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Column: Hollywood is spending more than ever. Where is the money going?

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:19:54 GMT

Nina Metz | Chicago Tribune (TNS)Streaming platforms have been spending more on television programming than at any other time in history. And yet, as the Hollywood actors and writers strikes have made clear, that money isn’t going to most of the workaday people who make these TV shows. So where is the money going? Let’s make some educated guesses.In 2022, Netflix spent $16.7 billion on content. Over at Warner Bros. Discovery, that number was $18 billion.How does that compare to what TV networks were spending 25 years ago? A 1997 report on the FCC’s website titled “TV Programming Costs” gives us a snapshot. The cost is broken down by licensing fees paid per week, or what TV networks were paying to license shows from the studios that actually made them (for example, NBC licensed “Friends” from Warner Bros).For the ‘97-’98 TV season, NBC was spending the most, with $29 million a week in licensing fees. If we assume those shows had 22-episode seasons, the total spend on scripted program...

Patriots’ Mac Jones, Bill O’Brien enjoying strong QB-coach relationship

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:19:54 GMT

Bill O’Brien can joke about what he’s been through in the 12 years since his last tenure as Patriots offensive coordinator.“A lot of water under my bridge,” O’Brien said smiling Friday during a video conference call about his time served as Penn State and the Houston Texans’ head coach and Alabama’s offensive coordinator that might not have been quite as funny in the moment.Tom Brady, Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallett were the Patriots’ quarterbacks the last time O’Brien was offensive coordinator in New England.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Patriots extra points: Undrafted rookie learning second new position New England Patriots | Patriots open second roster spot by waiving injured linebacker New England Patriots | Patriots training camp Day 9: Jack Jones stops practicing, Mac Jones keeps rolling, Kendrick Bourne catches on New England Patriots | How Julian Edelman is helping Patriots QB Mac Jones in ‘interesting&#...

VIDEO: Man pets dog before stealing bike in Pacific Beach

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:19:54 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Police on Friday released a video of a man stealing a bike from a garage in the Pacific Beach neighborhood, but what he did before leaving turned out to be a surprisingly sweet moment. The incident occurred on July 15 around 10:40 p.m. when the suspect entered a garage and took a 2019 black Electra three-speed bicycle, the San Diego Police Department said in a Facebook post on Thursday.The bike, which costs around $1,300, featured "8-ball" caps on the tire valves, an "8-ball" logo on the frame and a rear wheel frame marked with a checkered black and white pattern, according to police. High tides cause coastal flooding issues As the man was about to take off with the bike, the video shows the household dog enter the garage and approach the suspect. The suspect then parks the bike in the garage and begins to pet and play with the dog."You're the coolest dog I've ever known, I love you too," the suspect is heard on the video saying to the dog.The man then asks the dog "w...

High tides cause coastal flooding issues

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:19:54 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Warming temperatures are having unintended consequences.The surf is bigger and coastal erosion is speeding up with the new energy in the water.It’s a fact that is impossible to ignore the temperatures across the globe are rising and climate change is altering things everywhere, according to oceanographers from Scripps.The surf has been getting bigger since the 1970s and big wave events are now twice as more common then four decades ago.“More heat within the earth's system, more heat in the atmosphere, more heat in the ocean, that’s energy and that energy makes things stronger, faster, higher and that’s what we are experiencing,” said Dr. Pat Abbott from San Diego State University.Abbott says as carbon emissions continue creating hotter temperatures, a series of cycles are speeding up. Climber who died on El Cajon Mountain remembered as loving husband, teacher “As waves and water are coming farther onshore, they are going to do even more cutting of the sea cliffs and i...

Oklahoma man pleads guilty to threatening to kill DeSantis, other Republican politicians

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:19:54 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma man has pleaded guilty to threatening to kill several Republican politicians, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.Tyler Jay Marshall, 37, of Enid, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge of interstate transmission of threatening communications as part of a plea agreement, according to court documents.In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dismissed a charge of threatening to murder a U.S. official. “I want to take responsibility for my actions and acknowledge the evidence against me,” Marshall wrote in a signed agreement.Marshall made numerous threats against the officials on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, including telling DeSantis, “I’ll see you dead in your home,” a little more than a week before the Florida governor launched his presidential campaign in May.Other posted threats included telling Sanders that he would murder her fam...

Black bear shot and killed by Montana man in his living room after break-in

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:19:54 GMT

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A Montana couple got a late-night wakeup call from a barking dog alerting them that a black bear had broken into their living room before the man shot and killed the animal with a handgun.The confrontation with the large bruin happened in the rural community of Luther at the base of the rugged Beartooth Mountains, where Thomas Bolkcom and fiance Seeley Oblander live with their two dogs.After staying up late the night before — the couple was scheduled to fly that morning to Arizona for their bachelor and bachelorette parties — they awakened about 3 a.m. to their dog Maizey barking furiously upstairs from the house’s main floor, Oblander said.Bolkcom, a commercial painter, went to investigate and tried to coax the lab-pit bull mix downstairs when he turned around “and there’s this black bear standing in the living room five feet away,” Oblander said.Wearing only a t-shirt and underwear, Bolkcom ran back downstairs, got a handgun and returned to the l...

North Carolina Rep. Manning’s office says she has broken sternum after three-vehicle wreck

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:19:54 GMT

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina congresswoman injured in a serious automobile accident this week is recovering at home from a broken sternum and bone in her foot, her office said Friday.Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning and a staff member who was driving her Thursday morning to an event in her district in north-central North Carolina after a three-vehicle wreck. Another driver was cited.Manning and her aide were discharged Thursday from Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro. Manning’s office detailed the congresswoman’s injuries Friday and said she would keep working from home while she recovers. The U.S. House is in its August recess.“She is very grateful for all the kind words, prayers and well wishes she has received,” the statement said. The State Highway Patrol said troopers responded around 10:15 a.m. to the accident on U.S. Highway 29 in Guilford County. A northbound driver making a left turn struck the southbound vehicle carrying Manning, accord...

Nagorno-Karabakh: Canada says Armenians face ‘deteriorating humanitarian situation’

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:19:54 GMT

OTTAWA — The Canadian government is again blaming Azerbaijan for escalating tensions in its Nagorno-Karabakh region, saying it is concerned about the “deteriorating humanitarian situation” for Armenians living in that region.Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but it is mostly populated by Armenians, and neighbouring Armenia has fought for control of the region for decades.Tensions rose in the area last fall, when the region’s main access road was blocked by groups of people suspected of being affiliated with the Azerbaijan government, and then by officials who have limited vehicle access.Azerbaijan insists the region isn’t under a blockade, despite Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch saying food and essentials are severely restricted.Last week, the International Committee of the Red Cross said it’s been denied access to all routes into the region, resulting in shortages for medicine, food and baby formula.Cana...

Judge’s decision could force change in Michigan’s handling of newborn blood samples

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:19:54 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — The state of Michigan must return or destroy dried blood samples from nine newborns or get approval from parents to keep them, according to the latest scathing opinion from a federal judge who found parts of a routine testing program unconstitutional.U.S. District Judge Thomas Ludington is not interfering with the practice of pricking the heels of babies to draw blood to screen for more than 50 diseases, a longstanding procedure in hospitals across the United States.Rather, he is overseeing a lawsuit that challenges how the Michigan health department handles leftover blood spots — and whether parents truly understand what they’re doing when, following childbirth, they check a box allowing the state to use spots for research.The form, for example, doesn’t disclose that health researchers pay to use leftover blood spots and that police can get access to them in some circumstances. Ludington noted that newborn genetic markers are effectively stored indefinite...

Big Ten has cleared the way for Oregon and Washington to apply for membership, AP sources say

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:19:54 GMT

The Big Ten has cleared the way for Oregon and Washington to apply for membership and join the conference, four people with familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Friday.The people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the conference and schools were finalizing an official agreement and announcement.The Ducks and Huskies from the Pac-12 still must officially apply for membership and the Big Ten presidents, who met Friday morning to discuss expansion, need to officially approve any moves.Two of the people familiar with the negotiations said the schools’ applications are expected to be unanimously approved.When that’s done, they will become the 17th and 18th members of the Big Ten, and the third and fourth on the West Coast, joining USC and UCLA.The latest departure from the Pac-12 pushed the storied West Coast college sports conference to the brink of extinction.Arizona has been in serious talks to leave for the Big 12 and join Colorado, w...