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What to watch: ‘Master Gardener,’ ‘Happy Valley’ worthy, if flawed, finales

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:18:39 GMT

Can the third time really be the charm?At 76, uncompromising filmmaker Paul Schrader wraps up his trilogy on men confronting their pasts. Meanwhile, the third — and sadly final — season of one of TV’s best contemporary crime series — “Happy Valley” — hopes to save the best for last.But as great as they are in considerable ways, each has an issue with sticking the landing.Here’s our roundup.“Master Gardener”: Is it possible that Paul Schrader, the gifted and cranky screenwriter of the seminal “Taxi Driver” and auteur of other gritty downer films, has gone soft on us? You might come away feeling that’s the case after watching this final installment in his unofficially connected trio of features about men wrestling with past deeds and misdeeds. And OK, this isn’t as dark as “First Reformed,” the best film in that three-pack. But “Gardener” is an at-times thrilling eyebrow-raiser about the troubled, seemingly mild-mannered horticulturist Narvel Roth (Joel Edgerton) reckoning with past c...

One scientist has spent 30 years trying to understand and treat Gulf War Illness

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:18:39 GMT

Ian Munro | The Virginian-Pilot (TNS)Dr. Robert Haley still has questions.“You’re always just trying to relieve this frustration that you don’t know the answer,” Haley said.The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center researcher is among those who have studied an illness afflicting thousands of Gulf War veterans since the mid 1990s.“First we proved that it was a disease and that it was an injury,” Haley said. “Then we proved that Sarin gas did it and then we’ve got this gene-environment interaction and the guys that are sick — it’s not their fault; they were born with a susceptibility.”From the beginning, it was considered a mystery disease due to a lack of records of what every person was exposed to every day, according to Haley.“This is no longer a mystery disease,” he said.Using genetics, a study released by Haley and others last year linked the malady noted to cause respiratory complaints, sleep disturbances, forgetfulness, and muscle and joint pain, to the deadly chemica...

Long border waits following end of Title 42 frustrate California commuters

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:18:39 GMT

SAN DIEGO (Border Report) -- Since the end of Title 42 last week, longer border waits have been encountered by commuters like Erika Lopez who drives almost daily from Tijuana to Escondido, California, located 40 miles north of the border to visit family."It was like five hours the last time I crossed," said Lopez about her experience at the San Ysidro Port of Entry on Monday. "It's very frustrating, especially when you have to use the restroom. Very frustrating."According to Lopez, the frustration and the long waits got really bad since Title 42 expired Thursday night. DHS: Daily drops of asylum-seekers at Southwest border Using concrete barricades and tall fencing with concertina wire, just inside U.S. soil, Customs and Border Protection officers have created bottlenecks along the traffic lanes to prevent large groups of migrants from trying to rush through.The officers ask drivers to show documentation before they are allowed to proceed to the inspection booths about 100 yards t...

Kia/Hyundia settle class-action lawsuit over security flaw in vehicles

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:18:39 GMT

Hyundai Motor America and Kia America will resolve class-action lawsuit prompted by a surge in vehicle thefts with a settlement agreement that could be valued at $200 million, the automakers announced Friday.The settlement covers about 9 million 2011-2022 model year Hyundai and Kia vehicles in the U.S. today, according to the companies. The cars are not equipped with push-button ignitions and immobilizing anti-theft devices — which has allowed them to be stolen easily by using just a screwdriver and a USB cord, creating a recent auto-theft outbreak across the country.Here are the vehicles involved:____Hyundai: 2018-2022 Accent2011-2022 Elantra2013-2020 Elantra GT2018-2022 Kona2013-2022 Santa Fe2013-2018 Santa Fe Sport2019 Santa Fe XL2011-2019 Sonata2011-2022 Tucson2012-2017 and 2019-2021 Veloster 2020-2021 Venue2013-2014 Genesis Coupe2020-2021 Palisade._____Kia: 2011-2022 Sportage2011-2020 Optima2011-2022 Sorento, 2011-2021 Forte2020-2022 Soul, 2012-2021 Rio2011-2021 Sedona, 2021-20...

FBI broke rules in scouring foreign intelligence on Jan. 6 riot, racial justice protests, court says

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:18:39 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI officials repeatedly violated their own standards when they searched a vast repository of foreign intelligence for information related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U..S. Capitol and racial justice protests in 2020, according to a heavily blacked-out court order released Friday.FBI officials said the thousands of violations, which also include improper searches of donors to a congressional campaign, predated a series of corrective measures that started in the summer of 2021 and continued last year. But the problems could nonetheless complicate FBI and Justice Department efforts to receive congressional reauthorization of a warrantless surveillance program that law enforcement officials say is needed to counter terrorism, espionage and international cybercrime.The violations were detailed in a secret court order issued last year by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has legal oversight of the U.S. government’s spy powers. The Off...

Most favor pairing debt limit rise with deficit cuts, but few following debate closely: AP-NORC poll

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:18:39 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — About two-thirds of U.S. adults say they are highly concerned about how the national economy would be affected if the U.S. debt limit is not increased and the government defaults on its debts, according to a new poll, even as few say they have a solid understanding of the ongoing debt limit negotiations.The poll shows about 6 in 10 say they want any increase in the debt limit to be coupled with agreed-upon terms for reducing the federal budget deficit. At the same time, Americans are more likely to disapprove than approve of how President Joe Biden and congressional negotiators on both sides of the aisle are handling negotiations. Slightly more approve of Biden’s handling of the situation than of congressional Republicans. The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research was conducted before Republican negotiators on Friday said they would “ press pause ” on talks as the two sides struggle to come to an agreement to avert a damaging ...

Hawaii’s governor, who is also a doctor, stops to help at site of crashed vehicle

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:18:39 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, who is also a physician, was one of the people who stopped to help when his security detail spotted a vehicle upside down in a lava field Thursday while he was on his way to a Big Island event.Before becoming governor, Green was an emergency room doctor in rural parts of the Big Island.“He was upside down in a totally smashed up van,” Green told Hawaii News Now of the driver. “It appears he launched about 50 to 60 feet into the air and into the gulch, so his car was destroyed and we were able to get him out through the front windshield, removed a lot of rock and seven or eight citizens with me, we just pulled this guy out.”The man, who was wearing a seatbelt, had a few cuts and bruises and seemed to be OK, Green said.Green later spoke at a blessing ceremony for Waikoloa Solar and Storage.The Associated Press

Novelist James Patterson, journalist Vicky Ward plan book on killing of Idaho college students

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:18:39 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Best-selling novelist James Patterson is teaming up with investigative journalist Vicky Ward on a book about the 2022 killing of four University of Idaho students.Little, Brown and Company announced Friday that Patterson and Ward will “draw from dozens of exclusive interviews, extensive on-the-ground reporting, copious court transcripts” and their own planned attendance at the trial of suspect Bryan Kohberger, who was indicated this week by a grand jury in Boise.Kohberger is accused of killing Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a rental home in Moscow, Idaho, near the University of Idaho campus. He has been charged with burglary and four counts of first-degree murder.“The Idaho murders have captured imaginations all around the world and I’m as caught up in it as anyone else. Because all of this happened in such a small town, there are definitely echoes of ‘In Cold Blood,’” Patterson said in a statement. He is one of the worldR...

Kia, Hyundai settle class-action lawsuit after a rash of thefts due to security flaw

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:18:39 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hyundai Motor America and Kia America will resolve class-action lawsuit prompted by a surge in vehicle thefts with a settlement agreement that could be valued at $200 million, the automakers announced Friday.The settlement covers about 9 million 2011-2022 model year Hyundai and Kia vehicles in the U.S. today, according to the companies. The cars are not equipped with push-button ignitions and immobilizing anti-theft devices — which has allowed them to be stolen easily by using just a screwdriver and a USB cord, creating a recent auto-theft outbreak across the country.The settlement will provide cash compensation to customers who incurred theft-related losses or damage that was not covered by insurance — as well as reimbursement for insurance deductibles, increased insurance premiums and other losses, Kia and Hyundai said.A software upgrade will also be provided to eligible owners as part of the settlement. For customers with vehicles that cannot accommodate the sof...

Obama, Colbert among 500 Americans banned from going to Russia

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:18:39 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — In response to a new round of U.S. sanctions, Russia announced Friday that it was banning 500 Americans from entering the country, including former President Barack Obama and comedian Stephen Colbert.The list released by the Foreign Ministry did not specify complaints against each individual. But the ministry said the offenses included spreading Russophobia, supplying Ukraine with arms, and officials “who are directly involved in the persecution of dissidents in the wake of the so-called ‘storm of the Capitol.’”The ban includes 45 members of the U.S. House, Sens. J.D. Vance, Katie Britt and Eric Schmitt, and former ambassadors to Russia John Tefft and Jon Huntsman.The ministry said it had also denied a U.S. request for consular access to Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was arrested in late March and charged with espionage. The ministry said that was in response to the United States denying visas to Russian journalists who wanted to cover Fo...