Understandably, Aubrey Plaza skipped the 2025 Golden Globes awards ceremony on Sunday night after her husband Jeff Baena was found dead of their Los Angeles home on Friday.

Although Plaza didn’t attend the awards ceremony, she and Baena's family received words of affection and support from filmmaker Brady Corbet, who mentioned her in his speech while accepting the Best Director award for his film “The Brutalist.” Us Weekly reported.

“My heart goes out to Aubrey Plaza and Jeff’s family,” Corbet said.

The Golden Globes announced on Thursday that Plaza can be amongst greater than 40 presenters on the 82nd annual awards show. But the following day, Baena, a author, director and producer of independent movies, was found dead, police said said TMZ. It was subsequently confirmed that the 47-year-old died by suicide. People got here forward.

A graduate of New York University, Baena began his profession in Hollywood working for such famous directors as Robert Zemeckis and David O. Russell. He is best known for projects corresponding to “I Heart Huckabees” – with Russell – and “The Little Hours”, “Horse Girl” and “Spin Me Round”. He often collaborated with Plaza, whom he has been dating since 2011.

“My first film was a big learning experience in every way, and so working with her was an advantage because we have a shorthand and a close relationship,” Baena said of working with Plaza on his 2014 directorial debut, the zombie comedy “Life After “. Beth,” Us Weekly reported. In the 2022 Newsweek interview, he also said, “As I've done more and more things, I've come to appreciate everything that she brings to the table.”

Baena also created an anthology series called “Cinema Toast,” which aired on Showtime in 2021 and marked Plaza's own directorial debut, People reported.

The White Lotus star and Baena celebrated their tenth anniversary as a pair by getting married in 2020 in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. During an appearance on The Ellen DeGeners Show, the “Parks and Recreation” alum recalled with amusing, “A lot happened for me during COVID. Yes, we got married. Big deal.”

“We were a little bored one evening,” Plaza continued. “We got married and I’ll tell you how: Onehourmarriage.com. This is real, look it up.”

Originally published: January 6, 2025 at 9:53am PST

San Jose has secured a major investment from the federal government to support the event of a park within the Spartan Keyes neighborhood, providing green space to a historically industrial and underserved area of ​​town.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has awarded San Jose a $4.5 million grant to assist town design and construct a 1.3-acre park on a site on the corner of Third and Keyes streets which has been working on for a long time as a brickworks production site.

“I had the privilege of taking a quick walk and showing the room to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and discovered that the closest park to these neighborhoods is a 30-minute walk away and is not accessible to children, elderly residents or families,” said Mayor Matt Mahan on Friday. “That’s why this investment is so important.”

Launched in 2014 and administered by the National Park Service, the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership grant program provides funding to develop latest recreational spaces or revitalize existing parks in underserved or disadvantaged communities of at the very least 30,000 individuals who have little or no access to those facilities .

The grant program can be a part of the larger “America the Beautiful” initiative launched by the Biden administration to “combat the nature and climate crises, improve equitable access to nature, and strengthen the economy.”

Haaland said that while the Trump administration zeroed out this system, the Biden administration has “doubled down on its efforts.”

This 12 months's park grants totaled nearly $255 million for 54 projects in 24 different states, with grant amounts starting from $390,000 to $15 million.

While California received 14 of those grants totaling about $88 million, Spartan Keyes Park is the one Bay Area project to receive funding.

“From Anaheim to Redding, communities across the state will benefit from expanded access to beautiful outdoor spaces and more outdoor recreation opportunities,” Haaland said. “The work taking place here in San Jose and across the state is an incredible example of the type of collaborative partnerships needed to ensure Americans’ access to nature in every part of our country.”

Rita Torres, a longtime Spartan Keyes resident, said she was excited to listen to in regards to the investment, noting that it felt like a lifetime for the reason that city acquired the land greater than eight years ago and that she previously unsure if she would survive See the way it happens.

Although the precise date of completion of the park is unknown because it has yet to be designed, Mahan expects it to be inbuilt a couple of years.

The grants granted amounted to as much as 50% of the whole costs of the respective projects. In the case of Spartan Keyes Park, the $4.5 million grant is estimated to cover 45% of what town must make it occur.

Although San Jose is currently fighting a half-billion-dollar park maintenance backlog, it continues to prioritize investments in urban amenities. Seven parks have opened this 12 months and two more are within the pipeline.

“Everyone deserves to have access to these public green spaces and amenities close to home,” said Gloria Sandoval, assistant secretary for access on the California Natural Resources Agency. “This builds healthier communities as spending time in nature promotes our physical, mental and social well-being and creates many memories with their families.”

Apple Inc. has been warned by the European Union against opening up its tightly protected iPhone and iPad operating systems to competing technologies. Otherwise, it risks heavy fines under crucial antitrust law within the digital sector.

EU regulators have announced that Apple could have to comply with strict recent laws to make sure full functionality of operating systems with other technologies as a part of the bloc's Digital Markets Act. The Brussels-based authority gave the corporate six months to comply or face future penalties.

Although the announcement remains to be removed from a proper investigation, the EU desires to force Apple to revamp its services in order that competing firms can access the iPhone and iPad operating systems.

“Today, for the first time, we are using specification processes under the DMA to help Apple effectively meet its interoperability obligations,” said EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager in a press release. “Effective interoperability, for example with smartphones and their operating systems, plays an important role in this.”

Apple shares rose 1.6 percent to $224.25 in premarket trading with 164,801 shares. The EU announcement confirms an earlier report by Bloomberg.

One of the goals of the DMA is to be certain that other developers have access to necessary Apple features, similar to Siri voice commands and the payment chip.

The EU could later determine to launch a proper investigation if Apple fails to comply with the DMA, which could ultimately result in heavy fines of as much as 10% of annual global turnover. In parallel, an investigation into the App Store rules for developers is already underway, which could also result in heavy fines.

Earlier this month, Apple announced the newest version of its flagship device, the iPhone 16, betting that it could entice consumers with modest hardware upgrades and not-yet-available AI technology.

But in June, the US giant announced that certain features – including Apple Intelligence, iPhone Mirroring and SharePlay Screen Sharing – wouldn’t be allowed to be introduced within the EU since the DMA requirements for operating systems require them to work with third-party apps.

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Originally published: September 20, 2024 at 11:23 am

OAKLAND – A former fugitive has pleaded no contest to a lesser offense in reference to a 2022 armored truck robbery wherein a security guard was shot behind the pinnacle and killed.

Artemio Torres, 28, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting in exchange for a dismissal of robbery charges. He is scheduled to be sentenced in October to 2 years' probation, to associate with the time he has already served in prison, court records show.

Torres' co-defendant Akbar Bey stays in jail, charged with murdering 60-year-old John Mendez in the course of the robbery on Sept. 7, 2022. Prosecutors say Bey shot Mendez behind the pinnacle before stepping into Torres' vehicle and fleeing.

Both Bey and Torres were former employees of the GardaWorld trucking company and allegedly planned to rob it when security guards dropped something off at a Kaiser constructing in San Leandro. Bey and Mendez were partners when Bey was employed there. Authorities say Bey and Torres were fired after being accused of embezzling money.

Bey was arrested shortly after the shooting, but Torres remained on the run for greater than a yr after fleeing the state, police said. He was arrested last June on a warrant for robbery and agreed to plead “no contest” on Aug. 16, records show.

Originally published: September 17, 2024 at 1:02 p.m.

Food News

Boston will 225 additional alcohol licenses After the bill received Governor Maura Healey's signature this week, it’s a serious victory for city officials and restaurant owners who’ve faced costly obstacles to alcohol sales due to Boston's cap.

In an announcement, Healey acknowledged that more restaurants within the neighborhoods would mean an economic boost for Boston.

“Neighborhood restaurants play such an important role in our communities and our economy,” Healey said. “This bill will lower the barriers for Boston restaurants to provide the services our customers seek and help them succeed, while supporting local nonprofits, theaters and open spaces.”

Most of those licenses are restricted to specific neighborhoods, meaning they’ll only be issued to restaurants in certain zip codes. If the restaurant now not uses the liquor license, it have to be returned to town somewhat than sold on the private market. However, state lawmakers made room for unrestricted licenses in the ultimate version of the law.

The 225 licenses are distributed as follows:

• Thirteen zip code areas in Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, East Boston, Roslindale, West Roxbury, Hyde Park, Charlestown, Jamaica Plain and South End may have access to 5 liquor licenses per 12 months, three alcoholic beverage licenses and two beer and wine licenses, over a three-year period.
• The Oak Square district of Brighton receives three non-transferable liquor licenses.
• Nonprofits, theaters and outdoor spaces can access 15 licenses.
• 12 licenses are unrestricted.

Some restaurants within the approved zip code areas had already approached the Licensing Board to acquire a liquor license as they awaited the passage of this law. The city's Licensing Board also holds open office hours to those applicants who could have questions on the procedure.

The news that Healey has signed the extra licenses into law comes greater than a 12 months after City Councilman Brian Worrell first introduced the bill. The original measure included fewer zip codes and didn’t provide for unrestricted licenses.

The bill never made it past the official session, which ended on August 1, resulting in public fears that the bill would never pass. But earlier this month, state and House lawmakers reached a compromise.

“On behalf of our fellow conference members, we are proud to announce that we have reached agreement on a compromise bill that would increase the number of liquor licenses in the City of Boston, dramatically improving equity for restaurant owners in the city's neighborhoods and increasing economic opportunity in communities of color that have been left out for too long,” Senator William Brownsberger and Representative Michael Moran said in a joint statement.

Supporters of the bill hope that its passage may help bridge the wide divide that exists between Boston's neighborhoods attributable to town's current alcohol service regulations.

Boston's liquor license restrictions mean that even when an operator gets one approved, it's nearly unimaginable to get a license from town. The only other option is to buy an unused license from a former restaurant or landlord on the private market, which might fetch as much as $600,000.

The rule has shaped today's restaurant scene: There are 60 to 90 licensed restaurants in Back Bay and Seaport, mostly bought up by restaurant groups that may afford them. And there are only a handful of licensed restaurants in Boston's predominantly low-income BIPOC communities like Mattapan and Roxbury.

“The lack of opportunity and access to licenses has left some of our neighborhoods without successful restaurants and nightlife, which is a cornerstone of thriving cities,” said Senator Liz Miranda, who introduced the unique bill with Assemblyman Christopher Worrell, in an announcement. “Blue Hill Avenue was once a cultural mecca in our city with successful black-owned restaurants and nightlife, and I believe we can be that again.”