Raphael Stevens

Actor Alec Baldwin is among several defendants named in a wrongful death suit, following the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” in October.
Matthew Hutchins filed a lawsuit in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on behalf of himself and his son Andros Hutchins, alleging that Baldwin recklessly shot and killed his wife.
The lawsuit also claims that the “Rust” production failed to perform industry standard safety checks or follow basic gun safety rules, resulting in her death.

Actor Alec Baldwin is among several defendants named in a wrongful death suit following the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” in October.
On Tuesday, Matthew Hutchins filed a lawsuit in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on behalf of himself and his son Andros Hutchins, alleging that Baldwin recklessly fatally shot Hutchins’ 42-year-old wife and that the “Rust” production failed to perform industry-standard safety checks or follow basic gun safety rules.

“Halyna Hutchins deserved to live, and the defendants had the power to prevent her death if they had only held sacrosanct their duty to protect the safety of every individual on a set where firearms were present instead of cutting corners on safety procedures where human lives were at stake, rushing to stay on schedule and ignoring numerous complaints of safety violations,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, including punitive damages. No criminal charges have been filed by the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office, and the investigation is reported to be ongoing.

An aerial view of the film set on Bonanza Creek Ranch where Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded a director when he discharged a prop gun on the movie set of the film “Rust” in Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S., in this frame grab taken from October 21, 2021 television footage. Footage taken October 21, 2021.
KOB TV NEWS | Reuters

This lawsuit is only one of several that have been filed in the wake of the incident. Hutchins’ family is being represented by Panish Shea Boyle Ravipudi, with Brian Panish acting as lead attorney, as well as the law firm Montoya, Love and Curry with Randi McGinn acting as lead lawyer.
“Any claim that Alec was reckless is entirely false,” said Aaron Dyer, of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, an attorney for Alec Baldwin and other producers of “Rust,” in a statement.
“He, Halyna and the rest of the crew relied on the statement by the two professionals responsible for checking the gun that it was a “cold gun” — meaning there is no possibility of a discharge, blank or otherwise,” he said.

Dyer added that his clients continue to cooperate with authorities to determine how live ammunition arrived on the set in the first place.
Investigators probing the fatal movie set shooting found a lead projectile in the shoulder of director Joel Souza, who was injured during the incident in New Mexico, that they believe was the cause of death for Hutchins.
Around 500 rounds were found on the set, which were a mix of blank ammunition, dummy rounds and live rounds.
Court documents released in October show Baldwin was handed a loaded weapon by an assistant director who indicated it was safe to use in the moments before the actor fatally shot Halyna Hutchins. A search warrant filed in a Santa Fe court shows that the assistant director did not know the prop gun was loaded with live rounds.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins is seen in this undated handout photo received by Reuters on October 23, 2021.
Swen Studios | via Reuters

Assistant director David Halls admitted to investigators he should have inspected all the rounds in the handgun before the accidental shooting. Halls picked up the gun and brought it over to the production’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, to be checked prior to a rehearsal for a scene.
Halls previously was fired from the set of “Freedom’s Path” in 2019 after a crew member incurred a minor and temporary injury when a gun unexpectedly discharged, a producer on the project told NBC News.
Gutierrez-Reed, too, reportedly had a history of not adhering to safety measures. The young armorer allegedly was the subject of numerous complaints on her previous film just two months prior to the “Rust” shooting after she discharged weapons without warning.

“The ‘Rust’ Production involved extensive use of firearms and required an experienced firearms expert with the skill and qualifications to maintain constant vigilance for safety matters … Defendant Gutierrez-Reed was an inexperienced weapons master with only one movie production under her belt, unqualified for the degree of skill required on the ‘Rust’ set,” the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit claims that producers ignored Gutierrez-Reed’s concerns about performing two major roles within the production, armorer and assistant prop master, and disregarded unintentional firearm discharges that had occurred on set that were a result of Gutierrez-Reed’s inability to perform her duties as armorer.
The lawsuit alleged that “Rust” producers “utilized aggressive cost-cutting practices” that jeopardized and endangered the safety of cast and crew on set. This included hiring Gutierrez-Reed to perform two roles on set, rushing its production schedule and hiring unqualified and inexperienced crew that were responsible for safety during the production.

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Dr. Robert Califf is a prominent cardiologist with extensive clinical research experience who served as FDA commissioner during President Barack Obama’s final year in office.
Several Democrats objected to Califf’s nomination over his ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
However, six former FDA commissioners endorsed Califf as an experienced hand who can lead the agency and the country out of the Covid pandemic.

The Senate narrowly confirmed Dr. Robert Califf as Food and Drug Administration commissioner on Tuesday, over objections to his pharmaceutical industry ties and concerns he would not act aggressively enough to stem the opioid epidemic.
The White House relied on six Republicans to move Califf across the finish line after five Democrats voted against President Joe Biden’s nominee. The final vote was 50-46 for Califf.

“Dr. Califf is a supremely qualified nominee with bipartisan support,” said Sen. Richard Burr, the ranking Republican on the Senate health committee, before Tuesday’s vote.
Califf is a prominent cardiologist with extensive clinical research experience who served as FDA commissioner during President Barack Obama’s final year in office. Biden has said Califf will bring a steady hand to the FDA as the drug regulator faces urgent decisions on Covid vaccines, therapeutics and testing to fight the pandemic.
Califf’s confirmation comes more than a year after Biden took office. Dr. Janet Woodcock, a three-decade agency veteran, served as acting commissioner last year while the FDA gradually lowered the eligibility age for Pfizer’s vaccine, authorized booster shots and approved two major antiviral drugs to treat Covid patients.

Though the White House reportedly considered Woodcock for the permanent role, she faced opposition on Capitol Hill. Woodcock led the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research when prescription opioids, including OxyContin, were approved in the 1990s.
In a December letter to the Senate health committee, six former FDA chiefs said the yearlong absence of a confirmed commissioner had complicated the drug regulator’s ability to fulfill its mandate. They endorsed Califf as someone with the experience to immediately play an effective leadership role in a time of crisis.

“Confirming Dr. Califf is critical not only for moving beyond the Covid-19 emergency, but also to help meet FDA’s many other major regulatory responsibilities where Senate confirmed leadership is essential for the nation’s wellbeing,” wrote Drs. Scott Gottlieb, Stephen Hahn and four other former commissioners.
However, Califf’s nomination was not without controversy, with opposition coming from several members of Biden’s own party.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has criticized Califf for owning millions of dollars in pharmaceutical stock, accusing him of participating in a revolving door between industry and the FDA.
Califf is as a senior advisor at Google Health and Verily, the life science arm of Alphabet. He received a salary of $2.7 million and up to $5 million in stock at Verily, according to an ethics disclosure form. Califf serves on the board of directors of Centessa Pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceutical company Cytokinetics. He has up to $5 million in unvested stock options at Centessa and owns hundreds of thousands of dollars in Cytokinetics stock. Califf also has stock in Amgen, Gilead Sciences and Bristol-Meyers Squibb.

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Califf has said he will resign from Verily, Centessa and Cytokinetics upon confirmation and divest his pharmaceutical stock holdings within 90 days.
Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., opposed Califf’s nomination over his previous leadership of the the FDA during the opioid crisis. Overdose deaths from all opioids increased 12% to more than 47,000 during Califf’s tenure as commissioner from 2016 to 2017, while fatalities specifically from prescription opioids remained high with more than 17,000 people succumbing to overdoses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Manchin last week called on Biden to withdraw Califf’s nomination, arguing that he had “failed to address this crisis in any meaningful way” and would not bring the change needed at the FDA to address opioids, which have hit West Virginia particularly hard.
“We need new, dedicated leadership that understands the gravity of the drug epidemic and will fight back against the greed of the pharmaceutical industry,” Manchin wrote with Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., in an op-ed published in USA Today. In a statement last month, Hassan said, “it does not appear that things would be different” under Califf’s leadership.
While serving as FDA deputy commissioner for medical products, Califf announced a review of the drug regulator’s opioid policy. However, Manchin criticized Califf for the FDA approval of three new opioid drugs during his tenure as the agency’s commissioner.
During his nomination hearing, Califf acknowledged the FDA’s failure when it approved OxyContin in 1995 without long-term studies or an assessment of the drug’s addictiveness. He said the FDA should aggressively look at relabeling opioids to warn they are not intended for long-term use.
“I think we need to learn from all that’s happened over the last several decades with us and reassess where we are today,” Califf said. “Because whatever we’ve done up until now, it’s not enough. It’s going to take all hands on deck and specifically, the FDA needs to redouble its efforts on prescriber education.”
A record number of Americans, more than 68,000, died of opioid overdoses in 2020, according to the CDC data. More than 500,000 Americans have died of opioid overdoses since 1999, according to the data.
Lawmakers also pressed Califf about his stance on the FDA’s fast-track approval process for drugs that have potential to help patients with serious conditions who have few other treatment options. Woodcock faced backlash over the accelerated approval of Biogen’s Alzheimer’s drug aduhelm in June after a report revealed that company executives met with FDA officials outside of official channels. The acting commissioner requested an inspector general investigation into the approval of Biogen’s Alzheimer’s drug.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told Califf in a letter earlier this month that some companies have taken advantage of the fast-track process while the FDA has shied away from wielding its authority to punish those who abuse the procedure. Califf, in his response letter, said he will work with Congress to close gaps in accountability.
During his nomination hearing, Califf said the American people want earlier access to drugs that can potentially treat life-threatening illnesses. However, he acknowledged the fast-track process inherently comes with uncertainty, and the FDA needs to do better at tracking the performance of drugs that are approved early.
“We got to have a better system to evaluate these products as they’re used on the market,” Califf told the Senate health committee in December.

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Elon Musk unleashed a torrent of stock sales, options exercises, tax payment sales and gifted shares last year totaling nearly $22 billion.
Yet even after unloading so much Tesla stock, he still owns a larger share of the company than when he started, thanks to his compensation package.
Musk owns 172.6 million Tesla shares, or a 17% stake, which makes him its single largest individual shareholder.

SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk holds a helmet as he visits the construction site of Tesla’s gigafactory in Gruenheide, near Berlin, Germany, May 17, 2021.
Michele Tantussi | Reuters

Elon Musk unleashed a torrent of stock sales, options exercises, tax payment sales and gifted shares last year totaling nearly $22 billion. Yet even after unloading so much Tesla stock, he still owns a larger share of the company, thanks to his compensation package.
Musk sold $16 billion in shares last year and, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Monday, gifted 5 million shares, which are worth nearly $6 billion, to an undisclosed charity or recipient in November. The sales and gifts bring his total to about $22 billion — a combination of tax payments, cash in his pocket and the gift.

Yet because of the nature of the options exercises, Musk actually finished the year with a larger ownership stake — and more shares — in Tesla. In 2012, Musk was awarded options on 22.8 million shares worth about $28 billion last fall when he started selling.
The way the options exercises work is that Musk first started converting the 22.8 million options into shares. The options had a strike price of only $6.24, so he could pay $6.24 for each option and get a share of Tesla stock, which were trading at more than $1,000 last fall.
With each options conversion, he would simultaneously sell shares to pay the taxes, since the options are taxed as income. Even as he was unloading billions of dollars worth of shares to pay the taxes, he was accumulating an even larger amount of stock at the low options price — thus increasing his ownership of the company.
In total, Musk sold 15.7 million shares for $16.4 billion. Add to that the gifted shares, and he unloaded a total of 20.7 million shares. Yet he gained 22.8 million shares through the options exercise — leaving him with 2 million more shares in Tesla at the end of the year. He currently owns 172.6 million shares, which gives him a 17% stake in the company, making him far and away the single largest individual shareholder.

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Musk kicked off his share activity with a poll on Nov. 6, telling his followers “Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock. Do you support this?” Musk vowed to follow the results of the poll, which ended up with 58% in favor of a sale and 42% against.

In the end, he made good on the promise of selling 10% of his stake. But he gained even more back with options, which gave him a round-trip-stock trip that left him with billions in cash, the largest single tax payment in U.S. history and even more Tesla shares.
Musk’s ownership — and $227 billion fortune — is likely to skyrocket again in the future. His next big pay package, which could be even larger than the 2012 award, expires in 2028.

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Tim Hortons is eyeing Texas and Florida for its next phase of U.S. expansion.
Sales of its packaged coffee have given the Canadian coffee chain indicators of where brand awareness and demand are strong in the United States.
More than 3.5 million Canadians live in Florida at least part time to escape harsh winters.

A pedestrian walks past a Tim Hortons restaurant.
Ben Nelms | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Tim Hortons is slated to open its first location in Houston this summer, signaling the Canadian coffee chain’s strategy to move further south for its next phase of U.S. expansion.
The Restaurant Brands International chain has more than 600 U.S. locations, which makes it the third-largest coffee chain in the country, trailing behind Starbucks and Dunkin’. But it’s a distant third place, and the chain has struggled to take hold with U.S. consumers despite past attempts, dating back decades ago when it was owned by Wendy’s. Still, Tims is looking to erase the gap and overtake Dunkin’. In 2021, the chain saw its strongest new restaurant growth in the U.S. since 2016.

Jose Cil, chief executive of parent company RBI, said in an interview that the chain’s packaged coffee business is growing “quite extensively” in the U.S. through direct-to-consumer website sales and in grocery stores.

“It’s a good indicator of awareness, as well as demand for our products, so there’s a number of markets in the U.S., south of our southermost restaurants: places like Texas, like Florida,” he said.
Most of Tims’ current U.S. locations are concentrated in states that share a border with Canada: New York, Michigan and Ohio. The next phase of U.S. expansion will focus on markets like Texas and Florida, according to Cil.
“Between snowbirds and people that have moved down to Florida permanently, there’s more than 3.5 million Canadians, so brand awareness is really strong. Demand is strong. We just need to be there to meet it,” Cil said.
In recent years, the company has rethought its business model. It rebuilt many of its Ohio locations with smaller square footage. Cil said the new format is faster to build and has better unit economics than the old model. The new U.S. restaurants are also focused on beverages, baked goods and hot breakfast sandwiches, unlike its Canadian stores, which have been pushing into lunch and dinner.

“We’re not a full-blown [quick-service restaurant], we’re focused on what we do best,” Cil said.
The U.S. isn’t the only international market seeing aggressive expansion from Tims. The chain recently opened its 400th location in China, less than three years after opening its first.
In its home market of Canada, Tims has faced a fair share of struggles. Prior to the pandemic, it was in turnaround mode, upgrading its coffee and food offerings and launching a loyalty program in the face of stagnating sales growth. Covid outbreaks put additional pressure on its comeback.
However, the chain reported Canadian same-store sales growth of 11.3% for the fourth quarter, aided by sales from loyalty program members and popular promotions, like a collaboration with singer Justin Bieber.
Shares of Restaurant Brands were up more than 3% in afternoon trading on Tuesday after the company reported its fourth-quarter results. Its earnings and revenue both topped Wall Street’s estimates, a rarity this quarter for restaurant companies as they face higher costs.

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The CDC found infants less than 6 months old were 61% less likely to be hospitalized with Covid if their mothers received Pfizer or Moderna’s vaccine during pregnancy.
Previous research had found the mothers’ antibodies from the Covid vaccine are transferred across the placenta to the developing fetus.

Michelle Melton, who is 35 weeks pregnant, receives the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at Skippack Pharmacy in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, February 11, 2021.
Hannah Beier | Reuters

Mothers who get vaccinated against Covid-19 while pregnant likely protect their babies from hospitalization due to the virus when they are born, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Babies younger than 6 months old were 61% less likely to be hospitalized with Covid if their mothers received Pfizer or Moderna’s two-dose vaccine during pregnancy, a study published Tuesday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found.

Maternal vaccination later in pregnancy, 21 weeks to 14 days before delivery, was associated with an even higher level of protection, 80%, for the baby against Covid hospitalization.
Dr. Dana Meaney-Delman, head of the CDC’s infant outcomes branch, said the study suggests antibodies transferred from the mother to her developing fetus protect the newborn against Covid.
“Unfortunately, vaccination of infants younger than 6 months old is not currently on the horizon, highlighting why vaccination during pregnancy is so important for these young infants,” Meaney-Delman told reporters during a conference call on Tuesday.
Previous research, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, had found the mother’s antibodies from the Covid vaccine are transferred across the placenta to the developing fetus. The CDC study provides some real-world evidence that the antibodies are protective in newborn infants.
The overwhelming majority of infants, 84%, hospitalized with Covid in the study were born to unvaccinated mothers. The study examined 379 infants across 20 children’s hospitals in 17 states from July through January. The infants were split between two groups, 176 who had Covid and 203 who didn’t have it. Sixteen percent of the Covid positive infants’ mothers were fully vaccinated while, 32% of the Covid negative infants’ mothers were fully vaccinated.

The CDC said the study had some limitations. It did not test if the mothers were Covid positive or negative before or during pregnancy, nor did it look at vaccine effectiveness against specific variants. It’s also unclear if other differences in behavior between vaccinated and unvaccinated mothers contributed to the risk of infection for their newborns.
The CDC recommends women who are pregnant, planning to get pregnant or breastfeeding should get vaccinated against Covid. People who are currently or recently pregnant are at a higher risk of severe illness from Covid, according to the CDC.

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Super Bowl ratings rebounded from last year’s low, but the National Football League’s championship game didn’t reach a record projection.
The big game attracted an average of more than 112 million viewers across TV and streaming.
The 2015 Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks remains the most-watched game in league history, with roughly 114 million viewers.

Los Angeles Rams’ Von Miller celebrates with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl LVI.
Mike Segar | Reuters

Super Bowl ratings rebounded from last year’s low, but the National Football League’s championship game didn’t reach a record projection.
The game aired on NBC, Telemundo and the streaming service Peacock and attracted an average of 112.3 million total viewers. That’s up 15.9 million from Super Bowl 2021’s dismal showing, which was the worst audience score since 2007.

The Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20, winning their second Super Bowl in franchise history.

Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow is sacked by Los Angeles Rams’ Von Miller.
Mike Segar | Reuters

Interest in this year’s NFL championship game was piqued by two key reasons: It marked the Bengals first appearance in a Super Bowl since 1988, and the big game returned to the Los Angeles market for the first time since 1993, when it was held at the Rose Bowl.
PredictHQ, a demand-intelligence company, projected it would draw a record 117 million viewers.

The 2015 Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks remains the most-watched game in league history, with roughly 114 million viewers.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.

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