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Maria Sten takes deep dive into ‘Reacher’ role

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:06:37 GMT

“Reacher,” Amazon Prime Video’s hit series based on Lee Child’s long running book series, revolves around the mighty – in every sense – ex-military policeman Jack Reacher who wanders around the country as a “hobo” who regularly encounters and dispatches killers and criminals.A loner, Reacher (Alan Ritchson) remains spiritually part of his close-knit military team. In Season 2, Reacher’s squad reunites to avenge the murder of one of their own.For Maria Sten, “Reacher” is a career-changer. She’s Frances Neagley, who is a major resource for Reacher.“Alan and I are the two characters that have come along for a longer ride which is indicative of our characters from the books.“Normally I’ve been on shows that haven’t gone anywhere, so I had no idea that it was going to be such a massive hit.“When I got the job, that’s when I read all the books that Neagley’s character is featured in. Just to get more backstory and understand the relationship dynamic between t...

Unhappy ex sets deposition during his vacation

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:06:37 GMT

Q. I have been representing myself in my divorce because there is nothing to fight about – I know our assets will be divided equally.  My wife remains unhappy with my decision to divorce and is super focused on my girlfriend.  I did not have a girlfriend when I asked for the divorce.  My wife is Catholic and recently filed a counterclaim claiming she wants a divorce on the grounds of adultery. She has now issued a notice that she will take my deposition the day after Christmas.  She knows I will be in Vermont at our ski condo because we trade off time there.Do I have to appear the day of my deposition?  Will I be arrested if I don’t show up?  What do I need to know about a deposition?A. I cannot tell you all you need to know about a deposition in this column – there is not nearly enough space for that.  The highlights of what you need to know are (1) listen very carefully to the question asked and only answer the question being asked – don’t offer lengthy stories with tons of detail...

Dear Abby: Hubby would rather whine than step up

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:06:37 GMT

Dear Abby: I was just released from the hospital, and I suspect my husband is tapping his foot waiting for me to fix him lunch. He isn’t doing or saying anything overt, like “Get up and make me lunch,” but it’s more like he is whining about the options in front of him — peanut butter, frozen leftovers, etc.I’m on a liquid diet and do not feel well. I may be well enough to get out of the hospital, but I’m far from 100%. My husband hasn’t offered to make me so much as a cup of tea. Instead, on my first morning home, he waited to get up until I had made the coffee and fed the cats. I didn’t feel like getting up to feed the cats and make the coffee, I just knew he wouldn’t get out of bed until I did.Last night, I made my own dinner while he whined that chicken broth and rice just didn’t do it for him. Now he wants lunch.We’ve been married for 40 years. He has been a good husband, but in retirement he has become self...

Families say autism therapy helped their kids. Indiana’s Medicaid cuts could put it out of reach

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:06:37 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Shaunna Thompson was running out of childcare options. Her daughter Abbie was expelled from daycare in 2022 because of “all over the place” behavior. Thompson found an in-home provider for the toddler, but was told Abbie was “too much” to watch every day of the week. The experiences motivated Thompson to seek assistance for her daughter, who also was missing developmental milestones. Abbie, now 3, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in October of last year. By March, Thompson enrolled her in applied behavior analysis — a therapy based on learning and behavior focused on improving communicative, social and motor skills — at a local facility in northern Indiana for 40 hours a week. Abbie, nonverbal most of her life, has since said her first word: “Mom.”“It brought tears to my eyes” Thompson said.But Thompson and other families reliant on Medicaid worry changes coming in January will limit access to the therapy as Indiana attempts to limit the cost and, alon...

Can a state count all its votes by hand? A North Dakota proposal aims to be the first to try

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:06:37 GMT

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — All election ballots would be counted by hand under a proposal that could go to North Dakota voters, potentially achieving a goal of activists across the country who distrust modern vote counting but dismaying election officials who say the change would needlessly delay vote tallies and lead to more errors.Backers of the proposed ballot measure are far from gathering enough signatures, but if the plan makes the June 2024 ballot and voters pass it, North Dakota would have to replace ballot scanners with hundreds of workers across the state who would carefully count and recount ballots. It’s a change other Republican-led states have attempted unsuccessfully in the years since former President Donald Trump began criticizing the nation’s vote-counting system, falsely claiming it was rigged against him.“We’ve always done hand counting before we got these machines,” said Lydia Gessele, a farmer who is leading the effort to get the measure on the ballot. &...

Top strategist resigns from DeSantis-backing super PAC with less than a month before Iowa caucuses

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:06:37 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The top strategist for the embattled super PAC backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ‘ campaign for the White House resigned Saturday night in the latest sign of trouble for the GOP hopeful less than one month before voting begins with Iowa’s kickoff caucuses.Jeff Roe, the top adviser to Never Back Down, is the latest senior staffer to exit Never Back Down, which has been the largest outside group supporting DeSantis’ candidacy. He announced his departure on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, hours after The Washington Post published a story focused on internal disputes and suspicions between Never Back Down, the campaign, and other DeSantis allies that included accusations of “mismanagement and conduct issues, including numerous unauthorized leaks containing false information.” “I can’t believe it ended this way,” Roe wrote on X, sharing a statement in which he said he “cannot in good conscience stay affiliated with Never Back Down given the statem...

As 2023 holidays dawn, face masks have settled in as an occasional feature of the American landscape

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:06:37 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The scene: A crowded shopping center in the weeks before Christmas. Or a warehouse store. Or maybe a packed airport terminal or a commuter train station or another place where large groups gather.There are people — lots of people. But look around, and it’s clear one thing is largely absent these days: face masks. Yes, there’s the odd one here and there, but nothing like it was three years ago at the dawn of the COVID pandemic’s first winter holidays — an American moment of contentiousness, accusation and scorn on both sides of the mask debate.As 2023 draws to an end, with promises of holiday parties and crowds and lots of inadvertent exchanges of shared air, mask-wearing is much more off than on around the country even as COVID’s long tail lingers. The days of anything approaching a widespread mask mandate would be like the Ghost of Christmas Past, a glimpse into what was. Look at it a different way, though: These days, mask-wearing has become...

Chileans to vote on conservative constitution draft a year after rejecting leftist charter

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:06:37 GMT

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chileans are voting Sunday on whether to approve a new constitution that will replace the country’s dictatorship-era charter.The vote comes over a year after Chileans resoundingly rejected a proposed constitution written by a left-leaning convention and one that many characterized as one of the world’s most progressive charters.The new document, largely written by conservative councilors, is more conservative than the one it seeks to replace because it would deepen free-market principles, reduce state intervention and might limit some women’s rights. If the new charter is rejected, the Pinochet-era constitution — which was amended over the years —- will remain in effect. One of the most controversial articles in the proposed new draft says that “the law protects the life of the unborn,” with a slight change in wording from the current document that some have warned could make abortion fully illegal in the South American country. Chilean law currently allows th...

Belarus political prisoners face abuse, no medical care and isolation, former inmate says

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:06:37 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — During his three years in a Belarusian penal colony, human rights activist Leanid Sudalenka says he and other political prisoners were regularly deprived of family visits, phone calls and parcels. He nearly died when COVID-19 swept through the facility. And he was forced to spend the last nine days of his sentence in a damp punishment cell, sleeping on the concrete floor with a roll of toilet paper for a pillow.He had to wear a yellow tag on his uniform — as do all the estimated 1,473 political prisoners held in Belarus — so they’re easily identifiable to guards who he said routinely bullied, abused and humiliated them.“The Belarusian authorities deliberately create terrible detention conditions for political prisoners, which qualify as torture,” Sudalenka said in an interview with The Associated Press after he finished his time behind bars and fled to neighboring Lithuania.Belarus has cracked down on opponents of authoritarian President Alexander Lukas...

Black American solidarity with Palestinians is rising and testing longstanding ties to Jewish allies

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:06:37 GMT

Cydney Wallace, a Black Jewish community activist, never felt compelled to travel to Israel, though “Next year in Jerusalem” was a constant refrain at her Chicago synagogue.The 39-year-old said she had plenty to focus on at home, where she frequently gives talks on addressing anti-Black sentiment in the American Jewish community and dismantling white supremacy in the U.S.“I know what I’m fighting for here,” she said.That all changed when she visited Israel and the West Bank at the invitation of a Palestinian American community activist, along with two dozen other Black Americans and Muslim, Jewish and Christian faith leaders. The trip, which began Sept. 26, enhanced Wallace’s understanding of the struggles of Palestinians living in the West Bank under Israeli military occupation. But, horrifyingly, it was cut short by the unprecedented Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas militants. In Israel’s ensuing bombardment of the Gaza Strip, shocking images of destruction and death seen around ...