Look back: National news brief April 15-21

April 16

A fashion student’s dream: Alexander McQueen documentary set to release on Sunday

• This Sunday on April 22, “McQueen,” a documentary about legendary fashion designer Alexander McQueen will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.
• The film is executed by award-winning director-producer Ian Bonhôte and filmmaker Peter Ettedgui.
• It documents the designer’s life through footage from his childhood, home videos and interviews with his friends and family.
• McQueen was known for his reclusive relationship with the press. Exclusive and intimate footage is rare, making this film a special glimpse into his life.
• The soundtrack for the movie will be released on June 8 on Michael Nyman Records.
• Click here to watch the trailer for “McQueen.”
• Read here for an essay from Vogue Magazine that points out how McQueen’s collections are deeply personal narratives.

SCAD coffee drinkers beware: Coffee companies set to fight California on cancer warning labels

• A group of coffee companies are fighting back against the Los Angeles court for ruling coffee companies must carry cancer warning labels on their drinks.
• The basis for the ruling was that coffee companies are violating Proposition 65, which requires companies with more than 10 employees to disclose any carcinogen (chemicals that cause cancers) or toxic chemicals.
• In this case, the carcinogen the judges refer to is acrylamide, a chemical that, as the Wall Street Journal writes is, “one of more than 900 chemicals on a list of those known to the state to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm.” The process of roasting coffee beans, frying or baking food would release this chemical.
• Joe Pawlak, a food service industry consultant at Technomic, told WSJ that, “Consumers often do not change their behavior,” even given health warnings because information is often conflicting and complicated.
• An example of contradictory evidence is how rodents are more at risk of dying when they are exposed to large doses of acrylamides, but as the Washington Post explained, another study reveals that high consumption of coffee decreases risks of prostate cancer, endometrial cancer, leukemia, melanoma and other specific cancers.

April 17

Music lovers: Kendrick Lamar wins Pulitzer Prize

• Hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar earned a Pulitzer Prize for music — the first artist outside the classical or jazz music category.
• The rapper won the prize for his album, “DAMN.”
• Lamar has been nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for three consecutive years but, like Kanye West, hasn’t won yet.
• Regina Carter, chair of the Pulitzer Prize five-member music jury, explained the decision was meaningful and warranted: “It’s part of the American art form. We felt that his delivery of the work, his writing, was really powerful in the messages he had.”
• A Twitter user tweeted, “I’m not a fan of rap personally, but as a musician, I respect the genre and its cultural significance for sure. I simply look at it as poetry I don’t necessarily understand. I also say that about Shakespeare.”
• The WSJ wrote how Lamar’s achievement is another capstone for this year’s flourishing black pop culture.

April 20

AT&T is launching a $15 TV streaming service

• AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said the company will be launching a $15 TV streaming service as an alternative to their DirecTV $35 streaming service.
• The service will contain most of the channels that DirecTV provides, but will not include sports channels.
• Stephenson’s announcement for a cheaper streaming price comes at a time when the Department of Justice recently blocked AT&T’s $85.4 million merger with Time Warner because the DOJ feared the deal would drive up TV prices and decrease market competition.
• AT&T is in court with the DOJ right now.
• If the merger does happen, AT&T would acquire media giants such as HBO, Warner Bros. movie studios and CNN.

DOJ Investigating a possible AT&T, Verizon, and GSMA collusion

• The New York Times reported the Department of Justice is currently investigating AT&T, Verizon and the Global System for Mobile Communications Association, a telecommunication standards organization, for a possible collision.
• DOJ accuses the two mobile carriers colluded with GSMA to set standards to intentionally elude eSim technology.
• eSim technology, embedded in many new mobile devices from Google, Apple and Microsoft, allows users to switch between wireless providers without using a new SIM card.
• According to the DOJ, the three parties aimed to establish standards that would lock devices onto the carriers, even if the devices have eSim — disallowing users to change wireless providers easily.