No charges to be filed against Taylor Frankie Paul's ex-boyfriend in Utah case

Dakota Mortensen, the ex-boyfriend ofTaylor Frankie Paul, the “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star, will not be charged in relation to an allegation of domestic violence this year, the Utah city of Draper said.

In a statement, the city announced the city prosecutor's decision two days after the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Officedeclined to file charges against Paul.

"The Draper City Prosecutor reviewed the DA’s findings and, upon further review of the Draper Police case, has declined to file any charges against Taylor Frankie Paul or Dakota Mortensen related to an investigation of domestic assault claims," the city said.

Mortensen filed a complaint of domestic violence against Paul on Feb. 23, and Paul counter-claimed an assault by him.

“After a thorough investigation by Draper Police, the City Prosecutor has determined that there is insufficient corroborating evidence to support filing criminal charges against either party,” the city said in the statement.

The police department said it "would only pursue the investigation further if additional information is provided that supports the prosecution of either party.”

NBC News has reached out to representatives for Paul for comment.

Mortensen declined to comment when he was reached by phone.

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In the incident in February, a friend reported that Paul assaulted Mortensen, according to police records obtained through a Utah public records request.

Mortensen told police that Paul attacked him, grabbed his throat, scratched him and threw objects at him, according to Draper police records. Taylor told police that she told Mortensen to leave her home and he refused and that at one point Mortensen grabbed her and hit her head against the dashboard of his vehicle, according to the police documents.

Police said in the documents about the investigation that the city prosecutor “advised that neither Taylor or Dakota are credible witnesses, with both their statements being fraught with inconsistencies.”

Police referred the case to the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, because the couple’s child was home at the time, the city said in Thursday’s statement.

Allegations of domestic violence between the couple made headlines last month when a leaked video from a 2023 incident went viral. The video, posted online byTMZ,appeared to show Paulhurling a chair at Mortensen as he protested.

The couple’s on-and-off relationship was depicted in “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” which premiered in 2024.Filming for season fivewaspaused last month,sources have told NBC News.

Paul was to be the centerpiece of season 22 of ABC's “The Bachelorette,” but after the 2023 video was leaked, the networkpulled the upcoming season.

Mortensen will beedited out of the upcoming seasonof "Vanderpump Villa," a source familiar with the show confirmed to NBC News.

Draper is a city of around 50,000 in Salt Lake and Utah counties, south of Salt Lake City and in the metropolitan area.

byCosmopolite

in

April 17, 2026

No charges to be filed against Taylor Frankie Paul's ex-boyfriend in Utah case

Dakota Mortensen, the ex-boyfriend ofTaylor Frankie Paul, the “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star, will not be charged in relation to a...

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Ken Jennings finally addresses the conspiracy theory that he lost “Jeopardy ”on purpose after 74-game streak

Ken Jennings is opening up about his historic Jeopardy winning streak, and the "Final Jeopardy" question that finally stumped him.

Key Points

• The current Jeopardy host explained on a clip from the Inside Jeopardy podcast that he did not, as some fans believe, throw his final game on purpose.

• "Have you ever willingly quit a job where you were making $70,000 an hour?" he quipped.

Ken Jenningsis finally pulling the curtain back on his famed final game ofJeopardy.

Now the host of the beloved and long-running game show, Jennings first shot to fame in 2004 when a 74-game winning streak earned him $2.5 million. But all it takes to loseJeopardyis one wrong guess, and on Nov. 30, 2004, Jennings' answer to a "Business & Industry" question during the "Final Jeopardy" segment finally sank his ship.

Rumors have swirled since then — what threw off Jennings off his game? Did he really not know which firm's 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees only work four months out of the year? Did he just get bored? Most scandalous of all, did he lose on purpose?

Over two decades later, Jennings is setting the record straight.

Tuesday's episode of theInside Jeopardypodcastfeatured a segment in which Jennings, fresh from hosting a game, fielded audience questions. One man in the audience came out with something that had been "haunting me for 20 years. Did you really not know the answers to the last 'Final Jeopardy' question?"

Jennings joked with the audience, "For 20 years, this gentleman has been thinking I took a dive." He then answered the question this way: "Have you ever willingly quit a job where you were making $70,000 an hour?"

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Unsurprisingly, given it's Jennings, it's true: the super champ's total earnings of $2.5 million make for a per-game average of $33,784. WithJeopardylong airing in a half-hour slot, that puts Jennings' hourly average on the show at $67,568.

"Maybe I thought you were getting bored," someone shouted from the audience. Jennings was incredulous. "Getting bored? Getting bored, no."

Jennings explained, "As it turned out, it was a clue about H&R Block, the tax prep company... I think I could have thought about that one all day, and I would not have figured out that was H&R Block. That's kind of how these long runs go — they always seem inevitable until a few things happen, and then suddenly, they're not so inevitable anymore."

Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with ourEW Dispatch newsletter.

Though he remains the contestant who has won the most consecutive games and amassed the highest earnings, one of Jennings' records just got tied. On April 9, Jamie Dingmatched Jennings' streakof successfully answering 45 clues in a row during one episode. Ding won his 24th game on Wednesday, with his winnings totaling $644,000.

You can watch Tuesday's full episode ofInside Jeopardyabove.

Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly

byCosmopolite

in

April 16, 2026

Ken Jennings finally addresses the conspiracy theory that he lost “Jeopardy ”on purpose after 74-game streak

Ken Jennings is opening up about his historic Jeopardy winning streak, and the "Final Jeopardy" question that finally stumped...

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Lionel Rosenblatt, whose advocacy for refugees began with derring-do in Vietnam, dies at 82

BANGKOK (AP) — Lionel Rosenblatt, who as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer carried out an unauthorized evacuation of hundreds of Vietnamese citizens before the 1975fall of Saigon, has died at age 82.

Obit Lionel Rosenblatt

The episode set off a career as a high-profile advocate for refugee rights. Rosenblatt was president of the Washington-based Refugees International from 1990 to 2001, and he lobbied for more active humanitarian intervention in crisis spots such asBosniaandRwanda.

Rosenblatt died Saturday in the Washington area after a battle with cancer.

Refugees International President Jeremy Konyndyk recalled Rosenblatt as a “fierce, creative, passionate champion for refugees" who “helped to shape a generation of humanitarian leaders.”

Rosenblatt was especially devoted to helping refugees in Southeast Asia.

He served in Bangkok as the U.S. Embassy’s refugee coordinator in 1976-1981, dealing with Vietnamese “boat people” andCambodiansescaping famine after Vietnam ousted the murderous Khmer Rouge from power in 1979.

Born in New York in 1943, Rosenblatt joined the State Department in 1966 and had early postings in Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand and Washington.

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As communist forces swept toward South Vietnam’s capital Saigon in early 1975, Rosenblatt was among several State Department officials concerned about safely evacuating Vietnamese who had ties to the U.S. government and military.

Stymied by U.S. Ambassador Graham Martin’s reluctance to act decisively, Rosenblatt and colleague Craig Johnstone defied regulations to launch a rescue mission, taking personal leave and traveling privately to Saigon. They arranged flights out of the country for 200–400 at-risk Vietnamese.

According to Rosenblatt, on their return to Washington, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger gave them an in-person pro-forma scolding accompanied by warm personal compliments, and they suffered no official consequences.

Rosenblatt displayed special empathy for ethnic minorities whose fates were largely regarded as collateral damage.

These included theHmong hill-tribe minorityin Laos, who served as proxy soldiers for the U.S. in its "Secret War” to support a pro-Western government against the communist Pathet Lao.

Expecting retribution after the Pathet Lao triumphed in 1975, tens of thousands of Hmong fled to Thailand. Recognizing that the tribal Hmong faced significant prejudice and poor resettlement prospects in the U.S., Rosenblatt and his team obscured their ethnic status on official paperwork to ensure their acceptance.

“It was always a mystery to me why they were good enough to fight for us but not good enough to consider for resettlement," Rosenblatt said in a2022 television interview.

byCosmopolite

in

April 16, 2026

Lionel Rosenblatt, whose advocacy for refugees began with derring-do in Vietnam, dies at 82

BANGKOK (AP) — Lionel Rosenblatt, who as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer carried out an unauthorized evacuation of hundreds of Vietnames...

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Trump's plan to build a Triumphal Arch gets a hearing before a key federal agency

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s design for theTriumphal Archhe wants built at an entrance to the U.S. capital comes up for a review and possible vote Thursday by a key federal agency, one of several projects he is pursuingalongside a White House ballroomto leave his lasting footprint on Washington.

Trump

Trump said on social media that the arch “will be the GREATEST and MOST BEAUTIFUL Triumphal Arch, anywhere in the World” and a "wonderful addition to the Washington D.C. area for all Americans to enjoy for many decades to come!”

Also on the agenda for the monthly meeting of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose seven members were appointed by the Republican president, is his plan to paint the gray granite exterior of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House white.

A third White House-related project, construction of anunderground centerto conduct security screenings of tourists and other guests, is also up for consideration.

Commissioners are scheduled to review design plans for all three projects. They will be reviewing the arch and the paint job for the first time. The White House visitors' center was discussed at the March meeting. It was unclear if the commission would approve any of the projects on Thursday.

A separate oversight panel, the National Capital Planning Commission, opened its consideration of the visitors' center last month. It should receive Trump's arch design soon for consideration and an approval vote.

Triumphal Arch

The arch would stand 250 feet tall (76 meters) from its base to a torch held aloft by a Lady Liberty-like figure atop the structure. The figure would be flanked up top by two eagles and guarded at the base by four lions — all gilded. The phrases “One Nation Under God” and “Liberty and Justice for All" would be inscribed in gold lettering atop either side of the monument.

The arch would be built on a human-made island managed by the National Park Service on the Virginia side of the Potomac River at the end of Memorial Bridge from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. The arch would dwarf the Lincoln Memorial, which stands at 99 feet (30 meters) tall.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that the 250-foot height will honor America's 250 years of existence.

But it's already the subject of litigation. A group of veterans and a historian have sued in federal court to block construction on the grounds that the arch will disrupt the sightline between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House at Arlington National Cemetery, among other reasons.

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Underground screening center for White House visitors

The U.S. Secret Service, Interior Department, National Park Service, and the Executive Office of the President want to start construction in August on a 33,000-square-foot (3,066-square-meter) center to screen tourists and other visitors to the White House.

It would be built beneath Sherman Park, federal land southwest of the White House, to provide a more secure place to screen those going on White House tours or attending events. The new facility would have seven lanes to ease processing and reduce wait times.

Officials want it operating by July 2028, six months before Trump’s term ends.

Eisenhower Executive Office Building paint job

Trump said the Executive Office Building is beautiful, but he doesn't like its gray exterior.

“It’s one of the most beautiful buildings anywhere in Washington," Trump said in August. “I think it’s just incredible, but you have to get past the color because the stone they used was a really bad color.”

Two proposals were given to the commission: Cover the entire building in bright white or paint most of it white while leaving untouched the granite on the exposed basement and subbasement.

In written materials, the White House said the building has been largely neglected since its construction. It said the building's color, design and massing do not “align visually with the surrounding architecture” and lack ”any symbolic cohesion with the White House.”

The paint job is also the subject of litigation in federal court.

The building sits across a driveway from the West Wing. It was completed in 1888 after 17 years of construction, and its granite, slate, and cast iron exterior makes it one of America’s best examples of the French Second Empire style of architecture.

It originally housed the State, War and Navy departments, and currently houses offices for the vice president and the National Security Council, among others.

The building is a National Historic Landmark and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

byCosmopolite

in

April 16, 2026

Trump's plan to build a Triumphal Arch gets a hearing before a key federal agency

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s design for theTriumphal Archhe wants built at an entrance to the U.S. capital comes up for a...

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Nepal panel to probe property, assets of politicians and officials

By Gopal Sharma

KATHMANDU, April 16 (Reuters) - Nepal's new government, led by rapper-turned politician Balendra Shah, has set ‌up a panel to investigate the property and assets ‌of past and present politicians and officials, a move aimed at controlling ​corruption in the Himalayan nation.

Shah, 35, became prime minister after his Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) scored a sweeping victory in the March 5 parliamentary election – the country's first vote after the ‌anti-graft ‘Gen Z” protests last ⁠September.

During his three-year stint as mayor of Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital city, Shah gained popularity for ⁠his fight against corruption and reformist credentials.

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Sasmit Pokhrel, a cabinet spokesperson, said the five-member panel would be headed by Rajendra Kumar ​Bhandari, ​a retired Supreme Court judge.

“An ​impartial investigation will be carried ‌out on the basis of evidence based on legal standards … Its report and recommendations will be implemented by concerned agencies of the government,” Pokhrel told reporters after a cabinet meeting late on Wednesday without mentioning the time frame given ‌to the panel to complete work.

The ​probe is expected to cover hundreds ​of politicians and ​officials who held public offices after the popular ‌movement that led to the abolition ​of the 239-year-old ​monarchy in 2008, analysts said.

The three-year-old RSP had made corruption control one of its major promises during the ​election and scored ‌a comfortable victory over the parties that had dominated ​politics in the country for decadessuffered.

(Reporting by Gopal ​Sharma; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

byCosmopolite

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April 16, 2026

Nepal panel to probe property, assets of politicians and officials

By Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU, April 16 (Reuters) - Nepal's new government, led by rapper-turned politician Balendra Shah, has se...

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WrestleMania 42 main event: Who is in WWE spotlight, title matches

One of wrestling's biggest honors is to compete atWrestleMania, but there's a different echelon that tells who the big stars really are: going for championships and being in the main event ofWWE'sgrand event.

Only some of the industry's top tier talent have been able to call themselves a WrestleMania main eventer, and the ones headlining WrestleMania 42 are no stranger to the weight it holds as they will be in the spotlight again in 2026. There's limited space for the main event, but it's still a major career moment to be fighting for a title at WrestleMania, and plenty of wrestlers have the chance to elevate their careers with eight championships on the line in Las Vegas.

Here's what to know about the title matches and main event of WrestleMania 42.

WrestleMania 42 ticket prices:Why fans are upset with WWE

WWE WrestleMania 42 stage construction:Updates, leaked photos

WrestleMania 42 main event matches

The two main event matches feature the top two men's titles.

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The main event of the first night is Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton for the Undisputed WWE Championship. It will be the fourth consecutive year Rhodes is in the main event, while Orton returns for the first time since 2014, and his third main event overall.

Night Two features the top main event of WrestleMania 42, which is CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship. This will be a record-breaking 11th main event for Reigns, which he has been in for the sixth consecutive year. Punk will be in his second straight main event.

WrestleMania 42 championship matches

Here is every title match that will happen during WrestleMania, and which day it will happen:

Night one (Saturday, April 18)

• WWE Women's Tag Team Championship fatal four-way match: Nia Jax and Lash Legend (c) vs. The Bella Twins vs. Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair vs. Lyra Valkyria and Bayley

• Women's Intercontinental Championship match: AJ Lee (c) vs. Becky Lynch

• Women's World Championship match: Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs. Liv Morgan

• Undisputed WWE Championship match: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Randy Orton

Night two (Sunday, April 19)

• Intercontinental Championship ladder match: Penta (c) vs. Je'Von Evans vs. JD McDonagh vs. Dragon Lee vs. Rusev vs. Rey Mysterio

• United States Championship match: Sami Zayn (c) vs. Trick Williams

• WWE Women's Championship match: Jade Cargill (c) vs. Rhea Ripley

• World Heavyweight Championship match: CM Punk (c) vs. Roman Reigns

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:What is the WrestleMania 42 main event? Who will be in WWE spotlight

byCosmopolite

in

April 16, 2026

WrestleMania 42 main event: Who is in WWE spotlight, title matches

One of wrestling's biggest honors is to compete atWrestleMania, but there's a different echelon that tells who the big stars re...

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Iran war triggered most severe oil shock ever, the International Energy Agency says

TheIran warset off the "most severe oil supply shock in history," the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a new report on Tuesday, warning that high prices would slash demand for crude, the primary lifeblood of theglobal economy.

In March, oil prices notched their largest one-month gain ever, the IEAsaid.

The IEA -- a Paris-based group made up of 32 member nations, including the U.S. -- warned of a widespread bout of “demand destruction" in the report. Under such a scenario, high prices would make oil unaffordable for many buyers, forcing them to find alternatives or forgo energy use altogether.

Trump says Iran has 'called' about making a deal after failed weekend talks. What's next?

The conflict, which began on Feb. 28, prompted Iran's effective closure of theStrait of Hormuz, a critical waterway that facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of the global supply of oil and natural gas.

Oil demand is expected to fall 80,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year as elevated prices persist, the IEA said, marking a sharp decline from year-over-year growth of 640,000 bpd forecasted in the group’s previous monthly report.

"Initially, the deepest cuts in oil use have come in the Middle East and Asia Pacific," the IEA said. "However, demand destruction will spread as scarcity and higher prices persist."

Offering some respite, U.S. oil prices fell about 6% on Tuesday as traders appeared hopeful about a negotiated resolution to the Middle East conflict.

West Texas Intermediate futures price, the benchmark index for U.S. trading, registered at about $92 a barrel, well below a recent high. Still, the price of oil stood 37% higher than its pre-war level.

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The vast majority of fuel delivered through the strait is bound for Asia, placing the heaviest pressure on energy supply in that continent. Since oil and gas are sold on a global market, however, the shortage has sent prices rising for just about everyone.

Gasoline prices in the U.S. stood at $4.11 on average per gallon on Tuesday, marking an increase of $1.13 since the war began,AAAdata showed.

Last month, the IEA said its member nations wouldrelease400 million barrels of oil combined from their emergency reserves, marking the largest oil release in the group's history.

How the US Navy could enforce a blockade of Iran's ports in the Strait of Hormuz

"The conflict in the Middle East is having significant impacts on global oil and gas markets with major implications for energy security, energy affordability and the global economy," Faithe Birol, executive director of the IEA, said last month.

President Donald Trump set an April 7 deadline for Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face broad strikes on its critical infrastructure. Hours before the deadline expired, Trump said he had agreed to suspend planned bombing for two weeks if Iran agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

But subsequent U.S.-Iran talks in Pakistan failed to reach a peace deal. Trump said that Iran's nuclear program was the key sticking point, and that the U.S. would respond with a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz starting at 10 a.m. ET on Monday.

Trump said that another round of peace talks with Iran in Islamabad could be happening "over the next two days," during a phone interview with the New York Post on Tuesday.

ABC News'David Brennan and Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.

byCosmopolite

in

April 15, 2026

Iran war triggered most severe oil shock ever, the International Energy Agency says

TheIran warset off the "most severe oil supply shock in history," the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a new report ...

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