As part of the ongoing celebration of their 40th anniversary, the New Jersey rockers just launched what they’re calling Backstage with Bon Jovi, an online archive of the band’s history.
“This is a labor of love, meticulously curated to bring you the very best of Bon Jovi’s history,” reads a post on the band’s Instagram. “More than just a collection of memories. It’s a place for us to connect and celebrate together.”
Jon Bon Jovi says in a video that the band has been working on the online archive for the past two years. “We have archived every notebook, every cassette, every video, guitars, clothes, press clippings, things we didn’t know we had and it’s all there for you,” he shares. “Enjoy it”
Jon is set to be honored this weekend as the Recording Academy’s 2024 MusiCares Person of the Year. The band will perform at the gala, which takes place at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Friday, February 2, two nights before the Grammy Awards. Artists set to celebrate Jon are Bruce Springsteen, Melissa Etheridge, Goo Goo Dolls and more.
Larry David, the Emmy-winning co-creator of Seinfeld and star of Curb Your Enthusiasm, is going live for a limited time.
A Conversation With Larry David will be held both at The Anthem venue in Washington, D.C., on March 29 and at Boston’s MGM Music Hall at Fenway on April 1.
Presale tickets are up for grabs starting Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET at Live Nation and Ticketmaster; general ticket sales will start at the same time on February 2.
In a statement to Variety, the acerbic David said, “Hi everyone! It’s Larry. I’m really looking forward to seeing you all. Just so you know, I’ve recently had plastic surgery on my face and the doctor, who everyone raved about, totally botched it, leaving me devoid of all expression.”
He concluded, “So if I seem more sour than usual, that’s the reason, but don’t let it stop you from having fun!”
Incidentally, Larry recently warned fans of a “pronounced lisp” because of a dental mishap blamed on his taking up the “Jew’s harp” when he announced he’d be attending this year’s PaleyFest LA.
Curb Your Enthusiasm‘s 12th and final 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.
A Palestinian elderly woman crosses a street which has been bulldozed by the Israeli forces during a raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on January 29, 2024 amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza. (Photo by ZAIN JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — More than 100 days since Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, the Israeli military continues its bombardment of the neighboring Gaza Strip.
The conflict, now the deadliest between the warring sides since Israel’s founding in 1948, shows no signs of letting up soon and the brief cease-fire that allowed for over 100 hostages to be freed from Gaza remains a distant memory.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 30, 3:11 PM
Israel channeling water into Gaza tunnels
The Israel Defense Forces said its soldiers are sending “large volumes of water” into Gaza tunnels to try to stop terrorist infrastructure.
“The pumping of water was only carried out in tunnel routes and locations that were suitable, matching the method of operation to each case,” the IDF said in a statement. “This project was developed following combat procedures, accelerated force-building efforts, and while training forces with technological expertise.”
“This tool represents a significant engineering and technological breakthrough in combating the threat of underground terror infrastructure and is the result of a collaborative effort between various bodies in Israel’s security establishment,” the IDF added.
Jan 30, 12:52 PM
Proposed hostage deal includes at least 6-week pause in hostilities: US officials
The latest proposed hostage deal includes an at least six-week pause in hostilities, during which the remaining civilian hostages in Gaza would be returned in phases, with the elderly, women and any remaining children released first, two U.S. officials confirmed to ABC News.
When the six-week truce nears the end, the framework calls for the parties to begin discussing: the return of all Israeli soldiers detained by Hamas; paving the way for all hostages in Gaza to be freed; and possibly extending the pause, the U.S. officials said.
The framework also includes the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel and additional humanitarian provisions for civilians in Gaza, the officials said.
According to an Israeli source, Israel has rejected this current hostage and cease-fire deal on the table.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Tuesday the group is studying a proposal for a hostage and cease-fire deal that was put forward during talks this weekend in Paris. He said he would visit Egypt to discuss the plan and ways to implement it.
The White House is expressing confidence to secure the release of the remaining hostages being held by Hamas even after Israel rejected the current deal.
“The president’s view is we got to continue to do everything we can to get those hostages out,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Tuesday. “We are making progress on trying to get an extended pause in place so that we can get those hostages out. And the president’s not going to wait on that.”
Kirby would not say if President Joe Biden was disappointed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not release thousands of prisoners and pull troops out of Gaza as part of the deal.
“I think we’ll let the prime minister speak for himself. There’s no reason for us to change course here. We still believe that this is the right thing to do,” he said.
Kirby said national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Amir Sheikh Al Thani of Qatar Tuesday to discuss the war and efforts to get a hostage deal in place. Sullivan is also meeting Tuesday with the families of hostages being held by Hamas.
ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Justin Gomez
Jan 30, 12:08 PM
Israel rejects current hostage deal on the table: Israeli source
Israel has rejected the current hostage and cease-fire deal that was on the table, an Israeli source told ABC News Tuesday.
The deal included the release of women, the elderly and the injured hostages. This is likely to be the terms of the first round of a future deal, the source said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday, “I hear talk about all kinds of deals. I would like to make it clear: We will not conclude this war without achieving all of its goals. This means eliminating Hamas, returning all of our hostages and ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel.”
Meanwhile, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Tuesday the group is studying a proposal for a hostage and cease-fire deal that was put forward during talks this weekend in Paris. He said he would visit Egypt to discuss the plan and ways to implement it.
ABC News’ Jordana Miller, Ayat Al-Tawy and Dana Savir
Jan 30, 6:41 AM
UNRWA funding cuts threaten Palestinian lives, NGOs warn
Twenty aid organizations have joined together to express deep concern and outrage that some of the largest donors suspended funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the largest humanitarian agency in the Gaza Strip and the main provider for millions of Palestinians in the wider region.
A wave of countries, including the United States, have cut funding for UNRWA in recent days over Israel’s accusations that 13 UNRWA staff members in Gaza were involved in the Oct. 7 terror attack. UNRWA said it is investigating the allegations.
In a joint statement released Monday, 20 non-governmental organizations, including Oxfam and Save the Children, urged the donor states to reverse their suspensions and warned that not doing so could lead to “a complete collapse of the already restricted humanitarian response in Gaza.”
“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 NGOs said. “This decision comes as the International Court of Justice ordered immediate and effective action to ensure the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.”
The NGOs warned: “If the funding suspensions are not reversed we may see a complete collapse of the already restricted humanitarian response in Gaza.”
“The suspension of funding by donor states will impact life-saving assistance for over two million civilians, over half of whom are children, who rely on UNRWA aid in Gaza,” they added. “The population faces starvation, looming famine and an outbreak of disease under Israel’s continued indiscriminate bombardment and deliberate deprivation of aid in Gaza.”
Jan 30, 5:35 AM
Israeli soldiers dressed in disguise kill 3 in raid at hospital in West Bank
The Palestinian Ministry of Health on Tuesday released security camera footage showing Israeli troops in disguise as they raideda hospital in the occupied West Bank overnight.
In the video, soldiers are seen dressed as doctors and patients while holding rifles and walking through the corridors of Ibn Sina Hospital in the city of Jenin. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said three people were killed during the raid, which it called a “flagrant violation of all international norms and laws.”
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the overnight raid in a statement early Tuesday, saying its troops “neutralized” three “terrorists” who were “hiding” inside Ibn Sina Hospital, one of whom was a member of Hamas and was allegedly planning an attack “inspired by the October 7th massacre.”
“For a long time, wanted suspects have been hiding in hospitals and using them as a base for planning terrorist activities and carrying out terror attacks, while they assume that the exploitation of hospitals will serve as protection against counterterrorism activities of Israeli security forces,” the IDF said. “This is another example of the cynical use of civilian areas and hospitals as shelters and human shields by terrorist organisations.”
Jan 29, 3:29 PM
Qatari prime minister: Hostage talks in ‘much better place’ now than a few weeks ago
The Qatari prime minister said Monday that the hostage talks between Israel and Hamas are in a “much better place” now than they were “a few weeks ago,” according to Reuters.
He also said he hoped the drone attack by Iran-backed militants that killed three American service members in Jordan won’t derail progress that’s been made on a hostage deal.
“I hope that nothing would undermine the efforts that we are doing or jeopardize that process,” Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Bin Jassim Al-Thani said at a think tank event in Washington, D.C., according to Reuters. “Yet it will definitely have an impact on it and one way or another, it will have an impact on the regional security and we hope that things get contained and not to get escalated beyond control.”
Jan 29, 12:30 PM
IDF: Quarter of Hamas terrorists killed
One “quarter of Hamas’ terrorists have been killed and at least another quarter are wounded,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday while visiting troops at the Gaza border.
Gallant said fighting the remaining terrorists “will take months.”
“On the other hand,” he continued, “the terrorists don’t have supplies, they don’t have ammunition, they don’t have reinforcements.”
ABC News’ Dana Savir
Jan 29, 11:50 AM
Dossier from Israel alleges 4 UNRWA employees involved in kidnappings
A dossier from the Israeli military has revealed new allegations against employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees who are accused of being involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
The report obtained by ABC News alleges that 13 UNRWA employees participated in the Oct. 7 attack, including six employees who allegedly infiltrated Israel.
Four UNRWA employees were allegedly involved in kidnappings and one employee allegedly supplied logistical support, the report said.
One UNRWA teacher is accused of kidnapping a hostage, who has returned to Israel and identified the UNRWA teacher, the report said.
Nine countries, including the U.S., have paused funding for the UNRWA in wake of the allegations. The commissioner-general of UNRWA is investigating.
ABC News’ Matt Gutman
Jan 29, 7:00 AM
IDF general answers questions about alleged war crimes in southern Gaza
ABC News embedded with Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfus, commander of the Israel Defense Forces’ 98th Division that currently controls the southern Gaza Strip, and questioned him about alleged war crimes, the recent killing of an unarmed Palestinian carrying a white flag and the controversial buffer zone.
On Saturday, ABC News met with Goldfus in what looked like a post-apocalyptic neighborhood in Khan Younis, where machine guns chattered, detonations thundered and the blasts of tank fire rang out. Some of the explosions were so powerful that they blew in the curtains of the commandeered Palestinian home that the general and his staff have turned into a temporary headquarters.
Outside the headquarters were a series of arena-sized basins. One was about 60 feet deep and larger than a football field. A month ago, it was a multi-acre cemetery. Flanking the destroyed cemetery was the remains of a mosque — half of a dome listing on its side like a sinking ship. Goldfus told ABC News that his troops had dug up most of the cemetery looking for tunnel shafts belonging to Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules Gaza. The general pointed out where he said they found tunnel shafts, but ABC News could not visually verify due to the depth of the pit.
When asked what his troops do with the bodies if they dig up graves while hunting for tunnel shafts, Goldfus told ABC News: “We’ll put them aside.”
The intentional destruction of religious sites, such as cemeteries, without military necessity violates international law and could amount to war crimes. But Goldfus said he’s not concerned because Hamas had turned the cemetery and the adjacent mosque into a “military compound” that was “used to attack my forces again and again and again.”
“I’m not digging up a cemetery, I’m digging up a military compound,” he added.
When asked what he would say to the families of the people who were buried there, the general told ABC News: “I’m very sorry about it. Your relatives are being used as a human shield.”
Last week, British television network ITV captured what it said were Israeli snipers in Khan Younis gunning down an unarmed Palestinian man carrying a white flag who had moments earlier told the news team that he was trying to cross the battle lines to reach his family. At the time, Israel claimed the ITV video was edited and that there was no way of telling who fired the shots. However, while speaking to ABC News on Saturday, Goldfus appeared to take responsibility for the incident.
“Yes, it was my troops and I’m investigating that incident,” he told ABC News. “That is not the way we carry out rules of engagement. No, we don’t fire people waving white flags. We don’t fire at civilians.”
When pressed on the fact that Israeli troops have killed civilians in Gaza, the general said: “They are mistakes. It is war.”
Asked whether Israeli soldiers could face criminal charges for the fatal shooting, Goldfus told ABC News that “it depends.”
“We investigate every mistake that is done,” he added.
The general also answered questions about the buffer zone the IDF is creating inside Gaza along the coastal enclave’s border with Israel.
“This is part of the area that will become a buffer zone … to dismantle Hamas and prevent any entity that will try to carry out any terror attacks against our people,” he told ABC News while looking at a table-sized aerial map of the Gaza-Israel border.
Goldfus said the buffer zone will create an area inside Gaza that is under Israel’s control.
-ABC News’ Matt Gutman and Sohel Uddin
Jan 28, 2:24 PM
‘Constructive meeting’ with officials but ‘gaps’ remain, Israeli PM’s office says
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office released a statement on Sunday’s talks between CIA Director Bill Burns, the prime minister of Qatar and intelligence officials from Israel and Egypt.
The meeting was “constructive” but “significant gaps” remain, the statement said, adding that more meetings are expected this coming week.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Jan 28, 4:40 AM
UN chief appeals for continued UNRWA funding
The secretary-general of the United Nations appealed on Sunday for continuing funding for the U.N. aid agency responsible for Gaza.
Nine countries, including the United States, paused their funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees after Israel accused 12 of its employees of being involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
Mark Regev, an Israeli spokesman, told ABC News in a phone interview Sunday that Israel gathered intelligence about the alleged connection to terrorism through videos released by Hamas and others during the Oct. 7 attack and claimed there’s “clear unrefutable evidence that U.N. paid staff were involved in crimes against humanity.”
About 2 million people in Gaza depend on the agency for daily survival, Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement Sunday.
According to Guterres, “Of the 12 people implicated, nine were immediately identified and terminated by the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini; one is confirmed dead, and the identity of the two others is being clarified.”
“The abhorrent alleged acts of these staff members must have consequences,” he said in the statement.
He added, “But the tens of thousands of men and women who work for UNRWA, many in some of the most dangerous situations for humanitarian workers, should not be penalized. The dire needs of the desperate populations they serve must be met.”
-ABC News’ Matt Gutman, Edward Szekeres and Kevin Shalvey
Jan 27, 5:13 PM
9 nations suspend contributions to UNRWA due to Oct. 7 allegations
The number of nations pausing funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East has risen to 9 — an unprecedented number for a UN agency. This withdrawal of funding comes amid allegations from Israeli officials that some of the agency’s staff were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.
On Saturday, Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Finland joined the U.S., Australia and Canada in pausing funding to UNRWA.
“UNRWA lifesaving assistance is about to end following countries decisions to cut their funding to the Agency. Our humanitarian operation, on which 2 million people depend as a lifeline in Gaza, is collapsing. I am shocked such decisions are taken based on alleged behavior of a few individuals and as the war continues, needs are deepening & famine looms,” the commissioner general of UNRWA said in a statement.
“Palestinians in Gaza did not need this additional collective punishment. This stains all of us,” the statement said.
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and The Black Crowes are among the acts booked for the inaugural Minnesota Yacht Club Festival, held July 19-20 at Harriet Island Regional Park in St. Paul.
The festival also features headliners Red Hot Chili Peppers, Gwen Stefani and Alanis Morissette, along with Soul Asylum, The Offspring, The Head and the Heart, Gary Clark Jr. and more.
If you’re wondering where the “Yacht Club” part comes in, attendees over 21 can sign up for the Riverboat VIP experience, which includes a 60-minute cruise on the Mississippi River.
Tickets will go on presale beginning Friday, February 2, at 10 a.m. CT. For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit MinnesotaYachtClubFestival.com.
The SXSW Film & TV Festival announced Tuesday that The Idea of You, the forthcoming romantic comedy starring Oscar winner Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine, will close this year’s fest, which runs March 8-16 in Austin, Texas.
Based on Robinne Lee‘s bestselling 2017 novel, co-producer and star Hathaway plays Solène, a divorced, 40-year-old single mom who finds herself in a relationship with Hayes, the 24-year-old star of the biggest boy band in the world, August Moon.
Galitzine plays the young singer who hits it off with Hathaway’s character in the film from former SXSW Film & TV Fest winner Michael Showalter.
In the announcement, Claudette Godfrey, VP of SXSW Film & TV, called The Idea of You a “sexy, unexpected masterpiece” that has a “fresh perspective on love, age, attraction, and the timeless nature of human connection.”
She adds, “We can’t wait for our audiences to have fun falling in love with Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine as their irresistible chemistry catches fire!”
Joni Mitchell has announced yet another live performance.
The 80-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer will headline a special Joni Jam at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on October 19, marking her first live show in California since 2000.
Brandi Carlile will once again be joining Joni onstage. Previous Joni Jams at the Newport Folk Festival and in Gorge, Washington, featured special guest appearances by such artists as Annie Lennox, Sarah McLachlan, Marcus Mumford and more.
A Joni presale begins Wednesday, January 31, with tickets going on sale to the general public Friday, February 2.
News of the Hollywood Bowl show comes days after Joni was confirmed as a performer on the 66th Grammy Awards, taking place Sunday, February 4. It will mark her first-ever Grammy performance. She is also nominated this year in the Best Folk Album category for Joni Mitchell at Newport (Live).
A new sitcom starring Reba McEntire is about to hit the small screens.
The country icon is joining forces once again with Reba executive producers Kevin Abbott, Michael Hanel and Mindy Schultheis for a new NBC comedy pilot.
According to Deadline, the multi-camera comedy follows Reba’s character who “inherits her father’s restaurant and is less than thrilled to discover that she has a new business partner in the half-sister she never knew she had.”
The as-yet-untitled show will be produced by Universal Studio Group’s Universal Television and will also be executive-produced by Julie Abbott.
Coming up, you can catch Reba performing the national anthem on the Super Bowl 58 pregame show February 11 on CBS. She’ll then return as coach on season 25 of The Voice, premiering February 26 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
(NEW YORK) — A “game jam” is an online competition for people who make games, whether tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons or video games like Minecraft or Call of Duty. But most game jam submissions are a lot smaller than those titles. Teams are often small, and they usually only have a few weeks to develop their games.
“You see a lot of first-time game designers, because it’s a very approachable way of designing your first game, because the expectations are very low,” Randy Lubin, who has helped organize game jams for a few years, tells ABC Audio. “Because it’s just something that’s being produced over the course of a weekend, or maybe a week or so, nobody’s expecting the highest quality, highest caliber game content.”
Still, the smaller scale hasn’t impacted the popularity of game jams.
“These have gotten immensely popular in the last half decade if not longer, with there being dedicated sites online just to game jams,” says Lubin.
Video games can be based on all kinds of things, from Pokémon to Spider-Man. But small game developers, like those who participate in jams, often don’t have the money to license those properties from the copyright owners. That’s why some are turning to the public domain, a set of laws that designate when movies, artwork, music, and books become free to use.
“If you locked up works indefinitely, then you are preventing the opportunity for others to build on those works to create new works, which is something that we as a society see to be beneficial,” says Aaron Moss, a copyright attorney based in Los Angeles.
Certain versions of Sherlock Holmes, Frankenstein, Winnie the Pooh and more are currently available to artists because of the public domain, giving rise to a fresh crop of movies, music, writing, and, of course, games.
Lubin is one of the organizers behind Gaming Like It’s 1928, alongside co-organizers Leigh Beadon and Mike Masnick. It’s a game jam that requires participants to create games incorporating works that have recently entered the public domain.
Characters like Sherlock Holmes, Frankenstein, even Winnie the Pooh have all entered the public domain in recent years. But Masnick says this year promises to be a big one.
“1928 has been on the radar of copyright folks for a long time,” he says.
That’s because Steamboat Willie came out that year — the animated, black and white Disney short film that marks the classic cartoon debut of Mickey Mouse.
Mickey Mouse is more than just the mascot of Disney, the parent company of ABC News. It’s also a character that’s been the subject of years of lobbying and negotiation. Masnick says Disney has retained the rights of the Steamboat Willie cartoon up to this year through a law known as the Copyright Term Extension Act.
“In fact, people kind of jokingly, or condescendingly, referred to the last Copyright Term Extension Act as the Mickey Mouse Protection Act,” says Masnick.
But as of January 1, Steamboat Willie is now in the public domain. However, game designers and other artists don’t have free rein on the Mickey Mouse character.
“When you have a character like Mickey Mouse, that has changed over time, later works in which the character has appeared may and still are protected by copyright,” says Moss.
Steamboat Willie features the original design of Mickey Mouse, which means that iteration of the character is free to use. But the later Fantasia cartoon, for example, features an updated look for Mickey. That version is still owned by Disney – and therefore still subject to the same penalties.
“If there are damages that make it worthwhile for the copyright owner to file a lawsuit, [they] could theoretically file a lawsuit,” says Moss.
Regarding Steamboat Willie entering the public domain, Disney told ABC Audio in a statement that “people have associated the character with Disney’s stories, experiences, and authentic products. That will not change when the copyright in the Steamboat Willie film expires.” The statement goes on to say, “We will, of course, continue to protect our rights in the more modern versions of Mickey Mouse and other works that remain subject to copyright, and we will work to safeguard against consumer confusion caused by unauthorized uses of Mickey.”
But the Gaming Like It’s 1928 crew says fights over copyright are not something they’ve had to deal with.
“Not yet! You know, my fingers are crossed,” says Beadon.
“We are always watching for that and wondering if it will happen,” says Masnick, adding, “we try to be pretty clear with the folks who are entering the game jam about the limitations. And to make sure that they do their best to understand what is allowed and what is not. But to date, we have not had any copyright holders complain.”
What’s more, Beadon says the hype around Steamboat Willie this year may end up being overblown.
“We do expect a lot of games using Mickey Mouse, but sometimes we’re surprised,” he says. “We expected to get almost all games using Winnie The Pooh when he entered the public domain, but there were fewer than we thought.”
Already, Mickey has appeared in one of the Game Jam submissions. But there’s also more obscure works, like “Author Tycoon,” a game where players are tasked with selling books and short stories from 1928. There’s also “In Old Arizona,” a tabletop game based on a movie from that year.
“We all love that, when someone finds an obscure, really out there work,” says Beadon. “You can go to the Internet Archive or somewhere like that and search for works published in 1928 and find, like, scientific studies, and municipal journals of sewage design. And you never know when one of these might yield some really interesting diagram or some really interesting something that you can use to make a game.”
In fact, Lubin says they even have a category dedicated to the super obscure.
“One of our favorite sub-prizes, sub-awards, is for ‘Deep Cut.’ Which is something that nobody ever – or nobody living – has probably ever heard of,” says Lubin.
They also award prizes for best visuals, and best tabletop game.
Gaming Like It’s 1928 stops taking submissions at the end of this month. Winners will be announced in mid-February. But Lubin says whichever entries take home prizes, the game jam has a promising future, as works from the 1930s begin entering the public domain.
“Some of the more famous Charlie Chaplin movies, ‘Gone With The Wind,’ ‘The Wizard Of Oz,’ and so I think that will enable new and different types of remixing original content into games. That’ll be really exciting,” says Lubin.
(NEW YORK) — Ohio lawmakers have introduced a bill that would allow execution by nitrogen gas, a controversial practice critics call untested and lacking in evidence that it’s more humane than lethal injection, after Alabama became the first state to execute someone with nitrogen gas.
Ohio state Reps. Phil Plummer and Brian Stewart, both Republicans, introduced legislation during a press conference Tuesday that would allow executions to be conducted via nitrogen gas, known as nitrogen hypoxia.
“Nitrogen hypoxia is an alternative method for carrying out capital punishment that has been made available in other states,” Stewart told reporters. “The legislation introduced by Rep. Plummer and I will authorize the state of Ohio to utilize nitrogen hypoxia, in addition to lethal injection, and directed [that] it shall be used in instances where lethal injection is not an available means of carrying out a capital sentence.”
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost expressed his support for the bill during the press conference and said he believes some crimes are “so heinous” they deserve the “ultimate punishment.”
“I am aware of the moral weight of this debate, but this is law of the land,” Yost said. “If we wish to break the promises that we made to the families of all these victims over all these years, if we wish to not keep faith with the jurors that we asked to take this heavy weight on to make a judgment, then we owe it to our society and to all those that are involved to own our decision to change our minds.”
Yost previously expressed support for the nitrogen gas method after Kenneth Smith, 58, a convicted murderer, was put to death Thursday in Alabama. Three states — Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma — have approved nitrogen gas as a form of execution.
The protocol in Alabama called for Smith to be strapped to a gurney and fitted with a mask and a breathing tube. The mask is meant to administer 100% pure nitrogen, depriving the person of oxygen until they die.
“Perhaps nitrogen — widely available and easy to manufacture — can break the impasse of unavailability of drugs for lethal injection,” Yost wrote Friday on the platform X, previously known as Twitter. “Death row inmates are in greater danger of dying of old age than their sentence.”
Ohio currently has 129 people on death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that provides data and analysis on capital punishment.
The state has not executed anyone since 2018, when a de-facto moratorium was put in place. At the time, the governor’s office claimed there was a lack of access to certain drugs used for lethal injection.
Stewart on Tuesday criticized Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, for issuing several reprieves and questioned whether it was actually difficult to obtain lethal injection drugs.
“Florida has been using lethal injection drugs during that entire period of time; other states have, as well, including the federal government,” he said during the press conference. “I think we have a reasonable question as to whether it’s actually a[n] impossibility to find those drugs if all the other states and the federal government are able to do so.”
DeWine told The Associated Press in 2020 that “[l]ethal injection appears to us to be impossible from a practical point of view today,” and said he was unsure if capital punishment is a crime deterrent.
Tennessee inmate on death row for 28 years fights for his freedom
Yost told reporters Tuesday that nitrogen gas is widely available commercially, can be manufactured easily and that he believes the state should be able to secure a contract to obtain the gas.
While Alabama officials said execution by nitrogen gas was a more humane and painless form of death, medical and legal experts previously told ABC News there was no evidence to suggest this.
Additionally, eyewitnesses to Smith’s execution said it took 22 minutes to complete, The Associated Press reported, and that, “for at least two minutes, he appeared to shake and writhe on the gurney, sometimes pulling against the restraints.” State officials had said Smith would lose consciousnesses within seconds and die within minutes.
In Ohio, not everyone is in support of resuming executions, In September 2023, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers introduced a bill that would abolish the death penalty and make the maximum sentence for a crime be life in prison without parole.
David Giesbrecht/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
If you’re in trouble and if he were real, Americans would call attorney Harvey Specter.
The stylish and skilled law partner played by Gabriel Macht in Suits has topped a new list of the most popular fictional lawyers in America.
The study, conducted by Georgia-based injury lawyers Bader Scott, looked into Google search data for characters from movies and TV who are in the legal profession, and with 140,000 monthly searches, Harvey was the cream of the crop.
In fact, the legal drama-turned-streaming phenomenon birthed three of the list’s top 10 legal eagles.
Coming second was Saul Goodman, Bob Odenkirk‘s character from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, who had 131,411 average monthly searches.
Louis Litt, Rick Hoffman‘s scheming Suits character, ranked third with 85,188 searches.
Fourth place went to Gomez Addams of The Addams Family — yes, he was a man of the law, too. He got 82,070 searches on average.
In fifth place was Harvey Dent/Two-Face, known to Batman fans as Gotham City’s district attorney. He was played by Aaron Eckhart in 2008’s The Dark Knight, by Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever in 1995 and by Billy Dee Williams in Tim Burton‘s 1989 Batman.
Sixth place went to Kerry Washington‘s Olivia Pope from Scandal; the seventh slot belonged to Reese Witherspoon‘s Legally Blonde character Elle Woods; Gina Torres‘ Jessica Pearson from Suits was eighth, and finishing the top 10 was Matt Murdock/Daredevil, most recently portrayed by Charlie Cox in Spider-Man: No Way Home on the big screen and Echo on Disney+.
Meanwhile, speaking of Suits, Torres, Hoffman and Sarah Rafferty will appear together in a court-themed Super Bowl ad for e.l.f. cosmetics, according to a sneak peek from People.
