COLU @ CONCEPTS

NEW YORK (AP) — Netflix says it made its first acquisition, comic book publisher Millarworld, with plans to turn its characters into new films and shows for the video streaming service. Millarworld’s graphic novels “Kick-Ass,” ″Wanted” and “Kingsman” have already been turned into movies by major studios. Los Gatos, California-based Netflix didn’t disclose on Monday how much it paid for Millarworld. Netflix already has made a hefty commitment to comic-book series with “Daredevil,” ″Jessica Jones” and “Luke Cage,” among others based on Marvel characters. The streaming service ventured outside the Marvel universe with the recently announced series based on “The Umbrella Academy,” published by Dark Horse Comics. Netflix has been spending heavily for original movies and shows in all genres, such as “House of Cards” and “Orange Is the New Black,” to attract new viewers and stand apart from rival services. It reported in July that it had more than 100 million subscribers worl...

NEW YORK (AP) — This year’s run to a record for the stock market has been one of the calmest in decades. Just don’t get too comfortable. Only twice this year have investors had to deal with a 1 percent drop for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index in a day. That’s far fewer than typical. Source: FactSet The last time stocks sailed through such an uneventful first seven months was when a group of burglars was arrested for breaking into the Watergate complex in 1972. Broaden the scope to include when the S&P 500 fell or rose by 1 percent in a day, and this could be the least volatile year for stocks since 1964, if the current pace holds. But as central banks start to wean markets off the stimulus they’ve injected into the global economy, many money managers say they’re preparing for a bumpier ride ahead. For now, markets have been so calm that the biggest loss for the S&P 500 last week was just 0.2 percent. Compare that to the whiplash investors felt during the ...

NEW YORK (AP) — For the first month since CNN’s Larry King owned cable news in October 2001, the most popular personality in prime-time doesn’t work for Fox News Channel. Rachel Maddow of MSNBC is the new champ. Her network achieved other milestones in July, including its closest finish to Fox since 2000 and largest margin of victory over CNN ever. The numbers illustrate a surge in popularity at MSNBC, where politics has become prime-time entertainment. Like late-night comic Stephen Colbert can attest, having President Donald Trump as a regular punching bag is great for business. “I thought there would be a lot of interest in news,” said MSNBC President Phil Griffin. “I had no idea this would happen.” It’s especially noteworthy because the year after an election traditionally signals a slump in cable news ratings. During prime-time weekday hours in July, Fox News averaged 2.36 million viewers — still more than any other cable network, news or entertainment. MSNBC was at 2.13...

AVINGER, Texas (AP) — A third Boy Scout has died from injuries suffered when a sailboat struck an overhanging power line on a lake east of Dallas, an official with Texas Parks & Wildlife said. The 11-year-old Scout died Monday at a hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana, Texas Parks & Wildlife spokesman Steve Lightfoot said. The boy was sailing in a catamaran Saturday with two older boys, one 17 and the other 16, when it struck the power line at Lake O’The Pines near Avinger, 150 miles (241 kilometers) from Dallas. Authorities say three Texas Boy Scouts have died after their sailboat hit an overhead power line and apparently electrocuted the youths. (Aug. 7) Daniel Anderson, chief operating officer for the East Texas Boy Scouts of America, said a Scout leader reached the boat within minutes but the two older boys were already dead. The oldest teen was found in the boat while the other two fell into the water. Authorities have not released the names of the victim...

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a story Aug. 3, The Associated Press reported that Cambridge Analytica worked for the successful pro-Brexit campaign in 2016 to pull Britain out of the European Union. The story should have made clear that media reports in Britain and some statements by leaders involved in the pro-Brexit campaign have linked Cambridge Analytica to the Brexit effort, but the company has said it did not work on the referendum campaign. Source: www.apnews.com 

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Javier Hernandez knew he was going to be fired. Everyone who worked with him in a state-run cement factory was told to vote last month in an election to choose delegates for a new constitutional assembly granting nearly unlimited powers to Venezuela’s ruling socialist party. With the opposition boycotting the vote, virtually all the candidates were government supporters. A vote was tantamount to a show of support for President Nicolas Maduro and his allies. Resentful of what he saw as a rigged process, Hernandez flouted his supervisors’ order and didn’t vote. Last Wednesday, he was taken outside the building and informed that he was fired. Now he has become a rare public voice speaking out against a phenomenon that government critics say was widespread in last month’s vote — Venezuelans were threatened with loss of their public benefits or state jobs if they didn’t participate. “It was not a surprising measure, because we had been warned,” Hernand...

DAVIE, Fla. (AP) — New Miami Dolphins quarterback Jay Cutler won’t play in the team’s exhibition opener Thursday, but look for him to be starting soon enough. “He didn’t come out of retirement to stand on the sideline,” coach Adam Gase said. Cutler missed Monday’s practice because it took place as he landed in South Florida to sign a $10 million, one-year contract. The 34-year-old Cutler decided to delay the start of his network TV career for the chance to replace Ryan Tannehill and be reunited with Gase, his former offensive coordinator with the Chicago Bears. “A situation like this doesn’t come along very often,” said Cutler, wearing a polo shirt bearing the Dolphins logo. “I know Adam very well; I know the system. And you’re talking about a playoff team with a lot of really, really good players and a lot of potential.” Cutler is expected to leapfrog longtime Dolphins backup Matt Moore for the starting job while Tannehill remains out with a left knee injury that like...

EL CERRITO, Calif. (AP) — In some ways, Rainbow Day Camp is very ordinary. Kids arrive with a packed lunch, make friendship bracelets, play basketball, sing songs and get silly. But it is also unique, from the moment campers arrive each morning. At check-in each day, campers make a nametag with their pronoun of choice. Some opt for “she” or “he.” Or a combination of “she/he.” Or “they,” or no pronoun at all. Some change their name or pronouns daily, to see what feels right. Rainbow Day Camp serves a small but fast-growing population: transgender kids, ages 4-12. Experts say the California camp’s rapid growth reflects the dramatic increase in children “socially transitioning” at younger ages across the country. (Aug. 7) The camp in the San Francisco Bay Area city of El Cerrito caters to transgender and “gender fluid” children ages 4 to 12, making it one of the only camps of its kind in the world open to preschoolers, experts say. Enrollment has tripled to about 60 y...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The strongest sanctions yet against North Korea could still prove no match for the communist country’s relentless nuclear weapons ambitions. While the United States hails a new package of U.N. penalties that could cut a third of North Korea’s exports, the sanctions themselves aren’t the American objective. They’re only a tactic for getting Kim Jong Un’s totalitarian government to end its missile advances and atomic weapons tests, and there is little evidence to suggest this newest round of economic pressure will be more successful than previous efforts. Whatever the economic pain on Pyongyang, Kim’s government has expressed no interest in negotiating away its fast-growing arsenal of perhaps 20 nuclear bombs and the ballistic missiles needed to deliver them. For the young North Korean leader, the weapons are fundamental to the survival of his authoritarian regime, even if they deepen diplomatic isolation and bring even more extreme poverty for his long-suf...

BREWER, Maine (AP) — Changes in the worldwide fisheries industry have turned live baby American eels into a commodity that can fetch more than $2,000 a pound at the dock, but the big demand and big prices have spawned a black market that wildlife officials say is jeopardizing the species. Law enforcement authorities have launched a crackdown on unlicensed eel fishermen and illicit sales along the East Coast. Although not a well-known seafood item like the Maine lobster, wriggling baby eels, or elvers, are a fishery worth many millions of dollars. Elvers often are sold to Asian aquaculture companies to be raised to maturity and sold to the lucrative Japanese restaurant market, where they mainly are served grilled. Changes in the worldwide sushi industry have turned baby American eels into a commodity. They end up in Asian aquaculture operations to raise food. The big demand has spawned a black market that wildlife officials say is jeopardizing the species. (Aug. 7) ...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Pro- and anti-government factions dug themselves further into their trenches Monday amid Venezuela’s deepening political crisis, with each side staking a claim to the powers granted them by dueling national assemblies. The new chief prosecutor who replaced an outspoken government critic outlined plans for restructuring the Public Ministry, while the opposition-controlled National Assembly vowed to continue meeting at the stately legislative palace — a short walk across a plaza from where the all-powerful constitutional assembly is expected to hold its next meeting Tuesday. National Assembly president Julio Borges told fellow lawmakers they should keep an active presence in the building despite threats from the new assembly to swiftly strip them of any authority and lock up key leaders. Borges called the building, with its gold cupola, the “symbol of popular sovereignty.” “We are a testament to the fight for democracy,” he said at a meeting cobbled t...

CHICAGO (AP) — After a cross-country manhunt, a former Northwestern University professor and University of Oxford employee are beginning court proceedings for the brutal stabbing death of a 26-year-old hair stylist in Chicago. The case has involved peculiar twists, including a cash donation in the victim’s name at a Wisconsin library and a videotaped confession sent to friends. The two men surrendered peacefully in California after eight days as fugitives and one appeared in court Monday. Northwestern microbiologist Wyndham Lathem and Oxford financial officer Andrew Warren were wanted on first-degree murder charges for the death of Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau. An attorney says Lathem intends to plead not guilty. Here’s a closer look at the case: THE CRIME The body of 26-year-old Cornell-Duranleau was found stabbed to death inside an apartment belonging to Lathem in an upscale neighborhood near downtown Chicago. The July 27 attack was so violent the blade of th...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa school for juvenile offenders subjects the boys to restraints and seclusion rooms and denies them essential mental health care, a federally funded nonprofit organization alleged Monday in a report that threatened legal action unless the state makes significant changes. Disability Rights Iowa concluded the Boys State Training School doesn’t have enough mental health professionals, locks up children by themselves and restrains them in beds with full-body wraps. It made the assessment after 11 visits to the facility, interviews with 30 residents and a review of records. The group said the school’s shortcomings were part of larger problems throughout the state’s system for juvenile offenders. “This is basically the tip of the iceberg,” said Nathan Kirstein, a staff attorney for the organization. “This is not because this is an evil, deviant place, and if we fix it all our problems will go away. This is symptomatic of all the gaps in services a...

CHICAGO (AP) — Mayor Rahm Emanuel has taken his fight against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies to court, with Chicago becoming one of the first cities Monday to sue over what many U.S. cities argue are illegal bids to withhold public safety grants from so-called sanctuary cities. Hours later, Attorney General Jeff Sessions hit back at Chicago, saying the Trump administration “will not simply give away grant dollars to city governments that proudly violate the rule of law and protect criminal aliens at the expense of public safety.” “So it’s this simple: Comply with the law or forego taxpayer dollars,” he said in a toughly worded statement. A 46-page lawsuit, which names Sessions, was filed earlier Monday in U.S. District Court in Chicago a day after Emanuel announced the litigation and said the city won’t “be blackmailed” into changing its values as a city welcoming of immigrants. It’s the latest round in a battle pitting several U.S. cities against the Trump ...