News on the go: Feb. 3rd, 2014

Carrie Blazina

Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead Sunday in his New York apartment of what law-enforcement officials said was an apparent drug overdose. Hoffman said last year he had fallen off the wagon after 23 years sober and went to rehab. The actor was nominated for four Academy Awards and three Tony Awards and won an Oscar for best actor in 2006 for his title role in the movie “Capote.” Read full story.

Super Bowl ads officially aired Sunday during the game, but companies spent the last week trying to build excitement for their ads. Super Bowl ads go for about $4 million for a 30-second spot, and iSpot.tv, which tracks digital metrics for TV ads, said ads that have appeared online prior to the game got 130 million views. More than 100 million people were expected to watch the Super Bowl.

A staffer for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie confirmed Sunday she resigned Friday after being subpoenaed in Christie’s traffic chaos scandal. Christina Genovese Renna reported to fired Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Kelly, who ordered the closing of lanes on a bridge in September. Fellow Republicans said Sunday that Christie should not resign as chair of the Republican Governors Association in spite of new allegations that Christie knew about the closings.

Woody Allen on Sunday said Dylan Farrow’s claims that the director molested her were “untrue and disgraceful;” Farrow renewed the allegations from 1992 in an open letter published online Saturday by The New York Times. Dylan Farrow was Allen’s stepdaughter while he was married to Mia Farrow in the 1990s. Allen was investigated in 1992 related to the child molestation claims, but prosecutors did not charge him.

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