Art and Entertainment
A writer investigates a UFO cult in East Texas
BRUCE DESILVA Associated Press “The Donut Legion,” by Joe R. Lansdale (Mulholland) Charlie Garner, a former private detective turned novelist, was staring through his telescope at the rural East Texas sky late one night when he received an unexpected visit from his ex-wife, Meg. Or did he? A storm had left the ground soft, perfect…
Read MoreStunning new novel about a family and mental illness
ANN LEVIN Associated Press “Commitment,” by Mona Simpson (Alfred A. Knopf) Mona Simpson’s latest novel “Commitment” is a minimalist masterpiece, exploring the large and small ways that a diagnosis of mental illness affects a family. In a story utterly devoid of car crashes, murders, abductions and explosions, Simpson bears down on the truly important questions…
Read More‘The Young and the Restless’ celebrates 50 years of drama
MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — It all started on a late morning on a highway. A camera panned to the cab of a large semi-trailer truck. The driver wore a plaid shirt and a day’s growth of beard. Next to him was a mysterious hitchhiker in expensive clothes that were ripped…
Read MoreIllinois artist draws inspiration from family farm
KAY SHIPMAN FarmWeek Jeanne Helm recreates the cattle, forest and creek she loves in soothing shades of blues and greens. They personalize the home her great-grandfather built on the centennial farm along Kirby Road that is named for her ancestors. The beauty of farming, conservation and history meld in her watercolor paintings and reflect the…
Read MoreSotheby’s hopes for record sale of ancient Hebrew Bible
ILAN BEN ZION Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — One of the oldest surviving biblical manuscripts, a nearly complete 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible, could soon be yours — for a cool $30 million. The Codex Sassoon, a leather-bound, handwritten parchment tome containing almost the entirety of the Hebrew Bible, is set to go on the block at…
Read MoreGwyneth Paltrow to stand trial for Deer Valley ski crash
SAM METZ Associated Press PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Gwyneth Paltrow is scheduled to stand trial on Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by a retired optometrist who said that the actress-turned-lifestyle influencer violently crashed into him in 2016 while skiing in Utah at one of the most upscale ski resorts in the United States. Terry…
Read MoreAnthony Fauci documentary on PBS covers a career of crises
MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — There’s a moment in the new PBS documentary about Dr. Anthony Fauci when a protester holds up a handmade sign reading, “Dr. Fauci, You Are Killing Us.” It says something about Fauci that it’s not initially clear when that sign was waved in anger — in…
Read More“We Quilt Our Town” to feature Quilt Show, Auction, and Author Chiaverini
The Decatur Quilters Guild will hold their 41st Quilt Fest titled “We Quilt our Town” Friday and Saturday, April 14 and 15, 2023, at the Decatur Civic Center, downtown Decatur. As a unique feature, author Jennifer Chiaverini will be a guest speaker. Chiaverini is the author of The Elm Creek Quilt series and many historical…
Read MoreSchool library book bans are seen as targeting LGBTQ content
SCOTT McFETRIDGE, ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE and SARA CLINE Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Teri Patrick bristles at the idea she wants to ban books about LGBTQ issues in Iowa schools, arguing her only goal is ridding schools of sexually explicit material. Sara Hayden Parris says that whatever you want to call it, it’s wrong…
Read MoreGloria Dea, 1st magician on Las Vegas Strip, dies at age 100
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Gloria Dea, touted as the first magician to perform on what would become the Las Vegas Strip in the early 1940s, has died. She was 100. Dea died Saturday at her Las Vegas residence, said LaNae Jenkins, the director of clinical services for Valley Hospice, who was one of Dea’s caretakers.…
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