Latest in Public Policy

Does it ever feel like those of us in and around Hollywood are at war with the world? We're certainly fighting with Florida, over gender education — you heard all about it from the Oscar hosts, on Disney-owned ABC. And we're battling Texas, over abortion. Reese Witherspoon and another hundred stars planted the flag in…

Was it only a year ago—no, 10 months, the last Oscar show was on April 25—that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave its Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to the Motion Picture and Television Fund? It seems longer, with all the ups and downs, re-openings and fresh lockdowns, trucker convoys and…

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Anne del Castillo will continue to serve as commissioner of the New York City Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) as he unveiled new members of his economic development team Wednesday, led by Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development Maria Torres-Springer. "I…

More Covid scheduling grief: The Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday postponed its planned Friday morning hearing on a request to open sealed testimony in the Roman Polanski sex case, citing concerns about the surge. The new date is March 8, according those who are seeking to lift the seal on earlier…

I wish all these unhinged movies would quit coming true. Escape From New York. Escape From L.A. Being There. I Am Legend. You name it. Somebody shoots a whacko/dystopian/dysfunctional fantasy. Eventually, we all end up living it. At the moment, I'm living Brazil—bureaucratic dysfunction. My wife and I bought out a…

Countries all over the world are reacting to the rising Covid-19 numbers as the Omicron variant swiftly becomes the dominant strain. This has been the case in Ireland where 52 percent of cases were determined to be from Omicron, where the government has now implemented a curfew. The Health Protection Surveillance…

Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-CA) has "relaunched" the Creative Rights Caucus with a new Republican co-chair – Drew Ferguson (R-GA). The caucus advocates for the creative industries and their workers. “I am so proud to be partnering with Rep. Drew Ferguson to relaunch the Creative Rights Caucus," Chu said. “I helped to…

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced a major vaccine mandate expansion including the first in the nation for private-sector workers. In an announcement today, the outgoing de Blasio said the mandate, which will take effect on Dec. 27, will apply to roughly 184,000 businesses. His "Key to NYC" program…

In a nighttime session, the U.S. Senate voted 69-28 tonight to pass a stopgap funding bill to keep the federal government solvent through Feb. 18. It also included $7 billion in aid to Afghan evacuees, according to the Washington Post. The measure was approved by the House earlier in the day and will now go to…

Hope springs eternal among those bent on getting to the bottom of the Roman Polanski sex case. On Monday morning, two writer/journalists, Sam Wasson and William Rempel, are now hoping that Judge Sergio Tapia II of the Los Angeles County Superior Court will look kindly on their request to unseal some critical evidence…

U.S. officials have long invoked Bruce Willis’ name in the interests of planetary security. At a 2013 Senate hearing with experts to discuss the threat that asteroids pose to Earth, noted humorist Ted Cruz quipped, “I was disappointed that Bruce Willis was not available to be a fifth witness on the panel.” Flash…

"We are questioning a canon and creating a canon." Thus did Doris Berger, senior director of curatorial affairs at the Academy Museum, explain when asked by Sharon Rosen Leib of The Forward why Jews had what seemed to her a disconcertingly small place in this new shrine to the movies. The exchange was reported in an…