Phillies Likely To Hold Onto $142 Million Star Following Jesús Luzardo Trade
Gaetz sues to block release of Ethics Committee report
Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz is suing to block the release of a House Ethics Committee report on his alleged behavior.
foxnews.com
Sports teams that were crowned champions in 2024
Looking back at all of the teams crowned champions during the 2024 season, including the Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Michigan Wolverines and more.
foxnews.com
More than 910,000 patients at risk after ConnectOnCall health data breach
Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson: ConnectOnCall breach leaks sensitive data of 910,000+ patients.
foxnews.com
Latvia claims to have displayed the world's first Christmas tree in 1510 adorned with artificial roses
Latvia claims to hold the title of the world's first Christmas tree, as does Estonia. Several sources cite that the first written record of a Christmas tree belongs to Latvia.
foxnews.com
Teen brothers missing after weekend duck-hunting excursion goes horribly wrong
Two teenage brothers, Wesley and Andruw Cornett, have been missing for over a week in Northern California after they went duck hunting in stormy weather on Dec. 14.
foxnews.com
Just in time for Christmas, husband receives miraculous 'Godwink': 'Completely healed'
A Texas couple received a stunning surprise just ahead of Christmas one year when the husband was diagnosed with heart failure. There were still more surprises in store for the family.
foxnews.com
Justin Baldoni’s family: Meet ‘It Ends With Us’ star’s wife, Emily, and two kids
The "It Ends With Us" star was hit with a sexual harassment complaint by Blake Lively, with her claiming Baldoni attempted to "destroy" her reputation.
nypost.com
Gaetz sues House Ethics panel to stop release of report on sexual misconduct probe
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz has filed suit against the House Ethics Committee to stop them from releasing their report on their probe into allegations of sexual misconduct.
abcnews.go.com
Iran Hiring Children to Target Israelis Abroad: Report
Iran has reportedly been hiring young mercenaries in European countries to carry out attacks on Jewish or Israeli institutions.
newsweek.com
Looking for last-minute Christmas gifts? These ones are celebrity-approved
Christmas and Hanukkah might be right around the corner, but there's still time to grab great gifts that'll get there in time for the holidays.
nypost.com
Red Sox sign Dodgers World Series hero Walker Buehler to $21M contract
The Red Sox's rotation makeover continues.
nypost.com
Ivy League suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO's killing pleads not guilty
Luigi Mangione, the suspect accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Dec. 4 in Manhattan, pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan criminal court on Monday morning.
foxnews.com
Christmas Eve asteroid the size of a 10-floor building makes ‘close approach’ to Earth tonight
Are we about to get Jingle Bell rock-ed?
nypost.com
I thought I just used my phone too much — then I found out my symptoms were from a brain disorder
Charlie Rolstone, 44, battled migraines and motion sickness whenever she was "using her phone too much," but after years she discovered that the phone wasn't really to blame — a Chiari malformation was.
nypost.com
Man Wakes Up to Find Cat Cuddling Him in Bed—But There's a Problem
"It's the first time a cat got into one of our beds and fell asleep," Rishujeet Rai told Newsweek.
newsweek.com
Amazon’s Winter Sale is abuzz with up to 40% off right before Christmas
The *prime* time for some discounts, right?
nypost.com
Trump border czar blasts NY governor for touting subway safety hours after horrific murder: 'Shame on you'
Incoming Trump border czar Tom Homan blasted New York Gov. Kathy Hochul after an illegal immigrant allegedly ignited a subway passenger's clothing, leaving her to burn to death.
foxnews.com
Art lovers line up at Grand Central for $1 NYC souvenirs — and they’re only available until Christmas
Anastasia Inciardi's Mini Print Vending Machine is now so popular, Grand Central had to enlist security guards to mind the feeding frenzy.
nypost.com
AEW Founder Confirms 'Rampage' Canceled
AEW Founder Tony Khan has confirmed that worst for Rampage.
newsweek.com
Here’s what to know about China’s alleged spy scheme in L.A. County and beyond
Sources tell The Times an Arcadia City Council member was caught up in the alleged conspiracy.
latimes.com
NASA Images Reveal Mesmerizing Giant Cloud Tower
An astronaut's photo taken from the International Space Station has captured a vertical cloud formation above the Arabian Peninsula.
newsweek.com
What is Red 40? Other food coloring up for possible ban in US
What to know about Red Dye No. 40 and artificial food coloring used in thousands of food and drink products sold in the U.S.
abcnews.go.com
Luigi Mangione Updates: Accused Killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Pleads Not Guilty
Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state murder charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Follow Newsweek's live blog.
newsweek.com
NYC subway burn suspect is illegal migrant from Guatemala who sneaked into US after he was deported
The Guatemalan migrant accused of setting a sleeping F train passenger on fire and then watching as she burned the death sneaked into the country illegally after being deported -- and then stayed in the New York City shelter system, multiple sources confirm to The Post.
nypost.com
Trump Organization Accused of Tax Evasion in Panama: What We Know
A hotel owner has accused Trump of evading millions of dollars in taxes in Panama.
newsweek.com
Matt Gaetz files lawsuit against damning House Ethics Committee probe findings on sexual misconduct
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz filed a lawsuit Monday against the House Ethics Committee seeking an emergency temporary restraining order to try and stop the release of its damning investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, arguing its release would prompt “immediate and widespread” media coverage. Gaetz filed the lawsuit after denying allegations...
nypost.com
How Tortillas Lost Their Magic
Photographs by Victor LlorenteAt about midnight each weekday, a group of five men and women arrives at the darkened restaurant doors of Sobre Masa in Brooklyn and performs a sacred art of transformation. Heirloom corn—hundreds of pounds in shades of blue, yellow, red—is boiled and steeped for hours in an alkaline solution, a process called nixtamalization. Then it’s rinsed, milled, aerated, and finally passed through a machine that cuts the resulting masa dough into perfect tortillas and griddles them. By 8 a.m. or so, the workers will have made about 1,000 pounds of masa and many hundreds of tortillas, which smell like popcorn and taste earthy and ancient.The tortillas you might purchase at the grocery store or even your favorite Mexican restaurant probably don’t inspire the same level of spiritual awakening. Optimization for cost and convenience has made the average tortilla more redolent of cardboard than corn, designed not for flavor but to encase delicious fillings. But a growing group of chefs, restaurants, and companies are hoping to change that, to usher in a wave of masa made from single-origin, heirloom corn that restores the sanctity of Mexican culinary stalwarts such as tortillas and tamales.The first time I tasted a tortilla that completely blew my mind, I was in Guatemala. At a street-corner stall beside Lake Atitlán, a woman was flipping small, puffy, blue discs on a comal; she sold me a thick stack, still toasty, packaged in a black plastic bag. Eating them was like tasting artisanal sourdough for the first time when all you’d ever had was Wonder Bread. Tortillas were a big part of my diet growing up in Southern California—from the grocery store, at my mom’s favorite Mexican market, and occasionally handmade by my great-grandma. But as I walked through the market in Santiago Atitlán, it occurred to me that for my entire life, I had been missing out.The inhabitants of modern-day Mexico began cultivating corn some 9,000 years ago and discovered nixtamalization a few thousand years later. Our modern word for this alchemy descends from the Nahuatl words nextli (“ashes”) and tamalli (“corn dough”). When simmered in an alkaline broth, humble corn undergoes a remarkable physical and chemical alteration: Its outer hull breaks down and its starches turn gelatinous, not only making the grain tastier and easier to digest but also altering the protein structure so that essential nutrients such as niacin, calcium, and amino acids are easier for the body to absorb. Nixtamalization turns corn into a worthy dietary staple. Some anthropologists have argued that the process helped spur the rise of the great Mesoamerican societies such as the Maya and the Aztec. And when the tortilla became a mainstay, sometime after 300 B.C.E., its portability helped foster the growth of complex—and mobile—empires. The Aztec believed that the tortilla had a soul. One Maya tribe buried its dead with tortillas. Others believed the first humans sprang from corn dough. From corn, masa. And from masa, life. Employees at Sobre Masa, in Brooklyn, make tortillas in the early morning of December 18, 2024. (Victor Llorente for The Atlantic) Making masa the old-school way, though, is time intensive. So around the turn of the 20th century, an enterprising tortilla maker developed a way to make masa behave more like wheat flour, dehydrating and packaging it so that tortillas could be made quickly by just adding water. This innovation, called masa harina, eventually helped spread tortillas across the U.S. and the world, most notably by Gruma, the world’s largest manufacturer of corn flour (brand name: Maseca) and tortillas (Mission and Guerrero). It also made most tortillas taste like nothing; purists argue that the further processing strips them of nutrients. Small tortilla makers filed doomed antitrust lawsuits against Gruma; many went out of business.As Gruma’s products—relatively tasteless, spectacularly convenient—proliferated, traditional tortilla making declined. My great-grandma was a Texas Mexican, and I have many fond memories of eating her buñuelos and tamales, but can remember virtually nothing about her tortillas. My mom couldn’t either. They were probably made from Maseca. At least until recently, for many Americans, tortillas made with commodity corn—and also masa harina, in many cases—were the only easily available option. Meanwhile, demand for tortillas has exploded. One report valued the 2023 U.S. tortilla market at $6.7 billion. Last year, Gruma alone had net U.S. sales of $3.6 billion.[Read: The high-stakes world of Christmas tamales]The market is so large, in fact, that artisanal producers have started to think they can squeeze in too. Sobre Masa—“about masa” in Spanish—opened in Brooklyn in 2021. It currently supplies about 50 restaurants in addition to its own and is in the midst of expanding its small in-restaurant tortilleria operation to a 5,000-square-foot space nearby. The restaurant rotates among 10 or so varieties of heirloom corn, much of which it sources from a Mexico-based wholesaler called Tamoa. “Our goal is really to elevate and bring more awareness to the ingredients that people don't necessarily see,” Zack Wangeman, the chef-owner of Sobre Masa, told me. In Portland, Oregon, Three Sisters Nixtamal sells fresh masa and tortillas locally and ships hominy, corn, and DIY nixtamalization kits nationally. Adriana Azcárate-Ferbel, one of the co-founders of Three Sisters, told me that she was inspired to start making tortillas because the products in the U.S. just didn’t match the quality of tortillas she grew up eating in Mexico. They were missing, as she put it, the “corn spirit.” Her mom would bring bags of Mexican tortillas on visits. “I would literally stockpile them in the freezer,” she said. (Victor Llorente for The Atlantic) The breakout star of the artisanal masa movement is Masienda. Jorge Gaviria started the company a decade ago with the goal of creating, essentially, a classier version of Goya Foods. Masienda began by selling heirloom corn from Mexico to restaurants, and Gaviria had to teach many of his chef clients how to use it. Eventually, Masienda came up with its own heirloom spin on masa harina, and the consumer business took off online during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Whole Foods started carrying Masienda’s masa harina nationally in 2023, and ready-made frozen tortillas debuted this year, Gaviria told me. “We have seen a trend in recent years of customers wanting more authentic Mexican foods and ingredients. It's not just about Tex-Mex anymore,” Ana Maria Huertas Buitrago, a Whole Foods spokesperson, told me. Masienda’s masa harina has seen 73 percent growth this year compared with the same time last year, she said.In his book Taco USA, the food journalist Gustavo Arellano writes that the tortilla “transmits heritage, race, class and beauty within its circular border.” To taste a tortilla made from heirloom corn is to get a little closer to its ancient roots, but that heritage is being marketed, at least right now, mostly to the economically advantaged shoppers at Whole Foods and diners at upscale Mexican joints. Masienda’s masa harina is infinitely more corn-y than Maseca; it’s also $12 for 2.2 pounds, compared with $6 for four pounds of Maseca at the Mexican grocer around the corner from me. Hispanic people earn less than almost any other ethnic group in the United States, according to a 2023 census report. Enrique Ochoa, a professor of Latin American studies at Cal State Los Angeles, called that mismatch a “fundamental contradiction.” The masa revolution is largely pricing out the descendants of the people who invented it, but Ochoa told me it’s also exciting. The tortilla has come a long way from the days of the Spanish conquistadors, who viewed masa as the unhealthy food of an uncivilized people and imported wheat instead. (That wheat, intended for bread, also gave rise to the flour tortilla.). Today, Mexican food—and most especially tortillas—are mainstays of the American diet even as Washington pursues policies to keep actual Mexicans out of the country.[Read: The high-stakes world of Christmas tamales]The masa entrepreneurs I interviewed spoke about making masa as a spiritual experience, a sort of communion with the elders who discovered how to coax from corn its incredible taste and nutritional value. In search of my own metaphysical experience, I bought some dried blue dent corn and soaked it in calcium hydroxide for nine hours until its thick outer skin peeled off. My tiny New York kitchen does not contain a molinito for milling masa or a metate for grinding it by hand, so I settled for a food processor. My extra-chunky masa became tamales, neat little packages that filled my apartment with the scent of corn as they steamed. They weren’t anything like the tamales I grew up eating, and yet they were still nostalgic—reminiscent of a time before me, when the tortillas of my ancestors tasted more like corn. (Victor Llorente for The Atlantic)
theatlantic.com
Government 'Lying' About Mystery Drone, Orb Sightings: New Jersey Mayor
Mayor Ryan Herd has pledged to keep pressing for transparency and for the deployment of more advanced tracking systems.
newsweek.com
Giants’ 60-year run of avoiding this humiliation seems set to end
They played, they turned offensive football back several decades and they lost.
nypost.com
Meet the mastermind behind Bergdorf Goodman's iconic holiday windows
Bergdorf Goodman's iconic holiday windows are more than decorations, they're celebrated works of art. Michelle Miller introduces the artisit behind the dazzling displays.
cbsnews.com
Did Andy Cohen Snub Lala Kent In Nod To “The Women Of ‘Vanderpump Rules’”?
Kent was not included on a list that named Ariana Madix, Katie Maloney, Brittany Cartwright, Kristen Doute, and Scheana Shay as the "most fascinating Bravolebrities of 2024."
nypost.com
Here’s the Christmas movie character that embodies your zodiac sign — from Clark Griswold to Yukon Cornelius
It's the most wonderful/commercial/triggering/obligatory time of the year when sleigh bells ring, eggnog slings, and holiday classics get their moment in the sun...or softly falling snow as it were. In honor of the season, we bring you a list of the zodiac signs as characters from classic Christmas movies. Read on, tune in and jingle...
nypost.com
‘Treezempic’ home trend surges this Christmas — and one reason why is pretty wild
“Tall and slim seems to be the trend this year,” said one retailer's spokesperson.
nypost.com
Map Shows US Cities Where Starbucks Workers Are on Strike
Strikes by Starbucks workers that kicked off on Friday in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Seattle have spread to more cities across the U.S.
newsweek.com
Matt Gaetz Makes Last Ditch Legal Bid To Stop Ethics Report Release
Gaetz said that "media coverage would be immediate and widespread."
newsweek.com
Denzel Washington becomes a minister in NYC after claiming you ‘can’t talk’ about religion in film industry
"It took a while, but I'm finally here...If [God] can do this for me, there's nothing He can't do for you," Washington said.
nypost.com
Greenland Tells Donald Trump: 'We Are Not For Sale'
Greenland's Prime Minister Múte Egede has said that the island is "not for sale and will never be for sale."
newsweek.com
Blake Lively’s ‘Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants’ co-stars support her after Justin Baldoni claims
America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel said they "are inspired by our sister’s courage to stand up for herself and others.”
nypost.com
Blake Lively claims she backed out of hosting ‘SNL’ Season 50 premiere over Justin Baldoni smear campaign
Blake Lively claimed she couldn't "proceed with public appearances or events" due to Justin Baldoni's alleged smear campaign against her.
nypost.com
James Beard Award winning chef Masako Morishita on path to success
Masako Morishita, this year's James Beard Award winner for emerging chef, has only been cooking professionally for a few years. Jan Crawford shows how her culinary journey in Washington, D.C., started with an unexpected twist.
cbsnews.com
Did you see 'The Brutalist' this weekend?
Times columnist Glenn Whipp looks at two biopics — one fictional, one a dramatization — in his Monday newsletter, writing about 'The Brutalist' and 'Maria.'
latimes.com
MAX LUCADO: CHRISTMAS 2024: Jesus is what happens next
We are in the season of Advent. Advent leads us to the beautiful culmination of Christmas, where we celebrate the incarnation of God.
foxnews.com
University of California was a beacon of opportunity. What went wrong and how to fix it
My husband's family came to California in large part because of its promising college system. Now we're one of many praying for a single acceptance. What went wrong?
latimes.com
The Master Filmmaker Who Just Returned With the Best Movie of the Year
He’s made only four features over more than 50 years, all of them masterpieces.
slate.com
How the Poinsettia Became a Symbol of Christmas
This plant with roots in Mexico and Central America is now a global product and holiday symbol.
time.com
Cowboys' Jerry Jones Refuses To Answer if Mike McCarthy Will Return
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones will not give an answer as to HC Mike McCarthy's future fate.
newsweek.com