The suit in question concerned the Escambia County (Pensacola) School Board’s decision to block its libraries from stocking And Tango Makes Three, the well-known children’s book about the male penguin couple who raised a chick together at New York’s Central Park Zoo. - WUSF (Tampa)
Actors' Equity negotiations with the Broadway League are continuing for now, even though the last three-year contract ended on September 28. The number-one issue is healthcare and the contribution the Broadway League makes to the union's healthcare fund. - Reuters
Only four of the 26 members of the advisory body remain; the rest were terminated via a notably terse email from the White House personnel office. Meetings require a quorum of 14 members, and new members must be confirmed by the Senate, so for now the Council is paralyzed. - The Washington Post (Yahoo!)
“The agency voted to take public comment … on a rule that limits a company from owning more than two stations in a market, and a restriction on mergers between any two of the four major broadcast networks. Such a review ... is mandated by Congress every four years.” - Deadline
The Smithsonian museums and National Gallery will remain open for as long as leftover cash-on-hand lasts, which will be at least through Monday. Kennedy Center events are privately financed and should proceed as scheduled. As for the monuments, it depends … - The Washington Post (MSN)
“Named ‘Picasso 2030,’ the project will create a space devoted to the artist’s sculptures by connecting a garden area behind the museum to an adjoining public park. Slated to open in 2030, the garden will span roughly 25,000-square-feet and be freely open to the public.” - Artnet
“From the pages of After Midnight emerges a sense of du Maurier that’s far from the meek, naive narrator of Rebecca. These stories are the work of a protean, restless, and rather dangerous spirit with a decidedly pagan bent and a craving for solitude” — as well as a decided ambivalence about gender and sexuality. - Slate (Yahoo!)
Today, The Night Watch is one of the most famous paintings of all time, its creator lionized as one of the greatest artists to ever live. Meanwhile, the Koerten “thread painting” that once commanded a higher price than Rembrandt’s group portrait is lost, and its creator is virtually unknown to the general public. - Smithsonian Magazine
Denis Raisin Dadre, 69, a recorder virtuoso and specialist in Renaissance reed instruments, founded Ensemble Doulce Mémoire in 1990 and developed an impressive array of programs in performance and on disc. His lifeless body was discovered in his apartment in Tours; drugs were found at the scene. - RTBF (Belgium) (via Google Translate)
SenLinYu, 34, started off writing Harry Potter fanfiction that blew up online during the pandemic, racking up more than 20m downloads. Sen’s Draco and Hermione (“Dramione”) fanfic, heavily inspired by The Handmaid’s Tale, has now been rewritten – with third-party IP necessarily removed – and published traditionally as Alchemised. - The Guardian
Italian prosecutors are investigating claims that members of the Agnelli family arranged for works by Monet and de Chirico to be replaced with forgeries in their villas during an inheritance dispute. - The Times
On the road to their return, the musicians took on side jobs, staged free community concerts and fought to bring the symphony back through legal action. - CBC
“The deadline for countries to submit movies for the 2026 Oscars' international feature category arrives Wednesday. And, as usual, the submissions — each country gets to select one film — have produced no shortage of grievances and outrage.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
The program will support and elevate a select cohort of 10 U.K.-based creators passionate about classical music who are already making content about the genre on TikTok. The application to be part of Crescendo is now live here through Oct. 30. - Variety
Public media stations reach 99% of the country’s population with free, noncommercial, local news, music and information. Yet their greatest strength — broadcast dominance built over decades — has become their most significant vulnerability. - Poynter
