With Christmas around the corner, many are breaking out their favorite holiday traditions. For Keri Hilson, her favorite holiday tradition is simple: her mother’s popcorn balls.
“My mother’s very like the one to hold to just traditions down,” the singer and actress told ABC Audio while promoting her film, Hip Hop Family Christmas Wedding. “But her popcorn balls… they mean the most to me… literally that’s what she has to do every year.”
Hilson added that while her mom also makes treats like caramel apples and apple crisp pie, it’s the popcorn balls that have her in a choke hold.
“They’re so good and so special. And she’s, like, really perfected them,” Keri said, adding that they’re so good, Hilson eats them even though she could have an allergic reaction to them.
“I’m allergic to corn, but I’ll pop a Claritin or Zyrtec and I will eat my popcorn ball. Yes, I will,” the “Pretty Girl Rock” singer added.
Popcorn balls aside, Hilson is just happy to be able to spend the festive holiday at home, as it hasn’t always been possible in the past.
“My mother’s birthday’s Christmas Eve, so I try to be home,” she said. “My occupational hazard would have me away from home for a whole lot of Christmases and other holidays, and that seems to be a busy time for performers.”
“But I’m going to be home this year and I need her popcorn balls,” Hilson continued. “That’s my favorite Christmas tradition.”
(NEW YORK) — As the holiday travel rush begins, a cross-country storm is bringing heavy snow, blizzard conditions and damaging winds.
Here’s the latest forecast:
Blizzard warnings have been issued in the Upper Midwest and the Plains on Wednesday as the storm moves in. Heavy snow will cause treacherous travel conditions in Des Moines and Minneapolis.
On Thursday, snow and gusty winds will slam Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago.
The storm then brings snow and gusty winds to Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee Thursday afternoon into Friday.
Michigan will see more than 1 foot of snow.
Chicago will get a few inches of snow which will be coupled with powerful 40 to 50 mph wind gusts, producing blowing and drifting snow.
In the Northeast, heavy rain, coastal flooding and disruptive winds are expected Thursday night into Friday. Gusts could reach 70 mph in some areas.
Jinkies! HBO Max has announced that the animated series Velma, a spinoff of the Scooby-Doo series, will debut on January 12. The animated series will be modern, adult-take on the classic show and follows the origin story of Velma Dinkley, the brainiac of the Mystery Inc. gang. Mindy Kaling will voice Velma, with Constance Wu voicing Daphne, Sam Richardson voicing Shaggy, and Glenn Howerton voicing Fred…
Jason Ritter will appears in the upcoming season of Showtime’s Yellowjackets, in a guest star role for one episode, Variety reports. The role will see Ritter working alongside his wife Melanie Lynskey, who portrays Shauna in the series. Ritter is the latest edition to Season 2 along with Elijah Wood and Simone Kessell. Yellowjackets season 2 premieres March 24…
Hold on to your seats. Twisters, the sequel to the 1996 film Twister, will spin into theaters on July 19, 2024, according toVariety. Lee Issac Chung is directing the disaster sequel. The original Twister film earned nearly $500 million globally…
General Hospital actress Sonya Eddy has died. She was 55. The news came Tuesday via actress Octavia Spencer who shared a headshot of Eddy in an Instagram post and wrote, “My friend @sonyaeddy passed away last night. The world lost another creative angel. Her legions of @generalhospitalabc fans will miss her.” No cause of death was revealed. Eddy has appeared in numerous television shows and films including Barbershop, Inspector Gadget, Daddy Daycare, Seven Pounds, and more…
Dolly Parton,who’s been married to husband Carl Dean for 56 years and counting, dropped some love advice during a recent sit-down with ET Canada, explaining what’s kept their relationship going strong through the decades.
“We love each other. We respect each other. We both have a warped sense of humor,” Dolly says. “I think humor, honestly, is one of the best things when you’re married like that.”
Carl famously avoids the spotlight, unlike his superstar wife, and Dolly says she thinks that space has helped their love stay strong over the course of their marriage. “I stay gone,” she jokes. “You know, there’s a lot to be said about that. So we’re not in each other’s face all the time.”
Even for couples who don’t have such a dramatically different relationship with fame, like Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, who have even toured together, alone time is key.
“We both have our daily routines and we have our own dressing rooms,” Faith told People in 2018. “We each have our own space to retreat [to] so we do get time to ourselves.”
Another country power couple, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood,say their 17-year marriage gets a boost when they make sure to be each other’s champions.
“I think you gotta treat it like a duet,” Garth reflected during a 2021 episode of The Ellen Show, which he and Trisha were guest hosting. “You gotta harmonize. You gotta make your partner feel like they’re a star.”
He added, “And if not, you’re gonna turn into a solo act pretty damn quick, if you know what I mean.”
(LONDON) — Brits have been urged to “drink responsibly” and avoid “risky activities” during pre-Christmas celebrations to avoid trips to the emergency room as thousands of ambulance workers take strike action over pay disputes.
“There is no doubt that the NHS is facing extreme pressure and industrial action will add to the already record demand we are seeing on urgent and emergency care,” said NHS Medical Director Professor Stephen Powis.
He added that the public can help in several ways including “drinking responsibly” to ease strain on emergency services.
Speaking on BBC radio, Powis said, “Don’t get so drunk that you end up with an unnecessary visit to A&E.”
Over 10,000 emergency workers and NHS staff across England and Wales are expected to partake in two days of industrial action over an ongoing pay dispute. The strikes are part of Britain’s most significant wave of industrial action in a generation, with mail workers, rail workers, barristers and other public service workers all holding walkouts this winter demanding pay rises in line with inflation.
“On health grounds alone, it is clear we have entered dangerous territory,” says Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation. “There is now deep worry among NHS leaders about the level of harm and risk that could occur to patients tomorrow and beyond.”
Nurses in Scotland also said on Wednesday that they will announce dates for strike action in 2023 after 82% of members of the Royal College of Nursing “overwhelmingly” rejected the Scottish government’s pay offer.
“Critical incidents” have been declared by ambulance and hospital trusts across the country, allowing the services to prioritize those who are most in need.
“Our service is under unprecedented pressure,” said Stephen Segasby, Chief operating officer of the North East Ambulance Service — one of the eight NHS trusts declaring critical incidents. “Declaring a critical incident means we can focus our resources on those patients most in need and communicates the pressures we are under.”
Seagsby added that the trust has been operating at its “highest level of operational alert” since the start of the month.
Speaking at Liaison Committee on Tuesday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended NHS’ pay offer, saying, “I’ve always been very clear in expressing my gratitude and admiration for our NHS workers and indeed our public sector workers across the board.”
“I’ve acknowledged it is difficult for everybody because inflation is where it is. And the best way to help them and help everyone else in the country is for us to get a grip and reduce inflation as quickly as possible,” Sunak said.
Brits have also been urged to exercise caution partaking in “risky activities” including cycling and contact sports: “If there is activity people are undertaking tomorrow, whether it’s for example contact sport or other things they may want to review that,” said Health Minister Will Quince speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live.
The NHS has also urged the public to use services “wisely” at this time to ensure patients who need care the most get access to healthcare.
“There is no doubt that the NHS is facing extreme pressure and industrial action will add to the already record demand we are seeing on urgent and emergency care,” Powis said.
He added, “NHS staff have worked hard to minimise disruption but it is inevitable as with any industrial action that we will see an impact on services but it is vital if you need lifesaving care, to continue to come forward.”
Rumer Willis is going to be a mom. The star is expecting her first child with boyfriend Derek Richard Thomas.
Taking to Instagram on Tuesday, the pair shared the news with a trio of black-and-white photos showing off the growing baby bump. In the first photo, Derek kisses his girlfriend’s belly, while the second shows off Rumer’s silhouette as she poses. The third shows Derek with a shocked face as he holds her belly.
Rumer, 34, kept the caption simple with the plant-sprouting emoji.
Many showered the couple with congratulatory messages and well wishes including famous friends like Brittany Snow,who wrote, “Congrats beauty.” Aaron Paul commented, “I’m so happy for you my friend. Such beautiful news. Congrats!!!”
Rumer’s mother, Demi Moore, also shared the Instagram photos, with the caption, “Entering my hot kooky unhinged grandma era.”
(NEW YORK) — Recession fears are growing, even as households strained by inflation begin to find some relief.
The dynamic captures the confusing state of the U.S. economy, as the Federal Reserve aggressively fights inflation with interest rate hikes that aim to slash prices by slowing demand and risking a recession. In fixing one problem, the central bank may create another.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg on Tuesday placed the chances of a recession in 2023 at 70%, marking a 10-percentage-point increase from October. The projections arrived days after the latest rate hike from the Fed, which sent the stock market tumbling.
Persistent inflation has prompted the Fed to sustain ongoing rate hikes and imperil the economy, rather than risk deeply entrenched price increases that could prove more difficult to reverse, some experts told ABC News. In turn, the longer the Fed takes an aggressive posture, the more likely that the economy will fall into a recession, they said.
But a potential recession would likely be mild, they added, especially when compared to the pandemic-induced downturn two years ago and the Great Recession, which for many Americans make up their go-to points of reference. Still, for those put out of work by a downturn, the effects would be severe.
Here’s what to know about why recession fears are rising and what a potential recession would look like:
Why recession fears are rising
At the center of the nation’s economic problems is its ongoing bout of near-historic inflation, economists told ABC News.
A government report last week revealed that inflation stood at 7.1% in November compared with a year prior, continuing a months-long decline from a 40-year record reached over the summer. However, inflation remains at a level more than triple the Fed’s target rate of 2%.
In response, the Fed has continued a series of interest rate hikes. The Fed last week raised its benchmark interest rate 0.5%, slowing down from a set of jumbo-sized hikes in recent months, but projecting a policy of rising rates that won’t reverse until 2024.
The ongoing rate hikes will clog the borrowing and spending that makes up the lifeblood of the economy, likely causing job losses, Christian Lundblad, a professor of finance at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, told ABC News.
“The Fed is probably going to have to keep interest rates elevated for longer,” Lundblad said. “That makes it more difficult for households to borrow for a car or a mortgage, and makes it more difficult for firms to borrow to take on new projects.”
“There’s a pretty good consensus among economists, market participants and others, that the Fed is going to keep interest rates elevated in order to slow down the inflation pressures we’re seeing and that it will have no choice but to create a recession,” he added.
For its part, the Fed acknowledges that rate hikes will cause job losses but says it’s trying to avert a recession. Such a policy outcome is known as a “soft landing,” in which the Fed slows the economy and brings down inflation, while preventing the U.S. from entering a recession.
Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, said last week that the prospects for a soft landing remain unclear.
“I don’t think anyone knows whether we’re going to have a recession or not, and if we do, whether it’s going to be a deep one or not,” Powell said. “It’s not knowable.”
However, some economists think the U.S. will likely avert a recession altogether.
Recession fears “are not particularly warranted,” Laurence Kotlikoff, an economist at Boston University, told ABC News.
He attributed sky-high prices to supply chain disruptions, such as pandemic-induced bottlenecks and the Russia-Ukraine war, which he said will ultimately alleviate. In turn, global supply will come back into balance with demand and bring down prices, easing the task presented before the Fed, he added.
What a recession could look like
A recession in the coming months would likely be mild, especially compared with recent downturns that have sent the unemployment rate above 10%, some economists told ABC News.
Lundblad, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said a recession could take hold as soon as early next year, disrupting the post-COVID recovery while averting a deep pull back.
“The run-of-the-mill recession in U.S. history is very different from the last couple we’ve experienced, whether the Great Recession or COVID,” Lundblad said.
“It’s not going to be a massive financial crisis but it will be different from the growth we’ve seen for the last couple years digging out of COVID,” he added.
Since World War II, recessions have lasted an average of about 11 months, personal finance outlet Kiplinger found. Far exceeding that norm, the Great Recession lasted 18 months, which Lundblad called “incredibly unusual.”
Still, millions of Americans could be put out of work. Job losses forecasted by the Fed in September would raise the unemployment rate from its current level of 3.7% to 4.4% by the end of 2023. That outcome would add an estimated 1.2 million unemployed people, according to Omair Sharif, the founder of research firm Inflation Insights.
Those job losses will disproportionately fall on some of the most vulnerable workers, including minorities and less-educated employees, according to economists and studies of past downturns.
People are justifiably nervous about the murky outlook for the economy, Kathryn Anne Edwards, an adjunct labor economist at the RAND Corporation, told ABC News.
“It’s a very unique time right now for our economy and it’s not as predictable as it has been in the past,” she said. “We’re coming out of an every-hundred-year event of the pandemic and we backed into a once-every-40 year event of inflation.”
(CORNELIUS, N.C.) — Investigators searching for missing 11-year-old Madalina Cojocari released a video on Tuesday showing the girl getting off a school bus on Nov. 21, two days before her mother said she last saw her.
Cojocari was last seen at home in Cornelius, North Carolina, on Nov. 23, about three weeks before her school was notified on Dec. 15, according to law enforcement officials.
The surveillance video released on Tuesday shows the 11-year-old getting off the bus at 4:59 p.m. on Nov. 21, investigators said.
“This is the last time investigators have independent confirmation of when Madalina was last seen,” the FBI’s Charlotte bureau said on Twitter, adding, “We are seeking additional witnesses outside of the family to narrow down the exact timeline of when she disappeared.”
Cojocari wears a light-colored shirt and a dark backpack in the video, which is about 19 seconds long.
This is the last time investigators have independent confirmation of when Madalina was last seen. She got off the bus on 11-21-22, at 4:59 p.m. We are seeking additional witnesses outside of the family to narrow down the exact timeline of when she disappeared. #FindMadalinapic.twitter.com/dkStKHmjjB
The girl’s mother, Diana Cojocari, 37, and stepfather, Christopher Palmiter, 60, were arrested on Saturday on the charge of failure to report the disappearance of a child to law enforcement, police said in two statements.
Diana Cojocari reported her daughter missing to her school on Dec. 15, police said.
“As previously released, Charlotte-Mecklenburg School employees contacted Diana Cojocari on several occasions to inquire about Madalina being absent from school,” the Cornelius Police Department said in a press release on Tuesday.
The school made “repeated contact” with Diana Cojocari before she “went to Bailey Middle School on December 15, 2022, and reported to the School Resource Officer” that Madalina was missing, police said on Tuesday.
(NEW YORK) — When a runaway horse was found inside the icy waters of a Wisconsin lake this weekend, a group of good Samaritans banded together to make sure the Mustang would get a chance to ride on Christmas.
Residents and other neighbors told ABC News they were relieved that the horse, who they dubbed Jack after the Titanic character, was able to get up and stand after it spent three hours in the water in Wood Lake, Wisconsin on Sunday.
Mike Strub, the president of the Big Wood Lake Association, and resident of the lake who was on the scene during the rescue, told ABC News that despite the subzero temperatures and limited resources, his neighbors never gave up until they could get Jack to safety.
“This doesn’t surprise me. That is the kind of neighborhood and community that would do something like that,” he told ABC News.
The incident took place Saturday after a tree fell on a fence and created an opening for Jack to leave, according to Frontier Stables, which helped to reunite the horse with its family.
D.J. Ryan, 38, who was one of a dozen people who were on the ice to help the horse, told ABC News he saw a Facebook post Saturday night from a neighbor about a horse that was seen wandering the road, so he and another neighbor went out to investigate.
“We did find its trench and I thought it was on its way home,” he told ABC News.
The next morning, residents of the lake saw the horse walk on the frozen body and surveillance camera footage filmed it falling into the water around 8:30 a.m., according to Strub.
Ryan said he and his neighbors quickly went to the lake to see what they could do.
“We saw it out there struggling and bobbing out, about 150 yards off the shore,” he said adding that temperatures were negative 5 degrees Fahrenheit.
Ryan, who owns horses and whose mother is a veterinarian, said the horse was a Mustang, which is known to be pretty strong in cold weather conditions, but he and his neighbors knew that it would only be a matter of time before hypothermia took over. He and his neighbors spent a long time figuring out the best way to rescue Jack without harming him.
“On the scene, there was a veterinarian. As long as the horse was still moving and kicking it was savable. That’s why they never gave up,” Strub said.
After trial and error, the rescuers were able to get a nylon strap under the horse and were able to guide it onto the ice slowly but surely.
“We started to get that taut and with that pressure we got him on the edge of the ice and kind of thrusted himself out of the water,” Ryan said.
The rescuers had to push the horse and haul it to get it away from the lake. A short while later, the horse was able to get on its feet and was able to walk on its own.
“He had a look like what the heck was going on?” Ryan said. “We were amazed that he was able to get up and walk as fast as he did.”
The rescuers led Jack to a horse trailer where it was driven to a climate controlled stable.
“We had all people with binoculars watching it from the lake and cheering. It was a point of pride,” Strub said.
Representatives from Frontier Stables, which housed Jack, told ABC News that he was doing well during his time recuperating. After they posted a photo of Jack on their Facebook page, Frontier Stables said they were contacted by the horse’s owners.
Ryan said he spoke with the owners and said they were slated to reunite with the horse on Saturday.
“They’re super excited,” he said.
Ryan added that he and his neighbors felt relieved that they were able to save the horse and that now the family is going to have a happy Christmas.
“It’s part of living in the country here in rural Wisconsin,” he said. “You see everything and everyone is willing to help.”
Ukrainian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to visit the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to meet with President Joe Biden and address a joint session of Congress, according to the White House.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a statement early Wednesday morning, saying the president invited Zelenskyy to visit Washington, D.C., “to underscore the United States’ enduring commitment to Ukraine.”
“President Biden looks forward to welcoming President Zelenskyy today, December 21, at the White House, after which President Zelenskyy will address a joint session of Congress, demonstrating the strong, bipartisan support for Ukraine,” Jean-Pierre said. “Three hundred days ago, Russia launched a brutal assault against Ukraine. In response, President Biden rallied the world to support the people of Ukraine as they defend their sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Zelenskyy confirmed early Wednesday that he was on his way to the U.S. and will have discussions with Biden, adding: “I will also have a speech at the Congress and a number of bilateral meetings.”
On my way to the US to strengthen resilience and defense capabilities of 🇺🇦. In particular, @POTUS and I will discuss cooperation between 🇺🇦 and 🇺🇸. I will also have a speech at the Congress and a number of bilateral meetings.
The trip will be his first travel outside of his country since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began 10 months ago.
“During the visit, President Biden will announce a significant new package of security assistance to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression,” Jean-Pierre said. “The visit will underscore the United States’ steadfast commitment to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes, including through the provision of economic, humanitarian and military assistance.”
Sources on Tuesday told ABC News that plans were underway for Zelenskyy to visit the Capitol on Wednesday to address a joint session of Congress.
The trip comes as Congress is considering $45 billion in funding for Ukraine. Earlier Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged all members to be present at votes “for a very special focus on Democracy Wednesday night.”
Zelenskyy, who enjoys broad bipartisan support on the Hill despite some Republican calls for more oversight of U.S. aid, has addressed Congress before — remotely — on March 16, some three weeks into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
At the time, he thanked Congress but called on the U.S. to do more for his country. He invoked the words of Martin Luther King Jr. — “I have a dream” — and said “I have a need” to protect Ukraine.
At the end of the roughly 16-minute speech, he addressed Biden directly: “You are the leader of the nation … I wish you to be the leader of the world. Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.”
