The battle over the Journey American Express card isn’t over. In new court documents filed in California, Jonathan Cain is accusing bandmate Neal Schon of charging over $1 million on the card, which is causing problems for the band.
“Schon’s use of the [shared] AMEX card for personal expenses created serious liquidity problems for the band as the AMEX balance had to be paid every month, and there were insufficient revenues to pay for other expenses as Schon saddled Journey with over $1 million of his personal expenses,” the court documents state.
And Cain specifically calls out just how Schon has been using that credit card, including spending over $100,000 on personal expenses in one billing cycle ending in January of last year, and $400,000 for the billing period ending March 16, which included $104,000 to a jewelry store and $31,000 to Bergdorf Goodman.
Plus, Cain argues that even when they put a $30,000 limit on Schon’s card, he still somehow spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses, like demanding a $5,000/night suite in Hawaii, when the maximum amount allocated was $1,500 a night. To add to that, he stayed a week longer than he should have.
As for Schon, his attorney tells BillboardCain’s claims are ridiculous and “as phony as a three dollar bill.”
As previously reported, last year Schon sued Cain over the company AmEx card, claiming Cain refused to allow him access to it. Cain countered the suit was just Schon’s way of covering up his “excessive spending and extravagant lifestyle.”
Regardless of all of this, Journey is set to kick off their 50th anniversary tour on February 5 in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Fans can’t get enough of Miley Cyrus‘ “Flowers” — it beat the record BTS’ “Butter” previously held for being the fastest song to clock 100 million streams. She hit the mark in the song’s first six days whereas BTS needed a week.
FINNEAS brought the big brother energy by ratting out a recent thought from Billie Eilish. He tweeted out a line that made Billie “genuinely proud of herself,” which was, “I actually thought about reading a book yesterday!” FINNEAS said he had his sister’s permission to share that.
Sam Smith is the musical guest on this week’s Saturday Night Live and they cracked a smile when filming a promo with host Aubrey Plaza. Sam also revealed they’re a fan, saying they loved her in Emily the Criminal.
Speaking of Sam, they released their album’s title track on Friday and they revealed on Instagram that “Gloria,” the song, is “one of the most important pieces of music I’ll ever make.”
Taylor Swift cannot wait for Paramore to join her Eras Tour, which starts in March. She told Billboard, “We came up alongside each other as Nashville teenagers writing our own music, so it feels insanely special to kick off the tour together nearly two decades later.” She adds teaming up with the “Ain’t It Fun” singers is “a dream come true.”
Ava Max has one week to go before releasing her new album Diamonds & Dancefloors. She shared the album’s tracklist and asked, “What songs are you claiming?” The album arrives January 27.
Lewis Capaldi showed off his improv skills when trying to bring an X-rated conversation to flow into a story about his dead aunt, who he sings about in “Before You Go.” He posted his hilarious monologue to TikTok, where he admits he strained his brain to make it work. He captioned the video, “rest in peace.”
Musician James Raymond has paid tribute to his late father, two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer David Crosby, who passed away Thursday at the age of 81.
“I am deeply saddened at the passing of my birth father David Crosby,” Raymond shares. “He was a monumental talent and a force of nature. The musical gifts he gave us all will be cherished for generations.”
Raymond is Crosby’s son with Celia Crawford Ferguson; he was given up for adoption in 1962. Raymond and Crosby later reunited and formed the trio CPR with guitarist Jeff Pevar, releasing two studio albums and two live albums.
“I feel very fortunate that we found each other and that he so graciously invited me to experience that rarified air of creativity that surrounded him,” Raymond adds. “I’ll miss him immensely.”
While Tom Brady is the “Brady” of the girls-of-a-certain-age road trip movie 80 for Brady, 91-year-old star Rita Moreno admitted he isn’t her cup of tea. She told Jimmy Kimmel on his chat show Thursday night that the Super Bowl ring-collecting quarterback is “a little old” for her liking, preferring instead Brady’s co-star, and former teammate, Rob Gronkowski, 33.
And if that seems scandalous, wait until you hear what the EGOT winner had to say about her “favorite scene” in the movie: When she and her onscreen pals Sally Field, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin filmed in the New England Patriots’ locker room.
“I entered the room, and it’s a real locker room, and I swear to God, like, in seconds, I got turned on,” Moreno said, to laughs — and the apparent embarrassment of Field, who was there with their other two co-stars. “I kept grabbing myself! I kept saying to myself, ‘What is wrong with you? … ‘You are 90!’ And then I thought, ‘There’s nothing wrong with that,'” Rita admitted proudly.
Prior to revealing that, she noted of 76-year-old Field, “She doesn’t like it when I talk about sex, and I love to.”
“There’s a reason I’m 91 now,” Moreno said to applause.
(NEW YORK) — They were designed to help people keep track of their valuables, devices and other products – but some claim that Apple AirTags have been used to track people.
Reports of people using the quarter-size tracking device to allegedly stalk others have arisen since AirTags’s product launch in April 2021 and have led to calls for the tech giant to review its security measures.
“When you’re selling a cheap, ubiquitous tracking device, the product is the problem. It really is a question of are you going to stop selling this before more people get hurt?” Albert Fox Cahn, the executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, told “Nightline.”
When AirTags have been paired to a user’s iOS device, that user can track the location of their own AirTag using their phone. In June 2021, Apple updated their existing security measures so that a user’s phone would more precisely notify them if an unknown AirTag was moving with them, emitting a sound within 24 hours, updated from three days.
There have been reports of people finding someone else’s AirTags in their purses, backpacks, coats and other belongings. In December of 2022, two women filed a class-action lawsuit in California, claiming the product made it easier for them to be stalked and harassed by abusers.
In June 2022, an Indianapolis man was allegedly killed by an ex-girlfriend who police say used an AirTag to track him down. The family of Andre Smith, 26, has called for reform, citing the incident; Marion County police say Smith’s ex-girlfriend, Gaylyn Morris, placed an AirTag in the back of Smith’s car and followed him without his knowledge. Morris has pled not guilty to a murder charge and is awaiting trial.
LaPrecia Sanders, Smith’s mother, told “Nightline,” that after police let them take Smith’s car home, the family’s older son ripped out the seat of the car and found the tracker.
“That night of his murder, the young lady that was in the car with him, she told me and my family that Andre had told her, ‘Somebody’s following us,’ and he kept lookin’ at his phone,” Sanders told “Nightline.” “They were looking around the car, but they just couldn’t find the Apple AirTag.”
Smith’s story is one of many cases of former partners allegedly using the tracker on unsuspecting victims.
Lauren Hughes told “Nightline” that she too found an AirTag in her car after she broke up with a boyfriend.
“Even though my phone told me when it was moving with me, I had no idea how long it had been there. And if he knew the neighborhood I lived in, or was looking at moving to, and that’s the scariest part about it,” she told “Nightline.”
Hughes is one of two named victims in the class action lawsuit that has been filed against Apple in California. The suit claims AirTags have been “the weapon of choice for stalkers and abusers” and charges the tech company with negligence, intrusion-upon-seclusion and product liability.
Apple told “Nightline” it couldn’t comment on the ongoing litigation. Last February it issued a statement that said “incidents of AirTag misuse are rare; however, each instance is one too many.”
“AirTag was designed to help people locate their personal belongings, not to track people or another person’s property, and we condemn in the strongest possible terms any malicious use of our products,” the statement said.
Gillian Wade, one of the attorneys who filed the suit, told “Nightline” that one of her clients found an AirTag placed under the wheel of her car and colored to match the vehicle’s color.
“If you get a notification that an AirTag traveling with you that isn’t yours, it is delayed. So it doesn’t happen immediately,” she told “Nightline.”
Although there are many AirTag users who have said the device has helped them track and recover lost valuables, Cahn and other tech safety watchdogs have reiterated that the device comes with a huge risk.
“To me, the convenience of being able to track your luggage isn’t worth putting other people at risk of potentially being assaulted or stalked,” he said.
Björk has shared a new take on her 2022 track “Ovule,” featuring Shygirl and remixed by Sega Bodega.
“It has been so nourishing sharing music with shy and sega …. soooo honoured to be in their hands !!” Björk shares. “and in this remix admiring sega exploring chill-bassdrum-gabba and a thrill seeing shy diving into my lyrics and taking it to a new place …”
And it sounds like we may see more collaborations with the trio in the future, as Björk notes she hopes to repay the favor soon.
The original “Ovule” is featured on Björk’s album Fossora, which was released in September. When it was initially released, she described the tune as the “definition of love.”
(HARTFORD, Conn.) — A state representative wants to restore a piece of Connecticut’s pre-colonial history to one of its major water streams.
State Rep. Anthony Nolan introduced a bill this week in the state that would restore the Thames River to the Pequot River, named after the tribe that lived on the land for thousands of years.
Nolan told ABC News that his bill came as a request from constituents who were seeking more ways to honor the history of the state’s indigenous population in a bold way.
“It think it’s a big step forward. It’s an opportunity to see a visual of what they had,” Nolan told ABC News. “It will be on our signs [and] in our literature instead of things you have to seek out.”
The 15-mile river runs through several towns in eastern Connecticut including New London and Groton.
European colonists renamed the river in the 17th century, during the time when the Pequot tribe was being forced out of their lands.
“It wasn’t right,” Nolan said of the colonial name change. “And this is what I’m fighting for with them in mind.”
“Prior to European contact, the Pequots had approximately 8,000 members and inhabited 250 square miles,” according to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation’s website. “By 1774, a Colonial census indicated that there were 151 tribal members in residence at Mashantucket. By the early 1800s, there were between 30 and 40 as members moved away from the reservation seeking work.”
Nolan said he has spoken to members of the tribe and they were supportive of the project as were some of his state assembly colleagues.
He said he is planning on hosting a town hall to discuss the measure with constituents and others. Although Nolan said he’s seen some opposition in online postings, he reiterated that the bill isn’t aimed at taking away the history of the river, rather expanding on it by highlighting the state’s rich indigenous origins.
“We want it returned back to the people of the river,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — American Daniel Swift, a former Navy SEAL who deserted in 2019, was killed while fighting in Ukraine on Jan. 18, according to U.S. officials.
“The Navy can confirm that a former Sailor, Daniel W. Swift, was killed in Ukraine on Jan. 18, 2023,” the Navy said in a statement. “The Navy Absentee Collection and Information Center confirmed that the Sailor was is in an active deserter status since March 11, 2019. We cannot speculate as to why the former Sailor was in Ukraine.”
The U.S. State Department also confirmed the death of an American in Ukraine, though it did not identify him.
“”We can confirm the recent death of a U.S. citizen fighting in Ukraine,” the Department of State said in a statement. “We are in touch with his family and providing all possible consular assistance. Out of respect for the privacy of the family during this difficult time, we have nothing further to add.”
Swift had a 14-year military career, including deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court said Thursday it has been unable to determine who leaked Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case last May.
After a probe that involved interviews with more than 100 employees, investigators are “unable to identify a person responsible by a preponderance of the evidence,” according to the court.
In response to questions being raised to clarify whether the justices themselves were questioned, Supreme Court Marshal Gail Curley said Friday she uncovered no leads in the Dobbs leak probe that implicated the justices and therefore did not question any of them under oath.
She does say, however, that they were active and cooperative participants.
“During the course of the investigation, I spoke with each of the Justices, several on multiple occasions,” she said in a statement. “The Justices actively cooperated in this iterative process, asking questions and answering mine. I followed up on all credible leads, none of which implicated the Justices or their spouses. On this basis, I did not believe that it was necessary to ask the Justices to sign sworn affidavits.”
The draft opinion was leaked and published by Politico on May 2. The copy of the draft opinion showed a majority of justices appeared to vote to effectively overrule the 1973 landmark abortion precedent set in Roe v. Wade.
The findings were independently reviewed by former judge and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who provided an independent analysis.
The court does not say the case is fully closed. Curley, who oversaw the probe, left the door open to the possibility of new evidence emerging down the line.
“In time, continued investigation and analysis may produce additional leads that could identify the source of the disclosure,” she wrote. “Whether or not any individual is ever identified as the source of the disclosure, the Court should take action to create and implement better policies to govern the handling of Court-sensitive information and determine the best IT systems for security and collaboration.”
On June 24, the court issued its official opinion, which did in fact overturn Roe v. Wade as a national precedent and returned the decision on the legality of abortion to the states.
The leak of the draft opinion immediately triggered protests outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., and across the country. It also led to protesters outside Supreme Court justices’ homes in the D.C. area. About a month after the release of the draft opinion, a man was arrested outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home with a gun, ammunition, pepper spray and zip ties.
Those protests were triggered again when the official opinion was released the following month.
Both conservative and liberal sides pointed the finger at each other for who was responsible for the leaked opinion. The unprecedented publication of Alito’s leaked draft also upended the court’s traditional workflow, an iterative process marked by frank and private exchanges of ideas between justices over the course of months.
“What happened at the court is tremendously bad,” Justice Clarence Thomas said in June of the leak’s impact on court dynamics. “You begin to look over your shoulder. It’s kind of an infidelity.”
The findings released Thursday did eliminate several options as to what may have occurred in the leak, including saying it is highly “unlikely” the court’s IT systems were hacked from outside.
Several other pieces of information about the investigation were detailed, including:
82 staff in addition to the justices had access to the draft;
staff was interviewed under risk of perjury and asked to sign sworn affidavits;
it is not revealed whether the justices themselves were interviewed;
several staff admitted to telling a spouse or family member privately the outcome of the case before release; and
the court received limited outside assistance in the probe, but did do fingerprint analysis of one item of interest.
ABC News’ Mark Osborne contributed to this report.
Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Companies across the tech industry have announced layoffs, affecting thousands of workers in the first few weeks of 2023. Company officials have often cited economic uncertainty and fears of a recession in their job-cutting, cost-cutting decisions.
It follows a volatile 2022, which was also marred with layoffs by the thousands across major tech brands.
Google
Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, said it will cut roughly 12,000 jobs from its global workforce on Friday, Jan. 20.
The decision will impact approximately 6% of the company’s employees.
“This will mean saying goodbye to some incredibly talented people we worked hard to hire and have loved working with,” said Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai in an email to Google employees on Friday morning.
“I’m deeply sorry for that. The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here.”
Pichai told employees the company is “bound to go through difficult economic cycles” and will “reengineer our cost base, and direct our talent and capital to our highest priorities.”
Microsoft
Microsoft said on Jan. 18 it will lay off 10,000 employees this year, affecting nearly 5% of Microsoft’s global workforce.
The layoffs at Microsoft arrive in response to “macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities,” the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“As we saw customers accelerate their digital spend during the pandemic, we’re now seeing them optimize their digital spend to do more with less,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a memo to employees on Wednesday.
He continued, “We’re also seeing organizations in every industry and geography exercise caution as some parts of the world are in a recession and other parts are anticipating one.”
Amazon
In early January, Amazon announced plans to eliminate just over 18,000 roles total, including impending layoffs announced in November. The majority of roles being cut are in Amazon Stores and People Experience and Technology Solutions teams, according to an email sent to employees from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy.
Jassy had warned in November that job cuts at the e-commerce giant would continue in early 2023. Amazon employs roughly 1.5 million employees around the globe.
“This year’s review has been more difficult given the uncertain economy and that we’ve hired rapidly over the last several years,” the message read.
It continued, “We typically wait to communicate about these outcomes until we can speak with the people who are directly impacted. However, because one of our teammates leaked this information externally, we decided it was better to share this news earlier so you can hear the details directly from me.”
Coinbase
Coinbase, a cryptocurrency trading platform, announced it will lay off 950 people, in a Jan. 10 statement from CEO Brian Armstrong.
“As we examined our 2023 scenarios, it became clear that we would need to reduce expenses to increase our chances of doing well in every scenario,” Armstrong said in the statement.
“While it is always painful to part ways with our fellow colleagues, there was no way to reduce our expenses significantly enough, without considering changes to headcount.”
Vox Media
Vox Media is also laying off employees, according to the Vox Media Union.
In a statement on Twitter, the union said, “We were informed today that the company is laying off around 7 percent of its workforce, and some of our members have been impacted. We’re furious at the way the company has approached these layoffs, and are currently discussing how to best serve those who just lost their jobs.”
ABC News’ Max Zahn and Jon Haworth contributed to this report.
