(NEW YORK) — Whether you’re planning a big holiday meal for a large family this Thanksgiving and dislike cooking, or are in charge of the main dish for your upcoming friendsgiving, fast food chain Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen has a Southern-style solution for you.
Some Americans have begun opting out of traditional Thanksgiving dinners in favor of amping up side dishes, or have chosen to simply forgo a giant turkey and replace it with a smaller bird. But for those still looking forward to enjoying some savory, juicy turkey this November, Popeyes has you covered.
The company, famous for its fried chicken and biscuits, has spread its wings ahead of the holiday season to offer a Cajun-style turkey once more.
The fast-food chain announced the return of the fan-favorite Thanksgiving dinner staple on Tuesday. Pre-orders are open, with deliveries slated to begin as early as Oct. 24.
The bird, which feeds 8 to 12 people and costs $94.99, is marinated with Popeyes’ signature blend of Louisiana seasoning, slow roasted and flash fried for a crispy coating, then frozen and packaged to be delivered for an easy thaw, reheat and eat experience.
Customers can preorder the turkey for pickup from their local Popeyes by calling or visiting in person, while supplies last, or online for direct delivery to their doorstep. Online orders will arrive one to three business days after the order is shipped.
The announcement is likely a relief for those with busy lives or anyone who could use a little help in the kitchen: Popeyes conducted its own survey of over 500 people and found that “more than 50% of respondents feel stressed to host Thanksgiving dinner at their own home and think that the turkey is the hardest dish to cook as part of the meal.”
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
(NEW YORK) — NASA on Wednesday released an image of newly formed stars from the James Webb Space Telescope.
The image captures nascent, bright-red stars within a billowing cloud of gas and dust at an iconic stellar birthplace known as “The Pillars of Creation.”
The crimson protostars, estimated to be just a few hundred thousand years old, form when knots in the cloud gain enough mass that they collapse under their own gravity and slowly rise in temperature, according to a joint statement from the coalition behind the Webb telescope, which includes NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.
The scene is captured by the Webb telescope’s near-infrared camera, which affords the capacity to detect light from the first stars and galaxies. The telescope, launched last December, has delivered images to the public since July.
In this case, the image depicts a location within the Eagle Nebula, which stands 6,500 light-years away, the statement said.
The image of the “Pillars of Creation” will help researchers improve their understanding of star formation by identifying more precise star populations as well as the amount of gas and dust in the region, the statement added.
The “Pillars of Creation” was first captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995. Since then, a host of increasingly advanced telescopes have been trained on the star-studded location.
The Webb telescope is the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space, the joint statement said.
Images released from the Webb telescope have featured Jupiter and the Phantom Galaxy.
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown “no interest” in engaging in “meaningful diplomacy” with Ukraine, after eight months of bloody war.
“Our purpose is simple. It’s to stand with the Ukrainians, to make sure that their country remains independent … and, ultimately, to have the strongest possible hand at a negotiating if one emerges, because President Zelenskyy has said himself — at some point, this is going to end through diplomacy,” Blinken told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in a sit-down interview airing Thursday on Good Morning America.
Stephanopoulos pressed Blinken on that point, noting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has “also said he’s not going to negotiate with Vladimir Putin, only with the next Russian president.”
“Well, he’s been clear that diplomacy is going to have to bring this to an end at some point,” Blinken responded. “But what we’ve seen thus far is no interest on the part of Putin in meaningful diplomacy.”
When asked whether he thinks Putin is “still rational,” Blinken said: “It’s hard to put yourself in someone else’s mind. I think he’s rational, but the decisions he’s making — or maybe better put, his objectives — are not rational.”
Meanwhile, OPEC+, a group of oil-producing countries led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, announced earlier this month that it will significantly slash production in order to boost prices. The move has forced the United States to release 15 million barrels of oil from its strategic reserve, leaving many in Washington to question whether Riyadh remains an ally, even though Saudi Arabia voted in favor of a U.S.-backed United Nations resolution last week condemning Moscow’s illegal attempts to annex parts of war-torn Ukraine.
“The step that Saudi Arabia and the OPEC+ organization took was one that was deeply unfortunate and also deeply misguided,” Blinken said, “to the extent that this causes oil prices to go up and Russia’s exporting oil, it’s helping to line Putin’s pockets.”
“We’re all trying to restore economic growth,” he added. “That’s exactly the wrong time to engage in production cuts.”
Stephanopoulos pressed Blinken on whether those are “the actions of an ally.”
“In this instance, it’s not,” Blinken replied. “But we have a multiplicity of interests with Saudi Arabia.”
Russia’s ongoing invasion of neighboring Ukraine and its global economic fallout are not the only challenges the United States is facing abroad. With Chinese President Xi Jinping poised to secure an unprecedented third term in office, Blinken said he believes Beijing will seek a speedy reunification with Taiwan, a self-governing island that split from mainland China in 1949, though Beijing claims it as its territory. Xi, who has been in power for over a decade, has made clear his desire to reunite China with Taiwan and, in his speech opening the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing on Sunday, he gave no indication of changing course on the issue.
When asked whether he thinks Xi will speed up the reunification process “by any means necessary,” Blinken said: “Potentially by any means. Through coercion and pressure and potentially, if necessary, by force.”
The U.S. government has a “One China Policy” that recognizes the people of mainland China and Taiwan as being part of “One China,” views Beijing as China’s sole legal government and does not support an independent Taiwan, but considers the matter “unsettled.” Washington is also militarily supportive of the self-governing island and maintains extensive commercial and unofficial ties.
“We’re committed to doing everything we can … to make sure that Taiwan has the ability to effectively defend itself against aggression,” Blinken added. “We’ve also made very clear to China that our expectation is these differences will be resolved peacefully.”
Stephanopoulos asked Blinken what he has to say to Americans who may feel “the world is more dangerous now than it’s ever been.”
“I say yes, it is dangerous. It is complicated. It is full of challenge. And part of it is because we know what’s happening around the world in real-time in ways that we never did before,” Blinken replied. “But at the same time, I’m also seeing incredible opportunities, and opportunities that we have to find ways to seize.”
“One of the first instructions I got from President Biden in taking this job was to reenergize our partnerships,” he added. “That’s what our diplomacy’s all about. And later today, here in Philadelphia, I’m going to get a chance to swear in some new American citizens — one of the parts of my job that gives me the greatest satisfaction.”
Stephanopoulos noted how Blinken’s “face just lit up.”
“It’s the renewal of our country,” Blinken responded. “My late stepfather, he became a citizen of the United States … and he used to say to me: ‘You know, you are an American citizen by a very happy accident of birth. I’m an American by choice.’ That’s a very powerful thing. That’s what carries our country forward.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Jan. 6 committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol has yet to formally subpoena former President Donald Trump, in part because investigators are still trying to find someone authorized to accept service of it, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
Last week, the committee took the historic step of voting to subpoena the former president, with all nine members of the panel voting to approve the resolution to compel him to testify about the attack on the Capitol, which the committee argues was the violent culmination of Trump’s many efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
But multiple lawyers representing Trump have told committee investigators they aren’t permitted to formally accept service of the subpoena on behalf of Trump, sources familiar with the deliberations say.
The subpoena is expected to be issued in short order once committee investigators learn who is formally representing Trump in the matter, and after the panel agrees to additional details regarding deadlines for Trump’s compliance and the precise details of the documents they are seeking. The subpoena could be issued as soon as Thursday, the sources said.
Rep. Liz Cheney said on Tuesday the formal request from the committee would happen “shortly.”
Both Evan Corcoran and John Rowley have told committee investigators they don’t have authorization to accept service of the subpoena on behalf of the former president, according to people familiar with the communications. Corcoran is representing Trump in matters related to the Mar-a-Lago documents probe and Rowley — in addition to Corcoran — has been representing Trump on executive privilege issues involving former White House aides who have received grand jury subpoenas.
The committee has also contacted attorney Justin Clark, who has said he also isn’t authorized to accept it, sources say.
Neither Corcoran, Rowley or Clark responded to ABC News’ request seeking comment.
A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to a request for comment, and a spokesperson for the Jan. 6. committee declined to comment.
Trump has previously told advisers that he’d welcome a live appearance before the committee, according to sources familiar with his thinking, but he has yet to say publicly whether he’ll cooperate. He has denounced the committee and the Jan. 6 investigation.
And if Trump were to offer to testify live in response to the panel’s subpoena, the committee would need to negotiate the terms of such an appearance.
“I think that’s going to be a negotiation,” committee member Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., told ABC News’ This Week.
“I’ll only address that when we know for sure whether or not the president has tried to push to come in and talk to us live,” Kinzinger said.
In a 14-page memo addressed to committee Chairman Bennie Thompson and posted to social media on Friday, Trump did not answer whether he would comply with the subpoena to testify. He instead continued his attacks on the panel and continued to make false claims about the 2020 election.
“This memo is being written to express our anger, disappointment, and complaint … with all of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on what many consider to be a Charade and Witch Hunt,” he wrote.
(WASHINGTON) — Former Vice President Mike Pence had this to say on Wednesday night when asked if he would vote for Donald Trump in 2024, if his former boss were the Republican presidential nominee: “There might be somebody else I’d prefer more.”
Speaking at Georgetown University about the future of conservatism, where he also took questions from students, Pence declined to rule out a bid of his own for the White House but said there were other priorities before him.
“When I tell you as I have every confidence that the Republican Party is going to sort out leadership, all my focus has been on the midterm elections and it’ll stay that way for the next 20 days,” he said. “But after that, we’ll be thinking about the future — ours and the nation’s — and I’ll keep you posted.”
His comments came in conversation with Mo Elleithee, a Democratic National Committee official, executive director of Georgetown’s Institute of Politics and Public Service and a larger part of the Young America’s Foundation’s college tour by the former vice president, who became estranged from Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection — when pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and briefly sent Pence and gathered lawmakers into hiding.
Since then, Pence has continued to speak publicly about his own vision for the GOP.
In prepared remarks on Wednesday, he only mentioned the midterm elections once, predicting GOP flips across Congress and beyond.
“Frankly, I’m very optimistic that in 20 days, we’ll soon have new majorities in the House and Senate and in statehouses around America that will stand for freedom without a problem,” he said.
But, asked by a student how being Trump’s vice president had affected his own future in the Republican Party, he joked, saying he’s not particularly a long-term planner.
“I can tell you whatever the future holds for me and for [my wife] Karen Pence, it’ll be our heart’s desire just to reflect at the right time, maybe in the months ahead, determine what our calling is and [we] will follow that calling come what may,” he said.
When asked by another student to highlight something he liked in both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Pence quipped, “Look at the time.”
Later, he added that he and Biden had a strong working relationship while both served in Congress and that he called Harris after she was tapped to be Biden’s running mate — the first Black woman and first person of Asian descent on a major party ticket — to extend prayers to her and her family.
“I can’t identify a policy that I agree with in the Biden administration. But again, you know, I think I think you could say that some of these ideas are bad without saying they’re a bad person,” he said.
During a brief question-and-answer session, Elleithee asked Pence how society could move past a culture of intense partisanship.
He pointed to friendships with Democrats in Congress, including the late Georgia Rep. John Lewis, an icon of the civil rights movement, as proof of occasional common cause across the aisle.
“There’s a wide range of issues that we can agree on, issues that we can find practical solutions for the American people on, that I think all begins with treating others the way we want to be treated,” he said. “And I really do believe that there’s a hunger in this country today for getting back to the way Americans deal with one another.”
Pence’s 30-minute speech at Georgetown focused on his background, how he evolved politically and religiously and the effect former President Ronald Reagan had on that transformation. As he repeatedly says, he’s a “Christian, a conservative and a Republican — in that order.”
But he noted something specific about his style, as he saw it.
“I like to say, ‘I’m a conservative, but I’m not in a bad mood about it,'” he said, also referring to himself as “Rush Limbaugh on decaf” when he hosted his radio show in Indiana before he won his bid for Congress.
Elsewhere, though, he spoke more gravely of the dangers posed to the country by Democratic opponents and a “woke agenda” — a warning far apart from some of his other comments about Democrats on Wednesday night.
“In one short year and a half, the Biden-Harris administration has unleashed a tidal wave of left-wing policies that have in many ways wiped out the progress that we’ve made to the detriment of the American people,” he argued. “Frankly, sometimes I think Democrats have moved so fast that the left hand doesn’t know what the far-left hand is doing.”
About 25 minutes into his speech, a group of students stood up and walked out of the venue. He referenced them in a seemingly ad-libbed addition.
He also continued to criticize the Biden White House over gas prices, presumed threats to freedom of expression and more.d
He praised the younger generation as one capable of great change and the “last line of defense on the Constitution of the United States.”
“As you study the American founding and understand what’s made this country exceptional and unique, grow in your own heart and mind,” he told attendees, including students.
He also spoke earlier Wednesday at the Heritage Foundation, the conservative group, where he cautioned against “unprincipled populism” overtaking his party. He said the GOP must continue to embrace smaller government, strong national defense and “traditional moral values.”
(UVALDE, Texas) — In a surprise move, Hal Harrell, the superintendent of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, officially retired Wednesday night during a school board meeting. An interim replacement was named as a search for a new district chief continues.
Harrell, a 30-year employee of the school district, stunned the small grieving community two weeks ago when he announced he would retire but said “no defined timelines” had been set.
In a Facebook post shared by Harrell’s wife earlier this month, he wrote: “I will remain here throughout the school year until a new superintendent can be named.”
“My decision to retire has not been made lightly,” he wrote. “My heart was broken on May 24th and I will always and [sic] pray for each precious life that was tragically taken as well as their families.”
Harrell — along with other school officials and local law enforcement — has faced intense scrutiny over the handling of the May 24 massacre at Robb Elementary School, where a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.
Nearly 400 law enforcement officers rushed to the scene, but “egregiously poor decision-making” resulted in allowing the 18-year-old shooter to remain active inside a classroom for more than 70 minutes before he was finally confronted and killed, according to a damning investigative report released by Texas lawmakers in July.
The Uvalde native announced his departure from the district on the same day that the district reassigned all five UCISD police officers who were on the scene of the shooting from campus security duties, pending an independent review by a private investigation firm out of Austin.
The district-wide statement said that the UCISD administration will “suspend all activities of the Uvalde CISD Police Department for a period of time.”
The series of announcements came after 11 continuous days of a sit-in protest at the UCISD administration building staged by families of the victims, and after news broke that UCISD police hired Crimson Elízondo, who is currently suspended from the Texas Department of Public Safety for her response at Robb Elementary on May 24.
Harrell began working for the district in 1992 as a special education teacher, the same year that his father, John Hal Harrell, was promoted to Uvalde superintendent.
The younger Harrell worked his way up to principal at Uvalde High School and was appointed unanimously by the Board of Trustees as superintendent in October 2018, following in his father’s footsteps.
The elder Harrell, who died in August 2020, was known to many as “Mr. Uvalde” and served at various points as a two-term city council member, mayor of Uvalde, UCISD superintendent and Uvalde city manager.
In 2014, UCISD even renamed the John H. Harrell High School Auditorium, both Harrells’ alma mater, in his honor.
Walsh Gallegos, an education-focused law firm, was hired by the school board to search for the retiree’s replacement.
Fat Joe is fully aware of his identity as a Latino man, but he’s also conscious of his association to Black culture.
The Grammy-nominated rapper attributes his relationship with the Black community to growing up around Black people.
“My projects, my neighborhood was predominantly Black,” Joe said on an episode of the NPR podcast The Limits. “My grandmother’s neighborhood was 99.9% Black, where there was no popular Latinos or nothing … And so when I’m born, I’m not listening to salsa and all that — I’m listening to GloriaGaynor. I’m listening to StephanieMills. I’m listening to ‘I Will Survive.’ That’s what my house was playing, right?”
Joe said his blond hair and green eyes certainly confirmed his Latino roots, but hip-hop’s origin in the Bronx meant Joe grew up “thinking” he was Black.
“It wasn’t until I went to high school and met another Latino brother that was a real dude, and he said, ‘Yo, come hang out with me in my hood.’ And 10 blocks away was like another world,” Joe recalled.
The 52-year-old rapper is proud of his association with both cultures. He said what’s really gratifying is his connection to his childhood community all these years later.
“Fat Joe’s a guy who made it from nothing, that the streets can still touch,” he said. “You know, when Mr. Williams wants to repair his church in the Bronx, they know how to find Fat Joe.”
Joe continued, “It’s been a big job of mine to be in the community and helping the community, and giving them inspiration and giving them hope. The day I can’t be in my hood, or any hood, I don’t even want to live.”
Reba McEntire says finding love wasn’t her priority when she and her now-boyfriend, Rex Linn, reconnected in 2020.
That January, they crossed paths while Reba was filming an episode for Young Sheldon. The two first met three decades prior, in 1991, when they were both actors in the cast of the Kenny Rogers-led The Gambler Returns. When Rex asked her to dinner after her Young Sheldon shoot, Reba wasn’t expecting much to come from it — at first.
“He made me laugh my butt off on our first date, which we didn’t even know was a date,” Reba explains to People.
What followed was a long, slow courtship that largely took place virtually, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. That slow-and-steady relationship-building style helped lay a solid foundation for their love story, the country star points out.
“He’s the love of my life,” she adds. “We’re pretty much inseparable.”
So much so that they’re now co-starring in ABC drama series Big Sky as husband and wife characters Sunny and Buck, the proprietors of Sunny Day Excursions in small-town Montana.
“To play husband and wife, it’s natural for us,” Reba continues. “Rex and I rehearse all the time to make sure that when we step on that set, we’re not wasting anybody’s time. We’re professionals.”
Big Sky airs Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
Viking Wizard Eyes/Columbia Records; Credit: Jack Bridgland
News of Blink-182‘s reunion with Tom DeLonge led to a jump in the band’s streaming numbers.
According toBillboard, U.S. streams of the “All the Small Things” outfit’s catalog increased to 3.87 million on October 11 — the day the reunion news broke — from 1.73 million the previous day, marking a spike of 124%.
By the time Blink released their comeback single “Edging” the following Friday, streams reached a total of 6.22 million.
“Edging” marks Blink’s first new material with DeLonge in over 10 years. Following DeLonge’s departure from the group in 2015, Blink released two albums — 2016’s California and 2019’s Nine — with Alkaline Trio frontman Matt Skiba on guitar.
With DeLonge back in the band, Blink will launch a worldwide tour in 2023. A new album is also in the works.
A Very Backstreet Christmas, the first holiday album from Backstreet Boys, is out now. Backstreet’s Howie Dorough says he’s relieved — not just because the album was postponed from 2021, but because they’ve literally been trying for decades to record it in the first place.
“I feel a big weight lifted off of all of our shoulders,” he laughs. “This is something that…we’re going on almost 30 years, I think. Every Christmas we keep on saying ourselves, ‘When are we going to do that Christmas record?’ And…we just never had the proper time to be able to do it.”
But as Howie notes, “The one positive thing that came out of COVID…was the blessing of giving us time to actually make this record.”
Due to production deadlines, Backstreet had to record in the middle of the summer, but Howie says their producer helped them get in a holiday mood: “[The studio] was all decorated with Christmas tree and stockings and the Yule log and stuff like that up on the screen, so it was quite easy,” he says.
The album mixes religious and secular favorites like “O Holy Night” and “Last Christmas” with three originals. Howie says when it came to picking the classics, all five members had “a lot of opinions,” so they stuck to the data.
“We said, ‘Everybody go and put down your top 15 songs,'” he explains. “And we did…almost like an Excel sheet, where the ones [with] the most votes…are the ones that made it.”
Backstreet fans definitely approve of the finished project.
“Nick [Carter] and I went on a live chat on Instagram, and the response from the fans was just overwhelming,” says Howie. “It seems like they really love it…I hope it was worth the wait!”
