SANTA BARBARA, Calif.— Ethan Hawke is in Santa Barbara, and it’s not his first rodeo.

“When I was doing my first movie, “The Explorers” I came up to Santa Barbara. Was the first time I've ever been here. And I saw, ‘The Breakfast Club.’ I remember the roof of my head came off. I loved it, so I'm happy to be back.” said Ethan Hawke, who received the American Riviera Award Friday for his significant long term contribution to American cinema.

At 55 years old, Hawke has quite the career to look back on.

He’s played the 90s heart throb, a reporter covering a murder trial, the villain, the hero, the tortured poet, and historical figures.
 
Most recently, his portrayal of songwriter Lorenz Hart in “Blue Moon” has earned him his first “Best Actor” Oscar nomination.
 
Hawke has starred in several renowned film franchises, so News Channel Reporter Mina Wahab asked him what movie he’d love to do a sequel for.

“What's funny is in general, I don't even like sequels because I like to do something new all the time. But if I had to do a sequel to something it would be for “The Lowdown,” which I’m gonna do next.

But Hawke has barely scratched the surface. There’s so much more he wants to do.

“I’d love to do a crazy, bald faced comedy in my life. I wanted to like Shakespeare's ’The Tempest’, I wanna do a new play. I want to do another movie with Richard Linklater. There's so many young people I’d love to work with. That’s the great thing about cinema. It's huge, expansive, and global,” said Hawke.

Hawke has a total of 5 Oscar nominations— 2 for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ in “Boyhood” and “Training Day,” 2 for ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ in “Before Midnight” and “Before Sunset, and his very first ‘Best Actor’ nomination for “Blue Moon.”
 
We’ll just have to wait and see if he’ll be walking away with the coveted Oscar in a few weeks.

The post Ethan Hawke Talks Sequels and Dream Roles at Santa Barbara International Film Festival appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

Por Billy Stockwell, CNN

La familia real de Noruega ha estado luchando contra escándalos en múltiples frentes esta semana, que han motivado a organizaciones benéficas a tomar ciertos pasos para cortar o revisar lazos con la princesa heredera por sus pasados vínculos con el fallecido delincuente sexual Jeffrey Epstein, mientras que otros críticos cuestionan su idoneidad para el papel de futura reina.

La primera polémica es la del hijo de 29 años de la princesa heredera Mette-Marit, Marius Borg Høiby, quien a principios de esta semana rompió a llorar durante su primer día de testimonios en un tribunal de Oslo por cuatro cargos de violación, que negó .

Høiby se encuentra fuera de la línea de sucesión, ya que nació antes de que su madre se casara con el príncipe heredero Haakon en 2001.

Haakon reafirmó el estatus de Høiby como plebeyo en una declaración poco común antes del juicio por violación que comienza el martes, en la que afirma que su hijastro “no es miembro de la Casa Real de Noruega y, por lo tanto, es autónomo”.

Pero sus esfuerzos por salvaguardar la reputación de la Corona se vieron ensombrecidos cuando estalló una segunda controversia, esta vez involucrando a su esposa y madre de Høiby, la futura reina del país.

Nuevos archivos de Epstein publicados por el Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos muestran una extensa correspondencia entre Mette-Marit y el fallecido delincuente sexual (algo que la princesa ha lamentado desde entonces) años después de que Epstein se declarara culpable de solicitar relaciones sexuales a una menor.

El viernes, la casa real de Noruega manifestó que Mette-Marit “rechaza firmemente los abusos y actos criminales de Epstein” y lamenta “no haber comprendido lo suficientemente temprano qué tipo de persona era”.

“Parte del contenido de los mensajes entre Epstein y yo no representa la persona que quiero ser. También me disculpo por la situación en la que he puesto a la familia real, especialmente al rey y a la reina”, declaró Mette-Marit en un comunicado.

Esto ha provocado un debate público abierto en Noruega sobre si Mette-Marit debería convertirse en reina, dicen los expertos.

“La confianza en la princesa heredera ha caído drásticamente”, declaró Tove Taalesen, corresponsal real del medio de comunicación Nettavisen. “La mayoría aún respalda a la institución, pero ese apoyo es menor y la incertidumbre crece”.

La controversia plantea preguntas incómodas sobre la posición de Mette-Marit dentro del clan, sobre todo dada la avanzada edad del rey Harald V, quien, a sus 88 años, es el monarca más longevo de Europa.

La salud física de Harald se ha deteriorado en los últimos años, lo que ha obligado a Haakon a ejercer de regente en ocasiones.

Taalesen advirtió que Mette-Marit aún no enfrenta un final inmediato de su período como miembro activo de la realeza, pero indicó que una opción sería retirarse de sus deberes reales alegando razones de salud y dejar que el príncipe heredero gobierne algún día por su cuenta.

A Mette-Marit le diagnosticaron en 2018 fibrosis pulmonar, una enfermedad pulmonar crónica y progresiva con un mal pronóstico, y probablemente necesitará un trasplante de pulmón, según el palacio real.

Otros comentaristas reales coinciden. Kjetil Alstadheim, editor político del influyente periódico noruego Aftenposten, afirmó que muchos noruegos están decepcionados por las revelaciones y, como resultado, tienen menos confianza en la princesa.

“Se preguntan cómo será su juicio en e

By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN

New York (CNN) — Ron Vachris does not fit the profile of a typical risk-taking executive.

Vachris started at Costco as a forklift driver in 1982 while he attended community college. He went on to manage Costco’s warehouses on the West Coast before he was tapped to lead the company’s real estate division in 2015.

“I was quite shocked” about being asked to run the real estate division, Vachris later said in a rare interview. “All my experience was in operations and running warehouses.”

In 2024, more than 40 years after Vachris started at Costco, he became the company’s third-ever CEO.

“I’m not the exception” among company leadership, he said. “We have a very humble group out there” that’s not focused on “recognition (or) being on a pedestal somewhere.”

But over the past year, Costco has taken a major risk by adopting visible public stances at odds with President Donald Trump’s agenda. That makes Costco one of the few big companies to defy the administration — and get away with it.

Costco rarely takes the lead on controversial political or social issues, and its actions have been measured. But the company’s positions have drawn attention during a period when many companies are self-censoring or changing their policies to fall in line with Trump.

While dozens of companies have dropped diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, Costco stood behind DEI. Costco’s decision won it business from progressive customers, and it did not suffer with conservatives.

Costco also sued the administration over tariff refunds, risking government backlash.

But Costco, so far, hasn’t faced blowback. The company is more inoculated than others to take these positions because of fierce customer and employee loyalty to the brand, analysts say.

Customers pay an annual membership fee to shop at Costco, and more than 90% renew each year. The company also has some of the lowest employee turnover rates in the retail industry, driven in part by offering wages above its competitors.

“You look at who’s running the company today – we all came up through the ranks” of Costco, Vachris said in an interview last year. “Retention is core to the company’s success.”

Costco, which does not have a media relations department and rarely speaks to the press, declined an interview request for Vachris.

“Costco’s got a really good bipartisan reputation. Everyone loves it. It’s cheap as hell and treats its workers well,” said Alison Taylor, a clinical associate professor of business and society at the NYU Stern business school. “They know the lane they’re in, and they have not really wavered.”

‘I am not prepared to change’

Costco’s decision to hold steady on DEI programs last year came as Target, Walmart, McDonald’s and other companies scaled back their diversity programs in response to opposition from the Trump administration.

Trump issued an executive order Read more

By Lauren Fox, Sarah Ferris, CNN

(CNN) — Kentucky may be the last place in America where you can take on President Donald Trump as a hard-right Republican and carry a GOP voting card in Congress. At least for now.

A pair of twangy Kentucky rebels – Rep. Thomas Massie and Sen. Rand Paul – are teaming up to defend Massie in the biggest fight of his political career as Trump intensifies efforts to oust the seven-term Republican from Washington next year.

Massie is facing the full might of Trump’s political operation in a nasty GOP primary in northeast Kentucky, where MAGA world has poured millions to support the president’s preferred candidate, former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein. And Massie and his allies argue it’s no ordinary race – it’s an attempt to silence the president’s remaining critics in Congress.

“I think that’s one of the reasons they’re attacking me and putting so much money into my race, is to keep the others in line, and so far, it’s working,” Massie told CNN in a recent interview. “I just think there’s so much political pressure from the president and the people surrounding him that they can’t withstand it.”

The attacks from the president have only intensified since the House margins have narrowed to just a single vote – giving Massie outsized power in the fractious chamber. In the last week, Trump personally went after Massie with crass comments about his recent marriage and even made a swipe at the National Prayer Breakfast calling him a “moron.” (Paul’s response? “Doesn’t sound very charitable to me.”)

So far, Paul seems to be the only congressional Republican working to help Massie hang on in what some consider the last vestige of the pre-Trump Tea Party brand of fiscal restraint and hands-off government. The Kentucky senator told CNN he plans to campaign with him for several days this spring ahead of the May primary, after other joint events last fall. Massie told CNN the only other help on the stump he’s been offered is former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who left Congress last month after Trump’s repeated tirades against her.

Even Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN that he is not committed to backing Massie, a stunning move for a sitting party leader.

“I generally run the incumbent protection program here. But it’s gotta be a cooperation. I gotta have a conversation with Thomas to see if he wants to be on the team,” Johnson told CNN when asked if he would back Massie in the primary. “Stay tuned on that.”

In today’s GOP, support for Massie has become its own kind of political litmus test. That includes in Kentucky’s heated three-way Senate primary, where one of those contenders, GOP Rep. Andy Barr, formally endorsed Massie’s opponent in a bid for Trump’s support in his own race. (One of Barr’s opponents, Nate Morris, quickly followed.)

And last week, Trump endorsed against a MAGA hardliner in a special election in Georgia who has been supportive of Massie.

But Massie remains undeterred. Both he and Paul remain unwilling to engage in the kind of MAGA-world apology tour that many of his colleagues have unfurled to save their own political careers. And Paul told CNN that he believed some of Trump’s attacks – including against Massie’s wife, who is a former Paul staffer – would backfire in the primary. (Massie was widowed in mid-2024 and recently remarried.)

“I think a lot of people at home are seeing the attacks on Thomas Massie’s wife as being unseemly,” Paul told CNN. “People are rallying around him because to talk about his hurried wedding, and, ‘Oh, she’s much younger than him.’ … I think they’re going to react the opposite to what the president thin

By Dana O’Neil, CNN

Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy (CNN) — The message Kendall Coyne Schofield posted on her social media was not terribly difficult to decipher.

A framed blackboard propped in front of Schofield’s two dogs, Penny and Blue, spelled out the message: “Baby Schofield Coming Summer 2023.” The dogs wore matching big sister bandanas in case something somehow got lost in translation.

Yet along with the congratulations to Schofield and her husband, Michael, came a rather puzzling rejoinder.

“A lot of people said, ‘Hey, congratulations on a great career,’” Coyne Schofield said at the Olympics media summit in October. “I was like, ‘Wait. I didn’t announce my retirement.’”

It is a uniquely female athlete’s quandary, the presumption that parenthood means the end of competition. Athletes-turned-dads return to their sport with a shrug, with nary a raised eyebrow about how they might juggle it all. Yet somehow – through the feminism movement to the “You’ve come a long way, baby” campaign to the birth and eventual seismic growth in women’s professional sports – sports-star moms, not unlike those in the working world, still face the same age-old questions.

This month, six American women will cart their baby gear along with their Team USA kits to Milan Cortina, pulling the double duty as mom and Olympian.

Coyne Schofield – a gold medalist, three-time Olympian and the mother of Drew – will captain the women’s hockey team. Kelly Curtis, mother to two-year-old Maeve, the first Black athlete to represent Team USA in skeleton, returns for her second Games. Elana Meyers Taylor, mother to Nico and Noah, is the most decorated Black athlete in Winter Games history and will go for her sixth Olympic medal in Cortina. Her teammate, Kaillie Humphries – mom of 15-month-old Aulden – is the first female bobsledder to defend her Olympic title and will vie for her fourth gold. Tabitha Peterson Lovick, is making her third Olympics in curling and her sister and teammate, Tara Peterson, will make her second Olympics run – with son Eddie, born in September 2024 – in tow.

None will say it is easy – on their bodies, their training and occasionally, their peace of mind – but impossible?

“I knew I could return to not only where I was but better,” Coyne Schofield said. “I wanted my son to know he wasn’t the reason I stopped playing hockey but the reason I continued to play hockey. And any hard day I might have, or source of inspiration I need, I can just look at him and it’s right in front of me.”

The sisterhood within motherhood

In 2019, Nike debuted an ad campaign, “Dream Crazier,” showcasing women athletes and their accomplishments, urging other women to show “what crazy can do.”

In response, track athlete Alysia Montaño crafted a video in conjunction with the New York Times, parodying Nike’s sponsor’s ad. Then under contract with the shoe company, the mother of two said in a voice over, “If you want to be an athlete and a mother, well that’s just crazy.”

She explained that the shoe company paused her sponsorship after she told its representative she was pregnant.

Montaño’s outspokenness – and her break with Nike – created a movement, #DreamMaternity. As women stepped into the spotlight to share their stories as well as their frustration that somehow motherhood and peak athletic success were mutually exclusive, action followed. The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, with outside pressure from several senators, created reforms to ensure women maintained their health insurance after getting pregnant.

And then ca