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Mavado puts “Dis” behind him 2013-05-22 >> page 08 3:20

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Vision/ Spring 2015

The Caribbean Thousands without electricity in US Virgin Islands due to failure at power plant

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, Virgin Islands _ More than 15,000 customers are without power due to a glitch at a power plant on the main island of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

A government statement says a fault in an auxiliary transformer at a power plant caused a district-wide outage early Sunday on the main island of St. Thomas and the smaller island of St. John.

Jean Greaux is a spokesman for the governor’s office on the three-island Caribbean territory.

In a statement, he says the U.S. Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority are “working diligently to restore full service as safely and efficiently as possible’’ on Easter Sunday.

Many businesses and some households in the U.S. Virgin Islands and the neighbouring British Virgin Islands have backup generators to deal with occasional power outages.

NEWS Guyana, Suriname at odds after embassy parking dispute, alleged attempt to arrest ambassador

GEORGETOWN, Guyana _ An argument over parking at an embassy in South America has caused a minor diplomatic row between neighbouring Guyana and Suriname.

Guyana’s government is accusing two Surinamese policemen of assaulting and trying to arrest Ambassador Keith George.

Guyanese officials say the incident began when a drunk driver blocked the entrance to the embassy in Suriname’s capital and began arguing with a security guard after refusing to remove his car.

George and other officials intervened and called police.

They say officers then scuffled with George and entered the embassy to try to arrest him.

Guyana’s foreign ministry said Friday embassy staffers were traumatized by the actions of Surinamese police.

Suriname’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

The Associated Press

2

The World The Rev. Gardner Taylor, American preacher and civil rights figure, dies at age 96

NEW YORK _ A pastor who played a key role in the American civil rights movement has died.

The Progressive National Baptist Convention says the Rev. Gardner Taylor died Sunday. He was 96 and lived in North Carolina.

Taylor was the grandson of former slaves who gained national prominence as pastor of the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn.

Taylor was known for his preaching voice, which experts compared to an organ with all the stops pulled out. Around 1960, he sided with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in a pivotal dispute among black clergy about whether King was too liberal. Taylor and King went on to help form the Progressive National Baptist Convention.

Taylor was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000.

The Associated Press

Jamaica police order 'high level probe' into death of officer who allegedly staged robbery

The Associated Press

reland.

Dominican local government official accused of running pot trafficking ring

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic _ Authorities in the Dominican Republic have arrested a local government official accused of running a ring they say imported marijuana from Haiti.

Luis Domingo Medina Trinidad was arrested with four other men after police seized some 170 kilograms (375 pounds) of marijuana. Medina serves as councilman of the Independencia province that borders Haiti.

Police say the suspects are accused of distributing the drug in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo.

Police spokesman Jacobo Mateo Moquete said Friday that Medina was arrested after a monthlong investigation.

The Associated Press

Beckford was killed during an alleged robbery at a Hanover parish bar. A senior off-duty policeman fatally shot Beckford Saturday as he was allegedly threatening bar patrons with a gun and demanding money. He was allegedly masked at the time.

KINGSTON, Jamaica _ Police commanders in Jamaica have ordered a “high-level probe'' into allegations that an officer was fatally shot after staging an attempted robbery with an accomplice at a bar.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force on Sunday identified the dead constable as 25-yearold Kemar Beckford. He was attached to a police station in the western parish of Westmo-

A car that was left idling outside the bar was seized and an accomplice apparently managed to flee.

An independent agency that probes abuse allegations against Jamaica's security forces is also investigating the incident.

S. African opposition leader accuses president of misusing security, leading to ‘dictatorship’

The U.N. Security Council is expressing outrage _ a word it rarely uses _ in condemning “the terrorist attack’’ that killed nearly 150 people at a college in northeast Kenya and calling for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

A statement approved last Friday by all 15 council members paid tribute to Kenya’s role in fighting “terrorism’’ _ especially its role in the African Union’s mission in neighbouring Somalia against the extremist group al-Shabab which carried out the attack at Garissa University College.

The Security Council reaffirmed “that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.’’

Council members reiterated their determination “to combat all forms of terrorism’’ and stressed the need to bring all those responsible to justice

The Associated Press

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Vision Newspaper UK: Editor in Chief : Anthony Whyte, Editor: Nadia Akram, Correspondent in Jamaica: Deana Meyers Contributors: Francesca Quass, Yemi Abiade, Samantha Dennis, Claire Daley, Vision Newspaper Canada: Editor in Chief: Alwin Squire, Editors: Samantha Deschamps, Kelly Deschamps, Marilyn Marshall, Christopher Miller Front page photo credit: (AP Photo/LM Otero)

The Associated Press

3 News Ferguson releases racist emails from clerk to 2 officers that were cited by Justice Department

Vision/ Spring 2015

A grand jury in November declined to indict the former officer, Darren Wilson, who also was cleared of civil rights violations by the U.S. Department of Justice in March.

Police treatment of black men has become a major issue in the U.S. in the aftermath of the killing.

A separate Justice Department report last month found widespread racial bias in Ferguson's policing efforts and the municipal court system, which it said was driven by profit mostly extracted from black and low-income residents.

FERGUSON, Mo.(AP) _ Racist emails released last Friday by the city of Ferguson indicate most were sent by a former city court clerk to two police officers, and there's no indication other city employees were involved.

The emails were discovered during an investigation into the Aug. 9 fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed, by a white police officer.

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The report cited a series of inappropriate messages sent by an unspecified number of city employees, including one message that compared black welfare recipients to mixedbreed dogs. Several of the

emails focused on President Barack Obama, including one that stated he wouldn't be in office for long because “what black man holds a steady job for four years.''

It appears that most of the emails released last Friday and obtained by news outlets were sent from Court Clerk Mary Ann Twitty to police Capt. Rick Henke and Sgt. William Mudd.

Twitty was fired over the emails, while the two officers resigned. Names are redacted in several places, and City Clerk Megan Asikainen told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that non-city employees are not being named.

The city did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

news

4

Vision/ Spring 2015

Kenya unleashes airstrikes against Islamic extremists in Somalia after college attack beleaguered Somali government.

Kenya has conducted airstrikes in Somalia before.

NAIROBI, Kenya _ Kenyan warplanes bombed militant camps in Somalia, officials said Monday, following a vow

by President Uhuru Kenyatta to respond “in the fiercest way possible'' to a massacre of college students by al-Shabab extremists.

The airstrikes Sunday and Monday targeted the Gedo region of western Somalia, directly across the border from Kenya, said Col. David Obonyo of the Kenyan military.

The al-Shabab camps, which were used to store arms and for logistical support, were destroyed, but it was not possible to determine the number of casualties because of poor visibility, he said.

The Somalia-based militant group claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack at Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya in which militants killed 148 people, most of them students.

Hawa Yusuf, who lives in a village near the town of Beledhawa that is close to the Kenyan-Somali border, said the warplanes “were hovering around for a few minutes, then started bombing.'' She

didn't know if there were any casualties, she said by phone.

Another resident of the village, Ali Hussein, said the airstrikes hit a grassland “where nomads often take their animals for grazing.''

“We are not aware of any military camps located there.

They dropped bombs on the whole area,'' he added.

Al-Shabab fighters often use shrubby areas to conceal fighters and vehicles.

Airstrikes and other conventional military operations have hurt al-Shabab, but analysts say better intelligence is needed to thwart an extremist group that has proven effective in infiltrating civilian populations and carrying out attacks on so-called “soft'' targets in urban areas.

The extremist group said the Garissa attack was in reprisal for Kenya sending troops into Somalia in 2011 to kill its members who took part in cross-border raids and kidnappings.

Kenya's troops in Somalia are part of an African Union force and are also shoring up the

The four al-Shabab attackers who stormed the university were killed

by Kenyan security forces, and their bullet-riddled bodies were displayed in Garissa. Five people have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attack, a Kenyan official said.

The al-Shabab group has struck several times on Kenyan soil, although last week's assault was the deadliest.

Other attacks have occurred elsewhere in northeastern Kenya last year, as well as at the upscale Westgate shopping mall in the capital of Nairobi in which 67 people died in 2013.

The group pledged to strike again against Kenya, saying: “No amount of precaution or safety measures will be able to guarantee your safety, thwart another attack or prevent another bloodbath.''

In a nationally televised address over the weekend, Kenyatta vowed that his administration would retaliate against the extremists.

“We will fight terrorism to the end,'' he said. “I guarantee that my administration shall respond in the fiercest way possible.''

Obonyo noted that the air-

strikes were “part of continuing operations, not just in response to Garissa.''

Kenyatta has been under pressure from the political opposition to deal with the security threat from the Islamic extremists. In December, he finally fired the interior minister, who was ridiculed for a slow response to the Westgate attack, and accepted the resignation of the national police chief.

A leading member of parliament, Aden Duale, said Monday that work must be done to prevent Kenyan youths from becoming followers of extremism.

“Some of our youth have fallen victim to this evil ideology of al-Shabab,'' he said. “We will embark on an immediate, massive and sustained campaign to win back the hearts and the minds of our youth within our constituencies and the countries as whole. We recognize that some of our religious institutions have had some role in radicalization and propagation of this ideology.''

He also called for the closure of the Dadaab Refugee Camp, which houses nearly 500,000 who have fled Somalia.

The camp is the centre for “the training, the co-ordination, the assembling of terror networks,'' Duale alleged, and he urged that the refugees be relocated across the border.

By Christopher Torchia And Tom Odula THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ___ Associated Press writer Abdi Guled in Mogadishu, Somalia, contributed to this report.

Community

Vision/ Spring 2015

What ’s On

Events Capleton & Louie Cultre

5

Mighty Crown

Charlie Black

Anthony Cruz

Jah Bouks

Family & Children Dora the Explorer Live!

Search for the City of Lost Toys

Women Working in Canadian Reggae

CANCELLED Venue: Sound Academy

Venue: Sound Academy

Venue: 227 Lounge

Venue: SVG Lounge

Venue: SVG Lounge

11 Polson Street Toronto, ON Date: April 2nd, 2015

Toronto, ON Date: April 5th, 2015

137 Cityview Drive Toronto, ON Date: April 3rd, 2015

1230 Sheppard Ave West Toronto, ON Date: April 4th, 2015

Address: 1230 Sheppard Ave Toronto, ON Date: April 5th, 2015

DJ Whoo Kid

Travis Scott

Rick Ross

Gully Bop

Venue: Bar Code Toronto, ON Date: April 2th, 2015 Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ca

Venue: YEG Dance Club Edmonton, AB Date: April 18th, 2015 Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ca

Venue: BMO Centre Calgary AB Date: April 25th, 2015 Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ca

Venue: Oshawa Music Hall Oshawa ON Date: May 2nd, 2015

To place your event in the “What’s ON” section please email info@visionnewsppaper.ca or call 647-386-3419

Venue: Hamilton Place Theatre

Venue: Belleenys Bar & Grill

Date: April 9th, 2015 Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ca

4000 Steeles Ave West Unit 14 Woodbridge, ON Date: Thursday April 9th, 2015

Chuggington Live!

Dora the Explorer Live!

Search for the City of Lost Toys

Venue: WFCU Windsor ON Date: April 11th 2015 www.ticketmaster.ca

Venue: Sony Centre Toronto, ON Date: April 18th 2015 Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ca

6

Music

Vision/ Spring 2015

Darius Rucker says he wants to work with a rapper; talks new country album & Hootie reunion “We were having a couple beers. We had a little party going over there between the three of us,'' said Rucker, who also wrote on the track with Nathan Chapman.

Rucker will launch a tour May 14 in Holmdel, New Jersey.

Aside from his country material, he's also been playing shows with his Hootie bandmates, like they do every year.

But Rucker said they're cooking up new music.

“I pulled the guys together just last week and said, 'Let's start writing some songs.'

If we decide to do it a year from now or if we decide to do it two years from now, I don't want to just have to decide and start writing a bunch of songs, I want it to be like when we wrote our first record,'' he said. “I want to take a couple years, write a bunch of songs and play them together in the basement and, you know, let's make a great record.'' career; I get where they're wrote over 50 songs for the coming from, they get where project, though only 13 made I'm coming from,'' said Rucker, the final track list.

48. “Let's do something cool.''

Rucker also said the album Rap and country duets have The Hootie & the Blowfish is a departure from 2013's frontman-turned-country sing- become popular over the “True Believers,'' which feaer says he's hoping to jump on years: Florida Georgia Line tured his Grammy-winning and Nelly's “Cruise'' remix a song with a rapper. cover of “Wagon Wheel.'' was one of 2013's biggest “I don't have much left on my hits. And other collaborations ”True Believers' was such a between the genres have ma- serious record, and with this bucket list. One of the things triculated, from Snoop Dogg that I'm dying to do is to sing record, I really went into it and Willie Nelson to Jerrod the hook on a big rap song,'' with that attitude of, 'Let's Niemann and Pitbull to Jake Rucker said in a recent interhave some fun. Let's write view. “No one's ever called me Owen and T-Pain. some big drinking songs and to do that.'' some loving life songs,''' RuckBut before Rucker guests on er said.

Rucker said he wants to cola rap track, he's putting out new country music. “Southlaborate with hip-hop heavyThe first single, “Homegrown weights like Jay Z, Eminem ern Style,'' his fourth country Honey,'' was co-written with effort, was released last and Snoop Dogg.

Charles Kelley of Lady Anteweek. He said he started work bellum. on the album a year ago and “Somebody that's had a NEW YORK _ Nelly and Florida Georgia Line. Ludacris and Jason Aldean. Darius Rucker and Jay Z?

Hootie & the Blowfish, whose hits include “Let Her Cry'' and “Only Wanna Be With You,'' released its last album in 2005.

“We're brothers and we play all the time, and we know we're going to do it, but we're not going to do it until it's right,'' he said.

By Mesfin Fekadu THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ____ Online: http://southernstyle.dariusrucker.com/ INDEX: ENTERTAINMENT (AP Photo/Naples Bradshaw)

Daily

News,

Chris

7 Music Amateur rapper found guilty in New York drug gang murders sentenced to life in prison

Vision/ Spring 2015

addict father and shoplifter mother in a drug-plagued housing project in Brooklyn. He testified those experiences included becoming a crack dealer and armed robber as a teenager, joining the Bloods gang in a youth detention facility and surviving a shooting when he was back on the street.

NEW YORK _ A reputed street gang leader who sought to convince a jury that amateur music videos featuring him rhyming about carrying guns and spilling the blood of rivals were pure fiction was sentenced Thursday to life in prison.

During the trial, Herron took the witness stand in his own defence, testifying that he decided to leave his life of crime and pursue a hip-hop career using the name Ra Diggs in 2007 after serving a six-year prison term for drug dealing.

Ronald Herron was convicted in June of murder, racketeering, robbery and other charges following a monthlong trial in federal court in Brooklyn.

Herron, 33, described seeking out the guidance of a music promoter who suggested he use subject matter from his experiences growing up as the son of a crack

Prosecutors, during their case, played a clip they argued is proof of payback in the 2009 shooting and wounding of one of Herron's top lieutenants, nicknamed Moose. Herron was filmed visiting Moose at a hospital and saying, “See you at a cemetery near you, man,'' what the government alleges was a warning to the assailant Herron later tracked down and killed.

“For years, Ronald Herron unleashed brutal, unrelenting violence on his community while glorifying his criminal lifestyle as a crack-dealing gangster,'' U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement.

But Herron denied killing anyone.

The cemetery comment, he testified, “was just ad-libbing.''

“I wasn't directing it at anyone in particular,'' he said.

Before trial, the defence had argued that Herron's recordings were constitutionally protected free speech that should be off-limits. But the judge ruled that the recordings were relevant because they establish Herron's identity as the leader of a Bloods faction called the Murderous Mad Dogs.

Lynch called Herron a callous thug.

“Herron styled himself a rap artist, but the evidence proved that he was a murderous thug who sought power through violence, fear and intimidation,'' she said.

By Tom McElroy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Music

8

Vision/ Spring 2015

Dancehall artist Tommy Lee Sparta releases EDM song day I made an appearance in a music video they are shooting for their single, Mellow Me Out. The vibe was crazy," said Tommy Lee Sparta.

On Wednesday, after shooting the Mellow Me Out video, they returned to Kingston to record the new EDM-flavoured dancehall song.

DANCEHALL deejay Tommy Lee Sparta is venturing into new territory. He has recorded an EDM (electronic dance music) track with Philadelphia's G1fted Music.

The single is entitled Mellow

Me Out and is slated for a summer release.

"Yea, man, mi like dem vibe.

They journeyed to Westmoreland with me fi a stage show.

We stayed over in Montego Bay, and then the following

"We are trying to bring that EDM fusion to reggae/dancehall. Who doesn't love Bob Marley and reggae music?

We are trying to tap into that energy, that feeling of togetherness, that vibe that makes reggae great and blend it with our own style of EDM," said Peter Palestina, owner of G1fted Music Productions.

"We are at the forefront of a new wave, a different style of mixing EDM music in Philly,

and we want to combine that the with the originality of reggae-dancehall and make great music," he continued.

Palestina said he loved working with the Tommy Lee Sparta.

"He has an incredible voice and presence. The video is going to be crazy," he said.

G1fted Music has worked with several heavy hitters in entertainment business. They include Neyo, Mike Zombie, Bob Brockmann, and Omelly (Meek Mill DreamChasers).

He just completed three collaborations with Donovan Knowles for the artistes Beyonce, Ginuwine and Matchbox 20 www.jamaicaobserver.com

Mavado puts ‘diss’ behind him disrespect he received at Philippe Chow Restaurant in New York and accused the operators of being prejudice.

MAVADO said although he felt that he and his family were disrespected at a New York restaurant last week, the dancehall singjay has put the incident behind him.

"It was a lot of disrespectful stuff, but I am

over that now as I rather focus all my energy on the positive than negatives," he told the Jamaica Observer.

"Just went to Philippe Chow Restaurant and this manager, or whoever he wants to be, been very disrespectful after I just spend a couple hundreds inside... me, my friend, and family. How could you have someone running a business and being prejudice, and trying to tell customers not to come back just because he didn't know who I am? But now he knows, ahahahahahaha! This world we live in today," the post read.

Last Thursday, the entertainer vented his anger on the social network Instagram regarding the

According to TMZ.com, Mavado and his family were given a table at the back of the restaurant,

ordered not to take pictures, abused by their waiter and told never to come back.

Steve Boxer, Philippe Chow's CEO, has since apologised to the entertainer but says that he and his team are not and will never be racists.

"Philippe Restaurant is proud to have an excellent relationship with all our customers, especially the black community and people of color," adding, "on a weekly basis we have famous and non-famous black people," Boxer told TMZ. com.

-- Simone Morgan www.jamaicaobserver.com

Music

Vision/ Spring 2015

9

Album Review

Feed the Streets Chief Keef

Quality Street Music 2 DJ Drama

Mista Dont Play 2

ludaversal Ludacris

Another month, another mixtape release

by Chief Keef, who seems to be working this scene mighty hard lately. His newest release is Feed the Streets, a 19-track LP that you will either love to death, or despise so much that it will make you lose all faith in rap If you have been following Keef for a time, there is nothing on Feed the Streets that separates itself from his plethora of other mixtape albums. All of the Keef trappings are here; the syrupy drawl, the elementary lyrics, and the welldone beats are all well represented on this release. If you are a fan of his sound, than Feed the Streets will be a treat for you.

For those unfamiliar, DJ Drama is a DJ / producer born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Drama made a name for himself as the official DJ for T.I of Grand Hustle Records. He is best known for his mixtapes, which include the Gangsta Grillz series and Lil Wayne’s Dedication series. Some of his most popular songs are “Taking Pictures”, “Oh My” featuring Fabolous, Wiz Khalifa and Roscoe Dash, “We In This Bitch” and “My Moment”. His first album Gangsta Grillz: The Album debuted in 2007, and featured Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, T.I, Willie the Kid, Outkast, Jim Jones, Young Buck, and Nelly. His second album, Gangsta Grillz: The Album (Vol. 2), debuted in 2009 and featured even more hip-hop heavyweight including; Snoop Dogg, Akon and Gucci Mane. Drama is currently serving as an A&R for Atlantic Records, and is set to release his new album titled Quality Street Music 2 on April 14th, 2015

Entertainment One Music (eOne Music) announces the release of Memphis kingpin Project Pat’s forthcoming album, “Mista Don’t Play 2: Everythangs Money”, on March 24th, 2015. The album will be executive produced by Hip-Hop superstar Juicy J. The new album includes production from Atlanta’s platinum maestro Mike Williams (aka Mike Will Made It) and features Juicy J, Alabama’s late great rising star Doe B, Ty Dolla $ign, Wiz Khalifa and Wale. “Twerk It”, produced

by Juicy J, Lil Awree and KE On The Track, is Pat’s second single and new twerk anthem.

The up-tempo club record represents the latest edition to his long standing list of southern hits.

Ludacris’ album Ludaversal has been forthcoming for quite some time. After numerous push backs, the Atlanta-based rapper and actor has finally released the album. A video released by Revolt TV shows Ludacris talking about the album during a listening party. David Banner, Big K.R.I.T. and Usher all made the cut on the forthcoming LP.

www.axs.com

Project Pat

www.yoraps.com

www.hiphopdx.com

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Vision/ Spring 2015 Music Dexta Daps headlines Oracabessa Festival in NYC

"We are very, very excited to welcome to the Oracabessa Festival and to New York city, breakout Jamaican artiste for 2015, Dexta Daps" an ecstatic Bobby Clake, CEO of Irie Radio said.

With hit songs blazing the airwaves at home and in the United States, dancehall artiste Dexta Daps will be the headline performer at the second annual Oracabessa Festival on Memorial Day, May 25. The event will take place at the Roy Wilkins Park in Queens, NYC.

Arguably one of the hottest dancehall acts on the circuit now, the 7 Eleven singjay announced his presence to the music world last year with the dancehall anthem 7 eleven, which became a staple on reggae charts globally. He is currently riding the crest of

popularity with Pretty Nicky and Jealous Ova, an erotic collaboration that was recorded with dancehall princess Tifa. The song has racked up thousands of hits on youtube and is extremely popular across the English-speaking Caribbean.

"Fans have flooded our radio station with hundreds of calls, requesting that Dexta be included in the line-up this year. And given that this will be his first major performance in this market, made him very attractive to us. We worked hard with his management team to make his appearance at the festival a reality," Clarke noted.

Daps will be joined on Oracabessa by Tarrus Riley, Alaine and the Grace Thrillers, featuring gospel songbird Shirley Willis and friends. www.jamaica-star.com

Vision/ Autumn 2014

film

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Royals young ace Yordano Ventura gets $23 million, 5 year contract Oakland and gave up a threerun homer to the first batter he faced, Brandon Moss.

The contract includes team options for 2020 and 2021 at $12 million each, with a $1 million buyout both years.

Ventura will make $750,000 this year, $1 million in 2016, $3.25 million in 2017, $6.25 million in 2018 and $9.75 million in 2019. There's also a $1 million signing bonus.

Ventura made his major league debut in 2013 with three starts, not winning any of them. He more than fulfilled his potential last year.

The native of the Dominican Republic became the first Royals rookie to make 30 starts since Rich Gale in 1978, and posted the most wins by firstyear Kansas City pitcher since Tom Gordon's 17 in 1988.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Yordano Ventura and the Kansas City Royals reached a $23 million, five-year deal last Saturday, two days before the emerging ace was set to start the opener for the AL champions.

With a 100 mph fastball and one World Series win already to his credit, the 23-year-old Ventura committed to the Royals through the 2019 season.

Royals manager Ned Yost raved about Ventura.

“He's just an outstanding young pitcher,'' Yost said.

“We've got a lot of high hopes for him. He's a special breed.

He's got tremendous stuff.

He's got tremendous composure. He's a tremendous competitor _ all things that are hard to find in a young pitcher of his calibre.''

Ventura and the Royals hosted the Chicago White Sox on opening day Monday.

The hard-throwing righty dazzled as a rookie last season, going 14-10 with a 3.20 ERA. Veteran Kansas City starter Jason Vargas was impressed at Ventura's composure both on and off the mound last year.

“There (are) a lot of pressures that come along with being

young and being expected to go out there and really perform that way and I think he handled it well,'' Vargas said.

Ventura pitched seven shutout innings of three-hit ball against San Francisco to win Game 6 of the World Series and force a Game 7, which the Giants took. In Game 2, Ventura pitched well into the sixth inning of a Kansas City victory.

Ventura was 1-0 with a 3.20 ERA in five post-season games, including four starts.

He neatly bounced back from his first playoff appearance, when he relieved during the AL wild-card game against

Ventura is now the second-youngest opening day starter in Royals' history.

Steve Busby was a few months younger when he began the 1983 season.

Yost is eager to see what's in the future for Ventura.

“For me he's a complete package, a guy that I think is going to be very, very successful in major league baseball,'' Yost said. “And there's no telling what he's going to be able to achieve.''

The Associated Press (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

FILM

12

Vision / Spring 2015

Review: 'Furious 7' drives hard with action, goofy one liners, tender Walker tribute

Fast-moving fight scenes, outrageous auto antics and a sprinkling of ridiculous one-liners make “Furious 7'' a campy, crowd-pleasing escape.

Never mind that the film repeatedly presents the impossible _ a muscle car attacks an airborne helicopter _ fans of the franchise know to suspend disbelief at the door. With nonstop action from start to finish, it's easy _ if a bit exhausting _ to go along for the high-speed ride.

Reality intrudes at the end: The film is dedicated to Paul Walker, who died in a car crash in 2013, and concludes with a montage of images of the actor from his five previous “Fast and Furious'' appearances. Walker's brothers acted as stand-ins and special effects were used to maintain his presence throughout his final film, which was still in production when he died.

There are a couple of creepy allusions to his death in the film that could briefly jar viewers. At one point, Roman ( Tyrese Gibson) asks Brian (Walker) to promise their team won't face any more funerals. When Brian replies, “Just one more,'' he's referring to that of the film's villain (Jason Statham),

but one can't help but think of the actor's own accidental death.

Another scene shows Brian telling wife Mia (Jordana Brewster) that if she doesn't hear from him after the crew's latest mission, she should “move on.'' It almost feels like a message to his co-stars.

Like its predecessors, the seventh installment of the hit franchise features a multicultural cast, international settings and a dazzling array of cars. While this critic is partial to American muscle cars, the $3.5 million Lykan Hypersport from Dubai-based W Motors is incredible to see. Only seven such vehicles exist. (No Lykan Hypersports were harmed during the making of the film.)

The story is just a framework for car chases and fight scenes.

Dom (Vin Diesel) and his crew are acclimating to life on the right side of the law when they're attacked by Shaw (Statham), bent on avenging the death of his brother, who was killed in “Fast & Furious 6.'' Shaw is elusive, and the crew needs help. They're approached by secret operative Mr. Nobody (a smiling and smarmy Kurt Russell), who promises to aid in taking out Shaw if Dom's crew can secure a break-

through tracking device for the U.S. government. Meanwhile, a group of mercenaries, led by an underused Djimon Honsou, is also willing to kill for the tracking device, which can locate anyone on the globe by hacking into myriad digital networks.

Directed by James Wan (“Saw,'' ''Insidious”), ''Furious 7” scores with unprecedented car stunts. A cargo plane drops various parachute-equipped cars onto a curving road in the Caucasus Mountains.

Amazingly, all the cars land upright where they are supposed to.

Hilariously, Dom and the others are shown ''steering” the vehicles as they fly through the air.

Another awesome sequence shows a sports car crashing through glass windows as it jumps from skyscraper to skyscraper in Abu Dhabi.

When the characters aren't in their cars, they're fist-fighting, and Wan's shooting style makes those scenes appear illuminated by strobe light.

Even Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), the lone female driver on the crew, throws blows _ in a gown and heels _ battling an all-woman security team led by MMA fighter Ronda Rousey. Though Letty is depicted

as an equal among the boys, there is a sexist undertone to the film.

Attractive women are set dressing and Roman and Tej (Chris “Ludacris'' Bridges) play rock, paper, scissors for “dibs'' on a woman.

While that may be comic for some, most of the funny comes from security agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), with lines like, “Daddy's got to go to work,'' after which he busts his arm out of a plaster cast, Hulk-style, just by flexing.

It all adds up to an over-the-top escapist romp, which is exactly what “Fast & Furious'' fans expect.

“Furious 7,'' a Universal Pictures release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for “prolonged frenetic sequences of violence, action and mayhem, suggestive content and brief strong language.'' Running time: 140 minutes. Three stars out of four.

By Sandy Cohen THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ___ Follow AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen at

film

Vision/ Spring 2015

Man arrested for throwing banana peel at Dave Chappelle throws at another black man

SANTA FE, N.M. _ A man arrested after throwing a banana peel that hit comedian Dave Chappelle in the leg during a performance in Santa Fe says he threw one at another black man two nights later.

13

Trailer Park Boys, appeal to save Nova Scotia film tax credit retweeted by Snoop Dogg

tossing was not reported to police.

the tax credit for the show could no longer be filmed in film industry.

Nova Scotia if the credit is cut.

The government has not said it is Rapper Snoop Dogg eliminating the later retweeted a credit, which costs tweet from the Trailabout $24 miler Park Boys and lion per year, but Christian Englander asked his 12 million Finance Minister told the Santa Fe followers to sign Diana Whalen reNew Mexican on an online petition cently told a busiThursday (http://goo. was racially motivatness group she was to preserve the tax ed but was meant as gl/33FaiC) he threw examining it as she credit.

Rob Wells, Mike another banana peel a joke. gets ready to presSmith and John outside a Santa Fe The petition had ent her 2015-16 Paul Tremblay _ bar because the “iro- ___ budget on Thursday. about 17,000 signaalso known as the ny of this situation is tures by early Montoo much to pass up.'' Information from: The Trailer Park Boys Santa Fe New Mexiday afternoon and The video, which _ recently posted can, Jay Wills, the latest has garnered more was still increasing. a video as their http://www.sfnewtarget of a banana than 500,000 views characters Ricky, peel, says Englander mexican.com Bubbles and Julian on the Trailer Park threw a peel at him 265x112_BlakeRealEstate_1-4page_ad.pdf 1 2013-05-22 3:20 PM Boys Facebook asking the governduring a scuffle. That page, says their ment to preserve HALIFAX _ A comedic trio's attempt Englander, who is to raise awareness white, was arrested Monday night on sus- about the imporpicion of battery and tance of a film tax disorderly conduct af- credit in Nova Scoter tossing a banana tia has caught the peel at Chappelle, attention of celebriwho is black. ties like Snoop Dogg and helped fuel an Englander, 30, denies industry movement that either tossing to save it.

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