Latest news with #Duddy
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Wells Police pauses ICE agreement in light of pending legislation that would ban it
Wells resident Beth Allen speaks in opposition to the Wells Police Department contract with ICE during a Select Board meeting on May 6. (By Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star) The only Maine police department that has contracted with federal authorities to assist with immigration enforcement is pausing its agreement to see if the Maine Legislature votes to ban such contracts. Wells Police Chief Jo-Ann Putnam announced Tuesday night during a Select Board meeting that her department is adopting a 'wait-and-see approach' to credentialing its officers under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's 287(g) program. 'This decision reflects the need to see how the legislation ends up playing out in Augusta,' Putnam said, referencing LD 1259, which had a public hearing on Monday. Two bills, LD 1259 and LD 1971, would prohibit state and local law enforcement agencies from carrying out the work of federal immigration authorities. LD 1259 would do so by explicitly prohibiting contracts with such authorities, while LD 1971 would place restrictions on enforcement activities absent formal agreements. Based on Putnam's brief comments at the meeting, it is unclear exactly what the pause means. Putnam could not be reached by the time of publication. In early May, she told Maine Morning Star that Wells officers had begun the training for the program, which is online. After the 287(g) program was discontinued in 2012 due to the discovery of discriminatory practices such as racial profiling, President Donald Trump revived it to bolster ICE's capacity by deputizing local police officers to detain immigrants, an authority otherwise generally reserved to federal authorities. Immigration enforcement hearing highlights lack of protocol for local, federal collaboration Putnam and Police Capt. Kevin Chabot previously told Maine Morning Star that they entered into the agreement to take advantage of a training opportunity and streamline work. On Tuesday night, Putnam said, 'I would like to reiterate one more time that at no point was there ever any intent on doing proactive immigration enforcement.' Wells remains the only local agency to have entered the program in Maine. Monmouth Winthrop Police Department, a combination of departments that serve central Maine communities, applied for the program but withdrew its application after community pushback. Community pushback in Wells is continuing in light of the pause. 'Our group, although appreciative of a pause, really is looking for Wells Police to withdraw from the contract,' Wells resident Peg Duddy told Maine Morning Star Wednesday morning. Duddy and other residents have been calling for termination of the agreement during Select Board meetings, including Tuesday night after Putnam announced the pause. The group has also been collecting signatures from Wells residents in favor of withdrawing and had more than 350 as of Wednesday morning, Duddy said. These residents have said they don't want their local force collaborating with an agency that has been accused of disregarding due process, for local police funding to go toward federal enforcement and possibly litigation, or for Wells to be known as an unwelcoming place for immigrants. However, other residents have commended local police for entering the federal partnership, showing that the matter has divided the community. The two bills heard on Monday come after Republican legislators presented a conflicting bill last month that would prevent local agencies from adopting any policies that restrict them from assisting in the enforcement of federal immigration law. None of these bills have received votes yet and there is only a month left until lawmakers are expected to conclude their work for the first year of Maine's two-year legislative session. One of the bill sponsors, Rep. Ambureen Rana (D-Bangor), told Maine Morning Star that the intention is for the Legislature to make its decisions on the issue this year. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Daily Mail
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Former NFL WAG Gia Duddy slams online report she was hanging out with Will Levis' teammates
Gia Duddy, the popular social-media influencer and ex-girlfriend of Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis, has pushed back on a report claiming she was hanging out with his teammates at a bar. The claim from fellow Nashville-based influencer RJ Ellison shows a photo of Titans players Jefferey Simmons, T'Vondre Sweat, and Arden Key outside a Music City bar. Duddy was at the Nashville hotspot according to Ellison, although she is not pictured in the photo. The accusation picked up momentum after popular X account MLFootball shared it on their page. Duddy, who broke up with Levis in 2023, months after he was selected by the Titans and she was spotted in the draft room supporting her former beau, spoke out denying her presence at the bar. 'Journalism is literally dead. I'm not even in this photo or with them… y'all just love a story. Embarrassing,' Duddy said. Levis and Duddy dated for three years throughout college and broke up in late 2023 Replying to the messages from MLFootball was Duddy's first post of her own words on X in more than three years. 'She wasn't in the picture but I saw her there,' Ellison replied in another message to those questioning him with the lack of Duddy in his picture. Simmons, Sweat, and Key have all not spoken up about the claim from Ellison. Levis and Duddy dated for three years throughout college, with the signal caller playing at Penn State and Kentucky. Levis' time as Tennessee's starter has not led to much success for the Titans, who selected former Miami quarterback Cam Ward with the top overall pick in last week's NFL Draft. Duddy has not hard launched a relationship since her breakup with Levis, while the NFLer dated former contestant on 'The Bachelor', Victoria Fuller, last year. Fuller and Levis are also no longer together after a short romance.
New York Post
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Will Levis' ex Gia Duddy fumes after influencer claims she was partying with Titans teammates
Titans quarterback Will Levis' ex girlfriend Gia Duddy responded to online rumors that she hung out with his teammates at a club in Nashville last Saturday. Duddy, who is a Nashville-based influencer, hit back in an X post after the user RJ Ellison claimed he saw her with Titans tackles T'Vondre Sweat and Jeffery Simmons and linebacker Arden Key — and included a photo of the NFL players standing outside of Barstool nightclub in Nashville. 'Journalism is literally dead. I'm not even in this photo or with them… y'all just love a story,' Duddy wrote on Tuesday, including the image. 'Embarrassing.' Advertisement 'Ran into T Sweat, Big Jeff, Gia Duddy, and Arden Key last night at the club last night,' Ellison wrote, referring to the night of April 26. 'She wasn't in the picture but I saw her there,' Ellison replied when someone asked 'where's Duddy' in the comments Advertisement 4 Titans tackles T'Vondre Sweat and Jeffery Simmons and linebacker Arden Key outside Barstool Nashville on April 26, 2025. X/@Romellz Levis and Duddy split after three years of dating in September 2023, according to Barstool Sports' 'Pardon My Take' podcast. The exes, who were college sweethearts, did not address their breakup at the time. 4 Gia Duddy is a Nashville-based influencer. Instagram/Gia Duddy Advertisement 4 Will Levis and Gia Duddy during his playing days at Kentucky. Instagram/Gia Duddy Prior to that, they captured the public's attention during the 2023 NFL Draft when the former Kentucky Wildcats quarterback was selected 33rd overall by the Titans. Duddy moved to Nashville in the summer of 2023 after she graduated from Penn State University that May, according to her TikTok. She supported Levis during his playing days at Penn State, where he was under center in 2019 and 2020, before transferring to Kentucky in 2021. Advertisement 4 Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis (8) throws a pass just before getting hit by Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle David Onyemata (90) during the second half at Nissan Stadium on October 29, 2023. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con Levis and 'Bachelor' star Victoria Fuller split last fall after going public with their relationship in July, according to Page Six. On the field, the quarterback's days with the Titans could be numbered after Tennessee used their No. 1 pick to select Cam Ward in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Daily Mail
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Will Levis's ex-girlfriend Gia Duddy shares key thing NFL Draft WAGs must avoid two years on from her viral fame
Influencer Gia Duddy rocketed to fame two years ago when cameras caught her sat alongside former boyfriend Will Levis during his NFL Draft nightmare. Duddy went viral among NFL fans for her stunning looks in 2023 when the quarterback plummeted down the board before finally being taken by the Tennessee Titans in the second round. Despite no longer being with the NFL quarterback, Duddy couldn't escape this year's draft drama as fans hounded her to open up on her experience. Duddy finally caved in a video on TikTok in which she shared some words of wisdom for the incoming NFL girlfriends for draft night. 'I know I know what tonight is, but do you guys know what tonight is? It's the Caudalie event, obviously so let's get ready,' she joked referencing a brand event she was attending. 'I'm just messing with you guys, I know it's the NFL draft, you guys actually won't let me forget. But I do actually have an event with Caudalie so I do need to get ready. I feel like I've never really talked about the draft, and I don't really like talking about it, just because it just genuinely wasn't about me. Duddy went viral on the first night of the 2023 NFL Draft as her boyfriend fell down the board 'So I just like never felt the need to speak on it, but I do wanna say is congratulations to all the hard-working men that are in this draft class. 'Genuinely so excited for all of you, I know I have some friends in it this year, and for those who are attending, beware of your resting b***h face. Because the media loves media, and they will start a story that you're just a b***h. So from one RBF to another, good luck. 'My friends and I were talking about it this week, though, the fact that was two years ago is literally insane. Because in my opinion, it feels like five years ago… also, while we're talking about the draft, I need to debunk the 'Can I pee?' theory. I was literally just asking, 'Can that happen?' Because they were talking about the Titans trading up. I'm telling y'all, the media just loves some drama in the story.' Duddy set social media alight on the night of the NFL Draft in April when her reaction to her boyfriend falling went viral. Levis was forced to wait in Kansas City two years ago for a call that never came, as he surprisingly fell out of the first round and the cameras constantly panned to him and his family, including Duddy, to capture his dejected reaction. Levis was at one point projected to be the second quarterback off the board, but didn't get to experience the same draft-day moment as his fellow passers Bryce Young, CJ Stroud and Anthony Richardson. After being the repeated subject of TV cameras during his ill-fated draft night, Levis returned home to watch the rest of the proceedings with his family. But his misfortune proved profitable for Duddy who went viral after being picked up by the broadcast. Levis previously revealed that Duddy's Instagram following had doubled following his draft nightmare. 'The one positive thing that me and my family took from draft night is just the attention on social media that my sisters and girlfriend got, so that's good,' Levis said. Levis added, 'Her followers doubled on draft night and I was like "I need a cut of this."' When one of the hosts joked about what NIL deals she'd be signing, Levis remarked that she 'just signed a Burger King deal'. 'It's crazy, seriously, I was like "you're paying for lunch",' Levis joked. Duddy has 309,000 followers on Instagram and over 500,000 on TikTok - many coming after the draft. Levis has said at the time that Duddy planned to follow him to Nashville, where she was intending to pursue being an influencer before trying to get into nursing school, after he was taken by the Titans. However, that plan fell apart as the couple split in September 2023, according to Pardon My Take. They had been together for three years after meeting at college.
Boston Globe
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Ted Kotcheff, ‘First Blood' and ‘Weekend at Bernie's' director, dies at 94
He eventually reached Hollywood to work with stars such as George Segal and Jane Fonda in the crime farce 'Fun with Dick and Jane' (1977) and Nick Nolte in the football satire 'North Dallas Forty' (1979). Advertisement Yet the project Mr. Kotcheff cited with special pride was 'The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz,' a 1974 coming-of-age drama starring Richard Dreyfuss in a film that became widely regarded as helping put Canada on the cinema map. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Mr. Kotcheff said he found a Hollywood producer interested in the script, which was based on a 1959 eponymous novel by his London collaborator and former housemate, Mordecai Richler. The story, set in Montreal, follows the overheated ambitions and moral compromises of a young man from a working-class Jewish family. Mr. Kotcheff had already directed a television adaptation for 'Armchair Theatre' in 1961 on Britain's ITV network. This time, the Hollywood producer suggested changes. 'Why not move it to Pittsburgh?' Mr. Kotcheff told the University of Toronto Magazine in 2013. 'And maybe we could make Duddy a Greek boy.' Advertisement 'It was my friend's book,' he continued. 'I couldn't do that to him. Duddy, a Greek boy? In Pittsburgh?' Mr. Kotcheff cobbled together enough funding for a low-budget shoot in Montreal, and the film found a home in art cinemas and festivals - winning the top prize in Berlin in 1974. New York Times film critic Vincent Canby wrote that 'Duddy' stood apart 'from the usual literature about unscrupulous ambition, most of which is pious and dull and goes without saying. There's not a bad performance in the film.' ''The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz' is the axis on which my career and, in many ways, my life, has rotated,' Mr. Kotcheff wrote in his 2017 autobiography, 'Director's Cut: My Life in Film,' co-authored by journalist Josh Young. Mr. Kotcheff headed to London in 1957 seeking a bigger creative arena than the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, where he had landed his first job after college. He moved into British television for 'ITV Playhouse' and other shows, working on teleplays that included adaptations of Eugene O'Neill's 'Emperor Jones' (1958) and Jean Cocteau's 'La Voix Humaine,' or 'The Human Voice,' in 1966, starring Ingrid Bergman. During a live 'Armchair Theatre' broadcast of the nuclear bomb drama 'Underground' in 1958, a lead actor, Gareth Jones, died of a heart attack. Mr. Kotcheff and the rest of the cast finished the show, improvising around Jones's lines. Mr. Kotcheff's cinema debut came in 1962 with the comedy 'Tiara Tahiti,' starring James Mason and John Mills (filmed in Tahiti), and he followed with other films in the 1960s including the racial drama 'Two Gentlemen Sharing' (1969), which was shot in London. Advertisement The door to the United States was still closed. During the anti-Communist 'Red Scare' in the early 1950s, Mr. Kotcheff was turned back at the border in Vermont, accused of being part of a leftist book club in Canada. Then in 1968, a musician burned an American flag at an event in London's Royal Albert Hall, where Mr. Kotcheff was part of the production team. That put him on another no-entry list, he said. 'First a communist and now a flag burner!' he wrote in his memoir. An offer came from Australia to direct 'Wake in Fright,' a 1971 psychological boiler about a teacher (Gary Bond) who becomes stranded in a mining camp and falls under the grip of hard-drinking locals who force him to take part in a sadistic kangaroo hunt. The film received a cool reception in Australia over the unflattering portrayal of outback life. The movie later was hailed as a landmark moment in Australia's new wave cinema that included director Peter Weir's 1975 drama 'Picnic at Hanging Rock.' (Mr. Kotcheff allowed Weir to shadow him on the 'Wake in Fright' set.) 'Wake in Fright' was rarely seen for decades after the distributor went bankrupt. A screening at the Toronto Film Festival was arranged in 2009, marking its return. 'Powerful, genuinely shocking and rather amazing,' wrote film critic Roger Ebert in 2012. 'It comes billed as a 'horror film' and contains a great deal of horror, but all of the horror is human and brutally realistic." Mr. Kotcheff was cleared to enter the United States in the early 1970s and found Hollywood studios eager to make offers. He made a niche in wry comedies such as 'Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?' (1978). Meanwhile, he and Michael Kozoll (co-writer of the NBC police series 'Hill Street Blues') crafted a script based on a 1972 book, 'First Blood,' by Canadian-born writer David Morrell. Advertisement After several actors turned down the lead role, Mr. Kotcheff said he suggested Stallone, star of the 'Rocky' franchise, to play the Vietnam veteran John Rambo, who stalks a small-town sheriff (Brian Dennehy) and his deputes after being abused and humiliated. 'First Blood' was a box office hit in 1982 and led to four movies with the Rambo character. Mr. Kotcheff turned down a chance to be part of them. 'They offered me the first sequel, and after I read the script I said, 'In the first film he doesn't kill anybody. In this film he kills 75 people,'' Mr. Kotcheff told Filmmaker magazine in 2016. 'It seemed to be celebrating the Vietnam War, which I thought was one of the stupidest wars in history.' In the late 1980s, Mr. Kotcheff heard about an off-the-wall story in the works by scriptwriter Robert Klane. It became 'Weekend at Bernie's' (1989), a romp about two salesmen (Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman) who try to keep up a ruse that their dead boss (Terry Kiser) is still alive and well and enjoying the fun at his beach house in the Hamptons. (Mr. Kotcheff makes a cameo as father of one of the young men.) Some critics called the movie a one-joke slog. But fans embraced the freewheeling insanity, giving the film a place among '80s wisecracking comedies including 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' (1986). Mr. Kotcheff said he passed on working on 'Bernie's' sequel. He quipped that he had run out of dead-guy gags. Advertisement William Theodore Kotcheff was born in Toronto on April 7, 1931. His parents worked various jobs and sold homemade moonshine during the Depression. Mr. Kotcheff said his father changed the spelling of his last name from Tsochev after arriving in Canada from Bulgaria. As a child, Mr. Kotcheff watched from backstage while his parents and friends put on plays in Bulgarian. 'They'd write their own scripts. Often the actors, working other jobs, didn't have time to learn the lines,' he recalled. He received a degree in English literature from Toronto University in 1952 and joined the state broadcaster as a stagehand, rising to become a director. His other films included the Western 'Billy Two Hats' (1974), starring Gregory Peck and Desi Arnaz Jr.; the POW drama 'Uncommon Valor' (1983), starring Gene Hackman, and 'Joshua Then and Now' (1985), a Gatsby-style tale based on a novel by Richler. Mr. Kotcheff joined the NBC crime series 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit' as executive producer in 2000 and remained for more than a decade. His marriage to Sylvia Kay ended in divorce. He then married Laifun Chung and had two children together. Other survivors include three children from his first marriage; four grandchildren; and a brother. The original script for 'First Blood' ended with Rambo's suicide. During a test screening, the audience hated that conclusion, Mr. Kotcheff said in an interview with the Directors Guild of America. Weeks earlier, he and Stallone had privately worked out a rewrite with Rambo surviving - which unintentionally opened the way for sequels. 'I said, 'Well, boys,'' Mr. Kotcheff recalled, ''I just happen to have this other ending here in my back pocket.'' Advertisement
