Rockefeller Center tree goes up
The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is in place and will soon be strung with 50,000 LED lights as one of New York City’s star holiday attractions — the gift of a same-sex married couple.
The 72-foot-tall, 12-ton Norway spruce arrived on a flatbed trailer Saturday morning and was hoisted by a crane into a spot overlooking the Rockefeller skating rink.
Crowds will gather
Nov. 28 for a televised ceremony to see the tree burst alive with 5 miles of multicolored lights and a 900-pound Swarovski crystal star.
The 75-year-old spruce comes from Wallkill, 60 miles north of New York. It was donated by Lissette Gutierrez and her wife, Shirley Figueroa, from their home property. They nicknamed it “Shelby.”
Millions of people are expected to visit the tree that will stay up till Jan. 7.
“Now it’s not my tree, it’s the world’s tree; I’m so happy to be able to share her with everyone,” Figueroa said at Rockefeller Center on Saturday. “Millions of people will come to visit Shelby.”
Figueroa, 49, said she refers to the tree as “she” because “I felt she has a female spirit.” Also at the ceremony was Erik Pauze, the center’s head gardener who cared for the tree over the summer, watering it and feeding it compost tea.
Figueroa said when she and Gutierrez bought their house, the previous owner said Rockefeller Center’s gardener had his eye on the tree. Gutierrez, 47, said she initially was reluctant to give up the spruce, but Figueroa convinced her.
After the tree is dismantled, it will be donated to Habitat for Humanity to help build housing.
— Associated Press
Seven to receive Medal of Freedom
President Donald Trump has announced his first recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and they include the wife of a major Republican Party donor, the longest-serving Republican senator in U.S. history, Elvis Presley and Babe Ruth.
Trump will also posthumously recognize the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin
Scalia.
Medals are going to
Miriam
Adelson, a doctor and wife of casino magnate
Sheldon
Adelson, arepublican donor;
Utah Sen.
Orrin
Hatch, who is retiring after more than 41 years in the U.S. Senate; former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach and Alan Page, who began a legal career after leaving the NFL.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest honor for a civilian.
— Associated Press
Spice Girls ticket demand skyrockets
It seems British fans can’t get enough of the soon-to-be reunited Spice Girls.
The “girl power” band that peaked in the 1990s has added two more shows to their planned reunion tour next summer after fans complained they couldn’t buy tickets.
The band on Saturday added extra gigs in London and Manchester. The reunion tour will now begin at Etihad Stadium in Manchester on May 31.
The band also added a date at London’s Wembley Stadium on June 15.
The dates were added after fans struggled to buy tickets online for the existing shows.
Many complained of long waits in electronic queues.
The Spice Girls will be performing without Victoria Beckham ,who has launched a successful career as a fashion designer.
— Associated Press
Satanic Temple sues over Netflix show
Satan is getting a bad rap in Hollywood.
At least that’s one of the claims in an usual copyright infringement lawsuit that the Satanic Temple has brought against Netflix and Warner Bros.
The Satanic Temple this week sued the media companies in federal court over its portrayal of a goat-headed deity in the show “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.” The group is seeking at least $50 million in damages. The way the show presents the deity Baphomet isn’t accurate because it doesn’t represent the temple’s values, the Satanic Temple says in a lawsuit filed in New York on Thursday.
The Satanic Temple, a Salem, Mass., organization that describes itself as a political activism group that promotes certain beliefs like free will, argues in the complaint that Satan isn’t an evil being, but rather “a literary figure symbolic of the eternal rebel in opposition” and “meant to be a rebel against God’s authority.”
In “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” the show’s main character is halfwitch and half-human and is conflicted on whether to join the Church of
Night and leave her human life behind.
— Los Angeles Times