Rod Stewart, who received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 2016, is not only mourning the loss of the monarch but also of a close family member.
On Instagram, Sir Rod wrote, “It has been a devastating 48 hours. We lost my brother Don on Tuesday at 94 and today we have all lost Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at 96.”
He added, “The Queen has been an unwavering presence throughout my life and a great unifier. A shining star that will never fade in our hearts and souls. What a privilege it was to perform for her. My deepest sympathies to the Royal Family. God save the King.”
Rod met and performed for the queen multiple times: his most recent performance was at her Platinum Jubilee this past summer. Ahead of that concert, he told the BBC, “She’s been so much part of my life, almost like a sister, you know?”
At the time he also said he “loves” the newly minted monarch, Charles, and joked that his wife and the then-prince had “a thing going on.”
Wolfgang Van Halen is marking the anniversary of one of his father’s most iconic musical contributions with his own version.
The son of the late Eddie Van Halentweeted a video of him shredding Van Halen‘s famed instrumental “Eruption” on the same guitar his dad used to record the original.
While the video was filmed in 2015, Wolf’s sharing it now in honor of it being the 45th anniversary of “Eruption’s” first recording in 1977. The song was later released on Van Halen’s 1978 self-titled debut album.
Wolf, who played bass in Van Halen starting in 2006, hasn’t performed much of his dad’s music since Eddie passed away in October 2020, instead focusing more on his Mammoth WVH solo project. However, he did jam the Van Halen songs “On Fire” and “Hot for Teacher” during last weekend’s Taylor Hawkins tribute concert.
(MIAMI) — The Miami-Dade County School board voted against recognizing October as LGBTQ history month in a 1-8 vote, as the effects of the Parental Rights in Education law continue to trickle down.
H-11, a resolution for Miami-Dade schools to formally recognize LGBTQ history month, stated that the month “has been established to remind all cultures within our wider community of the important roles that LGBTQ people have taken in shaping the social, historical, legal, and political worlds we live in today.” It was voted down on Wednesday.
This year, it included providing resources for 12th grade teachers to teach about major Supreme Court cases on same-sex marriage and anti-discrimination protections such as Obergefell v. Hodges and Bostock v. Clayton County.
In 2021, Miami school board members voted overwhelmingly to recognize the month — 7-1. Just one year later, the board took a different route. Board members expressed confusion over whether the initiative would break the classroom restrictions set by the Parental Rights in Education law.
The law, dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by LGBTQ activists, bans classroom instruction on “sexual orientation or gender identity” in kindergarten through grade 3 or “in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
It went into effect in July.
Critics say that the law will silence LGBTQ people, as well as ignore the history of LGBTQ people in the U.S. Supporters say the law gives more power to the parents.
The meeting took a rowdy turn during the public comment portion of the night, with more than 100 people speaking that night, according to School Board vice chair Steve Gallon III. Debate over H-11 lasted more than five hours.
Andrea S. Pita Mendez, the 17-year-old school board’s student advisor, said after weeks of speaking to students, to teachers and others, she hoped the board would pass the initiative.
“Our students want this to pass,” said Mendez, who is not a voting member of the board. In an impassioned speech that stoked both applause and upset, Mendez told the board that LGBTQ history plays an important role in U.S. history.
“I heard many of you speak of the fact that in your generations this wasn’t seen, this wasn’t heard – you grew up in a very different time than we are,” she said.
Though the country is highly polarized, she said it “does not take away from the fact that we are the ones that sit in those classrooms, that we embrace diversity and inclusivity because we do love each other and we do support each other and we do want to see each other go very far in the world.”
Christi Fraga, who represents District 5, voted against the recognition both years, saying that H-11 creates a “hostile” environment.
“If we are going to allow the teachers to decide what will be taught in classrooms during this time, that concerns me,” Fraga said.
(LONDON) — Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday at the age of 96, Buckingham Palace confirmed in a statement.
“The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,” the palace wrote, referencing Balmoral Castle in Scotland, the queen’s traditional summer residence. “The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.”
Elizabeth’s death comes just over two months after her Platinum Jubilee celebration, which marked her 70th year on on the British throne. The queen participated in a limited number of jubilee festivities, with palace officials citing health issues and “discomfort” that prevented her full attendance.
The queen, who was forced to use a walking stick in recent months, was determined to continue working through her health issues and as recently as Tuesday participated in an official appointment ceremony at Balmoral for the country’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss.
During her time on the throne, Elizabeth met countless foreign dignitaries and saw Britain through a number of historic events and landmark moments.
Here are five things to know about the British monarch and her 70-year reign:
She was the longest-reigning monarch in British history
Elizabeth was the longest-serving monarch in British history, surpassing even her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria for the title in 2015.
She came into power at the age of 25 following her father King George VI’s death in 1952. Her coronation in 1953 was a national spectacle and was broadcast across the globe.
During her reign, Elizabeth was served by 15 British prime ministers, from Winston Churchill to Truss, and she met with 13 of the last 14 U.S. presidents.
The queen had four children, eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren
Elizabeth married Philip Mountbatten, the duke of Edinburgh, on Nov. 20, 1947, at Westminster Abbey in London. In 2017, Prince Philip and the queen celebrated 70 years of marriage, making her the first monarch to celebrate a platinum wedding anniversary. Phillip died on April 9, 2021 at the age of 99.
Together, the couple had four children, their eldest being Prince Charles, who upon his mother’s death Thursday became known as King Charles III.
Elizabeth first became a grandmother in 1977 after her daughter Princess Anne gave birth to son Peter Phillips.
Over the next three decades, the queen welcomed seven more grandchildren: Zara Phillips Tindall, Prince William, Prince Harry, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Lady Louise Windsor, and James, Viscount Severn.
Elizabeth was also a great-grandmother to 12 children: Savannah and Isla Phillips; Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis; Mia, Lena, and Lucas Philip Tindall; Archie Harrison and Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor; August Philip Hawke Brooksbank; and Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi.
Lilibet, whose father is Prince Harry, made history upon her birth in June 2021 as the queen’s first great-grandchild to be born outside of the U.K.
She was an international head of state
Elizabeth, who never technically owned a passport, made more than 270 trips abroad during her time as queen.
She was the head of the Commonwealth of Nations, a political association of 56 member states, composed mostly of former British territories. The queen was recognized as the constitutional monarch of 15 sovereign states in the Commonwealth including Canada, The Bahamas and New Zealand.
A queen of many firsts
During seven decades as head of the royal family, Elizabeth made history time and time again, starting from her very first day on the throne.
Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953 was the first coronation ceremony to be broadcast on TV and it was watched by a record-breaking 27 million people in the U.K. alone.
She also started the royal tradition of greeting the public, known as a “walkabout,” during a tour in Sydney in 1970.
In terms of her stately duties, Elizabeth made many critical diplomatic firsts, including visiting West Germany in 1965, upon which she became the first British monarch to visit Germany in 52 years. She also became the first British monarch to visit China in October 1986.
Elizabeth made her way to the U.S. in 1991 where she to be the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.
Her health had been declining in recent months
Elizabeth’s health had been deteriorating in the months leading up to her death.
On May 10, she missed the State Opening of Parliament ceremony, which formally marks the start of a new parliamentary session, for only the third time in her 70-year reign. The two other times she missed the ceremony were due to pregnancies.
The queen tested positive for COVID-19 in February after it was confirmed that Charles and his wife, Camilla, now-queen consort, had also tested positive for the virus. While Buckingham Palace said the queen experienced “mild cold-like symptoms” at the time, she was eventually forced to cancel some of her virtual engagements amid her recovery.
The queen, who previously had surgery in both knees to remove cartilage in 2003, began using a walking stick in late 2021.
British artists who are in the U.S. right now are still feeling the loss of their monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who died Thursday at age 96 after 70 years on the throne. And Harry Styles was no exception.
At New York’s Madison Square Garden on Thursday, Harry announced to the crowd, “From my homeland, there was some very sad news today: the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.”
“Please, join me in a round of applause for 70 years of service,” he urged, and all 20,000 fans joined him in clapping for the queen for a good 30 seconds. Fan-recorded video of the moment can be seen online.
In 2012, as part of One Direction, Harry actually got to meet the queen after they performed at the Royal Variety Performance, an annual concert attended by the royal family. A then-18-year-old Harry tweeted his excitement afterward, writing, “Amazing night.. Can’t believe it. Night!!”
Selma Blair is opening up on what the opportunity to compete on season 31 of Dancing with the Stars means to her.
The actress, 50, told Good Morning America how excited she is to compete after facing life-changing health struggles since her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in 2018.
“I’m beyond thrilled,” Blair said. “I’m [here] with perspective and coming back and realizing the support of people when you try — it’s changed my life.”
Blair also shared what she hopes to take away from the experience: “I am thrilled to learn how to move my body better right now, I am thrilled to have support, be here — have camaraderie,” she said. “I cannot believe that I am ready in my life to do this. I am so excited.”
Blair revealed in an Instagram post in October 2018 that she’d been diagnosed with MS, a disorder in which cells from the immune system attack the central nervous system.
The actress spoke about her battle with the disease and how it’s changed her life in a 2021 documentary, Introducing, Selma Blair, the same year she said she was in remission after undergoing chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant.
“I’m really happy — to really do things that are pushing stamina and being visible,” she told GMA. “I’m grabbing at every joy we have in life.”
The actress, who will partner with DWTS pro Sasha Farber, also shared what she believes will be some of her biggest challenges while competing.
“I am really nervous if I lose my partner’s touch,” Blair said. “I am used to having a counterbalance of my dog or a cane or at home my abilities are much more seamless than out and about, so this is a bit of a flop sweat.”
(LONDON) — New British Prime Minister Liz Truss on Thursday responded to skyrocketing energy prices in dramatic fashion with plans for a freeze on natural gas and electricity bills for millions of households that face massive rate increases as the winter months approach.
The policy could amount to one of the country’s largest government interventions in recent history, costing tens of billions of pounds and reducing prices on a wide scale.
The plan arrives amid an energy shortage brought about by the Russia-Ukraine war, which has worsened Britain’s inflation crisis, helping send price increases in the country soaring to a 40-year high of 10.1%.
Britain is hardly alone with its inflation woes. Sky-high inflation has strained economies and household budgets across the world, including in the United States, where cost hikes have slowed but remain near decades-long highs.
Rather than price controls, U.S. inflation policy has relied on a series of aggressive borrowing cost increases as the Federal Reserve tries to slash price increases by slowing the economy and choking off demand. But the approach risks tipping the U.S. into an economic downturn and putting millions out of work.
Economists who spoke with ABC News acknowledged the potential effectiveness of the British policy as a means of targeting that nation’s energy price spike but they differed sharply on whether the plan offers a blueprint that the U.S. should consider for sectors of high inflation.
Here’s how the British policy will work, and whether experts think it could be implemented in the U.S.:
What does Britain’s energy price cap do?
The plan, which would go into effect next month and last two years, caps the annual cost of natural gas and electricity for a typical British household at £2,500. The plan would do the same for many non-domestic institutions, such as schools; but those price caps only last six months.
The average annual cost for natural gas and electricity was otherwise scheduled to spike next month from £1,971 to £3,549, and thereby take up a sizable proportion of monthly spending for many British households.
Under the plan, the British government will pay energy suppliers the shortfall leftover from the reduction in the retail price. Truss, a member of the Conservative party, has not announced the cost of the measure but some estimates put the cost at roughly £150 billion, making it more than twice the size of the initiative that allowed British companies to keep paying workers amid COVID.
“This is a huge piece of state intervention ironically overseen by a conservative government suspicious of the state,” said Matthew Goodwin, a London-based professor of politics at the University of Kent.
Moreover, energy suppliers will receive the same amount of payment for their goods that they would have if the retail price had jumped, since the government is covering the shortfall.
This payment mechanism causes the large price tag for the British government and differentiates the policy from the price controls imposed in the U.S. during World War II, for instance, in which companies were asked to sacrifice profits for the war effort, said Hal Singer, a managing director at the consulting firm Econ One and adjunct professor at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business.
“The reason why the U.K. policy is costly is because Truss is insisting that energy suppliers continue to be compensated at market rates,” Singer told ABC News.
Should a policy like this be implemented in the U.S.?
The energy crisis caused by the Russia-Ukraine war has not impacted the U.S. as much as many countries, especially those in Europe.
However, overall inflation in the U.S. remains historically high, with price hikes for goods such such as rent and groceries far worse than cost increases in other areas of the economy. That dynamic raises the question of whether an approach like the one announced by Britain could work to address particularly severe areas of U.S. inflation.
Singer, of Econ One, said the U.S. should pursue such a strategy to bring down costs like skyrocketing rents, which result in part from the outsized market control retained by landlords.
“We absolutely should be pursuing these alternative remedies to address what many of us are starting to see now as the exercise of market power,” he said. “There’s a comparable crisis in the U.S. in terms of rents for apartments and homes.”
But Orazem sharply disagreed, saying that price controls would worsen the root problem behind inflation: a supply shortage. Price controls risk undercutting the incentive that high prices give to companies for increased investment and ramped up supply, which in theory should bring the market to equilibrium, he said.
“Creating supply shortages in the middle of inflation that’s created by supply shortages seems ludicrous to me,” he said. “You’re not solving the problem by exacerbating the problem.”
Bachelorette finalist Erich Schwer has issued an apology after old photos of him using blackface surfaced on the internet.
“I wholeheartedly apologize for the insensitive photo of me in Blackface from my high school yearbook that has been circulating,” he captioned an Instagram photo of a blank black square on Thursday evening. “What I thought at the time was a representation of my love for Jimi Hendrix, was nothing but ignorance.”
“I was naïve to the hurtful implications of my actions to the Black community and those closest to me, and will forever regret my offensive and damaging behavior,” he added. “I am deeply ashamed by my actions and understand that my apology is only the first step in taking accountability.”
Erich is currently vying for the heart of Gabby Windey on season 19 of The Bachelorette, and on this week’s episodes fans watched as the two enjoyed a fantasy suite date before he became the last man standing. Just one day after the episode aired, a viral Reddit thread shared photos from the New Jersey real estate agent’s high school yearbook, which showed him in blackface.
The next episode of The Bachelorette airs September 13.
(NEW YORK) — In August 2020, hundreds of thousands of Californians briefly lost power in rolling blackouts amid a heat wave, marking the first time outages were ordered in the state due to insufficient energy supplies in nearly 20 years.
The state has been working to avoid a similar scenario as California is in the midst of an unprecedented heat wave that officials said is on track to be the state’s hottest and longest for September.
For more than a week, the California Independent System Operator (ISO) — which oversees the electrical grid serving 80% of the state — has been calling on residents to conserve their energy use in the later afternoon and evening amid extreme temperatures that have sent electric demand on the grid to record levels.
Thanks to those efforts, the company has so far avoided having to order an outage to reduce demand and stabilize the system even in the face of record demand. The power grid saw a record demand of 52,061 MW on Tuesday, as the ISO warned that power outages were imminently possible “as electricity supplies run low in the face of record heat and demand.” Prior to this current heat wave, the previous record was 50,270 MW in 2006.
California ISO power grid peak demand hit 52,061 MW, a new all-time record. Still holding in EEA3 – no load shed. Conservation is making a difference. https://t.co/9gv5TqmPuQ
Had reserve supplies been exhausted, the ISO would have ordered utilities to begin rolling power outages to bring demand within available supplies and avoid cascading blackouts.
“Outages are a significant inconvenience to those affected, but it’s preferable to manage emergencies in a controlled manner rather than let it cause a wider spread, longer lasting disruption,” the ISO said in a statement.
Factors impacting the grid
Several factors impact the capacity and function of the power grid.
Increased demand and extreme heat: The power grid is being strained amid what California officials have called an unprecedented prolonged heat wave.
“California and many other western states are experiencing simply unprecedented temperatures,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said this week. “These triple-digit temperatures throughout much of our state are leading, not surprisingly, to record demand on the energy grid.”
— Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) September 7, 2022
Heat waves drive up demand due to increased air-conditioning use.
“Typical summer peak load in CAISO is 30 GW, but super-hot day can be nearly 50 GW. That 60%+ increase is virtually all air-conditioning,” Severin Borenstein, a renewable energy expert at the University of California, Berkeley, and an ISO board member, said on Twitter.
Californians have been urged to raise their thermostats in the afternoon and evening hours, when demand on the grid is greatest, among other actions to reduce their energy use at night.
California buys electricity from other states to boost its supply, but during a widespread heat wave, there’s less energy for other states to sell. Rising temperatures due to climate change are expected to drive up air-conditioning demand across the country, according to Climate Central.
Renewable energy supply: The state’s grid is powered, in part, by renewable energy, including solar power and hydropower.
The solar supply decreases toward the end of the day, prompting the calls to reduce energy use after 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. There can also be uncertainty with solar supply due to factors such as cloud cover and smoke from wildfires, as the state battles several blazes.
“We’ve seen situations where smoke and cloud cover can have an effect. If it’s over a populated area, it could have more effect of reducing demand, where if the smoke and cloud cover is over the solar fields, it can have an effect on the availability of supply,” Mark Rothleder, the ISO’s senior vice president and chief operating officer, told reporters during a press briefing Thursday.
Prolonged drought and wildfires, which are becoming more prevalent and severe due to climate change, can also cut into power supplies. The U.S. Energy Information Administration had forecast that California could lose half its normal hydroelectric generation this summer due to drought. Wildfires can also trip off transmission lines, limiting the flow of electricity.
The current heat wave “is just the latest reminder of how real the climate crisis is, and how it is impacting the everyday lives of Californians,” Newsom said in a statement. “While we are taking steps to get us through the immediate crisis, this reinforces the need for urgent action to end our dependence on fossil fuels that are destroying our climate and making these heat waves hotter and more common.”
Breakdowns and human error: The state also uses natural gas to power its grid.
Multiple generators also have been “forced out of service due to the extreme heat, making energy supplies tighter,” the ISO said.
Human error may also play a part in power supplies. Though the ISO has not issued them, several Northern California cities did see rolling blackouts this week due to a “communication breakdown” between the grid operator and local power authority, The Sacramento Bee reported.
“I think every time you go through a period where you’re where your grid and both your human and physical infrastructure gets stretched right to the edge, you can look back and learn from that,” Eliot Mainzer, president and chief executive officer of the ISO, told reporters Thursday.
Mainzer said the latest heat wave has shown the importance of procuring new clean energy resources, ensuring backup generation and having a sophisticated alert system that can help cut down on energy use in real-time.
“We’re seeing really the onset of what [is] now a new normal of heat and volatility and uncertainty in the system,” he said.
Following the announcement of Queen Elizabeth II‘s death on Thursday at the age of 96, Elton Johnpaid tribute to late monarch at his Toronto concert.
“We have the saddest news about the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth,” he said. “She was an inspiring person to be around — I’ve been around her and she was fantastic. She led the country though some of our greatest and darkest moments with grace, decency and a genuine care and warmth.”
“I’m 75 — she’s been with me all my life and I feel very sad that she won’t be with me anymore,” the legendary rocker shared. “But I’m glad she’s at peace, and I’m glad she’s at rest, and she deserves it because she’s worked bloody hard,” Elton continued as the audience cheered.
“I send my love to her family and her loved ones. She will be missed, but her spirit lives on and we celebrate her life tonight with music, okay?” he concluded, before launching into his 1974 hit, “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” a song that gets its title from the Queen Victoria-era saying, “The sun never sets on the British Empire.”
Elton’s tribute was similar to a post on his Twitter earlier in in which he called the late Queen “an inspiring presence to be around.”
Elton paid tribute to his close friend Princess Diana after her death in 1997 with the song “Candle in the Wind ’97,” a reworking of his 1973 hit honoring Marilyn Monroe.
Elton was knighted by the Queen on April 24, 1998 for his musical and commercial contributions to the United Kingdom, as well as his extensive charity work, particularly with AIDS research and financial support.
