Following their joint Stadium Tour this year throughout the U.S., Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard are joining forces once more for an international tour in 2023.
The global outing begins February in Mexico followed by a trip to South America. It’ll then hop across the Atlantic Ocean for a trek through the U.K. and Europe in May, June and July.
“We had an incredible time playing The Stadium Tour in North America this summer and we truly can’t wait to take the show around the globe with The WORLD Tour in 2023,” Mötley says. “Crüeheads in Latin America and Europe: Get ready!”
The U.S. Stadium tour, which also featured Poison and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts on the bill, launched in June after a two-year pandemic delay. According to Billboard, the outing earned a total of $173.5 million, making it the biggest tour of both Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard’s careers.
(NEW YORK) — College enrollment in the United States fell for the third consecutive year, deepening the woes endured by universities nationwide since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a report released on Thursday showed.
However, the pace of the decline in enrollment slowed this autumn, suggesting that the pandemic-induced student exodus has begun to wane, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Student enrollment dropped 1.1% this fall, compared with a combined 5.5% decline in 2020 and 2021.
In a key point of concern, the rate of decline in enrollment among freshmen exceeded that of students overall, with implications for universities that could last over the next several years.
The decline in freshmen enrollment befell every category of four-year institutions, whether public or private, for-profit or non-profit, the data showed.
“After two straight years of historically large losses, it is particularly troubling that numbers are still falling, especially among freshmen,” Doug Shapiro, the executive director at the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, said in a statement.
“Although the decline has slowed and there are some bright spots, a path back to pre-pandemic enrollment levels is growing further out of reach,” he added.
The decline in enrollment extended beyond undergraduate students, as graduate school enrollment fell 1%, reversing a 2.7% gain last fall. Graduate student enrollment fell in 26 states, according to the report.
While the report delivered sobering news for many institutions of higher education, it offered a sign of optimism for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
Enrollment at HBCUs grew 2.5% this fall, bouncing back from a decline of 1.7% last year, the data showed. The rise in enrollment owed to a 6.6% increase in freshmen enrolling at HBCUs.
In a sign of shifting educational norms amid the pandemic, undergraduate students enrolled exclusively online grew by 2.5% this autumn.
Fans have less than 24 hours before they can listen to Meghan Trainor‘s new album, Takin’ It Back. To celebrate its midnight release, Meghan released the music video for “Made You Look” early.
The singer teamed with the Candy Crush Saga game app and fashioned her new visual to reflect the ultra-addictive puzzle game. This marks the first time in the app’s decade-long history that they premiered a music video.
Meghan celebrated the milestone on Instagram and shared a cute snippet of her new music video. The clip shows her and a handful of backup dancers dancing in a pink, bubblegum world that gives serious Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory vibes.
“I’m a big fan of Candy Crush Saga. I love playing when I have a bit of downtime in the studio so I’m looking forward to bringing the game to life for my fans within the music video,” she said in a statement announcing the partnership. “Between the bright colors of the game and providing players with a fun escape from reality, Candy Crush Saga was the perfect inspiration.”
The video will appear in the Content Hub for 24 hours. In addition, Meghan will be “Candified” so that she can swipe along with players on special missions. She will also help unlock special boosters and prizes and will be sharing words of encouragement along the way. The special in-game event will be accessible from level 25 and beyond.
Shinedown has canceled their upcoming European tour, citing “economic and logistical” issues.
“As most of you know, we’re not a band who cancels shows,” the “Planet Zero” rockers write in a since-deleted tweet. “We can think of maybe twice that we’ve done it in our 20 year career. That’s what makes this decision very difficult.”
“Alas, the economic and logistical side of touring currently in Europe are growing too heavy for us to be able to make this feasible at this present time,” the statement continues. “With that being said, we’ve made this difficult yet necessary decision. We can’t put into words how much it sucks to have to cancel shows. We’re very much looking forward to coming back very soon and making this up to you.”
The international tour, which also featured Asking Alexandria and Zero 9:36 on the bill, was set to kick off November 7 and stretch into December. All of the dates have been scrapped, except for five shows in the U.K.
“These decisions are never made lightly, especially with this band,” Shinedown concludes. “We love you and we love touring Europe, and we WILL be back.”
Shinedown has been touring throughout the year in support of their new album, Planet Zero, which dropped in July.
Wizkid dropped off the music video for “Bad To Me” from his forthcoming album, More Love, Less Ego.
The video sees Wizkid performing as himself on a TV show, where the showrunner is his secret lover. It’s a battle among women for Wizkid’s heart. In the end, the showrunner ends up his partner.
“Bad To Me” comes by way of Wizkid’s longtime producer P2J, whose credits include DojaCat and BurnaBoy. The song will appear on the singer’s fifth studio album, which doesn’t yet have an official release date.
The new track follows “Call Me Every Day,” his most recent collaboration with ChrisBrown.
The Grammy-winning artist is gearing up for his first-ever Madison Square Garden show in New York on November 16.
Check out the music video for “Bad To Me” on Wizkid’s YouTube page.
(STOCKTON, Calif.) — Police, community members and families of victims of the suspected Stockton, California, serial killer congregated at Stockton City Hall Wednesday night for a vigil to remember the six lives lost.
The six slayings — all fatal shootings of men — spanned from April 2021 to September 2022, according to police. Five of the killings were in Stockton; one was in Oakland, about 70 miles away. All of the shootings were at night or in the early morning.
“My brother was my everything. I’m going to never hear his laughter,” Pia Lopez, sister of the final victim, 54-year-old Lorenzo Lopez Sr., said at the vigil.
The musician — who was shot in the early hours of Sept. 27 — leaves behind six children.
Stockton police chief Stanley McFadden was among those at Wednesday’s vigil.
“Everyone came together to get this person off the street,” the chief said.
In an emotional moment, Lorenzo Lopez Sr.’s mother thanked the chief.
“I want to thank him so much, because he lifted my spirits and he held me up when I felt like I was falling down and falling apart,” she said.
“It hurts deep inside and it never goes away,” she added. “But we got justice.”
The suspected serial killer, 43-year-old Wesley Brownlee, was arrested this weekend while he was allegedly on the prowl for another victim, according to police. Brownlee was apprehended while wearing dark clothing and a mask around his neck, according to McFadden. Brownlee was also armed with a gun, police said.
“He was on a mission to kill. He was out hunting,” McFadden said in a statement. “We are sure we stopped another killing.”
Brownlee appeared in court Tuesday and was charged with three counts of murder, with more charges expected, San Joaquin County District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar said. He has not entered a plea.
Carly Pearce dove into her personal story to write the songs on 29: Written in Stone, drawing inspiration from her divorce and the death of her longtime producer, Busbee.
The result was her most successful album cycle to date: On the heels of 29, Carly earned more awards and accolades than any year prior and was even invited to join the Grand Ole Opry. It also allowed fans to connect to her more than ever before, but that doesn’t mean that every listener was pleased by her personal lyrics.
On Twitter, a user named Donna posted a graphic reading, “Your personal problems require personal solutions, not public attention.” In the caption of her post, she directed Carly to follow its advice.
Carly, however, wasn’t fazed. In fact, she replied with a message inviting Donna to experience the power of her personal songs first-hand.
“It’s sad that you’re twisting my way of getting through the hardest season of my life for something negative,” the singer wrote on Twitter. “I welcome you to come to any of my shows and see the impact this album has made on people going through hard things. I’ll even leave you a ticket!”
29: Written in Stone came out in late 2021. Its third single, “What He Didn’t Do,” is currently climbing the country charts.
On Thursday, Netflix dropped the eagerly anticipated trailer to the fifth season of The Crown.
Debuting on the streaming service November 9, the latest chapter shows “The Royal Family is in genuine crisis,” according to a TV personality.
Set to Oasis‘ “Bittersweet Symphony,” the trailer shows the marriage of Elizabeth Debicki‘s Princess Diana to Dominic West‘s Prince Charles unraveling before relentless paparazzi coverage.
While Charles and Di head for a divorce, Imelda Staunton‘s Queen Elizabeth II and others protest.
Jonny Lee Miller‘s PM John Major advises the Queen and her husband, Jonathan Pryce‘s Prince Phillip, “The House of Windsor should be binding the nation together, building an example of idealized family life…”
Major says the fracturing marriage, “can’t help but affect the stability of the country.”
Meanwhile, Diana is cracking under the pressure. “People will never understand how it’s been for me,” she laments. “I never stood a chance.”
Another character notes of Di, “They see her as a threat.”
Prince Phillip advises Diana, “Remember the one…rule: You remain loyal to this family,” to which Diana protests, “You mean silent?”
Phillip replies, “Yes. It’s a system, for better or for worse. We’re all stuck in it.”
While the establishment warns Diana is going to “tear down the temple,” she readies to sit before cameras in her famous 1995 tell-all interview. “I won’t go quietly,” she insists. “I’ll battle to the end.”
The trailer closes with Queen Elizabeth wondering aloud, “How did it come to this?”
(LONDON) — It took Liz Truss 12 years in Parliament to reach the pinnacle of British political power. Now, after just 44 days leading the country, she has assumed the title of shortest-serving prime minister in the history of the United Kingdom.
Not since George Canning — who served almost three times as long as Truss at 119 days — in 1827 has a British prime minister served such a short period of time. He died of tuberculosis while in office.
The blistering speed of the collapse of Truss’ period in governance is unparalleled in modern times.
Having been elected by Conservative Party members — and not the country as a whole — Truss came into power after Boris Johnson was all but forced to step down as prime minister having lost the mandate to govern from his own party after a scandal-plagued three years and 44 days in office — three years more to the day than Truss actually lasted.
Truss came in with a clear plan but squandered her own mandate to govern in just 44 days. She made a U-turn on almost every single key policy she had run on during the leadership election this summer.
The U.K. is now expected to name its third prime minister in just under two months by the end of next week.
Only eight prime ministers in the country’s history have even served less than a full calendar year, but most will not recognize their names.
Viscount Goderich served only 144 days in office in 1827, Bonar Law served 211 days in 1922, and Sir Alec Douglas-Home — the most recent former prime minister to serve less than a year — was in power for 363 days in 1963.
Even though Truss may now have the ignominious title of shortest-ever serving prime minister, the Conservative Party still commands a strong majority in the House of Commons and the next public vote is not due until 2024.
(WASHINGTON) — A new super PAC backed by former President Donald Trump is injecting money into key 2022 races, investing $4 million in a new round of ad spending in battleground states, according to new financial data.
The series of seven- to eight-figure ad placements from super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. on Wednesday in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia and Nevada is a last-minute boost from Trump’s team ahead of the November election. It follows months of criticism from Trump skeptics within the GOP that the former president is not spending enough to support 2022 GOP candidates, despite his massive fundraising power.
Wednesday’s placements are the second round of ad spending by the new PAC, which was launched in late September and kicked off its first round of placements in the same Senate races earlier this month.
According to ad tracking firm Ad Impact, Make America Great Again Inc.’s biggest investment in the latest ad placement was a $1 million ad buy in the race between Democrat Tim Ryan and Trump-endorsed J.D. Vance in the Ohio Senate race, followed by $770,000 in spending on the rivalry between Democrat John Fetterman and Trump-endorsed Dr. Mehmet Oz in the Pennsylvania Senate race.
The latest spending also includes a $725,000 investment in the Arizona Senate race, $681,000 in the Georgia Senate race and $653,000 in the Nevada Senate race, according to Ad Impact.
With the new spending on Wednesday, the super PAC’s total ad spending through mid-October amounts to roughly $8.6 million, according to the ad data and past disclosure filings submitted to the Federal Election Commission.
In all, Make America Great Again Inc. has spent $2.4 million in the Ohio Senate race, $1.8 million in the Arizona Senate race, roughly $1.6 million each in the Georgia and Pennsylvania Senate races, and $1.3 million in the Nevada Senate race.
But the Trump super PAC’s spending so far remains a small drop in a bucket compared to the 2022 races’ massive ad placements made by the Republicans’ Senate Leadership Fund and the Democrats’ Senate Majority PAC.
Make America Great Again Inc. has yet to disclose how much money it’s raised so it’s unclear how more it could end up spending over the final weeks of the campaign, but the launching of the new super PAC — which by law can make unlimited independent expenditures in support of candidates — now allows Trump and his team to make sizable investments to directly back GOP candidates he has touted.
In contrast, Trump’s existing leadership PAC, Save America, can donate to other PACs and super PACs — but can only make limited direct contributions to candidates. It’s made a series of $5,000 donations to candidates over the last two years — as well as giving upwards of $6 million to various super PACs and outside groups — but critics have pointed out that’s only a small fraction of the hundreds of millions of dollars Save America’s joint fundraising operation has raised over that period.
Instead, much of Save America PAC’s money has gone to consulting and fundraising — as well as to covering legal fees associated with the congressional investigation into Jan. 6 and the fraud cases against Trump’s namesake company in New York.
And Save America’s fundraising has increased over the last few months, with the Save America Joint Fundraising Committee raising $24 million in the third quarter of this year, compared to $17 million in the second quarter, according to its latest FEC filing.
