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Bavarian conservative chief spends €180K on professional photos

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:34 GMT

BERLIN — Smile! Bavaria’s state leader Markus Söder just loves a professional photograph.The conservative chief’s state chancellery splurged almost €180,000 on freelance photographers in 2022 alone; a huge rise on Horst Seehofer’s final year as Bavarian boss in 2017 during which roughly €11,000 was spent on freelancers. In total, the spending of taxpayer money on photographers has increased more than twentyfold since Söder’s leadership. On top of the freelancers, more than €36,000 a year is spent on a permanently employed photographer.The SPD group in the Bavarian state parliament had inquired to the state chancellery about spending on photographers, and the response was seen by German news agency dpa.The state chancellery said it hires photographers “on an occasion-related basis at an agreed hourly or daily rate … The images were for press and public relations purposes and for documentation.”Söder, from the Christian Social Union, is n...

Revenge of the newts as Boris Johnson’s summer plans halted

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:34 GMT

Boris Johnson’s hopes of a summer swim are being dashed by his bitter nemesis: great crested newts.The U.K. prime minister recently submitted plans to build an outdoor pool by a newly acquired home, but the “likely” presence of the amphibians in the nearby area is halting construction, the Telegraph and BBC and reported. It comes just three years after Johnson used a speech to take aim at rules protecting the much-loved creatures.Johnson moved to the £3.8 million, nine-bedroom house in Oxfordshire earlier this summer and soon launched into plans to build an 11 meter-by-4 meter swimming pool. But a council officer raised concern over the development, warning it falls within “the red zone of highest risk” to great crested newts, according to the Telegraph.Edward Church, the local council’s countryside officer lodged a holding objection, arguing Johnson’s plans may put the nearby great crested newt population in danger. Church suggested Johnson carries out a protected spec...

Peabody chiropractor at center of bathroom spy camera investigation charged with filming a minor

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:34 GMT

A chiropractor in Peabody already accused of filming a patient using his office’s bathroom is now facing new charges after authorities found he allegedly filmed a minor and possessed child porn.Scott Kline, 44, of Middleton, was previously charged with taking nude photos of an unsuspecting person in the bathroom of his business, “Back on Track.” The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office said it was July 14, when a patient used the restroom and noticed a black, plastic coat hook hanging on the wall next to the toilet tank that “looked out of place.”“Upon further inspection the patient observed a blue light on the side of the hanger and discovered that it appeared to be a hidden spy camera complete with a lens on the front, USB port, on/off switch and an SD memory card,” the DA’s office stated in a news release. “The victim also documented what he observed on his personal cell phone and provided that to police.”Police later obtained a search warrant and went through the off...

CVS is laying off 5,000 workers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:34 GMT

New York (CNN) — CVS is laying off about 5,000 employees in a cost-cutting effort, the pharmacy chain confirmed Tuesday.Reductions will occur in “non-customer facing positions,” primarily affecting its corporate staff, according to a statement given to CNN. CVS said it is “evolving to adapt to new consumer health needs and expectations” and that it “must take difficult steps to reduce expenses.”“We do not expect there to be any impact to our customer-facing colleagues in our stores, pharmacies, clinics, or customer services centers,” said the Rhode Island-based company.The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news, said the changes are part of CVS’ effort to focus on health services. In recent years, the chain has added more primary care offerings and expanded its “HealthHub” store layout.“Throughout our company’s history, we’ve continuously adapted to market dynamics to lead the industry. The difficult decision we are making will set the company up for long-term ...

GM recalls nearly 900 vehicles with Takata air bag inflators, blames manufacturing problem

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:34 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is recalling nearly 900 vehicles in the U.S. and Canada with Takata air bag inflators that could explode and hurl shrapnel in a crash.The recall covers certain Chevrolet Camaro, Sonic and Volt vehicles as well as the Buick Verano, all from the 2013 model year. Some 2013 Chevrolet Trax versions in Canada also are included. The company says in documents posted Tuesday by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that the driver’s front air bag inflator can explode in a crash due to a manufacturing defect. The inflators are among a group made by Takata that is under investigation by the agency but has not previously been recalled. Takata used volatile ammonium nitrate to create a small explosion to inflate air bags in a crash. But the chemical can deteriorate over time and explode with too much force, blowing apart a metal canister and spewing shrapnel. At least 26 people have been killed in the U.S. by the inflators since May of 2009, ...

Republican Rep. Tiffany won’t run for US Senate in Wisconsin, leaving open field

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:34 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Republican from Wisconsin, said Tuesday that he won’t run for U.S. Senate in 2024 against Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, leaving an open GOP field with no declared candidates in the swing state a year before the primary.Tiffany said he will run for reelection representing northern Wisconsin rather than take on Baldwin, who is seeking a third term after an 11-percentage point win in 2018. His decision not to enter the race comes just under two months after fellow Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher also declined to run.Tiffany, who has been in Congress since winning a special election in May 2020, announced his decision in a statement to the Northwoods River News.“While Tammy Baldwin is vulnerable due to her record as a rubber stamp for President Biden, I can make the greatest impact continuing to serve the great people of Wisconsin in the House of Representatives,” the newspaper quoted Tiffany as saying.Tiffany did not immediately r...

Movie review: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back, and maybe better than ever

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:34 GMT

There are some good gags and clever innovations in the animated “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” but there is one brilliant idea: casting Ice Cube as the voice of the movie’s mutant insect supervillain Super Fly.It might have once been hard to foresee the value of having the emcee who rapped of “dropping bombs on your moms” as the MVP of a PG-rated kids movie. But we’re now up to the seventh “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” film, not counting all the series and videogames. That’s a lot of movies for a bit of IP that’s clung more firmly to lunch boxes than it has to pop culture. For the turtles, it was getting to be time to either, as Ice Cube would say, “chickity-check yo’ self” or try something new.“Mutant Mayhem,” which opens in theaters Wednesday, can’t entirely get over the feeling of trodding over well-covered turtle ground. But if we must go once more into the ooze, the film by director Jeff Rowe (co-director of “The Mitche...

Barbie’s Japanese distributor apologizes for its parent company’s reaction to Barbenheimer memes

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:34 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese distributor of the Warner Bros. movie “Barbie” has apologized for its U.S. parent company’s reaction to social media posts about the “Barbenheimer” blitz that combined images of Barbie and an atomic bomb mushroom cloud. The memes triggered criticisms in Japan for what many described as minimizing nuclear attacks. The movie about the world-famous doll and Universal Pictures’ Oppenheimer, a biography of Robert Oppenheimer, who helped develop the weapon, were both released on July 21 in the United States, sparking the Barbenheimer craze for watching both and prompting memes combining the two.Some of the images, which were not created by Warner Bros., showed Margot Robbie, who played Barbie, sitting on the shoulders of Oppenheimer, played by Cillian Murphy, with an orange inferno of an atomic blast in the background. The official Barbie account said in response to the combined Barbenheimer meme: “It’s going to be a summer to remember.”In Japan, the only c...

Barbie, Oppenheimer deliver record month for Cineplex theatres

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:34 GMT

TORONTO — Cineplex Inc. says it saw its highest July box office of all time as “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” sent droves to theatres last month.The Toronto-based cinema chain says the record month surpassed $86 million in net box office revenues.July also delivered the company its second highest month on record, trailing December 2015, when “Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens” was released.Cineplex attributed much of the month’s lift to “Barbie,” whichgenerated the highest July attendance at its theatres, followed by “Oppenheimer” and “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One.”Altogether the company says 6.8 million moviegoers visited its theatres last month and Cineplex also scored its second highest monthly premium box office revenue of all time.The Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling-starring “Barbie” debuted on July 21, the same day as Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer”...

Architect accused in Gilgo Beach serial killings is due back in court

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:34 GMT

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — Rex Heuermann, the architect accused of murdering at least three women and leaving their bodies along a remote stretch of coastline near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach, is due back in court for the first time since his arraignment.Heuermann is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, who disappeared over five months in 2010. Prosecutors also say he’s also suspected in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in 2007.All of the women were sex workers whose remains were discovered near to each other on a barrier island off Long Island’s southern coast.Investigators spent nearly two weeks combing through Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park, across a bay from where the remains were found.The search included digging up the yard, dismantling a porch and a greenhouse and removing many contents of the house for testing. Heuermann’s wife, Asa Ellerup, told the New York Post that it left the ...