By Donyale Reavis Edited by Elissa D. Hecker
Below, for your browsing convenience, the categories are divided into: Entertainment, Arts, Sports, and Technology/Media:
Entertainment
Gun Handed to Alec Baldwin Was Not Thoroughly Checked, Affidavit Says and 'Rust' Armorer Has 'No Idea' How Live Rounds Got on Set, Lawyers Say, and Criminal Charges Are Possible
Lawyers for Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on the set of the film where Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer last week as he rehearsed with a gun he was told had no live ammunition, issued a statement defending her adherence to safety protocols and saying that she did not know how live rounds wound up on the set. The bullet that killed the cinematographer was recovered and investigators believed that there were more live rounds on the set. Furthermore, the Santa Fe County district attorney said that she was not ruling out criminal charges.
https://nyti.ms/2Zp3rbX
https://nyti.ms/3vYoTAG
https://nyti.ms/2ZHbT6N
Rapper Fetty Wap and 5 Co-Defendants Arrested on Federal Drug Charges at Citi Field
The rapper Fetty Wap pleaded not guilty to federal drug charges, a day after he was arrested by FBI agents at Citi Field, where he was scheduled to perform at the Rolling Loud music festival. The artist, whose legal name is Willie Junior Maxwell II, was arraigned at a federal court in Central Islip, N.Y. He and five co-defendants, including a former New Jersey corrections officer, were charged with one count of conspiring to distribute and possess controlled substances.
https://nyti.ms/3ms7htL
Dave Chappelle Responds to Netflix Controversy With a Video Clip From His Concert
Dave Chappelle responded to the controversy over his Netflix standup special "The Closer", which has been criticized as promoting bigotry toward transgender people, by posting a five-minute video clip to Instagram in which he denied that he had been invited to speak to transgender employees of the streaming service and refused.
https://nyti.ms/3GCCFhl
Netflix Eyes New Jersey Army Base for Major Production Hub
The streaming service said it would bid for a nearly 300-acre chunk of Fort Monmouth and it has the support of Gov. Phil Murphy.
https://nyti.ms/3bkZPdM
'Different Way of Fighting'
Lyrics Are the Weapons of All-Women Roma Band. Many Roma women face pressures to marry young and take on traditional gender roles. Pretty Loud, a hip-hop group from Serbia, wants girls to decide for themselves.
https://nyti.ms/3bo4dbU Arts
G.O.P. Attack Involving Toni Morrison Novel Inflames Virginia Contest
A Republican ad featured a mother who had tried to have Beloved banned from her son's curriculum. Democrats saw a coded racist message.
https://nyti.ms/3GvlwWV
Remove a Confederate Statue? A Tennessee City Did This Instead
Some residents want the monument removed. In the meantime, Franklin, Tenn., erected a statue of a U.S. Colored Troops soldier, broadening the way the community memorializes the Civil War.
https://nyti.ms/3ExgKq8
Newly Unearthed Work by a Revered and Reviled Novelist Causes a Stir in France
A legal battle is raging over manuscripts written by the antisemitic writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline that disappeared almost eight decades ago.
https://nyti.ms/3Gxuove
More Than 200 Looted Objects Connected to Dealer Subhash Kapoor Sent Back to India by U.S.
The Manhattan District Attorney's office said that it had returned 248 objects to India. These items, collectively valued at $15 million, were uncovered after a decade of five different criminal investigations. Of the 248 items, 235 had been brought in to the country by former antiquities dealer Subhash Kapoor.
https://bit.ly/3GzIWdD
Looted Treasures Begin a Long Journey Home From France
The return to Benin of 26 ransacked objects will be the first large-scale act of restitution to Africa by a former European colonial power. More than a century after French colonial troops ransacked a West African royal palace and took its treasures, President Emmanuel Macron of France began the formal transfer of 26 of those artifacts to Benin.
https://nyti.ms/3Ez3EIH
Citizen Activists Lead the Hunt for Antiquities Looted From Nepal
In just the past year, volunteers working for the Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign have played a role in the return of seven artifacts.
https://nyti.ms/3nIaIMD
OnlyFans May Be a Refuge for Nude Fine Art
The Vienna Tourist Board has joined the adults-only site to display artworks that other social platforms have censored. However, its account will not feature after-hours photos of employees. Instead, the Board will use the adults-only site to show images of paintings and sculptures displayed in the Austrian capital that have been blocked by social media sites for nudity or sexual content.
https://nyti.ms/3vZNsxe
Sports
Court Upholds Settlement in Women's Sports Case at Brown University
A federal appeals court upheld a settlement between Brown University and student-athletes who had challenged the Ivy League school's decision to drop several women's varsity sports.
http://hrld.us/3BwXM0G
Texas' New Law Restricts Transgender Athletes' Participation on School Sports Teams
It requires public school students compete in interscholastic athlete competitions based solely on their assigned sex at birth, and takes effect on Jan. 18. The law says that K-12 students who participate in interscholastic competition can only play on teams in accordance with the sex listed on their official birth certificate -- which is defined as the one issued at or near the time of their birth and may not correspond with their gender identity.
https://n.pr/3BvIdq0
Blackhawks Ignored 2010 Sexual Assault Accusation, an Investigation Says
An independent investigation commissioned by the NHL club revealed that the team failed to act promptly after a player accused a video coach of sexual assault, in part because club executives were concerned about winning the Stanley Cup.
https://nyti.ms/3nzYPbj
With Accusations of Abuse, Blackhawks's Kyle Beach Forces National Hockey League to Confront Its Failings
The cultural problems of hockey seem to have met a moment that makes them impossible to ignore, and when consequences -- however belatedly -- are finally being meted out.
https://nyti.ms/3CuPw2x
https://bit.ly/3CAr9AI
After a Year of 'Rampant' Cheating, Elite Bridge Tries to Clean Up
As the pandemic forced most players online, the problem of cheating consumed the game's highest levels. Top players say that a tight-lipped culture is finally changing.
https://nyti.ms/3EtItIj
Major League Baseball Equivocates Over Atlanta Native Chop as Racist Caricatures Endure
Asked about the Atlanta team's longstanding use of a faux war chant, Rob Manfred claimed that Native Americans in the area are "wholly supportive" of it. That's not what one New York Times columnist found.
https://nyti.ms/3brYJNu
Former Washington Football Staff Members Demand Investigation's Findings
Two women formerly employed by the team interrupted a meeting of the National Football League's (NFL) team owners to ask the NFL to release the full findings of an inquiry into sexual harassment and workplace misconduct.
https://nyti.ms/3jGvwmk
Attorneys for Ex-Washington Football Team Employees
Lisa Banks and Debra Katz, the attorneys representing 40 former Washington Football Team (WFT) employees who participated in the investigation, rejected NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's position on releasing the WFT probe findings, saying that he "misrepresented the wishes of our clients."
https://bit.ly/3EoWirs
Technology/Media
The U.S. Copyright Office Just Struck a Blow Supporting the Right to Repair
The U.S. Copyright Office is expanding a legal shield for fixing digital devices, including cars and medical devices. It submitted new exemptions to Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which bars breaking software copy protection. The resulting rules include a revamped section on device repair, reflecting renewed government pressure around "right to repair" issues.
https://bit.ly/3CrZ7XV
TikTok, Snap, and YouTube Defend How They Protect Children Online in Congressional Hearing
Executives from all three companies committed to sharing internal research on how their products affect children -- an issue that has come to the forefront in the past several weeks as tens of thousands of pages of Facebook's internal documents have been revealed by a whistleblower.
https://wapo.st/3pMUgNO
Anonymity No More? Age Checks Come to the Web
To protect children online, more companies and governments are forcing users to prove how old they are.
https://nyti.ms/3nBGScC
Facebook, Show Us the Mess
This op-ed piece questions whether the public and Facebook would benefit if glimpses into internal operations were not so rare. Facebook and other internet powers could help us understand the world by showing us a little more of the messy reality of running virtual hangouts for billions of humans.
https://nyti.ms/3mnIJ5q
The Case Against Mark Zuckerberg
Insiders say that Facebook's CEO chose growth over safety. The SEC has been asked to probe whether his iron-fisted management style, described in newly released documents and by insiders, led to disastrous outcomes.
https://wapo.st/3GN8jcj
Inside the Big Facebook Leak
In a time of mega-leaks, journalists' sources have become power players. Frances Haugen, the former Facebook product manager who shared company documents, led a meticulous media rollout.
https://nyti.ms/3CxJ1vV
Facebook Tells Employees to Preserve All Communications for Legal Reasons
Facebook has told employees to "preserve internal documents and communications since 2016" that pertain to its businesses because governments and legislative bodies have started inquiries into its operations. The move, known as a "legal hold," follows intense media, legal and regulatory scrutiny over the social network's harms.
https://nyti.ms/3bm0Dip
Facebook to Change Company Name to Meta in Focus on Metaverse
The social media service will retain the Facebook name even as the umbrella company readies billions of dollars in investments in its new mixed-reality platform.
https://on.wsj.com/3CkzMPL
In India, Facebook Grapples With an Amplified Version of Its Problems
Internal documents show a struggle with misinformation, hate speech and celebrations of violence in the country, the company's biggest market.
https://nyti.ms/3nMkrBg
As Hong Kong's Civil Society Buckles, One Group Tries to Hold On
Unions and other organizations have dissolved after facing pressure under a new security law. The Hong Kong Journalists Association is hoping it can avoid that fate.
https://nyti.ms/3pORyHu
Ignoring Sanctions, Russia Renews Broad Cybersurveillance Operation
The new campaign came only months after President Biden imposed sanctions on Moscow in response to a series of spy operations it had conducted around the world.
https://nyti.ms/3GCUbBZ