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Over the next three years, Ashe, as it is commonly known, will undergo a massive, $800 million facelift that every fan, player and United States Tennis Association (USTA) partner should feel in a big way. The project is privately funded, though the USTA has in the past received access to tax-exempt bonds and a special taxation deal with New York City that is common among local sports operations. The 2024 U.S. Open brought in almost $560 million in operating revenue, according to the USTA’s financial report for that year. It’s the latest move in an ongoing tennis arms race. The runners are the four organizations that run the four Grand Slams: the Australian, French and U.S. Opens and Wimbledon. They all want to keep up with each other at a minimum and to outpace each other wherever they can, in a bid to be the best of the best. Tennis Australia in 2022 added a new stadium, the Kia Arena, to Melbourne Park, the site of the Australian Open; it has spent over $1 billion Australian dollars ($645 million USD) on upgrades in recent years. The All England Club, which stages Wimbledon, is in a legal battle with local residents over the building of 39 new tennis courts, one of them a stadium court, so that it can add capacity and hold its qualifying competition there, rather than roughly five miles away. The London event is now the only major in tennis that does not hold qualifying on site, which is the newest and most lucrative frontier in this arms race. On-site qualifying means an additional week of ticket sales, income from on-site concessions and even some sponsorship revenue. Roland Garros, site of the French Open in Paris, recently added a roof on its second court as well as an additional 5,000-seat stadium. It found room for some new facilities in a set of old stone buildings nearby.

Not a shopping cart, but... Julie Newmar, the actress best known for originating the role of Catwoman in the ‘60s Batman TV series, was spotted out in Los Angeles on Thursday, May 15, marking a rare public appearance for the star. During the outing, Newmar, 91, drove a motorized scooter on the street and, to fans most accustomed to her iconic black catsuits, was practically unrecognizable in a light-colored, casual ensemble. The actress wore gray sweatpants, a pair of fuzzy slippers and a blue button-up shirt. She also wore a wide-brimmed hat, which kept the L.A. sun out of her eyes. Though Newmar does not step out often, the 91-year-old is somewhat active on her Instagram account, where she last posted on May 13. “Our most glorious garden yet,” the star recently captioned several photos of the flowers blossoming at what appeared to be her L.A. home. Earlier this month, she also posted the link to a clip from her turn as Catwoman alongside Adam West in Batman, which ran for three seasons from 1966 to 1968. (Though Newmar only starred in a total of 13 episodes, they are some of the most iconic, with four taking the top spots on IMDB’s top-rated Batman episode list.) “I was depressed -- then I read what people had to say about me in the comment section. Oh My!!” Newmar wrote alongside a screenshot of the clip, a scene in which Catwoman attempts to seduce the titular hero, played by West. Prior to her sighting in L.A., Newmar’s most recent public appearances — though few and far between — have all been connected to her Catwoman roots. In June 2024, she attended a fan event, where she playfully sported cat ears while signing autographs for admirers. In 2017, she also made appearances at fan events, including Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con and CatCon, where she also nodded to the beloved antihero with a cat-inspired ensemble. While reflecting on her career in an interview with Bring Me the News, Newmar previously said, "I'm realizing that through all the shows I've done — the television, film and stage — all the mediums I've worked in, Catwoman's costume was the one that allowed me to tell the story through my body." "The words were brilliant, and funny on top of that," she told the outlet. "The producer hired the right people to do all the lighting, to do this, that and the other, and it was the right time in the right decade. It all worked."

Two out of three ain't bad! Sounds like paradise... by the appliance bulb light. I'LL BE HERE ALL WEEK, FOLKS!

If offered your meatloaf, I'd be out of there like a bat out of hell.

Haven't slept... was up all night planning how to spend my $4.50 windfall from Wheat Thins.

Mariska Hargitay is opening up about a family secret she’s kept for more than 30 years. At the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, May 13, the Law & Order: SVU actress, 61, revealed with the premiere of her documentary My Mom Jayne that her biological father is not Mickey Hargitay, the man who raised her and was castrated in an early episode of SVU, but rather a former Las Vegas entertainer named Nelson Sardelli. As Mariska explains in the documentary — which marks her feature film directorial debut — she first learned of Sardelli when she was 25. She confronted Hargitay, the only father she’d ever known, with the news, and after he insisted he was her father, the two never spoke of it again. But it left Mariska with many questions, wondering if she was Hungarian like her father and her brothers, Zoltan and Mickey Jr., or if she was really Italian like Sardelli. The actress opened up further about the revelation about her father in an interview with Vanity Fair. She told the outlet that she went to see Sardelli perform in Atlantic City, N.J., when she was 30 years old, and described his emotional reaction when she introduced herself. Moved to tears, he said, “I’ve been waiting 30 years for this moment.” But Mariska said she found herself giving him a tough time and going “full Olivia Benson on him,” referring to her SVU character. “I was like, ‘I don’t want anything, I don’t need anything from you.… I have a dad, ‘ ” she recalled telling him, explaining, “There was something about loyalty. I wanted to be loyal to Mickey.” She told Vanity Fair that after the momentous meeting with Sardelli, she grappled with “knowing I’m living a lie my entire life.” Sardelli, who is still alive and now in his late eighties, participates in the documentary, as do his other two daughters — Mariska’s half sisters. In the film, Mariska explains that, at 61 years old, keeping this a secret was no longer necessary. Mariska also has an older sister, Jayne Marie Mansfield, from her mother’s first marriage, as well as a younger brother, Tony Cimber, from her mother’s third marriage, both of whom are also featured in My Mom Jayne. The actress told Vanity Fair that once she eventually built a bond with Sardelli and his daughters, she better understood that her mother returned to Mickey because she knew he would love and provide a stable home life for Mariska. “I grew up where I was supposed to, and I do know that everyone made the best choice for me,” she said. “I’m Mickey Hargitay’s daughter — that is not a lie.” “This documentary is kind of a love letter to him, because there’s no one that I was closer to on this planet,” she noted. Mariska told Vanity Fair that she and her Sardelli sisters gathered together for a private screening of the documentary in Las Vegas, and recalled how they were overcome with emotion. “They just wept and wept and wept,” she said. “These two women that I love so much — I made them secrets! It’s so heartbreaking to me.” For Mariska, sharing her story with the world in the documentary was a way to “unburden all of us.” Following the film’s premiere screening at Cannes on Saturday, the audience gave a five-minute standing ovation. Mariska was joined at the event by her husband, Peter Hermann, and three kids.

Thank you, Ms. McGovern.

A Mexican navy sailing ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday during a promotional tour in New York City, the top of its three masts slamming into the iconic span and partially collapsing as the boat floated in the East River. The New York Fire Department press desk confirmed that authorities responded to injuries but had no details about how many people might have been hurt or whether they were on the vessel or on the bridge. In a scene captured in multiple eyewitness videos, the masts could be seen snapping and partially collapsing as they crashed into the deck of the bridge. Videos showed heavy traffic on the span at the time of the collision. The vessel, which was flying a giant green, white and red Mexican flag, then drifted toward the edge of the river as onlookers scrambled away from shore. Sydney Neidell and Lily Katz told The Associated Press they were sitting outside to watch the sunset when they saw the vessel strike the bridge and one of its masts snap. Looking closer, they saw someone dangling from high on the ship. “We saw someone dangling, and I couldn’t tell if it was just blurry or my eyes, and we were able to zoom in on our phone and there was someone dangling from the harness from the top for like at least like 15 minutes before they were able to rescue them,” Katz said. They said they saw two people removed from the ship on stretchers onto smaller boats. The Mexican navy said in a post on the social platform X that the Cuauhtemoc, an academy training vessel, was damaged in an accident with the Brooklyn Bridge that prevented it from continuing its voyage. It added that the status of personnel and material was under review by naval and local authorities, which were providing assistance. The Foreign Affairs Ministry said on X that its ambassador to the U.S. and officials from the Mexican consulate in New York were in contact with local authorities to provide assistance to “the affected cadets,” but it did not mention injuries. The Brooklyn Bridge, which opened in 1883, has a nearly 1,600-foot (490-meter) main span that is supported by two masonry towers. More than 100,000 vehicles and an estimated 32,000 pedestrians cross every day, according to the city’s transportation department, and its walkway is a major tourist attraction. The Cuauhtemoc — about 297 feet long and 40 feet wide (90.5 meters long and 12 meters wide), according to the Mexican Navy — sailed for the first time in 1982. Each year it sets out at the end of classes at the naval military school to finish cadets' training. This year it left the Mexican port of Acapulco, on the Pacific coast, on April 6 with 277 people onboard, the Navy said then. The Mexican consulate said May 13 on X that the Cuauhtemoc, also called the “Ambassador and Knight of the Seas,” arrived that day and docked at pier 17. It invited people to visit it through May 17. The ship was scheduled to visit 22 ports in 15 nations, including Kingston, Jamaica; Havana, Cuba; Cozumel, Mexico; and New York. It had also planned to go to Reykjavik, Iceland; Bordeaux, Saint Malo and Dunkirk, France; and Aberdeen, Scotland, among others, for a total of 254 days, 170 of them at sea.

So, will I get my life-altering $4.50 payout because my Wheat Thins weren't whole-grain? You are included in the Settlement if, you are an individual 18 years or older in the United States and U.S. Territories who, during the Class Period (as defined herein), purchased one of the Class Products in the United States for personal use, and not for resale or distribution. The Class Products that are included in the Settlement are: Original Wheat Thins, Reduced Fat Wheat Thins, Sundried Tomato & Basil Wheat Thins, Big Wheat Thins, Ranch Wheat Thins, Hint of Salt Wheat Thins, Cracked Pepper & Olive Oil Wheat Thins, and Spicy Sweet Chili Wheat Thins bearing the representation “100% WHOLE GRAIN” on the label.

Mariska Hargitay is opening up about a family secret she's kept for more than 30 years. At the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, May 13, the Law & Order: SVU actress, 61, revealed with the premiere of her documentary My Mom Jayne that her biological father is not Mickey Hargitay, the man who raised her and was castrated in an early episode of SVU, but rather a former Las Vegas entertainer named Nelson Sardelli. As Mariska explains in the documentary — which marks her feature film directorial debut — she first learned of Sardelli when she was 25. She confronted Mariska, the only father she'd ever known, with the news, and after he insisted he was her father, the two never spoke of it again. But it left Mariska with many questions, wondering if she was Hungarian like her father and her brothers, Zoltan and Mickey Jr., or if she was really Italian like Sardelli. The actress opened up further about the revelation about her father in an interview with Vanity Fair. She told the outlet that she went to see Sardelli perform in Atlantic City, N.J., when she was 30 years old, and described his emotional reaction when she introduced herself. Moved to tears, he said, “I’ve been waiting 30 years for this moment.” But Mariska said she found herself giving him a tough time and going "full Olivia Benson on him," referring to her SVU character. “I was like, ‘I don’t want anything, I don’t need anything from you.… I have a dad, ' ” she recalled telling him, explaining, “There was something about loyalty. I wanted to be loyal to Mickey.” She told Vanity Fair that after the momentous meeting with Sardelli, she grappled with "knowing I'm living a lie my entire life." Sardelli, who is still alive and now in his late eighties, participates in the documentary, as do his other two daughters — Mariska's half sisters. In the film, Mariska explains that, at 61 years old, keeping this a secret was no longer necessary. Mariska also has an older sister, Jayne Marie Mansfield, from her mother's first marriage, as well as a younger brother, Tony Cimber, from her mother's third marriage, both of whom are also featured in My Mom Jayne. The actress told Vanity Fair that once she eventually built a bond with Sardelli and his daughters, she better understood that her mother returned to Mickey because she knew he would love and provide a stable home life for Mariska. “I grew up where I was supposed to, and I do know that everyone made the best choice for me,” she said. “I’m Mickey Hargitay’s daughter — that is not a lie.” “This documentary is kind of a love letter to him, because there’s no one that I was closer to on this planet," she noted. Mariska told Vanity Fair that she and her Sardelli sisters gathered together for a private screening of the documentary in Las Vegas, and recalled how they were overcome with emotion. “They just wept and wept and wept,” she said. “These two women that I love so much — I made them secrets! It’s so heartbreaking to me.” For Mariska, sharing her story with the world in the documentary was a way to "unburden all of us.” Following the film's premiere screening at Cannes on Saturday, the audience gave a five-minute standing ovation. Mariska was joined at the event by her husband, Peter Hermann, and three kids.

I wanted the final one to have the truck launch right into the road sign over the highway and knock it down.

I learned something new in ShopRite yesterday. As the cashier was ringing up my small order, he asked me if I had an item with the brand name Amiga. I said that is the name of the company that makes the handicap cart and he laughed because that name had come up on the screen and he explained that most customers don't realize that every checkout lane has a scanner on the side near the bottom so that if any people "forget" (my quotes) that they have something on the bottom of their wagons below the basket that scanner will pick it up.

THAT THING BELONGS IN A CORRAL!

WOW! I didn't realize you have the hots for John Goodman.

I am so ashamed... how could I not have said "so GIDDYish"?

I'm sure you'll all be so excited you can't contain yourselves because Kelli Giddish is returning to SVU full-time next season.

Mark Ruffalo is taking criminals to task this fall on HBO. The network on Thursday released the first trailer for Task, the forthcoming drama created by Brad Ingelsby (Mare of Easttown), which premieres in September. The series is “set in the working class suburbs of Philadelphia,” where Tom (Ruffalo), an FBI agent, “heads a task force to put an end to a string of violent robberies led by an unsuspecting family man (Ozark’s Tom Pelphrey),” according to the official logline.

Good luck and have fun.

Strong season finale for a show I really love.

L.A. judge resentences Menendez brothers, giving them chance at freedom APPLE.NEWS Erik and Lyle Menendez received a chance at freedom after more than 35 years in prison Tuesday, with a...

Burger King to remodel 400 of its US restaurants in 2025, hundreds more to come

CBS News French actor Gerard Depardieu convicted of sexual assault Depardieu has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two women during the filming of Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters) in Paris in 2021.

The Yankees plan to activate DJ LeMahieu from the injured list before tomorrow’s game against the Mariners, manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Brendan Kuty of The Athletic). LeMahieu is already en route to Seattle but will not be active for tonight’s series opener. They’ll ease him back in, as he’ll be off the bench on Tuesday and draw into the starting lineup on Wednesday.