Latest news with #Franken
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Creative Classroom Contest winner shares update on classroom purchase
COLUMBIANA, Ohio (WKBN) – One of WKBN's Creative Classroom winners shared what she is doing with her winnings. Lauren Franken, a first-grade teacher at Heartland Christian School, received $500 from WKBN's Creative Classroom Contest in December. Franken said she used the money to buy supplies for incubating eggs and housing baby chicks in her classroom. She shared photos with WKBN earlier this week. In the past, she has shared an incubator with another teacher while students learn about the life cycle of baby chicks. She said in her contest entry that she believed that having her own incubator would be beneficial for students as they could watch the hatching process live and understand the complexities of life cycles firsthand. 'Thank you so much for offering this grant to all teachers. It was a great experience for us and one that I can continue on for many years to come!' she said in an email to WKBN. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Al Franken on future political bid: ‘I'm ruling it out'
Former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) says he's closing the door on running for public office again. 'I don't think I'll be running again,' the 'Saturday Night Live' writer and performer-turned-lawmaker told The Hill in a recent interview focused on his role in the forthcoming Netflix series, 'The Residence.' When asked if he was ruling out a future political bid, Franken said, 'I'm not ruling it —,' before briefly pausing. 'I'm ruling it out, yeah,' he said. The 73-year-old comedian resigned in 2018 amid a pressure campaign from his Senate colleagues after allegations of sexual misconduct. Franken denied the accusations and has said in the past that he regretted resigning. In 2021, Franken said he was keeping his 'options open' as far as any future political bid. He said in 2022 that 'it would be tempting' to run for office again. Last month, Franken indicated he wasn't eyeing a return to the upper chamber after Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) announced she wouldn't seek reelection in 2026. 'I look forward to supporting the candidate we nominate to work on behalf of Minnesotans in Washington,' Franken said in a social media post. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
19-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hill
Al Franken on future political bid: ‘I'm ruling it out'
Former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) says he's closing the door on running for public office again. 'I don't think I'll be running again,' the 'Saturday Night Live' writer and performer-turned-lawmaker told The Hill in a recent interview focused on his role in the forthcoming Netflix series, 'The Residence.' When asked if he was ruling out a future political bid, Franken said, 'I'm not ruling it —,' before briefly pausing. 'I'm ruling it out, yeah,' he said. The 73-year-old comedian resigned in 2018 amid a pressure campaign from his Senate colleagues after allegations of sexual misconduct. Franken denied the accusations and has said in the past that he regretted resigning. 2024 Election Coverage In 2021, Franken said he was keeping his 'options open' as far as any future political bid. He said in 2022 that 'it would be tempting' to run for office again. Last month, Franken indicated that he wasn't eyeing a return to the upper chamber after Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) announced she wouldn't seek reelection in 2026. 'I look forward to supporting the candidate we nominate to work on behalf of Minnesotans in Washington,' Franken said in a social media post.
The Hill
19-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hill
Al Franken talks his senator role in Netflix's ‘The Residence' — and if he'll run for office again
It's art imitating life for former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), as he plays a prominent role in a Senate hearing — in a buzzy new Netflix murder mystery. 'There's a whole bunch of great characters in it, and it winds and surprises you all over the place,' Franken said of 'The Residence.' He takes on the part of fictional Sen. Aaron Filkins in the humor-filled whodunit, premiering Thursday on Netflix and centered on the death of a White House chief usher. While Filkins's political affiliation is never mentioned in the show executive produced by Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers, and although Franken said he saw the character as a Democrat, he drew inspiration from a trio of real Republican senators. 'I thought of Chuck Grassley of Iowa and [former Tennessee Sen.] Lamar Alexander, who are both very avuncular, and to some extent, Lindsey Graham [S.C.],' the 'Saturday Night Live' star-turned-lawmaker said. 'But there is a point [in the show] where I'm not so avuncular, and that where I remember some scenes in Judiciary where Lindsey was less avuncular,' added Franken, who resigned from the Senate in 2017 amid accusations of sexual misconduct. 'So those I had in mind just in terms of how they might react to what was going on.' Paul William Davies, who penned 'The Residence,' told ITK he was reading Kate Andersen Brower's 2015 book of the same name, which details the history of the executive mansion and its staff, when he had a 'bizarre late-night epiphany' to write what would become the Netflix series. Uzo Aduba plays the lead role of Metropolitan Police Department consulting detective Cordelia Cupp, who's brought in to investigate the death of the usher during a state dinner. 'It's the kind of story of how she goes about her investigation and then meeting all of the people that work in the White House and interviewing them. And so you learn a lot about the way the White House residence works in the course of her investigation,' said Davies. Part of that learning experience, the scribe said, is grasping that the White House household staff serve in non-political positions: 'I really thought it was important to understand that about the people that work there, that It's not like so many things in Washington, where it turns over with every administration.' In a way, the White House itself is its own character in the series, Franken said. The production design team 'created these sets that were to scale room-for-room the White House,' said Ken Marino, who stars as the president's 'bull in a china shop' chief adviser, Harry Hollinger. 'They were very meticulous about the details, down to the finishes and the trims and pictures. So when you walked on set, you felt like you might as well be in the White House. There was no difference,' Marino said. Asked if there's a concern that with the drama of what's happening in the nation's capital, audiences might be OD'd on politics, Davies said, 'There's a natural instinct when you see 'White House,' you think that there is some kind of political element to it, but it really isn't that at all.' 'It's a fun, comedic show,' added Davies, a former writer on 'Scandal.' 'The parts that you do learn about are things that I think everybody can kind of agree on: That the function of the White House is really important, and the people that work there are really important and should be respected.' But that doesn't mean political reality can totally be avoided while promoting the show. 'We're staying at the Hay-Adams, which is right across the street from the White House,' Franken said. 'When I woke up, I was just pretty sleepy, and I went and I opened up the curtains and I saw the White House,' the 73-year-old comedian and ex-lawmaker said. 'I had forgotten where I was, and I went, 'Ugh,'' Franken recalled with a loud groan. 'I remembered who was in the White House,' he said. After calling another run for office 'tempting' in 2022, Franken seemingly put the kibosh on a real-life potential return to the Senate last month when Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) announced she was wouldn't seek reelection in 2026. 'I look forward to supporting the candidate we nominate to work on behalf of Minnesotans in Washington,' he said in a February Facebook post. So could the public expect to see Franken more on the small screen or on the campaign trail going forward? Franken told ITK, 'I hope in Hollywood-type roles, I guess, because I don't think I'll be running it again.' Asked if he was officially ruling out a future political bid, Franken started to reply, 'I'm not ruling it —,' but then stopped himself. 'I'm ruling it out, yeah.'
Observer
22-02-2025
- Observer
The last carriage horses of Indonesia's capital
Jakarta - In a dark stable under a heaving highway in Indonesia's capital, trucks rumble past emaciated carriage horses tied to pillars in ramshackle wooden stalls, their ribs protruding. The steeds are used to pull traditional wooden carriages known as delman, once a staple of colonial-era transportation, but fading from view in Jakarta in an era dominated by ride-hailing apps. Now limited to just a few areas of the city, only several hundred delman horses remain to ferry tourists on weekends or public holidays. Animal rights activists say the conditions under which the horses are kept are so harsh the practice must end. "Thank God, in here, at least the horses are protected from the sun's heat and rain," 52-year-old carriage driver Sutomo told AFP under the highway. On central Jakarta's bustling streets, the horse-drawn carriage bells can be heard clinking in rhythm with clopping hooves that compete with the blare of car engines and horns. But Sutomo says a 4.5-kilometre (2.8-mile) jaunt around Indonesia's national monument, or Monas, can fetch just 50,000 rupiah ($3.10) -- a trip he only makes two or three times a day. "When income is low, my son, who works at a company, shares some of his salary. Thank God at least that can cover food for my family. But for the horse, we have to reduce its food," he said. Rights groups say such limited income has forced owners and some who rent the horses to ignore proper horse care, leading to malnutrition and poor living conditions. There are about 200 carthorses still in service at around 20 stables, according to estimates, including one squalid encampment holding 15 horses seen by AFP. It was surrounded by garbage and plastic debris next to a smelly, polluted river. "The conditions are really, really bad," said Karin Franken, co-founder of Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN), an NGO that has been advocating for delman horses since 2014. "They are not treating the horses very well (but) very aggressively, very rough." - 'Extreme abuse, neglect' - To a tourist's eye, the delman can appear as a colourful addition to the city, adorned by decorations and small bells that jingle when the horse moves. But some owners still rely on harmful traditional medications, including puncturing the horse's muscles with bamboo sticks to pass a rope through to "cleanse" its blood. During the Covid-19 pandemic some horses also died of starvation, said Franken, calling for the delman to be gradually phased out. "The life as a delman horse, especially in Jakarta, is really terrible," said Franken. While there is a national law on animal protection, there is little monitoring of violations, according to JAAN. The local government said it remained committed to animal welfare but needed more help. "We need support from other parties... to be able to provide services such as free medical check-ups," Suharini Eliawati, head of the Jakarta Food Security, Maritime and Agriculture Agency, told AFP. "The owners must obey the rules in animal welfare protection." Franken said JAAN also tries to educate the delman workers on how to provide better treatment for the horses, in exchange for free medical care for the animals. But many people do not comply on grounds of tradition or financial issues. "They can barely take care of themselves and their families, let alone horses. It's very sad for both," Franken said. "There still are, unfortunately, cases of extreme abuse or neglect." Young delman drivers are open to moving to other jobs like ride-hailing motor-taxi driver, but older ones are more stubborn "because they say it's the only thing they can do", said Franken. Some are likely to keep trying to make a penny, despite pushing their equine breadwinners to the brink. "I like animals, I also like this job," said delman owner Novan Yuge Prihatmoko, as he guided his horse through West Jakarta, adding that he can earn 150,000 rupiah ($9.20) a day. "I feel comfortable, so why not? I just keep doing this for a living."
