Arts

Houston needed seven games to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers, and rode George Springer’s home run streak to the franchise’s first championship

With a World Series title at stake Wednesday night, the Houston Astros jumped out to an early 5-0 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers and held on to win the first Major League Baseball championship in franchise history.

The deciding Game 7 lacked some of the dramatics of the back-and-forth series that set a record for home runs in a World Series and included two extra-inning games.

But Astros right fielder George Springer punctuated Wednesday’s contest, and his dazzling series, with a two-run home run in the second inning. It was his fourth consecutive game with a home run, and his five total in the World Series tied a record held by two other players.

Springer earned series Most Valuable Player honors for his performance. After the game, he said it was one of the happiest days of his life.

“This is a dream come true. It’s an honor. But you know what, it’s about the Houston Astros tonight and our city and our fans. We’re coming home a champion, Houston,” Springer said.

​From worst to first

Four years ago, the Astros were baseball’s worst team by a large margin, losing 111 games. This year, they were one of the best, winning 101 games during the regular season with a roster full of young stars including Venezuelan Jose Altuve and Puerto Rico native Carlos Correa.

The team was also a sentimental favorite after Houston was devastated by Hurricane Harvey in late August, and players played with “Houston Strong” patches on the front of their jerseys.

“We did this for them,” Altuve said after Wednesday’s game. “I know it’s been a lot going on in Houston since last year, but this is because of them, they are the biggest reason why we’re here playing every day.”

Correa also said it was special to win a championship for Houston and to represent hurricane-battered Puerto Rico.

“Being able to bring joy, happiness to their lives in this moment right now it’s really special. The same for my people in Puerto Rico, I love you so much,” Correa said.

On the field after the game Correa added to the joy of Wednesday night by asking his girlfriend, Daniella Rodriguez, to marry him. She said yes.

​Dodgers falter in post-season

The Dodgers were the league’s best team during the regular season with 104 wins, but failed in their attempt to win their first World Series since 1988.

Springer’s home run knocked Dodgers starting pitcher Yu Darvish from the game, continuing a trend in the series of starters exiting games early because of ineffectiveness. For Darvish, whose mother is Japanese and whose father is Iranian, it was the second poor performance of the World Series after he failed to complete two innings in a Game 3 loss.

The Dodgers acquired Darvish in a midseason trade, hoping to solidify an elite pitching staff that included ace Clayton Kershaw. The Astros made their own trade for pitcher Justin Verlander, who played an integral role in their march through the playoffs and allowed just five hits in his two World Series starts.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts described how the final game got away from his team so early.

“The walk, the double, and then next thing you know Springer hits a homer and you’re down 5-0, so it happened very quick. And we did what we could to kind of damage control and keep us in the ball game, but we really couldn’t break through tonight.”

But while the Dodgers scored only one run in Game 7 after averaging more than five runs per game in the series, Roberts said he told the team they should be proud of how they played.

“It hurts. It’s supposed to hurt. But there’s nothing to regret when you leave it all out there,” he said.
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U.S. officials said Wednesday that they have proposed ending the Obama administration’s ban on new uranium mining leases on public land outside Grand Canyon National Park.

The Forest Service proposed the change in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order for federal agencies to eliminate restrictions on energy production. The Trump administration has moved to unravel former President Barack Obama’s environmental regulations aimed at curbing climate change.

“Adoption of this recommendation could reopen lands to mineral entry pursuant to the United States mining laws facilitating exploration for, and possibly development of, uranium resources,” according to a report last week by the Forest Service’s parent agency, the Department of Agriculture.

The Oct. 25 report also said it’s in the national interest “to promote the clean and safe development of America’s vast energy resources.” Nuclear power plants use uranium as fuel.

 

Conservationists are decrying the Forest Service’s move, saying that past uranium mining in the region has polluted soils, washes, aquifers and drinking water.

“The Forest Service should be advocating for a permanent mining ban, not for advancing private mining interests that threaten one of the natural wonders of the world,” said Amber Reimondo, energy program director of the Grand Canyon Trust based in Flagstaff.

In 2012, then-Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar banned new hard rock mining for 20 years on more than 1 million acres of national forest and Bureau of Land Management land near the Grand Canyon. He said he was acting to protect a “priceless American landscape.”

 

The ban did not affect existing mining claims in the region.

 
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Los Angeles is preparing to stage the 2028 Olympic Games, and hopes to avoid the high costs that have hurt other host cities in recent years. In some cases, financial worries prompted other cities to drop their bid to host Olympic games. But organizers in Los Angeles are applying lessons in efficiency and frugality from previous times the city staged the Olympics. The games in 1932 and 1984 produced significant surpluses. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee reports.
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In a vast, subterranean space in New York City, three flights down from the largest sound stage east of Hollywood, 80,000 costumes await their return to the limelight.

This is the TDF Costume Collection, run by the not-for-profit Theater Development Fund. The clothing and accessories have been donated from Broadway, Off Broadway, opera, film, and regional productions. And they are all available for rent, but not to anyone, says collection director Steven Cabral.

“We’re not renting for Halloween, and we’re not renting for parties with food or liquids where something could happen to the costume. But if you’re doing something that seems of an artistic nature in some way, we’re going to be able to rent to you.” And, he notes, there’s a little bit of everything in the collection – from medieval suits of armor to outfits from the 1920’s to modern ball gowns.

He says TDF got into the costume business in the mid-1960s, when the Metropolitan Opera was about to move into a new home in Lincoln Center. “They had [costumes for] 22 full operas that they knew that they would not be taking with them, but they didn’t want to just toss away. So TDF took on all of these old productions from the Met, and began to, at a very, very, very inexpensive rate, rent out these costumes.”

High school, college and community theater groups, movie production companies and TV shows have all taken advantage of the incredible variety of costumes in the collection. Opera companies can find whatever they need here.

Cabral points out a gown from a Met production of Lucia di Lammermoor, which was once shipped to an opera company in the Midwest. Cabral recalls a phone call he got later from the company director, who told him, ‘You had one of my singers in tears last night.’

“The person being fitted for this costume was a young opera singer,” he says, “and when she saw the costume, and saw that it had the Metropolitan Opera label, and it said wedding scene, and it said Beverly Sills. The young woman broke down because she couldn’t believe that she was so fortunate to not only wear Metropolitan Opera, but to wear something owned by Beverly Sills.”

Costumes from the Met are built to last, so when they arrive, they go into a small room of “special stock.” After these costumes have seen their share of use, they’re moved into “regular stock.” And once they start looking shabby, they might go into the “distressed” section. Or they could go straight to the semi-annual bag sale, where Cabral says there’s a set price for everything you can stuff into one bag.

“And the rule is, we just don’t ever want to see the costume again.”

Because there’s always a new crop of donations waiting for space on the TDF racks.
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The head organizer of the 2010 World Cup has denied raping a singer and former South African ruling party lawmaker 24 years ago.

Danny Jordaan, the head of South African soccer, released a statement through his lawyer to deny the allegations made by Jennifer Ferguson, who said in a series of online posts that she was raped by Jordaan at a hotel in South Africa in 1993.

Ferguson made the claim two weeks ago, using the hashtag #MeToo, an online campaign denouncing sexual assault and harassment.

In the statement, Jordaan’s lawyer, Mamodupi Mohlala-Mulaudzi, said Jordaan denies raping Ferguson.

Jordaan was criticized in South Africa for taking so long to respond, but his lawyer said “Dr. Jordaan’s perceived silence in the face of such serious allegations is because of his empathy with the victims of gender-based violence. Dr. Jordaan has, however, after careful consideration decided to assert his innocence.”

The lawyer said Ferguson’s allegations must be tested in court.

Ferguson said she didn’t report the rape because she was “too ashamed to go through the reporting procedure.” She said she met Jordaan at a hotel where she was performing. She claimed Jordaan followed her back to her room and raped her.
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The steakhouse at Harrah’s New Orleans Casino is now called BH Steak _ instead of Besh Steak.

The change, reported by New Orleans media, comes a week after the casino broke ties with celebrity chef John Besh. The action followed an investigative story by NOLA.comThe Times-Picayune about allegations of sexual harassment involving the business.

The story outlined the claims of women who said they were victims of sexual harassment by male co-workers and bosses in the Besh Restaurant Group. Besh stepped down from his management role in the business after the story was published.

The name BH Steak honors William “Bill” Harrah, who founded the Harrah’s gambling empire in the 1930s.
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The Olympic flame begins a long cross-country journey through South Korea Wednesday that marks the official countdown to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

A plane carrying the iconic Olympic flame landed in Incheon International Airport earlier in the day after a flight from Athens, Greece, the birthplace of the Olympic Games. Moments after its arrival, Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yu-na and South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon used the flame to light a ceremonial cauldron and a specially designed torch.

Later Wednesday, the torch will begin a 2,018-kilometer, 100-day relay to Pyeongchang in time for the opening ceremony on February 9, 2018. Teenage figure skating star You Young will be the first of 7,500 torchbearers that will carry the Olympic flame through nine provinces, eight major cities and over 150 counties and districts before arriving at its final destination.

The Olympic flame last burned over South Korea during the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul.

Final preparations for the 16-day Pyeongchang Olympics are taking place under the cloud of rising tensions with rival North Korea over its nuclear weapons program and ballistic missile tests, with only 340,000 tickets sold so far.
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Actress Dakota Fanning has told reporters that although she hasn’t experienced the sort of sexual assault that has turned Hollywood on its head, it’s “important to talk about these issues, for women to stand up for themselves.”

 

Fanning, 23, spoke Tuesday at the Rome Film Festival, where she was presenting the film “Please Stand By.” She plays a young autistic woman obsessed with the Star Trek series, who runs away from her home in San Francisco to get to Los Angeles to submit her manuscript for a Star Trek script writing contest.

 

Fanning said she shares her character’s determination in achieving her goal, adding: “you have to fight for what you believe in and stay true to what you are.”

 

 
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The suspension of filming on House of Cards Tuesday in response to allegations that star Kevin Spacey made sexual advances on a teen boy is a rare move in an industry that puts commerce first.

Shows are infrequently derailed by concerns other than their ratings performance, said TV historian and former network executive Tim Brooks.

“It usually depends on how popular the show is, not to put too fine a point on it,” Brooks said Tuesday.

In recent days, Hollywood has reacted swiftly to allegations of sexual harassment and assault: Harvey Weinstein was fired from the company he founded within days after initial reports of sexual harassment were published in the New York Times earlier this month. 

And hours after news broke about the allegations against Spacey, Netflix said it was pulling the plug on House of Cards, though the streaming network said the decision was made before the BuzzFeed News report on Spacey over the weekend. The network has not commented on plans for a Gore Vidal biopic starring Spacey that is currently in production.

The widespread tumult has prompted unusual actions — such as Weinstein being booted from industry organizations — and created a climate of uncertainty. But a look back shows that Hollywood has dealt with disruption before, with even beloved shows and actors fighting to keep their balance amid controversy.

Lucille Ball

During Hollywood’s 1950s “red scare,” Brooks said, I Love Lucy star Lucille Ball was accused of being a communist sympathizer. The sitcom co-starred her husband, Desi Arnaz, who took action.

“Desi came out before a studio taping and said, ‘The only thing red about Lucy is her hair, and that’s not real,”‘ using humor to effectively defuse the situation, Brooks said. The show’s No. 1 status also helped.

Stacey Keach

Popularity and audience acceptance of a star’s personal issues aided Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer when lead actor Stacey Keach served six months in jail for a drug-related arrest in England in the mid-1980s.

The 1984-85 season was cut short, but the series resumed in 1986 with Keach aboard and aired until 1987 on CBS.

Isaiah Washington

Grey’s Anatomy was swamped by controversy in late 2006 when an on-set scuffle broke out between stars Patrick Dempsey and Isaiah Washington over Washington’s use of a gay slur regarding another cast member.

After Washington repeated the slur at the 2007 Golden Globes while denying he had used it, ABC rebuked him publicly, as did co-star Katherine Heigl. He was subsequently fired, and the medical drama from TV hitmaker Shonda Rhimes sailed on even as Washington blamed racism for his treatment.

Spacey’s cast mates

An actor’s popularity with his cast mates can determine his fate, Brooks said.

“If they like him, if they get along with him, it’s easy enough to say, ‘If I don’t get my career ruined in this, I’ll stick with him,”‘ he said.

How Spacey’s cast mates are reacting to him and the allegations remains to be seen. Robin Wright, who stars opposite Spacey as his wife, hasn’t commented publicly, but her Twitter feed includes a number of posts backing social issues including female rights and education.

Netflix and House of Cards producer Media Rights Capital had already decided to end the series at the end of next season, its sixth, but on Tuesday they chose to pause the production, which is filmed in Baltimore, “to give us time to review the current situation and to address any concerns of our cast and crew.” Spacey was not scheduled to work that day.

Allegations, response

The move comes after actor Anthony Rapp came forward with claims Spacey made inappropriate sexual advances toward him in 1986, when Rapp was 14.

Spacey responded by saying he doesn’t remember the alleged encounter but if he acted the way Rapp alleges, “I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.” He also spoke publicly for the first time about being gay, which draw backlash from some observers as an attempt at deflection.

The fallout for Spacey also included the loss of an award he was going to get later this month by The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The group says “it will not honor Kevin Spacey with the 2017 International Emmy Founders Award,” which is to honor “an individual who crosses cultural boundaries to touch humanity.” Spacey was to get it at a gala on Nov. 20 in New York City. Past recipients include Rhimes, Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams.

A release date for the final House of Cards episodes has yet to be announced. Netflix is developing a possible spinoff of the award-winning drama that helped put the streaming service on the TV series map.
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The southern African country of Malawi may not be what comes to mind when you think of kung fu movies. But four young acrobats in its capital, Lilongwe, are out to change that. The trailer for their first locally produced action flick, The Town Monger, has been generating buzz online and drawn interest from regional cable distributors. The film will premiere in Malawi this week.

The buzz started soon after the director posted the film’s trailer online.

“It is not what we expected, and we have been overwhelmed by the response,” said Denis Imaan, manager of the Kufewa Acrobatics. “And we have taken some time now just to sit down, trying to strategize like ‘OK, where do we go from now?’”

Kufewa Acrobatics is a group of four school drop-outs from the Area 36 Township in Malawi’s capital.

The acrobats are self-taught. They learned by watching Jackie Chan movies and videos of Cirque de Soleil.

“At first, we were performing around our neighborhood. After the positive response, we started performing in townships, performing in the streets. In the process, people would give us money for each performance,” explained group member Abdul Rashid Shaibu.

Making their own movie seemed a natural progression. In 2015, they embarked on The Town Monger. The film tells the story of the challenges they have faced.

“We have sometimes been accused by many people, even by our own relatives, that what we are doing has no future. But I could not back down because I had a vision, and, moreover, these are the skills which God blessed me with,” said Alfred Hambali of Kufewa Acrobatics.

The 82-minute movie was filmed using a borrowed camera and a borrowed iPad. The set was the streets they know well.

The action movie got mixed reviews at its first local screening to journalists.

“What has impressed me most is the setting. As [what] was at the beginning, when the movie was being set, it was not just linear,” said Shadrick Kalukusha of World Wide Media.

“It never had a lot of dialogue,” noted Gertrude Abudu of Rainbow TV. “That they can really grow on. It never had a lot of female actresses. We only saw only one female actress. That we also definitely grow on.”

Meanwhile, several regional TV networks have expressed interest in buying rights to the film. It is entirely in the local language, Chichewa. Producers are busy adding English subtitles.

The four young men are preparing to stage live action performances of The Town Monger, and they hope to one day perform abroad.
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British media are reporting that police have widened their investigation into sexual assault claims against disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

 

Citing unidentified sources, the Independent newspaper, Press Association and Sky News say London’s Metropolitan Police are now investigating allegations by seven women over incidents that reportedly took place from the 1980s to 2015.

 

Police declined to comment, only saying Tuesday that officers from its child abuse and sexual offenses command are probing sexual assault allegations made by seven victims. British police do not identify people under investigation until charges are laid.

 

The news comes just days after the British Film Institute stripped Weinstein of its highest honor, saying his alleged “appalling conduct” stands in opposition to the organization’s values.

 

Weinstein denies having any non-consensual sexual activity.

 

 

 
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Michael Jackson died eight years ago, but he’s still generating millions of dollars.

Jackson is atop the Forbes list of top-earning dead celebrities for the fifth straight year, with $75 million. Forbes says Jackson’s earnings are boosted by a new greatest hits album, a Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil show and a stake in the EMI music publishing catalog.

Two other singers join Jackson in the top five. Elvis Presley comes in fourth with $35 million and Bob Marley ranks fifth with $23 million.

Golf legend Arnold Palmer is the second-highest earner. He brought in $40 million in part through sales of Arizona lemonade and ice tea beverage made in his name.

Palmer is followed by Charles Schulz. The creator of the “Peanuts” franchise made $38 million.
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It’s been one epic year for women, a notion definitely not lost on Glamour magazine as it named U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, 27 key facilitators of the Women’s March on Washington and astronaut Peggy Whitson among its women of the year from the worlds of politics, entertainment, fashion, business and more.

 

The other winners announced Monday, ahead of a Nov. 13 gala in Brooklyn, New York, are actor Nicole Kidman, singer Solange Knowles, Syrian refugee Muzoon Almellehan, late-night TV host Samantha Bee, supermodel Gigi Hadid, Dior’s first female creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, and “Wonder Woman” helmswoman Patty Jenkins.

 

Cindi Leive, Glamour’s editor-in-chief, called them “wildly diverse changemakers” who reflect this “tumultuous and electric year for women.” All will be on hand for the magazine’s annual awards night, with a summit featuring Chelsea Clinton, Laverne Cox, Cecile Richards and other past winners planned for earlier the same day.

 

This year’s honorees will be featured on multiple Glamour covers and in a spread for December.

 

A look at some in the Class of 2017:

 

THE REVOLUTIONARIES

 

Listening especially to the strong voices of young women after Hillary Clinton’s popular vote win but Electoral College loss to Donald Trump, Glamour called the impact of the Women’s March massive, along with an outpouring around the globe.

 

“Vastly more women turned out for the march, not just in Washington but the marches around the world, than anyone expected,” Leive told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “There were so many hundreds of women who were involved in the organization and planning of these marches, but 27 key leaders and organizers really devoted the lion’s share of their time between Election Day and Inauguration Day.”

 

In all, an estimated half a million made their way to Washington, where maybe 200,000 had been expected, and 5 million more gathered everywhere from Australia to Antarctica.

 

The honorees are:

 

Bob Bland, Tamika D. Mallory, Linda Sarsour, Paola Mendoza, Carmen Perez, Sarah Sophie Flicker, Janaye Ingram, Ginny Suss, Emma Collum, Cassady Fendlay, Lisa Harps, Mia Ives-Rublee, Rabbi Barat Ellman, Toshi Reagon, Sophie Ellman-Golan, ShiShi Rose, Caitlin Ryan, Jenna Arnold, Nantasha Williams, Alyssa Klein, Mariam Ehrari, Meredith Shepherd, Tabitha St. Bernard-Jacobs, Breanne Butler, Mrinalini Chakraborty, Brea Baker and De’Ara Balenger.

 

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THE CONGRESSWOMAN WHO COULD

 

At 79, Maxine Waters describes herself in Glamour as a mix of “intellect and alley cat.” She has been on the front line of progressive politics for years, but that moment over the summer when Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin appeared to be trying to run out her allotted five minutes rather than answer her questions about Trump’s financial ties to Russia, the congresswoman shut him down when she declared repeatedly that she was “reclaiming my time.” Her words became a hashtag and a call to action for women.

 

Waters earned Glamour’s lifetime achievement award.

 

“Most young people really became aware of her over the course of this year because she’s been very vocal, very outspoken, standing up to members of the administration, but she’s actually had an incredibly inspiring lifetime of achievement,” Leive said. “This is a woman who grew up without all that much and decided that she would go back to college in her 20s, after having worked at the phone company, and then worked as a community coordinator for Head Start. She wasn’t born into politics or anything like that. She really made her own career.”

 

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GIGI THE SUPERNOVA

 

The first time Gigi Hadid bubbled to the surface was on the reality show “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” Modeling since she was around 3, she went from a Guess campaign at 17 to supermodel five years later, racking up numerous magazine covers, editorial gigs and runway shows, along with a fashion collaboration with Tommy Hilfiger and an upcoming cosmetics collection with Maybelline.

 

As Glamour writes, Hadid didn’t just take off, “she took over.”

 

At 22, Hadid has a 36-million strong following on Instagram and a megaplatform that could easily have been wasted. Instead, she has spoken out about gun control and marched with sister Bella to protest Trump’s signing of an executive order that suspended immigration to the U.S. from seven Muslim countries.

 

Their father, real estate developer Mohamed Hadid, was born in Palestine and their mother, Yolanda Hadid, emigrated from Holland in her teens.

 

“When I started working in fashion, it was like, Gigi, the all-American. I was very much that ‘girl next door,'” she told Glamour, “but if you read my interviews, I always talk about my parents’ cultural backgrounds.”

 

Leive called her “incredibly wise beyond her years.”

 

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SOLANGE BREAKS IT OPEN

 

With a Grammy win and a groundbreaking album, “A Seat at the Table,” Knowles is living her truth in abundance. The record, released late last year, takes on some key issues: racism, cultural appropriation, activism and empowerment among them.

 

“She’s such a fantastic and inspiring example of somebody who has always chosen not to do things the easy way,” Leive said. “Her sister is Beyonce. She could have become a pop star in any number of ways but she decided to really focus on her own personal vision of art.”

 

Knowles told the magazine that she worked on “A Seat at the Table” on and off for three years, at one point spending three months writing songs in tiny Patoutville, Louisiana, soaking up the pride, resilience and traditions of the regional culture. She worked in a house on a sugar plantation, feeling a closeness to her ancestors and feeling a “constant state of reflection.”

 

Part of her goal was to reclaim and change her own narrative, she said, “whether it was people challenging who wrote what on my album, whether it was about some editor commenting on my hair in a story or someone feeling like they were entitled to space in my life. I needed to unfold, reveal and discover my truth.”

 

 

 
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Actor Kevin Spacey said Sunday he is “beyond horrified” by allegations that he made sexual advances on a teen boy decades ago.

The two-time Oscar winner posted on Twitter that he doesn’t remember the encounter. “But if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years,” he said.

In an interview with BuzzFeed, actor Anthony Rapp said Spacey befriended him while they both performed on Broadway shows. Rapp was 14 when he attended a party at Spacey’s apartment in 1986, he said. At the end of the night, an inebriated Spacey picked him up, placed him on his bed, and climbed on top of him, Rapp said.

Rapp said the 26-year-old was holding him down tightly, but he was able to get away and left the apartment.

Rapp, who is now 46 and starring in the TV show “Star Trek: Discovery”, said he came forward after allegations against Harvey Weinstein sparked conversations about sexual abuse and harassment in the entertainment industry.

Spacey, who is now 58, spoke publicly about his sexual orientation for the first time Sunday on Twitter.

“As those closest to me know, in my life I have had relationships with both men and women,” he said. “I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man.”

Spacey, who has fiercely protected his private life, had never disclosed his sexuality before but said Rapp’s story encouraged him to speak.

“I want to deal with this honestly and openly and that starts with examining my own behavior,” he said.
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Despite a national fascination with everything new and shiny, there is a portion of America that is focused on the old and quirky. They can find what they’re looking for at antique shops, where treasures from someone’s attic share space with memorabilia from long-forgotten celebrations. Barry Richards takes us antiquing in Tennessee.
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From eye-popping colors to outfits with plunging necklines and see-through tops to more conservative wear, fashionistas and industry professionals showcased their latest eye catching designs at this year’s Lagos Fashion Week in Nigeria Mariama Diallo reports.
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Tuesday is Halloween, the spookiest day of the year. Some people like to use the holiday to visit scary attractions like haunted houses. In historic Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, a ghost tour takes visitors to places that are said to be haunted. But that’s no surprise to locals, who say they often see and hear paranormal activity. VOA’s Deborah Block has the spine-chilling story.
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While American’s prepare for Halloween — a holiday known for ghosts and goblins and costumed children going door-to-door and scaring candy from their neighbors — in the Swedish capital of Stockholm, a thousand people dressed as vampires from around the world descended upon the Royal Opera House for the final dress rehearsal of an opera about history’s best-known vampire. Arash Arabasadi reports.
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When Angelina Jolie puts her name on a film, you will likely find an important message in there. “The Breadwinner” is no exception, spinning an inspiring tale of an Afghan girl who won’t be denied her human rights. The film was recently screened in Washington with a special guest who could relate to the story firsthand.
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Things are weird, as usual, in Key West.

A pair of Vikings push a stroller full of stuffed chimps down Duval Street. A man with a ponytail swallows a steel sword. People dressed only in body paint and glitter wander and jiggle from bar to bar.

Fantasy Fest, one of Key West’s major tourist draws of the year, is in full swing. And that’s a relief for Florida Keys business owners trying to weather the economic storm that hit after Hurricane Irma battered the middle stretch of the tourism-dependent island chain.

Bucket list trip

The festivities have not disappointed Gary Gates from Buffalo, New York, who planned this “bucket list” trip 10 months ago with six friends.

“We were coming whether there was a hurricane or not,” the former NFL cameraman said. “I’ve never seen anything quite like this. To come down here and actually see people dressed in all kinds of costumes — or no costumes at all — was something that I needed to see.”

Gates flew into Key West and has not left during its annual 10-day festival of costume parties and parades, so he has not seen the devastation that lingers more than a month since Hurricane Irma made landfall Sept. 10 about 20 miles north of the city.

​Middle Keys hit hardest

The mostly residential middle stretch of the island chain took the brunt of the hurricane’s 130-mph winds. The area is almost entirely brown, with debris piled alongside the highway and mangroves stripped bare. A stranded boat was christened the SS Irma with spray paint and offered “free” to drivers passing by.

But at opposite ends of the 120-mile-long island chain, tourist attractions in Key Largo and Key West escaped significant damage.

Dolphins Plus Bayside was ready for visitors three days after Irma’s landfall, but business has been down by half compared to last fall, said Mike Borguss, the third generation in his family to run the Key Largo attraction.

Some staff now live with friends or in temporary trailers parked outside their damaged homes, but the dolphins swim up to the water’s edge to check out new people toting cameras, and an adjacent hotel property is open for weddings and other events that had to be canceled elsewhere in the Keys because of Irma, said Art Cooper, Borguss’ cousin and curator at Dolphins Plus Bayside.

“The water’s pretty, the weather’s beautiful and we wish you were here,” Cooper said.

​Tourism down significantly

Scott Saunders, president and CEO of Fury Water Adventures, estimated tourism in Key West has been about a third of what it was at this time last fall, even though the city’s hotels, restaurants, cruise ship operations and beaches quickly reopened after the storm.

“There’s no reason not to be doing everything we did last year,” Saunders said before one of his fleet’s sunset cruises. “We should be having that tourist base down here, but we haven’t had any.”

Jodi Weinhofer, president of the Lodging Association of the Florida Keys and Key West, blames news coverage of Irma, but not the hurricane itself, for the downturn.

“There was over a $100 million worth of negative press,” Weinhofer said.

Tourism big business in Keys

Tourism is a $2.7 billion industry in the Keys, supporting 54 percent of all jobs in the island chain, according to Monroe County’s Tourist Development Council.

Some jobs have been lost to Irma. Last week, Hawks Cay Resort on Duck Key, about 35 miles northeast of Irma’s landfall, let go 260 workers amid ongoing repairs. The Islamorada Resort Company said its four properties in the Middle Keys will be closed for renovations over the next six months.

But up and down the island chain, bars, marinas and mom-and-pop establishments able to reopen have been hiring laid-off workers and keeping people from moving away, Daniel Samess, CEO of the Greater Marathon Chamber of Commerce.

About 70 percent of roughly 35 hotels and motels in the Middle Keys are open, though those rooms mostly are filled by displaced residents and state and federal recovery workers. Officials plan to provide alternative housing and open those hotel rooms fully to tourists within the next two months, Samess said.

Final sweeps for debris in some parts of the Keys are scheduled Sunday, which also is the finale for Fantasy Fest. So far, the amount of broken tree branches and remnants of homes and belongings wrecked by Irma could fill over 133 Goodyear Blimps, according to Monroe County officials.

The cleanup will help create a good impression for visitors to Key West long before they arrive in the southernmost city in the continental U.S., said Key West Mayor Craig Cates.

“It’s a scenic cruise in your car coming down, and it’s very important that they get it cleaned up,” he said.
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