By Christine Coleman
Edited by Elissa D. Hecker
Entertainment
Judge in Young Thug Trial Is Ordered Off the Case
Judge Ural Glanville, who oversaw the criminal trial of Young Thug for more than two years, was ordered to step aside for meeting with prosecutors and a key witness without the defense, and then defending the meeting. Following weeks of upheaval in the courtroom over an uncooperative witness, Judge Rachel Krause, a judge in Fulton County, Georgia., ruled that Judge Glanville must recuse himself in order to preserve “the public’s confidence in the judicial system.” The move to have Judge Glanville removed stemmed from motions by lawyers for Young Thug and another of the rapper’s five co-defendants. A new judge was assigned to the case.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/15/arts/music/young-thug-trial-judge-removed.html?searchResultPosition=1
‘Rust’ Armorer Asks for New Trial After Dismissal of Alec Baldwin’s Case
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for loading a live round into a gun on the “Rust” movie set, resulting in the fatal shooting of its cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, asked a court in New Mexico for a new trial following the collapse of the case against Alec Baldwin. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer halted Baldwin’s manslaughter trial and dismissed the case against him permanently after determining that the state had intentionally withheld new evidence that could have shed light on how live rounds ended up on the movie set, leading to Hutchins’s death. Jason Bowles and Monnica L. Barreras, the lawyers for Gutierrez-Reed, whose case was handled by the same prosecutor and who was sentenced to 18 months in prison by the same judge, are seizing on the problems exposed during Baldwin’s case to seek a new trial. The new evidence was a batch of live rounds that someone had dropped off to the local sheriff’s office around the time the armorer’s trial ended in March. The armorer’s lawyers have asked the judge to call for a new trial, dismiss the case or release Gutierrez-Reed from prison pending her appeal.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/17/arts/rust-armorer-hannah-gutierrez-reed-appeal.html
Before the Alec Baldwin Trial’s End, 2 Jurors Had Doubts About His Guilt
When Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer threw out the involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin earlier this month after finding that the prosecution had withheld evidence that could have helped his defense, it left key questions that have hung over the case for more than two years unresolved. Two members of the jury, Johanna Haag and Gabriela Picayo, spoke about the case publicly for the first time and said in interviews that they had been far from convinced, given the evidence they had heard before the trial was brought to its abrupt end, that Baldwin was guilty of involuntary manslaughter for the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the “Rust” film set. In order to convict Baldwin, 12 jurors would have had to agree, unanimously, that he had committed involuntary manslaughter by finding, in part, that he had acted with a “willful disregard” for the safety of others on the set and that he “should have known” of the danger inherent in his actions. The interviews with the two jurors provided the first indication that the prosecution had been struggling to convince at least some on the panel.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/20/arts/alec-baldwin-rust-jurors.html
Nirvana vs. Marc Jacobs: 6-Year-Long Lawsuit Over Smiley Face Logo Finally Settled
The Nirvana smiley face logo, allegedly designed by the late Kurt Cobain, has been the subject of a 6-year-long lawsuit among the band’s remaining members, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, designer Marc Jacobs, and Nirvana’s former art director, Robert Fisher. The suit alleged that Jacobs stole the image for his Bootleg Redux Grunge collection in 2018, violating Nirvana’s copyright. In 2019, Jacobs countersued, citing depositions from Grohl and Novoselic, in which they stated they weren’t sure who designed the original logo. Then, earlier this year, Fisher became involved, claiming that he designed the logo and that Nirvana had been profiting off of his design for years. The three parties recently agreed to a proposal submitted by Magistrate Judge Steve Kim of the Central District of California and in a joint filing stated that they agreed to settle the matter out of court. The settlement agreement is slated to be drafted in the coming weeks.
https://americansongwriter.com/nirvana-vs-marc-jacobs-6-year-long-lawsuit-over-smiley-face-logo-finally-settled/
Harvey Weinstein’s Latest Sexual Assault Trial Set to Start in November
Justice Curtis Farber, a New York State Supreme Court judge, set November 12 as the tentative date for the start of jury selection in a new sexual assault case against the disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, whose 2020 sex-crimes conviction in New York was overturned in April. Manhattan district attorney Alvin L. Bragg has affirmed that he plans to retry the case against Weinstein, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison in a separate sex-crimes case in Los Angeles and is currently being held at the Rikers Island jail complex. Manhattan prosecutors said this month that they had identified allegations of rape and sexual assault against Weinstein that they planned to present to a grand jury. The accusations, some of which prosecutors were aware of at the time of the first trial, are based on events that occurred within the statute of limitations to bring charges. Nicole Blumberg, an assistant district attorney, told the court last week that the women had previously not been ready to go forward, but that some were now ready. In the 2018 Manhattan trial, Weinstein was convicted of raping one woman and committing a criminal sex act against another. However, the Court of Appeals overturned the decision saying Weinstein had not received a fair trial because the judge had let prosecutors call the witnesses whose allegations were not connected to the charges.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/19/nyregion/harvey-weinstein-sexual-assault-trial-date.html?searchResultPosition=1
Arts
To Sell Prized Paintings, a University Proclaims They’re Not ‘Conservative’
Judge Michael Fish of Porter County Superior Court in Indiana is facing the question of what makes a painting “conservative”, as Valparaiso University contends that it should be able to sell the high-value paintings it owns, “Rust Red Hills” by Georgia O’Keeffe (1930) and “The Silver Veil and the Golden Gate” by Childe Hassam (1914), in order to finance a renovation of freshman dormitories. The university said the sale was necessary because enrollment had declined, prompting the school to cut some programs and positions. After opposition to the sale of the art, the college is now arguing that selling the paintings is justified because they should never have been acquired in the first place. The stipulations of the 1953 gift used to purchase them said it could be spent only on “conservative” works. The university says that because the paintings are from modernist art movements and are not representational, they are not conservative and therefore can now be sold. The university needs legal permission to stray from the terms of the donation, contending that fulfilling the specific intention of the gift is no longer possible, and that improving conditions for the student body is a suitable charitable use. Richard Brauer, a former art professor and member of the committee created to administer the gift, filed a motion to intervene, saying that the trustee, Perry Sloan, approved of including modern art in the collection and that was reason enough to reject the university’s argument for selling the paintings. Sloan never defined what he meant by “conservative,” with that qualification coming in his last will and testament, a largely terse legal document. However, in the trustee agreement, he went into more detail about what he hoped the collection would deliver.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/19/arts/design/valparaiso-university-paintings-sale.html?searchResultPosition=1
“This ruling reinforces our belief in fair competition within the guitar industry”: Dean Guitars wins the right to a retrial in its ongoing trademark dispute with Gibson
The 5th Circuit ruled that Armadillo Enterprises, the owner Dean Guitars, is entitled to a retrial after it appealed against a 2022 ruling that went in Gibson's favor. The dispute centered around the usage of V and Z shape guitars. Gibson believes Dean's manufacturing infringes on its trademark rights, while Dean believes that the shapes are perceived as generic, rather than Gibson-specific shapes. Armadillo based its appeal on the Texas District Court’s decision to exclude certain evidence pre-dating 1992, saying that it was an abuse of the court’s discretion. the Circuit Court of Appeals believed that decades of worth of evidence was wrongfully not permitted during the 2022 case and permitted Armadillo to a retrial. The decision does not overturn a 2022 injunction preventing Dean from using the disputed shapes for the time being.
https://www.guitarplayer.com/news/dean-guitars-gibson-appeal-ruling
‘You Think, So You Can Dance?’ Science Is on It.
“Epiphany Machine,” is a performance that’s also a scientific study. It paints a picture of the brain on dance both onstage and in data. Two dancers move through a simple sequence of steps while wearing electroencephalography caps, which track their brains’ electrical activity. Lab technicians monitor the caps’ data on laptops and on a large screen, kaleidoscopic projections illustrate the performers’ brain activity for the audience, in real time. Performed last month at Virginia Tech, “Epiphany Machine” is a product of the emerging field of dance neuroscience, which explores dance’s unusual brain-body connection. Sophisticated imaging technology has helped reveal that dance’s multifaceted demands engage the mind as intensively as the body; that dance can root people’s minds more firmly in our physical selves; and that dancing together can help people relate to each other. Dance neuroscience studies are beginning to reveal the neural mechanisms behind dance’s positive impact on motor function, cognition, and mental well-being in people with a variety of neurological conditions.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/15/arts/dance/dance-neuroscience-body-brain-behavior.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
Sports
IOC backs WADA in swimming scandal
Despite growing criticism from many in the sport world and the United Sates Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) specifically, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) validated the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) independent report in the case of 23 positive tests from China and expressed its "full confidence" in the global watchdog. WADA has been under heavy fire since the New York Times and German broadcaster ARD reported in April that the swimmers had shown traces for trimetazidine (TMZ) at a domestic meet before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and were still allowed to compete. The results of the investigation conducted by Swiss prosecutor Eric Cottie were delivered and labelled "thorough, expeditious and complete" by WADA. Athlete-led pressure groups strongly disagreed with the results and USADA considered the effort “futile”. However, the IOC did not hesitate to back WADA, accepting the thesis in the report, which in turn did not dispute the original findings by the Chinese anti-doping authorities that the athletes ingested the substance unwittingly from contaminated food.
https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1146613/ioc-wada-in-swimming-scandal
To Bring Back a College Football Video Game, It Took 11,000 Paydays
More than a decade after N.C.A.A. Football video game was shelved amid legal challenges, the rebranded franchise is back. For the first time, the real-life players are getting paid. Each player who was included in EA Sports College Football 25 is receiving $600 and a deluxe edition of the game. Previously, to comply amateurism rules, the N.C.A.A. Football franchise had to fill team rosters with avatars that looked very similar to the actual players. That practice came under fire as the push to pay college athletes gained steam, drawing lawsuits that shelved the series after N.C.A.A. Football 14. Since then, the landscape has undergone seismic shifts, and players can now be paid for the use of their names, images, and likenesses. The rebranded EA Sports College Football 25 contains more than 11,000 real-life players. In order to build the rosters for each team, a studio at Electronic Arts created a machine learning tool to build player likenesses and spent more than $6 million to secure athlete participation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/15/arts/ea-sports-college-football-25.html?searchResultPosition=1
The shocking story of Hwang Ui-jo – Secret sex video charge, blackmail and a family deception
Hwang Ui-jo, a South Korea international with 62 caps and player for the Premier League club Nottingham Forest, was charged by prosecutors in Seoul last week for allegedly filming sexual encounters with two women without permission on four occasions from June to September 2022. If convicted, the offences carry up to a maximum seven years in prison. Court proceedings are scheduled to begin next month. Hwang’s charges intensified a national debate in South Korea about the issue of “molka,” when videos are secretly filmed for sexual purposes.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5640811/2024/07/18/hwang-ui-jo-sex-video-charge/
Athletes Find a New Arena to Build Wealth
For more than 200 pro athletes, the boutique investment firm Patricof Co is opening the door to the private equity market. Since 2018, Patricof Co has teamed up on deals with KKR, Bain, and other large firms to buy into consumer brands that align with the athletes’ interests and that they believe have the potential to go public or be acquired in just a few years. The firm has built a roster of 250 athletes. For private equity firms, the athletes represent relatable celebrities who can also provide marketing muscle. The 25 deals that Patricof Co has closed so far include stakes in Goldin, Kodiak, Sweetwater. The firm has exited part or all of five of its deals. Terms are confidential, but generally, Patricof Co invests from $10 million to $25 million.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/20/business/jason-kelce-ole-smoky-moonshine-private-equity.html
Technology/Media
What We Know About the Global Microsoft Outage
On Friday, a global tech outage affecting Microsoft users was caused by a flawed update by CrowdStrike, an American cybersecurity firm, whose systems are intended to protect users from hackers. The issue affected machines running “CrowdStrike Falcon.” Across the world, critical businesses and services, including airlines, hospitals, train networks, and TV stations, were disrupted. Flights were grounded, workers could not get access to their systems and customers could not make card payments in stores. While some of the problems were resolved within hours, many businesses, websites, and airlines continued to struggle to recover.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/19/technology/microsoft-crowdstrike-outage-what-happened.html
Apple, Nvidia, Anthropic Used Thousands of Swiped YouTube Videos to Train AI
An investigation by Proof News found some of the wealthiest AI companies in the world have used material from thousands of YouTube videos to train AI, despite YouTube’s rules against harvesting materials from the platform without permission. Proof’s investigation found that subtitles from 173,536 YouTube videos, siphoned from more than 48,000 channels, were used by Silicon Valley heavyweights, including Anthropic, Nvidia, Apple, and Salesforce. The dataset, called YouTube Subtitles, contains video transcripts from sources such as educational and online learning channels, major news publications, and late night talk shows. Content providers are now upset that their material was used to train AI without their consent, and believe they should properly compensated for the use of their material. According to a research paper published by EleutherAI, the creator of YouTube Subtitles, the dataset is part of a compilation the nonprofit released called the Pile. Most of the Pile’s datasets are accessible and open for anyone on the internet with enough space and computing power to access them. Apple, Nvidia, and Salesforce, and Anthropic describe in their research papers and posts how they used the Pile to train AI.
https://www.wired.com/story/youtube-training-data-apple-nvidia-anthropic/?source=Email_0_EDT_WIR_NEWSLETTER_0_DAILY_ZZ&utm_source=nl&utm_brand=wired&utm_mailing=WIR_Daily_071624&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&utm_content=WIR_Daily_071624&bxid=5be9d63124c17c6adf3e4302&cndid=24398681&hasha=72bb6e864908cdf3c5ef178310fd28fa&hashb=b80503d518a05d886f7489615eafd6cdd012acf9&hashc=a56884b15f52a23930fd1cad4e8531916b52ea8a19835c4c08439717bda510c4&esrc=OIDC_SELECT_ACCOUNT_PAGE&utm_term=WIR_Daily_Active
Elon Musk Enters Uncharted Territory With Trump Endorsement
Elon Musk, the owner of X, broke with tradition at other social media companies to support former president Trump, as he drives political conversation on his site. Roughly 30 minutes after Trump was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania, Musk backed his bid for the White House. Since then, Musk has further stepped up his political speech in more than 100 posts. No other leaders of other major social media have endorsed a presidential candidate. By using X as a megaphone for his politics, Musk has erased any air of neutrality for the platform.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/technology/elon-musk-trump.html?searchResultPosition=1
Carlos Watson, Ozy Media Founder, Is Found Guilty of Fraud
A federal jury found Carlos Watson and Ozy Media guilty of trying to defraud investors and lenders to promote the digital media company. The jury deliberated for three days after an eight-week trial in which the prosecutors accused Watson of conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. Many of the government’s witnesses revealed new details about deception at the company, revealed by many of the government’s witnesses, included an impersonated phone call, fabricated contracts, and misleading claims about Ozy’s earnings. Watson faces up to 37 years in prison. The lawyers for Watson and Ozy said they planned to appeal “immediately.” Watson’s sentencing will be held November 18.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/business/media/carlos-watson-ozy-media-guilty.html?searchResultPosition=1
Evan Gershkovich Sentenced to 16 Years in Russian Prison on Fabricated Charges
A Russian court sentenced Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, to 16 years in a high-security penal colony, ending his espionage trial on what were widely viewed outside Russia as fabricated charges. The verdict opens the way for a potential prisoner swap between the United States and Russia. The harsh sentence represented the first espionage conviction of a Western reporter in modern Russia, but the expedited nature of the case suggested that Moscow might be ready to trade Gershkovich.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/19/world/europe/russia-court-evan-gershkovich-verdict.html
Dig at Meloni’s Height Could Cost Reporter in Italy 5,000 Euros
A judge in Milan found Italian journalist Giulia Cortese guilty of defaming Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and ordered her to pay damages of 5,000 euros (about $5,500 USD), as well as court costs, according to the defendant’s lawyer David Olivetti. Olivetti said he would read the ruling before deciding whether to appeal. Italy defines defamation as “damage to the reputation of a person through communication with several persons.” It does not distinguish between public figures and ordinary people. The case against Cortese is only the latest in a series of defamation lawsuits brought by Meloni against some of her outspoken critics. Luca Libra, Meloni’s lawyer, said that, under Italian law, everyone has the right to criticize, as long as that criticism is not a personal offense. Several organizations that monitor press freedom have voiced concerns about the lawsuits in Italy, including Reporters Without Borders, which wrote that “for the most part, Italian journalists enjoy a climate of freedom” but that they can give in to self-censorship “to avoid a defamation suit or other form of legal action.” Cortese said that whether she appealed or not, the ruling would have an impact on her life. “As a journalist, I no longer feel free to write about politics because I could easily have problems, as I am not favorable to this government,” she said. Lawsuits, she said, “are a form of intimidation.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/18/world/europe/italy-journalist-defamation-meloni.html?searchResultPosition=1
General News
Biden Drops Out of Race, Scrambling the Campaign for the White House
President Biden abruptly abandoned his campaign for a second term under intense pressure from fellow Democrats and threw his support to Vice President Kamala Harris to lead their party in a dramatic last-minute bid to stop former President Donald J. Trump from returning to the White House. “It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” Biden said in a letter posted on social media. “And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.” Biden then posted an online message endorsing Harris. Biden’s decision upended the race and set the stage for a raucous and unpredictable campaign unlike any in modern times, leaving Harris just 107 days to consolidate support from Democrats, establish herself as a credible national leader and prosecute the case against Trump.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/21/us/politics/biden-drops-out.html
Kamala Harris Rapidly Picks Up Democratic Support as 2024 Race Is Reborn
Powerful leaders of the Democratic establishment quickly embraced Vice President Kamala Harris after President Biden’s shocking exit from the presidential race, hoping that a seamless succession could end a month of damaging chaos and transform a contest widely believed to be tipping toward Republicans.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/21/us/politics/harris-democrats-campaign-nominee-biden.html
Judge Dismisses Classified Documents Case Against Trump
Judge Aileen Cannon, the federal judge overseeing Trump’s classified documents case, ruled that the entire case should be thrown out because the appointment of the special counsel who brought the case, Jack Smith, had violated the Constitution. Judge Cannon found that Smith’s appointment was improper because it was not based on a specific federal statute and he had not been named to the post by the president or confirmed by the Senate. The ruling goes against precedent established in the Watergate era upholding the legality of the ways in which independent prosecutors have been put into their posts. Smith’s office said he would appeal. The 11th Circuit, where the appeal will be heard, previously reversed a decision Judge Cannon made that favored Trump shortly after the F.B.I. searched Mar-a-Lago.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/15/us/politics/trump-document-case-dismissed.html?campaign_id=305&emc=edit_tot_20240715&instance_id=128814&nl=trump-on-trial®i_id=67127294&segment_id=172206&te=1&user_id=0236c45b7ba3058bdd4cb83eb64a9d71
Six Takeaways From the Republican Convention
This article goes over six takeaways from the week of the Republican National Convention where Trump shattered his own record for the longest nominating speech by speaking past midnight. First, Trump promised to only attack President Biden by name only once in his speech, however he was unable to stick to that promise. Second, Trump’s speech wrapped up a four-day showcase of how thoroughly he has changed the party. Third, the main G.O.P. fear is overconfidence even though the convention was a success for the party. Fourth, Republicans practiced their Kamala Harris attacks, assuming that she would become Biden’s replacement if he were to drop out of the race. Fifth, The convention tried to put Trump in a softer light by depicting him as a kind and caring grandparent. Sixth, the MAGA movement is here to stay through the appointment of JD Vance as the Vice Presidential nominee.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/18/us/trump-rnc-republican-convention?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20240719&instance_id=129181&nl=from-the-times®i_id=67127294&segment_id=172563&te=1&user_id=0236c45b7ba3058bdd4cb83eb64a9d71
Biden Asks America to ‘Lower the Temperature’ After Trump Shooting
President Biden said in a prime-time Oval Office address that the nation needed to “lower the temperature in our politics,” saying that he deplored the attempted assassination of former President Trump and feared for the direction of the country’s politics.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/14/us/politics/biden-trump-unity.html?searchResultPosition=1
Senator Menendez Found Guilty on All Counts in Corruption Trial
Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat of New Jersey, was convicted on all counts in a sweeping scheme to sell his office to foreign powers and crooked businessmen in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, a luxury car and bars of solid gold. Some of the charges included in the 16 counts he faced included wire fraud, bribery, and extortion. Menendez is now the seventh Senator ever to be convicted of a federal crime. The verdict spurred swift calls for his resignation from Senator Chuck Schumer and New Jersey Governor Philip D. Murphy. Governor Murphy said that he would make a temporary appointment to fill Menendez’s seat should it become vacant. Menendez plans to appeal the verdict. Sentencing in the case is set for October 29th and several of the counts carry terms as long as 20 years in prison.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/16/nyregion/bob-menendez-verdict
Navy Exonerates Black Sailors Unfairly Convicted After World War II Disaster
On July 17, 1944, hundreds of sailors were loading ammunition onto two cargo ships in Port Chicago, California when an explosion powerful enough to be felt 50 miles away killed 320 of the men, most of them Black. More than 400 sailors were injured in the blast, the cause of which has never fully been determined. When ordered to continue loading ammunition the next day, 258 Black sailors objected until safety conditions improved. All of them were subjected to a sham trial and convicted of various offenses, although most of them eventually agreed to return to work at the piers. A group of 50 men continued to resist, and were given dishonorable discharges and jail sentences. They became known as the Port Chicago 50, and their case was used as a driver in the early days of the civil rights movement nationwide and helped lead to the desegregation of the armed forces. 80 years after the explosion at Port Chicago, Carlos Del Toro, the Navy secretary, officially exonerated all 258 Black sailors, none of whom are still alive.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/17/us/politics/navy-disaster-black-sailors-exonerated.html
Vaccines Significantly Reduce the Risk of Long Covid, Study Finds
In the first two years of the pandemic, researchers reported that the rate of long Covid was starkly lower among people who were vaccinated than those who were unvaccinated. However, the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, also found that vaccination did not eliminate all risk of developing long Covid, which continues to affect millions in the United States.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/17/health/long-covid-vaccines.html