As the clock ticks down to midnight on New Year’s Eve, Las Vegas is gearing up for what could be a record-breaking day in the city’s bustling wedding industry. December 31, 2023, is poised to become the busiest wedding day ever, and it’s all due to the allure of a unique “specialty date” created by the repeating 1-2-3 1-2-3 pattern, as reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
In the massive Las Vegas wedding scene, specialty dates hold a particular charm, and the upcoming 12/31/23 is no exception. The date’s numerical symmetry, coupled with the festive atmosphere of New Year’s Eve, has made it a standout choice for couples ready to say “I do.”
Melody Willis-Williams, president of Vegas Weddings, a company managing multiple wedding venues, commented on the significance of this double celebration, stating, “It’s a double whammy. Anytime you get these specialty dates, they’re always hugely popular. But tie that in with New Year’s Eve, and it’s a showstopper.”
The current single-day record for weddings in Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve stands at 4,492, set on July 7, 2007. As couples eagerly plan to exchange vows on this unique date, they aim to surpass this milestone and etch their names in the city’s wedding history. The second-most popular specialty wedding date on record with the county’s marriage bureau is Nov. 11, 2011, with 3,125 couples choosing that date to tie the knot.
With the promise of a night filled with festivities and a touch of romance, Las Vegas anticipates a memorable New Year’s Eve celebration, marking not only the end of the year but potentially a new record for the city’s wedding industry.
In a dazzling tribute to international pop sensation Shakira, officials in her Colombian hometown of Barranquilla unveiled a towering six-meter (20-feet) bronze statue of the music diva. The monumental artwork immortalizes the Grammy and Latin Grammy winner, celebrated worldwide for her infectious tunes and captivating dance moves.
The striking statue captures Shakira in one of her iconic belly dancing outfits, her hips gracefully swaying to the right, and her arms raised in a gesture that reflects the dynamism of her performances. The unveiling ceremony marked a momentous occasion for the town that witnessed the birth of the renowned artist.
A commemorative plaque placed beneath the statue eloquently states, “On Feb. 2, 1977, the town of Barranquilla and the world witnessed the birth of a heart that composes, hips that don’t lie, a voice that moves masses, and a pair of bare feet that walk for the good of children and humanity.” The inscription pays homage to Shakira’s multifaceted impact, acknowledging her not only as a musical powerhouse but also as a philanthropist dedicated to the well-being of children and humanity.
The unveiling of this grand tribute serves as a testament to Shakira’s enduring influence on the global stage and her significant contributions to the world of music and philanthropy. Barranquilla proudly celebrates its native daughter, whose artistic legacy continues to resonate across borders.
In a recent email to U.S. members, Amazon announced that beginning January 29, ads will be integrated into movies and TV shows on Amazon Prime Video. This move aligns with the company’s September announcement and marks a departure from the platform’s previous ad-free experience. Prime members seeking to maintain an ad-free viewing experience will have the option to do so by paying an additional $2.99.
Amazon’s expansion of ads won’t be limited to the United States, as the company also plans to introduce advertisements in its Prime service across the United Kingdom and other European countries, along with Canada, Mexico, and Australia in the coming year.
The tech giant is following the footsteps of other major streaming services like Netflix and Disney, adopting a dual model that combines ad revenue with subscription fees. In its email to users, Amazon assured that it aims to have “meaningfully fewer ads” compared to traditional TV and other streaming providers.
The company justified the introduction of ads, stating that it would enable them to “continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time.” This move reflects the evolving landscape of streaming services as they explore various revenue models to sustain and enhance their content offerings.
On Wednesday, the United States made public its latest military aid package for Ukraine, signaling that this could be the concluding allocation unless Congress greenlights stalled supplemental funding legislation currently facing an impasse on Capitol Hill.
The military aid, valued at up to $250 million, encompasses a diverse range of weaponry, such as air munitions, missiles, artillery, anti-armor systems, ammunition, as well as demolition and medical equipment and parts. The assistance will be drawn from existing Pentagon stockpiles, facilitated through the Presidential Drawdown Authority.
Marine Lt. Col. Garron Garn, a spokesperson for the Pentagon, conveyed in a statement that there are no additional funds available to replace the weapons extracted from department stocks. Furthermore, the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, responsible for long-term funding to support future weapons contracts, has exhausted its financial resources.
Garn emphasized on Wednesday, stating, “Without the supplemental funding, there will be a shortfall in replenishing U.S. military stocks, affecting American military readiness.” The looming financial constraint raises concerns about the potential impact on the preparedness of the U.S. military, emphasizing the urgency of resolving the funding deadlock in Congress.
As the fate of further military aid to Ukraine hangs in the balance, the current announcement underscores the critical need for a resolution to the funding issue to ensure the sustained support of U.S. military capabilities and commitments abroad.
In a surprising turn of events, Wednesday marked the return of Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud to limited practice, 17 days after suffering a concussion. Despite the positive development, Stroud, a star rookie, is still in the concussion protocol, leaving his availability for Sunday’s game against Tennessee uncertain.
Coach DeMeco Ryans provided insight after Wednesday’s workout, stating, “He’s in stage four of the concussion protocol, still has one more phase.” Stroud had been sidelined for the past two games following a concussion sustained in a December 10 loss to the Jets, where his head made contact with the turf in the fourth quarter.
Ryans expressed encouragement at Stroud’s return to practice, noting, “It’s encouraging to have C.J. back out at practice (Wednesday), it’s encouraging to see him.” He emphasized that Stroud is progressing in the right direction, lifting the spirits of the team.
Texans receiver Nico Collins commented on Stroud’s return, acknowledging the significance of his presence in practice. “Nobody wants to miss playing time – especially due to injury,” Collins said. “He knows what’s at stake right now and knows what we need. We need to pick up where we left off and focus on Tennessee this week – because it’s a big one.”
With the Texans (8-7) still in contention for both the AFC South title and a wild-card playoff spot, the outcome of Sunday’s game holds significant playoff implications. A loss would decrease their chances of reaching the postseason for the first time since 2019 to just 13%.
In Stroud’s absence, veteran Case Keenum has started the last two games, contributing to a crucial overtime win against the Titans two weeks ago but struggling in a loss to Cleveland last week. Davis Mills, the team’s starter for most of the past two seasons, also saw action. If Stroud can return on Sunday, it would provide a substantial boost to the Texans, as the second overall pick has been a driving force behind Houston’s improvement this season, amassing 3,631 yards and 20 touchdowns with just five interceptions.
Houston, known for its mild winter temperatures, has experienced an unusually prolonged absence of freezing weather over the past year. According to Eric Berger of Space City Weather, Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport has not recorded temperatures below 33 degrees since December 26, 2022, marking a 364-day period and making it the city’s seventh-longest stint without a freeze.
However, this lengthy streak may come to an end this week, as Weather.com projections indicate a dip in temperatures into the mid-30s on both Thursday and Friday nights. While daytime highs are expected to reach the mid-50s, there is a possibility, as noted by Berger, that areas outside the Houston metro, such as Katy or The Woodlands, may experience freezing temperatures later this week. Berger advises residents in these areas to prepare for the possibility of a freeze, while areas closer to the coast are expected to remain warmer.
The current week might be Houston’s only opportunity for freezing temperatures this winter. January projections suggest temperatures bottoming out in the low 40s, with an average daily temperature of 44 degrees. These forecasts align with predictions from the Old Farmer’s Almanac, anticipating a mild but damp winter for Texas in 2023-24, with wetter-than-usual weather in the southern regions, including Texas.
The Almanac states, “Wetter-than-usual weather is coming to the southern portions of the Deep South, Texas, and California, with potentially drought-quenching rain.” While precipitation is expected to be above normal, it is not anticipated to be extreme, and the best chances for snow are predicted in the north in late December and late January.
For those who vividly remember the challenges posed by Winter Storm Uri in 2021, the current absence of icy conditions might be a relief. Nevertheless, Houstonians are advised to enjoy the upcoming days of holiday sweater weather while remaining prepared with frost blankets, as the city faces the possibility of the freeze-free streak coming to an end.
Apple smartwatches ads are displayed as customers take a look at smartwatch accessories at the Apple store in New York, U.S., December 26, 2023.
Eduardo Munoz | Reuters
Apple will be able to sell the latest Apple Watches after an import ban was temporarily paused by an appeals court on Wednesday, in a major victory for the iPhone maker.
Apple stopped selling its Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches last week in response to an International Trade Commission order in October that found the blood oxygen sensor in the devices had infringed on intellectual property from Masimo, a medical technology company that sells to hospitals.
“The motion for an interim stay is granted to the extent that the Remedial Orders are temporarily stayed,” a court filing Wednesday said.
On Monday, the Biden administration declined to pause the ITC ban. Apple filed the appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Tuesday. The company continues to seek a longer stay. The ITC will need to reply by Jan. 10.
The stay means Apple may be able to sell the latest models of one of its most important products during the busiest time of the year. Apple Watch sales are reported as part of Apple’s wearables business, which reported $39.8 billion in sales in Apple’s fiscal 2023, which ended in September.
The sales pause did not affect the Apple Watch SE, an older model that cannot read blood oxygen levels. The latest Apple Watch models also continued to be available from retailers like Best Buy or Amazon as long as they had stock.
Masimo shares fell more than 6% during trading Wednesday. Apple’s stock was flat.
Apple Watches were not on sale on Apple’s website on Wednesday. An Apple representative didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
The multibillion-dollar sale of the Dallas Mavericks to a Las Vegas gaming and entertainment group was approved unanimously by the NBA Board of Governors on Wednesday.
The sale by Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban to the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, headed by Miriam Adelson and Sivan and Patrick Dumont received a 29-0 vote, easily clearing the three-fourths majority required for an ownership sale.
A person familiar told our reporting partners at the Dallas Morning News the sale price was between $3.8 billion and $3.9 billion franchise valuation, with the Adelson/Dumont families controlling 77% and Cuban retaining the remaining 23% and operational control of the Mavs.
“The state of Texas has always been friendly to our family, and we look forward to being able to repay that kindness,” Miriam Adleson said in a statement Wednesday. “I am excited to spend time cheering on the team and getting to meet members of its passionate fan base.”
The sale of the team ends the nearly 24-year majority interest Cuban held since buying the Mavericks for $285 million in 2000.
Patrick Dumont said in a statement the new ownership group is “committed to the long-term success of the Mavericks.”
“We look forward to working in partnership with Mark Cuban as stewards of this great franchise and bringing another NBA championship to the city of Dallas,” Dumont said.
A missing pregnant Texas teenager and her boyfriend were found dead in a parked car Tuesday in San Antonio, and police said they may have been there for days.
Savanah Nicole Soto, 18, and Matthew Guerra, 22, were reported missing by police in Leon Valley, a few miles northwest of San Antonio suburb.
Two bodies were found in a Kia Optima matching the description of one belonging to the boyfriend, and they may have been there for three or four days, Police Chief William P. McManus said at a news conference.
He didn’t identify the bodies pending confirmation by the medical examiner but said they were believed to be those of the missing couple.
McManus didn’t provide other details and said he didn’t know whether a weapon had been found in the car.
“What we’re looking at right now is a very, very perplexing crime scene,” the chief said.
“Detectives right now are looking at this as a possible murder but we don’t know for sure,” he said. “Because of the complexity, the complex crime scene, we can’t say for sure what we have.”
Bartlett National Bank opened in 1904 before shuttering during the Great Depression.
Jennifer Tucker helped restore the bank and transform it into a cozy vacation rental.
The three-bedroom home maintained many original features, including vault doors.
Jennifer Tucker was exploring the downtown streets of Bartlett, a quaint town nestled in southeast Texas, when she stumbled upon an abandoned bank in 2019.
“It was dilapidated, and nobody had opened the front door in many, many years,” Tucker, 49, told Business Insider. “It was in pretty bad shape.”
Tucker owns Amazing Realty, a real-estate brokerage based in Austin, and is passionate about historic preservation. The bank building — a relic of Bartlett’s heyday in the early 20th century — was a shell of its former self.
According to the Texas State Historical Association, the town is named after John. T. Bartlett, who donated the land that would become Bartlett. The town had early economic success by shipping cotton and wool, but opportunities began to dwindle amid the Great Depression in the 1930s, per the TSHA.
Tucker recalled walking up to the bank’s front windows and peeking inside, where the phrase “Bartlett Natl. Bank” was carved on the tile floor.
“At that moment, I just knew I had to have this building,” Tucker said.
Now Bartlett National Bank has three bedrooms and two bathrooms on two floors and is available for rent at $248 a night on Airbnb.
Here’s how Tucker restored a 119-year-old bank into an idyllic vacation rental.
Bartlett National Bank was built in 1904 and has a tumultuous history spanning over a century.
A plaque on the building’s brick exterior touches on the history of Bartlett National Bank, which opened in June 1904 with $25,000. It remained operational until 1931, when it closed for a federal holiday amid the Great Depression and did not reopen for several decades.
Bartlett National Bank made a brief three-year return in the 1990s but was shuttered again because it lacked drive-up teller windows, according to the plaque. Although the bank survived an ill-fated attempted robbery in the 1960s and appeared in the 1998 film “Newton Boys,” starring Matthew McConaughey, it remained relatively quiet until Tucker stepped in.
Tucker told BI that she viewed ledgers written when the bank opened, indicating that John Bartlett’s wife played a significant role in managing the bank. Tucker said Mary Bartlett became president of the bank because John died two months before it opened.
“She ran that bank into the 1920s successfully, so her signature and all of her documents are there,” Tucker said.
Tucker acquired the bank in December 2019 and began renovations in 2020.
Tucker said the restoration process started soon after she purchased the bank in December 2019. She and a work crew experienced with preservation spent about six months renovating the building, between January and July.
It cost about $200,000 to renovate the 1,200-square-foot building, Tucker told BI.
There were many challenges during the restoration process, but also some victories.
One of Tucker and the team’s biggest challenges was working with the building’s archaic structure. Since the bank was built in the early 1900s, there was limited electricity, zero plumbing, and no bathrooms.
As a result, they had to rewire the electricity and briefly remove the original hardwood floors to install plumbing. They also installed air conditioning, fixed broken tiles, and added UV coating to the windows to block the unforgiving Texas heat.
On the other hand, Tucker is ecstatic that they preserved so much history. The staircase, windows, doors, vaults, and some flooring are original to the bank.
Guests can see the bank’s original craftsmanship in the living room on the first floor.
Bartlett National Bank’s living room features floral-themed tile, hardwood, and a glimpse at the teller station. One of the original vaults sits in a corner near the front door.
“It’s got a huge living room, which was the main bank area,” Tucker said.
Tucker told BI that she and the renovation team managed to find a teller cage.
The original teller cage is near the kitchen.Erik Fossum/Fossum Studios
Tucker and her team went the extra mile by fixing up the bank-teller station, including finding an antique teller cage.
“We were able to find a teller cage that was built in the exact same year. We had to drive to Bells, Texas, to rescue that,” Tucker said. “It’s not exact, but it’s very similar to the two photos that I do have from the inside of the bank.”
As you walk through the living room, visitors will also see historic finds in the kitchen.
The kitchen and staircase in Bartlett National Bank.Erik Fossum/Fossum Studios
Walking further into Bartlett National Bank leads you to the kitchen with exposed brick, hardwood floors, and an original staircase.
Tucker said the original stairs were removed when “Newton Boys” filmed at the bank, but a local woodworker kept the pieces in a workshop.
“He had kept all the wood from it because he was the woodworker back in the ’90s they had hired to take that out,” Tucker said. “He thought, ‘This old Victorian wood might be useful one day.'”
He later helped the restoration process by reinstalling the stairs, she told BI.
Behind the kitchen is a cozy dining room.
Bartlett National Bank’s dining room.Erik Fossum/Fossum Studios
The dining room features dark wood furniture and a light fixture hanging overhead. The dining-room and living-room walls are painted sage green, the same color as the bank’s original interior, Tucker said.
A bedroom with an en suite bathroom is located on the first floor.
One of the bedrooms in Bartlett National Bank.Erik Fossum/Fossum Studios
This spacious bedroom is painted green and white and includes a bank deposit box to drive home the aesthetic, although it’s not original to the bank.
The nearby bathroom has white tile walls and a green bathtub.
Another is located on the second floor of Bartlett National Bank.
A second bedroom inside Bartlett National Bank.Erik Fossum/Fossum Studios
There’s another bedroom on the bank’s top floor, which Tucker said was built in the 1990s during the filming of “Newton Boys.”
“Thanks to Matthew McConaughey and Hollywood, they’ve added a floor upstairs, which would’ve been the downstairs loan manager or loan officer space,” Tucker said.
There’s a third bedroom on the top floor, where guests can get a closer look at the bank’s intricate gray ceiling.
A bedroom and bathroom on the bank’s second floor.Erik Fossum/Fossum Studios
The third bedroom features carpeting, white walls, and a gray ceiling with designs. The bathroom connected to the room has a shower instead of a bathtub.
Guests raved about Bartlett National Bank online.
Guests seem to enjoy their stay at the Bartlett National Bank on Airbnb.Erik Fossum/Fossum Studios
Guests have left positive reviews of the restored building on Airbnb.
“If you like history or unique spots, this is a wonderful gem. The preservation is a nice balance of time period and modern,” one person wrote. “Bring your favorite creature comforts and shift your mind to adventure mode. The space can be your personal hideaway or memorable group gathering spot!”
Another added: “The host and property were 5-stars. Loved the theme and the details to the era. Thank you for the unique stay. Absolutely recommend spending time at the Bartlett National Bank!”
