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‘The Odyssey’ Artisans Ellen Mirojnick, Ruth De Jong and Jennifer Lame to Receive Variety’s Creative Collaborators Award at Middleburg Film Festival

“The Odyssey” artisans — costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, production designer Ruth De Jong and editor Jennifer Lame — are set to receive the Variety Creative Collaborators award at Virginia’s Middleburg Film Festival in October. As go-to artisans of Christopher Nolan, the trio of Oscar winners will be recognized for their work on his films “Oppenheimer” and “The Odyssey.” Susan Koch, […]

VarietyVariety•Jazztangcay15 Sept

We know how to prevent black lung, so why are workers still dying?

Sufferers of black lung and silicosis are getting younger as Trump and the coal mining industry push back on protections Silicosis is one of the oldest workplace hazards and public health experts have known for decades how to prevent it. Yet a new wave of workers, from Appalachian coalminers to Latino countertop fabrication workers, are developing and dying from the disease as industry fights new protections and regulators fail to defend the rules that could protect them. John Robinson’s grandfather developed black lung back when coalminers could spend decades in the mines before being diagnosed with the disease, often dying in their 60s, 70s and 80s. But Robinson, who mined for coal in south-west Virginia, was diagnosed when he was 47. He’s part of a trend that has grown over the past two decades in central Appalachia, where more coalminers are developing black lung disease at younger ages. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Sara Sneath12 Sept

We know how to prevent black lung, so why are workers still dying?

Silicosis sufferers are getting younger as Trump and the coal mining industry push back on protections Silicosis is one of the oldest workplace hazards and public health experts have known for decades how to prevent it. Yet a new wave of workers, from Appalachian coalminers to Latino countertop fabrication workers, are developing and dying from the disease as industry fights new protections and regulators fail to defend the rules that could protect them. John Robinson’s grandfather developed black lung back when coalminers could spend decades in the mines before being diagnosed with the disease, often dying in their 60s, 70s and 80s. But Robinson, who mined for coal in south-west Virginia, was diagnosed when he was 47. He’s part of a trend that has grown over the past two decades in central Appalachia, where more coalminers are developing black lung disease at younger ages. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Sara Sneath12 Sept

We know how to prevent black lung, so why are workers still dying?

Sufferers of black lung and silicosis are getting younger as Trump and the coal mining industry push back on protections Silicosis is one of the oldest workplace hazards and public health experts have known for decades how to prevent it. Yet a new wave of workers, from Appalachian coalminers to Latino countertop fabrication workers, are developing and dying from the disease as industry fights new protections and regulators fail to defend the rules that could protect them. John Robinson’s grandfather developed black lung back when coalminers could spend decades in the mines before being diagnosed with the disease, often dying in their 60s, 70s and 80s. But Robinson, who mined for coal in south-west Virginia, was diagnosed when he was 47. He’s part of a trend that has grown over the past two decades in central Appalachia, where more coalminers are developing black lung disease at younger ages. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Sara Sneath12 Sept

Nation pauses to remember September 11 on 25th anniversary | First Thing

Commemoration ceremonies to be held around the world for the nearly 3,000 killed in 2001 terror attack on US. Plus, JD Vance sets out his stall as heir to Donald Trump Good morning. It is a sombre day for the nation as people gather to mourn and remember the nearly 3,000 victims of the attacks on September 11 2001 , when 19 al-Qaida hijackers seized control of four airliners, slamming two of the planes into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the fourth into a field in western Pennsylvania. We have comprehensive coverage of the anniversary, which will be marked by ceremonies around the world. There are stories of the day from people who were there. Stanley Praimnath and Brian Clark were two of only four individuals known to have survived above the impact zone in the south tower, and they spoke to our Washington bureau chief David Smith . Anna Sweeney Rossman was five when her mother, Amy Sweeney, a flight attendant, was killed onboard American Airlines flight 11, and she spoke to Ramon Antonio Vargas about how the events of that day have cast a shadow on her life. Donald Trump’s promise of a $5,000 “Trump dividend” for every US citizen if Republicans retain control of the US Congress in November’s midterm elections has sparked incredulity and accusations of bribery . With his approval rating at a historic low, Trump brought down the curtain on the Republicans’ first ever midterm convention by pleading with supporters to do him “the biggest favor” and “pretend” they are voting for him in November’s US elections. JD Vance, meanwhile, made a clear pitch that he should be the heir to Trump with a blistering speech that featured exaggerated claims of success, criticism of the Democrats as “lunatics” and an aggressive dismissal of a protester waving a Mexican flag. A US appeals court has rejected Trump’s attempt to impose sweeping restrictions on mail-in voting before November’s high-stakes midterm elections, dealing a fresh blow to the president’s attempted crackdown. Anthropic has detailed efforts by bad actors to misuse its AI for the production of bioweapons . More researchers and staff members at the AI startup have posted their own dire warnings about the safety of the technology, but Elon Musk called the chorus of concerns a “setup” and a “psyop”. California has adopted what Gavin Newsom described as “nation-leading” legislation that bans addictive social media features for young users , regulates companion chatbots and implements new safeguards around AI. Sales of previously occupied US homes declined in August to their slowest annual pace in more than a year as home shoppers grappled with rising mortgage rates and home prices. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Martin Belam11 Sept

‘She’s buzzing’: Charley Hull to face world No 1 Nelly Korda in Solheim Cup opener

Hull will partner debutant Lottie Woad for Europe USA seeking to retain trophy they won in 2024 Galleries at the 20th Solheim Cup have been granted a blockbuster start with Nelly Korda and Charley Hull to face off in Friday morning’s foursomes. The meeting of Korda, the world No 1, and Hull, Europe’s star turn, should ensure an electric opening in the Netherlands as the USA seek to retain the trophy won in Virginia two years ago . Korda nudged out Hull at the US Women’s Open in June. Hull will partner the Solheim Cup debutant Lottie Woad against the formidable USA pairing of Korda and Allisen Corpuz to begin the tournament. Nanna Koerstz Madsen and Céline Boutier will represent Europe in match two, where they will take on Alison Lee and Lauren Coughlin. Esther Henseleit and Leona Maguire have been selected for the hosts in the penultimate match, with Andrea Lee and Lindy Duncan in opposition. The foursomes will conclude with Europe’s Swedish duo of Maja Stark and Linn Grant facing Rose Zhang and Jennifer Kupcho. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Ewan Murray at Bernardus Golf10 Sept

Court grants request from Republican groups to pause ruling, for now, on political broadcasting rates

The Supreme Court on Friday cleared the way for political parties and joint fundraising committees, at least for now, to receive favorable advertising rates in the upcoming midterm elections. In a four-page, unsigned opinion , the justices temporarily paused a ruling by a federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, that limited the favorable rates to candidates for federal office. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the lone dissenter. She would have turned down the request by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee to freeze the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. The dispute began this spring. Under federal election law , candidates for federal office can purchase advertising time at preferential rates during the run-up to elections: 45 days before the primary election and 60 days before the general. On March 30, the Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau issued a “public notice” indicating that political parties and joint fundraising committees would also be entitled to the more favorable rates. Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia and three other Democrats who are candidates for the House or Senate went to the full FCC on April 29, asking it to review the public notice. Approximately six weeks later, before the agency had acted on their application for review, they went to federal court, where they argued that the public notice was inconsistent with federal election laws. A divided panel of the 4th Circuit agreed . Writing for the majority, Judge Robert King held that federal law is “unambiguous”: it gives the preferential rates only to a “candidate” for his or her personal use, which does not extend to a candidate’s “mere authorization of someone else’s use.” Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson dissented. In his view, it was too soon for the court of appeals to weigh in, because the FCC was still deliberating. And in his view, the text of the law is ambiguous: it can “accommodate[], and may indeed favor, the FCC’s view.” Moreover, he added, the court’s decision “restrict[s] political speech in the sensitive period leading up to an election.” The NRSC and the NRCC, which had joined the case, came to the Supreme Court late last month, asking the justices to step in. Like Wilkinson, they argued that the court of appeals did not have the power to consider the candidates’ challenge in the first place because the public notice was merely a “staff-level” document “that is neither final nor an agency action” – an important distinction because the court only has the power to review “final orders of the Federal Communications Commission.” Instead, they contended, the notice “is at most an interpretive guidance document restating the FCC’s longstanding position regarding” the preferential rates. The 4th Circuit’s decision was also wrong on the merits, the committees continued. Whether an entity is entitled to a preferential rate hinges on whether a candidate or “any authorized committee of the candidate” uses a broadcasting station before the election; who pays for the advertisements is irrelevant, they argued. “Indeed,” they suggested, “a candidate might ‘use’ a broadcasting station by appearing in an advertisement authorized by the candidate.” The Trump administration filed a brief supporting the Republican groups in which it contended (among other things) that the challengers lacked a legal right to sue, known as standing. The public notice, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued, “does not grant favored treatment to one side or the other; instead, the notice’s interpretation offers the same benefit to all sides, including the challengers themselves and the committees and parties supporting them.” Ossoff and the other candidates on Thursday urged the justices to leave the 4th Circuit’s ruling in place. They emphasized that “[n]o court has ever held, or even hinted,” that the preferential rates should be available to anyone other than the candidates themselves. And until it issued the guidance at the center of this case, the challengers added, the FCC itself “had long agreed that ‘ only candidates are entitled to’” the more favorable rates. The candidates also contended that they have standing because of the negative effect that a ruling for the committees would have on them. They noted that “the Candidates’ rival party committees have promised that if the Public Notice stands, they will spend hundreds of millions of dollars ‘at the candidate rate’ to ‘obliterate’ Democratic candidates like” the challengers in this case, “characterizing it as ‘a complete game changer.’” The candidates also resisted any suggestion that they had asked the court of appeals to weigh in too soon. Federal law, they said, specifically envisions that federal courts of appeals can review agency actions like the public notice as long as the challenger has filed an application asking the FCC to review the action – precisely what the candidates have done here. On Friday afternoon, the Supreme Court granted the committees’ request and put the 4th Circuit’s decision on hold to give the committees time to seek Supreme Court review. The committees were likely to prevail on their argument that the 4th Circuit did not have the power to review the public notice before the FCC had acted on the candidates’ petition for review, the Supreme Court emphasized. “The Communications Act … contemplates that an aggrieved party will file an application for review with the Commission, that the Commission will resolve that application by order, and that public notice of that order will issue before an aggrieved party may petition for further review in federal court. Because the candidates’ application for review was pending when they filed their petition for review,” the court explained, “the Fourth Circuit likely lacked statutory jurisdiction to address their challenge.” The committees will also suffer permanent harm – another important factor in considering whether to award temporary relief – if the 4th Circuit’s decision remains in place, the Supreme Court said. The committees have indicated that, based on that ruling, “broadcasters are already rescinding favorable rates,” which “will require the party committees to pay more for advertising space, thereby hampering their efforts to reach the electorate in the critical weeks leading up to the midterms. That injury, which implicates their First Amendment rights to speak and coordinate their political activities freely, cannot be remedied after the fact through refunds or reimbursements.” Jackson penned a one-paragraph dissent. In her view, the committees “are not likely to succeed on the merits of their argument that the Fourth Circuit lacked” the power to consider the candidates’ case. She pointed to cases (including the proceedings in the 4th Circuit in this case) standing for the ideas that an agency cannot ward off review of its conduct by a court by failing to act and that the failure to comply with requirements outlined in a statute does not strip a court of the authority to hear a case.

SCOTUSblogSCOTUSblog•Amy Howe4 Sept

Kevin Powers: ‘I was ready to abandon Infinite Jest a thousand times’

The American author on falling in love with The Great Gatsby, being inspired by Dylan Thomas – and the memoir of a canoe trip in Texas he comes back to My earliest reading memory The deaths of Old Dan and Little Ann in Wilson Rawls’s Where the Red Fern Grows were etched into my being as a first grader in Chesterfield County, Virginia. My favourite book growing up Stephen King’s The Stand. I completely lost myself in the story. I don’t think I realised at the time what a rare gift it is to have that experience. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Kevin Powers4 Sept