(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Portland 119, Milwaukee 116
LA Clippers 125, Washington 109
Chicago 117, Charlotte 110
Cleveland 128, Detroit 121
Minnesota 121, Dallas 87
Orlando 108, San Antonio 98
New Orleans 110, Houston 99
Oklahoma City 105, Denver 100
Phoenix 136, Brooklyn 120
Miami 115, Sacramento 106
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Anaheim 3, San Jose 2 (OT)
Ottawa 3, Detroit 2 (OT)
Los Angeles 4, Nashville 2
boygenius has teamed up with Gretsch for a new signature guitar.
The Limited Edition boygenius Broadkaster Jr. was created with an “emphasis on accessibility,” a press release shares, adding, “This guitar is specially designed for beginners and seasoned pros alike ensuring that players of all backgrounds have the opportunity to harness boygenius’ unique sonic palette to help navigate their own musical journey.”
The guitar is also decorated with references to boygenius’ lyrics and the members’ matching tattoos. Julien Baker goes into further detail about the Broadkaster Jr. in a video for Gretsch, which is streaming now on YouTube.
You can preorder your Broadkaster Jr. for a “Cool About It” price of $699.99 now via the boygenius web store.
boygenius released their debut album, the record, in 2023. It’s nominated for a number of Grammys, including Album of the Year.
The long-running English rockers have announced that they’ll be embarking on a final tour, set to conclude with their last-ever shows, in 2025.
“This is the end,” You Me at Six writes in a Facebook post. “Thank you for being the heartbeat of this band.”
The exact dates for the shows have yet to be announced.
Over their 20-year career, You Me at Six released eight studio albums, two of which hit #1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart. In the U.S., the band scored their biggest hit with “Room to Breathe,” a single off 2014’s Cavalier Youth, which reached #4 on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.
ZZ Top star Billy F. Gibbons is turning his love of a good cigar into a new business venture.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has teamed with BandKandy to launch his first-ever cigar brand. He’s starting out with two new products: Virtu, an ultra premium cigar line developed in the Dominican Republic by Debonaire, and Twin Turbo, a two-pack rough-cut style cigar brand.
“I always enjoy seeing what a cigar brings to a party, even better when I’ve had my hands in the craftsmanship of my very own brands,” Gibbons shares. “Light up, enjoy, and have mercy, my friends.”
Virtu by Billy Gibbons will be available as a limited edition 5,000 piece collection, coming in a numbered high-end humidor that holds five hand-rolled cigars and a custom-designed Zippo lighter. Twin Turbo comes with two cigars in a foil pouch and will be available in three different aromatic profiles.
Gibbons is a well known cigar fan who enjoys smoking one on stage and lighting one up just before a guitar solo. He is set to make a special appearance to promote his new cigar brand at the Global Tobacco booth at the Total Product Expo in Las Vegas on Thursday, February 1.
As for Gibbons’ music, ZZ Top is set to kick off a new tour in Key West, Florida, on March 2. A complete list of dates can be found at zztop.com.
(PONTIAC, Mich.) — Brian Meloche, a longtime friend of Jennifer Crumbley and with whom she was having an affair with at the time of the 2021 Oxford School shooting, took the stand to testify in her manslaughter trial on Wednesday.
In texts sent after the shooting, Jennifer Crumbley told Meloche that the shooting “could have been prevented,” according to evidence. In other texts, she told him the school was “nonchalant” about concerns surrounding Ethan Crumbley and said that the school should have taken the concerns seriously and not allowed him to return to class.
Jennifer Crumbley and James Crumbley are each facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the school shooting, which was carried out by their then-15-year-old son Ethan Crumbley. James Crumbley is being tried in a separate trial in March.
Ethan Crumbley has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing four students and injuring seven others in November 2021.
After Jennifer Crumbley’s attorney, Shannon Smith, questioned Meloche — suggesting that police intimidated and threatened him into providing his testimony — prosecutors sought to allow the judge to include evidence that the two had an affair. In a previous ruling, Judge Cheryl Matthews excluded all evidence regarding their extramarital affair.
The jury was excused from the room and Matthews spoke directly to Jennifer Crumbley, who said she supported her attorney’s decision to admit information about the affair into evidence.
Meloche, a fire department captain, initially appeared to testify that police interviewing him threatened his job and benefits, including his pension, if he helped Jennifer Crumbley by refusing to share information. However, he later clarified that he was pressured by police to share information about the Crumbleys but was always told to tell the truth. Meloche admitted on the stand that he did not want his affair to be revealed and had sought to protect his family and wife by withholding information.
Meloche testified Wednesday that Jennifer Crumbley had told him she was able to leave work to meet up with him even though she allegedly told school officials on the day of the shooting that she could not take her son home or for mental health care that day because she needed to return to work.
Jennifer and James Crumbley decided to send their son back to class despite a meeting the morning of the shooting in which school officials expressed concerns about him.
Andrew Smith, the CEO of the real estate company where Jennifer Crumbley worked at the time of the shooting, testified on Tuesday that she would have been allowed to leave for the day if she needed to take care of her son and could have brought him to work if she needed.
Meloche testified about conversations he had with Jennifer Crumbley in the days leading up to and after the shooting. The two texted regularly leading up to the shooting and in the days after it.
Meloche said he regularly deleted the messages between himself and Jennifer Crumbley. He testified that one of the deleted texts from her — sent on the day of the shooting — said that the gun was gone. He responded, telling her to contact police.
Meloche told Crumbley in texts before she was arrested that she needed to “disappear” when she was allowed to do so.
Prior to the shooting, Meloche said he was aware that the Crumbleys had gotten a handgun for their son and said he was “surprised” that they chose to do so. Meloche also testified that he did not believe Jennifer Crumbley should have been charged, but has since learned more information that makes him believe otherwise.
Meloche testified he didn’t think a shooting would take place, but he thought that Ethan Crumbley might hurt himself.
Evidence shown in court of the text messages also showed an unsent message from Jennifer Crumbley to Meloche in which she told him that the gun was locked with a string lock.
“I’ll never be OK I lost my son. And he’s a murderer and I’ll forever have to live with the guilt of that. I’m not even sure life is worth living anymore,” Crumbley said in another message that was never sent.
Meloche testified that the two normally met in the parking lot of a Costco across the street from her job during the morning hours of work days, when Ethan Crumbley was at school. He testified that he never felt that Jennifer Crumbley did not care about her son.
He stopped communicating with Jennifer Crumbley when he saw on the news that police were trying to apprehend her and her husband, Meloche testified. The last time the two communicated was Dec. 4, 2021, he said.
Lt. Sam Marzban, an Oakland County detective, also testified that Jennifer Crumbley did not want to hand over her phone to police and was concerned about being able to contact people while police were conducting a search.
Marzban testified that he told Crumbley she could get a replacement phone and asked that she share the number with police. Marzban said Jennifer Crumbley seemed “irritated and frustrated” but was not crying while police searched their house, just hours after the shooting.
The prosecution said it expects to call two more witnesses Thursday morning before they rest. The defense is expected to begin presenting its case in the afternoon.
HBO has traditionally allowed the mercurial Larry David to decide whether or not there would be more seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm, but to Variety, he now says this is it.
At Tuesday night’s Los Angeles red carpet premiere for the forthcoming 12th and final season, David acknowledged to the trade that he’s said the show was over many times before.
“Yeah, I said it before. But I wasn’t 76 when I said it,” he noted.
The Seinfeld co-creator also expressed of the Emmy-winning show, “It’s time. Twelve years, that’s a lot for a television show — over 24 years. It was time.”
The series, which began in 1999 as a one-off mockumentary about David’s alleged return to stand-up comedy, launched as a series in 2000.
HBO had always given David a wide berth to return for subsequent seasons at his leisure. For instance, there was a six-year gap between seasons eight and nine.
During its run, the show racked up 51 Emmy nominations with two wins, including an Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy in 2002.
Curb Your Enthusiasm‘s 12th season kicks off on Sunday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and Max.
New episodes will debut subsequent Sundays at the same time, leading up to the series finale on April 7.
(ORLANDO, Fla.) — A federal judge in Florida has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Disney against Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials over the state legislature’s decision to alter the governing structure of the Reedy Creek Improvement District.
Disney had argued in the lawsuit, filed last April, that the change to the district, for which the company was the main landowner, was made in retaliation for criticism of the Parental Rights in Education Act, known by opponents as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
The Florida Legislature voted to dissolve the former governing board of the district and create a DeSantis-appointed Central Florida Tourism Oversight District in its place. The board voided a contract made before the CFTOD was in place, according to the lawsuit.
DeSantis has been at odds with Disney since it publicly criticized a DeSantis-backed controversial Florida law that restricts content concerning sexual orientation and gender identity in grades kindergarten through third grade.
Disney, citing concerns of discrimination, had said it “should never have passed and should never have been signed into law.”
Taryn Fenske, the communications director for DeSantis, told ABC News when the lawsuit was filed, “We are unaware of any legal right that a company has to operate its own government or maintain special privileges not held by other businesses in the state.”
DeSantis and J. Alex Kelly, the secretary of Florida’s Department of Commerce, had argued a lack of standing and 11th Amendment immunity in the case, both of which Winsor agreed on, while the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District argued a lack of merit in the case.
“The clerk will enter a judgment that says, ‘This case was resolved on motions to dismiss. Plaintiff’s claims against the Governor and the Department Secretary are dismissed without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Plaintiff’s claims against the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board members are dismissed on the merits for failure to state a claim,” U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor, who was appointed by then-President Donald Trump in 2018, wrote in concluding his decision.
Winsor wrote that Disney had not shown standing to sue the governor or secretary.
“The analysis could be different if the Governor had not yet made any appointments,” Winsor wrote. “But as things stand, if this court enjoined future appointments, Disney would face the same situation it faces now: it would be operating under the CFTOD board, over which it has no control. Stopping hypothetical future appointments would not redress any alleged imminent harm.”
The lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it can be brought again with proper standing.
“This is an important case with serious implications for the rule of law, and it will not end here,” a Disney spokesperson said. “If left unchallenged, this would set a dangerous precedent and give license to states to weaponize their official powers to punish the expression of political viewpoints they disagree with. We are determined to press forward with our case.”
Pink Floyd is releasing yet another version of The Dark Side of the Moon.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers just announced a 50th anniversary The Dark Side of the Moon Collector’sEdition, featuring the 2023 remastered version of the iconic album on crystal clear vinyl.
The two-LP, 180 gram set will feature UV artwork printing on the non-groove side of the LP, the first time they’ve used the UV printing process on vinyl. The artwork is of the iconic prism spectrum from the album’s cover, which can be seen through the playable side.
The Dark Side of the Moon Collector’s Edition will be released April 16. It is available for preorder now.
Pink Floyd released The Dark Side of the Moon on March 1, 1973. It has gone on to be the band’s most commercially successful album, having been certified 15-times Platinum. In 2012, it was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.
In 2023, in honor of the album’s 50th anniversary, Pink Floyd released a remastered version of the album along with an extensive box set that featured, among other things, a classic concert, The Dark Side of the Moon — Live at Wembley Empire Pool, London, 1974.
(LONDON) — More than three months after Israel began its siege in response to the surprise attack by the terrorist group Hamas on Oct. 7, the United Nations has been issuing major warnings of a catastrophic food crisis in Gaza, where they say more than half a million people are already starving.
Even before the war, roughly two-thirds of Gazans were reliant on food aid, according to the World Food Program.
But now the need is far higher with nearly 2 million people displaced and with Israel only allowing in roughly half the number of trucks compared to enter prior to the war, while intense fighting has made it dangerous to deliver food, according to the U.N.
The scale of the crisis is now such that roughly 577,000 Gazans, or 26% of the population, are starving, according to Arif Husain, the chief economist for WFP.
“If things continue as they are, or if things worsen, we are looking at a full-fledged famine within the next six months,” he told ABC News.
Almost all Gazans are now reliant on food aid for sustenance, according to the U.N.
Maryam al-Dahdough, a mother of four who is pregnant with another child, was one of the thousand people who line up daily at a soup kitchen in Rafah in southern Gaza.
She told ABC News that she has not eaten eggs, milk, or anything healthy for three months and it’s been worse for her other children.
“Fever, vomiting, diarrhea all day, not a single one of them is healthy,” she said.
Husain said that he has never seen a food crisis grow this dire so quickly in his 20 years of experience, saying in terms of scale, severity and speed it was “unprecedented.”
Israeli officials, who control the routes into Gaza, say they send 200 trucks of food and aid a day into the country. Before the war, 500 trucks were being sent to Gaza, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA.
Israeli officials denied accusations they are not letting enough food into Gaza and blamed Hamas for stealing aid. They also blamed the U.N. and other aid agencies for creating logistical bottlenecks.
The U.N. has disputed the Israeli officials’ claims, saying on average far less than two hundred trucks are entering most days. UN officials have said excessive Israeli inspections, as well as arbitrary rejections of some aid, frequently hold up deliveries.
“We are getting the average of trucks near 80, 80 trucks per day,” UNRWA spokesman Adnan Abo Hasna told ABC News.
UNRWA officials also say Israel provides too few authorizations to make deliveries into some areas and that heavy fighting often makes it too dangerous for aid workers to operate. Israel disputes the criticisms.
UNRWA has come under fire over the last week after Israeli officials accused a dozen of its workers of taking part in the Oct. 7 Hamas assault. Israeli officials claim one of those members participated in the kidnappings.
The U.N. condemned the alleged attacks and nine of those workers were fired. Two of the accused are reportedly dead and one has not immediately been identified, the U.N. said.
Not long after the allegations were announced on Friday, several nations and other organizations, including the U.S. State Department, announced that it would pause funding to the UNRWA as the investigation continues.
On Monday, a coalition of 20 non-governmental organizations, including Save the Children, sent out a letter condemning the funding pause, stressing that innocent Gazans will be left to suffer without aid from the organization.
“We are shocked by the reckless decision to cut a lifeline for an entire population by some of the very countries that had called for aid in Gaza to be stepped up and for humanitarians to be protected while doing their job,” the statement read.
UNRWA, which is the primary aid provider in Gaza and shelters around 1.4 million people, has warned that the funding suspension could impact its operations within weeks.
The worst of the situation is in northern Gaza, according to the U.N. which said Israel is granting few permissions for aid groups.
Some northern Gazan residents say deliveries are hard to reach, and those that manage to, often re-sell food for high prices.
Videos have shown stampedes breaking out, and hundreds of people crushed together scrabbling for food. A video captured in December showed shots were fired near an aid distribution point, though ABC News has not confirmed who fired the shots and IDF has said they had no known operations in the area at the time.
“I had seen people looking into the garbage of other people for food. And I felt so sad for them. But I never imagined that I would do something similar,” a northern Gazan woman who asked not to be identified over fears for her safety told ABC News.
There are also severe shortages of clean water, according to humanitarian groups.
The U.N. said 1.9 million Palestinians, roughly 85% of the country’s population, have been displaced to camps and other settlements where fresh water is hard to come by and humanitarian aid groups have warned of disease epidemics in those locations.
Ahmad Ismael, who has been living in a tent in a camp with thousands of other displaced people in Rafah with his four children, told ABC News that they have to use a small bucket for a toilet.
“You wake up to think about the situation of the tent. Is there water flowing or not,” he said.
“We receive canned food from the agency’s warehouse every two or three days. It doesn’t meet our needs, and comes incomplete, but we buy other things, and we make our food here over the fire,” Ismael added.
As Israel continues to advance in southern Gaza, more Palestinians continue to flee combat areas and there is more pressure on aid agencies to deliver needed supplies.
“We hope to God that the war will stop, we have had enough,” Ismael said. “Let us go back to our lives.”
