News

Variety reports: Prosecutors are expected to drop manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin in the death of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, sources confirmed on Thursday. In a statement, Baldwin’s lawyers said they were pleased with the outcome. “We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances …

First, last month’s report by CNBC: BuzzFeed is shrinking its money-losing news organization, the company announced Tuesday, amid what people familiar with the matter describe as broader investor concern that the division is weighing down the company. Several large shareholders have urged BuzzFeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti to shut down the entire news operation, said the people, who asked …

The New York Times reports: SpaceX’s Starship rocket exploded above the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, minutes after lifting off from a launchpad in South Texas. The spacecraft failed to reach orbit. The Starship launch on Thursday at least avoided a worst-case outcome of exploding on the launchpad, which would have required extensive repairs. Once engineers determine what went wrong, …

CNN reports: Justice Clarence Thomas intends to amend his financial disclosure forms to reflect a 2014 real estate deal he made with a GOP megadonor – an acknowledgment that the transaction should have been disclosed almost a decade ago, a source close to Thomas tells CNN. The deal between Thomas and Harlan Crow, a Dallas real estate magnate and long-time …

ABC News reports: The final curtain came down Sunday on New York’s production of “The Phantom of the Opera,” ending Broadway’s longest-running show with thunderous standing ovations, champagne toasts and gold and silver confetti bursting from its famous chandelier. It was show No. 13,981 at the Majestic Theatre and it ended with a reprise of “The Music of the Night” …

Reuters reports: Outspoken Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza was jailed for a quarter of a century by a Moscow court on Monday, the harshest sentence of its kind since Russia invaded Ukraine, after being found guilty of treason and other offences he denied. Kara-Murza, 41, a father of three and an opposition politician who holds Russian and British passports, spent years …

Roll Call reports: Advocacy groups have urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to call Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to testify about his relationship with a billionaire GOP donor, a move experts say would escalate conflict between two branches of government and could lead to a separation-of-powers showdown. Senate Judiciary Chair Richard J. Durbin of Illinois and other Democrats on the …

San Francisco’s Mission Local reports: Mission Local is informed that the San Francisco Police Department early this morning made an arrest in the April 4 killing of tech executive Bob Lee, following an operation undertaken outside the city’s borders. The alleged killer also works in tech and is a man Lee purportedly knew. We are told that police today were …

The New York Times reports: The leader of a small online gaming chat group where a trove of classified U.S. intelligence documents leaked over the last few months is a 21-year-old member of the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The New York Times. The national guardsman, whose name is Jack …

Axios reports: PBS has not tweeted from its main Twitter handle since April 8, following Elon Musk’s decision to label the outlet “government-funded news.” PBS joins NPR, another major editorially independent outlet that receives some government funding, in halting its Twitter activity in light of the new label. Twitter added a “government-funded” label to PBS’ main Twitter account last weekend, …

CNN reports: A North Korean missile sparked fear on the Japanese northern island of Hokkaido Thursday after the government’s emergency alert system warned residents to take cover. Millions of people received a J-alert, or evacuation order, shortly before 8 a.m., urging them to seek shelter as the missile could land on or near the island. But soon after, fear turned …

The New York Times reports: A federal appeals court ruled late Wednesday that the abortion pill mifepristone could remain available, but the judges blocked the drug from being sent to patients through the mail and rolled back other steps the government had taken to ease access in recent years. In its order, a three-judge panel for the Fifth Circuit partly …

Reuters reports: E-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc has agreed to pay $462 million to settle claims by six U.S. states including New York and California that it unlawfully marketed its addictive products to minors, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. With the deal, Juul will have settled with 45 states for more than $1 billion. The company …

NPR reports: NPR will no longer post fresh content to its 52 official Twitter feeds, becoming the first major news organization to go silent on the social media platform. In explaining its decision, NPR cited Twitter’s decision to first label the network “state-affiliated media,” the same term it uses for propaganda outlets in Russia, China and other autocratic countries. The …

Fox News reports: Saying that he will “never back down in defense of the conservative values that make America exceptional,” Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina on Wednesday took a major step towards running for the White House as he launched a presidential exploratory committee. Showcasing his message of faith, hope, and unity, Scott emphasized in a video that …

Upper East Site reports: In a victory for free speech, a Manhattan judge has dismissed a $3 million lawsuit against Upper East Site brought by The Comic Strip, the iconic Upper East Side comedy venue whose antisemitic and anti-vaccination social media post last year embroiled the venue in controversy. The judge even went as far to say that allowing the …

The New York Daily News reports: Food-storage company Tupperware’s stock tumbled on Monday after warning it could be on the brink of going out of business after nearly 80 years. The 45% slide came after the company announced it had hired financial advisers to help keep the company solvent amid “substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a …

From the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal: The left’s assault on the Supreme Court is continuing, and the latest front is the news that Justice Clarence Thomas has a rich friend who has hosted the Justice on his private plane, his yacht, and his vacation resort. That’s it. That’s the story. Yet this non-bombshell has triggered breathless claims …

Oklahoma City’s ABC affiliate reports: After a Delta Airlines flight was diverted to Oklahoma City on Thursday due to multiple people becoming ill on the plane, officials are continuing to investigate the cause of the sickness. The flight, en route to Atlanta from Los Angeles, stopped at the Will Rogers World Airport after officials said nine passengers complained about feeling …

ProPublica reports: In late June 2019, right after the U.S. Supreme Court released its final opinion of the term, Justice Clarence Thomas boarded a large private jet headed to Indonesia. He and his wife were going on vacation: nine days of island-hopping in a volcanic archipelago on a superyacht staffed by a coterie of attendants and a private chef. If …