Hotness in the News by SociaLifeChicago is your daily intel for the hot topic news stories to get your morning started and get you up to date on what’s going on in Chicago and the world. Make small talk, better.
“Why should we worry about what others think of us, do we have more confidence in their opinions than we do our own?” ― Brigham Young
OVER THE WEEKEND
• Secretary of State, John Kerry suffered an accident while cycling in the French Alps. He was there due to ongoing talks regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Mila Kunis’ stalker, Stuart Lynn Dunn, has escaped the mental facility he was sentenced to after he pleaded no contest in January 2013 to a felony count of stalking. Dunn has been arrested several times on suspicion of stalking Kunis. Enrique Iglesias cut his hand on a drone during a concert in Tijuana, Mexico and he had to be rushed to the hospital. Harriette Thompson, 92, becomes the oldest woman to ever finish a marathon. Vice President Joe Biden lost his son Beau Biden, 46, to brain cancer. Beau was attorney general of Delaware from 2007 to 2015. He is survived by his father and Dr. Jill Biden; his wife Hallie; two children, Natalie and Hunter; a brother, also named Hunter; and a half-sister, Ashley. Last night after the season finale episode of Keeping Kim Kardasian West revealed she was pregnant after multiple attempts to give their daughter North sibling. Though Kim, who tweeted along with fans last night made no mention of it and her representatives have yet to issue a statement.
CHICAGO NEWS
• Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the Chicago Public Schools CEO, who took a leave of absence following federal grand jury subpoenas into the no-bid contract awarded to her former employer SUPES Academy, has resigned. All signs are pointing to wrongdoing for the $20.5 million contract to train principals and school officials. With recently disclosed emails it seems “The CPS contract with SUPES was an outgrowth of a $380,000 pilot project bankrolled not by the district but by the Chicago Public Education Fund, a nonprofit organization funded and run by some of the city’s most influential and affluent residents.” That CPEF board of directors at the time included billionaire Ken Griffin, now-U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and now-Gov. Bruce Rauner, but they refused to fund SUPES $1 million leaving the CPS board to fund it alone. [CHICAGO TRIBUNE]
NATIONAL NEWS
• Times up! At 12:01 a.m. this Monday, the National Security Agency’s bulk data collection program, aka Patriot Act, that collected phone records, expired albeit temporarily. The likely recourse for the highly controversial program’s extension blocked by Senator Rand Paul would “shift the storage of telephone records from the government to the phone companies.” The new compromised version of bill is likely to pass this week for President Obama to sign. Edward Snowden, the NSA contractor busted open the collection [NY TIMES]
WORLD NEWS
• China, the world’s biggest tobacco producer and consumer with more than 300 million of its 1.35 billion population smokers, is taking a hard stance in its fight over smoking by name shaming and heavy fines. China each year has more than 1 million deaths linked to smoking, has banned smoking in public places (offices, restaurants and public transport) and will place the name of anyone caught breaking the law three times on a government website. [NBC NEWS]
SPORTS
• Tough wins and loses at the French Open where Maria Sharapova, the defending Women’s champion lost to Lucie Safarova 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 in the fourth round. Serena Williams came from behind to beat No. 27 seed Victoria Azarenka. On the Men’s side, Roger Federer cruised to victory but an eager selfie loving fan came on court after the match. Nadal and Djokovic both need to wins Monday setting up a must watch match between the two top seeded players. [USA TODAY]
BUSINESS
• Shari Redstone, daughter of media mogul Sumner Redstone who has been in failing health as of late, might be ready to take the post of the most powerful woman in entertainment. Mr. Redstone, whose 43-year-old girlfriend threw a party last week to celebrate his 92nd birthday, owns CBS Corp and Viacom Inc and made his daughter and her 29-year old son the sole family representatives among seven trustees who will control $5.4 billion of stock in CBS and Viacom after he dies. This means that there may be media shakeup coming soon as the network grapples with loss of younger viewers to online streaming services. [BLOOMBERG]
CELEBRITIES
• Actors, studios and critics have a love hate relationship but all that was put aside Sunday at the live telecast of the 2015 Critics’ Choice Television Awards where Empire‘s Taraji P Henson, Allison Janney, “Silicon Valley” Bob Odenkirk, Jeffrey Tambor and Amy Schumer all won awards. Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane gave quite the acceptance speech after receiving the Louis XIII Genius award. The winners at the 5th annual awards show were chosen by the Broadcast Television Journalists Association. [THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER]
FASHION
• Google is giving it another go in it’s foray into fashion by partnering with Levi’s for Project Jacquard; creating a state-of-the-art fabric with smart technology woven into the garment where the sensors could also “alert the wearer to weight gain.” Details have not been fully disclosed but this may end up being a better coup for Google than that other fashion foray, Google glass. [VOGUE UK]
• Details of who gets what in Oscar de la Renta’s $26 million estate have been revealed and his son Moses probably shouldn’t have made his father mad. Most of his estate, plus his real-estate holdings, including a $13 million Park Avenue apartment, $2.8 million Connecticut home and a Dominican estate was left to his wife of 25 years Annette. Moses, who was adopted after de la Renta lost his first wife, along with Annette’s three children, Eliza Bolen will split funds put in a trust. [PAGE SIX]
LOOK OF THE DAY
• Janelle Monáe
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