In the news
■ A grand jury in New Mexico has revived the criminal case against Alec Baldwin over the fatal 2021 shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the movie Rust, indicting the actor for involuntary manslaughter just months after previous charges were dropped. Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Halyna Hutchins when it fired a live round, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has denied responsibility for the tragedy, saying he was told that the gun did not contain live ammunition and insisting that he did not pull the trigger. Last summer, a forensic report commissioned by prosecutors determined that Baldwin must have pulled the trigger for the Colt .45 to fire. The movie’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, also faces an involuntary manslaughter charge. She has pleaded not guilty.
■ James Dolan, the media mogul behind Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, and the New York Knicks basketball team, was accused last week of sexually assaulting a massage therapist—and then facilitating her assault by Harvey Weinstein. In the federal lawsuit, Kellye Croft says the abuse occurred in 2013 and 2014, when Dolan’s band, JD & the Straight Shot, opened for classic rock act the Eagles, who had hired Croft as their official masseuse. Dolan “summoned” Croft to his hotel room on multiple occasions and pressured her into unwanted sex, the lawsuit states. She says he then “manipulated” her into meeting his friend, Hollywood producer Weinstein, who allegedly raped her in a Los Angeles hotel room. Attorneys for Dolan and for Weinstein called the allegations meritless. In 2018, Dolan released a song titled, “I Should’ve Known,” about being unaware of Weinstein’s predatory behavior.
■ Madonna is being sued by fans for displaying “flippant difficulty” and starting a series of December concerts at the Brooklyn Barclays Center some two hours later than advertised. The plaintiffs note that the delays meant the three shows didn’t finish until 1 a.m., which was less than ideal for concertgoers who “had to get up early to go to work and/or take care of their family responsibilities the next day.” After being sued for a similarly tardy start in 2019, Madonna told a Las Vegas audience that “a queen is never late”; that case was dismissed.