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Rebel Wilson says she was “dumped” by a famous woman before meeting fiancée Ramona Agruma

March 30, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Speaking on the U Up? podcast, Rebel Wilson explained that she was “dumped” by a famous, apparently closeted woman before she met her now-fiancée, Ramona Agruma.

The Pitch Perfect star, 43, explained the “dalliance” with the other woman, whom she didn’t name for privacy reasons, fizzled, but credits it for her current relationship.

“I met a woman and had, like, feelings for her, which totally came as a blindside,” Rebel recalled. Seeing as her dating life had previously been limited to “dudes,” Wilson said she was nervous.

“It was so embarrassing,” Rebel said, describing how they were “hanging out as friends” in her apartment at the time. “I said the words, ‘I don’t want to offend you, but are you interested in women?'”

She recalled, “I’ve never had a conversation like that because I was normally just dating dudes, and never had to talk about sexuality and stuff,” she admitted.

The feelings were mutual.

However, the person she was referring to wanted to keep her sexuality out of “the public eye” for the sake of her career. Rebel said eventually she “kinda got dumped.”

However, the actress credited “that whole experience with opening my heart up” to a same-sex relationship.

After the celebrity dating app Raya didn’t work out for her, a mutual friend introduced Rebel to Ramona, “thinking it might just be a friendship thing, but then it progressed.”

The experience of looking for love led Rebel to start a new dating app called Fluid, for people whose attractions don’t necessarily “tick a box.”

She noted, “If your preferences start changing,” the app changes along with you.

Rebel and Ramona’s relationship made headlines in 2022, as the actress simultaneously came out.

The Disney fan couple were engaged last month in front of Cinderella’s castle in Disneyland.

Roku to slash 200 jobs, amounting to 6% of workforce

March 30, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Roku plans to lay off another 200 workers, or 6% of its workforce, the video-streaming company said in a government filing on Thursday, just months after a prior round of layoffs in the fall that slashed 200 jobs.

The company’s revenue surged during the pandemic when customers stuck indoors came to rely on at-home entertainment.

However, the return of consumer habits more closely resembling pre-pandemic life has posed a challenge for the San Jose, California-based company.

The round of layoffs, which the company described as a “restructuring plan,” aims to “lower the Company’s year-over-year operating expense growth and prioritize projects that the Company believes will have a higher return on investment,” the government filing said.

The layoffs will cost the company between $30 and $35 million due to severance payments and other employee benefits, the filing said.

The company’s revenue stood essentially unchanged over the last three months of 2022 compared with the same period a year ago, according to an earnings report released last month.

Roku had previously warned of a difficult business environment expected at the end of last year due to a slowdown in ad spending and the adverse effects of inflation.

Shares of Roku ticked up about 1.5% in early trading on Thursday.

Report: Lana Del Rey is engaged

March 30, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Did you know that, in addition to there being a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, Lana Del Rey is engaged?

That’s according to Billboard, which reports that the “Summertime Sadness” artist is set to marry Evan Winiker, whom she’d apparently been quietly dating.

Winiker works for the Range Media Partners entertainment industry company and used to play in the band Steel Train with Jack Antonoff, who’s long worked with Del Rey.

Del Rey was reportedly engaged to musician Clayton Johnson in 2020 and previously dated Sean Larkin of the reality police show Live PD.

Metallica premieres ‘72 Seasons’ title track

March 30, 2023 by WDNY Radio

After a week of teases, Metallica has now premiered the title track off the band’s upcoming album, 72 Seasons.

The eight-minute thrash epic is available now via digital outlets and is accompanied by a video streaming on YouTube.

The album 72 Seasons, the follow-up to 2016’s Hardwired…to Self-Destruct, will arrive April 14. It also includes the previously released songs “Lux Æterna,” “Screaming Suicide” and “If Darkness Had a Son.”

Metallica will be supporting 72 Seasons on a massive world tour, which begins in Europe in April before hitting the U.S. in August.

KISS adds four new shows to their The End of the Road Tour

March 30, 2023 by WDNY Radio

KISS may have announced their final tour dates, but that doesn’t mean they are done adding shows.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers just added four new U.S. dates to their The End of the Road Tour. The new shows will take place in October, starting with Detroit on October 20. The other additions are Nashville on October 23, St. Louis on October 25 and Fort Worth, Texas, on October 27.

Tickets for the new dates go on sale to the KISS Army on April 3 at 10 a.m. local time, with a general sale happening April 7 at 10 a.m. local time.

As previously reported, KISS has already announced they will wrap the tour December 1 and 2 at New York’s Madison Square Garden, which they say will be the band’s final shows ever. A complete list of KISS dates can be found at kissonline.com.

Nine dead after two Black Hawk helicopters crash in Kentucky

March 30, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(TRIGG COUNTY, Ky.) — All nine service members on board have died after two U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters crashed during a training mission in Trigg County, Kentucky, an Army official announced, calling it a “truly tragic loss.”

The Black Hawk helicopters from the 101st Airborne Division — one with five on board and another with four on board — were on a “routine training mission” when they crashed at about 10 p.m. Wednesday, Army officials said. The helicopters were “flying a multi-ship formation under night vision goggles,” officials said.

Brigadier General Lubas said the helicopters “have something very similar to the black boxes that we see on the larger aircraft, and we’re hopeful that that will provide quite a bit of information on what occurred.”

Trigg County, where the crash occurred, is about 25 miles northwest of Fort Campbell, a military installation on the Kentucky-Tennessee border.

Kentucky State Police troopers found the wreckage in a location described as either a field or a semi-wooded area, said Sarah Burgess, a police spokesperson.

No one else was hurt, Army officials said.

The service members’ names have not been released. Officials said they are in the process of notifying the families.

“We’re gonna wrap our arms around these families and we’re gonna be there with them,” Kentucky Gov. Andy. Beshear said at a news conference Thursday.

ABC New’s Ahmad Hemingway, Emily Shapiro, Jaclyn Lee and Matt Seyler contributed to this story.

‘DWTS’ pros Val Chmerkovskiy, Jenna Johnson open up about miscarriage

March 30, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Dancing With the Stars pros and new parents Val Chmerkovskiy and Jenna Johnson are opening up about a miscarriage they had before welcoming their son, Rome, to the world in January.

In an interview with Good Morning America, the couple said that Rome is their rainbow baby after they miscarried in 2021.

“We were in Dallas for a show, and while we were practicing, we did something, and I just turned to him. I’m like, ‘Oh … I think I’m bleeding,'” Johnson recalled.

“And immediately my heart just dropped. I could see in his face just went, like, white,” Johnson said. “And I sprinted to our hotel room, and I lost the baby in our hotel room.”

At the time, Johnson had kept her pregnancy a secret, and when she miscarried, she felt isolated and alone.

“No one knew that we were pregnant,” she said. “And we were so excited.”

“I was so, so sad,” she added. “I was hurting so much.”

Johnson said losing the baby made her not want to dance for a while because she was so angry. But it also turned out to be a way for her to escape.

In July 2022, Chmerkovskiy and Johnson announced that they were expecting in an Instagram post. In her caption, Johnson called it, “Our biggest dream come true yet.”

As they navigate parenthood together, Chmerkovskiy told GMA he has never loved or appreciated his wife more.

“The rush of love, I think, definitely flooded me more in regards to my wife,” he said.

“He was my biggest support system while I was pregnant,” Johnson said about “tender and sweet” Chmerkovskiy. “Those exhausting, tired moments when you’re up at 4:00 a.m. together, and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s my teammate, and he’s willing to do this with me.'”

Following school shooting, Sheryl Crow plays at candlelight vigil in Nashville

March 30, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Noted anti-gun violence activist Sheryl Crow performed Wednesday night at a candlelight vigil in Nashville following this week’s shooting at the city’s The Covenant School, which left six people dead, including three children.

Rolling Stone reports that Sheryl was joined by first lady Jill Biden, the mayor of Nashville, the chief of police, religious leaders, and alt-country musicians Margo Price and Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show.

Sheryl, a Nashville resident herself, performed “I Shall Believe,” a song from her debut album, Tuesday Night Music Club. The lyrics go, “Come to me now/ And lay your hands over me/ Even if it’s a lie/ Say it will be alright/ And I shall believe.”

Three months ago, Sheryl released a live version of “I Shall Believe” to benefit Sandy Hook Promise, a charity that was established after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The charity educates and empowers youth and adults to prevent violence in schools, homes and communities.

Following The Covenant School shooting Monday, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee tweeted, “Please join us in praying for the school, congregation & Nashville community.” Sheryl replied, “Oh yes… prayers. Sure hope all those prayers keep bullets from assault rifles from flying into our children.”

And when Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn tweeted, “My office is in contact with federal, state, & local officials, & we stand ready to assist,” Sheryl shot back, “If you are ready to assist, please pass sensible gun laws so that the children of Tennessee and America at large might attend school without risk of being gunned down.”

Evacuations underway after freight train derails, catches fire in Minnesota

March 30, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(RAYMOND, Minn.) — A freight train derailed in a fiery crash near a small town in Minnesota early Thursday, forcing residents to evacuate as a precaution, officials said.

The incident was reported at around 1 a.m. CT. Multiple tankers of a train operated by BNSF Railway derailed and caught fire on the western edge of Raymond, a town in Minnesota’s southwestern Kandiyohi County that has a population of less than 800. The tankers were carrying “a form of ethanol” and “a corn syrup liquid,” according to a press release from the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office.

BNSF spokesperson Lena Kent confirmed to ABC News that “approximately 22 cars” of a train “carrying mixed freight including ethanol and corn syrup” derailed near Raymond at 1:02 a.m. The company, one of the largest freight railroad networks in North America, is investigating the cause of the incident and, so far, there were no reported casualties, according to Kent.

“BNSF field personnel are responding to assess the derailment site and will be working closely with local first responders,” Kent told ABC News in a statement Thursday. “The main track is blocked and an estimated time for reopening the line is not available.”

Approximately 13 rail cars were carrying ethanol. Four train cars that are on fire contain ethanol, FEMA officials said Thursday.

A half-mile evacuation radius was established around the derailment site. Residents within the designated area “were instructed to leave their homes,” while those “with nowhere to go” were sent to a school in the nearby town of Prinsburg, according to the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office.

The total number of evacuees is unknown, according to FEMA.

The fire at the derailment site “is being contained,” and members of the public are advised against traveling to Raymond in the meantime, the sheriff’s office said.

The Raymond Fire Department, which deployed firefighters to the scene, said in a Facebook post that the evacuation is “for precautionary measures.”

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg confirmed in a Twitter post that the Federal Railroad Administration “is on the ground after a BNSF train carrying ethanol derailed early this morning, leading to an evacuation in the area of Raymond, MN.”

“At present no injuries or fatalities have been reported,” Buttigieg added. “We are tracking closely as more details emerge and will be involved in the investigation.”

The National Transportation Safety Board said it is launching a team to conduct a safety investigation into Thursday’s derailment. The team was expected to arrive on scene in Raymond on Thursday afternoon.

The Homeland Security and Emergency Management is actively monitoring the situation and communicating with local officials in Raymond, officials said. It will be deploying liaisons to the incident area.

ABC News’ Sam Sweeney contributed to this report.

Report: Tory Lanez files appeal in Megan Thee Stallion shooting conviction

March 30, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Tory Lanez has filed a motion for a new trial after being found guilty on all charges in the shooting of Megan Thee Stallion on July 12, 2020, in the Hollywood Hills, Rolling Stone reports.

Lanez’s attorneys Jose Baez and Matthew Barhoma reportedly cite multiple grounds for the new trial, including a claim that jurors were “erroneously allowed” to view an Instagram comment made from the rapper’s personal account claiming that Megan’s ex-best friend, Kelsey Harris, was not the shooter.

“The court erred on numerous questions of law in allowing the People to introduce this post, depriving defendant of a fair trial,” the new motion reads, according to documents obtained by Rolling Stone. “The only acceptable remedy for this miscarriage of justice is a new trial.”

In December, Lanez, born Daystar Peterson, was found guilty of one felony count each of assault with a semi-automatic firearm with the enhancement of “personal use of a firearm” linked to that count, plus carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle, and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. He faces 22 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced next month.

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