In 1988, Eddie Murphy teamed up with his “Trading Places” director John Landis and put the fictional African nation of Zamunda on the map in the hit rom-com “Coming to America.” But the homeland of Murphy’s Prince Akeem existed only on the perimeters of that film, which was set almost entirely in Queens, New York, where the prince had come in search of a wife. But Zamunda is a star attraction in “Coming 2 America,” the decades-later sequel dropping Friday on Amazon Prime. But since the fictional African nation had such a fleeting appearance in first film, director Craig Brewer and Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter realized they had the luxury of performing a major Zamunda makeover. Ruth E. Carter re-teamed with director Craig Brewer and actor Eddie Murphy on “Coming 2 America.”

Area at I-80 near 7200 West where the Utah Inland Port is planned to be built in Salt Lake City on Monday, Jan. 27, 2020. Utah lawmakers on Tuesday, March 2, 2021, struck a deal for the last lingering, unresolved piece of the state’s 2021 budget. | Steve Griffin, Deseret NewsNegotiations drop $1.4 billion in bonding to $264 million SALT LAKE CITY — Utah lawmakers have struck a deal for the last lingering, unresolved piece of the state’s 2021 budget. House and Senate legislators, who initially disagreed over how much the state should bond for infrastructure projects, landed on a substantially smaller number: $264 million, down from $1.4 billion, according to a new version of HB433 released Tuesday. The substitute, put forth by bill sponsor House Majority Leader Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, wo

Southern California house prices continued to rise even higher in January as buyers high on low mortgage rates continue to bid up the cost of homebuying, especially in the Inland Empire, according to CoreLogic’s latest Home Price Index, released Tuesday, March 2. Price gains in Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties rose to their highest level in nearly seven years. Los Angeles County’s price appreciation in January was the largest in three years. Inland Empire house prices jumped 12.4% in the 12 months ending in January, according to the CoreLogic HPI, which like the S&P Case-Shiller index is based on comparisons between each home’s previous and latest selling prices. The index uses sales comparisons for existing single-family homes only. The Inland Empire has seen a surge in ...

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the U.S. expects to take delivery of enough coronavirus vaccines for all adult Americans by the end of May, two months earlier than anticipated, as his administration announced that drugmaker Merck & Co. will help produce rival Johnson & Johnson’s newly approved shot. The announcement comes as the White House looks to speed the production of the single-dose J&J vaccine and accelerate the nation’s plans to reach “herd immunity” in the U.S. and begin restoring normalcy after the pandemic. Biden noted that vaccine supply was only one bottleneck toward that goal, and that the new challenge will be injecting doses into arms as swiftly as possible. White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a press briefing at the White Hous

By ZEKE MILLER, LINDA A. JOHNSON and JONATHAN LEMIRE WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the U.S. expects to take delivery of enough coronavirus vaccines for all adult Americans by the end of May, two months earlier than anticipated, as his administration announced that drugmaker Merck & Co. will help produce rival Johnson & Johnson’s newly approved shot. With the bolstered supply, Biden also announced he would be using the powers of the federal government to direct all states to prioritize vaccinating teachers, and said the federal government would provide the doses directly through its pharmacy program. He challenged states to administer at least one dose of the vaccine to all teachers by the end of March as part of his administration’s efforts to reopen more

The below list only includes domestic (U.S. and Canada only, unless otherwise indicated) grosses for specialty films — which we define to include independent, foreign (including Bollywood films), and/or documentary films — that opened in limited release (599 screens and under) in 2021 AND/OR were acquired or produced for 2021 distribution by an independent distributor (including but not limited to STX Films, Annapurna, United Artists Releasing, A24, Entertainment Studios, IFC Films, Magnolia Pictures, Lionsgate, Open Road, and Bleecker Street) or a studio or its specialty division (including Searchlight, Sony Pictures Classics, and Focus Features). Given the rapidly changing state of the box office world (and its attendant reporting), this list only includes movies that have opened in thea

Even from halfway across the country while building what will one day be a Hall of Fame career, Aaron Rodgers’ heart has never left his hometown of Chico. The Packers quarterback and reigning NFL MVP is sending more than just his love to the folks back in Butte County where he grew up. Rodgers is sending $1 million to help 80 locally owned businesses needing assistance in Chico and the surrounding area. Restaurants and retail businesses with 20 or fewer full-time equivalent employees can apply for help through this fund. All 80 of those businesses will receive grants through the Aaron Rodgers Small-Business COVID-19 Fund at North Valley Community Foundation in Chico. Those grants will wind up totally more than $1 million. The money will help businesses cover rent for an average of three...

Summary List Placement Scott Minerd said the 10-year Treasury could be negative in 2022 and rejected the consensus narrative rates are on an "uninterrupted trajectory higher."  The Guggenheim global CIO said throughout history, every recession has been followed by a trough in interest rates. Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell. Guggenheim's Scott Minerd squashed the consensus narrative that rates are on an "uninterrupted trajectory higher" and said the 10-year Treasury yield could be negative in 2022. In his latest investment outlook letter published Tuesday, the global chief investment officer said rising rates are not a foregone conclusion and explained that throughout history, every recession has been followed by a trough in interest rates s...

By Piroschka van de Wouw and Stephanie van den Berg | Reuters THE HAGUE – Several dozen sex workers protested in front of the Dutch parliament on Tuesday against a government decision to ease coronavirus restrictions for some professions but not sex work, normally legal in the Netherlands. The protesters carried red umbrellas and signs reading “Blow jobs are real jobs” and “Sex work: Yes. Stigma: No.” “I’m protesting because sex workers are being discriminated against. You can go to the hairdresser or you can go to a massage therapist but you can’t go and see a sex worker,” said sex worker and candidate in the March parliamentary election Yvette Luhrs. Last week Health Minister Hugo de Jonge announced so-called contact professions such as hairdressers and massage therapists could reopen a...

Frederick M. BrownFormer Fox News guest booking director Laurie Luhn, a repeated victim of the late Roger Ailes’ alleged sexual misconduct, lost a major legal round Tuesday in her federal defamation lawsuit against Fox News Media and its chief executive, Suzanne Scott. Affirming a lower-court decision dismissing Luhn’s complaint, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia ruled that a 2019 Los Angeles Times profile of Scott—in which the executive insisted she “had no clue on what was going on in Roger Ailes’ office” and “I have never had any issues with any sort of harassment myself”—could not meet the legal standard for defamation. The ruling said that’s because neither Scott nor the article mentioned Luhn and her statements were not “reasonably capable ...