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TEXAS, USA — The Texas Supreme Court on Friday overturned a lower court ruling that would have made state Attorney General Ken Paxton testify in a whistleblower lawsuit at the heart of impeachment charges brought against him in 2023 . The court on Friday said Paxton’s office does not dispute any issue in the lawsuit by four former Paxton employees and agreed to any judgment in the case. “In a major win for the State of Texas, the state Supreme Court has sided with Attorney General Paxton against former OAG employees whose effort to prolong costly, politically-motivated litigation against the agency has wasted public resources for years," a statement from Paxton's office said. An attorney for one of the plaintiffs declined immediate comment, and a second attorney did not immediately return a phone call for comment. The former employees allege they were improperly fired or forced out for bringing to the FBI allegations that Paxton was misusing his office to protect a friend and campaign donor, who in turn, they said, was helping the attorney general to conceal an extramarital affair. The Supreme Court ruling noted that the Texas governor and Legislature have expressed a desire to hear testimony from the witnesses prior to agreeing to appropriate funds to settle the lawsuit. The court said forcing Paxton, First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster, Chief of Staff Lesley French Henneke and senior advisor Michelle Smith to testify earlier could improperly be used for legislative purposes in deciding any appropriation. Under the preliminary deal , Paxton agreed to apologize to the former employees for calling them “rogue” employees, settle the case for $3.3 million and ask the state to pay for it, prompting the state House to reject the request and begin its own investigation, leading to the vote to impeach him. Paxton was ultimately acquitted after a Senate trial. The Supreme Court termed its ruling conditional upon the lower trial court complying with the decision, while saying it is “confident the trial court will comply” with the order.Enzo Maresca ‘thankful’ for connection at Leicester ahead of return with Chelsea
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PETA plans to protest this Sunday’s Academy screening of director Robert Eggers’ “ Nosferatu .” The animal rights organization plans to send a “giant rat” to the Samuel Goldwyn Theater to “set the record straight” about the 5,000 live rats Eggers uses during one sequence in the film where rats descend on London, bringing the bubonic plague with them. In a statement, PETA’s director of animals in film and television Lauren Thomasson said, “A human is no more likely to be harmed or killed by a rat in real life than by a vampire, and false portrayals of these animals as harbingers of death deny viewers the chance to see them as the intelligent, social and affectionate individuals they are. The only ‘pests’ moviegoers need to be concerned with are directors who subject animals to the chaos and confusion of a film set, and PETA encourages everyone to see through these shameful stereotypes and give rats the respect they deserve.” The PETA rat will carry a sign that reads, “Rats Have Rights! We Didn’t Cause the Plague!” Following one of the first public screenings of the film, Eggers discussed the scene in a conversation with Guillermo del Toro, saying, “If there’s rats in the foreground, they’re real, and then they thin out and become CG rats in the background. And they were well-trained.” He added, “I didn’t know that rats are incontinent, so the smell is insane.” Production designer Craig Lathrop told Variety of the scene, “The rats. None of them were lost. We found all of them. They were all there. We built these plexiglass barriers so that the live rats would be in a controlled area,” he said, adding that the production took care to ensure the rodents’ safety. “In the scene on the street, the horses are on one side of the plexiglass barrier, and the rats are on the other, so that the rats wouldn’t run underneath their feet and get squashed, so nobody would get hurt.” PETA points out that rats form close bonds with their families and friends, enjoy playing and wrestling, and even giggle when tickled—and are less likely than dogs or cats to catch and transmit parasites and viruses. The film is Eggers’ reimagining of the 1922 silent German horror classic “Nosferatu,” depicting a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman played by Lily-Rose Depp and the terrifying vampire Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgard) infatuated with her. Variety has reached out to Focus Features for comment.
