Feinstein dies at 90

California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein has died at age 90.

The trail-blazing Feinstein had faced mounting health problems in recent years; her replacement will be selected by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.). Feinstein already announced she would not run for reelection in 2024, and the race for her seat is already underway.

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Gary Wright, Who Had a ’70s Hit With ‘Dream Weaver,’ Dies at 80

Gary Wright, the spiritually minded singer-songwriter who helped modernize the sound of pop music with his pioneering use of synthesizers while crafting infectious and seemingly inescapable hits of the 1970s, notably “Dream Weaver” and “Love Is Alive,” died on Monday at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. He was 80.

Who doesn’t remember this tune.

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Peter C. Newman dead at age 94

Journalist Peter C. Newman went from Czech refugee to chronicler of Canada

In September, 1940, on the night before he and his parents landed at Halifax’s Pier 21, the 11-yr-old Czech war refugee Petă Neumann stayed up late to gaze out at the Atlantic and imagine the land where they were about to make their new home. It had been a harrowing months-long run from the Nazis, he later wrote: The family had secured visas mere days before they would have been deported from Venice to certain death in Czechoslovakia; lain helpless on the beach at Biarritz, France, as a Luftwaffe gunner rained death from above; and survived the U-boat torpedoing of their convoy to Canada. Ahead of them now, young Petă envisioned more adventure in the mysterious “land of eternal snow” he had seen in newsreels.

h/t AL

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Sinéad O’Connor: a true rebel

In my day, teens stuck Athena posters of pop idols on their bedroom walls. Nowadays, most young people are too busy basking in the blue light of tablets and phones to get the Blu Tack out. But if today’s young people are searching for someone new on YouTube to ‘share’, ‘like’ and ‘follow’, they could do worse than Sinéad O’Connor.

Well she was rebellious, unfortunately self destructively so. Such a sad end for her and us all. 56. Far too soon.

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Alan Arkin dead at 89: Oscar winner was ‘a talented force of nature’

Actor Alan Arkin, who earned an Oscar for his performance in 2007’s “Little Miss Sunshine” among dozens of other accolades, has died.

The acclaimed stage and screen veteran was 89.

Fellow actor Jason Alexander first shared the news on Twitter, calling the actor a “wonderful, original voice for comedy.”

I didn’t always ‘get him’ but he was always watchable.

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