Tag: License

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World News

Virgin Galactic receives FAA license to fly passengers to area

Virgin Galactic receives FAA license to fly passengers to space

Virgin Galactic announced Friday that the Federal Aviation Administration granted the company the license it needs to fly passengers on future spaceflights, a key hurdle as the venture completes development testing.

“The commercial license that we have had in place since 2016 remains in place, but is now cleared to allow us to carry commercial passengers when we’re ready to do so,” Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier told CNBC. “This is obviously an exciting milestone and a huge compliment to the team.”

Virgin Galactic’s stock jumped 38.9% in trading on Friday, its largest ever rise in a single trading day, to close at $55.91. Shares had tumultuous start to the year, with the stock climbing above $60 in February and then plummeting to a low near $15 last month before rebounding.

While the FAA previously gave Virgin Galactic a launch license to conduct spaceflights, the license expansion allows the company to fly what the regulator calls “spaceflight participants.” The company completed a 29 element verification and validation program for the FAA, clearing the final two FAA milestones with its most recent spaceflight test in May. Colglazier noted the last two milestones were specific to the spacecraft’s flight-control systems and inertial navigation systems.

Notably, Virgin Galactic chief astronaut trainer Beth Moses is the only nonpilot to fly on one of the company’s spaceflights. To date, five Virgin Galactic employees, including four pilots, have become FAA-recognized astronauts – as the U.S. officially views an altitude of 80 kilometers (or about 50 miles) as the boundary to space.

Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft Unity is designed to hold up to six passengers along with the two pilots. The company has about 600 reservations for tickets on future flights, sold at prices between $200,000 and $250,000 each.

Next spaceflights TBD

With three spaceflight tests completed to date over the last two years, Virgin Galactic now has three more spaceflight tests planned before it completes development. The company previously announced its next spaceflight would carry four passengers to test the spacecraft’s cabin, its second would fly founder Sir Richard Branson and the third will carry members of the Italian Air Force for professional astronaut training.

Sir Richard Branson, left, and CEO Michael Colglazier celebrate the company’s third spaceflight test on May 22, 2021.

Virgin Galactic

However, a report earlier this month by a blogger based in Mojave, California – where Virgin Galactic manufactures its vehicles – said the company is considering reorganizing its flight schedule to launch Branson next over the July 4 weekend. The report came shortly after Jeff Bezos announced he would fly on Blue Origin’s first passenger spaceflight, planned to launch on July 20 – suggesting Branson may yet try to beat Bezos in personally flying to space.

Colglazier said the FAA approval means “the flight test program shifts now” to demonstrating “the cabin experience” of the spacecraft.

“I know there’s a lot of interest and speculation out there but we have not announced either the date nor the people that would be on those,” Colglazier said. “We approach this very methodically, with safety as the first consideration, and when we have all those boxes checked and all the steps in place – that’s when we can move forward and announce.”

Development delays have pushed back the company’s promised beginning of commercial service from mid-2020 to early 2022.

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Categories
Entertainment

Watch Regé-Jean Web page’s “Drivers License” Skit on SNL

Watch Regé-Jean Page's "Drivers License" Skit on SNL

This is all of us when the driver’s license appears on pic.twitter.com/kwFzd6Vgsp

– Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) February 21, 2021

It was only a matter of time before Saturday night live parodied Olivia Rodrigo’s hit “Drivers License” and we’re so glad they chose it when Regé-Jean Page made his hosting debut on February 20th. Not only did the Duke of Hastings bless us by breaking into songs (TBH, we could listen to him sing forever) but the best part of it could have been when he and that SNL The cast took turns analyzing the lyrics. In fact, the sketch was so good that Rodrigo himself couldn’t help but tweet: “DRIVERS LICENSE SNL SKETCH IS THE BEST BIRTHDAY THAT IS SHAKING EVERY TIME.” Rodrigo celebrated her 18th birthday on Saturday. What could be nicer than singing Page with the title “Drivers License”?

DRIVERS LICENSE SNL SKETCH IS THE BEST BIRTHDAY I ALWAYS SHAKE

– Olivia Rodrigo (@Olivia_Rodrigo) February 21, 2021

Categories
Entertainment

Olivia Rodrigo and ‘Drivers License’ Aren’t Going Anyplace

Olivia Rodrigo and ‘Drivers License’ Aren’t Going Anywhere

At the end of the first month of 2021, there is already a real pop phenomenon this year that comes out of nowhere: Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License”, which exceeded the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks and has become one of the days Most of the songs streamed every day in recent years.

Rodrigo is a star on the Disney + series “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” and “Drivers License” is their debut single, released outside the context of the show itself. It’s a shrewd legacy from Taylor Swift, Lorde, and Alessia Cara, among others. The song has also become a vector for gossip about young celebrities – it was followed by new songs from Rodrigo’s co-star and rumored ex Joshua Bassett and an older Disney star he’s been linked to, Sabrina Carpenter.

On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about the long arc of the Disney pop machine, how young women turn inward in pop, and how long it really takes for someone to experience a sudden burst of success.

Categories
Politics

Distinguished Attorneys Need Giuliani’s Legislation License Suspended Over Trump Work

Prominent Lawyers Want Giuliani’s Law License Suspended Over Trump Work

Dozens of prominent lawyers have signed a formal complaint requesting the suspension of Rudolph W. Giuliani’s bar license – the latest and loudest in a series of calls to reprimand him for his actions as President Donald J. Trump’s personal attorney.

The lawyers said Mr Giuliani crossed ethical boundaries in helping Mr Trump prosecute false allegations of election fraud and then delivered an incendiary speech reiterating those claims just before the January 6 uprising at the Capitol.

A draft complaint to the New York Supreme Court Appeals Committee accuses Mr. Giuliani of knowingly making false allegations about the election and calls for an investigation into “conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deception or misrepresentation in or outside the court” .

Demands for Mr. Giuliani to be disciplined have increased in the weeks since the uprising and are only increasing now after Mr. Trump stepped down. The latest complaint, signed by a non-partisan who-is-who of legal figures from New York and beyond, is possibly the most serious condemnation of Mr Giuliani’s conduct to date.

The list included former acting US attorney general Stuart M. Gerson, former US district judges H. Lee Sarokin and Fern M. Smith, and two former attorneys general, Scott Harshbarger of Massachusetts and Grant Woods of Arizona. The complaint was also signed by prosecutors working for the same United States law firm for the Southern District of New York that Mr. Giuliani ran in the 1980s, including Christine H. Chung.

Ms. Chung, a member of the steering committee of Lawyers Defending American Democracy, the organization that made the complaint, said the group had reviewed Mr. Giuliani’s work on behalf of Mr. Trump and that it was a “targeted campaign for the going.” with a lie about a stolen election from the American people. “

“This is a man who once ran the highest law enforcement agency in this nation and he knows what is fraud and what is not,” said Ms. Chung, who did not work for the US law firm during Mr. Giuliani’s tenure. She added, “It is forbidden for a lawyer to attack the rule of law and it is dangerous.”

Ms. Chung said that by Thursday afternoon, more than 500 people had signed the complaint, which anyone could sign on the Lawyers Defending American Democracy website, and that she expected “thousands” more to add their names.

The complaint seeking the suspension of Mr Giuliani’s admission to exercise his right during an investigation into his conduct is one of several complaints that have been lodged with the Board of Appeal. It comes a week after New York Senator Brad Hoylman, chairman of the judiciary committee, urged the state judicial system to begin the formal process of revoking Mr. Giuliani’s legal license.

It could take months or even years to conduct the investigation and determine an appropriate sentence, largely due to procedural hurdles and the complexity of Mr Giuliani’s case, said Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University and an expert in legal ethics.

Mr Gillers said he hoped the court would conduct a thorough investigation suspending Mr Giuliani’s license as Mr Giuliani used his reputation as a lawyer to spread false accounts.

“It is a privilege and an honor to be a New York attorney, and in investigating Giuliani and possibly sanctioning him for his behavior, the courts are reiterating that fact,” Gillers said.

Mr Giuliani, who did not respond to requests for comment, discussed the complaints about his behavior on his radio show last week.

“I’ve been a prosecutor all my life – I’m not stupid,” he said. “I don’t want to get in trouble. And personally, I have a great sense of ethics. I hate it when people attack my integrity. “

In the weeks since the insurrection, Mr Giuliani also redoubled his allegations of electoral fraud, arguing on conservative talk radio and social media that the masses indicting the Capitol were left-wing radicals who were involved in a conspiracy around him and To discredit Mr. Trump.

The numerous demands for disciplinary action underscore the extent to which Mr Giuliani’s reputation has grown since his years as Federal Prosecutor for Organized Crime and his two terms as Mayor of New York City, during which he advocated law enforcement and emphasized cleaning, has changed the streets.

At Mr Trump’s rally on Jan. 6, not long before a violent mob stormed the Capitol, Mr Giuliani called for a “trial by battle” to address his discredited allegations of electoral fraud.

“I am ready to maintain my reputation, the president is ready to strengthen his reputation because we will find crime there,” said Giuliani.

In the complaint, Mr Giuliani is accused of holding on to his false allegations of widespread electoral fraud only on January 16, thereby sacrificing his reputation.

“Other lawyers have met ethical obligations by withdrawing from representing Mr Trump and his campaign,” the complaint said. “Mr. Giuliani not only gave the company his stature and attorney status, but he also shows no inclination to stop lying.”

Earlier this week, a person close to Mr Trump said Mr Giuliani would not be part of Mr Trump’s defense during his second Senate impeachment trial.

Categories
Entertainment

Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Drivers License’ Hit No. 1 in a Week. Right here’s How.

Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Drivers License’ Hit No. 1 in a Week. Here’s How.

The music industry’s first runaway hit single of the year is instantly a proven model – a Disney actress turning to pop with a catchy and sectarian break-up ballad – and also an unprecedented TikTok smash of a teenager.

“Drivers License” by Olivia Rodrigo, 17, debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on Tuesday after a record breaking first week on streaming services such as Spotify and Amazon Music. Along the way, the autobiographical song sparked speculation across tabloids and social media as listeners tried to piece together its real-life parallels like it was a song by Rodrigo’s hero Taylor Swift. TikTok videos resulted in blog posts that resulted in streams, news articles and back again. The feedback loop made it unbeatable.

“It was absolutely the craziest week of my life,” said Rodrigo, who actually got her driver’s license last year, in an interview. “My whole life changed in an instant.”

During a shaky and uncertain time for the music business, amid the pandemic and unrest, “Drivers License” was released across platforms and with a music video on January 8th by Geffen Records. The song was then streamed more than 76.1 million times a week in the US, according to Billboard, the highest sum since Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” in August (93 million). On Spotify, Drivers License set a daily global stream record for a non-holiday song on Jan. 11. and then hit his own number the next day and eventually set the service’s record for most streams in a week worldwide.

The title reached # 1 in 48 countries on Apple Music, 31 countries on Spotify and 14 countries on YouTube, Rodrigo’s label said. Billboard reported that it sold 38,000 downloads in the US, most this week, and had 8.1 million impressions from radio airplay viewers.

“We definitely had no idea how big it was going to get,” said Jeremy Erlich, Spotify’s co-head of music. “It just flown into this monster, unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. And I think differently than anything anyone has seen before. “

The company, which accounted for more than 60 percent of the song’s worldwide streams in the first week, responded to the initial interest with increased advertising for the track, which is now on 150 official Spotify playlists. “It’s definitely not going to slow down,” said Erlich. “It’s the topic in the company and in the industry.”

The song, written by Rodrigo and the producer Dan Nigro starts out very simply: “I got my driver’s license last week,” Rodrigo sings about a basic piano part, “just like we always talked about it.” But at the end of the first verse she cries “in the suburbs” and the music swells until a cathartic bridge strikes with a type-breaking swear word. The song “successfully balances dark but crisp melodrama with a bold melody, gently pointed singing with sharp images,” wrote the critic Jon Caramanica. “It’s a modern and successful pop song in every way.”

“Drivers License” may represent Rodrigo’s real debut as a solo artist, but thanks to her Disney roles, she came with a built-in audience. Born and raised in Southern California, she became a regular talent show at the age of 8 and was first cast on “Bizaardvark,” which aired three seasons on Disney Channel between 2016 and 2019. Rodrigo, who learned to play guitar for the role with Paige Olvera, a teenager who makes songs and videos for an online content studio.

She can currently be seen as Nini Salazar-Roberts in the Disney + series “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series”. Last year, a song written by Rodrigo, “All I Want,” became the show’s most successful track to date.

But like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, and Demi Lovato before her – and Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Christina Aguilera before them – Rodrigo recorded her experience in the Disney machine and tried to translate it for a wider, more adult audience. Fans have speculated that “Drivers License” is about Rodigro’s “High School Musical” co-star Joshua Bassett, who released his own single- and car-centric video on Friday.

Erlich, the executive director of Spotify, said that for Rodrigo “there was a lot of X-Factors that made this the perfect storm” including the gossip, the quality of her song, the marketing plan prepared in advance by her label, and the support of celebrities like Swift and the TikToker Charli D’Amelio. “It aligned perfectly and faster than anything we’ve ever seen,” he said. “We saw such an alignment, but it usually spans three to six months – it happened in a day and a half.”

Rodrigo called the song “a little time capsule” of a monumental half year that she had experienced last year. Acknowledging the “archetype” of the Disney star turned pop star, she said she was nervous about the collision of reactions from “people who have never heard my name and people who have been with me on TV grew up. “But she was thrilled to find both groups interested.

“The cool thing about ‘Drivers License’ is that I’ve seen so many videos of people saying, ‘I have no idea who this girl is, but I really love this song,’ which was really interesting to me because For so long I’m really only tied to projects and characters, and that’s how people know me, ”she said. “It’s really cool to be introduced to people for the first time through a song that I’m really passionate about.”