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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 8, 2018)
5A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 2018 Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain found dead in France at 61 By ANGELA CHARLTON Associated Press PARIS — Anthony Bour- dain, the celebrity chef and cit- izen of the world who inspired millions to share his delight in food and the bonds it created, was found dead in his hotel room today in France while working on his CNN series on culinary traditions. He was 61. CNN confirmed the death, saying that Bourdain was found unresponsive Friday morning by friend and chef Eric Rip- ert in the French city of Haut- Rhin. It called his death a sui- cide. Bourdain’s assistant Laurie Woolever would not comment when reached by The Associated Press. Widely loved and rarely afraid to speak his mind, he mixed a coarseness and whim- sical sense of adventurousness, true to the rock ‘n’ roll music he loved. Bourdain’s “Parts Unknown” seemed like an odd choice for CNN when it started in 2013 — part travelogue, part history lesson, part love letter to exotic foods. Each trip was an adventure. There had been nothing quite like it on the staid news network, and it became an immediate hit. Within hours of his death, “Kitchen Confidential” was in the top 20 on Amazon.com. “We are constantly asking ourselves, first and foremost, what is the most (messed) up thing we can do next week?” he said in a 2014 interview with the AP. Bourdain’s breakthrough as an author came with the 2000 publication of his “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.” The book created a sensation by combining frank details of his life and career with behind-the- scenes observations on the culi- nary industry. Colleagues, friends and admirers shared their grief Fri- day. CNN chief executive Jeff Zucker sent a company letter calling Bourdain “an excep- tional talent. A storyteller. A gifted writer. A world traveler. An adventurer.” At the G-7 summit in Can- ada, President Donald Trump, whom Bourdain had sharply criticized, offered his “heart- felt condolences” to Bour- dain’s family, which includes his 11-year-old daughter, Ari- ane. Jamie Oliver wrote on Ins- tagram that Bourdain “really broke the mould ... he leaves chefs and fans around the world with a massive foodie hole that simply can’t be replaced.” Others noted Bourdain’s strong defense of the #MeToo movement. His girlfriend was actress Asia Argento, who has accused Harvey Weinstein of rape. After Mario Batali was accused of sexual assault, Brent N. Clarke/Invision Anthony Bourdain attends the premiere of ‘Wasted! The Story of Food Waste’ at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in New York in 2017. Bourdain published an essay in Medium in which he wrote that “one must pick a side.” “I stand unhesitatingly and unwaveringly with the women,” he wrote. Another Weinstein accuser, actress Rose McGowan, tweeted a video of herself, sob- bing. “Anthony I am so mad at you,” she said. “You were so loved, the world is not better without you. I have a message for those considering suicide as a solution to a temporary prob- lem. Please call a hotline.” Bourdain’s death came three days after fashion designer Kate Spade killed herself in her Park Avenue apartment in New York. Spade’s husband and business partner said the 55-year-old business mogul had suffered from depression and anxiety for many years. In a 2008 interview with the AP, Bourdain had said that his daughter’s birth had changed his outlook on life. “I feel obliged to at least do the best I can and not do anything really stupidly self-destructive if I can avoid it,” he said. Bourdain’s “Parts Unknown” seemed like an odd choice for CNN when it started in 2013 — part travelogue, part history lesson, part love letter to exotic foods. Each trip was an adventure. There had been nothing quite like it on the staid news network, and it became an immediate hit. Besides showcasing food, a “Parts Unknown” trip to Japan in the series’ first sea- son included an odd show with robots and scantily clad women, a visit with a death metal band and a meal shared with a woman involved in the city’s sadomasochistic community. In 2016, he sat down for some bun cha in Hanoi, Viet- nam, with President Barack Obama. Bourdain was reluctant to analyze why his series succeeded. “If you think about who the audience is and what their expectations might be, I think that’s the road to badness and mediocrity,” he told the AP. “You go out there and show the best story you can as best you can. If it’s interesting to you, hopefully it’s interesting to oth- ers. If you don’t make televi- sion like that, it’s pandering.” Bourdain was born in New York City and was raised in Leonia, New Jersey. He had written that his love of food began as a youth while on a family vacation in France, when he ate his first oyster. He was candid about his personal struggles, saying that drug use led to his dropping out of Vas- sar College after two years. Working in restaurants led him to the Culinary Institute of America, where he graduated in 1978, and began working in kitchens in New York City. He became executive chef at Bras- serie Les Halles in 1998. In the preface to the latest edition “Kitchen Confidential,” Bourdain wrote of his shock at the success of his book, which he wrote by getting up at 5 a.m. to steal a couple of hours at the computer before appearing at the saute station for lunch. He said he never intended to write an expose or to “rip the lid off the restaurant business.” He said he liked the restaurant business the way it was. “What I set out to do was write a book that my fellow cooks would find entertaining and true,” he said. “I wanted it to sound like me talking at say ... ten o’clock on a Saturday night, after a busy dinner rush, me and a few cooks hanging around in the kitchen, knocking back a few beers and talking.” Bourdain said he really had no idea that anyone outside the world of chefs would even pay attention to his comments. “The new celebrity chef cul- ture is a remarkable and admit- tedly annoying phenomenon. While it’s been nothing but good for business — and for me personally — many of us in the life can’t help snickering about it,” he wrote. “Of all the professions, after all, few peo- ple are less suited to be sud- denly thrown into the public eye than chefs.” WORLD IN BRIEF Associated Press Detention centers fill up; border detainees sent to prisons Joel Kowsky/NASA The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz MS-09 space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station blasts off Wednesday from the Baikonur cos- modrome in Kazakhstan. Soyuz capsule with 3 astronauts docks with space station MOSCOW — A Russian space capsule carrying three astronauts has docked with the International Space Station two days after it was launched from Kazakhstan. The Soyuz capsule docked with the station at 13:01 GMT today some 255 miles above the Earth. It is carrying Serena Aunon-Chancellor of the United States, Sergey Prokopyev of Russia and German Alexander Gerst, flying for the Euro- pean Space Agency. They will join Americans Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold and Russia’s Oleg Artemyev at the station. The program for their six-month mission includes about 250 experiments in biology, earth sciences, physical sci- ences and other disciplines. The Soyuz blasted off on Wednesday from Russia’s manned space launch complex in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. SEATTLE — More than 1,600 people arrested at the U.S.-Mex- ico border, including parents who have been separated from their children, are being transferred to federal prisons, U.S. immigration authorities confirmed Thursday. They said they’re running out of room at their own facilities amid President Donald Trump’s crack- down on illegal immigration. The move drew condemnation from activists who said the detainees may have legitimate claims to asylum and don’t deserve to be held in federal prisons. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Fer- guson issued a letter Thursday night seeking more information from the Justice Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after learning that ICE had transferred dozens of mothers who had been separated from their children to the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac. Historically, immigrants without serious criminal records were released from custody while they pursued asylum or refugee status. The Trump administration has ended that policy. In an emailed statement, ICE spokeswoman Carissa Cutrell said that due to a surge in illegal border crossings and the Justice Department’s “zero-tolerance” policy — designed to discourage illegal border crossings — the agency needed to acquire access to more than 1,600 beds in Bureau of Prisons facilities. The agency said those include 1,000 beds in Victorville, California; 209 beds in SeaTac; 230 beds in La Tuna, Texas; 230 beds in Sheridan, Oregon; and 102 beds in Phoenix. The letter from Inslee and Ferguson followed a report from the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project earlier Thursday that as many as 120 asylum seekers had been transferred to the Federal Deten- tion Center at SeaTac. Dem lawmakers seek criminal corruption probe of EPA’s Pruitt WASHINGTON — House Democrats formally requested today that the Justice Department investigate Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt for potential criminal conduct. In a letter to FBI Director Chris Wray and Justice criminal divi- sion chief John Cronan, six Democratic lawmakers with oversight of Pruitt’s agency allege he repeatedly violated federal anti-corrup- tion laws by seeking to leverage his government position for per- sonal gain. As evidence, the Democrats cite Pruitt’s $50-a-night lease of a Capitol Hill condo tied to a lobbyist seeking to influence his agency, directing an EPA aide to contact a senior Chick-fil-A exec- utive as part of an effort to land his family a franchise, and a $2,000 payment to his wife from organizers of a conference the adminis- trator then attended at taxpayer expense. A spokesman for Pruitt did not immediately respond to mes- sages seeking comment. The letter was signed by Democratic Reps. Gerald Connolly and Donald Beyer of Virginia, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Ted Lieu of California. Connolly is a senior member of the House Commit- tee on Oversight and Government Reform and serves as the rank- ing Democrat on the Subcommittee on Government Operations. President Donald Trump signaled today he is still standing by his embattled EPA chief, even as Pruitt’s support among other Republicans has started to erode. Hundreds hurt in Gaza protest, including 80 by Israeli fire GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli troops fired live rounds and tear gas as thousands of Palestinians protested near the Gaza bor- der fence today, with some demonstrators burning tires, throw- ing stones and flying blazing kites. At least 413 Palestinians were wounded, including 80 by live fire, Gaza health officials said. Seven of the wounded were in serious condition, the Health Ministry said, in the latest in a series of mass protests to call atten- tion to a decade-old blockade of Gaza by Israel and Egypt. The march also marked the annual “Jerusalem Day,” instituted by Iran to protest Israeli rule of the holy city. Israel and Iran have been archenemies since Tehran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. In the capitals of Iran and Iraq, thousands of Shiite Muslims marked Jerusalem Day with protests, with some chanting “Death to Israel” or burning Israeli flags and effigies of President Donald Trump. In Gaza, at least 115 Palestinians had been killed and nearly 3,800 wounded by Israeli army fire in previous protests near the border fence. The overwhelming majority of the dead and wounded had been unarmed, according to Gaza health officials. Israeli troops fired volleys of tear gas, including from drones, that sent protesters running for cover. US says it will intensify fight against IS in Afghanistan BRUSSELS — The U.S. will intensify combat against the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan during the Kabul govern- ment’s temporary halt to attacks on the Taliban, senior U.S. offi- cials said today. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said this could, for example, allow the U.S. to partially shift the focus of aerial surveillance from the Taliban to IS fighters as well as al-Qaida extremists, who remain a threat 17 years after the U.S. invaded. Mattis spoke to reporters during a break in a NATO defense min- isters meeting, which included a discussion of progress and prob- lems in Afghanistan. The ministers also discussed more broadly the international campaign against IS, which has focused since 2014 on eliminating the group’s so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria. Mattis argued for continuing military pressure on IS even after the fighting in Syria is over. He did not mention that President Don- ald Trump has said he wants the U.S. to exit Syria as soon as it can, perhaps within a matter of months. “As operations ultimately draw to a close, we want to avoid leaving a vacuum in Syria that can be exploited” by IS and other extremists, he said. “Our fight is not over,” he added. “We must deal ISIS an enduring, not just a territorial, defeat.” Later he said leaving Syria before a U.N.-led peace process was underway “would be a strategic blunder.” WANTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 Please Fresh Oregon Hood Adopt a Pet! S OPHIE Senior American Medium Hair Adult Adopt, love, and protect Sophie, and one of your many moods will be happiness. See more on Petfinder.com CLATSOP COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER • 861-PETS 1315 SE 19th St. • Warrenton | Tues-Sat 12-4pm www.dogsncats.org THIS SPACE SPONSORED BY BAY BREEZE BOARDING Are You Losing “Family Care”? 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