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1:23 AM on Monday, June 24, 2024
By Margie Szaroleta
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. Postal Service will issue a Forever stamp in honor of late “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek next month. The stamp will look like the blue “Jeopardy!” question monitor with the words, “This naturalized U.S. citizen hosted the quiz show ‘Jeopardy!’ for 37 seasons,” with the correct response, “Who is Alex Trebek?” listed upside down. Current host Ken Jennings announced the stamp on Friday’s episode. Jennings will join Trebek’s wife, Jean, for the first-day-of-issue ceremony in Culver City, California, on July 22, on what would have been Trebek's 84th birthday. Trebek died in 2020.
NEW YORK (AP) – “Inside Out 2” pulled in another $100 million domestically in its second weekend of release, according to studio estimates. That is the highest-earning second weekend ever for an animated movie. It beats out the previous record-holder of $92 million for the second weekend of “The Super Mario Brothers Movie.” “Inside Out 2” is expected to cross the $1 billion mark globally within a week. It is the top movie at the box office this week, with “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” in second. “The Bikeriders” debuts in third, with “The Garfield Movie” in fourth. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is in fifth place.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – A New Mexico judge will hear arguments today about whether to dismiss Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter charge because the gun involved was broken during FBI forensic testing. Baldwin’s attorneys say an FBI expert “repeatedly and pointlessly” struck the gun with a mallet, destroying it before it could be examined for possible modifications that would exonerate Baldwin. Baldwin has said he pulled back the gun’s hammer but not the trigger when he pointed it at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021 and it went off. The expert said the only way he could make the gun fire without depressing the trigger was to hit it repeatedly with a mallet, which destroyed the gun. Baldwin’s trial is due to begin next month.
One thing you may not have known about Donald Sutherland: he was such a fan of the Montreal Expos that he arranged his filming schedule so he could go to games. Former Expos PR chief Richard Griffin says Sutherland’s seat was on the third base side, about ten rows from the field. Griffin says when the Expos qualified for the postseason in 1981, Expos staff dragged Sutherland into the clubhouse at Shea Stadium, but he refused to be in a photo with the team. Griffin says people think of celebrity fans as trying to be part of everything, but Sutherland never did. Serge Touchette, who covered the Expos for nearly 30 years for Le Journal de Montreal, says he tried many times to interview Sutherland, but Sutherland always declined. Sutherland died Thursday at the age of 88.
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) – Bronson Pinchot (PIN’-choh) reprises his role as Serge in the new “Beverly Hills Cop” movie. Pinchot says when he played Serge in the first movie, he was a complete unknown — and terrified. He says it ended up being the bedrock of his career. Eddie Murphy returns as Axel Foley in “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” which premieres on Netflix on July 3.
MEXICO CITY (AP) – When “Star Wars” was released in 1977, the cast and crew likely did not think that decades later, schools would open specifically to teach light-saber techniques. One such school is the Jedi Knight Academy in Mexico City, which offers three-hour lessons based on sword-fighting, martial arts and choreography. Students use light sabers made of illuminated ballistic-grade polycarbonate. The French Fencing Federation has recognized light-saber fighting as an official competitive sport.
ATLANTA (AP) – A federal appeals court has ordered a lower court to resentence Julie Chrisley of the reality show “Chrisley Knows Best” for her conviction on bank fraud and tax evasion. Chrisley is serving a seven-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2022 with her husband, Todd, who is serving 12 years in prison. On Friday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled the trial judge made a legal error in calculating Julie Chrisley’s sentence by holding her accountable for fraud committed in 2006 without evidence, although there was evidence linking her to fraud in other years. The Chrisleys were convicted of conspiring to defraud banks out of more than $30 million, as well as tax evasion. Their accountant, Peter Tarantino, also was convicted of charges that include filing false tax returns.