Envy of None, the new band featuring Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson, released its self-titled debut album earlier this month.
The band, which also features bassist Andy Curran of the veteran Canadian rock group Coney Hatch, guitarist/keyboardist Alfio Annibalini and singer-songwriter Maiah Wynne, mostly recorded the album remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has yet to play any concerts.
Curran tells ABC Audio that while he and Lifeson are “not in any rush to get out and start touring in a huge way,” they’re not ruling out doing some performances.
“I think we’re…excited to see where this thing might end up,” Andy says about the Envy of None album, “and if people are excited and if it’s like lightning in a bottle, I think we’d be open to doing…a handful of special shows.”
Curran also notes with a laugh that during a recent interview, Wynne, who at age 25 is far younger than her Envy of None band mates, revealed that her mother “was really hoping that we could play on Jimmy Kimmel [Live!]”
Adds Andy, “So if Jimmy Kimmel reaches out, maybe you’ll see Envy of None on [his show]. But I think it’s kind of like a ‘we’ll see.’ We’re certainly just being open-minded about it at this point.”
Up to now, the members of Envy of None have been promoting the album with select interviews and a few music videos.
On Monday, the band premiered its latest video, for the song “Never Said I Love You.” The clip, which you can watch now at the Kscope label’s official YouTube channel, features footage of a professional dancer named Sapphire Sumpter dancing expressively down the hallway and around a room of a high-rise hotel.
Peacock’s original comedy, Killing It, stars Craig Robinson as an underdog pursuing the American Dream, facing relatable — yet absurd — obstacles in order to make it big.
This hilarious new series highlights the insanity of today’s get-rich-or-die-trying culture, and is brought to you by the duo who produced The Office and Brooklyn Nine Nine. Of course, chasing after a dream often times comes with a few “no’s,” something Robinson tells ABC Audio he can relate to.
“That’s the beautiful part about being told “no” as an actor,” he says. “Like there are some projects where if I had gotten a yes, I wouldn’t have been on The Office. You know what I mean? So it’s like, no’s aren’t always bad. You just gotta be able to keep going.”
In Killing It, Robinson says his character is “relentless in his quest to achieve that American dream.”
“He’s figured out what he wants, he’s trying different things, and now there’s one thing separating him and that Saw Palmetto farm he wants to get. Well there’s a lot of things, a lot of snakes,” he explains.
Speaking of snakes, a lot of people fear the reptiles, including Robinson, that is up until six years ago.
“I got over my fear of snakes because I was in Australia and I went to an animal sanctuary and I ended up holding a snake,” he shares. “Snake felt amazing. I held another one. That one felt amazing. I realized snakes mean me no harm.”
“We’ve been lied to by the Bible and Indiana Jones. So once I got this offer, I was like, yeah, I’m down! I ain’t worried about it. Let’s do it,” he adds.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that he pardoned three people who have “demonstrated a commitment to rehabilitation,” including 86-year-old Abraham W. Bolden Sr., who was the first Black Secret Service agent to serve on a presidential detail.
The president also commuted the sentences of 75 people who are currently serving long sentences for non-violent drug offenses.
“America is a nation of laws and second chances, redemption, and rehabilitation. Elected officials on both sides of the aisle, faith leaders, civil rights advocates, and law enforcement leaders agree that our criminal justice system can and should reflect these core values that enable safer and stronger communities,” Biden said in a statement.
Tuesday’s action was the first time Biden used his clemency powers during his presidency and came after advocates and progressive Democrats urged the president to fulfill his long-awaited campaign promise to use his executive authority to address mass incarceration and racial disparities in the criminal justice system, a crisis that was accelerated through policies like the 1994 crime bill, sweeping legislation authored by then-Sen. Biden that experts now say disproportionately impacted people of color.
Biden touted his clemency executive action as “important progress.”
“My administration will continue to review clemency petitions and deliver reforms that advance equity and justice, provide second chances, and enhance the wellbeing and safety of all Americans,” the president said.
While advocates and criminal justice experts have praised Biden’s clemency actions, some experts told ABC News the measures fall short of ensuring a streamlined process to address the backlog of petitions requesting clemency grants to nonviolent offenders.
“It’s great that 78 people received clemency in some form today, but it fades into the background of 18,000 petitions pending on the President’s desk,” said Ames Grawert, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School. “The President needs to come up with a system for ensuring that those thousands of petitions receive a careful and thorough review and the attention they deserve. It’s not clear to me that the current process is up to the task.”
In addition to the clemency actions, the Biden administration released plans to expand economic opportunities and ease reentry for formerly incarcerated individuals.
The myriad of new measures include a $145 million investment in job training programs for convicted felons in Bureau of Prison facilities, which will be done through collaboration between the Department of Justice and the Department of Labor. The administration also plans to expand employment opportunities post release, access to small business loan investments, as well as higher education.
Analysis from a 2017 report from the National Reentry Resource Center reveals that evidence-based reentry policies and programs have been shown to improve the outcomes of formerly incarcerated individuals.
“The actions we’re taking today will have a real impact for someone trying to land a job, find a safe and affordable place to live with their children and get back on their feet,” Susan Rice, Domestic Policy Advisor for the Biden administration, said while praising the new measures during a White House Roundtable with formerly incarcerated Americans.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
San Francisco 8 Oakland 2
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Seattle 8, Tampa Bay 4
NY Yankees 12, Baltimore 8
Kansas City 6, Chi White Sox 0
Minnesota 5, Detroit 4
Toronto 6, Boston 5
Houston 5, Texas 1
LA Angels 4, Cleveland 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Atlanta 3, Chi Cubs 1
San Diego 9, Cincinnati 6
Milwaukee 12, Pittsburgh 8
Philadelphia 10, Colorado 3
Miami 5, Washington 2
NY Mets 3, St. Louis 0
Arizona 5, LA Dodgers 3
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Miami 97, Atlanta 94 (Miami wins 4-1)
Final Memphis 111, Minnesota 109 (Memphis leads 3-2)
Phoenix 112, New Orleans 97 (Phoenix leads 3-2)
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Tampa Bay 4, Columbus 1
Toronto 3, Detroit 0
NY Islanders 4, Washington 1
Edmonton 5, Pittsburgh 1
Boston 4, Florida 2
Final Carolina 4, NY Rangers 3
Ottawa 5, New Jersey 4 (OT)
Arizona 5, Minnesota 3
Calgary 5, Nashville 4 (OT)
Dallas 3, Vegas 2 (SO)
Colorado 5, St. Louis 3
Vancouver 5, Seattle 2
Anaheim 4, San Jose 2
(WASHINGTON) — Capt. Samuel Choe, a former resident of Fort Gordon in Georgia, flew 17 hours from his deployment in South Korea to testify before a Senate subcommittee Tuesday about the mold exposure he said his family endured in private military housing and the chronic health issues suffered by his 8-year-old daughter, including a skin condition called severe atopic dermatitis — or severe eczema.
The degree of her condition, which he described as “potentially fatal,” had caused her to wake up in the middle of the night to parts of her body caked in blood from minor scratches or irritation, he said, adding that it would “haunt” his daughter “for the rest of our lives.”
“I do not recall ever seeing the type [of] conditions that we have lived under while we were at Fort Gordon,” said Choe, who has served in the military for 12 years and grew up in military housing with his parents.
Choe was among the family members and advocates who testified Tuesday at the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations about what they said was mismanagement, neglect and abuse they suffered in private military housing paid for using defense appropriations funds for service members’ on-base accommodations.
Their concerns — focused on one of the Army, Air Force and Navy’s largest private housing providers, Balfour Beatty — ranged from environmental hazards, including unaddressed mold, to logistical failures leading to delayed repairs. In total, Balfour provides housing on 55 separate Army, Navy and Air Force bases across 26 states, with a total of over 43,000 on-base homes occupied by roughly 150,000 residents, according to the company.
The hearing was held hours after the subcommittee released a bipartisan “Mistreatment of Military Families in Privatized Housing” report detailing alleged negligent responses and deceitful practices by Balfour Beatty.
The same company pleaded guilty last year to fraud after a Department of Justice investigation that uncovered instances of falsified data in Balfour’s internal data management software. Artificially augmenting the number of resolved work orders allowed Balfour employees to receive larger bonuses — which at the time was part of the company’s financial compensation policy, the probe found.
The plea deal included a $65 million fine and three-year probation during which an independent compliance body monitors the company’s activity.
The report released Tuesday specifically examines conditions at Balfour housing units on Georgia’s Fort Gordon Army Base and Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas between late 2019 and early 2022.
Tech. Sgt. Jack Fe Torres, who said his wife and children also suffered a host of medical problems after being exposed to mold in a Balfour home at Sheppard Air Force Base also testified. The family’s issues began with an insufficient water heater repair, he said, which led to a flood and then to mold.
While trying to address this issue, Torres said he noticed that work orders submitted to Balfour on his family’s behalf were doctored to minimize the severity of the situation.
“At one point, we were told that a large spot of mold in our mechanical room wall was just a burn mark,” he said.
The hearing included interviews with over a dozen military families and former Balfour employees. Two Balfour executives, including President of Facility Operations, Renovation and Construction Richard Taylor, testified as well.
“I reject the suggestion that it’s a systemic failure,” he said in response to Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., detailing a host of concerns flagged by residents. Taylor suggested Choe’s daughter, for example, could have contracted her illness outside the home.
Paula Cook, Balfour’s vice president of military community management, said the company did all it could for its residents.
Both insisted they were not aware of the data manipulation that had occurred, insisted there was no longer fraudulent activity going on at Balfour and said the issues the company was accused of were isolated and unrelated. An unnamed third party now fields Balfour military housing complaint calls, they testified, and the company has a new system to keep Balfour on-site employees from editing work order histories.
At one point, Ossoff bluntly asked, “Did your senior executives know that for six years, the company was engaging in fraud?”
Taylor said that “no,” he did not.
Ossoff followed up: “Would you know now if your company was continuing to engage in fraud?”
(CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wisc.) — Police said Tuesday they’ve arrested a suspect in connection with the death of a 10-year-old girl whose body was found on a Wisconsin walking trail.
Lily Peters, a fourth grader, was reported missing by her father on Sunday night, said police in Chippewa Falls, a city about 100 miles east of Minneapolis.
Lily had been at her aunt’s house on Sunday and never made it home that night, police said.
On Sunday night officers found Lily’s bike in the woods by a walking trail near her aunt’s house, police said.
Around 9:15 a.m. Monday, Lily’s body was found in a wooded area near the walking trail, Chippewa Falls Police Chief Matthew Kelm said at a news conference.
On Tuesday evening, Kelm said the police arrested an unidentified juvenile suspect who was not a stranger to the girl. Kelm said that the suspect was known to the family.
“While nothing will bring back Lily Peters, we are grateful to deliver the news of an arrest to the family,” he said at a news conference.
The chief said the police received over 200 tips, and some were critical to the arrest.
The investigation was ongoing. Kelm had earlier said police are considering this a homicide investigation.
ABC News’ Matt Foster and Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.
(MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.) — Attorneys for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in a court filing Monday asked an appeals court to overturn his conviction in the killing of George Floyd.
Chauvin’s lawyers in the filing asked the court to do one of three things: reverse his conviction, reverse his conviction and grant him a new trial in a different venue, or return the case to a lower court for resentencing.
In April 2021, Chauvin was found guilty in the death of Floyd on counts of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
He was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison last June.
In a 72-page court filing, Chauvin’s lawyers said that pretrial publicity, jurors’ concerns for their safety, the potential for riots to break out if Chauvin was acquitted and physical threats to the courthouse prevented Chauvin from getting a fair trial.
“The overwhelming media coverage exposed the jurors — literally every day — to news demonizing Chauvin and glorifying Floyd, which was more than sufficient to presume prejudice,” the court filing said.
The lawyers added, “However, the real problem is the jurors expressed concern for (i) they and their families’ personal safety and (ii) riots breaking out in the event they acquitted Chauvin.”
The court filing argued that a change of venue, which was previously denied by the lower court, was necessary in this case.
“There are few cases involving such violent threats by the community in the event the jury finds the defendant not guilty. Those cases — which all involved defendant police officers — required transfer of venue,” the attorneys said in the filing.
The threat of violence was “extreme,” and because jurors were not sequestered, they saw this every day during trial, Chauvin’s lawyers said in the filing.
“The courthouse was surrounded by barbed wire and soldiers during the trial. Prior to jury deliberations, National Guard troops were deployed throughout Minneapolis, businesses boarded up their buildings and schools were closed ‘bracing for a riot’ in the event Chauvin’s acquittal,” the filing said.
Lawyers for Chauvin also argued that his sentence should be reduced, as the presumptive sentence for someone without a criminal history is 150 months, while he received 270 months. They argued that “abuse of a position of authority” is not an aggravating factor that would allow for his upward sentencing.
Chauvin’s lawyers also claimed that a police officer cannot be convicted for felony murder under Minnesota law and that Chauvin was authorized to “touch” Floyd when Floyd resisted arrest.
“Chauvin is a police officer statutorily authorized to commit ‘assaults’ to effect an arrest,” they stated in the filing.
Later, the attorneys claimed that “in order for a police officer to be convicted of murder, Minnesota statutes require the officer to be using ‘deadly force’ — force one knows will cause either death or ‘great bodily harm.’ Putting your knees on the back of a suspect does not create a ‘substantial risk of causing, death or great bodily harm.'”
The court telling the jury that “it is not necessary for the State to prove that [Chauvin] intended to inflict substantial bodily harm” is a “material misstatement of the law,” Chauvin’s attorneys argued.
In the filing, the lawyers claimed this statement invited the jury to apply strict liability, a standard of liability that means the defendant could be responsible for the consequences of an action even in the absence of criminal intent.
Lawyers also claimed there was “prosecutorial misconduct,” including discovery violations and failures to disclose, starting with the state “largely ignoring the Court’s initial discovery deadline.”
“The State’s pervasive, intentional discovery violations, alone, were sufficiently prejudicial as to require a new trial,” the filing stated.
The “Love Train” is preparing for its final journey: Legendary R&B/soul group The O’Jays have announced that they will be mounting a farewell tour.
The group, which has been together for over 60 years, continues to be led by founding members Eddie Levert and Walter Williams Sr., who began singing together more than 70 years ago.
“The reason that this is our last tour is because, between Eddie and I, our ages will be over 160 years old by the end of the tour. I will be 60, and Eddie… you can do the rest of the math,” jokes Williams. “But really, we wanted one last tour to say goodbye to our friends, family and fans, and ride The Love Train together, one last time.”
Adds Levert, “I was thinking that I would quietly retire, but our fans and my body weren’t having it…The love and physical benefits of performing keeps us on the younger side of our age. This tour is a celebration of all of our lives and the struggles and joys that got us to today. It is time for us to say goodbye and we would like to do it in person. Please come join us as we play the music we have shared together over the past 60 years, one last time.”
The O’Jays are best known for their run of 1970s hits co-written by the Philadelphia-based songwriting and production duo of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, including “Back Stabbers,” “For the Love of Money,” “I Love Music,” “Use ta Be My Girl,” and the chart-topping “Love Train.” In 2019, the group released a comeback album titled The Last Word. So far, no dates have been announced for the tour, but visit MightyOJays.com for the latest updates.
—Chloe Bailey is taking her talents back to the big screen.
The “Have Mercy” singer recently signed on to star in the upcoming music-competition film, Praise This. According to Deadline, the Will Packer-produced feature is set to begin production in Atlanta in June and will be directed by Tina Gordon, who wrote and directed Little, starring Marsai Martin.
–Grammy-winning artist Burna Boy will make history soon, as the first Nigerian musician to headline New York’s famed Madison Square Garden.
Fans around the world will be able to stream his “One Night in Space” concert live on YouTube this Thursday, April 28, at 9 p.m. To commemorate the event, Burna Boy released a limited line of merchandise that can be purchased on the tour website.
—CeeLo Green also announced a new concert opportunity on Tuesday, with his upcoming James Brown Tribute Tour entitled, “Soul Brotha #100.”
The tour is set to kick off on Friday, April 29, in New Orleans and will make its last stop in San Diego in September.
“I’ve always felt deeply connected to James Brown on a musical level and beyond — He’s been a mentor, teacher and literally a godfather to me throughout my career and I remain humble as I embark upon this embodiment,” CeeLo said in a press release.
Tickets for the show can be purchased on CeeLo’s official website.
—Ne-Yo and his wife, Crystal Smith, remarried this past weekend, two years after the couple briefly separated.
Ne-Yo shared footage from the extravagant Las Vegas ceremony, along with a simple post caption that reads, “💍Again…🤴🏿👸🏽”
Jessica Biel knows the hairstyle she has in Hulu’s upcoming true-crime series Candy resembles husband Justin Timberlake‘s from his NSYNC days. “We laughed about it because it looked like the early days of those beautiful curls,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “Let’s get serious, he had beautiful curls.”
Jennifer Lopez is a fan of Ted Lasso and shouted-out the Apple TV+ series in a new Instagram post. Lip-syncing a joke about how adulthood stinks, she captioned, “Me patiently waiting for the next season of Ted Lasso #adultingbelike.” The series regularly name-drops celebrities, including at least one instance of J.Lo herself getting a shout-out, during season 2.
Lizzo and GAYLE are teaming with Roblox for a special virtual performance, reports NME. The two will be honored at the in-game Logitech Song Breaker Awards on April 30, which start at 10 a.m. PT. Lizzo will perform her new song, “Special,” while GAYLE will belt out her breakthrough hit, “abcde-forget-u.”
Camila Cabello is delighted Billboard crowned “Bam Bam,” her song with Ed Sheeran, the fifth-most popular song in the world outside the U.S. “I’m so damn grateful,” she said in an Instagram Story. “This song was me coming out of pain and into joy, from girlhood to womanhood, and putting in a song the wisdom that has been passed down to me.”
Speaking of Ed, he’s heading to one of the UK’s biggest summer concerts — Capital’s Summertime Ball, taking over Wembley Stadium June 12. Other artists include Harry Styles, GAYLE, Tate McRae, Lauren Spencer-Smith and more. Tickets go on sale on April 28.
Latin superstar Bad Bunny is joining the Spider-Man universe. Deadline reports the “I Like It” rapper will star as El Muerto, the super-powered wrestler, in his own Sony movie.
