(ATLANTA) — Flu activity continues to remain elevated across the U.S., according to newly released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC estimates there have been at least 18 million illnesses, 230,000 hospitalizations and 9,300 deaths from flu so far this season.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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The Who is set to reissue their 1973 rock opera, Quadrophenia, with high-fidelity audio.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers will release the album on SDE Blu-Ray audio, which will contain 2025 Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and Stereo mixes by longtime associate Richard Whittaker.
The Blu-ray also includes instrumental mixes of the album in Atmos, 5.1 and Stereo; the Quadrophenia 5.1 EP previously released as part of the 2011 Quadrophenia Director’s Cut box set; and the 2013 Stereo remaster of the album.
Quadrophenia on SDE Blu-ray will be released Feb. 27 and is available for preorder from now until Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. ET.
Released in 1973, Quadrophenia was The Who’s second full rock opera following 1969’s Tommy. It featured such classic songs as “The Real Me,” “Love, Reign O’er Me” and “5:15.”
Set in Brighton, England, in 1965, the story follows a young working-class mod named Jimmy on a journey of self-discovery. The album’s title was inspired by Jimmy’s four-way “split personality,” with each member of the band representing a different facet of his personality.
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Bad Bunny‘s halftime show will be a global dance party — and everyone’s invited.
In a newly released trailer for the Apple Music Super Bowl LX halftime show, the artist is seen dancing under a Puerto Rican Flamboyant tree, which is a symbol of the island’s pride and identity.
As he dances to his song “BAILE INoLVIDABLE,” which means “Unforgettable Dance,” he’s joined by various partners of all shapes, sizes, ages and ethnicities. The song’s lyrics translate to, “No, I can’t forget you/ No, I can’t erase you/ You taught me to love/ You taught me to dance.”
On Instagram, he wrote in Spanish, “On Feb. 8, the world will dance.”
A press release from Apple Music describes the trailer as “an open invitation, welcoming the entire world—no matter who you are or where you are from—to join Bad Bunny for his monumental Super Bowl Halftime performance and get excited for the rhythm, unity, and cultural richness that only Bad Bunny can bring to the global stage.”
The Super Bowl, which will be held Feb. 8 in Santa Clara, California, will also feature Charlie Puth singing the national anthem, Brandi Carlile singing “America the Beautiful” and Coco Jones performing “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
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The second taste of Carly Pearce‘s upcoming fifth album already has people talking — and it’s not even out yet.
“So you like to get high when you talk to Jesus/ So you love who you love and you go out on the weekend/ So you drink and you think for yourself/ That don’t mean you’ll go to hell when you leave this world/ Just because you heard it in church, girl,” she sings in a social media snippet of the new song.
In fact, the track’s already become a bit of a lightning rod online.
“I know a lot of y’all have been inspired to share your stories here. I see you,” Carly posted with the clip. “Please know, this is a place for love and a place for acceptance. No matter what you’re going through, or what you’ve overcome, ‘Church Girl’ is for you. And it’s yours, Jan 23.”
“Church Girl” follows Carly’s album’s lead single, “Dream Come True,” which has just started its climb up the country chart.
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(NEW YORK) — Millions of people in the High Plains will experience widespread wind gusts between 60 and 80 mph, from Montana to Kansas.
This wind, which will last all day and into the evening, could take down large trees, cause power outages, reduce visibility with blowing dust, and make travel dangerous for high-profile vehicles, which could be turned over.
On the eastern side of the strongest winds, blowing snow is also expected — either snow that has already fallen and is picked up from the ground, or new snow from the new storm.
A winter weather advisory is in place from North Dakota to Iowa for gusts between 40 and 50 mph, with snow accumulations up to one inch.
Light snow is forecast to fall across Wisconsin and Michigan, continuing into Michigan and Ohio on Friday afternoon.
In the evening, snow is forecast to fall from West Virginia and Ohio to western Pennsylvania and western New York. On Saturday, snow is possible across much of the Northeast.
The I-95 corridor may see snow Saturday morning and early afternoon, or a rain and snow mix, from Washington, D.C., to Maine.
A dusting is possible in Washington, D.C., around an inch is expected in Philadelphia and up to 2 inches are possible around New York City and Boston.
Farther inland, parts of upstate New York, western Connecticut and western Massachusetts, and parts of areas north of I-90, may see 3 to 6 inches of snow accumulation.
Snow will be out of the region by late afternoon Saturday.
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Might as well face it, CHVRCHES have released a cover of Robert Palmer‘s “Addicted to Love.”
“The Mother We Share” outfit put their spin on the 1986 #1 Billboard Hot 100 hit for the third season of the series Tell Me Lies, streaming now on Hulu.
“As a genuine fan of Tell Me Lies, I was so excited to watch the new season, let alone make music for it,” says frontwoman Lauren Mayberry. “We were in the studio working on the new CHVRCHES album when we got the call and it was a really fun thing to get our teeth stuck into, finding the right balance of emotions – heartfelt, yet unhinged – to mirror what the show is so good at.”
Said new CHVRCHES album will the the follow-up to 2021’s Screen Violence. Since then, Mayberry released her debut solo album, Vicious Creature, in 2024.
In other alternative bands covering ’80s hits news, The Beaches have released their take on the 1982 A Flock of Seagulls single “I Ran (So Far Away).”
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(WASHINGTON) — Justice Department officials said in a letter submitted to two federal judges Thursday that they are making “substantial progress” reviewing items related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — but gave no indication when additional material would be released.
The letter said “over five hundred” federal prosecutors and staff members from the Southern District of New York and the Justice Department’s criminal division are reviewing and redacting millions of pages from the investigations into Epstein and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
The review has found “substantial” duplication in various files, so the estimated number of documents is “in flux,” the letter said.
“Due to the scope of this effort, platform operations require around-the-clock attention and technical assistance to resolve inevitable glitches due to the sheer volume of materials,” said the letter, which is signed by Jay Clayton, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Clayton said prosecutors are working with victims and attorneys for victims to redact identifying information, even if, in some cases, that information was previously public.
“Following a process of conferring with victims and victim counsel about this issue, the Department has confirmed that, to the extent any victim requests redaction of personally identifying information of a document in the DOJ Epstein Library, the Department will redact that victim identifying information even if the document is (or was) otherwise available on a public court docket,” the letter said.
The DOJ faced a Dec. 19 deadline for the release of all remaining Epstein files after Congress in November passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act following blowback the Trump administration received seeking the release of materials related to their probe of Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019.
Materials released to date include a trove of photographs and court records, including a complaint to the FBI about Epstein that was filed years before he was first investigated for child sex abuse, and documents containing previously unknown details about plans for Epstein’s 2019 arrest — but the files have yet to show evidence of wrongdoing on the part of famous, powerful men, against the expectations of many of those who pushed for the files’ release.
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(NEW YORK) — As measles continues to spread across the U.S., with outbreaks popping up around the country, public health experts have been stressing the importance of getting vaccinated to stop the spread of disease.
This has involved local doctors and health department workers going into outbreak areas to offer the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
The MMR vaccine is typically a two-dose series given first at 12-15 months old and again at 4-6 years of age. An extra dose can be given as early 6 months old in high-risk circumstances, including during a measles outbreak.
Health experts working in and near measles outbreaks told ABC News that vaccine acceptance has been mixed among these communities, with some people begging to get their kids vaccinated early, while others still refuse an immunization.
“[Measles] can spread so quickly amongst that unvaccinated population,” Dr. Christopher Lombardozzi, chief medical officer at Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, told ABC News. “And if the number of people who remain unvaccinated stays large, then we could have a real problem, not just this year, but in years to come.”
Vaccine hesitancy in outbreak areas
The upstate region of South Carolina is experiencing a surge in measles cases amid the ongoing outbreak.
The South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH) reported 223 new cases over the last week, bringing the total number of cases in the outbreak to 434 since October, with over 400 people currently in quarantine due to exposure. Spartanburg County, which borders North Carolina, is currently the epicenter of the outbreak.
A spokesperson for Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System told ABC News that, as of Jan. 9, there have been 77 confirmed measles cases across the system since the outbreak began.
Lombardozzi said the health care system has seen some increased vaccine uptake, but not as much as they hoped for.
“We certainly have had some more uptake of vaccine in the last six months or so, since the outbreak started here in South Carolina, and I’m happy for that,” Lombardozzi said. “I would love to see a higher uptake. There is still quite a bit of vaccine hesitancy around here, and I think it’s unwarranted.”
Lombardozzi added that addressing vaccine hesitancy takes time and support.
“We try to support people, meet them where they are, and hopefully they will change their mind if they’ve been vaccine hesitant for a while,” he said.
Lombardozzi worries that without increasing immunizations, the negative effects could ripple for years.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Dr. Linda Bell, state epidemiologist and health program branch director for the South Carolina DPH, said the lack of vaccine acceptance amid the growing outbreak has been “disappointing.”
Bell said vaccines could have helped prevent a majority of cases, adding, “We have an opportunity to prevent further cases, if people can adopt these available tools and help us stop this outbreak sooner rather than later.”
As of Tuesday, another ongoing outbreak in Utah surpassed 200 measles cases since it began in June of last year. The southwest region of Utah has reported 147 of those cases, which equates to a rate of 25.8 cases per 100,000 people in that region.
David Heaton, public information officer at the Southwest Utah Department of Public Health, told ABC News that cases in southwest Utah and further north have been linked to the same measles virus that spread in Texas and New Mexico last year.
Heaton worries that measles will soon be declared endemic again, ending the decades-long elimination status in the U.S.
“That’s kind of a discouraging threshold that we’re getting closer to. I think [the loss of elimination status] could be recovered, but it could take a couple of years at least,” Heaton said.
In the Southwest region, vaccine acceptance has been highest among people who were on the fence or those who accidentally missed vaccines, but those with strong beliefs against vaccines have been “fairly immovable,” Heaton added.
“We’re just seeing the attitude of, ‘I choose not to get vaccinated. I don’t agree with vaccinations, and I’m not going to do it. I don’t feel the risk is high enough to get the vaccine,'” he said.
Some success in vaccine uptake
But there have been examples of success. Last year, during a large outbreak from February to September, the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) reported that MMR doses administered were nearly 50% higher than the year prior by October.
The largest gains were due to adult vaccination that increased by about 230% in October 2025 compared to October 2024. Children receiving the MMR shot only increased by about 10% compared to that time the previous year.
Andrea Romero, immunization program section manager at NMDOH, told ABC News communication was key during the outbreak. Romero said most of the adults who got vaccinated did so because they were unsure of their vaccination status and felt a strong sense of duty to get the shot, not just to protect themselves but to protect their community.
“When they know that they’re making a difference, it matters,” Romero said. “Every time I take that opportunity [to say], ‘Thank you for being a great community and your response, caring about yourself, your family, your neighbor,’ but it means a lot because it’s their efforts. It was their response that made the difference.”
NMDOH data shared with ABC News shows that 384 children with a vaccine exemption on file received at least one MMR shot between Jan. 13, 2025 and Jan. 13, 2026. This suggests parents of these children changed their minds about the vaccine around the time of New Mexico’s measles outbreak, according to health department officials.
During that same timeframe, at least one MMR dose was the only immunization on record for 189 children in the state, the data shows.
Fears of further measles spread
Doctors near outbreak regions are also experiencing the effects of fears and questions about measles and vaccination from their community.
Dr. Deborah Greenhouse, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics and pediatrician in South Carolina, told ABC News that her community hasn’t had a measles case yet, but parents and healthcare providers are increasingly concerned.
“As we all know, and as my patients know, measles virus does not respect county borders, so, as the numbers continue to rise, the likelihood that we start seeing cases here in the midlands of South Carolina increases dramatically,” Greenhouse said.
On Tuesday, health officials announced there was a measles exposure on Jan. 2 in the midlands region at the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia.
“If more families decline the vaccines, our vaccination rates drop and we become an open target, essentially a sitting duck for an outbreak, much like the Spartanburg area,” Greenhouse said.
In her experience, building a foundation of trust has been essential for vaccine acceptance.
“They know me, they trust me,” Greenhouse said. “They know that as a pediatrician, I have no interest here other than protecting the best interests of their children and their family.”
She went on, “Families that I’ve known for years, who I have a very strong relationship with, are coming in and asking for every vaccine that they can get, and asking to get the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine early, because they’re very concerned about their children being exposed to measles and not being protected.”
Greenhouse said trying to build trust among families has been particularly challenging amid changing guidance from federal health agencies and widespread misinformation.
“Unfortunately, some of the awful sources right now are people that you used to think you could trust and, as a new parent, I totally understand why it would be incredibly difficult to be able to figure out right now,” Greenhouse said.
Despite changing guidance and misinformation, doctors say the science hasn’t changed, and vaccines remain safe and effective.
“Amongst the medical community, you’re not going to get much disagreement that the vaccines are safe and that they’re effective,” Lombardozzi said. “The message is, go get your kids their shots if it’s time to get their shots. We certainly encourage folks to go talk to your pediatrician, go talk to your doctor.”
Jade A. Cobern, MD, MPH, is a practicing physician, board-certified in pediatrics and general preventive medicine, and is a medical fellow of the ABC News Medical Unit.
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If you miss hearing Rod Stewart sing the Great American Songbook, Richard Marx has got you.
Richard’s just released his new album, After Hours, which is half standards and half originals written by him and inspired by standards. One of the guests on the record is Rod; they duet on the classic “Young at Heart,” which was Rod’s pick.
Richard says in a statement, “This time last year my wife Daisy [Fuentes] and I flew to London for Rod Stewart’s surprise 80th birthday party. Rod and his wife Penny invited us to his home for dinner the next evening and we all had drinks prior at his local pub down the road.”
“When I told him about my After Hours album, he immediately said, ‘We should do a duet, Dickie.’ I thought it might be the Guinness talking but the next day he texted me, ‘I was serious about singing together. How about we do ‘Young at Heart?’”
For Richard, singing with Rod was a bucket-list item. He tells People, “I’m a lifelong, massive Rod fan. I’ve seen him in concert more than anybody else.” He adds, “The fact that I finally got to collaborate with my hero … I adore him. I’m going on tour with him this year. He means so much to me.”
Richard also credits Rod with helping to make standards accessible to modern listeners via his successful series of Great American Songbook albums. Other classics on the album include “Summer Wind,” “The Way You Look Tonight” and “Fly Me to the Moon.”
Chris Botti and Kenny G also appear on the album, as does John Stamos, who plays bongos on several songs.
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On This Day, Jan. 16, 2016…
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band launched The River Tour in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The trek was in support of 2015’s The Ties That Bind: The River Collection box set, marking the 35th anniversary of The Boss’ fifth studio album, which was released in 1980.
The tour was the first time in two years that Springsteen and The E Street Band headed out on the road. It featured them performing The River double album in sequence and in its entirety.
The River Tour comprised of 89 shows across North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, wrapping Feb. 25, 2017, in Auckland, New Zealand.
It featured Springsteen’s longest concert in the U.S.: a four-hour, four-minute performance in Philadelphia on Sept. 7, 2016. That show was also his second-longest ever, just behind a 2012 concert in Helsinki, Finland, which was two minutes longer.
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