David Crosby & The Lighthouse Band Live at the Capitol Theatre, out Friday, is billed as David Crosby‘s “first live solo release.” But since it documents a 2018 show that he played with his frequent collaborators The Lighthouse Band — Becca Stevens, Michelle Willis and Michael League — Crosby doesn’t actually consider the record a “solo” release at all.
“We sell them that way because my name sells them more than saying, ‘Hey, this is The Lighthouse Band,’ who you’ve never heard of,” Crosby tells ABC Audio bluntly. “And so we sell them as David Crosby records, but that’s a group record.”
Crosby previously recorded an album, 2016’s Lighthouse, with the trio, and before the pandemic, he’d toured on and off with them regularly. “That’s a really definite group chemistry that happens in between me and [them],” he notes. “I noticed it right away when we started working together. I said, ‘Oh, wait a minute, this is special.'”
Also special: the 2018 show in Port Chester, NY that’s documented on the album.
Crosby explains, “It was the end of the tour. We were polished up. We knew what we were doing. There was a certain confidence to it. The night had that kind of magic to it. We all agreed it was as good as we were gonna be.”
In addition to songs new and old, the album includes new arrangements of Crosby, Stills and Nash’s “Guinnevere” and “Woodstock” and “Déjà Vu” by CSNY. With such a rich back catalog, how does Crosby decide which throwback tunes to perform?
“It’s pretty hard not to do ‘Guinnevere.’ It’s probably my best song,” he admits. “We didn’t go anywhere near a whole lot of them. But there were certain ones that just really flourished under a fresh read, a fresh look, a fresh treatment.”
Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — As another Gen Zer, Olivia Rodrigo, famously said, “God, it’s brutal out here” — including for Washington, D.C.’s newest, youngest congressman-elect.
Maxwell Frost, 25, the first member of Gen Z elected to Congress, wrote on Twitter on Thursday about his frustrations after he said he was denied an apartment as he relocates to the capital, due to having bad credit.
“I told the guy that my credit was really bad. He said I’d be fine. Got denied, lost the apartment, and the application fee,” Frost wrote in a tweet.
“This ain’t meant for people who don’t already have money,” he added.
The average rent for an apartment in Washington is. $2,335, according to one analysis.
Frost, a progressive Democrat elected to represent Florida’s 10th District, followed up his social media post by writing that his poor credit stemmed from his congressional campaign.
“For those asking, I have bad credit cause I ran up a lot of debt running for Congress for a year and a half. Didn’t make enough money from Uber itself to pay for my living,” he wrote.
Frost is not alone among lawmakers on the Hill who have had hurdles with their housing. (Separately, some have even decided to sleep in their offices.)
On Twitter, Frost referenced Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who, in 2018, became the youngest woman elected to the House — and who also had a hard time as an incoming lawmaker finding affordable housing in Washington on her then-salary.
Frost pointed out though, that once his congressional salary kicks in, he’ll be fine.
“I also recognize that I’m speaking from a point of privilege cause in 2 years time, my credit will be okay because of my new salary that starts next year,” he tweeted.
The salary for a member of Congress is $174,000. But Frost wrote that still, “we have to do better for the whole country.”
Frost told ABC News earlier this year that he ran for Congress to bring to the table “the issues that young people are being affected by” and said that perspective is needed in the legislature.
(NEW HAVEN, Conn.) — The five New Haven, Connecticut, police officers charged in the case of Randy Cox, a Black man who was paralyzed while being transported in custody, appeared in court for the first time Thursday.
They were expected to be arraigned but instead, the judge transferred their cases to New Haven County Court. The officers’ next court appearance will be on Jan. 11, ABC local affiliate WTNH reported.
Cox, who is paralyzed from the chest down, was not present in court Thursday. His lawyer Jack O’Donnell said he wished to be there but “logistically it was too difficult.”
The officers — Sgt. Betsy Segui and officers Oscar Diaz, Ronald Pressley, Jocelyn Lavandier and Luis Rivera — were charged last week with second-degree reckless endangerment and cruelty to persons misdemeanors.
The charges stemmed from a June 19 incident when New Haven officers arrested Cox for criminal possession of a firearm and breach of peace. Surveillance video shows the officers then placed Cox in the back of a police van without seatbelts. During an abrupt stop, Cox was thrown headfirst into the back wall of the van.
Though Cox repeatedly asked for help, saying he couldn’t move, the officers did not immediately render him medical aid and allegedly assumed he was drunk when they arrived at the police station.
The video footage also shows the officers dragging Cox by his feet and throwing him into a wheelchair, which his lawyers said could have exacerbated his already life-threatening injuries.
Cox filed a $100 million federal lawsuit against the city of New Haven and New Haven Police Department officers in September.
Cox’s family and lawyers said his doctors determined he will never walk again and, as of last week, will continue to require assistance with eating, drinking, bathing, and other basic needs.
The city launched an internal affairs investigation into the incident and will determine whether to recommend the officers, who are currently on paid administrative leave, be fired from the New Haven Police Department.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced in July that it’s also closely watching the investigation.
The case has prompted reform promises from New Haven mayor Justin Elicker and police chief Karl Jacobson, including new policies aimed at enhancing safety protocols during the transportation and detention of individuals, particularly those in need of medical attention.
(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, its acting chairwoman and active ranking member said in a statement on Wednesday.
Reps. Susan Wild, D-Pa., and Michael Guest, R-Miss., did not specify what the investigation entails but said the panel will “announce its course of action” in the next Congress.
The committee, which could dismiss the matter, is extending it into 2023 and noted that its statement on the probe “does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred.”
Leaving the House after votes on Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said she was “fully participating” with the committee.
Ocasio-Cortez’s office said in a subsequent statement that she “has always taken ethics incredibly seriously, refusing any donations from lobbyists, corporations, or other special interests. We are confident that this matter will be dismissed.”
According to the committee statement, members first received the matter from the Office of Congressional Ethics in June.
While it remains unclear what prompted the investigation, the conservative American Accountability Foundation previously filed a complaint that the Office of Congressional Ethics should investigate Ocasio-Cortez for allegedly “accepting an impermissible gift to attend the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala” last year.
(OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich.) — The jailed Michigan parents charged with involuntary manslaughter stemming from a high school mass shooting committed by their teenage son, Ethan Crumbley, is asking a judge to lower their bail, claiming they have evidence proving they did not attempt to evade arrest, according to court documents.
James and Jennifer Crumbley have been held in an Oakland County jail in Michigan for more than a year on bonds of $500,000 each. They were arrested in a friend’s art studio after an hours-long manhunt that began when the couple failed to appear for a scheduled arraignment.
“The Crumbleys were terrified that someone would figure out who they were and hurt them,” the couple’s lawyers said in a motion filed Wednesday. “They made no effort to evade police.”
In a February court hearing, Oakland County prosecutors alleged that in the hours after the November 2021 shooting carried out by their then-15-year-old son at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit, the parents withdrew thousands of dollars and slept in hotels — proof, prosecutors alleged that they were avoiding arrest.
But the couple’s lawyers say they needed the money immediately for legal fees and wanted to avoid entering banks and showing identification following the shooting. The defense attorneys claimed the couple feared being recognized by community members “who were rightfully emotional and angry.” They also allege family members in the area refused to house them because of concerns for their own safety.
The lawyers, Mariell Lehman and Shannon Smith, argue that if the Crumbleys wanted to flee, they would have left the state. Instead, they settled in a Detroit warehouse that housed the art studio.
The couple is set to stand trial next year. They have pleaded not guilty to four counts each of involuntary manslaughter after allegedly making the gun used in the shooting accessible to their son and failing to recognize warning signs about him before the shooting.
They have pleaded not guilty.
The shooting at Oxford High School unfolded on Nov. 30, 2021, and left four students dead and seven others injured.
Ethan Crumbley, now 16, pleaded guilty in December to 24 counts, including four counts of murder, multiple counts of attempted murder and terrorism charges. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 9 and faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Crumbley admitted in court that he asked his father to buy him a specific gun. The teen confirmed he gave his father money for the gun and that the weapon wasn’t kept in a locked safe.
He used the semi-automatic handgun to carry out the shooting rampage. Crumbley did not know the students he shot, according to his attorney.
Days before the shooting, a teacher allegedly saw Crumbley researching ammunition in class, prosecutors said. School officials contacted his parents, but they didn’t respond, according to prosecutors. His mother, Jennifer Crumbley, texted her son, writing, “lol, I’m not mad at you, you have to learn not to get caught,” according to prosecutors.
Hours before the shooting, according to prosecutors, a teacher saw a note on Ethan Crumbley’s desk that was “a drawing of a semi-automatic handgun pointing at the words, ‘The thoughts won’t stop, help me.'” In another section of the note was a drawing of a bullet with the following words, “Blood everywhere.”
Crumbley’s parents were called to the school to discuss the note, according to prosecutors. The parents told school officials that they would put their their son in counseling but did not take him home.
(TIJUANA, Mexico) — Authorities in Mexico are searching for a suspect responsible for the recent deaths of three women who worked in bars and strip clubs in Tijuana, a Mexican state attorney general said Thursday.
Baja California Attorney General Ricardo Iván Carpio Sánchez said the women were found dead in hotel rooms last month.
Investigators have a good idea who the suspect is, the attorney general said, describing him as an American who lives north of the border.
Authorities have yet to name the suspect.
The FBI and other U.S. law enforcement agencies have reportedly been notified and are assisting with the search, Carpio Sánchez said.
The FBI did not return ABC News’ request for comment on the agency’s involvement in this investigation.
Mexican authorities compared the killings to the murders committed by notorious U.S. serial killer Ted Bundy.
“This subject has criminal tendencies associated with violent and psychopathic behavior,” Carpio Sánchez said during a recent meeting with reporters in Tijuana. “His profile is very similar to someone who became very well-known decades ago: Ted Bundy.”
Bundy was one of the nation’s most prolific serial killers, having confessed to murdering 30 women across the U.S. between 1973 and 1978. He was executed in 1989.
(WASHINGTON) — Dr. Peter Marks, the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine chief, said he is well aware that COVID-19 booster uptake might be low for the latest shot, authorized by the government on Thursday morning for young children over 6 months old, but he told ABC News that he’s hopeful increased access may also lead to some kids getting greater protection against the virus ahead of the winter, when infections can be more likely.
The updated bivalent booster that targets multiple newer strains of the virus, will likely be available early next week for the youngest children, Marks said in an interview. That age group is the last to become eligible for the new booster.
So far, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, less than 10% of kids under 5 have gotten their initial COVID-19 vaccines — which means there’s a very small pool of children who are even eligible for boosters. But Marks hopes that those vaccinated children will soon get their boosters, and unvaccinated children will be encouraged to get their first series.
“The whole point of today’s action was to ensure that those parents who have decided to take advantage of the fact that we do have a vaccine that can help prevent the worst outcomes from COVID-19, such as hospitalization and death … could have the benefit of having the most up-to-date version of the vaccine, which is the bivalent vaccine,” Marks said.
“Hopefully this is also an opportunity that the 90% of parents who have not vaccinated their children in this age range will consider doing so. Because not being vaccinated at all puts one at risk for the worst outcomes from COVID-19,” he added.
Under the new authorization, children under 6 who received the Moderna vaccine can get a bivalent booster at least two months after their first series of shots.
For children under 5 who received the Pfizer vaccine, it’s slightly different: Kids can get the newly authorized bivalent booster in place of the third shot in the Pfizer series for young kids. And going forward, any young child who gets the three-shot Pfizer series will get two primary shots and then the bivalent booster.
On a larger scale, vaccine uptake for the youngest age group has traditionally been far lower than other groups throughout the pandemic.
And even for older age groups, booster uptake has been very low over the three months that bivalent shots have been on the market.
According to the CDC, just under 13% of people over 5 years old have gotten a bivalent booster. The rate is highest for people over 65, for whom around one-third have been boosted.
Everyone over age 12 became eligible for bivalent boosters in September, so long as it had been three months since their last vaccine. Then in October, the eligibility expanded to everyone over age 5.
And now, in December, babies as young as 6 months old are eligible as well.
Public health officials have long hoped that the arrival of cold weather and flu season would give people a natural push to get up-to-date on both their flu vaccines and their COVID-19 boosters.
But that bump in COVID-19 shots hasn’t quite materialized, Marks acknowledged, and he’s not sure that uptake will budge all that much over this winter season — despite his avid recommendations.
“I don’t quite fully understand why there’s significant hesitancy to get the bivalent boosters. I think I’m the first to acknowledge that these vaccines are not perfect. They’re not going to give you 100% protection against COVID-19. And perhaps because people have heard, ‘Well, I got the booster but I got COVID,’ there’s some skepticism there,” Marks said.
But inoculation will still cut down on the chances of contracting the virus and keep people out of the hospital, he said.
“Even if it’s not perfect — it’s the best you can do,” Marks said. “I will repeat something that has done me well to date, which is perfection is the enemy of good.”
Marks particularly encouraged getting vaccinated and boosted ahead of the winter season, when he predicted that cases were likely to go up and hospitals could be strained from the combination of heavy RSV and flu cases.
Already, wastewater surveillance systems across the country have begun to pick up upticks in COVID-19 cases, and Marks called the increasing slope of cases “disturbing.”
“From what I can see happening over the recent past, I think the good news is, we’re not likely to see the number of deaths that we’ve seen in previous winters. The part that is concerning is that we could see a large number of cases,” he said.
“We’re also seeing hospitalizations rise significantly and deaths, which had been declining, are starting to increase again. Once people see that, my guess is that will drive them to potentially consider this,” Marks said. “Though I wouldn’t wait for that.”
(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) — The accused shooter in the deadly mass shooting at a Colorado LGBTQ nightclub was previously arrested over an alleged bomb threat incident last year, though the case was dismissed after the suspect’s family refused to testify, the local district attorney said Thursday.
The circumstances around the 2021 arrest have faced much scrutiny after the suspect — 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich — was arrested in connection with the Nov. 19 shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs, which killed five people and wounded more than a dozen others. Aldrich faces 305 charges, including first-degree murder, attempted murder, assault and bias-motivated crimes, in the shooting.
The 2021 case was sealed upon its conclusion, though a judge ruled Thursday that it be unsealed. It is unclear when the unsealed documents will be posted online.
In June 2021, Aldrich was arrested in an alleged bomb threat incident after their mother alerted authorities that they were “threatening to cause harm to her with a homemade bomb, multiple weapons and ammunition,” according to a press release posted online last year by the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.
Colorado Springs resident Leslie Bowman told ABC News that she was renting a room to Aldrich’s mother, Laura Voepel, at the time of the bomb threat incident, and that Aldrich livestreamed a “shocking” video via Voepel’s Facebook account from inside Bowman’s home while authorities were outside. The footage showed Aldrich with a gun as well as a helmet and vest that resembled body armor. Security cameras at Bowman’s home also captured Aldrich entering the residence that day and surrendering to authorities hours later.
No explosives were found. Aldrich was booked into the El Paso County Jail on two counts of felony menacing and three counts of first-degree kidnapping, according to the sheriff’s office. A judge ultimately dismissed the case.
El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen defended his office’s handling of the 2021 incident, telling reporters Thursday that his office pursued the case but were not able to subpoena Aldrich’s mother or grandmother — whom he said had previously made concerning statements to police about Aldrich — to testify against the suspect. Since the prosecution could not put forward victims in the timeframe for a speedy trial, the judge dismissed the case, Allen said.
“The court did not act inappropriately in that regard,” Allen said during a press briefing Thursday, arguing that the victims not cooperating “led to the dismissal of that case.”
“This office absolutely prosecuted it. We prosecuted it until we couldn’t prosecute it any longer. And it would not have prevented the Club Q shooting,” he said.
The records in the 2021 case were previously sealed at the request of the defendant, Allen said. The sealed records have led to “confusion” for the public in the wake of the Club Q shooting, he said.
“That confusion then leads to frustration and anger,” Allen said during the briefing, which he said was to “provide truth” on the prior investigation.
Before the 2021 case was dismissed, two guns were confiscated from Aldrich and remain in evidence, according to Allen.
Aldrich was able to legally purchase the assault-style rifle allegedly used in the Club Q shooting, officials briefed on the investigation told ABC News.
The Black Keys will be boogieing across the pond next year.
The “Lonely Boy” rockers have announced a United Kingdom and European leg of their Dropout Boogie tour, kicking off in June. The outing will also include Spoon on the bill.
The Dropout Boogie tour, which launched in the U.S. over the summer, takes its name from The Black Keys’ latest album, which was released in May. The follow-up to 2021’s Delta Kream includes the lead single “Wild Child.”
Along with their trip abroad, The Black Keys’ 2023 includes a trip to the Grammys. Dropout Boogie the album is nominated for Best Rock Album, while “Wild Child” is up for Best Rock Performance. Frontman Dan Auerbach will also compete for the Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical prize.
(BEXAR COUNTY, Texas) — A Texas court dismissed a lawsuit Thursday against a doctor accused of providing an abortion to a woman despite the state’s strict ban on the procedure.
Dr. Alan Braid performed the abortion for a patient in early September 2021, just five days after S.B.8 went into effect, which bans abortion after six weeks’ gestation. The patient’s pregnancy was further along than six weeks.
However, Bexar County Judge Aaron Haas said he was throwing out the case, dealing a major blow to the Texas law that allows citizens to sue anyone who aids a patient in receiving abortion care, including physicians. Federal courts — including the U.S. Supreme Court — had previously declined to block S.B. 8, saying they were powerless to block the law.
Several overlapping Texas laws ban nearly all abortions, including in cases of rape or incest. The only exception is if the mother’s life or health is in danger.
S.B.8 allows any private citizen to sue anyone who performs an abortion or assists a pregnant person in obtaining the procedure. The law awards a minimum of $10,000 to any citizen who successfully sues an abortion provider, healthcare worker or anyone who helps someone get access to abortion care.
In an op-ed written for The Washington Post last year, Braid said he acted despite the ban because had a “duty to care.”
“I acted because I had a duty of care to this patient, as I do for all patients, and because she has a fundamental right to receive this care,” he wrote.
Braid had three lawsuits filed against him — one by disbarred Illinois attorney Felipe Gomez in Texas, one in Arkansas and a third in Illinois — but only the Texas case was taken up.
On Thursday, the court announced it was dismissing the suit and ruled that Gomez does not have the legal right to sue because he was not been directly affected by the abortion care being provided. A written order is expected to come within a week.
It is the first and only active lawsuit against a provider to be resolved by a court since S.B.8 went into effect.
Additionally, the court said it would make a ruling in the next week about whether the part of the law that allows citizens to sue violates the state’s constitution.
“This is a significant win against S.B. 8’s bounty-hunting scheme because the court rejected the notion that Texas can allow a person with no connection to an abortion to sue,” Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is co-representing Braid, said in a statement.
“But this dismissal did not provide the opportunity to strike down S.B. 8 overall, and in the wake of the Dobbs decision, Texas is enforcing multiple abortion bans. As a result, pregnant Texans with life-threatening obstetric emergencies are being turned away from hospitals. No one should have to be near death just to get the health care they need,” the statement continued.
In a press call on Thursday, the Center’s senior counsel, Mark Hearron, told reporters that Braid has been forced to close his practices in Texas and Oklahoma and is providing care in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and in Illinois.
Since the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe, at least 12 states have ceased nearly all abortion services.
According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, Texans face the longest travel times in the country to get access to abortion care. They are forced to travel over seven hours each way for access.
“When I provided my patient with the care she needed last year, I was doing my duty as a physician,” Braid said in a statement. “It is heartbreaking that Texans still can’t get essential health care in their home state and that providers are left afraid to do their jobs. Though we were forced to close our Texas clinic, I will continue serving patients across the region with the care they deserve at new clinics in Illinois and New Mexico.”
