When Dolly Parton sang, “Working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living,” it was an understatement.
The legendary country singer, who died Tuesday after a brief battle with cancer, “worked up until the day she died” on multiple projects, her longtime manager Danny Nozell said in a statement to The Times.
“She loved seeing her dreams come to life, and loved knowing her work brought people joy,” Nozell said. “Ever the planner, Dolly worked with the team that she handpicked, for the past several years to build a project roadmap that will guide us for decades to come.”
The projects vary from a line of Dolly Parton dolls, which will launch online Sept. 15, to a biopic and a docuseries with release dates to be revealed later. A scripted show and an animated series based on Parton’s “Billy the Kid” book franchise are scheduled to be released on a date to be determined.
Other projects announced were Dolly’s Tennessean Travel Stop — a travel center in Cornersville, Tenn. — which will celebrate National Truck Driver Appreciation Week beginning Sept. 13; and Dolly Parton’s SongTeller Hotel in Nashville, where patrons can book stays starting Sept. 14, with a grand opening scheduled for Sept. 29.
The Parton estate will open the 20,000-square-foot Dolly’s Life of Many Colors Museum at the SongTeller Hotel on Sept. 29 and launch Dolly’s Cup of Ambition Coffee online on the same day. The coffee line will be available at retail stores starting spring 2027.
Dolly’s Dog Treats are on the calendar for early 2027, along with Dolly Bedding & Home Decor debuting in the third quarter of next year.
Broadway previews for “Dolly: A True Original Musical” will begin in December, with opening night scheduled for Jan. 19, 2027. The estate is also collaborating again with fashion designer Kendra Scott for a “9 to 5” jewelry collection.
Nozell guaranteed Parton’s fans that if any unreleased music, products, books, experiences and campaigns are launched through the official Dolly Parton channel, each was personally stamped on by the singer.
“As the leader of the team responsible for overseeing her legacy, we will ensure the many dreams she had yet to fulfill are brought to life,” Nozell said. “Many projects were in various stages of development, and we want to be transparent with her fans about this fact.”
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Bank customers, largely locked out of their foreign-currency accounts ater the financial crisis of 2019, gather at Martyrs’ Square in late July before marching toward the Sin el-Fil suburb east of Beirut, where several bank facades were vandalized. Photo by Abbas Salman/EPA
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 21 (UPI) — The World Bank said Friday that the recent Israel-Hezbollah conflict has severely disrupted Lebanon’s fragile recovery, predicting a 6.4% contraction in the crisis-ridden economy this year and a rise in inflation to 17.5%.
The international financial institution said in a report that Lebanon entered 2026 “on firmer footing,” after an estimated 4.2% expansion in real gross domestic product in 2025.
It was the country’s fastest growth since the onset of the 2019 financial crisis, driven by stronger consumption, investment and tourism, as well as improved high-frequency indicators, according to the report.
It noted that the rebound was sharply interrupted by the military escalation between Hezbollah and Israel on March 2, causing further damage to housing and infrastructure, displacing some 1.2 million people, disrupting supply chains, and severely affecting tourism and domestic demand.
Dahlia Khalifa, World Bank Middle East director, said Lebanon’s recovery has been “sharply set back by the renewed conflict,” adding to an already severe social and economic crisis.
The report projects that Lebanon’s economy will contract by 6.4% in 2026, while inflation is expected to rise to 17.5%, driven by supply disruptions, higher shipping costs and rising oil prices, further eroding purchasing power.
According to the latest casualty count released by the Lebanese Health Ministry, some 4,348 people have been killed and 12,703 others injured since March 2. Israel’s intensive military campaign has caused massive destruction to property and infrastructure, with some 70 border villages in southern Lebanon reduced to rubble and rendered uninhabitable.
Lebanese Finance Minister Yassine Jaber has estimated that the combined direct and indirect losses resulting from the conflict in Lebanon since 2023, including the 2024 and 2026 escalations, could reach $20 billion.
Lebanon was still struggling to recover from a protracted financial crisis — described by the World Bank as a “deliberate depression” and the worst globally since 1850 that limited access to bank deposits, caused prices to soar, unemployment to soar and public services to deteriorate.
Moreover, the population faced eroded purchasing power after the Lebanese pound lost more than 95% of its value against the U.S. dollar,
The World Bank report said the government recorded an overall surplus of 3.9% of GDP in 2025. However, rising humanitarian and reconstruction needs after the recent war, pressure to increase public sector wages and slower revenue growth are expected to place additional strain on public finances in the second half of this year.
The report noted that continued progress on reforms remains essential to restoring confidence, reviving growth and supporting a durable economic recovery.
“Advancing reforms — particularly on banking sector restructuring and fiscal management –will be critical to restoring confidence, protecting stability and mobilizing the financing needed for reconstruction and recovery,” the World Bank’s Khalifa said.
The report noted that the banking sector remains deeply weakened despite some progress in advancing its restructuring agenda and warned that the exchange rate could come under pressure “if foreign inflows decline or conflict-related shocks persist.”
The head of one of Hollywood’s largest talent agencies warned state leaders that a new budget bill threatens job gains from California’s film and TV credit program.
Legislators earlier this year passed a provision in the state budget that extends limitations on corporate tax credits, including a $5-million state tax credit cap each year.
But film industry advocates say the corporate tax credit cap will hurt film producers and undercut the effectiveness of the state’s expanded film and TV tax credits.
Lawmakers more than doubled annual funding for the program last year to $750 million in an effort to boost jobs and stem the exodus of film work from California.
CAA Chief Executive Bryan Lourd called for state leaders to create an exemption for tax credits earned under the expanded film and TV program.
“Without this fix, we risk destabilizing a program that is critical to keeping film and television production in California and the thousands of jobs it supports,” Lourd wrote in an Aug. 11 letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, California State Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) and President Pro Tempore Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara).
“California must make itself competitive with the rest of the country and the world if it hopes to have a thriving entertainment ecosystem,” Lourd wrote. “Honoring commitments that have already been made to the entertainment industry is an essential step in achieving that goal.”
Film industry advocates expected producers would be exempted from the tax credit cap.
“It’s a reversal of California economic policy as it relates to the entertainment industry in an unhelpful and uncompetitive direction,” said Hilary Krane, CAA’s chief legal officer, in an interview. . “It undermines people’s ability to plan for the economics of the program because they all counted on a certain amount coming in under the previous rules that they were entitled to and had, but now can’t use.”
Last month, more than three dozen California lawmakers signed a letter calling attention to the issue. Hollywood unions also have raised alarm.
“The result of the changes is that production companies will lose the full value of credits already earned in exchange for creating middle-class entertainment industry jobs and other economic benefits to the State,” the Entertainment Union Coalition said last month.
Nick Miller, Rivas’ spokesperson, said the state Assembly is taking a hard look at the issue.
“Our lawmakers strengthened California’s film and TV jobs program last year and will keep fighting for creative industry workers,” Miller said in an email.
Newsom’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Time is running out for a fix to happen this session, which ends in less than two weeks.
State Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Los Angeles) said state leaders are working on introducing legislation soon to address the issue.
Already, tens of thousands of jobs have come back to Southern California due to the modernization of the film and TV tax credit program, he said.
“We just saw the beginning of that resurgence and we don’t want to nip that in the bud,” Zbur said in an interview.
Reporting from Sacramento — A Bay Area lawmaker wants to knock down what he believes is a key barrier to California meeting its ambitious climate change goals: one of the state’s most prominent environmental laws.
Assemblyman Tim Grayson (D-Concord) has introduced legislation that aims to make it harder for lawsuits filed under the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, to stop construction of roads and public transit.
CEQA requires developers and public agencies to disclose a project’s environmental effects and take steps to reduce or eliminate them. But Grayson says the law can grind to a halt transportation projects that are needed to reduce the amount of cars on the road.
His legislation, Assembly Bill 1905, would make it easier for road or transit projects included in a state-approved regional growth plan to begin construction before any CEQA litigation is resolved.
Since state climate regulators will have already signed off on those road and transit projects when approving a region’s growth plan, the projects shouldn’t face multiple threats of environmental litigation, Grayson argues.
“What I’m looking at is how do we cut down on traffic congestion where we’re just spilling greenhouse gases, creating clouds of greenhouse gases and impacting the environment negatively,” Grayson said.
But Grayson’s approach is already attracting concerns from high-profile environmental organizations. Environmental groups often credit CEQA, which took effect in 1970, with preserving California’s natural beauty, and argue it is complementary — not contrary — to the more recent climate change laws.
A court should rule in a CEQA lawsuit before construction starts, said Kyle Jones, a policy advocate for Sierra Club California.
“It just seems prudent that you’ve gotten all your legal barriers out of the way,” Jones said.
California has many laws that force private developers and public agencies to examine the environmental impacts of their housing, commercial, industrial and transportation plans and projects.
In 2008, the state Legislature began requiring regional governments, including the Southern California Assn. of Governments, to draw up plans to accommodate population growth and reduce greenhouse gases with proposals for new housing and transportation primarily in already developed areas. The goal is to reduce sprawl and emissions from long commutes. Regional governments are now revising their plans to comply with the state’s new aggressive targets to cut carbon emissions by 40% of 1990 levels by 2030.
But actual growth doesn’t have to follow the plans, and individual projects can stall for many reasons, including environmental litigation. Under Grayson’s bill, however, any road, transit or other transportation project included in an approved regional climate plan would receive relief in potential CEQA lawsuits.
Currently, a court can stop construction on a project if the judge finds its required CEQA analysis failed to account for all effects on the environment. Under Grayson’s bill, a court could do so only if the project was found to have serious life or safety risks.
State lawmakers have approved this legal standard before to speed the development of a new Sacramento Kings basketball arena. Those rules weren’t tested in a lawsuit against the arena. But state and local officials have said the legal standard allowed construction to go forward without fear of litigation tying up the project and potentially costing the city the team.
In Los Angeles, Grayson’s bill could affect large road and transit projects including a Metro Gold Line extension into eastern Los Angeles County and tunnels through the Sepulveda Pass.
But Sierra Club California and the Natural Resources Defense Council are among the environmental organizations that believe the bill goes too far. State climate regulators don’t heavily scrutinize individual projects when approving regional growth plans, representatives of both groups said.
For instance, a judge might find that a transportation project’s environmental review didn’t account for all the effects the development could have on air quality, but under AB 1905 that judge couldn’t stop the project because of it, said David Pettit, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. Without the threat of halting construction, agencies won’t need to take seriously any subsequent demands to improve the air surrounding the project, he said.
AB 1905 “may look good on its face, but it’s fantastically unrealistic when you look at the effects of when concrete is already in the ground,” Pettit said.
Grayson said the inspiration for his bill came from the California Transportation Commission, a state agency that advises Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature on transportation policy and spending. In its most recent annual report, the commission recommended an idea similar to Grayson’s bill as a way to speed up project construction.
The recently passed gas tax and other fee increases are expected to bring in more than $5 billion annually for road repairs and mass transit upgrades. Grayson said it’s important to spend that money quickly, and making it easier to defend against CEQA lawsuits is one way to do it.
“If we’re ever going to make a huge impact it is going to be now with the amount of revenue at our disposal,” he said.
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