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By MARK KENNEDY, AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — While many people spent Valentine's Day with the traditional flowers and chocolates, Brittney Johnson was making theater history. The young Broadway veteran was gently lowered onto the Gershwin Theatre stage to become the first Black actor to assume the role of Glinda full-time in “Wicked,” shattering a racial barrier on the day of love. “One of the most rewarding parts of this is that it’s not just for me. I think it’s the least amount about me,” she says. “It’s about what it means for other people, for people that are going to see me do it or for people that just know that I’m here.” Johnson is part of a sisterhood of women who have recently broken boundaries on American stages, including Emilie ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It was a quilling experience for all. Percy, a porcupine puppet of prodigious proportions, emerged from her giant stump home for an audience of schoolchildren and media members at a Los Angeles park on Tuesday. The adorable beast inspired oohs and awwws as she blinked her droopy eyes and opened her mouth to show her buck teeth. She stood nearly two stories tall with a nose the size of a Volkswagen. A joint project of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Boston Red Sox Jerseys  and Jim Henson's Creature Shop, Percy was let out to celebrate next week's opening of the zoo's new Wildlife Explorers Basecamp. Six months in the planning, the puppet is modeled on the prehensile-tailed porcupine, native to South America. It has a circumference o...

By THOMAS ADAMSON, AP Fashion Writer PARIS (AP) — Dior’s affirmed feminist designer Maria Grazia Chiuri used the male gaze, as reflected in female oil portraits across the centuries, to make a fashion statement on female empowerment and subjugation. But Tuesday’s feisty ready-to-wear display in Paris, set in the splendid Tuileries Gardens, was also just a beautifully conceived collection — one of the Italian designer’s finest — which served to start Paris Fashion Week on strong creative footing. As editors busily filed past myriad masterpieces, some expressed San Francisco 49ers Jersey   relief that the French government ruled the face mask to no longer be obligatory at shows. Yet despite the glamor and optimistic moments, the conflict in Ukraine was not...

By TERESA M. WALKER, AP Sports Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Steven Stamkos scored the game-winner at 11:31 of the third period as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Nashville Predators 3-2 Saturday night to spoil the first outdoor NHL game in Music City. Stamkos also had two assists. Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist, and Brayden Point also scored the first goal as Tampa Bay became the NHL's 27th franchise to finally play an outdoor game. The Lightning now have won four straight to pull within a point of Atlantic Division-leading Florida. Tanner Jeannot and Filip Forsberg each scored a power-play goal for Nashville, which dropped to 0-2 in outdoor games. The Predators also snapped a two-game win streak. This was the outdoor game the Predators, and...

By ARNIE STAPLETON, AP Sports Writer BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Hanging with the Arizona Wildcats for one half wasn't going to cut it for Colorado this time. About six weeks after watching a four-point halftime deficit in Arizona turn into a blowout, the Buffaloes went into the locker room trailing the Wildcats by five Saturday night and vowed not to let them get away again. K.J. Simpson and Tristan da Silva led a second-half surge that carried Colorado to a 79-63 upset of the nation's second-ranked team, matching the highest-ranked opponent ever beaten by the Buffaloes. “Yeah, ’Bari said it in the locker room,” da Silva said of teammate Jabari Walker. "We’ve been in this situation a few weeks ago at Arizona. And you know, we said to Hokas Shoes  ourselves, w...

By ANDREW SELIGMAN, AP Sports Writer CHICAGO (AP) — Ja Morant spun and flipped in an over-the-shoulder layup. He threw down a vicious alley-oop dunk. Memphis' All-Star put on quite a display for the Chicago crowd and might have gotten little extra lift seeing highlights of Michael Jordan on the video board. Morant scored a franchise-record 46 points and the Grizzlies hung on to beat DeMar DeRozan and the Bulls 116-110 on Saturday night. “I did watch it,” he said. “And then, I did start scoring a lot. It probably played a part in it.” The Grizzlies let a 17-point lead shrink to one before squeezing it out after losing two in a row. They also stopped Chicago’s six-game winning streak. Morant surpassed his previous regular-season high of 44 po...