Новости за 17.08.2017

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York state court system's longtime communications chief was fired Thursday after inadvertently telling a reporter that he "barely" went to work at his $166,000-a-year job. David Bookstaver's firing came a day after the New York Post reported he unwittingly dialed a reporter's voicemail, which captured him conversing with someone else — and acknowledging that he was sloughing off at the office. "I'm not doing anything. I barely show up to work," Bookstaver said in a part of the recording the newspaper posted online. Читать дальше...

A settlement in the lawsuit against two psychologists who helped devise the CIA’s brutal interrogation program was announced Thursday, bringing to an end an unusual effort to hold individuals accountable for the techniques the agency adopted after the Sept. 11 attacks. Lawyers for the three plaintiffs in the suit, filed in 2015 in U.S. District Court in Spokane, Wash., said the former prisoners were tortured at secret CIA detention sites. The settlement with the psychologists, Dr. Читать дальше...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The Latest on the New York education commissioner's decision to remove one-time Republican candidate for New York governor Carl Paladino from the Buffalo school board (all times local): 4:40 p.m. The president of the Buffalo school board says she hopes the ouster of a board member who was widely protested will bring an end to distractions that have gotten in the way of board business. Barbara Nevergold praised Thursday's decision by state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia... Читать дальше...

NEW YORK (AP) — It's a largely overlooked but gory reality of the New York City subway system: When someone takes their life by jumping in front of a train, police need to find a place to put the mutilated body until a medical examiner truck arrives. Sometimes, transit workers say, that place is their break room or bathrooms. And naturally, they don't like it. Some say they have been traumatized by unexpectedly coming upon a stowed body. "The subway isn't supposed to be New York City's temporary morgue," said John Samuelsen... Читать дальше...

Walmart’s recent spending spree to try to catch up to Amazon seems to be paying off. The world’s largest retailer said Thursday that online sales soared 60 percent in the past three months as people shopped more at Walmart.com, Jet.com and its other websites. Walmart had paid more than $3 billion for Jet last year, and since then picked up smaller players including ModCloth and Moosejaw. It is also expanding online grocery ordering to more stores, and is adding giant... Читать дальше...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee has launched a national search for a Title IX coordinator to oversee the entire University of Tennessee system. This was one of the recommendations an independent commission made this summer on how Tennessee could improve its Title IX compliance. The commission was formed after Tennessee reached a $2.48 million settlement last year in a Title IX lawsuit filed by eight women who had said the school fostered a "hostile sexual environment" through a policy of indifference... Читать дальше...

HOUSTON — Even as a new Texas law targeting sanctuary cities remains in legal limbo, police chiefs and sheriffs are making changes to comply, rewriting training manuals and withdrawing policies that prevented officers from asking people whether they are in the United States illegally. The law, known as Senate Bill 4, goes into effect Sept. 1 unless a federal judge in San Antonio blocks it. The law prohibits police from stopping an officer from inquiring into the immigration status of someone during an arrest or a traffic stop... Читать дальше...

It’s a minor miracle that Mimi Pond ever made it out of Oakland — or maybe that it took her so long to leave. The cartoonist and illustrator’s prolific career has included work in the National Lampoon, the New York Times and more, along with television credits with “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” and “Designing Women.” She even wrote the pilot episode of “The Simpsons.” But first, Pond was a starving artist in Oakland.

Finn Jones (Danny Rand, a.k.a. Iron Fist) caught up with TheWrap ahead of the release of Netflix’s latest foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “The Defenders,” to talk about being part of two of TV’s hottest shows. Jones is probably best known for his role as Loras Tyrell, brother to Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer), on HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” But since Loras and his sister (spoiler!) died at the end of Season 6, Jones has been keeping himself plenty busy as a young New York superhero. Jones... Читать дальше...

Netflix’s “The Defenders” finally brings Marvel’s “street level” super hero team to television, but the four leads aren’t the only Marvel characters who’ve staffed the group. In the comics, “The Defenders” have had dozens of incarnations over the years — fitting since the team is defined by its lack of organization. No charter, no bylaws, just a convenient team up of whoever is available whenever something needs stopping, even if the team doesn’t like each other. Here’s who has signed up as an official team member since it’s 1971 debut.

NEW YORK — If you learned your DNA made you more susceptible to getting a disease, wouldn’t you work to stay healthy? You’d quit smoking, eat better, ramp up your exercise, or do whatever else it took to improve your odds of avoiding maladies like obesity, diabetes, heart disease or cancer, right? The scientific evidence says: Don’t bet on it. DNA testing for disease risk has recently expanded in the U.S. The company 23andMe recently started selling... Читать дальше...

A day after 49ers general manager John Lynch was asked about his views on national anthem protests, head coach Kyle Shanahan addressed the issue and struck a different note. Shanahan indirectly referenced the recent racial unrest in Charlottesville, Va., that was sparked by a rally of white supremacists. Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett has cited the situation as the reason he plans to sit during the anthem this season. “I’m not going to tell anyone what to do or not to do,” Shanahan said. Читать дальше...

Paramount Pictures is pursuing a big-screen adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Sunset Boulevard” to star Tony winner Glenn Close — who just ended a revival run of the musical on Broadway in June. Close is in advanced talks to play the part she originated on the stage in 1994, and the studio is actively searching for a director and a leading man to star opposite her, two individuals familiar with the project told TheWrap. TV mogul Ryan Murphy was approached to helm, both insiders said, but no deals are in place. Читать дальше...

As the return of the dreaded Pennywise draws near for Warner Bros./New Line’s remake of Stephen King’s novel “It,” box office trackers are projecting a very strong opening that should continue what has been a great 2017 for horror blockbusters. Trackers have the remake on course for a $50-55 million opening from its early September release frame. If that range is reached, it would give “It” the record for the biggest September opening in box office history, passing the $48 million made by “Hotel Transylvania 2.

Anyone who remembers tackling T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” in school, trying to tease meaning from the dense modernist poem, probably knows just what Matthew Zapruder means when he takes issue with poetry’s unfortunate reputation for being “deliberately difficult.” A poet today can seem like a practitioner of some arcane, inscrutable art form, and thus many people never return to the genre — unless they’re in need of a verse for a wedding or eulogy. In his penetrating... Читать дальше...

NEW YORK (AP) — Ivanka Trump's rabbi denounced President Donald Trump for blaming "both sides" in a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, as the number of American Jewish leaders willing to criticize him grew. Rabbi Haskel Lookstein of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, and other rabbis from the prominent modern Orthodox synagogue in Manhattan, said in a Facebook message late Wednesday that they were "deeply troubled by the moral equivalency and equivocation" of Trump's reaction. Lookstein... Читать дальше...

Recommendations of recent books from the staffs of a rotating list of Bay Area independent bookstores. This week’s list is from Books Inc., 74 Town and Country Village, Palo Alto. (650) 321-0600. www.booksinc.net. Fiction Beren and Lúthien, by J.R.R. Tolkien: Recovered from one of the original drafts in 1917, the incredible story that Tolkien’s mythos was built from is a moving meditation on love and sacrifice... Читать дальше...

We recommend these recently reviewed titles: The Great Quake How the Biggest Earthquake in North America Changed Our Understanding of the Planet By Henry Fountain (Crown; 277 pages; $28) In his entertaining and enlightening book, Fountain tells the story of the 9.2-magnitude quake that shook Alaska in 1964.

I moved to New York not long after my mother killed my father, or was it my father who murdered my mother? “The Future Won’t Be Long,” a novel by Jarett Kobek There was a darker brown stain on our brown suede couch. “How to Behave in a Crowd,” a novel by Camille Bordas ... Читать дальше...

Parenthood is scary, especially in supernatural fiction. The final devilish twist at the end of “Rosemary’s Baby” comes with Rosemary’s maternal acceptance of the son of Satan. The horror that drives Stephen King’s “The Shining” hinges on Jack Torrance’s desperate desire to be a good father. With his new dark fantasy novel, “The Changeling,” Victor LaValle explores some of the most frightening aspects of parenthood, whether mundane or fantastic. He constructs a modern-day tale of terror rooted in ancient myth and folklore... Читать дальше...

NEW YORK (AP) — It took bloodshed in Charlottesville to get tech companies to do what civil rights groups have been calling for for years: take a firmer stand against accounts used to promote hate and violence. In the wake of the deadly clash at a white-nationalist rally last weekend in Virginia, major companies such as Google, Facebook and PayPal are banishing a growing cadre of extremist groups and individuals for violating service terms. What took so long? For one thing, tech companies have long... Читать дальше...

HONG KONG — A Hong Kong court sent young activist Joshua Wong and two other student leaders to prison Thursday for their roles in huge pro-democracy protests nearly three years earlier, in the latest sign that tolerance for dissent is waning in the Chinese-ruled former British colony. The High Court overturned an earlier verdict that let Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow avoid prison, agreeing with prosecutors that the original punishment for joining or leading an unlawful assembly that sparked the protests was too light. Читать дальше...

Same shoulder; different injury. Rookie inside linebacker Reuben Foster has a “mild AC joint sprain” in his surgically repaired right shoulder, according to the 49ers. However, the injury is not connected to the torn labrum he sustained during his senior season at Alabama and head coach Kyle Shanahan anticipates he will play in a preseason game Saturday against the Broncos. “I expect him to,” Shanahan said. “We want to be smart with him, regardless, but I would expect him to.” Foster... Читать дальше...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — The white nationalists behind last weekend's violent rally found an appealing target in the historic town where Thomas Jefferson founded a university and an outspoken, progressive mayor declared his city the "capital of the resistance" to President Donald Trump. For more than a year, the Charlottesville government has also been engaged in contentious public soul searching over its Confederate monuments, a process that led to the decision to remove a statue of Gen. Robert E. Читать дальше...

Twice a week, The Chronicle features a home on the market that caught our eye for its architecture, history or character. More photos: www.sfgate.com/columns/walkthrough Address: 207 King St. Unit 708, San Francisco Asking price: $2.488 million Description: This two-bedroom, 2½-bath, two-story unit boasts an open floor plan and occupies a top corner of its condo building. The gourmet kitchen... Читать дальше...