Move over, Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean and Dierks Bentley: There’s a new country star-owned bar coming to downtown Nashville.
Eric Church is planning to open a new hot spot called Chief’s. Occupying the spot formerly owned by John Rich-owned Cotton Eyed Joe — which Rich and his partners sold for $24.5 million late last year, per the Tennessean — Chief’s is due to open in 2023.
The country superstar says opening his own bar is the “culmination of catching” a dream that he’s been chasing ever since he first moved to town.
“Like everything else we do in our career, I wouldn’t even attempt a project like this if I didn’t think it would be the best, so that’s what Chief’s will be: The best,” he explains.
Named for Eric’s 2011 Chief album, and the nickname that fans have given him, the singer’s new spot is personal on every level. Drawing on his Carolina roots, Eric’s enlisting James Beard Award winner and Charleston native Rodney Scott to bring his Whole Hog BBQ to a rooftop restaurant at the top of Chief’s six-story building.
Plus, the bar and restaurant will have a designated seated music venue, ready to host ticketed shows. That’s a big difference from many of the other spots on Nashville’s neon-splattered Lower Broadway, known for its boisterous, packed, standing-room-only honky tonks.
Chief’s is the latest in a fast-growing trend of country stars opening up their own bars. Florida Georgia Line and Miranda Lambert are two more who’ve gotten into the bar and restaurant game in recent years.
Family of four coming through — Julia Stiles and husband Preston Cook have welcomed baby number two!
Sharing a photo of their newborn’s feet, the 40-year-old actress shared that she’d given birth in an Instagram post on Wednesday.
“Welcome to the world, Baby Arlo! The newest addition to our family, reminding me how infinite love can be,” the Save the Last Dance alum captioned the pic. “Scroll Forward to see how my 4 year old is taking it.”
Those who scrolled were treated to a snapshot of a toilet, which her four-year-old son, Strummer, had drawn on with red marker.
Stiles and Cook, who met on set in 2015, tied the knot in 2017 while pregnant with their first child.
(NEW YORK) — Prices have continued to climb from the grocery store to the gas station amid the pandemic. According to a new report, the prices of some foods and household staples are heading higher.
Kraft Heinz alerted customers that its prices will go up in March on dozens of popular products including certain SKUs of Velveeta cheese by 6.6%, hot dogs and cold cuts by 10% and Oscar Mayer turkey bacon by 30%.
Even coffee is affected — Kraft Heinz’s Maxwell House coffee price would go up by 5%, the company said.
Prices have risen steadily across the food industry, with unprecedented ingredient, labor and transportation shortages coupled with surging demand driving prices higher.
Kraft Heinz said the price increases are not a sweeping action across all its products and instead applies specifically to products experiencing the greatest cost pressures.
Officials at the Federal Reserve on Wednesday signaled they are on the verge of addressing this issue of soaring prices by potentially hiking interest rates very “soon.”
“With inflation well above 2 percent and a strong labor market, the Committee expects it will soon be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate,” the Fed said in a statement Wednesday.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that “inflation remains well above our longer run goal of 2%,” which it notably has for some time now. He attributed this largely to supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic and the reopening of the economy.
ABC News’ Catherine Thorbecke contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A snow storm is bearing down on the East Coast, with snow even expected to reach as far south as coastal North Carolina.
The brunt of the storm will hit from eastern Long Island to coastal Massachusetts, with moderate to major impacts for the Interstate 95 corridor from Philadelphia to New York City to Boston.
The storm will begin in the overnight hours early Saturday for Philadelphia and New York City. Snow will continue into Saturday afternoon in New England.
Boston could see more than 1 foot of snow. New York City is forecast to get 4 to 8 inches of snow while Philadelphia could see about 3 to 5 inches.
The New Jersey coast and the mid-Atlantic could get over 6 inches of snow and North Carolina could get up to 4 inches.
Ahead of the storm is a deep freeze. Bitter cold is hitting the East Coast Thursday morning with a wind chill — what temperature it feels like — at about 8 degrees in New York, 2 degrees in Boston, 15 in Raleigh and 24 in Atlanta.
And behind the snow storm will be the coldest temperatures in years for Florida. Sunday morning the wind chill could plunge to 23 degrees in Orlando and 29 degrees in Miami.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.6 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 876,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 63.5% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 27, 8:01 am
New Hampshire to sell rapid COVID-19 tests at liquor stores
Rapid at-home COVID-19 testing kits will soon be on sale at liquor stores across New Hampshire, according to Gov. Chris Sununu.
Sununu announced Wednesday that the New Hampshire Executive Council unanimously approved a request by the state’s Department of Health and Human Services to use federal funds from the American Rescue Plan to secure 1 million over-the-counter antigen test kits for liquor store customers. The tests are expected to hit shelves within the next two weeks.
“In addition to tax-free liquor and lottery tickets, you’ll be able to grab a tax-free test,” the governor wrote on Twitter Wednesday.
Sununu said the test kits will be sold “at cost” for about $13, which can be reimbursed through health insurance, though that will vary from company to company.
Jan 26, 6:36 pm
1st participant dosed in Moderna’s omicron-specific vaccine
Moderna announced Wednesday that the first participant has been dosed in the phase 2 study of its omicron-specific booster candidate, in case it becomes necessary.
Moderna’s trials will include people who received two doses of the original Moderna vaccine and people who received two doses of the original Moderna vaccine and a Moderna booster shot.
Pfizer announced Tuesday that it’s initiated clinical studies to evaluate an omicron-based vaccine for adults.
Jan 26, 5:00 pm
NIH trial finds mixing and matching boosters is safe and effective
A study from the National Institutes of Health published in the New England Journal of Medicine found mixing and matching boosters are safe and create a similar immune response to sticking with your initial vaccine.
An earlier version of this study, with more preliminary findings, helped guide the CDC’s decision to allow mix-and-match.
The study authors make no claims about specific combinations being more or less effective. The study did find that people who got an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna) and then received the Johnson & Johnson booster had a significant increase in T-cell response, a part of immunity.
The trial looked at 458 participants who received a vaccine with no prior COVID-19 infection. This data is only for the first 29 days after receiving the booster; researchers plan to follow the participants for one year, allowing for more data.
-ABC News’ Vanya Jain, Sony Salzman, Eric Strauss, Dr. Alexis Carrington
Jan 26, 4:47 pm
Unvaccinated child dies in Mississippi
An unvaccinated child has died in Mississippi from COVID-19, according to the state’s health department.
The department confirmed to ABC News that the child was between the ages of 11 and 17, an age bracket that is eligible to receive Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
This marked the 10th child — including an infant — to die in Mississippi from COVID-19. None of the 10 children were vaccinated, according to the health department.
The Directors Guild revealed its TV nominations Wednesday, and Succession is sure to pick up one of those awards — all five nominees for Dramatic Series are episodes of the HBO drama. In the Comedy Series category, Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso is a triple nominee, alongside HBO Max’s Hacks and HBO’s The White Lotus. The Movies for Television and Limited Series category includes Barry Jenkins for Amazon’s The Underground Railroad, Barry Levinson and Danny Strong for separate episodes of Hulu’s Dopesick, Hiro Murai for HBO Max’s Station Eleven and Craig Zobel for HBO’s Mare of Easttown. The full list of nominees can be found here. The guild will reveal its film nominations on Thursday. 2022 DGA Awards will be handed out March 12…
The U.S. premiere date for the anticipated Downton Abbey film sequel, Downton Abbey: A New Era, has been moved from March 18 to May 20, according to Variety. The sequel, from Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, reunites the original principal cast — including Hugh Bonneville, Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery, Joanne Froggatt and Penelope Wilton, who return alongside newcomers Hugh Dancy, Laura Haddock, Nathalie Baye and Dominic West — as they journey to the South of France to uncover the mystery of the Dowager Countess’ newly inherited villa…
Kathryn Kates, the veteran character actress whose credits include Orange Is the New Black, Seinfeld and Law & Order: SVU, died Saturday “after a hard fought battle with lung cancer,” her reps tell People. She was 73. Kates’ other TV credits include Matlock, Seinfeld, Judging Amy, Lizzie McGuire and Caroline in the City and Shades of Blue. Most recently, Kates appeared in last year’s short film Welcome to Sarajevo, and portrayed Angie DeCarlo in The Sopranos prequel movie The Many Saints of Newark…
(VENANGO COUNTY, Pa.) — The family of a Jamaican immigrant is calling his death a “modern-day lynching” after he was found shot to death on the front lawn of a rural Pennsylvania cabin.
Peter Bernardo Spencer, 29, was invited by a co-worker to join him at a cabin in Rockland Township, Pennsylvania, on Dec. 11, according to his family.
On Dec. 12, just a few hours later, Spencer was found with nine bullet wounds: one to the mouth, two in his buttocks and six in his abdomen or chest, according to the Venango County Coroner.
“They are trying to sweep this under the rug,” Spencer’s sister, Tehilah, wrote on a GoFundMe page. “We will not let them … He was slaughtered and killed in what I consider an act of modern-day lynching!”
Paul Jubas, the family’s lawyer, released autopsy photos of Spencer on his social media accounts at the family’s request. Jubas said the coroner’s assertion that he was shot in the chest and abdomen is a “misrepresentation” and that the photos indicate at least four of the shots were to Spencer’s back.
Pennsylvania State Police were called to the home around 2:30 a.m. and found Spencer dead on the front lawn with multiple gunshot wounds. Police say they found multiple firearms, “ballistic evidence” and controlled substances at the home.
Four suspects at the home were detained and questioned but were released after consultation with the Venango County District Attorney’s Office, according to officials. Pennsylvania State Police officials said they are investigating this as a homicide and the investigation involving the district attorney’s office is ongoing.
Spencer is Black. The former co-worker, as well as the other people at the cabin, were all white, according to the family. The people at the cabin during Spencer’s time of death have not been identified by police.
The district attorney’s office told ABC News that it will not comment on the ongoing investigation “out of concern for the impact that may have on a case and any potential charges.”
“Further disclosure of information may hinder or interfere with the investigation moving forward,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement to ABC News. “This office takes seriously any possibility that a crime may be fueled by hatred toward a person because of their race, color, religion or national origin. Rest assured, the Venango County District Attorney’s office will take every measure to ensure that justice is sought wherever it may be found.”
“The Franklin state troopers office will not give Peter’s family nor myself any information regarding this incident,” Carmela King, Spencer’s pregnant fiancee, wrote in a GoFundMe post. “We have been turned away several times while trying to reach out for information regarding what happened.”
The Pennsylvania State Police did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
No one has been charged with a crime, and Spencer’s family is demanding answers, according to a statement from Jubas.
The family is demanding that the Venango County coroner must immediately turn over all photos and other pertinent information; the FBI or Department of Justice gets involved in this investigation and provides transparency for Spencer’s family; and the Venango County district attorney refers the case to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
Spencer loved the outdoors and hunting, according to his family. Several groups, including Hunters of Color, Brown Girl Outdoor World and Outdoor Alliance, have joined forces to demand justice in the murder of Spencer.
A petition from more than 30 groups is urging the county district attorney, state officials and the U.S. attorney general to take action in setting “a precedent so that all future hunters, outdoor recreationists, and people of color know that justice is on their side, and that the outdoors are truly for everyone.”
The petition has gotten more than 15,000 signatures online.
Amy Schneider‘s 40-game Jeopardy! winning streak, which began November 17, came to an end Wednesday when she lost to Rhone Talsma, a librarian from Chicago, in a competitive game. Schneider remains in second for all-time consecutive wins, only behind Ken Jennings, whose 74-game record has held since 2004.
During her run, Schneider amassed $1,382,800 in prize winnings, making her the winningest woman in Jeopardy! history and fourth in all-time winnings during regular-season play behind Matt Amodio, James Holzhauer and Jennings, who amassed $1,518,601, $2,462,216 and $2,520,700, respectively.
The “Final Jeopardy!” which proved to be Schneider’s downfall was from the “Countries of the World” category. The clue read: “The only nation in the world whose name in English ends in an ‘H,’ it’s also one of the 10 most populous.” The answer: “What is Bangladesh?”
“It’s really been an honor,” Schneider said in a press release. “To know that I’m one of the most successful people at a game I’ve loved since I was a kid and to know that I’m a part of its history now, I just don’t know how to process it.”
Schneider, an engineering manager from Oakland, California, is also the show’s most successful trans champion thus far.
Schneider recently told Good Morning America that her favorite part of her Jeopardy! experience was “being on TV, you know, as my true self, expressing myself and representing the entire community of trans people.”
She’ll return to compete in the next Tournament of Champions, set to take place this fall. “It’s going to be really challenging; a lot of strong players there, but it should be a lot of fun,” Schneider told GMA on returning to face fellow Jeopardy! champions.
(BUNNLEVEL, N.C.) — A North Carolina mother who went missing with her young daughter in 2016 have been found safe, according to authorities.
Amber Renaye Weber, then 21 years old and her 1-year-old daughter, Miracle Smith, were last seen on Dec. 4, 2016, in Fayetteville, according to the Fayetteville Police Department. They were reported missing on Jan. 31, 2017, but leads in the case eventually went cold, police said.
The pair were found Tuesday in a home in Bunnlevel, North Carolina, about 20 miles north of Fayetteville. In 2018, they were believed to be nearby in Harnett County after Weber received medical treatment there, but her family was not able to contact her, Raleigh-Durham CBS affiliate WNCN reported.
U.S. Marshals, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and deputies from the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office found Amber Weber and Miracle Smith at a home on Lemon Lane in Bunnlevel, Raleigh-Durham ABC affiliate WTVD reported. Four firearms were seized from the home, and Joe Smith, 59, was taken into custody, according to the U.S. Marshals. He had previously been arrested on Jan. 19 on a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, authorities said.
The case was reignited in 2021 after Fayetteville police investigative assistant Sonia Roldan partnered with the U.S. Marshalls to seek new leads for Weber and Miracle, police said. Information led investigators to believe Weber and Miracle had an association with Smith in Bunnlevel, authorities said.
Police did not disclose the nature of Smith’s relationship with Weber and her daughter.
The search “brought some closure and relief to family and friends of the missing person” as well as removed guns from the hands of a convicted felon, ATF Special Agent in Charge Vince Pallozzi said in a statement.
“The culmination of years of following leads and tips resulted in the outcome that we had all hoped for today; the successful recovery of a child who had been missing since December 2016,” Michael East, U.S. marshal for the Eastern District of North Carolina, said in a statement. “The U.S. Marshals Service and our investigative partners will not quit, nor be deterred until these children are rescued.”
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A new bill in California would allow children to get vaccinated against diseases including COVID-19 without their parents’ consent.
Currently, kids in the state between ages 12 and 17 must receive permission from a parent or a guardian to get a vaccine, unless it is to prevent a sexually transmitted infection.
However, the new bill — introduced Friday by state Sens. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) — would allow Californians aged 12 and older to receive vaccines that meet specific federal agency criteria on their own.
Under the bill, adolescents could get vaccinated as long as the shots are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advisory committee.
As of Wednesday, about 63% of Californians aged 12-17 are fully vaccinated, according to the state department of health — but at least 28% are not.
“There are nearly 1 million teenagers in California who are not vaccinated against COVID-19, and that jeopardizes their own health. It makes our schools less safe,” Wiener told ABC News. “A lot of these teenagers would like to get vaccinated, but their parents either won’t let them or their parents aren’t making the time to go with them to get vaccinated.”
He added, “This legislation will allow teens to protect their own health and to get vaccinated against COVID-19, against the flu and other serious diseases.”
Washington, D.C., currently allows minors to receive vaccines on their own starting at age 11. San Francisco also allows kids aged 12 and older to receive COVID-19 shots without parental consent when consent is unavailable.
Additionally, five states allow minors to get vaccinated without parental consent. Alabama allows teens to receive vaccines on their own starting at age 14; Oregon at age 15; and Rhode Island, North Carolina and South Carolina at age 16.
Elizabeth Tobin-Tyler, an associate professor of health services, policy and practice at Brown University, said these laws are often the result of a “mature minor” doctrine, which allows minors to give consent provided they can show they are mature enough to make decisions on their own.
“The idea is there are minors that might be quite mature at age 12 or 14 and have the capacity to make their own decision,” she told ABC News. “States have recognized there are situations where we don’t want to have someone make a decision at just 18.”
Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said most kids of that age are mature enough to understand medical information that is given to them.
“When you’re dealing with kids and medical care, you want to be able to give them with some graduated autonomy about their health,” he told ABC News.
If the bill passes, California would become the state with the youngest age for children to get vaccinated on their own without permission from an adult.
“It will serve as an example for other states,” Benjamin said. “California has often been on the cutting edge of legislation that has become law in other parts of the country. So it will certainly be an exemplar in that area and it will serve as a model for other states, particularly as we see the numbers of kids vaccinated grow.”
However, not everyone is in favor of the bill.
”It just seems like this is part of this ongoing war against parents by some Democratic elected officials,” California Republican Assemblyman James Gallagher told ABC News. “This bill is not about letting children make some sort of decision in a vacuum whether or not they want to get vaccinated. It’s about eliminating parents from that decision-making process.”
He described the bill as a “slippery slope” and said it could lead to kids having autonomy to take other medications without parental consent.
“What other drugs, what other things would a child be able to decide at school or some other place without their parents’ consent?” Gallagher asked.
Under California law, minors aged 12 and older are already allowed to be vaccinated against hepatitis B and human papillomavirus (HPV) and to receive birth control and treatments for STIs, mental health disorders and substance abuse.
But Wiener said he doesn’t believe the new bill would curb parents’ input when it comes to their children’s health because most teens speak to their parents when it comes to making medical decisions.
“The vast majority of teens — even if they have the ability to get a vaccine — will talk to their parents about the issue,” Wiener said. “We want parents to be involved in their kids’ health care, and I am confident that many, many teens will talk to parents about it.”
He continued, “Sadly there are some teens who are not in a position to talk to their parents about it. For whatever reason, they can’t have those conversations and in those situations, a teenager should be able to protect their own health.”
Benjamin said the idea of providing teens with autonomy is not new or radical and could actually help teenagers think critically and analytically.
“We do this a lot in other areas in our lives,” he said. “We give them driver’s licenses as they are able to mature both emotionally and physically. Parents should think of this as part of allowing their kids to have more control over their health decision-making. From a mental health and psychological perspective, this should be thought of as giving kids more responsibility, and I think overall it’s a good thing.”
ABC News’ Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
