Author: NY TIMES

After winning the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Dec. 28 in Orlando, Fla., Kansas State’s football team gathered on the field around a garage-size toaster that was protected by a pair of mall cops wearing “Snack Security” shirts.An unusual chant erupted — “Toast that mascot! Toast that mascot!” — as Strawberry, a giant Pop-Tart with limbs, climbed to the top of the toaster, bopping along to the disco-era beat of “Hot Stuff,” by Donna Summer.“We will always love you, Strawberry,” the announcer Jason Ryan Perry said over the stadium’s public address system. “Can’t wait to eat you.”For nearly three hours, Strawberry had…

The chief executive of JetBlue Airways, Robin Hayes, said on Monday that he planned to step down after nine years in the role and while in the middle of trying to carry out a merger with Spirit Airlines that could reshape the industry, if it isn’t blocked in court.Mr. Hayes will be replaced by Joanna Geraghty, the company’s president and chief operating officer, on Feb. 12, which would make her the only woman to lead a major U.S. airline. Mr. Hayes, 57, will remain on JetBlue’s board and serve as a strategic adviser to the company.In a lengthy statement, Mr.…

When the Louisiana parole board met in October to discuss the potential release of a convicted murderer, it called on a doctor with years of experience in mental health to talk about the inmate.The parole board was not the only group paying attention.A collection of online trolls took screenshots of the doctor from an online feed of her testimony and edited the images with A.I. tools to make her appear naked. They then shared the manipulated files on 4chan, an anonymous message board known for fostering harassment, and spreading hateful content and conspiracy theories.It was one of numerous times that…

“Purple Rain,” Prince’s breakout rise-of-a-rock-star film, is being adapted into a stage musical featuring some of the pop musician’s best-loved songs.Orin Wolf, the producer who previously shepherded the Tony-winning adaptation of “The Band’s Visit” to the stage, and who is currently backing the theatrical adaptation of another music industry movie, “Buena Vista Social Club,” announced on Monday that he is developing the musical, based on the 1984 film.The stage adaptation will feature a book by the playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant winner whose family drama, “Appropriate,” is now running on Broadway. The director is Lileana Blain-Cruz, whose…

As Israel prepares this week to face accusations at the International Court of Justice that it has committed genocide in the Gaza war, it has appointed one of the country’s most prominent jurists as the ad hoc judge to sit on the bench on its behalf.The choice of Aharon Barak, a retired Israeli Supreme Court president who fled Nazi-occupied Lithuania as a boy, was immediately praised by many Israelis after it was announced on Sunday — and greeted with surprise and even criticism by others.While Mr. Barak, 87, is an internationally respected legal authority, he has also been at the…

The mayor of London on Sunday announced that a planned strike that would have ground the city’s underground Tube system to a halt this week had been suspended.“Londoners and visitors to our city will no longer face several days of disruption,” the mayor, Sadiq Khan, announced on social media late Sunday afternoon. “This shows what can be achieved by engaging with trade unions and transport staff rather than working against them.”The planned walkouts were to be so widespread that the authorities had warned people to travel on the London Underground only if their journeys were “essential,” and the strike would…

Coach Bill Belichick’s final game against the New England Patriots may go down in history — in a way he doesn’t want to remember.The Patriots lost 17-3 to the Jets on Sunday at Gillette Stadium, ending New York’s 15-game losing streak to New England. The Patriots had 119 yards of offense, their fewest in the Belichick era. The team’s last low score was 149 points against the Miami Dolphins on October 7, 2001.Rumors abound that Belichick and the Patriots could part ways at the end of the season — as they have for much of the fall. Answers about the…

During his wedding ceremony at a picturesque resort in the Southern California desert, Gerry Turner made his way down an aisle lined with roses.Then he turned around and walked back.The crowd murmured. Cold feet? No, the redo was for the cameras broadcasting the wedding on ABC. “For real this time!” Mr. Turner mouthed to guests when he walked by again a few moments later.If both versions had aired, viewers might not have minded: Mr. Turner has just about nominated himself as the face of second chances. On Thursday night, the 72-year-old widower and star of “The Golden Bachelor,” ABC’s dating…

The Internal Revenue Service is rolling out a free option for filing federal tax returns this year to some residents of a dozen states.Last month, the agency published details of its plan to test an in-house filing system, in which taxpayers submit their federal tax returns directly to the agency online at no cost. Residents of 12 states are eligible to participate if they meet certain criteria.“This is a critical step forward for this innovative effort that will test the feasibility of providing taxpayers a new option to file their returns for free directly with the I.R.S.,” Danny Werfel, the…

Dear Tripped Up,One day last July, I was dropping off a rental car at Budget’s location at Boston Logan International Airport when I misplaced my iPhone. As best as I can recall, I left it in the car while I went to throw away some trash, but neither my wife nor I nor the employee who was helping us could find it. After my flight home, I began tracking the phone using Apple’s Find My application, and after a trip through western Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the phone began traveling back and forth from an apartment building in Lynn, Mass.,…