Friday, January 20, 2023

Wake-Up Call: Baldwin Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter


Alec Baldwin was charged Thursday with two federal counts of involuntary manslaughter related to the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during the filming of the Western “Rust.” The October 2021 incident — in which Baldwin allegedly shot a prop gun loaded with a real bullet — took place on a movie set, where extreme precautions are normally taken around prop weapons. Here are some of the alleged twists and turns that took place before and after the shooting.

On-set complaints before the shooting: It’s now known that, hours before the shooting, several crew members walked off set — reportedly fed up about various issues. They complained about being forced to either sleep in their cars or drive an hour to a hotel because lodging near the Bonanza Creek Ranch was deemed too expensive.

Daily Mail US Composite 1/20/23

Meanwhile, Mickey Rourke on Thursday came to the defense of his friend Alec Baldwin, insisting that the 64-year-old could not be blamed for the October 2021 shooting of a camerawoman on-set. Baldwin, who starred in and produced Rust, was handed a prop gun and pointed it at Hutchins on set in New Mexico. The gun went off, killing the 42-year-old and wounding director Joel Souza. On Thursday the Santa Fe district attorney announced that both Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed would be charged with involuntary manslaughter - and face 18 months in prison if convicted. If the pair are found guilty of firearm enhancement, they could be sentenced to five years. 'I usually never put my 2 cents in about what happens on someone's movie set,' wrote Rourke on Instagram. 'It's a terrible tragedy what happened to a cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. But no way in hell actor Alec Baldwin should be charged with any negligence whatsoever.'

BIDEN: C'MON MAN' THERE'S NO THERE THERE': A frustrated President Joe Biden said Thursday there is “no there there” when he was persistently questioned about the discovery of classified documents and official records at his home and former office. “We found a handful of documents were filed in the wrong place,” Biden said to reporters who questioned him during a tour of the damage from storms in California. “We immediately turned them over to the Archives and the Justice Department.” Biden said he was “fully cooperating and looking forward to getting this resolved quickly.” “I think you’re going to find there’s nothing there,” he said. “There’s no there there.” The White House has disclosed that Biden attorneys found classified documents and official records on four occasions in recent months — on Nov. 2 at the offices of the Penn Biden Center in Washington, and then in follow up searches on Dec. 20 in the garage of the president’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, and on Jan. 11 and 12 in the president’s home library.



➤BIDEN VOWS TO HELP CALIFORNIA REBUILD: In a visit to a storm-ravaged part of California, President Joe Biden yesterday promised help from the federal government for rebuilding. Since December 26th, the state has gotten almost 12 inches of rain and snow from a series of nine heavy storms. Biden visited Capitola, one of the worst-hit towns on Monterey Bay, where homes and businesses are coping with flooding and storm debris. More than 500 federal emergency responders are already in California.

➤U.S. HITS THE DEBT CEILING: The U.S. government yesterday hit the debt ceiling. That means it cannot borrow more money to pay off the debts it has already incurred until Congress and the president raise the limit. The debt ceiling is currently $31.4 trillion. If Congress fails to act, the government may be unable to pay its bills sometime this June. Until then, the U.S. Treasury Department is making some behind-the-scenes emergency maneuvers to prevent the country from defaulting.Politically, the event could be a live grenade. Conservatives in the House of Representatives are expected to demand immediate budget cuts in return for their votes to increase the debt ceiling.

The debt ceiling is the maximum amount that the federal government may borrow in order to keep up with the spending that Congress and the president have already authorized. That is, it does not allow for new spending.

🛫FAA SAYS OUTAGE WAS MISTAKENLY CAUSED BY CONTRACTORS: The Federal Aviation Administration said on Thursday that the system failure that caused thousands of flight delays last week occurred because contractors “unintentionally deleted files” on the alert system for pilots, leading to a standstill of planes and frustrated passengers. The F.A.A. said in a statement that the workers had been trying to “correct synchronization” between the main database for the Notice to Air Missions alerts and a backup database when the files were mistakenly deleted, causing the outage that snarled air traffic throughout the day on Jan. 11. Investigators have found no evidence of a cyberattack or other malicious intent, according to the agency.

➤FRENCH PROTESTS DENOUNCE RETIREMENT AGE CHANGE: More than a million people across France came out to protest a government proposal to raise the official retirement age to 64 from 62. Demonstrations were held in 200 cities. A second day of protest has been scheduled by unions for January 31st. French workers qualify for a full pension when they reach the official retirement age.

➤FEDS TAKE OVER ALABAMA DUMP FIRE: Workers for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have taken charge of a landfill fire that has been burning since late November north of Birmingham. Air samples from the site have found traces of two chemicals known to cause cancer that need to be dealt with, according to Alabama website AL.com. The landfill is supposed to be a “green waste” site that handles only vegetation. Nearby residents have complained of health problems from the fire, and the smoke is penetrating the entire Birmingham region.

➤NEW CRYPTO BANKRUPTCY: Popular cryptocurrency broker Genesis has filed for bankruptcy, insiders have revealed. The filing made its way through the U.S. bankruptcy court Thursday, and comes as the latest crypto casualty following the spectacular downfall of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX, where the lender held some of its funds. Previous reports aired this week indicated the company had been in the midst of the now finished Chapter 11 paperwork, as it works toward a deal with over 100,000 creditors who found themselves out of their investments following FTX's collapse. The company, which is owned by venture capital firm Digital Currency Group, had reportedly been considering filing for bankruptcy for some time, owing creditors a sum believed to be more than $3billion.

➤SUSPECT ATE AT VEGAN PIZZA PLACE WHERE TWO VICTIMS WORKED: Bryan Kohberger dined at a Greek restaurant where two of the students he is accused of killing worked as waitresses, it has emerged. Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle, who were stabbed to death in their off-campus home in November along with two other University of Idaho students, had worked at the Mad Greek restaurant in Moscow for years. A former employee has now revealed that Kohberger, who was arrested and charged with the killings, had visited the restaurant in the run-up to their deaths at least twice and ate vegan pizza. The revelation is the latest in a series that suggest Kohberger may have been stalking the students. On Thursday it emerged an Instagram account seemingly associated with the suspect had followed three of the victims - Mogen, Kernodle and Kaylee Goncalves. The three girls were killed alongside Ethan Chapin on November 13 after an intruder in a mask entered the house in the night and attacked them with a fixed blade knife. 

➤POLICE ARREST MAN WHO WATER-HOSED HOMELESS WOMAN: San Francisco police have arrested an antiques dealer who turned a water hose on a homeless woman who was squatting outside his art gallery earlier this month. A video of the event, recorded by a neighbor, went viral. Collier Gwin will be charged with a misdemeanor battery offense. Gwin said he has repeatedly called police and social services when the woman became disruptive but she was always released back into the streets within hours.


📲T-MOBILE SUBSCRIBERS HACKED: A hacker accessed personal data from 37 million current subscribers of T-Mobile, the company said in a regulatory filing. The incident occurred last November. The hacker got names, billing addresses, emails, phone numbers, birth dates, and T-Mobile account numbers. But, the company said, the hacker did not get Social Security numbers, credit card information, passwords, PINS or financial information. The company said it was in the process of notifying customers whose information was breached.

🚘NEW CAR PRICES COOLING OFF: After years of bad deals at the car dealerships, new car prices are cooling off a bit, according to data from Edmunds. A year ago, when inventories were at their scantiest, 80 percent of buyers were paying above the manufacturers’ suggested retail price. Only about 36 percent had to pay above sticker price in December. And, the average price came in $300 under sticker price.
  • Used car prices are also falling, but not by much. Buyers are still paying $7,100 above what the normal depreciation trends would suggest, according to monthly price tracking by the car shopping app CoPilot. That’s at least better than six months ago, when prices were $10,000 above normal. The average price for a used car was $30,899 in December.

➤GOODBYE NEW YORK: Dazed and abused by high taxes and rising crime, more New Yorkers fled to Florida in 2022 than any year in history, according to new data. A staggering 64,577 Empire staters exchanged their driver’s licenses for the Sunshine State version last year, according to figures from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. “They come in every day,” a staffer at a Jacksonville DMV office told The Post this week with a weary laugh. “I hear all the complaints. I feel like a therapist sometimes.” The worker said the venting refugees harbor a long list of grievances — with taxes and eroding quality of life at the top of the list. “It’s slowed down a little bit,” she said of the stampede. “But not by a whole lot, I can tell you that.”

NY Post 1/20/23

➤POOR HARRY HAS CASH KINGDOM: Prince Harry may claim to be all about public service, but he is raking in the dough — creating his own empire where cash is king. “Spare,” the prince’s bombshell memoir, for which he was paid a rumored $20 million advance, is an instant bestseller, shattering records in the US and the United Kingdom where it sold 1.4 million copies on its first day of publication last week. He’s also reportedly making more than $100 million in a deal he and his wife Meghan Markle signed with Netflix and their for-profit company Archewell Productions. The company produced a six-part documentary series “Harry and Meghan,” which began streaming last year.  The couple, who resigned from their royal duties in 2021 — losing much of their income in the process — is also working on another seven-part series for the streaming giant featuring interviews with prominent leaders around the world. Another for-profit company started by the couple, Archewell Audio, brokered a deal that is said to be worth $25 million to produce podcasts for Spotify. Markle’s “Archetypes with Meghan” interview series debuted last year amid resignations of two of the company’s producers.

➤BEN SAVAGE RUNNING FOR CONGRESS: Ben Savage is running for Congress. According to TMZ, the Boy Meets World alum is looking to represent California’s 30th district, which includes Los Angeles and cities immediately to its north. If successful, he would be taking Representative Adam Schiff’s U.S. Congressional seat, assuming Schiff makes a run for Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat.

🎾AMERICAN NEWCOMER DEFEATS CASPER RUUD: An unseeded American tennis player took down Casper Ruud, who ranks as the world's number two in men's singles, in Day four of the 2023 Australian Open. Jenson Brooksby, age 22, defeated Rudd 6-3, 7-5, 6(4)-7, 6-2 in a game that took four hours.

🏈BUCCANEERS FIRE 5 COACHES: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have fired no fewer than six coaches in the wake of this week’s 31-14 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC wild-card round. Three other coaches decided to retire. Needless to say, it has not been a great season for the Bucs. The team averaged 18.4 points per game and finished the regular season 8-9.

🏈SAINTS’ JORDAN WINS APPEAL OF FINE: New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan has successfully appealed a $50,000 fine from the NFL for allegedly faking an injury during the team’s December 5th loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jordan says there was no faking involved. He spent several weeks rehabbing his swollen foot after the incident. The NFL also fined the Saints organization $350,000.


⚽SOCCER PRO ANTON WALKES DIES IN BOATING ACCIDENT: Anton Walkes, a defender for the Major League Soccer team Charlotte FC, has died from injuries suffered in a boating accident in Miami. He was 25 years old. Walkes came up through the youth ranks of England’s Tottenham Hotspur and for Portsmouth before moving to the U.S., where he played for Atlanta United as well as Charlotte.



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