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For “Hysteria!” actresses Anna Camp and Julie Bowen, horror is harder than comedy. “Horror is really hard actually because there is a fine line you have to walk; you have to make it feel grounded and you’re put in these extreme circumstances: You’re being possessed or pulled through the air, there’s nothing you can do to relate to that,” explained Camp of “Pitch Perfect” fame. “With comedy, you can have a relatable situation and go, ‘I’ve been in situations like that.’ There’s nothing you can compare (horror) to, so you have to use your imagination. I find it harder. Your imagination goes home with you at the end of the day. You’re still thinking crazy thoughts.” Bowen, best known for playing Claire Dunphy on “Modern Family,” agreed. “Comedy’s pretty binary because it’s like either you can make people laugh or you don’t. I can’t watch horror. I’m terrified, terrified! I am the easiest scare in the world, so as far as doing (horror), I want to make it as real as possible. It was hard because I had to be really, really crazy. There were times when I’d get back to my hotel room at 3 a.m., I didn’t want to be alone in my head,” said Bowen, laughing. Camp, Bowen, Royal Oak native Bruce Campbell (“Evil Dead”), showrunner David A. Goodman (“Futurama”), and Ypsilanti native/creator Matthew Scott Kane (“American Horror Story”) were promoting “Hysteria!” at the New York Comic Con in October. The horror series is streaming on Peacock. Set in the fictional Michigan town of Happy Hollow, the first episode of “Hysteria” begins with a popular quarterback’s disappearance and a pentagram is discovered on a garage door. As a result, rumors of the occult and satanic influence run rampant through the town. A trio of outcasts in a heavy metal band called Dethkrunch exploit this by rebranding themselves as a satanic metal band, which leads to them becoming the targets of the town’s witch hunt. “Something on my mind a lot in 2019 was we’re living in this post-factual age with social media. It seemed like decades and decades ago, you could trust the news. Now everything is in question. When lies end up getting disseminated as truth, that starts to warp people’s version of reality. Suddenly, they’re living in a world other people are not. That was going on in the world I was living in and I very quickly connected it to the 1980s satanic panic. It’s not really that different because people were saying Ozzy Osbourne, Jason Voorhees (of ‘Friday the 13th’), and the Smurfs were going to turn your kids into satanists and kill you in your sleep. That didn’t happen. It wasn’t true, but so many people got worked up into such a fervor over it, bad things happened. ... It was smoke without fire,” Kane said. “Disinformation is not new,” Campbell said. “Disinformation will tear a town apart.” Campbell portrays Happy Hollow Police Chief Ben Dandridge. “This guy’s a reasonable cop; he’s a rational person who doesn’t treat the teenagers like they’re idiots. It’s all very refreshing,” he said. “I want to play that guy again. I want cops to be that guy. I’m playing the cop (that) cops need to be. That’s my whole motivation for playing this guy: How would you like cops to be, especially the guy in charge, the chief of police? They’re lucky to have Chief Dandridge.” “It was truly an exciting moment when Bruce signed on,” Goodman said. By the end of the first episode, a supernatural phenomenon happens to Linda Campbell, played by Bowen. “Linda seems like one thing, then you realize she’s bananas. She’s either bananas or she’s possessed. Either way, it’s a complicated thing to play,” Bowen said. “With Julie, you can have your cake and eat it too,” Kane said. “She’s this fun, quirky mom. ... As the episode goes on, she’s pulled deeper into this thing and crazy stuff starts happening. That final act of the first episode was my favorite moment with her because this announced that this is not Claire Dunphy. We’re not doing that again; we’re pushing her as a performer. “Julie was so excited about doing stunts. She told us on many occasions she’s very sturdy and can take it. The same goes for Bruce and for Anna. We didn’t ask anyone to give us a flavor of the thing they did before. We cast people we loved so much (in their famous projects) that we wanted to give them the opportunity to do the exact opposite.” Added Bowen: “I got this script and was like, ‘Oh great. She’s a mom. How fun.’ I love moms. I’m a mom, but I felt this was not worth flying out of town to Georgia and being away from my kids. Then I got to the end of the pilot and was like, ‘She’s crazy!’ Is she possessed? There’s a lot more questions. It’s fun to just stretch again and do things I haven’t done in a while, which I found really exciting.” Kane said he felt lucky Bowen signed on at the beginning. “She was the first adult actor to sign on. That gave us such credibility to have a two-time Emmy-winning actor leading this show. Suddenly, it goes from this script from a relatively unknown writer into the new Julie Bowen show,” he said. It was the quality of the writing that attracted Camp, Bowen and Campbell to “Hysteria!” “I loved the script; it was incredibly well-written. It was immersed in the time period. It was such a good coming-of-age story, too — the feeling of being in high school again, being in the 1980s,” Camp said. “I talked to Matt who said my character (Tracy) was incredibly pivotal to the series and we’ll learn about why she is the way she is. So I was like, ‘I’d love to do this!’” For Campbell, the writing is everything. “A lot of times, I’ll get a script that could make the words interchangeable with every other character because the writing is very bland and just doesn’t have the detail you need. This was different. Every character was pretty distinct and pretty well-drawn,” he said. “It’s quality. It’s not a (expletive) show. It’s a real show that’s playing around with interesting themes. A lot of it is still relevant to this day.” “Hysteria!” has other Michigan connections, including University of Michigan alumnus Jonathan Goldstein (“Spider-Man: Homecoming”) and Dondero High School alumnus Jordan Vogt-Roberts (“Kong: Skull Island”), who both serve as executive producers. Kane explained why he set “Hysteria!” in Michigan. “You write what you know. I grew up in Ypsilanti, so that had a lot to do with it. More importantly, when you’re in a small town in the Midwest — somewhere like Michigan — these things don’t ever happen and word spreads fast and paranoia spreads quickly and (everything’s) blown out of proportion and takes up a lot of people’s minds,” he said. “Whether or not something is real doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if there are people willing to believe it does and willing it into the world. What does it matter if it’s objectively real or living rent-free in someone’s head?”Aaron Cohen, Brooke Goldstein and Rabbi Chaim Mentz discuss the ICC arrest warrants against Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. President-elect Trump will take office just as Iran has the potential to become the world’s 10th nuclear-armed state, and it’s unclear if either side knows how it will approach the other. Judging by Trump’s last time in office, it would suggest he would come out the gate with a combative tone — having instituted a "maximum pressure" campaign to "bankrupt" the regime. His secretary of state pick , Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has been an unyielding Iran hawk in the Senate. After the regime fired 200 missiles toward Tel Aviv last month, Rubio said: " Only threatening the survival of the regime through maximum pressure and direct and disproportionate measures has a chance to influence and alter their criminal activities." That could reinstate — and eliminate — any waivers for oil sanctions. It could mean threatening not to conduct business with countries that buy Iranian fuel products. Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., Trump’s pick for national security adviser, is of a similar mind. Last month, when the Biden administration urged Israel to keep its counterstrikes "proportional," Waltz slammed President Biden for pressuring Israel "once again to do less than it should." A big banner depicting Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is placed next to a ballistic missile in Baharestan Square in Tehran, Iran. (Hossein Beris/Middle East Images/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images) He suggested Israel strike oil facilities on Kharg Island and Iran’s nuclear plants in Natanz, a move the Biden team feared Iran would deem escalatory. Last month, Trump appeared to rule out the U.S. getting involved in any effort to take out Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini and his government. "We can’t get totally involved in all that. We can’t run ourselves, let’s face it," he said. "I would like to see Iran be very successful. The only thing is, they can't have a nuclear weapon." Trump has said he does not want Iran to have nuclear weapons , but has not laid out how he would stop it from doing so. "I'm not looking to be bad to Iran, we're going to be friendly, I hope, with Iran, maybe, but maybe not. But we're going to be friendly, I hope, we're going to be friendly, but they can't have a nuclear weapon," he said at a New Jersey press conference in August. Last month, Trump suggested Israel strike Iran’s nuclear facilities. Following the Iranian missile attacks, he suggested Israel should "hit the nuclear first and worry about the rest later." On Thursday, Iran said it was activating "advanced" centrifuges after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors censured it for failing to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog. Without cooperation, the world is in the dark about how quickly Iran is advancing its technological capabilities to use its uranium fuel for a bomb. "We will significantly increase enrichment capacity," Behrouz Kamalvandi, Iran's atomic energy organization spokesman, said after the censure. IRAN HIDING MISSILE, DRONE PROGRAMS UNDER GUISE OF COMMERCIAL FRONT TO EVADE SANCTIONS What’s standing between Iran and a fully formed nuclear weapon is both a political and a technological question. While the nation has enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon, the process of turning that into a warhead could take anywhere from six to 12 months, according to Nicole Grajewski, nuclear policy expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "That’s when Iran would be most vulnerable to attack," she said. "Iran could probably make a dirty bomb from its current stockpile." Over the years, Iran’s nuclear progress has been set back by international sanctions, COVID-19, high-profile assassinations of its nuclear scientists and attacks and sabotage on its nuclear facilities led by Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad. And announcing they have a nuclear weapon could threaten Iran’s longtime goal of regional hegemony. "Iran is less isolated than it was four years ago, but it’s still pretty isolated. Announcing they are nuclear would trigger an arms race in the Middle Eas t," predicted Simone Leeden, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East. "Saudi Arabia and the UAE would decide they will pursue nuclear weapons the minute Iran declares it has its own. Another action they could and would take is deepening ties with Israel." IRAN VASTLY INCREASED NUCLEAR FUEL STOCKPILE AHEAD OF TRUMP RETURN, UN AGENCY FINDS Iran also understands that producing a nuclear bomb would likely evoke a military response from Israel and the U.S. under Trump. Heavy weapons, including ballistic missiles, air defense systems and unmanned aerial vehicles, are displayed at Baharestan Square in Tehran, Iran on Sept. 26, during the 44th anniversary of the eight-year war with Iraq. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images) After years of trying to assassinate Trump, the Iranians don’t seem to have figured out whether to approach the U.S. relationship under Trump with a combative or diplomatic tone. Just last month, they told President Biden they would not make any efforts to kill the president-elect going forward. "I think that there's been a lot of mixed signaling from the kind of Trump transition team is, you know, you see Brian Hook being appointed, who was behind this maximum pressure and sanctions," said Grajewski. But then, on the other hand, Trump envoy Elon Musk reportedly met with Iranian officials to discuss how the two nations could dial back tensions. "I think that he is being opaque on purpose," said Leeden. "I don't think he wants to show his cards as a negotiator." "In all likelihood, maximum pressure is going to be restored," said Behnam Taleblu, Iran expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "U.S. partners are asking now, to what end? Is it towards regime collapse? Is it towards a deal? What if the Iranians don't negotiate in good faith?" Former Israeli officials have suggested Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might be emboldened to strike Iranian nuclear facilities with the go-ahead from the Trump administration. But a lot of Iran’s centrifuge and enrichment facilities are deep underground, complicating a bombing campaign against them. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Image) To get to them, Israel would need the U.S.' Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOP), or "bunkbuster bombs." "It would require U.S. involvement — either the direct transfer of this, which is currently not really discussed — that would be pretty escalatory — or Israel getting the United States to also conduct this mission," said Grajewski. The Trump team will also place a high priority on bringing Saudi Arabia into the Abraham Accords, solidifying the Sunni Muslim alliance against Iran. But the Saudis have insisted the U.S. and Israel must recognize a Palestinian state for such a deal to get done. "The incoming administration wants to quiet down this kinetic energy in the Middle East quickly, because we have bigger fish to fry as a country," said Leeden. CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The U.S. has long looked to pivot its military focus away from the Middle East and toward the Indo-Pacific . The outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas after Oct. 7 tore that focus back to the Arab world.
VANCOUVER — The Better Business Bureau in British Columbia is warning Taylor Swift fans of scams ahead of the superstar's Vancouver concerts, highlighting one case in which a social media profile was allegedly hacked and used to sell fake tickets. It says $2,000 was stolen from fans hoping to attend the shows, which will be at BC Place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The warning comes after police in Toronto last month arrested a woman for allegedly selling about $70,000 worth of fake Swift tickets ahead of the concerts there. The Better Business Bureau said in a news release on Monday that the case in B.C. was reported on its Scam Tracker database. It said the complainant, who wasn't identified, reported that scammers took over her social media profile and used its messaging function to trick people into buying "non-existent concert tickets." The bureau said people needed to be vigilant when buying tickets online, especially for major events such as Swift's concerts that could be "a hot spot" for scammers. It advised fans to buy tickets from trusted vendors or reputable brokers while also double-checking with sellers about the tickets' authenticity even if they are a friend or an acquaintance. Using credit cards for the purchase may also grant consumers some protection, the bureau said. "If someone claims to be selling tickets to a sold-out concert just before the date or at an amazing price, think twice," it said. "Scammers love to prey on fans of any artist or sporting event by claiming to have impossible-to-get-tickets for them." Swift's three sold-out shows at Vancouver's B.C. Place end her record-breaking Eras Tour. As the city prepared for thousands of fans to descend, transit operator TransLink said Monday it would provide extra bus, SkyTrain, and SeaBus services on all three concert nights. It said the West Coast Express commuter train would also run on Saturday, leaving Mission, B.C. at 4 p.m. to head into the city and then returning from Vancouver's Waterfront Station at midnight. The statement said fans could expect a singalong on the SeaBus and live performances at Stadium–Chinatown SkyTrain Station near B.C. Place, with extra staff working to help manage crowds. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 2, 2024. The Canadian Press
Known across the globe as the stuck astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams hit the six-month mark in space Thursday with two more to go. The pair rocketed into orbit on June 5, the first to ride Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule on what was supposed to be a weeklong test flight. They arrived at the International Space Station the next day, only after overcoming a cascade of thruster failures and helium leaks. NASA deemed the capsule too risky for a return flight, so it will be February before their long and trying mission comes to a close. While NASA managers bristle at calling them stuck or stranded, the two retired Navy captains shrug off the description of their plight. They insist they’re fine and accepting of their fate. Wilmore views it as a detour of sorts: “We’re just on a different path.” “I like everything about being up here,” Williams told students Wednesday from an elementary school named for her in Needham, Massachusetts, her hometown. “Just living in space is super fun.” Both astronauts have lived up there before so they quickly became full-fledged members of the crew, helping with science experiments and chores like fixing a broken toilet, vacuuming the air vents and watering the plants. Williams took over as station commander in September. “Mindset does go a long way,” Wilmore said in response to a question from Nashville first-graders in October. He’s from Mount Juliet, Tennessee. “I don’t look at these situations in life as being downers.” Boeing flew its Starliner capsule home empty in September, and NASA moved Wilmore and Williams to a SpaceX flight not due back until late February. Two other astronauts were bumped to make room and to keep to a six-month schedule for crew rotations. Like other station crews, Wilmore and Williams trained for spacewalks and any unexpected situations that might arise. “When the crews go up, they know they could be there for up to a year,” said NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio found that out the hard way when the Russian Space Agency had to rush up a replacement capsule for him and two cosmonauts in 2023, pushing their six-month mission to just past a year. Boeing said this week that input from Wilmore and Williams has been “invaluable” in the ongoing inquiry of what went wrong. The company said in a statement that it is preparing for Starliner’s next flight but declined comment on when it might launch again. NASA also has high praise for the pair. “Whether it was luck or whether it was selection, they were great folks to have for this mission,” NASA’s chief health and medical officer, Dr. JD Polk, said during an interview with The Associated Press. On top of everything else, Williams, 59, has had to deal with “rumors,” as she calls them, of serious weight loss. She insists her weight is the same as it was on launch day, which Polk confirms. During Wednesday’s student chat, Williams said she didn’t have much of an appetite when she first arrived in space. But now she’s “super hungry” and eating three meals a day plus snacks, while logging the required two hours of daily exercise. Williams, a distance runner, uses the space station treadmill to support races in her home state. She competed in Cape Cod’s 7-mile Falmouth Road Race in August. She ran the 2007 Boston Marathon up there as well. She has a New England Patriots shirt with her for game days, as well as a Red Sox spring training shirt. “Hopefully I’ll be home before that happens — but you never know,” she said in November. Husband Michael Williams, a retired federal marshal and former Navy aviator, is caring for their dogs back home in Houston. As for Wilmore, 61, he’s missing his younger daughter’s senior year in high school and his older daughter’s theater productions in college. “We can’t deny that being unexpectedly separated, especially during the holidays when the entire family gets together, brings increased yearnings to share the time and events together,” his wife, Deanna Wilmore, told the AP in a text this week. Her husband “has it worse than us” since he’s confined to the space station and can only connect via video for short periods. “We are certainly looking forward to February!!” she wrote. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content. The Nov. 29 print edition of The Business Journal included The huge rally for U.S. stocks lost momentum on Thursday Eli Lilly is spending another $3 billion to bulk up Known across the globe as the stuck astronauts, Butch WilmoreManchin, Sinema prevent Democrats from locking in majority on labor board through 2026 WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats failed in their bid to confirm a Democratic member of the National Labor Relations Board after the Senate rejected a razor-thin vote that hinged on the pivotal rejections of independent Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. If the nomination had been successful, the board would have had a Democratic majority until 2026. President-elect Donald Trump will now have a chance to nominate a replacement. The NLRB is a government agency that handles labor relations and unionization in the workplace. It also has the power to investigate potential unfair labor practices, meaning its leadership is highly scrutinized by business interests and labor groups. The failed vote is another blow to Senate Democrats and outgoing President Joe Biden's agenda. Arizona AG sues Saudi firm over 'excessive' groundwater pumping, saying it's a public nuisance PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes says she is suing a Saudi Arabian agribusiness over what she calls “excessive pumping” of groundwater. She alleges that the Fondomonte alfalfa farm in western Arizona is violating a public nuisance law even though the area has no groundwater pumping regulations. Mayes said Wednesday that Fondomonte's use of groundwater threatens the public health, safety and infrastructure of local communities in rural La Paz County. It's Arizona's latest action against foreign companies that use huge amounts of groundwater to grow thirsty forage crops for export. The Associated Press emailed Fondomonte seeking a response to the lawsuit. US inflation ticked up last month as some price pressures remain persistent WASHINGTON (AP) — Fueled by pricier used cars, hotel rooms and groceries, inflation in the United States moved slightly higher last month in the latest sign that some price pressures remain elevated. Consumer prices rose 2.7% in November from a year earlier, up from a yearly figure of 2.6% in October. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core prices increased 3.3%. Measured month to month, prices climbed 0.3% from October to November, the biggest such increase since April. Wednesday’s inflation figures are the final major piece of data Federal Reserve officials will consider before they meet next week to decide on interest rates. The November increase won’t likely be enough to discourage the officials from cutting their key rate by a quarter-point. Albertsons sues Kroger for failing to win approval of their proposed supermarket merger Kroger and Albertsons’ plan for the largest U.S. supermarket merger in history has crumbled. The two companies have accused each other of not doing enough to push their proposed alliance through, and Albertsons pulled out of the $24.6 billion deal on Wednesday. The bitter breakup came the day after a federal judge in Oregon and a state judge in Washington issued injunctions to block the merger, saying that combining the two grocery chains could reduce competition and harm consumers. Albertsons is now suing Kroger, seeking a $600 million termination fee, as well as billions of dollars in legal fees and lost shareholder value. Kroger says the legal claims are “baseless.” Donald Trump will ring the New York Stock Exchange bell as he's named Time's Person of the Year NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is expected to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange for the first time and be named Time magazine's Person of the Year. Thursday's events will be a notable moment of twin recognitions for Trump, a born-and-bred New Yorker who has long seen praise from the business world and media as a sign of success. Four people with knowledge of his plans told The Associated Press that Trump was expected to be on Wall Street on Thursday to mark the ceremonial start of the day's trading, while a person familiar with the selection confirmed that Trump had been selected as Time's Person of the Year. Supreme Court allows investors' class action to proceed against microchip company Nvidia WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is allowing a class-action lawsuit that accuses Nvidia of misleading investors about its past dependence on selling computer chips for the mining of volatile cryptocurrency to proceed. The court’s decision Wednesday comes the same week that China said it is investigating the the microchip company over suspected violations of Chinese anti-monopoly laws. The justices heard arguments four weeks ago in Nvidia’s bid to shut down the lawsuit, then decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place. They dismissed the company’s appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward. Apple's latest iPhones get the gift of more AI as holiday shopping season heats up SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple is pumping more artificial intelligence into the latest iPhones during the holiday shopping season. It comes in the form of a free software update that includes a feature that enables users to create customized emojis within a matter of seconds. The Wednesday release of the iPhone’s upgraded operating system extends Apple’s expansion into AI months after rivals such as Samsung and Google began implanting the revolutionary on their devices. The update builds upon another one that came out in late October. The latest round of AI tricks includes “Genmojis,” Apple’s description of emojis that iPhone users will be able to ask the technology to create and then share. EU targets Russia's ghost fleet shipping oil in a new round of sanctions BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union envoys have agreed a new raft of sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine. The EU's Hungarian presidency said Wednesday that the measures will target in particular a vast shadow fleet of ships that Moscow is exploiting to skirt restrictions on transporting oil and fuel. The sanctions are aimed at about 50 of what are routinely decrepit ships. The sanctions will hit more officials and entities alleged to be helping Russia to improve its military technology by evading export restrictions. EU foreign ministers are set to formally adopt the sanctions package on Monday. Can ordinary citizens solve our toughest problems? BEND, OREGON (AP) — Research shows Americans are frustrated with what they perceive as aloofness and gridlock within civic institutions. Citizen assemblies may be able to help. The groups which have direct involvement in decision-making can help “overcome polarization and strengthen societal cohesion,” says Claudia Chwalisz, founder of DemocracyNext. Her nonprofit, launched in Paris in 2022, champions such assemblies worldwide, hoping they can “create the democratic spaces for everyday people to grapple with the complexity of policy issues, listen to one another, and find common ground.” In Europe, examples of such changes abound. In the United States, results are spottier. Making a $1B investment in the US? Trump pledges expedited permits — but there are hurdles WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is promising expedited federal permits for energy projects and other construction worth more than $1 billion. But like other Trump plans, the idea is likely to run into regulatory and legislative hurdles, including a landmark law that requires federal agencies to consider the environmental impact before deciding on major projects. Environmental groups called the plan a clear violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. The chief policy advocacy officer at the Natural Resources Defense Council says Trump should be careful what he wishes for. She said, "What if someone wants to build a waste incinerator next to Mar-a-Lago or a coal mine next to Bedminster golf course?”Knights face tall road task vs. Sam Montembeault, Canadiens