The “Down” rockers have announced 311 Day at Sea, a concert cruise taking place March 8-13, 2023. While 311 has hosted many cruises before, 311 Day at Sea will be the first one to be sailing on the band’s annual celebration, which takes place on March 11.
311 Day at Sea will depart from Miami and will make stops in Harvest Caye, Belize and Roatán, Honduras. Along with three separate 311 headlining performances, the cruise will feature a lineup of bands and comedians, which will be announced at a later date.
Pre-sale tickets will be available beginning August 10 followed by the general sale on August 16. For more info, visit 311Cruise.com.
If you’d prefer to see 311 on land, you can catch their upcoming U.S. tour kicking off in September.
ABC’s CMA Fest special is fast approaching, hosted by Dierks Bentley and Elle King and featuring all the highlights from CMA Fest 2022.
Ahead of next week’s show, the Country Music Association is revealing the set list, and it’s a high-energy blend of classic hits, fast-rising new singles and megawatt duets.
Old Dominion is performing their latest single, “No Hard Feelings,” while Kane Brown’s rocking the stage with his brand-new “Like I Love Country Music” as well as his chart-topping “One Mississippi.”
Carrie Underwood and Cole Swindell are both bringing new songs to the stage, too. Cole will also be joined by Lainey Wilson for a performance of their hit, “Never Say Never.”
Meanwhile, lots of artists are revisiting old favorites from their catalogs. Dierks will perform “Drunk on a Plane,” Luke Bryan is dusting off “Kick the Dust Up” and Darius Rucker will treat fans to his modern-day country classic “Wagon Wheel.”
Every year, collaboration is a major highlight of CMA Fest, and that will be represented in the special, too: Wynonna Judd and Carly Pearce will share their performance of “Why Not Me,” and Lady A is teaming up with Breland for a rendition of “Need You Now.” Zac Brown Band will share the stage with Darius for “Chicken Fried,” and Elle and Ashley McBryde will come together for Elle’s hit, “Ex’s and Oh’s.”
CMA Fest airs on ABC on August 3 at 8 p.m. ET. It’ll be available to watch the next day on Hulu.
(ST. PAUL, Minn.) — The first of two former police officers convicted on federal charges in the death of George Floyd was sentenced to prison Wednesday.
Former Minneapolis police officer J. Alexander Kueng was ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson to serve three years in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release, according to ABC affiliate station KSTP in St. Paul.
Kueng’s former police colleague, Tou Thao, is scheduled to learn his fate from Magnuson at a second hearing on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Prior to sentencing Kueng, Floyd’s cousin Sabrina Montgomery and his girlfriend, Courtney Ross, gave victim impact statements.
Ross addressed Kueng directly with compassion, telling him, “this sentence will not define you” and urging him to “define your purpose,” KSTP reported.
“This does not mean you cannot find your footing to stand up for what’s right in the future,” Ross told Kueng.
Montgomery asked Magnuson to give both Kueng and Thao the maximum sentence.
“All of these men deserve to serve longer sentences,” Montgomery said, according to KSTP. “The system these officers operated in is flawed, but again, where is their humanity?”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Manda Sertich told Magnuson that Kueng admitted during his trial testimony that he was aware that it was his duty to intervene, but he failed to act.
“All he had to do per MPD policy was attempt to intervene,” Sertich said, according to KSTP.
Kueng declined to make a statement in court before he was sentenced. But his attorney, Thomas Plunkett, spoke on his behalf, telling Magnuson, “He’s a nice young man that attempted to help the community by taking on a difficult role … and now he’s being sentenced for that.”
Both Kueng, 28, and Thao, 35, were convicted by a federal jury in February along with their former police colleague Thomas Lane, 39, who received a sentence last week of 2 1/2 years in prison for violating Floyd’s civil rights.
Federal prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 6 1/2 years for Lane, which according to federal sentencing guidelines, was the maximum.
All three men were convicted of using the “color of the law,” or their positions as police officers, to deprive Floyd of his civil rights by willfully being indifferent to his serious medical needs.
Prosecutors said the three officers failed to intervene as the handcuffed, unarmed 46-year-old Black man was pinned under the knee of their senior officer, Derek Chauvin, for more than nine minutes on May 25, 2020, outside a Minneapolis convenience store where Floyd was accused of using a phony $20 bill to buy cigarettes.
Thao and Kueng were also convicted of violating Floyd’s right to be free of an unreasonable seizure by willfully failing to intervene to prevent Chauvin from applying bodily injury to Floyd.
Prosecutors had requested a “substantially higher” federal sentence than Lane’s, but far less than what Chauvin received.
Chauvin was sentenced on Thursday by Magnuson to serve 21 years in prison after pleading guilty in December to violating Floyd’s civil rights and admitting he kept his knee on Floyd’s neck even after he became unresponsive. Chauvin also pleaded guilty to depriving a then-14-year-old boy of his constitutional right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by an officer, which resulted in bodily injury to the teen, according to the Justice Department.
Magnuson also sentenced Lane.
The length of Kueng’s sentence is lower than the recommended federal sentencing guidelines, which called for 4 1/4 years to 5 1/4 years.
“The facts of this case do not amount to second-degree murder under federal law,” Magnuson wrote in a ruling last week. “Defendants Kueng and Thao each made a tragic misdiagnosis in their assessment of Mr. Floyd.”
Magnuson noted that Kueng and Thao believed Floyd was suffering from a drug overdose and “excited delirium” — a syndrome in which a subject displays wild agitation and violent behavior that can sometimes lead to death.
Lane was the only police officer involved in Floyd’s fatal arrest to express concern for the man’s well-being. Police body-camera video played at the three former officers’ federal trial captured Lane asking twice if they should roll Floyd onto his side from a prone position to help ease his breathing.
Chauvin, 46, was also convicted in state court in April 2021 on charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced in June 2021 by Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill to 22 1/2 years in state prison.
Chauvin will serve his sentence in federal prison concurrently with his state sentence.
Lane also pleaded guilty to state charges of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors agreed to dismiss the top charge against him of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder. Lane is awaiting his sentence in state court.
Kueng and Thao are scheduled to be put on trial in state court on Oct. 24 on charges of aiding and abetting in murder and aiding and abetting in manslaughter. They have both pleaded not guilty.
(NEW YORK) — Excessive heat warnings are in effect for parts of the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday as temperatures top 100 degrees.
Portland, Oregon, hit 102 degrees, while in Redding, California, temperatures reached 106 degrees on Tuesday. Temperatures in Yakima, Washington, climbed to 107 degrees as well.
The extreme heat is keeping its hold across the state of Washington. Seattle hit a record high of 94 degrees on Tuesday, while Spokane is expected to reach triple digits on Wednesday and Thursday.
The extreme heat will persist in the region for the rest of the week, according to the National Weather Service. The record for most consecutive days where temperatures were 95 degrees and up in Portland is six days– this heat wave could break or tie that record.
Heat alerts continue to be in effect for parts of California, Nevada and Idaho as their temperatures are expected to threaten records until Saturday.
Oregon’s Department of Emergency Management opened up misting stations and overnight cooling shelters on Tuesday to help residents deal with the dangerous heat.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown declared a state of emergency on Tuesday for 25 of the state’s counties until July 31.
“With many parts of Oregon facing a high heat wave, it is critical that every level of government has the resources they need to help keep Oregonians safe and healthy,” Brown said in a statement. “I encourage everyone to take proactive steps to keep themselves and their families safe, including drinking plenty of fluids, taking advantage of cooling centers, and checking in on neighbors, friends, and loved ones.”
According to a 2021 study, heat waves in the Pacific Northwest would be “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change.
Smoke from the Oak Fire near Yosemite National Park, which has burned more than 18,000 acres, is spreading into Northern California and southern Oregon. The fire, combined with the heat wave, is causing very poor air quality in the area.
ABC News’ Julia Jacobo contributed to this report.
“WUBBA LUBBA DUB-DUB!” The absurdist, Emmy-winning animated series Rick and Morty will make its anticipated return for season six on Adult Swim on Sunday, September 4 at 11 p.m.
The show, co-created by Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, the latter of whom voices its titular leads, has snagged a pair of Emmys and was just nominated for a third. The series has become “more than a hit show” but “truly a global phenomenon,” according to Michael Ouweleen, president of Adult Swim and Cartoon Network.
Adult Swim points out that the series, about the universe’s most brilliant scientist Rick Sanchez and his ever-awkward grandson Morty Smith, has been viewed over 10 billion times all over the world, across broadcast airings, digital and streaming.
Series writer Mike McCann recently explained what it takes to bring the show to life. “Rick and Morty is really hard to write! Like, I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but it takes a while to make because it’s just really complex. And like, when you’re sitting down to write that show, it takes a lot of work!”
To get fans ready for the big launch, Adidas has teamed up with Adult Swim for an R&M-themed sneaker called the X SPEEDPORTAL.
Colored in the same day-glo green as the fluid in Rick’s dimensional hopping portal gun, the kicks promise to “open the gateway to multidimensional speed,” and give wearers “light-speed sprints and physics-defying sidesteps.” They come in both sneaker form and in cleats — or as people who call soccer “football” refer to them, “boots.”
Comic books might usually cover superheroes, but this one is all about a music superstar.
Stevie Nicks is the focus of a new 22-page comic book detailing the rocker’s life and career from TidalWave Comics.
The comic book is part of the brand’s “Female Force” series, which highlights impactful women from all around the world. As per its description, it explores Nicks’ “passion and unrelenting drive to succeed as an artist.”
Michael Frizell penned the story, with illustrations by artist Ramon Salas.
“There’s a popular meme that talks about how Taylor Swift writes sad songs about her exes, but Stevie Nicks makes her exes sing songs she wrote about them explaining how horrible they are, and every time I see it, I laugh,” notes Frizell. “Stevie’s fearlessness makes her a rock legend and explains her staying power and popularity.”
You can check out a preview of Female Force: Stevie Nicks at Tidal Wave Comics’ Twitter page.
Female Force: Stevie Nicks is available now in both print and digital formats.
Sister Kelly Williams pictured with her roommates, who are also becoming nuns, in Chicago, Illinois. – ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Across the United States, young adults are becoming less religious.
A 2018 and 2019 Pew Research Center survey found that the number of Americans who identify as Christians has dropped 12% over the past decade. The group who described themselves as Catholic, in particular, has also shrunk, leaving a crisis in the Catholic sisterhood. Nuns are growing older and there is a concern that there will be fewer young people looking to join the sisterhood.
According to a recent study, less than 1% of nuns in America are under 40 and the average sister is 80 years old.
Sister Joanne Persch just turned 88. She said that many of her friends who joined her in service in the early 1950s have died. Throughout the painful pandemic and societal upheaval, she said there is still a great need for nuns in America.
“Well, I think it’s a big mistake to say that religious life is dying,” said Persch. “And I look around me in our community and I see such vibrant, such life. It’s changing and growing into something we can’t even imagine.”
In 2022, there were reportedly fewer than 42,000 nuns in America, which is a 76% decline over 50 years. At the rate sisters are disappearing, one estimate said that there will be fewer than 1,000 nuns left in the United States by 2042, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.
Sister Kelly Williams is working toward becoming one of the few nuns still left in the life. She is 34 years old and started her journey nine years ago. She said people are often surprised that she is so “normal.”
“I think I’ve had people be surprised that I like to listen to music and not all of it is religious,” said Williams, who added that she and her roommates enjoy watching Netflix and Hulu together. “I don’t go to bars like I would when I was in college.”
Williams is a former college admissions counselor who lives in Chicago with four other sisters who are close to her age. She expects to take her final vows in a few years and officially become a Catholic sister with the Sisters of Mercy – one of the largest religious orders for Catholic women.
“God’s got big plans,” said Williams. “And hopefully, we follow them.”
One thing Williams said she won’t be giving up is her Facebook, Instagram or TikTok accounts. She is using social media to help spread awareness of the lifestyle of young nuns.
“I started making videos every Saturday… It’s called Saturday Sister Surprise and every Saturday I hide something in my hair and I pull it out. It has been religious items and silly items,” said Williams. “It’s something that has brought a lot of joy to people.”
She said she was drawn to the stability of the church and felt a “call” to be a part of it.
“It was a place where you could be educated, was a place where all of these things could happen for you and I think there are so many options that are available,” said Williams. “But you have to want this. This is about God’s call and responding to that.”
Williams and her roommates said that young people today are resistant to the structure of religious life and many have been put off by the scandals of the Catholic Church, which they struggle to work past themselves. They said that they pray every day for their future as a sisterhood and ask for strength that more young women will answer the call.
“The American memory is attached to the nun of yesteryear. It’s very hard for us now to kind of be breaking through those stereotypes that were established,” said Sister Jane Aseltine. “We are still fighting that battle as younger, religious women to say this is what a typical American nun looks like in today’s world.”
(WASHINGTON) – Nancy Pelosi was the guest speaker at the unveiling of a new statue at Statuary Hall of Amelia Earhart, the famous aviator born in Atchison, Kansas in 1897, who made history as the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
The speaker of the house described Earheart as “an American who personifies the daring and determined spirit of our nation.”
Following Pelosi’s opening statements, the national anthem and a prayer from Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., Kansas’ Gov. Lauren Kelly took the stage.
“Who better than to represent our great state in Statuary Hall than Dwight D. Eisenhower and now a native daughter of Kansas, Amelia Earhart,” Kelly said. “A woman who showed all of us what it means to reach for the stars.”
The bronze statue took seven years for brothers George and Mark Lundeen to create. Because only two statues are allowed to represent each state, and only one can be placed in Statuary Hall, Earhart’s likeness replaced that of U.S. Senator John Ingalls whose statue has occupied the hall since 1907.
This is just the 11th statue of 100 that represents a woman. U.S. Representative from Kansas, Sharice Davids championed her as a pioneer of women’s rights.
“Female pilots used to be called ladybirds, sweethearts of the air, and because of Amelia Earhart back then, now, and into the future, women who fly planes are now called pilots,” said Davids.
U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., described the unveiled piece as “a statue of a determined woman with short cut hair, a curious smile, a bomber hat in hand and a sunflower on her belt buckle.”
(NEW YORK) — Country music superstar Shania Twain is sharing new details about the health battle she says she faced due to Lyme disease.
Twain, 56, said she thought she had lost the ability to sing after a tick bite she got while horseback riding in 2003 led to Lyme disease, a tick-borne infectious disease that, if left untreated, can affect the joints, heart and nervous system, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“My voice was never the same again,” Twain said in a new documentary about her life, Not Just a Girl. “I thought I’d lost my voice forever. I thought that was it, [and] I would never, ever sing again.”
Twain was in the height of her career when she was diagnosed with Lyme disease. She says in the documentary the condition affected her ability to perform.
“My symptoms were quite scary because before I was diagnosed, I was on stage very dizzy. I was losing my balance. I was afraid I was going to fall off the stage,” she said. “I was having these very, very, very millisecond blackouts, but regularly, every minute or every 30 seconds.”
In a 2020 appearance on ABC’s The View, Twain said it took “several years” for doctors to connect the problems with her voice to her Lyme disease diagnosis.
She said the disease caused damage to her vocal cords in the three weeks between when she was bitten by a tick and when she started treatment for the infection.
“There were seven years where I could not, for example, yell out for my dog. My voice would just cut out in certain places,” said Twain. “And it took another several years to determine what it was. It wasn’t anything obvious. Nobody connected the Lyme disease to it. In the end, a neurologist finally connected that it was the nerve to each vocal cord.”
Twain said that although her voice was permanently impacted, she feels grateful the disease didn’t attack another part of her body, like her heart.
“It was just a very unfortunate, ironic problem since I’m a singer, but I feel so grateful and so lucky that it didn’t attack somewhere else because it’s so debilitating,” she said, adding that she now has a “grip” on the disease. “I have a different voice now but I own it. I love my voice now.”
What to know about Lyme disease
Lyme disease, the most common vector-borne disease in the U.S., according to the CDC, has impacted other celebrities including Amy Schumer and Justin Bieber.
The illness, caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, is transmitted to humans via tick bites and is more likely to be contracted in the late spring, summer and fall. In most cases, the tick must be attached to the skin for at least 36 hours before the bacterium can be transmitted.
Symptoms generally appear after one week, with approximately 70% to 80% of people experiencing a classic “bull’s eye” rash which expands in size at the site of the bite.
Symptoms in the acute phase include fever, headache and fatigue. If left untreated, the infection can spread to joints, the heart and the nervous system. People also may experience lingering symptoms that last months or even years, such as muscle and joint pain, cognitive defects and sleep disturbances, according to the CDC.
Once confirmed with laboratory testing, most cases can be treated for a few weeks with antibiotics. According to the Mayo Clinic, Lyme disease should be treated immediately and may require intravenous antibiotics if the case is severe.
Lyme disease is most commonly found in the Northeast and upper Midwest, with 96% of all cases in 14 states — Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin, according to the CDC.
The CDC recommends preventive measures to avoid ticks including avoiding “wooded and brushy areas with high grass and leaf litter,” and walking in the center of trails.
When hiking or in wooded areas, you can also treat your clothes and gear with products containing 0.5% permethrin, according to the CDC. They also recommend always doing a “tick check” after being outside and wearing insect repellent with Deet.
Ticks can also come into the home through clothing and pets, so the CDC recommends checking pets for ticks and tumble drying clothes on high heat for 10 minutes after coming indoors to kill ticks.
If you are ever in a situation where you are bitten by a tick, the Cleveland Clinic recommends tugging gently but firmly near the head of the tick until it releases its hold on the skin.
People who are outdoors in areas that may have ticks should also conduct a full body check when they return, including checking under the arms, in and around the ears, inside the belly button, behind the knees, in and around the hair, between the legs and around the waist, the CDC recommends.
John Smith, M.D., a psychiatrist and contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit, contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Leading gun manufacturing executives testified Wednesday morning before a House panel investigating the role of the firearms industry in the nation’s high rates of gun violence, maintaining that Americans — not firearms — cause mass shootings.
The hearing, beginning at 10 a.m. ET and helmed by House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, featured two top CEOs ahead of the consideration of legislation that would target the sale of semiautomatic weapons, a move that many gun rights supporters and Republicans oppose as unconstitutional.
Marty Daniel, CEO of Daniel Defense, said that he was at the hearing voluntarily but was “concerned” that the implied purpose of the hearing was to vilify and blame rifles for recent deadly shootings in Uvalde, Texas; Highland Park, Illinois; and Buffalo, New York, among others.
Two months ago, the Uvalde gunman used a Daniel Defense weapon to kill 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school.
Rep. Maloney asked Daniel if he had responsibility for the Texas shooting.
“Many Americans, myself included, have witnessed an erosion of personal responsibility in our country and in our culture. Mass shootings are all but what unheard of just a few decades ago,” Daniel said. “So what changed? Not the firearms. They are substantially the same as those manufactured over 100 years ago. I believe our nation’s response needs to focus not on the type of gun but on the type of persons who are likely to commit mass shootings.”
Maloney spoke with ABC News on Tuesday about the context of the hearing. She said it should be a “wakeup call” for Congress to act on gun reform “to hold these gun manufacturers accountable for the deadly weapons that they’re manufacturing that are killing innocent Americans.”
“Most industries have a responsibility for their products. We have liability on our cars. Every time there’s a car wreck, we study it. We should do the same thing with guns. We should have liability on guns. They’re far more dangerous than cars,” Maloney told “GMA3.”
Daniel and Christopher Killroy, president and CEO of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc., were confirmed witnesses ahead of the hearing.
Maloney told ABC News that a representative for a third gun manufacturer, President Mark P. Smith of Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., was invited to the hearing. Smith is not confirmed to attend.
“I would say, ‘We have invited three manufacturers — CEOs — [and] two have accepted,'” Maloney said.
“One is dodging us and not responding to our requests for documents,” she contended. “And we intend to hold them accountable eventually in some form.”
The oversight committee sent letters on May 26 to Smith & Wesson, Daniel Defense and Sturm, among others, following mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas.
The letters sought further information on the companies’ sale and marketing of assault-style semiautomatic rifles and similar firearms, “including revenue and profit information, internal data on deaths or injuries caused by firearms they manufacture, and marketing and promotional materials.”
On July 7, following the Fourth of July shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, Maloney sent additional letters to the CEOs of the three top gun manufacturers, requesting their appearance at Wednesday’s hearing.
Maloney’s request for the hearing with gun executives came ahead of the committee’s June 8 hearing with Uvalde and Buffalo survivors and victims’ relatives.
President Joe Biden a month ago signed into law a bipartisan gun safety package, which did not include the weapons ban he sought. House Democrats are pushing for more reforms.
Maloney told ABC News that she believed the additional legislation “will make America safer for our citizens.”
