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Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights icon, dies at age 84

February 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader, Baptist minister and pioneering politician who launched two bids for the U.S. presidency, died on Tuesday morning at the age of 84, his family said in a statement.

“Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the family statement said.

“We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family. His unwavering belief in justice, equality, and love uplifted millions, and we ask you to honor his memory by continuing the fight for the values he lived by,” it added.

Jackson is survived by his wife, Jacqueline Jackson, whom he married in 1962, and six children.

Jackson had weathered a myriad of health issues in recent years. In November 2025, Jackson was hospitalized in Chicago for treatment of complications from progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a neurodegenerative condition that he had been managing for a decade, according to a statement from the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the civil rights organization Jackson founded.

“Reverend Jackson is in stable condition and is breathing without the assistance of machines,” the Jackson family said in a statement a few days after Jackson’s hospitalization, in response to speculation about his condition. “Contrary to specific reports, he is not on life support.”

“The Jackson family extends heartfelt appreciation for the many prayers and kind messages offered during this time,” the statement also said. Jackson was released from the hospital the following week.

A further family update on Jackson’s health came in mid-December 2025, when it released a statement saying that Jackson had been released from an acute-care facility where he had “received additional care” following his hospital release. The statement also said Jackson “has battled several infections consistent with the progression of his PSP diagnosis” for “the last several months.”

In 2017, Jackson announced that he’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. However, the November 2025 announcement said that the PSP diagnosis had been confirmed the previous April.

Jackson also underwent gall bladder surgery in 2021 and was hospitalized later that year after falling while protesting with students at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He also was hospitalized for COVID-19 that August.

Beginning his career as a protégé of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jackson quickly rose to become one of the nation’s most prominent and influential civil rights leaders. In 1971, he formed the nonprofit Operation PUSH – People United to Save/Serve Humanity – to advocate for social and economic parity for Black Americans.

Jackson ran for president twice, both times as a Democrat, placing third for the party’s nomination in 1984 and second in 1988, marking the most successful presidential runs of any Black candidate prior to Barack Obama’s two decades later.

Following his first campaign, Jackson formed the nonprofit National Rainbow Coalition with the stated purpose of affording minority Americans a greater political voice. In 1996, Jackson merged the groups into Rainbow/PUSH, and served as the head of both until 2023.

Jackson was also elected in 1990 as the shadow delegate for the District of Columbia, serving a single term. In 1999, President Bill Clinton awarded Jackson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

Jesse Louis Jackson was born Oct. 8, 1941 in Greenville, South Carolina, in the segregated South, and grew up poor in a sharecropping family. He was a gifted student and athlete, graduating from high school with offers for a minor league baseball contract and a Big 10 football scholarship.

He opted instead to attend the University of Illinois before transferring to and graduating from North Carolina A&T, a historically Black university. He then began theological studies before going to work full-time with Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He was ordained a Baptist a minister in 1968.

In 1966, 24-year-old Jackson became head of the Chicago Chapter of the nascent Operation Breadbasket, the economic activism arm of the SCLC, and was appointed its national director the following year. He also helped establish the Chicago Freedom Movement to work for open housing and school desegregation.

Jackson participated in many of the civil rights movement’s landmark moments, including the March on Washington in 1963, where King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, and the Selma to Montgomery marches in Alabama in 1965. He was also with Dr. King when the civil rights leader was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.

Reflecting on Dr. King’s memory almost 50 years later, Jackson said he was inspired by his ability to remain undaunted even in the face of overwhelming challenges.

“He is a frame of reference. His resurrection is powerful,” Jackson said in a 2018 interview with ABC Chicago station WLS.

Speaking of King’s assassination, Jackson added, “All I can remember is some voice saying, ‘One bullet cannot kill a movement.’ We must keep going … If your key player is hurt on the field you cannot forfeit the game, you have to internalize your pain and keep marching and keep moving, and we have to be faithful to his charge 50 years later.”

Three years after King’s murder, Jackson left the SCLC and founded Operation PUSH, a social justice organization dedicated to improving the economic conditions of Black communities across the U.S.

The organization fought for greater educational and employment opportunities for Black Americans and was successful in compelling major corporations to adopt affirmative action policies benefiting Black workers.

Jackson’s social activism evolved into political ambition in in the 1980s, when he launched two campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination, in 1984 and 1988. He placed third in primary voting in 1984 and came in second to Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis in 1988, winning 12 primaries and caucuses and receiving some 6.9 million total votes.

As only the second Black American to mount a nationwide presidential campaign, after New York Rep. Shirley Chisholm in 1972, Jackson’s historic runs were the most successful by a Black candidate until President Barack Obama won in 2008.

Jackson ultimately did win political office, when he was elected to serve in the U.S. Senate as a shadow delegate for the District of Columbia, from 1991 to 1997.

Jackson also used his skills as a negotiator to facilitate the freedom of people held abroad, leading to the release of Navy pilot Robert Goodman in 1984 from captivity in Lebanon after his plane was shot down, as well as three American prisoners of war held by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in 1999.

In 2000, President Bill Clinton awarded Jackson a frequent critic of Clinton and his policies – the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in recognition of Jackson’s decades of social activism.

“It’s hard to imagine how we could have come as far as we have without the creative power, the keen intellect, the loving heart, and the relentless passion of Jesse Louis Jackson,” Clinton said at the ceremony. “And God isn’t done with him yet.”

Jackson was the recipient of numerous other awards throughout his lifetime, including the NAACP President’s Award and the American Institute for Public Service’s Jefferson Award. In 2021, Jackson received France’s highest order of merit, the Commander of the Legion of Honor.

In later years, Jackson was a vocal proponent for the reauthorization of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. He was also involved in the United Kingdom’s Operation Black Vote to promote minority participation in British elections.

In July 2023, Jackson stepped down as head of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition after more than 50 years as its head. “We’re resigning, we’re not retiring,” Jackson said at the time, vowing to continue fighting for social justice causes.

Ella Langley’s ‘Choosin’ Texas’ was inspired by Miranda Lambert’s pet kangaroo

February 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

It’s one of the most unexpected stories you’re likely to hear today: Ella Langley’s smash hit “Choosin’ Texas” owes its existence to Miranda Lambert’s pet kangaroo.

The two helped author the #1 song during a writers retreat, which turned out to be Ella’s chance to cure her curiosity about something in Miranda’s life.

“We’ve always had a lot of mutual friends. One of them told me over the years that she had a pet kangaroo,” Ella explains. “And as a fellow animal lover, I had so many questions about that. And so I figured I had to wait till we were like friends enough [before I asked her about it].”

“So I got done with the first song and I was like, ‘What can you tell me about that kangaroo?’ And she tells me the whole story. And at the end of the story, she got pulled over with the kangaroo in the passenger seat. [The] kangaroo got her out of a ticket, [it] really did. And she had Texas plates on [her car].”

The end of the kangaroo story was the beginning of Ella’s current hit.

“I was like, ‘Well, he’s probably like, “She’s from Texas, I can tell,”‘” Ella recalls. “And just from literally that right there, the melody kinda just fell out.”

“I went, ‘She’s from Texas, I can tell by the way he’s two-stepping around the room,'” she says as she begins to sing the lyrics. “Just like that. And she’s like, ‘She’s from Texas, like the one he went with!’ And I mean, 30, 45 minutes that song was written.”

Miranda co-produced Ella’s new album, Dandelion, which comes out April 10, and contributes background vocals to “Choosin’ Texas.”

David Archuleta’s book ‘Devout’ is a ‘prequel to where I am right now’

February 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

David Archuleta’s raw and honest book Devout: Losing My Faith to Find Myself is out Tuesday, and in it, the former American Idol star shares how he ultimately rejected his Mormon faith to live unapologetically as a queer man.

“How I describe the book is, it’s like a prequel to where I’m at right now,” David told ABC Audio. “It was all of the disappointment. It was all the fear. It was all the anxiety of what would happen if I made the changes in my life to be more authentically myself,” noting he specifically questioned, “What would happen to me spiritually?”

But aside from the outside pressure of his faith, David said he also had to overcome his harmful people pleasing tendencies.

“I feel like a lot of Devout is the cycle that I had to learn how to break, because I would always find someone to try and just follow and obey, listen to, do what I was told,” he noted. “And so I feel it’s this journey of breaking from that and learning how to just not give a ‘you know,’ and learn how be more loyal to myself, than to other people.”

David’s other struggle was the emotional abuse he says he suffered at the hands of his family, but after he’d “aired out” his family’s “skeletons,” he said, they’ve been able to heal.

“The book brought a lot of opportunity to talk about the difficult things that happened in our family’s past. And I was like, ‘Hey, can we talk about this? Because we haven’t,'” he explained.

Now, they’re in a better place.

“We don’t have to pretend like ‘everything’s fine’ anymore,” he explained. “We can really sit with each other and say, we’ve made it this far together and look at us now. We’re closer than ever and bonded. And I’m just so grateful to have my family.”

BTS ponders being ‘together’ and ‘dancing in our 60s’

February 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

A number of pop groups have gone on “hiatus” and never regrouped, but BTS isn’t one them. After taking time off to do their mandatory military service, the seven members are back together and getting ready to drop their first new studio album in six years — which is something that fans were initially concerned might not happen.

That’s because on December 6, group member RM said in a livestream, “I’ve wondered thousands of times, would it be better for the team to disband or go on hiatus?” It sent their fans, known as ARMY, into a panic, But ahead of the March release of their album ARIRANG, there doesn’t seem to be any question about them continuing for a very long time.

In their new GQ cover story, Jimin says, “I know we’re here because we are a team and we started as a team and we very much acknowledge that. And also, we have a lot of fun together.” V adds, “We all treasure BTS more than we treasure each one of us separately.”

And Suga notes, “We’re still very good friends. The fans still love us — they want us, they support us. If we can keep this going, then maybe we can be dancing in our 60s…. As long as we’re willing — I think maybe into our 50s, into our 60s — we can always be together as a band.”

He adds, “Maybe it’ll be a little bit hard on our knees. But I think we can do that.”

And while RM is still trying to identify a new goal that they can all get behind going forward, he tells GQ, “I think now, the most important thing is just that we are here back together again, we’re going to see the fans all over the world.”

Lily Cornell Silver hopes to channel dad’s ‘ability to take inner turmoil and turn it into art’

February 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

Earlier in February, Lily Cornell Silver, the eldest child of the late Chris Cornell, launched a band called Josie on the Rocks. As she follows in her father’s footsteps, Lily tells ABC Audio how he and his music inspired her.

“His ability to take inner turmoil and turn it into art, I think about that a lot,” Lily says.

In introducing Josie on the Rocks, Lily wrote in an Instagram post, “Playing with these boys pulled me out of an awful place and gave me a sense of purpose I’d never felt before.”

“I find myself when I’m in depressive states or anxious states that I tend to wanna check out or just be on my phone or whatever,” Lily tells ABC Audio. “But it’s a superpower and something really inspiring to be in one of those states and say, ‘I’m gonna externalize it and make something out of it.'”

The first two Josie on the Rocks songs, “Not You” and “Super Sonic,” are out now. The video for “Not You” is dedicated to the band’s late drummer, Graham Derzon-Supplee, who died in 2022.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp founder David Fishof reflects on 30th anniversary

February 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp, where regular folks get to meet, be mentored by and perform with rock superstars, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. That’s certainly quite a milestone, considering founder David Fishof wasn’t sure he’d get any rockers to sign on when he came up with the idea.

“In the beginning, I had a lot of rock stars who said no,” he tells ABC Audio. “But I did have a bunch that said yes,” noting some of first to participate included The Beach Boys’ Mike Love, Poison’s Bret Michaels, and E Street Band members Clarence Clemons and Nils Lofgren.

Upcoming 30th anniversary camps will feature The Police’s Stewart Copeland, The Who’s Roger Daltrey, Bad Company’s Simon Kirke, and Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee and John 5.

Fishof says he’s excited to have Daltrey back for the 30th anniversary, noting he also took part in their 10th anniversary and participated in about eight camps over the years. As for why Daltrey keeps returning, Fishof says, “It reminds him what it was like when he first started.”

But even with all the big names he’s landed over the years, there are still some rock stars Fishof would love to enlist for the camp.

“My dream is Paul McCartney and/or Mick Jagger,” he says. “I have to say they’re two of my favorites.”

Of course, the camps aren’t only about the rock stars — they’re about the campers, as well, with Fishof noting they usually walk away better musicians after performing with their favorite artists.

He says, “I’ve learned over the 30 years, if you play with someone that’s better than you, you’re gonna become better.”

More info on Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp can be found at RockCamp.com.

‘Wuthering Heights’ debuts at #1 at the box office for Presidents’ weekend

February 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

Wuthering Heights was the box office champ over the long holiday weekend.

The film, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, earned $38 million domestically over the Presidents’ Day holiday to debut at #1, according to Box Office Mojo.

The animated sports comedy GOAT, featuring the voices of Stephen Curry, David Harbour, Gabrielle Union and more, earned a solid #2 debut, bringing in $35 million, while the Chris Hemsworth/Halle Berry crime thriller Crime 101 debuted at #3 with $16.37 million.

The only other new movie to land in the top 10 this weekend was action-adventure comedy Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, starring Sam Rockwell and Haley Lu Richardson, which brought in $4.15 million to debut at #7.

Here are the top 10 films at the box office:

1. Wuthering Heights — $38 million
2. GOAT — $35 million
3. Crime 101 — $16.37 million
4. Send Help — $10.4 million
5. Solo Mio — $7.4 million
6. Zootopia 2 — $5 million
7. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die – $4.15 million
8. Avatar: Fire and Ash — $3.91 million
9. Iron Lung –$3.7 million
10. Dracula — $3.56 million

Billy Steinberg, co-writer of ‘Like a Virgin,’ ‘True Colors,’ ‘Eternal Flame’ & more, dead at 75

February 16, 2026 by WDNY Radio

Billy Steinberg, the songwriter who, with musical partner Tom Kelly, penned pop classics such as Madonna’s “Like a Virgin,” Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” and The Bangles’ “Eternal Flame,” died Feb. 16 in Los Angeles, his attorney Laurie Soriano confirmed to ABC News. He was 75.

With Steinberg usually writing the lyrics and Kelly most often writing the music, the duo scored an impressive string of hits through the ’80s and ’90s, including Whitney Houston’s “So Emotional,” The Pretenders’ “I’ll Stand By You,” Heart’s “Alone” and The Divinyls’ “I Touch Myself.”

After Kelly retired, Steinberg continued writing with other partners, penning hits like “Falling Into You” by Celine Dion and “Too Little Too Late” by JoJo.

Other artists who recorded Steinberg’s songs include Linda Ronstadt, Pat Benatar, Tina Turner, Belinda Carlisle, Taylor Dayne, Bette Midler, Cheap Trick and REO Speedwagon.

Steinberg and Kelly were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2011.

On Instagram, Lauper, who also recorded Steinberg and Kelly’s song “I Drove All Night,” wrote, “I’m so sorry to hear that my friend Billy Steinberg has passed away. He was such a nice guy and very supportive. My thoughts are with his family, loved ones, and Tom during this sad time.”

Heart’s Nancy Wilson wrote in the comments, “He was a wonderful spirit.”

Harry Styles to curate UK’s Meltdown Festival, play headlining show as part of event

February 16, 2026 by WDNY Radio

Harry Styles is playing 12 nights at London’s Wembley Stadium this summer, but fans will also have a chance to see him in a smaller London venue.

Harry has been announced as the curator of Meltdown, the world’s longest-running artist-curated music festival. He’ll be the 31st artist to curate the festival, following in the footsteps of past curators like David Bowie, Chaka Khan, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, The Cure’s Robert Smith and more.

The festival runs from June 11 to June 21, and will take over the entire Southbank Arts Centre, a London arts complex that includes the Royal Festival Hall and the Hayward Gallery. It’ll include a headlining concert by Harry, as well as performances from artists that represent his influences: pop, soul, electronic rock and emerging British talent.

Ticket information and the lineup will be announced later in the spring. You can sign up now to be notified at that time.

In a statement, Harry said, “My goal as the curator is to share the music and art that I love, and to celebrate the rich history of the [Southbank Centre]. We both share a passionate belief that music is a vital part of life. It brings us together and the Southbank Centre has been at the heart of it, providing easy access to great music for the past 75 years.”

Mark Ball, artistic director of the Southbank Centre, said in a statement, “Harry Styles’ Meltdown feels like a natural expression of what the Southbank Centre exists to do, and we are delighted to become his creative playground in our anniversary year.”

Robert Duvall, star of ‘The Godfather’, ‘Apocalypse Now’, dead at 95

February 16, 2026 by WDNY Radio

Robert Duvall, the Academy Award-winning actor known for roles in some of American cinema’s greatest films, including The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, has died at age 95.

“Yesterday we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time. Bob passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by love and comfort,” read a statement posted on the actor’s official Facebook page by his wife, Luciana.

A statement from Duvall’s representative confirmed the actor’s death, reading in part, “Academy Award winning actor Robert Selden Duvall passed away peacefully in his home in Middleburg, Virginia, the evening of Sunday, February 15, 2026, with his wife Luciana Duvall by his side. He was 95.”

Duvall brought a signature naturalism to the roles he played, an unmannered style that infused his myriad characters with a calm intensity – a counterpoint to his self-confessed often hot-tempered on-set disposition – and earned him a reputation as one of his generation’s finest actors. Beginning with his memorable film debut as Boo Radley in 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird, in which he didn’t utter a word, Robert Duvall went on to appear in more than 90 films over the next seven decades, working with some of Hollywood’s most celebrated filmmakers and performers.

Duvall shared the screen as the outlaw Ned Pepper opposite John Wayne in 1969’s True Grit, originated the role of Maj. Frank Burns in Robert Altman’s 1970 dark comedy M*A*S*H, and starred in the title role in Star Wars creator George Lucas’ 1971 directorial debut, THX 1138. Duvall also played Corleone family consigliere Tom Hagen in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather and The Godfather Part II opposite his acting hero, Marlon Brando, and had a pivotal role as the ruthless network VP Frank Hackett in the acclaimed 1976 media satire Network.

As the shirtless, cowboy hat-wearing Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore in Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now, Duvall delivered the film’s most oft-quoted line: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” Four years later, Duvall won the Academy Award for best actor for playing Mac Sledge, a recovering alcoholic country music star attempting to make amends, in Tender Mercies.

Other career highlights included playing cynical sportswriter Max Murphy in the 1984 Robert Redford baseball fable The Natural; NASCAR crew chief Harry Hogge opposite Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in the 1990 action hit Days of Thunder; Sgt. Martin Prendergast, the retiring LAPD officer who spends his final day on the job pursuing Michael Douglas’ unhinged character in 1993’s Falling Down; and a criminal court judge accused of murder who’s defended by his estranged son, played by Robert Downey Jr., in the 2014 legal drama The Judge.

Of all his many celebrated acting roles, however, Duvall repeatedly said his favorite was that of retired Texas Ranger Augustus “Gus” McCrae in the 1989 TV Western miniseries Lonesome Dove. The series was one of several TV projects in which Duvall starred. Others included playing the title role in 1992’s HBO film drama Stalin, for which he won a Golden Globe – his fourth lifetime win – and the 2006 AMC Western miniseries Broken Trail, which earned Duvall a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor, in addition to another for producing the series.

In total, Duvall was nominated for seven Academy Awards, the final three for his performances in 1997’s The Apostle, which he also wrote and directed; 1998’s A Civil Action, co-starring with John Travolta as a corrupt corporate attorney; and 2014’s The Judge. His nomination for The Judge, at age 84, then made him the oldest actor ever nominated in the best supporting actor category, until Christopher Plummer, at age 86, was nominated three years later for All the Money in the World.

Other notable later films in which Duvall appeared include The Handmaid’s Tale in 1990, 1996’s Sling Blade, 1998’s sci-fi action thriller Deep Impact, Crazy Heart in 2009 – this time with Jeff Bridges playing a down-on-his luck country singer – and as a shooting range owner in the 2012 Tom Cruise hit Jack Reacher.

In addition to his Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe wins, Robert Duvall won a BAFTA and a Screen Actors Guild Award, the former for Apocalypse Now and the latter for A Civil Action, as well as dozens of other critical and popular award nominations and wins. He was also awarded the National Medal of Arts by then-President George W. Bush in 2005.

Duvall was married four times, most recently in 2005 to Luciana Pedraza, who survives him. He had no children.

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