(NEW YORK) — CNN anchor Don Lemon tweeted Monday that he’s been terminated from the network.
CNN said that the network and Lemon “have parted ways.”
“Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years,” CNN said in a statement. “We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors.”
Lemon said that he’s “stunned” and learned the news from his agent.
“After 17 years at CNN I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly,” Lemon wrote on Twitter. “At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network. It is clear that there are some larger issues at play.”
CNN, however, said that “Lemon’s statement about this morning’s events is inaccurate,” adding that the journalist “was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter.”
The news came hours after Lemon co-hosted CNN This Morning alongside Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins.
CNN CEO Chris Licht told employees the network is “committed” to the “success” of CNN This Morning.
At the top of Tuesday’s show, Harlow and Collins addressed Lemon’s departure.
“Don was a big part of this show over the last six months,” Collins said.
“He was one of the first anchors on CNN to have me on his show,” she added. “That’s something I’ll obviously never forget. … We wish him the best.”
“Don was one of my first friends here at CNN,” Harlow said. “I’m so thankful to have worked alongside him and for his support for nearly 15 years here, and I wish him all good things ahead.”
Julien’s Hollywood: Classic & Contemporary auction took place on Saturday, April 22 and, as expected, John Travolta‘s iconic white three-piece suit from Saturday Night Fever and props from Harry Potter from the Order of the Phoenix and Iron Man drew some of the highest bids.
The iconic white three-piece “Tony Manero” suit worn by Travolta in Saturday Night Fever sold for $260,000. The two-piece suit worn by Travolta’s Vincent Vega character from Pulp Fiction was also on the block, and fetched $32,000.
Items from the Harry Potter universe included the “Albus Dumbledore” elder wand prop used by Michael Gambon in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which sold for a jaw-dropping $130,000 — over twenty-one times its original $6,000 estimate. A “Voldemort” wand prop used by Ralph Fiennes in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, estimated to sell for $7,000 went for $65,000 and a Harry Potter wand used by Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1 drew $32,500 — over eight times its original estimate of $4,000.
An original Iron Man Mark XLVI Helmet worn by Robert Downey Jr. in Captain America: Civil War sold for a whopping $127,000, while a prototype Mark III Helmet and Mark VII Repulsor Glove Prop went for $26,000 and and $29,250, respectively.
Other memorabilia included Warren Beatty‘s Dick Tracy coat and hat and Michael J. Fox‘s “Marty McFly” Back to the Future II Mattel Hoverboard, which each sold for $91,000.
The full list of items can be found at Julien’s website.
After winning multiple awards for their music, some of pop music’s top names are now winning awards for their domination of the internet. Rihanna, SZA, Doja Cat, BTS, Selena Gomez and more are just some of the winners of this year’s Webby Awards.
The fourth installment of Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty show, which featured models and celebrities showing off Rih’s lingerie line, won the Webby People’s Voice Award for Fashion, Beauty & Lifestyle Branded Video Entertainment. Meanwhile, Selena’s cosmetics line Rare Beauty won for Fashion & Beauty, General Social.
SZA was named Webby Artist of the Year for her chart-topping album SOS and for “her ingenious use of the Internet to share unique, brilliantly honest art.” SZA’s “Kiss Me More” duet partner Doja Cat won Best Influencer or Creator Endorsement, Features for her team-up with Taco Bell.
Christina Aguilera‘s new 2022 video for her 20-year-old hit “Beautiful” won the award for Music Video, while BTS‘s My BTS Story won for Best Community Engagement, Features. Fellow K-pop superstars BLACKPINK won the Webby People’s Voice Award for Best Partnership or Collaboration, Features for the #PinkVenomChallenge they did with YouTube Shorts.
The awards will be handed out May 15 in New York City in a ceremony hosted by Roy Wood Jr.
Filming of the movie Rust has begun again, and days after involuntary manslaughter charges were dropped against him for an on-set shooting, Alec Baldwin is feeling thankful.
The movie shifted production to Montana from New Mexico, where Rust‘s cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot in October of 2021, when a firearm aimed by Baldwin discharged a live round.
Baldwin posted a photo to Instagram, in costume, noting, “We filmed SUPERCELL in Billings,” referring to the movie he shot with Anne Heche, who died in 2022.
“Now outside of Bozeman to complete RUST. Montana is stunning,” he continued, adding, “I’m grateful for all of the support I have received here.”
Prosecutors dropped the charges against the actor last Thursday, but noted their investigation remains “active and ongoing.”
The film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was also charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter over Hutchins’ death. The special prosecutors also confirmed that the charges against Gutierrez-Reed “remain unchanged.” She insists she has no idea how a live round of ammunition ended up in Baldwin’s Colt-style pistol.
During a status conference Friday, Gutierrez-Reed’s preliminary hearing was pushed back to the week of Aug. 9. It had initially been scheduled to start May 3, but both state and defense attorneys asked for more time.
(NEW YORK) — Little League season is underway and one New Jersey town is introducing an ingenious new rule to crack down on misbehavior after parents were caught on camera berating and yelling at referees and umpires at youth games.
Referees and umpires are often volunteers and there’s been an increase in resignations with the rise in shouting matches. It’s an issue impacting the Little League players in Deptford Township, New Jersey, a suburb of Philadelphia, where two volunteer umpires have quit in the last week.
“They’re coming here, they’re being abused, they don’t need that. So they’re walking away,” Deptford Township Little League President Don Bozzuffi told Philadelphia ABC station WPVI-TV.
So now, the Little League officials in Deptford Township have created an innovative new solution to combat the trend. If a parent or another spectator fights with an umpire, they have to volunteer to officiate themselves for at least three upcoming games.
“You’re not allowed to come onto our complex until you complete three umpire assignments. Once you do that, then we’ll let you come back,” Bozzuffi explained.
“People are very comfortable making officials uncomfortable, so it’s about time that we’ve reversed the trend and started making people uncomfortable who are harassing officials,” said Brian Barlow, who founded Offside, a Facebook page that calls out bad behavior among youth sports parents.
Some parents in Deptford Township seem to be on board with the new rule.
“If the parents are going to be sitting there, yelling the whole entire game, they might as well use that energy out on the field,” Kateland Tokley, a local resident and mother, told WPVI.
Little League International President and CEO Stephen Keener said he thinks the solution is a home run idea.
“Little League International expects its participants and fans to adhere to the highest level of sportsmanship while attending local league events. … We applaud the volunteers at Deptford Township Little League for coming up with a creative, fun solution to shine a light on the importance of treating everyone with respect, on and off the Little League field,” Keener said.
If the rule goes into effect and someone has to volunteer to suit up, Deptford Little League officials say a certified umpire will also be on the baseball field to make sure any calls are correct. The local organizers say the point is for parents to see what it’s like on the field and how the job might not be as easy as it looks.
50 Cent is taking a jab at Irv Gotti with his latest joke.
On Monday, the rapper and entrepreneur took to Instagram to share his two cents on rumors that Nelly and Ashanti have rekindled their romance by reposting a video the duo’s recent flirty performance alongside a photo of Irv, who 50 has a long-standing beef with.
Above the photos reads, “Man somebody check on Irv Gotti ASAP! Know he going through it right now.”
In the caption, 50 wrote, “He will be aight.”
“I was in love wit her, and she just popped up with Nelly. LOL,” he added, referencing a Drink Champs interview from last August where Irv revealed that he had dated Ashanti in the past but lost her to the “Hot in Herre” rapper.
Ashanti and Nelly sparked rumors of their rekindling after their performance in Las Vegas over the weekend. The two were also spotted at the Gervontae Davis vs. Ryan Garcia fight. The pair started dating in 2003 and were together for 11 years before breaking up in 2014.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and ABC on Monday announced the 96th Oscars will take place Sunday, March 10, 2024. The show will air live on ABC from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. The nominations voting period will run from January 11-16, 2024, with the official nominations announcement on January 23…
He may hate to travel, but Eugene Levy is ready to hit the road again for a second season of his Apple TV+ reality series The Reluctant Traveler. “After experiencing season one, I’ve come to realize it’s true what they say about travel broadening the mind — and, I guess my mind could still take some broadening. So I’m packing my suitcase once again and looking forward — with a healthy dose of trepidation — to whatever adventures lie in store,” the Schitt’s Creek alum said in a statement on Monday, adding, “Here’s to trying new things — well, within reason”…
Ginnie Newhart, the wife of comedian Bob Newhart, died Sunday at their home in Century City after a long illness, publicist Jerry Digney told The Hollywood Reporter. She was 82. Ginnie is credited with coming up with the idea to conclude Bob’s Vermont-based sitcom by combining with it with his earlier Chicago-based show. The now classic Newhart finale ended with Dick waking up in the middle of the night as Bob Hartley — his character from his 1970s series The Bob Newhart Show — in bed with his then TV wife, Suzanne Pleshette, in their Chicago apartment, suggesting that his entire second series had been a dream…
Truth Be Told, the Apple TV+ drama of the same name won’t return for a fourth season. Series star Octavia Spencer shared the news on her Instagram, along with a video of the cast and crew waving goodbye while The Bellamy Brothers‘ “Let Your Love Shine” played underneath. “Hey y’all. I wanted to share the news that after three seasons of seeking truth and justice, Poppy Scoville is going on a much-needed vacation,” she wrote. After thanking the studio and producers, she closed with “Poppy Scoville signing off.” Gabrielle Union co-starred in season 3, following Aaron Paul, Lizzy Caplan and Kate Hudson, who shared top billing with Spencer in the show’s first and second seasons, respectively…
Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Maria A. Olvera Tristán via U.S Navy
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. military officials released two handout photos of the evacuation of the U.S. embassy staff from Sudan, marking the first official view of evacuees landing at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti.
The photos, taken by Navy and Air Force photographers, show staffers arriving at an airfield in Djibouti, the first stop as embassy workers fled the war-torn country.
One photo shows John T. Godfrey, the U.S. ambassador, being greeted by Maj. Gen. Jami Shawley, the general in charge of U.S. forces in Djibouti. In the other, two people hug on the tarmac with a plane wing visible behind them.
U.S. Africa Command released the images, which were dated April 23, 2023.
(NEW YORK) — Tech giant Apple last week announced a buzzy product release — but it wasn’t a new version of its iPhone or virtual reality headset. Rather, the company offered its first ever high-yield savings account.
The move reflects growing demand for returns on savings as a topsy-turvy stock market, looming recession fears and aggressive interest rate hikes transform the old-fashioned savings account into a newly attractive financial option, personal finance experts told ABC News.
However, the yields on savings accounts could shift downward if the Federal Reserve reverses its policy of rate hikes, and prospective consumers should make sure that an account offering retains government insurance protection, they added.
Here’s what to know about the rise of high-yield savings accounts, and how to decide whether to open one:
What is a high yield savings account?
Financial institutions have not settled on what exactly constitutes a high-yield savings account, experts said. But the name indicates the key characteristics of this financial product: a savings account that delivers high returns.
While no specific threshold earns an account the moniker of “high-yield,” the enhanced savings from such accounts can prove substantial, experts said.
The average yield for a savings account is 0.24% annual percentage yield, meaning that a typical customer earns a fraction of a percentage point of interest each year for his or her savings deposit, according to Bankrate.com data from last week.
High-yield savings accounts, however, offer customers as much as 5% annual percentage yield, Mark Hamrick, Washington bureau chief and senior economic analyst for Bankrate.com, told ABC News.
“Over a prolonged period of time, it can make a huge difference,” Hamrick said.
For instance, a high-yield saving account that holds $10,000 could return as much as $500 per year. However, if a customer deposits the same amount in a bank account yielding 0.25% each, he or she stands to see just $25 in annual return, Hamrick said.
Instead of seeking out high-yield savings accounts at brick-and-mortar banks with household names or local branches, customers will more often find them at online banks, Christine Benz, the director of personal finance at Morningstar, told ABC News.
Online banks face lower expenses, since they aren’t paying for a commercial space or local bank employees, Benz said.
“Online banks are able to offer more competitive, better yields,” Benz said.
Why are high-yield savings accounts on the rise?
High-yield savings accounts have grown in popularity amid a string of rate hikes from the Fed that have allowed some banks to offer attractive returns and damaged the performance of alternative financial vehicles like the stock market, experts said.
“We’ve seen a huge rise,” Hamrick said.
Over the last year, the Fed has raised interest rates at a breakneck pace not seen since the 1980s.
The interest rate hikes make it more lucrative for banks to hold money, which in turn puts pressure on financial institutions to pass along some of those earnings to depositors through higher yields.
As a result, some banks have bid up each other’s yield offerings to attract customers, Hamrick said.
“They’ve got to be competitive with their rivals,” Hamrick said.
Meanwhile, high interest rates have pummeled some alternative investment options, like stocks. The S&P 500 has dropped about 3% over the past year, though it has surged in recent months.
“A savings account is pretty safe money right now,” Hamrick said.
What are the downsides of a high-yield savings account?
A major drawback of a high-yield savings account stems from the unpredictability of its yield, which shifts in rough correlation with the interest rate environment, Benz said.
If the Fed decides to reverse its rate policy and start bringing down borrowing costs, the high-yield accounts would likely suffer.
“With any type of savings account, the interest rate will vary significantly on an ongoing basis,” Benz said.
Moreover, personal finance experts cautioned that customers should make sure that a given high-yield account falls under government insurance protection, especially in light of recent tumult in the financial system.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, which safeguards the stability of the financial system, protects depositors at all FDIC-insured banks for up to $250,000 in funds for each different type of account held.
Nearly every bank is FDIC insured, and the vast majority of accounts fall below the $250,000 threshold.
Insurance also covers balances held with the high-yield savings account offered by Apple through its partnership with Goldman Sachs, Apple said.
Meanwhile, high-yield savings accounts often require a minimum deposit size for customers to qualify for the strong returns, Benz said.
“Relate that to your own expectations of how you’ll use the funds or the account,” she said.
“If you’re thinking of it as a checking alternative and don’t think you’ll be able to maintain the minimum balance, you won’t be able to maintain that full yield,” she added.
(NEW YORK) — A study released in the Journal of the American Medical Association last week has shed some new light on how breast cancer rates have been disproportionately affecting Black female patients and pressed for earlier screenings.
The study found that Black women had the same risk of dying from breast cancer if they were screened starting at age 42 as the general population had with screenings starting at the recommended age of 50.
Researchers, who examined data from 415, 277 breast cancer deaths between 2011 and 2020, found that breast cancer death rates for women between 40 and 49 were highest among Black female patients, with a rate of 27 deaths per 100,000.
“These findings suggest that health policy makers and clinicians could consider an alternative, race and ethnicity-adapted approach in which Black female patients start screening earlier,” the authors wrote.
Although the researchers noted that there is “currently insufficient data to make specific recommendations for different racial and ethnic populations,” they said that race and ethnicity need to be factored in to “optimize the benefit of screening.”
The study didn’t prospectively test what would happen if screening started earlier, but instead used the data to calculate a risk threshold for breast cancer based on the screening age.
For screenings that started at 50, Black female patients reached that threshold for breast cancer at 42, while non-Hispanic white females did so at 51, American Indian and Alaska Native and Hispanic females at 57 years, and Asian and Pacific Islander females at 61, according to the study.
For screenings that started at 40, Black females would reach the risk threshold level at 34, white females at 41, Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native and Asian or Pacific Islander females at age 43 years, researchers said.
Researchers acknowledged their study didn’t look at the possible risks of earlier breast cancer screening for various races and ethnicities, such as false positives and the mental and emotional toll of waiting for test results.
“Although Black women may experience disproportionate rates of false positives because of breast density, the added risk of false positives from earlier screenings may be balanced by the benefits associated with earlier [breast cancer] detection in this group,” researchers said.
The report concluded that to decrease breast cancer mortality, “the starting age for the general population could be decreased from 50 to 45 or 40 years like what is done for colorectal cancer screening in the U.S,” and “health policy makers may consider the alternative, risk-adapted approach in which individuals, such as Black females, who are at high risk are screened earlier.”
Several organizations have different recommendations for breast cancer screenings.
The United States Preventive Services Task Force says women ages 50 to 74 should get a mammogram every two years, and women 40 to 49 should talk to their doctors about mammograms.
The American Cancer Society, which found that Black women have the lowest five-year relative breast cancer survival rate compared to all other racial/ethnic groups, recommends that women at mean risk levels should start annual mammography screening from age 45 years but have the opportunity to start from age 40 years.
Dr. Arif Kamal, the chief patient officer of the American Cancer Society, told ABC News that more research is showing a trend of younger women being diagnosed with breast cancer, and earlier screenings that are tailor-made based on a patient’s race, may be needed.
“I think it highlights beyond race, people should evaluate their own risk of breast cancer, such as family history and the age at which they were diagnosed,” he told ABC News.
