Culture

California’s parole board granted Patricia Krenwinkel parole for the third time after nearly six decades in prison for the Tate-LaBianca killings, The Guardian reports. Governor Gavin Newsom overturned her two previous grants; his decision on this one remains pending. Her attorney cites rehabilitation, while Sharon Tate’s sister has opposed release.

Bard accepted Leon Botstein’s resignation from his remaining college and music-program roles while reviewing allegations raised by House Democrats about his contacts with Jeffrey Epstein, The Guardian reports. Botstein denies wrongdoing and authorship of the disputed email. The inquiry continues; the report says he has not been charged over the relationship.

Bonhams will auction Stanley Kubrick’s personal archive in London on February 3, preceded by exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles and Paris, Smithsonian Magazine reports. Items include the axe prop from The Shining and the Star Baby from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Auction estimates are prospective prices; the sale has not occurred.

A study of southern Belize found soil and ecological evidence of farming, probably maize, near wetlands about 6,000 years ago, Phys.org and the University of New Mexico report. Later cultivation shifted into uplands as climate and populations changed. The findings reconstruct local farming history; crop identification and explanations for the shift involve interpretation.

The University of Arizona paused fraternity activities while investigating reports of assault, hazing and drug or alcohol misconduct involving nearly half its Interfraternity Council chapters, the Associated Press reports. Chapters must meet with the dean and satisfy conditions before resuming. The reports remain allegations, and the university did not detail any criminal investigations.

Two defendants face arson and conspiracy charges after a September fire at a vacant Charleston home damaged Canaan United Methodist Church, the Christian Post reports. It says one defendant’s bond increased at Monday’s preliminary hearing and the other waived a hearing Tuesday. Local WCHS reporting corroborates the fire and charges; guilt remains unproven.

A 150-kilogram bronze cover designed by Salvador Dalí for Livre de l’Apocalypse was stolen from a museum in Issoire overnight on October 4, The Art Newspaper reports. The Clermont-Ferrand prosecutor opened an investigation. The report identifies no suspects and announces no recovery; historical valuations do not establish the object’s current value.

Louvre Abu Dhabi appointed Souraya Noujaim, who previously held its collections and curatorial leadership role and led Islamic arts at the Louvre in Paris, The Art Newspaper reports. She succeeds founding director Manuel Rabaté, who left in February. The museum’s French loan partnership continues under an agreement through 2047.

Underwater archaeologists found a bronze signet ring depicting the Lighthouse of Alexandria at the submerged Antirhodos palace, The National reports. Egypt’s antiquities ministry calls it the first known lighthouse depiction on a signet ring. The institute has not established its date or owner; an administrative connection to the lighthouse remains an interpretation.

Archaeologists found 19 tenth-century English pennies and a halfpenny near the Vatican, Smithsonian Magazine reports. Cambridge researchers interpret them as material evidence of the Schola Saxonum community for English pilgrims and possible currency privileges. The enclave’s size and precise rights remain uncertain; the research was first announced last week.

Robert Kelker-Kelly died October 3 at 62, a Missouri medical examiner’s office told Fox News. Police said the actor became unresponsive after chest pain and that lifesaving efforts failed; an official cause of death has not been disclosed. He played Bo Brady on Days of Our Lives and also appeared in Another World and General Hospital.

A forensic study found significant trauma in 18 of 46 skulls from burials beside First Dynasty royal tombs at Abydos, Smithsonian Magazine reports. Researcher Roselyn Campbell interprets the injuries as deliberate killing, strengthening evidence of retainer sacrifice. The motives, weapons and causes of death for uninjured individuals remain uncertain.

The National Book Awards announced finalists in five categories Tuesday, NPR reports. Edwidge Danticat is a fiction finalist for Dèy, while the nonfiction list includes works on prisons, music and parenthood. Winners will be named November 18; the announcement recognizes finalists rather than selecting the year’s winners.

A white-oak canoe found during a May dive in Pewaukee Lake has a 70% radiocarbon probability of dating to 992–1049 C.E., Smithsonian Magazine and Wisconsin Public Radio report. The Wisconsin Historical Society is consulting Indigenous partners and will leave the vessel submerged. Its maker and exact use remain unknown.

Marjoe Gortner died at 82, the Christian Post reports, citing documentary co-producer Sarah Kernochan and his wife’s statement to Variety. His wife said he died of congestive heart failure in Santa Fe. Gortner’s childhood preaching and later rejection of the revival circuit became the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary Marjoe before his acting career.

Jim Bakker died Monday night at 86, his wife Lori announced, the Christian Post reports. He built the PTL Club television ministry before fraud convictions and imprisonment, then returned to broadcasting. The Associated Press also reported his death; a cause was not immediately known.

A House-passed bill allowing states to observe daylight saving time year-round has stalled in the Senate, Fox News reports. Senator Tom Cotton opposes fast-tracking it, citing dark winter mornings, while President Trump is pressing for passage. Regional concerns divide lawmakers in both parties; the proposal has not become law.

The Guardian profiles Tim Walker’s Fairyland: Love and Legends ahead of its October 9 opening at London’s National Portrait Gallery. The exhibition brings together portraits of queer activists, artists and community members, including people involved in HIV care. It runs through February 7; the report describes some explicit work confined to an adults-only room.

Jeffrey Archer died at home Monday at 86, publisher HarperCollins said, the Associated Press reports. The bestselling novelist and former politician served a prison sentence for perjury before returning to writing and public life. His final novel, Adam and Eve, was scheduled for global release the day after his death.

Church leaders say Maysa Abu Daoud and her daughter Mary Al-Najjar were killed in an October 3 Israeli airstrike on their Gaza City apartment building, Christian Daily International reports through the Christian Post. Israel says it targeted senior Hamas official Ali Al-Amoudi. The report does not establish whether he was killed.

Justice Samuel Alito said in a CBS interview that he sees no realistic prospect of overturning the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage ruling, citing marriages and legal contracts made in reliance on it, the Christian Post reports. He also defended the Dobbs abortion ruling. His comments are an assessment, not a new court decision.

A new exhibition at Copenhagen’s Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek examines how Roman clothing, jewelry and hairstyles conveyed status, Smithsonian Magazine and the museum report. Research identifies a Tiberius sculpture’s garment as originally pink. The exhibition opened October 1 and runs through March 29, 2027.

NPR marks the approaching 30th anniversary of Arthur’s October 7, 1996 television debut with a reported retrospective. Drawing on its 1997 interviews, the feature traces Marc Brown’s aardvark from a bedtime story and picture books to PBS Kids. It is an anniversary feature, with archival reporting.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History displays five extinct bird species in its From These Lands exhibition, Smithsonian Magazine reports. Preserved specimens help scientists study genetics, anatomy and past ecosystems. The feature also describes the Guam rail’s recovery through breeding and reintroduction, showing that some conservation efforts can reverse losses.

Crossroads Church founder Brian Tome announced that Kyle Ranson will take over as senior pastor and assume his authority and board seat, the Christian Post reports. Tome will remain in a founding-pastor role. The transition follows his return from a suspension after church leaders said they substantiated an inappropriate incident.

PEN America counted 11,982 public-school book-ban cases involving 7,370 titles in the 2025–26 school year, AP reports. The advocacy group includes temporary removals during review, so its total differs from narrower tallies of permanent removals. The figures describe its methodology rather than a count of destroyed books.

Fox News says former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will join as a commentator on November 1, following her August departure from the administration.

Young Musicians Unite says its free programs reach more than 20,000 students weekly at 131 Miami-Dade schools, Good News Network and CBS News Miami report. The coverage profiles a trumpet student and a former participant who now teaches. The reach figures are the nonprofit’s; the reports do not independently measure educational outcomes.

Christianity Today’s interviews with Dalit Christians and church leaders describe exclusion from leadership, worship and burial grounds. A July burial dispute in Tamil Nadu illustrates the divisions despite a court ruling for equal access. This is fresh reporting on longstanding discrimination, rather than a newly occurring burial dispute.

Israel is holding national memorial ceremonies for victims of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and soldiers killed in the ensuing war, DW reports from Israeli media. State ceremonies are planned at Mount Herzl and flags are at half-mast. The date falls on October 5 this year because the observance follows the Hebrew calendar.

Positive News profiles 14-year-old Londoner Emmylou Vaxby, who wrote a guide to Thames mudlarking and founded a local plastic-free community. The reporter joined her on the riverbank and describes her twice-yearly cleanups. The ages and origins of individual finds remain uncertain; the story is a reported community profile.

Russian and Kyrgyz researchers are cataloging pottery, animal bones, cemeteries and a decorated building beneath Lake Issyk-Kul, AFP reports through Phys.org. The ruins may illuminate medieval Central Asian trade and daily life. The settlement’s precise dates, identity and cause of submergence remain uncertain; seismic activity is one proposed explanation.

Museums are expanding licensing of collections and expertise into merchandise, hotel rooms and virtual reality to raise revenue as costs rise, The Guardian reports. Its examples include Natural History Museum collaborations. The cited sales-growth figures come from an industry group and individual museum estimates, rather than proof that every museum benefits.

A forensic reassessment identified potentially lethal trauma in 18 of 46 skulls from burials beside early Egyptian rulers at Abydos, Ars Technica reports. The study interprets the pattern as evidence consistent with some retainer sacrifice. Incomplete remains cannot establish how every person died or a single killing method.

Senator Bernie Sanders endorsed Pope Leo XIV’s appeal to distinguish human-made art from AI output, The Hill reports through AOL. The pope’s Vatican-published speech calls for renewed cooperation with artists and cultural institutions. These are their stated positions; the report does not measure AI’s effects on artists’ work or income.

Lionel Messi scored a penalty as Argentina beat Benin 3–0 in his national-team farewell, DW reports. He thanked supporters after an international career that included a World Cup title. The retirement applies to Argentina duties; he continues his club career with Inter Miami. The completed match updates the earlier planned-farewell report.

France suspended stun-grenade use at school protests after a 15-year-old lost a hand in Lens, BBC News and The Guardian report. Officials and students give conflicting accounts of how the device struck him. More than 500 schools were disrupted Wednesday, and investigations into police conduct continue; the suspension lasts while the facts are clarified.

A cross-party Scottish Parliament motion commemorates Jane Haining, who refused to abandon Jewish and Christian schoolgirls in Budapest and died at Auschwitz in 1944, Christian Today reports through the Christian Post. The motion welcomes her memorial recognition and urges readers to confront prejudice and persecution.

The British Museum says it is adding an audio guide, clearer signs, seating and longer opening hours after lengthy waits to see the Bayeux Tapestry, ITV News reports. Some ticket-holders were turned away and offered refunds or priority rebooking. The changes address visitor access; their effect on waiting times is not yet established.

Remco Evenepoel beat Giulio Ciccone in a photo finish to win the European road cycling title in Slovenia, AFP reports through France 24. Christian Scaroni finished third. Evenepoel recovered after a slide on a corner; the victory adds the road title to his European time-trial championships.

Actor Luke Evans told The Telegraph that gay people hold varied political views and that sexuality should not determine the characters an actor can play, Fox News reports. Discussing his forthcoming ITV drama The Party, he also called for more opportunities for gay and transgender performers. These are his views about representation.

Archaeologists found coca leaves preserved in the wool of sacrificed llamas at Peru’s Tambo Viejo, Phys.org reports. The September 7 Ñawpa Pacha study links the leaves to ritual offerings and differs from colonial accounts describing burned coca. The find documents this site’s practice; it does not establish how every Inka ceremony used the plant.

NBC News interviews with more than three dozen Houston-area residents, officials and organizers describe grief and anger after immigration agents fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in July. Some interviewees say the case has shaped their views ahead of Texas elections. The report documents community reactions and disputed shooting accounts; it does not measure the event’s effect on votes.

Hungarian paprika growers are struggling with drought, cheap imports and fewer seasonal workers, AFP reports through Phys.org. Official figures cited in the report show cultivated area fell from 13,029 hectares in 1979 to 1,410 in 2024. Some small producers survived this year’s difficult harvest, but the government has not announced new support measures.

The Guardian profiles New York’s Designed to Be Red exhibition, which presents Indigenous poster works spanning nearly two centuries. Poster House says the show represents more than 60 tribes and nations and is curated by Monacan designer Brian Johnson. It opened September 25 and runs through February 21, 2027.

Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez, Tom Morello and other artists performed Saturday at Maryland’s inaugural Power to the People festival, the Associated Press reports. Organizers said part of ticket proceeds would support VoteRiders and HeadCount, while performers voiced political views and encouraged midterm turnout. Final donation totals and any turnout effects remain unknown.

About 1,200 Colorado students have earned a climate literacy seal by completing courses and a community project, the Hechinger Report says, citing nonprofit Lyra Colorado. Projects include pollution-monitoring gardens and habitat work, and other states are adopting similar endorsements. Funding and access vary between districts; long-term workforce benefits remain to be measured.

Taylor Swift made a surprise appearance during Dakota Johnson’s Saturday Night Live monologue, NBC News reports. The friends joked about their evenings together, and Swift returned at the curtain call with a birthday cake for Johnson. Turnstile was the episode’s musical guest.

The Bagdad Cafe in California’s Newberry Springs remains open for visitors and souvenirs but cannot serve meals, Fox News reports. Its kitchen has been closed since the pandemic, and the family is weighing the landmark’s future after longtime owner Andrea Pruett’s death. Fundraising targets kitchen and septic-system repairs during Route 66’s centennial.

The Killers singer Brandon Flowers is exploring country music, family and religion on his solo album Thrasher, Fox News reports. He says the Nashville-recorded project makes room for the music he grew up with alongside his rock career. His Tonight Show performance has drawn praise from some Christian and conservative commentators.