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Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte turns 20, whether you like it or not

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:17 GMT

By DEE-ANN DURBIN (AP Business Writer)The seasonal drink that made pumpkin spice a star is turning 20. And unlike the autumn days it celebrates, there seems to be no chill in customer demand.Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte goes on sale Thursday in the U.S. and Canada, as it does each year when the nights start getting longer and the fall winds gather. It’s the coffee giant’s most popular seasonal beverage, with hundreds of millions sold since its launch in 2003. And it has produced a huge — and growing — industry of imitators flecked with cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.In the year ending July 29, U.S. sales of pumpkin-flavored products reached $802.5 million, according to Nielsen. That’s up 42% from the same period in 2019. There are pumpkin spice Oreos, protein drinks, craft beers, cereals and even Spam. A search of “pumpkin spice” on Walmart’s website brings up more than 1,000 products. A thousand products that smell or taste like, ...

Lakers to honor Kobe Bryant with statue outside arena on Feb. 8, 2024

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:17 GMT

The Los Angeles Lakers plan to honor the late Kobe Bryant with a statue outside their home arena, further recognizing the five-time NBA champion as one of the franchise’s all-time greats.The bronze statue is set to be unveiled in Star Plaza outside Crypto.com Arena on Feb. 8, 2024 — a nod to Bryant’s jersey numbers of 8 and 24, the team announced Thursday.Bryant will become the seventh Laker to receive a statue in the plaza, joining former teammate Shaquille O’Neal, as well as Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and Chick Hearn.“As you know, Kobe played his entire 20-year NBA career as a Los Angeles Laker,” his widow, Vanessa Bryant, said in a video announcement. “Since arriving in this city and joining the Lakers organization, he felt at home here, playing in the City of Angels. On behalf of the Lakers, my daughters and me, I am so honored that, right in the center of Los Angeles, in front of the place known as the ...

Gretchen’s table: Spicy basil chicken stir-fry with green beans has punch and crunch

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:17 GMT

Gretchen McKay | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)My kitchen garden is often a hit or miss proposition, depending on how hungry the fat (and happy) groundhog who lives under my shed is on any given day or week. But I almost always can count on successfully growing lots and lots of basil, which I turn into pesto or cut into ribbons to top one of the all-time favorite summer dishes, bruschetta. Thanks to a sunny backyard, I also tend to have luck with a wide variety of chili peppers.This Thai-inspired stir-fry makes good use of both ingredients, which if you don’t happen to grow in your yard or in a windowsill planter, are easy to find at any farmers market or even the smallest grocery store. It’s also incredibly quick to pull together. In the waning days of summer — with so much to still see and do before the kids go back to school — that’s definitely a good thing.Every Thai cook has his or her version of grapow, a spicy stir-fry made from bits of meat and basil and oft...

3 dead, 5 wounded after a retired police officer opens fire at a Southern California biker bar

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:17 GMT

By EUGENE GARCIA and JOHN ANTCZAK (Associated Press)TRABUCO CANYON, Calif. (AP) — A retired police officer opened fire in a popular Southern California biker bar, leaving three dead and at least five others with gunshot wounds.Deputies arrived at the bar two minutes after the shooting was reported Wednesday night and shot and killed the gunman, Orange County Sheriff’s Sgt. Frank Gonzalez said. The sheriff’s department in a post Thursday on X, formerly known as Twitter, identified the gunman as John Snowling, 59, and said his wife was injured in the shooting. Betty Fruichantie told NBC4 Los Angeles that she was with the shooter’s wife in the storied Cook’s Corner bar, in Orange County’s rural Trabuco Canyon near the suburban city of Lake Forest, when gunfire erupted. Some people ran, while others froze.Fruichantie said Marie Snowling dropped to the floor. Fruichantie didn’t know whether her friend was hit. With bullets flying past her face, F...

US intelligence assessment shows intentionally caused explosion crashed Wagner chief’s plane

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:17 GMT

By EMMA BURROWS and AAMER MADHANI (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — A preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment has found that the plane crash presumed to have killed Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was intentionally caused by an explosion, according to U.S. and Western officials.One of the officials, who were not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the explosion falls in line with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “long history of trying to silence his critics.”The officials did not offer any details on what caused the explosion that was believed to have killed Prigozhin and several of his lieutenants to avenge a mutiny that challenged the Russian leader’s authority.Details of the U.S. assessment surfaced as Putin on Thursday expressed his condolences to the families of those who were reported to be aboard the jet and referred to “serious mistakes” by Prigozhin. The White House declined to comment.The ...

Quebec universities oppose suggestion by federal minister to cap student visas

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:17 GMT

MONTREAL — Quebec university administrators, professors and students are rejecting an idea by the federal housing minister that Canada could cap the number of international study permits it issues as a way to ease the country’s housing shortage. They say that limiting the number of international students will do little to address the housing crunch and would instead hurt university research and deprive Quebec of skilled immigrants.Daniel Jutras, the rector of Université de Montréal, says Canada’s housing crisis is not the result of the rise in international students to the country.“The (housing) problem is real, the problem is serious, but it’s a problem that’s been developing over the past two decades as a result of structural issues that I think are not related directly to the influx of international students,” Jutras said.On Monday, federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser suggested that capping the explosive growth in the number of international s...

North Carolina governor to veto election bill, sparking override showdown with GOP supermajority

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:17 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced Thursday that he would veto a sweeping Republican elections bill that would end a grace period for voting by mail and make new allowances for partisan poll observers.In a video message, the Democratic governor accused legislative Republicans of using their slim veto-proof majorities to execute “an all-out assault on the right to vote,” which he said has nothing to do with election security and everything to do with their party keeping and gaining power. The bill would make voting more difficult for young and nonwhite voters who are are more likely to vote absentee and less likely to elect Republicans, he said.“They’re making it harder for you to vote, hoping that you won’t bother,” he said, urging North Carolinians to contact their representatives and demand they uphold his veto.Cooper, who is term-limited and cannot run for reelection in 2024, successfully blocked several components of the bill during past sessions. But ...

REVIEW: Golda depicts a world leader in a terrifying crisis

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:17 GMT

Israel is a very young nation, it was formed less than a century ago. It’s been part of many conflicts in the Middle East, but from an Israeli perspective one of the most important was the Yom Kippur War. Israel was surrounded by a coalition between Egypt and Syria, and there was brutal conflict between the three nations for 19 days. It became a defining moment for the nation, as it ended with both Egypt and Syria recognizing the official statehood of Israel, as well as becoming an attempt at beginning the process of peace for Palestinians and Israelis.Helen Mirren and Liev Schreiber as Prime Minister Golda Meir and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in Golda, courtesy of Elevation Pictures.Golda is a film that depicts this brutal conflict through the perspective of one of its most important players, Israel’s first and only female Prime Minister Golda Meir (played by Helen Mirren from the Queen). The film depicts both her experiences during the war, including her initial...

New York Police: Sergeant suspended after throwing object at fleeing motorcyclist who crashed, died

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:17 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A man fleeing a New York City drug bust crashed his motorcycle and died Wednesday after a police sergeant threw an object at him in an attempt to stop him, police said.The sergeant, Erik Duran, was suspended without pay following the man’s death in the University Heights section of the Bronx, police said.New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office, which has jurisdiction to probe deaths involving police, is investigating. The NYPD said it is cooperating.“The NYPD is committed to ensuring that there will be a full, thorough, and transparent investigation of this incident to determine the facts and to take the appropriate steps forward,” the department said in a statement.A message seeking comment was left with Duran’s union.According to a preliminary report, the man lost control of his motorcycle, struck a parked vehicle and fell to the ground after Duran threw an object at him.Police didn’t identify the object. The Daily News, which first reported the...

Fran Drescher says actors strike she’s leading is an ‘inflection point’ that goes beyond Hollywood

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:17 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fran Drescher believes that the walkouts that have shut down Hollywood are about something much bigger than the actors union she leads, or the writers striking alongside them, or the entertainment industry.Drescher told The Associated Press the moment is about the entire world of work, and a larger stand against corporate leaders who value shareholders over the people who create their product.“At some point you have to say no more,” Drescher, the former “Nanny” star who is now president of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, said in an interview at the union’s headquarters Wednesday. “I think that it’s taken on a bigger scope, it’s greater than the sum of its parts. I think it’s a conversation now about the culture of big business, and how it treats everybody up and down the ladder in the name of profit.”Drescher, 65, has been president of the actors guild since September of 2021, when she defeated “Stranger Things” a...