HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision to throw out the state’s congressional map because of partisan gerrymandering has ignited a scramble to redraw district boundaries as dozens of candidates watch and wait. Boundaries drawn by Republicans after the 2010 census to favor Republicans are expected to become less GOP-friendly.
Districts with especially contorted boundaries or that stretch long distances could become more compact, and six districts where members of Congress re-elected in 2016 aren’t running for another term could see big changes. The Democratic-majority state Supreme Court has promised to produce a new map for Pennsylvania’s 18 congressional districts by Feb. 19. It could consider proposals by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature and parties to the gerrymandering case.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Features
NEW YORK (AP) — A lawyer for disgraced Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein says he believes a “fair investigation” by New York’s attorney general will show that many of the allegations against Weinstein are “without merit.” State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (SHNEYE’-dur-muhn) filed a lawsuit in Manhattan on Sunday against Weinstein and the Weinstein Co. following an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.
In court papers, Schneiderman says the Weinstein Co. “repeatedly broke New York law by failing to protect its employees from pervasive sexual harassment, intimidation and discrimination.” Schneiderman also says that any sale of the company “must ensure that victims will be compensated” and that employees will be protected. In a statement Sunday night, Weinstein’s attorney, Ben Brafman, says that while Weinstein “was not without fault, there certainly was no criminality.”
BERLIN (AP) — Austrian film director Michael Haneke, an Academy Award and two-time Palme d’Or winner, has compared the Hollywood sexual harassment scandal to a “witch hunt” that has ushered in a “new, men-hating puritanism.” The director of “Amour” and “The White Ribbon” told Austrian daily Kurier that the #MeToo movement’s “hysteria of prematurely denouncing” others was “disgusting.”
He said what especially bothered him was the “complete spitefulness without any reflection and the blind rage, which is not based on facts but … destroys the lives of people whose crimes have not been proven.” Haneke said, “people are been killed in the media, lives and careers destroyed.” Several European film figures have expressed doubt about the American #MeToo
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Leaders of the Whiffenpoofs, Yale University’s world-famous glee club, say their sound isn’t changing, but they are ending their more than century-old tradition of being a male only a cappella ensemble. The Whiffs, as they are known, and Yale’s senior women’s a cappella group, Whim ‘n Rhythm, issued a joint announcement Feb. 1 that tryouts for both groups will now be open to all rising seniors, including transgender students.
The move, they say is designed to give more people access, to what can be life-changing travel opportunities and music industry contacts that come with being a member of the nation’s oldest collegiate a cappella group.
“Both Whim ‘n Rhythm and the Whiffenpoofs acknowledge the transgender, gender-nonbinary and gender-nonconforming members in our community, and understand that they feel unseen within the current paradigm of ‘all-male’ versus ‘all-female’ senior a cappella,” the groups wrote.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Newcomers like “Fifty Shades Freed,” ”Peter Rabbit” and “The 15:17 to Paris” breathed some fresh life into a marketplace that has for weeks been dominated by “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” ”The Greatest Showman” and various Oscar contenders. But it’s all just setting the stage for “Black Panther,” which opens next week.
“Fifty Shades Freed”managed to take the top spot on the charts in North American theaters. Universal Pictures estimated Sunday that the final chapter in the Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele saga earned $38.8 million over the weekend — down significantly from the first film’s $85.2 million debut and even the sequel’s $46.6 million opening, but enough to bump the three-film franchise over $1 billion globally. Women once again made up the vast majority (75 percent) of the opening weekend audience.
“We are exhilarated with the results,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution. “To have a trilogy engineered primarily for a female audience that we were then able to broaden out into a billion-dollar franchise is just a fantastic result.” The studio expects a healthy mid-week bump on Valentine’s Day and to serve as counter-programming over the holiday weekend against “Black Panther.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Cold feet can’t stop naked models from parading around New York City. Dozens of body-painted models walked through the chilly streets and posed for photos in a drizzle on Saturday as part of the Polar Bear Paint, a nude spin on the traditional polar bear plunges that see people in swimsuits dive into frigid waters to celebrate the New Year.
The Polar Bear Paint was organized by artist Andy Golub, who uses body painting as a way to promote human connection through art. The models were painted in a Times Square studio and then gathered outside, where the temperature was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) and a fairly heavy rain subsided and then stopped. Golub says the Polar Bear Paint models “almost brought the sunshine” with them.
NEW YORK (AP) — A German shepherd that was badly injured in a highway accident a few years ago will be among the nearly 2,900 dogs taking part in the Westminster Kennel Club show that begins today in New York. America’s most prestigious dog competition leads up to the best in show being picked Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. A giant schnauzer, a Brussels griffon and a cocker spaniel are among the many favorites. Fanucci was so shattered, so bloodied after jumping out of a broken-down van hooked to a speeding tow truck, his life was in jeopardy.
Co-owner Stephanie Schrock said “For half an hour, we thought about whether we needed to euthanize him, trying to come up with the right decision.” His road will be a lot smoother today when he steps onto the carpeted ring at the Westminster Kennel Club. But Fanucci is just one of the pooches competing. Ty the giant schnauzer is top ranked, Newton the Brussels griffon took the big Thanksgiving event, and Striker the cocker spaniel has a lot of wins under its collar.
UNDATED (AP) — A water company in England is hunting leads on burst pipes by deploying the country’s first sniffer dog trained to track down water leaks. Snipe, a 16-month-old cocker spaniel, has undergone weeks of training by ex-military personnel to detect problem pipes by sniffing out tiny amounts of chlorine in tap water. The dog has now been recruited by United Utilities, which supplies around three million homes in the North West of England, in a UK first for dog leak detection. Snipe’s owner Ross Stephenson says he started off training the dog with normal tap water and then added more chlorine until the pooch got the idea that’s the smell it was supposed to find.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Sports, Scores & Skeds
AP-Scorecard Here are the scores from yesterday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Toronto 123 Charlotte 103
Final Cleveland 121 Boston 99
Final Atlanta 118 Detroit 115
Final Indiana 121 N-Y Knicks 113
Final Oklahoma City 110 Memphis 92
Final Houston 104 Dallas 97
Final Minnesota 111 Sacramento 106
Final Utah 115 Portland 96
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final Pittsburgh 4 St. Louis 1
Final N-Y Rangers 3 Winnipeg 1
Final OT Detroit 5 Washington 4
Final Vancouver 6 Dallas 0
Final Calgary 3 N-Y Islanders 2
Final Boston 5 New Jersey 3
Final Colorado 5 Buffalo 4
Final Philadelphia 4 Vegas 1
Final SO San Jose 3 Anaheim 2
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TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Final (6) Cincinnati 76 SMU 51
Final (9) Duke 80 Georgia Tech 69
Final (20) Michigan 83 Wisconsin 72
TODAY’S SPORTS SCHEDULE
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NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
N-Y Knicks at Philadelphia 7:00 p.m.
New Orleans at Detroit 7:00 p.m.
L.A. Clippers at Brooklyn 7:30 p.m.
Orlando at Chicago 8:00 p.m.
San Antonio at Utah 9:00 p.m.
Phoenix at Golden State 10:30 p.m.
———
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Tampa Bay at Toronto 7:00 p.m.
Florida at Edmonton 9:00 p.m.
Chicago at Arizona 9:00 p.m.
———
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
TCU at (19) West Virginia 9:00 p.m.
Notre Dame at (21) North Carolina 7:00 p.m.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
