By Michael Warren | CNN With the first full day of the Conservative Political Action Conference underway, there’s already an indisputable star: an outrageously golden statue of Donald Trump wearing shorts and flip-flops. The more than 6-foot-tall statue turned heads as it was wheeled into the Hyatt Regency Thursday evening while CPAC attendees picked up their registration and milled about the hotel. The statue was on its way to the conference’s exhibit hall, where it found a home in a booth for a conservative nonprofit called Look Ahead America. Tommy Zegan, a California-based artist, created the Trump statue in response to the multiple pieces of art mocking Trump. “Two years ago, when I saw all those statues of naked Trump and Trump on a toilet, I said, ‘You know what? I can do better,’ ...

People tour the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City on Friday, Feb. 19, 2021. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s culture and arts industry lost over $77 million from the restrictions placed on the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report shows, but officials are holding out hope for a better year. “When we closed the museum in March 2020 to help slow the spread of COVID-19, we thought we’d be dark for just a week or two. By mid-April, however, it was clear our temporary closure was anything but and we began to prepare for an extended shutdown,” according to Jason Cryan, executive director of the Natural History Museum of Utah. According to the 2020 State of Utah Culture Report presented last week by the Utah Cultural Alliance and the Utah Department o

  Summary List Placement Whether it's for a birthday, anniversary, or just because, a thoughtful gift for your wife goes a long way.  We rounded up 52 great gift ideas for her that cover a wide range of interests and budgets. Looking for more gift ideas? Check out all of Insider Reviews' gift guides here. Everyone loves to know that they're appreciated and putting some extra care into picking out a gift for your wife is a great way to make her feel special. If you tend to get stuck coming up with unique gifts for women and are having a hard time coming up with thoughtful gift ideas for your wife, you've come to the right place. Of course, the best ways to show your appreciation for your loved ones can't be bought. Nothing can top showing your gratitude with patience, support, and love. Wh

Former Atlanta Dream player Renee Montgomery will become a co-owner and executive for the team. | Nick Wass/APThe league approved the sale of the Atlanta Dream following pressure on former Sen. Kelly Loeffler to sell her share of the team. ATLANTA — Real estate investor Larry Gottesdiener was approved Friday as the lead owner of the Atlanta Dream following pressure on former Sen. Kelly Loeffler to sell her share of the WNBA team. The three-member investor group also includes former Dream guard Renee Montgomery and Suzanne Abair, president of Northland Investment Corp. in Massachusetts, the firm Gottesdiener founded. Montgomery becomes the first former player to become both an owner and executive of a WNBA team. She sat out the 2020 season to focus on social justice issues and recently ann...

The growth of sports betting in Colorado continues to skyrocket with a monthly record of $326.9 million wagered in January, according to a report from the state’s department of revenue. A breakdown for how Colorado sports gamblers placed their bets to begin 2021… • NBA: $88M • NFL: $74M • NCAA basketball: $39M • Table tennis: $11M • NHL: $9M The state department’s gaming division said taxes collected in January totaled $1.19 million — an increase of more than $400,000 from the previous month — with the majority of funds going toward the state’s water plan as approved by voters in November 2019. Colorado, over nine months with legalized sports gambling, has eclipsed $1.5 billion in total bets placed. Related Articles Pick 6: Odds Drew Lock is the Broncos’ starter in Week ...

In November, voters narrowly approved Proposition 19, which combined property tax portability with changes to other property laws resulting in significantly higher tax revenues compared to before. That will come as an unwelcome surprise to many voters who were misled by a costly advertising campaign into thinking that Prop. 19 merely helped seniors, disabled individuals and wildfire victims who wished to move to a new home. Hidden in Prop. 19 was the repeal of Proposition 58, a 1986 constitutional amendment that said parents could transfer a home and some other property to their children without any change to the property tax bill. Under Proposition 19, those same properties will be reassessed to market value as of the date of transfer, with only a limited exclusion for family farms and f...

Chess grandmaster Levon Aronian said on Friday that he is leaving Armenia and will compete for the United States, citing what he said was Armenian officials’ indifference to chess as one of the reasons. The 38-year-old, who is ranked No. 6 in the world, announced his decision on his Facebook page. “The past year has been very difficult for all of us with a pandemic, a war, and in my case there was personal adversity and the state’s absolute indifference towards Armenian chess,” he wrote. “I was faced with a choice: quit my job or move to where I am valued.” Smbat Lputian, deputy head of the Armenian Chess Federation, said he regretted Aronian’s decision and called it “a big loss for Armenian chess.” Aronian’s move comes amid political unrest in Armenia. Ethnic Armenian and Azeri forces ha...

By Jeremy Herb | CNN The US intelligence report on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi says that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved the operation to capture or kill the Saudi journalist. “We assess that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” the report’s executive summary states. “We base this assessment on the Crown Prince’s control of decisionmaking in the Kingdom, the direct involvement of a key adviser and members of Muhammad bin Salman’s protective detail in the operation, and the Crown Prince’s support for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad, including Khashoggi,” the report says. The Biden administration released the long-awaited declassified inte...

Lawmakers listen during a news conference ahead of the House vote on the Equality Act on February 25. | Al Drago/Getty ImagesThe landmark bill, which would prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ Americans, faces unlikely odds in the Senate. In a victory for LGBTQ rights, the House passed the Equality Act, a bill that would ban discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation, on February 24. All House Democrats and three House Republicans — Reps. John Katko (NY), Tom Reed (NY), and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA) — joined together to pass the bill, 224-206. Now, the legislation moves to the Senate, where it faces tougher opposition because it will need all 50 Democrats plus 10 Republican senators to pass it. The bill, which has been introduced four times in its current form but has exis