Space geek Lance Bass will tell the story of Sergei Krikalev, a Russian cosmonaut who was stranded in space for nearly a year after the Soviet Union fell.
Lance teamed up with Kaleidoscope and iHeartPodcasts for the new eight-part series titled The Last Soviet, which is about Krikalev’s plight of being trapped in space for 313 days following the collapse of the USSR in 1991. The NSYNC singer will also discuss the politics of space and the events surrounding the superpower’s fall.
“I fell in love with space when my grandfather took me to see my first rocket launch as a kid. I even came close to achieving my dream of going to space 20 years ago when I trained with the Russian Space Agency for a mission to the International Space Station (ISS),” Lance said in a statement.
The singer became a certified cosmonaut after completing training in Star City, Russia, in 2002. Both the Russian Space Program and NASA certified Lance to participate on a mission flight to the International Space Station via a Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft.
Unfortunately, the mission lost its financial backing, so Lance’s dreams of going to space were grounded — at least for now.
His statement continued, “Although I haven’t made it to space yet, I’m thrilled to be able to share my passion with listeners and provide them with a unique perspective on space travel as the host of The Last Soviet.”
A teaser for the podcast is now live. Fans can catch the first episode when it premieres Wednesday, February 15.
Static-X has announced a new album called Project Regeneration: Vol. 2.
Like 2020’s Project Regeneration: Vol. 1, Vol. 2 consists of newly recorded songs featuring the late Wayne Static‘s final vocal performances and compositions. Our first preview of Vol. 2 is a cover of the Nine Inch Nails song “Terrible Lie,” which is streaming now alongside a video on YouTube.
The Project Regeneration albums came about after original Static-X members Tony Campos, Koichi Fukuda and Ken Jay reunited in 2018, four years after Static’s death in 2014.
“I am so happy that the recording for Project Regeneration: Vol. 2 is finally finished,” Campos says. “I am proud to say that between Project Regeneration: Vol. 1 and Project Regeneration: Vol. 2, we have been able to bring the fans 25 brand new Static-X songs, most of which feature Wayne Static on lead vocals. Nobody would have imagined that any of this could even be possible a few short years ago.”
Since reuniting, Static-X has toured with a mystery singer who goes by the name Xer0. Their identity is kept hidden by a mask that replicates Static’s signature look.
Static-X’s next tour launches February 25 in San Francisco.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — The Memphis Police and Fire Departments are under heavy scrutiny following the death of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who was brutally beaten by police and died three days later.
In a Tuesday hearing from the city council’s Public Safety committee, Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis and Memphis Fire Chief Gina Sweat were grilled about what went wrong on Jan. 7 when Nichols was pulled over for alleged reckless driving and died three days later, and what needs to be fixed in the department to prevent abuses in the future.
Six officers have been fired from the police department, five of which have been criminally charged in connection with Nichols’ death. Attorneys for two of them have said they will plead not guilty and the others have declined to comment or did not respond to past requests for comment.
Seven additional Memphis police officers could face discipline in connection with the incident, the city’s chief legal officer, Jennifer Sink, told ABC News.
Individuals “who did not make the scene but also had some level of responsibility,” are also under review, according to Davis.
“A lot went wrong on January 7,” Davis said at the hearing.
She said officers “were given exceptional training, more training than they had in the past” and instead cited a lack of supervision and a troublesome “wolfpack” culture that caused the incident.
“There’s a saying in law enforcement that culture eats policy for lunch,” Davis said.
“We don’t want to just have good policies because policy can be navigated around. We want to make sure we have the right people in place and make sure our culture is evolving and changing to the philosophies we’re talking about,” she continued.
Three Fire Department employees – two EMTs and a lieutenant – have also been fired for failing to properly assess Nichols as he lay beaten on the ground.
Sweat said the call to the fire department came in as a “report of pepper spray,” which she described as a fairly routine call. When they arrived on the scene, she said personnel were reacting to “what they saw, what they were told.”
An ABC News analysis of body camera and surveillance footage shows that Nichols waited 16 minutes for EMTs to help after being beaten by police.
“They did not perform at the level that we expect or that the citizens deserve,” Sweat said. She said the department is reviewing policies on training and accountability in the wake of Nichols’ death.
The department implemented reform efforts following the racial reckoning of 2020 and the murder of George Floyd by police, which activists and critics say wasn’t enough.
2022 saw the most amount of alleged violations against Memphis police officers since at least 2016, according to the department’s Inspectional Services Bureau dashboard.
The city council reviewed and moved forward several measures Tuesday in an effort to address some concerns following Nichols’ death.
The policies include: an expansion of the data collection on traffic stops, arrests, use of force, and complaints; requiring an independent review process for incidents involving the use of force; requiring police to only use appropriately marked law enforcement vehicles for traffic stops; and clarifying “appropriate methods of enforcement of traffic violations.”
It would also establish the misuse of body worn cameras and excessive force complaint “as disqualifying factors in the Memphis Police Department promotional process” for two years.
(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez weighed in on President Joe Biden’s second State of the Union address, praising the commander in chief and criticizing Republicans for their outbursts during the speech.
Ocasio-Cortez was among the lawmakers in attendance Tuesday as Biden addressed Congress and the nation. He spoke of police reform, prioritizing Social Security and the need for cooperation in a divided Congress.
The New York congresswoman shared her thoughts with ABC News Live’s Linsey Davis about Biden’s agenda and whether she would support the president for another term.
DAVIS: The Republican response to President Biden’s address was delivered tonight by Arkansas governor and former Trump White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Let’s take a listen to a portion of her remarks.
“I’m the first woman to lead my state, and he’s the first man to surrender his presidency to a woke mob that can’t even tell you what a woman is. In the radical left’s America, Washington taxes you and lights your hard-earned money on fire, but you get crushed with high gas prices, empty grocery shelves, and our children are taught to hate one another on account of their race, but not to love one another or our great country. Whether Joe Biden believes this madness or is simply too weak to resist it, his administration has been completely hijacked by the radical left. The dividing line in America is no longer between right or left. The choice is between normal or crazy. A woke mob who can’t even tell you what a woman is.”‘
Some interesting characterizations there from Sarah Huckabee Sanders. We are joined now by Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York for her reaction to tonight’s address. Thank you so much for joining us, Congresswoman.
REP. OCASIO-CORTEZ: Thank you for having me.
DAVIS: So first, just curious to get your response to Gov. Huckabee Sanders there in her remarks.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Well, you know, I think that it’s unsurprising that a governor, Gov. Huckabee Sanders’ response was emotionally and thematically kind of in tune with how Republicans were behaving tonight. I think that it was very mischaracteristic. It relied on a lot of kind of straw men and red herrings. And frankly, I think it was particularly insensitive and insulting. That line that you just repeated about, you know, quote unquote, not knowing what a woman is in this moment when, you know, trans Americans have been under so much attack. It is disgusting, frankly, to have such a vulnerable community targeted on such a large platform and alluded to and insinuated to in this way when they deserve dignity, just like every other American does.
DAVIS: And let’s move back into what we saw on the floor in the chamber tonight. What was your reaction to some of those outbursts by Republicans responding to some of the president’s claims on issues like cutting Social Security, responding with heckles and shouts of ‘liar’?
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Yeah, you know, I I think it was quite surprising, quite shocking. Even under the even under President Trump and his administration, we never saw such a contentious and heckled State of the Union. Even when President Trump himself was advancing statements that many would consider false or, you know, at best, arguable. And so it was quite diminishing, I think, of the character of the body and what this you know, what what this speech was about and what it is about institutionally, which is a report to the public and the in the whole of Congress on the State of the Union and the president’s plans for the future. So it was it was truly bizarre to see that happen.
But I also think that it’s quite reflective of the fact that the Republican Party has been making such an effort to say that they have not been taken over by this extreme wing of the party. But I think what tonight showed is that that quote unquote, extreme wing has become their center to the point that they that they there isn’t really much self-control, especially when it came to these claims around Republicans seeking to cut Social Security and Medicare. You know, they may say that it’s not true, but if you look at their plan, they’re really speaking between the lines. There is no way that they can meet these financial goals that they have advanced without touching this this spending.
And so they really need to reckon with which, you know, which claim that they’re sticking to. Are they sticking to this claim around their budgetary plan or are they not going to touch Social Security and Medicare? And I think the president extended his hand and said, let’s not touch Social Security and Medicare.
DAVIS: On President Biden’s message, how effectively do you think that he was or how effective do you think that he was in making the case for his agenda tonight?
OCASIO-CORTEZ: You know, I believe that the president really stuck to kitchen table issues, him talking about the price of insulin. Him talking about, you know, maxing out the or rather capping the out-of-pocket maximums for prescription drugs at $2,000 a year. These are important things. But on top of that, I think he he really clearly called out institutions like Big Pharma or influences like Big Pharma.
He called out the profit margins that these oil companies, while they were purchasing stock buybacks while confronting Americans and passing on some of the highest fuel prices that Americans have have encountered in the last year.
So I think it was important. I think him drawing that contrast tonight was important because it is important to really delineate what these alternatives are in order for him to clarify what path he’s choosing.
DAVIS: The president spoke briefly about police reform. With so many family members of victims of police violence in the audience tonight, is there any way that you see that the parties will be able to come together to pass something meaningful? We know that it made it out of the House last time, but then stalled in the Senate. Tim Scott and Cory Booker are just not able to get it over the finish line. At this point, where do you think that things stand?
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Well, you know, I think overcoming a Senate filibuster with ten Republican senators who are willing to take on the issue of police brutality, that is a very, very steep hill to climb. There is, you know, barely even the ability to recognize this fact that this is that this is an issue even after George Floyd and Trayvon Martin and now Tyre Nichols and so many other victims, Sandra Bland and just Breonna Taylor, I mean, the names go on. But the recognition among the Republican Party for us to tackle this as the civil rights issue that it is, is lacking.
And so, I believe that that does put additional pressure on the administration in whichever ways that they can, to use the power of the executive office, whether or the bully pulpit of the presidency, as he did tonight, to elevate the legitimacy of this issue with a lived reality for millions of Americans.
DAVIS: President Biden, of course, has not officially announced his 2024 plans, but the speech very much felt like he was making the case for another term. Like to get your take, would you support President Biden in 2024? Do you see any other Democrats as a better option than Joe Biden?
OCASIO-CORTEZ: You know, presently it doesn’t seem that that that they’re you know, I believe that President Biden right now is the only candidate that the Democratic Party is advancing. And I believe that, you know, should he and when he wins the nomination, he will absolutely have my support. He has you know, he has my support as the candidate for president. Yes.
DAVIS: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, we thank you so much for coming on the show. Appreciate your time.
Roger Waters made a Zoom appearance at the United Nations Security Council Wednesday after being invited by Russian diplomats. He called for an “immediate cease-fire” to Russia’s war on Ukraine during his speech, saying he was speaking for the voiceless majority.
“The voiceless majority is concerned that your wars — yes, your wars, for these perpetual wars are not of our choosing — that your wars will destroy the planet that is our home,” the Pink Floyd star said in the speech. “And along with every other living thing, we will be sacrificed on the altar of two things: profits from the war to line the pockets of the very, very few and the hegemonic march of some empire or other towards unipolar world domination. That road leads only to disaster.”
The focus of the meeting was Russia’s war with Ukraine. Waters called Russia’s invasion illegal, but argued it was not unprovoked.
“I condemn it in the strongest possible terms,” Waters said. “I condemn the provocateurs in the strongest possible terms.”
Waters called the Security Council a “toothless chamber,” but suggested that was a good thing: “I can open my big mouth on behalf of the voiceless, without fear of my head getting bitten off. How cool is that?”
He also shared some advice he heard from his mom as a young child, offering, “Read, read, read. Find out everything you can about whatever it is.”
Anas Aldyab/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(LONDON) — When disaster strikes in war-ravaged Syria and the world watches from afar, a group of ordinary Syrians don their trademark white helmets and rush in to save lives.
The Syria Civil Defence, better known as the White Helmets, consists of about 3,000 volunteer first responders who “come from all walks of life,” including bakers, tailors, pharmacists, firefighters and engineers, according to the organization’s website. Unpaid and unarmed, they risk their lives to help those in need “in all areas” of Syria that they “can access,” the organization says.
Most recently, the White Helmets has been garnering attention for their vital response to the devastation in rebel-held areas of northwestern Syria after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked the region on Feb. 6, with the epicenter just across the border in southeastern Turkey. The quake and its powerful aftershocks toppled thousands of buildings in both countries, killing more than 11,000 people, according to Turkish and Syrian officials.
The White Helmets says it formed as a grassroots team of volunteers during the earlier years of Syria’s ongoing civil war, which began as a peaceful revolution in the southern city of Dara’a in 2011 before descending into a full-fledged conflict by 2012. When the Syrian regime and its allies began bombing civilian targets in opposition-controlled areas, the White Helmets responded by rescuing people from the rubble and helping rebuild their homes. The organization says it has saved more than 125,000 lives “on all sides of the conflict.”
Initially, the volunteers had limited experience and equipment, often digging out victims “with only their bare hands,” the organization says. In 2013, some volunteers traveled to neighboring Turkey for their first professional training in urban search and rescue. Additional and more advanced training over the years has allowed the White Helmets to develop expertise in using heavy tools, establish specialized teams and open facilities.
In addition to search and rescue missions and the rehabilitation of neighborhoods, the White Helmets says it now provides “a range of essential services” for more than 4 million civilians across northwestern Syria. Those services include firefighting, health care, fixing electrical grids, sewage maintenance, removing unexploded weapons, clearing rubble from roads, as well as educating communities and preparing them for future attacks, according to the organization’s website.
The White Helmets operates only in rebel-held areas of Syria, though the organization describes itself as non-partisan.
The White Helmets says its volunteers pledge commitment to the principles of “humanity, solidarity, impartiality,” as outlined under international humanitarian law. The organization’s motto comes from an oft-quoted verse in the Quran: “to save a life is to save all of humanity.” Their work has earned them the 2016 Right Livelihood Award, often described as the “Alternative Nobel,” as well as several nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize.
However, many volunteers have paid the ultimate sacrifice — at least 293 have been killed while saving others, according to the organization’s website.
In 2021, Elton John did a commercial for UberEats with rapper Lil Nas X. This Sunday you can watch for him in a Super Bowl commercial that stars Lil Nas X’s duet partner on the number-one hit “Industry Baby” — rapper Jack Harlow.
The ad is for Doritos, and it features Jack giving up rapping and become a triangle player after being inspired by the triangular shape of a Doritos chip. He’s so successful at it that a triangle craze sweeps the world: Not only is everyone playing the instrument, people are making clothes out of them, and in the United Kingdom triangles “replace the British pound.”
When it comes time to hand out the Grammy for Triangle Player of the Year, Jack thinks he’s got it in the bag — only for Elton to be announced as the winner. We then see Elton, wearing a suit reminiscent of the one he wore to perform with Eminem at the actual Grammys, playing a giant neon triangle.
Speaking to Billboard, Jack calls Elton’s cameo the “cherry on top,” adding, “That’s an icon that reaches everyone and adds even more legitimacy to the ad. He’s so iconic and accomplished, a genius. I was thrilled that he [was] a part of it.” They didn’t actually get to meet during the shoot, but he’s looking forward to the time when they can get together in real life.
(SAYREVILLE, N.J.) — New Jersey community members and local elected leaders will gather Wednesday night at Epic Church International in Sayreville for a memorial service to honor Eunice Dwumfour, a New Jersey councilwoman who was shot and killed in an SUV near her home last week.
Members of her family are expected to attend the service.
Dwumfour — the mother of a 12-year-old daughter and leader of her church — sustained multiple gunshot wounds in her white SUV and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.
No arrests have been made and there have been very few updates since her killing nearly one week ago.
Police have not disclosed a motive or revealed if they have identified a suspect.
Police have no clear motive for Dwumfour’s killing, according to law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation. However, detectives have her phone and they are looking at every aspect of her life — personal, professional, religious — to figure out why this happened, sources told ABC News last week.
Dwumfour had just dropped someone off at her townhome and was heading somewhere else when the assailant approached on foot, according to sources.
No words appear to have been exchanged, sources told ABC News.
Dwumfour was elected into office in 2021 and worked as a business analyst and part-time emergency medical technician.
(WASHINGTON) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed Wednesday that the U.S. assesses the alleged Chinese spy balloon shot down over the weekend was part of an expansive surveillance program aimed at gathering intelligence from targets around the globe.
Speaking at a joint press conference with NATO’s top official, Blinken said the administration was already sharing what the U.S. intelligence community uncovered with America’s allies and Congress.
“Senior administration officials are on the Hill this week, and we already shared information with dozens of countries around the world, both from Washington and from our embassies,” Blinken said. “We’re doing this because the United States was not the only target of this broader program, which has violated the sovereignty of countries across five continents.”
Meanwhile, at a Pentagon press briefing, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder disclosed that China had conducted four balloon surveillance missions over “sensitive sites” within U.S. territory during recent years, but did not disclose exactly when or where the incidents took place.
“They were over sites that would be of interest to the Chinese but I’m not going to go into the specifics,” Ryder said.
However, a senior U.S. official told ABC Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz that previous incursions into American airspace took place over Hawaii and off the coast of the continental U.S. — specifically near Coronado, California, and Norfolk, Virginia — where two of the nation’s largest naval bases are located.
That official also advised that the U.S. had briefed India, Japan, Vietnam, and Taiwan — all of which appear to have been surveilled by Chinese balloons.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Top House Republicans, including Speaker Kevin McCarthy, on Wednesday defended their members for heckling President Joe Biden and calling him a “liar” during Tuesday night’s State of the Union address.
While the evening saw GOP outbursts when Biden mentioned the southern border and fentanyl crisis, the shouts of “liar” happened when Biden, referring to the debt ceiling standoff, said “some Republicans” had proposed Social Security and Medicare programs be “sunset” every five years for renewal as part of a cost-cutting plan put out by Florida Sen. Rick Scott last year, but not endorsed by GOP leadership.
“So, folks, as we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare off the books now, right?” Biden said as Republicans protested, taking political advantage of the moment. “All right. We got unanimity.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise dismissed the shouting to ABC News’ Gabe Ferris on Wednesday morning, saying that Republicans were justified calling Biden a liar because, he claimed, he was lying.
McCarthy said similar on Fox News, “Well, the president was trying to goad the members, and the members are passionate about it — but the one thing that the president was saying was something that he knew was not true.”
“I’ve said it many times before: Social Security and Medicare are off the table. He tries to use that for a political ploy,” McCarthy said. “We need to be smart. He’s trying to play politics with the debt ceiling, by not negotiating, by lying about our position … We need to be smart. Don’t take the bait.”
When Biden said that some Republicans considered cutting those programs, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., repeatedly yelled, “Liar!” from the back of the chamber. McCarthy shook his head and lightly shushed his members.
Saying, “I am not sorry one bit,” Greene told CNN Biden “got exactly what he deserved,” and that she didn’t think “Speaker McCarthy is upset with any of us.”
Greene’s outburst came despite McCarthy warning her and other GOP members, before Biden’s speech, that the mics were hot and cameras were on. He also said his party follows a “code of ethics” and wouldn’t participate in “childish games like tearing up a speech,” a reference to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripping up a copy of then-President Donald Trump’s prepared remarks after the 2020 State of the Union address.
The moments have become illustrations for how much the political landscape has changed in a decade.
In contrast, in 2009, after South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson famously shouted, “You lie!” during former President Barack Obama’s address on health care, other Republicans pressured him to apologize and the Democratic-controlled House at the time voted to formally rebuke him, saying his comment was a “breach of decorum and degraded the proceedings of the joint session, to the discredit of the House.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre applauded Biden’s performance and seemed happy to discuss the heckling with reporters on Air Force One on Wednesday en route to Wisconsin.
“We talked about the split screen, right? You saw that from the president, and you saw what the Republicans were all about — jeering and behaving in a way that again, Americans don’t want,” she said. “They told us very clearly after the midterms what they wanted.”
Jean-Pierre defended Biden from GOP outrage over his comment on Social Security and Medicare, saying that the president forced them to go “on defense” on a national stage.
“Members of the Republican caucus, have repeatedly, repeatedly, for many, many years, tried to cut Medicare and Social Security, to privatize it, raise the retirement age,” she said. “They’ve actually voted on that and put it on the chopping block. That’s what we’ve seen them do for years. And they always tried to speak out of both sides of their mouths.”
She specifically called out Sen. Mike Lee. R-Utah, for his objection to Biden’s remarks, noting there was video circling social media of him saying in 2010 he wanted to tear Medicare and Social Security out by the roots.
“What we saw last night was a president who called out members, right?” Jean-Pierre added. “As we’re talking about jeering and how they were responding, he called out members out on live television, in front of millions of Americans and effectively put them on the defense. That’s what we did. That’s what the president did — put them on the defense.”
Regardless of the raucous response from Republicans, Biden took the night as a win.
Asked what he thought of the rowdiness when leaving the chamber Tuesday night, Biden told ABC News’ Will Steakin, “Rowdy? I thought it was a nice reception,” he said, with a smile and laugh.
ABC News’ Katherine Faulders, Lauren Peller, Will Steakin, Gabe Ferris and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.
