Karlsson and Ferguson in 2018 — Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images
The Bachelor season 20 contestant Emily Ferguson and her husband William Karlsson have welcomed their first child.
“Beckham William Karlsson born May 12th,2023 at 1:33am,” Ferguson, 30, captioned a series of photos of the baby, posted on her Instagram Friday. “Our big, strong healthy boy weighing 8lbs 2oz. You’re Pappa’s Twin! We love you more than you’ll ever know.”
“My sweet boy,” Emily’s twin sister Haley wrote in the comments section.
Fellow Bachelor season 20 alum Lauren Lane added, “Oh my gosh a real life ANGEL!”
Former Vanderpump Rules star Stassi Schroeder shared, “Congratulations!!!!! So adorable.”
“Congrats,” replied former Dancing with the Stars pro Lindsay Arnold.
Emily, who appeared on Ben Higgins‘ season of The Bachelor with her sister Haley, made history as the first-ever identical twins to compete for the same lead. Higgins didn’t choose either sibling, and both went on to appear in seasons 3 and 4 of Bachelor in Paradise.
Following her stint on BiP season 3, Emily met Karlsson, a Swedish hockey player, and they tied the knot in 2020.
Variety reports that Tony Awards Productions has altered its upcoming awards ceremony to conform with requests made by The Writers Guild of America, the union announced Monday evening. As a result, the WGA no longer has plans to picket the show. Details of the agreement were not revealed. It was believed that Ariana DeBose, who was set to return as host, would’ve exited the show if it was picketed. The striking Writers Guild of America on Friday denied a request for a waiver to allow for the Tony Awards to air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ on June 11…
Peacock on Monday dropped the official trailer for the dark comedic thriller, Based on a True Story. The series stars The Big Bang Theory‘s Kaley Cuoco and The Mindy Project‘s Chris Messina as a down-on-their-luck husband and wife who attempt to capitalize on America’s obsession with true crime as a way of making some extra cash. All eight episodes premiere June 8 on Peacock…
Showtime is looking to revive two of its popular comedy series: Nurse Jackie and Weeds, with respective original stars Edie Falco and Mary-Louise Parker, attached to star and executive produce, sources tell Deadline. Weeds ran on Showtime from 2005-2012, and there was talk of bringing it back on Starz in 2019. Nurse Jackie ran from 2009-2015 and earned five Emmys, including best actress and supporting actress wins for Falco and Merritt Wever, respectively…
Viggo Mortensen, Shia LaBeouf, Al Pacino, John Travolta and Courtney Love have joined the cast of David Mamet’s JFK assassination thriller Assassination, according to Variety. Per the film’s official logline, “1963. During a crucial justice hearing against organized crime, the head of the Chicago mob orders the assassination of President John F. Kennedy Jr., creating a deadly conspiracy while altering the fate of a nation.” The film, written by Mamet and Nicholas Celozzi, based the script on Celozzi’s great uncle, Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana, who may have played a significant role in orchestrating Kennedy’s assassination…
The Peabody Awards has scrapped this year’s ceremony due to the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike.
“As an organization dedicated to honoring the most compelling and empowering stories in broadcasting and streaming media, we recognize and respect the position that many of this year’s Peabody Award winners find themselves in,” the organization said in a statement on Monday.
“Due to the ongoing uncertainty and meaningful challenges that exist industrywide, we have decided to cancel the 83rd annual Peabody Awards ceremony that was set to take place on June 11 in Los Angeles,” the statement continued. “Canceling the ceremony is extremely disappointing, as this year’s 39 winners are immensely talented and have brought forth powerful stories that deserve to be celebrated.”
The event, set for Sunday, June 11 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles, would have been the first in-person ceremony since 2019 — before the COVID-19 pandemic — and the first time the event will be held in Los Angeles.
Abbott Elementary, Andor, Atlanta, Bad Sisters, Better Call Saul, Los Espookys, Mo, Pachinko, Severance and We’re Here were the entertainment programs announced as this year’s winners.
Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Nick Cannon found himself in a tricky situation when he accidentally mixed up heartfelt handwritten messages for Mother’s Day.
During the Monday, May 15 episode of The Daily Cannon Show, the father of 11 shared the comical incident with his co-hosts and confessed his blunder.
Thinking it would be a grand gesture, Cannon explained his idea to write personalized messages to the mothers of each of his children.
“I thought it would be a really really good idea to show people how you really feel, write it down,” he shared. “As I’m writing a handwritten message, I get the cards mixed up.”
“And then so when one baby mama reads the card about how I feel about the other baby mama …” he explained before adding, “I tried my best, I really did.”
Nick shares twins Moroccan and Monroe with his ex-wife, Mariah Carey; daughter Beautiful Zeppelin and twin sons Zion and Zillion with Abby De La Rosa; son Legendary with model Bre Tiesi; daughter Onyx with model LaNisha Cole; sons Rise Messiah and Golden Sagon, and daughter Powerful Queen with model Brittany Bell. He also shares daughter Halo with Alyssa Scott. Nick and Alyssa lost their first child together, baby Zen, to a brain tumor in December of 2021.
(FARMINGTON, N.M.) — Three people were killed and six others injured, including two officers, after a suspect opened fire in Farmington, New Mexico, before officers shot and killed the alleged gunman, police said Monday.
The suspect, who police said was 18, fired at least three different weapons, including an AR-style rifle, Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe said in a video message Monday night. The motive is under investigation, but the shooting appears to be random, according to the police chief. The suspect wasn’t targeting a school, church or individuals, Hebbe said.
The Farmington Police Department said that at 10:57 a.m., the unidentified 18-year-old suspect opened fire near Dustin Avenue and Ute Street.
When officers arrived, they found a “chaotic scene,” with the suspect firing into the neighborhood, the Farmington Police Department deputy chief, Baric Crum, told reporters earlier Monday.
The suspect “roamed” through the neighborhood up to a quarter of a mile, randomly firing “at whatever entered his head to shoot at,” Hebbe said, shooting at least six houses and three cars.
Four officers engaged the suspect in a firefight, and the suspect was killed, according to Crum.
The two officers who were wounded, one from the Farmington Police Department and one from New Mexico State Police, were taken to San Juan Regional Medical Center and listed in stable condition, police said.
The Farmington officer was treated and released; the state police officer remains in the hospital and is doing well, Hebbe said.
The investigation is ongoing, Crum said.
“We are actively looking at several blocks of this crime scene to determine what exactly happened,” the deputy chief said.
The Farmington Police Department, New Mexico State Police and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to the scene and are still investigating.
The Farmington Municipal School District issued an alert on its Facebook page stating that Apache and McKinley elementary schools, Central Kitchen and the CATE Center were under lockdown until further notice. Officials said all of the children and staff were safe.
At 1:05 p.m. local time, the lockdown was lifted and the students were planned to be released, according to the school district.
Farmington is located in northern New Mexico, about 15 miles south of the Colorado border.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham tweeted that she was monitoring the situation and expressed condolences for the victims.
“My administration will not stop fighting the epidemic of gun violence from every angle possible,” she wrote.
(NEW YORK) — People who are trying to lose weight should avoid using zero calorie non-sugar sweeteners, according to a new recommendation released Monday by the World Health Organization.
Zero calorie non-sugar sweeteners, including artificial and natural sweeteners like aspartame and stevia, have not been shown to help with weight loss long-term in children or adults, and their use may bring side effects like increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, Type 2 diabetes and death in adults, the WHO said in its finding.
“Replacing free sugars with NSS does not help with weight control in the long term. People need to consider other ways to reduce free sugars intake, such as consuming food with naturally occurring sugars, like fruit, or unsweetened food and beverages,” Francesco Branca, WHO director for nutrition and food safety, said in a statement announcing the recommendation. “NSS are not essential dietary factors and have no nutritional value. People should reduce the sweetness of the diet altogether, starting early in life, to improve their health.”
The WHO defines artificial sweeteners as “all synthetic and naturally occurring or modified nonnutritive sweeteners that are not classified as sugars found in manufactured foods and beverages, or sold on their own to be added to foods and beverages by consumers.”
The only exception to the recommendation, according to the agency, is for “individuals with pre-existing diabetes.”
The WHO said it issued the recommendation after a “systematic review” of over 280 studies involving the use of artificial sweeteners in adults, pregnant women and children.
Due to a growing obesity epidemic worldwide, non-sugar sweeteners are becoming increasingly common ingredients found in soft drinks, “diet” foods and other processed products. Although federal regulatory agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have deemed most artificial sweeteners to be safe, little is known about the long-term health effects.
Low-calorie sugar alternatives have been found in at least one study to change the gut microbiome, the collection of microbes in the gut that help protect humans against disease and enable us to digest food.
Saccharin, sucralose, aspartame and stevia were the four substances tested in the study on gut health, published last year in the medical journal Cell.
Overall, the healthiest sweetener to use is no sweetener at all. The American Heart Association recommends drastically lowering added sugar in a daily diet to help slow the risk of obesity and heart disease and to focus on more whole foods like a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.
The U.S. Dietary Guidelines currently recommend that Americans ages 2 and older limit their intake of added sugars to less than 10% of their daily calories, or about four tablespoons for someone consuming a 2,000-calorie diet. Children under the age of 2 are advised to consume no added sugars at all in their diet.
The average American consumes around 34 teaspoons of sugars a day, which equals over 500 calories, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
People who are overweight or obese are at an increased risk for many serious health conditions, including cancer, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, gall bladder disease, osteoarthritis, mental illness and other health problems.
(WASHINGTON) — Two children were shot and injured overnight in Washington, D.C., during two separate incidents Sunday and Monday, police said, describing both girls as innocent bystanders.
The latest string of shootings comes as D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser unveiled new legislative efforts aimed at increasing public safety ahead of her testimony to lawmakers during a House Oversight Committee hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
A 10-year-old girl was shot in the upper body while driving home with family following Mother’s Day celebrations at 9 p.m. on Sunday, police said. The family realized the girl had been shot and drove her to a local firehouse, and then she was taken to a hospital, where she remains in critical condition, police told ABC News. The Metropolitan Police Department said it doesn’t believe the family was an intended target and the girl was “accidentally hit in a barrage of gunfire.”
Hours later, at 4:15 a.m. Monday, a 12-year-old girl was shot after a bullet went through the window of her home and struck her in the leg as she was sleeping, according to D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee. The 12-year-old was transported with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
No arrests have been made and both cases are still under investigation, authorities said. City leaders pleaded with the public to provide information on the recent shootings.
Contee told reporters Monday that both shootings were “unacceptable.” He added, “We have been focusing on a whole-of-government approach to keeping our community safe.”
Speaking directly to the community, Contee said: “We truly need the community’s help with that case. To the cowards who fired those shots: You hit a 10-year-old child. I’m asking for the community’s help.”
On Friday, there was another string of shootings: Three men and one woman were injured during four separate shootings in an hour across the district. The first of the four incidents happened at 11:35 a.m., the last at 12:31 p.m.
Violent crime in the district is up 13% from this time last year, according to data from the Metropolitan Police Department.
During a press conference Monday, Bowser addressed the public’s frustration: “I would say if they’re hearing gunshots and a child and their community became a victim, I completely understand a frustration with crime. And we’re going to do everything that we can with the resources available to stop it.”
In response to growing calls for action, the mayor announced new legislative efforts on Monday. She is expected to answer additional questions from congressional lawmakers on violence in the district on Tuesday during a House hearing titled Overdue Oversight of the Capitol City.
Bowser says the new legislation is aimed at increasing public safety. The new initiatives will work to determine who should be held in jail ahead of trials, make updates to domestic violence laws including making strangulation a felony, and increase penalties for assaults of transit workers and crimes against vulnerable adults and people with disabilities. The mayor’s new legislative effort will also seek to harshen penalties for firearms and ghost guns, officials said Monday.
The mayor told reporters: “We proudly, of course, in our city believe in second chances, but we also believe in accountability.”
The mayor was asked if she felt her newest legislative efforts would allay some Republicans who have had serious issues with crime in the district while blocking the city’s effort to update D.C.’s criminal code for the first time since 1901.
“I’m less concerned about their concerns,” Bowser said. “I’m more concerned about the 700,000 people who live here, the two little girls that the chief just described who have the right to be safe in their homes.”
She added, “I’m concerned, as well, to set the record straight with members of the Congress. We are experiencing a dangerous trend in some crimes in the city.” Bowser said crimes in D.C. are not unlike some cities across the country, however, regarding the hearing Tuesday, she added: “We’re going to be clear about what we’re doing to address it.”
(ALLEN, Texas) — Police in Allen, Texas, where eight people were killed in a shooting at an outdoor mall earlier this month, say a man who said he tried to help some shooting victims is “not a credible witness.”
There were discrepancies in what the witness, Steven Spainhouer, told several media outlets, the Allen Police Department said in a press release Friday. On his Facebook page, Spainhouer disputed the statement by police.
“Inconsistencies between these public accounts and investigative facts led Allen Police Department to conduct a follow-up interview,” it went on. “During the interview, detectives determined that Mr. Spainhouer is not a credible incident witness.”
Spainhouer said he arrived at the Allen Premium Outlets on May 6 just after the shooting and immediately encountered wounded people. He also said he tried to perform CPR on two victims.
“I was on the phone and I started counting bodies,” he told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
He recounted the conversation he had with an emergency operator: “I said, ‘I’ve got seven bodies, I need seven ambulances.’ She said, ‘I don’t know if I have that many.’ I said, ‘However many you can get.'”
Spainhouer, according to Allen police, arrived at the scene between 3:44 and 3:52 p.m. and “was not first on the scene, nor was he on the property while gunfire was occurring.”
Allen police also said Spainhouer didn’t perform CPR or administer first aid.
He also didn’t “move a deceased mother who was covering a live child,” the Allen PD said.
In a statement posted Friday to his Facebook page, Spainhouer said he was “hurt and disappointed” by the press release.
“First of all, I have never said I heard gunshots at the Allen Outlet Mall,” he wrote, also adding: “I did not move any victims, except the first one I found to check on her.”
When asked for comment, Spainhouer directed ABC News to what he wrote on Facebook.
(DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.) — A 6-year-old girl was nearly abducted after walking home from church with her mother on Mother’s Day, according to the Daytona Beach Police Department.
Authorities responded at around noon on Sunday to reports of an attempted abduction in Daytona Beach, Florida, police said in a press release.
The 6-year-old and her mother were walking home hand-in-hand from Our Lady of Lourdes Church when a woman blocked them from moving any further, according to an incident report obtained by ABC News affiliate WFTV.
The woman then “intentionally grabbed” the 6-year-old, trying to break the grip between her and her mother, the report said. Ultimately unsuccessful, the suspect fled. The child and her mother were uninjured from the incident, according to the report. The suspect remained at large, police said.
Daytona Beach Police have described the suspect as a Black female between 25 and 35, who is approximately 5′ 6” to 5′ 8” tall and who was last seen wearing a gray T-shirt and a red skirt.
“Maybe you’re afraid, maybe it was Mother’s Day (and) you don’t have a child, I don’t know,” Kelly Grange, father of the 6-year-old, told WFTV. “I encourage you to turn yourself in, reach out and get some help.”
(WASHINGTON) — As former Vice President Mike Pence enters the final weeks of considering whether to make a presidential run, a group of conservatives is launching a super PAC to support his potential candidacy, according to several sources familiar with its planning.
The group, Committed to America, will be co-chaired by veteran GOP consultant Scott Reed, former Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling, and Bobby Saparow, former campaign manager to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. Michael Ricci, who ran communications for Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, will run the PAC’s communications.
The co-chairs hope to in part reintroduce Pence to voters, who they believe don’t have a full sense of who the former vice president is, and catch the attention of voters perhaps stuck on other candidates.
“People know Mike Pence, they just don’t know him well,” Reed told a small group of reporters Friday that included ABC News. “This campaign is going to reintroduce Mike Pence to the country as his own man, not as vice president, but as a true economic, social, and national security conservative — a Reagan conservative.”
If Pence decides to wade into the race, he enters a field already dominated by his prior running mate, former President Donald Trump. A majority of GOP voters who are opting not to support Trump currently favor Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll shows 6% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents supporting a Pence bid.
Another source familiar with the PAC’s planning said Pence would own the “constitutional conservative” lane even if others try to occupy that space. One of those may be former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who has called for Trump to drop out of the race.
“It’s not a soundbite with Mike Pence. There’s a history,” said another source. “There’s a record, going all the way back to the house days and being chairman of the Republican Study Committee. Again, it’s not a soundbite. It’s a record that has a very, very dramatic exclamation point on it.”
While it’s unclear whether the PAC will attack Trump directly, a source familiar said that the former president’s actions on Jan. 6 are “disqualifying,” echoing a similar sentiment from Hutchinson. Pence has shied away from laying into his former boss or his character, leaving those sorts of judgements up to voters — though Trump has not returned the favor.
“I guess he figured that being nice is not working,” Trump told reporters in response to questions about comments Pence made at the Gridiron Club dinner for Washington insiders, where he claimed that “history will hold Donald Trump accountable” for his actions during the Capitol insurrection.
Although he’d be navigating headwinds within his own party, Pence would be facing a public with growing disdain toward President Joe Biden — with the same ABC News/Washington Post poll revealing staggering new lows for Biden’s approval rating.
The group plans to make major investments in Iowa, whose voting contest remains first in line for Republicans. The Democratic National Committee voted to remove the Iowa caucuses from their lineup, causing some pushback from state Democrats who feel left behind by the party. Winning big in the early stages of the process can create inertia for any GOP candidate hoping to de-throne Trump.
“We’re going to organize Iowa, all 99 counties, like we’re running him for county sheriff,” added Reed, who previously managed Sen. Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign.
Saparow told reporters he plans on replicating his strategy for Kemp — who bested Trump-backed former Sen. David Perdue in the Georgia gubernatorial primary by over 50 points and eventually beat out Democratic Stacey Abrams in a general election rematch — on a national stage.
“We will also be doing a very extensive paid voter contact program through Committed to America. We have all the confidence in the world that the results that we were able to garner for Gov. Kemp we can duplicate for the vice president,” said Saparow.
Once registered with the Federal Election Commission, the Committed to America super PAC can raise funds to support Pence, so long as it doesn’t directly coordinate with the former vice president prior to any sort of official campaign launch. The group declined to disclose specifics on initial financial commitments, with a source saying the group will “raise and spend as much money as it takes to be successful.”
“Our initial meetings and phone calls have been very successful in terms of commitments, and we’re going to continue to grow on that. We’re going to need to spend wisely in a very focused way. This will be the Pence-sanctioned super PAC and 100% of the money will go to helping Mike Pence, and no one else,” said the source.
A Pence adviser told ABC News a potential announcement could come “broadly” in June.
Any such announcement would have to be made early enough to meet the Republican National Committee’s debate polling and domination thresholds. Republican candidates will face off in the first primary debate in Milwaukee in August.
“The country’s at real crossroads and the Republican Party needs a strong conservative candidate who can win. Pence has the experience, the unparalleled character, communication skills and the conservative credentials to win both the nomination and a general election,” said Reed.
