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What’s 12 feet tall, dead and taking the country by storm? A coveted skeleton, of corpse

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:10:42 GMT

Despite his name, Fred the Dead doesn’t have the guts to scare neighborhood kids. He doesn’t have the heart, either. He doesn’t have any internal organs at all.Fred is a 12-foot-tall Home Depot skeleton — and he’s a hot commodity. The metal-framed monsters can be spotted this time of year towering over Colorado neighborhoods, from cityscapes to rural farmland.Halloween fiends lucky enough to get their hands on the coveted décor can consider themselves members of an exclusive club; Home Depot won’t say how many of the skeletons it has sold, but Tyler Pelfrey, brand communications manager for the home-improvement giant, confirmed the behemoth box of bones has sold out every year since its 2020 debut.Calls to Home Depot stores in Glendale, Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Fort Collins this week confirmed — occasionally with a harumph of incredulous laughter from a sales associate for even deigning to hope — that the 12-foot-tall skeleton was out of stock.On Facebook Marketplace, price goug...

Stephen King sounds off on Maine mass shooting: ‘Stop electing apologists for murder’

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:10:42 GMT

Maine native Stephen King called out the “madness” that led to Wednesday’s mass shooting in a Tweet on Thursday.“The shootings occurred less than 50 miles from where I live,” wrote King, an outspoken advocate against gun violence. “I went to high school in Lisbon. It’s the rapid-fire killing machines, people.“This is madness in the name of freedom,” he continued. “Stop electing apologists for murder.”

For Native viewers, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is an imperfect triumph

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:10:42 GMT

Greg Braxton | (TNS) Los Angeles TimesFrom the moment it was announced as a major feature film, “Killers of the Flower Moon” has sparked plenty of excitement — and anxiety.An adaptation of David Grann’s nonfiction bestseller about the murder of Osage people in 1920s Oklahoma, by white settlers plotting to acquire the rich oil deposits under Osage land, was most highly anticipated because of the elite names attached — in particular director Martin Scorsese and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.But the project also prompted considerable concern from the Osage nation and other Native Americans. With Scorsese at the helm instead of an Indigenous director, Osage people feared that the film would be yet another example of Hollywood’s traditionally stereotypical portrayal of Native Americans.“I was worried we were going to get exploited again — not so much in losing resources and our land, but in the telling of the story of how we lost our resources a...

Israeli air and ground strikes intensify in Gaza; internet collapse cuts territory off from outside

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:10:42 GMT

By WAFAA SHURAFA, JOSEF FEDERMAN and BASSEM MROUE (Associated Press)DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Internet and phone services collapsed in the Gaza Strip under intensified Israeli bombardment Friday night, largely cutting off its 2.3 million people from the outside world and each other, as Israel’s military said it was “expanding” ground operations in the besieged territory.The military’s announcement signaled it was moving closer to an all-out invasion of Gaza, where it has vowed to crush the ruling Hamas terrorist group after its bloody incursion in southern Israel three weeks ago. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.Explosions from a barrage of airstrikes lit up the sky over Gaza City after nightfall Friday when the blackout in internet, cellular and landline services hit. Already plunged into darkness after most electricity was cut off weeks ago, Palestinians were now thrown into isolation, huddled in homes...

Hundreds arrested for shoplifting in latest Vancouver police blitz

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:10:42 GMT

VANCOUVER — Retailers across Canada are concerned about an uptick in violence as a “tsunami” of retail theft plagues businesses that threatens the safety of employees and customers, says the general manager for loss prevention at London Drugs. Tony Hunt told a news conference Friday at Vancouver police headquarters that most retailers have seen at least a 20 per cent increase in retail theft in recent years, so he is grateful city police are cracking down on the problem. “Our primary concern as employers is the abuse of front line employees with aggressive and violent behaviours with increasing frequency and intensity,” he said. “This isn’t a Vancouver problem. We’re hearing across the province, across the country, employees and customers are afraid and this is simply not OK.”This comes as Vancouver police reported on its latest shoplifting crackdown on Friday with 258 arrests, along with the recovery of almost $57,000 in stolen goods ...

Inmate suspected in prison attack on Kristin Smart’s killer previously murdered ‘I-5 Strangler’

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:10:42 GMT

COALINGA, Calif. (AP) — A California inmate accused of attacking Paul Flores this summer, shortly after Flores reported to prison to serve his conviction for murdering college student Kristin Smart, strangled his serial killer cellmate two years ago, officials said.The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation this week identified inmate Jason Budrow as the suspect in the Aug. 23 attack on Flores at the Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, about 185 miles (300 kilometers) north of downtown Los Angeles.The department declined to share information about how Budrow allegedly was able to get to Flores or whether it is investigating how the attack happened on the agency’s watch in light of Budrow’s previous behavior while incarcerated.“CDCR is limited in the amount of information it can provide on incarcerated people’s housing for safety and security reasons,” the agency said in an email.Budrow is serving life without parole for fatally strangling his girlf...

New York City sets up office to give migrants one-way tickets out of town

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:10:42 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York City is intensifying efforts to transport migrants out of the city as its shelter system reaches capacity, setting up a dedicated office to provide asylum-seekers with free, one-way tickets to anywhere in the world. City Hall confirmed the establishment of a new “reticketing center” in Manhattan as its latest bid to ease pressure on its shelters and finances following the arrival of more than 130,000 asylum-seekers since last year. Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, has described the situation as a crisis and has begun to warn that shelters are so full that migrants will soon be forced onto the street as winter approaches. “I cannot say this enough. You know, we are out of the room,” he told reporters this week. “And it’s not ‘if’ people will be sleeping on the streets, it’s when. We are at full capacity.”The city’s plan to offer migrants transportation builds upon previous efforts to send the asylum-seekers elsewhere, though the establishment of the dedicate...

COVID-19 treatments to enter the market with a hefty price tag

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:10:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The COVID-19 treatments millions of Americans have taken for free from the federal government will enter the private market next week with a hefty price tag. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is setting the price for a five-day treatment of Paxlovid at $1,390, but Americans can still access the pills at no cost — for now. The less commonly used COVID-19 treatment Lagevrio, manufactured by Merck, also will hit the market next week. Millions of free, taxpayer-funded courses of the pills will remain at pharmacies, hospitals and doctor’s offices across the country, U.S. Health and Human Services officials said Friday. People on private insurance may start to notice copays for the treatments once their pharmacy or doctor’s office runs out of the COVID-19 treatments they received from the government. The U.S. government initially inked a deal with Pfizer to pay more than $5 billion for 10 million courses of Paxlovid in 2021. Under a new agreement, reached las...

Love K-pop star Mark Tuan’s new EP? You can discuss it with ‘Digital Mark,’ his AI twin

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:10:42 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Accessibility can be an artist’s greatest asset. Listeners want to feel close to the musicians they admire and support — and most would jump at the chance to communicate one-on-one. But celebrity schedules rarely allow for that kind of intimacy. So what’s the next best thing?For Mark Tuan, whose new EP “Fallin’” is out Friday, it was creating a digital avatar.The rapper-singer-model and former member of the K-pop boy band Got7 partnered with Soul Machines to create an autonomously automated “digital twin” called “Digital Mark.” In doing so, Tuan has become the first celebrity to attach their likeness to OpenAI’s GPT integration, artificial intelligence technology that allows fans to engage in one-on-one conversations with Tuan’s avatar. “It’s very different. It’s not really me, but it is me,” he says of Digital Mark. “It’s a cool thing, that fans get to interact with him, too.”Greg Cross, CEO of Soul Machines, views Digital Mark...

Abercrombie & Fitch slapped with lawsuit alleging sexual abuse of its male models under former CEO

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:10:42 GMT

A former model for Abercrombie & Fitch on Friday sued the fashion retailer, alleging it allowed its former CEO Mike Jeffries to run a sex-trafficking organization during his 22-year tenure.Jeffries, who left Abercrombie in 2014, converted the chain from an struggling retailer of hunting apparel to a seller of must-have teen clothing. But he faced criticism for the company’s sexualized marketing, including billboards and beefy models that alienated potential customers who didn’t fit into its image.The lawsuit comes after a BBC report earlier this month raised similar allegations against Jeffries and his partner Matthew Smith.The lawsuit, filed by David Bradberry in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges Jeffries had modeling scouts scouring the internet and elsewhere to identify attractive young men seeking to be the next face of Abercrombie. Often these prospective models became sex-trafficking victims, sent to New York and abroad and ...