"U.S. officials say the decision to return was motivated by concern that China is filling the gap left by the U.S. in UNESCO policymaking … (after) the Trump administration decided in 2017 to withdraw from the agency." The Biden administration has agreed to pay $600 million in back dues. - AP
The 71-year-old star of the films Hair, Prince of the City, Once Upon a Time in America, and The Eagle Has Landed and the TV series Everwood collided with a car making a left turn across his lane on a rural Vermont road. - AP
Dick Clark Productions and Eldridge Industries have purchased the awards, which will become a for-profit venture, and all 310 current voters will remain eligible to vote in 2024. Meanwhile, the not-for-profit HFPA, following years (decades, really) of scandal, will be dissolved. - Reuters
He served as music director of the North Carolina Symphony in Raleigh for two decades (1982-2003) and of the Canton Symphony in Ohio for over four decades (1980-2023) and was for 12 years on the faculty of the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas. - Ideastream Public Media (Cleveland)
The uproar that drove Elizabeth Gilbert’s decision to pull her novel, which is set in 20th century Siberia, suggests that the debate has broadened to include the question of how the country should be represented in fiction. - The New York Times
H+H was exploring the possibility that Handel, one of the bedrocks of its repertoire, had held investments in trans-Atlantic trading companies that participated in and profited from the sale of enslaved Africans. - Boston Globe
Ironically, the script-free ceremony was one of the most soulful Tony Awards in history, because there were no intermediaries brought in by the network to check off boxes that executives deemed necessary. - Los Angeles Times
In a two day period following Netflix's roll out of the password sharing change last month saw the largest number of new Netflix account signups since Antenna began tracking subscriber data in 2019. - Mashable
Artificial intelligence is roiling tech, business and politics like nothing in recent memory. Listen to the extravagant claims and wild assertions issuing from Silicon Valley, and it seems the long-promised virtual paradise is finally at hand. - The New York Times
Tucked in the bustling neighborhood, Mendelssohn’s has become a gathering place for Portland’s musicians to sip on themed drinks, sing ballads from the high stage and meet other people interested in classical music. - The Oregonian
Some Brits might bristle, but Paris's building height restriction lessons are real. "Skyscrapers are like air travel: they used to be as glamorous as the jet set, but now they’re in a Ryanair phase – generic, dull and predictable, a default option for unimaginative property companies." - The Observer (UK)
Events in the U.S. lead to the question. "Following the implementation of legislation prohibiting 'pornographic or indecent' literature in Utah’s public schools, a complaint was lodged against The Old Testament and its less racy – but still occasionally outré – sequel." - Irish Times
They were the 2022 version, not this year's show. Since Ariana DeBose hosted both, that added to the confusion. "The problem, it turns out, stems from confusion over Paramount+ subscription levels." Or from CBS never bothering to explain the distinction, of course. - Los Angeles Times
