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‘The Good Mother’ a stellar, gritty crime thriller

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 00:00:16 GMT

The best and certainly darkest crime thriller currently out there is something called, of all things, “The Good Mother.” Two-time Academy Award-winner Hilary Swank, who also produced, leads as Marissa Bennings, an editor at the Albany, N.Y.’s Times Union newspaper with a serious drinking problem. Who can blame her? Her husband has recently died, something she has mixed feelings about, and one of her two sons Mike, an on-and-off drug addict since he injured his arm playing baseball, turns up dead after being shot by a guy in a white truck with a tattooed hand.At Mike’s graveside, Marissa slugs Mike’s pregnant girlfriend Paige (Englishwoman Olivia Cooke, who also produced) for participating in her son’s drug addiction, one assumes. Paige, who is sober, and Marissa, who is chronically drunk, then form the most unlikely team of detectives.They are on the trail of Ducky (Hopper Penn, son of Sean Penn), the friend and drug dealer who worked with Mike and knows what...

‘Between Two Worlds’ puts worker exploitation center stage

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 00:00:16 GMT

Based on the award-winning 2011 book “Le quai de Ouistreham” by Florence Aubenas, “Between Two Worlds” explores the gap between modern-day France’s image of itself and the harsh reality of life among poor working-class people, many of them bereft, single mothers. Directed by Emmanuel Carrere (“La moustache”) and co-adapted by him and Helene Devynck, “Between Two Worlds” features the great Juliette Binoche as Marianne Winkler, a well-to-do writer who goes undercover among the women and young male immigrants forced by circumstance to take minimum-wage jobs cleaning toilets and changing linen on a ferry boat in the port town of Ouistreham in Normandy.The workers are given minutes to clean each one of hundreds of rooms aboard a ferry bound for England. Their work begins before sunrise and must be completed before the passengers arrive. Many of the workers have no cars (or homes) and must get to the port on foot. Marianne wants to experience their lives from the inside. She is soon...

Stavridis: Haiti needs new UN mission, led by the US

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 00:00:16 GMT

For decades, Haiti has struggled to avoid tumbling into deeply challenging conditions. It has been repeatedly beset by poor leadership, dictatorships and natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes, which are often followed by outbreaks of disease.Today, the nation of more than 11 million people seems to have reached a nadir. After the assassination of the president in 2021, civil order has essentially been neutered. The shaky parliament is no match for the nation’s large, heavily armed gangs. Kidnapping, rape, murder and drug dealing have soared, with crime rates doubling in a year. Port-au-Prince, the capital, is among the most dangerous cities in the Americas.Tragically, all this is occurring in a nation that is the second-oldest free republic in the hemisphere (having won its independence from France in 1804).As the security situation continues to deteriorate, many international observers are calling for a new United Nations stabilization and security mission, similar to t...

Dear Abby: Mom wants surgery after insensitive comments

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 00:00:16 GMT

Dear Abby: I had my daughter later in life. I was almost 41. I am no beauty queen, but now, 12 years later, I have been asked by two different people if I am my daughter’s grandmother. It was so upsetting, I cried for weeks. I have always been self-conscious about my looks.My daughter is now going to be a teenager. I don’t want her future high school friends thinking I am her grandma, so I’ve been contemplating plastic surgery. My family insists I don’t need it. They’re calling me vain, foolish, selfish, etc. My husband is discouraging me because of the cost. (He’s pretty frugal.)Would it be selfish if it will make me feel better about myself? In the meantime, how do I handle any more “grandma” comments without punching someone in the nose? — Not That Old in FloridaDear Not That Old: In case you haven’t noticed, an increasing number of women are having children in their 40s (and a few even older). If you are contemplating c...

After outrage over Taylor Swift tickets, reform has been slow across the US

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 00:00:16 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — When thousands of fans couldn’t get tickets for megastar Taylor Swift’s summer stadium tour, some diehards paid upwards of 70 times face value to see their favorite artist in person — an outrage that prompted Congressional hearings and bills in state legislatures to better protect consumers.After 10 months, Swift’s U.S. tour is finished, but so are most of the meaningful reforms consumer advocates and industry groups had hoped to pass this year. A proposal has so far failed to advance in the U.S. Senate. Legislation in Colorado was vetoed by the Democratic governor at the urging of some consumer groups.In California, home to iconic recording studios like Capitol Records and influential clubs like the Whiskey A Go Go and Hollywood Bowl, what started as a robust array of legislation has been watered down to a single bill banning hidden fees, something New York and Connecticut have done and most major industry players have already committed t...

In final hours before landfall, Hurricane Idalia stopped intensifying and turned from Tallahassee

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 00:00:16 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — In the final hours before Hurricane Idalia struck Florida the storm had grown into a Category 4 beast lurking off the state’s west coast, and the forecast called for it to continue intensifying up until landfall. An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft had recorded winds up to 130 mph (215 kph), the National Hurricane Center said in an ominous bulletin at 6 a.m. Wednesday.As the sun rose an hour later, however, there was evidence the hurricane began replacing the wall around its eye — a phenomenon that experts say kept it from further intensifying. Maximum winds had dropped to near 125 mph (205 kph), the Hurricane Center said in a 7 a.m. update.Then came another surprising twist: A last-minute turn sparing the state’s capital city of Tallahassee from far more serious damage.“Eyewall replacement cycles are common in major hurricanes, and so when you see that, it does lead to some temporary weakening,” said Kelly Godsey, one of the meteorologists tracking the sto...

Texas wanted armed officers at every school after Uvalde. Many can’t meet that standard

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 00:00:16 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A vision of armed officers at every school in Texas is crashing into the reality of not enough money or police as a new mandate took effect Friday, showing how a goal more states are embracing in response to America’s cycle of mass killings is proving unworkable in many communities.Dozens of Texas’ largest school districts, which educate many of the state’s 5 million students, are reopening classrooms without meeting the state’s new requirements of armed officers on every campus. The mandate is a pillar of a safety bill signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who rejected calls this year for gun control despite angry pleas from parents of children killed in the Uvalde school massacre. Texas has nearly 9,000 public school campuses, second only to California, making the requirement the largest of its kind in the U.S. “We all support the idea,” said Stephanie Elizalde, superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District, which has more t...

US vice chair of Armed Services Committee promises ‘resolute reaction’ if Taiwan is attacked

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 00:00:16 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A U.S. congressional delegation visiting Taiwan said Friday the U.S. would act if the island was attacked and promised to resolve the $19 billion backlog in its defense purchases from the U.S. “Know that any hostile unprovoked attack on Taiwan will result in a resolute reaction from the U.S.,” said Rob Wittman, vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, in a speech, ahead of meetings with President Tsai Ing-Wen.U.S. law requires Washington provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself and treat all threats to the island as matters of “grave concern,” but remains ambiguous on whether it would commit forces in response to an attack from China. Wittman of Virginia, along with Carlos Gimenez of Florida and Jen Kiggans of Virginia, arrived Thursday for a three-day visit to Taiwan. The three Republicans are meeting with Tsai and the head of Taiwan’s National Security Council Wellington Koo.Taiwan is a self-ruled island claimed by China that has faced...

Afghanistan’s female cricketers plead with sport’s world governing body: help us play again

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 00:00:16 GMT

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Just over two years ago, Firooza Amiri was an 18-year-old batter for the Afghanistan women’s cricket team, ready to take on the world if given the chance.But just like that, her world and that of millions of others in her country changed forever.Forced to flee with her family when the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan on Aug. 15, 2021, Amiri and her family first traveled to Pakistan and then were evacuated to Australia, She still lives in Australia, along with most of her 25 teammates.Now, looking for their place in international competition, they are pleading with the International Cricket Council and the Afghanistan cricket authorities to give them a place to play, despite the Taliban’s ban on women in sport and education.“Yeah, unfortunately two weeks ago was the two-year anniversary of the Taliban and our BLACK DAY,” Amiri said in a message to The Associated Press, accentuating two words in capital letters.Amiri and her family were from t...

US jobs report for August could point to a moderating pace of hiring as economy gradually slows

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 00:00:16 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Slowly and steadily, an overheated American job market is returning to room temperature.The Labor Department is expected to report Friday that U.S. employers — companies, nonprofits and government agencies combined — added 170,000 jobs last month, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet. That would be down from the 187,000 jobs that were added in July and would be the lowest monthly gain since December 2020.“We are beginning to see this slow glide into a cooler labor market,’’ said Becky Frankiewicz, chief commercial officer at the employment firm ManpowerGroup. “Make no mistake: Demand is cooling off. … But it’s not a freefall.’’The latest sign that the pace of hiring is losing some momentum — without going into a nosedive — would be welcomed by the Federal Reserve, which has been trying to tame inflation with a series of 11 interest rate hikes. The Fed is hoping to achieve a rare “soft landing,” in which it would manage to slow hiring ...