In season 3 of the Hulu series Wu Tang: An American Saga, each member of the legendary rap group is seen working on their solo projects; episode six, out Wednesday, specifically captures Raekwon’s journey.
Speaking to ABC Audio, Shameik Moore, who takes on the character, talks about the struggles Raekwon faced while putting his album together.
“I think he’s looking for his identity within … rap, within hip-hop,” he explains. “Of course, there’s Wu-Tang already, we’re already on the fame sh** … I think Rae then starts thinking about, ‘… what is my album gonna sound like, what am I talking about? What’s gonna make me different? What’s gonna set me apart?'” He also struggles with the newfound fame and the idea of “actually being able to … bring you food to the table.”
“When you got nine dudes, everybody’s expecting, you know, Ashton [Sanders] aka the RZA to pull together … deals and opportunities for each person,” he continues. By the time RZA gets to Raekwon’s album, Rae feels pressured to follow Method Man and Ol’ Dirty Bastard‘s solo projects.
“It was like, ‘Damn, it’s my turn. Like, they killed it. I gotta come through some with sh**,'” Shameik says. “‘I have pressure on my back, and I can’t let the RZA down. I can’t let such and such down. Can’t let myself down.'” (AUDIO 1-ON-1)
(NEW YORK) — A nationwide shortage of the asthma medication albuterol has been ongoing since last fall and experts say it’s only expected to get worse.
Albuterol can be taken in several forms but it’s the aerosolized solution used in a nebulizer that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration put on its drug shortage list in late October. Although it’s not clear what prompted the initial constrained supply, the FDA has been tracking the shortage.
Generic drug manufacturer Akorn Pharmaceuticals filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last month, according to documents viewed by ABC News, and reportedly closed its U.S. facilities, knocking out one maker of albuterol.
The FDA updated its drug shortage page on March 1 to show Akorn’s albuterol inhalation solution is “not available” due to “no new manufacturing of product.”
This leaves Nephron Pharmaceuticals, based in South Carolina, as one of the only remaining primary manufacturers of liquid albuterol.
“We are currently producing Albuterol as fast as possible to deliver to the market — and to patients — to address this shortage,” Nephron CEO Lou Kennedy told ABC News.
The FDA did not immediately reply to ABC News’ request for comment.
Local pharmacies said they have been struggling to stock albuterol over the past few months and are worried the closure of Akorn facilities will make it harder.
“The albuterol solution has been in short supply for some time. It’s hard to get it in stock,” Jim Stage, owner of Lloyd Pharmacy in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and a pharmacist, told local ABC affiliate KSTP. “We’re checking secondary and tertiary vendors if our primary vendor doesn’t have it, so it’s just creating a little bit more legwork on our part.”
What is albuterol?
Asthma is an inflammatory disease that causes airways in the lungs to constrict and prevents normal breathing. It affects more than 25 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Albuterol is a medication that helps open these constricted airways. It works by activating the beta receptors in the lungs, which helps the airways open and relax so asthma sufferers can breathe more easily.
Inhaled albuterol can be given through an inhaler or as an aerosolized solution through a nebulizer machine. The aerosolized solution is the type currently facing a national shortage.
This solution is sometimes used at home for infants and young children who have difficulty using an inhaler, but it is used most commonly in hospital settings to treat a range of breathing problems associated with wheezing that includes asthma and some respiratory infections.
“This is a lifesaving medication that we need to have on demand and available when patients needed,” Dr. Juanita Mora, national volunteer medical spokesperson for the American Lung Association, told ABC News.
Mora said she has witnessed how distressing this shortage has been for her patients and families and warned that the pollen season is around the corner.
“As pollen levels rise, they are a huge trigger for asthma. I want to make sure that everyone’s asthma COPD emphysema long-haul COVID is well optimized before we head into that season,” Mora said.
Are there alternatives?
One alternative medication to albuterol used commonly, but less often, is called levalbuterol. Albuterol inhalers are also an acceptable alternative to the liquid solution.
Although similar, studies have had mixed results. One study from 2003 found substituting levalbuterol for albuterol in emergency department care “significantly reduced the number of hospitalizations.”
However, a meta-analysis in 2013 showed levalbuterol was not “superior” to albuterol regarding efficacy and safety, and suggested not using it over albuterol for acute asthma.
It’s unclear if every day Americans are having trouble filling prescriptions. A Walgreens spokesperson told ABC News it is “able to meet patient demand/needs at this time.”
Other pharmacy chains including CVS Health, Rite Aid Corp., Kroger Inc. and Albertsons Inc. did not return ABC News’ request for comment.
How are asthma attacks prevented?
People with lung diseases like asthma or COPD can have more severe complications from respiratory viruses and pneumonia. To prevent these illnesses, experts say to stay up to date on all vaccines, including Covid-19 boosters and annual flu shots and to practice good hand washing.
It is also important to know and avoid asthma triggers. Each individual’s trigger may be different, but common triggers include seasonal allergies, carpets, pets, mold and tobacco smoke, according to the CDC.
When using an inhaler, proper technique is very important. The American Lung Association says people should make sure they are always using a spacer with an inhaler.
If frequently using albuterol, talk to your doctor about daily medications that help control asthma symptoms in addition to albuterol.
Mora urged people not to panic or hoard liquid albuterol because they are afraid of the shortage and says doctors are asking the FDA to act urgently to solve this problem.
“We are urging the FDA to get ahead of this problem before it becomes disastrous,” Mora said.
ABC News’ Sony Salzman contributed to this report.
James Cameron‘s spy movie True Lies is such a classic that it has spawned a CBS series decades after Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis saved the world on the big screen — but Ginger Gonzaga somehow missed it before starring in the show.
Covering her eyes for a moment, the former She-Hulk: Attorney at Law scene stealer admitted to ABC Audio Wednesday, “Oh, gosh, it’s always embarrassing. I hadn’t seen it. I tell everyone the only movies I had ever seen were Sister Acts1 and 2 and Mrs. Doubtfire.”
She added with a laugh, “And then, I don’t know, I’ve seen maybe five movies since. I don’t know how I’m an actor.”
The star plays Helen Tasker, the role Everything Everywhere Oscar nominee Curtis played in the film: A bored woman who discovers her seemingly boring salesman husband is actually as super spy.
Ginger explained not seeing the 1994 movie was a blessing in disguise. “Watching Howie [co-star Steve Howie] be like, ‘Oh my gosh, I have to fill Arnold’s shoes,’ I was like, ‘I don’t know. I’m just playing this character, Helen.’ So I maintained not watching it prior to doing the pilot, so I could just do my Ginger version of a character named Helen. And I think that really took the pressure off of me.”
She added, “I love Jamie so much, and I know if I had watched it, I would have been judging every single move that I did, you know, like, ‘Oh, that’s too much like her’ or ‘No, you’re copying Jamie,’ so I want to let Jamie be Jamie. And I got out of that pressure by having been sheltered as a child, really,” she laughed.
(NEW YORK) — The Biden administration is moving to implement a new national security strategy focused on stopping hackers, as buzz around artificial intelligence tools raises concern among some experts that criminals may try to exploit AI capabilities.
One aim of the administration strategy is to shift the focus of blame away from the victims of cybercrime, U.S. security officials said. After-the-fact assessments often focus on the target for being vulnerable enough to hack — but if that target is a rural hospital, for example, limitations might exists on what that hospital can do to protect against bad actors, especially those backed by foreign governments.
Instead, the new plan focuses on strengthening the public-private partnerships that encourage security firms to share what they know about hacker networks in order to bring them to justice.
Emerging technology will test the viability of the strategy going forward, experts told ABC News, especially with AI posing new security challenges.
The same advantages seen in AI tools like ChatGPT from research lab OpenAI, which formulates human-like responses to questions posed by a user, are vulnerable to nefarious use, according to Ari Jacoby, a tech executive who has focused on using AI to fight fraud.
Given the volumes of publicly available information on software engineering, hackers could use the chat bots to generate or enhance malicious computer code, Jacoby said.
According to OpenAI’s user policy, using ChatGPT to write malware, generate hateful or harmful content or engage in fraudulent activity is explicitly prohibited. The question is whether tech firms are capable of enforcing such rules as AI technology spreads.
“The ChatGPTs of the world — who do way more good than harm — make available tools that can write software code in less than a minute that would have taken a bad actor or a bad network potentially days or weeks to run,” Jacoby said.
Instead of using ChatGPT to source ideas for recipes or write basic work emails, bad actors could attempt to write large volumes of phishing emails that trick recipients into downloading malware or giving up personal financial information.
Alternatively, similar tools used to analyze and assess trends in large sets of data can potentially be used to fight fraud, Jacoby said. Credit card companies, for example, could benefit from being able to detect anomalies in a customer’s behavior to determine if purchases are authentic.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is facing a daily onslaught of cybersecurity breaches from Russian, Chinese and North Korea-backed groups, according to recent U.S. government assessments and private cyber intelligence firms. Experts expect those efforts will test the resilience of the administration’s new cyber strategy.
“They’re unbelievably sophisticated and they’re unbelievably well-funded and well-tooled,” Jacoby said. “They have plenty of AI tools at their disposal.”
A recent analysis of underground hacking communities by the cyber firm Check Point Research found online forums where new approaches to hacking tools were discussed, including one discussion thread called “ChatGPT – Benefits of Malware.”
The author wrote they were attempting to use ChatGPT to recreate malicious computer code based on research papers about hacking.
While the Biden administration’s strategy does not delve into the specifics of emerging technology, such as AI, it’s designed to be nimble enough to account for new developments in the rapidly changing cybersecurity landscape.
“These are multi-year efforts where we are going to find gaps and where Congress will then need to lean in to help us get to where we need to go,” acting National Cyber Director Kemba Walden said at a forum discussion of the strategy last week. “It’s a symphony, not a single movement.”
“This is an ongoing process,” she added.
Walden emphasized the important role that cloud computing service providers play in securing data as a “force multiplier” for cyber threat first responders.
Google Cloud, for example, provides a variety of data storage and website hosting services. The company’s ability to defend its systems was bolstered by its acquisition of the cybersecurity firm Mandiant last year.
“Everyone has a shared responsibility here,” said Stacy O’Mara, who leads government strategy and partnership at Mandiant. “I think that’s the purpose of the strategy — to reinforce this concept of a shared defense.”
“We’ve got a long process ahead of us,” O’Mara said, ” but I’m encouraged by the administration’s efforts.”
It seems like even Gene Simmons doesn’t fully believe that KISS‘ “final” concerts, scheduled for New York’s Madison Square Garden December 1 and 2, will truly be the end.
While speaking to The Las Vegas Review-Journal, Simmons was asked if the band would ever again play a show in Las Vegas, considering they canceled a scheduled residency at Planet Hollywood’s Zappos Theater, which would have run from December 2021 to February 2022.
“I actually don’t know, because we have been so inundated by people wanting to see us wherever we go. I mean, every guy whoever [sic] washed my dog or did my dry cleaning is hitting me up for tickets for his entire family, three generations back,” Simmons said.
“Vegas? I don’t know, it would be nice to do a Vegas residency,” he continued. “But I don’t know any of these things.”
What Simmons does know is that he’s hosting a VIP event May 5, 6 and 7 at the Rio Hotel & Casino, the location of the KISS by Monster Mini Golf and World Museum attraction, and tickets costs thousands of dollars. The bassist tells the Review-Journal that even though the band is — allegedly — ending their touring career, he’s still excited about the potential of the KISS brand.
“We have KISS everything — I want to sell KISS Air,” he says, meaning actual oxygen. “Have you seen the KISS air-guitar strings? Just a plastic bag with nothing in it. People buy cases of them. We have condoms and caskets.”
He laughs, “I’m thinking of a church, ‘KISS-Tianity.’ What do you think? It’s like everything else in the KISS empire, just throw open the doors and await the masses.”
March 8 marks 50 years since the death of The Grateful Dead’s co-founder and first frontman, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, and the day isn’t going unnoticed.
First, The Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast, the official podcast of The Grateful Dead, is kicking off its seventh season Wednesday with two episodes devoted to Pigpen. It will delve into Pigpen’s life and career, featuring newly unearthed documents and recordings, including excerpts from some never-before-heard 1964 tapes, one featuring Jerry Garcia. There’s also audio from what is believed to be the only surviving full-length Pigpen interview.
In addition, on May 5 a remastered 50th anniversary edition of History of The Grateful Dead, Volume 1 (Bear’s Choice) will be released. The live album, which originally came out in March 1973, was curated by Dead sound engineer Owsley “Bear” Stanley and features Pigpen singing lead on three of the seven tracks.
The release will come out digitally and on vinyl, along with 5,000 copies of a custom vinyl version with two different custom labels, featuring artwork with the iconic Grateful Dead Dancing Bears. It is available for preorder now at dead.net.
Paramount+ announced Wednesday that the second season of the reborn animated show Beavis and Butt-Head will return on April 20, otherwise known — to those who likely watch the show under the influence — as 4/20, marijuana’s official holiday.
“This 4/20, we’ve got another reason not to leave the couch,” a giggle-filled tease notes.
The second season will kick off with a pair of new episodes, according to the streaming service, which is also home to creator Mike Judge‘s original series of the same name, as well as the boys’ movies, 1996’s Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, and the recent Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe.
As for what to expect for the second season, well, Paramount+ calls the sophomore frame the triumphant return of “two guys who like things that are cool and don’t like things that suck.”
(MEMPHIS) — The release of additional footage in the Tyre Nichols case has been delayed due to a court order, Memphis officials said.
About 20 more hours of police video and audio were initially slated to be released Wednesday, City of Memphis Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Sink said during a city council meeting on Tuesday.
Following a motion for protective order filed by defense attorneys Wednesday morning, the Criminal Court of Tennessee for the 30th Judicial District Division 3 “has ordered that no video, audio, or records related to the City’s administrative investigation may be released until further order by the court,” Memphis city spokesperson Allison Fouche’ said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.
The release of materials related to the investigation, including videos and personnel files, will be delayed while the state and defendants review the information, according to the order.
“The release of this information shall be subject to further orders of this court and, in the public interest, will be ordered as soon as practicable,” the order stated.
Nichols, 29, died several days after a violent traffic stop captured in body camera footage, which shows officers striking Nichols repeatedly.
His death has prompted protests and unrest across the country.
In Tuesday’s city council meeting, Sink also announced that a seventh officer who was involved in the Jan. 7 incident was fired following an internal investigation.
The internal investigations resulted in four Memphis Fire Department personnel being charged, and 13 Memphis Police Department personnel being charged, according to Sink, who clarified that these are administration — not criminal — investigations.
Prior to the meeting the Memphis Police Department announced that six officers involved in the incident were fired. Sink revealed to council members that a seventh unidentified officer who was under investigation was terminated.
Of the remaining officers under investigation, three officers received a suspension, two had their charges dismissed and one individual resigned in lieu of termination, Sink said.
All officers directly involved in Nichols’ beating were part of the first round of terminations and criminal charges, Sink said.
Those five officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith — have pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and other charges in Nichols’ beating and subsequent death.
A sixth officer, Preston Hemphill, was fired in February, days after the body camera footage was released to the public.
Another officer, who was suspended, “did place hands on [Nichols’] legs,” Sink said, but asserted that it was not a strike or assault.
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso, Ivan Pereira and Will McDuffie contributed to this report.
Jenna Ortega won raves for her lead performance in Netflix’s hit Wednesday, and on Dax Shepard‘s Armchair Podcast, the actress explained how she was so “protective” of her character that she took it upon herself to change her dialogue, and yes, create that viral dance all by herself.
“…When I first signed onto the show, I didn’t have all the scripts,” she explained. “I thought it was going to be a lot darker….I didn’t know what the tone was…”
She continued, “I don’t think I’ve ever had to put my foot down more on a set in a way that I had to on Wednesday…Everything that…I had to play [in the script], did not make sense for her character at all…There were times on that set where I even became almost unprofessional in a sense where I just started changing lines.”
Jenna added, “I had to sit down with the writers, and they’d be like, ‘Wait, what happened to the scene?’ And I’d have to go through and explain why I couldn’t go do certain things.”
She credits the “collaborative” nature of director Tim Burton for letting her get away with it.
As for the dance, Ortega said she declined Burton’s offer to hire a choreographer. “…[A]t that point, I was so…protective of Wednesday, that I didn’t want anyone else touching her, because I stopped trusting outside opinion, and I was like, ‘No. I got it. I’ll handle it. I should know her at this point, don’t even worry about it.'”
And the Scream VI star also expressed she has other aspirations. “I think there’s a big part of me that would much rather direct than act, and I kind of look at my acting career as a [gateway],” she admitted.
(ARKANSAS) — In a major legislative victory for Arkansas’ new governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday signed the LEARNS Act into law, making the state the latest to adopt what she calls a system-changing universal school voucher program, which critics warn could decimate the public school system.
Sanders’ signature at the state Capitol in Little Rock comes 16 days after the 144-page bill was introduced.
“I am not interested in being a caretaker of the failed status quo. I vowed to be a changemaker for our people,” she tweeted ahead of the signing. “Today, I am delivering on that promise, and will sign into law my transformational education plan, unleashing a new era of freedom, opportunity and prosperity for all.”
Backed by a Republican supermajority in the state Legislature, the omnibus bill cornerstone to Sanders’ education agenda saw a 26-8 vote in the State Senate and 78-21 in the House.
“I know it is not popular, I know it went against the Republican Party platform, but right is right and wrong is wrong,” said State Rep. Jim Wooten, a former public school teacher, questioning his colleagues’ support. “I would say that 50% of them are trying to get close to the governor, and the other 50% are afraid of her.”
In its short lifespan, the LEARNS Act, intended to revamp education from early childhood classes through the 12th grade, has seen both praise and protests.
The legislation calls for raising minimum teacher salaries, introducing universal pre-K, banning teaching on “gender identity, sexual orientation, and sexual reproduction” before fifth grade — prompting comparisons to similar legislation in Florida — and banning curriculum that would “indoctrinate students with ideologies, such as Critical Race Theory.”
When I sign my education plan into law today, CRT and all forms of racism and leftist indoctrination in our schools will be outlawed.
Under my leadership we will do what’s right, not what’s politically correct or convenient.
— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) March 8, 2023
It also makes Arkansas the fifth state — following Arizona, Iowa, Utah and West Virginia — to enact a universal program for so-called school choice, as more Republican-led legislatures prioritize taking up voucher policies.
“Arkansas is the 5th government school monopoly domino to fall in the past 2 years. A school choice revolution has ignited and there’s nothing the teachers unions can do about it,” Corey DeAngelis, a prominent advocate for such programs and senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, tweeted on Wednesday.
Supporters of school choice say the vouchers, or “Education Freedom Accounts,” as they’ll be called under Sanders, allow taxpayers to support “students not systems” in the redirection of public funds to private schools.
“This isn’t an us vs. them, red vs. blue, teachers vs. the legislature,” said State Sen. Breanne Davis, who introduced the bill. “This is all of us working together and rooting for the success of our children.”
The cost of each student’s “Education Freedom Account” to pay for private and home-schooling must be equal to 90% of the state’s per-student funding for public schools, which is currently $7,413, according to the Associated Press.
But critics say the voucher program essentially functions as a tax stipend for families with the means to enroll their child into private or charter institutions or home-schooling, among other concerns like funding the program long-term.
“At the end of the day, this is only going to be for a few people,” said Jim Ross, a history teacher at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, who said the program could serve to “re-segregate” Arkansas schools. “And it’s gross that no one will be honest about that.”
Those voting against the bill also expressed wanting separation of its sweeping reforms.
“We’ve never put this many important topics into one piece of legislation and voted on it with one vote,” state Sen. Reginald Murdock, a Democrat, said on Tuesday.
‘The education governor’
In her inaugural address, Sanders — a former Trump White House spokesperson whose father, Mike Huckabee, previously served as Arkansas’ governor — said she hopes to be known as “the education governor.” She then laid out details of her agenda in the Republican State of the Union response last month.
But the overwhelming support she’s seen since in the legislature hasn’t been matched by a universally positive public response.
More than 1,000 students at Little Rock Central High School, Sanders’ alma mater, walked out of classes on Friday to protest LEARNS.
On Tuesday, when a group of 10 students tried to speak about the bill at the state Capitol, State Sen. Jane English required the students only speak on its procedural amendment, leaving them feeling “silenced” and “belittled,” according to Little Rock Central senior Gryffyn May.
“It was already stressful to have to speak in front of a Senate but then to have to speak without a prepared speech, while you’re constantly getting interrupted, was much worse,” May told ABC News in a phone interview. “I absolutely had frustrated tears, but they were also tears of embarrassment … I think it just hit me that this bill was going to be passed on their time, no matter what.”
Little Rock Central Junior Addison McCuien told the lawmakers on Tuesday, “I started off my speech here by saying that I wanted to thank y’all for the opportunity to speak. However, I take that back. You’re not allowing us the opportunity to speak.”
McCuien and May are among the students and educators planning to hold a protest on Wednesday afternoon at the state Capitol. Although the bill will have already been signed, May said it will give students the chance to voice concerns they weren’t able to during the session.
“We were completely shut down when people were voting on it, but we’re not going to give up the walk away,” May said. “We’re still going to be out here calling out what’s a bad idea.”
