Tag Archives: General news

Financially struggling Met Opera’s 18 productions next season matches the fewest since 1980-81

The financially struggling Metropolitan Opera will present 18 productions in 2024-25, matching the current season and pandemic-curtailed 2019-20 for the fewest since 14 in strike-shortened 1980-81. Met general manager Peter Gelb kept up his pivot to contemporary works, starting the season with Jeanine Tesori’s “Grounded” on Sept. 23, then presenting Osvaldo Golijov’s “Ainadamar” opening Oct. 15 and John Adams’ “Antony …

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11 years later, still no end to federal intervention in sight for New Orleans police

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Police Department’s progress in complying with an 11-year-old reform agreement has “accelerated dramatically,” a federal judge said Wednesday, but she gave no indication when she would feel comfortable relaxing court oversight of the department. Judge Susie Morgan’s comments in an afternoon hearing appeared to mark a softening of tensions between the court and …

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Gay rights advocates in Kentucky say expansion to religious freedom law would hurt LGBTQ+ safeguards

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Gay rights advocates pushed back Wednesday against a Republican-sponsored measure to broaden Kentucky’s religious freedom law, claiming it threatens to undermine community-level “fairness ordinances” meant to protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination. The measure, House Bill 47, won approval from the House Judiciary Committee, but some supporters signaled a willingness to make revisions to the bill as …

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Somalia announces deal with Turkey to deter Ethiopia’s access to sea through a breakaway region

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia announced on Wednesday a defense deal with Turkey that includes support for the Horn of Africa nation’s sea assets and appears aimed at deterring Ethiopia’s efforts to secure access to the sea by way of the breakaway region of Somaliland. Ethiopia signed a memorandum of understanding with Somaliland on Jan. 1. The document has rattled …

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Empresa en Japón despide a su presidente por acoso sexual

TOKIO (AP) — El jefe de una empresa de energía renovable en Japón fue despedido por acoso sexual, informaron ambas compañías el miércoles, mientras el movimiento #MeToo crece en el país. Japan Renewable Energy Corp., subsidiaria de Eneos Holdings, la principal refinadora del país, indicó en un comunicado que despidió al presidente Shigeru Yasu después de que una investigación interna …

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Haiti orphanage founder to be sent to Florida for sex abuse case

DENVER (AP) — An American founder of a Haitian orphanage who is accused of sexually abusing four boys there more than a decade ago has been ordered to be sent from Colorado to Florida to face prosecution. Michael Geilenfeld, 71, was arrested in Colorado on Jan. 20 after being indicted in Florida, accused of traveling from Miami to Haiti between …

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Seattle police officer who struck and killed graduate student from India won’t face felony charges

SEATTLE (AP) — Prosecutors in Washington state said Wednesday they will not file felony charges against a Seattle police officer who struck and killed a graduate student from India while responding to an overdose call — a case that attracted widespread attention after another officer was recorded making callous remarks about it. Officer Kevin Dave was driving 74 mph (119 …

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Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner’s divorce is finalized, officially ending their marriage

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — A judge has declared that Kevin Costner and his wife of nearly two decades, Christine Baumgartner, are now legally divorced, according to court records filed Tuesday. The couple’s marriage ended, and both became single, on Friday, nine months after she filed for divorce, a judgment entered in Santa Barbara County court showed. In the first …

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