Cheltenham Festival and 'one in a million' birth
Here is our weekly roundup of stories from across local websites in the West of England.
We have a daily round up as well. Make sure you look out for it on the website and the local section of the BBC News app.
Cheltenham Festival has been the talk of the week. A man who got tickets for him and his dad but went alone after his father died has been viewed thousands of times. And Cheltenham Borough Council posted about its safe space for women under 18 during race week.
There is just an 'E' left to paint before the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood is complete, Bristol Live reports. Work was abandoned because of protests by residents.
Wiltshire 999s has published an article about a man admitting to having sex with a Shetland pony in a Wiltshire stables, who will be sentenced in May.
ITV West Country has covered a 'one in a million' birth in Somerset. Five lambs have been born from the same ewe at a farm in Shapwick.
And in more animal news – kind of – a video of Bristol comedian Jayde Adams singing Chappell Roan's 'Pink Pony Club' in a Bristol accent has gone super viral.
Buildings cut into ancient monument could be removed
Queen visits Cheltenham after early snow on course
Former Bristol MP takes seat in House of Lords
'Yo-yo' birth-rate causing headache for schools
Life in jail for teen who strangled his sister, 19
Somerset Live has published an article about how shopping and hospitality has changed since Covid. To mark five years since the beginning of the pandemic, the website has done a lookback on what has changed.
Headlines: Tree set on fire and rare lamb quins born
Headlines: Snow and Queen at Cheltenham
Headlines: Jockey's comeback and green cycle lanes
Headlines: Cheltenham Festival, and Chappell Roan in a Bristol accent
Follow BBC West social channels in Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.
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36 minutes ago
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Once Upon a Time, They Considered Giving Up. Now They're 2025 Tony Nominees (Exclusive)
Five years ago on March 12, 2020, the show did not go on. As COVID-19 spread like wildfire throughout the United States, Broadway was ultimately forced to go dark. It was a devastating blow to New York City's vibrant and beloved theater community, putting thousands of performers and creative artists out of work for 18 months — the industry's longest shutdown in history. Thespians, however, pushed forward, and the creation of new art never ceased. 'There were so many works that were cooking,' Gypsy's Tony-nominated featured actressJoy Woods exclusively tells Parade, 'and now they're finally out of the oven.' In fact, 'this is like a post-pandemic Golden Era,' LaTanya Richardson Jackson says as she proudly dons her Tony Awards nominee pin at the annual meet and greet with this year's star-studded honorees. 'I am grateful to be a part of a season that is extraordinary.' 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 Extraordinary it is, with a little something for everyone. Cuban culture comes alive in the critically acclaimed musical Buena Vista Social Club. The Pulitzer Prize-winning play Purpose, starring Jackson (wife of Samuel L. Jackson), explores Black culture and politics under the direction of Phylicia Rashad. Comedian Cole Escola's unapologetically queer take on Mary Todd Lincoln in their 80-minute Oh, Mary! has audiences begging for more. And fans of the Netflix hit Stranger Things are rushing to the Marquis Theatre to fully immerse themselves in the Upside Down courtesy of Stranger Things: The First Shadow's already Tony Award-winning illusions and technical effects. Related: Plus, this year's lineup of plays and musicals is jam-packed with star power, from George Clooney's Broadway debut in Good Night, and Good Luck to Pussycat Dolls alum Nicole Scherzinger's triumphant turn as Norma Desmond in the much-talked-about revival of Sunset Boulevard. But the road to Broadway — even for the brightest of stars — is not always easy. 'I remember several years ago when no one would give me a chance and take me seriously in the space that I'm at now, and I put on a [cabaret] show at Django at the Roxy [Hotel],' Scherzinger tells Parade of the 2019 solo act she staged herself to perform musical theater classics. 'You have to keep your mind and your heart open, because you never know when that unexpected dream opportunity is going to come. I didn't know that playing Norma Desmond was going to be my unexpected dream role and change my life. I kept an open mind and heart, and I trusted, and I was brave.' PERSEVERING THROUGH IT ALL It takes courage to work in live theater. Rejection is part of the gig, and even when an artist is lucky enough to land a job, they must bare their soul for all to see — and be prepared if the reviews are not in their favor. Long before Conrad Ricamora starred on the ABC series How to Get Away with Murder and was Tony-nominated for playing Abraham Lincoln in Oh, Mary!, he was just another up-and-coming actor taking a stab at Shakespeare. 'I was doing Romeo and Juliet in Philadelphia, and I was in my early 20s,' he explains. 'I was playing Romeo. I got this scathing review in the Philadelphia Inquirer. And it was the first time I'd ever been reviewed, and I made the mistake of looking at the review, and I then was in a depression for, like, two months. And I [thought], 'Well, if everyone hates you, do you still want to do this?' … And I told myself, 'Yeah.' The answer was yes.' Jonathan Groff, famous for hit projects like Glee, Frozenand Hamilton, had a similar experience when he was just starting out. As an aspiring actor who moved to the Big Apple from Lancaster, Pa., with big dreams and a big heart, Groff wanted nothing more than to be on Broadway. At that point, he was also still learning more about himself and his sexuality. 'The first month that I moved to New York, I was waiting tables at the [now closed] Chelsea Grill of Hell's Kitchen on 9th between 46th and 47th,' Broadway's Just in Time star recalls. 'Lots of rejection. Lots of like really failed dance calls — going to dance calls and getting cut and feeling like, 'What am I doing here?' And I remember going back to my apartment and taking down the Bible that my Mennonite grandmother had given me upon moving to New York and being like, 'This isn't making me feel better.' Putting the Bible back up on the shelf and running to Central Park and standing in front of the Bethesda Fountain and looking up at that angel and being like, 'I got this.' 'I was feeling the magic of New York City, the magic of Central Park, the magic of the Angels in America HBO special that had just come out. And feeling like I was also about to step into my gay self for the first time. That was the moment — looking at that statue — that I was like, 'Everything's going to be OK. This is a magical place. I want to be here.' And now here we are.' The theater does, in fact, have a funny way of letting you know you're right where you ought to be. At least that was the case for Jasmine Amy Rogers, Tony-nominated in her Broadway debut as the iconic cartoon character Betty Boop. Before the theater community suddenly lost beloved actor Gavin Creel last year at age 48 following a brief but aggressive battle with cancer, he encouraged Rogers to keep following her dreams. 'It was August of 2023, and I was just auditioning for everything that I could, and I wasn't getting anything,' she remembers. 'And I actually had an audition for Gavin Creel's [musical] Walk on Through, and I didn't get it, but he sent me the most beautiful email, and it lit a fire underneath me. A couple weeks later, I went and booked this. So honestly, I feel like in a way, I have him to thank.' Though Rogers didn't know Creel as well as some of her peers (he and Groff dated around 2009, and Groff credits Creel for helping him embrace his sexuality), 'In those brief auditions, he was so kind and giving,' she says. 'And he went out of his way to make sure he introduced himself and hugged me at the end, and he just cared so much. It means the world. And I hope that I can be that person to somebody one day.' But even when an artist feels like they've made it on Broadway, the hustle never ends. 'There was one time I was working for a Tasker app,' explains , who is nominated for his first Tony Award for his performance as real-life robber Elmer McCurdy in the musical Dead Outlaw. 'I was building a cabinet for someone in their house, and they were like, 'Did I see you in War Horse on Broadway?' And I was like, 'Yes… Where would you like this cabinet?' So yeah, highs and lows — that's what it's all about. But I'm grateful to be an actor. I used to resent that, but now I love it because I appreciate the highs so much. And the lows are just the time to sort of gather yourself and look forward to what's next.' See more photos of the Tony Award-nominated performers below: View the 13 images of this gallery on the original article A SPACE FOR EVERYONE As the world continues to evolve, so do the stories theater artists put forth. Broadway's diverse landscape 'feels correct,' Branden Jacobs Jenkins, who wrote the Pulitzer-winning play Purpose, says of this season's offering. 'It feels accurate. It's the world I moved through. It's our professional world. And I see these people everywhere. They're incredible.' In a time when representation matters more than ever, Broadway's current class of Tony nominees come from all different races and cultural backgrounds, a fact they're especially proud of. 'This has been a historic season for Asian-Americans in particular,' says Francis Jue, a featured actor nominee for the play Yellow Face, which explores the issue of yellowface casting (or using a non-Asian actor for a race-specific role). Jue points out, 'It's the very first time in 78 years of Tony history that an Asian-American actor, Daniel Dae Kim, has been nominated as lead actor in a Broadway play. It's the first time in 78 years of Tony history that two Asian-American actors, Conrad Ricamora and myself, are nominated in the same category for a play on Broadway.' Gypsy's Woods, who plays Louise opposite Audra McDonald's Momma Rose, never thought she had a chance to play the woman who would become Gypsy Rose Lee, a real-life burlesque entertainer in the 1920s and 30s who was white. 'When we're taught [the musical] in school, you are shown clips, and you don't see anybody in those clips that looks like you,' Woods explains. 'So, no, I didn't think [I'd play this role]. And when I saw the day that they announced that they were doing Audra [in] Gypsy, I remember leaving a matinee of The Notebook [in which she previously starred] and seeing the sign and saying, 'Oh my God, I can't wait to see that. That's going to be so good. Whoever plays Louise, they're going to kill it.' I did not think it was going to be me.' The stories themselves are varied as well. Big, splashy musicals like the comedy Death Becomes Her play alongside works with more serious subject matter such as John Proctor Is the Villain, the play starring Stranger Things actress Sadie Sink that is set during a time when survivors of sexual assault felt empowered to come forward. 'We start right in the wake of the #MeToo movement in 2018, which is seven years ago now,' explains the show's Tony-nominated featured actress Fina Strazza. 'But the play feels more relevant than ever. I think there's a lot going on in our world with some pretty powerful men that probably shouldn't be so powerful. So it's nice to sit in the theater for an hour or two and experience that — and hopefully be motivated to make change in small communities.' Overall, as the calendar inches closer to the June 8 Tony Awards ceremony at Radio City Music Hall with Wicked star Cynthia Erivo as its host, the vibe is nothing but celebratory. Darren Criss, Tony-nominated for his performance as a robot named Oliver in the endearing new musical Maybe Happy Ending, reveals to Parade that he has a group chat with his former Glee pals, which includes Groff — whom he is up against for best lead actor in a musical. 'We got a whole group thread going, man,' Criss says. 'It's the nice thing about working on Broadway. We're all on the same campus. We're all within several blocks of each other. We all know each other. We all know each other's work. We've all, you know, been in rooms together before. We're not all separated. There's a real fraternity there, and that's not just some canned line. It's true. We're all working [in the] same village. It's such a fun, amazing thing. We all grew up loving this so much. The fact that we get to do it is already such a huge 'W,' so getting to be in a category together for a fancy party is just a fun little bonus.' ParadeParade With additional reporting by Garid Garcia. See photos of the Tony Award-nominated creative team members below: View the 41 images of this gallery on the original article
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
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Former O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do headed to prison for COVID relief bribery scheme
Andrew Do, the former Orange County supervisor who took more than $550,000 in bribes over COVID-relief money meant to buy meals for needy, elderly constituents, was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison. 'I just do not believe a sentence anything less than the maximum reflects the seriousness of the crime,' said U.S. District Judge James Selna. "Public corruption brings damage far beyond the monetary loss to the county." The judge expressed displeasure that the law allowed him to sentence Do to only five years. Do fled war-torn Vietnam with his family as a child to become an attorney and one of Southern California's most powerful Vietnamese American politicians. As part of a plea deal, Do admitted last year that he funneled more than $10 million in federal pandemic funds to a nonprofit that in turn steered money to his two daughters. The scandal was uncovered in 2023 by the news site LAist, which reported that Do approved contracts worth millions to the nonprofit, which promised to provide meals to the poor, elderly and disabled residents of Little Saigon but could show scant evidence of its effort. Do approved the contracts without disclosing that his 23-year-old daughter Rhiannon, a law student at UC Irvine, had signed documents identifying herself as the nonprofit's president or vice president. As accusations mounted, Do claimed he was the victim of slander, responding with defiant vitriol against the reporter who broke the story, Nick Gerda, and demanding his firing. When the Orange County Register called for Do's resignation, he accused the newspaper of spreading 'gross misinformation.' Late last year, however, Do agreed to resign from the Board of Supervisors and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery. Federal prosecutors said the Viet America Society gave Rhiannon a job, and paid her as an employee, after her father voted in favor of the lucrative contracts. Prosecutors also said the organization steered money to Do's other daughter through an air conditioning company. 'I'm very grateful that the judge saw the case for what it is,' said Janet Nguyen, the current First District Supervisor. 'He benefitted while people suffered. He took advantage during the pandemic, when no one was watching.' She said the county is conducting an audit to better understand how Do's scheme was allowed to occur. Prosecutors accused Rhiannon Do of making a false statement on a loan application, but agreed to defer the charge, allowing her to enter a diversion agreement in exchange for her cooperation. The elder Do, a Republican, worked as a deputy public defender and a prosecutor before he won a special election in 2015 to represent Orange County's 1st Supervisorial District, which covers Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Westminster and Seal Beach. He became the second Vietnamese American ever to serve on the board, and was later elected to two four-year terms. He was known for his efforts to combat homelessness and for his sponsorship of a Tet Festival in Fountain Valley that drew thousands of people annually. At a time when Vietnamese immigrants face increased threats of eviction and deportation, the disgraced supervisor's behavior 'erodes the already precarious level of trust our community has in the government,' said Mai Nguyen Do, the research and policy manager for the Harbor Institute for Immigrant and Economic Justice, a community group. 'After he's released, it wouldn't surprise me if he goes about his life, and meanwhile so many working-class people in the community don't have the resources to pick themselves up again after they're incarcerated,' said Do, who has no relation to the former supervisor. Jodi Balma, a professor of political science at Fullerton College who has followed the Do scandal, wondered how the bribery scheme somehow passed through the checkpoints of the county bureaucracy. 'There are really good and smart though somewhat annoying procedures in place to verify all contracts with the county,' Balma said. 'Somebody had to say, 'Approve that payment' without any receipts or verification or services. And those people have not been held responsible.' Balma also wondered whether it was fair that Rhiannon Do was allowed to enter a diversion program. 'If there is no punishment for his daughter, that feels unfair to all the other law students who might not be accepted to the California Bar Association because of misconduct,' Balma said. 'This is huge misconduct for someone who wants to be a lawyer.' Andrew Do's defense attorneys asked that he be sentenced to 33 months in prison. In a court filing, they said he had been volunteering at a maritime institute that teaches sailing to underprivileged teens, adding that the head of the program had praised Do's 'unwavering ethical compass.' The defense attorneys said that Do had expressed 'shame' and 'deep sorrow' for his crimes, that his license to practice law had been suspended and that his life has been 'destroyed by his own acts.' Do had 'received no actual payment to himself—all significant funds were provided to his daughter Rhiannon Do,' the defense wrote in a court motion, claiming he had been 'willfully blinded to the violations by the desire to see benefit to his adult daughter.… He now recognizes how completely wrong he was in this catastrophic self-delusion.' The plea deal called for restitution between $550,000 and $730,500, with the sale of the family's forfeited house in Tustin credited against that figure. 'This episode of poor judgment stands out as unique in his otherwise commendable life,' the defense wrote. 'He had a catastrophic lapse of judgment when he failed to stop payments to his daughters, and because VAS was helping his family, he failed to see the red flags of these illegal acts.' Pleading for leniency, defense attorneys invoked Do's backstory as a man who rose to public service after a childhood in war-ravaged Vietnam. But prosecutors said his background only amplified his guilt, considering many of the constituents he victimized had similarly difficult pasts, and he was aware of their vulnerability. Do 'made the decision to abandon the elderly, sick, and impoverished during a national emergency so that he could personally benefit,' prosecutors wrote. 'When the County and nation were at their most vulnerable, defendant saw an opportunity to exploit the chaos for his own benefit and, in so doing, betrayed the trust of hundreds of thousands of his constituents,' prosecutors wrote. 'The scheme was far-reaching and premeditated, and defendant had no qualms about pulling others into his criminal enterprise, including his own children.' Do's crimes, the prosecutors wrote, were 'an assault on the very legitimacy of government.' Calling his conduct 'despicable' and his attempt to minimize his crimes 'absurd,' prosecutors said that of the more than $10 million he steered to the Viet America Society , much of it supposedly for meal programs for the elderly and disabled, only $1.4 million went to that purpose. Do's willingness to involve his family in his scheme pointed to his 'moral indifference,' prosecutors said, while his campaign of invective against the press aggravated his culpability. In connection with the Do case, the U.S. Attorneys office announced charges last week of bribery against the founder of the Viet America Society, and for wire fraud against a man affiliated with another Orange County relief group. The judge ordered that Do surrender himself to federal custody by Aug. 15 and recommended he be incarcerated in the federal prison in Lompoc. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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40 minutes ago
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Baltimore's top prosecutor seeks funding for division he says helped lower city's crime rates
BALTIMORE — Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates is asking the city to fund its division that reviews body camera footage, which he says has played a key role in helping drive down the city's crime rates. 'There's no more important division to the success of our office than the body-worn camera (division),' he said Wednesday at a city council budget hearing. The money for reviewing body camera footage previously came through federal COVID-19 grant funding, which is expiring at the end of this month. Bates has requested continued funding from both city and state leaders at a time when both are grappling with budget deficits. The two-year, $1.7 million grant was allocated by the Governor's Office of Crime Prevention and Policy, using funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act. The money allowed the state's attorney's office to hire 10 people for the division. This year, Bates is asking the city to provide another $864,000, enabling his office to hire 10 permanent full-time paralegals for its body camera unit. Bates said prior to receiving the grant, prosecutors were leaving the state's attorney's office because they didn't have enough time to review video footage as part of preparing their cases. Even if the key footage for a case lasts only five minutes, the total video that needs to be reviewed could be hours long, Bates said. With the grant, other staff can take the time to help review the footage. 'Now instead of that prosecutor spending those five hours on reviewing body camera footage, they now can spend those five hours preparing that case and other cases,' Bates said. He added that this was the 'secret sauce' his office needed in order to increase criminal convictions over the past two years. If no money is provided to replace the grant, Bates said his office will have to make budget cuts related to its work with partner agencies and organizations. The body camera division has reviewed 1,916 cases comprising 22,065 videos containing 14,621 hours of footage, Bates said. 'Ensuring accountability and transparency in law enforcement is crucial to fostering trust between the police and communities they serve,' Bates told council members during the hearing. The state's attorney's office has one Evidence Review Unit staff member for every 140 police officers in Baltimore City. The ratio in surrounding jurisdictions is smaller: 1 to 51 in Howard County, 1 to 69 in Anne Arundel County and 1 to 112 in Baltimore County. Bates said the industry standard is a ratio of 1 to 110. 'We're doing more with less compared to these other jurisdictions, but we still have so much more we need to do,' Bates said. Bates said the office's workload has increased because of an increased number of police arrests, including 'double' the number of cases in its misdemeanor jury trial division compared with last year. Councilmember Paris Gray asked Bates whether he had asked the governor or anyone else at the state level for the evidence review unit funding, noting the 'tremendous deficit' the city and state are both facing. Bates said his office reached out to the Governor's Office of Crime Prevention and Policy and that they will 'continue to talk to Governor Moore and his team.' 'That was one-time ARPA money, and so we'd have to try to find out a special way to try to do that,' Bates said. 'We're trying to find the money however we can.' Gray suggested Bates and Mayor Brandon Scott ask the governor to provide the funds if it's not fiscally possible for the city. The governor's and mayor's offices didn't respond to separate requests for comment about whether the state or city would provide the requested funding. Council President Zeke Cohen said in a statement to The Baltimore Sun that he supports the state's attorney's request for additional personnel to review footage from body cameras. 'This is a powerful tool for ensuring investigations can proceed in a timely manner to deliver justice for the victims of crimes and their families,' he said. Gray said Bates's office is operating with a $2 million surplus this year and asked for an explanation about his request for additional funding. Bates said that the office spent almost $900,000 of its rainy day funds to defend against a cyberattack and install a new firewall, and that the office needs money set aside to reconfigure employee raises. He added that the surplus resulted from the departure of a number of prosecutors with six-figure salaries. 'I'm a real big believer — if we're going to be stewards of the public's money — I do everything I can, and we try to do everything we can, not to ever have a deficit. Because you never know when a rainy day's going to happen,' Bates said. _____
