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Dan Levy to host competition series ‘The Big Brunch’ for HBO Max

Dan Levy will be the host of a new cooking competition series on HBO Max called The Big Brunch. Along with hosting and creating the new series, Levy will serve as executive producer alongside Andrew Fried, Dane Lillegard, Sarina Roma, and Faye Stapleton.

Scheduled to debut next year, the show will follow undiscovered chefs from across the country as they compete to present fresh and exciting ideas for brunch.  The competitors will bring their backgrounds and stories to life all while they go head-to-head with one another to win a life-altering prize.

Levy, known for his award-winning performance in Schitt’s Creek, said: “”Everybody has a friend, a family member, or a co-worker that is extraordinary at what they do, they just need a leg up so that their talents can be appreciated on a larger scale. Thanks to an almost obsessive love of food, I’ve been lucky enough to come across many of those people in the culinary world — friends working out of cafes or food trucks, revolutionizing the menus at local diners — those special humans who create communities around their cooking, hoping to take their skills to the next level. I created this show for them, the local culinary heroes of America who deserve a spotlight. That, and who doesn’t want to watch maple syrup being poured slowly over a golden stack of perfectly cooked, creme brûlée inspired French toast?”

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Disney+ shares new trailer for upcoming series The Book of Boba Fett

Disney+ has shared a trailer for the Star Wars series The Book of Boba Fett featuring Temuera Morrison as the titular Boba Fett, a bounty hunter. The preview shows Fett (Morrison) take over Jabba the Hutt’s criminal empire on the desert planet of Tatooine. Fett is aided by elite mercenary and assassin Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen). “I intend to rule with respect,” Fett says. “Why speak of conflict when cooperation can make us all rich?”

Disney+ also shared a poster for the series featuring Fett and Shand with the caption: The Book of @BobaFett, an Original Series, starts streaming December 29 on #DisneyPlus. #TheBookOfBobaFett

The Book of Boba Fett is executive produced by Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Robert Rodriguez, Kathleen Kennedy and Colin Wilson. The series premieres Dec. 29 on Disney+.

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Jury phase in murder trial of shooter Kyle Rittenhouse begins in Kenosha, Wisconsin

The murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse began Monday with the start of jury selection, however the process of selecting 12 impartial jurors could be difficult due to the high-profile nature of the case.

Rittenhouse shot two men dead and injured a third, during anti-racism protests in Kenosha, Wis., last year, Demonstrators were protesting the police shooting of Jacob Blake in August 2020 when the then-17-year-old Rittenhouse shot and killed Anthony Huber, 26, and Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and injured Gaige Grosskreutz, now 27. He faces charges of criminal homicide for the deaths. Defense attorneys argue that he fired his assault-style rifle in self-defense. Now 18 years old, Rittenhouse has been free since he posted $2 million in bail a year ago. He has pleaded not guilty to felony homicide and misdemeanor charges.

Rittenhouse was arrested a day after the shootings and was indicted as an adult on charges of being a fugitive from justice. Since then, he’s been charged with five felonies, including first-degree intentional homicide, first degree reckless homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety. Other charges include misdemeanor possession of a dangerous weapon under the age of 18 and non-criminal violation of failure to comply with an emergency order.  In his defense, Rittenhouse’s attorney has argued that he left his home across the border in Illinois and traveled to Kenosha to protect businesses during the protests. fearing for his life.

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West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin refuses to endorse $1.75T social spending bill

On Monday, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin said he will continue to withhold his support for a $1.75 trillion social spending package backed by President Joe Biden and Democratic progressives. Manchin diminished hopes that he would support Biden’s historic ‘Build Back Better’ social safety net plan during a Capitol Hill press conference.

Manchin told reporters: “As more of the real details outlined in the basic framework are released, what I see are shell games and budget gimmicks that make the real cost of this so-called $1.75 trillion dollar bill estimated to be twice as high if the programs are extended or made permanent.”  The votes of Democratic holdouts Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are necessary to move the spending bill through the Senate on a 50-50 vote via the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process. A standoff has developed between Manchin and progressives in the House Democratic caucus, who are holding up the passage of a companion $1 trillion, bipartisan infrastructure bill which Manchin helped negotiate with Senate Republicans.

The president on Thursday announced a “framework” agreement on the re0conciliation bill, which has been greatly pared down due to Manchin’s concerns about its size, however the West Virginia senator remained insistent Monday that the bill is still too big: “Simply put, I will not support a bill that is this consequential without thoroughly understanding the impact that it will have on our national debt, our economy and most importantly all of our American people. The political games have to stop. Holding this [infrastructure] bill hostage is not going to work in getting my support for the reconciliation bill.”

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Country Daypop

Take a look at the video from George Strait “The Weight Of The Badge”

In honor of ‘First Responders Day’ last week, George Strait released a powerful new video for his song “The Weight Of The Badge”, one of the 13-tracks included on his 2019 album Honky Tonk Time Machine.

Said George: “The men and women in this music video are our friends and neighbors who carry the weight of the badge each day,” and he adds, “Thank you. We appreciate you and the sacrifices you and your families make.”

Watch the video for “The Weight Of The Badge” – here.

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Miranda Lambert is inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall Of Fame

Country superstar Miranda Lambert has been inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame. Lambert joins a class of women who embody the adventurous, self-reliant spirit of the old American frontier. The National Cowgirl Hall of Fame is meant to honor and celebrate women “whose lives exemplify the courage, resilience and independence that helped shape the West, and fosters an appreciation” for those ideals. Miranda Lambert was being honored for her fundraising and pet-adoption efforts through her non-profit, MuttNation, and she’s joined by fellow inductees Pop Chalee, Lari Dee Guy, Lavonna “Shorty” Koger and Kathryn Kusner are the other women recognized this year, along with Patsy Montana Award recipient Christina Voros and Sergeant Reckless Award recipient Lucca K458.

Lambert returned to her home state with her husband, Brendan McLoughlin, for the ceremony and posted on social media about the honor, writing in part:  “Tuesday October 26 2021 is a day I will never forget as long as I live. That is the day I got inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall Of Fame in Ft. Worth Texas,” she wrote. “It is truly one of the greatest honors of my life. I am beyond grateful to join such an amazing group of women. I’m still processing this and will be for a long time.”

The honor comes just days after the release of Lambert’s new single, “If I Was a Cowboy”; take a look at the video for the song – here.

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Disney+ begins production of “Hocus Pocus 2” featuring original cast

Disney+ said in a press release that the Hocus Pocus sequel has started filming in Rhode Island, with original Hocus Pocus stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy returning as witches and sisters Winifred, Sarah and Mary Sanderson. Doug Jones will also reprise Billy Butcherson. New cast members include Whitney Peak, Lilia Buckingham and Belissa Escobedo as Becca, Cassie and Izzy, three young women in present-day Salem who incite the wrath of the witches.

The new film will also feature Hannah Waddingham, Tony Hale, Sam Richardson, Juju Brener, Froy Gutierrez, Taylor Paige Henderson and Nina Kitchen.

The original Hocus Pocus was released in July 1993. An official synopsis of Hocus Pocus 2 reads: “It’s been 29 years since someone lit the Black Flame Candle and resurrected the 17th-century sisters who were executed for practicing witchcraft, and they are looking for revenge. Now it is up to three high-school students to figure out how to stop the ravenous witches from wreaking a new kind of havoc on Salem before midnight on All Hallow’s Eve.”

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‘The Real Housewives of Dubai’ is coming to Bravo in 2022

Bravo continues to expand its successful “Real Housewives” franchise and has officially green-lighted “The Real Housewives of Dubai” with Andy Cohen as executive producer. The network announced Monday that its latest iteration will premiere in 2022 as the 11th city in the “Real Housewives” world.

Executive producer Andy Cohen said in a press release: “Everything’s bigger in Dubai, and I couldn’t be more excited to launch Bravo’s first international ‘Housewives’ series in a city I’ve been fascinated by for years, with an outstanding group of friends as our guides.”

Real Housewives of Dubai will be the first international series in the ‘Real Housewives’ franchise to air on Bravo. Bravo shared a teaser  for the series that shows a woman walking through the desert, with a voiceover that says: “It’s the land of opportunity. It’s the new American dream.”  With the lavish United Arab Emirates as their backdrop, the new “Housewives” will also give fans a glimpse of Dubai’s “over-the-top opulence, jaw-dropping modern architecture and wild nightlife scene,” says the press release.  Bravo has not yet revealed the cast members for Real Housewives of Dubai.

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Jessica Simpson celebrates four years of sobriety with candid photo on social media

Jessica Simpson shared a candid photo of herself from four years ago on social media depicting her first day without alcohol, and detailed in an honest, emotional post the way she felt that day as she began her journey to sobriety.

The 41-year-old Simpson wrote on Instagram: “This person in the early morning of Nov 1, 2017 is an unrecognizable version of myself. I had so much self-discovery to unlock and explore. I knew in this very moment I would allow myself to take back my light, show victory over my internal battle of self-respect, and brave this world with piercing clarity. Personally, to do this I needed to stop drinking alcohol because it kept my mind and heart circling in the same direction and quite honestly I was exhausted. I wanted to feel the pain so I could carry it like a badge of honor. I wanted to live as a leader does and break cycles to advance forward- never looking back with regret and remorse over any choice I have made and would make for the rest of my time here within this beautiful world.”  Simpson added, “There is so much stigma around the word alcoholism or the label of an alcoholic. The real work that needed to be done in my life was to actually accept failure, pain, brokenness, and self-sabotage. The drinking wasn’t the issue. I was. I didn’t love myself. I didn’t respect my own power. Today I do. I have made nice with the fears and I have accepted the parts of my life that are just sad. I own my personal power with soulful courage. I am wildly honest and comfortably open. I am free.”

In January 2020, Simpson opened up about her alcoholism in her memoir Open Book, saying she hit “rock bottom”on Halloween 2017 — a day where she recounts “zoning out” from drinking and was unable to dress her kids.  She wrote in her memoir: “I was terrified of letting them see me in that shape. I am ashamed to say that I don’t know who got them into their costumes that night.”  The next day she confided in her friends, saying: “I need to stop. Something’s got to stop. And if it’s alcohol that’s doing this and making things worse, then I quit.”

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Two dead, 12 injured in Illinois shooting during party on Halloween

Two gunmen opened fire at a house party in Joliet, Illinois (southwest of Chicago) killing two people and injuring more than a dozen. The Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that the shooting occurred early Sunday morning at an event attended by an estimated 200 people, when gunfire erupted near a DJ booth in the backyard.

According to witnesses, one of the men — described as a Hispanic male wearing a red hoodie — fired from an elevated porch overlooking the crowd. The second shooter was described as a light-skinned man wearing a ski mask and yellow hoodie. Two people were pronounced dead at the scene, and remain unidentified. Four others were taken to local hospitals; additional details about the incident were not immediately available.

The suspects remain at large as of press time.

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