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Tommy Joyce is no cinephile. The last movie he saw in a theater was the remake of True Grit nearly a decade ago. "I'd rather watch squirrels run in the woods" than sit through most of what appears on the big screen, he said.

But there's a film that opened Dec. 5 at the Regal Cinemas at Grand Central Mall that's attracting a lot of attention in his community. Dark Waters a legal thriller starring Mark Ruffalo, with a script inspired by a 2016 New York Times article tells the epic story of the DuPont corporation's failure to inform residents of the Mid-Ohio Valley of the considerable health risks of a perfluoroalkyl substance [PFAS] called perfluorooctanoic acid, or C8, for its chain of eight carbons.

The chemical was used in DuPont's production of Teflon and other household products at its Washington Works facility just outside Parkersburg, along the Ohio River. C8 is found in nonstick pans, waterproof clothing, stain-resistant carpets, microwave popcorn bags, fast-food wrappers and hundreds of other products. According to a 2007 study, C8 is in the blood of 99.7% of Americans. It's called a "forever chemical" because it never fully degrades.

DuPont had been aware since at least the 1960s that C8 was toxic in animals and since the 1970s that there were high concentrations of it in the blood of its factory workers. DuPont scientists were aware in the early 1990s of links to cancerous tumors from C8 exposure. But company executives failed to inform the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] or the public.

Joyce graduated from Parkersburg High School in 1992, went off and earned three degrees and came home. He now serves as mayor of the city of Parkersburg population: 30,000.

Joyce said he's heard more about his community's long struggle with corporate environmental malfeasance in the past few weeks than in his previous two and a half years in office. He attributes this to the release of Dark Waters.

Even David-and-Goliath tales often have complicated backstories, and Joyce knows well that such is the case with Parkersburg and DuPont. "DuPont has been in the Ohio Valley for 70-plus years, and has been a tremendous employer," he said. "Without question, DuPont was the place to work in the Mid-Ohio Valley for a lot of years." Many of his classmates grew up in DuPont families.

Though Chemours, a spinoff company of DuPont, now operates the Washington Works plant, DuPont maintains a presence in the community. A DuPont spokesperson provided an overview of its financial and volunteer support initiatives and wrote that the company supports programs and organizations focused on revitalizing neighborhoods and enhancing quality of life; STEM-related initiatives in local schools; and "initiatives that help protect the environment through clean-up or restoration efforts and allow for DuPont Washington Works to show we are a leader in minimizing our environmental footprint within the community."

Parkersburg, said Doug Higgs, is the kind of town where everybody knows everybody. Higgs graduated from Parkersburg High a year after Joyce, and Joyce's mother, Barbara, taught him Sunday school.

"Everybody knows everybody's business," Higgs said, but nobody talked about C8. It was a matter of "not wanting to bite the hand that fed you."

Well-paying jobs, great benefits, Little League sponsorships, investments in the arts but at a cost. The hand that fed did clench.

Higgs, now an emergency room physician living in Richmond, Virginia, recalls returning from road trips with his family asleep in the back seat, awakened as they approached home by the familiar waft of chemicals.

Two of the Higgs' most immediate neighbors died in their early 50s of renal cell cancer. Higgs' father has ulcerative colitis, and his brother received treatment for polycystic kidney disease in high school.

"We all have stories of friends and family, neighbors, dying too young or being diagnosed with various medical problems," Higgs said.

He knows, of course, the distinction between correlation and causation. But the high incidence of a range of diseases has staggered this community. It's unfair, Higgs said, that a community should have to perpetually ask what exactly it has been exposed to, and where and when the consequences will end.

The Old 'Hey-Look-Over-Here'

DuPont's own documentation specified that C8 was not to be flushed into surface waters, but the company did so for decades. The chemical seeped into the water supplies of the communities of Lubeck and Little Hocking, immediately west of Parkersburg, and the city of Belpre, Ohio, just across the river; and three other water systems.

In 2004, DuPont paid $70 million in a class-action lawsuit and agreed to install filtration plants in the affected water districts. In 2005, it reached a $16.5 million settlement with the EPA for violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act.

A collective decision was made to use the money won in the class-action suit to conduct an epidemiological study in which nearly 70,000 of the 80,000 plaintiffs stopped into one of six clinics set up throughout the community, provided their medical histories and offered their blood. They were each paid $400.

A science panel, comprised of public health scientists appointed by DuPont and lawyers representing the community, was convened to examine the immense database. In 2012, after seven years of study, the panel released a report documenting a probable link between C8 and six conditions: testicular cancer, kidney cancer, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis, pregnancy-induced hypertension and high cholesterol.

In 2015, DuPont spun off its chemical division into a new company called Chemours, which now occupies the Washington Works facility on the Ohio. In 2017, DuPont and Chemours agreed to pay $671 million to settle some 3,500 pending lawsuits.

"You grew up with the fear of DuPont leaving town," said Ben Hawkins. Hawkins was student body president of the Parkersburg High class of 1993. He remembers DuPont's participation in his school's Partners in Education program and riding in parades on DuPont-sponsored floats.

Among Hawkins' classmates who have been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer was Mike Cox, a local dentist. Cox, Hawkins and Higgs were among a pack of guys who ran together in high school and stayed close after. Cox was a big Ozzy Osbourne fan, and after a grueling regimen of chemo, Hawkins helped arrange backstage passes to a concert, where Osbourne pulled Cox near and shared his own family's experience with cancer. Post-diagnosis, Cox had begun performing stand-up comedy routines that incorporated flute solos. He died Jan. 28, 2017, at the age of 41, a father of three.

Hawkins, who now lives in the Washington, D.C., area, views his Partners in Education experiences somewhat differently today: "It wasn't a partnership; it was a page from a public relations playbook. It was the old 'hey-look-over-here!' move to keep the Teflon dollars flowing into their bank account."

His classmate Beth Radmanesh has similar cynical recollections of DuPont's role in her childhood. Radmanesh grew up less than a mile from the Washington Works plant. Today, she has high cholesterol. Her dad suffers from discoid lupus, causing sores the size of 50-cent pieces on his forehead. Her brother has lupus and had colon cancer, and her sister-in-law has also been diagnosed with lupus.

But Radmanesh said her mom is a proponent of bringing another controversial industry to the valley: fracking for natural gas. "I said to her, 'We've already had our water contaminated once. Do you want your water [to be] flammable? Because that's what will happen.' " Her mom's response was, "'Oh, Beth.' That's it. 'Oh, Beth.' "

A 'Weird Mix'

Joe and Darlene Kiger live just a few miles from where Radmanesh grew up. Joe, a physical education teacher, is now quite well known in the community for having raised awareness of the dangers of C8 called "the devil's piss" by some in local water supplies. He and his wife, Darlene, joined the class-action suit that was settled in 2004.

Darlene said that when she and Joe are out around town, "there are a lot of whispers behind your back. They don't know what to say." The experience has taken a toll "these people all looking at you as bringing this on them," Joe said but they've never considered leaving. "Why would you leave the fight?" he said. "What would it look like if we packed up?"

There's a lot, Joe said, that DuPont hasn't yet been held accountable for. Earlier this year, Chemours was cited by the EPA for the unregulated release of new chemical compounds from its West Virginia and North Carolina facilities. "I'm not done yet," Joe said.

Harry Deitzler served as a lead attorney, among others, in representing the Kigers and tens of thousands of others in the class-action suit. Deitzler was the architect of the decision to use the $70 million to conduct the study.

"Parkersburg adopted me in 1975," Deitzler said of his arrival in town. He'd come for a summer internship in the prosecuting attorney's office. The position didn't pay enough to cover his room and board, so he took a job in a bar called Friar Tuck's.

"By the end of the summer, the community was my family," Deitzler said. "I asked the prosecutor if he'd hire me as an assistant the next year, and he said, 'Sure; you'll get $6,000 a year.' And I said, 'That'll be great.'"

"Most people thought I was a recovering alcoholic because I never drank a beer, because I couldn't afford to buy one." Three years later, at 27, he was appointed as prosecuting attorney. "Such a wonderful, accepting community."

But, some three decades later, there was a price to pay for taking on DuPont.

"There was a misperception that we were trying to put DuPont out of business, and, of course, that was created intentionally by the people in Wilmington," Deitzler said, referring to DuPont's Delaware headquarters. "When you have a community of that size, and you've got several thousand people employed there, and multiply that by the families and their relatives it's very upsetting." Some folks were unsure of what to make of Deitzler.

Longtime resident Nancy Roettger characterizes the community's reaction to the revelation of what DuPont had done as a "weird mix."

"There were women that immediately went out and changed their frying pans," Roettger said. But a lot of those same people decided "that Harry Deitzler is a horrible person" for his role in exposing DuPont.

"It's like, they don't want that frying pan anymore," she said, "but they don't want anything negative, and they're very resentful of the people that stirred up the trouble."

Less Than Idyllic In Retrospect

Candace Jones, a neighbor and longtime friend of Roettger's, said she hates the perception that the community has been divided between the DuPonters and everyone else.

"We're a community and we all need each other," Jones said. "I think it's terrible, absolutely horrendous what happened because of decisions made for monetary gain. But I don't believe we can blame the everyday worker." Her father-in-law worked in the Teflon division. "He just went to work every day; he provided for [his family]."

Jones' friend Janet Ray's husband passed away 16 years ago from pancreatic cancer. He worked for BorgWarner, a manufacturing company on the river. There are about a dozen houses along Ray's street in Vienna, a Parkersburg suburb, "and I think just about every house during the time I've lived on the street has been affected by cancer."

Ray said she sometimes feels guilty, thinking that perhaps the livelihood her family has enjoyed as a result of her husband's employment might have caused health problems for others. "I certainly hope it didn't."

Tracy Danzey was raised in the quiet of Vienna, there with the Rays, the Joneses, the Higgs family. She now lives on the other side of the state, in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. Danzey was a competitive swimmer growing up. When not competing, "we were on the river we were playing in the creeks. I was always in the water."

"It's hard to look back at that time now and see it as idyllic," Danzey said.

At age 20, her thyroid began malfunctioning. Five years later, the socket of her hip shattered while running with her husband. She was diagnosed with an atypical form of bone cancer in her right hip. Her hip and leg had to be amputated; she underwent 18 months of high-dose chemotherapy.

Six leading pathologists from across the country were unable to identify the specific type of cancer. "They said it's very pathologically unusual." Research has indicated to Danzey, who's a nurse, that pathologically unusual cancers are not uncommonly associated with industrial poisonings.

Danzey's stepfather is retired from DuPont and her stepbrother works on the Teflon line. "Yes, it is complicated," her mother, Carolyn Tracewell, said. When her kids were growing up, when someone was hired at DuPont, "therewas a celebration" the good pay, the benefits, "and they did treat their employees well."

But "my heart hurts," Tracewell said, to think that her daughter's illnesses might be a consequence of all that.

Danzey said her mom "mostly just feels pain for me," worries about her stepson and is anxious about the future. Her stepfather wonders if one day his pension check will no longer arrive as a result of all the financial fallout.

None of them argue with Tracy about the source of her illnesses. "They know what happened." They allow her "to sit in this truth regardless of how it affects them." That means a lot.

Danzey is among those who believe that in regard to perceptions of DuPont in the Parkersburg community, there's a generational divide: Those in their 40s and younger tend to hold a less charitable view than baby boomers and their parents.

There likewise appears to be a generational divide in willingness to drink the water, despite the filtration installed as a result of the settlement.

On the September Saturday afternoon of the annual Parkersburg Paddlefest, kayaker Travis Hewitt, 31, stood ashore of the point where the Ohio meets the Little Kanawha and said that few people he knows truly believe the water's safe. Sure, he paddles in it, but "I try not to get it on me" and never swims in it. He has a filter installed in his kitchen.

Home

Tommy Joyce, the mayor of Parkersburg, is bullish on West Virginia: "We've got enough coal to light the world, gas to heat the world and brains to run the world."

Fellow Parkersburg High grad Brian Flinn, an engineer, worked for DuPont for eight and a half years; he worked with the raw materials of Teflon. He's seen both sides. He's heard, "If DuPont leaves, we're done. This area will be like most other towns in West Virginia; it'll collapse." He's also aware of the inherent dangers in living within the shadow of the chemical industry. So the sentiment goes, he said, "You take the good with the bad, right?"

But Danzey is unwilling. "I love West Virginia," she said. "I really do. I love this state. I don't want to be anywhere else." But she wants better for West Virginians. Industries come into their communities, do well for a while, "screw up the environment and then leave."

"It's time for something new in West Virginia," she said. "It's time for us to expect more."

Pondering that future keeps Ben Hawkins up at night. "What's next? What's next for the community, and where does this end? Or does it? What sort of positivity can come to that community? They need it and they deserve it."

Hawkins asks this: Think about how loyal the people of the Parkersburg community have been to DuPont. What if they had the opportunity to extend that same loyalty to a company that's equally invested in the economic, physical and emotional health of the community?

"That's home and always will be home," Hawkins said of Parkersburg. "We came from that community and that community did a lot to shape us. We all want the best for that community whatever form that can take."

Taylor Sisk, a Nashville-based healthcare reporter, authored this story for 100 Days in Appalachia. He can be reached at wtsisk1@gmail.com.

Good River: Stories of the Ohio is a series about the environment, economy and culture of the Ohio River watershed, produced by seven nonprofit newsrooms. To see more, please visit ohiowatershed.org

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DuPont, C8 Contamination And The Community Left To Grapple With The Consequences - WVXU

With his long leathery neck, dull-yellow face and beady eyes, theres just something about Diego.

A tortoise more than 100 years old, Diego has had little trouble mating.

A member of Chelonoidis hoodensis, or the giant tortoise species from Espaola Island in the Galpagos in Ecuador, he was one of 15 tortoises in a captive breeding program at the Fausto Llerena Tortoise Center on the island of Santa Cruz.

Among the males, Diego displayed an exceptional sex drive, so much so, hes credited with helping save his species from extinction.

Now, with the future secured, he gets to retire.

In a statement on Friday, the Galpagos National Park announced the end of the breeding program, saying an evaluation showed it had met its conservation goals.

The program began in 1965, with efforts first dedicated to saving the tortoise population on Pinzn Island, another island in the Galpagos. In 1970, researchers began saving the Espaola Island tortoises.

At the time, there were 14 tortoises left: 12 females and two males, according to the Galpagos Conservancy. In 1976, a third male was introduced to the tortoise restoration breeding program, Diego, who had lived at the San Diego Zoo in the United States for 30 years.

The breeding program helped increase the tortoise population to 2,000 from 15, Jorge Carrin, the director of the Galpagos National Park, said in a statement.

Paternity tests indicate that Diego is responsible for about 40 percent of the offspring produced, James P. Gibbs, a professor of environmental and forest biology at the State University of New York in Syracuse, said.

Another more reserved, less charismatic male E5 has generated about 60 percent, he said. The third male E3 virtually none. So Diego has been critical.

What was it about Diego? Why did he attract so many mates and garner such international attention, especially if another male was more productive?

Professor Gibbs says Diego has a big personality quite aggressive, active and vocal in his mating habits and so I think he has gotten most of the attention.

But it clearly is the other quieter male that has had much more success, he added. Maybe he prefers to mate more at night.

Professor Gibbs said it was all about who the females select.

It might come as a surprise to many but tortoises do form what we would call relationships, he said. The social hierarchies and relationships of giant tortoises are very poorly known.

Mr. Carrin, the director of the national park, had a simpler explanation: Without a doubt, Diego had some characteristics that made him special.

Professor Gibbs said the giant tortoises became endangered because easy access to the island allowed whalers, pirates, fishermen and others to remove them for food primarily in the 1800s.

Feral goats overran the island for many years and not only competed with tortoises for food, but also destroyed much of their habitat, he added.

In an interview on Saturday night, Mr. Carrin said he believed Diego was taken from his home island of Espaola sometime in the 1930s.

Conservationists also worked on the ecological restoration of Espaola Island, including promoting the growth of cactuses, which are a source of food for the tortoises. That, in turn, helped bring the species from the brink of extinction, Mr. Carrin said.

The tortoises uniquely shaped shells allow them stretch to reach food. Diego, fully stretched out, extends about five feet. He weighs about 176 pounds.

The breeding program is a part of the Giant Tortoise Restoration Initiative, a collaborative effort led by the Galpagos Conservancy and the Galpagos National Park Directorate.

The tortoise center on Santa Cruz was established by the Charles Darwin Research Station in 1965, the Galpagos Conservancy said on its website. There are now three tortoise centers, which are all managed by the Park Directorate.

Relying on available data since 1960 about the island and its tortoise population, including a 2019 census, researchers developed mathematical models with projections for the next 100 years.

The conclusion was that the island has sufficient conditions to maintain the tortoise population, which will continue to grow normally even without any new repatriation of juveniles, Washington Tapia, the Galpagos-based director of the Giant Tortoise Restoration Initiative, said in a statement.

Almost 80 years after he was taken, Diego is expected to return to Espaola Island in March.

The island is very dry, arid even, Mr. Carrin said, but to Diego, its home.

Johnny Diaz contributed reporting.

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Diego, the Tortoise Whose High Sex Drive Helped Save His Species, Retires - The New York Times

There are seven homes comprising San Francisco's iconic Painted Ladies row, and one of them is for sale for $2.75 million.

The home at 714 Steiner Street has all of the elements of that quintessential San Francisco charm: the pointed roofs, the crown molding, the ornate detailing, the opulent colors. But the century-old house is also badly in need of a complete interior renovation.

The home's listing agent, Jeremy Rushton with Coldwell Banker, told Business Insider that the property is a "fixer-upper."

Photos show peeling paint, dusty windows, grimy walls, and discolored tile flooring. The famous abode will likely need to have updates to its plumbing and electrical systems and full remodeling of its kitchen and bathrooms, Rushton said. The ownership history of the home is complicated, according to Rushton, and this is the first time it's landed on the market in decades.

The row of Painted Ladies along Alamo Square Park has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city. Their namesake originated in a 1978 book about the city's signature architecture, and the site was popularized in part by its appearance in the sitcom "Full House."

Painted Ladies homes on the market are a bit of a rarity only two were listed in the past ten years, Rushton said. In a city with a housing crunch, and with its status as an unofficial San Francisco landmark, it will likely find a buyer despite its needed renovations, even if it's used as a second home, a trend among some deep-pocketed San Francisco homebuyers.

Take a look inside one of the famous, brightly-colored Painted Ladies homes.

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Inside one of San Francisco's iconic Painted Ladies homes that's a 'fixer-upper' and on sale for $2.75 million - Business Insider

BEAUMONT, Texas We're keeping up with power outages around Southeast Texas and as we receive updated information we'll let you know.

10:00 a.m.:Around 7,000 Entergy Texas customers are without power, down from more than 19,000 around 6:00 a.m. this morning. The hardest-hit areas are Grimes, Walker, Montgomery and Hardin Counties, Entergy said in a news release.

Crews are assessing damage and restoring power as quickly as is safely possible. Entergy has brought in additional crews to assist in restoration work.

2:30 a.m.: As the leading edge of the storm passed over Beaumont, more than 3,300 Entergy customers were without power in Southeast Texas according to Entergy's online outage site.

More than 1,600 were in the dark in Liberty County the site said.

Some 12News viewers reported on Facebook that Buna was without power.

At one point almost 900 Entergy customers in Vidor were without power but now appeared to have their service restored.

Heres a tally of Entergy customers without power as of 3:10 a.m.

1 a.m.: The nearly 3,000 Entergy customers in Lumberton who lost power around 11:30 p.m. already have their power restored according to Entergy's online outage site.

A handful of other customers in Southeast Texas are without power including 233 in Hardin County and 191 in Liberty County.

12:15 a.m.: Nearly 3,000 customers were without power in the Lumberton area according to Entergy's online outage site.

Restoration times are estimates only according to the Entergy website.

"Indication that power is restored to your area does not guarantee your house/business has power. We cannot restore power to structures with damaged electrical equipment," according to Entergy.

Entergy has an online outage map where you can view outages in their service area.

MORE |Entergy Outage Map

Heres where to report power outages in Southeast Texas.

Entergy (800) 968-8243

Jasper Newton Electric Cooperative 800-231-9340

Sam Houston Electric Cooperative 800-444-1207

Heres some tips from Entergy.com on being safe after a storm.

After a storm has passed, naturally thoughts center on getting back in, fixing the damage and getting back to normal as quickly as possible. But beware: the time after the storm can be more dangerous than the storm itself. Your safety and the safety of our employees and contractors is a core value.

RELATED: Here's how to get severe weather alerts via the 12NewsNow App

RELATED: Get prepared before the storm: here's what you need to know

Entergy employees will work only when and where conditions are safe and secure to do so. Likewise, you should consider returning home only when you know it is safe.

Don't become careless after a storm and let your safety guard down. Just because you cant see any apparent danger doesnt mean there isnt any. For example, downed power lines may still be energized. Treat them with respect to avoid being electrocuted.

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Power outages across Southeast Texas after severe weather, crews working to restore power - 12newsnow.com KBMT-KJAC

SHREVEPORT, La. - SWEPCO employees and contract crews have restored power to more than half of its customers in the ArkLaTex who lost power after overnight storms broke utility poles, downed wires and felled trees.

RELATED ARTICLE -At least 3 dead as powerful storms push through ArkLaTex

At the peak, about 29,300 customers were without power.

As of 3 p.m. Saturday, approximately 12,500 customers remained without power. A SWEPCO spokeswoman said he company is working as quickly and safely as possible to restore power to about 9,800 customers in Louisiana and 2,700 customers in Texas. Power is expected to be restored to all Arkansas customers by 4 p.m. today.

No matter how harmless a wire looks, never touch it, or go near it. It could be energized, said Tony Rash, SWEPCOs safety & health manager. Stay away and keep others away, especially children and pets.

Power is expected to be restored to 95 percent of customers who can receive power by:

Louisiana

Texas

Customers can receive an email or text message with the latest info for their home or business by signing up for alerts at SWEPCO.com/Alerts.

Nearly 400 additional line and tree personnel are helping SWEPCO employees restore power, including line mechanics from SWEPCOs sister utility Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO).

Extensive damage has been reported in Benton and Haughton, Louisiana, and Kilgore and Longview, Texas.

OUTAGE INFO:

SWEPCO Mobile App Report outages, check outage status and more. Download at the App Store or Google Play. See SWEPCO.com/App.

SWEPCO Alerts Get an email or text message with the latest info for your home or business. See SWEPCO.com/Alerts.

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SWEPCO restores power to thousands, restoration for others underway - KTBS

Blu-rayByTom Stockman|January 9, 2020

Ann? Mommy says youre not dead. Is that true?

THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY, the outrageous 1981 Italian shocker from The Godfather of Gore, Lucio Fulci, will be available on a 3-Disc Limited Edition / 4K Restorationcoming January 21st from Blue Underground. Pre-order information can be found HERE

NEW!Audio Commentary withTroy Howarth, Author ofSplintered Visions: Lucio Fulci and His Films

Deleted SceneTheatrical TrailersTV SpotPoster & Still Galleries

Disc 2 (Blu-ray) Extras:

Meet the Boyles Interviews with StarsCatriona MacCollandPaolo Malco

Children of the Night Interviews with StarsGiovanni FrezzaandSilvia Collatina

Tales of Laura Gittleson Interview with StarDagmar Lassander

My Time With Terror Interview with StarCarlo De Mejo

A HauntedHouseStory Interviews with Co-WritersDardano SacchettiandElisa Briganti

To Build a Better Death Trap Interviews with CinematographerSergio Salvati, Special Make-Up Effects ArtistMaurizio Trani, Special Effects ArtistGino De Rossi, and ActorGiovanni De Nava

NEW!HouseQuake Interview with Co-WriterGiorgio Mariuzzo

NEW!Catriona MacColl Q&

ANEW!Calling Dr. Freudstein Interview withStephen Thrower, Author ofBeyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulc

iDisc 3 (CD):

THEHOUSEBY THECEMETERYOriginal Motion Picture Soundtrack byWalter Rizzati

BONUS! Collectable Booklet with new essay byMichael Gingold

Reviews:

A truly frightening horror film Any fan of Italian horror should see it!Bloody Disgusting

Horror exploitation at its best Plenty of blood, gore, impalements, decapitations, and maggots!Classic-Horror

Nasty, lurid and surprisingly scary Arguably Fulcis strongest movie!Total Sci-Fi Online

The claustrophobic mixture of chills and supernatural poetry would do Mario Bava proud!Mondo Digital

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3-Disc Limited Edition / 4K Restoration of Lucio Fulci's THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY Coming January 21st From Blue Underground - We Are Movie Geeks

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston may both be single now, but theres little chance of the duo rekindling their romance. Aniston laughed right along with her ex-husbands jokes about his dating life when he accepted the Golden Globe for best supporting actor on Jan. 5. But Pitt told Entertainment Tonight that the Friends star is just that a good friend.

Sources told TMZ that although Aniston and Pitt are on good terms, theres nothing romantic between them anymore. The two married in 2000 and divorced in 2005. But if they do decide to get back together, they can move back into the home they shared when they were a couple, which is currently on the market.

When they were married, Pitt and Aniston lived in a sprawling French Normandy Revival-style mansion, noted the website TopTenRealEstateDeals.com. They sold the home after their divorce, but the property recently hit the market again, with a price tag of $44.5 million.

The 5-bedroom, 12-bath estate includes a dining room that can seat up to 20 people, a massive swimming pool, new tennis court, and a guest house. Susan Smith of Hilton & Hyland, Beverly Hills, has the listing.

Aniston and Pitts former abode has a storied Hollywood pedigree. The nearly 12,000-square-foot house, which was designed by Wallace Neff, was built in 1934 for actor Frederic March, who won an Oscar in 1931 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Later the home was owned by a member of the Vanderbilt family and publisher Walter Annenberg, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Pitt and Aniston bought the house in 2001 for $12.5 million, according to Mansion Global. They sold it in 2006 to a hedge fund manager for $22.5 million.

When they owned the property, Aniston and Pitt made a number of upgrades, including adding a screening room, tennis court pavilion, and guest house.

Among the spacious homes many features are a gourmet kitchen, lower-level bar and sitting area that opens to the pool, and an outdoor living area with a fireplace. Theres also a private exercise room and a light-filled living room with floor-to-ceiling windows. Of course, the home is also ultra-private, with two separate gated entrances.

Over the years, Aniston, 50, has lived in and renovated a number of homes. After breaking up with Pitt, the Horrible Bosses star moved to a beach house in Malibu. Later, she bought a mid-century modern home in Beverly Hills and embarked on a multi-year restoration project.

After getting together with Justin Theroux, the two moved to a home in the Hollywood Hills before buying a different mid-century modern pad in Beverly Hills. That house was featured in Architectural Digest, and Aniston talked to the magazine about her love of design.

If I wasnt an actress, Id want to be a designer. I love the process, she said. Theres something about picking out fabrics and finishes that feeds my soul.

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A Look Inside the Beverly Hills Home Jennifer Aniston Shared with Ex Brad Pitt - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

ALEXANDRIA Egypt unveiled Friday a newly renovated 14th-century synagogue in Alexandria as part of a push to market the countrys rich cultural heritage.

The Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue, boasting green and violet stained glass windows and towering marble columns, was built in its current form in 1850 by an Italian architect on top of the original edifice dating back to 1354; the original building was badly damaged during Napoleon Bonapartes invasion of Egypt in 1798.

With room for approximately 700 worshipers, it is the larger of the two synagogues remaining in the city. Alexandria was once home to an estimated 30,000-40,000 Jews.

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In cooperation with the military, Egypts antiquities ministry oversaw the 64 million pound ($4 million) renovation which lasted over three years after the roof and staircase collapsed in 2016.

Sitting in the back wooden rows, Yolande Mizrahi, a septuagenarian Jew born and raised in Alexandria, was delighted with the conservation.

Guests visit the newly renovated Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue in the northwestern Egyptian city of Alexandria on January 10, 2020, on the day of its inauguration. (Khaled DESOUKI/AFP)

If it wasnt for [President Abdel Fattah] al-Sissi, this would have never been done. A lot of things have changed since hes taken over, she told AFP.

In 2018, Sissi singled out preservation of places of worship for Egyptian Jews and Coptic Christians as a priority for his government.

Egypt is now home to only a handful of Jewish citizens.

Magda Haroun, one of the leaders of the Egyptian Jewish community in the capital Cairo, visits the newly renovated Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue in the northwestern Egyptian city of Alexandria on January 10, 2020, on the day of its inauguration. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)

Egypts Jewish community, which dates back millennia, numbered around 80,000 in the 1940s, but today stands at fewer than 20 people. The departure of Egypts Jews was fueled by rising nationalist sentiment after Israels founding in 1948 and during the Arab-Israeli wars, harassment, and some direct expulsions by then-Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Coptic priests leave after visiting the newly renovated Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue in the northwestern Egyptian city of Alexandria on January 10, 2020, on the day of its inauguration. (Khaled DESOUKI/AFP)

Lior Haiat, a spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, said in a phone call on Wednesday that while Israeli diplomats would not be at the synagogue on Friday, they would take part in another event marking its reopening later in 2020.

Egypt and Israel signed a landmark peace treaty in 1979 and have since maintained formal diplomatic relations. But public opinion in Egypt has largely remained hostile to the Jewish state.

For Mizrahi, she fondly recounted how the synagogue which she used to attend as a youngster was a communal gathering space for the Jewish minority in Alexandria.

She hoped Fridays opening of the temple to the public would spur other Jews abroad to visit the temple.

I have relatives who left to France, Italy and Israel and they would like to visit the synagogue now, she added.

Guests visit the newly renovated Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue in the northwestern Egyptian city of Alexandria on January 10, 2020, on the day of its inauguration. (Khaled DESOUKI/AFP)

Egypt has sought to promote its cultural heritage to revive the vital tourism sector, badly hit by political insecurity and attacks.

Magda Haroun, one of the leaders of the dwindling Egyptian Jewish community in Cairo, choked back tears after the ceremony.

People attend the opening of Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue in Alexandria, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 10, 2020, three years after the Egyptian government started the renovations of the synagogue originally built in 1354. (AP Photo/Hamada Elrasam)

This is recognition of Egypts Jews who were neglected for over sixty years, she told AFP.

It is recognition that we have always been here and that we have contributed to a lot of things just like any other Egyptian Haroun said.

The renovations included the structural reinforcement of the synagogue, the restoration of its main facade, decorative walls, and brass and wooden objects, and the development of its security and lighting systems, the Antiquities Ministry said in a statement in December.

Eliyahu Hanavi was once an active and bustling synagogue, but it fell into a precarious state after rainwater started to leak through the roof into the womens section seven to eight years ago, according to Alec Nacamuli, a former resident of Alexandria and a board member of the Nebi Daniel Association, an organization that works to preserve Jewish sites in Egypt.

Guests visit the newly renovated Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue in the northwestern Egyptian city of Alexandria on January 10, 2020, on the day of its inauguration. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)

Then, four or five years ago, part of its roof collapsed and it was in urgent need of repair, Nacamuli, who left Alexandria with his family for Europe in 1956 at the age of 13, said in December. The Antiquities Ministry stepped in to take charge of its restoration, he said.

Egypt also sponsored the restoration of the Maimonides synagogue in Cairo in the 2000s. But many Jewish houses of worship in Cairo, as well as a major Jewish cemetery there, have sat in disarray for decades.

Sissi said in November 2018: If we have Jews, we will build [synagogues] for them. In recent years, Sissi, who has led a widespread crackdown on dissent and jailed thousands of critics, has frequently met with Jewish delegations in the US and Cairo.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Read more:
Egypt unveils historic Alexandria synagogue after three-year renovation - The Times of Israel

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As soon as crumbling houses that were sold as fixer tops have returned to the market after mammoth renovation work and are barely recognizable, this proves how powerful a real estate facelift can be.

Many of the homes were sold to renovation companies during the last real estate boom in Sydney 2013-2017, and are even more valuable after hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs.

A Federation-style, two-bedroom bungalow in Rozelle, which was sold in an inanimate condition in 2016, was recently rented and revealed a significantly different interior.

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MORE: Closing the window for buyers to get a better offer

House that is sold in one day

Hidden cost of buying a fixer top

The back of the property was just wooden beams, window frames, and corrugated iron when the house was sold three and a half years ago for $ 1.688 million.

A Rozelle house on Gordon Street that was pictured before renovation.

The Gordon St house after renovation.

Nowadays there is a contemporary house that, according to property records, rents around $ 750 a week.

A Paddington house on Iris Street that was sold without a roof in 2016 has been redesigned even more dramatically.

The house, which sold under the hammer for $ 1.19 million, has been restored through a renovation of nearly $ 600,000.

A one-story terrace on Harris Street in Paddington was sold in a dilapidated condition for $ 1.4 million in 2016. Picture: Jonathan Ng

The Harris St Terrace after renovation.

This Paddington terrace on Iris Street was sold for $ 1.19 million prior to renovation.

The Iris St house after extensive renovation.

The restoration included a small expansion and the installation of skylights. A new kitchen was also installed, along with a back yard deck.

The property on Iris Street was last rented for around $ 950 a week.

Another Paddington terrace, most recently sold with holes in the floor, peeling walls, and a garden clogged with debris and overgrown weeds, has also been extensively renovated.

The Paddington Terrace on Harris Street attracted numerous inquiries despite its condition.

The renovation has almost doubled the value of the house.

The house on Broughton Street has been repainted and the back yard has been repaved to create a large outdoor area.

There are new floors and air conditioners as well as skylights.

A once disassembled terrace on nearby Harris Street was recently sold for another $ 2.35 million after another major renovation the house had previously sold $ 1.4 million in 2016.

BresicWhitney agent Maclay Longhurst in the Harris St home before the 2016 sale.

The main bathroom has new surfaces.

Before the renovation, large pieces of loose wood were used to mend the uneven floors, and a bathroom door rotted. There were also pieces of canvas that blocked gaps in the bathroom walls.

Real estate records showed that after the sale of $ 1.4 million $ 250,000 more than was usual at the time a development request for a $ 275,000 extension was made.

Another dilapidated terrace on Broughton Street in Paddington was sold for $ 1.7 million.

The terrace on Broughton Street received a fundamental facelift.

The expansion seems to have added an extra level, while other renovations have updated the interior with modern fixtures and finishes.

Mortgage broker Rebecca Jarret-Dalton, founder of Red Shoes, said the renovation work is likely to increase in 2020.

The Broughton Street house took a lot of work.

The Broughton St Terrace is now a modern home.

This house in Leichhardt underwent an extensive renovation before it returned to the market.

The Leichhardt renovation has significantly improved the kitchen.

The biggest push for renovation would come from existing homeowners, she said.

With the housing market bottoming out in mid-2019, the desire to sell and upgrade the family home was more of a dream for most, said Jarret-Dalton.

(Enter) renovators. This clever bunch plays the chances of winning. They turn to their lender to get a top-up mortgage so they can unlock some cash and give their house a new face or completely revamp it.

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Original post:
Crumbling houses that could hardly be recognized by millions after major renovations - themediatimes

A synagogue in Alexandria, Egypt, is set to reopen Friday following the completion of multi-million-dollar renovations of the almost two-century-old building, an Egyptian Antiquities Ministry official said.

The Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue is one of two remaining Jewish houses of worship in the city that was once home to a thriving Jewish community.

The heads of the Alexandria and Cairo Jewish communities are expected to attend the opening, according to Egypts Assistant Minister of Antiquities for Engineering Affairs Hisham Samir.

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Egyptian Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anani, some 25 diplomats and others are also slated to attend the synagogues reopening, Samir told al-Masry al-Youm, a privately owned Egyptian daily, in an article published on Tuesday.

Lior Haiat, a spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, said in a phone call that while Israeli diplomats would not be at the synagogue on Friday, they would take part in another event marking its reopening later in 2020.

Eliyahu Hanavi was once home to an estimated 30,000-40,000 Jews. Its current structure was erected in the 1850s, after the original building, which dated back to the 1300s, was badly damaged in the late 18th century, during a French invasion of Egypt. With room for approximately 700 worshipers, it is the larger of the two synagogues remaining in the city.

The renovations included the structural reinforcement of the synagogue, the restoration of its main facade, decorative walls, and brass and wooden objects, and the development of its security and lighting systems, the Antiquities Ministry said in a statement in December.

Eliyahu Hanavi was once an active and bustling synagogue, but it fell into a precarious state after rainwater started to leak through the roof into the womens section seven to eight years ago, according to Alec Nacamuli, a former resident of Alexandria and a board member of the Nebi Daniel Association, an organization that works to preserve Jewish sites in Egypt.

The Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue on December 20, 2019. (Egyptian Antiquities Ministry)

Then, four or five years ago, part of its roof collapsed and it was in urgent need of repair, Nacamuli, who left Alexandria with his family for Europe in 1956 at the age of 13, said in December. The Antiquities Ministry stepped in to take charge of its restoration, he said.

The renovations, which were paid for by the Egyptian government, cost 68 million Egyptian pounds ($4.23 million), Samir said.

Egypts Jewish community, which dates back millennia, numbered around 80,000 in the 1940s, but today stands at fewer than 20 people. The departure of Egypts Jews was fueled by rising nationalist sentiment during the Arab-Israeli wars, harassment, and some direct expulsions by then-Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Egypt and Israel signed a landmark peace treaty in 1979 and have since maintained formal diplomatic relations. But public opinion in Egypt has largely remained hostile to the Jewish state.

Only four or five septuagenarian and octogenarian Jews currently reside in Alexandria, Nacamuli said. The city used to house 12 synagogues, but most of them were sold over the years to support the Jewish community there, and its infrastructure and institutions, he said.

Egypt also sponsored the restoration of the Maimonides synagogue in Cairo in the 2000s. But many Jewish houses of worship in Cairo, as well as a major Jewish cemetery there, have sat in disarray for decades.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said in November 2018: If we have Jews, we will build [synagogues] for them. In recent years, Sissi, who has led a widespread crackdown on dissent and jailed thousands of critics, has frequently met with Jewish delegations in the US and Cairo.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Read more:
Egypt set to reopen Alexandria synagogue Friday after extensive renovation - The Times of Israel