.”“All this” is a lavish, loving tribute to the hugely prolific career of German-born Lagerfeld, who died in 2019 at 85 after more than a half-century of designing that left a deep mark on luxury fashion, especially at Chanel, but also at Fendi, at his own eponymous label, and elsewhere. Set in 14 galleries, the...

Barbie unveils Anna May Wong doll for AAPI Heritage Month

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:43:22 GMT

Six months after she was immortalized with a U.S. quarter, Asian American Hollywood trailblazer Anna May Wong has received another accolade affirming her icon status — her own Barbie.Mattel announced Monday the release of an Anna May Wong doll for Asian American and Pacific Islanders Heritage Month.The figure has her trademark bangs, eyebrows and well-manicured nails. The doll is dressed in a red gown with a shiny golden dragon design and cape, inspired by her appearance in the 1934 movie “Limehouse Blues.” Wong’s niece, Anna Wong, gave her blessing and worked closely with the brand to develop the Barbie’s look. “I did not hesitate at all. It was such an honor and so exciting,” Wong told The Associated Press in an email. “I wanted to make sure they got her facial features and clothing correct. And they did!”As a child, Anna Wong owned a Barbie and Skipper doll (Barbie’s little sister) and a Barbie dream house and car. She loves the idea that Asian children wi...

Feds: Hospitals that denied emergency abortion broke the law

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:43:22 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two hospitals that refused to provide an emergency abortion to a pregnant woman who was experiencing premature labor put her life in jeopardy and violated federal law, a first-of-its-kind investigation by the federal government has found. The findings, revealed in documents obtained by The Associated Press, are a warning to hospitals around the country as they struggle to reconcile dozens of new state laws that ban or severely restrict abortion with a federal mandate for doctors to provide abortions when a woman’s health is at risk. The competing edicts have been rolled out since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion last year. But federal law, which requires doctors to treat patients in emergency situations, trumps those state laws, the nation’s top health official said in a statement. “Fortunately, this patient survived. But she never should have gone through the terrifying ordeal she experienced in the first place,̶...