Close achieved fame as a photorealist, through his massive-scale portraits. Close often paints abstract portraits of himself and others, which hang in collections internationally. Although a spinal artery collapse in 1988 left him severely paralyzed, he has continued to paint and produce work that remains sought after by museums and collectors. Close also creates photo portraits using a very large format camera.
Close lives and works in Bridgehampton, New York and Long Beach, New York. He has two daughters with Leslie Rose. They divorced in 2011.
Close married to artist Sienna Shields whom he married in 2013.
Alcee Hastings
Alcee Lamar Hastings (September 5, 1936 – April 6, 2021) was an American politician and judge. He was the U.S. Representative for from January 3, 1993 until April 6, 2021. The district included most of the majority-black precincts in and around Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. He was a Democrat.
Hastings served as a judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida until his impeachment and removal due to Hastings being involved in bribery-related actions. He was nominated to the court by President Jimmy Carter in 1979.
In January 2019, Hastings was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He died from the disease in Boynton Beach, Florida on April 6, 2021 at the age of 84.
Deaths in 2018
The following is a list of deaths that should be noted in 2018. For deaths that should be noted before the month that the world is in, please see "Months". Names under each date are noted in the order of the alphabet by last name or pseudonym. Deaths of non-humans are noted here also if it is worth noting.
Each listing of a death must have a source. If no reference is included, the death notice will be removed. The following are the requirements of adding a name to the list in its order: name, age, where they came from, what the person is known for, cause of death (if known) and a source.
Van Nuys
Van Nuys is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. As of 2000, the population is 136,443.
The town was founded in 1911 and named for Isaac Newton Van Nuys, one of its developers. It was annexed by Los Angeles on May 22, 1915.
Deaths in January 2018
The following is a list of notable deaths in January 2018. For notable deaths before the current month, please see "Months". Names under each date are reported in alphabetical order by last name or pseudonym. Deaths of non-humans are reported here also if notable.
Each listing of a death must have a source. If no reference is included, the death notice will be removed. The following are the requirements of adding a name to the list in its order: name, age, nationality, what the person is known for, cause of death (if known) and most importantly a source.
Rampage (2018 movie)
Rampage is an American science fiction monster movie directed by Brad Peyton. It is loosely based on the video game series of the same name by Midway Games. The movie stars Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Malin Åkerman, Joe Manganiello, Jake Lacy, P. J. Byrne, Marley Shelton, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
It is produced by Warner Bros. and set in Chicago, Illinois.
New Line Cinema will release the movie on April 20, 2018 in 3D and IMAX.
2017 UK Independence Party leadership election
The 2017 UK Independence Party leadership election was held on 29 September 2017. UKIP members voted for who they want to lead the party. Henry Bolton won the election after receiving 30% of the vote.
The election was called for after the party's poor performance in the 2017 general election.
Nigel Farage decided not to run for the UKIP leadership position.
Bolton said that his victory stopped UKIP from becoming a fascist party. Waters left UKIP and created her own political party, For Britain, in October. Rees-Evans also left UKIP and created his own political party, Affinity.
Bulgarian Communist Party
The Bulgarian Communist Party (Bulgarian: Българска Комунистическа Партия; shortened BCP) was the ruling political party in Bulgaria from 1946 until 1990.
The party led a coup against the tsarist government in 1944.
Todor Zhivkov was leader of the party and Bulgaria from 1954 until 1989. He was the longest-serving leader of any Eastern Bloc nation. The party's first leader was Dimitar Blagoev.
On 11 December 1989, leader Petar Mladenov announced that the party was giving up its guaranteed right to rule. In 1990, the party became much more moderate and was no longer a communist party. In April 1990, the party changed its name to the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).
Type 56 assault rifle
The Type 56 is a Chinese assault rifle which is a copy of the Soviet AK-47 assault rifle. The Type 56 was first used by the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong during the Vietnam War along with the Soviet AK-47 and AKM assault rifles. The Type 56 is used by many armies and battlefields in Africa, Middle East and Asia.
William Wright
Sir William Thompson Wright (born 1925) is a Northern Irish business owner and former Unionist politician. Wright grew up in Ballymena.
In the 1970s, Wright joined the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party, and was elected as its Chairman. He stood for the party in North Antrim at the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention election in 1975, and was elected. He later followed the party leaders in joining the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), and was elected to Ballymena Borough Council.
In the 2011 Birthday Honours, he was awarded the CBE. In the 2018 Queen's Honours list, he received a knighthood.
Recy Taylor
Recy Elisabeth Taylor (December 31, 1919 – December 28, 2017) was an African-American kidnapping and rape victim and activist.
On September 3, 1944, she was kidnapped while leaving church and gang-raped by six white men. Even though the men admitted the rape to authorities, two grand juries subsequently declined to indict the men, meaning no charges were ever brought against her six assailants.
In 2011, the Alabama House of Representatives apologized on behalf of the state "for its failure to prosecute her attackers."
Taylor died of congestive heart failure in her sleep at a nursing home in Abbeville, Alabama on December 28, 2017, just three days before her 98th birthday.
Hulst
Hulst, Zeelandic and East Flemish: "('t) Ulst", is a municipality and village in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, Province of Zeeland, the Netherlands.
About 27,000 people were living in the municipality in 2017.
About 11,000 people were living in the village in 2017.
The municipality borders the Western Scheldt, and the Belgian Province of East Flanders.
Hulst received city rights in 1180.
The nature reserve of the Drowned Land of Saeftinghe (Dutch: "Verdronken land van Saeftinghe") lies in the municipality.
Terneuzen
Terneuzen, Zeelandic and East Flemish: "Terneuzen" or "Neuzen", is a municipality and town in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, Province of Zeeland, the Netherlands.
About 55,000 people were living in the municipality in 2017.
About 25,000 people were living in the town in 2015.
The municipality borders the Western Scheldt, and the Belgian Province of East Flanders.
Terneuzen received city rights in 1584.
The south entrance of the Western Scheldt Tunnel is in Terneuzen.
Tabarnia
Tabarnia ("Tabàrnia" in Catalan) is a suggested name and a satirical political project for a portion of the Catalonian territory, Spain. It was created by the organization "Barcelona is not Catalonia" (AKA "Plataforma por la Autonomía de Barcelona", "Movement for an Autonomous Barcelona") as a satirical response towards the Catalonians separatists. Their main target is to establish up a new region in Spain besides Catalonia with some districts ("Comarcas" or "Comarques") from the provinces of Barcelona and Tarragona.
Its nomenclature is a neologism created from the provinces' names: Tarragona and Barcelona, and it would span these areas: