Modest Mouse has announced a U.S. tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of the band’s 1997 album, The Lonesome Crowded West.
The outing will kick off November 18 in Missoula, Montana, and will conclude December 17 in New York City. Tickets go on sale this Friday, September 9, at 10 a.m. local time.
Modest Mouse will be selling a special edition vinyl version of The Lonesome Crowded West during the shows. A limited number of LPs will be available to preorder ahead of the tour.
For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit ModestMouse.com.
The Lonesome Crowded West, the second Modest Mouse album, helped establish the group as a beloved indie band. They later gained mainstream recognition with 2004’s Good News for People Who Love BadNews, which spawned the single “Float On.”
Modest Mouse is currently on tour supporting the band’s latest album, 2021’s The Golden Casket. The outing concludes September 11 in Atlanta.
Blondie’s Chris Stein, Debbie Harry and Clem Burke; Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
Last month, Blondiereleased the expansive Against the Odds box set, which takes a deep dive into the influential new wave band’s past. But the group is also looking toward the future with a new studio album that founding drummer Clem Burke says is due out next year.
“I think it’s gonna come out in the spring,” Burke tells ABC Audio. “I think we’re pretty much on track for that. And we have been getting a lot of interesting offers to play live next year at festivals that we are probably going to do, in conjunction with the release of the album.”
Blondie started work on the album before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which Burke says delayed the project.
“Yeah, we put that process on hold until we were all able to be in the studio together,” the 67-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer explains, “’cause we wanted to follow suit with the way we did our last album of new music, [2017’s] Pollinator.”
Burke says the upcoming record was made with the same producer who worked on Pollinator, John Congleton.
Pollinator featured several guest collaborators, including former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, who wrote the song “My Monster.” Clem says Marr has also written a track that’s expected to appear on the new album.
Meanwhile, Burke reports that original Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock, who filled in for Blondie’s bassist, Leigh Fox, on their recent tour dates, also contributed to the upcoming record.
In addition, Clem reveals the album will include “a very left-field cover” of a song by a 1960s New York underground band “that will be very surprising for a lot of people,” and that’s “not The Velvet Underground.”
The drama and romance of fantasy suites continued on Tuesday’s episode of The Bachelorette.
Picking up where they left off on Monday’s episode, Gabby, who sent Johnny home following his admission that he wasn’t ready for an engagement, and her relationship with Erich on the rocks after he expressed his discomfort with her potentially spending the night with the other men — found herself sending Jason home after his bombshell that he also wasn’t ready for a commitment.
Gabby would later pay Erich a visit, to let him know that he was that he was the only man left, and therefore go on to meet her family.
Meanwhile, Zach, who felt confident going into his date with Rachel, was “blindsided” by her sudden doubt as to whether or not he wasn’t ready for an engagement, citing their age difference — he’s 25 and she’s 26. After an emotional conversation with host Jesse Palmer, he planned to speak to her before the rose ceremony.
However, the results of that conversation, and the results of the rose ceremony will have to wait until next week’s season finale “to prepare ourselves for the shocking events that are about to take place — events that are going to change both Gabby’s and Rachel’s lives forever,” Palmer, standing in an empty studio, explained.
“Prepare yourselves for the most shocking finale of all time,” he concluded.
The Bachelorette season 19 finale airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Atlanta 10, Oakland 9
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Tampa Bay 8, Boston 4
Cleveland 4, Kansas City 1
Baltimore 9, Toronto 6
Texas 4, Houston 3
LA Angels 5, Detroit 4 (10)
Seattle 3, Chi White Sox 0
Minnesota at NY Yankees (Postponed)
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Pittsburgh 8, NY Mets 2
Philadelphia 3, Miami 2
St. Louis 4, Washington 1
Chi Cubs 9, Cincinnati 3
Colorado 10, Milwaukee 7
San Diego 6, Arizona 5
LA Dodgers 6, San Francisco 3
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Connecticut 104, Chicago 80
Las Vegas 97, Seattle 92
(NEW YORK) — As children head back to the classroom for the academic year, new data shows that pediatric COVID-19 infection rates have increased for the second consecutive week.
Last week, more than 90,600 additional child COVID-19 cases were reported, an increase of 14% from two weeks prior, when just under 80,000 cases were reported, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA).
The increase comes despite an overall plateauing of COVID-19 infections nationally.
Overall, totals remain significantly lower than during other parts of the pandemic. Since mid-May, data shows that new cases have plateaued, fluctuating between a high of about 68,000 to 112,000 cases.
However, many Americans who are taking at-home tests are not submitting their results, and thus, experts say daily case totals are likely significantly higher than the numbers that are officially reported.
More than 14.5 million children have tested positive for the virus since the onset of the pandemic, and since the beginning of 2022, approximately 6.65 million reported cases have been added. Children represent about a fifth of all reported cases on record.
Despite the uptick in infections, with COVID-19 vaccine mandates in schools still virtually nonexistent, millions of children remain completely unvaccinated.
Overall, about 43.1 million eligible children remain completely unvaccinated, according to federal data.
Most of the nearly 30 million children who have received at least one shot are older children. The vast majority of the youngest Americans under the age of 5 — or just 1 million out of the 19.5 million children in that age group — have yet to receive a COVID-19 shot, according to federal data.
AAP and CHA said there is an “urgent” need to collect more age-specific data to assess the severity of illness related to new variants, as well as potential longer-term effects.
“It is important to recognize there are immediate effects of the pandemic on children’s health, but importantly, we need to identify and address the long-lasting impacts on the physical, mental and social well-being of this generation of children and youth,” the organizations wrote.
(SAN DIEGO, Calif.) — A former naval contractor who was convicted of bribing Navy officers with millions of dollars worth of lavish cigars, prostitutes and cash allegedly cut off his ankle monitor on Sunday and is now on the run, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
Leonard Francis, also known as “Fat Leonard,” was awaiting sentencing on Sept. 22 after being found guilty in 2015 of bribing officers with gifts and millions in cash, in exchange for information about the movements of naval ships. In one instance, according to the Justice Department, Francis was able to have a ship moved to a port he owned in Malaysia.
On Sunday, U.S. Marshals showed up at Francis’ home after being alerted that his GPS ankle monitor was being tampered with, according to a press release from the agency.
“Members of the San Diego Fugitive Task Force went to Francis’ residence, in an attempt to locate him,” the Marshals said. “After announcing themselves, task force officers made entry into the residence through an unlocked door. After a thorough check of the residence, officers were unable to locate Francis. Officers were able to locate the GPS ankle monitor that had been cut off.”
“His current whereabouts are unknown,” the agency added.
Since 2013, there have been more than 30 naval officers charged in connection with his case. A judge ruled that Francis had to forfeit the $35 million he was convicted of defrauding the U.S. government by when he overbilled government contracts and bribed naval officials.
“In his plea agreement, Francis conceded that over the course of the conspiracy, he and [his contracting company] gave public officials millions of dollars in things of value, including over $500,000 in cash; hundreds of thousands of dollars in the services of prostitutes and associated expenses; hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel expenses, including airfare, often first or business class, luxurious hotel stays, incidentals and spa treatments; hundreds of thousands of dollars in lavish meals, top-shelf alcohol and wine and entertainment; and hundreds of thousands of dollars in luxury gifts, including designer handbags and leather goods, watches, fountain pens, fine wine, champagne, Scotch, designer furniture, consumer electronics, ornamental swords and hand-made ship models,” according to a Justice Department release.
(ROSE ISLAND, Bahamas) — An American was killed in a shark attack while snorkeling in the Bahamas on Tuesday, authorities said.
The victim, a Pennsylvanian woman in her 50s, was attacked by a bull shark off Rose Island shortly before 2 p.m. local time Tuesday, Bahamas authorities said.
The woman was in a popular snorkeling area with her family when the attack occurred, police said. Five to seven people were snorkeling at the time.
The victim, who has not been publicly identified by police, was on a cruise with family, authorities said.
Royal Caribbean said in a statement that the woman was a guest on a seven-night Harmony of the Seas cruise that sailed from Port Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday.
She was on an “independent shore excursion” in Nassau when attacked by a shark and succumbed to her injuries at a local hospital, the company said.
“Royal Caribbean is providing support and assistance to the guest’s loved ones during this difficult time,” the statement said.
In June 2019, an American tourist snorkeling off Rose Island was killed in a shark attack. The victim, 21-year-old Loyola-Marymount University student Jordan Lindsey, died after a school of sharks attacked her.
(NEW YORK) — Throughout much of the pandemic, there has been a constant shifting in terms of which COVID-19 variants are most dominant, at a given time, in the U.S.
However, for the last five weeks, federal data shows that there has been little to no growth in the different proportions of COVID-19 variants in the country.
For more than nine months, the omicron variant, and its subvariants, have been dominant in the U.S. But now, health experts say it is unclear why the growth of the omicron strains appears to have stagnated, or why it is that no other significant variants have emerged to challenge its dominance.
“Unlike previous variants, BA.5 appears to have more staying power. A mix of higher transmissibility, waning immunity and relaxed restrictions likely contribute to the ability of this variant to find more hosts to infect,” said John Brownstein, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.
BA.5 is currently estimated to account for about 88.6% of new COVID-19 infections — a share that has plateaued over the last five weeks, according to updated data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
BA.4 currently accounts for an estimated 2.8% of new cases in the U.S., and a recently identified subvariant, BA.4.6, is estimated to account for 8.4% of new cases — up slightly from last week when the subvariant accounted for 7.6% of new cases.
Combined, the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants account for nearly 100% of new cases in the U.S., according to the CDC data.
The BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants appear to have a transmission advantage over the original omicron strain, according to the World Health Organization, and thus, scientists have been closely monitoring the increase in reported cases. At this time, it does not appear as though BA.5 has an increase in severity.
The slowing of the omicron strain’s growth pattern leaves many questions unanswered as to whether there will be viral resurgence in the fall and winter.
“We still have open questions as to what this means for a fall surge and the opportunities for a new variant to displace it,” Brownstein said.
The stagnation of growth with the omicron variants comes as the U.S. appears to experience a parallel plateauing of new COVID-19 infections. The nation had been reporting consistent declines throughout the late summer, but in recent weeks, that number has been hovering around 84,000 new cases each day, according to the CDC.
As previously reported, dozens of states have moved to shutter public testing sites, with more at-home COVID-19 tests now available. Most Americans are not reporting their results to officials, and thus, experts suggest that infection totals are likely significantly undercounted.
Just over 400,000 tests are being reported each day, marking the lowest number of confirmed tests since the onset of the pandemic.
Although new case rates are still dropping in parts of the West, across areas of the Northeast, the Midwest and even parts of the South, case rates have plateaued at a high level or are showing signs of increasing again.
Hospital admission levels also appear to be plateauing nationally. About 5,100 virus-positive Americans are entering the hospital each day, down by about 3.7% in the last week, according to CDC data.
Death rates also remain persistently high, with hundreds of Americans still losing their lives to the virus each day. According to the CDC, the average number of daily COVID-19-related deaths remains more than 400 deaths reported each day.
Thousands are still losing their lives every week, and over the last seven days alone, the U.S. has reported more than 2,800 deaths — still one of the highest weekly totals in months.
(SAN FRANCISCO) — Temperatures in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area have hit record numbers as state officials warn of blackouts throughout the state as Californians deals with intense heat.
The temperature in Livermore, located in the eastern part of the Bay Area, reached 116 degrees on Monday, the highest temperature recorded in the Bay area, according to the National Weather Service.
Santa Rosa, California, hit 112 degrees on Monday, breaking its previous record of 110 degrees; Gilroy, California, also reached 112 degrees, tying the record set in 2017 and 2020, according to NWS.
California is going through a record-breaking heat wave that may be the hottest and longest in the state for September, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a video posted Tuesday on Twitter.
The state’s power grid is also being pushed to the brink and runs the risk of outages, according to California Independent System Operators (CAISO), which runs the state’s electrical grid.
CAISO has thanked state residents for helping conserve as much energy as possible to lower the power load. “Forecasts showed that electrical demand could reach over 51,000 megawatts on Tuesday — the highest demand ever on the state’s energy grid, exceeding the previous high of 50,270 megawatts in 2006, CAISO said.”
The organization urged residents to set their thermostats to 78 degrees, turn off lights when not being used, unplug unused electronics and to pre-cool their homes earlier in the day.
“We’re heading to the worst part of this heat wave and the risk for outages is real and it’s immediate,” Newsom said. “These triple-digit temperatures throughout much of our state are leading, nor surprisingly, to record demand on the energy grid.”
(NEW YORK) — One of Antarctica’s most important glaciers is holding on “by its fingernails” as warming temperatures around the globe threaten to cause further deterioration, which could then destabilize the glaciers in the entire region.
The Thwaites glacier, located in the Amundsen Sea in western Antarctica, is among the fastest-changing glaciers in the region, according to scientists. Along with Pine Island, also located in the Amundsen Sea, the two structures are responsible for the largest contribution of sea level rise out of Antarctica.
Now, scientists are finding that the Thwaites glacier, also known as the “Doomsday glacier,” is melting faster than previously thought as warm and dense deep water delivers heat to the present-day ice-shelf cavity and melts its ice shelves from below, according to a study published in Nature Geoscience on Monday.
Thwaites, which is about the size of Florida, has been known to be on a fast retreat. But researchers from the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science and the British Antarctic Survey mapped a critical area of the seafloor in front of the glacier that could contribute to faster melting in the future.
Satellite imagery released in 2020 of Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers, which are located next to each other, showed highly crevassed areas and open fractures — both signs that the shear zones on both glaciers, where the ice shelf is thin, had weakened structurally over the past decade.
But scientists have now discovered that the retreat from the grounding zone of Thwaites glacier is closer to more than 2.1 kilometers per year — twice the rate observed by satellite imagery at the fastest-retreating part of the grounding between 2011 and 2019, according to the study.
The researchers documented more than 160 parallel ridges that have been created as a result of the glacier’s leading edge retreating and bobbing up and down with the daily tides. In addition, the scientists analyzed the rib-like formations submerged about a half of mile beneath the ocean, determining that each new rib was likely formed over a single day.
Large calving events, when a large piece breaks off, occurred on Thwaites in October 2018 and February 2020, when an unprecedented retreat of the ice shelf occurred. The feedback process, likely triggered by new damage to the ice shelf, resulted in ice shelves being preconditioned for further disintegration and large calving events.
This makes the ice shelves on Thwaites and Pine Island more sensitive to extreme climate change in the ocean, atmosphere and sea ice. If Thwaites and Pine Island were to destabilize, several of the neighboring areas would also fall apart, causing a widespread collapse, the scientists said. Thwaites alone could cause sea levels to rise about 10 feet, the scientists said.
In December, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder predicted that Thwaites will last only a few more years before it collapses.
“Thwaites is really holding on today by its fingernails, and we should expect to see big changes over small timescales in the future – even from one year to the next – once the glacier retreats beyond a shallow ridge in its bed,” said Robert Larter, a British Antarctic Survey marine geophysicist and a co-author of the study, in a statement.
Researchers from the U.S., the U.K. and Sweden used a state-of-the-art robotic vehicle loaded with imaging sensors, nicknamed “Ran,” to collect the imagery and supporting geophysical data, described by Anna Wahlin, a physical oceanographer from the University of Gothenburg, as “a pioneering study of the ocean floor.”
“The images Ran collected give us vital insights into the processes happening at the critical junction between the glacier and the ocean today,” Wahlin said.
