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Review: ‘Beanie Bubble’ channels the crazed ’90s

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 10:10:58 GMT

By Jake Coyle | Associated PressWho knew so many movie ideas could be found while rummaging through your attic?This year we’ve had movies on Tetris ( “Tetris” ), Nike ( “Air” ), Blackberry ( “Blackberry” ) and Cheetos ( “Flamin’ Hot” ). The latest is “The Beanie Bubble,” a comic drama about the Beanie Baby craze of the 1990s.We once debated the ethics of product placement in movies — now the product IS the movie. It may not say entirely wonderful things about our capitalistic society that we’re pumping out big-screen movies and streaming-service content that exalts the stories behind snacks, sneaks and stuffies.“The Beanie Bubble,” which lands on Apple TV+ Friday, may be part of a ’20s trend but its interest is unpacking a late-20th century phenomenon and the some of the women exploited along the way. Zach Galifianakis plays Ty Warner, the chief executive of Ty Inc., the maker of the stuf...

Northern California man to face trial in 1995 Santa Clara County slaying

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 10:10:58 GMT

SANTA CRUZ — Family members of a Watsonville woman left beneath a highway overpass with fatal injuries to her head more than 28 years ago burst into tears Thursday in a court hallway.Just moments earlier, Santa Cruz County Superior Court visiting Judge Gary Paden ruled that defendant John Laroche would be held to answer on a charge of murder in Gloria Hassemer’s 1995 homicide, with a special enhancement for a so-called second strike serious criminal offense.Among family gathered for this week’s hearings were Hassemer’s two children, who were just teenagers when their mother was killed.“I didn’t think it would be this hard, after so many years,” said Hassemer’s son, Richard Hassemer. “I can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. We’re just happy with all the work that the Sheriff’s department has done.”Richard Hassemer and his sister, Niya Hassemer, said they felt their mother’s case had been “pushed in a corner” over the years, though they remained hopeful as the use of DNA a...

Wendy’s debuts a Frosty version of cold brew coffee

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 10:10:58 GMT

Wendy’s is tapping into the popularity of its Frosty dairy desserts for a new caffeinated beverage.It’s called Frosty Cream Cold Brew, and it’s brew made from slow-steeped coffee beans and Frosty creamer, according to the chain.The beverage is offered in three choices of syrup: vanilla, chocolate and caramel. The latter is a new flavor.The original Frosty, which is thicker than a milkshake, was one of the burger chain’s five original menu items, according to a blog from John Li, vice president of culinary innovation. It includes a video of a caramel cold brew being mixed.Prices vary by location, but a spot check of Wendy’s website showed a range of about $2.99-$3.79.App users can get a small cold brew for 99 cents through Aug. 6, according to a news release.Information: wendys.comRelated ArticlesRestaurants, Food and Drink | 10 hostess hacks to make your food look better than it is Restaurants, Food and Drink | Oakland Zoo unveils a chocolate bar full of ...

How Disneyland influenced Tiki culture and continues to shape the kitsch movement today

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 10:10:58 GMT

Disneyland is considered hallowed ground for fans of Tiki culture who make annual pilgrimages in Hawaiian shirts, straw hats and puka shell necklaces to sip mai tais at Trader Sam’s and visit the crowning glory of the kitsch movement — Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room.Disneyland’s Tiki history stretches from the Enchanted Tiki Room attraction, Tahitian Terrace restaurant and Don the Beachcomber food stand to the Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar cocktail lounge, Tropical Hideaway grab-and-go dining area and Tikiland Day annual event.Brothers sip Uh Oa!, after the cocktail was lit up, at Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar, Disneyland Hotel, in Anaheim. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG) Tiki culture was born in the 1930s as U.S. travel opened to Polynesian, Caribbean, Hawaiian and South Pacific islands. Cultural appropriation spawned themed bars and Hollywood movies that tapped into Americans’ escapist fascination with the romantic and adventurous tropical settin...

Skelton: Sacramento lawmakers are brewing a massive borrowing binge

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 10:10:58 GMT

Left to their individual desires, California legislators would go on a massive borrowing binge.They’d sell bonds to fund ambitious projects such as housing and treating homeless people who are mentally ill, controlling floods and updating classrooms — all worthy projects.But should they be paid for with borrowed money that, with interest, roughly doubles the projects’ cost? Or should they be financed with cash out of the state banking account, the general fund?Here’s an example of the opposition bond backers will face when their proposals are debated in the Capitol next month and eventually hit the ballot:“Why is a bond — any bond — necessary?” asks Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., named after the anti-tax crusader who sponsored the landmark Proposition 13 in 1978 that substantially cut property taxes.“Despite a drop-off in state tax collections, California continues to produce massive amounts of tax revenue from the highest-in-the-nation income tax rate, ...

University of Southern California’s Bronny James discharged from hospital, returns home after cardiac arrest

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 10:10:58 GMT

USC men’s basketball player Bronny James was discharged from the hospital and returned home after collapsing and suffering a cardiac arrest during a practice Monday, Cedars-Sinai Medical Group doctor Merije Chukumerije announced in a statement Thursday afternoon.Chukumerije’s full statement said: “Thanks to the swift and effective response by the USC athletics’ medical staff, Bronny James was successfully treated for sudden cardiac arrest. He arrived at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center fully conscious, neurologically intact and stable.“Mr. James was cared for promptly by highly-trained staff and has been discharged home, where he is resting. Although his workup will be ongoing, we are hopeful for his continued progress and are encouraged by his response, resilience, and his family and community support.”In his first public comments since his son’s cardiac arrest, Lakers star LeBron James gave a positive update on social media earlier Thursday morning.Related ArticlesCollege Sports | ...

Walters: State’s 63-year-old higher education plan needs a reality check

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 10:10:58 GMT

As California’s population exploded in the 1950s and 1960s – surpassing New York to become the nation’s most populous state in 1962 – its political leaders responded with sweeping plans to satisfy burgeoning demands for public services.New freeway routes were plotted to carry millions of additional cars. State and local bond issues were drafted to build schools for the baby boom. New dams and canals were designed to increase water supplies. And, a master plan was written to unify California’s colleges and universities.Six decades later, California’s population is nearly three times larger, but stalled at just under 40 million and has been declining slowly.Many of those once-planned freeways never got past the planning stage, public school enrollment is declining, the California Water Plan has mostly been built (but still has a bottleneck in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta), and the much-vaunted Master Plan for Higher Education remains on the books but never achieved the seamless pa...

For clergy abuse survivors, Sinead O’Connor’s protest on SNL that offended so many was brave and prophetic

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 10:10:58 GMT

By HOLLY MEYERIn 1992, Sinéad O’Connor destroyed a photo of Pope John Paul II on U.S. national television. The pushback was swift, turning the late Irish singer-songwriter’s protest of sex abuse in the Catholic Church into a career-altering flashpoint.More than 30 years later, her “Saturday Night Live” performance and its stark collision of popular culture and religious statement is remembered by some as an offensive act of desecration. But for others — including survivors of clergy sex abuse — O’Connor’s protest was prophetic, forecasting the global denomination’s public reckoning that was, at that point, yet to come. O’Connor, 56, died Wednesday.The SNL moment stunned David Clohessy, a key early member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. In his 30s at the time, he had only recently recalled the repressed memories of the abuse he suffered. He found O’Connor’s act deeply moving. It was something he and other survivors never thought possible.RELATED: California has i...

Man suspected of following 12-year-old girl into California park bathroom, secretly recording her

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 10:10:58 GMT

A 33-year-old man suspected of secretly putting a phone equipped with a camera inside a women’s restroom at a Fullerton park is also suspected of following a 12-year-old girl inside the restroom and recording her, prosecutors said on Thursday, July 27.Jacob Anthony Arriola, of Fullerton, was charged Tuesday with possession of child pornography and using a concealed recording device to record someone without their consent, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. He also faces charges of using a minor in the sale or distribution of obscene matter or production of pornography and placing a concealed camera to secretly videotape someone in partial dress and peeping.On July 23, Arriola is suspected of following the 12-year-old victim into a women’s restroom at the park and recording the girl, authorities said. The victim noticed Arriola attempting to film her and notified her parents, who confronted the man and held him down until police arrived.A wireless camera was f...

Would new bank rules shut out first-time homebuyers?

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 10:10:58 GMT

A sweeping overhaul of bank capital rules proposed by regulators includes changes to requirements for residential mortgages that will likely inflame criticism that the measures push home-ownership beyond the reach of first-time or minority borrowers.The long-awaited proposals would raise the so-called risk weights for some residential mortgages, including those with smaller down payments, meaning banks ultimately have to hold more capital against those assets.Currently in the US, a 50% risk weight is assigned to many first-lien residential mortgage loans. Under the new proposals, regulators would apply risk weights of 40% to 90% for large banks, depending on the loan-to-value ratio. Riskier loans, with higher LTV ratios, would get the higher risk weights.RELATED: San Francisco was too expensive so they moved to Spain and bought a beautiful house for $50,000. Here’s how they did itCritics have warned the reforms could exacerbate a pull-back by banks from lending to riskier borrowers ...