Breaking News

Arts and Culture

Tom Cruise is finally getting an Oscar — as will Dolly Parton, Debbie Allen and Wynn Thomas

Thirty-five years after Tom Cruise received his first Oscar nomination, he’s finally getting a trophy. It’s not for his death-defying stunts, either. At least, not exclusively. Cruise, choreographer Debbie Allen and “Do The Right Thing” production designer Wynn Thomas have all been selected to receive honorary Oscar statuettes at the annual Governors Awards, the film academy said Tuesday. Dolly Parton will also be recognized with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her decades-long charitable work in literacy and education. “This year’s Governors Awards will ...

Book Review: A fingerprint expert obsessed with learning the fate of her missing sister

Sixteen years have passed since Shaw Connolly’s teenage sister, Thea, slipped out of their family home in rural Maine to party with friends and never came home. Shaw (short for Shawnee), now a fingerprint expert for law enforcement agencies, is certain that her sister was murdered, but she is obsessed with learning where she was buried. Even now, after all these years, she continues to put up posters and roam the woods of their hometown with a cadaver dog. Her obsession takes a toll not only on her but on her family, driving her husband away and traumatizing her two boys. But in ...

The world according to Wednesday, your new favorite alt-country indie rock band

NEW YORK (AP) — A pit bull puppy peeing off a balcony. Mounted antlers in the kitchen on a crooked nail. Pink boiled eggs stay afloat in the brine. For its dedicated audience, the North Carolina alt-country-meets-indie rock band Wednesday is an exemplar in evocative songwriting, where whole worlds are found in short lyrical lines. And that says nothing of what they sound like. The most exciting band in contemporary indie rock is informed by Drive-By Truckers and Pavement in equal measure, a distinctive sonic fabric of lap steel, guitar fuzz, folksy and jagged vocals. On Sept. 19, ...

2025 Pennsylvania Heritage Songwriting Contest winners announced

CROSS FORK — Smoked Country Jam Bluegrass announces the winners of the 17th Annual Pennsylvania Heritage Songwriting Contest (PHSC). Winners are invited to perform their work at the Smoked Country Jam Bluegrass Festival, June 19-21, at the Quiet Oaks Campground, Cross Fork, Pa. ...