Dead to Me co-star Christina Applegate has joined the star-studded cast of The Ed Asner Family Center‘s annual charity reading of It’s a Wonderful Life.
The actress and newly-minted Hollywood Walk of Fame star recipient will join Brendan Fraser in the two lead roles — Mary and George Bailey — which were filled by Donna Reed and Jimmy Stewart in the 1946 Christmas classic.
As reported, Jennifer Hudson will contribute a musical performance at this year’s reading on Sunday, December 11, which will also star Seth Rogen, Fred Armisen, JK Simmons and Jean Smart.
The event, which kicks off at 8:00 p.m. ET, benefits The Ed Asner Family Center (TEAFC), a charity the late Emmy winner started, which is dedicated to helping people with special needs and their families. Former Dancing with the Stars host Tom Bergeron will once again serve as host.
Applegate, 50, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021, which has made it difficult for her to walk, and even stand for long periods of time.
Taylor Swift was a big winner at The People’s Choice Awards on Tuesday, taking home all three trophies she was up for, including Female Artist of 2022, The Music Video of 2022 for “Anti-Hero,” and The Album of 2022 for Midnights.
Taylor was not present for the ceremony and her categories were not handed out during the telecast.
Midnight stopped the Billboard 200 for five of its first six weeks, and “Anti-Hero” has ruled the Billboard Hot 100 for six consecutive weeks — making it the 10th song in Billboard history to do so.
Meanwhile, Harry Styles was named Male Artist of 2022, though he wasn’t present to pick up his award, either. He was nominated for six awards overall, including The Drama Movie Star of 2022 for his performance in Don’t Worry Darling. While he didn’t win in that category, the film itself was named The Drama Movie of 2022, and its director — Harry’s ex, Olivia Wilde — accepted the trophy.
Other winners at Tuesday’s People’s Choice Awards include BTS, who nabbed The Group of 2022 and the Concert Tour of 2022 for BTS: Permission to Dance on Stage, and Lizzo, who took home The Song of 2022 for “It’s About Damn Time,” as well as The People’s Champion Award.
Courtesy of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital/Country Cares
Jason Aldean is just one of the many country superstars rocking the new “This Shirt Saves Lives” T-shirt design to support kids fighting pediatric cancer and other illnesses.
The singer shared a snapshot of himself in the tee on his social accounts on Tuesday, along with a message of support for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
“I’m proud to wear #ThisShirtSavesLives and support the brave kids [at St. Jude] fighting cancer,” Jason writes, also encouraging his fans to pledge their support to St. Jude and get a T-shirt of their own.
A long-standing supporter of St. Jude — and a dad to four kids — Jason is one of many country superstars rocking the new T-shirt design in order to encourage country fans everywhere to lend their support to the cause. With the release of this year’s design, acts like Dan + Shay, Maren Morris, Carly Pearce, Old Dominion and many others are standing up for a worthwhile cause.
St. Jude’s lifesaving mission works to advance cures and offer means of treatment and prevention for pediatric cancer and other pediatric diseases. According to a release, no child is denied treatment based on race, ethnicity or their family’s ability to pay, and the hospital freely shares its medical findings with medical centers around the world so that more children can receive treatment.
To become a partner in hope with St. Jude — and to receive a “This Shirt Saves Lives” tee of your own — visit St. Jude’swebsite.
(NEW YORK) — The latest social media trend to be sweeping people’s feeds is sharing virtual avatars generated through the Lensa AI app.
Lensa, which has been around since 2018, lets users upload 10 to 20 photos of their selfies or portraits, and then it creates dozens, even hundreds, of digital images called “Magic Avatars.”
While the pictures could be considered pieces of digital art, those who are worried about personal online privacy have begun raising concerns about data collection.
Cybersecurity expert Andrew Couts is a senior editor of security at Wired and oversees privacy policy, national security and surveillance coverage. He told ABC News’ Good Morning America that it’s almost “impossible” to know what happens to a user’s photos after they are uploaded onto the app.
“It’s impossible to know, without a full audit of the company’s back-end systems, to know how safe or unsafe your pictures may be,” Couts said. “The company does claim to ‘delete’ face data after 24 hours and they seem to have good policies in place for their privacy and security practices.”
According to Lensa’s privacy policy, the uploaded photos are automatically deleted after the AI avatars are generated, and the face data on other parts of the app is automatically deleted within 24 hours after being processed by Lensa.
Prisma Labs, Inc., the developer of Lensa AI, told ABC News in a statement that images users upload are used “solely for the purpose of creating their very own avatars.”
“Users’ images are being leveraged solely for the purpose of creating their very own avatars. The system creates a personalized version of the model for every single user and models never intersect with each other. Both users’ photos and their models are deleted within 24 hrs after the process of creating avatars is complete,” the company said in a statement. “In very simple terms, there is no[t] a ‘one-size-fits-all collective neural network’ trained to reproduce any face, based on aggregated learnings.”
“We are updating our Terms & Conditions to make these more clear to everyone. The much-discussed permission to use the content for development and improving Prisma’s work and its products refers to the users’ consent for us to train the copy of the model on the 10-20 pictures each particular user has uploaded,” the statement continued. “Without this clause, we would have no right to perform this training for each subsequent generation. We are fully GDPR and CCAP compliant. We store the bare minimum of data to enable our services. To reiterate, the user’s photos are deleted from our servers as soon as the avatars are generated. The servers are located in the U.S.”
Couts added that he isn’t too worried about the photos because most of us already have our faces on social media. He said his main concern is data collection that can be potentially lifted from users’ phones.
“The main thing I would be concerned about is the behavioral analytics that they’re collecting,” Couts said. “If I were going to use the app, I would make sure to turn on as restrictive privacy settings as possible.”
He said his advice, no matter what apps are downloaded, is to tighten up personal security through the phone’s settings.
“You can change your privacy settings on your phone to make sure that the app isn’t collecting as much data as it seems to be able to,” he said. “And you can make sure that you’re not sharing images that contain anything more private than just your face.”
(MOSCOW, Idaho) — As police in Moscow, Idaho, continue their search for the suspect who killed four University of Idaho students, they’ll begin to remove some of the victims’ personal belongings from the house where the crimes unfolded.
Belongings “no longer needed for the investigation” will begin to be collected Wednesday morning to get returned to the families, who have asked for some of the items, police said Tuesday.
“It’s time for us to get those things back that really mean something to those families, and hopefully help with some of their healing,” Moscow Police Chief James Fry said.
It’s been nearly one month since roommates Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle, as well as Kernodle’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin, were stabbed to death in the girls’ off-campus house in the early hours of Nov. 13.
No suspects have been identified.
Two surviving roommates — who police said are not suspects — were home at the time and likely slept through the attacks, according to authorities. They were on the ground floor while the four victims were on the second and third floors.
Police added Tuesday that “the house remains an active crime scene” and said “progress continues to be made in the investigation.”
Police urge anyone with information to upload digital media to fbi.gov/moscowidaho or contact the tip line at tipline@ci.moscow.id.us or 208-883-7180.
After scoring the most viewing time in a single week for an English-language series on Netflix, the mystery comedy Wednesday, starring Jenna Ortega as the titular character, topped its own mark in the week of November 28-December 4, grabbing 411.29 million hours of viewing worldwide, according to the streamer. Additionally, Wednesday-related searches on TikTok number in the billions, and the show’s soundtrack tops the iTunes soundtrack chart…
Chelsea Handler will make her late night TV return — on a temporarily basis, at least. The former Chelsea Lately host is one of comedians who’ll guest host Comedy Central’s The Daily Show after Trevor Noah, who announced his exit as host of the show after seven years back in October, anchors his final episode on Thursday. Al Franken, D.L. Hughley, Leslie Jones, John Leguizamo, Hasan Minhaj, Kal Penn, Sarah Silverman, Wanda Sykes and Marlon Wayans are among the other stars expected to fill in beginning January 17. Correspondents and contributors to The Daily Show will also get the chance to sit in the anchor chair. Handler filled in for a week for Jimmy Kimmel on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! over the summer…
A day after reporting that HBO Max had cancelled FBoy Island after two seasons, Deadline reported on Tuesday the competition series Legendary has gotten the axe after three seasons. Spotlighting ballroom culture, Legendary follows mainly Black and Latino LGBTQ house members — predominantly from eight houses — as they navigate through nine dance challenges for a shot at the $100,000 prize. Ballroom legend Leiomy Maldonado, fashion stylist Law Roach, actress Jameela Jamil and rapper Megan Thee Stallion served as judges for the series, along with ballroom MC Dashaun Wesley…
Hulu has renewed The D’Amelio Show for a ten-episode third season, according to Deadline. The D’Amelio Show follows the TikTok famous family as they continue to navigate rising fame and all that comes with it. Season two followed the family — Marc D’Amelio, Heidi D’Amelio, Dixie D’Amelio, Charli D’Amelio — as they deal with “public relationships, private struggles, new pursuits, and unfathomable pressure and scrutiny,” while Marc and Heidi parented “in uncharted territory, as they try to protect their family from new pitfalls at every turn,” per the streamer. The second season premiered on September 28 and all 10 episodes are now streaming on Hulu…
Hugh Grant has joined the cast of the upcoming HBO limited series The Palace in a guest starring role, according to Variety. He joins Kate Winslet, who executive produces and stars along with Matthias Schoenaerts and Andrea Riseborough. The drama will “tell the story of one year within the walls of the palace of an authoritarian regime as it begins to unravel,” per the cabler. Specific character details for the series have yet to be revealed. The role marks a return to HBO for Grant, who previously starred in the critically-acclaimed limited series The Undoing, opposite Nicole Kidman…
(LONDON) — Thousands of police officers have carried out a series of raids across much of Germany on Wednesday morning against suspected far-right extremists who allegedly sought to overthrow the state by force, according to the Attorney General at the Federal Court of Justice in Germany.
Federal prosecutors said some 3,000 officers conducted searches at 130 sites in 11 of Germany’s 16 states against adherents of the so-called Reich Citizens movement.
Prosecutors said 25 German citizens were detained on suspicion of “membership in a terrorist organization” and that the group, which was not identified in their statement announcing the raids, is alleged to have believed in a “conglomerate of conspiracy theories consisting of narratives from the so-called Reich Citizens as well as Q-Anon ideology,” according to a statement by prosecutors.
Many had military training and some of those arrested include former soldiers.
The arrests were made at various locations in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Saxony and Thuringia. At least two arrests were made outside of Germany’s borders — one in the Kitzbühel region of Austria and the other in Perugia in Italy.
Searches were also conducted in a number of other federal states including Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland.
“The accused belong to a terrorist organization founded by the end of November 2021 at the latest, which has set itself the goal of overcoming the existing state order in Germany and replacing it with its own form of government, which has already been developed in outline,” federal prosecutors said in a statement following the raids. “The members of the association are aware that this project can only be realized through the use of military means and violence against state representatives. This also includes committing homicides. The accused are united by a deep rejection of the state institutions and the free democratic basic order of the Federal Republic of Germany.”
Authorities are expected to hold a press conference later Wednesday detailing the massive operation.
(NEW YORK) — For a New Year’s resolution that lasts, start now, start simple and be specific.
Almost half of all Americans make a New Year’s resolution each year, research shows.
Most commonly, people aspire to lose weight, exercise more, quit smoking or eat healthier. Many will abandon their resolution by a month or less into the new year.
One barrier is that forming a habit takes time — about 66 days, on average, at least one study suggests.
“It takes about two to three months for someone to start feeling confident and comfortable with a new habit, but the repetition of the habit can start to become more of a routine after several days” Dr. Beth Frates, president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, told ABC News.
When deciding on a resolution, Frates recommends considering the six pillars of health: nutritious diet, physical activity, restorative sleep, elimination of substances (e.g. cigarettes), positive relationships and stress reduction.
“A potential first step is to compare your daily habits to the established national guidelines for these pillars,” said Frates. “A person can see where they are in relationship to the guidelines and rate how important each guideline is to their health and wellbeing.”
And studies show that simpler habits form faster than complicated ones.
Drinking a glass of water each morning will stick a lot more quickly than doing jumping jacks before work every day, for example.
“But at the same time, you don’t want to pick a behavioral goal that is too easy, since that is unlikely to be challenging enough to hold your attention,” said Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News chief medical correspondent and author of The Self Care Solution, a book about creating self-care habits that stick.
Proper planning is also important.
“A reasonable goal for someone is a SMART goal,” said Frates, explaining that a “SMART” goal is one that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.
A goal to “run 4 days a week for 30 minutes” is more specific than “I will run more.”
One way to measure success is by marking a calendar or an app with each run.
Achievability of a goal should be based on one’s current patterns. For those who currently don’t run at all, a goal to “run 2 days per week for 20 minutes” is a smarter initial choice for long-term success.
To keep a goal relevant, consider the “why” behind it, such as “running will make my heart stronger.”
A time-bound goal has a deadline for when to reassess success. After four weeks, for instance, a new SMART goal can be made based on the previous month’s progress.
“Setting a short-term goal that aligns with your long-term goals will help you to stay on track,” said Frates.
The good news: One missed day is OK. Research shows that missing one day does not reduce the chance of habit formation.
The key is to keep going.
“The process of getting through the lapse and successfully getting back on track usually happens within the first two months,” said Frates.
So starting now, experts say, is the choice that could boost that New Year’s resolution from a pattern to a habit by January’s end.
(NEW YORK) — Tom and Pam Trusdale were enjoying a bucket list trip to Antarctica, until their trip of a lifetime turned into a deadly disaster.
“It was going real smoothly, and we were only anticipating nothing but smooth going forward,” Tom Trusdale told ABC News.
The Trusdales were passengers on the Viking Polaris cruise ship sailing toward Ushuaia, Argentina, when it was hit by a “rogue wave” last week, killing an American passenger, Sheri Zhu, and injuring four others.
The Trusdales said the wave wasn’t the only disaster. The Trusdales and ABC News later confirmed that a day before the accident, another passenger was seriously injured during a Zodiac boat excursion.
“It was a real loud, it was a boom, and I flew up in the air, and the passenger across from me flew up in the air. She came down and hit hard,” Pam Trusdale said.
Tom Trusdale said he saw two passengers tossed into the air from what seemed to be an apparent explosion.
“I saw the woman go, probably about 3 feet in the air, and then the gentleman straight across from me go up in the air, and then roll over into the sea,” Tom Trusdale said. “So I went across and leaned over the pontoon, and I just grabbed on to the life jacket. He was face up, so he was stabilized, and I reassured him that, ‘Hey, you’re safe.'”
Tom Trusdale said he and another passenger were able to quickly pull the man back on the boat, but the woman’s leg was severely injured.
“She said, ‘I hurt my legs. I can’t feel my leg,'” Pam Trusdale said. ” And then I could hear her kind of straining that, you know, I could tell that she was in a lot of pain.”
The passenger’s leg required surgery, which led the ship’s captain to turn back to Argentina. During the trip back toward Argentina, through a known turbulent stretch of ocean, was when the “rogue wave” crashed into the cruise ship.
“This wave hit it and came over and literally broke through windows and just washed into these rooms, and not only did it wash into the rooms, but it broke walls down, and once some walls went into the next room,” Tom Trusdale said.
Viking said in a statement on its website that it’s investigating the wave incident and is committed to the safety and security of all guests and crew.
Viking issued a second statement about the Zodiac boat incident, saying: “On November 28, the Viking Polaris deployed a small boat with six guests and one crew member near Damoy Point, Antarctica. On this trip a guest sustained a serious but non-life-threatening leg injury while on board the small boat and was taken to the medical center on the Viking Polaris.”
“Following a detailed diagnosis by the ship’s medical team, the decision was taken for the ship to immediately sail to Ushuaia so that the guest could receive additional medical care from a shore-based hospital,” it continued. “The guest is now recovering shoreside in Ushuaia and will then return home; Viking is continuing to support them during this period. We are committed to the safety and security of all our guests and crew, and we are investigating the cause of the incident.”
(NEW YORK) — The family of a Black woman who was fatally shot in her home by a former Fort Worth, Texas, police officer in 2019 said they’ve been waiting for justice for over three years.
Atatiana Jefferson’s sister Ashley Carr said it’s “surreal” to finally see the case go to trial.
“We’ve been fighting and fussing about having this day and making sure that accountability is served for my sister’s death,” she told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “But now it’s really here, and it’s a realization that this is not in our control. This is in control of the jurors.”
Opening statements began on Monday in the trial of former police officer Aaron Dean who was charged with murder after fatally shooting Jefferson in her Fort, Worth Texas, home on Oct. 12, 2019. Dean was responding to a concerned neighbor’s request to check on Jefferson’s wellbeing after noticing her house’s front door open at night, police said.
Dean pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Though some of the 12 selected jurors are people of color, none are Black, which drew backlash and prompted protests in 2019.
The trial so far has hinged on the handgun in Jefferson’s hand right before Dean shot her. During opening arguments, his defense attorney, Miles Brissette, argued Dean was acting in self-defense after seeing Jefferson’s silhouette in the window holding a firearm with a green laser pointed directly at him. The prosecution, on the other hand, argued Dean couldn’t have seen her gun in the split second before he opened fire.
The trial’s first witness was Zion Carr, Jefferson’s then 8-year-old nephew who was playing video games and cooking hamburgers with his aunt right before Dean shot her in their house. During questioning, Carr, 11, was asked to recount the traumatic events from that night, testifying that his aunt had never raised the gun from her side.
Brissette declined ABC News’ request for comment.
Ed Kraus, the Fort Worth Police chief at the time of the shooting who has since retired, said in 2019 that Dean’s conduct was in violation of multiple police department policies, including “our use of force policy, our de-escalation policy, and unprofessional conduct.”
“I certainly have not been able to make sense of why she had to lose her life,” Kraus said at the time. “On behalf of the men and women of the Fort Worth Police Department, I’m so sorry for what occurred.”
Jefferson, a pre-medical graduate of Xavier University, is survived by her three siblings: Ashley, Amber and Adarius, who say they’ve been one another’s “support system” their entire lives. Their mother, Yolanda Carr, who died just months after Jefferson’s death, nicknamed her children the “A-Team” because their names all start with the letter A.
“We understand as a family that there is nothing that we can do in this process but be present,” Ashley Carr said. “So our goal is to be present to make sure everyone knows that Atatiana was loved.”
Ashley Carr said she and her family have tried to “keep the momentum” going to ensure Jefferson’s name is not forgotten, including speaking at the White House and U.S. Senate.
“They joined the fight for families all across the country,” Lee Merritt, the family’s attorney, told Good Morning America. “They’ve been a part of a community of activists and organizers who were at the forefront of what became a major moment in history during the Black Lives Matter movement.”
Jefferson’s siblings also started a nonprofit called the Atatiana Project that strives to promote STEAM education and activities among urban youth. They’ve even hosted a free summer camp where kids could build their own computers and robots.
“Our goal is just to amplify how beautiful Atatiana was,” Carr said, remembering her sister as an avid video gamer, animal lover and aspiring medical student. “If you go on our website, we say she didn’t die. She will multiply through the generations that we serve.”
“She was my little sister, but was such a big person,” she added.
