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Oscar and Emmy-nominated filmmaker-author Frederick Marx Seeks to Reimagine Funeral Rites With New Film It’s Your Wonderful Life  

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:32:29 GMT

Across all cultures worldwide, funerals are an outpouring of emotion and tributes to the deceased. Family and friends often give touching eulogies, illustrating how the departed made a huge impact on their lives and how much they meant to them. These are also accompanied by often lavish rituals, which embody the family’s and community’s grief over the loss of a loved one.Multi-award nominated film producer, director, and author Frederick Marx says that, while funerals do serve a legitimate purpose in society, it could be of greater benefit if the community would also come together and honor a person while they were still alive. He proposes the holding of life-honoring ceremonies, where people close to someone who is terminally ill or of old age gather with them and speak about how they touched their lives and provide an opportunity to say goodbye.“This ceremony turns a funeral on its head. We shouldn’t wait to gather until after someone dies to speak wonderful thin...

It’s 4:20 Somewhere– Cannabis Culture Picks 2023

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:32:29 GMT

For cannaisseurs, 4:20 p.m. can be a daily celebration – a moment to take a break, exhale (and inhale!) while letting go of the stresses of the day. Beyond the clock and onto the calendar, April 20 has become a party hearty “holiday” akin to Cinco de Mayo/St. Patty’s Day, and it’s just as fun to celebrate, whether you’re a regular toker or a once-a-year partaker. For all the ups and downs the industry has faced, weed brands continue to create and innovate. 4/20 is always a good time to explore what’s new and what’s still hot, especially here in California. Here are our 2023 Picks, divided into four 4-20 appropriate sections – 1) shops and experiences, 2) the bud itself,  3) accouterments and 4) lifestyle items –  all of which promise to keep cannabis culture growing in more ways than one.  (Urbn Leaf)1. What’s in StoreThe Sunset Strip is known for eye-popping billboards, great live music and comedy venues, and high-end shopping, but it was missing a pot shop until Urbn Leaf came to ...

Suspect and Cash App founder Bob Lee appear to have argued before the murder, documents show

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:32:29 GMT

Nima Momeni, the man accused of killing Cash App founder Bob Lee, appears to have gotten into an argument with him before Lee’s death, according to documents released by the San Francisco District Attorney’s office.A message from Momeni’s sister to Lee from sometime that evening showed the sister checking in on Lee after the disagreement. The text message, per the documents from the district attorney’s office, stated: “Just wanted to make sure your doing ok Cause I know nima came wayyyyyy down hard on you And thank you for being such a classy man handling it with class.”Momeni appeared in a San Francisco court earlier Friday for an arraignment that came one day after police announced his arrest. Momeni’s arraignment is set to continue on April 25. He will be held without bail in the meantime.When Momeni entered the courtroom, members of his family sitting in the front row held up heart signs with their hands. Momeni, who was not cuffed, ackn...

Bear who killed jogger gets stay of execution, though she’s a repeat offender

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:32:29 GMT

A bear who killed a jogger last week in Italy has been given a stay of execution – even though the animal had previously mauled people.The 17-year-old bear now will remain alive at least until May 11, after the tribunal in the city of Trento approved an ordinance sought by several wildlife protection agencies.The animal – officially JJ4, but commonly known as Gaia – fatally mauled 26-year-old Andrea Papi on April 5 in a nature reserve near Caldes, a town in Italy’s mountainous northeast corner. His body was found a day later, after his family reported him missing.DNA, including some found on a stick with which Papi apparently tried to defend himself, identified the bear as one who had attacked two hikers in the same area in June 2020. After that attack, her death had been ordered, but a court rescinded the order and declared that she should be monitored with a tracking device.The battery in that device died a few days before the attack on Papi.On April 12, Trento Governor Maurizio F...

Just days after mass shootings, NRA convention draws top GOP 2024 hopefuls

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:32:29 GMT

By WILL WEISSERT and TOM DAVIES (Associated Press)INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Last year it was Uvalde. Now it’s Nashville and Louisville. For the second year in a row, the National Rifle Association is holding its annual convention within days of mass shootings that shook the nation. The three-day gathering kicked off Friday with thousands of the organization’s most active members at Indianapolis’ convention center attracting a bevy of top Republican presidential candidates — enough that it could help shape the early part of next year’s GOP primary race.It illustrates the stark reality that such shootings have become enough of the fabric of American life that the NRA can no longer schedule around them. Nor does it really want to: The convention falls on the second anniversary of the mass shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis that killed nine people.In brief remarks, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre didn’t mention the recent mass shootings.“Gun-ha...

Bob Lee was confronted by accused killer about sister: court documents

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:32:29 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Just hours before tech mogul Bob Lee was brutally stabbed to death in San Francisco, a witness overheard a conversation between the Cash App founder and his accused killer, Nima Momeni, according to court documents obtained Friday by KRON4. Momeni wanted to know if Lee had done anything "inappropriate" with Momeni's younger sister, according to court documents. A possible motive behind Lee's shocking homicide was revealed in court documents filed by prosecutors in court Friday. Lee, 43, is a divorced father of two who made millions working in the Bay Area tech industry. Momeni, 38, is also a Bay Area-based tech executives. Prosecutors believe Momeni stabbed Lee in the chest three times around 2:30 a.m. on April 4, and left him in the street to die.Momeni was arrested at his Emeryville home, charged with murder, and booked into a San Francisco jail Thursday. To make sure Momeni remains behind bars without bail, prosecutors filed court documents Friday contain...

Logan Webb, Giants agree to $90M, 5-year deal for 2024-28

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:32:29 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — Right-hander Logan Webb and the San Francisco Giants agreed Friday to a $90 million, five-year contract covering 2024-28.The 26-year-old has a $4.6 million salary this season in his first year of arbitration eligibility and would have been eligible for free agency after the 2025 season. He gets $8 million next year, $12 million in 2025, $23 million each in 2026 and 2027 and $24 million in 2028. In addition, he would receive a $1 million one-time assignment bonus from the receiving team if traded. Wiggins will be available for Game 1 vs. Kings, Steve Kerr says Webb went 15-9 with a 2.90 ERA in 32 starts last year, striking out 163 and walking 49 in 192 1/3 innings. He is 0-3 with a 4.76 ERA this season heading into a scheduled start Sunday at the Detroit Tigers.KRON On is streaming news live now.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-contain...

Marianne Williamson, Fusing Bernie Sanders and (Early) Jordan Peterson, Is Taking Over TikTok

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:32:29 GMT

The kids may or may not be alright, but one thing is clear: They are super into Marianne Williamson. If engagement on TikTok is any indication, a Democratic presidential primary held today among people under 50 would result in a landslide for the best-selling author now making her second bid for the nomination.Williamson has only posted 65 videos on TikTok, yet has drawn more than 11 million views, according to a TikTok data counter. But there are also endless Marianne stan (Maristanne?) accounts — @marianne2024winner and @marianne4prez among them — that post her speeches and rack up massive numbers. A scroll through the popular account @realdemocrat20 turns up multiple Williamson videos, all generating eye-popping numbers for her treatises on universal health care, corruption, gun rights, or abortion, including nearly a million views for whatever this is.A recent poll found Williamson hovering above 20 percent with voters under 30 — far higher than she reached in the crowded 2020 f...

At Knock Shrine, Biden meets priest who gave Beau last rites

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:32:29 GMT

KNOCK, Ireland (AP) — President Joe Biden was moved to tears on Friday during a stop at a Catholic shrine when he discovered that a chaplain working there had performed last rites on his late son Beau Biden. Knock Shrine is a pilgrimage site where, according to Catholic lore, the saints Mary, Joseph and John the Evangelist appeared near a stone wall in 1879. Biden touched the remaining old wall, and toured the site with priest Father Richard Gibbons.Gibbons said he discovered earlier in the day that the Father Frank O’Grady working at the site was the same one who’d performed last rites, a ceremony in the Catholic faith that spiritually prepares people for death, for Beau. It’s common in the Catholic faith for priests to move around to different posts during their lives in the church. O’Grady is a former U.S. Army chaplain and was formerly assigned to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., where Beau died in 2015 from brain cancer at the age...

Clint Eastwood set to direct ‘Juror No. 2’ for Warner Bros.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:32:29 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Clint Eastwood is getting back in the director’s chair. The “Unforgiven” and “Gran Torino” filmmaker is set to direct the legal drama “Juror No. 2″ for his longtime studio, Warner Bros., a person close to the production who requested anonymity because she wasn’t authorized to comment publicly confirmed Friday. The film will be Eastwood’s first since 2021’s neo-Western “Cry Macho,” which also marked his return to the screen as an actor. With production on “Juror No. 2” to begin in June, Eastwood will be 93 when he steps on set. Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette are in early talks to potentially star in the film, written by Jonathan Abrams, about a murder trial wherein a juror discovers he may have played a role in the victim’s death. In an interview in 2014 with The Associated Press, Eastwood, said the reason for his career longevity was that “I never let the old man in.” “There are so many different stories to tell out there,” said ...