Disney+ is Remaking This Nostalgic Adventure Classic Because Nothing is Sacred

Holes, the classic 2003 Disney film that played on every kid’s television screen at some point, is being remade by the studio’s streaming service because nothing is truly sacred in today’s world. Based on a book by the same name, Holes starred Shia LaBeouf as a teenager who is sent to a detention camp in Texas for a crime he didn’t commit, as well as Khleo Thomas, who played Zero, a fellow prisoner. The adored adventure film is getting a television remake courtesy of Disney+, but with a major twist or two.

According to Variety, Disney+ has greenlit a pilot for a series based on the award-winning 1998 book Holes by Louis Sachar. The upcoming reboot will “reimagine” the original story with a gender-swapped protagonist from writer and executive producer Alina Mankin (Katy Keene, Lodge 49). Yellowjackets and The Strain producer Liz Phang is set to serve as showrunner. Meanwhile, Drew Goddard, who is directing Matrix 5, will serve as an executive producer. The official logline for the upcoming pilot will sound very familiar to fans of the film:

“In this reimagining of the beloved 1998 book from Louis Sachar, a teenage girl is sent to a detention camp where the ruthless Warden forces the campers to dig holes for a mysterious purpose.”

In addition to Shia LaBeouf and Khleo Thomas, Holes’ cast included Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, Patricia Arquette, Tim Blake Nelson, Eartha Kitt, and Henry Winkler. Andrew Davis, who had previously helmed action thrillers like The Fugitive and Collateral Damage, directed the Disney film in 2003. Check out the official synopsis for Holes.

“Dogged by bad luck stemming from an ancient family curse, young Stanley Yelnats is sent to Camp Green Lake, a very weird place that’s not green and doesn’t have a lake. Once there, he’s thrown headlong into the adventure of his life when he and his colorful campmates – Squid, Armpit, Zigzag, Magnet, X-Ray, and Zero – must dig a hole a day to keep the warden at bay. But why?”

‘Holes’ is One of Many Reboots by Disney+ Close

Those with a Disney+ subscription are well aware that the streamer is not afraid of reaching deep into the Big Mouse’s vault for remakes and reboots. In 2022, the streamer released a new version of Cheaper by the Dozen, starring Gabrielle Union and Zach Braff, a remake of another 2003 film that originally featured Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt. Meanwhile, on the TV side of things, Disney+ rebooted the beloved 2007 children’s show that starred Selena Gomez, Wizards of Waverly Place, late last year. Wizards Beyond Waverly Place debuted in October, with much of the original cast making special appearances.

Related Underrated Disney+ and Hulu Series ‘Goosebumps’ Returns With New Season This Month

It’s a new story with a new cast of characters tackling some fan-favorite books.

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Dinsey+ is no stranger to legacy sequels, either. They released a follow-up to the 1988 film Willow, a sequel series that saw characters new and old introduced in the beloved fantasy world. The steamer infamously canceled the show after one season, despite positive reviews and a loyal fanbase that widened upon the show’s release. Willow would then go on to be removed from Disney+, a controversial and heartless decision that would be criticized by its stars, as well as those who appreciate the preservation of art.

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Holes PG Release Date April 18, 2003 Director Andrew Davis Cast Sigourney Weaver , Jon Voight , Tim Blake Nelson , Shia LaBeouf , Khleo Thomas , Jake M. Smith

Liam Payne cause of death confirmed as polytrauma

Singer Liam Payne’s medical cause of death has been confirmed in a UK inquest opening as “polytrauma”.

The One Direction star died on 16 October after falling from the third-floor balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires.

Polytrauma is a term for multiple traumatic injuries which have been sustained to a person’s body and organ systems.

The hearing, which was held at Buckinghamshire Coroner’s Court on 17 December, was told it may take “some time” to formally ascertain how the 31-year-old died.

The inquest into Payne’s death in the UK has been adjourned until a pre-inquest review on 6 November, the coroner’s court said.

His medical cause of death was confirmed by Dr Roberto Victor Cohen as “polytrauma”

The hearing was also told Payne was formally identified “with the assistance of the funeral directors in Buckinghamshire”.

Senior Coroner Crispin Butler said during the hearing: “Whilst there are ongoing investigations in Argentina into the circumstances of Liam’s death, over which I have no legal jurisdiction, it is anticipated that procuring the relevant information to address particularly how Liam came by his death may take some time through the formal channel of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.”

Five people in Argentina have been charged in connection with the death of the 31-year-old star.

The hotel’s manager, Gilda Martin, and its receptionist, Esteban Grassi, as well as Payne’s friend Roger Nores have been charged with manslaughter, Argentina’s prosecutor’s office says.

Ezequiel Pereyra – who also worked at the hotel – and Braian Paiz, a waiter, have been charged with supplying drugs.

In November, the prosecutor’s office in Argentina said toxicology tests revealed traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in Payne’s body.

A post-mortem examination determined his cause of death as “multiple trauma” and “internal and external haemorrhage”, as a result of the fall from the hotel balcony.

According to the prosecutor’s office, medical reports also suggested Payne may have fallen in a state of semi or total unconsciousness.

The prosecutor’s office said this ruled out the possibility of a conscious or voluntary act by Payne, and they had concluded the singer did not know what he was doing nor have any comprehension of his actions.

Payne became one of the most recognisable names in pop after appearing on The X Factor and rising to fame with the boyband One Direction in the 2010s before the band went on an indefinite hiatus in January 2016.

The singer’s funeral was held in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, in November.

His former bandmates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik were among the mourners, alongside Payne’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy and his former partner Cheryl, with whom he shares a son.

‘Wicked’ tops SAG Awards nominations, many big-names are snubbed

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Cynthia Erivo, left, and Ariana Grande in a scene from the film “Wicked.” (Universal Pictures via AP)

“Wicked” topped nominations to the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards on Wednesday, landing a leading five nominations including best ensemble, and individual nods for Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey.

Out-of-control wildfires that swept across Los Angeles and Southern California on Tuesday night forced the Screen Actors Guild to cancel its plans to announce the nominations live Wednesday morning. The nominations were instead issued by press release by SAG, which last year began a multiyear deal with Netflix to stream the awards.

The smash hit musical “Wicked” saw its Oscar chances rise in nominations to the SAG Awards, one of the most predictive Academy Awards bellwethers. The movie’s big morning — it even scored a nod for stunt ensemble — came after a celebratory night, too. The film was honored by the National Board of Review Awards in New York on Tuesday.

The other nominees for best ensemble are: “Anora,” “Conclave,” “Emilia Pérez” and “A Complete Unknown.”

It was an especially strong showing for the Bob Dylan drama “A Complete Unknown.” It came away with four nominations, including Timothée Chalamet for best male actor, and supporting nods for both Edward Norton and Monica Barbaro.

The best male lead nominees were largely as expected: Adrien Brody (“The Brutalist”), Daniel Craig (“Queer”), Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing”), Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”) and Chalamet.

Coming off her rousing victory at the Golden Globes, Demi Moore was among the nominees for best female actor in a leading role for “The Substance.” She was joined by Erivo, “Emilia Pérez” breakout Karla Sofía Gascón, Mikey Madison of “Anora” and Pamela Anderson for “The Last Showgirl.”

That surprisingly left out some big names. Angelina Jolie (“Maria”) missed out, as did Nicole Kidman (“Babygirl”). A few of the most acclaimed actresses of the year, Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Hard Truths”) and Globe-winner Fernanda Torres (“I’m Still Here”), also were overlooked.

“The Last Showgirl” had more to celebrate, too, with an unexpected nomination for Jamie Lee Curtis in supporting female actor. Her fellow nominees are: Barbaro, Grande, Danielle Deadwyler (“The Piano Lesson”) and Zoe Saldaña (“Emilia Perez”).

Jeremy Strong was nominated for his supporting performance as Roy Cohn in the Donald Trump film “The Apprentice,” but his co-star, Sebastian Stan, went unnominated for both “The Apprentice” and “A Different Man.” The other nominees for best supporting male actor were: Bailey, Norton, Yura Borisov (“Anora”) and the category frontrunner, Kieran Culkin (“A Real Pain”).

A few widely forecast supporting performance were snubbed there, too, including Denzel Washington (“Gladiator II”) and Guy Pearce (“The Brutalist”).

The SAG Awards are arguably the most telling Oscar forecast there is. Their picks don’t always align exactly with those of the film academy, but they often come very close to mirroring them.

The last three best ensemble winners — “Oppenheimer,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “CODA” — all went on to win best picture at the Academy Awards. All but one of the SAG acting winners of the last three years has also won at the Oscars. The sole exception was Lily Gladstone, who won SAG’s award for female actor last year for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” but the Oscar trophy went to Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) at the Oscars.

In all likelihood, the Oscar field will look a lot like the SAG nominees. While some overlooked performances might still land an Oscar nomination, any eventual Academy Award winner, including the best-picture recipient, is almost surely coming from those nominated Wednesday.

That’s bad news for Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” which triumphed at the Globes but missed out on a SAG ensemble nomination. Best picture contender “Sing Sing” also came away with a single SAG nod.

Coming of sweeps at the Emmys and the Golden Globes, FX’s “Shōgun” continued to run roughshod through the competition, landing a leading five nominations Wednesday, including best ensemble and individual nods for Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai and Tadanobu Asano.

Also faring well were “The Bear” (nominations for Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri and Liza Colón-Zayas), “Hacks” (Jean Smart) and “The Diplomat” (Keri Russell, Allison Janney).

The Screen Actors Guild Awards will be held Feb. 23 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The ceremony, to be hosted by Kristen Bell. will be streamed live on Netflix. In addition to the competitive awards, Jane Fonda will be presented with the guild’s Life Achievement Award.

Art Deco style is popular again, a century after its heyday

A century after it was formally introduced at the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, in Paris, Art Deco is enjoying a resurgence in decor, fashion and more. A new generation is appreciating the style’s unapologetically glamorous roots and translating it into something new.

A century after it was formally introduced at the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, in Paris, Art Deco is enjoying a resurgence in decor, fashion and more. A new generation is appreciating the style’s unapologetically glamorous roots and translating it into something new.

A current exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York provides a look at the style that helped define the city in the popular imagination a century ago, in landmarks like the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall. “Art Deco City: New York Postcards from the Leonard A. Lauder Collection” also showcases ephemera, clothing and film clips from the era.

And in London, the Victoria and Albert Museum has a collection of day and evening outfits, jewelry, textiles and costumes from Les Ballets Russes that were a big influence on fashion.

“Ask three historians to define the term Art Deco, and you’ll likely get three varying answers,” design writer Arricca Elin Sansone said last year in a story for Elle Décor. “Art Deco is many different things to different people, and its evolution is as unique as its expression in architecture, interior design, decorative arts and fashion.”

Emerging after World War I, the original Art Deco era embodied a spirit of creativity, freedom and innovation. With modernity and exuberance on full display, the 1920s and early ’30s became one of the most design-influential periods in history.

Those early 1930s saw the blooming of the style in Miami, too, where South Beach’s Art Deco District is a draw for visitors and a hub for design.

And in Paris, organizers of the 2024 Olympics created Art Deco posters last year to celebrate the games and mark the centennial since the 1924 Olympics, which Paris also hosted. They said the vivid posters were meant to celebrate the style’s colorful and flamboyant influence on the city’s landscape.

In cities around the world during that era, squat urban landscapes morphed into canyons of soaring skyscrapers. Public and private spaces embraced geometric motifs, luxurious materials and an urbane appeal. In transportation, faster cars and sleeker trains hinted at a dynamic new age, while the jazz-fueled nightclub scene brought people out to celebrate.

That same energy infused the shift from restrictive corsets to sensuous, liberated silhouettes. It was the bee’s knees, the cat’s pajamas, the Roaring Twenties. Flapper style reflected changing roles for women in society, says design blogger Courtney Price.

On today’s runways and red carpets, shimmering gold-and-black satin gowns evoke Jazz Age sparkle, often adorned with crystals and feathers. Celebrities like Zendaya, Gigi Hadid, Beyoncé and Demi Lovato have embraced bobs and finger waves, channeling the allure of the Deco era in fresh ways.

“The aesthetic of the 1920s is enjoying a fashionable renaissance,” says Kirsty Thatcher of the Australian fashion magazine Russh. “Drop-waist dresses, sleek bobs and layers of pearls dominate runways and street style alike.”

Giorgio Armani evoked the period in this year’s fall couture display in Paris with pearls, velvets, silk chiffons, sequins and more. The models were accompanied by nostalgic jazz music as they walked. Chanel and Dior’s F/W ’24 collections also gave a nod, with elongated boyish silhouettes, tweed and cinched waists, feathers, pleats and slinky slip dresses.

“The boldness and elegance of Art Deco are what appeals to me,” says New York-based interior designer Vanessa DeLeon, a frequent presence on HGTV and Bravo.

In her interiors, deep hues like emerald and ebony meet gleaming metallic accents and stylized prints. DeLeon’s latest lighting collection pays homage to Deco’s signature frosted glass and polished metal fixtures.

Jamie Watkins and Tom Kennedy of the London design house Divine Savages infuse their collections with cheeky nods to Deco’s architectural drama. Their “Deco Martini” print marries a classic fan motif with a swanky cocktail glass, conjuring visions of Jay Gatsby’s parties. “Gershwing” layers luscious feather shapes into a decadent statement piece.

“Art Deco was synonymous with glamour and luxury,” says Watkins. “It’s no wonder we’re drawn to it again.”

Designer and lifestyles maven Athena Calderone, in collaboration with Crate & Barrel, invokes cinematic Art Deco silhouettes with alabaster sconces, curvilinear club chairs and geometric-patterned furnishings. The vibe is Manhattan, Paris and Duke Ellington.

For true Deco devotees, that exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York is a must-see.

Co-curator Lynda Klich notes that postcards were the social media of their day, with travelers busily scribbling messages to friends and family. The city’s now-iconic Deco buildings feature prominently in over 250 postcards, plus a selection of 1920s-era gowns, shoes and accessories.

“More than an aesthetic, Art Deco was the look that sold the city to the world,” says curator Lilly Tuttle.

New York-based writer Kim Cook covers design and decor topics regularly for The AP. Follow her on Instagram at @kimcookhome.

For more AP Lifestyles stories, go to https://apnews.com/lifestyle

Lisa Kudrow Discovers Hidden Note From Late Co-Star Matthew Perry in ‘Friends’ Gift From Years Ago

Late Friends star Matthew Perry hid a note for Lisa Kudrow inside the “Cookie Time” jar he took from the show’s set.

Lisa Kudrow is still receiving signs from late co-star Matthew Perry.

The Friends alum revealed during a Tuesday, Jan. 7 appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show that she recently found a previously undiscovered note in an unexpected location that was from Perry, who died in October 2023 from the acute effects of ketamine.

After host Drew Barrymore referenced the iconic “Cookie Time” cookie jar prop that Perry had taken from the set of the beloved sitcom, Kudrow revealed, “Matthew gave that to me at the end of our last episode.”

She continued, “I had recently found the note that he had in it for me. I hadn’t opened it up or looked inside of it. But yeah, he did. He had a note in there and I forgot about it.” While Kudrow kept the contents of the note private, she did add, “Timing is everything.”

Kudrow, who starred alongside Perry, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston and Matt LeBlanc on Friends from 1994 to 2004, previously spoke about the significance of the “Cookie Time” jar to both her and Perry during a 2020 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

“We were shooting a scene years before we finished,” Kudrow told Jimmy Kimmel at the time. “My line was, ‘Ohhh, I’m late. I better get going,’ and it was too late when I realized I don’t have a watch. As the words were coming out I went, ‘Oh good there’s a clock,’ and I gestured to that and said, ‘Oh look at the time. I better get going.’” After the scene wrapped, Perry approached Kudrow to ask, “Did you point to the cookie jar and say, ‘Look at the time’?” which had the two “laughing hysterically and crying.”

Kudrow’s friendship with Perry was immediate, as the No Good Deed star revealed in her tribute to her late pal in November 2023 that they had bonded over a game of poker at NBC Upfronts after the Friends pilot had been picked up.

“Thank you for making me laugh so hard at something you said, that my muscles ached, and tears poured down my face EVERY DAY,” she wrote on Instagram. “Thank you for your open heart in a six way relationship that required compromise. And a lot of ‘talking.”

Kudrow continued, “Thank you for showing up at work when you weren’t well and then, being completely brilliant. Thank you for the best 10 years a person gets to have. Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for all I learned about GRACE and LOVE through knowing you,” concluding, “Thank you for the time I got to have with you, Matthew.”

‘Wicked’ Tops SAG Awards Nominations Where Many Big-Names Are Shut out

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Cynthia Erivo, left, and Ariana Grande in a scene from the film “Wicked.” (Universal Pictures via AP)

“Wicked” topped nominations to the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards on Wednesday, landing a leading five nominations including best ensemble, and individual nods for Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey.

Out-of-control wildfires that swept across Los Angeles and Southern California on Tuesday night forced the Screen Actors Guild to cancel its plans to announce the nominations live Wednesday morning. The nominations were instead issued by press release by SAG, which last year began a multiyear deal with Netflix to stream the awards.

The smash hit musical “Wicked” saw its Oscar chances rise in the SAG nominations, which came the morning after the film was celebrated by the National Board of Review Awards in New York. “Wicked” even scored a nod for best stunt ensemble.

The other nominees for best ensemble are: “Anora,Conclave,Emilia Pérez” and “A Complete Unknown.”

It was an especially strong showing for the Bob Dylan drama “A Complete Unknown.” It came away with four nominations, including Timothée Chalamet for best male actor, and supporting nods for both Edward Norton and Monica Barbaro.

The best male lead nominees were largely as expected: Adrien Brody (“The Brutalist”), Daniel Craig (“Queer”), Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing”), Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”) and Chalamet.

Coming off her rousing victory at the Golden Globes, Demi Moore was among the nominees for best female actor in a leading role for “The Substance.” She was joined by Erivo, “Emilia Perez” breakout Karla Sofía Gascón, Mikey Madison of “Anora” and Pamela Anderson for “The Last Showgirl.”

That surprisingly left out some big names. Angelina Jolie (“Maria”) missed out, as did Nicole Kidman (“Babygirl”). A few of the most acclaimed actresses of the year, Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Hard Truths”) and Globe-winner Fernanda Torres (“I’m Still Here”), also were overlooked.

“The Last Showgirl” had more to celebrate, too, with an unexpected nomination for Jamie Lee Curtis in supporting female actor. Her fellow nominees are: Barbaro, Grande, Danielle Deadwyler (“The Piano Lesson”) and Zoe Saldana (“Emilia Perez”).

Jeremy Strong was nominated for his supporting performance as Roy Cohn in the Donald Trump film “The Apprentice,” but his co-star, Sebastian Stan, went unnominated for both “The Apprentice” and “A Different Man.” The other nominees for best supporting male actor were: Bailey, Norton, Yura Borisov (“Anora”) and the category frontrunner, Kieran Culkin (“A Real Pain”).

A few widely forecast supporting performance were snubbed there, too, including Denzel Washington (“Gladiator II”) and Guy Pearce (“The Brutalist”).

The SAG Awards are among the most closely watched Oscar bellwethers. Their picks don’t always align exactly with those of the film academy, but they often do.

The last three best ensemble winners — “Oppenheimer,Everything Everywhere All at Once,CODA” — all went on to win best picture at the Academy Awards. All but one of the SAG acting winners of the last three years has also won at the Oscars. The sole exception was Lily Gladstone, who won SAG’s award for female actor last year for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” but the Oscar trophy went to Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) at the Oscars.

While some overlooked performances might still land an Oscar nomination, any eventual Academy Award winner, including the best picture recipient, is almost surely coming from those nominated Wednesday. That’s bad news for “The Brutalist,” which triumphed at the Globes but missed out on a SAG ensemble nomination.

The Screen Actors Guild Awards will be held Feb. 23 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The ceremony, to be hosted by Kristen Bell. will be streamed live on Netflix. In addition to the competitive awards, Jane Fonda will be presented with the guild’s Life Achievement Award.

U.S. Debt Ceiling Drama: A High-Stakes Chess Game with Fiscal Risks Looming

Despite a Republican-controlled government promising streamlined decision-making, Fitch Ratings has thrown a hefty curveball into the U.S. debt-ceiling saga—foreseeing a stalemate that could derail swift fiscal resolution. The complexities of a narrow House majority, coupled with internal disagreements on spending, suggest that a cohesive strategy might be more elusive than anticipated. This isn’t your typical game of politics; it’s a high-stakes chess match where the pieces are debt, policy, and the future of the country’s credit rating.

In 2023, Congress momentarily raised the debt ceiling, providing a reprieve until January 1, 2025. Yet, as tensions simmer in Washington, the message from Fitch is clear: time is of the essence. The U.S. Treasury can cover its obligations for now, but with ticking clocks and looming deadlines, Congress must tread carefully to sidestep a catastrophic default. “We believe it is unlikely that these will be resolved expeditiously because of long-standing weaknesses in the federal government’s budgetary process and a narrow Republican House majority,” said Fitch in a statement, emphasizing the inherent risks lying ahead.

Recent developments aren’t inspiring confidence—the narrow passage of spending legislation just last month illustrates the deep divides within the Republican party. Trump’s insistence on utilizing the bill to raise the debt ceiling fell flat as multiple party members rebelled against the idea—a clear indication that unity is a distant dream. Instead of efficiently navigating through potential crises, Congress appears poised to continue relying on “temporary funding measures” to stave off impending doom.

The financial repercussions are palpable. The cost of insuring U.S. government debt is on the rise, as reflected by widening spreads on credit default swaps—a market-based reflection of risk perceptions. Investors are becoming increasingly anxious, sensing that the U.S. is walking a tightrope over a canyon of economic uncertainty. Last year’s debt-ceiling chaos ignited widespread selloffs in stocks and bonds, leaving the nation teetering on the brink of a default—a reality that spooked investors and tarnished the country’s credit rating.

Fitch remains cautiously optimistic, forecasting that policymakers will eventually reach an accord on the debt ceiling and other critical fiscal issues, such as the impending expiration of the 2017 tax cuts. However, the political atmosphere remains fraught with challenges. “Decisions are likely to be reached on an issue-by-issue basis,” Fitch noted, underscoring the growing pains of governance as the U.S. grapples with its fiscal future.

What does this all mean for the average American? As political bickering continues, the specter of economic instability looms larger. Will lawmakers prioritize long-term fiscal health over short-term disagreements? The nation’s creditworthiness—and the broader economy—hangs in the balance as we watch a standoff that feels all too familiar. With significant fiscal policy challenges ahead, one can only hope that the resolution won’t take a financial disaster to achieve.

Mexico offers protection to famed singer after drug cartel death threats

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities in Mexico are offering state protection to famed regional Mexican singer Natanael Cano and other artists after a drug cartel in northern Mexico publicly threatened them, prosecutors confirmed to The Associated Press.

Photos of a banner threatening the lives of Cano, a singer of corridos, a musical genre often linked to drug cartel violence, and several other artists in the Sonora region circulated on social media over the weekend.

The banner was signed by “Jalisco Matasalas,” a group within a faction of the Sinaloa cartel known as the Chapitos, which sowed terror in northern Mexico in recent months in a bloody power struggle. The gang accused the singers of “financially helping” a rival gang known as Salazares.

“This is the last time you will receive a warning, just in time for you to cut the crap. Mind your own business,” the banner read. “If you don’t heed this warning, you will be shot.”

The Sonoran Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday told the AP that the threatening message was found hanging from a school and that they had opened an investigation.

Allan de la Rosa, a spokesperson for the prosecutors, said authorities offered state protection to the artists to “prevent any aggression related to the direct threat displayed on the banner.” He did not elaborate on the nature of the protection.

Cano’s communications team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Corridos, made up of ballads from northern Mexico, is a musical genre that has long been linked to drug violence, but they also depict the harsh realities faced by many Mexicans who live under such violence. The genre, along with Mexican regional music, is experiencing a resurgence with younger artists like Cano and Peso Pluma blending classic styles with other genres like trap music.

Over the past five years, streaming of Mexican music has grown 400% on Spotify and in 2023 Mexican artist Peso Pluma bested Taylor Swift as the most streamed artist on YouTube.

Such artists have long faced sharp criticisms from authorities as well as threats from drug gangs.

In 2023, Peso Pluma — who paid homage to drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán in songs – was forced to cancel a show in Tijuana after the 25-year-old received threats from a rival of the Sinaloa Cartel, warning that “it would be your last performance” if he proceeded with the concert.

Later, Tijuana banned the performance of narco ballads altogether to protect “the eyes and ears” of youths as it tries to contain violence. Local authorities in northern states previously banned musicians singing narco-corridos.

The threats against Cano follow a surge of violence in Sinaloa and other northern Mexican states triggered by the kidnapping and capture of cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and the ensuing all-out-war between rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, including the one that allegedly threatened Cano.

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Lisa Kudrow finds secret note from ‘Friends’ co-star Matthew Perry…

Lisa Kudrow recently discovered a secret note from her late friend and “Friends” co-star Matthew Perry — one year after the beloved actor’s death.

Appearing on the “Drew Barrymore Show” Tuesday, Kudrow, 61, revealed that the note was penned by Perry during the filming of the “Friends” finale back in 2004.

“Matthew gave that to me at the end of our last episode,” Kudrow, who played Phoebe Buffay on the hit NBC sitcom, told Barrymore.

“I had recently found the note that he had in it for me. I hadn’t opened it up or looked inside of it. But yeah, he did. He had a note in there and I forgot about it.”

Perry died from a fatal overdose in Oct. 2023 at his Pacific Palisades, Calif. home at the age of 54.

He hid the note inside a cookie jar that served as a prop from the famous set.

Kudrow chose not to divulge what the note had said, but added that “timing is everything.”

The actress previously explained just how special the cookie jar, which boasts a clock on it with the words, “Cookie Time,” was to her.

In 2020, she told Jimmy Kimmel that Perry cheekily swiped the prop from the set to give to her.

“We’re shooting a scene, years before we were finished, and my line was, ‘Oh! I better get going,’ like, ‘Oh! I’m late, I better get going,’” Kudrow recalled, explaining that her “Friends” character was supposed to check the time as she spoke, but Kudrow didn’t have a watch.

“As the words were coming out, I went, ‘Oh, good, there’s a clock.’ I gestured to that, and said, ‘Oh! Look at the time. I gotta get going.’ And during shooting, Matthew said, ‘Did you look at the cookie jar and say look at the time?’ “

Perry gifted Kudrow the cookie jar when the show ended in 2004.

“I think the first thing I asked was, ‘This was so nice — did you get permission?’ I mean, my car used to get searched every night when I left,” Kudrow laughed.

Last summer, Kudrow said that she began re-watching “Friends” as a way to honor her late co-star.

“Honestly, I wasn’t able to watch it because it’s too embarrassing to watch yourself,” Kudrow told the Hollywood Reporter.

“But if I make it about Matthew, then that’s OK,” she added. “And it’s just celebrating how hilarious he was — and that is what I want to remember [about him].”

In addition to Kudrow’s character, the main cast of “Friends” included Perry as Chandler Bing, David Schwimmer as Ross Gellar, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, and Courteney Cox as Monica Gellar.

Perry — who struggled with addiction — was found submerged and unresponsive in the hot tub at his home in Los Angeles.

A number of prescriptions were found in his system including ketamine, which was ruled as the cause of his death.

An investigation into his tragic death is ongoing.

Peter Yarrow of folk-music trio Peter, Paul and Mary dies at 86 – National | Globalnews.ca

Peter Yarrow, the singer-songwriter best known as one-third of Peter, Paul and Mary, the folk-music trio whose impassioned harmonies transfixed millions as they lifted their voices in favour of civil rights and against war, has died. He was 86.

Yarrow, who also co-wrote the group’s most enduring song, Puff the Magic Dragon, died Tuesday in New York, publicist Ken Sunshine said. Yarrow had bladder cancer for the past four years.

“Our fearless dragon is tired and has entered the last chapter of his magnificent life. The world knows Peter Yarrow the iconic folk activist, but the human being behind the legend is every bit as generous, creative, passionate, playful, and wise as his lyrics suggest,” his daughter Bethany said in a statement.

During an incredible run of success spanning the 1960s, Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers released six Billboard Top 10 singles, two No. 1 albums and won five Grammys.

They also brought early exposure to Bob Dylan by turning two of his songs, Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right and Blowin’ in the Wind, into Billboard Top 10 hits as they helped lead an American renaissance in folk music. They performed Blowin’ in the Wind at the 1963 March on Washington at which the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

Yarrow played roles onstage and offstage at the iconic Newport Folk Festival in 1965 when Dylan went electric. Yarrow was on the festival board and emceed the show, begged Dylan to go back on to play another song after his blistering set, a scene captured in the 2024 biopic A Complete Unknown. Dylan took Yarrow’s acoustic guitar and played It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.

After an eight-year hiatus to pursue solo careers, the trio reunited in 1978 for a “Survival Sunday,” an anti-nuclear-power concert that Yarrow had organized in Los Angeles. They would remain together until Travers’ death in 2009. Yarrow and Stookey continued to perform both separately and together.

After recording their last No. 1 hit, a 1969 cover of John Denver’s Leaving on a Jet Plane, the trio split up the following year to pursue solo careers.

That same year Yarrow had pleaded guilty to taking indecent liberties with a 14-year-old girl who had come to his hotel room with her older sister to ask for autographs. The pair found him naked when he answered the door and let them in. Yarrow, who resumed his career after serving three months in jail, was pardoned by President Jimmy Carter in 1981. Over the decades, he apologized repeatedly.

“I fully support the current movements demanding equal rights for all and refusing to allow continued abuse and injury — most particularly of a sexual nature, of which I am, with great sorrow, guilty,” he told The New York Times in 2019 after being disinvited from a festival over the sentence.

Born May 31, 1938, in New York, Yarrow was raised in an upper middle class family he said placed high value on art and scholarship. He took violin lessons as a child, later switching to guitar as he came to embrace the work of such folk-music icons as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger.

Upon graduating from Cornell University in 1959, he returned to New York, where he worked as a struggling Greenwich Village musician until connecting with Stookey and Travers. Although his degree was in psychology, he had found his true calling in folk music at Cornell when he worked as a teaching assistant for a class in American folklore his senior year.

“I did it for the money because I wanted to wash dishes less and play guitar more,” he told the late record company executive Joe Smith. But as he led the class in song, he began to discover the emotional impact music could have on an audience.

“I saw these young people at Cornell who were basically very conservative in their backgrounds opening their hearts up and singing with an emotionality and a concern through this vehicle called folk music,” he said. “It gave me a clue that the world was on its way to a certain kind of movement, and that folk music might play a part in it and that I might play a part in folk music.”

Soon after returning to New York, he met impresario Albert Grossman, who would go on to manage Dylan, Janis Joplin and others and who at the time was looking to put together a group that would rival the Kingston Trio, which in 1958 had a hit version of the traditional folk ballad “Tom Dooley.”

But Grossman wanted a trio with a female singer and a member who could be funny enough to keep an audience engaged with comic patter. For the latter, Yarrow suggested a guitar-strumming Greenwich Village comic he’d seen named Noel Stookey.

Stookey, who would use his middle name as a member of the group, happened to be a friend of Travers, who as a teenager had performed and recorded with Pete Seeger and others. Gripped by stage fright, she was reluctant to join the pair at first, changing her mind after she heard how well her contralto voice melded with Yarrow’s tenor and Stookey’s baritone.

“We called Noel up. He was there,” Yarrow said, recalling the first time the three performed together. “We mentioned a bunch of folk songs, which he didn’t know because he didn’t have a real folk-music background, and wound up singing Mary Had a Little Lamb. And it was immediately great, was just as clear as a bell, and we started working.”

They could also show a soft and poignant side, particularly on Puff the Magic Dragon, which Yarrow had written during his Cornell years with college friend Leonard Lipton.

It tells the tale of Jackie Paper, a young boy who embarks on countless adventures with his make-believe dragon friend until he outgrows such childhood fantasies and leaves a sobbing, heartbroken Puff behind. As Yarrow explains: “A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys.”

Some insisted they heard drug references in the song, a contention at the heart of a famous scene in the film Meet the Parents, when Ben Stiller angers his girlfriend’s tightly wound father (Robert De Niro) by saying “puff” refers to marijuana smoke. Yarrow maintained it reflected the loss of childhood innocence and nothing more.

Over the years, Yarrow continued to write and co-write songs, including the 1976 hit Torn Between Two Lovers for Mary MacGregor. He received an Emmy nomination in 1979 for the animated film Puff the Magic Dragon.

Later songs include the civil rights anthem No Easy Walk to Freedom, co-written with Margery Tabankin, and Light One Candle, calling for peace in Lebanon.

Yarrow, who with Travers and Stookey had supported Democratic Sen. Eugene McCarthy’s 1968 presidential bid, met the Minnesota senator’s niece, Mary Beth McCarthy, at a campaign event. The couple married the following year. They had two children before divorcing. They remarried in 2022.

In addition to his wife and daughter, he is survived by a son, Christopher, and a granddaughter, Valentina.

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