In the 1970s, the height of the blaxploitation film era, Pam Grier was the undisputed queen of the genre, and one of the few female lead action stars ever. To the movie-going public, she really was a one-woman hit squad – a gun-toting goddess who made her name in films like “Coffy,” “Sheba, Baby,” and the immortal “Foxy Brown,” where …

It’s been more than 40 years since Kyra Sedgwick first appeared on TV, on the soap opera “Another World.” She recalled her lines from her first scene: “Oh, my God: ‘I’m on the road with a rock group, Grandma. It’s called The Deep Six’,” she laughed. “I was 16 years old, and that’s when I fell in love with acting.” …

Actor Johnny Wactor, who played Brando Corbin on the ABC daytime soap opera “General Hospital,” was killed in downtown Los Angeles, his brother has confirmed. Wactor’s brother, Grant, said Johnny was the victim of a fatal shooting on Saturday. Overnight Saturday, the LAPD says they received call of a shooting on Hope Street and Pico Boulevard. When officers arrived, police …

In 1943 Vincent Speranza, the son of Italian immigrants, enlisted when he turned 18. “I decided to be a paratrooper when I found out that that would probably be the fastest way to get into the battle,” he said. “We were innocent kids who weren’t ready for what was coming, let me tell ya’.” He fought in the Battle of …

The tornado that killed at least seven people in North Texas Saturday night was part of a cell that traveled for 100 miles. South of Valley View where at least five people died, the storm destroyed multiple homes at the RV park at the Ray Roberts marina. Despite a debris field of more than a half-mile long, all of the …

At least 45 people were killed inairstrikes in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, local health officials said Monday, drawing swift condemnations against Israel. Gaza officials said the strike killed at least 45 Palestinians, including displaced people living in tents that were engulfed by fire. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there had been a “tragic mishap” and that Israel was …

Sean Baker’s “Anora,” a comic but devastating Brooklyn odyssey about a sex worker who marries the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch, has won theCannes Film Festival’s top award, the Palme d’Or. Baker accepted the prize with his movie’s star, Mikey Madison, watching in the audience at the Cannes closing ceremony Saturday. The win for “Anora” marks a new high …

Washington — Louisiana became the first state to classify two abortion-inducing medications as controlled substances, making possession of the pills without a prescription a crime. Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, signed legislation that reclassifies misoprostol and mifepristone — a two-step regimen used to terminate early pregnancies — as Schedule IV drugs into law on Friday after it passed the state …

[This story was previously posted on Dec. 25, 2021.] In 2010, eccentric millionaire Forrest Fenn launched a treasure hunt when he announced that he had hidden a chest worth an estimated $1 million in the Rocky Mountains. Tens of thousands of people set out to search for the treasure — some of them obsessively. Sacha Dent was captivated by Fenn’s …

Walmart has ended a partnership with Capital One that made the banking company the exclusive issuer of Walmart’s consumer credit cards. The companies announced the change in a joint statement Friday. The companies said card-holders can still use their Capital One Walmart Rewards cards, which will continue to accrue rewards unless customers are notified of a change. Capital One will …