2/15/2023: Who Evicts the Landlords?
PLUS: Kids These Days; Mount Mila; and Pharrell Williams Joins Louis Vuitton
Today is Wednesday, February 15, 2023.
It is the 46th day of the year.
319 days remain.
###
WHAT’S ON TAP
A bunch of Cadbury Eggs go missing. Good thing the thief didn’t make his getaway in a new electric F-150 Lightning; Ford suspended their production ahead of unidentified battery concerns. More in HIT LIST.
NIKKI HALEY officially joins the 2024 fray while California Senator DIANNE FEINSTEIN says she’s retiring. More in THE SWAMP.
Don’t expect any more thirst traps from TOM BRADY and THE CHICKS are heading on tour! More in SHOWBIZ.
STEVEN SPIELBERG has no regrets on passing up directing the first “Harry Potter” film and filming on “Rust” will resume this spring. More in CASTING CALL.
###
HIT LIST
KIDS THESE DAYS: Fewer 16-and-17-year-olds are clamoring to get their driver’s licenses. What used to be a rite of passage has – like so much of life for Gen Z – turned into an anxiety-ridden burden.
The Washington Post reports that by 2020, only 25% of 16-year olds got their licenses, down from 43% in 1997. The share of 17-year-olds who could drive fell from 62% to 45% over the same period. The Post cites three major concerns for this cohort over driving: “anxiety, finances, and environmental concern.” [via Washington Post]
###
Police in England have busted a man for stealing more than $48,000 worth of Cadbury Creme Eggs – and just before Easter.
The culprit broke into an industrial storage site and loaded more than 200,000 candy eggs into a trailer. No word if the suspect, 32-year-old Joby Pool, planned to eat them all himself. [via LBC]
WORTH NOTING: Left at room temperature, chocolate eggs are good for about a month – but they’ll last a good bit longer while refrigerated.
ALSO WORTH NOTING: LBC’s math might be a little screwy. With 200,000 candy eggs worth £40,000, that’s 20 pence an egg. That might be the wholesale price. At the store, a 5-pack runs about £2, or 40 pence an egg. The reporting may also assume there’s an unidentified illicit black market street value for Cadbury Creme Eggs – although a thief would in theory be able to sell these well below even the wholesale cost, because his cost of sales is zero (other than the fuel, trailer, and labor it takes to break in to the storage facility).
###
In Oregon state, an agency called the Liquor and Cannabis Commission oversees the distribution of distilled spirits to independently-operated liquor stores. It’s a strange bit of centralized control (maybe not for the Pacific Northwest), in which the state purchases and stores booze, then decides which private stores can buy it from the state and resell to the consumer.
Now, the head of that agency – a man named Steve Marks – is resigning, after he admitted to investigators that he has used the agency’s power to purchase his favorite kinds of rare, high-end alcohol, and sending them to stores where he could be first in line to buy them.
In Marks’ case, his favorite spirit is Pappy Van Winkle bourbon, which can retail in the thousands of dollars. In his case, the 23-year old spirit retails north of $5,000. With a salary of over $222,000 a year, he could certainly afford a few bottles, too.
WORTH ASKING: If state-level bureaucrats are gaming a centrally-controlled system for their own personal and financial advantage, what hope do national-level welfare programs, overseen by swarms of federal administrative drones, have of succeeding without untold waste, fraud, abuse, and misuse?
GET THIS: The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission is headquartered in a city called Milwaukie, Oregon. It’s surely a total coincidence that the organization that oversees booze consumption is located in a city that shares a name with Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the nation’s Ground Zero for binge drinking and what used to be the nation’s eminent beer-brewing hub.
###
Ford has paused production on its electric F-150 Lightning model, citing a vague potential battery issue.
The shutdown started last week, after one vehicle failed pre-delivery inspections. No word yet on when things will be back up and running. [via Motor Authority]
###
When you default on a mortgage, the bank comes to foreclose. But what happens when the owner of an apartment building doesn’t make payments?
Such is the case in Clarinda, Iowa, where tenants have had to pay out of pocket to keep ongoing vermin and bug infestations at bay as they pop up over and over again. Last month, residents of two different complexes received notices that their buildings are in foreclosure, and that while eviction isn’t imminent, their futures remain uncertain.
There’s hope a more responsible landlord buys the properties at a foreclosure sale. But in the meantime, they’re on the hook for monthly rent payments, though it’s anyone’s guess where those fees are going. [via KETV]
###
CHARTS
Top 5 Fiction & Nonfiction Books Currently on the New York Times Best Sellers List:
FICTION:
“It Ends With Us,” Colleen Hoover
“It Starts With Us,” Colleen Hoover
“Lessons in Chemistry,” Bonnie Garmus
“Verity,” Colleen Hoover
“Heart Bones,” Colleen Hoover
NON-FICTION
“Spare,” Prince Harry
“Love, Pamela,” Pamela Anderson
“The Body Keeps the Score,” Bessel van der Kolk
“I’m Glad My Mom Died,” Jennette McCurdy
“The Nazi Conspiracy,” Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch
###
DEATHS
Former football player CONRAD DOBLER has died.
He passed away Monday, according to a statement from his former team, the Arizona Cardinals. No cause of death was shared.
Dobler, who played for the team in the 1970s, was regarded as one of the league’s “dirtiest players,” with ESPN giving him the title in the designated category.
He was 72.
###
Former Disney executive DAVE HOLLIS has died.
He passed away at his home on February 11. While the cause of death is not yet known, Hollis had previously been hospitalized with heart issues.
He was 47.
WORTH NOTING: Hollis was formerly married to “Girl Wash Your Face” author and motivational speaker RACHEL HOLLIS.
###
BABY NEWS
Dominika Clarke, a 37-year-old mother-of-seven from southern Poland, has given birth to quintuplets.
The babies -- two boys and three girls -- arrived prematurely via c-section on Sunday, according to hospital employees.
Her other children are aged between 10 months and 12 years, and include two pairs of twins.
###
THE SWAMP
We are governed by idiots.
At a Tuesday briefing, the White House says that the last three objects shot down, after the confirmed Chinese spy balloon, were either “commercial” or “benign.”
IN OTHER WORDS: American fighter jets shot down some actual scientific research balloons, or some private person or company’s hot air balloons. And the President of the United States, the “Commander in Chief,” has said zero about it.
WORTH NOTING: They did this out of total fear of the “optics” if yet another Chinese spy balloon were allowed to fly over American land unabated and the leadership is so wildly incompetent it can’t tell the difference between a leading adversary’s spying tools and some non-profit’s science experiment.
###
NIKKI HALEY officially announced her candidacy on Tuesday with a video posted to social media.
MEANWHILE: When asked by a CNN reporter, Texas Senator TED CRUZ said he’s running for reelection to the Senate in 2024, not for the presidency, like he did in 2016.
###
California Senator DIANNE FEINSTEIN, the grandmother of whoever invented cave drawings and whose decades-long personal chauffeur was a Chinese Communist Party spy, has announced she will not seek re-election to the Senate next year.
NOT A JOKE: When asked about the press release announcing her retirement, she told reporters, “I haven’t made that decision. I haven’t released anything,” before a staffer quickly interjected that it had indeed gone out.
###
Former President DONALD TRUMP is reportedly calling America’s Governor RON DESANTIS “meatball Ron” in private conversations, though Trump denied this on Truth Social, saying he doesn’t give the governor much any thought.
WORTH (VERY SARCASTICALLY) NOTING: We all know that Trump quietly dismisses people he doesn’t like or who threaten him.
###
BY THE NUMBERS
📈 The DOW lost 156 points (0.46%) to close at 34,089 on Tuesday. The S&P lost just 1 point (0.028%) to close at 4,136 while the NASDAQ added 68 points (0.57%) to close at 11,960.
🛢 WEST TEXAS INTERMEDIATE closed at $79; BRENT CRUDE at $85.
⛽ The national average price of a GALLON OF GAS was $3.41 on Tuesday.
₿ BITCOIN was up 2% on Tuesday, trading around $22,260.
🛩 There were more than 1,880 FLIGHTS delayed within, into, or out of the United States on Tuesday and more than 129 such cancellations.
💰Tonight’s POWERBALL drawing will be for a $57 million jackpot or a $30.1 million cash payout.
SHOWBIZ NEWS
ASHTON KUTCHER almost named a mountain after his wife, actress MILA KUNIS.
He shared the story with late-night host JAMES CORDEN, explaining that during a trip to the South Pole he met a man who asked if he wanted to climb a mountain, which he did.
When they reached the top, the man told him, “You’re the first person that has ever climbed this mountain. You get to name it.”
Initially Kutcher said he wanted to name it “Mount Mila” in honor of his wife, but after the man explained it is bad luck to name it after another person, he changed it to “Awesome” in Russian.
It’s still a nod to his wife, who grew up speaking Russian. [via People]
###
PHARRELL WILLIAMS is following in the footsteps of the late VIRGIL ABLOH, taking over as Louis Vuitton’s new men’s creative director.
The news was announced Tuesday by LV Chairman & CEO PIETRO BECCARI, who noted the singer’s past collaborations with the brand.
Williams’ first collection will debut next June during Men’s Fashion Week in Paris. [via TMZ]
WORTH REMEMBERING: Virgil Abloh was the first Black American to be a lead designer for a European luxury brand. He passed away in 2021 after a battle with a rare form of cancer.
###
TOM BRADY wants fans to know that he will not be posting any more “thirst traps.”
Speaking on his “Let’s Go!” podcast, Brady told his co-hosts that his recent post, featuring him wearing only underwear, will be his last for the foreseeable future.
He also shared that prior to the pic he had no idea what a “thirst trap” was. [via People]
WORTH REMEMBERING: Brady shared the photo last week as part of a bet with his Brady Brand clothing line.
###
THE CHICKS (formerly The Dixie Chicks) are heading out on another tour.
NATALIE MAINES, MARTIE MAGUIRE and EMILY STRAYER announced Tuesday they will embark on a worldwide tour this summer, with special guests MAREN MORRIS, BEN HARPER and WILD RIVERS.
The trio kicks things off in Oslo, Norway on June 20.
ALSO: Before the tour, The Chicks will perform their first-ever concert residency -- “The Chicks: Six Nights in Vegas” -- at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in May. [via People]
IN OTHER MUSIC NEWS: ‘90s group S CLUB 7 is reuniting for a 25th anniversary tour. TINA BARRETT, JON LEE, PAUL CATTERMOLE, HANNAH SPEARRITT, BRADLEY MCINTOSH, RACHEL STEVENS and JO O’MEAREA will kick things off on October 13 in Liverpool. They will have 11 stops in the UK and Ireland. [via Variety]
###
Actor and filmmaker JON FAVREAU received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this week.
Joining him for the honor were actor ROBERT DOWNEY JR and chef ROY CHOI. [via Daily Mail]
WORTH NOTING: His star is No. 2,746 on Hollywood Boulevard.
###
Actress REBEL WILSON is launching a new dating app called Fluid.
Created with her own love story in mind, the “Pitch Perfect” star said it is “the first dating app where you don’t have to actually define yourself” or select a specific sexual orientation.
“The algorithm just picks up who you are vibing with and how much time you spend on certain profiles and [...] it will follow because of what you are preferring on the app,” Wilson explained to People Magazine. [via People]
###
RIHANNA’s Super Bowl Halftime performance led to a spike in streams of her songs.
According to Spotify data, her overall streams increased more than 640% following the performance.
Her opening number, “Bitch Better Have My Money,” got a bump of more than 2,600%, while “Diamonds” saw a 1,400% increase in streams. [via Variety]
WORTH NOTING: Halftime performers typically don’t get a fee to perform, but use the massive global exposure to boost auxiliary sales.
###
JOY BEHAR suffered a wardrobe issue during Tuesday’s episode of “The View.”
After returning from a commercial break, her co-host WHOOPI GOLDBERG told the audience, “The biggest surprise happened to us seconds ago when Joy’s bra started making all kinds of eyes at people at the table.”
“That was my special gift to all the old people out there on Valentine’s Day…all the old guys,” Behar quipped. [via Page Six]
###
CASTING CALL
Production will resume on “Rust” this spring.
Director JOEL SOUZA, who was shot and wounded by the bullet that killed cinematographer HALYNA HUTCHINS, will return, along with several others who were part of the initial filming.
BIANCA CLINE joins the project as cinematographer and will donate her salary to charity in honor of Halyna, producers told Deadline.
Halyna’s husband, MATTHEW HUTCHINS, will serve as executive producer, alongside the original producers.
ALSO: It was announced Tuesday that there will be a documentary made about Halyna’s life and work as cinematographer, including her time on “Rust.”
MEANWHILE: ALEC BALDWIN’s case continues. The first hearing is set for February 24.
###
STEVEN SPIELBERG and TOM CRUISE were overheard chatting at Monday’s Academy Luncheon ahead of next month’s Oscars broadcast.
In the exchange, which was recorded on video, Spielberg tells Cruise his “Top Gun” movie may have saved Hollywood after the pandemic.
“You saved Hollywood’s ass, and you might have saved theatrical distribution. Seriously, ‘Maverick’ might have saved the entire theatrical industry,” Spielberg says.
WORTH REMEMBERING: “Top Gun: Maverick” was scheduled for a summer 2020 release but was postponed amid covid lockdowns. At Cruise’s insistence, the movie was delayed until people could watch movies in theaters again, instead of being released straight to streaming.
MEANWHILE: SPIELBERG also says he has no regrets about passing on the opportunity to direct the first “Harry Potter” film in 2001.
Speaking to Reliance Entertainment, the 76-year-old said that he had the chance to create a film adaptation of JK ROWLING’s book “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” but passed so he could spend more time with his family.
“There were several films I chose not to make [...] to basically spend [time] with my family, my young kids growing up,” he said. [via Daily Mail]
WORTH NOTING: Spielberg has seven kids.
###
THE DAILY KARDASHOPUS
The Anti-Defamation League revealed that 30 antisemitic incidents over the past several months have been traced back to YE’s anti-Jewish social media rants.
Per a newly released report, obtained by Billboard, the incidents, which “include vandalism, banner drops, targeted harassment and campus propaganda distributions -- demonstrate the ongoing influence of Ye’s conspiratorial, bigoted rants.”
The organization explained that they tracked references to “Ye Is Right” to specific instances of vandalism and harassment nationwide.
WORTH NOTING: Billboard said they reached out to Ye’s camp for a response to the report, but received no comment in return. [via Billboard]
###
WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS
PRINCE HARRY wrote about asking his grandmother QUEEN ELIZABETH for permission to ask MEGHAN MARKLE to marry him, in his memoir “Spare.”
In an excerpt, shared by People Magazine, Harry writes that he was told by his staff that he needed to get Her Majesty’s approval before popping the question. Harry decided to ask her during a weekend family shooting trip to Sandringham, because “shooting trips always put Granny in a good mood.”
Finally getting a moment alone with her, Harry writes that he blurted out, “Granny, you know I love Meg very much, and I’ve decided that I would like to ask her to marry me, and I’ve been told that, er, that I have to ask your permission before I can propose.”
“You have to?” she quipped in response.
After a bit Harry realized she was giving him her blessing. “I sputtered: ‘Right. OK Granny! Well. Fabulous. Thank you! Thank you so much.”
Harry also addressed the royal rules when it comes to getting engaged in the Netflix docuseries “Harry & Meghan.” [via People]
###
DAY OF THE YEAR
World Hippo Day
Annoy Squidward Day
Singles Awareness Day
National Gumdrop Day
###
ON THIS DATE
1898 - The USS Maine explodes while docked in a harbor in Havana, Cuba. 260 are killed and more than 100 are injured.
The cause of the blast remains a mystery.
The Maine was one of the first American battleships. It weighed more than 6,000 tons and cost -- at the time -- more than $2 million.
It had been in port to monitor the uprising against the Spanish, which had broken out in Havana the month before.
###
1903 - The first Teddy Bears are sold.
Morris Michtom was a toy store owner, who had petitioned President Roosevelt to use his name to promote stuffed bear toys.
The president agreed, and soon other toymakers copied the idea.
A childhood staple was born.
###
1933 - Franklin Roosevelt survives an assassination attempt in Miami. The assassin missed him and hit Anton Cermak, the mayor of Chicago.
The mayor would die a few weeks later.
On the day the mayor died, the assassin was indicted and arraigned for murder and pleaded guilty. He was executed by electric chair on March 20--less than two weeks after the mayor's death.
###
1943 - J. Howard Miller creates the wartime propaganda poster “We Can Do It!” featuring “Rosie the Riveter.”
It would be hung on the walls of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company’s plants in the Midwest.
The spirit of patriotism was meant to encourage women to work in the defense industries in WWII.
The poster currently sits at The National Museum of American History in Washington DC.
###
1950 - The Soviet Union and China agree to a mutual defense and assistance treaty.
On paper, the agreement created an alliance between the two largest communist powers in the world.
It was not a strong alliance, though. American intelligence quickly reported breakdowns in communications and agreements between the communists' militaries and intelligence-gathering services.
In public, the Chinese lamented the Soviets' abandonment of Marxism-Leninism, and decried any doctrine of peaceful coexistence. In 1962, Mao Zedong even publicly said he saw the USSR as an ally of the US.
###
Also 1950 - Disney's "Cinderella" premieres across the country.
It took six years to produce and animate.
It followed in the footsteps of “Snow White,” “Dumbo,” “Bambi,” and “Pinocchio.”
Many of the animation sequences that include dancing and singing in those subsequent movies follow the exact same character movements as in “Snow White.”
###
1965 - Canada adopts its current flag, a red Maple leaf on a white background, flanked by two vertical bars of red.
Since the country began as a British colony in the early 1600s, it had incorporated an element of the Union Jack into its flags. The move away from British influence began in 1925.
Adoption of the new flag coincided with Canada’s 100th anniversary of autonomy from Britain.
Ironically, they chose red and white as colors, because King George the Fifth declared those the official colors in 1921.
###
1978 - Escaped mass murderer Ted Bundy is recaptured in Pensacola, Florida.
He had escaped from a Colorado jail where he was being held for the murder of a Michigan nurse.
While on the run, Bundy would murder sorority sisters Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy at Florida State University.
###
1992 - A Milwaukee jury finds Jeffrey Dahmer was sane when he killed and mutilated 15 men and boys.
The decision meant Dahmer, who had already pleaded guilty to the murders, would receive a mandatory life sentence for each count.
He would be beaten to death in prison in 1994.
###
2011 - President Barack Obama awards writer and activist Maya Angelou the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
###
2020 - Beijing orders people returning to the city after the Lunar New Year holiday to self-quarantine for 14 days to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Little did anyone know, the worst was yet to come.
###
BIRTHDAYS
Lil Poopy - rapper - 20
George Russell - race car driver - 25
Zachary Gordon - actor, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” - 25
Megan Thee Stallion - rapper - 28
Ziggy - rapper - 32
Callum Turner - actor, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” - 33
Amber Riley - actress, “Glee” - 37
Ross Duffer - director/creator, “Stranger Things” - 39
Alex Borstein - actress, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” - 52
Birdman - rapper - 54
Jane Seymour - actress, “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” - 72
Born On This Date
Chris Farley - actor - 1964 (d. 1997)
Miep Gies - helped hide Anne Frank & protected her diary - 1909 (d. 2010)
Ernest Shackleton - explorer - 1874 (d. 1922)
Susan B. Anthony - activist, suffragette, reformer - 1820 (d. 1906)
Galileo Galilei - Father of Science - 1564 (d. 1642)
###