Today is Thursday, April 11, 2024.
It is the 102nd day of the year.
264 days remain.
WHAT’S ON TAP
An update on the guacamole gunman and a frightening fentanyl haul in San Francisco. Details in HIT LIST.
TIFFANY HADDISH will do just about anything for charity. More on that in SHOWBIZ.
MARGOT ROBBIE is working on a movie based on a popular board game and LEVAR BURTON has a new hosting gig. Details in CASTING CALL.
KOURTNEY isn’t worried about bouncing back after baby. More KARDASH.
THE KING gets a preview of Britain’s new currency design. Details in ROYALS.
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HIT LIST
FOLLOW UP: The Guacamole Gunman who shot a Chiptole employee over the price of a side now formally faces multiple charges.
The 32-year-old suspect was booked and released for charges of assault, discharging a weapon in a building causing injury, and two counts of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
The shooter attacked the employee on Friday and after leaving the location was found by police hours later. [via WXYZ]
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It’s tough to find bug spray in Argentina.
As the South American nation battles a dengue outbreak, residents have stocked up on the insect deterrent. With 233,000 cases, numbers are up sevenfold year over year. The health ministry there has recorded 161 deaths.
Mosquitos are the primary culprit for spreading dengue, which causes intense body aches and fevers that last more than a week. An unseasonably humid and rainy few months have helped the bugs prosper.
One supermarket owner in Buenos Aires tells Bloomberg he ran out of 7,000 cans in a matter of hours despite a one-per-customer rule, comparing the run on product to the scarcity of hand sanitizer in the early days of the pandemic. [via Bloomberg]
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The Labor Department reported Wednesday that prices continued to increase in March year over year, at 3.5%, and even worsened since February.
BUT WAIT: Excluding food and energy – prices still rose more than expected.
Big Bank analysts revised down their hope for three interest rate cuts down to two, perhaps in July and September. [via Wall Street Journal]
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There are plenty of horror stories about fentanyl overdoses, but this story demonstrates just how lethal the illicit drug is.
The California Highway Patrol announced this week a haul of 42 pounds of fentanyl rounded up from the dangerous Tenderloin district in San Francisco in the last six weeks.
On the street, that’s enough to kill 9.6 MILLION people. The recent crackdown also included 500 drug-related arrests. [via ABC 7]
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Olympic track and field winners will get a payout for their hard work.
World Athletics – the international organization governing track and field-style competitions around the world – announced Wednesday that it will pay $50,000 to gold medalists across 48 track and field events at this year’s Games in Paris. Relay teams will split the amount.
Silver and bronze medalists will get a cut starting with the 2028 Olympics.
The prize money comes out of the revenue given to World Athletics from the International Olympic Committee. [via AP News]
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BY THE NUMBERS
📈 The DOW lost 422 points (1.09%) to close at 38,461 on Wednesday. The S&P lost 49 points (0.95%) to close at 5,160 and the NASDAQ lost 136 points (0.84%) to close at 16,170.
🛢 WEST TEXAS INTERMEDIATE closed at $86; BRENT CRUDE at $90.
⛽ The national average price of a GALLON OF GAS was $3.61 on Wednesday.
₿ BITCOIN gained on Wednesday, up nearly 2% and trading around $70,400.
🛩 There were more than 4,160 FLIGHTS delayed within, into, or out of the United States on Wednesday and more than 105 such cancellations.
💰Friday night’s MEGA MILLIONS drawing will be for a $120 million jackpot or a $55.8 million cash payout.
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SHOWBIZ NEWS
MORGAN WALLEN’s ex-fiance says her recent elopement is not directly related to his chair-throwing antics.
KT SMITH told the Daily Beast that while it “may seem like it correlates” there is “no evidence” that the incident has anything to do with her marriage to LUKE SCORNAVACCO.
As for her ex, Smith said that she is “praying that this was just a slip up and that he will return to the good path that he was on prior.”
As previously reported, Wallen was arrested Sunday after chucking a chair off the rooftop of ERIC CHURCH’s bar in Nashville. The incident comes less than a week after Smith got engaged and married to Scornavacco. Wallen and Smith share three-year-old son Indigo. [via Daily Beast]
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TIFFANY HADDISH might start selling her used underwear to raise funds for the She Ready Foundation.
“That’ll be a lot of money for the foundation,” Haddish said in a recent social media video.
The She Ready Foundation supports, empowers and encourages foster children. [via Page Six]
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JESSICA ALBA is stepping down from her role as Chief Creative Officer of The Honest Company, which she founded in 2012.
She says her exit is so she can “shift her creative energy to new endeavors.” Alba will retain her seat on the board of directors.
The Honest Company sells personal care and baby items, with a focus on creating clean- and sustainably-designed products. [via Deadline]
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CARSON DALY says his and wife SIRI PINTER’s “sleep divorce” has saved their marriage.
Since 2019, the two have spent several nights a week sleeping separately, which they say has been a “game changer.”
The Cleveland Clinic says a sleep divorce “can help improve one’s sleep -- which can have numerous beneficial mental and physical effects -- and can also help cut down on negative interactions with couples.”
WORTH NOTING: The sleep divorce started when Pinter was pregnant and unable to sleep with Daly’s CPAP machine running. [via Daily Mail, Cleveland Clinic]
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TERRELL SUGGS was arrested this week in connection to an incident in which he brandished a gun and threatened to kill a man during an argument at a Starbucks in Scottsdale, Arizona last month.
The verbal altercation started after Suggs reportedly backed his vehicle into the one behind him in the drive thru. After seeing there was no damage to either vehicle, the men continued on with their orders, until Suggs allegedly flipped off the other guy, who then swore at the former football player who then allegedly threatened to kill him. Per the police report, it was as Suggs drove away he allegedly flashed the gun.
Suggs has been charged with one felony count of disorderly conduct involving weapons, and one misdemeanor count of threatening or intimidating. [via TMZ]
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CASTING CALL
A comic book featuring Superman’s debut sold for $6 million at auction last week, making it the most-expensive comic ever.
Only 100 copies of “Action Comics No. 1” are known to exist, of the 200,000 that were originally printed, according to Heritage Auctions.
BY THE WAY: The comic sold for just 10 cents when it was released in 1938. [via CNN]
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Rumor is…MARGOT ROBBIE is working with Hasbro Entertainment and Lionsgate on a Monopoly-based movie.
It is unknown how closely the plot will stick to the board game, which finds players trying to stay financially afloat while also trying to bankrupt opponents and develop properties.
Robbie is also producing a film based on the 2000’s computer game, “The Sims.” [via TMZ]
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A “Game of Thrones” spinoff centered on KIT HARRINGTON’s Jon Snow is no longer in development at HBO.
Harrington broke the news during a recent interview with Screenrant, saying they “couldn’t find the right story to tell.”
The “GoT” universe will continue on with Season 2 of the “House of the Dragon” and the forthcoming “A Knight of Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight.”
MEANWHILE: Harrington’s latest film, “Blood for Dust,” hits theaters on April 19. [via Screenrant]
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The forthcoming MICHAEL JACKSON biopic will have a lengthy runtime and feature more than 30 of his songs.
Producer Graham King shared the tidbits at Lionsgate’s CinemaCon panel this week. He also offered a first-look at the trailer too, showing off JAAFAR JACKSON, who looks a lot like his late uncle.
The biopic, simply titled “Michael,” is set to premiere in 2025. [via THR]
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LEVAR BURTON is officially the host of the new game show “Trivial Pursuit” for The CW. He will also serve as an executive producer.
The game tests players' smarts with a variety of trivia questions that cover a variety of categories.
No word on when the show will premiere. [via Decider]
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THE DAILY KARDASHOPUS
KOURTNEY KARDASHIAN is not keeping up with the unrealistic expectations of how soon a woman should “bounce back” after giving birth.
“Dear new mommies,” she wrote in a recent Instagram post. “Your body is beautiful at all stages. The pressure put on us to bounce back when everything is new and different isn’t realistic. Life is beautiful. You are beautiful. Just a little reminder (for me too). XOXO.”
Kourtney welcomed her son, Rocky Thirteen Barker, with husband, TRAVIS BARKER, last November. [via E!]
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WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS
KING CHARLES got a first look at the first British Pound banknotes printed with his image on them on Tuesday, just shy of a year after his coronation.
The new designs enter circulation on June 5.
Charles is only the second monarch to appear on Pound notes. QUEEN ELIZABETH was the first, and the Bank of England did not begin producing notes with the monarch’s visage until 1960. [via @RoyalFamily]
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DAY OF THE YEAR
National Ranch Water Day
National Alcohol Screening Day
National Marketing Operations Appreciation Day
National Submarine Day
National Pet Day
World Parkinson’s Day
National Barbershop Quartet Day
National Cheese Fondue Day
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ON THIS DATE
1814 - Napoleon Bonaparte gives up his empire.
He leaves for Elba, in the Mediterranean.
Napoleon managed to escape the following year and rallied enough supporters to take back his title. But the victory was short-lived, in a period called The Hundred Days.
He lost again at the Battle of Waterloo, after which he left for Saint Helena in the Atlantic, where he died.
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1898 - President William McKinley asks Congress for authorization to end the fighting in Cuba between the rebels and Spanish forces.
He also requested to establish a stable government that would maintain order and ensure peach and tranquility and the security of Cuban and US citizens on the island.
Days later, a resolution would be passed establishing Cuba’s independence.
All of this would culminate into the Spanish-American War.
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1912 - The RMS Titanic leaves Ireland for New York.
On board are an estimated 1,316 passengers.
It would sink four days later after hitting an iceberg.
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1951 - The conflict between General Douglas MacArthur and President Harry Truman peaks when the Commander in Chief dismisses the military leader of his duties in Korea.
MacArthur had been ardently encouraging an invasion of the North to completely eliminate the communists, but Truman feared military pushback from the Chinese.
General Matthew Ridgeway replaced MacArthur.
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1970 - Apollo 13 begins its ill-fated mission to the Moon.
Jim Loveel, John Swigert and Fred Haise piloted the ship. They were tasked with conducting geological experiments on the Moon and bringing back samples. It would have been the third manned exploration mission of the Moon.
The mission was aborted when an oxygen tank failed two days into the mission.
It would return back to Earth less than six days later.
1993 - 450 prisoners riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility.
The inmates were irate about prison conditions and the forced vaccination of Nation of Islam prisoners for tuberculosis.
Several inmates and one guard were killed. Rioters caused over $40 million in damages to the facility.
The chaos ended after 10 days, when rioters surrendered.
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2004 - Phil Mickelson wins his first Masters Golf Tournament.
The win at Augusta was his first major championship in nearly 12 years in the PGA.
He would go on to win the PGA championship in 2005 and the Masters again in 2006.
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2020 - Brazil is the first country in the southern hemisphere to report over 1,000 deaths from COVID-19.
There were more than 19,638 reported cases in the country at the time.
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2021 - Daunte Wright, 20, is shot and killed by Minnesota police officer Kim Potter during a traffic stop, when she mistook her gun for her taser.
The shooting would lead to more rioting and Officer Potter being charged with manslaughter.
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BIRTHDAYS
Milly Alcock - actress, “House of the Dragon” - 24
Marcus Johns - actor, “Expelled” - 31
Joss Stone - soul singer - 37
Matt Ryan - actor, “Criminal Minds” - 43
Alessandra Ambrosio - model - 43
Tricia Helfer - actress, “Battlestar Galactica” - 50
Jennifer Espositio - actress, “Crash” & “Spin City” - 51
Dustin Rhodes - wrestler - 55
Steve Azar - country singer - 60
Jeremy Clarkson - TV show host, “Top Gear” - 64
Peter Riegert - actor, “Animal House” - 77
Joel Grey -actor, “Cabaret” - 92
Ethel Kennedy - human-rights advocate & wife of Bobby Kennedy - 96
Born On This Date
Masaru Ibuka - electronics industrialist, Sony Corp - 1908 (d. 1997)
Clara Ford - suffragette & wife of Henry Ford - 1866 (d. 1950)
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