R.E.O. Speedwagon has a full schedule of touring ahead of them in 2023, but they will be without keyboardist and founding member Neal Doughty.The 76-year-old Doughty just announced his decision to retire from the road.
“I want everyone to know that it was all that traveling that finally got to me,” he shares. “I always enjoyed playing the shows and looking out to see all the loyal fans who allowed me to do this for so long.”
While Doughty may join the band on select dates, singer Kevin Cronin notes, “It will be a big change to look around and not see Neal behind the keyboards.” He says they “will miss his quick wit and interesting conversation on those long bus rides. But this is what Neal needs, and we support him.”
R.E.O. Speedwagon’s next show is set for January 11 in Thousand Oaks, California, with dates confirmed through August. Check out their tour schedule here.
Already-established hitmakers Jackson Dean and Nate Smith are part of Amazon Music’s Breakthrough Artists to Watch: Country Class for this year, in addition to newer names like Avery Anna, Megan Moroney, Warren Zelders, Madeline Edwards, Dylan Schneider and Dalton Dover. You can check out their music on Amazon’s Breakthrough playlists.
You can tune in for the premiere of a previously recorded episode of Opry Live featuring Carrie Underwood, Lee Brice and Bailey Zimmerman this Saturday at 9 p.m. ET on Circle TV.
Jhené Aiko is giving fans a little glimpse of her and Big Sean‘s son, Noah. In a post shared on her Instagram Story Tuesday, she captured the newborn during what appears to be a breastfeeding session.
“Two months,” read a text sticker alongside the photo, a rough indication of how long it’s been since Noah was born.
Jhené and Seanannounced Noah’s arrival in November via affectionate posts on their respective Instagram accounts.
“After 24 hours of labor, a total lunar eclipse, and while it was pouring rain, he came, my baby Yoda, my Sani,” she wrote. Sean mirrored the sentiments, writing, “After 24 hours of Labor, A Lunar Eclipse, with rain from the beginning of labor til he was born, he’s here safe and sound. Happy, Healthy, and everything we could ever ask for and more. Any and everything for you Son, Noah, 11/8/22.”
Jhené has since released a sleep album filled with R&B songs intended to help babies sleep.
Ashley Morgan Smithline‘s lawsuit against Marilyn Manson has been dismissed, the Los Angeles Times and Consequence report.
Smithline, a model, alleged in a May 2021 interview with People that Manson, born Brian Warner, sexually assaulted her. She filed a lawsuit in June 2021 accusing Warner of sexual assault, human trafficking and other forms of abuse.
According to the reports, Smithline’s case was dismissed after she did not hire new representation — or elect to represent herself — to replace her original attorney, who left the case in October.
In a statement to Consequence, Warner’s lawyer says, “We thank and commend Ashley Smithline for dismissing her claims against Brian Warner without seeking or receiving anything in return.”
“Ms. Smithline has refused to be manipulated by others who are trying to pursue their own agendas against Mr. Warner,” the statement continues. “We wish her well and will continue to work to assure that a significant price will be paid by those who have tried to abuse our legal system.”
Smithline is among several women who came forward with allegations of abuse against Warner after the musician’s ex-fiancée Evan Rachel Wood wrote that Warner had “horrifically abused [her] for years” in a February 2021 Instagram post. Along with Smithline, actor Esmé Bianco, Warner’s former assistant Ashley Walters and an anonymous Jane Doe also filed lawsuits, though Walters’ case was dismissed last May. Warner has denied the accusations.
Wood made further allegations against Warner in her documentary Phoenix Rising. Warner has responded with a defamation lawsuit against her.
In September 2022, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department submitted its investigation on sexual assault allegations made against Warner to the LA County district attorney. However, the DA stated that “there is more material that is still outstanding” needed from the Sheriff’s Department.
If you are affected by abuse and needing support, or know someone who is, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). You can also chat online at thehotline.org or online.rainn.org, respectively.
(WASHINGTON) — The vote to elect a House speaker in the new Congress is in its second day — the first time that has happened in a century — as Republican leader Kevin McCarthy struggles to get a majority of votes to wield the gavel.
The House can conduct no other business until a speaker is chosen. But the current limbo is nowhere near the longest-ever speaker vote, which occurred in 1855 and 1856.
The record for most rounds of votes, according to the Office of the Historian of the House, is the 34th Congress, when Rep. Nathaniel Prentice Banks of Massachusetts was only elected speaker after 133 rounds and some two months of voting.
Because of conflict over slavery and immigration, according to the office, the political atmosphere was tense and more than 20 people tried to become speaker.
It took two months, starting in December 1855, until Banks, then a member of the American and Free Soil parties, was elected on Feb. 2, 1856. The New-York Tribune’s Feb. 4, 1856, issue proclaimed Banks’ victory the “END OF THE GREAT STRUGGLE; TRIUMPH OF THE REPUBLICANS.”
Banks, who was 40 years old when he was sworn in, served just one two-year term as speaker until the 35th Congress in 1857, when Democrats won both the House and Senate.
The House historian’s office noted that this instance of multiple rounds of speaker voting and most others “occurred before the Civil War, when party divisions were more nebulous” than the Democratic-Republican split today.
Until this week’s prolonged voting, the most recent instance of multiple rounds of votes for speaker was in December 1923, when the 68th Congress required nine rounds over three days to elect Republican Rep. Fredrick Huntington Gillett of Massachusetts.
Gillett went on to serve three terms as speaker.
According to the Congressional Research Service, during the 1923 showdown, members from smaller factions initially refused to vote for either the Democratic or Republican candidate.
But they eventually gave in during the ninth round “after the Republican leadership had agreed to accept a number of procedural reforms these Members favored.”
ABC News’ Tal Axelrod, Chris Donovan and Will Steakin contributed to this report.
The blue-skinned people of Pandora have done what no Russian MiG ever could: They’ve shot down Maverick.
Specifically, Deadline reports the long-awaited Avatar: The Way of Water will become the highest-grossing movie of 2022 after Tuesday’s box office receipts are tallied, having earned $1.5 billion and counting worldwide.
It’s a feat for any movie, but one that’s especially dizzying considering the movie starring Kate Winslet, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldaña and Sam Worthington only premiered in theaters the week of December 16.
Top Gun: Maverick held the top spot of the box office for much of the year since debuting in May, ending 2022 at #1 with a global haul of $1.48 billion. However, the Paramount Pictures film saw its air superiority challenged ever since James Cameron‘s sequel, from Disney-owned 20th Century Studios, took off.
Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The United States Postal Service can deliver prescribed abortion medication, even in states where abortion access is severely restricted, the Department of Justice announced.
The department’s Office of the Legal Counsel wrote in an opinion that pills being sent through the mail is not in violation of the Comstock Act — an 1873 law that made it illegal to send “obscene” material in the mail — if the sender does not know if the drugs will be used illegally.
It comes on the heels of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration giving pharmacies the green light to fill prescriptions for one of the pills, mifepristone, if a certified health care provider prescribes the drug and if that pharmacy meets certain requirements.
The Comstock Act, which was passed by Congress under the administration of Ulysses S. Grant, criminalized the act of using the U.S. Postal Service to send contraceptives, substances that induce abortion, pornographic content, sex toys and any written material about these items.
The Postal Service had requested the opinion from the office after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022 and states began enforcing their own bans.
“We conclude that [the act] does not prohibit the mailing, or the delivery or receipt by mail, of mifepristone or misoprostol where the sender lacks the intent that the recipient of the drugs will use them unlawfully,” Christopher Schroder, assistant attorney general for the OLC, wrote in the opinion.
“Because there are manifold ways in which recipients in every state may lawfully use such drugs, including to produce an abortion, the mere mailing of such drugs to a particular jurisdiction is an insufficient basis for concluding that the sender intends them to be used unlawfully,” the opinion continued.
In a statement to ABC News, USPS said the opinion “confirms that the Comstock Act does not require the Postal Service to change our current practice, which has been to consider packages containing mifepristone and misoprostol to be mailable under federal law in the same manner as other prescription drugs.”
Drugs for medication abortions were first developed in the late 1970s as an alternative, non-surgical, form of abortion in which someone takes two pills to end a pregnancy.
The first pill is mifepristone, which was authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2000. It works by blocking the hormone progesterone, which the body needs to continue a pregnancy.
This causes the uterine lining to stop thickening and to break down, detaching the embryo. The second drug, misoprostol, taken 24 to 48 hours later, causes the uterus to contract and dilates the cervix, which will expel the embryo.
In the U.S., the drugs are approved up to 10 weeks’ gestation, although the World Health Organization says they can be taken up until the 12-week mark.
As of 2020, medical abortions account for 54% of abortions performed in the U.S., up from 24% a decade ago, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
In December 2021, the FDA permanently lifted its restrictions on abortion pills, allowing them to be sent by mail than requiring them to be given in person.
ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.
Last September marked Kelly Clarkson‘s 20th anniversary of winning American Idol, and she recently strolled down memory lane with runner-up Justin Guarini.
Appearing on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Justin was asked about his fondest memories of the show and expressed, “It’s wild because we got shot out of a cannon. And the fact that we were at the beginning of things … nobody knew what was up.”
He recalled his time competing on the show, adding, “The stakes weren’t super high for us.” Because of that, the two were able to spend enough time together for Justin to figure out to never accept a card game challenge from Kelly. “She’s a killer,” he warned.
“I’ve always been competitive,” Kelly laughed and revealed her card game of choice is speed. As for why she defaults to the game, she said, “I feel like I have natural caffeine [going through me].”
Apparently, playing speed together was how the two would spend a good chunk of their American Idol journey.
“We would hang out and play speed because there were these huge swaths of time … And I think I may have won twice in the hundred times we played together,” Justin deadpanned. “It was ridiculous. I just kept coming back for more.”
Kelly and Justin competed on the first season of American Idol in 2002.
Steven Tyler has pulled out of yet another event. The Aerosmith frontman was set to appear and be honored at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Power of Love Gala in Las Vegas next month, but his manager tells theLas Vegas Review-Journal he will no longer take part due to ongoing health issues.
“Steven’s doctors have instructed him to take care of himself, but he will be back this year,” manager Larry Rudolph tells the paper, which says he won’t be making any public appearances until at least the spring.
Last month, Tyler’s undisclosed health issues forced Aerosmith to cancel the final five shows of their Las Vegas residency. The announcement of his Power of Love Gala departure comes just a week after a woman named Julia Holcomb came forward with a decades-old sexual assault claim. Holcomb, who Tyler allegedly had a relationship with in the ’70s when she was 16, sued him for sexual assault, assault and battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The Power of Love Gala, taking place February 18 at the MGM Grand, raises money for Alzheimer’s research. So far there’s no word on who’ll replace Tyler.
Rick Singer, mastermind of the college admissions cheating scheme known as Varsity Blues that involved Hollywood stars Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, was sentenced Wednesday afternoon to 42 months in prison. Singer will then be on supervised release for three more years.
Singer’s sentence comes nearly four years after the former college admissions consultant pleaded guilty in March 2019 to helping parents of dozens of well-to-do high school students cheat their way into elite universities. As part of his plea, Singer helped prosecutors convict his former clients.
Singer, 62, pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of six years in prison — much more than the six-month maximum Singer’s lawyers requested.
The scandal saw wealthy people, including Huffman and Loughlin,use Singer’s expertise to fraudulently get their children into sought-after colleges.
“Singer was the architect of a massive, decade-long scheme to use fraud and bribery to secure the admission of high school students to elite colleges and universities across the country,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum, calling his scheme “Staggering in scope” and”breathtaking in its audacity.”
Huffman was ultimately sentenced to 14 days in prison and served 11 after pleading guilty in the scandal. Loughlin and her designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, pleaded guilty in May of 2020 after paying $500,000 to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California as crew recruits, when neither child participated in the sport.
Loughlin pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and served two months behind bars. Giannulli was sentenced to five months in prison with an additional two years of supervised release, in addition to a $250,000 fine and community service.
