TV News LIES

Fans of the classic TV sitcom Cheers are raising a beer stein for one of its beloved cast members, actor George Wendt. He played Norm Peterson, a beer-loving regular at the bar "where everybody knows your name." Wendt's publicist, Melissa Nathan shared a statement from his family who confirmed on Tuesday that the 76-year-old actor died peacefully in his sleep at home.

"George was a doting family man, a well-loved friend and confidant to all of those lucky enough to have known him," his family wrote. "He will be missed forever."

Wendt was born on the South Side of Chicago, and got his start in the 1970s performing with the prestigious improv comedy troupe The Second City. After that, he began appearing in bit parts on iconic TV shows including Taxi and M*A*S*H.

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An explosion at a fertility clinic in the upscale California city of Palm Springs appears to have been intentional, local authorities said. One person was found dead, and the FBI said it was sending investigators, including bomb technicians, to the scene.

Palm Springs Police Chief Andy Mills said in a statement Saturday that the blast “appears to be an intentional act of violence” and that several buildings damaged, some severely.

“There has been one fatality, the person’s identity is not known,” Mills’ statement said.

The act was being investigated as a possible car explosion, said two law enforcement officials briefed on the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss preliminary information from an ongoing investigation. One of the officials told AP that investigators believe the person who died is likely the person who set off the explosion, but cautioned the investigation is still in its early stages. Authorities have not disclosed a motive.

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Ten people in custody at the New Orleans jail, including a man convicted of four killings, escaped early on Friday morning.

While at least two were apprehended within hours, the escapes prompted local, state and federal officials to launch a “full-scale search operation” for eight who remained at large Friday night – and to warn community members to be on the lookout for “armed and dangerous” individuals.

“Folks, take it seriously,” the New Orleans police superintendent, Anne Kirkpatrick, said at a news conference late on Friday morning. Sheriff Susan Hutson, whose agency operates the jail, said: “We are urging the public to remain alert.”

At first, officials said 11 people had escaped. But during a press conference on Friday afternoon, the New Orleans sheriff clarified that one man, who authorities thought had escaped, was in a different cell.

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Tony Award-winning Broadway composer Charles Strouse has died. The creator of the hit musicals Bye Bye Birdie, Applause and Annie died at his home in New York City on Thursday, according to a press release shared with NPR by The Press Room. Strouse was 96.

His four children, Benjamin, Nicholas, Victoria, and William, shared the news of his passing. He was predeceased by his wife, choreographer Barbara Siman, in 2023 after six decades of marriage.

Strouse was a musical chameleon, said theater historian Laurence Maslon. "Strouse was a great craftsperson. He adopted and adapted his vocabulary to whatever the needs of the particular genre were."

He could write songs in the style of early rock and roll, like "One Last Kiss" from Bye Bye Birdie, or Depression-Era New York, like "You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile" in Annie, or ultra-groovy 1970s New York, as in "But Alive" from Applause.

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New York University is withholding a student’s diploma after he condemned Israel’s deadly war on Gaza during his graduation ceremony speech.

On Wednesday, Logan Rozos, an undergraduate student speaker from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, delivered his commencement speech in which he said: “The only thing that is appropriate to say in this time and to a group this large is a recognition of the atrocities currently happening in Palestine.”

Rozos told the crowd that “as I search my heart today in addressing you all”, it is his “moral and political commitments [that] guide me” into condemning Israel’s onslaught on Gaza, which has killed at least 53,000 Palestinians over the last year and a half.

Rozos went on to say: “The genocide currently occurring is supported politically and militarily by the United States, is paid for by our tax dollars and has been livestreamed to our phones for the past 18 months. And that I do not wish to speak only to my own politics today, but to speak for all people of conscience, and all people who feel the moral injury of this atrocity.”

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Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 will take a voluntary 25 percent pay cut for fiscal year 2026 as the University stares down the Trump administration’s nearly $3 billion funding cut, according to Harvard spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain.

Garber has notified other members of Harvard’s top brass of his decision, and several are making voluntary cuts of their own, according to Swain. It is unclear how large of cuts other administrators have committed to making.

While Garber’s salary for fiscal year 2025 has not yet been made public, Harvard presidents have historically earned upward of $1 million annually — meaning that a 25 percent pay cut could amount to a six-figure reduction. Fiscal year 2026 begins in July.

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