David Byrne has contributed the music to comedian John Mulaney’s new Netflix comedy special.
John Mulaney: Baby J, which was recorded at Boston’s Symphony Hall in February, is set to premiere April 25. It will be his third comedy special for the streaming service, following 2015’s The Comeback Kid and 2018’s Kid Gorgeous.
This isn’t the first time Byrne and Mulaney have worked together. Byrne appeared in the comedian’s Netflix children’s special, John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch, which debuted in December 2019.
The news comes just days after Byrne performed at the Oscars with Son Lux and Stephanie Hsu. His Everything Everywhere All At Once tune, “This Is A Life,” was nominated for Best Original Song. It lost to “Naatu Naatu” from the movie RRR.
Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — A U.S. Food and Drug Administration analysis did not find a clear association between the COVID-19 antiviral drug Paxlovid and illness rebound, the FDA said in a new report.
Rebound rates are around the same in people who took the drug and those who didn’t, the study said. It’s the first time the FDA has weighed in on COVID-19 rebound.
“Virologic and/or symptomatic rebound may occur as part of the natural progression and resolution of COVID-19 disease, irrespective of PAXLOVID treatment,” the FDA wrote. Around 10 to 16% of people with COVID-19 had rebound symptoms, according to the FDA’s analysis.
Multiple high-profile people experienced COVID-19 rebound after taking Paxlovid, including President Joe Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci— it was a major talking point around the drug. This new report offers data to counterbalance those anecdotal reports.
Pfizer, which makes Paxlovid, said it’s running two additional studies to try and understand symptom rebound.
One will look at rebounds in immunocompromised patients who take Paxlovid for different amounts of time. The second will check if patients who take Paxlovid and then have symptom rebound should take another course of the drug.
The info was part of the FDA’s briefing document ahead of a meeting of the agency’s advisors Thursday, where they’ll discuss whether the FDA should fully approve Paxlovid. The drug is currently available because of the FDA’s emergency use authorization.
A February study showed COVID rebound is “common” for those who did not take antiviral treatments, “but the combination of symptom and viral rebound is rare.”
The FDA approved pharmacies to prescribe Paxlovid in July 2022.
“The FDA recognizes the important role pharmacists have played and continue to play in combatting this pandemic,” Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, director for the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a statement last year. “Since Paxlovid must be taken within five days after symptoms begin, authorizing state-licensed pharmacists to prescribe Paxlovid could expand access to timely treatment for some patients who are eligible to receive this drug for the treatment of COVID-19.”
Overall, the drug has worked as promised, doctors said, by dramatically reducing the chances that an older or high-risk individual might wind up hospitalized or dead.
Doctors have said that Paxlovid is most effective when given as soon after a diagnosis of COVID-19 as possible. Taking it later during the course of the illness may result in the drug not being as effective.
What’s more is that it might help prevent long COVID.
A study released in November 2022 by the Veterans Administration looking at the medical records of 56,000 people found that taking Paxlovid early decreased the chances of experiencing “long COVID” by some 25%.
Emmy winner John Mulaney is returning to Netflix on April 25 with a new stand-up special, John Mulaney: Baby J.
It will be the third special on the streaming service for the actor, writer, comedian and new dad.
Mulaney and Olivia Munn welcomed their first child, Malcolm, in 2021.
The special was shot in Boston’s Symphony Hall in February 2023; David Byrne is supplying the music for the special.
Mulaney previously starred in the stand-up specials The Comeback Kid in 2015 and Kid Gorgeous in 2018. He also starred in a variety special for the streamer in 2019 called John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch.
(NEW YORK) — Google is expanding use of its health care artificial intelligence, including helping detect diseases, such as cancer, earlier and answering medical questions.
During the technology company’s annual The Check Up event on Tuesday, employees announced several new updates and partnerships that they claim will help expand access to care and make the field more equitable.
“The future of health is consumer-driven,” Dr. Karen DeSalvo, Google’s chief health officer, said at the event held in New York City. “People will expect a mobile-first experience with more personalized insights, services and care. That means enterprises, including Google, will need to evolve to meet consumers where they are.”
The company unveiled the latest version of its medical large language model, which is designed to provide answers to medical questions, called Med-PaLM 2.
Last year, when it was first introduced, Google said it was the first AI system to get a passing score — meaning more than 60% — when answering multiple choice and open-ended questions that appear on U.S. medical licensing exams.
Google said the latest iteration consistently answered medical exam questions on an “expert” level, scoring 85%.
During the event, Dr. Alan Karthikesalingam, a research lead at Google Health, showed examples of some of the questions Med-PaLM 2 might answer including “what are the first warning signs of pneumonia?” and “can incontinence be cured?”
Many times, the answers were similar to — and even more thorough than — the answers clinicians provided to the same questions.
However, the company admitted it’s not ready to be rolled out yet in the real world due to some gaps in answering some medical questions, including not be as detailed.
“You can see from this sort of work that we’re still learning,” Karthikesalingam said.
Google also announced new partnerships that will help detect diseases earlier and identify health information more quickly.
The first partnership, with Kenya-based Jacaranda Health — which focuses on the health of expectant mothers and newborns — is to use AI to replace traditional ultrasound machines.
AI could be implanted in low-income areas that don’t have the machines or have very few of them, which are costly and requires training workers, so more pregnant women can be monitored.
Another partnership with Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan will explore using AI models using ultrasound for breast cancer detection rather than traditional mammograms, which can also be costly.
Google is also partnering with the Mayo Clinic to see how AI can help for patients receiving radiation, a common cancer treatment.
The company says its AI may help speed up a process called contour delineation, in which clinicians use CT scans to outline healthy organs and tissue at risk so the radiation can be directed towards the tumor.
Google is also expanding the ability of its search engine to provide information about affordable health care providers.
Hema Budaraju, the senior director of product, health and social responsibility at Google Search, said the company had used Duplex to help users find community health centers that offer free and low-cost care and are adding more doctors with appointments that can be booked online.
“We also know how important it is when you’re searching for healthcare providers that the information you find is accurate, like the clinic’s phone number and address,” she said. “Duplex called hundreds of thousands of healthcare providers in the U.S. to verify their information on Google Search and we’ve used this technology to verify if providers accept certain Medicaid plans in their state.”
As previously reported, Roger Waters’ May 28 show in Frankfurt, Germany, was canceled by the local city council, which called Waters out for allegedly being “one of the world’s most well-known antisemites” and noted his support for boycotting Israel.
In a statement to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, the Pink Floyd star’s management in London says he plans to take action, and has “directed his attorneys to immediately take all necessary steps to overturn this unjustified decision and ensure that his fundamental human right to freedom of expression is protected.”
A concert in Munich has reportedly been canceled, as well, and the statement adds, “if left unchallenged, this blatant attempt to silence him could have serious and far-reaching consequences for artists and activists around the world.”
They add the cancelations were “unconstitutional,” “unjustified” and based “on the false accusation that Roger Waters was anti-Semitic, which he is not.”
Waters’ This Is Not A Drill tour is set to hit Lisbon, Portugal, on Friday. A complete list of Waters’ dates can be found at rogerwaters.com.
On Instagram Wednesday, James Gunn revealed that he is directing his script for Superman: Legacy after all.
The Guardians of the Galaxy writer/director-turned-co-CEO of DC Studios broke the news in a very personal caption to a comic picture of Supes sitting on a cloud and smiling.
“Yes, I’m directing Superman: Legacy to be released on July 11, 2025,” he began, noting his brother Matt cried when he heard the date: It was their late father’s birthday.
James explained he once turned down a chance to direct a Superman film “years ago”: “I didn’t have a way in that felt unique and fun and emotional that gave Superman the dignity he deserved.”
“Then a bit less than a year ago I saw a way in, in many ways centering around Superman’s heritage – how both his aristocratic Kryptonian parents and his Kansas farmer parents inform who he is and the choices he makes,” Gunn said, explaining that convinced him to take the job.
“Just because I write something doesn’t mean I feel it in my bones, visually and emotionally, enough to spend over two years directing it,” he expressed, adding, “I love this script, and I’m incredibly excited as we begin this journey.”
As reported, Gunn and Peter Safran‘s tenure as co-CEOs/co-chairmen of DC Studios hit early turbulence with some fans when it was announced Henry Cavill wouldn’t be returning as the Man of Steel after he appeared as such in the after credits of Black Adam.
The former Witcher star had happily told fans late last year that he was indeed back as the hero, only to regretfully inform them weeks later that it wasn’t to be. “This news isn’t the easiest, but that’s life,” he said at the time.
(NEW YORK) — Stormy Daniels met with prosecutors Wednesday at the request of the Manhattan district attorney’s office, her attorney said in a tweet, as the office continues its ongoing criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump’s role in a hush money payment made to Daniels near the end of the 2016 presidential campaign.
“Stormy responded to questions and has agreed to make herself available as a witness, or for further inquiry if needed,” her attorney, Clark Brewster, wrote in the tweet.
Daniels met with prosecutors over Zoom, said a source familiar with the investigation.
A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to comment.
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 quiet about an affair she claimed to have had with Trump. The former president 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.
“Thank you to my amazing attorney … for helping me in our continuing fight for truth and justice,” Daniels wrote in a tweet Wednesday afternoon.
(PHARR, Texas) — Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz told lawmakers on Wednesday that parts of the southern border are in “crisis” and that U.S. authorities do not have “operational control” despite recent declines from the historically high levels of illegal migration seen in the past year.
“The migration flow represents challenges and — in some areas — a crisis situation,” Ortiz said, citing the more than 900,000 unauthorized migrant encounters so far this budget year.
Ortiz painted a complex and dynamic picture of the southern border in testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee, noting that Border Patrol apprehensions over the past two months have “declined significantly.” In January, apprehensions hit the lowest point since the early weeks of the Biden administration, according to Customs and Border Protection data.
“Challenges and crisis are nothing new for the Border Patrol, and I’m incredibly proud of our personnel as well as our many partners,” Ortiz said.
House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., asked Ortiz point-blank if the U.S. is currently meeting the definition of “operational control” at the southern border, as defined by federal law.
“No, sir,” Ortiz responded.
However, by that measure, no administration in U.S. history has ever achieved such control. Title 8 of the U.S. Code defines operational control as the “prevention of all unlawful entries into the United States,” a task complicated by the vast size and geographic variety of the southwest.
The Border Patrol itself has defined operational control differently than under Title 8. Instead of setting the bar at sealing the border between official crossing points, the agency has defined control as its ability to respond to specific and immediate threats.
Still, Ortiz told the House committee, there were problems that Congress could help solve.
“Today’s border environment requires a whole-of-government solution to include international engagements, resourcing and consequences which could be in the form of legislative or policy adjustments,” Ortiz said. “And that is where I asked for your help. We need more options.”
In a statement on Wednesday, White House spokesperson Ian Sams accused Republicans of “playing partisan games at the border,” noting their lack of support for President Joe Biden’s border security funding proposals.
“Perhaps House Republicans could take the time at this hearing to look the Chief of the Border Patrol in the eye and honestly explain to him why they want to slash the funding needed to combat fentanyl trafficking, stop unlawful border crossings, and conduct other important law enforcement efforts at the border,” Sams said.
While conservatives in Congress have approved funds to the border multiple times under Biden, they have since said more money isn’t appropriate without different border policies. Others, like Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, have called Biden’s proposed border funding “more talk with no action” because it doesn’t fix issues with border agent staffing and more.
Republican House committee members held Wednesday’s hearing at South Texas College near the border in Pharr, Texas. Green opened the hearing by admonishing Democrats for not attending.
Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the highest-ranking Democrat on the committee, pulled out of the hearing over what he said were Republican attempts to “score political points.”
“After careful consideration, Committee Democrats have decided not to participate in the Republicans’ field hearing this week,” Thompson said in a statement. “Unfortunately, it has become clear that Republicans planned to politicize this event from the start, breaking with the Committee’s proud history of bipartisanship.”
Thompson said Democrats plan to visit the southern border as soon as this week.
Creedence Clearwater Revival fans may want to make a stop at Los Angeles’ Rockaway Records. The store has just acquired what they say is the “world’s largest collection” of CCR memorabilia.
The items in the collection include more than 500 concert posters and hundreds of concert tickets, as well as thousands of LPs, 45s, autographed items and more. There’s also a 1967 yellow label 45 under the band’s previous name, The Golliwogs — one of only six known copies.
There’s also a John Fogerty-signed Fender Stratocaster, as well as RIAA Platinum and Gold plaques.
“What an amazing collection,” Rockaway Records’ Wayne Jonson shares, “especially the pre-Creedence stuff like a 1966 Golliwogs concert flyer and a Tom Fogerty & the Blue Velvets 45 from 1961!”
More information on the CCR collection can be found at rockaway.com.
(WASHINGTON) — The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank is putting deregulatory reforms implemented under former President Donald Trump back in the spotlight.
The abrupt implosion of the country’s 16th-largest bank last week resulted in swift finger-pointing in Washington.
President Joe Biden and many progressive Democrats have blamed, in part, a 2018 law that rolled back some of the Dodd-Frank Act — a series of federal regulations passed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Republicans, on the other hand, are decrying so-called “woke” practices at the bank as well as government spending and inflation as the culprits.
Though there’s more to learn about the bank’s downfall, several experts told ABC News it was a failure of regulation and supervision.
“The Federal Reserve completely missed major classic red flags at Silicon Valley Bank,” said Aaron Klein, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Here’s what you need to know as the political fallout continues.
What is the Dodd-Frank Act?
In response to the worst recession since the Great Depression, Congress passed a sprawling law in 2010 overhauling federal financial regulation.
One of its major provisions was designating any bank with more than $50 billion in assets a “systemically important” financial institution — or “too big to fail” — and thus subject to enhanced prudential standards, such as “stress tests” and certain capital planning and liquidity requirements.
“Dodd-Frank massively empowered the Federal Reserve to more forcefully regulate banks, including those where it wasn’t the direct bank regulator,” Klein said.
What did Trump do?
The Dodd-Frank Act was met with animosity from the industry, which argued the regulations were burdensome and only necessary for the largest banks. Silicon Valley Bank’s CEO Gregory Becker was among those calling for lighter regulations.
After years of political pressure, Congress passed a law that rolled back some of those rules for smaller and mid-tier banks.
Among the biggest changes was raising the asset threshold for “systemically important” institutions from $50 billion to $250 billion. Under the law, the Federal Reserve still had the right to apply the Dodd-Frank regulations to banks with at least $100 billion in assets if they chose to do so.
Trump signed it into law in May 2018, calling it “big deal for our country.” The push to alter Dodd-Frank split the Democratic Party, and ultimately more than a dozen Senate Democrats joined Republicans to support the deregulations.
“It reduced stress testing, it reduced collateral calculations, it reduced the supervisory stress test and it enabled them not to publicly conduct or report their own company-run stress tests,” Dennis Kelleher, the president & CEO of the nonprofit Better Markets, said of the 2018 law. “It blew a hole in several of the key financial stability protection rules.”
Debate rages over 2018 law amid SVB’s collapse
Critics, including Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, have said the law’s softening of regulations contributed to Silicon Valley Bank’s demise.
Democratic Rep. Barney Frank, co-author of the Dodd-Frank Act and a board member of the recently shutdown Signature Bank, told Bloomberg he didn’t think the 2018 changes had an impact. Trump, too, defended it, claiming banks were getting “eaten alive” by regulations.
And some Democrats who backed the law are defending it. Sen. Mark Warner told “This Week” on Sunday he thought it “put in place an appropriate level of regulation on mid-sized banks.” Sen. Tim Kaine said regional and community banks “really needed” the relief at the time, and that “solutions should wait until there’s an analysis of causes.”
Amid the debate, experts told ABC News stress tests and other financial-safety requirements may have caught problems at the institution earlier but there were warning signs Federal Reserve supervisors should’ve seen regardless.
“This was a failure of supervision … the red flags that were going on at SVB, you didn’t need enhanced prudential standards to catch that,” Klein said.
Those concerns included the bank’s explosive asset growth, its reliance on uninsured deposits and the impact of high interest rates on its long-term bonds.
“Those deregulatory reforms may well have contributed to laxer rather than stricter oversight,” Lawrence Baxter, a law professor at Duke University and former executive at Wachovia, said of the 2018 law. “Having said that, I don’t think the regulators are entirely off the hook because they still have power to take action when they observe rapid deterioration. And we’ll have to find out why they didn’t.”
What’s next?
Biden on Monday specifically cited the Trump-era rollbacks as he addressed the banking system, vowing to work for more regulation.
“I’m going to ask Congress and the banking regulators to strengthen the rules for banks to make it less likely that this kind of bank failure will happen again and to protect American jobs and small businesses,” the president said.
Warren and Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., have already unveiled legislation to repeal the 2018 rollbacks.
Republicans, so far, have expressed no interest in revisiting the law. Rep. Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, said he has “confidence in our financial regulators and the protections already in place to ensure the safety and soundness of our financial system.” Sen. Mike Crapo, an Idaho Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, told Fox News that “nothing in the Dodd-Frank reforms we put together did anything with regard to this crisis.”
Meanwhile, the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating the Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, two people familiar with the situation confirmed to ABC News. The Federal Reserve Board is also reviewing the supervision and regulation of the bank, which is set to be released by May 1.
