(REDMOND, Wash.) — A podcaster and her husband were shot and killed in their Redmond, Washington, home after a suspected stalker broke into the house at 1:45 a.m. Friday.
The stalking suspect, 38-year-old Ramin Khodakaramrezaei, was also found dead in the house.
Redmond police responded to a report of a shooting and found three people dead in the house after the mother of the female victim had escaped the home and called police from a neighbor’s house.
Upon arrival, officers found a man who lived in the house lying on the ground in the front yard with a gunshot wound to the chest. Officers attempted to perform lifesaving measures, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Inside the home, officers found the bodies of Khodakaramrezaei and the man’s wife, who was allegedly being stalked by the suspect.
The suspect had broken into the house through a window, Redmond Police spokesperson Jill Green told Seattle ABC affiliate KOMO.
The suspect also had an altercation with the mother before she was able to escape.
“Khodakaramrezaei had reportedly listened to the female victim’s podcasts and began communicating with her. The victim and suspect became friends, but when things escalated, she filed a no-contact order against him,” Redmond Police said in a press release Friday.
Police were familiar with the victim and residence as there was an ongoing stalking investigation.
“Our hearts go out to the victim’s family and the Redmond community following this horrific tragedy,” Redmond Police Chief Darrell Lowe said in a statement. “This is an incredibly sad situation and the worst possible outcome of a stalking case. We will continue investigating what led to this tragic loss.”
David Bowie’s life and career are being explored in a new book of personal photos from his childhood friend Geoff MacCormack.
David Bowie: Rock ‘n’ Roll with Me, dropping March 20, features photos MacCormack took while on tour with the White Duke in 1973, while Bowie filmed The Man Who Fell to Earth, recorded Station to Station and more.
“I was very lucky,” the photographer tells People of his friendship with the rock star, noting that while it was happening he had “absolutely” no idea the photos were capturing history.
MacCormack previously released a limited-edition Bowie photo book in 2007, which included a forward written by Bowie, who claimed MacCormack imagined all their adventures. That forward is included in the new book, but as the afterward.
“Obviously the book is sad at the end because he departs,” MacCormack shares, referring to Bowie’s 2016 death. “So I’ve used that and it kind of lifts you up at the end.”
MacCormack shares some of the photos from the book with People, including one of what looks like Bowie moving a tree branch in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where The Man Who Fell to Earth was shot.
“I’m totally mystified about this picture because I don’t remember taking it!” he says. “It looks like Santa Fe, if you look at the house, it’s got that kind of look about it.” He added, “Why would he be moving trees? It’s beyond crazy.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans appear no closer to reaching a deal on the 2024 budget to avoid a debt default, with the two sides taking swipes at each other Friday morning.
When touting Friday’s jobs report, Biden suggested Republicans weren’t capable of drafting a budget anytime soon and blasted a proposal from the House Freedom Caucus, just one day after presenting his budget plan which some Republicans say is “dead on arrival.”
“I told the speaker, soon as he’s about ready to lay out his budget, I’m willing to sit down. And now I’m hearing things like, ‘Well, we’re not going to have our budget till April or May maybe even June,'” Biden said from the White House. “Why all of a sudden can’t they get it done in March, or maybe even April? Maybe even May?… It doesn’t sound like on a level yet.”
As lawmakers debate conditions for raising the debt ceiling, a course of action the White House has said should be “non-negotiable,” the Treasury Department expects to exhaust its emergency measures sometime between July and September.
With that deadline looming, members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus outlined what they call a “blueprint” for spending restrictions on Friday that they say — if agreed to — would earn their votes for raising the debt ceiling.
The proposal, which is almost certain to face pushback from more moderate House Republicans, includes ending Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, rescinding all unspent COVID-19 federal assistance, recouping the $80 billion allotted to the IRS in the Inflation Reduction Act, and freezing all discretionary spending at the FY2022 level for 10 years.
“President Biden, your budget is dead on arrival. Let me just go ahead and say that now,” said Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla.
While the members were taking aim at Biden’s proposal with their remarks, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was a secondary target of the group’s remarks. Almost all House Freedom Caucus members speaking on Capitol Hill just ahead of Biden’s remarks were part of the faction that delayed McCarthy from obtaining the speakership, highlighting what just a handful of House Republicans can do amid a slim House GOP majority.
“You’re going to see us make history again, in this new Congress,” said Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., signaling they could vote as a bloc. “We’re going to actually cut spending in a meaningful way and put us on a path of fiscal stability as a nation.”
The speaker laid fault for the delay at the president’s feet.
“Well, we were going to do the budget in April but unfortunately the president’s so late with his budget, it delays our budget,” McCarthy, who said he’s waiting for Biden to invite him to the White House for another meeting, said when asked when he will release his budget proposal.
Back at the White House, Biden slammed the Freedom Caucus’s promise to raise the debt ceiling only if 25% of all non-defense spending is cut.
“That means cops, firefighters. It means health care. It means — that’s what they call discretionary spending, as you all know. And, and on top of that, what they’re really focused on that I saw here, I shouldn’t get into all this now, but is kind of surprised me. They, they want to make sure we don’t have enough IRS agents,” Biden claimed.
“The idea that I’m going to agree that we start to figure out where we cut 25% across the board …. I don’t know what there’s much to negotiate on,” he added.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre echoed his remarks, calling the House Freedom Caucus plan a “gut-punch to the American middle class.”
“This is a blueprint for selling out the middle class, law enforcement, and American competitiveness,” she said.
Biden’s proposal includes $842 billion in defense spending, $6 billion in support for Ukraine to defend against Russia’s invasion, a tax increase for high-earners and a $1.4 billion increase to Social Security, among other measures.
The president celebrated Friday’s jobs report showing 311,000 jobs were added in February, and he painted a rosy economic outlook for the nation.
“People are moving back into work, but this may be the part that pleased me the most about the report, the jobs report, is people who’ve been staying out of the job market are moving back in, beginning to move back in. Jobs are available. People are working again. They’re becoming more optimistic about their future,” he said.
ABC News’ Jay O’Brien, Sarah Kolinovsky and Lauren Peller contributed to this report.
Just when you thought the water was safe from cocaine bears comes news of Cocaine Shark.
A trailer just dropped for that very film, and if one suspected it’s an apparent zero-budget rush job after Elizabeth Banks announced she was making Cocaine Bear, you’d likely be right.
Complete with bargain-basement effects, the trailer tells the story of an experiment gone wrong that released all manner of aquatic “freaks of nature” in the water.
For all the decidedly non-blockbuster-worthy action, and despite its title, what the trailer doesn’t show is any cocaine, either visually or mentioned in the community theater dialogue, leaving a cynic to wonder if the movie could have been retitled to capitalize on the surprise success of Banks’ bear movie.
That said, Bret McCormick, the writer of Repligator, and Amityville in Space director Mark Polonia are evidently back in fine form, with Queen Crab‘s Ken Van Sant and Titus Himmelberger, who you undoubtedly remember from Sharkula, starring.
The movie from Wild Eye Releasing comes to DVD and streaming July 7, just in time for summer movie season.
Meghan Trainor made a splash with her “Mother” music video, which features the famous mom-ager Kris Jenner.
Kris takes a starring role in the video as the two channel old Hollywood glamour. The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star lip syncs to the feminist anthem while sashaying around in an exquisite white dress and diamond necklace in one scene.
Another scene sees the ladies wearing black velvet outfits, and showing off their eye-catching diamonds and jewelry.
The singer said in a statement about her latest offering, “This song is my response to being in the industry for almost a decade now and still finding myself in situations where I am talked down to or made to feel like my opinion isn’t valid.”
“It’s for anyone who is in a situation where they feel like they are being mansplained to and want to take their power back,” she added.
The song samples The Chordettes’ 1954 hit “Mr. Sandman,” as Meghan sings about putting men with a “God complex” in their place. “Yeah, your opinion’s so strong/ Even when you’re wrong/ Bet that feels like power to you,” she muses before reminding them they “must’vе forgot who you’re talking to.”
She also gives a shout-out to husband Daryl Sabara in this new offering, singing, “Y’all need a masterclass from my man/ Learn how to satisfy like he can/ Ain’t tryna control me and own me/ Like an old man on C-SPAN/ Bet you wish you could wife this/ Stay mad, that’s priceless.”
“Mother” is one of three new songs featured on Meghan’s deluxe version of her album Takin’ It Back, which is out now.
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in New York on Friday denied former President Donald Trump’s attempt to block excerpts of the infamous Access Hollywood tape from being used as evidence in his upcoming defamation trial.
On the tape, which surfaced before the 2016 presidential election, Trump is heard saying that he just starts kissing beautiful women when he meets them.
“It’s like a magnet. Just kiss,” he says. “I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything, grab them by the p—-, you can do anything.”
Trump has dismissed the tape as “locker room talk” and has argued the material is unfairly being used to suggest he has a propensity for sexual assault.
“Plaintiff, in continuing her unabashed demand to admit the Tape, has made it clear that she wishes to convert this trial into a referendum on Plaintiff’s character and distract the jury from determining the merits of the controlling issues of this case,” Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, argued last week.
While rules ordinarily prevent such propensity evidence, the judge on Friday ruled that it can be allowed in a civil case based on an alleged sexual assault.
“It is simply not the Court’s function in ruling on the admissibility of this evidence to decide what Mr. Trump meant or how to interpret his statements,” Judge Lewis Kaplan said.
The judge also denied Trump’s attempt to preclude the testimony of two women other than accuser E. Jean Carroll. The two women, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, have previously claimed Trump sexually assaulted them, which he denies.
“Mr. Trump has claimed that Ms. Leeds is a liar and that no such event ever occurred. And he will be entitled to make that argument to the jury. But that is not now the issue,” Kaplan said.
The judge left open a question of whether Carroll’s attorneys could use seven excerpts of speeches Trump gave on 2016 campaign trail. Each of the excerpts contain assertions by Trump that women who have accused him of sex assault were lying and that their looks were unappealing to him.
Carroll has alleged that Trump sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s and that he defamed her in 2019 when, during his presidency, he denied her rape claim by calling her a liar and saying “she’s not my type.”
The trial is scheduled to begin next month pending a decision in a separate court that could prevent the case from moving ahead if it’s determined that Trump was acting in his official capacity as president when he allegedly defamed Carroll.
Carroll has filed a separate lawsuit against Trump alleging defamation and battery under a New York law that allows alleged adult sex assault victims to bring claims otherwise barred by the passage of time.
Carrie Underwood is celebrating her 40th birthday Friday with a surprise new song, “Out Of That Truck.”
Out now, the uptempo breakup tune finds Carrie playing the character of a bitter ex who’s certain her old flame won’t ever get over her.
“When you’re runnin’ around in that stick shift Chevy/ I bet it drives you crazy/ Thinking about us on every other back road, baby/ You got someone new on your bench seat trying to forget me lately/ But my memory’s stuck/ So good luck trying to get me out of that truck,” the powerhouse vocalist sings in the song she co-wrote with David Garcia and Lydia Vaughn.
“It’s not an aggressive song at all, so it’s like, we didn’t wanna push it there, but just wanted it to move and have some energy,” Carrie says of the song’s production in an Instagram video. “I have an affinity for guitars, so it was just kind of one of those wanting it to take you somewhere and sing along with it. It’s just kind of a cool vibe, kind of looking at doing a country truck song in a different kind of way, just wanted it to be moving and kind of a bit of a tempo song.”
“Out Of That Truck” is the first new track Carrie has released following her 2022 album, Denim & Rhinestones. The 12-song record includes her current single, “Hate My Heart.”
India.Arie‘s explaining her decision to put her music back on Spotify. The singer left the platform last year because it hosts Joe Rogan‘s podcast, despite his “language around race,” and because of its treatment of all, but especially Black, artists.
Speaking to Billboard, India said she pulled her music off Spotify in protest and “in the name of my own dignity.”
“I’ve been in the music industry for 24 years … and I know too much about how racism functions in the music industry to be comfortable with what I saw,” she said. “And so knowing that Black music sells most of the music, and just how important Black people are in the [music industry], and in the creation of music … Knowing that Black music does the most streams [and how] streaming has deeply affected people’s ability to make a living as songwriters, and then they just throw it in our face that they’re given [sic] this man who uses racist language $200 million — for me, my dignity could not stand it.”
India said she has “watched people’s checks dry up” since the introduction of streaming platforms, which she says gives most of the money to record labels. She notes a payment then goes to Spotify, before the label and streaming services pay the artist whatever they deem the value of a stream.
Despite that, India’s decided to return mainly because of two recent changes: She’ll begin getting royalty payments this year, and National Music Publishers’ Association President/CEO David Israelite won a lawsuit that increases songwriters’ royalty rate from 10.5% to 15.1% for stream payments between 2018 and 2022.
“When those two things shifted, I put my music back up,” she said. “Cause I want my checks. And not only do I want my checks, I deserve my checks.”
Lil Nas X rubbed elbows with some of music’s biggest names at the Versace Fall-Winter 2023 Fashion Show. He was seen palling around with Dua Lipa, Elton John and Miley Cyrus — to name a few.
He shared a collage of images to his Instagram, in which he also displayed the head-turning ensemble he wore to the event. He captioned the post “I [heart] donatella.”
Donatella Versace replied in the comments, “And I love you!!!!!!”
The rapper donned a sheer crop top tank that was embellished with dazzling white crystals and a pleated, black leather skirt with a similar stream of beads cascading down the front. He accessorized with matching black boots and a boxy clutch.
Lil Nas X also got his fans hyped by sharing two snaps of him sandwiched between Sir Elton and Miley. He put up an image of him posing with Dua and another photo of him posing with actress Anne Hathaway.
Variety journalist Mark Malkin shared a video to his personal Instagram showing Lil Nas X hanging with Elton and Miley. Elton featured both on his album The Lockdown Sessions, while Lil Nas X featured both Miley and Sir Elton on his Montero album on the respective songs “Am I Dreaming” and “One of Me.”
The rapper also chatted with Variety while walking the red carpet and disclosed his outfit wasn’t what he planned on wearing for the evening. “At first, this outfit was a little more conservative,” he said, adding, “But now it’s really cute and slutty — my favorite two things.”
The fashion show took place at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood on Wednesday night.
(NOTE LANGUAGE)During Chris Rock‘s widely hyped live special, Selective Outrage, he flubbed a joke in the heat of the moment — but Netflix has now apparently edited it out.
The bit came in the closing minutes of the stand-up, which was filmed live from Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre March 4, when Rock was fired up talking about Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and that notorious Oscars slap.
As Rock worked up to a thunderous, literal mic-drop ending, he vented of Jada, “Years ago, his wife said I should quit the Oscars; I shouldn’t host ’cause her man didn’t get nominated for Emancipation.” However, Rock quickly admitted, “No, not Emancipation, I f***ed up the joke.”
He quickly reset, with the joke that now stands on its own in the special, the seamless edit apparently hidden with a cutaway to the crowd. “She said that me, a f***ing grown-a** man, should quit his job because, ‘My husband didn’t get nominated for Concussion,’ and then [Smith] gave me a concussion!”
Emancipation came in later, when Rock said that after the slap he found himself cheering for Smith getting beaten onscreen in the runaway slave drama.
Jada announced in 2016 that she was skipping the ceremony after Will’s Concussion snub. During the Oscars telecast that year, host Rock jabbed, “Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna‘s panties. I wasn’t invited.”
