Amelie Hoeferle attends Red Carpet Premiere For Prime Video’s ‘Sterling Point’ on August 3, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Jason Mendez/Getty Images for Prime Video); Graham Campbell attends FX’s ‘The Shards’ Official Launch Skate Party at Moonlight Rollaway on August 5, 2026 in Glendale, California. (Photo by Frank Micelotta/PictureGroup for FX)
Fake Skating has found its leads.
The film adaptation of the high school hockey romance novel by Lynn Painter has cast a couple of on-the-rise young actors in its starring roles: Sterling Point’s Amélie Hoeferle and The Shards’ Graham Campbell.
They’ll play Dani and Alec, two childhood sweethearts who reunite in high school and hatch a fake dating plot to help each other reach their respective goals. Dani is an academically gifted student who wants more extracurricular activities to impress Harvard and Alec is a talented ice hockey player who wants to improve his reputation and impress NHL scouts.
Fake Skating marks the first book by Painter to get a screen adaptation. As previously reported, The Fault in Our Stars director Josh Boone is on board to direct. Morgan Lehmann and Victoria Bata wrote its screenplay while Boone and his writing partner Knate Lee handled its revisions.
Both Hoeferle and Campbell had breakout TV roles this year. Hoeferle plays Ramona Campbell in the Prime Video hit coming-of-age drama series Sterling Point, while Campbell plays Thom Wright in the FX thriller series The Shards.
Pope Leo XIV presides at Celebration of Vespers with Bishops, Priests, Deacons, consecrated men and women, and Seminarians in Notre-Dame Cathedral on September 25, 2026 in Paris, France. (Photo by Simone Risoluti – Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
(PARIS) — Pope Leo XIV began a four-day visit to France on Friday, meeting with President Emmanuel Macron and cautioning against allowing technological developments to come at the expense of human life.
Leo, who is making the first official papal visit to France in nearly two decades, spoke at the Élysée Palace before nearly 500 guests. He identified artificial intelligence as one of the major challenges facing humanity and reiterated the Catholic Church’s opposition to assisted dying and surrogacy.
“When science and technology are not guided by consciousness, it can offer immediate solutions that seem to alleviate human suffering, but it can lead them astray,” said Leo.
Macron added, “In the face of the power of digital technology, human beings must retain their rightful place. Artificial intelligence must be a servant, not a master. The digital revolution must liberate, not enslave.”
The papal visit comes after years of reported loss in public support for the church and recent challenges to its stance on ethical life issues like assisted death, which was recently legalized by the French parliament.
Although the French government is completely secular, Catholicism is still the dominant religion in France. Under a third of the French population identifies as Catholic and religious disaffiliation has been on the rise over the past decade, according to the National Statistics Bureau of France. However, the country has seen a surge in adult baptisms in recent years, according to national statistics.
At the presidential palace, Leo said he was “concerned at times by those trends in society that risk turning science and technology into profit-driven ventures promoting genetic manipulation, surrogacy, the trade in human organs or the possibility of arranging one’s own death.”
Leo continued his visit with a speech at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization headquarters in Paris before holding a prayer service at the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Leo is the first pope to visit the cathedral since a 2019 fire engulfed the landmark. The cathedral reopened in September 2025 after years of restoration.
The pope will conclude his visit in the northeastern city of Metz where he will hold an interfaith dialogue and celebrate Mass before returning to Rome.
A person pumps gas at a Mobil gas station on September 24, 2026 in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Consumer sentiment dropped in September close to the lowest level ever recorded in the 74-year history of the University of Michigan’s monthly survey, fresh data on Friday showed.
Shopper attitudes soured as a monthlong bout of inflation squeezed consumers and an underlying oil supply shock showed little sign of imminent resolution.
The final reading of the University of Michigan index registered at 48.1 in September, marking the second-lowest final reading ever recorded. The index hit a historic low of 44.8 in May, just months after the outbreak of the Iran war, before ticking slightly upward to a level of 51.7 by August.
Prices rose at an annual rate of 3.4% in August, the most recent month on record, federal government data showed. Inflation stands more than a percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.
The average price of a gallon of gas in the U.S. is $4.49, according to AAA, marking a roughly 50% jump since the war began in late February.
Shoppers expect inflation to rise even more over the next year, the University of Michigan consumer survey found, while individuals’ view of their financial outlook has worsened.
Democrats and Republicans alike displayed sizable declines in consumer sentiment in September from the previous month, Surveys of Consumers director Joanne Hsu said in a statement on Friday.
In response to rising prices, a key long-term Treasury rate hit its highest level in nearly two decades on Wednesday, days after the Federal Reserve raised benchmark borrowing costs. The rise in borrowing costs has pushed up rates for loans like credit cards and mortgages, threatening to worsen the financial crunch.
Investors peg a two in three chance of another quarter-point interest rate hike next month, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, a measure of market sentiment.
Despite a stubborn bout of inflation, the economy remains fairly robust by some measures.
A blockbuster jobs report earlier this month showed employers added 162,000 workers in August, demonstrating continued resilience for the nation’s labor market. The economy grew over three months ending in June, defying fear of a downturn triggered by the Iran war.
Still, persistently elevated prices have continued to take a toll on shoppers, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said at a press conference in Washington, D.C., last week.
“The plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long,” Warsh said.
Hudson Williams in ‘Yaga’ (Crave and Christopher Lawrence)
Yaga is ready to cast its spell.
A new trailer for the AMC+ half-hour drama has been unveiled, giving a fresh look at the reimagining of the Baba Yaga myth based on the play by Kat Sandler.
The trailer, set to Alanis Morissette’s cover of “Season of the Witch,” shows Noah Reid’s private investigator Rapp teaming up with Clark Backo’s local detective Carson to investigate the case of missing young heir Henry Park, played by Heated Rivalry breakout Hudson Williams.
Making things all the more mysterious is an enigmatic university professor played by Carrie-Anne Moss and Henry’s roommate Logan, also played by Williams, who bears an uncanny resemblance to his missing friend.
Yaga, a Crave Original series, debuts its first two episodes on AMC+ Friday, Oct. 23. New episodes will debut every Friday, culminating in a two-episode finale on Friday, Nov. 27.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital nurses strike, July 13, 2026, outside the hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. (Pat Greenhouse/Boston Globe via Getty Images)
(BOSTON) — About 4,000 registered nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston voted “overwhelmingly” on Thursday to authorize an open-ended strike.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), which represents the nurses, said this could be the largest open-ended registered nurse (RN) strike in state history.
No strike date has been set yet. Before it occurs, the nurses will be legally required to give 10 days’ notice. If the strike is held, it would continue until the nurses reach a contract agreement with the hospital.
Nurses say they are seeking a fair contract that will protect patient care, strengthen the workforce and provide affordable health insurance.
“[Mass General Brigham] cannot tell nurses to choose between the care our patients deserve, affordable health insurance, or fair cost-of-living wage increase,” Jim McCarthy, RN, a nurse in the post-anesthesia care unit and vice chair of the BWH MNA Bargaining Committee, said in a statement.
The statement went on, “We have offered to negotiate and work toward an agreement, but CEO Anne Klibanski, who makes $9.2 million a year, and the billionaires on MGB’s Board of Directors, have refused to bargain. Our vote gives nurses the power to push back hard if the MGB billionaires keep putting corporate greed over safe patient care.”
Among the nurses’ proposals are limiting the hospital’s use of temporary nurses, fair compensation including a cost-of-living increase and affordable health insurance with plan choice.
MNA said that the hospital told nurses in August it was not willing to negotiate unless significant changes were made to the latest proposal.
“Brigham nurses have made clear that we are prepared to stay on strike for as long as it takes to win a contract that protects our patients and respects the nurses who care for them,” Kelly Morgan, RN, a labor and delivery nurse and chair of the BWH MNA Bargaining Committee, said in a statement.
“An open-ended strike is a serious step that will undoubtedly create a healthcare crisis in Massachusetts. MGB can prevent the strike by returning to the table and negotiating the contract our nurses need to keep providing world-class care,” the statement continued.
BWH did not immediately return ABC News’ request for comment.
President Donald Trump looks on as New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks to reporters following their meeting at Gracie Mansion on September 21, 2026, in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court has given the Trump administration a green light to use a federal citizenship database to verify voters ahead of the midterm elections.
In a 6-3 opinion, the Supreme Court, for now, lifted a lower court order that blocked the Department of Homeland Security from expanding a 40-year-old immigration database — known as the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system — to help states screen voter records for noncitizens.
The immediate impact of the ruling is unclear, since states are prohibited by law from purging their voter rolls within 90 days of Election Day.
“The District Court’s order thus inhibits the Federal Government’s efforts to assist state and local agencies in the proper administration of the midterm elections. Under these circumstances, the equities weigh in favor of a stay,” the majority wrote.
President Donald Trump has characterized noncitizen voting as a pressing threat to free and fair elections, but audits of voter rolls have suggested that voting by noncitizens is exceedingly rare.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Dolly Parton attends We Are Family Foundation honors Dolly Parton & Jean Paul Gaultier at Hammerstein Ballroom on November 05, 2019 in New York City. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)
Pour yourself a cup of ambition on Friday, because it’s Dolly Parton’s day.
Dozens of municipalities and one state have declared Sept. 25 Dolly Parton Day, a celebration timed to the date’s nod to Parton’s beloved hit song, “9 to 5.”
While Tennessee, Parton’s home state, already recognizes Jan. 19 — her birthday — as Dolly Parton Day, and is looking to add a Sept. 25 “9 to 5 Day,” California became the first state to officially establish Sept. 25 as an annual Dolly Parton Day.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 931 by Senators Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) and John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), which establishes Sept. 25 as Dolly Parton Day in California.
“We could all afford to live a little more like Dolly,” Newsom said in a statement. “Be kind, be humble, and have some fun…Be a diamond in a rhinestone world. With this bill, we are not just establishing a day to celebrate Dolly Parton, we are creating an annual reminder to us, every year, to live the way she did — joyfully, graciously, and with a whole lot of heart.”
Read on to learn more about Dolly Parton Day.
Where else is Dolly Parton Day being celebrated?
While state lawmakers in Tennessee will have to wait until January 2027 to review and vote on the proposal to add a Sept. 25 “9 to 5 Day,” cities and local governments across the state have separately declared Sept. 25 as Dolly Parton Day, including Nashville, Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg and the town of Pittman Center.
In early September, Manhattan Borough president Brad Hoylman-Sigal also declared Sept. 25 as Dolly Parton Appreciation Day across the borough.
Cities and counties also recognizing Dolly Parton Day include Portland, Oregon, and Hays County, Texas, and Montgomery County, Texas.
Why Dolly Parton is being celebrated?
In each of the proclamations declaring Dolly Parton Day on Sept. 25, California, cities and counties have not only recognized Parton’s work as an entertainer, but many are putting a spotlight on Parton’s advocacy for literacy.
Her Imagination Library, which launched in 1995 and has distributed over 330 million free books worldwide, is highlighted in almost every declaration.
How is Dolly Parton Day being celebrated?
Across the country, celebrations are being held to honor the late singer.
Nashville will honor Parton with pink lights and Dolly posters across the city, according to the official website for the city. The website also states that Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood will donate all proceeds on Sept. 25 from their Friends in Low Places Bar & Honky-Tonk to the Nashville Public Library and the Imagination Library.
A daytime celebration filled with live music and more will also be held on Sept. 25 in San Francisco’s Union Square.
New Orleans-based marching group, Krewe of Dolly, will lead a parade through the French Quarter and end at the New Orleans Jazz Museum to celebrate Parton.
Taylor Swift’s ‘The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore’ (Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott)
Taylor Swift’s new music is here.
The singer released four new songs on Friday as an “encore” addition to her record-setting album The Life of a Showgirl.
The newly-released songs include “Patient Zero,” “Babylon,” Cleveland!” and “Pink Clouding.”
The songs are Swift’s first new music since she wed NFL star Travis Kelce in July, and her song “Cleveland!” pays tribute to Kelce, whom she calls “the love of my life.”
In announcing the new music earlier this week, Swift told fans the songs were “born out of pure gratitude for your exuberance for and celebration of the album we made,” referring to The Life of a Showgirl.
The album, Swift’s 12th, set a record as the biggest album debut in history, with more than 4 million equivalent album units sold in the U.S. alone in the first week. The Life of a Showgirl was also 2025’s top-selling album, according toBillboard.
“I took a trip to Sweden to celebrate with Max [Martin] and Shellback, my two collaborators on this album,” Swift wrote in a social media post Wednesday. “Really we just wanted to reflect and take in how grateful we were for the moment we were in, but there was a studio there and we did what we do when we feel anything at all: We wrote more songs.”
The four new songs on The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore follow the release of “I Knew It I Knew You,” which Swift released earlier this year for Toy Story 5.
Swift’s new music will arrive two days before she is honored at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards with the inaugural MTV VMA Artist Director Honors award.
The “Opalite” singer is nominated for nine awards, including video of the year and artist of the year.
Bridget Maeve Zeigler, 2, went missing in Cumberland County, Va. on Thursday, Sept. 24. (Virginia State Police)
(NEW YORK) — A 2-year-old girl went missing Thursday evening in Southwest Virginia, setting off a search by police and help from the local school district, according to officials.
The child, Bridget Maeve Zeigler, is described as a white female with short brown hair and blue eyes, and is about 2 feet tall and 30 pounds, according to a Virginia State Police alert.
Zeigler was last seen at 6 p.m. on Thursday in Cumberland County, Virginia in an area that appears to be heavily forested, according to police.
Zeigler was last seen wearing an orange dress, blue coat and white tennis shoes, according to the alert.
Police said the child is believed to be on foot.
Virginia State Police issued a CODI alert at approximately 11:30 p.m. Thursday on behalf of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.
Cumberland County Public Schools also issued an alert, encouraging community members to contact authorities with any information regarding Zeigler’s whereabouts.
Anyone with knowledge of the child’s location or disappearance is directed to reach out to the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office at (804) 492-4120.
Rep. Ro Khanna speaks during a campaign event with Tom Steyer, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for California in Santa Rosa, Calif., May 27, 2026. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna is unveiling an ambitious nearly $1 trillion proposal on Friday calling for universal childcare as he continues crafting legislative policies that may ultimately serve as the cornerstones of a potential presidential campaign in 2028.
“The biggest thing killing us is childcare,” Khanna, who represents California, told ABC News in a phone interview while he crisscrosses the country campaigning for progressive candidates and reelection ahead of the midterm elections.
In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Khanna said he wanted to introduce a childcare bill before the high-stakes midterm elections as a “north star” and blueprint for “what we should be passing.”
The Free Child Care for America Act is a nearly $1 trillion, 10-year package aimed at building a universal childcare system — creating three taxpayer-funded pathways to provide flexibility and options for American families.
Khanna ticked off several potential spending reductions to offset the cost of the $1 trillion package — such as savings realized by ending the war in Iran; $400 billion in new revenue collected by instituting a 5% “billionaire tax,” or cutting the Pentagon’s budget by $200 billion.
“What this childcare proposal — in my view — is speaking to [is] the needs of working class families, and it’s something we can deliver,” he said.
Khanna’s plan calls for billions of dollars that funds grants for states and tribal organizations to cover the cost of licensed childcare for eligible families, aims to increase the supply of childcare, support providers’ operating costs, and raise compensation across the childcare workforce.
“If you want to do this right, it’s going to be an $80 to $90 billion price tag,” Khanna said. “That’s what it takes to make childcare free. That’s what it takes to pay people well, and that’s what it’s going to take to make it flexible.”
His pitch comes as Vice President JD Vance has championed an administration proposal to expand federal childcare subsidies — as much as $9,000 annually — to married couples who have a stay-at-home parent.
Khanna said he believes families should be able to choose from a menu of childcare options.
“It should be value neutral between staying at home, going to a childcare center, or having friends or family, and that is maximizing the choice,” Khanna said. “Vance’s proposal is trying to tip the scales a bit on the choice of people who are stay-at-home parents.”
Khanna explained his middle-class upbringing in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, motivated him to tackle the issue of childcare.
“Childcare is one of those things that didn’t have the same exorbitant cost, and if we can fix that issue, provide people with childcare, you’re going to give more Americans the shot to have economic security in a modern economy, and that’s the whole point of economic patriotism: that people should be able to have economic independence in today’s economy,” he said.
The five-term congressman, whose net-worth is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, explained how his own experience as a father of two children while working a demanding job has informed his perspective.
“I believe there’s nothing more important than being there for kids at a young age, and I have an extraordinary wife who’s an exceptional mom,” Khanna said. “It has given me an admiration for parents who do incredibly, incredibly hard work, and my view is that we’ve got to make it possible for parents who want to give their kids the best ability to do that.”
Khanna says that his agenda — which he has dubbed “America’s next new deal” — is also informed through his conversations with families in swing states. Khanna has been holding town halls and participating in campaign events in swing states alongside progressive candidates.
“Economic patriotism is all about making the future economy work — not just for the billionaires in my district, but work for the people I grew up with in Pennsylvania,” he said. “As I traveled around the country, and I started with like, ‘How do we bring good jobs?’ I kept hearing, ‘Well, that’s fine, but how am I going to take care of our kids and do these jobs?'”
First elected to represent California’s 17th Congressional District in 2016 — the same election President Donald Trump first won the White House — Khanna has built a progressive voting record coupled with savvy media engagement. While Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has led the national progressive movement over the past decade, Khanna is striving to position himself as a potential successor — though he is not breaking through any Democratic primary polls for 2028 so far.
Khanna’s profile continues to grow as he engages with voters and weighs his future options — sometimes even before Republican audiences on Fox News or in GOP-held districts. Last year, he laid out a political reform agenda focused on combating corruption — hoping it would form the basis of the Democrats’ platform in the upcoming midterm elections. He also took center stage alongside GOP Rep. Thomas Massie in the congressional effort to force the Department of Justice to release tens of thousands of records related to its investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.
Ahead of the midterms, Khanna continues to campaign on behalf of candidates across the country — though he’s not coy about his political ambitions.
“I want 2028 to be a big-ideas primary,” Khanna said. “I want it to be a contest on who’s going to have ideas of the future that meet the moment where many Americans feel that the economic and political system are broken and not working for them.”
Khanna concedes that some stakeholders and supporters alike have expressed concern over the $1 trillion cost of his proposal, which would offer $1,000 per month to eligible stay-at-home parents with an eligible child under age 3 and a household income at or below 100% of their state’s median income. But he says he is being transparent about the cost and argues that his package is worth the investment.
“Why would you think that giving entrusting the care of young people at their most impressionable, where their experience is going to shape the rest of their lives, and we have data showing that? Why would we think that that’s cheap?” Khanna said. “Of course, it’s expensive, and that’s why there’s this huge market failure because it’s expensive, and yet people aren’t being paid appropriately, and that’s why it’s a public good. And so this is really saying, OK, if you want to do this right, it’s going to be a $80 to $90 billion price tag. That’s what it takes to make childcare free.”
House Democratic leaders have not endorsed Khanna’s childcare legislation, but agree that lowering childcare costs must be a priority if they take back the House majority.
“I want it to be front and center in the conversation of the first 100 days for the speaker,” Khanna said regarding Democratic prospects to win the House majority. “Even if they don’t do the whole $90 billion, I mean, obviously that’s my hope that the House should pass this bill, they can take three elements of it.”
As for the 2028 presidential race?
“Whether I run, which obviously I’m considering, or whether I am actively supporting other candidates, I want to be leading in putting forth bold ideas about what that Democratic Party should be,” Khanna said. “I think we need to offer a new vision of ideas that are actually going to deliver for working- and middle-class families who have been left out.”
