Last week, the company announced a social media campaign with Hudson, a recording artist known for toying with “gender, sex, and free-expression paradigms” and who was named Best Spanish Act at last year’s MTV Europe Music Awards.

The partnership included a 50-second promo called “Crunch Talks,” which the influencer had briefly shared on her own social media accounts.

But on Tuesday, the PespiCo subsidiary announced their partnership was over, following growing backlash against resurfaced posts Hudson allegedly shared on social media in the past.

In a since-deleted message from nearly a decade ago, Hudson allegedly wrote about making fun of victims of sexual assault and wanting to do inappropriate things with a 12-year-old girl, according to Rolling Stone.

Hudson had reportedly apologized for the message after she became known in Spain, but over the weekend, screenshots of the alleged messages resurfaced online, prompting a massive call for a boycott of the snack.

Several other people online also joined the #BoycottDoritos campaign taking offense at the company’s hiring of a transgender woman to represent the brand — much like BudLight’s controversial and consequential choice of Dylan Mulvaney for a social media campaign last year.

In a statement to Rolling Stone, the company said that after becoming aware of Hudson’s deleted tweets from around 2015, “we have ended the relationship and stopped all related campaign activity due to the comments. We strongly condemn words or actions that promote violence or sexism of any kind.”

On Tuesday, Hudson addressed the controversy on X, once again admitting the comments were  “absolutely out of place, disgusting and offensive,” adding she wrote them as a younger person “in a context in which the general tone on social media was to use black humor in the grossest and most exorbitant way possible, as a way to generate attention.”

She also pointed out that the screenshot of a particularly disturbing tweet attributed to her, which has been circulating online is “totally false,” since it was written in 2014 and she said she only joined the platform the following year.

The exciting discovery was reported on Friday after the aquarium’s aerial survey team spotted “an unusual whale” while flying some 30 miles south of Nantucket, a small island off Cape Cod.

The massive animal, which appeared to be feeding, kept diving and resurfacing as scientists took several photos of what they suspected to be an “incredibly rare” event.

After about 45 minutes of observation, researchers were able to confirm they had seen a gray whale, a species typically found in the North Pacific that can weigh up to 90,000 pounds and measure up to 49 feet.

“I didn’t want to say out loud what it was, because it seemed crazy,” Orla O’Brien, an associate research scientist at the aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, said in a news release.

It turned out O’Brien, who has been flying aerial surveys since 2011, was exactly right.

After showing the images to Kate Laemmle, a research technician who had also spotted the whale, both women were able to confirm the most unusual sighting.

They then started laughing because “of how wild and exciting this was,” Laemmle said. “To see an animal that disappeared from the Atlantic hundreds of years ago!”

Gray whales are easily distinguished from other whales “by their lack of a dorsal fin, mottled grey and white skin, and dorsal hump followed by pronounced ridges,” according to the aquarium.

The species vanished from the Atlantic Ocean by the 18th century. Even though they are regularly found in the North Pacific Ocean, there have been five sightings in Atlantic and Mediterranean waters over the past 15 years.

One whale, spotted off the coast of Florida late last year, is likely the same one seen in New England waters last week, according to researchers — who say such “strange sightings” could be linked to climate change.

Gray whales can now potentially travel through the Northwest Passage, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific through the Arctic Ocean in Canada since the area has been regularly ice-free during the summer months “partly due to rising global temperatures,” which is something that wouldn’t have been possible in previous centuries.

The spotting of gray whales in the Atlantic serves as a “reminder of how quickly marine species respond to climate change, given the chance,”  O’Brien said.

Hassan Shalgeen, 45, was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of rape, false imprisonment, theft by taking, sexual battery and battery, the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.

Shalgeen was arrested early last year at his apartment in Duluth, just northeast of Atlanta, after a woman told authorities he had sexually assaulted her.

The victim went to the apartment to be “cleansed” during a previously arranged “ritual,” according to police.

The woman, who had contacted Shalgeen via social media, had sent him a deposit and told him she would send more money over the next 30 days.

She was instructed to go to his apartment alone, “wear a white robe, and not be on her menstrual cycle,” according to court records.

When she arrived, the victim was told the “ritual” would last three hours. She was also instructed to change into a nightgown, local television station WSB reported.

After initially refusing to take off her clothes, the woman changed her mind when she saw a handgun on a table, prosecutors said.

Shalgeen then “removed her clothing, forced himself onto the victim, and then sexually assaulted her.”

After the assault, he reportedly told her to give him another $300.

Following Shalgeen’s 2023 arrest, at least six other victims contacted authorities to report similar experiences.

“Victims should not have to feel like they are alone when dealing with this type of crime,” Gwinnett District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson, said Tuesday, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. “We encourage people who have experienced such heinous crimes to come forward and we will get justice. We thank the team that worked on this case, and we thank the jury for returning a conviction.”

Sinema, who was elected as a Democrat in 2018, announced she’d left the party and registered as an independent in late 2022.

On Tuesday, while highlighting bipartisan efforts she says have made the country safer, stronger and “more prosperous,” Sinema noted that in today’s political climate “compromise is [considered] a dirty word.”

“The only political victories that matter these days are symbolic attacking your opponents on cable news or social media,” she said in a three-minute video shared on her social media accounts.

“I believe in my approach, but it’s not what America wants right now,” Sinema added, explaining her decision to end her Senate career.

Tuesday’s announcement comes after Senate Republicans blocked a bipartisan measure that would impose tougher immigration laws and secure military aid to Israel and Ukraine.

Without the bill, which Sinema had been negotiating for months, it became clear her path to reelection would become substantially narrower — especially as the likely matchup between Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego and Republican Kari Lake, a vocal election denier and prominent Trump supporter, begins to take shape.

Sinema, the nation’s first openly bisexual senator, drew praise from liberal Democrats in early 2019 for choosing not to hold a Bible during her swearing-in ceremony and for stating she was “religiously unaffiliated.”

During her first few months in office, however, Sinema found herself at odds with liberals and the Democratic Party’s progressive wing.

The former moderate Democrat would often vote against some of the party’s progressive priorities, such as voting with Republicans in 2022 against changing Senate filibuster rules to pass the voting rights bill — a move slammed by the Arizona Democratic Party as a “failure to do whatever it takes to ensure the health of our democracy.”

“I love Arizona and I am so proud of what we’ve delivered,” Sinema said in the video. “Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done, I will leave the Senate at the end of this year.”

With News Wire Services

Judith Kostek, of Enfield, is charged with evading responsibility resulting in death, according to multiple reports.

Enfield police said the incident occurred around 8 p.m. on Route 190 at Water Street, near Hazard Avenue, local television station WFSB reported.

The victim, who had not been identified, was on a mini motorcycle, when the bike was hit by a minivan. The driver of the van fled the scene shortly after the crash.

Authorities said CPR was administered to the motorcyclist, but the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

Shortly before 10 p.m., police arrested and charged Kostek for her alleged role in the crash, authorities said.

A section of Route 190, from Water Street to Glen Arden, was closed for several hours.

The incident is being investigated by the Enfield Police Department Traffic Division, NBC Connecticut reported.

Authorities are urging anyone with information about the crash to contact Officer K. Ragion at (860) 763-8920.

The incident occurred around 3:45 p.m. in the city’s Ogontz neighborhood, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel told reporters at a news conference later on Monday.

Two individuals, at least one of whom had an automatic weapon, fired at a group of young people waiting at the SEPTA bus stop on Ogontz and Godfrey avenues.

“Multiple rounds” were fired at a group of 15 to 20 people in what appeared to have been a deliberate attack, investigators said.

A 17-year-old high school student from the city’s Fern Rock neighborhood, later identified as Dayemen Taylor, was shot multiple times. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he later died.

It “definitely appears” the shooters were targeting the victim, Bethel said. “The bus has stopped, people are starting to board the bus, and that’s when we have two individuals come up and start to fire, shooting him and unfortunately killing him.”

Taylor was a student at Imhotep Institute Charter High School, its CEO Baba Andre Noble told NBC Philadelphia.

Two other teenagers were also hit by the gunfire, police said.

A 15-year-old boy was grazed by a bullet as he ran down the street, while a 14-year-old later walked into a hospital with a gunshot wound to his backside.

Both victims are listed in stable condition and are expected to survive.

Two “innocent bystanders” who were inside the bus at the time of the incident were also injured, authorities said.

A 49-year-old woman shot in her forearm and a 71-year-old woman, who was shot in the head, were also transported to a nearby hospital. Their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

The tragic incident could’ve been even worse, according to Bethel.

“We’re never fortunate when we lose a child — in particular, a 17-year-old. But if you look around here, how busy this intersection is, [with] a daycare [center] across the street, multiple people on the bus and multiple rounds being fired, it could have been much worse,” Bethel said.

No arrests have been made. Authorities urge anyone with information to please contact Philadelphia Police at (216) 688-TIPS.

“We’re aware people are having trouble accessing our services,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone posted on X just before 11 a.m. “We are working on this now.”

Access to the platforms, which was affected for about two hours, has since been restored, a company spokesperson told the Daily News in an email early Tuesday afternoon.

“Earlier today, a technical issue caused people to have difficulty accessing some of our services,” Andy Stone, Meta’s head of communications, said in a statement. “We resolved the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted, and we apologize for any inconvenience,”

The incidents, which were first reported around 10 a.m. ET, caused apps to stop loading properly and blocked some users from accessing the platforms.

Some people also reported errors when refreshing their social media feeds.

Instagram users attempting to log into their web-based accounts got an error message that read, “Something went wrong. There’s an issue and the page could not be loaded.”

On mobile, users received a notification noting the app couldn’t refresh its feed.

Has Facebook and Messenger logged you out and then rejects your password?

Don't panic, you're not alone, LOADS of people seem to be experiencing this right now.

I guess we just gotta wait and see what the heck this is pic.twitter.com/YiQz17AeXR

— Talha Ali (@TalhaAli781) March 5, 2024

Those attempting to access their Facebook account on a web browser reported receiving a message notifying them their password was incorrect. Mobile users saw a pop-up message saying their session had expired and were asked to log into their account again.

That message then took users to a log-in screen, where a message read, “An unexpected error occurred. Please try logging in again.”

During the outage, several related hashtags — including “#facebookoutage,” “#instagramdown” and “#cyberattack” — began trending on X.

“My mother, Diana and I [circa] 1967,” the 9th Earl Spencer wrote in the caption of the image posted on his Instagram account.

“I would have been 3, and Diana 5 or 6. I love how happy each of us looks,” the 59-year-old author said.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Charles Spencer (@charles.earl.spencer)

The black-and-white snapshot shows Spencer seated on a swing next to the future Princess of Wales — with the same smile and apparent shy demeanor that would soon captivate the world — while their mother, Frances Shand Kydd, is seen behind them.

“At this stage of my life, my mother nicknamed me ‘Buzz’ — because she saw me as having the endless energy of a rather happy and busy bee,” he added.

Spencer, the maternal uncle of Prince William and Prince Harry, was born in London in 1964 three years after Diana.

After their parents divorced in 1969 — two years after the photo was taken — his father John Spencer was awarded sole custody of all four Spencer children.

“Diana and I had two older sisters who were away at school, so she and I were very much in it together and I did talk to her about it,” Spencer said in a 2020 interview with The Sunday Times about their parents’ split.

“Our father was a quiet and constant source of love, but our mother wasn’t cut out for maternity. Not her fault, she couldn’t do it. She was in love with someone else — infatuated, really,” added the bestselling author, who has been a vocal protector of his sister’s legacy since her tragic death in 1997.

His upcoming memoir, “A Very Private School,” offers “a first-hand account of a culture of cruelty” he faced when attending boarding school as a young boy. It’s due out March 12.

The incident occurred Friday just before 8 p.m., New Rochelle police said in a press release.

Police said they received multiple reports of a “large altercation,” as well as gunshots fired outside the fast food restaurant” on LeCount Pl. and Anderson St.

The area is a popular hangout spot for local teenagers, according to News 12 Westchester.

According to police, the altercation stemmed from a confrontation involving “two groups of males inside the restaurant” in New Rochelle, a city in Westchester County just north of the Bronx.

Detectives said the teen, identified only as a 17-year-old male, “sustained a laceration in the melee” before shooting “multiple rounds at the fleeing group.”

When officers arrived at the scene, they found 9mm shell casings on the sidewalk outside the restaurant.

After hearing from witnesses about several males running from the scene, detectives were able to locate the suspected shooter.

When the suspect — who has not been named due to his age — was approached by officers, he attempted to flee on foot “while reaching into his waistband,” police said.

But despite his attempt, officers were able to apprehend him after a brief pursuit. The 17-year-old was found to be in possession of a 9mm handgun.

He has since been charged with three felony counts — two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of reckless endangerment.

There were no reports of anyone else hit with gunfire in the incident, police said.

A blizzard warning remains in effect for much of the Sierra Nevada until 10 a.m. local time on Sunday, with as much as 10 feet of snow possible in the mountains around Lake Tahoe, the National Weather Service Office in Reno, Nev. said.

“A long duration of high-intensity snow and strong winds is expected, with periods of whiteout conditions and near-zero visibility,” the agency said in its Saturday morning update.

The blizzard warning covers a stretch of approximately 300 miles, from north of Lake Tahoe to south of Yosemite Park, with high winds increasing the risks of downed trees and power lines.

“The combination of snow and high winds is most intense in the Sierra Nevada, where heavy snow rates exceeding 3 inches per hour and winds gusting over 100 mph are causing significant blowing, drifting snow and whiteout conditions, making travel impossible through the area,” the NWS said.

Early on Saturday, nearly 40,000 customers reported power outages in California, according to PowerOutage.us.

Around 5 p.m. on Friday, the California Highway Patrol said in a statement shared on social media that a section of Interstate 80 would also be closed indefinitely due to the severe weather.

“AAANNNDD WE’RE CLOSED!!” the CHP posted on X. “I-80 westbound traffic is being turned at the Nevada State line and eastbound I-80 traffic is being turned around at Drum Forebay due to spin outs, high winds, and low visibility.”

The situation had not improved Saturday morning.

“No estimated time of reopening the freeway,” CHP said in a 5:30 a.m. update.

Over a dozen ski resorts were forced to close down shop as “high to extreme avalanche danger” warnings were put in place for several areas around Lake Tahoe and Yosemite National Park.

“Due to wind, visibility, new snowfall, and 16-21 inches of snow in the forecast, all chairlifts at Palisades Tahoe will be closed for the day today, Saturday, March 2nd,” the famed ski resort posted on X around 6:30 a.m.

With News Wire Services