Reba McEntire‘s ready to drop The Hammer this Saturday.
That’s the name of the new Lifetime movie she both stars in and executive produced. In it, Reba plays colorful lawyer Kim Wheeler, who becomes a traveling judge in Nevada after the previous one died under suspicious circumstances.
Reba also reunites with her sitcom co-star Melissa Peterman, who plays her sister and the prime suspect in the former judge’s death. Reba’s real-life boyfriend, Rex Linn, is also in the film.
Check out the trailer to see why Reba’s character is nicknamed The Hammer. You can watch the full movie Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on Lifetime.
That’s not Reba’s only TV venture these days, of course: She continues to star in the latest season of Big Sky. You can check out a new episode Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
Phoebe Bridgers‘ dad has died, the singer-songwriter announced Tuesday.
Bridgers revealed the news in an Instagram post, sharing a throwback picture of herself with pink hair alongside her late father.
“Rest in peace dad,” she captioned the snapshot.
The cause of death was not shared.
Bridgers, 28, has been open about her difficult relationship with her father in the past. In a 2019 GQ profile, she said her father had a “drug thing.” She also touched on her paternal relationship in 2020’s “Kyoto” from her Punisher album.
“You called me from a payphone / They still got payphones / It cost a dollar a minute / To tell me you’re getting sober / And you wrote me a letter / But I don’t have to read it,” she sings in the opening verse, later singing, “I don’t forgive you / But please don’t hold me to it / Born under Scorpio skies / I wanted to see the world / Through your eyes until it happened.”
Yes, girls just wanna have fun, but sometimes they just wanna learn about their family’s history. Cyndi Lauper is one of the celebrities featured on the new season of the PBS series Finding Your Roots.
The show’s ninth season premiered Tuesday night; Cyndi’s episode airs January 24 at 8 p.m. ET. In the episode, Cyndi shares the story of how her mother’s own dreams of music stardom were shattered by her stubborn Sicilian grandfather. Host Henry Louis Gates Jr. then uses historical records to give Cyndi a more complete picture of her Sicilian relatives, all the way back to the 1700s.
Gates also reveals information about one of Cyndi’s Swiss relatives on her father’s side, who took part in an important rebellion in the 1600s.
The same episode also features actors Danny Trejo and Jamie Chung exploring their backgrounds in, respectively, Mexico and Korea.
Other guests on Finding Your Roots this season include Carol Burnett, Niecy Nash, Viola Davis, David Duchovny, Joe Manganiello and Claire Danes.
Jax certainly started off 2023 on a high note: Not only did she perform on ABC’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest on December 31, her boyfriend popped the question and now they’re engaged. But the “Victoria’s Secret” singer has a few other goals for 2023 — though none of them, as she puts it, are “too grandiose.”
“An attainable one would be to hydrate, and I think I’m gonna try to sleep better and sleep through the night,” Jax told ABC Audio. “That’s it. I only set realistic ones these days, because the ones that I’ve tried to set that were too grandiose, I’ve always screwed up … halfway through January.”
On the professional side, though, might we expect an album from the TikTok star in 2023?
“I hope so. I’d love to release an album,” Jax told ABC Audio. She laughed, “I have enough songs for an album and then some, because I can’t decide on what I want to put out, just ’cause every time I’m in a mood, I just write songs, so hopefully.”
While we wait for that, “Victoria’s Secret” is still going strong and Jax has released several other singles that you can check out, like “Ring Pop,” “Like My Father” and “U Love U,” which features JVKE.
For years Beatles fans have blamed John Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono for breaking up the band, but a source close to the couple believes she was a scapegoat and Lennon is to blame for it.
Dan Richter, an 83-year-old artist and mime who lived with John and Yoko, working as their personal assistant from 1969 to 1973, reveals in a new interview with The Telegraph that he thinks John “used Yoko to help him break up The Beatles.”
“At that point John wanted The Beatles over with … It was a big problem for him: how do you break up The Beatles?” he shares. “They were worth millions of dollars [and] Paul was going to go on forever.”
Richter first shared his thoughts on the subject in the new podcast British Scandal – The Ballad of Yoko and John, but elaborates on it in The Telegraph interview, giving a prime example of how Lennon allegedly used his wife. He says that during the recording of Abbey Road, while Yoko was recovering from a car crash, John placed her “in this gigantic brass bed, all covered in white in a white night dress, right in the middle of the studio” in order to anger his bandmates.
“So sitting at the [mixing] board all you’re looking at is Yoko in a bed. The rest of the band were just appalled,” Richter shares. “John had decided he wasn’t going anywhere or doing anything without Yoko. So there she was, in bed in the studio.”
Gabrielle Union is opening up about her first marriage to NFL player Chris Howard.
The actress, who is currently married to NBA star Dwyane Wade, appeared on Monday’s episode of the Armchair Expert podcast and admitted that neither she nor Howard were faithful during their relationship.
“In our first marriage, neither one of us felt like the marriage should get in the way of our dating,” Union candidly told host Dax Shepard before implying that Howard was the one who initiated the idea. “A part of it was keeping up with his activities and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s what you’re doing? Oh, you’re gonna feel this one.'”
Union went on to explain how, at the time, she felt justified in her actions, stating, “I just felt entitled to it, as well. I was paying all the bills. I was working my a** off and I felt like that’s what comes, the spoils of riches.”
“Like my dad before me, whoever has the most gets to do whatever the hell they want, is what I thought,” she said. “It was just dysfunctional from day one.”
“It was such a stupid relationship that should have never gotten out of the dating phase,” Union expressed. “We were gifted therapy and the first session, the therapist was like, ‘I don’t know how you guys made it out of the dating phase.’ And we should probably look for a way to amicably [divorce] because we have not one thing in common.”
Union and Howard separated in 2005 after four years of marriage. Their divorce was final in 2006. Union went on to marry Wade in 2014 after meeting in 2008.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Oklahoma City 150, Boston 117
Milwaukee 123, Washington 113
Sacramento 117, Utah 115
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Ottawa 4, Columbus 0
NY Rangers 5, Carolina 3
Florida 5, Arizona 3
St. Louis 6, Toronto 5 (SO)
Buffalo 5, Washington 4 (OT)
Winnipeg 3, Calgary 2
Nashville 6, Montreal 3
Tampa Bay 4, Chicago 1
Seattle 5, Edmonton 2
Los Angeles 3, Dallas 2
NY Islanders 6, Vancouver 2
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Kansas 75, Texas Tech 72
Tennessee 87, Mississippi St. 53
Wisconsin 63, Minnesota 60
Kansas St. 116, Texas 103
Alabama 84, Mississippi 62
Pittsburgh 68, Virginia 65
Fresno St. 71, New Mexico 67
(WASHINGTON) — The start of the 118th Congress may be remembered for the already historic, and ongoing, vote to elect a new House speaker — which, for the first time in a century, is taking multiple rounds and multiple days.
But there were other “firsts” as the members-elect of the House and Senate gathered in Washington, D.C.
Below, a look at some of the most notable — though there are more.
Hakeem Jeffries
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the incoming House minority leader, was nominated on Tuesday to repeated, enthusiastic applause as the Democrats’ choice to be House speaker — the first Black lawmaker to be so-chosen and the first Black lawmaker to head a major party.
Jeffries, of New York, was first elected in 2012 and previously served in other posts in Democratic leadership.
He took the top spot after Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced in November that she would step down from her role.
“Hakeem Jeffries’ elevation as House Democratic leader is a turning point in the history of the United States Congress,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in November.
Most women lawmakers ever
According to the Pew Research Center, 28% of the incoming lawmakers in Congress are women, which is the most ever. Those 153 members, which include some non-voting roles, compare to 96 in the Congress that ended in 2013.
There are 128 women in the House and 25 in the Senate, both of which set or tie records.
Among those lawmakers is Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, who is now the longest-serving woman in Congress’ history. She was first elected in 1983 — 40 years ago.
A first-ever female Senate president pro tempore
In the Senate on Tuesday, another woman broke a barrier when Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., was sworn in as president pro tempore, the second highest-ranking official in the chamber. Murray has served since 1993 and succeeds Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, who retired.
“It’s not lost on me the significance of what it means to be the first woman to serve in this role. This is another sign that slowly but surely, Congress is looking more like America,” Murray wrote on Twitter after being sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the first woman, first Black person and first person of Asian descent in her role.
A first-in-a-century failed vote
Before Tuesday, the last time a vote for House speaker took multiple rounds and multiple days was 1923, when Frederick Huntington Gillett was elected in late December of that year.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who unsuccessfully sought the speakership in 2015, has been stymied so far by a minority of his conference but insists he will ultimately win a majority to lead the chamber.
Most GOP members support him, but some hardliners have alternatively backed Reps. Andy Biggs and Jim Jordan instead, leaving the speaker’s chair unfilled.
The House adjourned late Tuesday and will resume business on Wednesday at noon.
First Gen Z member
Among the newly elected representatives is Maxwell Frost, a 25-year-old Florida Democrat, who is poised to be sworn in as the first Gen Z member of Congress.
“I think we’re in this politics now where people are scared to talk about their North Star,” Frost told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl recently. “And I think it’s important that we not lose sight of that — health care for everybody, ending gun violence, combating the climate crisis. These things are really important. And even though we’re not going to get it next year, you can’t take a first step in a journey if you don’t know where you’re going.”
Other firsts: LGBTQ, Latino, women lawmakers
In Vermont, former state Sen. Becca Balint is about to become the first woman and first openly LGBTQ person sworn in to represent the House from her state.
Meanwhile California and Oregon saw or will soon see the swearing-in of their first Latino and Latina lawmakers elected in Congress: Democratic Sen. Alex Padillo and Reps. Andrea Salinas, a Democrat, and Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer, respectively.
And in New York, George Santos, who won the first congressional race between two openly gay people, has said he plans to soon take his seat representing his state’s 3rd Congressional District despite a cloud of controversy and legal troubles.
While newly elected senators were sworn in on Tuesday, the House cannot swear in its members until after a speaker is chosen.
(KEY WEST, Fla.) — Two cruise lines rescued two dozen people on small boats on Monday, cruise officials told ABC News.
Staff on the Fort Lauderdale-bound Celebrity Beyond ship rescued 19 people from a boat Monday and provided them food, shelter and medical services, the ship’s Capt. Kate McCue said in a video posted on Instagram on Tuesday.
“We are grateful for our crew’s quick action and the lives saved as a result,” Celebrity Cruises told ABC News in a statement.
Additionally, crew members from the Carnival Celebration noticed five people about 29 miles northwest of Cuba and stopped to help them, company spokesperson Matt Lupoli told ABC News in a statement.
The crew reached out to the U.S. Coast Guard and met up with them near Key West, Florida.
After that, “The ship resumed on its voyage with its scheduled itinerary unaffected and Carnival Celebration returned to Miami on Tuesday morning after a week-long Caribbean cruise,” Lupoli said.
The Coast Guard did not respond to request for comment.
The rescues came the same day as Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys announced Monday it would close to the public after an influx of migrant landings over the past few days shut down operations at the park there.
“Homeland Security Task Force – Southeast is aware of multiple migrant landings this weekend on Dry Tortugas National Park and the Marquesas. The U.S. Coast Guard and partner federal, state and local components in HSTF-SE are coordinating efforts to recover the individuals currently stranded on the remote, uninhabited islands,” Rear Adm. Brendan C. McPherson, commander of the Seventh Coast Guard District and director of Homeland Security Task Force, said in a statement.
Dry Tortugas is a 100-square-mile park located 70 miles west of Key West, Florida. It comprises seven small islands and is accessible only by boat or seaplane.
ABC News’ Armando Garcia contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Amber McLaughlin is set to be the first openly transgender person executed in the U.S and the first person executed in 2023, according to non-profit execution tracker Death Penalty Information Center.
McLaughlin, 49, is scheduled to die by injection in Missouri on Tuesday.
Her execution has been highlighted by activists, politicians and legal experts, including former judges for what they call failures in the sentencing phase of the trial.
McLaughlin was sentenced to death in the killing of a former girlfriend Beverly Guenther in 2003. McLaughlin was found guilty of first degree murder, armed criminal action and forcible rape.
According to McLaughlin’s counsel, expert testimony and evidence of her mental health experiences were never presented in the sentencing phase of the trial. Still, the jury did not recommend the death penalty, according to the application for executive clemency from McLaughlin’s counsel.
Rather, the death penalty was imposed on McLaughlin by a trial judge when the jury deadlocked on a punishment decision.
Though most death-penalty states require a unanimous jury vote for death, Missouri law states that a nonunanimous jury vote is a hung jury, which can trigger the “statutory provision that allowed McLaughlin’s trial judge to independently impose sentence,” according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
A federal district court judge vacated McLaughlin’s death sentence in 2016 based on the lack of mental health evidence, but the decision was reversed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson declined to commute McLaughlin’s sentence.
“McLaughlin’s conviction and sentence remains after multiple, thorough examinations of Missouri law. McLaughlin stalked, raped, and murdered Ms. Guenther. McLaughlin is a violent criminal,” Parson said in a statement Tuesday. “Ms. Guenther’s family and loved ones deserve peace. The State of Missouri will carry out McLaughlin’s sentence according to the Court’s order and deliver justice.”
In statements to police before her death, Guenther said the defendant threatened her and her friends and stalked her, according to court documents. Guenther had a protective order against McLaughlin, who had also been charged with burglarizing Guenther’s trailer, court documents said.
McLaughlin’s counsel said she “never had a chance,” according to the application for executive clemency. Her counsel described the abuse and neglect that McLaughlin allegedly faced from her family and in the foster care system and the brain damage and trauma she has experienced due to this.
“She was failed by the institutions, individuals and interventions that should have protected her, and her abusers obstructed the care she so desperately needed,” the application for executive clemency read. “McLaughlin has been consistently diagnosed with borderline intellectual disability. She has also been universally diagnosed with brain damage as well as fetal alcohol syndrome.”
Missouri Democratic Reps. Cori Bush and Emanuel Cleaver sent a letter on Dec. 27 to Parson urging him to commute McLaughlin’s sentence due to “injustices” in McLaughlin’s sentencing.
“Ms. McLaughlin’s cruel execution would mark the state’s first use of the death penalty on a woman since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, and even worse it would not solve any of the systemic problems facing Missourians and people all across America, including anti-LGBTQ+ hate and violence, and cycles of violence that target and harm women,” the letter said.
