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If Bruno Mars hadn’t already established himself as a bona-fide superstar by the time he released his third album,  24K Magic , in November 2016 -- with four Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s, an awe-inspiring Super Bowl performance and a record of the year Grammy win for “Uptown Funk -- his latest LP certainly set that in stone. In addition to his recent Cardi B remix of “Finesse” creating serious buzz, Mars has earned another six Grammy nominations this year for  24K Magic , including a song of the year and record of the year nod. But while he’s worked hard for his success, there’s a little secret to how he’s dripping in finesse these days: The Stereotypes. The producer quartet (Jonathan Yip, Ray Romulus, Jeremy Reeves and Charm) helped Mars find the exact “bounce” he was looking for on  24K Magic ’s biggest hits, including the title track, “That’s What I Like” and “Finesse.” And though they’re just now receiving accolades for working with Bruno, The Stereotypes and Mars go way back. H

Alvin Gentry did not look or sound like a man whose team had just beaten the NBA's second-best team Friday night. He looked defeated, dejected and demoralized. He looked like a man who knew his season had just been derailed in the most cruel fashion imaginable. DeMarcus Cousins suffered a season-ending torn Achilles tendon in his left leg in the final seconds of the New Orleans Pelicans' 115-113 victory against the Houston Rockets on Friday night at the Smoothie King Center. One minute Cousins is flexing to the crowd after scoring on a put-back to give the Pelicans a 113-109 lead with 15 seconds left. The next he is lying on the ground with his hands on his head while the entire arena holds its collective breath. "It's really tough, but we've just got to keep pushing on," Gentry said. "Obviously he was an integral part of everything we do." The sports gods apparently have it in for New Orleans this year. They struck down the Saints in

Simona Halep enters the Australian Open final as one of the most marketable players on the planet. She is the world No.1, is about to play her third grand slam final and has won 16 WTA tournaments   But the Romanian does not have a clothing sponsor. During the grand slam she been donning a simple, unmarked red dress created by a seamstress in China, based off an image Halep found online.  "I sent a picture [to a seamstress] … in China actually, one of my managers helped me," Halep said at the start of the Australian Open. "In 24 hours I had the outfit, and [it was] word-perfect. "I chose the model, but it's plain. Come on, there's nothing special there. But it looks good, I like it. "Everything is on [the] internet now," Halep laughed. "I was a little bit stressed."

A FIRST grand slam crown and the No. 1 ranking are there for the taking in a match of incredibly high stakes when Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki face-off in the 2018 Australian Open women’s singles final on Saturday night. The top-two seeds at this year’s Open are creating history in this epic showdown in the first ever final to involve two players who had to comeback from facing match-points against them this tournament. The match is scheduled to begin from 7.30pm on Rod Laver Arena. Wozniacki chokes serving for the first set Caroline Wozniacki’s trademark of choking in big moments returned again when she tried to serve out the first set at 5-3. Wozniacki was racing towards winning her first set in a grand slam final, but lost her cool down 0-15 when fans at Rod Laver Arena yelled out in between her first and second serves. She went down 0-40 and was eventually broken. “Just unusual, Sam, Caroline is getting kind of annoyed the crowd yelling out, not allowing her to

AUSTIN — Texas leaders, peppered with pleas from coastal leaders for fast action on Hurricane Harvey relief, announced Wednesday they will shift $38.6 million of state funds to jump-start housing reconstruction. Effectively borrowing from next year's state budget, Gov. Greg Abbott and legislative leaders gave "cash flow" funds to six federally funded, short-term housing programs being administered by state Land Commissioner George P. Bush. Also, Abbott joined governors from California, Florida and Puerto Rico in urging leaders of Congress to quickly wrap up work on a "substantial" package of additional federal disaster-relief funds. "While no longer front page news in Washington D.C., ongoing suffering becomes more acute the longer Congress waits," the four governors wrote. Last month, the U.S. House passed a bill that would have sent $81 billion in federal aid to areas affected by recent hurricanes and wildfires. However, the U.S. Senate ha

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md .  — It seems like it was just yesterday that the Great American Solar Eclipse of 2017 swept across the continental U.S., leaving millions of Americans in awe as the shadow of the moon momentarily turned day into night.  While skywatchers are still raving about the amazing celestial event, it's time we turn our attention to the next big solar eclipses coming to the U.S., Angela Speck, co-chair of the American Astronomical Society's (AAS) Solar Eclipse Task Force, said during a presentation here at the biannual AAS meeting on Wednesday (Jan. 10).  The AAS created the Solar Eclipse Task Force four years before the 2017 solar eclipse to start preparing the nation for the historic event by making sure that everyone knew everything they could possibly need to know about the eclipse, Speck said. Now, the task force has started making the same kind of preparations for the next two cross-country solar eclipses coming in 2023 and 2024, and it's not too earl

TAMPA, Fla. (PRESS RELEASE) — Duke Energy Florida has announced that customers will directly benefit from the new federal tax law and avoid a rate increase for power restoration costs associated with the company’s response to last September’s Hurricane Irma. Instead of increasing customer rates, the company plans to apply federal tax reform savings toward those storm costs. On Dec. 28, 2017, the company had filed for recovery of $513 million – $381 million for power restoration costs and $132 million to replenish the storm reserve fund. Residential customers would have seen an increase of $5.20 per 1,000 kWh of electricity on a typical monthly bill over a three-year recovery period – an average of $187.20. Commercial and industrial customers were expected to see an increase of approximately 2.5 to 6.6 percent, though bills would have varied depending on a number of factors. Duke Energy has been working to analyze the benefits of tax reform. “We are pleased that this solution