(LOS ANGELES) — A California man has pleaded guilty to importing wild animals into the country, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles announced Wednesday.
Prosecutors said Jose Manuel Perez, 30, smuggled more than 1,700 wild animals, including 60 reptiles, worth $739,000 into the U.S. and was arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border in February. Officials found reptiles hidden in his clothing in small bags, prosecutors said.
When he was caught crossing into the U.S., federal agents said he had about 60 reptiles on him — including some in his pants.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of smuggling goods into the country and one count of wild trafficking, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.
Perez, who also went by the name Julio Rodriguez, used social media to arrange and smuggle animals into the U.S. between January 2016 and February 2022, federal prosecutors said.
The wildlife, which came from Mexico and Hong Kong, included Yucatan box turtles, baby crocodiles, Mexican box turtles and beaded lizards, federal prosecutors said, and he didn’t declare them through U.S. Customs or obtain the required permits through the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Perez worked with others in his smuggling operation, according to federal prosecutors. His sister, Stephany Perez, 26, was allegedly involved and is scheduled to go on trial in February, prosecutors said.
Jose Manuel Perez faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for each count of smuggling and up to five years in prison for wildlife trafficking, according to federal prosecutors.
His attorney did not immediately provide a comment to ABC News.
(ATLANTA) — Three children in Georgia have now tested positive for monkeypox, newly updated state data has revealed.
The Georgia Department of Health did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment on these cases.
Newton County School System, which went back to school in early August, confirmed to ABC News that at least one child at Mansfield Elementary in Mansfield, Georgia, has tested positive for the virus, and one student at Flint Hill Elementary in Oxford, Georgia, is currently undergoing testing.
It is unclear if these cases are at all connected. The schools are located approximately 13 miles apart. Additional information on how the students may have contracted or been exposed to the virus is unavailable at this time, due to privacy concerns, according to school officials.
The school district has notified parents, officials said, and parents of students considered to be close contacts will receive separate communications instructing them on next steps.
“NCSS facilities employees will thoroughly clean and disinfect classrooms and other areas at both schools this afternoon to ensure ongoing safe and healthy learning and work environments for students and staff. Both schools will be open tomorrow,” the school district wrote in a statement on Tuesday.
Across the state of Georgia, at least 15 children, ages 17 years and younger, have received their first monkeypox vaccine dose, state data shows.
Separately, in Texas, officials confirmed that a previously confirmed monkeypox case had actually turned out to be a false positive.
Across the country, at least 13 children have now tested positive for monkeypox. Nine states and jurisdictions have reported pediatric monkeypox cases.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Homeland Security took steps on Wednesday to codify the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program into regulatory policy — even as a court case threatens to upend the ability of migrants who were brought illegally into the U.S. as young children to remain in the country.
Since President Barack Obama launched the policy in 2012, the DHS estimates that more than 825,000 immigrants have been enrolled in DACA, which temporarily protects them from deportation and allows them to obtain work authorization.
The DHS’ final rule, issued Wednesday after being subject to public comment, is a technical move that seeks to absorb DACA under administrative law rather than through presidential discretion.
The rule largely preserves the eligibility criteria outlined in a 2012 memo by then-Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, including the requirement that applicants must have arrived in the U.S. before the age of 16 and must have continuously resided in the country for at least five years before June 15, 2012.
“We are taking another step to do everything in our power to preserve and fortify DACA, an extraordinary program that has transformed the lives of so many Dreamers,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Thanks to DACA, we have been enriched by young people who contribute so much to our communities and our country. Yet, we need Congress to pass legislation that provides an enduring solution for the young Dreamers who have known no country other than the United States as their own,” Mayorkas said, referring to the people in the program by a common nickname.
Since its inception, DACA has faced multiple legal challenges from those who say Obama overreached his authority. An ongoing case in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals seeks to have the court rule the program unlawful and end it. A decision there may come any day.
Despite Wednesday’s regulatory filing by DHS, DACA remains closed to new applicants as a result of a July 2021 decision from a federal court in Texas. Only those who already have DACA status can apply to renew it under the new framework, according to DHS.
The department’s final rule would not go into effect until Oct. 31 and it was unclear how Wednesday’s move would impact any current litigation.
“President [Joe] Biden campaigned on strengthening and fortifying DACA. This final DACA rule fails to strengthen the program by not expanding it to include the majority of undocumented immigrant youth who are graduating from high school this year and not eligible for the program because of arbitrary cut-off dates,” Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, deputy director of federal advocacy for the group United We Dream, said in a statement, in part.
“This rule does not bring us any closer to seeing true protection for DACA recipients and immigrant youth,” Macedo do Nascimento said.
The DHS rule will preserve the original process for applying for a renewal of deferred action — shielding young migrants from deportation — and a work permit despite the department suggesting in an earlier proposal that it would have potential applicants apply for a permit and for deportation protection separately.
Immigration advocates had warned that decoupling the two benefits would leave people susceptible to losing work authorization while maintaining deferred deportation if a future administration wished to make DACA recipients ineligible to work.
DHS estimates that as of 2020, DACA recipients and their households pay around $5.6 billion in annual federal taxes and $3.1 billion in annual state and local taxes. Many people in the program have gone on to acquire professional certificates, advanced school degrees and about 56,000 have become homeowners, DHS said.
After the final rule was published, Biden issued a statement on Wednesday reaffirming his support for the “Dreamers,” whom he said were “part of the fabric of this nation.”
“They serve on the frontlines of the pandemic response. They are students, entrepreneurs, and small business owners. Many serve bravely in our military. They’ve only ever known America as their home,” Biden said.
Although the president made no mention of the ongoing legal challenges to DACA, he called on Republicans to support a pathway to citizenship — a politically fraught process that has divided the GOP and repeatedly failed, over the years, to result in federal legislation.
“It is not only the right thing to do,” Biden argued of congressional action, “it is also the smart thing to do for our economy and our communities.”
(NEW YORK) — Rothy’s and Evian are taking reduce, reuse, recycle to a whole new level.
The two brands have teamed up to created a limited-edition tennis-inspired capsule collection made with recycled water bottles from the 2021 U.S. Open.
Approximately 72,000 Evian bottles from the tennis tournament were blended with other recycled plastic bottles to create items in the line.
“We are excited to collaborate with evian to showcase Rothy’s transformative capabilities and prove that through innovation we find new uses for single use plastic,” Saskia van Gendt, Rothy’s head of sustainability, said in a press release.
According to the brands, this is a first-of-its-kind circular production collection.
From a cap to a bag for your tennis racket, this collection has everything you need to hit the court in style.
In a new Men’s Healthfeature, Zac Brown Band frontman Zac Brown details his tour workout and the custom-built gym that follows the band on the road in a tractor-trailer.
Years of hard road living took its toll on Zac. “I had L5 issues, a bulging disc and I couldn’t move my leg. I had to have a surgery last year to take some of the trash out,” he explains. But the singer found fresh motivation to stay active and healthy when he sought advice from a rocker who knows exactly how difficult it is to stay fit on tour: Bruce Springsteen.
“When I met Springsteen, I said, ‘Tell me something that’s helped you stay feeling good,’” Zac recounts. “He was like, ‘Man, you need to sweat for an hour every day. I don’t care what you do, doesn’t matter. You need to sweat for an hour a day.’”
“I was like, ‘You’re the Boss. Let’s do it,’” the singer recalls.
The band Stillwell, featuring Korn bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu, is teasing new music.
Fresh material from the trio, which also includes P.O.D. member Noah “Wuv” Bernardo and rapper Q-Unique, will drop September 16. You can check out a teaser now via Stillwell’s Facebook.
The news comes amid Fieldy’s ongoing hiatus from Korn, which began in June 2021. At the time, Fieldy shared that he was stepping away from the “Freak on a Leash” outfit to address unspecified “personal issues.”
Stillwell released their latest album, Supernatural Miracle, in 2020.
Korn, meanwhile, just released a new record, Requiem, in February. They’re currently touring in support of the record alongside Evanescence.
Of all the acts currently on the radio, Black Eyed Peas are among the veterans, having released their first album in 1998. But the group doesn’t take for granted that more than 20 years later, they’re still scoring hits, especially in today’s competitive pop landscape.
During a 2020 interview with ABC News, will.i.am noted success in the late ’90s and early aughts was measured by record sales and appearances on shows like MTV’s TRL: “That was your entry point. Now the entry point … it’s so competitive, because it’s like Instagram. It’s Spotify, it’s TikTok, YouTube.”
“There wasn’t a measure of how many times your song was played on TRL or how long,” he explains. “Now it’s different. Now there’s, like, skip rates. Like, ‘What? Skip rate?’ ‘Yeah. If they skip the song.’ ‘If they skip the song????'”
As a result, will says BEP isn’t resting on its laurels as one of the best-selling groups of all time. They’re going hard, like all the up-and-coming artists. That definitely worked on 2020’s Translation, which produced a string of hits.
“You gotta freakin, like, humble yourself, look at it and compete,” will explains. “The ticket is not, like, ‘But I was big!’ Nah, nah, nah. Nope. Who cares? They moved on.”
He laughs, “There’s people that have more followers than Black Eyed Peas on Instagram. And what do they do? I don’t know.They’re on Instagram! And that’s humbling!”
That’s why will says the group puts so much thought into their songs.
“Every single second in the song’s duration, every moment, we made sure that we kept people’s attention,” he notes. “We don’t want skips!”
The Peas’ latest hit is “Don’t You Worry” with their pals David Guetta and Shakira. Their ninth album is coming soon.
While the 2000s emo and pop-punk kids have the When We Were Young festival, aughts indie rock fans have the Lights, Camera, Factions tour, co-headlined by Spoon and Interpol.
Touring together feels a little like destiny realized for the two bands, given how much their careers have been interconnected over the past 20 years. For example, both their 2002 albums, Kill the Moonlight and Turn on the Bright Lights, and their 2007 records, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and Our Love to Admire, were released on the same day.
“It’s gonna be pretty killer to be touring with Spoon, who’s just a band that is one of the great bands, period,” Interpol guitarist Daniel Kessler tells ABC Audio. “Britt [Daniel]’s one of the great songwriters, and a good friend. They’re all good friends. We’ve known them … for 20 years, since we put out our first record.”
Spoon drummer Jim Eno hopes that their friendship might lead to an onstage collaboration.
“We’re talking about seeing if we can do anything with those guys as far as a song,” Eno shares. “We’re friends with them, so I imagine there’s gonna be a lot of hanging out and stuff, so hopefully we’ll be able to do something special.”
The Lights, Camera, Factions tour launches Thursday in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Spoon and Interpol will be touring in support of their respective 2022 albums, Lucifer on the Sofa and The Other Side of Make-Believe.
While Harry Styles did appear in the movie Dunkirk, his new film Don’t Worry Darlingis one of his first starring roles. It was, of course, directed by Harry’s now-girlfriend, Olivia Wilde, and for a Variety cover story on her and the film, Harry revealed what advice she gave him as he becomes a leading man.
“‘The first step is to lose the Oscar you won in the shower that morning,'” Harry says Olivia told him. “‘Listen, and do the scene with your partner, not at them. Be a human, tell the truth.'”
“As a director, Olivia is incredibly focused. She communicated what she was looking for from the cast with both clarity and respect,” Harry tells Variety. “I think transitioning from acting into directing has made her a director who knows how to get the best out of everyone.”
Harry also explains why he wanted to take on the role of Jack in Don’t Worry Darling. He plays one half of a couple who lives in an experimental utopia where all the women are housewives and all the men work on the same mysterious project.
“It felt like an opportunity to play someone who is incredibly complex, caught between love and obsession,” says Harry. “There were always two sides of the character to play with. It’s fun to play someone that you feel like you’re trying to work out the whole time.”
Richard Brener, the president of the studio behind the movie, tells Variety, “Harry obviously is a revelation. I think there will very quickly be a conversation about why is he even bothering with music when he is such a huge movie star?”
Thirty years ago today, Eric Clapton released what has become the best-selling album of his career, Unplugged.
The 14-track acoustic live collection features performances from an episode of the MTV Unplugged series that was shot in front of an intimate audience in January of 1992 at Bray Studios outside of London and premiered in March of that year.
The Unplugged album spent three weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart in March 1993. It included one hit single, a low-key, jazzy rendition of Eric’s 1971 Derek and the Dominos classic “Layla,” which reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Unplugged also features a version of Clapton’s 1992 hit “Tears in Heaven,” a few other original tunes, and a variety of blues covers, including renditions of Bo Diddley‘s “Before You Accuse Me,” Son House‘s “Walkin’ Blues,” Robert Johnson‘s “Malted Milk” and Muddy Waters‘ “Rollin’ and Tumblin’.”
Clapton’s backing band for the Unplugged show included longtime Rolling Stones touring keyboardist and former Allman Brothers Band member Chuck Leavell, longtime Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drummer Steve Ferrone and longtime Elton John percussionist Ray Cooper.
At the 1993 Grammy Awards, Clapton won a trio of trophies for Unplugged — Album of the Year; Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male; and Best Rock Song for his acoustic version of “Layla.”
An expanded two-CD/DVD version of Unplugged was released in 2013. It featured a bonus CD with six additional tracks, and a restored version of the concert video, plus more than an hour of unseen footage from the rehearsal for the show.
In 2016, Unplugged was certified Diamond by the RIAA for selling over 10 million copies in the U.S. It’s among the bestselling live albums of all time.
Here’s the full track list of the Unplugged album:
“Signe”
“Before You Accuse Me”
“Hey Hey”
“Tears in Heaven”
“Lonely Stranger”
“Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out”
“Layla”
“Running on Faith”
“Walkin’ Blues”
“Alberta”
“San Francisco Bay Blues”
“Malted Milk”
“Old Love”
“Rollin’ and Tumblin'”
