The Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood is showing off his latest work of art. The guitarist and painter shared his newest creation on Instagram, an illustration of the band in Cuba, and he’s giving fans a chance to get a copy of their own.
“Ronnie’s latest portrait of the Rolling Stones shows the band on a Havana Street, with Charlie (Watts) playing a Cuban drum, Mick (Jagger) dancing with a flourish and Darryl (Jones) throwing his Fedora into the air!,” he writes. “The painting illustrates how the band were inspired and invigorated by the Havana musical scene and the people of Cuba, at the time of their spectacular free concert for over 500,000 people.”
The Stones’ free outdoor Havana concert took place March 25, 2016. A movie of the concert, The Rolling Stones Havana Moon, was released for one night only in theaters in September, 2016, and aired on cable in January, 2017. The soundtrack was released in November, 2016.
In addition to the drawing of the band, there is also an illustration of the Havana set list, with individually signed, named and numbered copies of each available for pre-order now.
(WASHINGTON) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday that “the situation is stabilizing and the U.S. banking system remains sound,” after regional bank failures have shaken the U.S. banking system.
“The Fed’s facility and discount window lending are working as intended to provide liquidity to the banking system,” she said during a speech at a meeting of the American Bankers Association in Washington. “Aggregate deposit outflows from regional banks have stabilized.”
She said the government’s intervention in the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank were “necessary” — and said “similar actions could be warranted” to protect smaller banks.
“The steps we took were not focused on aiding specific banks or classes of banks,” she said. “Our intervention was necessary to protect the broader U.S. banking system, and similar actions could be warranted if smaller institutions suffered deposit runs that pose the risk of contagion.”
She argued that the existence of smaller banks was important.
“Large banks play an important role in our economy, but so do small- and mid-sized banks,” she said. “These banks are heavily engaged in traditional banking services that provide vital credit and financial support to families and small businesses. They also increase competition in the banking sector, and often have specialized knowledge and expertise in the communities they invest in.
“Large banks play an important role in our economy, but so does small and mid-sized banks,” she said. “These banks are heavily engaged in traditional banking services that provide vital credit and financial support to families and small businesses. They also increase competition in the banking sector and often have specialized knowledge and expertise in the communities they invest in. Indeed, many of these banks have played an important role in supporting our economic recovery in the depths of the pandemic.”
“The Treasury is committed to ensuring the ongoing health and competitiveness of our vibrant community and regional banking institution,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — As fallout continues from the Silicon Valley Bank collapse — the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history — people across the country are simultaneously feeling the impact of inflation in their pocketbooks.
The Federal Reserve will meet Wednesday to decide whether to raise or pause interest rates after continuously raising them over the past year in order to help curb inflation.
The Fed’s decision will have an impact on everything from individual credit card bills to the costs of everyday items to the banking crisis, experts say.
To help explain it all, ABC News chief economics correspondent Rebecca Jarvis and Good Morning America consumer correspondent Becky Worley answered viewers’ questions on topics including credit card payments, home buying and more.
1. What would a change in interest rates mean for people’s credit card payments?
Jarvis said that if the Fed decides to pause interest rates, as some experts predict will happen, it would have a “significant impact” on credit card payments.
“This will mean that some of those rates that have been climbing won’t climb as much in the near future,” Jarvis said, citing mortgage rates and higher interest rates on credit cards.
Jarvis added that even if the Fed takes a pause on raising interest rates this week, the rates could “still climb going forward.” Because of that, she said the most important step people should take is to continue paying off their credit card debt.
“If you have that credit card bill, you want to keep making those payments,” she said.
2. Is housing sitting on a bubble, like in 2007?
Jarvis said that fortunately today, we are in a “very different world” than the housing crisis of 2007, when interest rates went up and people were unable to repay their mortgage, leading to foreclosures and bankruptcies.
“First of all, the jobs market is as strong, historically, as it’s ever been,” Jarvis said. “Second of all … 85% of people who own homes have mortgages below 5%. What that means is if you were going to go out and buy a new house right now, you’d have to take out a far more expensive mortgage, so people don’t want to sell because they already have the best deal sitting in their own home.”
Jarvis said because people aren’t selling their homes, there is less inventory, which is leading to higher home prices.
“We don’t see the foreclosure we saw last time [in 2007], which is what makes this a much more sound market and housing,” she explained.
3. If I’m looking to buy a home, should I expect mortgage rates to improve?
According to Jarvis, one upside to the current banking crisis, combined with the potential for the Fed to pause interest rates, is that mortgage rates have decreased slightly, going from 7.15% to 7% over the past week.
“It’s tiny but that incremental difference can make a difference in what you pay,” Jarvis said.
When it comes to deciding whether or not now is the right time to buy a home, Jarvis said people should consider whether they will stay in the home for at least five years and whether they are staying within their budget with the purchase.
“Those are the most important questions that anyone should be asking if they’re thinking about buying a home, not just ‘Can I time this market properly?'” Jarvis said, adding that “renting is always an option, and there are great calculators at Bankrate.com and Realtor.com [to] check the whole thing out.”
4. Is now a good time to buy a car?
According to Worley, many people are paying the equivalent of a monthly mortgage or rent payment for their car.
The average car payment at the end of 2022 was $716 for a new car and $526 for a used car, according to Experian, a financial data analysis company.
Worley said that unfortunately for people either in the market for a car or who are currently making high car payments, it is now a “waiting game.”
“We’re waiting for those interest rates to stabilize or for them to go down,” she said.
Worley said one step people can take in the meantime, is to work on improving their credit score.
“If you have a higher credit score, you’ll get a lower interest rate when you can finally, hopefully, get into a lower rate and refinance or renegotiate,” Worley said. “But that’s really all we can do right now if you’re already locked into a high payment.”
5. Are cars still in short supply?
Yes, according to Worley.
“The supply chain is still a little bit messy,” Worley said. “And then dealers are, on many high-demand cars, putting a markup on top of the sticker price, and then you have high interest rates, so it is painful out there.”
Worley said her advice is to keep driving your current car for as long as you can, saying, “If you can eat 5,000 or 10,000 miles out of the old car, you should do it until those rates come down, if those rates come down.”
Bruce Springsteen added an Oscar to his trophy case, winning the Academy Award for “Streets of Philadelphia,” which he wrote for the Tom Hanks movie Philadelphia. The tune was one of two tracks from the movie to be nominated, the other being “Philadelphia,” by Neil Young.
Philadelphia was one of the earliest mainstream films to deal with the HIV/AIDS crisis, and won Hanks an Oscar for Best Actor.
“Streets of Philadelphia” also won five Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year. It peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, marking The Boss’ 12th and, to date, last top-10 single.
In the new coming-of-age film Wildflower, Kiernan Shipka stars as Bea, a high school senior with two neurodivergent parents who’s had to grow up faster than most kids her age.
It’s a heavy subject matter, and Shipka tells ABC Audio she was very aware of that.
“There was definitely a weight to it. It’s an important movie,” Shipka says. “I really felt that going to work every day, wanting to do justice to this character, these characters in this film, and make it the best it could possibly be.”
Charlie Plummer plays Bea’s boyfriend Ethan, who has also had to grow up quickly due to his fair share of struggles. This, Plummer says, is what drew him to the role.
“That was something that Kiernan and I both were interested in going into doing this, both of us coming from childhoods in which we were working in acting,” Plummer says. “Even though it’s not at all the same circumstances as the film, there’s a certain connective tissue to those feelings of the responsibility of being an adult in certain settings, and then having this freedom of being a kid, and it’s hard to oscillate back and forth and feel free in doing so.”
And, while the film doesn’t shy away from showing struggle, Shipka says it is all rooted in love.
“I feel proud to be involved with a movie that is so based in love and acceptance and joy in one’s life, even if life is tough,” Shipka says. “That people can watch and maybe leave and want to hug someone or call someone or hang out with a family member – I love that. I’m just proud at large to be a part of a movie with a message I really love.”
Wildfloweris out Tuesday on On Demand and Digital.
(LOS ANGELES) — For the second time in five years, classes were canceled Tuesday for more than 500,000 Los Angeles public school students after tens of thousands of service workers, backed by the powerful teachers union, went on strike.
Custodians, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, special education assistants and other members of the Service Employees International Union Local 99 walked off the job and hit the picket lines in the rain Tuesday morning after negotiations with the Los Angeles Unified School District came to a standstill. The 30,000 members of the service employees union are demanding higher wages and better working conditions.
The labor action is the first major work stoppage for the city’s public schools since a 2019 strike by the 35,000 members of the United Teachers Los Angeles Union.
The teachers union is honoring the service union’s picket lines, forcing the school district to shut down schools.
Cecily Myart-Cruz, president of the UTLA, said Tuesday that her members are supporting the service employees’ demands to show “respect to the education workers that keep our schools working and our children safe.”
“We stand in solidarity with them, recognizing that their struggles are our struggles … that the only way we achieve our goals is by standing collectively together,” Myart-Cruz said.
The service workers union has called for a three-day strike.
Hopes of avoiding a strike were dashed on Monday when a new effort to jumpstart labor negotiations broke down at the last minute, officials said.
“Despite our invitation for a transparent, honest conversation that perhaps would result in a meaningful solution that would avoid a strike, we were never able to be in the same room or at the same table to address these issues,” LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said in a statement.
Carvalho said he and the district’s negotiating team waited for hours on Monday to resume labor talks, but never got a response from the service workers union.
“We’ve run out of time,” said Carvalho, adding that he is still hopeful that negotiations will resume soon.
Max Arias, executive director of the service workers union, said the union had agreed to “enter a confidential mediation process” with the LAUSD.
“Unfortunately, LAUSD broke that confidentiality by sharing it with the media before our bargaining team, which makes all decisions, had a chance to discuss how to proceed,” Arias said. “This is yet another example of the school district’s continued disrespect of school workers. We are ready to strike.”
Conrado Guerrero, president of the local service workers’ union and a building engineer for the school district, said Tuesday that the “LAUSD has pushed us to a strike.”
“I showed up every day, I installed air filters in classrooms and other facilities. My work was essential for student health,” Guerrero told ABC News. “But it seems LAUSD has forgotten that.”
The service employees have been working without a contract since June 2020.
“We’re not getting an equitable wage to feed families, have housing,” Fatima Grayson, a striking special education assistant, told ABC Los Angeles station KABC. “A lot of people that do work for LAUSD have to work two jobs.”
In December 2022, the union declared an impasse in negotiations, prompting the appointment of a state mediator.
The service workers’ union said many of its members earn “poverty wages” of $25,000 per year and are demanding a 30% pay hike, with an additional pay increase for the lowest-paid workers.
Carvalho said on Monday that the school district had upped its most recent offer to a 23% wage increase, along with a 3% “cash-in-hand bonus.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the city is helping parents cope with the strike by making recreation centers available to students. All city public libraries will also remain open and the Los Angeles Zoo is offering free admission to students during the strike.
Many parents said they are standing behind the service workers, including some who plan to walk the picket line with the striking employees.
“We have some of our most underpaid workers doing some of the most challenging jobs on our campuses,” parent Jenna Schwartz told KABC. “The majority aren’t receiving health care. They’ve been negotiating for years to no avail.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Los Angeles, joined service workers on the picket line Tuesday, saying he is supporting “all those who take such good care of our kids who are there in school.”
“I stand here with people of Los Angeles who believe that those that have these important responsibilities should not have to live in poverty,” Schiff said. “The median income of our bus drivers and our cafeteria workers that are school age is $25,000 a year. Those are poverty wages. People with some of the most important responsibilities in our schools should not have to live in poverty.”
ABC News’ Flor Tolentino contributed to this report.
(NOTE LANGUAGE)At the movie’s premiere at Los Angeles’ famed TCL Chinese Theatre Monday night, John Wick: Chapter 4 star Keanu Reeves mourned the recent loss of his franchise co-star, Lance Reddick.
The versatile TheWire veteran, who played The Continental Hotel’s concierge, Charon, in the shoot-em-up series, died suddenly at 60 last Friday from what his rep called natural causes.
“He was a beautiful person, a special artist [and] a man of grace and dignity,” Reeves told Deadline Monday, declaring that Reddick had “such a passion for his craft.”
He added, “To have had the chance to work with him over the 10 years and four films is something very special to me.” Clearly emotional, Reeves added, “It f****ing sucks he’s not here.”
Series director Chad Stahelski and Reeves both dedicated the movie to their fallen friend, and for the premiere, Reeves and co-stars including Laurence Fishburne wore blue lapel ribbons in Reddick’s honor.
“…He was a great man, a great human [and] we’re all just fortunate enough to have spent the last 10 years of our lives working with him,” Stahelski told Deadline. “He was a mentor, a friend, a great human being and I think the best way to help remember him and celebrate him is never forgetting how much he touched us.”
Reddick was given a standing ovation at the premiere, led by Lionsgate Motion Picture Group head Joe Drake.
The actor is survived by wife Stephanie Reddick, daughter Yvonne, and son Christopher.
(NEW YORK) — A grand jury is continuing to weigh charges against former President Donald Trump in connection with the Manhattan district attorney’s probe into the 2016 hush payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
No current or former president has ever been indicted for criminal conduct.
Here is how the news is developing. All times Eastern. Check back for updates:
Mar 21, 11:00 AM EDT
McCarthy grows frustrated as Trump questions persist at House GOP retreat
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy again ripped into Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg when asked about the potential charges against former President Donald Trump at a Tuesday press conference at the House GOP retreat in Orlando.
When McCarthy was asked directly if had concerns about Trump’s alleged conduct regarding the alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, he didn’t answer the question and instead pivoted to talking about Hillary Clinton and Bragg.
“What we see before us is a political game being played by a local. Look, this isn’t New York City, this is just a Manhattan,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy said he hasn’t spoken to Trump in three weeks.
When asked if Trump is still the leader of the Republican Party, McCarthy took a jab at the press: “In the press room, for all of you, he is.”
-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders and Will Steakin
Mar 21, 10:14 AM EDT
Grand jury to reconvene on Wednesday
A grand jury will reconvene on Wednesday to continue to weigh charges against former President Donald Trump in connection with the Manhattan district attorney’s probe into the 2016 hush payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, paid $130,000 to Daniels in the closing days of the 2016 presidential campaign to allegedly keep her from talking about an affair she claimed to have had with Trump.
Trump has denied the affair and his attorneys have framed the funds as an extortion payment.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is mulling whether to charge Trump with falsifying business records, after the Trump Organization allegedly reimbursed Cohen for the payment then logged the reimbursement as a legal expense, sources have told ABC News. Trump has called the payment “a private contract between two parties” and has denied all wrongdoing.
Trump this weekend wrote on his Truth Social platform that he expected to be arrested on Tuesday.
The U.S. Secret Service is coordinating security plans with the NYPD in the event of an indictment and arraignment in an open courtroom in Manhattan, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. The two agencies had a call Monday to discuss logistics, including court security and how Trump would potentially surrender for booking and processing, according to sources briefed on the discussions. White collar criminal defendants in New York are typically allowed to negotiate a surrender.
Rhino Entertainment Company/A Warner Music Group Company
Bobbi Kelly Ercoline, whose photo appears on the cover of the soundtrack to Woodstock, has died at the age of 73. The news was announced on Facebook by her husband, Nick Ercoline, who was just her boyfriend when the iconic picture of them wrapped in a blanket was taken at the concert.
“She lived her life well, and left this world in a much better place. If you knew her, you loved her. She lived by her saying, ‘Be kind,’” Ercoline wrote. “She didn’t deserve this past years nightmare, but she isn’t suffering from the physical pain anymore and that brings some comfort to us.”
According to Rolling Stone, Bobbi and Nick were just 20 when they decided to go to the festival, which was about an hour from Middletown, New York, where they lived. They had only been dating a few months at the time but wound up marrying two years later, and stayed married for 54 years.
The soundtrack, Woodstock: Music From the Original Soundtrack and More, was released May 11, 1970. It features performances by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Who, Joe Cocker, Joan Baez and more.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band continue to add shows to their North American tour.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers added a second North American leg last month, and now they’ve added two more dates to the trek. The new shows include Springsteen’s return to San Diego, with a December 2 show at Pechanga Arena.
Plus, due to overwhelming demand, they’ve added a second show at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts on August 26.
The Gillette show is one of several multiple night stands on Springsteen’s 2023 schedule. Others include two nights at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, Pittsburgh’s PPG Paints Arena and San Francisco’s Chase Center, as well as three nights at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium over Labor Day Weekend.
Bruce and the E Street band bring their tour to Buffalo, New York on Thursday. A complete list of tour dates is posted at brucespringsteen.net.
