Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

  NEW YORK (AP) — Ronnie Spector, the cat-eyed, bee-hived rock ‘n’ roll siren who sang such 1960s hits as “Be My Baby,” “Baby I Love You” and “Walking in the Rain” as the leader of the girl group The Ronettes, has died. She was 78. Spector died Wednesday after a brief battle with cancer, her family said. “Ronnie lived her life with a twinkle in her eye, a spunky attitude, a wicked sense of humor and a smile on her face. She was filled with love and gratitude,” a statement said. No other details were revealed. Tributes flooded social media , from Stevie Van Zandt saying it was an honor to produce her, to Brian Wilson, who wrote on Twitter: “I loved her voice so much and she was a very special person and a dear friend.” Diane Warren called her “The voice of a million teenage dreams including mine.”   Read the rest of the story here:  https://apnews.com/article/ronnie-spector-dead-84c905db02a01ffa43a6052c3ce66920

A 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Mexico, the U.S. Geological Survey says. The earthquake was felt strongly in Mexico City, according to a Reuters witness. Mexico's National Seismological Survey said the temblor had an epicenter southwest of Ometepec. The quake was located 120 miles east of Acapulco. A person at Acapulco City Hall told NBC News that they felt the quake but had no reports of injuries or damages yet. It was six miles (10 kilometers) underground. The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. This story is developing. Please check MSNBC.com later for more details. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Despite garnering 49 more points than last week, the St. Bonaventure women's basketball team (27-2, 14-0 Atlantic 10 Conference) remained No. 19 in the Associated Press Poll released Monday. St. Bona received 294 points after earning 245 last week. That total ranks 12 points behind No. 18 St. John's and three ahead of No. 20 Louisville. St. John's, which was No. 20 last week, moved ahead of the Bonnies despite Bonaventure winning on the Red Storm's home court earlier this year. No. 14 Ohio State, which was No. 8 last week, was the only team ranked ahead of Bonaventure which lost last week. The Bonnies continued their record-setting season last week with a pair of wins over Fordham and Rhode Island – the latter coming in holding the Rams to a Division-I program-best low of 32 points. Bonaventure has more wins in the nation than every school with the exception of No. 1 Baylor (29-0). No. 3 Notre Dame also has 27 victories, tying the Irish with the Bonnies. SBU ranks in th...

Riding a program-best 14-game winning streak, the 25-2 St. Bonaventure women's basketball team moved up to No. 19 in the Associated Press Poll released Monday afternoon. The Bonnies, undefeated in Atlantic 10 Conference play at 12-0, are coming off a 66-48 win over Xavier on Saturday in front of a Homecoming Weekend crowd. The victory extended Bonaventure's regular-season A-10 winning streak to 16 straight, dating back to last season. The only team in the nation with more wins than St. Bonaventure is No. 1 Baylor (27-0). No. 3 Notre Dame is also 25-2 on the year. Bonaventure, which broke into the AP Top 25 three weeks ago at No. 25, was ranked No. 22 last week before cracking the top-20 for the first time in program history on Monday. The ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll will be released Tuesday afternoon. The Bonnies were ranked No. 25 in that poll last week. SBU returns to action in its regular-season home finale on Wednesday against Fordham. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. from Bo...

The St. Bonaventure Women's basketball team is ranked #25 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll that came out this afternoon. This is the first time in program history the Bonnies have been ranked in this poll. Yesterday, they moved up to #22 in The AP's weekly poll. The Bonnies host Xavier Saturday during Homecoming Weekend. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Following a pair of road victories last week, the St. Bonaventure women's basketball team (24-2, 11-0 Atlantic 10 Conference) moved up to No. 22 in the Associated Press Poll Monday afternoon. The Bonnies remain the only A-10 team – men's or women's – ranked in the poll as they've won a program-record 13 straight games. Their most recent victory – a 56-55 triumph in the closing seconds at Dayton – extended their road record to a nation-best 12-0. Not only is the record the best in the country, but the dozen road wins leads all Division I teams. The only school in the nation with more wins than St. Bonaventure is No. 1 Baylor (25-0). No. 4 Notre Dame – which lost at home to now-No. 25 West Virginia, a team the Bonnies beat on the road – is also 24-2 on the year. St. Bona is 10-2 against top-100 teams in the RPI (Ratings Percentage Index), which is a main ranking utilized by the NCAA Tournament selection committee when choosing its postseason participants. No. 11 Delaware ...

For the first time in program history, the St. Bonaventure women's basketball team is ranked in the national polls. The 22-2 Bonnies – who just missed out the last two weeks – checked in at No. 25 in the Associated Press Poll. The ranking is also a first for any Big 4 women's basketball team, and marks the first time in more than 40 years that a Big 4 basketball team is nationally ranked. The Bonaventure men were the last Big 4 school to be ranked in January 1971 – a season before the women's program at Bona even existed. "The ranking is a great piece of national recognition that our players have worked extremely hard to achieve," head coach Jim Crowley said. "While we're certainly excited and proud of the ranking, we need to make sure that our focus remains on the next game." The Bonnies – who sit atop the Atlantic 10 Conference standings as the lone unbeaten team at 9-0 – are coming off an 80-69 win over George Washington Saturday afternoon. The v...

Despite owning the third-most wins in the nation, the 20-2 St. Bonaventure women's basketball team just missed cracking the top-25 in the Associated Press Poll Monday for the first time in program history, checking in as the No. 26 team with 61 points. The Bonnies – who sit atop the Atlantic 10 standings as the lone unbeaten team at 7-0 – were just nine points shy of No. 25 Texas Tech, which garnered 70. In last week's poll, 61 points would have placed Bona as the No. 23 team in country. Only No. 1 Baylor (21-0) and No. 2 Notre Dame (21-1) have more victories than the Bonnies. St. Bona is 9-2 against top-100 teams in the RPI (Ratings Percentage Index), which is a main ranking utilized by the NCAA Tournament selection committee when choosing its postseason participants. The Bonnies check in at No. 23 in the RPI rankings – the highest-ranked A-10 team. Of the schools ranked No. 13-25 in the AP Poll, none has more RPI top-100 wins than St. Bonaventure. Furthermore, SBU's five ...

The 18-2 St. Bonaventure women's basketball team just missed cracking the top-25 in the Associated Press Poll Monday for the first time in program history, checking in as the No. 27 team in the nation with 42 votes. The Bonnies – who sit atop the Atlantic 10 standings as the lone unbeaten team at 5-0 – were just five votes shy of No. 25 North Carolina, which garnered 47 votes. Georgia Tech claimed 46 votes for the No. 26 slot. The 42 votes are more than triple Bonaventure's previous high, which was 13 on Dec. 15, 2009. This is the latest in a season the Bonnies have ever been receiving votes, and is the third-straight week and record fifth time this campaign. St. Bonaventure erased a 13-point second-half deficit in snapping Charlotte's six-game winning streak on Saturday evening to continue its best-ever start to season. In that contest, senior Jessica Jenkins broke the A-10 record for career 3-pointers as she now owns 293 makes. SBU has won seven straight games – the secon...

After a one-week absence from the national polls, the St. Bonaventure women's basketball team is Receiving Votes in the Associated Press Poll released Monday afternoon. The Bonnies are off to a program-best 14-2 start following a 61-53 conference-opening victory over rival Duquesne Saturday afternoon. Bonaventure is the only team in the Atlantic 10 with 14 victories, two more than its next-closest competitor. This is the latest in a season that the Bonnies have ever Received Votes in the national polls, and is just the seventh time in program history. The club Received Votes in the AP Poll on Dec. 19 and Dec. 26. The Brown and White ranks second in the nation in fewest turnovers per game (12.8), 11th in the nation in free-throw shooting (77.6 percent) and 18th in the country in scoring defense (51.5 points per game). Bona is 6-0 on the road, just one of six teams in the nation with an unblemished road mark. However, it is one of only two squads in the country with an undefeated rec...

Tuesday afternoon's game between the St. Bonaventure women's basketball team and Sacred Heart will be free to attend. The game begins at 2 p.m. between the 12-2 Bonnies and 9-3 Pioneers. With local schools returning to session on Tuesday, and the holiday break for many workers ending on Monday, the decision was made by Athletic Department officials to make the matinee game free to the public. The contest is a rematch of last year's meeting, won by Bonaventure, 62-54, in Connecticut. St. Bonaventure has Received Votes in each of the last two Associated Press national polls, and are winners of eight of its last nine games. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

For the fifth time in its history, the St. Bonaventure women's basketball team is Receiving Votes in the national rankings, as on Monday the Bonnies garnered one vote in the Associated Press Poll. Bonaventure is off to a 10-1 start following a 67-56 win Sunday afternoon against perennial mid-major power Marist. The Bonnies have already defeated a program-best three BCS schools (St. John's, West Virginia, Indiana), and will get a shot at a fourth Dec. 29 against Villanova. Over the course of their current six-game winning streak, the Bonnies are holding their opponents to just 46.6 points per game, defeating those six teams by an average margin of 16.7 points. St. Bonaventure has previously Received Votes during the 2008-09 season on Dec. 8, 2008, and for three consecutive weeks in the 2009-10 season from Dec. 8-22. The most votes it has ever received was 13 on Dec. 15, 2009, in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll after starting the season 10-0. That club went on to win its first 11...

My favorite news service won a whole pile of awards from the Pennsylvania Associated Press Broadcasters Association. Our listeners heard many of the shows and reports on 1490 WESB and 100.1 The HERO, including RadioPA Roundtable, election night coverage and "Eerie Pennsylvania: The French Manor." Congratulations to to everyone at RadioPA -- and thanks for making my life a whole lot easier!

(CNN) -- Seven children died in a fire at a farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania while their parents were elsewhere, state police said Wednesday morning. For more on this story go to CNN.com . Associated Press reporter Marc Levy is on the scene, and we'll have a report from him during our noon newscast on 1490 WESB and at WESB.com

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The cafeteria in Pennsylvania's state Capitol had to be shut down after inspectors found evidence of a rodent infestation. Get the full story from The Associated Press . ( Then come back here and leave your jokes in the comments. )

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the media shield bill cleared an important hurdle in passing a key Senate Committee. The Free Flow of Information Act, sponsored U.S. Senators Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) and Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee 14 to 5. The revised version of the bill, unveiled October 30th, has received backing from the White House and over 70 media organizations. The bill includes provisions to protect national security interests while providing legal protection for journalists guarding the anonymity of their sources. “Today has been a long time coming. The bill creates a fair standard to protect the public interest, journalists, the news media, bloggers, prosecutors and litigants,” Specter said. “This marks a major improvement over current procedures where journalists have been threatened, fined and jailed for appropriately protecting sources. White House negotiators for President Obama played a decisive role in working out this compro...

A Home Depot in northern Arkansas has someone new looking out for mice at the warehouse store. A great horned owl now lives in the Harrison store's garden center, looking down on surprised customers shopping for flowers and paving stones. Employees say the bird's mother flew inside of the enclosed garden center during a January ice storm and laid eggs atop a pallet of merchandise. For the full story, go to The Associated Press . ( Photo from the Pennsylvania Game Commission )

MIAMI (AP) — Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth will be charged Wednesday with killing a pedestrian last month while driving drunk in Miami, according to people familiar with the case. For the full story, go to pennlive.com .

LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) — Two central Pennsylvania newspapers that share both a corporate owner and a newsroom plan to consolidate operations and publish a combined edition starting in June, a move expected to lead to dozens of layoffs. For the full story, go to pennlive.com .