By Eric Lanter
Below, for your browsing convenience, the categories are divided into Entertainment, Arts, Sports, Media, and General News
Entertainment
ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. Files SDNY Action Against Coda Publishing, Inc.
This week, ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. filed a suit in the Southern District of New York alleging that Coda Publishing and others infringed copyright in various musical compositions, master recordings, and films by using the works in documentaries featuring The Rolling Stones, Elton John, U2, ABBA, Nirvana, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers in what amounted, according to the Complaint, to "nothing more than a delivery system for intentionally infringed materials."
Weinstein Trial Begins with Judge Not Recusing and New Charges of Rape Are Filed
Harvey Weinstein's last ditch effort to delay his trial in New York has failed: Justice James Burke will not recuse himself on the basis of bias as evidenced by his warning Weinstein that he may face prison for the remainder of his life for violating an order to refrain from phone use in the courtroom. Meanwhile, with the trial getting underway, in Los Angeles, prosecutors have unveiled their case against Weinstein in relation to an alleged rape and threat of murder in 2013.
Sonos Sues Google as Alphabet Legal Officer Steps Down
Sonos has sued Google in two federal courts "seeking financial damages and a ban on the sale of Google's speakers, smartphones, and laptops in the United States" based on Google's alleged infringing on five of Sonos' patents, "including technology that lets wireless speakers connect and synchronize with each other. The alleged incident that caused the infringement occurred in 2013 when Sonos had worked with Google to design Google's music service. During that collaboration, Sonos sent Google effectively its blueprints for its speakers, and while that seemed innocent enough, Sonos' executives now say they were naive in expecting that Google, a technology company, would not take those blueprints and make speakers itself.
Bill Cosby Files New Appeal Citing #MeToo Bias
Bill Cosby's attorneys have now asked Pennsylvania's highest court to hear an appeal of the actor's 2018 sexual assault conviction on the basis that the trial judge erred "on a number of issues, including allowing testimony from five other accusers." A spokesman for Cosby stated that a review of his case was necessary given "the vital important questions about the impact of #MeToo hysteria" on his case.
Hollywood Assistants Are Fed Up and Not Afraid to Say So
Over 100 assistants in Hollywood gathered on a recent Sunday to have a "town-hall-style discussion" about their work horror stories and the low wages that they had received working in the industry. They said that the industry increasingly "works against people who do not have outside financial backing, meaning that low-level jobs tend to go to people who can afford to take them." Many in the group have started the hashtag #PayUpHollywood in an attempt to bring attention to the poor pay that the assistants receive, which is in stark contrast to the executives in the industry.
Oprah Pulls Out of Documentary on Music Mogul Russell Simmons
On Friday, Oprah Winfrey announced that she was cutting ties with a documentary "centered on women who have accused the music mogul Russell Simmons of sexual misconduct." The film was set to have premiered at Sundance Film Festival this month and focuses on an executive, Drew Dixon, who accused Simmons of rape, which Simmons has denied. Winfrey's departure also brings the departure of the distributor of the documentary, Apple TV Plus, which had agreed to put the documentary on its streaming platform.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/11/business/media/oprah-winfrey-documentary-russell-simmons-apple.html
Former Nets Arena Now Home to NBC Drama
The Meadowlands Arena closed in early 2015, but it has since been used by NBCUniversal as a soundstage. The company has invested over $750,000 and has been home to several shows such as the upcoming show, "Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector," and it has been a revitalization of the arena that was vacated when the National Basketball Association team, the Nets, moved to Brooklyn.
Golden Globe Winners Take the Stage
The Golden Globe awards were last week, and Sam Mendes' "1917," a World War I epic, took the honor for best drama with Mendes receiving best director. In his speech, he noted that the film should be viewed on a big screen in a movie theater in a swipe at Netflix, which had 34 nominations, including six for "Marriage Story" and five for Martin Scorsese's "The Irishman."
Peak TV Hits 532 Scripted Shows
The estimated number of scripted television shows in the United States has hit a high: 532 shows. These include comedies, dramas, and limited series "that were broadcast or streamed, according to the research department of the cable network FX, which tabulates and releases the figure every year. The 2019 total is over 50% higher than the number of shows that existed in 2013 (349 shows), and it's a 153% jump over the 210 shows that were on in 2009.
Arts
Musicians' Pension Plan Seeks to Cut Benefits
The American Federation of Musicians and Employers' Pension Funds, the largest pension plan in the United States for musicians, is pursuing a cut to retirement benefits "that have already been earned by thousands of musicians, in an effort to keep the plan from running out of money." The fund has calculated that it faces a shortfall in the billions of dollars in the long term, and its trustees have announced that they will cut benefits that have already been earned by the participants in the plan, stoking those participants' outrage.
Romance Writers Cancels Awards Program Amid Upheaval
The Romance Writers of America is in disarray: its president and executive director have resigned in the wake of a racism dispute relating to a new book in the industry. Writers and agents within the industry had called for the resignations based on the handling of the dispute, and since then, the Romance Writers of America announced that the awards program would be cancelled, given the situation and controversy.
He Left a Museum for Promotion After Women Complained
Joshua Helmer, a former manager at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, had a reputation at the museum for approaching his subordinates in ways that made them uncomfortable, and those employees shared their concerns with managers at the museum as early as the beginning of 2016. He resigned in early 2018, and the employees learned that he had taken the job of director at the Erie Art Museum in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he soon behaved the same way: he texted a college student working at the museum and asked her to come to his house for coffee. She sent a screen shot to the New York Times showing that after she rejected his offer, he told her that "You're the most useless intern we have."
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/arts/design/joshua-helmer-philadelphia-museum-art-erie-art-museum.html
Britain Moves to Regulate Its Art Trade
Britain's "art market participants" are now subject to regulations when they are in transactions "worth more than 10,000 euros." Those regulations include registering with the government's tax agency and identifying the "ultimate beneficial owner" before entering into the transaction. Parliament ratified the legislation in December, and it is expected that European Union countries will enact counterpart laws in the near future.
A Victim's Account Fuels a Reckoning Over Abuse of Children in France
The French writer Gabriel Matzneff has always been open about his engaging in sex with "girls and boys in their early teens or even younger", even writing numerous books about his pursuits and boasting about them on television. Rather than face consequences for his actions, however, he won awards for his writing. Now, France is grappling with its history of being lax "toward sex with minors" as shown through its laws, which do not have statutory rape laws for those who are underage; rather, it is illegal for an adult to have sex with a minor under 15 but "not automatically considered rape."
Sports
Judge Signals Approval of the University of Southern California's $215 Million Settlement With Ex-Gynecologist's Patients
A judge in Los Angeles has approved settlement of a class-action lawsuit against the University of Southern California in the amount of $215 million. The settlement will see over 18,000 women receiving between $2,500 and $250,000 for the sexual misconduct involving hundreds of patients during Dr. George Tyndall's tenure as campus gynecologist.
Olympic Protest Rules: No Kneeling, but Tweets Are Fine
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has published its guidelines for what statements competitors may make at the upcoming 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. It has clarified that competitors are not permitted to kneel, use "politically motivated hand gestures," disrupt medals ceremonies, or use "political messages on signs or armbands." These are the first unambiguous guidelines that have come from the IOC.
Top Jobs in National Football League and Elsewhere Go To White Men
In a league where approximately "three-quarters of the players are black," it is striking that the coaches are overwhelmingly white: when five National Football League (NFL) teams replaced their head coaches, only one, Ron Rivera, was not white. While many owners, such as John Mara, the co-owner of the New York Giants, have said things like a particular white coach "just has a certain presence about him," which some have viewed as encapsulating "the flawed processes and thinking that many of the country's elite institutions, the NFL included, follow when evaluating candidates for top positions."
Media
Google Files Supreme Court Brief in Action Against Oracle
Last week, Google filed its brief with the United States Supreme Court in Google's action against Oracle regarding copyright infringement. The questions that the action raises are "whether copyright protection extends to a software interface" and "whether, as the jury found, petitioner's use of a software interface in the context of creating a new computer program constitutes fair use."
YouTube's Children Privacy Policies Change After Settlement with Regulators
YouTube has announced its new children privacy practices after its parent company Google's settlement with federal investigators. In the agreement with the Federal Trade Commission and New York State's Attorney General, YouTube agreed and has now begun to introduce its changes, which include limiting the collection of personal information about who watches children's videos, not advertising to those viewers based on browsing or online activity, and requiring producers of those videos to clarify whether their videos are made for children.
Facebook Executive Warns Not To Tilt Scales Against Trump as It Vows to Ban "Deepfakes"
With the 2020 presidential election approaching, Facebook has announced that it will ban "deepfakes," or videos that appear to be real but are in fact manufactured with the intent of making the viewer believe that a person has said something he/she/they never did. However, Facebook, in congruence with its hands-off approach to speech issues, announced that it will not ban political ads that contain blatant lies, despite an outcry from activists who have called for some filter to be put into place, given the ease with which disinformation may spread on Facebook.
Major TikTok Security Flaws Found
The smartphone app TikTok has become a favor by teenagers throughout the world with hundreds of millions of users, but Check Point, a cybersecurity company, has announced that it has "serious vulnerabilities that would have allowed hackers to manipulate user data and reveal personal information." The flaw allows for users to receive messages carrying "malicious links" that, when clicked, would allow an attacker to take control of accounts "including uploading videos or gaining access to private videos."
CNN Agrees to Pay $76 Million to Settle Allegations of Labor Law Violations
The National Labor Relations Board announced Friday that CNN has agreed to pay $76 million in back pay "to settle allegations that it violated federal labor law when it replaced hundreds of unionized broadcast technicians more than 15 years ago." The dispute began in 2003 when CNN terminated a contract with a company, Team Video Services, and hired employees to perform the same work "without recognizing or bargaining with the two unions that had represented the Team Video Services employees."
BBC Underpaid Female TV Host, Tribunal Rules
BBC television host Samira Ahmed had received approximately $565 for each episode of "Newswatch" that she hosted; that is compared to the host of another program called "Points of View" hosted by Jeremy Vine, who received approximately $3,850 per episode. A tribunal has ruled that the difference in pay "was striking" and that she would receive back pay in an amount to be decided. She wrote that she was "glad it's been resolved" and that she is "looking forward to continuing to do [her] job" as "[n]o woman wants to have to take action against their own employer."
General News
Tensions Rise and Fall Between the U.S. and Iran
The United States and Iran had a tumultuous week: it began when the United States killed Major General Qassim Suleimani in a drone strike. With the funeral shortly thereafter, Iran's government announced that it would seek revenge against the United States, which has initially taken the form of 16 ballistic missiles launched against at least one base in Iraq containing American soldiers. While Iran's government initially announced that it had resulted in casualties, that has not been corroborated. Since then, it was revealed that one missile struck a Ukrainian passenger plane leaving Tehran's airport, killing all aboard including scores of Canadians. Iranians have taken to the streets protesting their government following the missile strike, and the tensions with the United States have calmed at least temporarily.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Says She No Longer Has Pancreatic Cancer
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has announced that she is cancer-free and has "resumed an active schedule." She disclosed this development during a "wide-ranging interview" on CNN, and it comes after doctors discovered a tumor in July during a routine test.
Senate Prepares for Trial as Bolton Says He Is Willing to Testify
The United States Senate is preparing for the impeachment trial of President Trump. While the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had delayed in sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate in the hope that she may obtain concessions from Senate Republicans in the conducting of the trial, she announced that she would send the articles without any concessions having been obtained from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Thus, the trial will begin with a question as to which witnesses may be called in addition to those heard during the hearings in the House of Representatives, even as John Bolton, the former advisor to President Trump, announced that he would be willing to testify.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/us/politics/impeachment-briefing-a-preview-of-the-senate-trial.html
Pelosi Announces Vote to Limit Trump's War-Making Power Against Iran, and House Passes It
The House of Representatives, "sharply divided," voted on Thursday to "force President Trump to come to Congress for authorization before taking further military action against Iran. The vote comes as a response to President Trump's "ratcheting up of hostilities with Tehran without the explicit approval of the legislative branch." Democrats have vowed to check the President's power following the strike ordered against Major General Qassim Suleimani, Iran's top security commander, which was a "major provocation taken without informing Congress that has had a cascade of consequences."
Russian Hackers and Trolls Grow Stealthier in 2020
As the 2020 presidential election nears, the National Security Agency and its British counterpart have issued a warning that Russian hackers are "growing stealthier" and are planning to make an impact on the result of the election or international events. For example, Russian hackers have been found "boring into the network of an elite Iranian hacking unit and attacking governments and private companies in the Middle East and Britain--hoping Tehran would be blamed for the havoc." Voting officials are now being expected to learn about "bots, ransomware, and other vectors of digital mischief" in preparation for the election.
Trump's Move Against Landmark Environmental Law Caps a Relentless Agenda
The Trump administration announced that it would "roll back clean air and water protections by proposing stark changes to the nation's oldest and most established environmental law that could exempt major infrastructure projects from environmental review." The National Environmental Policy Act is set to be revised to strip away regulations "to the consternation of conservationists" and comes "in the middle of a foreign-policy crisis and on the cusp of an impeachment trial in the Senate."
Defamation Suit Against Trump Survives Motion to Dismiss Stage
Justice Doris Ling-Cohan ruled that the writer E. Jean Carroll's lawsuit against President Trump has survived a motion to dismiss, as Trump had failed to provide any evidence "to support his position beyond his lawyer's statement that 'the President of the United States has resided in the White House for the past three years.'" Additionally, Justice Ling-Cohan ruled that discovery may proceed, denying Trump's request that it be stayed.
Court Rulings Buoy Construction of Border Wall
The Trump administration saw a victory in two federal courts when they ruled that the administration may use $3.6 billion in military construction funds for "construction of the border wall" near the United States' border with Mexico and that a restraining order was being lifted "on a private group allied with President Trump that wants to build its own barriers on private land." The rulings make it more likely that the administration will be able to deliver on its promise to "build 450 miles of border wall by 2021."
Trump Administration Says Obamacare Lawsuit Can Wait Until After Election
When the Trump administration began, one of the clearest objections was the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, colloquially known as Obamacare. When Republican-leaning states tried to throw out Obamacare in a lawsuit, "the administration agreed that a key part of the law was unconstitutional," but defenders of the law have now asked the Supreme Court to resolve the case quickly even though administration lawyers "say they are in no particular hurry", as it would have "major political implications because the results sought by the Republican states and the Trump administration would cause substantial disruptions", including leaving millions more Americans without health insurance.
Inside the Billion-Dollar Battle Over .Org
Ethos Capital, a private equity firm, announced two months ago that it was planning to buy the rights to the .org "cyber neighborhood." The deal "met with a fierce backlash", as critics saw that the "less commercial corner of the internet should not be controlled by a private-driven private equity firm, as a matter of both principle and practice." Now, online petitions and letters of concern have come in "from hundreds of organizations" and "thousands of individuals" calling for the .org domain to remain independent.
American Consumers, Not China, Are Paying for Trump's Tariffs
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's economist Mary Amiti has written in a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper that "US tariffs continue to be almost entirely borne by US firms and consumers" rather than China or its consumers. This writing comes after President Trump has announced his trade war with China and imposed tariffs on trade with China and undermines the President's claim that the United States would be "taxing the hell out of China."
FBI Apologizes to Court for Botching Surveillance
The FBI told the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court that it was "increasing training and oversight for officials who work on national security wiretap applications in response to problems uncovered by a scathing inspector general report last month about botched surveillance targeting a former Trump campaign advisor." The FBI also announced that it would overhaul its requests, which consist of collecting logs of communications, business records, and wiretaps.
FBI Asks Apple to Help Unlock Two iPhones
The battle between Apple and the FBI continues: on Tuesday, the FBI announced that it asked Apple for the data on two iPhones owned by the "gunman in the shooting last month at a naval base in Pensacola, Florida, possibly setting up another showdown over law enforcement's access to smartphones." The FBI has received a search warrant for the data and is asking Apple to assist in executing the search warrant, which would require unlocking and unencrypting the data in the iPhones.
Puerto Ricans Ask After Earthquake: Are We Safe?
An earthquake and several dozen aftershocks have rocked Puerto Rico and left two-thirds "of the island's 3.2 million people" without power. The Trump administration approved the territory's "request for a federal disaster declaration, which will release some funding for things like debris removal and financial assistance for people who lost their homes," but many people remain fearful that "what remained of their homes might be unsafe."
Democrats in Virginia Race to Make New Laws
In the next 60 days, Democrats in Virginia hope to ban assault-style rifles, "get rid of statues honoring Confederate leaders in dozens of Virginia cities," and "give undocumented people licenses to drive." Legislators across the country are returning to their state capitals this month, but in Virginia, Democrats now hold both legislative chambers and intend to pass a wave of legislation and "shift the state's course as quickly as possible."
Texas Governor Shuts State to Refugees, Using New Power Granted by Trump
Governor Greg Abbott of Texas has informed the United States Department of State that the State of Texas will not accept any refugees in 2020. He has completed Texas' change into a state that "has traditionally been one of the most welcoming into the first to reject refugees," and it comes after the Trump administration, through an executive order, began permitting states to turn away refugees. In Governor Abbott's case, he "cited the surge in migrants crossing the southwestern border last year" as the reason for refusing refugees.
White Prosecutor Asks to Recuse Himself From Curtis Flowers Case
Doug Evans, a district attorney in Mississippi, has prosecuted the case against Curtis Flowers, a black man who has faced trial six times for a 1996 quadruple murder. Each trial resulted in a mistrial or conviction reversed on appeal, and he is facing trial for a seventh time, but Evans has announced that he will recuse himself from the case and hand the prosecution of the case to Mississippi's attorney general because Evans has concluded that his "continued involvement will prevent the families from obtaining justice and from the defendant being held responsible for his actions."
Solidarity March Against Anti-Semitism Brings Thousands to Rally After Attacks
Tens of thousands of marchers came into Lower Manhattan last week in a "show of solidarity for New York's Jewish community in the wake of a spate of anti-Semitic attacks in the region in the last month." The violence in the past month have "shaken the Jewish community" as it fits into a broader rise of hate crimes in the United States, and the gathering on Sunday brought numerous politicians, including Senator Chuck Schumer, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Charged With Prostitution, She Went to a Special Court
Women charged with prostitution have filled Judge Toko Serita's courtroom in Queens County Criminal Court nearly every Friday morning, and it is due to New York State having created 12 Human Trafficking Intervention Courts, which criminal justice professionals have "hailed it as an innovation." They have received criticism for not living up to expectations, but the courts send people "into counseling sessions to help them leave the multibillion-dollar sex trade while dismissing their charges and sealing their records."
Boeing Employees Mocked FAA and Designers of 737 Max
In over 100 pages of documents given to congressional investigators, it was revealed that Boeing employees "mocked federal rules, talked about deceiving regulators, and joked about potential flaws in the 737 Max as it was being developed." The communications are the "latest embarrassing episode for Boeing in a crisis that has cost the company billions of dollars and wreaked havoc on the aviation industry across the globe" which began after two 737 Max planes crashed due to a software flaw.
Army Denies Pardoned Soldier's Request to Restore Him to Special Forces
A potential clash looms between senior Army leaders and President Trump as the Army has rejected a request from a pardoned Army major charged with murder to be restored to the Green Berets. The soldier, Mathew Golsteyn, plans, according to his attorney Phillip Stackhouse, to appeal directly to the White House for intervention as President Trump had granted him clemency and thus saved Golsteyn having to go to trial for charges of murder for his involvement in the murder of an Afghan man.
Jeffrey Epstein Gave $850,000 to MIT, and Administrators Knew
The law firm Goodwin Procter has released a 61-page report detailing the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's interactions with Jeffrey Epstein, which included gifts totaling $850,000, about which top administrators knew and which merited the university's president a "thank-you note." Investigators, however, "absolved MIT's leadership of breaking any rules."
Millions of Australians Are Choking on Smoke From Wildfires That Have Devastated Wildlife Populations
With 2019 coming in at the second hottest year on record, Australia faced wildfires that have ravaged New South Wales and the surrounding area. The fires have led to several dozen human deaths, and it is expected that there have been millions upon millions of wildlife lost in Australia as a result. It is expected that the fires may flare up again in the near future potentially destroying even more homes and lives.
UK Lawmakers Give Brexit Bill the Green Light
British lawmakers in the House of Commons have voted in favor of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's legislation to take the country out of the European Union at the end of January. The bill now goes to the House of Lords, which is the country's "unelected second chamber," but the vote in the House of Commons lacked the "suspense that surrounded many previous votes."
Prince Harry and Meghan to 'Step Back' From Royal Duties
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have announced this week that they are "stepping back from their royal duties and spending extensive time in North America." Many minority residents of Britain applauded the decision, as they viewed the leaving as an escape from the abuse that the British press has brought on them, but it is unclear what the royal family will do in this situation. There are rumors that Prince Charles may deprive Prince Harry and Meghan of family money, but it is expected that this week will bring a meeting of the royal family where some of these issues may be resolved.
Taiwan Re-elects President in Rebuke to Beijing
In a blow to the rise of China's authoritarianism, Taiwan has re-elected President Tsai Ing-wen, who has "vowed to preserve the island's sovereignty in the face of Beijing's intensifying efforts to bring it under its control." The vote also comes after months of protests in Hong Kong "against Beijing's encroachment on the semiautonomous Chinese territory's freedoms." The Communist Party in China has found it to be a priority to "influence attitudes toward the mainland in other regions the party deems critical to its interests," but this result thwarts that effort.
In Poland, a Stubborn Defender of Judicial Independence
Polish judge Igor Tuleya has "faced threats, fake anthrax attacks, and denunciations in the right-wing news media as he fights the government's campaign to control the courts," and he has been labeled "an enemy of the state." Polish judges are finding themselves to be vilified in a climate where the government has undertaken a "campaign to tighten control over the judiciary," which has led over 20 judges to report "political harassment, while hundreds of judges and lawyers currently face threats of disciplinary proceedings widely regarded as politically motivated."
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