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Park for the socially distanced

HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s first socially distanced outdoor entertainment park opened its doors to the public on Tuesday in an attempt by the entertainment industry to adjust to the coronavirus pandemic. The park, called The Grounds, has a hundred socially distanced enclosed areas spaced 1.5 meters (about 5 feet) apart that seat two to four people. Visitors can enjoy a variety of entertainment programs, including live performances and an outdoor cinema. On Tuesday, groups of viewers gathered for an outdoor screening of the Steven Spielberg movie “Jaws,” a 1975 classic about a great white shark terrifying a beach community. “It’s been a long hard year locked inside for the majority of it, so it’s nice to be able to sit outside with some friends, have a drink, enjoy the film,” said Beth Hackney, who was watching the movie. The outdoor park, which is scheduled to operate for just two months, has implemented health measures including online pre-registration, health declarations, temperature checks, mandatory face masks, and hand sanitizers at each entry and exit point. “The whole consumer market has shrunk due to the pandemic but it doesn’t mean all consumer products are affected,” said Eugene Law, business development director of China Galaxy International Securities. “For example, luxury spending has shrunk but entertainment and especially food and beverage have not.”

Old letters accused McCarrick

The Vatican’s report on ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick revealed the previously unknown contents of six anonymous letters accusing him of pedophilia that were sent to U.S. church leaders in the early 1990s and later forwarded to the Holy See. New York’s then-archbishop, Cardinal John O’Connor, forwarded them to the Vatican in 1999, shortly before he died, along with a six-page confidential memo in which he recommended McCarrick not be promoted to any important U.S. diocese because of a “scandal of great proportions” that would erupt if the allegations became public. The 449-page report also included testimony from a woman identified only as “Mother 1” who told Vatican investigators she, too, tried to raise the alarm with anonymous letters in the 1980s when McCarrick was bishop in Metuchen, New Jersey, after she saw McCarrick “massaging (her sons’) inner thighs” at her home. The woman said she sent the letters to members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy “expressing her distress about McCarrick’s conduct with minors,” and she believed they “may have been thrown aside” because they were anonymous. Jeff Anderson, an attorney for several of McCarrick’s accusers, said at a news conference Tuesday that he also represents two people in the woman’s family and criticized the church for turning a blind eye to the warning. There is “no evidence in this report or anyplace else that that account, that warning, that detailed, courageous effort by that mom in approximately 1984 was even investigated,” Anderson said. “Nobody looked. Nobody asked.” The other anonymous letters, which were sent in 1992-1993, were addressed to top U.S. church leaders, the bishops conference and the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S., who reported that he had destroyed them upon receipt.

US hits record hospitalizations

NEW YORK — The U.S. hit a record number of coronavirus hospitalizations Tuesday and surpassed 1 million new confirmed cases in just the first 10 days of November amid a nationwide surge of infections that shows no signs of slowing. The new wave appears bigger and more widespread than the surges that happened in the spring and summer — and threatens to be worse. But experts say there are also reasons to think the nation is better able to deal with the virus this time around. “We’re definitely in a better place” when it comes to improved medical tools and knowledge, said William Hanage, a Harvard University infectious-disease researcher. Newly confirmed infections in the U.S. were running at all-time highs of well over 100,000 per day, pushing the total to more than 10 million and eclipsing 1 million since Halloween. There are now 61,964 people hospitalized, according to the COVID Tracking Project. Several states posted records Tuesday, including over 12,600 new cases in Illinois, 10,800 in Texas and 7,000 in Wisconsin. Deaths — a lagging indicator, since it takes time for people to get sick and die — are climbing again, reaching an average of more than 930 a day.

State senator charged in crash

CHANDLER, Okla. — An Oklahoma state senator from Tulsa was charged with first-degree manslaughter after authorities say she was speeding and driving recklessly when her vehicle skidded off a rain-slickened road and crashed into a man’s disabled vehicle, killing him. Democratic Sen. Alison Ikley-Freeman, 29, who was seriously injured in the May crash, was charged Monday in Lincoln County. Ikley-Freeman was traveling 91 mph in a 75 mph zone in rainy conditions on the Turner Turnpike. Enrique Lopez, whose vehicle had skidded off the road earlier and was stuck in a ditch, died at the scene. The patrol reported Ikley-Freeman was trapped in the wreckage for 40 minutes. Ikley-Freeman was operating the vehicle in “complete disregard for the motoring public” and was committing several misdemeanors when the accident occurred, including speeding, reckless driving, driving too fast for the weather and failing to stay in a single lane, Trooper Shayne Ballard wrote in an affidavit. Ikley-Freeman’s attorney, John Hunsucker, said in a statement that he was still reviewing the allegations, but added: “We believe that when the facts are completely vetted, it will show that this was a tragic unavoidable accident. Our sympathies for the family of Mr. Lopez.” If convicted of first-degree manslaughter, Ikley-Freeman faces between four years and life in prison. Ikley-Freeman, who was elected in a special election in 2017, lost her reelection bid last week to Republican Cody Rogers.

Spears wants break from father

LOS ANGELES — Britney Spears fears her father and will not resume her career so long as he has power over it, her attorney said in court Tuesday. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny declined to suspend James Spears from his central role in the court conservatorship that has controlled his daughter’s life and career for 12 years as Britney Spears’ attorney Samuel D. Ingham III requested at the contentious hearing. But the judge said she would consider future petitions for his suspension or outright removal, which Ingham plans to file. “My client has informed me that she is afraid of her father,” Ingham told the judge. “She will not perform again if her father is in charge of her career.”The pop star has been on an indefinite work hiatus since early 2019. James Spears’ attorney, Vivian Lee Thoreen, defended what she said was his perfect record in his run as her conservator, which has seen her net worth go from in debt to well over $60 million. Thoreen argued that the disruption caused by his removal would do her the very harm the suspension is meant to prevent. Thoreen also objected to Ingham’s statements about the father-daughter relationship as inadmissible hearsay. The judge did approve that a corporate fiduciary, the Bessemer Trust, will now serve as co-conservator over her estate along with her father, which Britney Spears had requested.

28 election workers test positive

O’FALLON, Mo. — Twenty-eight employees of the election board in one of Missouri’s largest counties have tested positive for the coronavirus in recent weeks, and a director believes they most likely got infected from voters, though local health officials aren’t convinced. The Jackson County Election Board’s Republican director, Tammy Brown, said Tuesday that eight full-time and 20 part-time employees tested positive for the COVID-19 virus in the past 2 1/2 weeks. Most are doing well and recovering at home, but two part-time workers are hospitalized, including one in intensive care, Brown said. Jackson County is Missouri’s second-largest county, behind St. Louis County. While Kansas City is part of Jackson County, the city has its own election board. The Jackson County board handled votes cast by nearly 200,000 people. Among them were more than 60,000 people who voted absentee or by mail, Brown said. Many of those people passed through the main board office or the absentee voting office in the weeks leading up to the election, either to pick up a ballot, vote, or drop off a ballot. “We had thousands and thousands of voters through there every day,” Brown said. “People who requested mail-in and absentee ballots were walking in their applications and then walking in their ballots also.” The board urged people to wear masks and to not come in if they felt ill. “I’m thinking several people didn’t adhere to it,” Brown said.

Nurses honored on Thanksgiving

LOS ANGELES — Stevie Wonder, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan will be among the entertainers honoring nurses in a star-studded benefit virtual concert on Thanksgiving. Nurse Heroes announced Tuesday that the concert called Nurse Heroes Live will stream on the organization’s YouTube and Facebook along with LiveXLive on Nov. 26 at 7 p.m. EST. The benefit will provide money for a variety of programs including scholarships for nurses and their children. Whoopi Goldberg will host the concert with special appearances by Oprah Winfrey and Billy Crystal. Other performers include Josh Groban, Black Eyed Peas, Pitbull, The Wailers, Carole King, Maluma and Andrea Bocelli. Taylor Swift will donate a signed collectible edition “Folklore” guitar, which will be auctioned for the benefit of the Nurses Heroes Foundation. The nurses of New York’s Northwell Health will be the first beneficiaries of the concert. The event will also showcase 50 nurses from the hospital in an ensemble performance with several celebrities.

Vets’ fundraiser to go virtual

NEW YORK — This year’s Stand Up for Heroes fundraiser is going virtual for the first time and The Boss will once again be there. But so will a real prince. Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow, Tiffany Haddish and Brad Paisley have all signed up to participate — as well as Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, for the first time. The fundraiser, which benefits injured veterans and their families, will also feature comedians and musicians including Nate Bargatze, Ronny Chieng, Mickey Guyton, Patti Scialfa, Iliza Shlesinger, Jeannie Gaffigan and Ray Romano. It will air on ABC News Live, TikTok, Facebook Watch, Cheddar, Twitch and Armed Forces Network on Nov. 18.

Historic season not over yet

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Just when you thought it should be safe to go back to the water, the record-setting tropics are going crazy. Again. Tropical Storm Eta is parked off the western coast of Cuba, dumping rain. When it finally moves again, computer models and human forecasters are befuddled about where it will go and how strong it will be. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Theta — which formed overnight and broke a record as the 29th named Atlantic storm of the season — is chugging east toward Europe on the cusp of hurricane status. The last time there were two named storms churning at the same time this late in the year was in December 1887, Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach said. But wait there’s more. A tropical wave moving across the Atlantic somehow survived the mid-November winds that usually decapitate storms. The system now has a 70% chance of becoming the 30th named storm. That’s Iota on your already filled scorecard. If it forms, it is heading generally toward the same region of Central America that was hit by Eta. Never before have three named storms been twirling at the same time this late in the year, Klotzbach said. Hurricane records go back to 1851, but before the satellite era, some storms were likely missed.

Trump seeks Ga. hand recount

ATLANTA — Republicans are making more demands of Georgia’s chief elections officer as they seek to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s 12,000-vote lead in the state’s presidential race. U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, who’s leading President Donald Trump’s recount team in Georgia, and state Republican Party Chairman David Shafer sent a letter to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Tuesday requesting that he order a hand recount of Georgia’s nearly 5 million ballots before certifying the results. The move comes a day after Republican U.S. Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler called for Raffensperger’s resignation, claiming he ran the election poorly but citing no specific incidents of wrongdoing. Perdue will face Democrat Jon Ossoff and Loeffler will face Democrat Raphael Warnock in Jan. 5 runoffs that are likely to determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.

Obamacare likely to survive

WASHINGTON — A more conservative Supreme Court appears unwilling to do what Republicans have long desired: kill off the Affordable Care Act, including its key protections for pre-existing health conditions and subsidized insurance premiums that affect tens of millions of Americans. Meeting remotely a week after the election and in the midst of a pandemic that has closed their majestic courtroom, the justices on Tuesday took on the latest Republican challenge to the Obama-era health care law, with three appointees of President Donald Trump, an avowed foe of the law, among them. But at least one of those Trump appointees, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, seemed likely to vote to leave the bulk of the law intact, even if he were to find the law’s now-toothless mandate that everyone obtain health insurance to be unconstitutional. “It does seem fairly clear that the proper remedy would be to sever the mandate provision and leave the rest of the act in place,” Kavanaugh said. Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote two earlier opinions preserving the law, stated similar views, and the court’s three liberal justices are almost certain to vote to uphold the law in its entirety. That presumably would form a majority by joining a decision to cut away only the mandate, which now has no financial penalty attached to it. Congress zeroed out the penalty in 2017, but left the rest of the law untouched.

Sentenced in megachurch fraud

SHREVEPORT, La. — A Louisiana investment adviser was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison for his part in a $3.5 million fraud in which customers invested money with a Texas megachurch minister who had counseled two presidents. Gregory Alan Smith, 58, of Shreveport, also was ordered to pay nearly $3.6 million restitution and a $100,000 fine, Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook said in a news release. Smith “persuaded multiple victims to invest approximately $3.5 million with his co-defendant, Kirbyjon H. Caldwell,” the statement said. “This case proves that even those you trust to have your best interest at heart sometimes may not. The victims in this case thought their trusted advisor and friend would never lead them astray but sadly, he was merely a con man who led them down an unwanted path,” Van Hook said. Caldwell, like Smith, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and agreed to a sentence of five to seven years. Prosecutors dropped other counts against each. Caldwell is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 3.

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