Tropical storm hitting Fla., Ala.
Tropical storm hitting Fla., Ala.
MIAMI (AP) — Slow-moving Tropical Storm Debby’s outer bands lashed Florida with rain and kicked up rough surf off Alabama on Sunday, prompting warnings for those states and causing at least one death.
The death in Florida was blamed on a tornado spawned by the storm, while a man went missing in the Gulf at an Alabama beach.
Underscoring the storm’s unpredictable nature, forecasters discontinued a tropical storm warning for Louisiana after forecast models indicated Debby was less likely to make a westward turn than initially predicted. Coastal Alabama and parts of Florida remained under tropical storm warnings.
Debby already has dumped heavy rain on parts of Florida and spawned some isolated tornadoes, causing damage to homes and knocking down power lines. High winds forced the closure of an interstate bridge that spans Tampa Bay and links St. Petersburg with areas to the southeast.
Storm tracks are difficult to predict days in advance. But as of late Sunday the latest forecast map shows the center of the storm 100 miles south-southwest of Apalachicola, Fla., and likely to meander northward for several days before making landfall.
‘Gateway sexual activity’ targeted
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Spurred by a classroom demonstration involving a sex toy, Tennessee recently enacted a pro-abstinence sex education law that is among the strictest in the nation.
The most debated section of the bill bars educators from promoting “gateway sexual activity.” But supporters seemed too squeamish during floor debate to specify what that meant, so critics soon labeled it the “no holding-hands bill.”
One thing missing from the debate in the Legislature was a discussion of whether the law signed by Republican Gov. Bill Haslam last month really would help reduce Tennessee’s high teenage pregnancy rate. Experts say it won’t and warn that it leaves teenagers inadequately educated about sexuality and prevention of pregnancy and disease.
Tennessee’s pregnancy rate among girls 15 to 17 has dropped steadily since the first abstinence-focused sex education curriculum was put in place in the 1990s, according to figures from the state Commission on Children and Youth. In 2009, the latest data available, there were 29.6 pregnancies per 1,000 girls, down from a rate of 48.2 in 1998.
Bank downgrades could hurt loans
NEW YORK (AP) — When a major bank’s credit rating is cut, it deals a psychological blow — to customers, the public and financial markets.
So Thursday’s downgrading of 15 of the world’s largest banks is almost sure to cause wide concern. Most deposits are perfectly safe, but the downgrades could hurt people in more subtle ways: Banks may jack up fees and might be reluctant to lend, which could affect mortgages, credit cards and even the job market.
“It is normal that the first thing that people worry about is whether their money is safe,” said Jim Nadler, chief operating officer at Kroll Bond Ratings Agency. “But the real costs may be hidden.”
Bank deposits up to $250,000 are guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
But the downgrades come at a tenuous time for banks. An avalanche of new regulations adopted after the financial crisis has wiped out many of the fees they charged on credit cards and checking accounts. Banks are also barred from making lucrative bets in the stock and bond markets, eliminating billions of dollars in trading income.
So banks are now squeezing income from any place they can. Basic services that were once free now cost money. Checking accounts can cost $8, a bank statement $3, canceling a check $2. The list goes on.
In light of the lower ratings, existing fees might climb further and new ones could appear.
‘Jeopardy!’ host has heart attack
NEW YORK (AP) — “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek is in a Los Angeles hospital recovering from a mild heart attack.
Sony Television spokeswoman Paula Askanas said Sunday that Trebek was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Saturday. She says the 71-year-old Trebek is expected to fully recover and be back giving answers when “Jeopardy!” resumes production on a new season in July.
While he was in the hospital on Saturday, “Jeopardy!” won a Daytime Emmy award for best game show.
Disney’s ‘Brave’ shows its mettle
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A new Disney princess has ascended to the box-office throne with a No. 1 debut for Pixar Animation’s “Brave.”
The latest from the makers of “WALL-E,” “Finding Nemo” and the “Toy Story” movies opened with $66.7 million domestically, according to studio estimates Sunday. “Brave” added $13.5 million in 10 overseas markets for a worldwide start of $80.2 million.
Featuring a feisty Scottish princess, “Brave” was the first of Disney’s Pixar animations with a female protagonist. And it left American hero Abraham Lincoln in the dust.
The 20th Century Fox action tale “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” opened far back at No. 3 with $16.5 million, behind “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted.”
DreamWorks Animation’s animated “Madagascar” sequel had been No. 1 for two weekends and added $20.2 million to raise its domestic total to $157.6 million.
“Brave” is the 13th-straight Pixar release to open at No. 1 since “Toy Story” launched Hollywood’s age of computer animation in 1995.
“Their track record is just unbelievable,” said Paul Dergarabedian, analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. “The Pixar brand just carries so much weight with the audience, it doesn’t matter almost what the story is about if it has the Pixar name.”
The weekend’s other new wide release, Steve Carell and Keira Knightley’s apocalyptic romance “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World,” misfired with just $3.8 million, debuting at No. 10.
The Focus Features film, playing in much narrower release than other top-10 movies, stars Carell and Knightley as heartbroken neighbors on a road trip as a killer asteroid hurtles toward Earth.
Woody Allen’s Italian romance “To Rome with Love” pulled in huge audiences in limited release, debuting with $379,371 in five theaters. That gave the Sony Pictures Classics release a whopping average of $75,874 a theater, compared to $16,028 in 4,164 cinemas for “Brave.”
“Brave” features a voice cast led by Kelly Macdonald and Emma Thompson in a mother-daughter story of a young Scottish princess defying tradition that requires her to marry against her will.
The film proved that audiences will turn up for a female hero, not just the male protagonists of past Pixar flicks, such as Woody and Buzz of “Toy Story,” the robot of “WALL-E” or the rat and his chef buddy of “Ratatouille.”
“Brave” matched the $66.1 million debut of Pixar’s “Cars 2,” with male automotive lead Lightning McQueen, over the same weekend a year ago.
“It is a phenomenal thing, these guys and their mastery of big storytelling and character development, delivering something that plays well to adults as well as kids, to girls as well as boys,” Dave Hollis, Disney’s head of distribution, said of Pixar.
The audience for “Brave” did lean toward females, who accounted for 57 percent of viewers. Two-thirds of the film’s business came from families, who also continued to flock to “Madagascar 3,” making a rare weekend when two PG-rated movies led the box office.
The R-rated “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” was a clever idea — the 16th U.S. president waging his own civil war against the blood-suckers of the republic. But critics were unimpressed, and action fans had only a passing interest in the movie, which featured relative unknown Benjamin Walker as Lincoln.
Still, it was made for $69 million, a modest budget for a summer action movie, and 20th Century Fox had hopes it would hold up well over the next week or so before “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “The Dark Knight Rises” swoop in to take over cinemas in July.
“It’s actually a good start for this movie,” said Chris Aronson, the studio’s head of distribution. “This is an interesting and untested genre that I think audiences are going to continue to seek out. Mash-ups have been done, but the historical mash-up has not been done.”
Estimated ticket sales were for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.