3 new ‘Star Wars’ movies coming, including Rey’s return

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:19:01 GMT

3 new ‘Star Wars’ movies coming, including Rey’s return LONDON (AP) — For “Star Wars” lovers, new entertainment is a little less far, far away — Lucasfilm announced three new live-action films in the franchise Friday.The news, which includes the return of Daisy Ridley as Rey in one of the films, was revealed at Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023 in London by Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and also on the Star Wars website. Directing the movies will be James Mangold, Dave Filoni and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Kennedy brought the directors onstage for the announcement.Mangold’s film will return to the dawn of the Jedi. Filoni’s will be about the New Republic, and “will close out the interconnected stories told in ‘The Mandalorian,’ ‘The Book of Boba Fett,’ ‘Ahsoka,’ and other Disney+ series,” the announcement said. Obaid-Chinoy’s movie will focus on the events after “The Rise of Skywalker,” and feature Ridley back as Rey “as she builds a new Jedi Order.”Mangold directed “Logan” and the upcoming “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny...

Kanye West sued by 2 former Donda Academy teachers

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:19:01 GMT

Kanye West sued by 2 former Donda Academy teachers VENTURA COUNTY, CA. (WSVN) – Two former teachers of Donda Academy, a private school, owned by Kanye West are suing for $1 million, claiming wrongful termination.“Things were just chaotic, there was no order, they didn’t have sound curriculum. My other serious complaint was that children were being given sushi every day, that was it. From January 17th until March 3rd the kids had sushi for lunch,” said Cecilia Hailey, one of the teachers suing. Hailey and her daughter, Chekarey Byers, claimed they were fired from Donda Academy in March in retaliation for reporting code violations. The suit also stated wages were often incorrect, the school didn’t have a nurse, and medications, sometimes expired, were stored in an unsecured closet.West has not commented on this matter.

Texas homeowner speaks out after glitch in iPhone app sends users to wrong location

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:19:01 GMT

Texas homeowner speaks out after glitch in iPhone app sends users to wrong location RICHMOND, Texas (WSVN) — A glitch in the popular “Find My iPhone” app has been sending people to the wrong location in Texas. According to homeowner Scott Schuster, people have been showing up at his door at all hours of the night, convinced that their lost devices are inside his house.“It’s frustrating for everyone involved,” said Schuster. “I have to wake up and go open the door and explain to them that I don’t have their device, and people don’t tend to believe you.”The glitch, which Schuster said has been ongoing despite his attempts to report it to Apple, is causing significant stress for the homeowner and his family. He is worried that one of the people who show up at his door could become violent, putting him and his young children in danger.“I have to worry about irrational people who might be angry or drunk or have had a rough night,” he said. “That’s my biggest concern. Someone coming to th...

Udonis Haslem, Heat reflect on rare 20-year NBA career

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:19:01 GMT

Udonis Haslem, Heat reflect on rare 20-year NBA career MIAMI (AP) — This story would never have been told if Udonis Haslem’s mother hadn’t moved from Miami to Jacksonville. Or if his stepbrother hadn’t been so smart about an airball. Or if Atlanta signed him in 2002. Or if San Antonio did in 2003.Any of those things happen differently, it all changes. He probably wouldn’t be with the Miami Heat right now. Maybe never.Haslem, the NBA’s oldest active player at 42 and a three-time champion, is in the final days with his hometown team. He’s the third player to spend a two-decade career with one franchise, joining Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki and the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant.“All I’ve ever tried to do is take care of my people, take care of my city,” Haslem said. “I think that’s why I can sit down with the mayor and commissioners, or I can sit down with people in the ’hood, and be comfortable either way. It’s because of the sacrifices that I’ve made for this city.”Heat President Pat Riley is more succinct.“Udonis is Miami,” Riley...

Israel launches strikes in Lebanon and Gaza after barrage of rockets fired across border

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:19:01 GMT

Israel launches strikes in Lebanon and Gaza after barrage of rockets fired across border (CNN) — Tensions continued to simmer after Israel struck Palestinian militant targets in southern Lebanon and Gaza on Friday, raising the specter of a wider regional escalation in the wake of police raids on the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.The strikes came hours after dozens of rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory, an attack the Israeli military blamed on Palestinian militants. The barrage from Lebanon was the largest since a 2006 war between the two countries.Violence continued to spiral on Friday afternoon when two Israeli sisters — aged 16 and 20 — were killed and their mother was seriously wounded in a shooting attack in the occupied West Bank.The Israeli military says it was on high alert, calling up an unspecified number of reservists amid what it described as “very volatile times.”Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, international spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said that it was dealing with a “convergence of frontier...

94 new affordable housing units open in San Diego

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:19:01 GMT

94 new affordable housing units open in San Diego SAN DIEGO -- Affordable housing options are expanding in San Diego, according to the County Communications Office.A grand opening event was held Thursday in celebration of a new apartment building on Ulric Street in Linda Vista, officials said. There are now 96 new affordable housing options for families and individuals. How to get on a waitlist for affordable housing in San Diego The apartments, which were developed by local non-profit Community HousingWorks, include studio units, along with one, two and three-bedroom spaces that are large enough for families.There are also 10 units reserved young people who have aged out of the foster care system and 10 apartments for unhoused veterans, the communications office explained."I couldn't get an apartment even though I had the money because I didn't have the right credentials," explained local veteran Mathew Barge, who the county said was living on the streets. "I didn't have credit, you know, those type of things that keep you from ...

Family doctor shortage skyrockets during COVID-19 pandemic

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:19:01 GMT

Family doctor shortage skyrockets during COVID-19 pandemic People looking for family doctors have skyrocketed during the pandemic to 415,000 and new data shows those who the lowest income have been especially impacted.The Ontario College of Family Physicians (OCFP) is calling for real change in the province after a report released by Inspire Primary Health Care showed at least 72,000 people lost their doctor between March 2020 and 2022.In Toronto, a higher proportion of individuals with the lowest income — 120,700 in the west end, north of the city core and in Scarborough — are without a family doctor compared to higher income-earners.Across the province, more than 2.2 million Ontarians are without a family doctor, compared to 1.8 million in 2020.The researchers also believe these numbers are underestimated because they don’t include babies born or people who moved to the city after 2019.Other vulnerable Torontonians impacted include at least 203,000 who live in racialized neighbourhoods, 54,000 who suffer from mental illn...

‘Showing Up’: Kelly Reichardt ‘fine with being a side B-er’

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:19:01 GMT

‘Showing Up’: Kelly Reichardt ‘fine with being a side B-er’ The quiet perceptions, everyday troubles and intermittent moments of transcendence that make up Kelly Reichardt’s films have always had a rhythm apart from most American movies.Reichardt’s latest, “Showing Up,” which opens in theaters Friday, is no exception. But it’s also more directly about the compulsions and pains of making modest, hand-crafted art. Michelle Williams plays a Portland, Oregon, ceramics artist of little renown but quiet devotion, trying to prepare a gallery show while things like a distracted landlady (Hong Chau) and an injured bird intrude on her life.“We were trying to make a film about someone who’s caught up in balancing the day-to-day, someone for whom working is like eating, but life has all these other demands of you,” Reichardt, who penned the film with her regular screenwriter, Jonathan Raymond, said in an interview last year ahead of the film’s premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.How the 59-year-old Reichardt, long a leading American indie filmmak...

Mary J, Method Man make ‘Power’ moves on hit Starz series

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:19:01 GMT

Mary J, Method Man make ‘Power’ moves on hit Starz series LOS ANGELES (AP) — While filming “Power Book II: Ghost,” Clifford “Method Man” Smith sometimes camped out in Mary J. Blige’s dedicated break area during their downtime to briefly warm up near her heater on a chilly New York set. Unlike most, Smith can randomly crash Blige’s space simply because of their decadeslong friendship. The music icons’ strong bond helped both during the filming of the Starz hit spinoff series, where both have integral roles.“Some of my favorite days on set is when me and Mary get to work together,” said Smith. Smith and Blige won a Grammy in 1995 for the classic single “I’ll Be There for You/You’re All I Need to Get By,” which served as a remix for the Wu-Tang Clan rapper’s “All I Need” from his debut solo album “Tical.” Over the years, both have hit the stage together several times, including their recent performance in 2022 at Blige’s Strength of a Woman Festival and Summit in Atlanta.Blige and Smith tried to make their set experience enjoyable and s...

Fire official: 11 hurt in Detroit apartment building fire

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:19:01 GMT

Fire official: 11 hurt in Detroit apartment building fire DETROIT (AP) — About a dozen people were hurt in an apartment building fire early Friday morning on Detroit’s west side.Twenty people were displaced and 11 people suffered injuries including smoke inhalation, bumps and bruises, Fire Chief James Harris told The Detroit News.The blaze was reported around 3:30 a.m. It left the five-story building heavily damaged.At least some sections of the building’s roof appeared to have collapsed. Harris described the building as a “total loss.”The cause of the fire was under investigation Friday morning.The Associated Press