Today is Thursday, Feb. 5, the 36th day of 2026. There are 329 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Feb. 5, 1994, white separatist Byron De La Beckwith was convicted in Jackson, Mississippi, of murdering civil rights leader Medgar Evers in 1963 and was sentenced to life in prison.

Also on this date:

In 1917, the U.S. Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1917 over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto, an act that severely curtailed Asian immigration and mandated immigrant literacy testing.

In 1918, more than 200 people were killed during World War I when the Cunard liner SS Tuscania, which was transporting over 2,000 American troops to Europe, was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland.

In 1971, Apollo 14 astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell stepped onto the moon’s surface in the first of two lunar excursions.

In 1973, services were held at Arlington National Cemetery for U.S. Army Col. William B. Nolde, the last official American combat casualty in the Vietnam War before a ceasefire took effect.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act, granting workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family emergencies.

In 2008, an outbreak of 87 tornadoes fired up across nine states, killing 57 people in Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama during a span of 12 hours. One Arkansas twister left a 122-mile path of damage along the ground.

In 2017, Tom Brady led one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history, highlighted by a spectacular Julian Edelman catch that helped lift New England from a 25-point deficit against the Atlanta Falcons to the Patriots’ fifth Super Bowl victory, 34-28; it was the first Super Bowl to end in overtime.

In 2020, the Senate voted to acquit President Donald Trump in his first impeachment trial. Most senators expressed unease with Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine that prompted the impeachment, but just one Republican, Mitt Romney of Utah, broke party ranks and voted to convict. In 2021, the Senate acquitted Trump in a second trial for allegedly inciting the violent Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol.

In 2023, Beyoncé won her 32nd Grammy to become the most decorated artist in the history of the award.

Today’s birthdays:

• Tony-winning playwright John Guare is 88.
• Football Hall of Famer Roger Staubach is 84.
• Film director Michael Mann is 83.
• Racing Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip is 79.
• Actor Barbara Hershey is 78.
• Actor-comedian Tim Meadows is 65.
• Actor Jennifer Jason Leigh is 64.
• Rock musician Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses) is 62.
• Golf Hall of Famer Jose Maria Olazabal is 60.
• Actor-comedian Chris Parnell is 59.
• Actor Michael Sheen is 57.
• Country singer Sara Evans is 55.
• Actor-singer Darren Criss is 39.
• Actor Henry Golding is 39.
• Soccer star Neymar is 34.

In a meeting of this year’s top Lakes Valley Conference girls hoops teams, undefeated South Lyon East won 50-45 at Milford on Tuesday night.

Nyla Lake and Brooke Moyer ended with 17 and 16 points, respectively, as the Cougars improved to 15-0 overall and 8-0 in the league.

Ashlyn Lutz scored a team-high 17 points and Taylor Vogel ended with 11 for the Lady Mavs (11-4, 6-2), who have been the only team other than Plymouth to keep it to within single digits with the Cougars this season. SL East won the first meeting with Milford 52-47 back on Jan. 13.

More girls basketball

PONTIAC NOTRE DAME PREP 55, BIRMINGHAM SEAHOLM 37 >> Addy Kitzman scored 10 points and Erin Sheckell added nine for the Maples (4-8), who fell short on Wednesday to the Irish (10-5), who picked up their third win in a row.

HAZEL PARK 49, EASTPOINTE 27 >> La’Onna Otis-Nunnally finished with 14 points on Wednesday and the Vikings, who started the year 1-6, improved to 3-1 in the MAC Bronze and are currently tied for the league lead with Warren Lincoln.

WEST BLOOMFIELD 62, CLARKSTON 52 >> For West Bloomfield (10-4, 4-2 OAA Red), Sheridan Beal poured in 28 points and Bailey Finnie added 15 at home on Tuesday. Elli Robak had a team-high 19 points, Brooklyn Covert finished with 15 and Bella Flavin contributed 10 for the Wolves (11-5, 4-1).

ROYAL OAK 51, BERKLEY 40 >> Alyssa Rozicki led the way with 13 points, Lydia Dickens scored 10, and Allie Hills and Ainsley Weeks each had nine Tuesday for the Ravens, who improved to 6-7 overall and 2-3 in the OAA White. Blessing Nweke had a double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds), Amsatou Diop scored 11 points and freshman Niqco Shoulders had 10 boards with five blocks for the Bears (3-12, 2-3).

ROYAL OAK SHRINE 56, LUTHERAN NORTH 46 >> On the road Tuesday night, Julia Kraemer scored a team-high 13 points, Leah Proctor finished with 11, and the duo of Summer Smith and Nora Tillman each had nine for the Knights (4-10, 2-5 CHSL AA Division).

WIXOM ST. CATHERINE 70, ALLEN PARK CABRINI 57 >> Tuesday night’s road win by the Stars (10-5, 8-1) was their ninth in their last 10 games and also helped them clinch the CHSL AA Division title.

WALLED LAKE NORTHERN 44, LAKELAND 43 >> The Knights (7-9, 4-4 LVC) were able to overcome 17 points by Lakeland’s Aubrin Miller and pull out the win on Tuesday. The Eagles are now 7-7 overall and 3-5 in the league.

TROY 71, FERNDALE 8 >> Maci Zeiter led all scorers with 11 points and Olivia Spangler chipped in nine to help the Colts (10-4, 4-1 OAA Blue) win on the road Tuesday.

DURAND 48, ORTONVILLE BRANDON 43 >> Junior Ella Rizzo went for 29 points and hauled in nine rebounds in a wire-to-wire defeat Wednesday for the Blackhawks (4-1, 3-5 FML Stars). Maddie Heverly and Elin Austin each pulled in six rebounds and combined for seven blocks in the loss.

Boys basketball

WALLED LAKE CENTRAL 51, SOUTH LYON 42 >> Johnathan Matthews scored a dozen points, Anthony Camacho had 11 and Asa Clay came a rebound short of a double-double on Tuesday for the Vikings (10-7, 6-2 LVC).

MADISON HEIGHTS LAMPHERE 69, CLAWSON 35 >> Jack Robinson poured in 22 points with a handful of steals and Gavin Abbott chipped in nine points as the Rams jumped to 14-2 overall and 8-0 in the MAC Bronze with Tuesday’s triumph.

ROCHESTER HILLS LUTHERAN NORTHWEST 49, AUBURN HILLS OAKLAND CHRISTIAN 43 >> Preston Parmentier went off, hitting 3-pointers for 33 points in the Crusaders’ victory on Tuesday. PJ Thiessen finished with 11 rebounds and Mike Griffin Jr. had seven steals as well for Lutheran Northwest, now 8-7 overall.

SOUTH LYON EAST 46, MILFORD 35 >> Milford dropped to 8-9 on the year despite 10 points each out of Caden Johnston-Thompson and Dorian Wright on Tuesday. Mason Crosby had a game-high 12 points for the Cougars (10-6 overall), who stayed tied atop the LVC at 6-2 with the home win.

WATERFORD OUR LADY OF THE LAKES 54, ALLEN PARK CABRINI 52 >> Alex Asai knocked down a pull-up jumper from the elbow to beat the buzzer in Tuesday’s victory that clinched the CHSL Intersectional 2 Division title for the Lakers (12-4, 7-1). Jack Miller scored 13 points, Riley Jones had 12 and Latane Ware also added 10 in the win.

LAKE ORION 59, TROY 52 >> Dragons senior Jackson Shoskey scored 23 points, Max Neering had 16 and Nathan Giacolone contributed nine in Monday’s win. The Dragons also picked up a victory at Walled Lake Western on Tuesday to make it six straight and improve to 11-7.

Hockey

BLOOMFIELD HILLS BROTHER RICE 4, CLARKSTON 3 (OT) >> Drake Spring’s seventh goal of the season was also the game-winner in overtime for the Warriors, who also got goals out of Colin Mott, Winston Wigginton and Landon Zsenyuk. Ryan Wilford notched his eighth goal of the season in the Wolves’ defeat.

FARMINGTON UNITED 7, BISHOP FOLEY UNITED 1 >> The Griffins’ top-three leading scorers (Brady Brink, Owen Sims, Connor Brink) all added to their double-digit tallies on the year in Wednesday’s home victory. Derek Townsend hit the back of the net for the 26th time this winter in the Foley loss.

ORCHARD LAKE ST. MARY’S 9, RIVERVIEW GABRIEL RICHARD 1 >> Charlie Roberts netted his 26th and 27th goals of the seasons, Thaddeus Raynish scored twice, and Dominic Pizzo scored and assisted three times as the Eaglets routed the visitors Tuesday night.

NORTHVILLE 3, BLOOMFIELD HILLS CRANBROOK-KINGSWOOD 2 >> Goals from Cam Rocchini and Henry Demuth for the Cranes (13-7) weren’t enough to counter three second-period goals by the Mustangs on Tuesday.

Michigan State added a gem to its class on Wednesday by getting the signature of Detroit Catholic Central speedster Samson Gash.

Gash, who had previously given a verbal to the Spartans last summer, stuck with MSU and new head coach Pat Fitzgerald despite reopening his recruiting process after the firing of Jonathan Smith.

The four-star prospect, a consensus top-50 wide receiver in the Class of 2026, confirmed the news Wednesday that was first reported by Hayes Fawcett of Rivals/on3.

Fitzgerald’s push to secure Gash was anything but a secret in the days leading up. He received a loud ovation from the Spartan faithful at the Breslin Center when Fitzgerald and Gash walked out together at last Friday’s home men’s hoops game against Michigan. Fitzgerald was seen introducing Gash to Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell.

The six-foot, 185-pounder flashed his track speed all season for the unbeaten D1 state champs. An impact player in all three phases, the Mr. Football candidate concluded his senior season with 1,700 yards and 18 total touchdowns.

Both Georgia and Penn State were among the top programs that offered Gash following Fitzgerald’s hire on Dec. 1, but Gash had indicated after the Shamrocks won the title that he intended to take some time on his decision before ultimate opting to join his older brother Caleb in East Lansing.

Fitzgerald will hope it’s not the last commitment from a Gash to come.

Samson’s younger brother, Gideon, has continued to see his star rise following a strong junior season in which he was a lockdown player in the secondary for Catholic Central, and like his brother, was a danger man in the return game.

Like Samson, Michigan State also initially offered Gideon this past summer, but he’s seen his list of offers increase by double digits since the turn of the calendar. Among the schools that have joined the chase for the three or four-star cornerback are Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Iowa and Alabama.

With Samson added to the group, 247 ranked Michigan State’s 2026 class 50th overall, while On3 had the Spartans at No. 54.

Other Catholic Central senior footballers headed to play at the next level include Benny Eziuka (Virginia Tech), Jack Janda (Iowa), Josha Atiemo (Central Michigan), Brandon Bartolucci (Wayne State), Luca Genrich (Michigan State), Hunter Stokes (North Central College), Michael Dersa (Western Michigan), and Cedric Williams Jr. (Michigan State).

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jaylen Crocker-Johnson had 22 points and seven rebounds to help Minnesota fend off a late surge by 10th-ranked Michigan State and secure a 76-73 upset on Wednesday night.

Cade Tyson scored 17 points and Langston Reynolds added 14 points and eight assists for the Gophers (11-12, 4-8 Big Ten), who broke a seven-game losing streak despite being outscored 22-9 over the final four minutes in a game in which they were 7 1/2 point underdogs according to MGM Sportsbook.

Coen Carr had 10 of his 16 points for the Spartans (19-4, 9-3) in the last three minutes, including a layup with 34 seconds left that cut the lead to 72-68, their closest margin since 7-3.

Trey Fort’s catch-and-shoot corner 3-pointer made it 73-71 with 20 seconds remaining, but Isaac Asuma sank both free throws to steady the Gophers, whose fans stormed the court after the final buzzer.

Spartans point guard Jeremy Fears Jr., who totaled 60 points over two games last week, had just 10 points on 4-for-11 shooting with 11 assists.

The Spartans were in a four-way tie for first place five days ago with Michigan, Illinois and Nebraska. All four teams are ranked in the top 10 in The Associated Press poll. After losing to the rival Wolverines on Friday, the Spartans have fallen into fourth.

The Gophers were overdue for a breakthrough, with three losses by three points or less during the skid. They were tied or leading in the final minute of regulation in five of them. Minnesota’s last win over an AP top-10 team was on Jan. 16, 2021, over No. 7 Michigan.

Moved to the bench with Jordan Scott starting for the first time, Spartans shooting guard Divine Ugochukwu hobbled off with an injury in the first half and didn’t return.

Up next

Michigan State: Hosts No. 5 Illinois on Saturday.

Minnesota: Hosts Maryland on Sunday.

— By DAVE CAMPBELL, Associated Press

By Evan Woodbery, Tribune News Service

DETROIT — The Detroit Tigers have pulled off a bold, last-minute addition to their rotation by landing the top pitcher remaining on the market.

The Tigers have agreed to a three-year, $115 million deal with veteran right-hander Framber Valdez, ESPN first reported on Wednesday night.

The deal, which is pending a physical, allows Valdez to opt out of the contract after Year 2 and defers some of his salary.

Valdez, 32, has spent all eight years of his career with the Houston Astros, where he was 81-52 with a 3.36 ERA in 1,080 innings.

Over the last four seasons, he’s been one of baseball’s most reliable workhorse pitchers, averaging more than 30 starts a season.

Valdez joins a rotation with two-time defending Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize and Reese Olson. The Tigers also have Drew Anderson, who signed a one-year, $7 million deal earlier this winter and was expected to be in the rotation, and Troy Melton, who was a key arm late last season.

Valdez is a native of the Dominican Republic who signed with the Astros as a teenager in 2015. This will be just the second organization of his career.

After some shaky seasons as a youngster under then-Astros manager A.J. Hinch in 2018 and 2019, he came into his own in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, striking out 76 in 70 innings. He’s been a full-time member of Houston’s rotation ever since, with his only significant injury coming on a fluke play in 2021 when he was struck by a ball on his finger.

Valdez’s durability is one of his strongest selling points. He’s thrown nine career complete games and three shutouts. He’s averaged 6 1/3 innings per start over the last five seasons. He set an MLB record in 2022 with 25 consecutive quality starts.

But Valdez’s free agency aspirations were hurt by his age. At 32, he was hitting the market for the first time a couple of years later than most front-line starters.

While The Athletic projected a seven-year, $196 million deal and the MLB Trade Rumors foresaw a five-year, $150 million contract, Valdez had to opt for a shorter-term arrangement that will probably net him in the neighborhood of $100 million when the deferred money is adjusted to present-day value.

The Tigers’ 40-man roster is full, although they will be able to open a spot by placing Jackson Jobe on the 60-day injured list when spring training opens next week.

This story will be updated.

©2026 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit mlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

EAST LANSING (AP) — Oluchi Okananwa scored 23 points, and the No. 22 Maryland women pulled away in the second half for an 86-70 win over No. 12 Michigan State on Wednesday.

Maryland (18-6, 6-6 Big Ten) led 43-33 at halftime and broke the game open in the third quarter.

Okananwa went 8 of 13 from the field and added four rebounds, five assists and a steal as the Terps shot 49% as a team.

Yarden Garzon added 16 points and five assists, Kyndal Walker scored 14, and Saylor Poffenbarger finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and four steals. Maryland forced 20 turnovers, which led to 23 points, while holding Michigan State to 4 of 15 from 3.

The Terps pushed the margin to 72-55 early in the fourth on Poffenbarger’s 3-pointer. Okananwa scored seven straight points soon after, including a layup and a deep 3-pointer that stretched the lead to 84-68 with under two minutes left. Maryland never allowed the Spartans to get within single digits in the final quarter.

Grace VanSlooten led Michigan State (19-4, 8-4) with 19 points, nine rebounds and four blocks. Kennedy Blair had 15 points and seven assists, while Jalyn Brown scored 13.

Up Next

Michigan State: The Spartans play Saturday at Penn State.

Maryland: The Terrapins visit Nebraska on Saturday.

ANN ARBOR (AP) — Syla Swords scored 28 points and Olivia Olson had 21 to help No. 8 Michigan pull away and beat Nebraska 88-76 on Wednesday night.

The Wolverines (20-3, 11-1 Big Ten) went on a 15-6 run to take a nine-point lead early in the fourth quarter and turned what was a closely contested game into a double-digit victory.

Michigan has won a school-record nine straight Big Ten games.

That streak will be put to a test Sunday at home against UCLA, the second-ranked team in The Associated Press women’s college basketball poll.

Michigan has been a top-10 team for a program-record 11 consecutive weeks. The Wolverines have reached the 20-win mark for the 20th time, including 12 seasons with coach Kim Barnes Arico.

The Cornhuskers (16-7, 5-7) fell to 0-6 against AP Top 25 teams this season.

Nebraska’s Britt Prince and Amiah Hargrove scored 16 each and Petra Bozan added 12 points.

The Huskers were competitive for two-plus quarters.

They led 25-24 after an opening quarter with eight lead changes and four ties. The Wolverines turned it over six times in the first quarter and gave it up on the first possession of the second quarter before taking better care of the ball and going on a 7-0 run to take a six-point lead.

Nebraska closed the first half with eight points in 1:01 to take a 44-42 lead and went ahead by six points early in the third quarter.

Michigan surged ahead by making 6 of 8 shots to end the third, taking a 69-64 lead on Swords’ third 3-pointer.

Ashley Sofilkanich finished with nine points and 13 rebounds for the Wolverines.

Up next

Nebraska: Host Maryland on Saturday.

Michigan: Hosts No. 2 UCLA on Sunday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington Post sports section died Wednesday. Whether you blame natural causes or more avoidable factors, the loss for the D.C. area is immense.

The ramifications were felt almost immediately. Shortly after the newspaper eliminated its sports section while laying off a third of its staff, the hometown NBA team made a massive trade. The Washington Wizards agreed to acquire star Anthony Davis from Dallas. Over two hours after the news broke, there was still no mention of it on the Post’s online sports site.

Washington struggles for respect as a sports town, at times an afterthought compared to passionate Eastern cities like New York, Philadelphia and Boston. D.C.’s population, so the stereotype goes, is too transient, too consumed with politics to care about the local teams.

For decades, however, the Post treated sports as a vital part of life in the district. Whatever the rest of the country thought about Washington’s teams and fans, there was no better place to read about sports than the nation’s capital.

If you grew up in D.C. as a sports fan in the 1980s, the Post wasn’t necessarily the paper of Woodward and Bernstein. It was the paper of Boswell, Brennan, Feinstein, Wilbon and Kornheiser. More recently, it was the paper of Jenkins, Buckner and Kilgore.

“Growing up reading the Post, I didn’t realize it wasn’t like this in other cities,” ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt said on social media. “I didn’t know how lucky we were to enjoy giants of their craft.”

The Post made Washington sports fans feel like they mattered. If those days are over, they should not be forgotten.

Best of the best

Before they became TV stars on “Pardon The Interruption” at ESPN, Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser were D.C. institutions at the Post. When Joe Gibbs’ 1991 team won its first 11 games on the way to Washington’s third Super Bowl title, Kornheiser’s “Bandwagon” columns — which combined his usual wit and irreverence with a cockiness befitting one of the best seasons in NFL history — became as memorable as the games themselves.

Before her own television career took off, Rachel Nichols chronicled the Capitals’ run to the Stanley Cup Final for the Post in 1998. John Feinstein was a reporter at the paper before and after his book on Bob Knight turned him into a famous author.

Christine Brennan covered football for the Post in the mid-80s. Now with USA Today, Brennan received the Red Smith Award for contributions to sports journalism from the Associated Press Sports Editors in 2020. The following year, Sally Jenkins — who was still at the Post — won it. The Post’s Shirley Povich received that honor back in 1983.

Thomas Boswell, the Post’s go-to columnist for all things baseball, was given the 2025 Career Excellence Award by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He was honored during Hall of Fame weekend last year.

A new era

The Post would never be confused with a tabloid sports section, but the headlines and layout moved into the 21st Century with panache.

Designer Brianna Schroer said she was part of this week’s cuts. Reporter Scott Allen, whose position was eliminated as well, posted a thread on social media of some of the sports section’s best front pages. They are a timeline of D.C. sports from the past 25 years — which included Major League Baseball’s return to Washington and long-awaited championships by the Capitals, Nationals, Mystics and Spirit.

The Post’s reporting on the organizational culture was part of Dan Snyder’s downfall as owner of the football team he renamed the Commanders. And as recently as last year, Candace Buckner (top sports columnist), Adam Kilgore (national beat writing) and Kent Babb (top long feature) were APSE award winners.

The Post balanced stories of national relevance with coverage of local interest. Andrew Beyer — the man behind the famous Beyer Speed Figures — was the paper’s horse racing columnist for nearly four decades.

If you wanted to read about the World Cup, Steven Goff, one of the country’s top soccer writers, was in the pages of the Post. If you wanted to know who had the best high school volleyball team in the area, the Post ranked them — part of extensive preps coverage that included the paper’s much-anticipated All-Met teams.

The future

Wilbon and Kornheiser did not address the Post’s action on Wednesday’s episode of “PTI,” but for those who recently lost jobs, feelings were understandably raw.

“The community loses. That’s real. The Sports page should be a place for conversation and debate without the vitriol from other areas. In Washington, that’s gone,” said columnist Barry Svrluga, who was laid off Wednesday. “Someone will fill the void. I hope it happens quickly.”

— By NOAH TRISTER, Associated Press

By DAVID KLEPPER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Close the cover on the CIA World Factbook: The spy agency announced Wednesday that after more than 60 years, it is shuttering the popular reference manual.

The announcement posted to the CIA’s website offered no reason for the decision to end the Factbook, but it follows a vow from Director John Ratcliffe to end programs that don’t advance the agency’s core missions.

First launched in 1962 as a printed, classified reference manual for intelligence officers, the Factbook offered a detailed, by-the-numbers picture of foreign nations, their economies, militaries, resources and societies. The Factbook proved so useful that other federal agencies began using it, and within a decade, an unclassified version was released to the public.

After going online in 1997, the Factbook quickly became a popular reference site for journalists, trivia aficionados and the writers of college essays, racking up millions of visits per year.

The White House has moved to cut staffing at the CIA and the National Security Agency early in Trump’s second term, forcing the agency to do more with less.

The CIA did not return a message seeking comment Wednesday about the decision to cease publication of the Factbook.

By ALEXANDRA OLSON and CLAIRE SAVAGE

NEW YORK (AP) — The federal agency for protecting workers’ civil rights revealed Wednesday that it is investigating sportswear giant Nike for allegedly discriminating against white employees through its diversity policies.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission disclosed the investigation in a motion filed in Missouri federal court demanding that Nike fully comply with a subpoena for information.

The EEOC sought the company’s criteria for selecting employees for layoffs, how it tracks and uses worker race and ethnicity data, and information about programs which allegedly provided race-restricted mentoring, leadership, or career development opportunities, according to court documents.

In a statement, Nike said the company has worked to cooperate with the EEOC and the subpoena “feels like a surprising and unusual escalation.”

“We have shared thousands of pages of information and detailed written responses to the EEOC’s inquiry and are in the process of providing additional information,” Nike said in a statement sent to The Associated Press.”

EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas has moved swiftly to target diversity and inclusion policies that she has long criticized as potentially discriminatory, tightly aligning the agency with one of President Donald Trump’s top priorities.

Nike appears to be the highest profile company the EEOC has targeted with a publicly confirmed, formal anti-DEI investigation. In November, the EEOC issued a similar subpoena against financial services provider Northwestern Mutual.

“When there are compelling indications, including corporate admissions in extensive public materials, that an employer’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion-related programs may violate federal prohibitions against race discrimination or other forms of unlawful discrimination, the EEOC will take all necessary steps — including subpoena actions — to ensure the opportunity to fully and comprehensively investigate,” Lucas said in a statement.

The disclosure comes two months after Lucas posted a social media call-out urging white men to come forward if they have experienced race or sex discrimination at work. The post urged eligible workers to reach out to the agency “as soon as possible” and referred users to the agency’s fact sheet on DEI-related discrimination.

The investigation against Nike, however, does not stem from any worker complaint against the company. Rather, Lucas filed her own complaint in May 2024 through a more rarely used tool known as a commissioner’s charge, according to the court documents. Her charge came just months after America First Legal, a conservative legal group founded by top Trump adviser Stephen Miller, sent the EEOC a letter outlining complaints against Nike and urging the agency to file a commissioner’s charge.

America First Legal has flooded the EEOC with similar letters in recent years urging investigations into the DEI practices of major U.S. companies. It is unclear how many other companies the EEOC may be targeting through such commissioner’s charges. The EEOC is prohibited from revealing any charge — by workers or commissioners — unless it results in fines, settlements, legal action or other such public actions.

Lucas’ charge, according to court filings, was based on Nike’s publicly shared information about its commitment to diversity, including statements from executives and proxy statements. The charge, for example, cited Nike’s publicly stated goal in 2021 of achieving 35% representation of racial and ethnic minorities in its corporate workforce by 2025.

Many U.S. companies made similar commitments in the wake of the widespread 2020 racial justice protests that followed the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man. Companies have said such commitments are not quotas but rather goals they hoped to achieve through methods such as widening recruitment efforts and rooting out any bias during hiring process.

Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, employers are prohibited from using race as a criteria for hiring or other employment decisions. Lucas has long warned that many companies risk crossing that line through DEI efforts that would pressure managers to make race-based decisions.

In its statement, Nike said it follows “all applicable laws, including those that prohibit discrimination. We believe our programs and practices are consistent with those obligations and take these matters seriously.”

The Associated Press’ women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By LISA MASCARO, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday it will be a few days before a government funding package comes up for a vote, all but ensuring the partial federal shutdown will drag into the week as Democrats and Republicans debate reining in the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration enforcement operations.

Johnson signaled he is relying on help from President Donald Trump to ensure passage. Trump struck a deal with senators to separate out funding for the Department of Homeland Security from a broader package after public outrage over two shooting deaths during protests in Minneapolis against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The measure approved Friday by the Senate would fund DHS temporarily, for two weeks, setting up a deadline for Congress to debate and vote on new restrictions on ICE operations.

“The president is leading this,” Johnson, R-La., told “Fox News Sunday.”

“It’s his play call to do it this way,” the speaker said, adding that the Republican president has “already conceded that he wants to turn down the volume” on federal immigration operations.

Johnson faces a daunting challenge ahead, trying to muscle the funding legislation through the House while Democrats are refusing to provide the votes for speedy passage. They are demanding restraints on ICE that go beyond $20 million for body cameras that already is in the bill. They want to require that federal immigration agents unmask and identify themselves and are pressing for an end to roving patrols, amid other changes.

Democrats dig in on ICE changes

“What is clear is that the Department of Homeland Security needs to be dramatically reformed,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Jeffries said the administration needs to begin negotiations now, not over the next two weeks, on changes to immigration enforcement operations.

“Masks should come off,” he said. “Judicial warrants should absolutely be required consistent with the Constitution, in our view, before DHS agents or ICE agents are breaking into the homes of the American people or ripping people out of their cars.”

It’s all forcing Johnson to rely on his slim House GOP majority in a series of procedural votes, starting in committee on Monday and pushing a potential House floor vote on the package until at least Tuesday, he said.

House Democrats planned a private caucus call Sunday evening to assess the next steps.

Partial government shutdown drags on

Meanwhile, a number of other federal agencies are snared in the funding standoff as the government went into a partial shutdown over the weekend.

Defense, health, transportation and housing are among those that were given shutdown guidance by the administration, though many operations are deemed essential and services are not necessarily interrupted. Workers could go without pay if the impasse drags on. Some could be furloughed.

This is the second time in a matter of months that federal operations have been disrupted as Congress digs in, using the annual funding process as leverage to extract policy changes. Last fall, Democrats sparked what became the longest federal shutdown in history, 43 days, as they protested the expiration of health insurance tax breaks.

That shutdown ended with a promise to vote on proposals to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. But the legislation did not advance and Democrats were unable to achieve their goal of keeping the subsidies in place. Insurance premiums spiked in the new year for millions of people.

Trump wants quick end to shutdown

This time, the administration has signaled its interest in more quickly resolving the shutdown.

Johnson said he was in the Oval Office last week when Trump, along with border czar Tom Homan, spoke with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York to work out the deal.

“I think we’re on the path to get agreement,” Johnson said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Body cameras, which are already provided for in the package, and an end to the roving patrols by immigration agents are areas of potential agreement, Johnson said.

But he said taking the masks off and putting names on agents’ uniforms could lead to problems for law enforcement officers as they are being targeted by the protesters and their personal information is posted online.

“I don’t think the president would approve it — and he shouldn’t,” Johnson said on Fox.

Democrats, however, said the immigration operations are out of control, and it is an emergency situation that must end in Minneapolis and other cities.

Growing numbers of lawmakers are calling for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to be fired or impeached.

“What is happening in Minnesota right now is a dystopia,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who led efforts to hold the line for more changes.

“ICE is making this country less safe, not more safe today,” Murphy said on “Fox News Sunday.”

By MARIA SHERMAN, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The 68th annual Grammy Awards will take place Sunday with a dramatically different tone than last year.

The 2025 award show was completely reimagined and refocused to relief efforts following the devastating Los Angeles-area wildfires. In 2026, focus has been placed once again on the music, where Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny and more will go head-to-head.

Comedian Trevor Noah will host for a sixth and final year and history could be made when some of the biggest names in music gather. Here’s some key things to know ahead of Sunday’s show at the Crypto.com Arena.

How to watch the show and red carpet

The main show will air live on CBS beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern on Feb. 1.

The Grammys can also be watched through live TV streaming services that include CBS in their lineup, like Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV and FuboTV.

Paramount+ premium plan subscribers will be able to stream the Grammys live; Paramount+ essential subscribers will have on-demand access the next day.

The premiere ceremony will take place just ahead of the Grammys’ ceremony at 3:30 p.m. Eastern, 12:30 p.m. Pacific at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. It can be streamed at the Recording Academy’s YouTube channel and on live.GRAMMY.com.

The Associated Press will stream a four-hour red carpet show with interviews and fashion footage. It will be streamed on YouTube and APNews.com ahead of the Grammys on Sunday.

Who’s nominated at the 2025 Grammys

Kendrick Lamar leads the 2026 Grammy Award nominations with nine. Lady Gaga, Jack Antonoff and Canadian record producer/songwriter Cirkut follow with seven nominations each.

Sabrina Carpenter, Bad Bunny, Leon Thomas and Serban Ghenea all boast six nominations. Andrew Watt, Clipse, Doechii, Sounwave, SZA, Turnstile and Tyler, the Creator have five each.

Who’s attending and performing at the Grammys

Doechii, Harry Styles, Carole King, Chappell Roan, Charli xcx, Jeff Goldblum, Karol G, Lainey Wilson, Marcello Hernández, Nikki Glaser, Q-Tip, Queen Latifah and Teyana Taylor will present at the 2026 Grammys.

Performers include Justin Bieber, Clipse, Pharrell Williams, Sabrina Carpenter Bruno Mars, Rosé, Tyler, the Creator, Lady Gaga and all eight of this year’s best new artist nominees: Leon Thomas, Olivia Dean, global girl group Katseye, The Marías, Addison Rae, sombr, Alex Warren and Lola Young.

Reba McEntire, Brandy Clark and Lukas Nelson will take the stage for the in memoriam. Ms. Lauryn Hill will pay tribute to D’Angelo and Roberta Flack. Post Malone, Andrew Watt, Chad Smith, Duff McKagan and Slash will honor Ozzy Osbourne.

By MARIA SHERMAN, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Sunday’s Grammys mark a return to normalcy after the 2025 show was altered to focus on Los Angeles-area wildfire relief efforts.

“I think we will see some history-making moments,” Recording Academy CEO and President Harvey Mason jr. told The Associated Press. “With artists being nominated in categories they haven’t been previously nominated in, and a new crop of talent coming through the system this year — I think we’re going to see some really exciting results.”

Here’s how to watch the 2026 Grammys, including how to stream and where you can see music’s biggest stars walking the red carpet.

How do I watch the Grammys?

The main show will air live from LA’s Crypto.com Arena on CBS beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern. Paramount+ premium plan subscribers will be able to stream the telecast live, too. (Paramount+ essential subscribers will have on-demand access the next day.)

The Grammys can also be watched through live TV streaming services that include CBS in their lineup, like Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV and FuboTV.

The Premiere Ceremony will take place ahead of the Grammys telecast, at 3:30 p.m. Eastern from the Peacock Theater. It can be streamed at the Recording Academy’s YouTube channel and on live.GRAMMY.com.

How can I watch the red carpet?

The Associated Press will stream a four-hour red carpet show with interviews and fashion footage. It will be streamed on YouTube and APNews.com.

By Ben Warren, Tribune News Service

The long-term cold spell that has settled over Michigan has quickly expanded the ice cover on the Great Lakes and other waterways, forcing vessels to adapt, creating fears of ice jams and providing leisure activities for those wanting to take advantage of the thick ice.

On Friday, a Canadian ice breaker helped to lead a group of tankers through the ice on the Detroit River. The U.S. Coast Guard only has one heavy icebreaker to cover the entire Great Lakes region, so Canadian vessels sometimes help out.

During the weekend, along the St. Clair River in St. Clair County, sheets of ice dominated the river around Marine City and created the threat of ice jams for homeowners along the river, especially those with docks.

Others took to the lakes for activities like ice fishing. At Lake Erie Metropark in Brownstown, dozens of ice-fishing tents were visible on the frozen lake. The park is located a short drive south of Detroit and has acres of trails and a golf course. But this time of year, the thick ice near the shores of Lake Erie is a major draw.

Mike Shankelton, 68, of Monroe was fishing out on the ice at the Metropark on Saturday with two friends, Tom Clark of Temperance and Dave Wagenknecht of Ida, both also in their 60s. Shankelton said, “it hasn’t frozen that good for years.”

He added, “The ice is solid in a lot of areas, but you’ve still got to be cautious.”

The ice coverage of the Great Lakes has expanded in January as temperatures have occasionally hit subzero levels in recent weeks.

The total ice cover across the five lakes reached 51% on Saturday, up from 5.5% on Jan. 14, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor.

Shankelton’s strategy for staying safe out on the ice is to watch where other people are already walking. When there’s no one else around, he uses a drill to see how deep the ice really is.

Shankelton was looking for perch, but he said, “of course if a walleye wants to bite it, that’s OK too.” He said he preferred to deep fry what he caught to eat.

All of Lake St. Clair is frozen over at this point, according to research lab data, while 95% of Lake Erie is covered with ice and 68% of Lake Huron is covered with ice. The largest Great Lake, Superior, has nearly 40% ice coverage despite being farther north, while Lake Michigan is at 37% and Lake Ontario is at 34%.

While St. Clair is not one of the five official Great Lakes, it is often considered part of the same lake system.

In just the last week, ice coverage in Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Superior has doubled. Across all the lakes, ice coverage has expanded beyond what is typical for this time of the year, and above long-term January averages.

The culprit is what meteorologists call an “Arctic air mass,” which has hovered over much of the eastern United States in recent weeks. That weather pattern is responsible for the below-average temperatures across Michigan through the end of January, according to the National Weather Service.

Typically, ice coverage in the lower lakes peaks in mid-to-late February, while the upper lakes reach maximum coverage between late February and early March.

When Great Lakes ice coverage is higher than normal, it can impact weather patterns across the region: there’s often less lake-effect snow and it takes longer to warm up in the spring, according to the NOAA. This happens because the ice cover prevents water from evaporating, leading to drier conditions. And the ice reflects sunlight, meaning the water underneath remains colder for longer.

©2026 The Detroit News. Visit detroitnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By Adam Graham, Tribune News Service

It’s almost like a movie.

The Milford Independent Cinema will no longer be closing its doors, its Board of Directors announced Saturday.

On what was slated to be the one-screen cinema’s final day, the theater’s board said the theater can remain sustainable “in the near term,” according to a press release. The news comes following a successful crowdfunding effort that was “nothing short of remarkable,” the cinema’s operators said in a statement.

“We are truly blown away by the support, passion, and resilience of this community,” said the Milford Independent Cinema Board of Directors. “This theater exists because of the people who believe in it, show up for it, and see its value far beyond the screen.”

The theater announced in mid-January that it would be closing its doors at the end of the month, due to “significant and ongoing changes within the film exhibition industry.”

But then the community spoke up, and on Jan. 24, operators shared a message on social media saying that donations were pouring in and that they may be able to stave off closing. “There is hope!” they said at the time.

In recent years, Metro Detroit has seen the closure of several movie theaters and multiplexes, including the AMC Star Southfield, AMC Fairlane 21, Main Art Theatre, Maple Theater, Cinema Detroit and Regal Cinemas UA Commerce Township.

The Milford theater has been open since 1972 and has operated as a non-profit since reopening after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Saturday’s announcement didn’t come with a timeline attached, but operators said the theater will expand its offerings going forward with live events, “new and fun” film series, and new members will be added to its board. There will also be increased volunteer efforts and a new membership program for the theater.

The theater will take a short hiatus, and operators plan to reopen its doors on Feb. 11.

“From the bottom of our hearts, thank you,” the Board said in its statement. “Because of you, we are here— and we will continue to show up for this community just as you have shown up for us.”

©2026 The Detroit News. Visit detroitnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

There was no fat lady singing on Saturday night, Jan. 31, at the Detroit Opera House.

But things were certainly phat.

Part concert and part tribute, “Symphonic PFunk: Celebrating the Music of Parliament-Funkadelic” was a joyous throwdown that treated George Clinton’s famed funk catalog in a new way yet was undeniably a P-Funk throwdown joint.

With an hour and 45-minutes of music divided into two parts, the show needle-dropped into many of the highest points of that enduring body of work as well as a selection of deep digs, with the sold-out crowd of 2,700 dancing, arm-waving and whooping and in a manner decidedly different than, oh, “Madama Butterfly” or “La Traviata.”

The orchestral arrangements, meanwhile, — crafted by “Dancing With the Stars'” music director Ray Chew, who conducted the Detroit Opera Orchestra — largely inobtrusive and certainly eclipsed by the amplified power of the current Parliament Funkadelic lineup.

But when the orchestra did surface through the mix — during songs such as “(Not Just) Knee Deep,” “(I Wanna) Testify,” “Agua Boogie” and “Flash Light” — it added an audible richness and sonic depth to music created mostly at Detroit’s United Sound Systems studio during the 70s.

It didn’t take long for the part to get started as the Mothership and Clinton’s animated visage landed on the video screen and the ensemble kicked into a tight “P.Funk (Make My Funk the P-Funk).

In the flesh, the 84-year-old Clinton was animated and energetic in a dapper suit and fedora as he hyped the crowd along the front of the stage, mugging with Chew and the backing vocalists, including Sheila Brody Amuka in a tall Brides of Funkenstein wig and glittering bikini. Clinton was present for more than half of the 14-song show, occasionally sitting in an office swivel chair on stage and watching the rest from a private box on the Opera House’s mezzanine level.

The concert stayed hot with and without him, of course.

Clinton fronted a muscular rendition of the Parliaments’ 1967 hit “(I Wanna) Testify),” while Rahsaan Patterson joined the collective for “Aqua Boogie” and Labelle veteran Nona Hendryx came on board during “Mothership Connection (Star Child).” Living Colour’s Vernon Reid’s guitar acumen was featured during “Cosmic Slop,” while P-Funk mainstay Michael Hampton shredded on his guitar for “Alice in My Fantasies” and “Maggot Brain.”

 

A trio of P-Funk alumni — vocalists Sheila Horn and Paul Hill and drummer Gabe Gonzalez — reunited for a “Red Hot Mama” that lived up to its name, while the perennial “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)” did just that. And the roof stayed off as the whole company romped through an extended medley of “One Nation Under a Groove” and “Flash Light.” The encore, “Atomic Dog,” only kicked things up a notch as a dance team from the Omega Psi Phi fraternity worked its way down the aisle and onto the stage for an assemblage that looked epic — and operatic.

Clinton — who’s planning to launch a new Mothership show during the summer, 50 years after he introduced it — noted during the intermission that he and New York-based Chew Entertainment, which produced “Symphonic PFunk,” hope to keep the concept going; representatives of other venues, including the Hollywood Bowl, were there on Saturday to check it out. But there was only one proper place to start it, of course, and the Opera House certainly had the funk in abundance on Saturday night.

 

When Kate Brouner decided to put her six-bedroom, three-bath 3,590-square-foot Howell house on the market, she called the previous owner: Novi-based Realtor Jenn Anderson.

Anderson lived in the home for 11 years before selling to Brouner.

“We call it ‘our house’ and we wanted to make sure to find the right buyer,” Anderson said.

Winter tends to be a slower time for agents but it allows real-estate agents to size up last year’s marketplace and forecast the year ahead. But houses are still being bought and sold.

Steve Stockton has a national and local perspective of the housing market. He’s a board member for RealComp, Michigan’s largest multiple-listing service; the North Oakland County Board of Realtors; and the National Real Estate Review Board.

“This is the longest time period we’ve had growth: 29 months in a row of increased value nationally,” he said. “I don’t remember a month since COVID where we haven’t gone up month over month.”

Regionally, sales rose month-over-month in the Northeast and South, were unchanged in the West, and declined in the Midwest. Demand in Michigan remains steady, Stockton said.

Nationally, home sales rose in December, up by a half percent from November, according to the National Association of Realtors. But compared to December 2024, sales were down by 1%.

The typical homebuyer is 60 years old and the median age for a new-home buyer is at an all-time high: 40, up from 33 in 2021 and 29 in 1991.

“The hardest issue is finding starter homes that younger people can buy. To finally hit 40 as the average first-time buyer’s age is just crazy,” he said.

Market shift

Stockton said the current market is transitioning from one that favored sellers to a balanced market favoring neither buyers nor sellers, aided in part by lower interest rates.

As of late Thursday, a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage loan was around 6.2% and the 15-year rate was around 5.6%. Few expect interest to drop below 6% this year, despite pressure on the Federal Bank by the Trump administration, he said.

Karen Kage, Realcomp’s CEO and a real estate agent for more than 40 years, said buyers are finding 10% more homes for sale in southeast Michigan this year compared to last year while Oakland County has 15% more.

Oakland County’s hottest markets include Novi, Northville and South Lyon, where builders are busy. Existing homes are selling in Milford, Highland and White Lake townships, Stockton said.

Areas like Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills remain popular and lakeside homes are always in high demand.

Home prices

Southeast Michigan’s median price for existing homes was $270,000 in December, up 5.9% over December 2024. Oakland County’s median home price increased by less than 1%, to $360,000..

“The buyers have a little more to chase,” Stockton said, noting that less than five years ago, buyers were skipping home inspections and warranties to compete with a slew of other buyers.

These days, he said, softer markets in Nevada, Arizona, Idaho and Florida are inspiring older homeowners who are weighing getting a good price for their Michigan home and taking advantage of better prices in what Stockon called “the sunshine states.”

In southeast Michigan, the number of homes on the market represent about three to four months of inventory, up from 2015, when the inventory was a scant six weeks. A truly balanced market requires a five-to-seven-month supply of homes, Stockton said.

More homes for sale means sellers are now waiting on home inspection results, offering home warranties again and bargaining on prices more than in recent years.

But in some areas, buyers are writing love letters about the home they want to persuade a seller to pick their offer.

What’s selling

A refreshed kitchen remains a selling point, as does a newer roof.

“The homes selling quickly now are updated and sharp,” Stockton said. “If you have a house that’s a little tired and dated, it’s going to sit on the market for a while.”

But a motivated seller like Brouner will adjust the home price to attract buyers.

Brouner, a healthcare analyst and mother of five, wanted a new home after her divorce was finalized but didn’t have the time for significant updates.

Anderson said it’s important for sellers to be realistic about their home’s value and the marketplace. Brouner had been watching the real estate market for 18 months before deciding to list her home. She and Anderson agreed to list the house for $449,900.

Less than a week after the listing went online, offers poured in.

“I was pretty confident my house would sell but Jenn really helped me make the most money possible,” she said. “Selling is not as scary as everyone thinks. Find the right agent and they will guide you.”

Brouner will start shopping for a new home with Anderson soon. She hopes to find a house with more land, room for her family and a price under $400,000 and she’s being pragmatic about her options.

“I don’t mind buying a fixer upper,” she said.

The 2026 outlook

“I hate making predictions,” Kage said. “Everything could change tomorrow … Who could have predicted some of the things we’ve been through in the last 40 years?”

She prefers to watch monthly home-sales figures and said two months of numbers gives a short-term peek into the future. The final months of winter can suggest how a season will progress. The second-quarter market is a better indicator, she said.

The solid sellers’ market pressed buyers into bidding wars, which Kage said raised prices to a point that challenges younger buyers.

She believes more sellers are confident of getting a good price for their home and being able to find an affordable next home,” she said.

A rise in the number of homes available has increased the average time on the market by two days, to 43 days, which has alarmed sellers and it shouldn’t because buyers who have more choices are more confident in their offers, Kage said.

Kage encourages buyers and sellers to work with a licensed real estate agent. They can help sellers find the optimum price for marketing a home and typically learn about new listings before they are published.

“People say, ‘Oh, I’ll just check Zillow’ but where do you think Zillow gets the information? They get it from us,” she said.

Before I tell you why you should watch the new documentary about Mel Brooks, I will tell you that 25 years ago, he told me, “You may be right. I have done everything there is to do in show business. … Everything except to be tall. That’s the one thing I’ve never accomplished, being tall. But I’m looking forward to that.”

He was a relative youngster then, 74 years old, but at a very important point in his life. He was generally regarded as a comedic giant, and why not? He had spent his life making people laugh, first as a Catskills comic and then as part of a glittering writing team (along with Woody Allen and Neil Simon) for Sid Caesar’s pioneering TV programs “Your Show of Shows” and “Caesar’s Hour”; as the co-creator of “Get Smart”; as the 2000 Year Old Man on a series of best-selling comedy albums with pal Carl Reiner; as movie writer, director, producer and actor in such films as “The Producers,” “Young Frankenstein” and “Blazing Saddles.”

But he had not had a critical or box-office hit since his 1977 Hitchcock spoof “High Anxiety.” And there he sat on a cold December day in 2000 in New York, taking a big risk, for many believed that the success or failure of the musical version of “The Producers” he was overseeing would provide the final sentence to his career.

Well, we all know what happened. “The Producers” would open in Chicago, move to Broadway and win a record 12 Tony Awards. The career carried on, and now here is Brooks, as charming, smart and, of course, funny as ever, as the centerpiece of a thoughtfully thrilling documentary now airing on HBO Max. “Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!,” exclamation point more than justified.

It may be a bit long at almost four hours (in two episodes, now streaming), but it is impossible not to enjoy. Its length is forgivable since one can sense the excitement and affection of filmmaker Judd Apatow, who interviews Brooks at length. Apatow, along with co-director Michael Bonfiglio, has previously also captured in documentary form George Carlin and Garry Shandling.

Drawing on ample archival footage and candid interviews, he and Bonfiglio take us back to the beginning with Brooks (born Melvin Kaminsky), the youngest of four boys of a widowed mother in Brooklyn, all of them off to World War II, all safely returned, with Brooks telling Apatow, “War changed me. If you don’t get killed in the Army, you can learn a lot.”

His career moves to the raucous Sid Caesar writers’ room and we do also hear, rather wistfully, from Brooks’ three children and his first wife, former Broadway dancer Florence Baum, before he was off to moviemaking in California in the early 1960s. His granddaughter Samantha is charming.

You will hear Brooks tell a terrific Cary Grant story (one he has told many times over the years on the various late-night talk shows where he has been a frequent guest) but, more tenderly, tales of his courtship and marriage to actress Anne Bancroft. Gene Wilder shares feelings that go far deeper than director and star. And we get details of Brooks’ long friendship with writer-director Reiner, from the early 1960s to their sharing dinners together as widowers every night watching “Jeopardy” on TV.

Bancroft died in 2005; their son, novelist Max, is tender in interviews. Reiner’s wife Estelle died in 2008 and Reiner in 2020. Hearing Reiner’s son, filmmaker Rob, talk about his father and Brooks gives one a chill, knowing this was one of the final conversations before he and his wife Michele Singer Reiner’s December murders.

The number of people with whom Brooks has shared his creative life will impress and perhaps surprise you. There’s Richard Pryor, who did a bit of writing for “Blazing Saddles,” who says, “He’s a loving man. It’s about love with him.”

The late director David Lynch credits Brooks with saving his career by hiring him to direct “The Elephant Man” after seeing Lynch’s “Eraserhead.” In addition to his own movies, Brooks produced such films, through his Brooksfilms, as “The Fly,” “My Favorite Year,” “Frances” and others, taking a rare low profile lest his name lead moviegoers to think they would be seeing comedies.

Naturally, we hear from a large crowd of showbiz folks and all of them — Ben Stiller, Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, Sarah Silverman, Conan O’Brien, Josh Gad, Robert Townsend, Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane and others — are complimentary. There must be someone in that backbiting swamp that is Hollywood who isn’t a Brooks fan, but such a person is not to be found here.

Whatever your relationship with Brooks beforehand, this film will enrich it. Will you understand what makes him tick? I don’t know, and you won’t care. Just spending time with him is satisfying enough.

His famously quick wit has not lost a step. When Apatow asks, “You lost your father at an early age?” Brooks quickly replies, “No, no. My father died.”

His ability to recall names and places and laughs is, frankly, astonishing. He is not only able to remember but to enjoy, to savor. We should all be so lucky.

In the film, he says, “Sometimes my comedy is just to celebrate the joy of being alive.” And as he has said many times in his many years, he has always used humor as “a defense against the universe.” Few, if any, have done it better.

rkogan@chicagotribune.com

By MARK KENNEDY, AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Some people see the glass as half full and some as half empty. Marc Shaiman is something else entirely.

“I’m not even happy with the glass,” he says with a laugh.

The award-winning Hollywood and Broadway composer and lyricist cheerfully likes to call himself an “Eeyore” and “a card-carrying pessimist” despite many of his biggest dreams coming true.

“Just as soon as something good happens, something bad’s going to happen,” he tells The Associated Press. “I am always waiting for that other shoe to drop, and it inevitably drops.”

His career and personal ups and downs are on full display this winter with Tuesday’s publication of his memoir, “Never Mind the Happy: Showbiz Stories from a Sore Winner,” which is filled with funny stories from a man who has helped fuel popular movies and musicals for decades.

“I’ve been lucky enough to do a lot and I’ve been lucky enough to have an outrageous longevity. I thought, ‘Let me write it down, finally,’” he says.

Tales of Bette Midler, Stephen Sondheim and the ‘South Park’ guys

The memoir charts the New Jersey-born musical prodigy’s rise from Bette Midler’s musical director in his teens to scoring such films as “Sleepless in Seattle” and “Mary Poppins Returns” and Broadway shows like “Hairspray” and “Catch Me If You Can.”

He’s worked with Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Luther Vandross, Raquel Welch and Rob Reiner, sparred with producer Scott Rudin and had a spat with Nora Ephron (“I’m certain she’s in heaven, telling all the angels she doesn’t like harps,” he writes). He also played at the White House and was a force in the early days of “Saturday Night Live.”

There was the time in 1999 that he got legendary composer Stephen Sondheim so high on pot at a party in his apartment that the iconic composer collapsed three times. “I’ve killed Stephen Sondheim,” he thought to himself. (Sondheim asked him to tell the story only after he died.)

He tells the story of hearing Meryl Streep repeatedly working on a song for “Mary Poppins Returns.” Moved, he and his writing partner, Scott Williams, knocked on her door to say how impressed they were by her dedication to rehearse. “Well, guys, fear can be a powerful motivator,” she told them.

“I’m mostly just trying to show how human everyone is — even these bold-faced names,” Shaiman, a two-time Grammy winner and two-time Emmy winner, says in the interview.

Shaiman isn’t above mocking himself, as he does for becoming an inveterate pothead and cocaine user. “I should go into the Guinness Book of World Records for being the only person who put on weight while being a cocaine addict,” he writes.

There are stories about how a misunderstanding over an unpaid bill with Barbra Streisand left him shaken for days and the time he insulted Harry Connick Jr. (Both would later reconcile.)

Then there was the time he found himself dressed in an ostentatious powder-blue suit and feather boa alongside Matt Stone and Trey Parker on a red carpet for “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut” — they were dressed as Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Lopez.

One lesson from Shaiman: ‘Show up’

One lesson Shaiman hopes to teach aspiring artists is to go for it: “What you can do is show up. Show up to everything. Say yes to everything because I’m a good example of that.”

He tells the story of Midler organizing a world tour and offering his services but being told she was only hiring local Los Angeles people. So he withdrew all his money from the bank, hopped on a flight from New York and called her from a phone booth: “I’m in L.A. Where’s rehearsal?”

“Even if you don’t get the job, keep your spirit up because someone in that room is going to remember you for another thing. That’s the thing I think to really learn from the book,” he says.

As a sign of Shaiman’s pull on Broadway, the audiobook will feature performances by Crystal, Short, Matthew Broderick, Megan Hilty, Nathan Lane, Katharine McPhee and Ben Whishaw, among others.

“I had included a lot of lyrics in the book and then I suddenly realized, ‘What, am I going to sing them all or speak them all?’ So I started calling friends, some who had sung those songs and some who had sung the demos,” he says.

Crystal met Shaiman at “Saturday Night Live” and quickly hit it off. In a separate interview, Crystal called his friend funny and quick to improvise, with an almost photographic memory of music.

“Look at his range: From ‘Misery’ to the beautiful score from ‘The American President.’ And I brought him in on ‘61(asterisk)’ and then the ‘Mr. Saturday Night’ score,” Crystal says. “He’s just so uniquely talented as an artist.”

Despite being a Tony Award winner in 2003 with “Hairspray” and earning two other nominations for “Catch Me If You Can” in 2011 and “Some Like It Hot” in 2023, Shaiman is flustered by Broadway.

His last two shows — “Smash” and “Some Like It Hot” — earned great reviews but closed early, a victim of high costs and fickle audiences.

“I wish the shows kind of stunk and I could go, ‘Oh, man, that really stunk. People are really not liking this,’” he says. “But when they’re enjoying it?”

Shaiman really has nothing else to prove and yet he laughs that his skin has gotten thinner — not thicker — over the years. He’d like to take it easy, but that’s not what Eeyores do.

“I don’t know how well I’ll actually do with retirement, but I’d like to give it a try.”