What does Shawn Mendes have in common with a crocodile? Well, he voices one in the upcoming film Lyle, Lyle Crocodile.
The first trailer dropped Wednesday, giving fans their first glimpse of Shawn as Lyle, a beloved scarf-clad croc. The trailer opens with Constance Wu‘s character, Mrs. Primm, discovering a singing Lyle in a bubble bath — and while she’s suspicious of the big, bipedal crocodile, her son Josh, played by Winslow Fegley, isn’t.
“What was really amazing was that Lyle as a character only sings, so I felt really comfortable playing his character,” Shawn tells People of his new movie role. “I was able to do what I do best, plus I relate to his story and his character so much it felt natural.”
“When I was approached to help make the music for the adaptation of such a classic book, it was a no brainer and just such a fun departure from what I am used to,” added the Grammy winner.
“Making music for a film like this with them was such an inspiring process,” Shawn says of working on the film. “The hardest part though is that when you are singing for a film instead of your own album, you really have to ace the nuances of the emotion behind every lyric and every note and match it to how the character will be portraying it on screen. That was a learning experience.”
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, based on the beloved children’s book, centers on Lyle’s friendship with Josh. Although the crocodile cannot talk, he helps Josh come out of his shell and adjust to New York City life. Unfortunately, some people believe Lyle shouldn’t be around people and try to capture him.
The film includes original songs from Shawn and is set to debut in theaters, October 7.
Highly Suspect has announced a new album called The Midnight Demon Club.
The fourth studio effort from the “My Name Is Human” rockers will arrive September 9.
“The Midnight Demon Club is about becoming the best version of yourself after tragedy, so it’s a second chance on life with a happier mindset,” says frontman Johnny Stevens. “The Midnight Demon Club is all about having fun and keeping it moving. Because as we all know, this life is way too short.”
Along with the album news, Highly Suspect has dropped two new songs from The Midnight Demon Club: the previously-teased “Natural Born Killer” and “Pink Lullabye.” Both tracks are available now via digital outlets, and “Natural Born Killer” is accompanied by a video, streaming now on YouTube.
The Midnight Demon Club is the follow-up to 2019’s MCID, which features the singles “16” and “These Days.”
Highly Suspect is currently on tour in Europe. They’ll be back in the U.S. to play Kentucky’s Louder than Life festival in September.
Here’s the track list for The Midnight Demon Club:
“The Sound”
“Natural Born Killer”
“Ice Cold”
“Midnight Demon Club”
“Caught on Fire”
“Wild Eyed Son”
“Pink Lullabye”
“New California”
“Need to Say”
“Cool Kids”
“Love Like This”
“Evangeline”
The country superstar headed to Florida over the weekend, where he brought his The Speed of Now World Tour to stops in Tampa and West Palm Beach. It marked the first time in almost four years that he’s toured the U.S., and Keith and the crowd were in full-blown party mode as he took the stage for a turbo-charged set.
“We made it!” Keith said from the stage during his tour’s opening night in Tampa. “Am I a bit nervous? Just a little! But, I’ve never been more excited to see so many people in one place!”
A short clip of the opening weekend captures the electricity of Keith’s set in Tampa. The next night, in West Palm Beach, that electricity returned — a little bit more literally — with storms in the area that delayed the show by more than an hour. Undeterred, Keith kept the party going late into the night, despite the fact that the storms had also forced him to cancel a night of rehearsals.
The tour, which features Ingrid Andress as an opening act, wrapped a string of U.K. shows last month and is now about to embark on a massive stretch of North American tour dates that will run through early November. First up are back-to-back Toronto shows on July 8 and 9, followed by a lengthy run across the U.S., including a hometown show at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on October 7.
Hailey Bieber‘s recently launched skincare line is already getting her sued.
The 25-year-old model and her Rhode skincare line are being sued for trademark infringement by a fashion company of the same name.
According to Page Six, Fashion brand Rhode NYC claims that Hailey and her team previously tried to acquire the trademark from owners Purna Khatau and Pheobe Vickers in 2018. Even though the duo refused, the suit claims, Hailey still moved forward with her skincare line and used the name.
In a statement to Page Six, Lisa T. Simpson, lead litigation counsel for Rhode NYC explains, “She did this despite knowing of Rhode and its prior rights.”
“It’s an unfortunate circumstance. We, of course, understand that Hailey wants to use her middle name for her brand, but the law on this is clear: you can’t create this kind of brand confusion just because you want to use your name,” Simpson continued. “What Ms. Bieber is doing is harming a minority co-owned business that two women have painstakingly built into a growing, global brand.”
In a separate statement, Khatau and Vickers added, “We don’t want to sue Hailey; we want to celebrate her. As fellow women entrepreneurs, we wish her every success. Hailey has hard-earned star power and influence. She could choose any brand for her company. We have only the brand that we’ve built.”
(NEW YORK) — For months, sky-high gas prices have bedeviled Americans. The nationwide average price for a gallon of gas stands just under an eye-popping $5 per gallon, AAA data shows.
But a significant policy change may soon offer drivers some relief. President Joe Biden on Wednesday will call on Congress to pass a gas tax holiday that would run through the end of September.
Suspending the federal gas tax, which amounts to 18.4 cents per gallon, would almost immediately reduce the price drivers pay at the pump, experts told ABC News. But they cautioned that the policy would slash funds for maintaining roads and highways, while potentially worsening a supply-demand imbalance and pushing prices even higher in the long term.
“As a motorist, I’ll take any price reduction I can get,” said Patrick De Haan, an energy analyst at GasBuddy. “As an analyst, I think it could exacerbate imbalances that could lead to higher prices.”
What is the federal gas tax?
The federal gas tax, first imposed as a 1 cent per gallon tax in 1932, makes up a portion of the price that drivers see at the pump. The tax gradually increased over the decades after its enactment, reaching its current level of 18.4 cents per gallon in 1993. Since 1997, all revenue from the federal gas tax has gone to the Highway Trust Fund, the major source of federal funding for highways, roads and bridges.
The federal gas tax has never been suspended, though a gas tax holiday was proposed by presidential candidates John McCain and Hillary Clinton during the 2008 campaign.
How would a gas tax holiday work?
A federal gas tax holiday, which would require a law passed by Congress and signed by Biden, would suspend the tax for a temporary duration. The proposal put forward by Biden on Wednesday will call for a suspension through September.
A handful of states — led by both Democratic and Republican governors — have suspended their gas taxes as a means of delivering some financial relief for drivers. Biden on Wednesday will call on states to suspend their gas taxes if they haven’t already.
But the moves only reduce costs by a fraction of the price. In New York, for instance, Gov. Kathy Hochul this month suspended a tax of 16 cents a gallon. With the average price of a gallon of gas in New York standing at $5, according to AAA, the tax relief amounts to a 3.2% cost reduction.
Suspension of the federal gas tax would also reduce the cost of a $5 gallon of gas by less than 5%. Still, consumers would likely prefer some relief to no relief.
What are potential downsides of a federal gas tax holiday?
There are two main potential downsides to a federal gas tax holiday. First, it would deny the federal government a primary source of funding for maintaining roads and highways. U.S. roads received a D grade last year in a report from the American Society of Civil Engineers. Eliminating the federal gas tax would likely leave them even worse off, experts said.
Second, as the U.S. struggles with an imbalance between low oil supply and high demand, a federal gas tax holiday would partially undermine the role that heightened prices play in decreasing consumer demand. In theory, if gas prices remain high or go even higher, people will buy less gas, which should help bring equilibrium between supply and demand, thereby reducing prices.
But a gas tax holiday would almost immediately reduce the price, which could increase demand and worsen the supply-demand balance even further, said De Haan, the energy analyst at GasBuddy.
“It would cause a jolt potentially to demand at a time when it is difficult for refiners to keep up with demand now,” he said.
What happens next?
If Biden decides to support a federal gas tax holiday, it would likely boost momentum in Congress for a law to enact it. But the passage of such a measure remains uncertain.
One such law, the Gas Prices Relief Act, has been proposed by Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ). It would eliminate the gas tax through the end of the year, and specifically stipulates that the price savings should be passed along to consumers.
In addition to Kelly, seven senators have backed the bill. So far, no Republican senators have supported it.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue )
Justin and Hailey Bieber‘s marriage has only grown stronger after their respective health battles. Justin is recovering from Ramsay Hunt syndrome, while Hailey is rebounding from a blood clot in her brain and corrective surgery on her heart.
“Hailey has been so supportive of Justin, just like he supported her with her health issues,” a supposed insider told People. “They’re unbreakable.”
Justin recently had to postpone the North American leg of his global tour to recover from Ramsay Hunt syndrome, which has paralyzed the right side of his face. He is on the mend, with Hailey recently telling Good Morning America that her husband is “doing really well. …He’s getting better every single day. He’s feeling a lot better… He’s going to be totally OK, and I’m just grateful that he’s fine.”
Hailey, who was rushed to the hospital in March after experiencing stroke-like symptoms and later underwent surgery to close a hole in her heart, is currently on the road to promote her new skincare line, Rhode.
Although they’re apart, a friend of the two told People that Hailey “constantly checked in on Justin.” They add, “It’s been very scary for her. Even though she knows he will be fine, it’s definitely been an overwhelming year so far.”
A music insider also tells People that these recent health challenges helped strengthen their marriage. “Justin has matured in his marriage,” the source explained. “Hailey has been a good influence. They will do whatever it takes to help each other.”
(NEW YORK) — Dangerously high temperatures are slamming the U.S., with the West, South and North feeling the heat.
In the South, the heat index — what temperature it feels like — is forecast to skyrocket Wednesday to: 104 degrees in New Orleans; 103 in Little Rock; 106 in Memphis; 101 in Tallahassee; 100 in Atlanta; 104 in Louisville; 99 in Knoxville; and 98 in Raleigh.
The North is also in the danger zone, with the heat index set to reach 94 degrees in Pittsburgh and 97 in Columbus, Ohio.
The West won’t be escaping the heat.
From Wednesday to Friday, temperatures in Dallas are forecast to climb from 97 to 101 to 103.
Sacramento is forecast to reach 100 degrees this week and Phoenix could reach a scorching 107 degrees.
This comes after the Midwest saw record highs on Tuesday.
Lansing, Michigan, and Detroit tied record highs at 98 degrees and 96 degrees respectively. Chicago hit a scorching 99 degrees, which was the Windy City’s hottest temperature in 10 years.
During a recent interview, Grace and Frankie star Martin Sheen discussed his long career, which included film roles in Badlands and Apocalypse Now, and on TV as U.S. President Josiah Bartlet on NBC’s The West Wing.
Sheen also expressed his regret over changing his name from his birth name, Ramón Estévez.
When reflecting on his sons Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estévez‘s acting careers, the elder Sheen told Closer, he was “so self-involved and trying to be a provider that I wasn’t aware of their inclination to being actors.”
“The only influence I had on Emilio,” he adds, “was to keep his name.”
“When he started out, his agent was advising him to change his name to Sheen and he wouldn’t do it,” Sheen recalls. “And I thank God he didn’t.”
The 81-year-old actor, born in America to a Spanish father and an Irish mother, admits changing his name, which he reportedly did to try and land more more acting roles, was “one of my regrets.”
“I never changed my name officially. It’s still Ramón Estévez on my birth certificate. It’s on my marriage license, my passport, driver’s license,” he says. “Sometimes you get persuaded when you don’t have enough insight or even enough courage to stand up for what you believe in, and you pay for it later. But, of course, I’m only speaking for myself.”
(WASHINGTON) — A decision in the U.S. Supreme Court’s biggest gun rights case in over a decade is expected to land any day now.
The closely-watched case, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v Bruen, addresses whether New York state’s concealed carry law violates the Second Amendment.
It is the most significant case regarding the Second Amendment since the high court affirmed the right to bear arms with its 2010 decision rendering Chicago’s nearly 30-year ban on handgun ownership unconstitutional.
“There’s been a big push to get more Second Amendment cases before the courts because many people believe that the lower courts were not being faithful to the Supreme Court’s decision in 2010 saying that states, as well as the federal government, were restricted by the Second Amendment,” Seth Chandler, a professor at the University of Houston Law Center who teaches constitutional law, told ABC News. “The Supreme Court for the past 10 years or so has just not placed that hot-button issue on its docket. But now, with this New York State Rifle and Pistol v. Bruen case, they’ve accepted those challenges.”
‘May issue’ states
The case, brought forth by the NRA-affiliate New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, focuses on a century-old New York state law that requires gun owners to show “proper cause” to carry a handgun in public for self-defense. Local authorities currently are given the discretion to decide who receives a concealed carry license even if basic requirements are met.
Twenty-five states require a permit to carry concealed weapons in public, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Among those, New York is one of eight states, as well as the District of Columbia, that have such “may issue” concealed carry laws. Someone may be denied a permit if, for instance, they have not demonstrated a strong reason to carry a weapon in public.
Seventeen “shall issue” states, meanwhile, issue concealed carry permits with little to no discretion to those who meet basic qualifications. The remaining 25 states generally allow people to carry concealed weapons in most public spaces without a permit, according to the Giffords Law Center.
Gun control advocates like the Giffords Law Center warn that relaxing concealed carry laws could increase the risk of gun violence, while gun rights groups argue that laws like New York’s are unfair and overly discretionary.
The court is also deciding the case at a time when the country has seen record levels of gun violence and gun deaths and a spate of deadly mass shootings that have reignited calls for gun reform, alongside record gun sales.
Potential outcomes
During oral arguments on the case in November, many of the court’s conservative justices seemed skeptical of New York-style laws, though raised concerns about public safety if restrictions were rolled back too far.
With the high court appearing poised to strike down New York’s proper-cause requirement, it would be a question of “how narrowly or broadly that opinion is written,” Darrell Miller, a professor at the Duke University School of Law who teaches constitutional law, told ABC News.
“A really narrow opinion could be something like New York can have a licensing law for concealed carry, but it can’t grant as much discretion as it does to the licensing authority,” Miller said. “A broad decision on this issue would be something like it’s unconstitutional to have any kind of licensing [for concealed carry] at all. I don’t think that that’s likely, but it’s possible.”
If it rolls back New York’s concealed-carry restrictions, the Supreme Court may also need to address decisions on where guns should be prohibited, Miller said.
“If you end up having more people carrying guns around New York, could you prevent people from carrying guns on college campuses or in the middle of Times Square on New Year’s Eve?” Miller said. “If the Supreme Court says we’ll have rights to carry guns in more places, that puts a lot of pressure on legislatures and eventually the courts to figure out what places are potentially sensitive that you can prohibit guns from being there.”
The justices could uphold the law, allowing New York to continue to exercise discretion in issuing concealed carry licenses, or they could say they don’t want to decide the case now — though both seem unlikely, Miller said.
The justices could send the case back to the district court to get more facts — such as how often people are denied concealed carry licenses in New York — Chandler said, though noted that also seems unlikely.
“I suspect the court feels it’s ready to decide the matter,” he said.
Potential impact
Should the court decide that New York’s discretionary licensing law is unconstitutional, similar laws in other states will likely be challenged, depending on how narrow or broad the decision is, Miller said.
A technical but potentially consequential “sleeper issue” in this case, Miller also noted, is whether the court takes a “text, history and tradition”-only approach in instructing lower courts on how to think about Second Amendment rights, or if judges can continue to consider modern evidence like social science data while balancing individual rights against state laws promoting public safety.
The text, history and tradition-only approach — which gun rights advocates have pushed — “essentially says that only those regulations that have some equal or analogue and history are constitutional, and all other regulations are not,” Miller said.
If the court adopts that approach, other gun regulations — such as those prohibiting guns on planes or keeping them out of the hands of people convicted of domestic violence — may suddenly become subject to that analysis, according to Miller, who was among a group of scholars who filed a brief in the Bruen case on behalf of neither party urging the court not to apply a text, history and tradition-only approach.
If New York’s law remains unchanged, there are other Second Amendment cases in the pipeline that are seeking Supreme Court review, Miller said.
“It’s pretty much guaranteed that whatever this opinion looks like, it will generate further litigation,” he said.
(LONDON) — At least 1,000 people have been killed and more than 1,500 others have been injured in a powerful earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, according to the country’s state-run media.
The U.S. Geological Survey recorded the 5.9-magnitude quake near the Pakistani border at about 1:30 a.m. local time.
“We are deeply saddened by reports of an earthquake in eastern Afghanistan,” the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said on Twitter. “We offer our heartfelt condolences to all who have been affected by this devastating event.”
The death toll has continued to rise throughout the day, as rescue teams arrive in the mountainous area around the quake’s epicenter.
Mawlawi Sharafudin Muslim, deputy minister of disaster management, told reporters earlier on Wednesday that at least 920 people had been killed and at least 600 others were injured. He warned that the already tragic toll might rise
A journalist on the scene told ABC News that many of the victims died in their homes, as the quake struck in the middle of the night, while many were asleep. The quake destroyed homes and knocked out communication, resulting a near total blackout.
“People got shocked with the hit and many lost their lives right at their homes,” the journalist said.
Many of the villages that were hit are in remote areas with difficult access routes for emergency responders. The few pictures that have been published since the earthquake struck showed helicopters ferrying injured people away from the area.
Afghanistan Ministry of Defense’s said in a press release that the ministry has sent seven helicopters with first aid to transport the wounded to military and civilian hospitals and to treat the victims. According to the ministry’s leadership, teams from the field and central units had arrived at the scene to help transport the injured to health centers.
Local media reported that hundreds of houses were turned to rubble. There are warnings that the scale of the disaster is yet to be understood.
Mohammad Hasan Akhund, acting prime minister of the Taliban, announced the country will allocate more than $11 million to “urgently address the situation of the families of earthquake victims and victims in Paktika and Khost provinces,” Bakhtar News Agency reported.
The quake’s epicenter was in Paktika province, about 27 miles southwest of Khost, Pakistan’s Meteorological Department said. That service, which placed the magnitude at 6.1, logged the quake at a depth of 31 miles.
“I am saddened over loss of precious lives by earthquake in Afghanistan & express my sympathies with the affectees,” Arif Alvi, Pakistan’s president, said on Twitter. “I pray for the deceased, the injured & offer condolences to bereaved families. Pakistan stands in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan in this hour of need.”
Pope Francis offered condolences to those affected by the quake.
“In the past few hours an earthquake has caused victims and extensive damage in Afghanistan,” he said during his weekly audience at the Vatican. “I express my closeness to the injured and those affected by the earthquake, and I pray in particular for those who have lost their lives and their families. I hope that with everyone’s help we can alleviate the suffering of the dear Afghan people.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
