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Who’s Paying Fox’s $787.5 Million Settlement With Dominion? You Are!

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:46 GMT

Fox News just agreed to settle Dominion’s defamation lawsuit against it for $787.5 million. That sounds like a lot of money until you understand Fox’s principal source of revenue: Tens of millions of people who rarely or never watch it but are forced to pay a lot of money for it anyway.Understanding this requires a quick look at the economics of cable TV news.Before cable, we got TV news from the news divisions of the entertainment channels CBS, NBC, and ABC. They put on a few hours of news at most per day, their 30-minute broadcasts each night plus maybe Nightline or something like that. Those shows had ads, but they generally didn’t cover the cost of production, so the ad revenue from the networks’ sitcoms and other shows had to subsidize the programming about reality.Cable and satellite TV made possible the advent of 24-hour news channels, and while they made money from advertising, they also received what are called carriage fees from each subscriber. Cable or satellite provider...

House passes bill to overturn DC police accountability law

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:46 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led House approved a resolution Wednesday that would block a District of Columbia police accountability bill, further escalating the feud over the right to self-government in the nation’s capital.The House voted 229-189 on the measure — called a disapproval resolution — marking the third time this year that House Republicans have sought to overturn local D.C. legislation, with some Democratic help, claiming officials have been soft on crime in the midst of a multi-year spike. But the bill is unlikely to advance in the Democratic-led Senate, and President Joe Biden has promised a veto.Republicans pressed ahead, saying congressional scrutiny of the District’s laws is long overdue.“Just because Congress has not been fulfilling this role in recent decades is not a reason to avoid this responsibility now, especially when we know the nation’s capital city is plunging into a crime crisis,” Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the chairman of the House Oversight C...

2-time US hockey Olympic defender Megan Bozek retires

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:46 GMT

Two-time United States women’s hockey Olympian Megan Bozek announced her retirement on Wednesday.The 32-year-old defender from Buffalo Grove, Illinois, won silver medals at the 2014 Sochi and 2022 Beijing Winter Games. Bozek also won four gold medals in six world championship tournament appearances, ending with a silver-medal finish in 2022.Bozek made her national team debut in 2007 in the Under-18 Series, and finished her career with 17 goals and 41 assists for 58 points in 111 games.“I retire knowing I left everything I could out on the ice every time I laced up my skates,” Bozek said in a statement released by USA Hockey. “Playing alongside some of my best friends and role models, all who’ve been valuable members of helping grow the game of hockey, has been something truly special.”Bozek’s retirement comes with the U.S. developing a young core of defenders, including Caroline Harvey, Cayla Barnes, Rory Guilday and 19-year-old Haley Winn. At 20, Harvey had a tournament-leading 14 ...

Juventus awaits verdict in appeal of 15-point penalty

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:46 GMT

ROME (AP) — Juventus and the rest of Serie A will have to wait until Thursday at the earliest for the verdict of the Bianconeri’s appeal against a 15-point penalty for false accounting.Italy’s highest sports court adjourned on Wednesday evening after a three-hour hearing without announcing a decision, although it seems increasingly likely Juventus will be given the points back pending another trial.That would lift Juventus from seventh to third in Serie A and right in the mix for a spot in next season’s Champions League.Prosecutors have asked for the matter to be sent to a different court for a new trial, which would see Juventus handed the points back at least temporarily. Juventus wants the case thrown out completely.The storied Italian club was hit with the massive penalty in January while several members of its former board were also handed bans from soccer activities, including former president Andrea Agnelli.Juventus denied wrongdoing and appealed to Italy’s highest spor...

As US sports bets boom, internet gambling is slow to expand

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:46 GMT

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — While two-thirds of the country now offers legal sports betting, only six states offer online casino gambling, confounding industry hopes that the rapid growth of sports betting would also bring internet casino wagering along with it.Speaking Wednesday at the East Coast Gaming Congress in Atlantic City, industry executives and legislators from gambling states offered various explanations for why internet gambling has yet to expand beyond a handful of eastern states.Internet gambling is legal in New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia; Nevada offers online poker but not casino games.By contrast, 33 states plus Washington, D.C. offer legal sports betting.“It’s a mystery to me why we have 30 or so states that have sports wagering, and only six that allow I-gaming,” said Lloyd Levenson, an attorney who represents many Atlantic City casino companies. “You have to scratch your head as to why.”Shawn Fluharty, the minority...

Judge: House GOP can question ex-prosecutor about Trump case

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:46 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge will let House Republicans question a former Manhattan prosecutor about the criminal case against former President Donald Trump, ruling Wednesday that there is no legal basis to block the House Judiciary Committee’s subpoena.U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil rejected Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s request for a temporary restraining order and injunction, finding that committee chair Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, issued the subpoena to former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz with valid legislative purpose.Vyskocil, a Trump appointee, issued the ruling hours after a hearing in which she peppered lawyers on both sides with questions, asking them to parse thorny issues of sovereignty, separation of powers and Congressional oversight arising from the historic indictment.Acknowledging the “political dogfights” surrounding the case, the judge said in her ruling that she “does not endorse either side’s agenda.” She encouraged both sides to spea...

Charismatic Betis captain Joaquín Sánchez set to retire

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:46 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Charismatic Real Betis captain Joaquín Sánchez announced Wednesday he will retire at the end of the season.The 41-year-old midfielder, known just as much for his comic vein as for his well-rounded game, announced his decision through a video posted on social media.He said it was finally time to “hang up my boots, my art.”Carrying a playful demeanor throughout his career, Joaquín will retire after 23 seasons, most of them with boyhood club Betis. He also played for Málaga, Valencia and Fiorentina in Italy.Joaquín needs to play in eight of Betis’ final nine Spanish league matches to break the record of most league appearances, a mark currently held by former Spain and Barcelona goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta, who played 622 league games. Joaquín sits on 615.Joaquín had contemplated retiring last season but eventually returned for a final year after Betis won the Copa del Rey.He also helped Betis win the Copa title in 2005 and was with Valencia when it won the Copa i...

US judge orders Peru ex-leader detained for extradition

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:46 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A U.S. judge on Wednesday ordered former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo Manrique to surrender to federal agents after an appeals court denied his latest motion to stop his extradition back to Peru, where he faces charges he accepted millions of dollars in bribes.Magistrate Judge Thomas S. Hixson in San Francisco ordered Toledo, who has been under house arrest, to turn himself in Friday to U.S. Marshal agents in San Jose. Toledo will be placed in a San Mateo County jail while he awaits extradition to his native country, where authorities say he accepted bribes as part of a mammoth corruption scandal in which four of Peru’s ex-presidents have been implicated. Toledo denies the charges.Federal prosecutors have said Peruvian officials will travel to California to pick up Toledo and fly him back to Peru. When that will happen was not immediately known. Hixson’s order comes after the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday denied Toledo’s lates...

2nd abortion regulation bill vetoed by Kansas governor

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:46 GMT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ governor has vetoed legislation that would mandate clinics to tell patients that a medication abortion can be interrupted using an unproven drug regimen. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the bill Wednesday, again pushing back state GOP efforts to restrict abortion despite a decisive statewide vote affirming abortion rights last year.The governor’s action marked the second time this month that she vetoed an anti-abortion bill approved by the GOP-controlled Legislature. Last week, she rejected a measure that could subject doctors to criminal charges and lawsuits if they are accused of not providing enough care for infants delivered alive during certain abortion procedures, even if they are expected to die within seconds outside the womb because of a severe medical issue.The vetoes mean that abortion access and providers in Kansas remain far less restricted for now compared to other states with GOP-controlled legislatures that have banned or se...

Proud Boy says he took riot shield for protection on Jan. 6

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:46 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Proud Boy far-right extremist group member whose smashing out of a window at the U.S. Capitol allowed some of the first Jan. 6 rioters to enter the building testified Wednesday that he acted alone. Dominic Pezzola is one of five Proud Boys facing seditious conspiracy and other charges in one of the most high-profile trials to emerge from the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. He’s the second defendant to take the stand, a potentially risky legal move as the long-running trial inches to a close. Video captured Pezzola using a riot shield taken from a Capitol Police officer to smash out the glass after another rioter threw a piece of wood through it. In another selfie video, Pezzola has a “victory smoke” cigar as he says “I knew we could take this (expletive) if we just tried hard enough.” The flooring contractor from Rochester, New York, testified that he got “caught up in the craziness” on Jan. 6. He denied tearing the riot shield from a police officer’s arms himse...