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‘Opus,’ the farewell of Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, will premiere at Venice Film Festival

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:27 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Sitting alone before a grand piano in a stark studio, Ryuichi Sakamoto takes the listener on a journey of his life, playing 20 of his compositions. Shot entirely in black and white, on three 4K cameras, the film “Opus,” directed by Neo Sora, is the Japanese composer’s farewell, poetic yet bold, and deeply heartfelt.Its world premiere is set for the Venice International Film Festival next month. The filming took place over several days, just a half year before his death on March 28 at 71.Sakamoto had been battling cancer since 2014, and could no longer do concert performances, and so he turned to film. He plays pieces he had never performed on solo piano. He delivers a striking, new slow-tempo arrangement of “Tong Poo,” a composition from his early days with techno-pop Yellow Magic Orchestra that catapulted him to stardom in the late 1970s when Asian musicians still tended to be marginal in the West.“I felt utterly hollow afterward, and my condition worsened for about a ...

President Joe Biden is hosting Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves at the White House

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:27 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is hosting Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves at the White House Tuesday, following an agreement between the two nations on possible legal pathways for migrants.The two leaders are expected to discuss how the two nations can work together to strengthen economic ties through new jobs, advance democracy and promote orderly migration. The Central American nation has emerged as an immigration hotspot, as migrants increasingly travel through the dangerous Darien Gap from Colombia into Central America and north into Costa Rica. In June, Costa Rica and the U.S. agreed to open potential legal pathways to the United States for some of the Nicaraguan and Venezuelan migrants who are among the 240,000 asylum seekers in the Central American nation. Last year, Nicaraguans accounted for nine out of 10 applicants.The agreement was aimed at reducing the pressure on Costa Rica’s overwhelmed asylum system and heading off asylum seekers who could give up on the s...

Judge could decide whether prosecution of man charged in Colorado supermarket shooting can resume

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:27 GMT

DENVER (AP) — A judge could decide Tuesday whether the prosecution of a mentally ill man charged with killing 10 people at a Colorado supermarket in 2021 can resume now that the state mental hospital says he is mentally competent, at least for now.Judge Ingrid Bakke is set to hold an afternoon hearing to discuss the status of the case against Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, who has schizophrenia. Alissa is charged with murder and multiple attempted murder counts in the shooting at a crowded King Soopers store on March 22, 2021, in Boulder, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of Denver. He has not yet been asked to enter a plea.The case against him has been on hold for about two years after his attorneys raised concerns about his mental competency — whether he is able to understand court proceedings and communicate with his lawyers to help his own defense.Last week, prosecutors announced that the state hospital reported that Alissa is now considered competent after consistently taking hi...

Biden administration to target drugs for price negotiations to lower Medicare costs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:27 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration will announce on Tuesday the first prescription drugs being targeted by the U.S. government for price negotiations as part of an effort to lower Medicare costs. The announcement is a significant step under the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed by Biden last year. The law requires the federal government for the first time to start negotiating directly with companies about the prices they charge for some of Medicare’s most expensive drugs. The process has drawn legal challenges from drugmakers and heavy criticism from Republicans in Congress. It’s also a centerpiece of Biden’s reelection pitch as he seeks a second term in office by touting his work to lower costs for Americans at a time when the country has struggled with inflation. Biden plans to deliver a speech on health care costs from the White House after the announcement. He’ll be joined by Vice President Kamala Harris. More than 52 million p...

As Idalia churns toward Florida, residents urged to wrap up storm preparations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:27 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Florida residents loaded up on sandbags and evacuated from homes in low-lying areas along the Gulf Coast as Tropical Storm Idalia intensified Monday and forecasters predicted it would hit in days as a major hurricane with potentially life-threatening storm surges.“You should be wrapping up your preparation for #TropicalStormIdalia tonight and Tues morning at the latest,” the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay said Monday on X, formerly known as Twitter. As the state prepared, Idalia thrashed Cuba with heavy rain, especially in the westernmost part of the island, where the tobacco-producing province of Pinar del Rio is still recovering from the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian almost a year ago. Authorities in the province issued a state of alert, and residents were evacuated to friends’ and relatives’ homes as authorities monitored the Cuyaguateje river for possible flooding. As much as 10 centimeters (4 inches) of rain fell in Cuba on Sunday, meteorological...

Recruiting is underway for Trump-like ‘wrecking ball’ to shrink government and fire federal workers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:27 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — With more than a year to go before the 2024 election, a constellation of conservative organizations is preparing for a possible second White House term for Donald Trump, recruiting thousands of Americans to come to Washington on a mission to dismantle the federal government and replace it with a vision closer to his own.Led by the long-established Heritage Foundation think tank and fueled by former Trump administration officials, the far-reaching effort is essentially a government-in-waiting for the former president’s second term — or any candidate who aligns with their ideals and can defeat President Joe Biden in 2024.With a nearly 1,000-page “Project 2025” handbook and an “army” of Americans, the idea is to have the civic infrastructure in place on Day One to commandeer, reshape and do away with what Republicans deride as the “deep state” bureaucracy, in part by firing as many as 50,000 federal workers.“We need to flood the zone with conservatives,” said Paul Dan...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis faces Black leaders’ anger after racist killings in Jacksonville

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:27 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Ron DeSantis scoffed when the NAACP issued a travel advisory this spring warning Black people to use “extreme care” if traveling to Florida. The leading civil rights group argued that the state’s loose gun laws and the Republican governor’s “anti-woke” campaign to deny the existence of systemic racism created a culture of “open hostility towards African Americans and people of color.” Just three months later, DeSantis is leading his state through the aftermath of a racist attack that left three African Americans dead. Black leaders in Florida — and across the nation — say they’re outraged by his actions and rhetoric ahead of the shooting.“Gov. DeSantis has created and pushed a narrative of division and hate that is anti-Black,” said Rev. Jeffrey Rumlin, pastor of The Dayspring Church in Jacksonville, where three Black people were gunned down at a Dollar General store over the weekend by a white man with a swastika emblazoned on his assault ...

Gusty late Tuesday cold frontal passage may spark showers—gusty post-frontal “NNE” winds to follow with temp drop Tuesday night/Wednesday, but 90s return this weekend

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:27 GMT

PLUS Monday marked 33rd anniversary of 1990 Plainfield twister while Floridians prepare for Gulf Coast storm surge and Tuesday night landfall"IDALIA" IS SLATED TO BECOME A HURRICANE“IDALIA,” currently northbound at 8mph of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, is slated to INTENSITY TO A HURRICANE by nightfall Monday and to become a MAJOR HURRICANE Tuesday night as it sweeps over the Gulf of Mexico toward a west coast Florida landfall, currently predicted to take place well north of the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. A “MAJOR HURRICANE” is one which has sustained winds at CAT 3 strength or greater—in other words, 111 mph or stronger winds.As a result of the anticipated rapid intensification of IDALIA and its predicted strength, the National Hurricane Center is out with storm surge forecasts. Those are forecasts in the projected rise of the ocean waters as winds pile the water against and over the coastline. The Hurricane Center always stresses NOT to look at the projected center track of the stor...

Transient accused of sneaking into Riverside home, touching 12-year-old girl

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:27 GMT

A convicted felon was being held without bond Monday after sneaking into a home in Riverside in the middle of the night and touching a 12-year-old girl, according to police.Around 12:30 a.m., officers were dispatched to a home along Finly Court and Fairmount Boulevard on a report of a possible burglary.Police say the suspect, Daveon Alvarez, 28, entered the home through an unlocked door and encountered the 12-year-old girl who was sleeping on the couch.“He touched the girl’s face, which startled her and she ran off to alert her family,” police said.Daveon Alvarez is seen on dash camera footage from Riverside Police. Aug. 28, 2023. (Riverside PD)As officers canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses, they learned that Alvarez had been going through cars and fled the home with a set of car keys.He was arrested nearby.Police say Alvarez is a transient from the desert area who was on parole for auto theft. He was booked into jail for annoying or molesting a child, burglary, attempted auto...

California's first openly gay state Senate leader stepping down

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:27 GMT

The leader of the California Senate said Monday she will step down from her leadership post, ending an historic run as the first woman and first openly gay person to lead the upper legislative chamber of the nation's most populous state.Toni Atkins, a Democrat from San Diego, said she will step down next year. Sen. Mike McGuire, a Democrat from the state's North Coast region, will replace Atkins as the Senate's president pro tempore.Atkins made the announcement at a news conference with McGuire and most of the Senate Democratic Caucus standing behind her. The display of unity was in stark contrast to the leadership battle that embroiled the state Assembly last year, when new speaker Robert Rivas replaced former speaker Anthony Rendon.Atkins cannot seek re-election because of term limits and must leave the Senate at the end of next year. She said the caucus chose to announce the transition now because “a long, drawn-out successor campaign would not be in the best interest of the Sena...