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– An actor in the Predator reboot was a registered sex offender, and it was one of his famous colleagues who turned him in to the studio. Olivia Munn discovered Steven Wilder Striegel, a friend of The Predator director Shane Black who'd acted in one of the film's scenes with her, had pleaded guilty in 2010 for trying to lure a 14-year-old girl online into a sexual relationship, and she alerted 20th Century Fox—which, she tells Variety, initially didn't return her call. She followed up, and the scene was eventually cut. Since then, Munn says she's "getting the cold shoulder," as USA Today puts it, from fellow cast members and Black, who hasn't spoken to her. "It's a very lonely feeling to be sitting here by myself," Munn told the Hollywood Reporter during a promo interview Saturday in which only 11-year-old co-star Jacob Tremblay showed up to sit next to her. "I do feel like I've been treated by some people that I'm the one who went to jail or I'm the one that put this guy on set," she added. Though two of her co-stars, Keegan-Michael Key and Sterling K. Brown, note they weren't set to do the THR interview and that they support Munn, Munn tells Vanity Fair co-stars have dropped out of more than one interview and that no one else issued statements when she encouraged them to. "Right now the reality is that there will be people who wear Time's Up pins and say they support Time's Up, [but] there will be people in Time's Up who aren't really down with the cause," she says. Meanwhile, in an op-ed for Mashable, Adam Rosenberg writes it's "so very wrong" Black hasn't reached out to Munn directly, and that she's facing the media alone. "It's shameful that ... she has to pay any kind of price for doing the right thing."

In an exclusive interview with Variety, Olivia Munn says that Fox initially didn’t return her call after reporting “The Predator” actor Steven Wilder Striegel to the studio.

 “When I called, (Fox) was silent for two days,” the actress told Variety’s Jenelle Riley at the Toronto Film Festival.

 “I did have to reach out again and say I didn’t feel comfortable presenting at the MTV Awards with Keegan (Michael Key) unless this guy was out of it.”

 Fox later deleted the scene, which featured Striegel’s character hitting on Olivia Munn’s character.

 Striegel, a friend of “The Predator” director Shane Black’s, pleaded guilty in 2010 to two felonies — risk of injury to a child and enticing a minor by computer — after facing allegations that he attempted to lure a 14-year-old female into a sexual relationship through the internet. He served six months in jail.

 “I’m not saying they weren’t working on it behind the scenes,” Munn says of Fox. “I just didn’t hear anything about it. But I’m happy that they did obviously because I’m proud of the work we did in this movie, we all worked really, really hard, and I wouldn’t be able to morally stand behind this movie with this guy in there.”

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 A spokesperson for Fox said this week that the studio was unaware of Striegel’s history when casting the film. “We were not aware of his background due to legal limitations that impede studios from running background checks on actors,” the company wrote in a statement.

 “The reason why it’s so important, especially in Hollywood, is because movies are so far reaching. And this kind of movie, it’s an international movie, it’s going to go global, or that’s our hope, and more people see that,” Munn said.

 She added: “When you have somebody on a big screen, no matter how small – we’ve all done little parts in movies – that little grain of fame is just enough to reach out and influence somebody who is impressionable and if you have somebody that has a history of using that to abuse children, that’s not OK in my book. And I do believe people deserve second chances, but I do have a hard line when it comes to people who hurt children or animals. You deserve to go make money, but not alongside me in a film. You can go work in a lot of other places or like make an Etsy store or something.”

 Black has since apologized for the error in judgement in a public statement, but Munn said she was disappointed he never reached out personally to her.

 “I think an apology has to happen privately not just publicly, I believe in his apology that he said he apology to everyone past and present that he’s put in that situation, and that would be me, but I didn’t get that apology, I read about it online like everyone else.”

 “There’s a point when you’re in it, everybody from the top down, they just want you to keep quiet and do anything to help the movie,” she said. “They’re doing some Jedi mind trick like ‘These aren’t the people you’re looking for’ and I’m like ‘That’s not working on me!”

 Black, whose previous credits include “Iron Man 3” and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” was not available for press at the Toronto premiere of “The Predator” on Thursday.

 Munn stars in Fox’s reboot of the classic sci-fi film alongside Boyd Holbrook and Keegan-Michael Key.

 Since Thursday’s report by the L.A. Times, she said the online support has been nothing short of overwhelming.

 “Sometimes you just need people to validate that you’re not crazy!”

 “The Predator” opens nationwide Sept. 13, 2018. ||||| Munn talks to 'The Hollywood Reporter' about how she alerted Fox about actor Steven Wilder Striegel's status as a registered sex offender, and how difficult it's been to do what she feels is right. "There are people who get very mad at you for not just helping them bury it."

 Shane Black's highly anticipated reimagination of Fox's Predator franchise — a comedic take on the sci-fi thriller starring Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Sterling K. Brown, Jacob Tremblay and a cast of misfits played by Trevante Rhodes, Thomas Jane and Keegan-Michael Key — scored a coveted slot in the Toronto International Film Festival lineup ahead of its Sept. 14 release.

 But just hours before the Midnight Madness screening on Sept. 6, the Los Angeles Times reported that the studio had deleted a scene from the film starring Munn alongside actor Steven Wilder Striegel (playing a jogger who has an encounter with Munn's biologist character) after it was revealed to Fox by Munn that he is a registered sex offender. Striegel, a longtime friend of Black, pleaded guilty in 2010 following allegations that he had acted inappropriately with a 14-year-old female to whom he was related. According to the Times report, Striegel had exchanged sexually charged emails with the underage girl, and as a result of the guilty plea, spent six months in prison.

 Despite the news, the cast carried on and traveled to TIFF to promote the film ,while Black backed out and did not attend his film's worldwide debut. A studio spokesperson issued a statement, confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter, that Fox executives were not aware of Striegel's background when he was hired. "Several weeks ago, when the studio learned the details, his one scene in the film was removed within 24 hours. We were not aware of his background during the casting process due to legal limitations that impede studios from running background checks on actors," said a Twentieth Century Fox Film spokesperson.

 It has been a complicated few days for the actors and publicists as they navigated a whirlwind schedule of press and on-camera interviews while being forced to walk the delicate line of promoting a big-budget action film and responding to journalists' questions about the controversial situation, which is even more charged in the #MeToo and Time's Up era. Answering a question about why she is still promoting the film, Munn tweeted Friday that she was "contractually obligated," adding that, "From what I’m experiencing, I think they’d prefer I not show up. It would make everyone breathe easier."

 Munn did show up to THR's Video Lounge in Toronto on Saturday afternoon, but instead of doing an interview alongside available castmembers, Munn was joined only by Tremblay after a few of her fellow actors backed out of scheduled interviews, presumably because of the subject matter of the deleted scene. After doing a joint interview with Tremblay, Munn sat for a solo interview in which she discusses what she did after finding out about Striegel's background, what she thought of Black's apology and how she feels about doing promo on her own in the wake of this story. "It’s a very lonely feeling to be sitting here by myself when I should be sitting here with the rest of the cast," she said.

 One of those actors, Keegan-Michael Key, was due to catch a flight out of Toronto and was not among those scheduled to be a part of THR's interview. Key's rep issued the following statement to THR: "His last interview was scheduled after lunch, which he completed. He was always departing TIFF early so he could be home to spend the Jewish holiday with his wife. Furthermore, Keegan reached out to Olivia privately last week to let her know how proud he was of her and echoed that sentiment in many interviews since then."

 Can you walk me through and tell me what the past few days have been like for you after this news came out?

 It’s been most tough on the Jane Doe that was in the story because the victim is the victim. Whatever she’s gone through in the subsequent years is most important to me. The outpouring of support online and from the media and everyone just validating that it's the right thing to do has been really uplifting and helps me breathe a little easier. … We’re making movies. We’re not in the mafia. I haven’t spoken against the family. This guy isn’t in our movie anymore. I try to do the right thing and that’s all I can do, and when I see something, you do something. You don’t just sit back and hope it protects your movie. The movie is a great movie, the scene isn’t in there. It’s going to do well. At the end of the day, it's just a movie. We can’t tell stories about people and not care about people. … There are people who get very mad at you for not just helping them bury it.

 I saw you tweeted yesterday that you’re contractually obligated to be here but it might help everyone breathe a little easier if you weren't. How hard has it been walking through this with your cast and with Shane Black?

 Well, I haven’t heard from Shane. I did see his apology that he put out. I appreciate the apology. I would have appreciated it more if it was directed toward me privately before it went public and I had to see it online with everyone else. It's honestly disheartening to have to fight for something so hard that is just so obvious to me. I don’t know why this has to be such a hard fight. I do feel like I’ve been treated by some people that I’m the one who went to jail or I’m the one that put this guy on set. I found out, and it was really important to me to have the scene deleted. When the press found out, they asked for a statement, I gave a statement. I found out those details like everybody else did. It was shocking and disturbing. Now when I’m being asked about it, I don’t know how to lie about it. I don’t know how to pretend, I don’t know how to skirt around the issue. I just know how to be honest about it. It’s a very lonely feeling to be sitting here by myself when I should be sitting here with the rest of the cast.

 Who did you seek counsel from before you made the phone call to Fox?

 No one. I called my lawyer and my manager and I said, "I need you to tell them right now about this." I found out and my very next call was to them.

 Let’s look forward a bit. I’m wondering how you hope this will change the industry. Do you think this will create a more structured vetting system so that these things don’t happen again? Have you had any of those conversations yet?

 No, I haven’t had any of those conversations. The truth is that the situation that we’re in over the last year or so, the #MeToo movement, it really exists because of the people online who are appalled and outraged and demanding that things be changed. The people who are at the top, the people colluding to keep abusers in power, the people who are colluding to turn a blind eye so that they can keep making money, they are the people who created this disparity in the first place, we can’t really depend on them to make a change. It's the people online and people who express their outrage. For some reason, there seem to be people out there who are only motivated by the bottom line. If the fans and public keep expressing that they won’t go support who are abusers or organizations or companies that support that, then that will make them change. Nothing really changes until people see that it will affect them personally.

 I know this can't be easy for anyone, especially you.

 I appreciate that people care that something like this happened, if someone wants to share their platform and their power with someone who went to prison for hurting a child. Once they’ve gotten out of prison, they’ve served their time, they are allowed to be back out in society and that's their choice if they want to help that person. I wasn't given that choice; that decision was made for me. My choice will always be to never give a second chance to anyone who hurts a child or an animal. That’s me. Everybody has their own prerogative. If you’re going to ask me, that’s going to be my choice.

 Sept. 9, 3:57 p.m.: Updated with statement from Keegan-Michael Key's rep. ||||| It's striking to see Olivia Munn fielding an interview all alone when The Predator, the movie she's repping at Toronto International Film Festival this weekend, is an ensemble effort.

 On Thursday, we learned that Fox cut a scene out of The Predator because it featured a registered sex offender, also a friend of director Shane Black. It was Munn who first alerted the studio that she had shared a scene with this man and set in motion his removal from the film.

 Speaking on Saturday to The Hollywood Reporter, without any cast members at her side, Munn discussed the situation at length. She did what she did because she felt it was the right thing to do, but it's clear not everyone felt that way.

 "There are people who get very mad at you for not... just, you know... helping them bury it," she said carefully at one point. Munn doesn't single anyone out by name on that count, but the absence of — and relative silence from — her fellow actors is notable.

 "It’s a very lonely feeling to be sitting here by myself when I should be sitting here with the rest of the cast," she said.

 (It's easy to miss the nuance of Munn's comments in text form, so do yourself a favor and watch the full interview.)

 .@OliviaMunn: "It's not an easy thing to be the one to speak up. There are people who get mad at you for not helping them bury it ... I'm sitting here by myself when I should be with the rest of the cast" https://t.co/vBnjnVz9cA pic.twitter.com/jP3qReJh64 — Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 8, 2018

 To be clear: Munn only comes off here as a strong woman who's not backing down from her position that she did the right thing. She may admit to feeling a sense of isolation from the cast and crew, but this isn't a pity party, self-inflicted or otherwise.

 That said, it's hard for those of us on the outside looking in to overlook the signs that she's paying a price now for doing the right thing.

 Black hasn't communicated with her at all one-on-one since this story first surfaced. His public apology didn't even address her directly, despite the fact that she's the one who had to perform in a scene with the sex offender, without her knowledge.

 Her fellow cast members have been notably silent and/or absent as well. The intro to THR's coverage of the interview mentions that Munn sat for a paired interview with her fellow star, 11-year-old Jacob Tremblay, before her solo chat. But it goes on to provide additional context on the unusual situation.

 "Munn did show up to THR's Video Lounge in Toronto on Saturday afternoon, but instead of doing an interview alongside castmembers, Munn was joined only by Tremblay after her fellow actors backed out of scheduled interviews, presumably because of the subject matter of the deleted scene," the story reads.

 A representative for The Predator star Keegan-Michael Key reached out to Mashable after this story published and asked us to share the following statement:

 Keegan was never booked to do an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. His last interview was scheduled after lunch, which he completed. He was always departing TIFF early so he could be home to spend the Jewish holiday with his wife. Furthermore, Keegan reached out to Olivia privately last week to let her know how proud he was of her and echoed that sentiment in many interviews since then.

 Munn herself has already explained that she's still repping the movie and at the annual film fest only because she's "contractually obligated" to do so, as she wrote in a Friday tweet.

 I’m contractually obligated. And from what I’m experiencing, I think they’d prefer I not show up. It would make everyone breathe easier. Also, I worked really hard on this film, as did the rest of the cast and crew. Now that the scene is deleted I think audiences will love it. https://t.co/6MZxb4NZfT — om (@oliviamunn) September 7, 2018

 This Is Us and The Predator star Sterling K. Brown isn't in Toronto this weekend, but he did weigh in on Twitter a few hours after Munn's interview with THR published. He defended his fellow actor and echoed some of her words, but the timing led many to wonder why Brown didn't speak up sooner.

 That’s gonna vary from individual to individual. You and @BonafideBlack may differ when it comes to that issue. I don’t have all the details regarding his friend’s crime, but I know it involves a minor, and he spent time in jail. With regards to forgiveness, I leave that to... — Sterling K Brown (@SterlingKBrown) September 9, 2018

 Our studio was not given that opportunity, and neither was our cast. Especially @oliviamunn who was the only member of the principal cast who had to work with him. I so appreciate that you “didn’t leave well enough alone,” & again, I’m sorry you feel isolated in taking action. — Sterling K Brown (@SterlingKBrown) September 9, 2018

 Thank you to @20thcenturyfox for taking quick action in deleting the scene. @oliviamunn I hope you don’t feel quite so alone. You did the right thing. 🕉 — Sterling K Brown (@SterlingKBrown) September 9, 2018

 In this post-#MeToo world, even the good changes tend to come with a fair amount of bad. Here we see it playing out in real time as Munn pays for her act of bravery.

 She spoke up, and in doing so she ensured that one less problematic figure gets to have a redemption arc enabled by his white male friend. But she's standing alone in the aftermath, and she's fielding the same old questions, and delivering the same common-sense answers.

 The truth is that the situation that we’re in over the last year or so, the #MeToo movement, it really exists because the people online who are appalled and outraged and demanding that things be changed. The people who are at the top, the people colluding to keep abusers in power, the people who are colluding to turn a blind eye so that they can keep making money, they are the people who created this disparity in the first place. We can’t really depend on them to make a change. It's the people online and people who express their outrage. For some reason, there seem to be people out there who are only motivated by the bottom line. If the fans and public keep expressing that they won’t go support who are abusers or organizations or companies that support that, then that will make them change. Nothing really changes until people see that it will affect them personally.

 That's Munn responding to a question about whether she thinks the situation with The Predator will lead to broader changes, in this case in the way film casts and crews are vetted.

 It's nothing new, though. How many women have said over the past year (and, let's be clear, since well before that) that change is going to have to be a group effort? How many have pointed out that the system — whatever system they may be referring to in the moment — doesn't ever change because money is still being made?

 It's premature to say that the days of vindictive men blackballing the women that spurn them are over, but it's presumably (hopefully) a lot harder to get away with in the current environment. What Munn is experiencing now, just like others who have spoken up, is a different kind of fallout — but that doesn't make it any better.

 She shouldn't be alone here. Men (and women) who claim to be allies need to actually step up and be allies in the moments that matter. And hey, guess what? This moment matters. It's wrong that Munn is facing the media alone while her other cast members bow out of their commitments. It's wrong that Black hasn't communicated with her directly, even if he's upset about what happened to his friend.

 Too frequently, we hear men excuse their silence with comments like "Well, she's a strong, independent woman who can speak for herself." Or "It's not my place to wade in." Or "I want to hear all the facts first."

 None of that is good enough. Women can be strong and speak for themselves while also reaping the benefits of a robust support network that's ready to act. It's shameful that Munn's co-stars didn't provide that for her here, and that she has to pay any kind of price for doing the right thing.

 UPDATED Sept. 9, 2018, 5:19 p.m. with a statement from Keegan-Michael Key. ||||| CLOSE Sterling K. Brown, Keegan-Michael Key and Olivia Munn star in this fight to save humanity from "The Predator." It's the first film in the franchise since 2010. USA TODAY

 Olivia Munn is pushing ahead with promoting "The Predator" at Toronto Film Festival, even after blowing the whistle on a registered sex offender in the cast. (Photo: Getty Images for IMDb)

 Olivia Munn says she's getting the cold shoulder from "The Predator" cast after flagging 20th Century Fox that an actor in the reboot of the franchise is a registered sex offender.

 The news resulted in Fox cutting a scene from the film with actor Steven Wilder Striegel, who pleaded guilty in 2010 for trying to entice a 14-year-old girl into a sexual relationship on the Internet. (Striegel is a longtime friend of "The Predator" director Shane Black)

 "Our studio was not aware of Mr. Striegel's background when he was hired," Fox told The Associated Press on Thursday just hours before the sci-fi movie premiered at Toronto International Film Festival. "Several weeks ago, when the studio learned the details, his one scene in the film was removed within 24 hours."

 Munn – who plays scientist Casey Bracket in the movie, which arrives in theaters on Sept. 14 – tweeted that audiences will love it "now that the scene is deleted," in light of the #MeToo and Time's Up era.

 Munn, 38, has continued to promote "The Predator" since blowing the whistle on Striegel, but her fellow cast members haven't been supportive. During a scheduled interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Munn said her co-stars bailed on her, with the exception of 11-year-old actor Jacob Tremblay.

 "It’s a very lonely feeling to be sitting here by myself when I should be sitting here with the rest of the cast," Munn told THR. "I do feel like I’ve been treated by some people that I’m the one who went to jail or I’m the one that put this guy on set."

 "Predator" co-star Boyd Holbrook admitted on Instagram that indeed he "did pull out of a small amount of press on Saturday, as this type of social commentary is new to me ..."

 He wrote, "I want to start by apologizing for this statement coming late in the current conversation ... I am proud of Olivia for the way that she handled a difficult and alarming situation, and I am grateful that Fox took the information seriously and took action swiftly."

 Fellow actor Niall Matter also addressed the controversy on Sunday, tweeting that he wasn't at TIFF doing "Predator" press because he was shooting a movie. "I was not privy to any of this information until today," he said. "I’m deeply sorry Olivia that you felt alone in this ... As a father to a daughter I can assure you that my stance is the same as yours. I applaud @20thcenturyfox for doing the right thing by removing the scene with the actor in question."

 As a father to a daughter I can assure you that my stance is the same as yours. I applaud @20thcenturyfox for doing the right thing by removing the scene with the actor in question. — Niall Matter (@niallmatter) September 9, 2018

 In a series of tweets, Munn explained why she continues to promote the fourth installment in the action franchise amid what she said is some backlash from her peers.

 "I’m contractually obligated. And from what I’m experiencing, I think they’d prefer I not show up. It would make everyone breathe easier," she tweeted Thursday.

 I’m contractually obligated. And from what I’m experiencing, I think they’d prefer I not show up. It would make everyone breathe easier. Also, I worked really hard on this film, as did the rest of the cast and crew. Now that the scene is deleted I think audiences will love it. https://t.co/6MZxb4NZfT — om (@oliviamunn) September 7, 2018

 Munn continued: "It’s amazing how many people expect you to put the movie first, especially if you’re the lead. On something like this – where a child has been hurt – my silence will never be for sale. And if it costs me my career they can take it."

 Another one of Munn's co-stars, Emmy-winning actor Sterling K. Brown, took to Twitter to apologize to the actress for feeling alone. (He didn't attend Toronto Film Festival.)

 Brown said "our studio was not given that opportunity" to know who they were working with, especially Munn who appeared in the deleted scene opposite Striegel: "I so appreciate that you 'didn’t leave well enough alone.' "

 Thank you to @20thcenturyfox for taking quick action in deleting the scene. @oliviamunn I hope you don’t feel quite so alone. You did the right thing. 🕉 — Sterling K Brown (@SterlingKBrown) September 9, 2018

 He continued: "Thank you to @20thcenturyfox for taking quick action in deleting the scene. @oliviamunn I hope you don’t feel quite so alone. You did the right thing."

 Co-star Keegan-Michael Key, who left the film festival early to observe a religious holiday, followed suit. "Keegan reached out to Olivia privately last week to let her know how proud he was of her and echoed that sentiment in many interviews since then," his publicist Jillian Roscoe said in a statement emailed to USA TODAY.

 Munn appeared to object to director Black, who was aware of Striegel's legal problems, on Twitter Thursday: "The #MeToo movement called out abusers. But they’re not the only ones in the wrong. Those who know about abuse and not only do nothing but continue to put abusers in positions of power are complicit."

 The #MeToo movement called out abusers. But they’re not the only ones in the wrong. Those who know about abuse and not only do nothing but continue to put abusers in positions of power are complicit. https://t.co/QngLCk9fzj — om (@oliviamunn) September 6, 2018

 Munn told The Hollywood Reporter that Black has not spoken to her since the scene was deleted.

 "I haven’t heard from Shane. I did see his apology ... I would have appreciated it more if it was directed toward me privately before it went public and I had to see it online with everyone else," she said. "It's honestly disheartening to have to fight for something so hard that is just so obvious to me."

 Black has frequently cast Striegel in his films, including 2013's "Iron Man 3" and 2016's "The Nice Guys."

 Black said in a statement on Thursday: "Having read this morning's news reports, it has sadly become clear to me that I was misled by a friend I really wanted to believe was telling me the truth when he described the circumstances of his conviction. I believe strongly in giving people second chances – but sometimes you discover that chance is not as warranted as you may have hoped."

 Munn stars in the film alongside Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes and Thomas Jane, in addition to "This Is Us" star Brown, "Room" breakout Tremblay and Key.

 Contributing: The Associated Press

 More: Fox deletes 'The Predator' scene after learning actor is a registered sex offender

 Earlier: Olivia Munn, Boyd Holbrook battle a stronger alien in first 'Predator' trailer

 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2N3dEnD ||||| On Thursday night, just hours after the news broke that she had successfully lobbied to cut a scene in which she appeared opposite a convicted sexual offender, Olivia Munn arrived at the midnight premiere of her new film, The Predator. She was joined by many of her male co-stars as well as director Shane Black, who after The Los Angeles Times broke the story said that he regretted casting his friend Steven Wilder Striegel and released a statement apologizing to “all of those, past and present, I’ve let down by having Steve around them without giving them a voice in the decision.”

 One of those people, presumably, was Munn. But as she told Vanity Fair’s executive West Coast editor, Krista Smith, on Saturday, she has not actually heard directly from Black, her co-stars, or the studio since speaking on the record to the Times about her efforts to have the scene cut and the “unsettling” realization that Black had cast Striegel without disclosing his history. (A source close to the production later clarified that at least one co-star had, in fact, reached out.) At the premiere, Munn said that her co-stars—including Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, and Keegan-Michael Key—all stood to give Black what appeared to be an ovation at the beginning of the film. “I looked back and I see the guys standing up, and I was just confused because I hadn’t heard from them during the day. Everybody else was sitting down—it wasn’t like this massive standing ovation for him. I felt it was still appropriate to clap and cheer, but to actually make that gesture to stand up, especially in this moment . . . and privately I knew that no one reached out to me to say, ‘Are you O.K.?’ It did feel bad.”

 As their press duties have continued, Munn said, many of her co-stars have canceled scheduled interviews with her; another, she said, walked out of an interview when the issue of the cut scene came up. When Munn decided to give a comment to the Times, she told Smith, she reached out to all of her co-stars privately to encourage them to make statements of their own. “I wanted them to not be blindsided the way I was blindsided, and I encouraged them to put out a statement once the L.A. Times reached out to us,“ Munn said. “I was surprised that none of them did. Again that’s their prerogative. Right now the reality is that there will be people who wear Time’s Up pins and say they support Time’s Up, [but] there will be people in Time’s Up who aren’t really down with the cause.”

 In an interview at TIFF with The Los Angeles Times, alongside Munn and Augusto Aguilera, Rhodes said, “I wasn’t disappointed in Shane. I was disappointed in the situation, and I’m happy that Liv spoke up.”

 A representative for Keegan-Michael Key said in a statement, “Keegan was never booked to do an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. His last interview was scheduled after lunch, which he completed. He was always departing TIFF early so he could be home to spend the Jewish holiday with his wife. Furthermore, Keegan reached out to Olivia privately last week to let her know how proud he was of her and echoed that sentiment in many interviews since then.”

 On Monday Boyd Holbrook sent the following statement via a representative: “I want to start by apologizing for this statement coming late in the current conversation. I do not take any of what has gone on lightly, and I want to speak from the most honest and genuine place possible. I have stated before, and I will state it again, I am proud of Olivia for the way that she handled a difficult and alarming situation, and I am grateful that Fox took the information seriously and took action swiftly. It is true that I pulled out of a small amount of press on Saturday, as this type of social commentary is new to me and given the nature of the originating crime, I felt further discussion could cause unwanted trauma and pain, neither of which I wanted to incite to the anonymous young woman. I now realize that my understanding of the situation was not the full picture and the last thing I want is for Olivia to ever feel abandoned or alone. We are in the midst of a very crucial and important time and it is imperative that we keep listening.”

 When asked for comment, a Twentieth Century Fox spokesperson said, “Our studio was not aware of Mr. Striegel’s background when he was hired. Several weeks ago, when the studio learned the details, his one scene in the film was removed within 24 hours. We were not aware of his background during the casting process due to legal limitations that impede studios from running background checks on actors.” Representatives for Black, Holbrook, and Rhodes did not provide comment.

 “I kind of feel like I’m the one going to jail,” Munn said. “I didn’t go to jail, I didn’t put this guy on our set. I had this scene deleted. Thank God, honestly, that there is social media. It’s the fans and news outlets that’s confirming it to me that what I did was the right thing. If I didn’t have that feedback, I’d kind of go a little crazy thinking, Why am I being treated like this? That’s not O.K., to feel like the bad guy.”

 As the Los Angeles Times originally reported, Munn was tipped off that Striegel was a convicted sex offender, and notified Fox on August 15; though the Times report said that executives quickly worked to cut Striegel’s scene, Munn told Variety that the studio waited two days to tell her they‘d taken action, and in that time she told them she didn’t feel comfortable presenting at the V.M.A.s on August 20 unless the scene was cut. “Getting a convicted sex offender out of a movie that has global reach is extremely important, but the reality of what I’ve had to go through in this process of just finding out, it’s a crazy thing,“ Munn told Smith. “It’s like I stumbled upon something and now I’m being chased by everyone and isolated.”

 Munn has been working in Hollywood for over a decade, with recent roles in blockbusters like X-Men: Apocalypse and Ocean’s 8, but said that her recent experience has made her consider leaving the industry behind altogether. “I love being an actor, but if it comes at this cost, who wants it? Who cares? I’m so much more than who I am as an actor, and so many other things going on in my life. I love it, but they can take it, if that’s what it comes down to.”

 CORRECTION: This article has been updated to include a clarification from a source that at least one co-star had reached out to Munn. It has also been updated to include a statement from Keegan-Michael Key’s and Boyd Holbrook’s representatives.

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News article:

Image copyright Antarctic Gurkha Image caption Scott Sears arrived at the South Pole on Christmas Day

 Tennis star Andy Murray's brother-in-law believes he has become the youngest person to reach the South Pole solo.

 Scott Sears, a lieutenant in the First Battalion Royal Gurkha Rifles, pulled a sled and supplies for 38 days through 150mph winds in temperatures of -50c.

 His 702-mile trek ended at the South Pole on Christmas Day, more than 12 days sooner than he had anticipated.

 The Guinness Book of Records has yet to confirm whether the 27-year-old's feat will make it into the record books.

 Lt Sears, from east London, is the brother of Murray's wife, Kim.

 From a family of tennis players, he played the sport on the international circuit until the age of 19. Several years later, he went on to join the Army.

 'Not one more step'

 The first part of the journey from Hercules Inlet where sea ice meets land in Antarctica is considered the most dangerous part, as the ground is riddled with crevasses.

 Travelling alone meant Lt Sears was not roped up to a teammate who could stop him falling down them, and he used skis to cross the ice instead.

 In a blog post from his five-week expedition, he described unexpectedly hitting a wall with just 38km (24 miles) to go on Christmas Eve, his penultimate day.

 "I couldn't have asked for better weather but well and truly hit a wall midway through the day," he wrote.

 "I've never experienced anything like it, I would take a couple of steps and just stop, everything was just saying 'no more, not one more step'.

 "It was bizarre as I've genuinely been feeling pretty good."

 But after some juice, biltong, chocolate and music on his iPod, he was back on his way.

 That night, Lt Sears hung his socks up as makeshift stockings, but said he feared Santa might give them a miss because of the "state and stench" of them.

 The following day, he reached the pole in blue skies, and wrote saying he was "absolutely chuffed to pieces".

 He told the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday that he expected it would take a few weeks for the experience to sink in.

 "I've been alone in a tent for nearly six weeks so it's all a bit overwhelming," he said.

 "I can't wait to have a shower and get some food in me. I've been dreaming about it since day three!"

 Image copyright PA Image caption Scott Sears with his sister, Kim

 Judy Murray, Andy's mother, congratulated him, tweeting: "Well done Scott Sears - (brother of Andys wife Kim) youngest person to reach the South Pole on a solo mission. Got there on Christmas Day......"

 Lt Sears has raised more than £33,500 for the Gurkha Welfare Trust to help rebuild schools in Gorkha, Nepal, which was destroyed in the 2015 earthquake. ||||| A serving British Army officer has become the youngest person to reach the South Pole on his own and unsupported, after trekking for more than five weeks.

 Lt Scott Sears, the brother-in-law of Andy Murray, reached his destination on Christmas Day after negotiating 700 miles of Antarctic plateau, crevasse fields and glaciers.

 The 27-year-old officer with 1st Bn Royal Gurkha Rifles raised over £30,000 for The Gurkha Welfare Trust and schools destroyed in the 2015 Nepal earthquake.

 Waiting on Tuesday night for a plane to take him off the pole to Union Glacier, he said: “The last 5 weeks have been a huge challenge but I’m proud to be standing here now after 2 years of planning and training.

 “It’s going to take a few weeks for everything to sink in, I’ve been alone in a tent for nearly 6 weeks so it’s all a bit overwhelming”. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– While many people were unwrapping gifts on Christmas Day, the brother-in-law of tennis star Andy Murray was wrapping up a 700-mile, 38-day journey through brutally cold temps and blistering winds—and, he hopes, setting a world record. Scott Sears, 27, reached the South Pole on Monday, and he says he's the youngest person ever to do so solo, though Guinness has yet to offer its final seal of approval, the BBC notes. "MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE SOUTH POLE! Absolutely chuffed to pieces," he wrote on his blog, where he documented his unassisted adventure, which included temperatures of minus 58 degrees and wind gusts of up to 150mph. Sears said he was so tired when he finally took a rest after his trek that he fell asleep "within about 2 minutes of my head hitting the mat." Sears, whose sister, Kim, is married to the tennis star, describes a grueling expedition with icy, crevasse-marred terrain and an isolation made worse when the "iPod poltergeist" would occasionally strike, causing his music player to stop working. He says he "truly hit a wall" on Christmas Eve, where "everything was just saying 'no more, not one more step.'" But he devoured some dried meat, juice, and chocolate and pushed through, even hanging up his stinky socks as "makeshift stockings" for Santa that night. Sears' message from Andy Murray's mom once he arrived at his destination: "Well done Scott Sears." If Guinness confirms Sears' feat, he'll be three years younger than the previous record-holder, per the Telegraph. (Prince Harry drank champagne out of a prosthetic leg when he arrived at the South Pole.)


Here is a news article: Norway is taking a nose dive into the digital world — at least with radio. The Norwegian government will be the first country to completely transition to digital radio, and it’ll start when it switches off FM radio channels on January 11, at exactly at 11:11:11 AM local time.

 One of the main reasons the government is transitioning now is to save money: It’s cheaper to transmit via DAB (digital audio broadcasting) than FM, by about eight times. Going fully digital will save the country an estimated 200 million Norwegian Krone a year, which is about $23.5 million. Other benefits from transition fully into digital include more channels and better radio quality.

 “Radio digitization will open the door to a far greater range of radio channels, benefiting listeners across the country,” Norway’s minister of culture Thorhild Widvey, said in a press release. “Digitization will also greatly improve the emergency preparedness system, facilitate increased competition and offer new opportunities for innovation and development.”

 Norway’s DAB network already has 25 national radio channels and can support 20 more, whereas FM radio currently only has five channels. Critics who oppose the transition say that by killing the remaining national FM radio channels, drivers might miss out on emergency alerts if they don’t upgrade to DAB or aren’t within the area of receiving a local FM radio signal — which will continue to air programming despite the national FM switch-off. Many citizens are against the switch.

 “We are simply not ready for this yet,” Ib Thomsen, an MP from the Progress party, a partner in Norway’s Conservative-led government, told Reuters. “There are 2m cars on Norwegian roads that don’t have DAB receivers, and millions of radios in Norwegian homes will stop working when the FM net is switched off. So there is definitely a safety concern.”

 Those who don’t already have a car with digital radio will have to purchase a digital adaptor for FM car radios, which cost about 1,500 Norwegian Krones —about $176, so it’s definitely an investment.

 The Norwegian government has been planning this transition for years and made it official in 2015, which gave Norwegians some time to adapt and install digital radio in their cars and homes. Radio.no, which covers everything about the digital shift, went on tour around the country prior to the transition to inform people about DAB and guide them through installing adaptors or knowing how to access digital radio via the Internet.

 The criteria for the DAB network transition consisted of covering at least 90 percent of the population, at least half of all listeners had to tune into digital radio daily and that solutions for radio reception in cars was affordable and technically satisfactory.

 Norway is not the only country who is heading in the direction of all digital radio. Britain, Switzerland and Denmark are following in its footsteps and are looking to transition by 2020. Other countries in Southeast Asia are also looking into fully transitioning to DAB.

 The U.S. never got DAB — it stayed in Canada — but instead implemented HD radio, which does not stand for high-definition radio but just a brand name for its owner iBiquity Digital Corporation. HD Radio transmits on the same frequency as AM and FM radio, but it’ll emit higher quality sound if received by new radio. Old radios will just ignore the HD signal and transmit the original, more staticky signal.

 Norway hopes to complete the switch-off with the northernmost counties of Troms and Finnmark by Dec. 13, 2017. ||||| Switch to digital-only radio is opposed by majority of population and will be watched closely by other countries

 Norway will next week become the first nation to start switching off its FM radio network, in a risky and unpopular leap to digital technology that will be closely watched by other countries considering whether to follow suit.

 Critics say the government is rushing the move and fear many people may miss emergency alerts that until now have been broadcast via FM radio. Of particular concern are the 2m cars on Norway’s roads that are not equipped with digital audio broadcasting (DAB) receivers, they say.

 Sixty-six per cent of Norwegians oppose switching off FM, 17% are in favour and the rest are undecided, according to an opinion poll published by the daily Dagbladet last month.

 Nevertheless, parliament has given the final go-ahead for the move, swayed by the fact that digital networks can carry more channels.

 Six of the best DAB radios Read more

 Switzerland plans a similar move from 2020, and Britain and Denmark are among those also considering such a switch. A smooth transition to DAB, which is already beamed across Norway, could encourage these countries to move ahead.

 The shutdown of the FM (frequency modulation) network, introduced in the 1950s, will begin in the northern city of Bodø on 11 January. By the end of the year, all national FM broadcasts will cease.

 “We’re the first country to switch off FM but there are several countries going in the same direction,” said Ole Jørgen Torvmark, head of Digital Radio Norway, set up by the national broadcasters NRK and P4 to help the transition.

 Torvmark said cars were the biggest challenge: a good digital adaptor for an FM car radio cost 1,500 Norwegian kroner (£140), he said.

 Ib Thomsen, an MP from the Progress party, a partner in Norway’s Conservative-led government, was scathing about the move. “We are simply not ready for this yet,” he told Reuters.

 “There are 2m cars on Norwegian roads that don’t have DAB receivers, and millions of radios in Norwegian homes will stop working when the FM net is switched off. So there is definitely a safety concern.”

 For the same cost, digital radio allows for eight times as many stations as FM, and is said to have clearer sound and less hiss. The current system of parallel FM and digital networks, each of which costs about 250m kroner, saps investment in programmes.

 Britain plans to review the need for a switchover once digital listening reaches 50%. On current trends that could be by the end of 2017, a Digital Radio UK spokeswoman said. ||||| 66 percent of Norwegians oppose the forced switch to DAB. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / Scanpix

 In just a matter of weeks, Norway will tune out FM radio for good and become the world's first country to switch over to digital-only transmissions.

 Norway's government has decided that the nation's FM airwaves will fall silent from January 11, 2017, starting in Nordland and gradually moving south.

 After nearly a century of the analogue system, which revolutionised music listening with high-fidelity stereo sound compared to mono AM transmissions, the changeover to Digital Audio Broadcasting's advanced version (DAB+) will render the country's almost eight million radio sets obsolete.

 Although it has been in the works for years, most Norwegians aren’t pleased with the move. Two out of three are opposed to the switchover, according to an Ipsos survey released by Dagbladet on Wednesday. Only 17 percent support sounding the death knell for FM radio.

 Svein Larsen, the chairman of the Norwegian Local Radio Federation (Norsk lokalradioforbund) said he fully relates to the resistance to what he believes is a completely unnecessary move.

 “The opposition is not difficult to understand. It is obviously difficult to argue the necessity to turn off the FM network and replace it with DAB. When one thinks of [public broadcaster] NRK’s intensive campaign in favour of DAB, the numbers are surprisingly low,” Larsen said of the only 17 percent of Norwegians who support the transition.

 “But Norway has made its decision. For practical and economic reasons it is too late to turn back now,” he said.

 Norway’s transition to DAB radio will be watched closely by several other countries considering the move, notably Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and South Korea.

 "Nobody's ever done this before and it's quite a nervous time for everyone," James Cridland, a British-based radio broadcasting consultant told AFP last year. "Norway is testing this out for all of us.”

 DAB radio will offer well over 20 crystal-clear channels in Norway when the switchover takes effect, with more expected to follow. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Norway is entering the history books with a radio-related first: The country is shutting down its FM radio network in favor of digital-only transmissions, reports the Local. The country will begin cutting its FM network on Wednesday, starting with the northern city of Bodo, before moving south. All five national channels on FM will stop broadcasting by the end of the year, per Vocativ, though some local stations will continue FM broadcasts until 2022. The plan has been in place for years as digital radio costs Norway the same as the FM network, $29 million, but allows for eight times more radio stations. But residents aren't impressed. A poll shows 66% of Norwegians oppose the move, compared to 17% in favor and 17% undecided, reports Reuters. Among the critics are the owners of 2 million vehicles without digital audio broadcasting receivers who will need a $170 digital adapter and those who fear emergency alerts usually broadcast on FM radio will go unheard. "We are simply not ready for this yet," says a member of the ruling coalition government, noting "millions" of in-home radios will be rendered useless. "But Norway has made its decision," says the chairman of the Norwegian Local Radio Federation. "For practical and economic reasons it is too late to turn back now." Norway will now be watched closely by the UK, South Korea, Sweden, and Denmark, all considering the switch. Switzerland plans to switch to digital in 2020. (Norway is home to the world's slowest TV show.)


– The Jackie Robinson biopic 42 slides into theaters today, and it's being greeted by a polite ovation from critics, who for the most part seem to admire Robinson's story more than the filmmaking. Here's what people are saying: If director Brian Helgeland's "intention was to tell Jackie's story in a linear, paint-by-numbers fashion, he has achieved that goal," writes James Berardinelli at ReelViews. "The film takes no chances and does nothing bold." Still, he gives it a decent score, saying it's "a worthwhile sports movie" that "evokes powerful emotions" thanks to its compelling story. AO Scott at the New York Times has a more charitable take, writing that Helgeland "has honorably sacrificed the chance to make a great movie in the interest of making one that is accessible and inspiring." The film is pure hero-worship. "It is blunt, simple, and sentimental, using time-tested methods to teach a clear and rousing lesson." In the process, it gives younger viewers an unflinching look at the ugly "world their grandparents were born into." "Chadwick Boseman is perfect as Robinson," gushes Stephen Whitty at the Star-Ledger. "He captures, in a clenched jaw or a sidelong glance, a lifetime's worth of dearly attained dignity." Harrison Ford, meanwhile, might get a supporting actor nod; "it is the first time in years I have seen Ford have fun onscreen." Sure, the movie is "thick with Hollywood cliches … but that doesn't mean it won't make you feel good." Wesley Morris at Grantland complains that the movie is a little too reverential. Robinson doesn't have to change, "White America does. That's great for messaging, but hell on drama." It's the white characters who evolve, not the saint wearing 42. "Having an actor play Robinson makes sense for realism, but most of the time a piece of cardboard with Robinson's likeness would have done the trick."

Expand this summary.

The Problem With Saints On the lifeless Jackie Robinson biopic 42. Plus, Danny Boyle's twisty Trance. By Wesley Morris on April 11, 2013

 Whenever it is that an icon passes from being human to being a saint is the point at which it's probably too late for a good movie. All you get is the lessons learned and very little of the naturalism or idiosyncrasy or personality that made the person iconic in the first place. Or you get all that courtesy of a great performance, but then there's no filmmaking or storytelling to support it. You rarely get both acting and an angle, the way you did, say, with Walk the Line and Lincoln. It's usually that the subjects mean so much to the filmmakers that they can't bring themselves to take the subjects out of their historical packaging and play with them, lest they lose their value.

 That's the Jackie Robinson situation. In 1950, Robinson played himself in The Jackie Robinson Story, which was basically a hero giving a feel-good book report on himself. He's been in bubble wrap ever since. But after turning down other movies, including one Spike Lee and Denzel Washington wanted to make, Robinson's widow, Rachel, finally said yes. So 66 years after Robinson became the first black major league baseball player, here we are with 42, which has been made with such reverence for Robinson's importance that Robinson is barely there.

 Brian Helgeland (Payback, A Knight's Tale) wrote and directed this movie, which concentrates on Robinson's debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and sometime after the halfway point he lays out his angle. It's Robinson's (Chadwick Boseman) first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, and for each at-bat against the Phillies, Philadelphia manager Ben Chapman (Alan Tudyk) leaves the dugout and proceeds to call him "n----- " the way you'd call your dog into the house. It's a good scene that goes on long enough to leave a simmer in your blood. And after he pops up during his next-to-last at-bat, with Chapman still going, Robinson leaves the plate, steps down into the tunnel beside the dugout, howls out his rage, smashes a bat, and crumples to the ground.

 While he's crumpled, Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford), the Dodgers general manager who hired Robinson, appears and proceeds to explain that his controversial hire can't get mad since that's what the bigots expect. There's too much riding on his player for him to run out of cheeks to turn. (But Robinson already knows this. In one of his first scenes, he calmly but tensely threatens to go elsewhere for gas after the white service station manager refuses to let him use the bathroom.) Rickey's pep talk puts Robinson in the movie's thematic place. His function is only curative: "You're medicine, Jackie."

 42 is a Hollywood movie about American racism in which the objects of that racism must summon their most noble selves. Helgeland, who's white, doesn't imagine how it must have felt being slurred as relentlessly as Robinson was. So Robinson serves as a lesson not in triumph, but in tolerance. This is the sort of movie in which Jackie and Rachel Robinson (Nicole Beharie) don't have to change. White America does. That's great for messaging, but hell on drama.

 All the changing here happens to the players and the management of the Dodgers organization. Helgeland skillfully writes around the problem of how white racism affects non-racist whites. And he's a smart, sensitive-enough writer to make this an interesting, worthy emotional pursuit. The players draft an anti-Robinson petition not long after his arrival, and one by one find themselves changing their minds. Robinson was never a problem for Pee Wee Reese, whom Lucas Black plays, but when the Dodgers wind up in Cincinnati, he shows Rickey a threatening letter someone wrote him and worries that his relatives in Kentucky will go bananas. Then Rickey shows Reese the pounds of hate mail that Robinson gets, Reese goes out on the field, puts his arm around his teammate, and lets the crowd savor the image. Having an actor play Robinson makes sense for realism, but most of the time a piece of cardboard with Robinson's likeness would have done the trick.

 Boseman has very little to do that makes Robinson a character. His best scenes are usually somewhere on the baseball field. The challenge in them for an actor is to find a way to combine Robinson's athleticism with his joy at being an athlete. He puts some cocky comedy into his base stealing and a little bit of sex into the performance. Beharie is a strong, charismatic actor who needs a great role. (Here she's playing a great woman, and that's not the same thing.) Most of the other black characters, like the sports reporter Wendell Smith (Andre Holland), have nothing to them but their goodness. Smith is turned into a glorified butler for Robinson. And there's an embarrassing couple of scenes with a precious tyke who, we're told during the closing credits, will grow up to be Ed Charles, who played for the Mets and Athletics. He explains plays for his mother, but is played by the kind of child actor who gives you cavities.

 Most of the funny and insightful stuff falls to actors like Christopher Meloni, T.R. Knight, Hamish Linklater, Max Gail, and even Tudyk. Ford, meanwhile, turns jowly and growly to play Rickey. He doesn't have the suffocating hardship of upholding a legacy because Helgeland has given him all the self-congratulatory stuff to play. Ford can get high and mighty with all the grandstanding he gets to do because Rickey here is right. He's shamelessly entertaining in chewing everybody out and cheering everybody up. But by lifting up Ford and Rickey, the movie makes Robinson beside the point.

 It's possible that Helgeland is thinking past the matter of racism altogether. A lot of 42 feels like an allegory for how things might go for that first openly gay guy in a major league locker room — all the awkwardness about showering together and sharing rooms, the complaints about not wanting to play with someone who's deemed different, the way that after a season of prolonged exposure everyone's tune changes and the outcast is embraced. But whether Helgeland is thinking about Jackie Robinson or his to-be-determined gay counterpart, 42 ultimately doesn't feel like a sports drama as much as it does an epic commencement speech.

 Fox Searchlight

 One reason to love Danny Boyle is that we'll never have to put up with a Jackie Robinson movie from him. Or if it comes to that, he'll find an imaginative reason to do it. Last summer, he had James Bond throw Queen Elizabeth out of a helicopter to open the Olympics. He gets off on his irreverence.

 Trance is high-order, film noir nonsense that takes Boyle back to the thrillers he made at the start of his career with John Hodge (he wrote Trance, too), like Shallow Grave and Trainspotting, that were preoccupied with the grimy corners of the psyche. Boyle's no longer a grimy filmmaker. He likes sleek, icy images that seem launched from cannons and slingshots or pushed through syringes.

 Trance concerns an auction-house art heist that goes south when the job's inside man, an auctioneer named Simon (James McAvoy), takes a shot to the head that erases his memory of where he put the Goya painting he helped steal. The ringleader is a guy named Franck (Vincent Cassel), one of those elegant thugs who surrounds himself with a trio of goons that do the bone-breaking while he sips cognac or whatever. When it's clear that Simon suffers from honest-to-goodness amnesia, Franck lets him select a hypnotist to help him retrieve the memory.

 You suspect the movie's up to no good because Rosario Dawson plays the shrink Simon picks. There's no reason to ask us to believe Dawson as a medical professional unless she can turn that belief on its head. Eventually, this woman talks her way into Franck's criminal circle. She argues that Simon doesn't feel safe remembering where he's put the painting because he knows Franck and his friends will just kill him when he does. What ensues is group hypnosis, some sex, and two or three changeups that don't twist the plot so much as reroute and rewire the movie.

 This is Boyle's first movie set entirely in London since 2003's 28 Days Later , and his affinity for affixing his camera to everything speaks to the city's reliance on closed-circuit surveillance. He's working with the editor Jon Harris and his usual cinematographer, Anthony Dod Mantle, and they give the movie the exhilarating attention-deficit disorientation that Boyle has turned into a legible cinematic language. Symmetrical reflections in glass that turn into a living Rorschach, a hypnosis head trip that requires use of an iPad to extend the trip, the vaginal lattice of a highway overpass at night: His eye is manic without ever descending into madness.

 Besides, the script, which Hodge wrote with the science fiction TV writer Joe Ahearne, goes crazy enough. At some point, you don't know whom to trust or what's real or why anybody is doing what they're doing, but McAvoy, Dawson, and Cassel work well together. Dawson is required to put her nude body to incoherent if not gratuitous use, but she's also perfectly plausible when discussing the rare psychological state of extreme suggestibility. Even after the movie has gone off the deep end and into a moral pit, you're not sure whether it makes any sense. By then, Boyle has fried enough of our senses that Simon's extreme suggestibility is contagious. ||||| I was 9 years old, and having dinner with my family at the famous Manero's steakhouse in Connecticut ("Try our garlic bread!") when a black man across the room caught my grandfather's attention.

 "Get that gentleman's autograph," said the hard-faced Dubliner, who was never impressed by anyone.

 My father nodded agreement. My mother quickly dug a pen and notepad out of a purse full of Saltines and tissues. I went over obediently and asked and the grey-haired man politely signed.

 "Jackie Robinson," he wrote.

 I didn't know why my family was so excited when I came back to the table. But then I wasn't a baseball fan, and civil rights wasn't part of the core curriculum at Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The name didn't mean much to me.

 It should have. It should mean something to everyone. And "42," a new but very old-fashioned movie, tells us why.

 How Jackie Robinson — backed by Brooklyn Dodgers chief Branch Rickey — single-handedly broke the color barrier. How — years before buses and schools followed suit — he integrated the most American place of all: The baseball diamond.

 It is no exaggeration to say Jackie Robinson made his country a better place. And he did it the way Gandhi did, and the way Martin Luther King would — by simply being better than the people who hated him.

 "42" is a bit obvious, lunkily plotted and with starkly drawn characters. "Like a TV movie," I heard Chris Rock grumble as he left the screening — and yes, it would have been interesting to see what his friend Spike Lee would have done with this material.

 But Lee, who tried for years to get this project going, wanted to do it as an epic; what the studios wanted (and Brian Helgeland has brought to the screen) is a concentrated story, almost exclusively devoted to Robinson's first season in the majors.

 That means, naturally, missing some great details.

 Like Robinson's amazing college career, where he lettered in four sports at UCLA (and played on the same football team as the great Woody Strode). Or his military career, in which the young officer was court-martialed (but exonerated) when he refused to move to the back of a bus.

 But that's alright, because there's more than enough here — both in Rickey's faith in Robinson, and Robinson's belief in himself.

 Those words have deeper meaning here, too. Rickey was a devout, Bible-quoting Christian who took comfort in the fact that his new player was a fellow Methodist; the only way to survive this first season, Rickey knew, was if Robinson turned the other cheek.

 He just didn't realize how often he would have to turn it.

 Rickey is played by Harrison Ford, with a padded gut and a pair of eyebrow weaves; it is the first time in years I have seen Ford have fun onscreen. He growls, he yells, he runs the gamut; he delights in being an actor again, and not just a star. (And let's get premature: A supporting Oscar nomination? Very possibly.)

 And Chadwick Boseman is perfect as Robinson. It's not just that he looks like the legend (and moves like an athlete); it's that he captures, in a clenched jaw or a sidelong glance, a lifetime's worth of dearly attained dignity and barely contained rage.

 As for the movie itself — well, again, it really would have been interesting to see Lee's take. Because Helgeland's approach, while not as stuffily stylized as the caught-in-amber "The Natural," is full of overbearing music and thick with Hollywood cliches — not least among them, the tendency to tell a black man's story through a white man's eyes.

 But that doesn't mean it won't make you feel good. And it doesn't mean it isn't important to see.

 As for my Jackie Robinson autograph, it disappeared — until, years later, I found it again in a mildewed box. Creased and slightly stained, it's framed now, under a still of the Dodger stealing home. It hangs in my son's room. And although I didn't know why this man was a hero, he does.

 Everyone should.

 Ratings note: The film contains strongly racist language, and some violence.

 '42' (PG-13) Warner Bros.(128 min.)

 Directed by Brian Helgeland. With Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford. Now playing in New Jersey.

 ★ ★ ★

  ||||| Focused crawls are collections of frequently-updated webcrawl data from narrow (as opposed to broad or wide) web crawls, often focused on a single domain or subdomain. |||||


Article:
Orange is the New Black star Laverne Cox was announced to be Madame Tussauds’ first transgender wax figure. Cox’s likeness will be housed in San Francisco’s museum in Fisherman’s Wharf and unveiled to coincide with the timing of the city’s Pride Festival.

 “I am so deeply honored to have been asked to be part of the Madame Tussauds legacy,” Cox said in a statement. “When I think about being who I am, a black trans woman from a working class background raised in Mobile, Alabama, this honor feels even more improbable and extraordinary. I hope that this will be a source of inspiration for everyone who encounters it to believe that their dreams matter and are possible.”

 Cox’s figure will be unveiled on June 26 at a press conference ahead of Pride, which begins the following day. ||||| SAN FRANCISCO, June 9 (UPI) -- Laverne Cox will be immortalized by Madame Tussauds.

 The 31-year-old actress is the first transgender person to be chosen for the honor by the wax museum. Cox will unveil her statue at the San Francisco location ahead of the city's 45th annual Pride Celebration & Parade on June 26.

 "I am so deeply honored to have been asked to be part of the Madame Tussauds legacy," the star said in a statement. "I hope that this will be a source of inspiration for everyone who encounters it to believe that their dreams matter and are possible."

 "Madame Tussauds is proud to recognize Laverne Cox's achievements," spokeswoman Beth Schnitzer said on behalf of the museum. "[The choice reflects] the San Francisco Pride 2015 theme of equality without exception and [underpins] Madame Tussauds' tradition of celebrating and reflecting contemporary society."

 Cox is best known for portraying Sophia Burset on Netflix series Orange is the New Black, which will return for a third season June 12. She is the first transgender person to be nominated for an Emmy in an acting category, and to appear on the cover of Time magazine.

 Cox is an active voice in the transgender community, and shared her support for Caitlyn Jenner after learning of the reality star's transition in May. The 65-year-old Olympic medalist revealed her new name and look in Vanity Fair last week after confirming she is transgender in April. |||||Summary:

– Madame Tussauds will have its first transgender wax figure in place by the end of the month, with Orange Is the New Black actress Laverne Cox getting the honor. The 31-year-old pronounced herself "deeply honored," reports Entertainment Weekly. "When I think about being who I am, a black trans woman from a working class background raised in Mobile, Alabama, this honor feels even more improbable and extraordinary." It will be unveiled June 26 in the San Francisco museum, coinciding with the city's Pride festival. Orange, meanwhile, is back for a new season on Netflix Friday, notes UPI.


Here is a news article: WARCZone is a collection of outsider-uploaded WARCs, which are contributed to the Internet Archive but may or may not be ingested into the Wayback Machine. They are being kept in this location for reference and clarity for the Wayback Team, while also being accessible to the general public who are seeking any particular items they can regarding certain websites. ||||| poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201608/1873/1155968404_5103424915001_5054222745001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true Clinton aide Abedin dumps Weiner after more lewd texts The high-powered couple had been 'estranged' for about a year, a person close to Abedin said.

 Top Hillary Clinton adviser Huma Abedin on Monday announced she is separating from her husband, Anthony Weiner, after six rocky years of marriage during which the couple’s shared vision of a political future together has been disrupted multiple times by humiliating revelations of the former congressman’s compulsive sexting habit.

 "After long and painful consideration and work on my marriage, I have made the decision to separate from my husband," Abedin said in a statement. "Anthony and I remain devoted to doing what is best for our son, who is the light of our life. During this difficult time, I ask for respect for our privacy."

 Story Continued Below

 The announcement comes after the New York Post reported on Sunday night about Weiner's latest sexually explicit messages with another woman. Weiner, who has been married to Abedin since July 2010, resigned from Congress in 2011 after mistakenly tweeting an explicit image of himself intended as a direct message.

 Abedin, who was embarrassed by Weiner's decision to permit filmmakers to document his failed 2013 failed New York City mayoral run, was hoping to end the marriage outside the glare of the mid-campaign cameras. But the new images — especially the image of Weiner in underwear on a bed next to their young son — were simply too much to bear, said one Abedin friend.

 A person close to Abedin said the couple has been "estranged" for about a year and "essentially" separated — although they still share both their Manhattan apartment and parenting duties. Over the past few months, people close to the couple have painted a portrait of a marriage on the verge of collapse, and reporters covering the campaign have noticed in recent weeks that Abedin has often appeared in public without her wedding or engagement rings.

 They have, however, made high-profile public appearances together during that time. In May, for instance, the couple attended the celebrity-studded Met Ball and posed for society column photographers together. And in a glossy profile in Vogue magazine earlier this month, Abedin credited her husband’s willingness to function as a “full-time dad” as part of the support system that allowed her to take on such a demanding role in the campaign.

 Abedin, according to two people in her orbit, didn't know the Post story was in the works before heading to the Hamptons for her annual working vacation with the Clintons — who have been ferociously fundraising — and Clinton intimates like Cheryl Mills, along with Abedin's own family, including her sister Heba and her son Jordan. Weiner was not invited, they told POLITICO.

 "She wasn't fleeing the media," said a person close to the longtime Clinton body woman — whom the Democratic nominee has likened to a second daughter. "But it worked out for the best, being surrounded by her family and her friends ... It's a difficult day but she'll get through it."

 Several other Abedin friends and colleagues expressed similar sentiments: While they were concerned for her well-being over the next few days and weeks, they are happy that Weiner was being given his walking papers. "Anything that ensures he's no longer around is good news," said one fellow Clinton staffer.

 And Clinton allies immediately rallied around Abedin. “Huma is like family, not just to Hillary Clinton, but to the … whole campaign” Jennifer Granholm, vice chair of Clinton’s transition committee said on MSNBC. “She is like the glue. And I'm sure that the whole campaign is hoping that people respect her privacy and grieve with her over what is happening.”

 But some allies are privately expressing concern that Abedin’s high public profile — she is a near-constant presence by Clinton’s side and has become a celebrity in her own right, with fans even stopping her for selfies — could enable her personal story to overshadow Clinton’s message in the final 70 days of the campaign.

 “It would be helpful for her to take a step back from the campaign for a while,” said one Clinton ally close to the campaign, “or at least get off the campaign trail and work in Brooklyn. But I doubt that is going to happen.”

 Another Clinton ally expressed concern that Abedin would remain a target — of the media and of Donald Trump — if she remained in the spotlight.

 But campaign aides said there was no indication that Abedin’s personal life will affect her professional role as a key player in Clinton’s traveling inner circle. “The sentiment has been one thing and one thing only: We only want to do what is in the best interest of Huma,” said a Clinton aide.

 In conversations Sunday evening and Monday morning, among a brain trust of about seven staffers and confidantes in Clinton’s inner circle, the idea of Abedin taking a step back for the critical final months of the campaign was never broached, the aide said. “We are entirely focused on the fact that Huma needs to do what she needs to do, and we’re going to help her.”

 Clinton herself, longtime associates said, is likely to return the support and loyalty of one of her longest-serving aides. “She’s going to want to be supportive of her, and tell her, ‘whatever you want to do,’” said one Clinton confidante. And Abedin is known among her colleagues as someone who feels most comfortable, and derives most of her power, when in close proximity to the candidate.

 But over the past year, she has already been slowly backing off of some of the more quotidian campaign travel days in an effort to shed her “body woman” persona. She did travel with Clinton for her latest fundraising swing through California, for instance, but served more as a sort of campaign ambassador to celebrities and big donors. And on regular campaign days, she has been working from the office more often than the road.

 Abedin, who has fended off Republican attacks for years, has come under renewed scrutiny for her role in handling requests from Bill Clinton aide Doug Band, who peppered the secretary of state’s office with requests for meetings with Clinton Foundation donors, according to recently released emails. The Clinton campaign has dismissed as “cherry-picking” an Associated Press investigation finding that the Democratic nominee met with dozens of foundation donors as secretary.

 The future seems uncertain for Weiner, whose Twitter account had vanished Monday morning after the Post's report. And in another sign of the expanding fallout, New York Daily News opinion editor Josh Greenman confirmed to POLITICO that the newspaper will no longer run his column, which it has published since 2014. The local station NY1, where Weiner was a regular paid talking head, also placed him on "indefinite leave," CNN reported.

 The former congressman has resurfaced repeatedly in 2016, in part due to the documentary that he said Abedin never consented to doing (a spokeswoman for the filmmaker told The New York Times that everyone had consented to appearing in the film), and in no small measure thanks to Trump, who has also made repeated digs at Clinton for her association with Weiner as Abedin's husband.

 On Monday, Trump praised Abedin for "making a very wise decision," though he took a shot at her boss for good measure.

 "I know Anthony Weiner well, and she will be far better off without him," the Republican nominee said in a statement. "I only worry for the country in that Hillary Clinton was careless and negligent in allowing Weiner to have such close proximity to highly classified information. Who knows what he learned and who he told? It's just another example of Hillary Clinton's bad judgment. It is possible that our country and its security have been greatly compromised by this."

 Trump was more colorful during an interview Monday on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM’s “The Dori Monson Show.”

 “Here’s a guy that what he’s done over the internet is disgusting, and he’s a pervert and just a very sick guy,” he said. “He’s a sick puppy, and so, you know, it just happened and it’s, you know, it’s actually sad in many ways,” adding that Weiner’s behavior was “hard to comprehend.”

 Speaking to the Times' Mark Leibovich in an interview published earlier this month, Weiner dodged a pointed question about whether he was still doing the same things that had previously caused trouble to him and those around him. Instead, Weiner used the query as an opportunity to score political points against Trump.

 "I’m not going to go down the path of talking about any of that. But I will say this: There’s no doubt that the Trump phenomenon has led a lot of people to say to me, 'Boy, compared to inviting the Russians to come hack someone’s email, your thing seems almost quaint,'" Weiner said, referring to Trump's self-described "sarcastic" request for the Russians to leak the contents of Clinton's deleted emails.

 Trump has shared his thoughts about the disgraced congressman on multiple occasions through his various sexting controversies and failed mayoral comeback bid.

 "Wife Huma wants @RepWeiner to 'pull a @billclinton by giving a tell-all interview.' Unlike Clinton, Anthony is a sick puppy," Trump tweeted on July 16, 2012, after writing, "he's a sexual pervert & they can never be healed. Huma should drop him before it happens again."

 Asked by a Twitter user in July 2013 what advice he would give Abedin, Trump responded, "Take off!"

 "Huma should dump the sicko Weiner. He is a calamity that is bringing her down with him," Trump wrote on Sept. 23, 2013.

 Months after launching his presidential campaign, Trump suggested that Weiner was a security risk.

 "It came out that Huma Abedin knows all about Hillary’s private illegal emails," Trump tweeted on Aug. 31, 2015. "Huma’s PR husband, Anthony Weiner, will tell the world."

 Granholm on Monday called Trump's warnings about potentially compromised national secrets "ridiculous."

 "I think that Donald Trump and everyone else should respect the privacy of Huma Abedin who is, as you know, an utterly graceful, wonderful human being who's going through a terrible situation," the former Michigan governor said on MSNBC. "So I say let us respect their privacy, and it's nonsense about classified information."

 Nolan McCaskill contributed to this report. ||||| By Monday morning, when the Post cover showing Mr. Weiner and his son, Jordan, hit newsstands, Mr. Weiner had left the Hamptons for New York City aware that Ms. Abedin planned to announce their separation, said two people close to the couple who discussed private conversations on the condition of anonymity.

 “After long and painful consideration and work on my marriage, I have made the decision to separate from my husband,” Ms. Abedin said in a statement. “Anthony and I remain devoted to doing what is best for our son, who is the light of our life. During this difficult time, I ask for respect for our privacy.”

 In the latest issue of Vogue, Ms. Abedin portrayed Mr. Weiner as a devoted father and their marriage as a true partnership. “Many working moms feel this way — there is a lot of guilt,” she said. “I don’t think I could do it if I didn’t have the full support system I have, if Anthony wasn’t willing to be, essentially, a full-time dad.”

 But the two people close to the couple said Ms. Abedin and Mr. Weiner had been growing apart for some time, with Ms. Abedin often on the campaign trail with Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Weiner at home with Jordan. They said the Post article had not caused a sudden and unexpected rupture to a happy marriage, but rather was the final catalyst for Ms. Abedin to move for a separation.

 Campaign officials had braced for new revelations about Mr. Weiner after The Post reported this month that a Republican had baited Mr. Weiner into a flirtatious online chat. Asked by The New York Times this month whether he was still engaging in the behavior that had foiled his political career, Mr. Weiner said, “I’m not going to go down the path of talking about any of that.”

 Mrs. Clinton had hoped to ride out the final week of August with limited distractions as she seeks to maintain her solid lead in national polls. On Monday, she attended three fund-raisers in the Hamptons, without Ms. Abedin, and spoke briefly on a conference call with policy experts and medical providers to unveil her proposals on mental health.

 “We’ve got to make clear mental health is not a personal failing,” Mrs. Clinton said.

 Aides said that Ms. Abedin’s marriage was a private matter and that her decision to announce the separation meant the frenetic news cycle would soon move on. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Huma Abedin is separating from Anthony Weiner after his latest online sexcapades, this time involving a series of sexts apparently sent between Weiner and an unnamed "40-something divorcee." But a source said to be close to Abedin tells Politico the couple had already been "estranged" and more or less separated for about a year, despite still being holed up in the same Manhattan digs and sharing parenting duties for their young son. Meanwhile, Weiner foe Donald Trump says in a statement, per the New York Times, that while he applauds Abedin for making a "wise decision" to leave her husband, Hillary Clinton has been "careless and negligent in allowing Weiner to have such close proximity to highly classified information" because of his marriage. "Who knows what he learned and who he told?" Trump said. Reaction on Twitter to the man who lived by Twitter and metaphorically died by Twitter—Weiner has apparently deactivated or deleted his Twitter account—has been firing back and forth Monday faster than someone can post a scandalous selfie. Check out a few in our photo gallery that stand out (and scroll through Twitter for a seemingly endless stream of more).


– On Sept. 8, a 35-year-old Moroccan woman's bag was randomly checked upon her arrival in Graz, Austria. What was inside was "absolutely secure, triple wrapped, according to European Union norms," per a pathologist. Yes, pathologist: The New York Times reports the woman was carrying a four-inch piece of her late husband's intestine; the Independent picks up a local paper's report that describes the entrails as being in two containers. The Local reports a government agency confirmed the find. The woman's lawyer tells the Times that the woman was bringing the body part back to Graz, where the couple had spent the last eight years, to have it tested. This after a Marrakesh doctor suggested the 40-year-old might have been surreptitiously poisoned, perhaps by members of her husband's own family who were against the marriage. The BBC reports a doctor was called and said such testing wasn't possible in the absence of the whole cadaver, but the Times reports the intestines have been sent to the aforementioned pathologist's clinic, which is examining the entrails and expects results next week. The woman's transport of the organ was not illegal, notes the paper. (The airport isn't the only unexpected place intestines have turned up.)

Expand this summary.

The customs officers weren't expecting to find entrails. Photo: Europol

 The Local/AFP · 26 Sep 2016, 10:07

 Published: 26 Sep 2016 10:07 GMT+02:00

 Customs officers at an Austrian airport were taken aback to find human entrails in the bag of a Moroccan traveller, who said they belonged to her dead husband, local media reported on Sunday.

 The unusual find was made by inspectors at the regional airport of Graz, who checked luggage belonging to a woman arriving from Morocco, according to the Kleine Zeitung newspaper and APA news agency.

 The intestines had been carefully wrapped and placed in two receptacles.

 The unnamed woman explained that she suspected that her deceased husband, a Moroccan born in 1976, had been poisoned and she wished to have a toxicology analysis of his tissue carried out, the Kleine Zeitung said.

 Story continues below…

 APA said the discovery was confirmed by the ministry of finance, which is the oversight body for Austria's customs service. Police told AFP they had not been asked to intervene. ||||| BERLIN — A Moroccan woman who took a piece of her dead husband’s intestine on a flight to their home in Austria was carrying the sample because she suspected that he had been poisoned and she wanted European doctors to examine it, her lawyer said on Tuesday.

 The woman, 35, who has not been publicly identified, packed the four-inch piece in her checked baggage on a flight to the southern Austrian city of Graz, where she and her husband, 40, had been living for eight years, said the lawyer, Anton Karner.

 Mr. Karner said his client had been acting on the advice of a doctor in Marrakesh who shared her suspicion that her husband had been poisoned at a meal the couple ate while visiting his relatives.

 The Moroccan doctor extracted the piece of intestine, Mr. Karner said, and apparently helped pack it in formaldehyde and in thick plastic containers.

 Gerald Höfler, who leads the pathology institute in Graz where the intestine is being examined, described the packaging as very professional.

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 “I would imagine that it was done by a pathologist,” he said. “It was absolutely secure, triple wrapped, according to European Union norms.”

 Dr. Höfler said the results of the examination would probably not be known until next week.

 The unusual cargo was found by customs officials on Sept. 8 after they searched the woman’s bag as part of standard random checks when she landed in Graz, said Johannes Pasquali, a spokesman for the Austrian Finance Ministry, which oversees the country’s customs operations.

 The story was first reported over the weekend by Kleine Zeitung, the main local newspaper in Graz.

 Leo Josefus, a spokesman for the police in the state of Styria, of which Graz is the capital, said customs officials had first turned to the police for guidance.

 Officers determined that the woman had violated no Austrian laws by bringing the sample into the country, and the intestine was then sent to Dr. Höfler’s clinic.

 Mr. Karner, who declined to name his client, said she suspected poisoning after the family meal because some members of her husband’s family had opposed their marriage. |||||


Here is a news article: CHAMPION, Wis. — In France, the shrine at Lourdes is surrounded by hundreds of hotels and has received as many as 45,000 pilgrims in a single day. Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico, draws millions of fervent worshipers a year.

 Now, a little chapel among the dairy farms here, called Our Lady of Good Help, has joined that august company in terms of religious status, if not global fame. This month, it became one of only about a dozen sites worldwide, and the first in the United States, where apparitions of the Virgin Mary have been officially validated by the Roman Catholic Church.

 In 1859, the year after Mary is said to have appeared in Lourdes, a Belgian immigrant here named Adele Brise said she was visited three times by Mary, who hovered between two trees in a bright light, clothed in dazzling white with a yellow sash around her waist and a crown of stars above her flowing blond locks. As instructed, Ms. Brise devoted her life to teaching Catholic beliefs to children.

 On Dec. 8, after a two-year investigation by theologians who found no evidence of fraud or heresy and a long history of shrine-related conversions, cures and other signs of divine intervention, Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay declared “with moral certainty” that Ms. Brise did indeed have encounters “of a supernatural character” that are “worthy of belief.”

 Lourdes-like hordes have not yet gathered, but since the weighty decree a growing stream of visitors, some driving several hours, has found its way here to pray and revel in what many say is the palpable presence of Mary. Calls are coming in from as far as New York from church groups that want to visit by the busload, and local church officials are wondering whether they thought too small when they built a new parking lot — planned well before this month — with 75 spaces.

 Debbie Banda, 46, and her mother, Mary Young, 75, who live nearby, learned of the shrine and the bishop’s decision from the news, and came for the first time on Wednesday.

 “It’s incredible — she’s here, you just feel it,” Ms. Banda said after praying in the crypt chapel, said to be on the spot of the apparitions. As they passed a statue of Mary in white, just as described by Ms. Brise, Ms. Banda was overcome with emotion, weeping and hugging her mother. The two of them went back to pray some more.

 “We need the Virgin Mary’s protection, and for her to keep an eye on our soldiers, too,” said Ms. Young, whose sons have served in the Middle East. “We’ll definitely be coming back.”

 Catholic leaders described the decree in Wisconsin as a bolt of joy at a trying time for the Catholic church, which is troubled by revelations of sex abuse.

 “This is a gift to the believers,” said the Rev. Johann Roten, director of the International Marian Research Institute at the University of Dayton.

 “It would be devious to say that this was somehow pulled out of the attic to exorcise the problems of the church today,” Father Roten said in a telephone interview. “But hopefully this will have a beneficial impact on the people, showing them that there are ways of living with faith that are very pure.”

 The Diocese of Green Bay is under fire from lawyers in an abuse-related lawsuit, who charge that it has obstructed justice by destroying potentially incriminating files on former priests. The diocese says it has cooperated fully with law enforcement and discarded psychiatric records of deceased priests as required by federal privacy laws.

 Bishop Ricken, in an interview at his office in Green Bay, noted that the church has a tradition of taking its time with such cases. Over the years, he said, his predecessors had implicitly endorsed the shrine by holding services there and encouraging people to visit.

 When he moved to Green Bay in 2008, he said, “I was struck by how many stories I heard of answered prayers” — resolved family and employment problems as well as medical cures — and he decided to start a formal investigation.

 “People have a hunger for the spiritual, and right here in our backyard was a source to meet that need,” Bishop Ricken said. The church’s scandals did not influence his decision, he said, but if the shrine can become a source of hope and healing for people, including victims of errant priests, “that would be beautiful.”

 The Vatican gives primary responsibility for evaluating apparitions to local bishops. Wary of fraud, the church is generally reluctant even to investigate claims.

 Over the 20th century, some 386 major apparitions of Mary were reported at a level beyond local rumors, said Father Roten, who has been an investigator in purported sightings. About 75 of those were studied, and at most a dozen were recognized as valid, he said. Increasingly, he said, the church makes use of psychiatric examinations and brain scans to see if people making claims are mentally healthy and not having hallucinations.

 That kind of examination was not possible, of course, for Ms. Brise, and Bishop Ricken said that his panel of three theological specialists had considered a host of indirect factors in concluding that her sighting was credible, following guidelines set by the Vatican in 1978.

 By all reports, he said, Ms. Brise was humble and honest and faithfully carried out Mary’s mandate to serve the church throughout her life. In one striking sign of a divine presence, he said, the shrine’s grounds and the terrified crowd who gathered there were spared the flames of the Great Peshtigo Fire of 1871, which devoured the surrounding lands and homes and caused more than 1,200 deaths. Her account of Mary’s apparition and message was consistent with accepted cases.

 The dozens of families and individuals who stopped to pray at the shrine on Wednesday afternoon seemed to have no doubts at all about the apparitions.

 “There’s a lot of power here,” said Theresa Vandermause, 45, who for years has made a weekly pilgrimage to the shrine with her friend Judy Deprey, 65. “You can feel the presence of Mary, and it feels like she’s listening to you.”

 The two women were pleased that the church had finally declared Mary’s visits here to be real, but said that the decree had not really changed anything.

 “We knew that already!” they declared. ||||| In 1859 our Holy Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, visited the young woman, Adele Brise. It was an unlikely visitation to a simple, humble country girl on a dirt road in the wooded countryside. Her instruction was seemingly simple but required the commitment of Adele’s life’s work: teach the children in the faith. When we pause to think about this, it is very profound. The Holy Mother did not appear in a crowded city or to people of wealth and power. Instead, she appeared to an unlikely person in an unlikely place. In doing so, she made it clear to all the world that there is no one anywhere who is beyond the reach of God’s generous love.

 This is good news. And now it is both our obligation and privilege to pay it forward by celebrating that visit and opening that message to anyone and everyone who answers the call. Visit the Diocese of Green Bay for Bishop Ricken’s Bio. |||||
A summary of this is?

– About a dozen sites worldwide can boast that they have been validated by the Catholic Church as being sites where the Virgin Mary has appeared—and for the first time, that list includes a US location. A tiny chapel 17 miles northeast of Green Bay, Wisc., called Our Lady of Good Hope joins the likes of Mexico's Our Lady of Guadalupe and France's shrine at Lourdes, both of which draw millions each year. In 1859, a Belgian immigrant named Adele Brise said Mary—a dazzling white figure with cascading blond hair and a crown of stars, hovering between a pair of trees—appeared to her three times and instructed her to spend her life teaching Catholic beliefs to children. A two-year investigation that concluded on Dec. 8 found no evidence of fraud or heresy, but did find a long history of shrine-related conversions, cures, and other indications of divine intervention, leading Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay to declare “with moral certainty” that Brise had encounters “of a supernatural character” that are “worthy of belief.” The Vatican, wary of fraud, gives local bishops the primary responsibility of evaluating apparitions, in part by using guidelines set by the Vatican in 1978. The New York Times notes one "striking sign of a divine presence:" During 1871's Great Peshtigo fire, which killed 1,200 and destroyed the surrounding lands, the shrine's grounds and the people gathered there were spared.