Confiscated “ghost guns” are displayed before a news conference with New York Mayor Eric Adams and Attorney General Letitia James and others to announce a new lawsuit against “ghost gun” distributors on June 29, 2022 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — New York would become the first state to require manufacturers of 3D printers to block production of guns and gun parts under new legislation Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed Wednesday.
The proposed legislation would also make it a crime to possess or sell the digital blueprints needed to produce 3D-printed firearms without a license to do so.
“From the iron pipeline to the plastic pipeline, these proposals will keep illegal ghost guns off of New York streets, and enhance measures to track and block the production of dangerous and illegal firearms in our state,” Hochul said in a statement announcing the proposal.
Some 3D printing companies, including Thingiverse, have already begun deploying technology to rapidly detect and remove the digital blueprints for guns.
Earlier this year, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sent letters to 3D printing companies asking them to help combat the spread of homemade guns, which he called a “growing threat.” Luigi Mangione allegedly used a 3D-printed gun and silencer in the December 2024 assassination-style killing of United Healthcare chief executive Brian Thompson.
Bragg called on the companies to remove online blueprints, known as CAD files, that can be used to print firearms and gun parts without a background check. The district attorney’s office conceded that the measure will not stop the proliferation of ghost guns, but said the goal is to make it harder for people to find the designs to create them.
“These illegal firearms are being manufactured in homes and used in crimes right now, which is why I have been working with my colleagues in Albany and the private sector over the past several years to stop their proliferation. Passing these measures will reduce crime and strengthen public safety for all New Yorkers,” Bragg said in the governor’s statement.
In addition to criminalizing the unlicensed possession of CAD files for guns and requiring manufacturers to use technology to block the printer from creating guns, the proposed legislation would also mandate the reporting of 3D printed guns to a state police database, and would require gun manufacturers to design pistols so they cannot be quickly and easily modified for automatic fire.
After announcing his first album in 10 years, Bruno Mars has now announced his first extensive tour in a decade — and it’s the first full headlining stadium tour of his career.
Bruno, who’s been a fixture in Las Vegas for years with his residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM, will launch The Romantic Tour April 10 at Allegiant Stadium in Sin City and travel across North America, Europe and the U.K. Currently set to wrap Oct. 14 in Vancouver, the tour will feature Bruno’s Silk Sonic partner Anderson .Paak as support on all dates, with RAYE, Leon Thomas and Victoria Monét joining the bill in select cities.
You can sign up for the presale now through Jan. 12 at 10 a.m. PT; it starts Jan. 14 at 12 p.m. PT. All remaining tickets will go on sale Jan. 15 at 12 p.m. PT via Ticketmaster.
The tour comes in support of Bruno’s new album The Romantic, due out Feb. 27. The first single arrives Friday.
While this is Bruno’s first big world tour in years, it’s not like he hasn’t been performing. In addition to his ongoing Vegas residency, in 2024, he did multiple shows in Tokyo and across Brazil, and also gave two concerts at LA’s Intuit Dome.
Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court on August 13, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Harvey Weinstein is due to return to a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday for a hearing that could determine whether he receives a new trial.
Weinstein was convicted of the 2006 sexual assault of Mimi Haley, a one-time production assistant on the Weinstein-produced reality show “Project Runway.” Haley testified the “unthinkable” happened to her when Weinstein held her down on a bed and forced oral sex on her after she told him no.
The defense said two jurors subsequently claimed they were pressured to convict.
Judge Curtis Farber is set to decide whether he needs to hear testimony from those jurors before deciding whether to grant Weinstein’s motion for a new trial.
If the judge denies Weinstein’s motion for a new trial, defense attorneys said there are grounds to appeal his conviction.
Weinstein has not been sentenced on the Haley count and remains in custody at Rikers Island in New York City after nearly six years of confinement. A representative for the disgraced Hollywood producer said the 73-year-old is “medically fragile and in legal limbo.”
The jury was unable to come to a verdict on a charge that alleged Weinstein raped actress Jessica Mann in 2013. The Manhattan district attorney’s office said it intends to re-try Weinstein on that count, and during Thursday’s hearing, Farber is expected to decide when to move forward.
Mann broke down on the witness stand as she recounted meeting Weinstein when she was 27 and moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. In March 2013, Mann said she was visiting New York when she accompanied Weinstein to a hotel room. She said he injected himself with an erectile medication and raped her. The defense questioned whether Mann was out for money and said she had consensual sex with Weinstein at other times.
(SALT LAKE CITY) — Police in Salt Lake City said two people are dead and six others wounded after a shooting outside a funeral on Wednesday evening.
No suspects are in custody and an active manhunt is underway, Salt Lake City Police Department public information officer Glen Mills said.
Police received a call for the shooting shortly after 7:30 p.m. local time at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel on Redwood Road.
Police said a funeral was taking place at the chapel when an altercation broke out in the parking lot and shots were fired.
Of the surviving victims, three are in critical condition and three are in unknown condition.
Police are still determining if there was one suspect or multiple suspects.
In a statement, Sam Penrod, spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said the church was aware of a “serious incident” outside the church meetinghouse while a memorial service was taking place.
“We extend prayers for all who have been impacted by this tragedy and express deep concern that any sacred space intended for worship should be subjected to violence of any kind,” the statement said.
Demolition of the East Wing of the White House, during construction on the new ballroom extension of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The White House on Thursday is expected to present the latest plans for the East Wing renovation project, in a public meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission.
An organization established by Congress to manage Washington-area federal projects, the NCPC has an agenda item for the “East Wing Modernization Project” on the schedule for its Jan. 8 meeting, which is open to the public and will be livestreamed.
In December, the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit to stop the East Wing construction project by claiming the administration had circumvented the required review process for federal projects.
In a hearing in that case, the administration told a federal judge it would submit plans for the project to the relevant federal oversight bodies.
The judge said he would hold a follow-up hearing on the White House’s process in January and declined to stop construction at the time.
Days later, the administration submitted formal applications and plans for the renovation project to the NCPC and the Commission of Fine Arts, a White House official confirmed to ABC News at the time.
In its filing in the case brought by the historic preservation group, the Justice Department argued that without a permanent ballroom, the White House can no longer meet the needs of the president as he fulfills his constitutional duty to “receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers.”
“It is entirely fitting, then, that the presidential residence and workplace be equipped for that purpose. Given modern needs, the White House is not,” the Justice Department argued.
Even as it determined in late August that the White House ballroom would have “no significant impact” on the surrounding grounds, the National Park Service did highlight some of the adverse effects of the project, presaging concerns that have since been echoed by preservationists, architects and designers.
“The new building’s larger footprint and height will dominate the eastern portion of the site, creating a visual imbalance with the more modestly scaled West Wing and Executive Mansion,” the NPS report noted. “Adding a second story to the East Colonnade will further modify the setting, contrasting with the single-story design of the West Colonnade and changing the traditional spatial organization and sightlines of the grounds.”
Such changes, the report indicated, “will adversely alter the design, setting, and feeling of the White House and grounds over the long-term,” while the destruction of the East Wing would result in “the permanent loss of a component that has been integral to White House operations since 1942.”
Still, the “environmental assessment” — prepared by the deputy director of the park service and signed by its comptroller — concluded that the benefits of a new ballroom for state functions would outweigh the adverse effects “by reducing reliance on temporary event infrastructure, minimizing wear on the grounds, and improving functionality for large gatherings.”
The White House announced the ballroom construction project in late July, and demolition began suddenly on the East Wing in late October, when workers were spotted tearing down the wing of the White House that contained the first lady’s offices.
Trump has repeatedly increased the size and cost of the construction 90,000 square foot ballroom project. Last month, he said it would cost $400 million, after an initial estimate of $200 million. The White House has said the project will be funded by private donations.
The president has also moved to fill both advisory boards supervising the ballroom project with his own aides and appointees.
He also spent some of his vacation working on the project: Last Friday in Florida, he visited Arc Stone & Tile, an Italian stone importer, and spent roughly an hour at the showroom before purchasing onyx and marble for the ballroom.
The White House expects to make its final presentations to the Commission of Fine Arts in February, and to the National Capitol Planning Commission in March, and will submit its final plan for the project by the end of January, a White House official told ABC News.
Will Arnett is replacing David Harbour in the upcoming Tony Gilroy film Behemoth! According to The Hollywood Reporter, Harbour exited the project as he was “in need of some downtime.” Arnett joins a cast that also includes Pedro Pascal and Olivia Wilde. While an official logline for the film has not been released, the outlet reports it is a love letter to the music of movies and the people who make it. Pascal will play a musician who returns to Los Angeles while Wilde will be his former lover …
Real Time with Bill Maher has been renewed for two more seasons. HBO has extended the late night series through 2028. The show, which is hosted by Maher, returns for season 24 on Jan. 23 and will be available to watch on HBO and HBO Max …
The winter he starred in a comedy. The Summer I Turned Pretty star Christopher Briney is set to star in the upcoming film Clashing Through the Snow. Deadline reports the actor will lead the comedy for Amazon MGM Studios. It is being described as similar to the classic film Planes, Trains and Automobiles …
Representative Steny Hoyer, a Democrat from Maryland and ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, during a hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the former No. 2 Democrat in the chamber who has served for decades, is set to announce his retirement from Congress, his office confirmed to ABC News.
Hoyer will formally announce his decision not to run for reelection on the House floor at 10 a.m. Thursday.
Hoyer, 86, spent two decades as Nancy Pelosi’s deputy and is set to retire as the California Democrat also prepares to leave Congress at the end of the year — amid a debate in the party about turning over leadership to a new generation.
Their relationship dates back to the 1960s when they served as congressional interns together, decades before they competed to lead Democrats.
The genteel dean of the Maryland delegation, who helped send billions of federal dollars to his state as an appropriator, was often a key negotiating partner for Republican leaders who maintained better relations with him than the hard-charging Pelosi.
Many Democrats are now turning to see if 85-year-old Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the longtime No. 3 Democrat on the team, will follow through on plans to run for reelection next year.
Linda McMahon, US education secretary, during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (Yuri Gripas/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon granted Iowa a first-of-its-kind waiver to use millions of unrestricted federal dollars on education in a move that inches the Trump administration closer to its goal of transferring education power and decision-making to states.
“States should lead — Washington should support their sound approaches and get out of the way,” McMahon announced on Wednesday. “We hope that as we partner with congressional leaders to return education to the states we can work with them [Iowa] to expand these opportunities for states and local leaders to run their education systems.”
The over $9 million waiver will help the Hawkeye State save millions in “compliance costs” over four years as the money flows directly back into the classroom, McMahon said in a post on X.
“Iowa now has the flexibility to cut paperwork and simplify a hundred percent of state activities funding streams. It can invest in proven strategies to build a world-class teacher pipeline, close achievement gaps, and open post secondary opportunities to prepare for a great career,” McMahon said.
Under the waiver, certain federal requirements will be dropped so that less strings are attached giving the state more flexibility in using the aid. Prior to the formal waiver request, the state submitted a Unified Allocation Plan to show how it would use its funds to improve academic outcomes for Iowa’s education programs. The plan includes supporting effective educator development, English language acquisition, among other topics, according to state education leaders.
The approval of the waiver bolsters McMahon’s mission to reduce the federal government’s role in education nationwide. But education is already a local-level issue in the U.S. On average, state and local education agencies provide about 90% of public school funding across the country.
The agency is also working with about six additional states on their waiver requests, an Education Department spokesperson confirmed to ABC News.
Title VIII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 allows states and tribes to submit requests to waive any statutory or regulatory requirement seeking to “reduce administrative burden” and align programs with the needs of its students, according to a release from the Department of Education.
In addition to Iowa’s $9 million in flexible federal funding, the Education Department approved the state’s application for “Ed-Flex authority,” which allows the state to grant individual school districts waivers from certain federal requirements without first having to submit individual waiver requests, according to the release from the department.
McMahon made the announcement during her “Returning Education to the States Tour.”
During her first year as the nation’s top education official, McMahon has made about two dozen stops in states across the country aiming to identify the best educational practices on the local level and work with local leaders to scale those practices nationwide, she says.
Wednesday’s announcement allows state leaders to focus federal dollars on work that best improves the achievement of Iowa students, according to the release from the department. For the announcement, McMahon was joined by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, director of Education McKenzie Snow, and surrounded by about a dozen students at Broadway Elementary School in Denison.
Reynolds touted Iowa’s education models, including teaching the science of reading and using evidence-based math and reading practices. She stressed that the move Wednesday means “moving the dial” towards returning education to the states.
“The more red tape that we cut from the federal level, the more Iowa can increase education quality,” she added.
“I look forward to continuing to improve student outcomes, reduce red tape for schools, support teachers, and ensure federal education dollars are focused toward state and local priorities where they make the greatest difference,” Reynolds said in a statement.
However, critics of the Trump administration’s education initiatives say they believe abolishing the agency and giving sole power to the states could harm the millions of students across the country.
The top Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee slammed McMahon’s approval of the education waiver for allegedly ignoring the law and abandoning marginalized students.
In a statement, Ranking Member Bobby Scott, D-Virginia, urged the Department to “refrain” from granting similar waivers to other states.
“Congress must not sit idly by as the Trump administration makes every effort to drag students, educators, and parents back into an era where students were denied the opportunities and resources they needed to succeed,” Scott said.
HARDY‘s currently sitting at #2 on both the Mediabase and Billboard Country Airplay charts with “Favorite Country Song,” making it likely his radio single will soon be the #1 country song.
In his latest hit, the respected writer contrasts the songs that come out of Nashville with the actual sounds you’d hear in rural America.
“It’s truly a snapshot of where I come from,” HARDY says, “and it kinda introduces in the verse all these songs that are many people’s favorite country songs. And I even drop some that weren’t actually like big hits like [Eric Church‘s] ‘Sinners Like Me’ and [Craig Campbell‘s] ‘Outskirts of Heaven’ and stuff like that.”
From there, HARDY paints an aural picture of places like his hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi.
“Obviously what it’s saying is like my favorite country song is like what you experience with your ears,” he tells ABC Audio. “But it’s just a really good snapshot of, if you really grew up in the country, you’ll know what it sounds like to hear a truck 5 miles away with straight pipes on it. … Things that you kinda take for granted once you live up here in a city for a long time.”
“Favorite Country Song” is from HARDY’S COUNTRY! COUNTRY! album, which came out in September.
