Peacock has ordered Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie, based on the Emmy-winning USA mystery comedy-drama series starring The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel‘s Tony Shaloub as a brilliant San Francisco detective with OCD. Shaloub is set to return for the reboot, along with original series cast members Ted Levine, Traylor Howard, Jason Gray-Stanford, Melora Hardin and Hector Elizondo. The film, per the streamer, follows Monk as he “returns to solve one last, very personal case involving his beloved stepdaughter Molly, a journalist preparing for her wedding.” Monk launched in 2002 and ran for eight seasons through 2009…
On the heels of his Animated Feature Oscar win for Pinocchio, Guillermo del Toro is already planning his next project, the live-action film Frankenstein at Netflix. Sources tell Deadline that Andrew Garfield, Oscar Isaac and Mia Goth are in early talks to star, though del Toro is still working on the script and no formal offers have been given to any actors. Details of the movie have not been revealed…
CBS on Wednesday released a 10-second teaser trailer for Tracker,Justin Hartley‘s first post-This Is Us series regular TV role. The series, formerly titled The Never Game, features Hartley as “a lone-wolf survivalist Colter Shaw, who roams the country as a ‘reward seeker,’ using his expert tracking skills to help private citizens and law enforcement solve all manner of mysteries, while contending with his own fractured family,” according to the network. Tracker is slated to air in the 2023-2024 broadcast season…
Varietyreports Peacock has set May 4 as the premiere date for Bupkis, the eight-episode series starring Pete Davidson, Joe Pesci and Edie Falco. Davidson writes, executive-produces and stars in the series, which is a fictionalized version of his life. Falco plays his mom and Pesci portrays his grandfather. Bupkis will also include an array of guest stars, including Charlie Day, Brad Garrett, Ray Romano and Davidson’s former Saturday Night Live cast mate, Kenan Thompson…
(TOPOCK, Ariz.) — Eight freight rail tankers derailed near Topock, Arizona, on Wednesday evening, according to BNSF Railway.
Despite initial reports from the Mojave County Sheriff’s Office that the train was carrying hazardous materials, BNSF confirmed that the train was actually carrying corn syrup. According to BNSF, “there were no injuries as a result of the derailment and preliminarily reports indicate there are no hazardous materials involved.”
The initial alarm about the derailment prompted concern on social media and in some local areas, with train derailments in the national spotlight following a hazardous derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in early February.
Chris Higa, 25, drove roughly 30 minutes from his home in Bullhead City, Arizona, to visit the site of the derailed train after hearing about the derailment on a police scanner.
“Being in my own town, it was definitely one of those like ‘Wow, is this actually happening?’” he said.
However, his reaction, once he arrived at the site of derailment, changed from concern to shock and awe.
“Kicking on that light bar, my vehicle, I could see the part of the train, and it was like, wow, there’s an actual train in the middle of the desert,” he said.
Higa said he could not smell or see anything that indicated a release of hazardous materials; rather, he just saw a portion of the sprawling train in the desert, the rumbling from its diesel engine and an increasing law enforcement response.
“I didn’t notice anything out of the blue, there was no smell. It was just that humid air,” he said. “There was no discoloration in the air, anything of any chemicals, no glowing of anything.”
Earlier that evening, the area was under a tornado warning, with flooding impacting the area as well. Higa said he witnessed some storm runoff potentially impacting the train tracks and BNSF confirmed that the track is blocked, with no estimated time for when it might be reopened.
Amtrak announced that at least one scheduled trip in the nearby area was canceled due to a “disabled freight train blocking the route ahead.”
The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office said that the National Transportation Safety Board has been notified of the incident and will investigate the derailment.
(NEW YORK) — The word “bailout” is sure to make anyone who remembers the 2008 financial crisis nostalgic in all the worst ways. At the time, the government used taxpayer money to keep some of the country’s largest financial institutions afloat.
Two regional banks recently collapsed. As depositors of those banks feared for the money in their accounts, the Fed stepped in to replenish any of the money depositors would have lost.
The U.S. government and even the banks struggle to call it a bailout in any way that relates to what happened in 2008, with the government refusing to call it a bailout at all, and there’s a couple of reasons for all of this.
What happened?
When Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank were seized and shut down by regulators last weekend, depositors of those banks feared for their money. The FDIC insures depositors’ money up to at least $250,000 – meaning if you had more than that amount in one of those banks, you may be out of luck.
However, the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, and the FDIC announced they would make sure all depositors with accounts at SVB and Signature Bank would have access to their funds by the next day — beyond just the $250,000 guaranteed by the FDIC.
The Fed announced a few other actions as well — like making funds available for other financial institutions in the form of one-year loans. This is all to instill confidence in other banks after SVB’s collapse, and to avoid any run on the banks.
The money is going to customers, not the institutions.
“In 2008, we were actually bailing out companies,” said Art Hogan, a chief market strategist with B. Riley Wealth and Art’s with over 30 years experience working in the U.S. equity markets. “Banks that were seen as too big to fail.”
But now, as Hogan puts it, the government is not coming to save SVB or Signature Bank — noting that all the money is going towards depositors, not the banks.
“But [the government] is not going to let the depositors get hurt,” says Hogan. “They’re actually rescuing depositors in banks that made some bad decisions over the course of the last year or so.”
That means investors, employees or others who were making money from these institutions are out of luck and should not be able to touch any of the money the government will be using to make depositors whole.
“What happened during the financial crisis: shareholders and bondholders of many of our biggest banks were bailed out by the government,” said Gerard Cassidy managing director with RBC Capital Markets. Cassidy has been with and provided RBC with investment research on the U.S. banking industry for more than 30 years.
“The shareholders and bondholders of the two respected banks that failed — Silicon Valley and Signature, were completely wiped out; And so, from that standpoint, I would say this is not a bailout,” he said.
SVB is not in complete shambles. HSBC on Monday announced a deal to buy the U.K. subsidiary of Silicon Valley Bank, which has a new name: SVB Bridge Bank.
But back to the word “bailout” — which has no traditional definition. Some still consider the actions taken by the government over the last week a bailout. The difference, per some experts, between now and 2008 is simply who is being bailed out: the depositors.
“Bailout,” yelled senior economics fellow at Brookings Institution, Aaron Klein, during a phone interview with ABC News. “That’s what it is — plain and simple.”
Klein spent over a decade working in government, including his time as chief economist of the Senate Banking. During that time, he worked on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) — a $700 billion government bailout authorized by Congress in October of 2008.
Klein’s point is that the depositors being made whole beyond the original $250,000 guarantee are, in essence, getting bailed out. Everyone who had less than that in their accounts was already guaranteed their money back by the Fed, he noted.
“If you lined up 20 Americans in a room, the 19th richest person will have – based on the average – about $69,000 in their bank account,” noted Klein. “Very few Americans have more than $250,000 in a single bank.”
Per the bank’s own description, SVB catered its services to venture capitalists (VCs), start-up and leaders in the tech industry — many of whom could be considered financially “well-off”.
“VCs should say thank you,” wrote New York Times’ and CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on Twitter.
“It is a bailout,” he wrote. “Not like 2008. But it is a bailout of the venture capital community + their portfolio companies (their investments). That’s the depositor base of SVB.”
If the government is stepping in to guarantee these bank customers their money beyond the $250,000 guarantee, many are left wondering where that money is coming from and how this is not considered a bailout.
No taxpayer money will be used, says the Fed.
The White House, the Treasury and the FDIC have been blunt about one talking point: the money for these depositors at SVB and Signature Bank will not come from taxpayers.
“For the banks that were put into receivership, the FDIC will use funds from the Deposit Insurance Fund to ensure that all of its depositors are made whole,” said a senior Treasury Department official Sunday.
The Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) is a program run by the FDIC mainly funded through quarterly assessments on insured banks, paid by the banks — as well as interest on funds invested in government bonds. This is how that $250,000 gets guaranteed, but now the government is going beyond that guarantee to ensure confidence.
The DIF currently has over $100 billion in it, which should be a “sufficient” amount to make SVB and Signature Bank whole, officials said Monday.
The funds offered in the form of one-year-loans to other banks, savings associations, credit unions, and other eligible depository institutions — all of whom will have to put up qualifying assets as collateral — will come from a new Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP).
This is more of a failsafe. The BTFP is aimed at safeguarding banks who may have lost depositors’ confidence after the SVB and Signature Bank collapse.
“This action will bolster the capacity of the banking system to safeguard deposits and ensure the ongoing provision of money and credit to the economy,” the Fed said in a statement. “The Federal Reserve is prepared to address any liquidity pressures that may arise.”
If needed, the BTFP will be partially funded by up to $25 billion from the Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF). The ESF is an emergency reserve fund normally used for foreign exchange intervention.
The Fed says it “does not anticipate that it will be necessary to draw on these backstop funds.”
It’s unclear how much harm the collapse of SVB and Signature Bank did to depositors’ confidence — earlier this week, stocks of more than two dozen regional banks tumbled.
Banks varying in size from around the country, including San Francisco-based First Republic Bank and Salt Lake City-based Zions Bank, find themselves in market turmoil as some customers rushed to withdraw their deposits and investors dumped bank stocks fearing a run on those banks.
The turmoil in regional U.S. banks spread to Europe Wednesday. The stock of Credit Suisse, a long troubled Swiss bank, plunged 24% on Wednesday. While American banks stocks had another down day. Analysts say the rapid interest raise increases by the federal reserve are shaking confidence in the entire sector.
Nevertheless, the Fed says it’s prepared to make depositors whole should any other bank suffer the same fate as SVB and Signature Bank.
It’s worth noting that most experts agree that the collapse of these two banks was caused by poor management and misguided financial decisions, and should be considered exceptional circumstances.
“This was a poorly managed bank that ran into a couple of different issues at the very same time,” said Cassidy regarding SVB. “It looks like everyone’s money will be insured even beyond $250,000 – so the idea is not to panic, this will settle down…we’ll get through this.”
(NEW YORK) — Maternal mortality rates in the United States continue to rise and Black women continue to be most affected, new data shows.
Deaths of women during and just after pregnancy have been steadily increasing over the past few years, according to a report published Thursday by the National Vital Statistics System.
Rates jumped from 23.8 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020 to 32.9 in 2021, the new report found. Rates went up from 2019 to 2020 as well.
“It was a continuation of what we saw from 2019 to 2020,” Donna Hoyert, author of the report and a statistician at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told ABC News. “But it was a bigger increase than in previous years.”
Mortality rates were highest in non-Hispanic Black women.
According to the report, non-Hispanic Black women died during and just after pregnancy at a rate 2.6 times that of non-Hispanic white women. That gap is consistent with previous reports.
“The maternal mortality rates in black women certainly reflects the systemic racism and discrimination in health care,” Dr. Joanne Stone, professor and system chair of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science at the Icahn School of Medicine, told ABC News. “Black women are at a higher risk for complications like preeclampsia and hemorrhage, as well as chronic health conditions.”
People of color often face discrimination or other gaps in care when receiving health care, and that is linked to poorer treatment, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health.
Black women often do not receive adequate health care, so pregnancy complications like high blood pressure are not properly treated, which can lead to death, according to another study published in the American Journal of Public Health.
“There are certain things that are happening for some groups that aren’t happening for others,” said Martha Wingate, professor and chair of the Department of Health Policy and Organization at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health.
Thursday’s National Vital Statistics System report also found that women 40 years and older had higher rates of death during pregnancy.
That may be because as women get older, they have a higher risk for chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes, which may complicate childbirth, said Stone. These women are also more likely to need fertility treatments to get pregnant, she said, which can lead to carrying multiple fetuses at the same time and can lead to greater mortality rates as well.
Pregnant people can take some steps to lower their mortality risk. The CDC says that women of reproductive age should maintain a healthy weight and diet, stop use of all substances and take care of health problems before becoming pregnant.
While more research is needed to identify ways to reduce mortality rates and close the gap between inequities in healthcare, Westgate said women should listen to their bodies and seek out care if something feels wrong. Reducing those rates does not just help pregnant people — it helps everyone around them, she said.
“We’re talking about families,” Westgate said. “It’s not just the mom.”
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. European Command has released dramatic declassified video taken by the MQ-9 Reaper drone that shows the moment that a Russian Su-27 fighter jet collided with it after attempting to spray the drone with jet fuel.
The video was taken from a camera on the drone’s underside and shows two different passes taken by the jets to spray the drone, the second one being the collision with the propeller at the rear of the drone, which is visible in the footage.
Communications were lost with the drone as the image can be seen pixelating into color bars.
(WASHINGTON) — Democrats in Congress are proposing additional aid for local first responders amid the ongoing conversation concerning rail safety in the wake of the February train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
In the time since the Feb. 3 derailment, lawmakers in Washington have focused on the state and federal response to the spilling of toxic chemicals that contaminated soil and water in East Palestine and neighboring Darlington, Pennsylvania. Now, Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey is introducing legislation that would give local emergency workers additional resources to deal with similar incidents in the future.
According to U.S. Department of Transportation data, there have been an average of 1,475 train derailments per year from 2005-2021. Firefighters, police and other local agencies that deal with hazardous material are often the first to arrive on the scene of hazardous derailments, even before state and federal teams can be deployed.
Casey’s bill, set to be introduced Thursday, would create a new fund which would be used to reimburse emergency responders for costs incurred when responding to a train derailment in their communities.
That fund, which would be managed by the Federal Railroad Administration, would be paid into by shippers and carriers moving hazardous material.
Democratic senators from the states most affected by the East Palestine derailment are co-sponsoring the legislation: Sherrod Brown of Ohio and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.
“The first responders who risked their lives and wellbeing to protect Pennsylvania and Ohio from Norfolk Southern’s disaster are heroes who deserve much more than our gratitude,” Casey said in a statement, referring to the company operating the train that derailed last month.
“The Assistance for Local Heroes During Train Crises Act will help our communities better prepare for future derailments and cover the cost of damaged equipment, overtime pay, and more—all paid for by the companies that ship and carry these materials,” Casey said. “Along with the Railway Safety Act, this legislation will help keep our communities safe from hazardous train derailments and hold railroads accountable for the damage these crises inflict.”
In the aftermath of the East Palestine derailment, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has emphasized the need for increased response training for first responders. Earlier this month, he announced he had spoken with the CEOs of both Norfolk Southern and CSX rails about those additional resources.
Casey said he identified similar needs in Pennsylvania.
In response, Norfolk Southern agreed to create a new first responder training center near East Palestine, with the first sessions set to begin Tuesday in Bellevue. Trainings will focus on preparing for and responding to rail incidents involving hazardous materials.
The company says they have also reimbursed and committed more than $3 million to the East Palestine Fire Department for equipment used in the derailment response, including $220,000 to replace self-contained breathing apparatus air packs, which allow firefighters to breathe compressed air when responding to fires.
“The derailment in East Palestine made clear that ensuring first responders are prepared for disasters involving hazardous materials is vitally important to the safety of communities,” DeWine said in a statement last week. “Often first responders are volunteers, and their need to have the most up-to-date training and equipment is essential. Today’s commitment by Norfolk Southern is an important next step in the company’s commitment to make the citizens of Ohio and of East Palestine whole after the recent derailment, a commitment Ohio will continue to monitor closely.”
Casey’s bill goes further, creating a fund to anticipate future challenges. It comes as Congress continues to debate whether and how to regulate railroads.
Casey, Brown and Fetterman, along with Ohio Republican Sen. JD Vance, have already introduced a more expansive rail reform bill, the Railway Safety Act, in response to the East Palestine derailment.
That proposal has bipartisan co-sponsors, including Republican Sens. Josh Hawley and Marco Rubio, of Missouri and Florida. It would enhance safety precautions for trains carrying hazardous material, including by requiring that wheels of trains carrying hazardous materials be scanned for heat every 10 miles; mandating a two-person crew aboard all trains; and increasing the fines that the U.S. Department of Transportation can levy against corporations for breaking rules.
The Railway Safety Act would also implement new provisions that would require carriers to provide advance notification and information to state emergency response officials about what they are transporting.
The legislation Casey is introducing on Thursday would require local officials, like fire departments and other emergency responders, to be kept in the loop when a train is moving hazardous material through their communities.
Casey’s office noted local emergency responders and firefighters are often “the first line of defense for public safety.”
They do so sometimes “with limited knowledge of what has been spilled or caught fire” and, even so, “help evacuate residents, fight fires, close roads, and perform other urgent tasks to mitigate disaster,” Casey said — work which can “quickly surpass the budget of local first responder organizations, especially if they need to pay workers overtime, replace damaged equipment, or purchase supplies” and especially for smaller, more rural towns through which these rails often run.
“Emergency personnel who respond to hazardous train derailments deserve more than our thanks,” Casey said.
What remains to be seen, however, is whether there will be the necessary Republican support to move forward on enacting Casey’s bill focused on first responders.
The East Palestine derailment inspired some unusual bipartisanship among area politicians, who acknowledged the trauma that derailment caused to the village — and the urgent need for systemic safety improvements in the rail industry.
Still, larger efforts to impose new federal-level rules on the rail industry have struggled to gain steam with all Republicans in Congress, who worry about prematurely regulating a private industry.
Conservatives in the House cast the reform legislation as overly restrictive while some in the GOP have also said they want to see the National Transportation Safety Board’s final report on the derailment before endorsing legislation. That report could take more than a year to be completed.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has vowed to work with the legislation’s sponsors to move the Railway Safety Act onto the floor. It’s possible that Casey’s new legislation could be included as part of that discussion.
But without 60 votes, the legislation won’t clear the Senate. That’s led proponents of new regulations to grow restless.
“I tell you what I’d do on that rail bill: I’d go to the floor and I’d make senators vote on it every single day until there’s some progress made,” Hawley said Wednesday. “The strategy here … from the rail lobbyist and their allies is to delay, delay, delay until public pressure appears to have cooled off. Meanwhile, the people of East Palestine and others as these accidents continue will have gotten no relief.”
(BOSTON) — Two young skiers were rescued Tuesday night after getting lost while skiing outside the Wachusett Mountain ski area boundaries, according to the Princeton Fire Department.
Princeton Fire Chief John Bennett told ABC News’ Boston affiliate station WCVB-TV that the two skiers — both 15-year-old boys — waited three hours in chest-deep snow before calling authorities.
With their phone’s battery level at 9%, the skiers were able to call 911, and dispatchers were able to identify the location of the cellphone signal, which identified that they were two miles “from any civilization,” according to the Princeton Fire Department in a statement released Wednesday.
Sharing their body heat to survive, the two skiers were able to wait while crews “battled the elements, darkness and dangerous snow pack,” the Princeton Fire Department said.
“I was worried. I was worried,” Princeton fire chief John Bennett told WCVB. “I was looking at it on my way here responding, and that’s in the middle of nowhere. It’s on old fire roads on the back side of the mountain. So they had gotten a long way from the ski area.”
The Princeton area reported nearly 30 inches of snow from the March nor’easter, according to WCVB, although higher elevations likely received additional snowfall from the storm.
The mountain the boys were rescued on is part of the Wachusett Mountain State Reservation in Massachusetts about 50 miles west of Boston. It features approximately 3,000 acres of hiking amid a 2,000-foot mountain summit that can experience sudden and severe weather conditions, especially in the winter, according to WCVB.
An ambulance was standing by for when the boys returned but it was deemed that neither needed medical treatment following the incident and both teenagers were released back into the care of their families, WCVB said.
“This could have ended tragically,” the fire department said. “But these boys are very lucky.”
Mary J. Blige is back as Monet Tejada on season 3 of Power Book II: Ghost. The season will follow her as she mourns the death of her “nephew” Zeke, a promising basketball player who was revealed to be her son and potential ticket out the drug game.
Mary says her character is deeply affected by the loss in the new season, telling ABC Audio, “She’s super depressed and she’s mourning heavily.”
“She’s pissed that her baby that she had to give up when she was a teenager and finally been reconciled with … gets murdered,” she says. “Then he was her exit strategy, so she’s not only mourning, she’s pissed that she’s still in this game, and they took her kid away from her.”
Zeke’s death has also affected Monet’s relationship with her other children, which Mary says is now strained.
“She just doesn’t care at this point, she’s like everybody can get it. My exit strategy is gone and my baby is gone,” Mary says of her character. She notes Monet is particularly upset with her daughter Diana for blowing up the news that Zeke is her son.
With no children of her own, how did Mary prepare to portray a grieving mother?
“I had to go to a real place for me where I actually lost something in my life not too long ago, and I almost lost myself,” she says, ultimately landing on her divorce. “The divorce was horrible, it was public … I felt revengeful, and hurt and sad, so I had to take all those emotions and give them to Monet because Mary’s already forgiven, and moved on and not even thinking about those people.”
Yusuf/Cat Stevens is apparently a big Green Day fan, and would be interested in collaborating with Billie Joe Armstrong and company.
Speaking with NME about the modern music he listens to, the “Wild World” artist shares, “I love Green Day because of their message.”
“‘Know Your Enemy’ is an incredible song with a message about the Iraq war that was right on time,” he continues.
When asked whether he’d want to work with Green Day, Yusuf replies, “Wow, that’s a good idea.”
“I think they listened to my song ‘Bitterblue’ before making ‘Know Your Enemy,’ as I can hear little [tidbits] of it in the chords and some of the words,” he says. “I reckon we could definitely get it on.”
Green Day has been working on a new album to follow 2020’s Father of All…. Yusuf, meanwhile, just announced a new record, King of a Land, due out June 16.
Jim Gordon, a top session drummer who played with some of rock’s biggest acts, including Derek and the Dominoes, Joe Cocker and George Harrison, died Monday from natural causes at California Medical Facility in Vacavillle, California, after a long incarceration and lifelong battle with mental illness, publicist Bob Merlis confirmed on Wednesday. Gordon was 77.
Gordon was a member of The Wrecking Crew, a group of Los Angeles session musicians who played on hundreds of pop hits in the late 1960s, including Glen Campbell‘s “Gentle on My Mind” and The Beach Boys‘ influential album, Pet Sounds. As a member of Eric Clapton‘s band Derek and the Dominos, he was credited with co-writing the group’s 1970 classic “Layla.” He was also a member of Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen group, as well as Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and he was one of the main drummers on George Harrison’s 1970 album All Things Must Pass.
Gordon’s other credits include songs and albums by John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Traffic, Steely Dan, Seals & Crofts and Carly Simon. Gordon’s drum solo on the Incredible Bongo Band’s version of “Apache” is one of the most sampled drum breaks in hip-hop history.
However, Gordon also had a history of mental illness. While touring with Cocker in 1970, he assaulted his then girlfriend, singer Rita Coolidge. In 1983, Gordon bludgeoned and then stabbed his 72-year-old mother to death, claiming that voices told him to do so. A year later, he was officially diagnosed with schizophrenia and sentenced to 16 years to life in prison. He was up for parole multiple times, which was denied.
