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Houston and Harris County officials want you to sell them your guns. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County officials are holding another gun buyback event later this February, according to KPRC 2. This is the third gun buyback hosted by city and county officials in the past several months. The city imposed new rules on the events in September, after a man sold dozens of 3D-printed guns back to the city during its inaugural buyback last summer. The event will take place on Feb. 18 at Deussen Park, according to KPRC 2. At past buybacks, officials have offered between $50 and $200 in gift cards in exchange for different types of guns, no questions asked. Mayor Turner, alongside Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis and Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, are hosting a press conference with additional details about the upcoming event at 1 p.m., KPRC 2 reported Monday. At the first gun buyback on Jul. 31, an anonymous man sparked controversy and prompted … [Read more...] about Houston, Harris County want to buy your guns, no questions asked

Two anticipated trends in 2023 Formula 1 car design were evident in the first new chassis presented for the upcoming season today. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free While Red Bull, Haas and Williams relied on models or old cars to reveal their new liveries over the past week, Alfa Romeo became the first team to show something approaching a genuine 2023 machine. Their video broadcast showed Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu revealing the car in a similar configuration to what they will run when testing begins in Bahrain in two weeks’ time. The team also issued images of its car in launch specification. One obvious change is the shift towards a darker livery, just as fellow Ferrari power unit customers Haas have done. Teams have been removing paint and exposing the carbon fibre beneath for years in an effort to save weight, but the introduction of new regulations last year prompted many to go a step further. It’s striking that Alfa Romeo, who began last … [Read more...] about The major change Alfa Romeo made after being “stuck in a corner” last year · RaceFans

Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu says he feels “more ready than ever” going into this year’s Formula 1 season after returning to his home country for the first time in two years. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free The Chinese driver returned home in December to visit family and friends but also to conduct several sponsor and media engagements. Prior to that, the last time he had been in China was to be part of the presenting team for the F1 Esports series China Championship in Shanghai in January 2021. “We tried to switch fully off [over winter] because from my side, of course, was the two years haven’t been back [to China], and obviously family and friends,” Zhou said at the launch of Alfa Romeo’s 2023 F1 car. “So that was a very nice time spending there over the holidays, and I really feel more ready than ever because it was first great to catch up with all the people back home in China. “Coming back here, I feel like I was able to train harder, put even more … [Read more...] about F1: Zhou “more ready” after first trip home in two years · RaceFans

Ferrari has announced another change in a senior position within the company with the arrival of Lorenzo Giorgetti as chief racing revenue officer. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free Giorgetti will report to CEO Benedetto Vigna, and arrives at the team while continuing to be part of the Global Esports Federation’s board. Prior to that he was the chief commercial officer at Italian football club AC Milan and worked at the RCS Media Group leading the commercial management of its sports portfolio. He joins Ferrari seven years after the company was publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange. “With his experience and leadership, Ferrari will further develop long-term collaborations with our sponsors across all sport activities, including the emerging Esports world, and with our passionate global fan community,” said Vigna. Ferrari’s racing activities have also expanded for 2023, with the F1 and GT racing programmes now joined by an entry into the World … [Read more...] about Ferrari hires Esports expert as racing revenue officer · RaceFans

Two statistics lay bare the astonishing impact Covid-19 has had on Formula 1. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free First, since the pathogen intensified its spread across world in March almost half this season’s scheduled 22 races have been cancelled or (optimistically, in the view of some) postponed. Second, the obligatory annual team shutdown – usually a three-week break in summer – has now been in place for three times as long. Although speculative calendars are increasingly doing the rounds, these count for nought as long as authorities restrict the movement of people across the world. What use is a calendar which schedules races in countries which refuse to admit foreigners or make concessions for sport activities? The pandemic’s effect on the 10 teams has been disastrous . Most have furloughed staff, some are expected to be ‘retrenched’, ‘de-hired’ or similar, while a number of independent teams have availed themselves of advances on future F1 revenues … [Read more...] about Why the pandemic’s economic impact on F1 goes far beyond a disrupted calendar · RaceFans

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 6 Barbara Brandon-Croft wrote a pitch that, 34 years later, has lost none of its punch. "Few Black Cartoonists have entered national syndication since the 1970s," began the boldfaced heading to her letter to newspaper syndicates. "None have been Black Women." What Brandon-Croft was offering the gatekeepers of such mass distribution was not a shaming as much as a way to course-correct. They could overcome their lack of representation while also reaching new audiences. "We all gain from the Black experience," she wrote in the letter. "Moreover, everyone's to gain from the Black female experience in particular." Her precise verbal strike caught the eye of Universal Press Syndicate editor Lee Salem, who had nurtured such strips as "Calvin and Hobbes" and "Cathy" and later discovered "The Boondocks." He knew excellence when he saw it, replying to her: "It's rare to … [Read more...] about A trailblazer who brought a Black woman’s voice to comics

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 William Shakespeare once wrote, "Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing?" He just needed a TV. Though in fairness to the bard, we might have finally reached that point of excess. After all, Apple TV Plus released two seasons of the excellent "Slow Horses" last year. And though everyone is still trying to catch up on 2022's best shows - we're not even 12 months removed from "The Bear" and "The White Lotus"! - 2023 is already off to a prodigious start. The first episode of HBO's zombie video-game-turned-series "The Last of Us" was the network's second-biggest premiere of the past 13 years, eventually reaching more than 10 million viewers - only hinting at the deluge of shows to come. Meanwhile, Rian Johnson of "Knives Out" fame is attempting to revive television of a bygone (see: pre-streaming) era with his Natasha Lyonne-starring case-of-the-week dramedy … [Read more...] about Here comes spring TV, even if you’re not caught up on fall TV

Lest anyone worry that the Magic Mike series has nothing left to say, or nothing on its mind but glistening abs, the third and allegedly final installment begins with a voice over—British, proper, authoritative—waxing rhapsodic about the role dance has played across all of human history. Such pontification is not so surprising coming from Steven Soderbergh, who recently kicked off a different film with a narrated flashback to the invention of money. But it's still a concerningly academic way for this movie to start, and the first moment of several in Magic Mike's Last Dance that might bring to mind the immortal words of Barton Fink 's Ben Geisler. Channing Tatum . Male stripper movie. What did Soderbergh need, a road map? A decade ago, the director and his screenwriter, Reid Carolin, knew better than to overthink the story of a Florida exotic dancer balancing his daydreams of opening his own furniture store with his nightlife flashing flesh for cash. The original Magic … [Read more...] about ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’ strips the fun out of the franchise

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — Zambian authorities have rearrested eight Croatians Tuesday, preventing them from leaving the country after a court dropped child trafficking charges against them a day earlier. “I can confirm that they have been rearrested on the instructions of NPA (the National Prosecutions Authority). I am not sure of the charges though,” immigration spokesman Namati Nshinka told The Associated Press. Zambian officials prevented the eight Croatians — four couples — from boarding a flight to leave the southern African country. On Monday a court dismissed child trafficking charges against them following applications by their lawyers. They had earlier pleaded not guilty. The charges alleged that on December 7, last year, the four couples acted together to traffic the children. The young children were from neighboring Congo and the couples said they adopted the … [Read more...] about Zambia rearrests 8 Croatians after charges dropped