Kelly Giddish, who has played Detective Amanda Rollins on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit since 2011, will soon be handing in her badge and gun.
In a statement provided by NBC, Giddish noted the forthcoming season “will indeed” be her last on the long-running series.
“Playing Rollins has been one of the greatest joys and privileges of my life. I’ve been so fortunate to be a part of the ‘Law & Order’ family for the last 12 years,” she said in part.
“There is simply no other character on TV like Rollins,” Giddish continued. “She’s grown and changed, and I have as well. I started on this show when I was in my late 20s and I’m grateful I got to spend so many of my adult years with Rollins in my life.”
After thanking creator Dick Wolf, her co-star and executive producer Mariska Hargitay, and the cast, crew, and L&O fans, Giddish said, “I’m so excited to take all the things I have learned in my time on SVU and put them toward everything that’s next to come.”
Variety notes that Giddish will at least be in the premiere episode on September 22, which will unite the casts of Law & Order, SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime in an all-night crossover event.
Luckily for fans of the steely character, it looks like she won’t be killed off.
“#Rollisi will have a happy ending. Stay tuned,” tweeted producer Julie Martin, referring to the “shipping” name fans gave to Rollins and Peter Scanavino‘s ADA Sonny Carisi.
Red Hot Chili Peppers will be celebrating at the VMAs with Cheech&Chong.
According to Variety, the comedy duo will present the “Californication” outfit with the Global Icon Award at the MTV show, taking place this Sunday, August 28.
Variety also reports that actor Johnny Depp was considered to present the award before the Peppers chose Cheech & Chong.
The VMAs announced last week that RHCP would receive the 2022 Global Icon Award, which “celebrates an artist or band whose unparalleled career and continued impact and influence has maintained a unique level of global success in music and beyond, leaving an indelible mark on the music landscape.” Foo Fighters were honored with the prize in 2021.
Red Hot Chili Peppers will also perform at the VMAs, marking their return to the show for the first time in over 20 years. Other performers include Måneskin and Panic! at the Disco.
Nick Cannon‘s tribe is getting bigger: the television host is expecting his 10th child. He revealed Wednesday via a video on Instagram that captured BTS clips of his maternity shoot with Brittany Bell, the mother of two of his children.
“Time Stopped and This Happened. #Sunshine #SonRISE,” he captioned a video, revealing the gender of the baby. The couple’s children Golden and Powerful were also included in some of the shots.
Nick is also father to twins Moroccan and Monroe with his ex-wife, Mariah Carey; twin sons Zion and Zillion with DJ Abby De La Rosa; Legendary with model Bre Tiesi; and Zen with Alyssa Scott.
Zen passed away at 5months old after battling brain cancer.
Edge of Tomorrow and Mr. and Mrs. Smith director Doug Liman was joined by his star Jake Gyllenhaalfor a photo to commemorate the start of shooting their Road House reboot.
The pair was shown smiling in a picture posted by Gyllenhaal from the movie’s shooting location in the Dominican Republic, with Liman holding up the movie’s clapper.
“I’ve wanted to work with the ridiculously talented Doug Liman for years. Day 1. Roadhouse,” the Oscar-nominated actor captioned the photo.
As reported, Gyllenhaal will play “a former UFC fighter who takes a job as a bouncer at a rough-and-tumble roadhouse in the Florida Keys, but soon discovers that not everything is what it seems in this tropical paradise.”
He, of course, succeeds Patrick Swayze in the lead role. Swayze played a psychology degree-holding brawler who runs afoul of a vicious land developer in the original.
As shooting started on the reboot, Amazon announced that Fast X star Joaquim de Almeida, The Terminal List‘s JD Pardo, Never Have I Ever‘s Darren Barnet and Snowfall‘s Kevin Carroll have joined the cast.
Road House will also star The Suicide Squad‘s Daniela Melchior, Gbemisola Ikumelo from Amazon’s ALeague of Their Own reboot and Broad City‘s Arturo Castro.
The other day, Sir Elton Johnperformed his forthcoming Britney Spears collab at a popular French restaurant. On Wednesday, Britney shared an extended preview of the song so fans could really hear what it sounds like — then deleted it a short time later.
If you caught it, the clip featured Britney’s rich vocals as she sings lyrics and melodies from Elton’s 1971 hit “Tiny Dancer” and his 1992 tune “The One.”
Britney also lavished praise onto the legendary hitmaker, writing in a lengthy Instagram caption, “Since most say they are honored TO KNOW ME SO WELL and only want happiness for me … you can bet your bottom dollar that THIS collaboration will heighten my year by joining your brilliant hands of play.”
Britney said, “Sir Elton I did it thanks to your genius, creative, and legendary mind !!! I am so grateful !!!”
Elton commented on the “Toxic” singer’s post: “Can’t wait for everyone to hear what we’ve been working on!”
The two have also shared a snippet of what appears to be the track’s music video. The clip opens to a field of pink roses before a rocket blasts off into the pastel-colored sky.
The British singer also took to his Instagram Story to share a “‘Hold Me Closer’ pop quiz,” where he asked fans how they are feeling about the forthcoming track, if they presaved the song and how excited they are to finally hear it when it comes out on Friday.
Congrats are in order for Volbeat frontman Michael Poulsen and his girlfriend, Jeanet, who are now married.
The Danish rockers posted a photo to Instagram from the wedding ceremony, which took place Saturday, August 20.
“Finally married. Michael Poulsen and Jeanet Poulsen: 20-08-2022,” the caption reads.
Michael, who’s been married once before, has been with Jeanet since at least 2017, when they welcomed a baby girl.
In between getting married, Michael and the rest of Volbeat have been touring in support of their new album, Servant of the Mind, which dropped last December. It includes the singles “Wait a Minute My Girl,” “Shotgun Blues” and “Temple of Ekur.”
Wet Leg, The 1975 and Yungblud are among the artists performing BBC Radio 1’s upcoming Live Lounge Month.
The annual series features artists visiting the U.K. radio station to play their new material and often a unique cover. Yungblud, for example, performed a mashup of a Taylor Swift and Avril Lavigne song during his 2020 Live Lounge set.
Other artists taking part this year include WILLOW, beabadoobee, Steve Lacy and Nova Twins.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that his administration is forgiving some student loan debt for U.S. borrowers and extending the federal student loan repayment pause until Dec. 31, both actions that have been highly anticipated and closely watched by millions of Americans.
The move comes a week before the pause on student loan repayments was set to expire on Aug. 31. The measure was put in place in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic and was designed to relieve borrowers from defaulting on student loans and allow them to begin repayments in good standing when the state of the economy improved.
The new changes could “provide relief to up to 43 million borrowers, including cancelling the full remaining balance for roughly 20 million borrowers,” according to a White House fact sheet.
The move could be of particular benefit to women, who hold nearly two-thirds of all student loan debt in the U.S., according to the American Association of University Women, and Black borrowers, who are disproportionately burdened by student loan debt, according to the National Consumer Law Center.
Below are some of the top questions surrounding student loan forgiveness and what experts say borrowers should consider.
How much in student loans can be forgiven?
The president tweeted an outline of the changes on Wednesday, which include forgiving up to $20,000 in student loan debt for Americans who attended colleges and universities on federal Pell grants and up to $10,000 for Americans who did not attend schools on Pell grants. This would only apply to borrowers who earn $125,000 or less per year.
When does student loan repayment start?
The federal student loan pause ends on Dec. 31. Those with student loans will have to start making repayments in January 2023.
Additionally, those with undergraduate loans will be able to cap their repayments at 5% of their monthly income.
How many Americans have student loan debt?
The federal government estimates that more than 45 million Americans have approximately $1.6 trillion in student loan debt, according to the White House fact sheet published Wednesday.
What is the average amount of student loan debt?
According to data from the U.S. Department of Education, American undergraduates hold nearly $25,000 in student loans after graduation.
Who do you contact when it’s time to enroll in a repayment plan?
Borrowers should contact their loan servicer(s) to determine how to begin or resume making repayments and to discuss specific conditions of repayments. If a borrower was using an auto-debit service previously, they should not expect the service to proceed again automatically.
What happens when you refinance a student loan?
Student loans can be federal student loans that are funded by the federal government or private loans managed by a lender like a bank, school, state agency, or other institution. Private student loans are not included in Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan.
A federal student loan can be refinanced or reorganized into a private loan with different terms, but borrowers should carefully consider the benefits and drawbacks before doing so. There are advantages a borrower may have to give up if refinancing, including qualifying for temporary loan payment relief, no interest periods, potential loan forgiveness and discharges, according to the Department of Education.
What is the best student loan repayment plan?
There are several types of student loans and a borrower will need to take a closer look at what types of loans they have — whether federal or private — and the different terms for each loan.
How else can a borrower get student loan forgiveness?
The federal government is giving borrowers until Oct. 31 to apply for a waiver and credits for past repayment periods under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, a federal program that forgives student loan balances after a borrower, who has worked full-time for a qualifying employer, has completed 120 qualifying payments. These payments can be ones made under income-driven repayment plans.
Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, the federal government also established a Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness program which may apply to borrowers who don’t necessarily qualify for the PSLF program.
Borrowers can visit the StudentAid.gov website to see if they qualify for or to apply for the PSLF/TEPSLF program and/or waivers and credits.
For additional information on the student loan forgiveness program changes and for more details that will be released in the coming weeks, borrowers can visit the StudentAid.gov website.
Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Some states and jurisdictions are hitting early bumps in their rollout of the U.S. government’s new approach to expand access and supply of monkeypox vaccines to more at-risk Americans, local officials have told ABC News, as providers face a steep learning curve with the new inoculation method.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced it was launching a new plan to increase the country’s monkeypox vaccine supply by shifting the way the shots were administered from a traditional subcutaneous injection in the arm, to an intradermal technique of smaller, shallower injections.
The new intradermal technique requires just a fraction of a vaccine per shot. Instead of using one vial per vaccination, the approach produces a total of five vaccinations per vial, according to federal officials. At the time, these officials acknowledged that giving shots this way would require more technical skill.
Now, several state and local officials from across the country have told ABC News that some of their clinicians are struggling to extract all five doses from the vial.
“We have also heard reports from some of our providers that they have been only able to extract three or four doses per vial,” Nikki Ostergaard, from the Washington State Department of Health, told ABC News.
Health officials in Texas confirmed to ABC News that although some providers have been able to successfully extract five doses from the vials, others “cannot get five doses.” In Maryland, a representative for the health department also confirmed it has heard anecdotal reports of the issues.
The Association of Immunization Managers (AIM) confirmed to ABC News that its executive director, Claire Hannan, has also heard that some clinicians are running into trouble with the extraction process, and thus, the organization is working to educate health officials to prepare them for the injection process better.
“The needles that are used make a difference. And AIM hopes that as clinicians get more proficient with the ID technique, this will improve,” a representative for the organization said in a statement.
White House National Monkeypox Response Deputy Coordinator Dr. Demetre Daskalakis told Stat News that his team has “definitely” heard of the issues arising from local jurisdictions, adding there has been a range in the number of doses clinicians are able to extract, with most reporting that they are getting between three and five doses.
Concerns about the intradermal approach from local officials
In the weeks after the U.S. government announced the shift in vaccination strategy, local officials have had some initial concerns about training health care providers on how to administer the shots with the new technique.
New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said during a press conference this week, with Gov. Kathy Hochul, that it is “not as pleasant” to get an intradermal injection, as it can scar and is “more painful.”
“They’re more complications at the site, that these aren’t serious, but they’re unpleasant,” Bassett said.
But officials said given the ongoing crisis, vaccinating as many people as possible is crucial.
“We have been struggling with not having enough doses. And our obligation in public health is always to do the most good for the most people and intradermal administration will vastly expand our access to a scarce resource,” Bassett said at the press conference.
Hochul noted this is “an interim approach until the supply chain challenges break,” and when an unlimited number of vaccines becomes available, the state may consider going back to the original way of administering the shots.
In New York City, Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said Wednesday that it will take “some weeks” for the city to transition fully to an intradermal approach as they educate local clinics on the practice, but the transition is necessary because it is “really being mandated by the federal government.”
“It’s not optional,” Vasan said at a city council meeting. “The federal government has made it clear that we won’t get more vaccines until we make the switch and so we’re making the switch.”
Olivia Wilde is opening up about being served custody papers earlier this year at CinemaCon while promoting her upcoming film, Don’t Worry Darling.
In an interview with Variety, Wilde said the incident was “really vicious.”
“It was my workplace,” Wilde told the trade without naming her ex-fiancé, Jason Sudeikis, the father of their two children, Otis, 8, and Daisy, 5.
“In any other workplace, it would be seen as an attack. It was really upsetting. It shouldn’t have been able to happen.”
Following the CinemaCon incident, Sudeikis said he “deeply regret[s] what happened” and has reiterated that he had no control over it.
“Olivia’s talk was an important event for Olivia, both professionally and personally, and I am very, very sorry that the incident marred her special moment,” Sudeikis said in court documents.
Wilde was onstage for the presentation when she received an envelope that was marked “personal and confidential.” Inside were documents from Sudeikis regarding their kids and a petition to have their case heard in New York.
Wilde described the “really scary” situation as a “huge breach in security.”
“The hurdles that you had to jump through to get into that room with several badges, plus special COVID tests that had to be taken days in advance, which gave you wristbands that were necessary to gain access to the event — this was something that required forethought,” she told the outlet.
Earlier this month, a judge dismissed Sudeikis’ custody petition and sided with Wilde, saying that their case can be heard in Los Angeles, since California is their children’s home state.
Looking back on the incident now, Wilde said that those who were hurt the most were their kids.
“They’ll have to see that, and they shouldn’t ever have to know what happened,” Wilde told Variety.
