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Umberto Smerilli's score for 'A Different Man' reduced its director to tears

'A Different Man' director hesitated before enlisting Umberto Smerilli to compose the score. He needn't have worried.
Lue koko artikkeli aiheesta: latimes.com
Netflix’s ‘Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy’ Doc Reveals What Really Happens to Your Old iPhones
This new Netflix doc exposes the dark underbelly of electronic "recycling" facilities. 
nypost.com
Roman Reigns’ Paul Heyman phone fail comes with critical Bloodline questions in WWE
Roman Reigns may have set up one of the most interesting chapters of The Bloodline story with the will-timed and gleeful smirk and slight pause before uttering the words “Call the Wiseman.”
nypost.com
Elise Stefanik vows to take on ‘den of antisemitism’ and ‘apologists for Iran’ at the UN
United Nations ambassador-designate Elise Stefanik issued a blistering and stunning rebuke of the organization where she is set to serve as an emissary, denouncing the UN as a "den of antisemitism" that she intends to confront.
nypost.com
Target tumbles 20% after its earnings fall short. Here's what happened.
Target stock tumbled almost 20% in pre-market trading after reporting earnings that fell short of forecasts. Here what's going on.
cbsnews.com
WATCH LIVE: House committee hearing on worldwide threats to homeland security
The House committee will hear from secretary of homeland security Alejandro Mayorkas, FBI director Christopher Wray and the acting director of National Counterterrorism Center Bret Holmgren on current international threats to the nation’s security. The livestream is scheduled to begin at 10am EST. https://youtu.be/36WQ2VVbCJg
nypost.com
Congressional election observers deploy to Iowa for recount in uncalled House race
Congressional election observers deployed to Iowa after Democrat Bohannan called a recount in the House race against GOP incumbent Miller-Meeks.
foxnews.com
How Trump’s tariffs could spark a trade war and ‘Europe’s worst economic nightmare’
European countries could be among those hardest hit if Trump follows through on tariffs. The European Union says it wants to negotiate but is prepared to retaliate.
washingtonpost.com
Brian Daboll’s about to get another shot to prove he’s the quarterback guru the Giants need
Daboll tried and tried and tried some more, but it just did not work with Daniel Jones.
nypost.com
Why Cowboys refuse to turn to Trey Lance during lost season
The Cowboys aren't concerned with developing a young quarterback.
nypost.com
After declining to state whether trans Rep-elect is a man or woman, Johnson says 'A man cannot become a woman'
After declining to answer a question about whether Rep.-elect Sarah McBride is a man or a woman, House Speaker Mike Johnson made a statement in which he declared that "A man cannot become a woman."
foxnews.com
House Ethics Committee meeting amid pressure over Gaetz report, Trump standing by his AG pick
The House Ethics Committee will meet Wednesday and potentially vote on whether to release its findings on Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for attorney general who's been embroiled by allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and other accusations. Trump has been unwavering in his support of Gaetz, saying he's not reconsidering his AG choice. CBS News' Scott MacFarlane and Katrina Kaufman have the latest.
cbsnews.com
Dorit Kemsley calls estranged husband PK a ‘full-blown alcoholic’ as separation plays out on ‘RHOBH’
The "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star also clarified on "Watch What Happens Live" where her and PK's relationship currently stands.
nypost.com
Man walked rainy highway for hours to help stranger find lost funeral notes
“I couldn’t believe it — why would he do that?” Jeannie Wolf said. “It was like a miracle to me.”
washingtonpost.com
U.S. judge appointed by Trump criticizes ‘blanket pardons’ for Jan. 6
Anything approaching wholesale pardons would be “beyond … disappointing,” U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols said in the case of a man charged with beating police with a baseball bat.
washingtonpost.com
One Direction members reunite at Liam Payne’s funeral in the UK
The "Polaroid" singer died last month after falling from a third-story balcony while vacationing in Argentina. He was 31.
nypost.com
Men Need to Worry About the ‘Breast-Cancer Gene’ Too
BRCA mutations can lead to cancer in the pancreas, prostate, and maybe more parts of the body.
theatlantic.com
Hillsmere Shores values water, welcoming spirit
Where We Live | Anne Arundel County neighborhood has parkland, beach, marina
washingtonpost.com
Woman whose scalp was torn by police dog wins $1 million settlement
Talmika Bates received around $1 million from the City of Brentwood for a 2020 incident where a police dog bit her and tore her scalp.
washingtonpost.com
Sobbing Harry Styles and One Direction members among first mourners to arrive at Liam Payne’s funeral
The former One Direction singers said their final farewells to their friend and bandmate.
nypost.com
After a suffocating couple of seasons, Chargers running back J.K. Dobbins finds wide-open spaces
Chargers running back J.K. Dobbins is having a strong year as he prepares to face his old team, the Baltimore Ravens.
latimes.com
“We can’t give up on her”: Couple turns to bloodhounds, animal psychics to find lost dog
A Rover dogsitter lost an El Sereno couple's French bulldog. Two months, a bloodhound and pet psychics later, Gabriella Sidhu is still holding out hope to find Mushie.
latimes.com
California voters rejected an anti-slavery measure to end forced prison labor. Now what?
In rejecting Proposition 6, voters kept a constitutional provision outlawing slavery except "to punish crime." Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers still have options.
latimes.com
Snubbed by USC, UCLA coach DeShaun Foster is always driven to win rivalry game
UCLA coach DeShaun Foster had a big debut game against rival USC as a player, scoring four rushing touchdowns against the Trojans at the Rose Bowl.
latimes.com
Everything you need to know about Wicked, explained by a Wicked know-it-all
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in Wicked, a movie based on a musical based on a movie and a book. | Universal/Wicked Welcome to Know-It-All. In the age of intellectual property grabs, docudramas, and so very many sequels, it can be difficult to find a way into the complicated worlds we see on screen. In this series, Vox experts explain what you need to know to get into the latest hot release. Like a friendship between a popular blonde princess and a dour lime-skinned outcast, the story of Wicked is a bit more complicated than it looks.  Wicked is billed as the “true story” of Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West, the very famous, very what-you-see-is-what-you-get witches from The Wizard of Oz. It’s based on a well-loved, very catchy Broadway musical that’s been around for 20-plus years. It also stars pop queen Ariana Grande and powerhouse Cynthia Erivo, and the movie’s very expansive, very expensive marketing campaign seemed determined to forever alter the way we think about pink and green. Wicked is everywhere. Surely it can’t be that impenetrable!  But did you know that the Broadway musical was based on Gregory Maguire’s revisionist novels which were, in turn, inspired by L. Frank Baum’s beloved series of over a dozen books about Oz? And that a major plot in the novels involves sentient, talking animals that love sonnets and science? Or that Wicked is really a political thriller about corrupt government officials scapegoating a minority and creating an enemy of the state? Beneath the movie’s airy aesthetics and its bubblegum pop moments is a broiling, chaotic tale of power, greed, and discrimination. The more you know about Wicked, the weirder and weirder it gets.  With that in mind, I asked my colleague Constance Grady to help us navigate the world of Wicked and Oz. Grady has read Gregory Maguire’s original novel multiple times, the Baum novels as a child, seen the Broadway production, and like me, saw the movie this week. We discussed everything from anti-goat fascism, to Grande’s delicious performance, to what from the book didn’t make it into the adaptations. Here’s what you need to know about the movie musical of the moment.  Do I have this correct? Wicked is a movie musical adaptation of the Tony-winning Broadway show Wicked which is an adaptation of the novel Wicked which is a retelling of The Wizard of Oz.  You’re right, but there’s another adaptation layer in there. All those layers.  The whole thing starts with the L. Frank Baum children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which he published in 1900. Baum’s book was so successful that it was almost immediately adapted into a Broadway musical of its own (now largely forgotten) and an entire franchise worth of sequels, 13 of which Baum wrote himself. Then in 1939 we got the most famous and, for most people, canonical version of the story: The Wizard of Oz, the Judy Garland film based on the Baum novel.  The first Wicked was Gregory Maguire’s novel, first published in 1995 as Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Maguire’s gimmick was to take Margaret Hamilton’s cackling, green-skinned Wicked Witch of the West from the 1939 film — surely one of childhood’s scariest villains — and make her the beating heart of his novel. He renamed her Elphaba, a name suggested by the initials of L. Frank Baum. Wicked the musical came in 2003, with music from Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It was a smash hit success when it came out, and it’s still running on Broadway now, 21 years later.  The musical was such a hit that Universal, which owns the rights, has had various versions of the film in development for a very long time now. Finally and at last, in 2021, Universal put director Jon M. Chu of Crazy Rich Asians on the task. Chu split the stage musical into two halves, with Wicked Part 1 to premiere in November 2024 and Wicked Part 2 set to come in 2025. And now here we are!  Do you have a favorite?  At different times, all of the Oz stories have been my favorites. I grew up on the 1939 movie like everyone else. When Dorothy opens the black-and-white door to her Kansas home and walks out into brilliant, Technicolor Oz? That’s what cinema was made for, baby!  When I was around 8 or 9 I came upon the L. Frank Baum novels, and I was tickled to find that they contained such an expansive and playful mythology. I gobbled up those books like candy. Then at around 11 years old, I read Wicked and was entranced by it: all that moral complexity, all the political intrigue, all those slippery, winding sentences.  When the musical came along, I immediately resented it for being a glitzier, simpler story than the book was — really boiled down to the complicated friendship between Elphaba and Glinda, set against the backdrop of the Wizard’s manipulations — but when I was 17 I saw it on Broadway and was overwhelmed by the sheer spectacle of it and the gleeful drive of the songs. When Elphaba started flying at the end of act one, I burst into tears.  To be fair to 17-year-old you, there is at least one person, if not 10 to 20 people bursting into tears at every performance when Elphaba defies gravity. It’s a spectacle. It’s monumental. It’s as important to Broadway as the chandelier coming down in Phantom of the Opera. God, it’s truly so good. For that moment, I even forgive Schwartz for writing the lyric “Nessa, Nessa, I’ve got something to confess-a.” Wicked is famously one of only six musicals I enjoy. And I feel like the movie sticks to the musical. How well do the musicals stick to the book?  The musical is very, very loosely based on Maguire’s book. What Gregory Maguire wanted to write was a really sophisticated allegorical exploration of the nature of evil itself and what might drive Elphaba to wickedness. As such, his Wicked is bleak, at times self-indulgently so. Maguire’s Elphaba is raised by missionaries in a Southern Gothic childhood right out of Flannery O’Connor. After she abandons both religion and schooling and is politically radicalized by the cause of Ozian Animal rights, she becomes a terrorist, complicit in multiple acts of violence against civilians. By the end, however much you might sympathize with Elphaba’s cause, you understand why people call her the wicked witch. Wicked: Part I (the official name of this movie) feels less like “wow, this lady is really wicked” and more like, “oh, she’s just misunderstood.” Maybe we haven’t gotten to the full terrorist part yet, but I can’t imagine Elphaba’s morality is ever going to be as ambiguous as the novel.   Absolutely. The Wicked of the stage show is a much sweeter and sillier version of the story. Schwartz and Holzman ditch as much of the religion and the politics as they possibly can to focus on the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda, the Good Witch of the North — or Galinda, as she originally calls herself.  Maguire imagined Glinda as Elphaba’s college roommate, and she’s key to Elphie’s college years, but he largely abandons her after Elphie drops out of school to go into politics. Schwartz and Holzman, however, make comic, superficial Glinda into the heart of the story. Perhaps in part to make room for the shift in focus, Elphaba’s misdeeds are significantly toned down, and as for Maguire’s dark, heartbreaking ending … let’s just say it gets, um, revised. The movie convinced me that Glinda is actually the splashier, better-written role. I’ve always envisioned Glinda as an SEC-coded mean girl — blonde, bubbly, a bit passive-aggressive rather than aggressive-aggressive. Grande gets us there, and seems to really understand what makes this character so surprisingly funny.  So buy or sell: Oscar nominee Ariana Grande? Oh man. I buy. This movie struggles a lot with its tone. It doesn’t know whether it wants to be as silly as the stage musical or as serious as the Maguire book, and as a result it ends up veering wildly around. The only element of this movie that never has this problem is Grande’s performance.  Grande nails it top to bottom. She makes spoiled, selfish Glinda so gleefully mean, so deliciously phony in all her virtue-signaling, that you want to laugh at her the way you would laugh at Regina George — and then she shows you Glinda’s tender, insecure heart, and you fall in love with her.  Grande has always had an uncanny knack for vocal mimicry, and here she pitches her speaking voice into something halfway between Judy Garland’s earnest Dorothy tones and the distinctive showbiz patter of Kristin Chenoweth, who originated the role of Glinda on Broadway. You wouldn’t think you could combine the two, but Grande does, and she makes it make sense. As for the singing — well, that kind of goes without saying, doesn’t it? She’s in phenomenal voice. Whatever happens with the Oscars race this year, I’ll know that Grande is the Academy Award nominee of my heart. Tonally, the movie goes from Legally Blonde to The Fugitive. The last 10 minutes are absolutely bonkers. What in the world? Yikes, right? For me, this tonal mismatch is the big flaw of the film, and I think it’s a byproduct of this very long and winding adaptation process.  When Schwartz and Holzman adapted Maguire’s Wicked, they stripped away as much of his rather baroque mythologizing as they could while still allowing the plot to make a modicum of sense. The vibe of this musical is generally: Why go on and on about the ontological differences between humans and animals if we could be singing fun bops about being popular? It doesn’t all have to be so serious all the time. In their version of the story, the Wizard’s plans are vague, but clearly evil, and Elphaba’s resistance to his regime is likewise vague, but clearly righteous. The Wizard’s main sin in the stage musical is that he is lying to his people to stoke up their fears and marshal support to his own side, because this musical hit Broadway in 2003, when George W. Bush was just about to invade Iraq. Other than that, we don’t know that much about why he’s so bad. We don’t really care, either. It all pretty much works if you just sit back in the theater and let the songs wash over you. Chu, however, takes Wicked very seriously indeed; so much so that he’s stretched out the musical’s 90-minute first act into a lugubrious two hours and 40 minutes, mostly by keeping the pacing slow and solemn. The side effect of moving so slowly, though, is that it puts a lot of pressure on the political subplot of this musical to not only make sense, but to be emotionally impactful. Unfortunately, all of the background that could make it work got left behind in Maguire’s novel.  Are we supposed to care this much about anti-animal fascism in the movie? Or the musical? Do the people who adapted Wicked care that much? Yeah, this is one of the big plotlines where the cracks in the adaptation show. It also makes for a kind of interesting timeline of how different authors have thought about Oz. One of the inconsistencies of L. Frank Baum’s Oz is that it’s a land where animals can talk and go on quests and be guests at dinner parties and so on — you’ll recall the Cowardly Lion — but also all the characters are constantly eating meat. It’s the kind of minor quirk in worldbuilding that a children’s book can skate right over, but it becomes weird and confusing in an adult novel. So when Maguire wrote Wicked, he imagined an Oz that distinguished between Animals, who are talking and intelligent beings who wear clothes and hold jobs and can be invited to dinner parties, and animals in lowercase, who are non-sentient and can be killed or treated as chattel. In Maguire’s Oz, the Wizard consolidates his power in part by making the Animals into a scapegoat race.  Emphasis, quite literally, on “goat.”  Over the course of the novel, we see them go from full citizens to living under restrictions to slaves who are occasionally cooked and eaten. Elphaba is radicalized into terrorism when her favorite college professor, the Goat and Animal rights agitator Doctor Dillamond, is assassinated by the government.  When Schwartz and Holzman got their hands on the story, they were transforming it once again into a children’s tale, so they didn’t particularly have time for this piece of worldbuilding. They ditched the distinction between Animal and animal, so that Doctor Dillamond becomes a guy in a silly goat costume who exists to nudge Elphaba into realizing that the Wizard might not have her best interests at heart. It would be a stretch to think that the stage musical really wants the audience to care about animals in general or Doctor Dillamond in particular. Chu, characteristically, seems to want to give the animal plotline more gravitas. He makes Dillamond an eerily photorealistic CGI goat who appears in one of Elphaba’s visions shivering and cringing in a cage, in a dark foretelling of the Wizard’s eventual goals. Under Chu’s solemn and slightly heavy-handed touch, you can feel how important the animal rights plotline is to Elphaba’s character arc. But the part of Maguire’s novel that made you care about the animals, and about Elphaba’s commitment to their freedom, was jettisoned long ago. It’s an uneasy balance. This contradiction is part of why, I think, Grande’s Glinda feels so much like a breath of fresh air whenever she appears on screen. The part of this story that Schwartz and Holzman cared about was Glinda and Elphaba, so that’s the part of the story architecture that remains rock solid. No matter what happens, you can’t not root for their friendship. Are we going to get more of that in Wicked: Part II? Are people going to want to see the second half of this musical if it’s all about authoritarianism?  I am very curious to see how Chu handles Wicked: Part II, because the second act of Wicked is famously much worse than the first half. All the iconic songs are over by then (although personally, I quite like “No Good Deed”), the storytelling gets bogged down in mythology that never becomes either clear or interesting, and Glinda and Elphaba spend most of the act in separate places, effectively depriving the show of its strongest dynamic for long stretches of stage time. In the stage show, you’re generally invested enough in the characters on the strength of the first half to sit through the second half with minimal complaints, but for that act two to hold its own for a full movie? Tricky! As for the anti-animal fascism, though, we can all breathe easy. As originally staged, Wicked’s act two focuses on the animal rights plotline for exactly as long as it takes to hook Elphaba up with her iconic flying monkeys and not a single second longer. We’ll see if Chu keeps it that way.
vox.com
10 Things to Say When Someone Asks Why You’re Still Single
"I was just wondering the same thing about you. Why are you still married?”
time.com
The Mike Tyson-Jake Paul circus showed us what boxing has come to
From the jump, there were reasons to doubt the true sporting nature of the event.
nypost.com
Halyna Hutchins’s mother declines invite to ‘Rust’ premiere: ‘Baldwin continues to increase my pain’
The mother of late “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins declined to attend the movie's premiere in Poland Wednesday due to Alec Baldwin's "refusal" to take responsibility for her daughter's death on the set of the Western in 2021.
nypost.com
Jewish families decry 'rampant' antisemitism by California school district in lawsuit
California Jewish parent Sam Kasle joined "Fox & Friends First" to detail the alleged antisemitism that led to the lawsuit against the Sequoia Union School District.
foxnews.com
This NYC penthouse will have a starring role in ‘Owning Manhattan’ — and now it can be yours for less
Netflix camera crews have been in and out of the top pad at 15 W. 96th St., now on the market, down from its $18.5 million ask in April. 
nypost.com
Mom and baby killed in Connecticut drive-by shooting: ‘Horrible, absolutely horrible’
Jessica Mercado and her baby Messiah Diaz, both of Springfield, Mass., died from their injuries.
nypost.com
Liam Payne’s girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, arrives at late singer’s funeral
Cassidy joined Payne's other close friends and family to mourn the former One Direction member's death as he was laid to rest at a private service outside of London.
nypost.com
Bomb cyclone in Northwest causes vast power outages, kills at least 1
A major storm swept across the northwestern U.S., battering the region with strong winds and rain, causing widespread power outages and downing trees that killed at least one person.
cbsnews.com
We're About to Find Out How Much Americans Like Vaccines
Empowering Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will test one of American public health’s greatest successes.
theatlantic.com
A Ridiculous, Perfect Way to Make Friends
Group fitness classes aren’t just about exercise.
theatlantic.com
The Sports Report: Dalton Knecht can't miss as Lakers beat the Jazz
Dalton Knecht scores 18 points in just over three minutes and Lakers get an NBA Cup victory over the Utah Jazz.
latimes.com
Column: 'I just get it done': Amare Rhodes' journey from dropout to football star after brother's death
Amare Rhodes' brother Dranel was killed in an accidental shooting in 2022. His comeback after the tragic death is nearly complete at Kennedy High.
latimes.com
Trump wants a big expansion in fossil fuel production. Can he do that?
An oil pump jack on the Great Plains, southeastern Wyoming. | Marli Miller/UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images During his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump had a pointed tagline for his energy policy: “Drill, baby, drill.” That statement is emblematic of where Trump is poised to focus his efforts in a second term: He’s pledged US “energy dominance” and everything from “new pipelines” to “new refiners” that amp up fossil fuel production.  This approach marks a stark shift from the Biden administration’s and puts the US’s emphasis more heavily on producing oil and gas than on attempting a transition to clean energy sources. In addition to touting the need to boost fossil fuels, Trump has disparaged subsidies for clean energy investments and called for “terminat[ing]” the funds that were allocated for those subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act. His stance ignores the role that burning fossil fuels has played in climate change and could cause considerable harm to US efforts to address the issue.  Several of his nominations are indicative of these goals. He’s chosen oil industry executive Chris Wright — a fracking evangelist — to head up the Department of Energy. He’s named North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum — who connected Trump to oil executive donors during the campaign — as the lead for the Interior Department and as an “energy czar.” He’s also tapped former Rep. Lee Zeldin — who’s emphasized his commitment to deregulation — as his chief of the Environmental Protection Agency.  There’s only so much the administration can control, however. Although Trump can take notable steps to try to increase fossil fuel production, actual upticks in oil and gas extraction will depend heavily on the private sector and the economics of the industry.  Still, while Trump faces some constraints, he has significant policy levers he can pull to encourage production of fossil fuels. Wright, Burgum, and Zeldin have also signaled they’re prepared to execute on the president-elect’s vision, including changes to drilling on public lands and speedier permitting for oil and gas projects.  “President Trump and his energy team — Mr. Burgum, Mr. Wright, Mr. Zeldin — can go to considerable lengths to make expanded production attractive and relatively easy,” Barry Rabe, a University of Michigan environmental policy professor, told Vox.  How Trump could increase fossil fuel production Trump has two key avenues he can utilize to boost fossil fuel production. One, he can open up more public lands and waters for exploration, development, and extraction. Two, he can ease the regulatory processes that govern fossil fuel work. Trump could offer more oil and gas leases on public lands As President, Trump will oversee the Interior Department, which includes the Bureau of Land Management as well as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, both of which manage a substantial fraction of the country’s public lands and waters. He’ll also oversee the Agriculture Department, which contains the Forest Service, another body that has oversight of some public lands.  The Bureaus of Land Management and Ocean Energy Management, as well as the Forest Service, are the three main entities that issue oil and gas leases on public spaces. These leases effectively allow fossil fuel companies to rent parcels of public land from the federal government so they can extract resources from these areas. Once land is designated as available for lease, leases are typically auctioned off to the highest bidder. Those bureaus, and the Forest Service, have major discretion to determine if more leases can be issued and where. But the president can issue an executive order instructing them to prioritize the subject: Trump could call on agencies to make identifying suitable public lands a top agenda item, for example.  “If you have an administration that says we want everything that could be leased to be leased, there’s a lot of discretion to be able to do that,” says Stan Meiburg, the executive director of the Center for Environment and Sustainability at Wake Forest University.  Trump’s first term, during which he also made moves to expand the acreage of public lands available for oil and gas drilling, is likely a sign of what’s to come. Per a study from Science, he mounted one of the largest reductions in protected public lands in history, rolling back the acreage of Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to allow for additional oil and gas exploration in these places. Data from the Bureau of Land Management shows that there was an increase in total acres offered for oil and gas leases during Trump’s first term compared to President Barack Obama’s second term and Biden’s current term.  Though Trump could again expand the number of leases available, it’s important to note that won’t necessarily translate to more production. Leases are subject to environmental rules. That means new leases could well be challenged in court for potential violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, or other federal laws.  Another factor could limit production too: corporate interest. Companies may not be interested in these new leases since many of the parcels might not be home to fossil fuels. And businesses could also lease the land but fail to utilize it.  The White House could make expanding production easier for the private sector The second avenue Trump could pursue is rolling back regulations to make fossil fuel production easier and faster for the private sector. Much of this will involve undoing policies the Biden administration put in place — like the pause on permits for liquefied natural gas exports — and expediting federal approvals for oil- and gas-related projects.  Trump could use the executive branch’s authority to rescind certain proposals. For other rules, the White House could need Congress’s help. By utilizing what’s known as the Congressional Review Act, Congress has the ability to roll back rules that agencies have recently put in place. In other cases, it might need to pass new legislation: The EPA has just begun imposing a methane fee on oil and gas companies, and because that fee was included in the Inflation Reduction Act, it would need an act of Congress to undo. Under it, these businesses must curb their methane emissions or suffer a financial penalty.  Repealing policies like the methane fee and the natural gas export permit pause would curb the restrictions oil and gas companies currently face, creating more opportunities to export products abroad and making fossil fuel production less costly.  Another area where both the administration and Congress have power to ease regulation is on the issue of permitting reform. Currently, any oil and gas project — such as building a new pipeline — must go through many layers of approval by federal agencies like the EPA. (Many clean energy infrastructure projects also need to go through this process.) For these projects, companies have to obtain a hefty number of permits, slowing their ability to execute on these plans.  The Biden administration managed to outstrip the pace at which the Trump administration issued permits for drilling on public lands. Under Trump, federal agencies could try to further streamline such approvals, says Mark Squillace, a University of Colorado-Boulder Law School professor and former staffer at the Interior Department. “We certainly could see some efforts to pull back on environmental standards, to make it easier to permit different kinds of facilities,” Squillace told Vox.  Trump could also take executive action to direct agencies to cut as many unnecessary steps as possible and to simplify their processes. More expansive permitting reforms, like policies that put firm limits on the time needed for legal challenges and federal approvals of a project, would need the backing of Congress, however, and have had bipartisan support in the past. The combination of loosening restrictions currently placed on oil and gas companies and making new projects easier to pursue all tie back to Trump’s pledge to “slash the red tape” on the industry.  As is the case with expanding access to public lands, it’s not clear that these policy changes will result in more fossil fuel production since much of that will depend on how private companies respond. Trump can make production a little easier, but the market for fossil fuels is also a factor During the Biden administration, the US produced more oil and gas than any country in the world. Companies’ incentives to increase production will depend on whether they think it’s financially sound for them. As more countries — including the US — have invested in clean energy sources, there is more competition in the market, which could factor in to whether businesses see it as a smart move to dial up their fossil fuel output if given the chance. “As we watch a movement toward more solar and wind development, there is less demand for the oil and gas products that we’ve been producing,” says Squillace.  Though the administration has stressed that it’s all-in on fossil fuels, it’s not evident that it can turn away from clean energy investments to the degree that Trump has urged. Defunding the subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act, for instance, would prompt legal challenges, short of an actual repeal by Congress.  The administration could well take some contradictory stances, too. Although Trump has long denigrated energy sources like offshore wind and subsidies for electric vehicles, his allies include Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who’s the head of an EV company. Musk is among the tech leaders who’ve attained notable influence in the administration and who also has deep ties with the government due to his role leading SpaceX.  All of this means that, ultimately, even though Trump will have the power to try making good on this campaign pledge, it may not work out the way he promised. 
vox.com
Canucks star JT Miller leaves team for personal reasons
Vancouver Canucks star J.T. Miller will be away from the team indefinitely as he takes a leave of absence, the organization said Tuesday. No reason was given.
foxnews.com
Trump taps former WWE CEO for education secretary and more top headlines
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox.
foxnews.com
Rep. Nancy Mace says she’s getting threats over trans bathroom bill: ‘They are threatening to kill me over this’
South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace says she has been inundated with death threats over her push to ban incoming transgender Democratic Rep.-elect Sarah McBride and others from using female restrooms inside the Capitol.
nypost.com
Biden makes another Ukraine policy shift with approval of sending anti-personnel mines
Ukrainian forces are now being supplied with American anti-personnel mines, a second escalation by President Biden before leaving office.
foxnews.com
Washington judge says 'female-only' spa is akin to 'Whites-only' policy
A judge in Washington state slammed a female-only spa's admissions policy on Monday, claiming the mandate is akin to having a "whites-only" policy.
foxnews.com
Prep talk: Simmons brothers are finally Heritage Christian teammates
Senior Tae Simmons and freshman Eli Simmons have played many games against each and now love being on same team. They had highlight moments in opener.
latimes.com
US soccer star Christian Pulisic insists Trump dance not political: 'Thought it was funny'
U.S. soccer star Christian Pulisic scored twice against Jamaica on Monday. He did the Trump dance after one of the goals he scored and explained why.
foxnews.com
US shuts Kyiv embassy due to ‘potential significant air attack,’ tells Americans in Ukraine to be ready to seek shelter
The U.S. Embassy recommends U.S. citizens be prepared to immediately shelter in the event an air alert is announced.
nypost.com
Woman linked to 14 poisoning murders is sentenced to death
Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn, 36, is accused of swindling thousands of dollars from her victims before killing them with cyanide.
cbsnews.com
Lala Kent gives rare update on coparenting with Randall Emmett, reveals plans for more kids on ‘WWHL’
The former couple welcomed daughter Ocean in March 2021. Kent welcomed another baby girl named Sosa in September with the help of a sperm donor.
nypost.com
From Harvard to high-scorer: Kings' Alex Laferriere acing his start to season
Alex Laferriere took a somewhat unusual path to the NHL, choosing to play in the Ivy League at Harvard for onetime Kings and Ducks forward Ted Donato.
latimes.com