Ajona in “6 Underground” – Christian Black/Netflix(LOS ANGELES) — Actress Adria Arjona, recently seen in Netflix’s hit Ryan Reynolds action film 6 Underground, will soon be going to that galaxy far, far away, according to a report from Deadline.
The publication says Arjona has been cast opposite returning player Gabriel Luna in the Disney+ prequel series Star Wars: Rogue One. The series centers on Luna’s Rebel spy character Cassian Andor, introduced in the 2016 film.
Tony Gilroy, who co-wrote Rogue One, is returning to write the pilot for the show, and direct some episodes as well. Alan Tudyk, who motion-performed Cassian’s towering droid sidekick K-2SO will also return, as will Genevieve O’Reilly, who played Rebel Alliance leader Mon Mothma in the film.
Marvel movie vet Stellan Skarsgard and Poldark‘s Kyle Soller also are on board, but Disney is officially mum on their characters — or, for that matter, the report of Arjona’s casting.
Even before The Mandalorian earned 15 Emmy nominations, Disney+ was forging ahead with other small-screen projects in the Star Wars universe, including a much-anticipated Obi-Wan Kenobi series starring returning Jedi Ewan McGregor.
(NEW YORK) — Seattle’s police chief resigned late Monday in the wake of protests against police brutality and a recent Seattle City Council vote to defund her department by 14%.
Carmen Best announced her shocking retirement in an email to staff, saying it was a “difficult decision,” but the department formally announced her departure in a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
“I’m sad to leave in some ways but you know when it’s time it’s time,” Best told reporters. “You will always be in my heart. You are without a doubt the best police department in the country.”
“What is important is you have remained committed to being the best to continuously improving and innovating,” she added.
Best, who made history when she became the city’s first Black female police chief in 2018, said the resignation would be effective Sept. 2. She had been with the department for 28 years.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan became emotional as she praised Best, calling her “the model for what we need.”
“She loves the city she served. She loves the department and her officers. She has fought to keep her officers safe and healthy and get them the resources they need to do their jobs,” Durkan said. “She has been a role model for so many women, especially young black women and girls. She does it always such grace was such a great sense of humor in such a great deep humility.”
She said called her departure a “deep loss for our city,” especially during the ongoing civil unrest happening throughout the city and across the nation.
She noted that Best helped the city grapple with a global pandemic “that’s getting worse” and guided it through “a civil rights reckoning that has made our nation, our state and our city confront, acknowledge and begin to truly address the generational harms caused by systemic racism.”
The mayor also criticized the city council for targeting Best with budget cuts while refusing to make cuts to their own salaries or other departments.
Durkan has appointed deputy chief Adrian Diaz as interim police chief. He has been in law enforcement for more than 20 years.
The announcement came came just hours after the city’s council voted to reduce the department’s spending plan by 14%, far below the 50% reduction that some council members had advocated for.
Approval of the measure first came with an 7-1 vote on several amendments introduced by the council that included cutting the pay of top police officers and eliminating the Navigation Team and SWAT unit.
Best and Durkan had both urged the council to delay the budget cuts until 2021.
“I definitely think it’s personal, but with that said, I’m stepping out of the way and doing what a real leader would do and focusing on what’s going to help the organization and the wheel forward,” Best said. “The council gave us $1.6 million to make sure that we hired the best and the brightest and the most diverse and brought them on and less than a year later, we’re gonna just turn them all away.”
“It feels very duplicitous and, honestly, I just, I have my convictions I cannot do that,” she added.
(NEW YORK) — The Big Ten college sports conference announced Tuesday it is postponing its 2020 fall season, which includes football, soccer, cross country and other sports.
“The mental and physical health and welfare of our student-athletes has been at the center of every decision we have made regarding the ability to proceed forward,” Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren said in a statement. “As time progressed and after hours of discussion with our Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee, it became abundantly clear that there was too much uncertainty regarding potential medical risks to allow our student-athletes to compete this fall.”
The postponement applies to all fall sports, including men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, football, men’s and women’s soccer, and women’s volleyball. Decisions regarding winter and spring sports are still being evaluated, according to the statement.
“We know how significant the student-athlete experience can be in shaping the future of the talented young women and men who compete in the Big Ten Conference,” Warren said. “Although that knowledge made this a painstaking decision, it did not make it difficult.”
“The Big Ten Conference will continue to evaluate a number of options regarding these sports, including the possibility of competition in the spring,” he added.
The announcement came after weeks of speculation that the fall season might be canceled over safety concerns due to rising coronavirus infections.
Some college athletes had publicly advocated for the right to opt out of the coming season without jeopardizing their eligibility to play the following season.
The Mid-American Conference was the first to cancel its season last week, with officials saying it would be far too risky to hold a season during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first time MAC had canceled a football season.
The NCAA board previously expressed “serious concerns about the continuing high levels of COVID-19 infection in many parts of the nation,” and it laid out a list of strict requirements for schools and conferences in light of the pandemic.
The board had said that it would only support moving forward with fall championships and other postseason play if “strict conditions are applied and adhered to.”
In football, the Big Ten Conference had scheduled 10 games with the season set to begin on Sept. 5.
Teams had been practicing in anticipation of the new season, but players weren’t allowed to wear pads or engage in full contact, officials said.
Some Big Ten football programs, including Rutgers and Northwestern, opted to postpone practice altogether, citing outbreaks among students and coaches.
ABLE x Lauren AkinsLauren Akins is stepping into the world of fashion.
The author and philanthropist has partnered with fashion brand ABLE to create a new line of handbags called ABLE x Lauren Akins.
The limited edition collection features two bags, a shoulder tote and the cross body. Lauren describes the tote, which features two outside pockets and interior zipper pocket along with a removable zip pouch, as “the ultimate mom bag, without looking like a mom bag.”
The Crossbody includes an adjustable strap top zip with a fold-over flap and is adorned with a leopard print tassel.
ABLE is an ethical fashion brand based in Nashville that both trains and educates women to enable them to earn wages as a way out of poverty.
A portion of the proceeds from Lauren’s collection will go toward Love One and its mission to supply medical care and vital resources to children in Uganda, the country from which Lauren and her husband, Thomas Rhett, adopted their four-year-old daughter, Willa Gray.
“I love knowing that they’re creating jobs for women around the world. Something I’ve seen first-hand from my work and travels to Uganda is the power of job creation in vulnerable communities, helping to free people from the cycle of poverty,” Lauren explains. “That’s why this partnership is so special to me, because it’s another incredible way I can live a life of purpose each and every day.”
The ABLE x Lauren Akins collection is available to pre-order now.
Chris Cuffaio/NBCU Photo Bank(LOS ANGELES) — The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is getting flipped-turned-upside down.
The Hollywood Reporter reports that the highly-celebrated family sitcom that made Will Smith a star is being adapted into a drama series, based on a viral YouTube trailer created by writer Morgan Cooper.
As a Fresh Prince super-fan and co-executive producer, Cooper reimagined the hit series as a serious drama that tells the story of a Philadelphia teenager adjusting to his new life with his rich family in Los Angeles.
Cooper created and directed the four-minute trailer in March 2019. It’s since racked up over five million views, and ultimately caught Will’s attention.
The new series, titled Bel-Air, has reportedly been in the works for over a year with the show’s original executive producers, who include Smith, Quincy Jones, and Benny Medina, as well as the show’s creators, Andy and Susan Borowitz.
Multiple streaming outlets, including Peacock, Netflix, and HBO Max, are currently bidding on the potential series, which is a co-production between Smith’s Westbrook Studios and the show’s original producers Universal TV.
Produced by Jones and Warner Bros, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ran from 1990-1996 on NBC. Smith became a box office superstar after spending six seasons on the comedy series as the funny Philly street kid.
Smith virtually joined Alfonso Riberio, Tatyana Ali, Daphne Maxwell Reid, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and the rest of The Fresh Prince cast to pay respect to their late cast member James Avery, a.k.a. Uncle Phil, during a reunion special earlier this year.
Ajona in “6 Underground” – Christian Black/Netflix(LOS ANGELES) — Actress Adria Arjona, recently seen in Netflix’s hit Ryan Reynolds action film 6 Underground, will soon be going to that galaxy far, far away, according to a report from Deadline. 
