(NEW YORK) — “A lot of people” remain unaccounted for amid devastating flooding in Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear said Friday.
“We’re going to do our best to find them all,” Beshear said, without providing a number of the missing.
Beshear toured the devastation by helicopter on Friday and called it the worst flooding he’s seen since being in office.
The official death toll stands at 16, including two children.
Beshear said Friday afternoon that he’s learned of the recovery of four children’s bodies, adding, “We do not have an official update at this time as they have to be verified” by the Department for Public Health.
The governor anticipated that authorities may be updating the number of deceased for “several weeks.”
On Thursday, Beshear called it “one of the worst, most devastating” floods in the state’s history and said he anticipates this will be one of the deadliest floods in Kentucky in “a very long time.”
The flooding hit Kentucky late Wednesday, pounding the state with 2 to 5 inches of rain.
Kentucky is combating washed out roads, destroyed homes and flooded schools, according to the governor.
Thousands of residents are expected to lose their homes, he said.
More than 294 people have been rescued from floodwaters in eastern Kentucky so far and that number will likely rise, Beshear said.
The rain may return to Kentucky late Sunday through early next week, but significant rainfall isn’t expected.
“While rain totals are not expected to be as high, flooding still remains a concern due to saturated grounds,” the governor tweeted.
President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration and is receiving updates “very regularly,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday.
“Our hearts break for the families of those who have lost their lives or are missing, and to all those who have been impacted,” she said.
ABC News’ Alexandra Faul, Kenton Gewecke, Josh Hoyos, Justin Ryan Gomez and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
Bullet for My Valentine has shared a new song called “No More Tears to Cry.”
The tune is one of the five bonus tracks included on the upcoming deluxe version of Bullet’s self-titled 2021 album.
“[‘No More Tears to Cry’] is a dark but colorful story about dealing with mental health struggles,” Bullet says. “Musically, the track is very different from the other tracks on the album and has a lot of surprises on there, including slide guitar.”
You can listen to “No More Tears to Cry” now via digital outlets.
The deluxe Bullet for My Valentine will be released digitally on August 5 and on vinyl November 11.
(WASHINGTON) — Amid the latest COVID-19 resurgence sweeping the nation, some top health officials are asking Americans to wear face masks again in an effort to curb the spread of the virus.
Officials such as White House COVID-19 response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky have repeatedly encouraged jurisdictions to use the CDC’s community level COVID-19 map, which seeks to identify the risk level of COVID-19 in communities across the country, to help them decide if they should reimplement mitigation measures.
“Local jurisdictions — cities, counties, states — should make decisions about mask mandates because communities are different and their patterns of transmission are different,” Jha told ABC News’ Martha Raddatz last week. “The CDC recommendation is that when you’re in a high zone … wearing masks indoors is really important and it really will make a difference.”
According to the CDC, a high community level suggests there is a “high potential for healthcare system strain” and a “high level of severe disease.”
More than 60% of Americans are now living in a county considered a “high” community level for COVID-19, where masking in indoor settings is therefore recommended by the CDC for all people, no matter their vaccination status.
But calls from the Biden administration’s COVID-19 team have been largely met with silence from local officials, with most cities and jurisdictions choosing to forgo federal guidance.
Although some cities, like Boston and New York City, have released strong recommendations, urging residents to mask again while indoors, no formal mandates have been announced.
In recent weeks, one major U.S. county — Los Angeles — was vocal about a possible return of masking requirements following a steady increase in COVID-19 infections.
However, on Thursday, county health officials announced that with case and hospital admission rates beginning to drop, the return of masking had been scratched.
“Any indication that the committee would soon be moving to the medium community level would be a good reason to not move forward with universal indoor masking, which is what we are doing today,” Barbara Ferrer, the director of Public Health for Los Angeles County, said at a press conference this week. “We will be pausing and not moving forward at this time … the clock is stopped at the moment.”
Some local officials lauded the decision, including L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger.
“Unenforceable mandates don’t work,” Barger wrote in a statement following the health department’s announcement. “I’m hopeful that we will now be able to move on from this heightened focus on masking mandates to what really matters — focusing on promoting the efficacy of vaccines and boosters, improving access to COVID-19 treatments, and continuing to educate our county’s residents on the benefits of masking.”
Ferrer stressed that residents are still strongly encouraged to wear masks in many indoor settings and should the numbers begin to rise again, the county will revisit a possible mandate.
“[BA.5] remains highly infectious, so I would strongly advise that everyone keep their masks on when there’s risk for that spread,” Ferrer said. “We should be very careful.”
Despite public messaging that “COVID-19 is still with us,” no major states or cities have reintroduced formal mandates. Many Americans have returned to their normal lives without a second thought of pandemic restrictions — a reality that has troubled some health experts.
“I’m concerned about what the lack of restrictions looks like right now. The caseload, which is vastly undercounted, is already creeping up from an unacceptably high plateau of daily cases that has remained in place since the end of the original omicron wave,” Maureen Miller, professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, told ABC News.
Experts noted that although the U.S. is certainly in a different place now versus the start of the pandemic, periodic use of mitigation measures could still be a way to control the spread of the virus.
“Interventions shouldn’t be all or nothing. They need to be applied in real-time ahead of any surge to help limit transmission in the community and ultimately reduce severe consequences of the virus and limit hospital capacity,” explained John Brownstein, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.
Policymakers and public health officials should “apply nuance” and “allow for the introduction of targeted intervention” as they consider possible ways to confront the “very likely” fall and winter surge, Brownstein said.
“Surveillance data, when interpreted correctly, should ultimately be the barometer for decisions on bringing back restrictions. Without proactive public health response, we will ultimately just repeat the mistakes of the past,” he added.
In recent weeks, virus-related hospitalizations and deaths have also started to tick up again, though not with the same intensity as previous surges.
“Clearly the lack of current interventions are contributing to a BA.5 surge,” Brownstein said. “While we are not seeing the level of severe disease of the past, it is still driving increases in severe disease.”
The reality that hundreds of Americans are still dying of COVID-19 every day is not something the public should take lightly, stressed Miller.
“COVID-19 infection is not just like a cold. No cold I know kills 400 people a day,” she said. “With the lack of COVID-19 information from health departments around the country and the blaring message that COVID-19 is over, it will be impossible to convince a fatigued and uninformed public of the need for additional mitigation measures.”
Although there are now many more treatments and tools available to treat Americans should they contract COVID, Miller noted that the simplest and effective tools that were available at the onset of the pandemic remain at the public’s disposal: masking and social distancing.
“We experienced the success of this approach in the past. I am doubtful that we will do so in the future,” she said.
The decision not to enforce mitigation measures will only prolong the pandemic, Miller said.
“Our actions are ensuring that the pandemic phase of COVID-19 will last much longer than it has to,” Miller added.
A limited-edition vinyl reissue of David Bowie‘s 1977 album “Heroes”will drop on October 14 in celebration of its 45th anniversary. Pressed on gray vinyl, the reissue will only be available at brick-and-mortar stores.
“Heroes,” Bowie’s 11th studio album, was released in October of ’77 and is best known for its classic title track, which was one of four songs Brian Eno co-wrote on the record. It was released as a single and became a minor hit in the U.K. Though it didn’t chart in the States, it’s become one of Bowie’s most enduring and widely covered tunes. The album peaked at #3 in the U.K. but only reached #35 in the U.S.
The “Heroes” album was the second of what is known as Bowie’s “Berlin Trilogy,” which also includes 1977’s Low and 1979’s Lodger, but it’s the only one that he recorded entirely in the German city. The album, which Bowie co-produced with frequent collaborator Tony Visconti, features the same group of musicians who recorded Low, with the addition of King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp.
Also on October 14, the mini album Live in Berlin (1978) will be released via digital formats for the first time. The eight-song collection, which was recorded at a May 1978 concert at the Deutschlandhalle in West Berlin, was previously only available as a limited-edition orange vinyl LP, sold in 2018 at the “David Bowie Is…” exhibition in Brooklyn, New York.
The performance included versions of three songs from the “Heroes” album, as well as the Bowie hits “Fame” and “Rebel Rebel.”
Here’s the full “Heroes” track list:
Side 1
“Beauty and the Beast”
“Joe the Lion”
“‘Heroes'”
“Sons of the Silent Age”
“Blackout”
Side 2
“V-2 Schneider”
“Sense of Doubt”
“Moss Garden”
“Neuköln”
“The Secret Life of Arabia”
And here’s the complete Live in Berlin (1978) track list:
“‘Heroes'”
“Be My Wife”
“Blackout”
“Sense of Doubt”
“Breaking Glass”
“Fame”
“Alabama Song”
“Rebel Rebel”
L-R Frewer, Amanda Pays — ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
With reboots of Full House and Roseanne spin-off The Conners on the air now, another Reagan-era series is returning to TV.
Max Headroom was perhaps more famous for actor Matt Frewer‘s intentionally glitchy computer characters gracing Coke commercials back in the day, but now the subversive ABC series that bore his name is getting another shot.
Deadline reports Elijah Wood‘s SpectreVision production house is backing the series for AMC, with Halt and Catch Fire co-creator Christopher Cantwell writing it.
Max Headroom ran for just two seasons on ABC, with Frewer playing both the supposedly artificially intelligent character and also its alter ego, journalist Edison Carter, but it remained an influential project, referenced in shows like Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., and by music artists including Selena Gomez and Eminem.
Frewer is returning to star in the series and is also co-producing, according to the trade.
Carter’s dogged reporting focused on corruption and corporate greed, and the show continually poked fun at network TV executives and the news business — which naturally rankled actual TV execs. It was also ahead of its time for its then-futuristic look at our modern, interconnected world.
Sammy Hagar and his band The Circle have unveiled plans to release a new studio album titled Crazy Times this fall and made the title track available as an advance digital single Friday, along with a companion music video for the tune.
The 10-song collection, which can be preordered now, will be released on CD and via digital formats on September 30, while standard black vinyl and limited-edition red vinyl LP versions will follow on October 28.
Hagar & The Circle recorded Crazy Times at Nashville’s famed RCA Studio A with Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb.
Crazy Times, which is a follow-up to the group’s 2019 debut, Space Between, features nine songs either written or co-written by Hagar, as well as a cover of Elvis Costello and the Attraction‘s 1978 classic “Pump It Up.”
The title track was one of three tunes the Red Rocker co-wrote with his Circle bandmates — bassist Michael Anthony, drummer Jason Bonham and guitarist Vic Johnson — and Cobb.
The video for the hard-driving, riff-heavy song features Hagar and the band performing the tune as a montage of explosions and other ominous images appear behind them.
Hagar says that after the long COVID-19 lockdown, he really appreciated getting to work with his bandmates again in person.
“Going back in the studio, creating and being with the music is just what felt natural,” Hagar notes. “There was joy in the hard work, catharsis and the comradery we’d craved. It was like those two years of not being able to do very much fell away and we really all came together and let it out in the music and lyrics.”
The digital version of Crazy Times also features a pair of bonus tracks. Here’s the album’s full track list:
“Intro: The Beginning of the End”
“Slow Drain”
“Feed Your Head”
“Pump It Up”
“Be Still”
“You Get What You Pay For”
“Crazy Times”
“Funky Feng Shui”
“Father Time”
“Childhood’s End”
(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration is preparing to roll out 171 million newly formulated vaccines this September as part of a $5B effort aimed at trying to blunt the impact of the highly contagious omicron variant.
The effort follows an internal debate among President Joe Biden’s top officials on whether to allow younger Americans to get a fourth shot now or wait until a more effective vaccine is released this fall.
The current vaccine was designed to work against the original strain of COVID. And while it continues to dramatically reduce the risk of hospitalizations and death, its effectiveness has slowly waned as the virus mutated.
As a result, Americans over 50 have already been told to get second booster doses, while younger Americans have been directed to get one additional booster.
Moderna and Pfizer say they now have new formulas of the COVID vaccine that will hopefully hold up better against the omicron variant.
Federal regulators would still need to sign off on the new vaccines. But industry and government officials say they are hopeful Food and Drug Administration will authorize the shots and that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will recommend them.
According to two administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, industry officials assured the government that it could deliver the newly formulated shots by September.
At that point, the officials said, the decision was made to hold off on a nationwide rollout of additional boosters for people under age 50.
Overall, the government now has the option to buy 600 million new vaccines that are targeted toward the omicron variant, with plans to deliver 171 million this fall.
Moderna and the government announced Friday a $1.74 billion contract for the manufacture and delivery of 66 million doses and the option to buy another 234 million doses later on.
The government had already agreed to pay $3.2 billion to Pfizer for 105 million doses this fall with the option to buy another 195 million doses later on.
The Biden administration says it’s moved $10 billion around in its current budget to cover the cost of these vaccines and other treatments.
But officials warn that there is a trade-off being made to buy these vaccines so Americans can get them cost-free even without insurance.
According to a statement provided by the Department of Health and Human Services, money has been moved away from testing and ensuring stockpiles of protective gear are ready to go ahead of another pandemic or surge in cases.
Music merchandising company KnuckleBonz is releasing a mini, collectible statue of late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton.
The officially licensed figure — which was made in collaboration with Burton’s estate — will be limited to just 3,000 pieces. Each one stands at approximately 8.5 inches high and is hand-crafted, painted and numbered.
The statues will be released in 2023, but you can pre-order your own now via KnuckleBonz.com. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Cliff Burton Music Scholarship Fund for Rising Youth Musicians.
As previously reported, the Burton estate has also teamed up with KnuckleBonz and the Calicraft Brewing Co. to create a signature beer inspired by Cliff. Sales from the beer, dubbed Cliff ‘Em All, will also be donated to the Burton Music Scholarship Fund.
(WASHINGTON) — House Democrats will vote Friday on a bill to ban assault weapons in the U.S.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced the vote in a letter to colleagues on Friday morning, calling the legislation “a crucial step in our ongoing fight against the deadly epidemic of gun violence in our nation.”
Pelosi urged colleagues to vote for same-day authority — a procedural hurdle that requires a separate vote — in order to fast-track the bill Friday afternoon.
The bill comes roughly two decades after Congress allowed such restrictions to lapse.
“I’m excited today because for a long time now I had wanted to reinstate the assault weapons ban,” Pelosi said in her weekly press conference ahead of the vote. “You weren’t here, maybe weren’t even born when we did this in the 90s. It was hard but it happened, and it saved lives. And I’m looking forward to having a good passage of it this afternoon.”
President Joe Biden and gun control advocates renewed calls to outlaw weapons like AR-15 rifles in the wake of recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York; Uvalde, Texas and Highland Park, Illinois.
Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering pleaded with lawmakers just last week to ban such weapons, stating she will be “haunted forever” after a shooter opened fire during the city’s Fourth of July parade, killing seven people.
Congress passed its first major piece of gun reform in 30 years in June, which enhanced background checks for potential gun buyers under the age of 21 and included money for red flag laws and mental health services. But the measure fell short of what Biden and Democrats hoped to enact.
Leading gun manufacturing executives who testified before lawmakers on Wednesday maintained that people, not firearms, cause mass shootings.
“I hope the American people are paying attention today. It is clear that gun-makers are not going to change unless Congress forces them to finally put people over profits,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, said during the hearing.
House Democrats originally planned on including a ban on assault weapons in a broader public safety package, but division within the caucus has delayed leadership’s efforts to bring the package to the floor before the August recess.
Pelosi said Friday that work continues on the other policing measures, including legislation to create new federal grant programs for local police departments.
“House Democrats are committed to building safer communities, in every corner of the country,” she wrote. “To that end, our Members have been working on a robust package of public safety bills and have made immense progress in our discussions.”
While the assault weapons ban may clear the House, such legislation is not likely to advance in the Senate, where Democrats would need at least 10 Republican votes to overcome the filibuster.
(LAS VEGAS) — The city of Las Vegas has declared an emergency over its water supply after the Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire, the largest wildfire in New Mexico history, contaminated the Gallinas River. The city relies solely on water from the river, which has been tainted with large amounts of fire-related debris and ash, according to city officials.
The city is currently relying on reservoirs which, at the current consumption rate, contain less than 50 days worth of stored water, according to Las Vegas Mayor Louie Trujillo.
The large amounts of ash and turbidity in the river have prevented the city from being able to pull water from it, as the city’s municipal water treatment facility is not able to treat water, according to the mayor.
The Hermit’s Peak Fire and Calf Canyon Fire merged on April 27. By May 2, the blaze had grown in size and caused evacuations in multiple villages and communities in San Miguel County and Mora County.
President Joe Biden issued a major disaster declarations for the New Mexico counties of Colfax, Mora and San Miguel on May 4.
The fire resulted in the loss of federal, state, local, tribal and private property including thousands of acres of the watershed for the Gallinas River, the primary source of municipal water for the city and surrounding areas, according to the emergency declaration.
The Gallinas River has resulted in thousands of acres of scorched forest, flooding, ash and fire debris.
