The country singer is stepping into the beverage world as the chief flavor officer for Dewey Crush, a canned cocktail company.
The collaboration comes after Kane was introduced to Dewey Crush by wife Katelyn‘s family while spending time with them on Chesapeake Bay. His favorite flavor is Orange Crush, a concoction of triple sec, orange juice, vodka, sweet orange liqueur and a splash of lemon-lime soda on top.
Since being introduced to the cocktail in a can, Kane says it’s his “go-to beverage, period.”
“To have the opportunity to team up with Dewey Crush and bring not only the drink, but the idea of summer fun, to Tennessee and on tour year-round, seemed like an easy decision to make,” the singer adds in a statement. “Dewey Crush has been a hit with my friends at every stop on tour and is definitely my band’s new favorite drink!”
Dewey Crush launched in 2021 with the goal of creating a product that “you could take home that’d spark an amazing memory from an unforgettable summer. A drink that you could share with friends and family to make new moments,” the East Coast-based company describes of their mission.
Dewey Crush also comes in grapefruit and watermelon flavors.
13: The Musical is streaming now on Netflix and the movie’s stars, Debra Messing, Josh Peck and Rhea Perlman,spoke to ABC Audio about what makes this movie so special.
The film stars Eli Golden as Evan, a New Yorker who moves to Indiana following his parents’ divorce. He’s determined to make his bar mitzvah the talk of the town, fearing he’ll become a social pariah if it fails.
The film expands on the Broadway musical 13, which only starred kids. The roles Messing, Peck and Perlman play were written specifically for this movie.
Peck stars as Rabbi, a role he says is “redefining” the rabbi trope by putting a “millennial spin” on it.
“Usually we imagine these older, stately fellows with long beards, sort of musing and stoic,” he noted of his “cool” character, who guides Evan on his journey to adulthood. “We’re pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone to accept [that] our preconceived notions aren’t always right about people.”
Aside from challenging stereotypes, Messing understands how “tricky” it is to adapt a Broadway musical into a movie that will satisfy its original fans. Despite the “little changes” that were made to the script, Messing is “fully confident” it’ll live up to their expectations.
Added Golden, “It’s hard to not smile while you’re watching it.”
Perlman noted the magic of the musical is its young cast: “They’re everything in the movie.” The legendary actress said 13: The Musical is nothing short of “remarkable” in terms of its cast, songs and dance numbers.
Perlman, who stars as Grandma Ruth, joked the role was “natural” to her because “I’ve been a grandmother since before I was 40!” — a reference to the character Carla she played on Cheers.
The vampire action comedy Day Shift hits Netflix Friday, starring Jamie Foxx and Dave Franco as two very different kinds of vampire hunters. The pair talked to ABC Audio about why they think people are fascinated with the fanged blood suckers.
“I think it’s the immortality. I think…it’s a sexiness,” says Foxx. “Everybody that’s played vampires, you know, has had a sexiness to it. Right?”
“For whatever reason, they’re all sexy,” Franco agrees.
Foxx is the lead in the film, which Franco thinks is only right. He says there’s no one else you want as the number one guy on set.
“He comes in, he’s playing music every day, he’s getting everyone hyped up,” he explains. “He just makes you feel confident and comfortable and willing to take risks and willing to fall on your face. And that’s when the best stuff happens.”
Day Shift director J.J. Perry, agrees, adding that Foxx is also one of the most amazing physical specimens he’s every seen.
“I watched him do 42 pull ups. He’s my age,” notes Perry, a stunt man with 149 credits to his name for movies ranging from the Fast and Furious films to John Wick, Django Unchained, and more. “…The strongest young stunt guy got to 24.”
So it’s no surprise that Jamie did almost all of his own stunts, according to Perry, who drew the line at “smashing” the Spider-Man: No Way Home star.
“There’s a couple of times we smashed him through a wall. I used a stunt double just because I can’t have him limping around on set,” he shares. “But he wanted to do everything and he did 99.9% of his business.”
Many people who decide to pursue a music career have to struggle to pay the bills, while others have supportive friends or relatives who help them out until they make it big. But “10 Things I Hate About You” singer Leah Kate went a different route: She was bankrolled by multimillionaire Alexis Ohanian, who co-founded Reddit.
“He’s still a partner and investor in me, in my career,” Leah tells ABC Audio. “But he was, like, the first person to ever believe in me and invest in me. I remember he DM’d me and was like, ‘I want to invest in you. I love your songs.'”
Leah notes, “I looked him up and I knew who he was … I was like, ‘OK, this is a guy who owns Reddit. He’s married to Serena Williams. Oh, my God.’ And he … gave me funding and was my partner so I could stay independent for so long, and gave me the resources to market my music and do what I needed to do.”
In fact, Ohanian’s involvement in Leah’s career was documented by Rolling Stone back in 2020. It was her song “F**k Up the Friendship” that initially caught his ear, and he was able to help her via the music startup indify, in which he was an investor. And even now that she’s got a hit and a record deal, Leah says she and Ohanian are still tight.
“Oh, my God. Yeah, we talk all the time. He’s the best. Love him,” she raves.
But what about Ohanian’s wife, Serena?
Leah laughs, “So, Serena’s, like, liked my comment before on Instagram, but I’ve never met or spoken to her. But I think she knows who I am, so that’s kind of cool!”
This Saturday, August 13, marks the 40th anniversary of the premiere of the classic teen comedy-drama Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
The hit film, which featured such soon-to-be stars as Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Phoebe Cates and Forest Whitaker, also had deep connections to the rock music world.
For starters, the screenplay was written by one-time Rolling Stone journalist Cameron Crowe, who went on to write and direct such rock-themed movies as Singles and Almost Famous.
The Fast Times soundtrack was packed with original songs by well-known rock artists, including Jackson Browne, Joe Walsh, Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmit, The Go-Go’s, Don Felder, Billy Squier, Sammy Hagar, Graham Nash and Stevie Nicks.
Meanwhile, Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson appears in a scene in which Judge Reinhold‘s character Brad Hamilton tries — and fails — to flirt with her.
Several other scenes included humorous references to popular rock acts. Here are three examples:
–In a scene featuring Leigh’s Stacy Hamilton and Cates’ Linda Barrett, as the two friends chat in the high school cafeteria, they realize that several of their female classmates have “cultivated the Pat Benatar look.”
–As the shy, nerd-ish Mark Ratner, portrayed by Brian Backer, nervously prepares for his first date with Stacy, his smooth-talking but sketchy pal Mike Damone — played by Robert Romanus — shares his special five-point plan for a successful date. Point five? “When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV.”
–Just before the end credits of the film roll, we’re informed that Penn’s perpetually stoned surfer-dude character Jeff Spicoli has won a bunch of reward money for saving model/actress Brooke Shields from drowning, but spent all the cash to hire Van Halen to play his birthday party.
(ATLANTA) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its COVID-19 guidance Thursday to ease recommendations for people who are unvaccinated and have been exposed to COVID-19.
Previously, the CDC advised that people who were unvaccinated or hadn’t received their booster shots should quarantine for five days after exposure. If no symptoms appear, the quarantine can end.
The new guidance no longer recommends that unvaccinated people quarantine after exposure, instead suggesting they mask up for 10 days and get tested five days after they were exposed.
This is the same guidance that was previously given to vaccinated and boosted people who were exposed to COVID and essentially simplifies the CDC’s quarantine recommendation. Americans who are exposed to the virus, regardless of vaccination status, no longer need to stay at home if they’ve had an exposure, per the CDC’s latest guidelines.
“We’re in a stronger place today as a nation, with more tools — like vaccination, boosters, and treatments — to protect ourselves, and our communities, from severe illness from COVID-19,” Dr. Greta Massetti, chief of the field epidemiology and prevention branch at the CDC and one of the authors of the updated guidance, said in a statement.
“This guidance acknowledges that the pandemic is not over, but also helps us move to a point where COVID-19 no longer severely disrupts our daily lives,” she said.
The CDC also included updated guidance on how people can use testing to end their isolation after getting sick with COVID-19, recommending two negative tests 48 hours apart before going out in public again without a mask.
The new guidance recommends people take their first test on day six of isolation if they’re fever-free, with a second rapid test 48 hours later.
If both tests are negative, people can leave their homes and not use a mask around others. Massetti said the CDC decided to recommend two tests, two days apart, because of recent Food and Drug Administration studies showing the serial testing, or testing multiple times, improves efficacy of rapid tests.
“We want to ensure that when people are using an antigen test, that we’re relying on the most accurate information, avoiding potentially making decisions based on false negative results,” Massetti told reporters Thursday.
Waiting 48 hours before taking another test mitigates “some of those performance issues,” she said.
But officials were clear that the CDC still considers testing optional and doesn’t expect all Americans to have access to tests.
“We are still recommending that decisions for ending isolation should be based on symptoms and time,” Massetti said.
The guidance Massetti referred to suggests that anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 should isolate for at least five days.
If the person remains fever-free for 24 hours without the use of medication by day 5, or never had symptoms, they can end isolation but are advised to wear a mask for a full 10 days.
The CDC also said it was no longer recommending schools use test-to-stay, which allowed students who were close contacts of those who test positive for COVID to continue to attend in-person classes as long as they remain asymptomatic and continue to test negative.
Massetti said because unvaccinated and vaccinated people no longer are advised to quarantine, test-to-stay was no longer necessary.
“Because we’re no longer recommending quarantine, we’re no longer including a section on test-to-stay because the practice of handling exposures would involve masking rather than a quarantine, and test-to-stay was an alternative to quarantine,” she said.
The CDC also said it was removing its recommendation of testing asymptomatic people without known exposures in most community settings and deemphasizing six feet of social distancing, which has been recommended since the early days of the pandemic.
“Physical distance is just one component of how to protect yourself and others,” the guidance reads. “It is important to consider the risk in a particular setting, including local COVID-19 Community Levels and the important role of ventilation, when assessing the need to maintain physical distance.”
Kevin C. Downs/The New York Post/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE
(NEW YORK) — Allen Weisselberg, for decades the chief financial officer of former President Donald Trump’s namesake family business, is due in a New York court Friday for a hearing in his criminal case.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office charged Weisselberg and the Trump Organization last summer with tax fraud after they were accused of compensating employees “off the books” in order to pay less in taxes. Weisselberg pleaded not guilty.
According to the charging documents, Weisselberg avoided taxes on more than $1.7 million in the past 15 years, resulting from the payment of his rent on an apartment in a Trump-owned building and related expenses that prosecutors said included cars and private school tuition for his grandchildren.
The court hearing is a capstone on an extraordinary week for Trump that began with an FBI search of his Florida residence and included a deposition as part of a civil investigation by the New York Attorney general’s office.
Trump has not been charged in the Manhattan DA case but the ongoing criminal investigation, which parallels the New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil case, may have factored into his decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during Wednesday’s deposition.
The hearing for Weisselberg is expected to be largely procedural but could include the setting of a trial date, which is expected sometime in October.
Weisselberg recently switched up his legal team, adding Nick Gravante, who represented two other Trump Org employees that avoided charges in the Manhattan DA’s probe.
“If there was a deal to be reached in this case, there has been plenty of time to do it,” Mr. Gravante said. “My mission now is to lead this trial team and win, and that’s what I intend to do.”
(MANCHESTER, N.H.) — Authorities have determined that Harmony Montgomery, a little girl who disappeared in 2019, was murdered in Manchester, New Hampshire, in early December 2019, officials announced Thursday.
Harmony would be 8 years old if alive today.
Harmony’s remains have not been found but “multiple sources of investigative information, including biological evidence,” led to the conclusion that she’s dead, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said at a news conference.
The missing persons case is now a homicide investigation, he said.
“Our investigators will continue to seek justice and look into the circumstances of Harmony’s murder and search for her remains,” Formella said.
“I’m beyond saddened,” Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg said.
“There have been many discussions, speculations and questions relative to where the system failed Harmony, and I myself continue to share the same concerns and still have many remaining questions,” he said. “However, the homicide of this little girl rests with the person or persons who committed this horrific act. The Manchester Police Department will do everything within the limits of the law to ensure that the responsible person or persons for the murder of Harmony are brought to justice.”
Aldenberg said he believes “there are people out there in the community that have information about this investigation who have yet to come forward.
“If you are that person, I implore you to do so now and come forward,” he said. “Do it for this little girl.”
Aldenberg urged anyone with information to call the tip line at 603-203-6060.
The attorney general and police chief did not take questions from the media at Thursday’s news conference. No suspect was named.
Harmony’s mother, Crystal Sorey, had custody of her until 2018, according to a state report released in February. In 2019, a Massachusetts court ordered Harmony be sent to live with her father, Adam Montgomery, in New Hampshire, state officials said.
Harmony’s last confirmed home was in Manchester with her father, her stepmother Kayla Montgomery, and her two half-siblings, according to state officials.
Sorey said the last time she saw Harmony was via FaceTime in spring 2019, officials said.
In July 2019, an anonymous call was made to New Hampshire’s Division for Children, Youth and Families alleging that in a visit a week earlier, he or she saw Harmony “had a black eye that Adam Montgomery admitted to causing,” the report said. The same day as the anonymous call, a case worker visited and didn’t see a black eye on Harmony, the report said.
One week later, that same case worker noted a red mark and faded bruising under Harmony’s eyelid, and both Harmony and Adam Montgomery told the worker the mark was from being hit by a toy while playing, the report said.
In subsequent visits to the home, “the children appeared happy and healthy,” the report said. In the last visit, in October 2019, case workers found the abuse allegations unfounded, but added, “the situation was scored high risk for future child welfare involvement pursuant to the Risk Assessment tool citing the history of substance use, prior family history with child protection, and economic challenges,” according to the report.
In January 2020, Adam Montgomery told the child protective services worker that Harmony had been living in Massachusetts with her mother since Thanksgiving 2019, the report said. The worker left a voicemail with Sorey to confirm Harmony lived there, but never heard back, the report said.
In September 2021, someone close to Harmony’s mother contacted the Division for Children, Youth and Families with concerns, and the agency determined Harmony had never been registered for school in Manchester, the report said.
The Division for Children, Youth and Families then searched for Adam and Kayla Montgomery.
When police found Adam Montgomery in December 2021, he gave the authorities “contradictory and unconvincing explanations of Harmony’s whereabouts,” the report said. Adam Montgomery allegedly told police Harmony’s mother had picked her up, even though Kayla Montgomery told police that Adam Montgomery told her he drove Harmony back to her mother on the day after Thanksgiving 2019, according to the report.
At that point, the investigation became a missing child case, the report said.
(CAIRO, Egypt) — The latest murder of a young woman in Egypt who had allegedly rejected the advances of a fellow student has sparked outrage and renewed calls for Egyptian lawmakers to take action.
Islam Mohamed, a 22-year-old student at Al-Shorouk Academy in the Greater Cairo area, was detained early Wednesday on suspicion of killing his 20-year-old classmate, Salma Bahgat. He is accused of “repeatedly stabbing her with a knife” on Tuesday as she was leaving a building in Zagazig, northeast of Cairo, according to a statement from Egyptian prosecutors.
Prosecutors, citing accounts from witnesses and relatives, said Bahgat had had twice declined marriage proposals from Mohamed, who in turn made death threats against her. Bahgat’s parents told authorities that Mohamed’s proposals were rejected because of his “misbehavior and drug abuse,” according to prosecutors.
In a statement released Tuesday evening, Al-Shorouk Academy mourned the death of Bahgat, who was studying media, saying: “She was an example of a diligent and distinguished student, on the moral and scientific levels, throughout her four years at the academy.”
Bahgat’s killing marked the second such campus femicide to occur in Egypt within the past two months, prompting outcry on social media.
“Another woman killed for saying ‘No,'” one Twitter user wrote.
“I cant believe in this amount of time another incident like Nayera happened again,” another user said.
In June, 21-year-old Nayera Ashraf was stabbed to death in front of her university in Mansoura, north of Cairo, by a fellow student whose marriage proposal she had turned down. The gruesome incident, which was videotaped by bystanders, sent shockwaves across the North African nation.
Ashraf’s killer, 21-year-old Mohamed Adel, gained sympathy during his trial from some commentators on social media who called the murder a “crime of passion,” because they said he was left heartbroken.
“Misogyny is deep-rooted in Egyptian culture. A kid is raised watching his father beat his mother, for instance,” Said Sadek, a professor of political sociology at the American University in Cairo, told ABC News on Thursday.
“The media that frown upon any actress who wears revealing dresses and religious scholars who demand that women cover up from head to toe are also to blame for fueling such sentiments,” he added. “We turn the victim into a criminal and the harassers into heroes.”
Adel was ultimately convicted and sentenced to death last month. The court also took the unusual step of calling for changes to Egyptian law to allow executions to be broadcast live as a deterrent to others. Capital punishment in Egypt is rarely broadcast or carried out in public.
In Egypt, murder is punishable by death. More people were sentenced to death there last year than in any other country. In terms of the number of executions carried out, Egypt had the third highest, according to human rights group Amnesty International.
Nevertheless, critics argue that Egyptian law must be strengthened against gender-based violence, threats or blackmailing, which have been on the rise in recent years.
Sadek cited one example of a man who spent just a few weeks in prison after sexually harassing and beating up a woman in a Cairo shopping mall in 2015. Two years later, he attacked her with a knife, leaving a deep cut in her face, Sadek said.
According to a 2015 survey conducted by the United Nations Population Fund and the Egyptian government, about 7.8 million women in Egypt suffer from all forms of violence every year, “whether perpetrated by a spouse/fiancé or individuals in her close circles or from strangers in public places.”
Sexual violence is also rampant, with over 99.3% of Egyptian girls and women experiencing some form of sexual harassment in their lifetime, according to a U.N. report released in 2013.
Last year, the Parliament of Egypt approved tougher penalties for sexual harassment, making the crime punishable by a minimum of five years in prison. But women rights groups insist more should be done, calling on Egyptian Parliament to fast-track a draft unified law for combating violence against women. The proposed legislation has been in the works for several months.
In the wake of Bahgat’s killing, almost two dozen groups, including the Giza-based Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance, issued a statement Wednesday calling on Egyptian authorities “to take all the measures to protect women and girls, who have the right to live safely in their homeland.”
“Violence has become a culture nurtured by a societal complicity that justifies it, condemns the victim and sympathizes with the perpetrator,” they said. “We encourage women and girls to urgently report any threats they receive to authorities.”
(NEW YORK) — The current teacher shortage facing the United States is a “five-alarm crisis,” according to Rebecca Pringle, the president of the National Education Association, the largest teachers’ union in the country.
“We have been sounding the alarm for almost a decade and a half that we have a crisis in the number of students who are going into the teaching profession and the number of teachers who are leaving it,” said Pringle. “But, of course, as with everything else, the pandemic just made it worse.”
Pringle spoke to ABC News’ “GMA3” Thursday about the shortage of nearly 300,000 educators and support staff across the country.
GMA3: How bad is the teacher shortage this upcoming school year?
PRINGLE: This is that time of year back to school when educators, parents, students are excited and they’re hopeful. This year, of course, is good as students go back to school.
We are concerned about the teacher shortages and staff shortages throughout this country, in rural and suburban and urban areas. And I will tell you that we know that if we don’t have enough educators, then our students aren’t going to have the one-on-one attention they need and deserve.
GMA3: Is there a way for you to gauge how bad it is this year compared to previous years?
PRINGLE: We know that this has been a chronic problem. This is not new. We have been sounding the alarm for almost a decade and a half that we have a crisis in the number of students who are going into the teaching profession and the number of teachers who are leaving it.
But of course, as with everything else, the pandemic just made it worse. We are estimating about 300,000 shortages of teachers and support staff across this nation as students go back to school. But I will tell you that we have been sounding this alarm since last year and we have been working really, really hard to try to do something about it.
GMA3: According to the National Education Association, 55% of educators are saying that they are thinking about leaving the profession earlier than they anticipated… You mentioned the pandemic as perhaps why this is happening, but how do you combat that?
PRINGLE: We were shocked when we saw those statistics of the number of educators who are planning on leaving the profession. And it’s even higher for Black teachers and Latina teachers. We know how important it is to have a diverse workforce. We have been working to try to address those issues.
One of the things that I’ve learned from educators — I traveled all over the country, from Kentucky to California to Maine to Wisconsin to Illinois — and they all said the same thing. This is what they need to come into the profession and stay in the profession. They need professional respect.
For them that is three things: Professional authority to make teaching and learning decisions for their students. Professional rights to have the conditions and resources to do the jobs they love. And professional pay that reflects the importance of the work they do.
GMA3: What does a child’s education, their day, their classroom look like with this type of teacher shortage?
PRINGLE: The concerns that our educators and parents have raised, which are playing out, [and] played out last year… is that we had to double-up classes.
[Also] we had to not necessarily offer the special education services that our special education students need. We knew that there were too many educators who were overwhelmed by the number of students that they were trying to meet the individual needs of, and we don’t have enough substitutes.
So, we found that many of our educators were coming into school sick and they weren’t taking care of themselves. We know that the well-being of our teachers and our educators absolutely impacts the well-being of our students. So, this is a huge problem.
But we are working to use the funding from the American Rescue Plan to actually bring the resources that we need into schools to make those long-term solutions work right now.
GMA3: And speaking of a shortage of resources, obviously, so many people are in financial distress during these economic times. And the average back-to-school shopping for parents sets most families back $864. That is a significant burden for so many families. Is there anything that can be done to ease that burden?
PRINGLE: We encourage everyone to continue to push to make sure their school districts, and use the American Rescue funds, to make sure that the schools have the resources that students need. And parents and families don’t have to supply as much as they have been.
We also know there is an increase in the number of dollars that teachers are pulling out from their own pockets, taking away from their own families, to try to meet those needs and those gaps that have been exacerbated by the pandemic, from food crisis to housing crisis, health care crisis.
We know all of that has impacted our communities of color, especially in those communities where they have been chronically underserved. So, we ask that people continue to raise their voices and join with us… to make sure that all of our schools are funded, so all of our students have what they need and they deserve.
