Britney Spears attends the 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards in Los Angeles on April 29 (Image Group LA/Disney Channel via Getty Images)
Britney Spears has officially been charged with driving under the influence after being arrested in March, according to the Ventura County District Attorney, who says the singer will be offered probation for a first-time offense.
The singer will be arraigned on May 4 on the misdemeanor charge, but she does not have to appear for her court hearing.
ABC News has reached out to a representative for Spears for comment.
Spears was arrested on March 4 on suspicion of driving under the influence of a combination of alcohol and drugs, according to the California Highway Patrol at the time.
A BMW 430i, which was reported for driving erratically at high speed, was located and stopped by CHP officers, according to CHP.
Once stopped, Spears, who was the only occupant of the vehicle, showed signs of impairment and took field sobriety tests, CHP said.
Following her arrest, she was released the following morning.
In a statement to ABC News at the time, a representative for the singer called it an “unfortunate incident that is completely inexcusable.”
“Britney is going to take the right steps and comply with the law and hopefully this can be the first step in long-overdue change that needs to occur in Britney’s life,” the statement continued. “Hopefully, she can get the help and support she needs during this difficult time.”
Shortly after she was released, Spears voluntarily checked herself into a treatment facility.
The DA’s office said it would offer Spears a deal, known as a “wet reckless,” which allows a defendant to plead guilty to reckless driving involving drugs or alcohol and serve a sentence of 12 months probation.
“This type of resolution is common, particularly when a defendant demonstrates self-motivation to address underlying issues through rehabilitation or a drug and alcohol treatment program,” the office said.
The DA’s office said the offer is typically extended to defendants without a prior DUI history, a low blood-alcohol level and in cases with no crash or injury.
Tucker Wetmore’s mom interrupted his London show to tell him he’s the ACM new male artist of the year.
“Mom, what are you doing here?” Tucker said as Sia Gould took over the stage to introduce a video clip from Thomas Rhett, who took Tucker on tour last summer.
”I’m at a loss for words right now for the first time in a long time,” Tucker said. “I can’t do any of this without you guys. I can’t do any of this without that woman [mom] right there… Y’all made this possible. Every single person in this venue. And there’s countless more outside of this venue that I can’t sit here and name because I’d be here all night. Thank y’all so much and thank you ACMs for this amazing honor.”
The moment, which you can check out on Instagram, took place on the final night of his three sold-out shows in the U.K., where “Brunette” just spent three weeks at #1.
Tucker’s current single seems to be on track for similar success in the States, following his previous two chart toppers, “Wind Up Missin’ You” and “3,2,1.”
The 61st Academy of Country Music Awards will stream live on Prime Video on May 17 from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Cover of Peter Gabriel single “Won’t Stand Down.” Artwork by Shirin Neshat (Real World Music Ltd / Sony Music Publishing/Peter Gabriel Ltd.)
Peter Gabriel is out with the fifth single off his upcoming album o/i.
The latest track is “Won’t Stand Down,” which Gabriel notes is “a song to encourage some sort of activism.”
Gabriel says the song was initially inspired by TheElders.org, a group of people whose “currency is not based on military power, economic power or political power, but just the moral authority they have from having lived extraordinary, selfless lives.” With the song, he notes he wanted to offer “a hope that can help us start envisioning a just, peaceful and fairer world.”
“I think people generally respond much better to positive pictures of what’s coming than they do when they are bombarded and scared by negative ones,” he says. “We are much more likely to engage if we feel hope.”
Gabriel adds, “Right now, we don’t see so many positive visions of the future, at least they’re not being projected so strongly as the negative, so I think it’s really important that we start looking for visions to which we can aspire and looking for people who can provide that.”
As he did with his last album, 2023’s i/o, Gabriel is releasing a new song from o/i with each full moon of the year. The entire album will be released by the end of 2026, along with Dark-Side and Bright-Side mixes handled by Tchad Blake and Mark “Spike” Stent, respectively.
Cessna Golden Eagle (Francois Joseph Berger / 500px/Getty)
(WIMBERLEY, Texas) — Five people were killed in a plane crash in Texas on Thursday night, investigators said.
Hayes County Judge Ruben Becerra said first responders received a call around 11:00 p.m. local time of a plane down in the area of Wimberley, which is roughly 30 miles southwest of Austin.
Fire and EMS crews found the downed Cessna 421C, along with the bodies of the five deceased passengers. Their identities were not immediately released.
Although a cause of the crash was not immediately determined, investigators said preliminary information shows that there was no midair collision.
“Preliminary information indicates the aircraft was traveling at a high rate of speed at the time of impact,” Becerra said in a statement.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board will take over the investigation, according to the judge.
Olivia Rodrigo during an interview with host Jimmy Fallon on Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Photo by: Todd Owyoung/NBC)
You’d think Olivia Rodrigo’s life would be interesting enough to inspire her songs, but apparently, for her new album, she turned to the plotline of a TV show for inspiration.
On The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Olivia said that “multiple songs” on the album are inspired by the relationship between the characters Miranda and Steve on HBO’s Sex and the City, a show that ended in 2004, when Olivia was a baby. “It’s my favorite show. I love Sex and the City,” she told Jimmy. “I think I watched every single episode maybe three times.”
In particular, Olivia pointed to a scene where Miranda and Steve — played by Cynthia Nixon and David Eigenberg — are getting back together: Miranda is crying and saying, “Steve, any time something funny happens, I just want to tell you.”
Olivia said, “I remember watching that and being like, ‘Oh, my God, I have to write a song about this!'”
Olivia and Jimmy also talked about her upcoming gig hosting and being the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. She said that her musical hero, Jack White, left a note in her dressing room, hidden in a secret location. He texted her and told her to look for it: Jimmy showed video of Olivia discovering it taped to the top shelf of a cabinet.
When Olivia opened the envelope, she found a yellow rose and a piece of paper on which the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer had written, “Kill it, kid. Love, Jack White.” “It’s my good luck charm!” Olivia told Jimmy.
Olivia revealed that on SNL, she’ll be singing her #1 hit “drop dead,” but also a brand-new song we’ve never heard before.
TikTok logo is displayed on a mobile phone screen for illustration photo. Krakow, Poland. On April, 20th, 2026. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — An alleged TikTok antagonist is accused of stabbing a 17-year-old to death outside his New York City apartment building, authorities said.
Andrew Tollinche, 22, has been charged with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the killing outside his Bronx home on Wednesday, according to New York City police.
Detectives had been looking for Tollinche after determining the stabbing stemmed from his posts on TikTok. Tollinche allegedly antagonizes people on the social media platform, and neighborhood teens have recently been gathering outside his home, knocking on his door and calling him out, according to police.
The victim, Jonathan Melo, who has no criminal record, was part of a group that went to the suspect’s apartment building, according to police. The interaction turned sour, and Tollinche went inside to grab a knife, came outside and allegedly stabbed the 17-year-old in the back, police said.
Melo was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, officials said.
Tollinche has a prior unsealed arrest for allegedly raping a minor in 2025, according to records. He has other prior interactions with police, some of them stemming from social media posts.
Tollinche is due in court on Friday. It was not immediately clear whether he had a lawyer.
Kentucky State Police released this image of the suspect in a bank robbery in Berea, Kentucky, on April 30, 2026. (Kentucky State Police)
(BEREA, Ky.) — A person of interest is in custody Friday morning after a masked man shot and killed two employees during a bank robbery in central Kentucky Thursday afternoon, according to Kentucky State Police.
Police said Friday that the person of interest is “believed to be involved,” but did not immediately release more information.
The suspect entered the U.S. Bank in Berea around 2 p.m. before shooting two employees and fleeing, state police Trooper Scottie Pennington told reporters Thursday.
“We understand the citizens of Berea and in Madison County, they’re scared right now, and we’re scared for them,” Pennington said. “We want to do our best to find this person and bring him to justice.”
The suspect was described as about 6 foot, 3 inches tall, wearing a light-colored hooded sweatshirt, dark gloves, gray pants and light-colored athletic shoes, according to state police.
Pennington said authorities are not sharing if the suspect took anything with him from the bank and weren’t sure if the suspect fled on foot or in a vehicle. Residents should remain vigilant, keep their doors locked and call police if they see anything suspicious, Pennington said.
“Keep a porch light on,” he said.
“We don’t want this to lead to more victims,” Pennington said. “We hope he just turns himself in.”
In a message directly to the suspect, Pennington said: “You’re in a lot of trouble — a lot of trouble — but just turn yourself in before anyone else gets hurt.”
U.S. Bank said in a statement, “Our hearts go out to the families of the victims, our colleagues and the entire Berea community. We are committed to supporting the victims’ families and our colleagues. And we will continue to work closely with law enforcement on this active investigation.”
Berea, a city of more than 16,000 people, is roughly 40 miles south of Lexington.
A sign outside a mobile clinic offering measles and flu vaccinations on February 6, 2026 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A few months ago, a measles outbreak seemed poised to overwhelm the northern region of South Carolina.
More than 100 infections were being reported every week, with the total eventually surpassing that of last year’s record-setting outbreak in Texas.
However, after six months and nearly 1,000 cases, the outbreak took a dramatic turn in the right direction.
Over the weekend, the South Carolina Department of Public Health said no new cases had been confirmed for 42 days, leading to an announcement on Monday that the outbreak is officially over.
Public health experts told ABC News that the combination of a strong vaccination push, people following isolation and quarantine orders and an awareness campaign helped beat back the disease.
“Measles vaccinations [were] the most effective single containment tool,” Dr. James Harber, an internal medicine physician with Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, told ABC News. “And then to identify the index cases and their exposures and enforcing quarantine, and there’s that integrated public health and private sector collaboration. Those are the keys.”
Vaccination push
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently recommends people receive two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine — the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old.
One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective against measles, according to the CDC.
In Spartanburg County — the epicenter of the outbreak in northwestern South Carolina — 88.9% of students had the required immunizations needed to attend school, among the lowest in the state, according to state health department data.
This is lower than the 95% threshold needed to achieve herd immunity.
In the wider Upstate region of South Carolina, some pockets have much lower vaccination rates. State data shows that, for the 2025-2026 school year, one elementary and middle school only had 17% of students with the required immunizations.
Of the 997 cases during the outbreak, 932 were among unvaccinated individuals who were mostly under the age of 17, state data shows. Experts told ABC News that a vaccination campaign helped play a big role in reigning in cases.
“We believe vaccination is one of the primary reasons this outbreak came to an end,” Dr. Brannon Traxler, deputy director of health promotion and services and chief medical officer at the state health department, told ABC News. “Thousands of people got vaccinated. An additional 3,788 doses of MMR were administered in Spartanburg County during the six months of the outbreak compared to the previous year.”
Traxler said that 15,000 additional doses were administered in the Upstate counties over this period competed to the year prior.
She added that January and February were record months for MMR vaccination in the state.
The health department does not track vaccine exemptions at the individual level, but Spartanburg Regional Medical Center’s Harber believes some vaccine-hesitant parents were encouraged to vaccinate their children — even those with previous exemptions on file — as the outbreak grew and their kids were exposed to the virus.
“I think the numbers … speak to the idea that that definitely happened,” he said. “Parents and/or young people who have historically requested and been granted exemptions and not been vaccinated saw what was happening within the community and then changed their minds.”
People following isolation, quarantine orders
South Carolina health authorities first confirmed the outbreak on Oct. 2, 2025, after eight cases were recorded in the Upstate region.
Most cases were recorded in Spartanburg County, with some confirmed in neighboring Anderson, Cherokee, Greenville and Pickens counties.
Only two other counties that didn’t border the epicenter saw measles cases: Lancaster County in the north central area and Sumter County in the central area.
Harber said that people generally followed health officials’ orders about quarantine and isolation, which helped keep the outbreak under control
“I think that’s probably the second most important part, the very aggressive quarantine and exposure control when index cases were identified,” he said. “They were very quickly provided with information around isolation and what they needed to do — staying away from others and to help prevent that spread.”
Harber said more than 2,000 quarantine orders were issued and almost 900 students stayed home when they tested positive across 33 schools in the Upstate region.
“That rapid identification and isolation of the suspected cases .. once they were confirmed really helped to prevent that secondary spread that is such a big problem because of how contagious [measles] really is,” he said. “So, we really had great compliance especially within families and that really helped shorten transmission window based on all the data we have.”
Awareness campaigns
Traxler said the state health department conducted wide-range outreach in Spartanburg County and surrounding areas to “educate the public about the facts regarding measles and the outbreak as well as to encourage people to consider being vaccinated to get long-term protection against the virus.”
She noted that the department communicated with schools, churches, community-based organizations, community leaders, local health care professionals and other organizations.
Traxler added that the health department offered vaccinations at mobile health units at libraries, churches and other locations, where workers also distributed educational materials.
Ukrainian and Russian-speaking communities in South Carolina were hard hit by measles during the outbreak, and so the health department translated measles fact sheets and vaccine information into Ukrainian and Russian, as well as Spanish, Traxler said.
However, just because the outbreak is over doesn’t mean the work is done, she added.
Other states are continuing to see measles cases and the U.S. is currently at risk of losing its elimination status, which it earned in 2000. Measles would once again be considered endemic or constantly circulating.
“The outbreak is over, but our work to understand and prevent measles is not. Large outbreaks of measles, and other infectious diseases, can be prevented entirely when vaccine coverage in the population is very high,” Traxler said.
Metallica on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ (ABC/Randy Holmes)
Like time, you too can march on with Metallica’s new Wolverine boot.
The metal legends’ latest collaboration with the footwear brand, not to be confused with the X-Man, is called the Wolverine x Metallica Scholars Maker Wedge.
“Featuring reflective leather panels and laces, ruby red lining and details, and a metallic silver sole graphic stamped with ‘Full Speed or Nothing,’ the Wolverine x Metallica Scholars boot is designed to make a statement with every step,” the band says.
Fifty percent of sales will be donated to the Metallica Scholars initiative, which supports workforce education for community college students.
