By Christine Coleman
Edited by Elissa D. Hecker
Public Domain Day 2025 is Coming: Here’s What to Know
On January 1, 2025, Public Domain Day, a new crop of creative works from 1929, along with sound recordings from 1924, will enter the public domain in the United States, unlocking countless possibilities for imaginative reinterpretation across genres. Some of the notable works entering the public domain are the comic debuts of Popeye and Buck Rogers, classic works by Faulkner and Hemingway, and landmark sound films from the year when talkies took over.
Entertainment
Labor Board Classifies ‘Love Is Blind’ Contestants as Employees
The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against the hit reality show “Love Is Blind”, in which it classified the show’s contestants as employees, opening a case that could have ripple effects across the reality television industry. The complaint says that the show committed several labor violations, including unlawful contractual terms related to confidentiality and noncompete provisions. By classifying the cast members as employees with certain federal legal protections, the complaint opens the door to possible unionization. It is one of the labor board’s first forays into reality television and a major development in the effort by some onscreen personalities to change the industry through the legal system.
YoungBoy Never Broke Again Is Sentenced to Nearly Two Years in Federal Gun Case
YoungBoy Never Broke Again has been sentenced to nearly two years in prison by a federal judge in Utah for possessing weapons as a felon. The rapper, whose real name is Kentrell D. Gaulden, was sentenced to 23 months in prison on gun charges related to a case in Louisiana. Gaulden, 25, was also sentenced to five years of probation and fined $200,000 for a gun charge in a separate Utah case.
Ed Sheeran Scores Another Legal Win As Appeals Court Rejects Rehearing Push in ‘Thinking Out Loud’ Infringement Battle
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied a request to rehear an appeal of a copyright infringement complaint centering on Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud.” The court just recently handed down the corresponding order, after siding with Ed Sheeran and other defendants, in November.
Jay-Z Sued Lawyer as a ‘Celebrity’ John Doe Before Assault Accusation
Several weeks before Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) was accused in a lawsuit of raping a minor with Sean Combs, he received a letter from a plaintiff’s lawyer, Tony Buzbee, threatening to “immediately file” a “public lawsuit” against him unless he agreed to resolve the matter through mediation for money, his lawyers said. Lawyers for Jay-Z took a different tack: They sued Buzbee, who has filed a cascade of lawsuits accusing Combs of sexual misconduct. In the suit, in which Jay-Z was identified only as “John Doe” and described as a “celebrity and public figure,” the rapper accused Buzbee of attempting to “extort exorbitant sums” from him by making false assault claims
Lights Dim on the Friars Club as Landmark Home Is Sold in Foreclosure
For decades, New York’s Friars Club, the seat of American comedy and legendary roasts, has made its home in a landmark building on Manhattan’s East Side. That era appeared to end with a foreclosure auction in which the club’s townhouse was sold to a creditor for $17.2 million. The sale passed ownership of the Friars Club’s six-story townhouse on East 55th Street to a California loan company. The auction capped the yearslong decline of the storied comedy institution.
France’s First Big #MeToo Case Goes to Trial
Five years ago, French actress Adèle Haenel accused director Christophe Ruggia of grooming and sexually assaulting her when she was 12. The case went to court, marking the first major #MeToo accusations in France to proceed to trial. Ruggia, 59, is charged with aggravated sexual assault against a minor. If he is found guilty, he faces up to 10 years in prison as well as a fine of up to 150,000 euros, about $160,000 USD.
Arts
A Black Art Dealer Lent Paintings to a Museum. His Heirs Want Them Back.
In its founding years in the early 20th century, the Louisiana State Museum borrowed dozens of artworks from Marshall Marcell, a successful African American art dealer in New Orleans, to hang on its almost empty walls. More than a century later, Marcell’s descendants say they want them back. The collection includes 17th-century Italian and Flemish oil paintings, and a sense that the family was cheated out of the collection has been passed down from one generation to the next.
French Court Finds Writer Guilty of Denying Rwandan Genocide
A court in Paris has found writer Charles Onana and his publisher Damien Serieyx guilty of denying the 1994 Rwandan genocide, a first under French law. They were fined nearly $15,000 and ordered to pay more than $11,000 to three human rights group that had sued them. The court found Onana and the publisher guilty for their “public challenge to the existence of a crime against humanity.” In his book, Onana denied there had been a genocide and denied France’s responsibility.
Sports
F.B.I. Looks Into Plot Targeting Athletes as Joe Burrow’s Home Is Burglarized
The F.B.I. is investigating whether a transnational organized crime group may be responsible for a handful of recent burglaries at the homes of professional athletes in the Midwest. Since September, there have been break-ins at the homes of N.B.A. and N.F.L. players in Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ohio, according to local police departments.
Fortnite Players Get Millions in Refunds for Unwanted Purchases
Fortnite players who were charged for unwanted purchases in the game are starting to receive what could be $245 million in refunds from Epic Games for what the federal government called manipulative online practices. Epic Games agreed in December 2022 to a $520 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission that sent a strong signal that federal officials were taking a more assertive stance toward regulating the tech industry. Customers could ultimately receive $245 million for what the agency called Epic’s use of “dark patterns” to trick millions of players into unwanted purchases.
M.L.B. Teams Now Face New Competition for Talent: College Programs Awash With Money
When name, image, and likeness (NIL) first swept across college athletics, baseball was largely an afterthought. Now, for elite talent, the NIL bonanza has in some cases made the college ranks a more lucrative destination than pro baseball.
FIFA Bends Own Rules to Give Saudi Arabia Coveted 2034 World Cup
FIFA, soccer’s governing body, named Saudi Arabia as the host for the men’s World Cup in 2034. Human rights groups objected to the Saudi bid, saying that the country’s human rights record raises risks for the thousands of migrant workers from some of the poorest parts of the world who will likely be brought in to build the infrastructure to stage the tournament. Other critics, including fan groups, said FIFA had rigged the vote for the Saudis by changing the rules for bidding.
Technology/Media
Rupert Murdoch Fails in Bid to Change Family Trust
Nevada commissioner Edmund J. Gorman Jr., ruled resoundingly against Rupert Murdoch’s attempt to change his family’s trust to consolidate his eldest son Lachlan’s control of his media empire and lock in Fox News’s right-wing editorial slant, according to a sealed court document obtained by The New York Times. The commissioner concluded in a decision that the father and son, the latter of whom is the head of Fox News and News Corp., had acted in “bad faith” in their effort to amend the irrevocable trust, which divides control of the company equally among Murdoch’s four oldest children after his death.
Apple Sued for Failing to Curtail Child Sexual Abuse Material on iCloud
Victims of abuse are seeking more than $1.2 billion in damages from Apple, arguing that the company abandoned a 2021 system it developed to find abusive material. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California. It says that Apple’s failures mean it has been selling defective products that harmed a class of customers, namely child sexual abuse victims, because it briefly introduced “a widely touted improved design aimed at protecting children,” but “then failed to implement those designs or take any measures to detect and limit” child sexual abuse material. The suit seeks to change Apple’s practices and compensate a potential group of 2,680 victims who are eligible to be part of the case
TikTok Asks Court to Temporarily Freeze Sale-or-Ban Law
TikTok asked a federal court to temporarily freeze a law that requires its Chinese parent company to sell the app or face a ban in the United States, as it looked to the Supreme Court and the incoming Trump administration to rescue it. The company and a group of its users suffered a blow when judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously denied their petitions to overturn the law. TikTok asked the same court to temporarily block the law until the Supreme Court decided TikTok’s planned appeal of that decision.
‘It’s for Real This Time’: TikTok Creators React to Potential Ban
TikTok creators took to the app to express their shock and dismay after a panel of federal judges unanimously upheld a new law that could lead to the popular Chinese-owned video app being banned in the United States by mid-January. To its more than 170 million users in the United States, TikTok is a source of news, entertainment and income. The outcry on Friday illuminated the gap between Washington politics and the broader American public, as many of TikTok’s users seemed to have only just begun to grasp that the app could be on its last legs in this country.
Judge Rejects Sale of Infowars to The Onion
Judge Christopher M. Lopez in federal bankruptcy court in Houston said that he would not approve the sale of Infowars, the website founded by the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, to the Chicago-based satirical publication The Onion, prolonging a messy tug of war between two high-profile suitors. The ruing poses a roadblock for The Onion’s plan to take possession of the Infowars site and its associated assets, after it won an auction last month. The Onion’s bid was backed by the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting, who in 2022 won a $1.4 billion defamation lawsuit against Mr. Jones.
BuzzFeed Strikes Deal to Sell ‘Hot Ones’ Company for $82.5 Million
BuzzFeed said that it had reached a deal to sell the company behind the popular interview show “Hot Ones” for $82.5 million, easing a cash crunch that has loomed over the media company for months. The buyer is a consortium of investors led by an affiliate of Soros Fund Management that also includes Sean Evans, the affable host of “Hot Ones,” and Chris Schonberger, the founder of First We Feast, the show’s parent company.
Apple Colluded With Music Industry While Pretending to be Neutral in App Dispute, Claims Musi
Music streaming app Musi is still working hard to get itself reinstated on Apple’s App Store, having been kicked out in September following complaints by YouTube and the music industry. In a new filing, Musi says that Apple failed to follow its own process for dealing with app disputes. Musi now wants the court to grant a preliminary injunction against Apple, ordering it to immediately reinstate its app while the legal dispute is decided, during which process Musi hopes to show why its app should be permanently reinstated.
Under Trump, Voice of America Journalists Fear Politicization
President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice of Kari Lake to serve as the director of the federally funded broadcaster Voice of America sent a chill through the ranks of the organization, where journalists expressed anxiety about Lake and what the future could hold. Several of them said they were concerned about this statement in particular: “Under my leadership, the VOA will excel in its mission: chronicling America’s achievements worldwide,” Lake wrote on social media. However, they noted that her statement is not the mission of Voice of America. The organization’s charter says that Voice of America will “be accurate, objective and comprehensive,” and would represent the whole of the country, not one segment of it.
Los Angeles Times Owner Wades Deeper Into Opinion Section
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong’s public comments and actions, including recently blocking an editorial weighing in on Trump’s cabinet picks, have concerned many staff members who fear he is trying to be deferential to the incoming Trump administration. The Los Angeles Times’ owner’s call to have dueling editorials has also confounded many of its seasoned journalists, who know editorials as the institution’s position on issues. Soon-Shiong has become increasingly involved in the editorial decisions of the newspaper and his involvement in the opinion side of the newspaper picked up sharply during this year’s presidential campaign.
OpenAI Fires Back at Elon Musk’s Lawsuit
Earlier this month, Elon Musk asked a federal court to block OpenAI’s efforts to transform itself from a nonprofit into a purely for-profit company. OpenAI responded with its own legal filing, arguing that Musk is merely trying to hamstring OpenAI as he builds a rival company, called xAI.
ABC to Pay $15 Million to Settle a Defamation Suit Brought by Trump
ABC News is set to pay $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump.
The agreement was a significant concession by a major news organization and a rare victory for a media-bashing politician whose previous litigation efforts against news outlets have often ended in defeat. Under the terms of a settlement, ABC News will donate the $15 million to Trump’s future presidential foundation and museum. The network and its star anchor, George Stephanopoulos, also published a statement saying they “regret” remarks made about Trump during a televised interview in March.
General News
Supreme Court Turns Down Cases on Admissions, Gender Identity, and Guns
The Supreme Court turned away cases on admissions policies, gender identity, and gun control, eliciting objections from conservative justices that suggested rifts on the Court about whether and when to address major questions left open by recent decisions. Four conservative justices, in dissents and statements, indicated that the Court should work faster to address questions raised by recent decisions on race-conscious admissions in higher education and the Second Amendment, as well as ones sure to be prompted when a case argued on Wednesday, on gender transition care for minors, is decided next year.
Biden Commutes the Sentences of 1,500 Americans, a Record for One Day
President Biden said that he is commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 and pardoning 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes in a sweeping act of clemency during his final weeks in office. The commutations — the largest number by a president in a single day, the White House said — affect those who had been released from prison and placed in home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic. The pardons went to people convicted of nonviolent crimes, including drug offenses.
Trump Signals an Aggressive Opening, Threatening ‘Jail’ for Cheney and Others
In his first sit-down broadcast network interview since being re-elected on “Meet the Press,” Trump outlined an aggressive plan for opening his second term, vowing to move immediately to crack down on immigration and pardon his most violent supporters, while threatening to lock up political foes like Liz Cheney.
Trump Says He Does Not Have Plans to Replace Fed Chair
Trump said he had no plans to fire the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome H. Powell, addressing an uncertainty that has been hanging over the politically independent central bank. Powell has said that he does not think that the president has the legal authority to remove him and that he would not leave the position if asked.
McKinsey to Pay $650 Million in Opioid Settlement With Justice Department
McKinsey & Company has agreed to pay $650 million to settle a Justice Department investigation of its work with the opioid maker Purdue Pharma. A former senior partner has also agreed to plead guilty to obstruction of justice for destroying internal company records in connection with that work. At the center of the government’s case was the global consulting giant’s recommendation that Purdue Pharma “turbocharge” sales of Purdue’s flagship OxyContin painkiller in the midst of an opioid addiction epidemic that was killing hundreds of thousands of Americans.
Want a Job in the Trump Administration? Be Prepared for the Loyalty Test
Applicants for government posts, including inside the Pentagon and the intelligence agencies, say they have been asked in interviews about their thoughts on Jan. 6 and who they believe won the 2020 election. These questions seem to be designed to assess their loyalty to Trump.
Trump Picks Strident Supporter for Civil Rights Post at Justice Dept.
Trump said that he would nominate Harmeet K. Dhillon, a California lawyer who has long championed Trump in public, in court cases, and on social media, to run the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Dhillon has been a conservative activist so devoted to Trump that she was willing to attack not only Democrats but also fellow Republicans, including her ultimately unsuccessful challenge last year to the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee at the time. In Dhillon, Trump has chosen a lawyer active in the culture wars whose firm specializes in championing the right’s causes.
Trump Tests Ethical Boundaries With Branded Merch. (And All Sales Are Final.)
Trump has been tying the high-profile visuals of his political life to perfumes, watches, sneakers and digital trading cards. Everything around him has become something to monetize, including a moment of comity with Jill Biden, the first lady, at Notre-Dame. Before Trump was first inaugurated, his sons moved to take over the family business, to at least create the perception of separation between a moneymaking enterprise and the highest office in the land. This time, there is no such presumption of distance, only the churn of a conveyor belt spitting out one Trump product after another.
Kennedy’s Lawyer Has Asked the F.D.A. to Revoke Approval of the Polio Vaccine
Aaron Siri, the lawyer helping Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pick federal health officials for the incoming Trump administration, has petitioned the government to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine, which for decades has protected millions of people from a virus that can cause paralysis or death. This campaign is just one front in the war that Siri is waging against vaccines of all kinds.
Enslaved People’s Graves Discovered at Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage
A burial ground for enslaved people has been discovered at Andrew Jackson’s home in Nashville, known as the Hermitage, the Andrew Jackson Foundation announced. The brash and divisive seventh U.S. president was known to have owned, along with his son, 300 enslaved people before the Civil War. While visitors could see the tomb of Andrew Jackson and his wife, Rachel, at the estate, the graves of the people they had enslaved had never before been found.
Private Insurers Must Now Cover Dyslexia Testing in New York
A significant hurdle facing dyslexic children in New York was cleared when Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law that requires private insurers to cover the costs of key diagnostic tests. The bill, the first of its kind passed in the United States, is designed to increase early diagnoses of dyslexia and other learning differences, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or A.D.H.D.
Texas Attorney General Sues New York Doctor for Mailing Abortion Pills
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opened a new front in the contentious battle over access to abortion by suing a New York doctor for sending abortion pills into Texas. It appeared to be among the first attempts to stop the mailing of such medication into states that ban abortion. The lawsuit, filed in state court in Collin County, north of Dallas, pits the laws of Texas, which has a near-total ban on abortion, against those of New York, where lawmakers have taken steps to shield doctors from out-of-state prosecution. Under shield laws, states like New York will refuse to cooperate with attempts by other states to prosecute or sue abortion providers who prescribe and send pills across state lines. Such laws exist in eight states and have allowed doctors there to send more than 10,000 abortion pills per month to women in states with bans.
Air Force Academy Sued Over Race-Based Admissions Policy
Students for Fair Admissions, a prominent anti-affirmative action group, filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court in Colorado challenging racial preferences in admissions at the United States Air Force Academy. The suit came just four days after another challenge, against the Naval Academy, failed its first test in a different federal court. The lawsuits are part of a campaign to extend a Supreme Court ban on race-conscious admissions at civilian universities to military academies.
Judge Pauses Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Against Trump’s Education Secretary Pick
Judge James K. Bredar of the U.S. District Court in Maryland has paused a lawsuit against Linda McMahon, the former World Wrestling Entertainment executive whom Trump chose for education secretary, while another court weighs a recent state law involving such cases. Judge Bredar granted the defendants’ request to stay the case until the Maryland Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of a state law enacted in 2023. That measure erased the statute of limitations for certain civil lawsuits related to child sexual abuse, allowing for more plaintiffs to file such cases. The judge said that the stay was warranted because the state Supreme Court’s decision could determine the outcome of this lawsuit.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/08/us/linda-mcmahon-sexual-abuse-lawsuit.html?searchResultPosition=1
Daniel Penny Is Acquitted in Death of Jordan Neely on Subway
Daniel Penny, a former Marine who choked Jordan Neely, a fellow subway rider on an uptown F train last year, was acquitted on a charge of criminally negligent homicide, ending a case that had come to exemplify New York City’s post-pandemic struggles. The jurors decided that Penny’s actions were not criminal when he held Neely in a chokehold as the two men struggled on the floor of a subway car on May 1, 2023. Neely, who was homeless and had a history of mental illness, had strode through the subway car that afternoon, yelling at passengers and frightening them, according to witnesses.
Suspect Is Charged in C.E.O.’s Murder After Arrest in Pennsylvania
Luigi Mangione was arrested after a tip from a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. The caller said that a customer there looked like the man in photos shared by New York authorities who were searching for a suspect in the brazen killing of Brain Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, in Manhattan last week. Manhattan prosecutors charged Mangione with second-degree murder.
When a Glock Isn’t a Glock: The History of the Pistol Found With Luigi Mangione
At first glance, the gun that authorities believe Luigi Mangione used to kill the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare appears to be a Glock-19. Upon closer inspection, however, it is clear that the weapon was not factory-made, but was at least partially produced by a 3D printer. The Glock logo is absent from the pistol’s grip, where it would ordinarily be imprinted, and the angle of the grip is peculiar. Indentations on the grip, known as stippling, are patterned in such a way that the gun’s “fingerprint” can be directly linked to a unique free-to-download 3D-printed design known as the FMDA 19.2 Chairmanwon Remix.
South Korea’s President Is Impeached After Martial Law Crisis
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law decree lasted only hours, and now he finds himself locked out of power. He was impeached and suspended by the National Assembly after a vote in which a dozen members of his own party turned against him. Lawmakers sought to draw a line under Yoon’s tenure after his declaration threw the country’s democracy into chaos and drew public outrage across the country.
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