How Can a Gun Loaded With Blanks Still Be Deadly?

gizmodo.com: The phrase “shooting blanks” has passed into colloquialism. But, literally speaking, what does it mean to shoot blanks? And why can people who get shot with blank ammunition still die? We’ll explain what blanks are, why they’re used, and why they can still kill you.

How live ammo got on set still a mystery in Baldwin shooting

Las Vegas Sun Newspaper: Light from a high afternoon sun slanted through the tall windows of the weathered wooden church, catching on the plank floorboards and illuminating the stained glass. Outside, the arid ground of the northern New Mexico foothills stretched for miles — a picturesque setting for an Old West gun battle.

Potential legal woes mount after ‘Rust’ shooting tragedy

PBS NewsHour: Alec Baldwin the actor, who pulled the trigger on a prop gun while filming “Rust” in New Mexico and unwittingly killed a cinematographer and injured a director, likely won’t be held criminally or civilly liable for the tragedy.

‘Midnight Rider’ Filmmakers Cite New Evidence to Bolster Case

Variety: “Midnight Rider” director Randall Miller and producer Jody Savin’s Film Allman are pointing to a newly discovered email to show that they were not expressly denied permission to shoot on a CSX trestle on Feb. 20, 2014, when a train plowed through their shooting location and killed a camera assistant, Sarah Jones, and injured eight others.

Live Nation applies to have Radiohead stage collapse case thrown out

Toronto Star: More than four years after the Radiohead stage collapse at Downsview Park, one of the companies on trial for the deadly incident wants the case thrown out because the legal proceedings are taking too long.

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra goes on strike

Pittsburgh Business Times: Musicians from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra are now on strike, in response to a proposed 15 percent pay cut, pension freezes and reduction in the number of musicians.

Since February, musicians have been meeting regularly with the orchestra's management to reach a fair labor agreement, according to the Musicians of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. On Friday, they established a picket line outside Heinz Hall, home of the orchestra, according to a release.

This huge inflatable duck terrorizing Scotland is a sure sign 2016 is the end

The Frisky: Humans have been predicting the end of the world since the very beginning of human consciousness, but a giant inflatable duck falling on a Scotland highway is probably one of the more simultaneously absurd and convincing prophetic gestures of The End Times™ to date.

Saving the Paramount: Volunteers remove 880 seats in less than 3 hours

www.desmoinesregister.com: With the threat of flood waters looming, more than 100 volunteers took less than three hours Sunday to remove 880 seats from the main floor of the grand old Paramount Theatre.

The landmark, which opened in 1928, is just a block from the Cedar River. It was inundated by the flood of 2008, which trashed the seats, the carpet, the walls and its signature Wurlitzer organ.

Two schoolgirls set on fire in school play horror as stage prop bursts into flames

Mirror Online: This horrific footage captured the moment two schoolgirls were set alight in the middle of a school play.

Their teacher has since been sacked for allowing a child to throw a lit candle into the cardboard prop that the two victims were hiding in.

How showbiz went into mourning 15 years ago after 9/11 attacks

Variety: Sunday marks the 15th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. On the day after those 9/11 assaults, Variety ran the headline “The Mourning After,” with multiple stories about the shocked and horrified reactions from New York, D.C. and around the globe.

One New York-based exec said the city was in “a state of silent shock.” However, he added, “Amid all the chaos, there was a gentleness”; volunteers rushed to the scene, neighbors were helping each other, and even subway riders showed quiet good manners.

IATSE International Donates $10,000 to Support Louisiana Flood Relief Efforts

IATSE Labor Union, representing the technicians, artisans and craftpersons in the entertainment industry: In the wake of the devastation from the flooding in Louisiana, the IATSE International will donate $10,000 to Louisiana-based studio mechanics IATSE Local 478 to support their flood relief efforts.

The members of IATSE Local 478 have volunteered time, money, and resources to assist with flooded areas of southwest Louisiana. The money donated to Local 478 will be used to purchase supplies to aid in relief, recovery, and rebuild efforts.

‘Midnight Rider’ Director Randall Miller Freed From Jail In Shock Ruling

Deadline: Midnight Rider director Randall Miller is being released from a Georgia jail today after a motion filed by his attorneys Friday was heard in court this morning. The surprise move came after Assistant District Attorney John Johnson and Miller’s attorneys had negotiated a two-for-one deal in the hallway prior to Miller’s plea agreement a year ago, so Judge Anthony Harrison said today he had no choice but to honor that agreement, follow the law and release Miller.

Crucial life lessons from the plane wreckage in 'United Flight 232'

Chicago Tribune: On July 19, 1989, United Airlines Flight 232, a DC-10 service, left Stapleton Airport in Denver bound for O'Hare International Airport with 296 souls on board. After a catastrophic hydraulic failure, the crew lost control of the rudderless jet, mostly, but still managed to crash land in the sunshine at Sioux (City) Gateway Airport in Iowa.

HUGE Stage Fire at "Make in India Week" Performance

ProLightingSpace: If there is one thing that our stagehand brothers and sisters in India are good at, it is putting on some seriously colorful productions. Throughout history the Indians have been at the forefront of a culture full of color and shape, and the stage productions are no exception.

Unfortunately there was a huge stage fire this weekend at a stage on the Girgaum Chowpatty beach, no one was hurt, but as you can imagine, what a mess

Theater hanging: Doctors test actor for brain death

CNN.com: Doctors have started the procedures to assess brain death in Raphael Schumacher, the actor in a coma after being choked when a hanging scene he was performing went wrong.

Court Rules For Indiana In State Fair Stage Collapse Case

Pollstar: Mid-America Sound Corp. had argued that a voucher claim form the State Fair Commission signed months after the August 2011 collapse included an “indemnification” provision that released it from any claims arising from the use of its equipment. But the high court ruled Thursday that the invoice form’s language “did not clearly and unequivocally provide for retroactive application” of that provision for any claims arising from the deadly rigging collapse.

‘Midnight Rider’: Randall Miller Denied Early Release from Jail

Variety: A judge in Wayne County, Ga., has denied “Midnight Rider” director Randall Miller’s effort to modify his sentence and get released from jail early.

Miller was sentenced in March to two years in Wayne County Jail after pleading guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespass stemming from the Feb. 20, 2014, train accident on the set of “Midnight Rider.” Camera assistant Sarah Jones was killed and eight others were injured.

Tajikistan circus gymnast is sent plummeting to ground during act

Daily Mail Online: When the crowds at the circus dome in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe witnessed the accident, they were certain she must have been killed - or at the very least seriously injured.

The unidentified victim was balancing herself on the legs of a man on a high wire when something caused her to lose poise and topple 35ft to the ground below.

‘Midnight Rider’: Randall Miller Attorneys Defend Request for Release

Variety: Randall Miller’s legal team said in a court filing on Tuesday that there was nothing unethical with his motion for an early release nor does it signal a breach of his plea agreement for charges related to the Feb. 20, 2014 train accident on the set of “Midnight Rider.”

Vice interview with Eagles of Death Metal paris attacks

Business Insider: Two members of the American rock band whose show was interrupted by gunfire during the attacks in Paris spoke to Vice about the experience.

"Several people hid in our dressing room and the killers were able to get in and killed every one of them, except for a kid who was hiding under my leather jacket," Jesse Hughes said.