Today is Tuesday, July 2, 2024.
It is the 184th day of the year.
182 days remain.
WHAT’S ON TAP
The Supreme Court’s ruling shakes up the lawsuits against DONALD TRUMP. Details in HIT LIST.
It’s a heavy music news day in SHOWBIZ.
One of RAY LIOTTA’s final films will hit theaters this Labor Day. Details in CASTING CALL.
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HIT LIST
The beaches of Cornwall are full of treasures, ranging from seashells and marine life to pieces of aquatic-themed Legos.
Pieces from the building sets have been found washed up on shore ever since 1997, when a cargo ship called the Tokio Express, was hit by a rogue wave that knocked several containers into the sea. One of those enormous containers was filled with about 5 million individual Lego pieces, enroute from Denmark to North America.
Ironically, the sets were to construct Lego Pirates and Lego Aquazones, so many of the pieces feature aquatic creatures, boats, sailing gear, pirate garb and more.
With an increase in fascination over the finds, one resident created a Facebook group called “Lego Lost At Sea” for others to post their Lego treasures. [via Marine Insight]
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A Supreme Court ruling on Monday softened the ground for former President DONALD TRUMP to delay the Special Counsel’s investigation of his alleged election interference charges past Election Day.
The Court clarified that any actions Trump took in his official capacity as president are protected from criminal prosecution.
BUT WAIT: No one is off the hook yet. The judge overseeing the case will have to rule whether the Special Counsel charged Trump for actions taken in an official or private capacity. Those filings, motions, and processes will take at least a few weeks, if not months, as will any ensuing appeals of the judge’s final decision. [via Morning Martini]
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North Korea’s state media reported Monday the successful test of a tactical ballistic missile able to carry a 4.5-ton warhead.
On Sunday, the South reported that the North had launched two missiles, one that appeared to have exploded in flight over land, a detail the North conveniently left out of its announcement.
Up next, the North says they’ll conduct a similar test later this month to test the heavy warhead’s “explosion power.” [via Reuters]
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DEATHS
Actor and model RENUALD WHITE has died.
He passed away last week while in hospice care in Manhattan. No cause of death was shared.
In addition to modeling for some of the biggest designers over the years, White also appeared in several episodes of “Guiding Light.”
He was 80.
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BY THE NUMBERS
📈 The DOW gained 50 points (0.13%) to close at 39,169 on Monday. The S&P increased 14 points (0.27%) to close at 5,475 and the NASDAQ increased 146 points (0.83%) to close at 17,879.
🛢 WEST TEXAS INTERMEDIATE closed at $83; BRENT CRUDE at $84.
⛽ The national average price of a GALLON OF GAS was $3.49 on Monday.
₿ BITCOIN ticked up slightly Monday, trading around $63,000.
🛩 There were more than 4,475 FLIGHTS delayed within, into, or out of the United States on Monday and more than 485 such cancellations.
💰Tonight’s MEGA MILLIONS drawing will be for a $137 million jackpot or a $64.5 million cash payout.
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SHOWBIZ NEWS
There’s no knocking T-Swift down.
For the 10th consecutive week, TAYLOR SWIFT’s “The Tortured Poets Department” sits at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
It is now her third album to hit the milestone, joining “1989” and “Fearless,” which each spent 11 weeks on top. [via Billboard]
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Moments In Time is selling an autographed copy of lyrics to DON MCLEAN’s 1971 hit “American Pie” for $154,000.
The original lyrics sold at auction in 2015 for $1.2 million. [via TMZ]
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THE FUGEES are reuniting.
WYCLEF JEAN and PRAS will join bandmate-turned-solo artist LAURYN HILL on her tour, celebrating the 25th anniversary of her album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.”
The reunion is their first since the group split in 1997. [via Daily Beast]
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CASTING CALL
One of RAY LIOTTA’s final films is set to hit theaters Labor Day weekend.
“1992” stars Liotta and SCOTT EASTWOOD as a father-son duo who plot a dangerous heist to steal catalytic converters. TYRESE GIBSON also stars, playing a guy named Mercer, who is trying to rebuild his life during the uprising following the Rodney King verdict. He also works at the factory that Liotta and Eastwood’s characters plan to steal from, leading to a collision course none of the men saw coming.
SNOOP DOGG serves as an executive producer on the flick.
WORTH REMEMBERING: Liotta passed away in May 2022 from heart and respiratory issues. He was 67. [via Deadline]
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SHERRI PAPINI, the woman who faked her own kidnapping in 2016, is ready to speak out about what happened.
The not-yet-titled docuseries will feature “unprecedented access to archival footage, legal documents and court filings as well as extensive interviews with those close to Papini and the investigation,” according to Investigation Discovery.
Papini will also share her own thoughts and experiences since being convicted of two felony charges, including lying to a federal officer and mail fraud.
RECAP: Papini went missing from her Redding, California home in 2016. Twenty-two days later she was found alive, claiming to have been abducted by two hispanic women. Her story slowly fell apart, leading to her 2022 arrest.
TODAY: Papini’s husband, Keith Papini, divorced her and has sole custody of their two children. She gets to see them once a month in supervised visits. [via People]
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ERIC DANE opened up about his exit from “Grey’s Anatomy” on DAX SHEPARD’s “Armchair Expert” podcast.
After playing Dr. Mark Sloan aka McSteamy for six seasons, Dane says he was (for all intents and purposes) “let go.”
“It wasn’t ceremoniously like, ‘You’re fired,’ it was just like, ‘You’re not coming back,” he explained. [via Page Six]
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DAY OF THE YEAR
National I Forgot Day
National Report Military Fraud Day
National Anisette Day
Made in the USA Day
Special Recreation for the Disabled Day
National Synthesia Awareness Day
National Wildland Firefighter Day
World UFO Day
World Tutor’s Day
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ON THIS DATE
1776 - The Second Continental Congress adopts a resolution declaring independence for the colonies from Great Britain.
New York was the only abstention -- otherwise the vote was unanimous.
Independence had been a major point of discussion for the previous month, though many of the colonies were not yet sold. In the meantime, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman drafted a formal document that asserted the colonies’ independence from Britain.
Two days later, a slightly revised text was ratified.
The signing of the famous document on display at the National Archives would be signed by most delegates on August 2.
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1863 - After the first shots and skirmishes at the Battle of Gettysburg, both the Union and Confederate armies are fully assembled and ready to fight.
Union troops formed a large, circular line in an attempt to surround General Lee’s men.
At the Battle of Little Round Top, the Union troops held a crucial geographic position that would help them defeat the Confederates the next day. Historians agree maintaining this position was essential to winning the entire Battle of Gettysburg.
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1881 - President James Garfield is shot.
He was walking unaccompanied into a railroad station waiting room in Washington D.C.
The assassin was Charles Guiteau, who managed to shoot the president in the arm and in the back.
Garfield was mortally wounded, and suffered for 80 days. In the meantime, Vice President Chester Arthur executed presidential duties, but did not take the oath until Garfield actually died.
Guiteau was convicted and hanged.
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1937 - Amelia Earhart and Frederick Noonan lose contact with a US Coast Guard ship that had been tracking their progress.
The last message received was that the pilots were lost and running low on fuel.
They were flying across the Pacific Ocean, between New Guinea and Howland Island on a trip that was to take them around the world.
They were never found. In 2013, photographic evidence suggested she landed her plane on a flat reef, some 350 miles south of their destination. Man-made wreckage had been spotted on and around the island. A skeleton was found there in 1940.
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1964 - President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act.
The legislation followed years of protests and demonstrations against racial, religious and gender inequality -- the law itself outlaws discrimination or segregation on any of those grounds.
The primary impetus for the bill came when President Kennedy called for comprehensive legislation in a civil rights speech the year before. As his Vice President, Johnson sat on the president’s Equal Employment Opportunities commission, which played a role in developing the law.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was present at the signing ceremony, and received one of the 75 pens that were used to sign the bill into law.
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2018 - Divers discover 12 boys and their coach alive in a cave in Thailand.
The group had been trapped for nine days after monsoon flooding.
They would all be safely out of the cave by July 10.
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BIRTHDAYS
Derrick White - basketball player - 30
Saweetie - rapper - 31
Burna Boy - world music singer - 33
Margot Robbie - actress, “Barbie” & “I, Tonya” - 34
Alex Morgan - Olympic soccer player - 35
Lindsay Lohan - actress, “The Parent Trap” & “Mean Girls” - 38
Ashley Tisdale - actress, “High School Musical” films - 39
Joe Thornton - hockey player - 45
Elizabeth Reaser - actress, “Grey’s Anatomy” & “Twilight” - 49
Jose Canseco - baseball player - 60
Bret Hart - wrestler - 67
Larry David - producer & actor - 77
Richard Petty - race car driver - 87
Born On This Date
Jenni Rivera - world music singer - 1969 (d. 2012)
Thurgood Marshall - Supreme Court justice - 1908 (d. 1993)
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