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Ticker: Hollywood strikes hits Warner Bros. profits; Judge halts sale of trigger devices

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:59 GMT

Warner Bros. Discovery is cutting its profit expectations for the year, saying it will likely incur costs as high as $500 million tied to the ongoing Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strike.The U.S. film and television industries remain paralyzed by the dual strikes. The writers strike began in May and the actors joined them on July 14.Warner Bros. Discovery owns HBO and Max, CNN, TNT and a host of other entertainment outlets, including DC Comics.The company said in a regulatory filing that it now expects 2023 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to be between $10.5 billion to $11 billion, down from $11 billion to $11.5 billion.“While (Warner Bros. Discovery) is hopeful that these strikes will be resolved soon, it cannot predict when the strikes will ultimately end. With both guilds still on strike today, the company now assumes the financial impact to (Warner Bros. Discovery) of these strikes will persist through the end of 2023,&#...

Boston Police investigating after Southie electric sign board displayed ‘KKK Meeting Today’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:59 GMT

Police are investigating who wrote “KKK Meeting Today” on an electric construction sign board in South Boston on Monday.The police department’s Civil Rights Unit has taken over the investigation after a Boston police officer saw the sign in the area of D and Cypher streets in Southie at around 7:40 a.m. on Labor Day.The electric construction sign board belongs to a private construction company, whose name was blacked out on the police report. The construction firm was listed as a victim for the vandalism incident.Whether a hacker took control of the sign board or if an employee from the construction company wrote the phrase is “part of the investigation,” according to a Boston Police spokesperson.A police officer in Southie came across the “Electric Construction Sign Board with a notification that read, ‘KKK Meeting Today,’ ” reads the police report.The officer took a photo of the sign and notified the police district’s sup...

Feds find airbag inflators defective

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:59 GMT

DETROIT — The U.S. government is taking a big step toward forcing a defiant Tennessee company to recall 52 million air bag inflators that could explode, hurl shrapnel and injure or kill people.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Tuesday said it has made an initial decision that the inflators made by ARC Automotive Inc., and under license by another company, are defective. The agency scheduled a public hearing for Oct. 5, a required step before deciding to seek a court-ordered recall.In May the agency asked ARC to recall the inflators, which it says are responsible for at least seven injuries and two deaths in the U.S. and Canada since 2009. But ARC has refused to issue a full-scale recall, setting the stage for the possible court fight.Messages were left seeking comment from ARC. The company maintains that no safety defect exists, that NHTSA’s demand is based on a hypothesis rather than technical conclusions, and that the agency has no authority to order a pa...

Firearms charges dropped against New England Patriots CB Jack Jones

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:59 GMT

The firearms charges against Patriots cornerback Jack Jones were dropped Tuesday.“He’s grateful that the case is resolved, and he’s looking forward to playing football full time,” his defense attorney Rosemary Scapicchio told the Herald. “That’s what he wants to do.”Massachusetts State Police troopers stationed at Boston Logan International Airport arrested Jones, 25, the afternoon of June 16 after they say two pistols were found on his carry-on bag as he was going through a TSA security checkpoint.He was charged with two counts each of possession of a concealed weapon in a secure area of an airport, possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card, unlawful possession of a firearm, carrying a loaded firearm and possession of a large-capacity feeding device.He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in municipal court in East Boston on June 20, posted $30,000 cash bail and has been out since.Assistant District Attorney John Blazo on Tuesday filed a nolle prosequi, droppi...

SAG-AFTRA march and rally on Labor Day

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:59 GMT

Greater Boston Labor Council Labor Day breakfast

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:59 GMT

Padres to host first-ever rodeo at Petco Park

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:59 GMT

SAN DIEGO — Padres? More like Yee-Hawdres.The San Diego Padres will host the first-ever rodeo at Petco Park in 2024, the team announced Tuesday.The Padres are teaming up with C5 Rodeo Company and Outriders Present to bring the three-day competition to America's Finest City from Friday, Jan. 12 to Sunday, Jan 14. Petco Park named best MLB ballpark by USA Today The competition will feature "the world’s top cowboys competing for over half a million dollars in prize money," the team said.General sale tickets for the event go on sale Monday, Sept. 18 and can be purchased here.The San Diego Rodeo will follow a string of other big events scheduled at Petco Park to close out 2023 including the Wild Horses Festival with Zach Bryan, the Proper NYE New Year's event, the 2023 Holiday Bowl and concerts from The Revivalists and Band of Horses, Kolohe Kai, Pixies and Modest Mouse, Daniel Caesar, The All-American Rejects and Newfound Glory, RL Grime, Hosier and Deftones.

Fierce storm in southern Brazil kills at least 21 people and displaces more than 1,600

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:59 GMT

SAO PAULO (AP) — At least 21 people died in southern Brazil due to a fierce storm that caused floods in several cities, authorities said Tuesday.Rio Grande do Sul Gov. Eduardo Leite said the death toll is the state’s highest due to a climate event. He said about 60 cities had been battered by the storm, which was classified as an extratropical cyclone.Leite said 15 of the deaths occurred in one house in Mucum, a city of about 50,000 residents.The Rio Grande do Sul state government said it had recorded 1,650 people made homeless since Monday night. TV footage showed familes on the top of their houses pleading for help as rivers overflowed their banks. The city hall at Mucum recommended that residents seek out supplies to meet their needs for the next 72 hours.The governor said one of the dead was a woman who was swept away during a rescue attempt.“I regret the death of a woman in a rescue attempt over the Taquari river,” Leite said in his social media channels. “The wire broke,...

Enbridge to purchase three U.S. utilities for $14 billion in cash and debt

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:59 GMT

CALGARY — Enbridge Inc. has signed a US$14 billion cash-and-debt deal that represents a major vote of confidence by the Canadian company in the future of natural gas.The Calgary-based energy infrastructure giant said Tuesday it will purchase three U.S.-based utility companies— The East Ohio Gas Company, Questar Gas Company and its related Wexpro companies, and the Public Service Company of North Carolina — all of which are owned by Virginia-based Dominion Energy Inc.Enbridge, which plans to finance the deal through a combination of US$9.4 billion of cash consideration and US$4.6 billion of assumed debt, said the deal will double the scale of its gas utility business and will serve to balance its asset mix evenly between natural gas and renewables, and liquids.In a presentation for investors Tuesday afternoon, Enbridge CEO Greg Ebel said the company’s earnings mix is currently about 60 per cent weighted towards crude oil and liquids, and 40 per cent weighted towards natural gas...

To mask or not to mask? Biden goes both ways after first lady tests positive for COVID-19

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:59 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden turned up in a mask for the first time in months on Tuesday, a day after his wife tested positive for COVID-19. But the president quickly ditched it during a ceremony honoring an 81-year-old Vietnam veteran, and the two unmasked octogenarians shared a hearty handshake before they parted.The White House had said earlier that Biden, who had tested negative for the virus earlier in the day, would wear a mask indoors, but that he might remove it when standing at a distance from others.The reality looked somewhat different from the promised protocol, a reflection of how messy coronavirus precautions can become at a time when the national emergency has ended and so have mask mandates, but new waves of the virus are cresting. Hospitalizations are up, but not like they were before, and doctors are hoping to get more shots in arms next month when a new booster becomes available. Biden and Capt. Larry Taylor, who both took off their masks after entering t...