Bob Newhart, soft-spoken comedy star, dies at 94
(NYTimes) — Bob Newhart, who burst onto the comedy scene in 1960 working a stammering Everyman character, then rode essentially that same character through a long career that included two of television’s most memorable sitcoms, died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 94. The success of his 1960 comedy album “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart” eventually led to “The Bob Newhart Show,” in which he played a somewhat befuddled psychologist. That series ran from 1972 to 1978. In 1982 he followed it up with “Newhart,” in which he played a Vermont innkeeper. That show ran for eight seasons. Newhart remained busy in television and films into his 80s.
Oregon fugitive found after using stolen identity for 30 years
(NYTimes) — A fugitive who escaped from an Oregon prison 30 years ago was found and arrested Tuesday in Georgia, according to the U.S. Marshals Service, which said he had been using the identity of a child who died in 1962 to evade authorities. Steven Craig Johnson, 70, fled from a work crew in 1994 while sentenced at Mill Creek Correctional Facility, a minimum security prison in Salem, Oregon, which has since closed. The U.S. Marshals Service said that its agents confronted Johnson, a convicted sex offender, on Tuesday in the apartment complex where he had been living since 2011 in Macon, Georgia, under the alias “William Cox.”
Missouri supreme court clears release of woman who spent 43 years in prison
(NYTimes) — A woman who has served 43 years in prison may soon be freed after Missouri’s highest court overruled an effort to keep her incarcerated. A lower court found in June that there was evidence establishing the “actual innocence” of the woman, Sandra Hemme, 64, who had been convicted of a 1980 murder, and an appeals court later ordered her release. The Missouri attorney general’s office filed a motion to keep Hemme in prison, citing two crimes she committed behind bars. But the Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the emergency motion was “moot.” It was unclear when Hemme would be released from prison.
Navy exonerates Black sailors unfairly convicted after WWII disaster
(NYTimes) — On July 17, 1944, hundreds of sailors were loading ammunition onto two cargo ships in Port Chicago, California, not far from San Francisco, when an explosion killed 320 of them. When ordered to continue loading ammunition the next day, 258 Black sailors objected until safety conditions improved. All were subjected to a sham trial and convicted of various offenses. Most eventually agreed to return to work at the piers, but a group of 50 men who continued to resist were given dishonorable discharges and jail sentences. On Wednesday, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro officially exonerated all 258 Black sailors, none of whom are still alive.
Uk failed in handling of COVID pandemic, inquiry finds
(NYTimes) — Britain’s government “failed” the country’s citizens in its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a damning report from an official public inquiry said Thursday, partly because officials had prepared for “the wrong pandemic.” The arrival of COVID-19 in 2020 exposed flaws in Britain’s public health system and its pandemic preparedness that had been ignored for years. During the early waves of infections, Britain’s per capita death rate was among the highest in Europe, eventually leading to more than 225,000 deaths. “Had the U.K. been better prepared for and more resilient to the pandemic, some of that financial and human cost may have been avoided,” the report said.
Ukraine loses hard-won position near Dnieper river in the south
(NYTimes) — Ukrainian troops have lost a position on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River, near the southern city of Kherson, after months of bloody fighting to hold on to a piece of land in what some Ukrainian soldiers and military analysts have described as a futile operation. The Ukrainian military said Wednesday night that fighting continued on the eastern bank but that most of the main positions in the village of Krynky “were destroyed by intense, combined and prolonged enemy fire.” The statement came after several Ukrainian news media outlets reported that Ukrainian forces had withdrawn from the village, which now lies in ruins.
Israel’s ultra-Orthodox head toward conscription, but it may be slow
(NYTimes) — The Israeli military will begin sending initial conscription orders Sunday to ultra-Orthodox men after a landmark Supreme Court decision ordered an end to the insular community’s long-running exemption from military service, setting up a potential clash with the Israeli government. Roughly 1,000 ultra-Orthodox men between 18 and 26 will receive the orders, as part of an attempt to gradually ramp up conscription while avoiding a head-on confrontation with the community. The ultra-Orthodox men will be asked to participate in initial screenings for conscription in August and September as part of the enlistment process, the military said.
Dig at Meloni’s height could cost reporter in Italy 5,000 euros
(NYTimes) — A judge in Milan has found an Italian journalist guilty of defaming Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and ordered her to pay damages of 5,000 euros (about $5,500) as well as court costs. In Wednesday’s ruling, Cortese was also given a suspended fine of 1,200 euros for two posts on Twitter in October 2021, when Meloni was a lawmaker. In one tweet, she described Meloni using “not nice words,” Cortese’s lawyer said. In another she took aim at Meloni’s height. The case against Cortese is only the latest in a series of defamation lawsuits brought by Meloni against some of her outspoken critics.