2025-02-28 00:07:37.069

Gene Hackman, the legendary actor, and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead in their New Mexico home, sparking a mysterious investigation. Arakawa, 64, was discovered in the bathroom, showing signs of decomposition and mummification, with scattered pills nearby. Hackman, 95, was found in a separate room, and authorities believe he may have suffered a sudden fall. Their German Shepherd was also found dead, while two other dogs survived. While carbon monoxide poisoning was initially suspected, investigators found no evidence of a gas leak. Maintenance workers hadn't seen the couple for approximately two weeks, finding the front door ajar. The police investigation is ongoing, and the cause of death remains undetermined.

2025-02-27 08:04:09.835

The Trump administration announced the elimination of more than 90% of the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) foreign aid contracts, amounting to $60 billion in overall U.S. assistance cuts worldwide. This significantly reduces U.S. development and humanitarian aid abroad, leaving few USAID projects for advocates to fight to save in ongoing court battles. The administration detailed these cuts in an internal memo and court filings, revealing the scale of its retreat from decades of U.S. policy that foreign aid bolsters U.S. interests. The memo cited "clearing significant waste stemming from decades of institutional drift" as justification, aiming to "use taxpayer dollars wisely to advance American interests." President Trump and Elon Musk, advocating for a smaller federal government, have been key drivers of these cuts, viewing USAID projects as advancing a liberal agenda. A 90-day review of foreign assistance programs led to a funding freeze, halting thousands of programs and impacting USAID staff through forced leave and firings. Successful programs combating Ebola, HIV/AIDS, saving over 20 million lives in Africa, have been affected. Nonprofits owed billions in contract payments described the contract terminations as rapid and without meaningful review. A USAID official email mentioned "MANY more terminations coming." Senator Chris Murphy criticized the administration's actions as attempting to circumvent Congress and courts. The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition expressed concern about the impact on counterterror, global health, food security, and competition. The State Department said Secretary Marco Rubio reviewed the terminations. Specifically, 5,800 of 6,200 multiyear USAID contract awards ($54 billion) and 4,100 of 9,100 State Department grants ($4.4 billion) were eliminated. The administration initially delayed payments, but began processing millions of dollars in back payments after a court order. However, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the order to unfreeze billions of dollars in aid.

2025-02-27 08:04:09.83

NEW YORK (AP) — Michelle Trachtenberg, a former child star who appeared in the 1996 “Harriet the Spy” hit movie and went on to co-star in two buzzy millennial-era TV shows — “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Gossip Girl” — has died. She was 39. Police responded to a 911 call shortly after 8 a.m. at a 51-story luxury apartment tower in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood where officers found Trachtenberg “unconscious and unresponsive,” according to an NYPD statement. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. No foul play was suspected and the New York Medical Examiner is investigating the cause of death, police said. “The family requests privacy for their loss,” Trachtenberg’s representative, Gary Mantoosh, said in a statement Wednesday. Trachtenberg was 8 when she began playing Nona Mecklenberg on Nickelodeon’s “The Adventures of Pete & Pete” from 1994 to 1996 and then starred in the title role in the film adaptations of “Harriet the Spy” and “Inspector Gadget,” opposite Matthew Broderick. “Michelle comes off as genuine because she really is a genuine kid. Everyone can identify with her,” said Debby Beece, president of Nickelodeon Movies in 1996. In 2000 Trachtenberg joined the cast of “Buffy,” playing Dawn Summers, the younger sister of the title character played by Sarah Michelle Gellar between 2000 and 2003. Trachtenberg thanked Gellar for speaking out against Joss Whedon in 2021, following abuse allegations made against the “Buffy” showrunner. “I am brave enough now as a 35-year-old woman to repost this,” she wrote on social media, and alluded to “his not appropriate behavior” she experienced as a teenage actor. In 2001, she received a Daytime Emmy nomination for hosting Discovery’s “Truth or Scare.” Trachtenberg went on to recurring roles on “Six Feet Under,” “Weeds” and “Gossip Girl,” where she played the gang’s scheming nemesis, Georgina Sparks. For her fan-favorite role, she was nominated as a TV villain at the Teen Choice Award in 2012. “It’s definitely a lot more fun than playing the good girl,” she told Seventeen in 2009. I love the reaction you get. I never understood why some actors don’t want to play villains or evil characters.” She was one of the original series’ stars to return for a pair of guest appearances in the 2021 “Gossip Girl” revival. Blake Lively on Instagram on Tuesday honored her “Gossip Girl” co-star: “The world lost a deeply sensitive and good person in Michelle. May her work and her huge heart be remembered by those who were lucky enough to experience her fire.” As if to cement herself in millennial culture, Trachtenberg made a cameo in Fall Out Boy’s music video for the “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” alongside Seth Green. Hollywood took to social media to mourn one of their own, one who had made the transition from kid star to teen queen to adult actor. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” co-star David Boreanaz said on Instagram it was “so very sad.. horrible news.” Melissa Gilbert, who starred with Trachtenberg in the 1996 film “A Holiday for Love,” wrote on Instagram: “My heart aches for your family and all those who loved you so.” Rosie O’Donnell, who starred alongside Trachtenberg in her “Harriet the Spy” debut, said her death was “heartbreaking:” “I loved her very much. She struggled the last few years. I wish I could have helped.” Glee star Chris Colfer remembered her this way: “Michelle was the absolute sweetest and one of the most supportive people I knew,” he wrote. Trachtenberg’s later credits included “Ice Princess” in 2005, playing a math prodigy and aspiring figure skater. The AP said it had “a good, though feeble, heart and the best of intentions” and said Trachtenberg was “mining the same nervous twitter from her kid-sister days on ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer.’” The New York City-born Trachtenberg also appeared in the 2004 teen sex comedy “EuroTrip,” she co-starred with Zac Efron and Leslie Mann in 2009’s “17 Again” and played a murderous stalker and abductor on an episode of “Criminal Minds.” For “Killing Kennedy,” the 2013 film in which she played the wife of Lee Harvey Oswald, around 80% of Trachtenberg’s dialogue was in Russian. She had learned the language from her mother growing up. Other credits included supporting roles in the films “Mysterious Skin” in 2004 and “Black Christmas” in 2006. She also starred on the NBC medical series “Mercy” (2009–2010) opposite Taylor Schilling. More recently, she hosted the true-crime docuseries “Meet, Marry, Murder” on Tubi. ___ Associated Press Writer Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report.

2025-02-27 07:45:51.667

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has shown further slight improvement as he battles double pneumonia, but doctors said Wednesday his prognosis is still guarded. A chest CT scan taken Tuesday evening showed the “normal evolution” of an infection as it is being treated, the Vatican said in its late update. The 88-year-old pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, is still receiving high flows of supplemental oxygen but hasn’t had any more respiratory crises since Saturday. Blood tests, which had shown some low platelet counts and anemia, have confirmed an improvement and the slight kidney insufficiency detected a few days ago has receded, the statement said. Francis is continuing to receive respiratory physiotherapy, the statement said. It was the first time the Vatican has confirmed Francis was receiving physiotherapy to help him expel fluid from his lungs. A complex lung infection has kept the 88-year-old pope hospitalized in critical condition since Feb. 14. Francis has chronic lung disease and was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital after a bout of bronchitis worsened. While doctors didn’t repeat that he was in critical condition in Wednesday’s update, as they have in recent days, they said his prognosis remained guarded, meaning he wasn’t out of danger. The pope resumed work in the afternoon from his hospital room, after receiving the Eucharist in the morning. And in a sign the Holy See machinery was grinding on, the Vatican announced he had appointed four new bishops and approved the creation of a new fundraising initiative to encourage donations to the Holy See, which has been enduring a financial crisis for years. Francis likely approved the bishop appointments awhile back and the new norms for the fundraising entity were approved Feb. 11, before he was hospitalized. But the announcements made them official and suggested Francis was still very much in charge and governing. Pilgrims descend on the hospital to be closer to Francis. If he were to look out the hospital window from the 10th floor, he might see that a steady stream of well-wishers are lighting candles and leaving him balloons and get-well cards at the statue of St. John Paul II near the Gemelli entrance. It has become something of a makeshift pilgrimage destination, especially for church groups in town for the Vatican’s Holy Year. On Wednesday, Bishop Gerardo Villalonga from Menorca, Spain led a group of 50 pilgrims to the site, saying they wanted to be as close to him as possible. “Because when a family has someone who is sick it is very important that they are surrounded, it is necessary that everyone is near to them, and all the people of God are close the pope,” he said. At dusk, trumpeter Felice Carella and singer Davide Capuano serenaded the pope with a rendition of Schubert’s Ave Maria under his window. “For me this is not a simple song, this is a big prayer for the pope so that he will better,” Capuano said. “These are terrible days and I hope the whole world can pray together with us.” Cardinal Re picked to lead prayer vigil on Wednesday. The dean of the College of Cardinals, meanwhile, was designated to lead the Vatican’s prayer vigil in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday night, thrusting a key figure in a future possible conclave into the spotlight. Francis recently extended the term of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91, keeping him in the important job rather than naming someone new. As is now popularly known thanks to the Oscar-nominated film “Conclave,” the dean is a key point of reference for cardinals. He presides over a papal funeral and organizes the conclave to elect a new pope. From 2000-2010, Re was prefect of the Vatican’s congregation for bishops, one of the most powerful and influential positions in the Holy See. Francis made him dean in 2020 and confirmed him in the job in January despite the expiration of his five-year term. The faithful from Francis’ homeland, meanwhile, gathered in the Argentine church of Rome for a special Mass presided over by Cardinal Baldassarre Reina, the pope’s vicar for Rome. Reina also celebrated the lunchtime Mass on Wednesday at Gemelli to pray for Francis. Sister Nilda Trejo, an Argentine nun, said that she knew Francis’ health has always been delicate, with problems breathing and speaking loudly, and that’s why she always prayed for him. “We knew that he often found it difficult,” she said. “In fact, you see that at the beginning of Mass, the microphone always has to be turned up because he has a bit of trouble. But he always spoke to the people. To the heart of the people.”

2025-02-27 07:39:56.332

A school-aged child in West Texas has died from measles, the first measles death in the US since 2015. The unvaccinated child, hospitalized in Lubbock, Texas, is one of 124 confirmed cases in a growing outbreak. Most cases involve children aged 5-17, all unvaccinated or of unknown vaccination status. Eighteen people have been hospitalized, primarily for respiratory issues related to measles pneumonia, not quarantine as initially stated by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The outbreak began in Gaines County and has spread to eight other counties. Low vaccination rates, particularly in Gaines County where nearly 1 in 5 kindergartners lacked the MMR vaccine, are contributing factors. Experts warn that the outbreak could continue for months due to the highly contagious nature of measles and low vaccination rates across West Texas. Free vaccination clinics have been established in Lubbock, but experts fear further spread and the potential for outbreaks of other vaccine-preventable diseases.

2025-02-27 07:39:34.536

Actress Michelle Trachtenberg, known for her role in Gossip Girl, has tragically passed away at the age of 39. Her mother discovered her unresponsive in her Manhattan apartment Wednesday morning. Law enforcement sources state that Michelle was found lying on her back in bed. While she had recently undergone a liver transplant and experienced complications with her liver and thyroid, she had been active in the days leading up to her death, even going out with friends just last Thursday. Michelle had publicly defended her appearance in recent months, stating she was 'happy and healthy' despite her health challenges. The family has requested privacy during this difficult time.

2025-02-27 07:39:33.22

Actress Michelle Trachtenberg was found dead in her Manhattan apartment Wednesday morning. Her mother, Lana, discovered her unresponsive in bed. Emergency responders pronounced her dead at the scene. Trachtenberg, 39, had recently undergone a liver transplant, and it is suspected that complications from the transplant may have contributed to her death. Despite health concerns, Trachtenberg had been active in recent days, even going out with friends just days before her death. She had publicly defended her appearance online, stating she was 'happy and healthy'. The family has requested privacy.

2025-02-27 05:15:30.149

Actress Michelle Trachtenberg was found dead in her Manhattan apartment Wednesday morning. Her mother, Lana, discovered her unresponsive in bed. Emergency responders pronounced her dead at the scene. Trachtenberg, 39, had recently undergone a liver transplant, and sources suggest complications from the transplant, potentially organ rejection, may have contributed to her death. Despite health challenges, Trachtenberg had maintained an active social life and defended her appearance online in recent months. The family has requested privacy.