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 PMC MRC forms PMRC, Vibe and Music Business Worldwide. PENSKE MEDIA AND  MRC  FORM PUBLISHING AND CONTENT VENTURES Newly Established PMRC Will Steward Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Billboard, Vibe and Music Business Worldwide Content Partnership Will Produce Television, Film and Other Formats With Access to Intellectual Property Across the Portfolio of Brands Leading independent media and entertainment companies Penske Media Corporation (PMC) and MRC announced today a deal to create two joint ventures in publishing and content, with both companies holding significant ownership. The announcement, effective today with a transition period through the end of 2020, was made by PMC CEO  Jay Penske  and MRC CEOs Asif Satchu and Modi Wiczyk. The first joint venture establishes PMRC which includes some of the most iconic brands in entertainment and music. These distinguished brands include PMC’s Rolling Stone, Variety and Music Business Worldwide ...

 Bear kills alpaca zoo, Caesar, a 16-year-old alpaca, died. A brown bear in Anchorage has been killed after breaking into the Alaska Zoo and killing an alpaca, according to a statement from the zoo. Caesar, a 16-year-old alpaca, died Saturday night, the zoo said. “We are deeply saddened by this tragic loss of both a wild bear and Caesar the alpaca,” Zoo Director Patrick Lampi said in the statement. Caesar’s companion, a younger alpaca named Fuzzy Charlie Kozak, escaped the bear and was found “wide-eyed” elsewhere in the zoo, said Jill Meyer, the zoo’s development director. The brown bear had apparently been causing trouble in the surrounding neighborhood, by rummaging through trash at night, and it had flipped trash bins at the zoo trying to get inside, according to Anchorage Area Fish and Game Biologist Dave Battle. That was a problem, Battle said, because brown bears will sometimes try to protect a food source, including trash, and can attack people. The biologists had alrea...

 King Salman UN address, second Saudi monarch to do so. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman made a rare address to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, using the moment to highlight the foundational notions of his regime — his steadfast commitment to the Palestinians, his stature as custodian of Islam’s holiest sites and his assertion that Iran is responsible for much of the region’s instability. The prerecorded speech to world leaders suggested that the 84-year-old king, who delivers only a handful of public remarks each year, retains oversight of high-level policies despite the immense powers amassed by his son, the crown prince. In delivering his remarks, he became only the second Saudi king to deliver a speech to the world assembly. The first was his late brother, King Saud, in 1957 at U.N. headquarters in New York. And like his brother's speech 63 years prior, King Salman noted the sacred role of Islam in  Saudi Arabia  and the importance that entails. “We in the kin...

 Spain orca attacks ban, damaged by orca whales knocking their hulls. Spain has prohibited yachting across 100 kilometers (62 miles) of its northwestern coast after a number of sailboats have been damaged by orca whales knocking their hulls. Spain’s transport ministry issued the week-long prohibition for the vessels under 15 meters (49 feet) long starting on Tuesday night. It said the area covered by the ban could be extended to “follow the migration routes” of the whales. Boats are allowed to leave port to go into the open sea between the capes of the Prioriño Grande and la Punta de Estaca de Bares, but they must not remain near the coast off the country's northwestern tip. The ministry says the first reported incident occurred on Aug. 19. Since then, it said an unspecified number of sailboats have been damaged by orcas, with some needing assistance from Spain’s maritime rescue service after their rudders were wrecked. Spanish television has shown footage taken by sailors of ...

 Finland virus sniffing dogs, Finland deploys coronavirus-sniffing dogs. Ten specially-trained dogs are starting work at Helsinki Airport, using their noses to sniff out passengers with Covid-19. It’s part of the City of Vantaa’s efforts to test new ways to reduce the spread of the virus, with the canine coronavirus detectors able to smell the virus with almost 100% accuracy during tests conducted by the University of Helsinki. “We are among the pioneers. As far as we know no other airport has attempted to use canine scent detection on such a large scale against Covid-19” says Airport Director Ulla  Lettijeff  from Finavia. “We are pleased with the city of Vantaa’s initiative. This might be an additional step forward on the way to beating Covid-19” she adds. The dogs are able to identify the virus from a much smaller sample than the standard tests used by healthcare professionals – and need just 10-100 molecules to make a positive ID, compared to current tests which ...

 Road Warrior Animal dies at the age of 60. The other half of what many consider to be the greatest tag team in professional wrestling history is gone. Joe Laurinaitis - better known as Road Warrior Animal - has died at the age of 60, his family announced on Tuesday. Teaming with Mike "Road Warrior Hawk" Hegstrand, who died in 2003, as the Road Warriors/Legion of Doom, Laurinaitis won championships the world over in a career that spanned over three decades. The popularity of the Road Warriors spawned the creation of several imitator teams in federations all over the world. The pair were known for their signature face paint and spiked shoulder pads and famously used Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" as their entrance music for much of their careers. They ended matches with their signature Doomsday Device finisher in which Laurinaitis would place an opponent on his shoulders and Hegstrand would knock him off with a flying clothesline from the top rope. "With their i...

 Pregnant woman shark Florida Keys, upon entering the water. A man who suffered a “severe” shark bite while snorkeling in Florida with his family was pulled to safety by his pregnant wife, who leaped into the water to rescue him, according to authorities. Andrew Eddy, 30, was snorkeling on a private boat at Sombrero Key Light on Sunday when he was bitten on the shoulder by a shark “almost immediately” upon entering the water, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said in a  statement . Deputy Christopher Aguanno wrote in an incident report obtained by PEOPLE that Eddy’s wife, Margot Dukes Eddy, saw the shark’s dorsal fin, and then saw the water fill with blood. “Dukes, without hesitation, dove into the water and pulled Eddy to the safety of the boat,” Aguanno wrote. The couple was on the boat with Dukes Eddy’s parents, her sister and her sister’s boyfriend, most of whom were already in the water when the attack occurred, the report said. Eddy, who lives in Atlanta, was taken...

 Hawaii beaches 2050, maintain beaches and retain shorelines. As much as 40% of Hawaii's beaches could be lost to sea level rise by 2050, a new study predicts.  CBS Honolulu affiliate KGMB reports  the research, by the University of Hawaii's School of Ocean and Earth Sciences, also looked at the impact of beach hardening — building groins and sea walls to unnaturally maintain beaches and retain shorelines. A previous study by the school showed how sea walls can accelerate erosion and predicted that almost 25 miles of beaches on Oahu could disappear if practices don't change. The new study  points out that sea level rise is speeding up and estimates seas could rise by nearly 10 inches over the next 30 years. Researchers suggest the outlook wouldn't be good if Hawaii keeps hardening its beaches. The most threatened properties fall into an "administrative erosion hazard zone," an area likely to experience erosion hazards and qualify for an emergency permitti...

 Uncle Ben's new name, create a more inclusive brand. Mars will change the name of its Uncle Ben's rice products to Ben's Original and drop the logo depicting a Chicago head waiter as part of the company's  previously announced plans  to create a more inclusive brand. The revamped Ben's products, which feature the same blue font and orange packaging, will hit shelves in 2021. The transition from Uncle Ben's to Ben's Original comes amid a broader movement about racial equality and heightened criticism of  brands with origins rooted in racial stereotypes . In June, the food companies that   make Uncle Ben's, Aunt Jemima, Cream of Wheat and Mrs. Butterworth's  said they would retire or rebrand their products . Mars' rice brand was named in the 1940s for "Uncle Ben," a   possibly   fictitious   Black rice farmer from Texas supposedly   renowned for his high-quality crop. It featured the face of Frank Brown, head waiter at an exclusive Chica...

 Breonna Taylor grand jury, Ex-cop indicted; 2 others said to be 'justified'. Protesters in Louisville and supporters across the U.S. have called for "justice for Breonna Taylor" for more than six months. On Wednesday, a Kentucky grand jury  indicted one of three police officers  involved in her shooting death on charges of wanton endangerment for shooting a gun into three neighboring apartments. Former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison is facing three felony charges; two other officers involved in the shooting were not. Taylor, a 26-year-old ER technician, was killed after officers used a "no-knock" search warrant at her apartment shortly before 1 a.m. on March 13, looking for drugs and cash as part of a larger narcotics investigation connected to her former boyfriend. She was shot six times, though officials have not publicly said which officer or officers shot her.  Here are the latest updates in the case: Attorney General...

 Dijon Kizzee autopsy shots,  Attorneys for family of Dijon Kizzee say he tried. Attorneys representing the family of Dijon Kizzee on Tuesday presented the findings of an independent autopsy. Kizzee, a 29-year-old Black man, was  shot and killed by deputies  from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department on August 31. Kizzee was fatally shot after deputies tried to stop him for riding his bicycle on the wrong said of the road, police said last week. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Captain Kent Wegener said Thursday that Kizzee fled from the officers who tried to cite him for a traffic violation,  according to CBS Los Angeles . At one point, Kizzee dropped a pistol and, according to Wegener, he "bends over, reaches, picks up the gun and is shot while he stands with the gun in hand." Wegener also claimed the gun was stolen during a 2017 burglary in Las Vegas.

 Ruth Bader Ginsburg lies in repose, her casket is being placed outside the court. Three days of public mourning for Justice  Ruth Bader Ginsburg , a champion of equality and women's rights, began Wednesday when her casket arrived at the Supreme Court for a dramatic procession up the court steps lined by more than a hundred of her former law clerks. Her casket was placed on the Lincoln Catafalque, once used for President Abraham Lincoln, before a ceremony inside the court's Great Hall attended by family, friends and her fellow justices at which Chief Justice John Roberts spoke, calling her a "fighter" for equal justice and saying while "her voice was soft, but when she spoke, people listened." Roberts, who sat next to Ginsburg on the Supreme Court bench, said her life was a reflection of the American Dream, calling her “a star” who “found her stage in our courtroom.” One of her “many virtues” that defined her time on the bench, he said, was her “humilit...

 Alaska grizzly bear attack, hunter was killed in Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias. A grizzly bear killed a hunter in a national park in Alaska, the National Park Service said Tuesday. The hunter, who was on a 10-day moose hunting trip with a friend, was killed Sunday in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, a 13.2-million-acre park in the eastern part of the state next to the Yukon in Canada. The hunter's identity has not been released pending an investigation, the park said. No other injuries were reported. More details about the deadly attack and information about whether officials were looking for the bear were not immediately clear.

 Pelosi Mnuchin government shutdown, end of the month off the table.. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin clinched an agreement Tuesday to take the threat of a government shutdown at the end of the month off the table. The bipartisan accord, which comes after several days of back-and-forth between Democrats and Republicans over the stopgap funding measure, would fund the government through December 11. Members of the House approved the deal shortly after it was announced, by 359-57, with one member voting present. The agreement includes tens of billions in funds for the Commodity Credit Corporation -- a priority for Republicans and bipartisan members from agricultural states and districts, which will replenish crucial aid to farmers. The aid will come with some restrictions, after Democrats raised concerns that the money was being utilized by the Trump administration to distribute funds to favored political interests. The measure also includes near...

 Xbox Series X pre-orders sold out, but all hope might not be lost. The initial wave of preorders for the Xbox Series X and S have sold out at all major retailers. Of course, there’s still a chance that you’ll find one in stock if you click through one of the many links on  our preorder guide , but this morning’s rush of orders seems to have scooped most of the consoles up. Though, if you were trying to order a console earlier today, there was a decent chance that you were actually able to get that done. So Microsoft’s plan for giving retailers and people plenty of time to prepare for preorders to start seems to have worked, at least up against last week’s surprisingly disastrous Sony PS5 preorder process, which kicked off  more like a Supreme drop than a launch from an established tech company . Microsoft’s official time to start preorders for the new Xbox consoles was 11AM ET, but not every site actually went live at that time — going against the expectations of ev...

 William LeCroy execution, Federal government executes inmate. The federal government on Tuesday  executed  an inmate who raped and murdered a 30-year-old nurse in Georgia 19 years ago and blamed the victim for using witchcraft on him. William Emmett LeCroy, 50, was found guilty in March 2004 of carjacking resulting in death by a jury in the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. LeCroy's attorneys Tuesday appealed to the US Supreme Court for a stay of execution, but in the first order since Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death, the court denied the request. A pool reporter said he was pronounced dead at 9:06 p.m. ET. According to the US Department of Justice, LeCroy killed Joann Lee Tiesler in 2001 while he was trying to flee the country. Tiesler's father, Tom, said Tuesday in a written statement that "justice was finally served."

 Vanessa Bryant lawsuit, "biggest threat to the sanctity of the victims". Vanessa Bryant,  widow of NBA legend Kobe Bryant,  filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles county and its sheriff’s office over photos shared by first responders of the helicopter crash that killed her husband and daughter earlier this year. The complaint, filed last week but obtained by NBC News on Tuesday, accuses the county employees of  having “showed off” photos of the remains of Kobe Bryant and 13-year-old Gianna Bryant . The father and daughter died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 29 along with seven others as they traveled to a basketball tournament in Thousand Oaks, California, where the 13-year-old was supposed to play. Bryant expressed concern to the sheriff that the helicopter crash site was unprotected against paparazzi and was assured law enforcement would secure the scene, according to the lawsuit. “But the biggest threat to the sanctity of the victims’ remains proved to be the Sheriff...

Carrie Mulligan Maestro, Shooting will begin next spring. Bradley Cooper  has found his onscreen partner and a new title —  Maestro  — for the  Leonard Bernstein  film he will star in and direct for Netflix.  Carey Mulligan  has been cast as  Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein , wife of the legendary composer/conductor. Shooting will begin next spring. Cooper co-wrote the screenplay with Oscar-winning   Spotlight   scribe Josh Singer. Cooper has been working with the Bernstein family for three years developing the film as the followup to his directorial debut,   A Star is Born . Maestro will tell the complex love story of Leonard and Felicia, a story that spans over 30 years–from the time they met in 1946 at a party and continuing through two engagements, a 25 year marriage, and three children: Jamie Bernstein, Alexander Bernstein and Nina Bernstein Simmons. The Bernstein children sparked to Mulligan playing their mom. “We’re absolu...

 Mildred Schappals Spanish flu, survivor of COVID-19. NASHUA, NH - More than 100 years after she caught the Spanish Flu as a baby, Mildred "Gerri" Schappals is now a survivor of COVID-19. "She was only about 10 months old when she had it," her daughter Julia told WMUR. "The doctor had given up on her and said that she would likely die. She had a high fever. They didn't even to bother to pin the diaper on her when they changed her, because she didn't move." Schappal not only survived the 1918 pandemic but multiple bouts with cancer as well in her 60s and 70s respectively. "She had radiation therapy for the breast cancer and had surgery and chemotherapy for the colon cancer," her daughter said. "She survived them both." Schappals is now at an assisted living facility where she came down with COVID-19. But, even at 102, she survived that too. Her family says she has since fully recovered. Her daughter says Gerri hopes to live ...

 Cardi B defamation lawsuit, “all because they are a Afro/Hispanic gay couple.”. Cardi B , her sister  Hennessy Carolina , and Carolina’s girlfriend  Michelle Diaz  are all reportedly being sued by a group of beachgoers who claim they’ve been publicly defamed. The plaintiffs are suing Carolina for assault, battery, defamation, and civil rights violations, and named Cardi and Diaz for defamation and civil rights violations, over an incident that took place on September 6 at Smith Point beach on Fire Island. According to the group’s lawyer  John Ray , who spoke with  ABC 7 New York , “These peaceful Suffolk County residents were quietly enjoying a Sunday at the Smith Point beach with their families, when rap celebrity Hennessy Carolina suddenly approached them, raging, spitting, insulting, assaulting, defaming, and threatening them, all the while videotaping them because one of them wore a MAGA hat.” Ray continued, “Then Hennessy, Cardi B, and celebrity ...

 ISS space debris, objects in Earth's orbit. Astronauts on the International Space Station carried out an "avoidance maneuver" Tuesday to ensure they would not be hit by a piece of debris, said US space agency NASA, urging better management of objects in Earth's orbit. Russian and US flight controllers worked together during a two-and-a-half-minute operation to adjust the station's orbit and move further away, avoiding collision. The debris passed within about 1.4 kilometers (nearly one mile) of the ISS, NASA said. The three  crew members —two Russians and an American—relocated to be near their Soyuz spacecraft as the maneuver began so they could evacuate if necessary, NASA said, adding that the precaution was taken "out of an abundance of caution." The astronauts were able to return to their normal activities after the procedure, according to NASA. "Maneuver Burn complete. The astronauts are coming out of safe haven," NASA chief Jim Bride...