Por Jacqui Palumbo, CNN

Fue presidenta del Museo de Arte Moderno de Nueva York durante más de una década, donó más de 1.800 obras de arte a diversas instituciones a lo largo de su vida y, en una ocasión, vendió su cuadro más preciado de Lichtenstein por US$ 165 millones para financiar una importante iniciativa contra el encarcelamiento.

Siete años antes de la muerte de la mecenas y líder artística Agnes Gund —a los 87 años, en otoño de 2025—, The New York Times publicó un artículo sobre su trayectoria filantrópica con el titular “¿Es Agnes Gund la última persona rica y bondadosa?”.

Es muy posible que así sea, ya que el artículo señalaba que, para entonces, ella había dedicado décadas a donar su fortuna a las artes, así como a la investigación del SIDA y a grupos defensores de los derechos reproductivos.

La generosidad a esa escala se ha convertido en una rareza, dado que la riqueza se ha concentrado cada vez más en la cima, y ​​los multimillonarios tecnológicos que construyen búnkeres parecen menos interesados ​​en las artes y la cultura que las generaciones adineradas anteriores, a menos que sea para comprar la Met Gala.

La colección de arte de Gund, al igual que su flujo de caja, era muy variable.

En sus últimos años, gran parte de su colección había sido prometida a museos. Pero la próxima semana, tres obras de Cy Twombly, Joseph Cornell y Mark Rothko que colgaban en su casa del Upper East Side —esta última expuesta al público solo una vez— podrían venderse por casi US$ 150 millones en conjunto.

La colección de Agnes Gund se subastará el 18 de mayo como parte de la subasta nocturna de arte de los siglos XX y XXI que Christie’s celebra en Nueva York.

“Ella daba prioridad a los artistas”, declaró Sara Friedlander, quien preside el departamento de “Arte de posguerra y contemporáneo en las Américas” de Christie’s. “Sus relaciones con los artistas eran fundamentales para ella, y así fue como pudo adquirir obras tan increíbles”.

Rothko creó “N.º 15 (Dos verdes y raya roja)”, una monumental obra de negro intenso y verde oscuro con vetas rojas, en 1964. Ese mismo año, comenzó los 14 paneles oscurecidos de la Capilla Rothko en Houston, su última obra antes de su muerte en 1970.

Según Christie’s, Gund la compró directamente al artista en su estudio; aunque ella buscaba una composición más clara, él le propuso otra.

Tras adquirir la obra, esta permaneció en su apartamento, salvo por un breve préstamo de un mes en 1972 al Museo de Arte de Cleveland, que ella había visitado con frecuencia de niña en Ohio.

Adquirió la pintura sin título de Twombly, realizada en 1961 durante su período en Roma, en 1988, y el Cornell, un ensamblaje de cajas de madera de su serie “Médicos”, en 1980.

“Estos eran los cuadros y los objetos con los que ella simplemente quería convivir a diario”, declaró Friedlander. “Cuando entrabas en su sala de estar, te sentabas en el sofá y veías el Rothko a tu derecha y el Twombly justo enfrente, sobre la chimenea”.

Las estimaciones más altas se sitúan en el extremo superior de las ventas en subasta pública de cada artista.

La obra de Twombly podría venderse por hasta US$ 60 millones (récord: US$ 70,5 millones), mientras que la de Cornell podría alcanzar los US$ 5 millones (récord: US$ 7,8 millones).

El cuadro de Rothko, con una estimación de US$ 80 millones, podría vivir una noche histórica si supera la espectacular venta de 2012 de “Orange, Red, Yellow”, que, con US$ 86,8 millones, se convirtió en la obra de arte contemporáneo más cara jamás vendida en subasta pública. (Sin embargo, en ventas privadas, el récord de Rothko asciende a la asombrosa cifra de Read more

By Nicki Brown, CNN

(CNN) — Eric Richins, a Utah father of three, would have turned 44 years old on Wednesday. Instead, his wife will be sentenced for his murder.

After a weekslong trial earlier this year, an eight-person jury convicted Kouri Richins, 36, of aggravated murder for fatally poisoning her husband in March 2022. She was also found guilty of attempted aggravated murder for trying to kill him weeks before his death, on Valentine’s Day, and insurance fraud and forgery related to his life insurance coverage.

Kouri Richins – who published a children’s book about coping with grief following Eric Richins’ death – could be sentenced to 25 years to life or life in prison without parole for her aggravated murder conviction when she appears in court in Park City, Utah.

Family members and other witnesses are expected to address the court before Judge Richard Mrazik hands down the sentence.

In a court filing this week, the Summit County Attorney’s Office invoked the Richins’ three young sons while urging Mrazik to sentence Kouri Richins to life without parole, the maximum sentence for the aggravated murder charge.

“The boys deserve finality and should not have to revisit their father’s murder at future hearings or worry about the Defendant’s potential parole,” prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memorandum. “Given the tremendous trauma and upheaval that the Defendant inflicted upon their childhood, this Court should ensure that she does not harm their adulthood.”

Prosecutors are asking the judge to issue a protective order that would prohibit Kouri Richins from initiating contact with her sons and other members of her late husband’s family.

The couple’s eldest son – a 13-year-old identified in the filing as “C.R.” – said he misses his father but not his mother.

“I’m afraid if she gets out, she will come after me and my brothers, my whole family,” C.R. said, according to the memorandum. “I think she would come and take us and not do good things to us, like hurt us.”

During the trial, members of Eric Richins’ tight-knit family tearfully remembered him as a skilled outdoorsman, hardworking businessman and dedicated father to his three young sons.

“Eric was their coach, their father, but most important, was their very, very best friend,” his father, Eugene Richins, said on the stand.

Eric Richins would do anything for his children, one of his sisters testified, recalling how he often arrived early at their sporting events to hang up signs cheering them on.

“My dad can’t be my coach anymore and can’t be at any of my games,” the Richins’ middle son said in the state’s filing. “He won’t be at my birthdays. He can’t teach me how to drive. He won’t be at my graduation.”

How the trial unfolded

Eric Richins, 39, was found dead in the couple’s home in Kamas, Utah, during the early morning hours of March 4, 2022.

Earlier that night, Eric and Kouri Richins had a drink to celebrate a successful transaction with her real estate business, according to a statement she gave law enforcement. One of their sons was having nightmares, so Kouri Richins went to sleep in his room around 9:30 p.m., she told police.

When she returned to the master bedroom about six hours later, she said, she found her husband dead in their bed.

The autopsy revealed Eric Richins died of a fentanyl overdose, with roughly five times a lethal dose in his blood. Prosecutors argued Kouri Richins slipped the drugs into her husband’s drinks the night of his death, although they did not present evidence supporting this theory at trial.

Christian Edwards, CNN

Keir Starmer lanzó un desafío a sus posibles rivales, desacatando los llamados para que renuncie como primer ministro del Reino Unido y desafiando en cambio a sus posibles oponentes a lanzar un desafío formal contra su liderazgo en el Partido Laborista.

Para desencadenar un desafío al liderazgo, una quinta parte de los miembros del parlamento del Partido Laborista (MP) —es decir, 81 legisladores —deben unirse en torno a un solo candidato. Una vez que uno o más candidatos acumulen ese nivel de apoyo, sus nombres pueden ser puestos en la boleta para competir contra Starmer, en unas elecciones en las que votarán los miembros del Partido Laborista.

A pesar de que cerca de 100 legisladores han instado públicamente a Starmer, de 63 años, a renunciar, ningún candidato lanzó aún un desafío formal al liderazgo en su contra. Se cree que hay solo un número reducido de nombres capaces de reunir las 81 firmas requeridas.

Veamos quiénes son.

Actualmente hay dos bandos en el Partido Laborista: quienes dicen querer un cambio “rápido” en el liderazgo significan que prefieren a Wes Streeting, el secretario de Salud. Quienes dicen que quieren una transición de poder “ordenada” se refieren a que apoyan a Andy Burnham, el actual alcalde del Gran Manchester —del que hablaremos más adelante—.

Streeting, el ministro encargado de reparar el debilitado Servicio Nacional de Salud (NHS, por sus siglas en inglés) del Reino Unido, proviene de la derecha del Partido Laborista. La mayor parte de su vida la ha pasado en y alrededor de la política: primero como presidente de la Unión Nacional de Estudiantes, luego como concejal local, antes de servir como miembro del parlamento de un municipio en el este de Londres, cerca del conjunto de viviendas públicas en el que creció.

Streeting ha expresado en varias ocasiones su admiración por el Gobierno de Tony Blair, quien fue primer ministro mientras Streeting estudiaba en la Universidad de Cambridge. Aunque brevemente dejó el Partido Laborista por el apoyo de Blair a la Guerra de Iraq, se dice que Streeting canalizó el “blairismo” en su misión de reformar el NHS, apoyando asociaciones público-privadas y reformas tecnológicas. Streeting ha advertido anteriormente que el NHS debe “modernizarse o morir”.

A sus 43 años, Streeting ha sido considerado desde hace tiempo el futuro moderado del Partido Laborista y es considerado como uno de los comunicadores más efectivos del Gobierno. Pero ha sido dañado por su amistad con Peter Mandelson, el veterano político laborista que fue destituido como embajador británico en Washington debido a sus lazos con Jeffrey Epstein, el delincuente sexual convicto. Dado que ese escándalo ha perseguido a Starmer, Streeting también podría estar manchado por esa asociación.

Los partidarios de Burnham quieren que las cosas avancen lentamente porque, como alcalde de Manchester, él no es un MP, y como tal no puede, aún, aspirar a ser el próximo líder laborista.

Esa barrera podría resultar insalvable. Burnham, de 56 años, había esperado postularse para un escaño en el parlamento en un distrito cerca de Manchester a principios de este año, pero fue bloqueado por el Comité Ejecutivo Nacional del Partido Laborista, en una decisión que muchos vieron como un intento de evitar que el rival más formidable de Starmer pudiera desafiarlo como líder.

La mayoría de las encuestas de opinión muestran que Burnham es el político más popular del Reino Unido. Mientras que Starmer a menudo es acusado de carecer de una visión política, Burnham defiende el “Manchesterismo”, una marca de socialismo empresarial amigable, “aspiracional” que busca devolver los servicios esenciales al control público y hacer la vida “viable” para los británicos de a pie.

Burnham, también educado en Cambridge, señala el éx

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) During a public hearing Santa Barbara City Councilmembers heard a presentation from General Fund Department staff about proposed Fiscal Year 2027 budget.

"The whole budget for city of Santa Barbara in Fiscal year 2027 is over $750 million dollars approximately," said City of Santa Barbara Finance Director Keith DiMartini.

About $250 million of that comes from the General Fund budget that is funded through taxes.

Those taxes fund essential services such as police, fire, parks and recreation, and the library.

City Administrator Kelly McAdoo agree the city still has work to do.

"Obviously the city is facing pretty significant challenges we have done a lot of work going through the budget each department has really worked hard to reduce expenses to look at ways to reduce out deficit from about $14 million, we are still at about $3.5 million dollars," said McAdoo.

Departments offered up some temporary solutions to stem the tide of the budget deficit to allow the city to think through some long term solutions.

"We did a lot of sort of creative things looking at ways that we can control our expenses and also ways of generating additional revenue from our existing revenue sources, many of those options were one time, a lot of them were included holding some positions vacant," said DiMartini.

The goal is to minimize the impact to the community and to tourism that helps raise revenue.

Instead of relying on tax revenues departments projected ways to leverage other funding sources from Federal and State sources or grants.

They also considered putting some capitol projects on the back burner for at least a year.

"It is a challenging budget season we have a lot of creative ideas that we are implementing this isn't going to solve all of our budget problems or challenges in the city, but we have a lot more work to do, but I am hopeful that we will make some good decisions through this process and looking forward for years to come, " said DiMartini.

The one public comment urged the council to continue to fund services for the unhoused.

Mayor Randy Rowse called the budget "precarious" and agreed with Councilmember Meagan Harmon who shared concerns about depleting reserves.

An enterprise fund public hearing will be held next week.

Those are fully funded by their own operations.

Enterprise funds include the airport, the waterfront, wastewater, clean energy program, and the golf course.

The council is expectedd to vote on the FY 2027 buggdet

Your News Channel will have more on the budget hearings tonight on the news.

The post City of Santa Barbara budget hearings underway appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

By Kathleen Magramo, CNN

(CNN) — Scurrying through the backhalls and stairwells of the Philippine Senate, trailed by aides and falling over at least once, the large, bald man was trying to evade local agents.

At the center of this comedic cat-and-mouse chase was Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, a longtime ally of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has gone from a powerful enforcer of a bloody drug crackdown to a wanted criminal on the run.

The scene was captured on CCTV and quickly became talk of the entire country.

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) accuse Dela Rosa of conspiring with Duterte in alleged crimes against humanity, during a brutal anti-drug campaign that killed thousands.

On Monday, the ICC confirmed it had issued an arrest warrant for him, citing incidents in which 32 people were killed between 2016 to 2018. When local investigative unit officers failed to arrest the 64-year-old, having pursued him through the bowels of parliament, riot police surrounded the Senate compound.

In response, diehard supporters of Dela Rosa and Duterte gathered to protest against the ICC’s warrant.

More than 100 supporters camped outside the Senate building overnight, waving the national flag and blocking nearby roads, before being dispersed by police.

A spokesperson for the ICC told CNN that as a judicial institution, it “relies on States cooperation to implement its arrest warrants,” adding it will need “national authorities to arrest and surrender the suspect” to its court.

By Wednesday, the situation remained in a stalemate. Dela Rosa had holed up in the Senate building for two nights, pleading in a livestreamed press conference on Facebook not to be sent to The Hague in the Netherlands to face the charges.

Appearing teary-eyed when asked about the possibility of being arrested, lawmaker said it was “the lowest point of my life.”

“I will face it, as long as they follow the proper process. If there is a legitimate warrant of arrest, they should bring it before the local court. Let’s discuss it, and we will face it,” he said on Tuesday.

He reiterated his position that the ICC has no jurisdiction to arrest him without approval from the local Supreme Court.

Such circumvention of due process is what Duterte and Dela Rosa stand accused of.

Loyal sidekick

The police officer rose to fame thanks to his close relationship with the strongman leader, who ruled the Philippines with an iron fist from 2016 to 2022, a period marked by the brutal war on drugs.

Dela Rosa, who goes by the moniker “Bato” which translates to “Rock,” hails from the Davao region in southern Philippines and has long been a loyal sidekick of Duterte.

He served as police chief when Duterte was mayor of Davao City, where police would allegedly coerce low-level dealers to surrender themselves then execute them, a tactic known as “oplan tokhang.”

For more than two decades, the anti-drug operation was enacted across Davao. Extrajudicial killings spread across the country when Duterte became president and Dela Rosa ascended the upper echelons of the national police force, according to Human Rights Watch.

The ICC arrest warrant alleges that Dela Rosa used his position as national police chief to implement “tokhang”-style killings nationally during Duterte’s presidency, allegations which he has repeatedly denied.

In an interview with CNN in 2016, Dela Rosa said that police officers kill suspected drug dealers “if it endangers our lives.”

When asked how he felt about seeing bodies of alleged