By Donyale Reavis Edited by Elissa D. Hecker
Below, for your browsing convenience, the categories are divided into: Entertainment, Arts, Sports, Technology/Media, and General News:
Entertainment
A Complaint Filed Concerning Music Used in the Olympics Without Consent
A Complaint was filed in California by the creators and owners of the recording "House of the Rising Sun" against skaters Alexa Knierim and and Brandon Frazier, U.S. Figure Skating, Comcast, NBC Universal, Peacock, and USA Network, alleging that the skaters had used the work without permission in their pairs short program routine at the Beijing Winter Olympics, which the media defendants broadcast and rebroadcast without the plaintiffs' consent. Usually, the artist royalties from NBC's public performance licenses cover the broadcast and delayed broadcasts of figure skating, without the need for additional synchronization license, as the Olympics are live. Discussion among lawyers include the fact that if it is other than a delayed broadcast, then it may not be covered. After the Complaint was filed, NBC removed posts promoting the performance. https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/zjvqkarexvx/IP%20OLYMPICS%20COPYRIGHT%20complaint.pdf
Family of Slain Cinematographer Sues Alec Baldwin and 'Rust' Producers
The suit charges that Baldwin "recklessly shot and killed Halyna Hutchins on the set" and that the production's "aggressive cost-cutting" had endangered the crew.
https://nyti.ms/3s8qrrA
Coachella Plans to Return Without Requiring Masks or Vaccines
https://nyti.ms/3h2Ndeg
First Arabic Film by Netflix Stirs Fierce Morality Debate
Critics argued that the remake of the Italian film "Perfect Strangers" flouted moral standards by projecting Western norms out of sync with the largely religious public across much of the Arab world.
https://nyti.ms/3LMWTrp
'Friends' in China: The One Where Ross's Ex-Wife Isn't Gay
The popular sitcom has become the latest target of China's censorship campaign. The awkward cuts have not been missed by fans of the show in the country.
https://nyti.ms/3p4okDp
Arts
Gregory Peck's Daughter and Others Keep 'Mockingbird' Sequel Rights
In a settlement agreement, the Estate of Harper Lee, who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, renewed the movie sequel and remake rights of Cecilia Peck and other successors and heirs to the makers of the original 1962 film.
https://nyti.ms/3uZUBiF
After Pak and Beeple, What's Next for NFT Collectors? Art Made With a Paintbrush
Now crypto collectors are investing in something more tangible, and traditional, like paintings and sculpture. Art dealers are rushing to woo them.
https://nyti.ms/3H6Kawbx
Publishing Chief Executive Donates $500,000 to Fight Book Bans
Markus Dohle, the Chief Executive Officer of Penguin Random House, said the effort "ties into the future of our democracy."
https://nyti.ms/36m5X69
That Organic Cotton T-Shirt May Not Be as Organic as You Think
The organic cotton movement in India appears to be booming, but much of this growth is fake, say those who source, process, and grow the cotton. This has a wide reach across the fashion industry as some brands, such as Eileen Fisher, have pulled away from sources that are not producing what they claim is organic.
https://nyti.ms/3BAI6eu
New York Artists in Need Can Apply for $1,000 a Month
A $125 million program offering guaranteed income to 2,400 artists across New York State who can demonstrate financial need is now accepting applications.
https://nyti.ms/3sPE2TS Sports
NCAA Ruling Clears Path for Transgender Swimmer Lia Thomas to Compete at Nationals
The path for transgender swimmer Lia Thomas to compete in the NCAA championships next month seems to be clear after the NCAA announced that it would not adopt a new USA Swimming policy for the winter championships.
https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/ncaa-ruling-clears-path-transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas/story?id=82807102
https://nyti.ms/3H8ivuA
Steelers Hire Brian Flores as an Assistant Amid His National Football League Lawsuit
The former Dolphins head coach, who has accused the league and its 32 teams of discriminatory hiring practices against Black coaches, will join the Steelers as a senior defensive assistant linebackers coach.
https://nyti.ms/3sXf0SK
After Matt Harvey and Three Others Link Angels Employee to Opioids, Ex-Angels Employee Eric Kay Found Guilty in Overdose Death of Pitcher Tyler Skaggs
Harvey and three former teammates said that they received pills from Eric Kay, the former Angels communications director accused of supplying the drugs that killed Tyler Skaggs. Kay was then found guilty.
https://nyti.ms/3JFUtcc
https://bit.ly/3sRfr16
Winter Olympics
Failed Test Casts Shadow Over Skating, the Olympics' Showcase Event
Unexplained delays related to a Russian skater's positive test were an embarrassing failure of the systems designed to keep doping out of the Olympics. Arbitrators cleared Kamila Valieva to continue competing in the Beijing Olympics despite failing a doping test, but officials said they would withhold medals until her case was resolved. Therefore, the American figure skating team was offered torches, and not Silver Medals, amid the drama.
https://bit.ly/3LKAHy1
https://nyti.ms/3oYmmEo
https://nyti.ms/3H7L37y
'Chilling'
The I.O.C. president criticized 15-year-old skater Valieva's treatment by her coaches.
https://nyti.ms/3BzbKRm
For China, Hosting the Olympics Is Worth Every Billion
For many cities, the Games make no economic sense. National pride and an enthusiasm for building transportation infrastructure changed the equation for Beijing.
https://nyti.ms/3Hfkwpa
Competing in the Winter Games, Without a Snowball's Chance
Several skiers representing countries with little snow mae their Olympic debut in Beijing, partly because of a diversity initiative that has generated controversy.
https://nyti.ms/3H1zRJD
The Olympians Caught Up in the U.S.-China Rivalry
American athletes of Chinese descent at the Games are targets of patriotic and even nationalistic sentiment from both countries: sometimes adoring, sometimes hostile.
https://nyti.ms/35cJhVu Technology/Media
The U.S. Adds WeChat and AliExpress to a List of Notorious Piracy Markets
The Biden administration added several major Chinese businesses to a list of counterfeiters, but removed any mention of Amazon's foreign operations.
https://nyti.ms/3M0KjoC
Effort to Weaken Press Protections Isn't Likely to End With Palin Case
Lawyers sympathetic to revisiting libel law say that several cases in the courts could be used to re-examine longstanding Supreme Court precedent.
https://nyti.ms/3p5CHXY
Jurors in the Sarah Palin trial Said They Knew of the Judge's Decision to Dismiss Before Their Verdict
The judge said several jurors acknowledged knowing about his decision, but said that it had not "played any role whatever in their deliberations."
https://nyti.ms/3t0hPlU
Texas Sues Facebook's Parent, Saying That It Collected Facial Recognition Data Without Consent
The state's attorney general said the company repeatedly captured and commercialized biometric data in photos and videos for more than a decade without users' permission.
https://nyti.ms/35b1W42
Who Is Behind QAnon? Linguistic Detectives Find Fingerprints
Using machine learning, separate teams of computer scientists identified the same two men as likely authors of messages that fueled the viral movement.
https://nyti.ms/3I9DkHE
'Alt-Right Armory' Podcaster Faces Charges of Possessing Machine Guns
The podcaster, Joseph Paul Berger, and his father, Joseph Raymond Berger, had 13 fully automatic machine guns and 12 gun silencers that were illegally imported into the United States, officials said.
https://nyti.ms/3GYJQzu
Spotify Bet Big on Joe Rogan. It Got More Than It Counted On.
The deal that brought his podcast to Spotify is said to be worth over $200 million, more than was previously known. Accusations that he spreads misinformation have roiled the company.
https://nyti.ms/3s5dH56
Allison Gollust, CNN Executive in Affair with Zucker, Resigns After Probe Finds 'Issues Associated' With Cuomo Brothers
Allison Gollust, the CNN executive in a relationship with former network head Jeff Zucker, has resigned after an investigation found that the duo - along with Chris Cuomo - violated company policies.
https://bit.ly/3v0VgAo
Google's Android Privacy Changes Are Anything but Clear
Google plans to change privacy protocols on its Android smartphone operating system. The updates will arrive no earlier than 2024, and advertisers will probably lose some power to track and microtarget users with ads within apps.
https://bit.ly/3h26MDl
Why Lauren Smith-Fields's Friends Turned to TikTok To Find Her
Ignored by the media and pushed aside by the police, families and supporters of Black women are building their own missing persons operations online.
https://nyti.ms/3p4s2wA
Televisa Univision Unveils Plans for Streaming Service in Spanish. It's called ViX
A free ad-supported tier will start on March 31st and a premium subscription service will follow later this year.
https://nyti.ms/3JHHEhp
Goodbye Viacom and CBS
ViacomCBS changed its corporate name to Paramount.
https://bit.ly/3hkhAwZ
The Right's Would-Be Kingmaker
Peter Thiel, one of Donald J. Trump's biggest donors, has re-emerged as a prime financier of the Make America Great Again movement.
https://nyti.ms/3v2HltH
Zimbabwe Abruptly Closes Prosecution of Reporter for New York Times
Prosecutors ended their case against Jeffrey Moyo without calling key witnesses, prompting a move to dismiss a case that even government lawyers had called "shaky."
https://nyti.ms/3s5oEDM
Bots and Fake Accounts Push China's Vision of Winter Olympic Wonderland
The country's propagandists have used a variety of tools online to promote a vision of the Games that is free of rancor or controversy.
https://nyti.ms/3I59kfO
Brazil's Joe Rogan Faces His Own Firestorm Over Free Speech
Bruno Aiub became one of Brazil's biggest podcasters with irreverent interviews of newsmakers. Now remarks about Nazis plunged him into a controversy akin to his idol's.
https://nyti.ms/3sUlf9X
General News
Judge Rules That Trump and His Children Must Comply With New York Attorney General's Subpoena for Testimony
https://bit.ly/3h3t08a
Some Trump Records Taken to Mar-a-Lago Were Clearly Marked as Classified, Including Documents at 'Top Secret' Level
The existence of documents officially labeled as classified in the trove -- which had not previously been reported -- raises new questions about why the materials were taken out of the White House.
https://wapo.st/3gXsXdY
Divorcing Couples Fight Over the Kids, the House and Now the Crypto
Dividing the family's Bitcoin stash has become a major source of contention in divorce cases.
https://nyti.ms/33AdbT6