1/19/2024: Monkey Racket, Part II 🐒

PLUS: Ecuador Update; Super Bowl Performers; and The King’s Nickname

Today is Friday, January 19, 2024.

It is the 19th day of the year.

347 days remain.

Photo by Alexandra Mirgheș on Unsplash

WHAT’S ON TAP

A small-time radio station looks for answers and a high-end retailer makes waves. Details in HIT LIST.

BRITNEY SPEARS is back on Instagram and IAN SOMERHALDER loves his little life. More in SHOWBIZ.

JODIE FOSTER almost played this iconic “Star Wars” character. Details in CASTING CALL.

YE’s got a shiny new smile. Find out more in KARDASH.

The King’s family have given the monarch a new nickname. Details in ROYALS.

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HIT LIST

In the immediate chaos of Ecuador’s gang crackdown, thugs stormed a TV studio to interfere with a broadcast and demand the release of imprisoned gang members.

NOW: The prosecutor investigating the incident has been found dead. 

Images show the prosecutor's car riddled with bullet holes and the glass blown out from gunshots. 

So far, twenty others have been confirmed dead from the crossfire between gangs and authorities in the hotspot city of Guayaquil. [via AFP]

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Hoodlums in Oklahoma managed to knock over a 500-foot radio tower on Tuesday and appear to have raided all the copper wiring, leaving small-town radio station K95.5 KITX without a signal. 

A rep for the station estimates the copper could go for maybe a hundred bucks if sold. After toppling the tower, the thieves cut the tower into multiple sections. The station estimates the damage to cost around $500,000 to repair. [via Fox25]

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Ever feel like endlessly scrolling online stores shows nothing but low-end junk?

eCommerce startup Long Story Short wants to fix that, offering a curated selection of high-end luxury items for the discerning shopper.

BUT WAIT: In order to be able to shop the site, customers must first apply for membership. If approved, access to the site alone costs $1,000 a month. 

Once on the inside, you’ll be able to shop for things like a $50,000 wood sliding deck pool cover. Reps for the site say the $1,000 access fee is a pittance compared to the overall savings the high-end shopper will earn, reducing prices by up to 40%.

The site founder tells TechCrunch, “It’s not lost upon me that this is a provocative concept.” [via TechCrunch]

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FOLLOW UP: Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported on local protests to a biomedical research firm’s plans to build a monkey breeding facility in rural Texas. Following grassroots backlash, Charles River Laboratories postponed plans to build the macaque reserve.

NOW: That company faces the same kind of backlash over plans for a similar site in Georgia. Citizens in Bainbridge, Georgia, vocally protested plans for a $396 MILLION facility that would house an estimated 30,000 macaques and employ more than 250 personnel. That’s down from the 43,000 monkeys that would’ve been managed at the scrapped Texas facility.

Organizers of the protest say they’re concerned macaques could become a nuisance invasive species in the area if enough escaped into the wild – and as a breeding ground for test subjects, run the risk of transferring experimental diseases into the human population.

WORTH ASKING: Why does this sound familiar? [via ABC News]

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Running into a burning building is scary enough, now add in a bunch of venomous snakes and it sounds like something straight out of a horror film. 

Unfortunately that was the reality for an Oklahoma fire department this week when they responded to black smoke coming from a home in Sand Springs. 

After fire crews discovered there were no people inside the residence, the slithering serpents became the priority. Fortunately some of them were near the door, so the owner was able to step in and grab them with the aid of some firefighters. 

A dog and monitor lizard were also rescued from the home.

The cause of the blaze is under investigation. [via WTAP]

BY THE NUMBERS

📈 The DOW gained 201 points (0.54%) to close at 37,468 on Thursday. The S&P added 41 points (0.88%) to close at 4,780 and the NASDAQ increased 200 points (1.35%) to close at 15,055. 

🛢 WEST TEXAS INTERMEDIATE closed at $74; BRENT CRUDE at $79.

⛽ The national average price of a GALLON OF GAS was $3.09 on Thursday.

₿ BITCOIN fell Thursday, down over 4%, trading under $40,900 in the evening.

🛩 There were more than 3,155 FLIGHTS delayed within, into, or out of the United States on Thursday and more than 645 such cancellations. 

💰Tonight’s MEGA MILLIONS drawing will be for a $236 million jackpot or a $113.6 million cash payout. Saturday night’s POWERBALL drawing will be for a $120 million jackpot or a $59.4 million cash payout.

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SHOWBIZ NEWS

New Music Friday

• 90 Day Men, “We Blame Chicago”

• Daniel Johnston, “Alive in New York City”

• Eddie Berman, “Signal Fire”

• Eliza McLamb, “Going Through It”

• The Fauns, “How Lost”

• Green Day, “Saviors”

• Judy Whitmore, “Come Fly With Me”

• Neck Deep, “Neck Deep”

• Selmer, “Body Wash”

• TR3, “Watch It”

• ZHU, “Grace”

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REBA MCENTIRE will sing the national anthem at Super Bowl LVII. 

Ahead of her performance, POST MALONE will belt out “America The Beautiful.” 

ANDRA DAY will open things up with “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

Super Bowl LVII will take place on February 11 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. [via TMZ]

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BRITNEY SPEARS is back on Instagram. 

She marked her return with a nude photo taken on a beach in French Polynesia. She also shared a video of herself dancing in a sheer yellow dress. 

No word on who she is vacationing with. [via Instagram]

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“Vampire Diaries” alum IAN SOMERHALDER loves his little life on the farm, far away from the bright lights of Hollywood. 

“I don’t miss any of it. I love making films, and I just did it for so long. We had an amazing run,” he recently told E!. 

Somerhalder lives just outside of Los Angeles with his wife, “Twilight” alum NIKKI REED and their two young kids. [via E!]

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CASTING CALL

Three-time Olympic gold medalist ALY RAISMAN is joining ESPN as an analyst for its NCAA gymnastics broadcasts. 

She will make her debut today, commenting on a meet between LSU and Kentucky. 

Raisman was a member of the 2012 and 2016 US Women’s Gymnastics teams. [via People]

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TREVOR NOAH’s successor will soon be known. 

On Thursday, a spokesperson for Comedy Central announced that a host for “The Daily Show” will be named in the next few weeks. 

Noah left the show in 2022. Since then a rotating panel of hosts has taken over. [via TMZ]

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Despite multiple reports to the contrary, RICHARD SIMMONS does not appear to be a fan of the idea of PAULY SHORE playing him in a forthcoming biopic. 

While Shore told several media outlets that he has been in talks with the reclusive fitness guru about the project, the following day Simmons’ rep issued a statement to ET, saying that neither of them are “endorsing the project.” 

A post on Simmons’ Facebook page shared the sentiment, saying he has not “given [his] permission for this movie.” [via ET]

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JODIE FOSTER says she was offered the role of Princess Leia. 

She made the revelation on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” this week, explaining that she had to turn down the offer because she “had a [filming] conflict.” 

“I don’t know how good I would have been,” Foster said, before adding that had she taken the role she “might have had different hair.” 

The job would ultimately go to CARRIE FISHER…and the rest is history. [via NY Post]

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“Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star KATHY HILTON is part of some “top secret” musical project. 

Insiders told Page Six that Hilton “filmed a musical theater project a little bit ago and she’s getting ready to drop it soon.” Adding that “fans are going to flip.” 

Stay tuned. [via Page Six]

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A documentary about the Brat Pack is in the works. 

The project, titled “Brats,” will focus on the cultural phenomenon of the group of young stars that dominated the ‘80s box office, in films such as “The Breakfast Club,” “Pretty in Pink” and “St. Elmo’s Fire.” 

There will be interviews from Brat Pack members including, ROB LOWE, DEMI MOORE, ALLY SHEEDY, EMILIO ESTEVEZ, JON CRYER, LEA THOMPSON and ANDREW MCCARTHY, who wrote and directed the feature. 

The term Brat Pack was first coined in 1985 by New York Magazine. [via THR]

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THE DAILY KARDASHOPUS

YE showed off his new smile this week, posting a photo of some metallic dentures that reportedly cost him around $850,000. 

Initial reports suggested the rapper had his own teeth removed and replaced with the metallic ones, but the self-proclaimed “Father of Diamond Dentistry,” Dr. Thomas Connelly, said that is not the case. 

Ye compared the new grill to James Bond villain Jaws, who appeared in “The Spy Who Loved Me” and “Moonraker.” [via Daily Mail]

FOLLOWING IN HER FATHER’S FOOTSTEPS: Ye’s eldest daughter NORTH WEST showed off her own blinged out teeth this week on TikTok. [via TMZ]

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WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS

A palace insider revealed to royal biographer ROBERT HARDMAN that a family nickname for KING CHARLES is C-Rex, an obvious play on “T. Rex.”

An unnamed member of the King’s immediate family gifted the monarch a pink tie with a light blue dinosaur print as a cheeky nod to the nickname, which he’s been seen wearing on multiple occasions in recent months.

Hardman reports in his new biography of Charles that despite the immense burdens of his reign, the King is in good spirits and enjoying his job, now that the decades of lingering uncertainty over when his time would come have finally passed. [via Express]

DAY OF THE YEAR

World Quark Day

National Tin Can Day

Artist as Outlaw Day

Brew a Potion Day

Good Memory Day

National Popcorn Day

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ON THIS DATE

1810 - The temperature in Portsmouth, New Hampshire drops from 54 degrees to minus 12 degrees in one day. 

Many froze to death. 

It is known as Cold Friday. 

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1840 - Captain Charles Wilkes claims Easter Antarctica for the United States.

Wilkes and his crew set out in 1838, sailing around South America to the South Pacific, then to Antarctica. There, they explored the eastern coast -- and Wilkes said it belonged to the U.S.

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1883 - The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires begins service at Roselle, New Jersey. 

It was built by Thomas Edison. 

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1915 - Four people in Norfolk are killed in the first German Zeppelin air raid attack on the UK during WWI. 

Air raids had been taking place over Britain since mid December, with civilians taking the brunt of the casualties. 

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1955 - Scrabble debuts on the board game market. 

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1977 - President Ford pardons Tokyo Rose. 

Though several Japanese women voiced the seductive radio personality whose propaganda made American sailors long for home, the woman in question was Iva Toguri, who was Japanese-American.

She was an American who was in Japan at the time the country bombed Pearl Harbor, and was forced to participate in the program.

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1993 - Fleetwood Mac reunites to play for an inauguration party for president-elect Bill Clinton.

Their hit song "Don't Stop" was a theme song used throughout Clinton's campaign.

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2001 - Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman escapes from Puente Grande maximum-security prison near Guadalajara. 

He was rolled out of the prison in a laundry cart by prison guards, who he had bribed.

He would be captured 7 years later only to escape again. 

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2013 - During an interview with Oprah, Lance Armstrong admits to doping in all of his Tour de France victories. 

Following the admission, he is stripped of his seven Tour de France titles. 

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2021 - The death toll from Covid-19 surpasses 400,000 in the US. 

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BIRTHDAYS

Natalia Bryant - model & daughter of Kobe - 21

Shawn Johnson - Olympic gymnast - 32

Logan Lerman - actor, “Hunters” - 32

Erin Sanders - actress, “Zoey 101” & “Big Time Rush” - 33

Lil Scrappy - rapper - 40

Jodie Sweetin - actress, “Full House” & “Fuller House” - 42

Jenson Button - race car driver - 44

Ron Killings - wrestler - 52

Shawn Wayans - actor, “Scary Movie” franchise - 53

Paula Deen - chef - 77

Dolly Parton - country singer - 78

Born On This Date

Mac Miller - rapper - 1992 (d. 2018)

Janis Joplin - rock singer - 1943 (d. 1970)

Edgar Allan Poe - poet - 1809 (d. 1849)

Robert E. Lee - commanded the Confederate Army - 1807 (d. 1870)

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