The ad, featuring Phil’s 1981 hit “In the Air Tonight,” is for LG’s CordZero All in One Auto Empty Cordless Stick Vacuum, which comes with a special docking station. That station stores the vacuum, charges it and — most impressively — actually empties the dust bin for you.
So, where does Phil’s song come in? In the ad, we hear him singing, “I can feel it coming in the air tonight” as dust particles float all around a family’s house, covering their screens and annoying the dog. The source of the dust? It’s dad, emptying a “regular” vacuum into a garbage can. The idea is that with the new CordZero vacuum, all the dust remains contained.
The vacuum can be yours for the low, low price of $999.
“In the Air Tonight” has been used in many commercials over the years, from Michelob in 1987, to Mountain Dew MDX in 2006, to Dodge in 2015. It’s also been featured in the iconic ’80s TV series Miami Vice and equally iconic ’80s movie Risky Business.
(BATON ROUGE, La.) — Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards didn’t veto or approve the Republican-led Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, by the end of the legislative session Monday. The now-law that bans transgender women from participating in women’s sports.
“Whether it’s intended or not, the effect is to [send] a strong message to at least some of these young people that they shouldn’t be who they think they are, who they believe they are, who they know that they are,” Edwards said in a press conference on Monday. ” I find that very distressing. I do believe that we can be better than that.”
The legislation points to the biological differences between men and women. It claims “strength, speed, and endurance” are generally found in “greater degrees in biological males than biological females.”
The law also claims that hormone therapy after puberty is not effective until over a year after treatment begins — but does not reference puberty blockers, which some trans youth take to temporarily halt puberty.
There is no conclusive evidence as to whether transgender women have an unfair advantage, some experts say.
A recent study found that hormone therapy is most effective at quelling physical advantages after two years, but the study had several limitations. For example, it didn’t take into account differences in exercise habits.
Several major athletic organizations, including NCAA, the Olympics and the governing bodies for U.S. national sports leagues, allow transgender women to compete against cisgender women.
LGBTQ advocates say such bans are aiming to solve a problem that does not exist, and will only serve to harm trans children.
“SB 44 is a direct attack on transgender youth that are trying their best to just be kids, and fit in with and play alongside their peers,” the Human Right Campaign said in a statement when the legislation first passed the legislature.
It continued: “Trans kids, like all kids across the country, have said themselves that they play sports for the same reasons all kids do: to be part of a team, to learn discipline, and above all, to have fun with their friends.”
There have been more than 300 bills targeting the LGBTQ community across the country so far this year.
Louisiana joins Indiana, Oklahoma, Arizona, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia in banning transgender girls from sports that align with their gender identity.
However, several governors have vetoed similar bills, including Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb.
The two cited a lack of evidence that trans students were unfairly dominating and warned about the mental health implications of banning trans youth from recreational sports.
With hisJurassic World: Dominion alter-ego Owen Grady tackling dinosaur detail in theaters this weekend, Chris Pratt is back at home on diaper duty.
The star and his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger welcomed their second daughter, Eloise in May.
To E! News, Pratt joked that while the baby’s diapers “smell worse” than the “dino droppings” his raptor-wrangling character has to deal with, the output is comparatively “much smaller,” and thus “much more manageable.”
Pratt, who married Schwarzenegger in 2019, added of his new wife, “Katherine just has the most amazing maternal instincts. She just really knows what to do. I’ll follow her lead.”
The pair’s first daughter, Lyla Maria, was born in 2020.
Pratt also shares 9-year-old son Jack with ex-wife Anna Faris.
(LONDON) — Some of the gunmen who attacked a church full of worshippers in southwestern Nigeria on Sunday were disguised as congregants, police said.
Dozens of people, including women and children, were killed in the late-morning attack at St. Francis Catholic Church in the town of Owo in Ondo state, more than 200 miles northwest of Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, and over 200 miles southwest of Abuja, the Nigerian capital. The church was holding a service for Pentecost Sunday, a Christian holiday celebrated on the 50th day after Easter, when suddenly explosives detonated and gunshots rang out at around 11:30 a.m. local time, according to Olumuyiwa Adejobi, a spokesperson for the Nigeria Police Force’s headquarters in Abuja.
“Further investigations revealed that some of the gunmen disguised as congregants, while other armed men who had positioned themselves around the church premises from different directions fired into the church,” Adejobi said in a statement on Monday night.
An unknown number of gunmen had approached the church during the service and began shooting at worshippers as they tried to flee, according to Funmilayo Ibukun Odunlami, a spokesperson for the Nigeria Police Force’s command in Ondo state, adding that several gunmen were firing from inside the building.
A motive for the massacre was not immediately clear, as no group has claimed responsibility. Police have yet to identify the perpetrators or release the number of casualties.
“Some lives were lost and some sustained varying degrees of injuries,” Odunlami said in a statement on Sunday evening, later telling ABC News that police do not yet have an estimate.
Health workers at the Federal Medical Center in Owo told ABC News on Monday that at least 35 bodies had been transported to the hospital from the scene of Sunday’s attack. They said there was also an urgent need for blood donations for the wounded.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Laity Council of Nigeria said in a statement on Monday that “more than 50 parishioners” had died and the gunmen were “suspected to be bandits.”
The suspects fled the scene in a stolen Nissan and remain at large. The vehicle has since been recovered by police, according to Adejobi.
Police have also recovered three undetonated improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from the scene, along with fragments of detonated IEDs and pellets of expended AK-47 ammunition, Adejobi said.
Nigerian Inspector-General of Police Usman Alkali Baba has ordered a “full-scale” and “comprehensive” investigation into the incident and has deployed specialized police units to help track down the assailants, according to Adejobi.
“He equally assures that the heartless killers of the harmless victims, particularly innocent children, would be made to face the full wrath of the law,” Adejobi said.
To promote their new album, Proof, BTS is asking their devoted fans, aka ARMY, to tell them their favorite memories of the group over the years.
In a letter to fans, the group writes, “For nine years, you have been our greatest champions. As we embark on the journey to our 10th years as a band, we want to remember and celebrate all the special moments we’ve had together so far.”
Starting on Saturday, the group is asking fans to share their stories on YouTube Shorts, with the hashtag #MyBTStory. Those who participate will get the chance to have their story included in an ARMY tribute video.
Meanwhile, BTS will premiere the official music video for “Yet to Come (The Most Beautiful Moment),” the first single from Proof, on Friday at midnight, which is also when the album arrives.
(WASHINGTON) — After extremists praised last month’s school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and called for at least one copycat attack, the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday warned of a “heightened” threat environment.
Law enforcement uses the term “domestic violent extremist” to label those from a broad swath of the ideological spectrum from racially motivated extremists to white supremacists.
The bulletin, which is the sixth bulletin DHS has issued since the beginning of the Biden administration, said domestic violent extremists are propagating disinformation.
“Others have seized on the event to attempt to spread disinformation and incite grievances, including claims it was a government-staged event meant to advance gun control measures,” the bulletin said, referring to the Uvalde school shooting.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called the threat environment “heightened.”
“As recent acts of violence in communities across the country have so tragically demonstrated, the nation remains in a heightened threat environment, and we expect that environment will become more dynamic in the coming months,” Mayorkas said.
Public gatherings, faith-based institutions, racial and religious minorities, government facilities and critical infrastructure may be targets of domestic violent extremists, a DHS official told reporters on a conference call.
“We do expect that the threat environment is likely to become more dynamic as several high-profile events could be exploited to justify acts of violence against a range of possible targets,” the official said.
The official said DHS is seeing threats from the “ideological spectrum” of actors, but did not offer more specifics.
Officials also said they are concerned about the midterm elections, because some could still be holding onto grievances from the 2020 presidential election. Officials say they are also concerned about possible fallout from an expected Supreme Court decision that could overturn Roe v. Wade, as ABC News has previously reported.
“Given a high-profile U.S. Supreme Court case about abortion rights, individuals who advocate both for and against abortion have, on public forums, encouraged violence, including against government, religious, and reproductive healthcare personnel and facilities, as well as those with opposing ideologies,” DHS officials wrote.
The bulletin said issues along the southern border could also present a trigger point for extremists.
“Some domestic violent extremists have expressed grievances related to their perception that the U.S. government is unwilling or unable to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and have called for violence to stem the flow of undocumented migrants to the United States,” the bulletin said. “We assess that there is increased risk of domestic violent extremists using changes in border security-related policies and/or enforcement mechanisms to justify violence against individuals, such as minorities and law enforcement officials involved in the enforcement of border security.”
The Department also hasn’t taken their eye off of foreign terrorists.
“Foreign terrorist organizations will likely continue to use online platforms to attempt to inspire U.S.-based individuals to engage in violent activity,” it said.
John Cohen, the former acting undersecretary for Intelligence and Analysis at DHS, told ABC News this isn’t new.
“This bulletin reinforces what DHS and FBI have been telling the American people over the past year and a half,” Cohen, who is now an ABC News contributor, said.
He added, “The Nation faces a terrorism threat environment that is volatile, complex and dangerous. Lone offenders continue to engage in targeted acts of violence inspired by extremist or other content posted online. The tempo of these attacks are increasing. And these ideologically motivated attacks are occurring at the same time that localities across the nation are experiencing increased levels of violent crime. These are incredible challenging times for law enforcement and communities across the Nation.”
Dave Chappelle reportedly booked an unexpected weekend show in Buffalo and then surprised the audience by announcing he would be donating all the proceeds from the event to the families of victims of the recent mass shooting there.
“He said, and I’m paraphrasing, I came here to Buffalo to recognize the victims and for these families,” director of marketing and communications for Shea’s Performing Arts Center, Kevin Sweeney, recalled the comedian saying during Sunday’s last-minute show, according to Deadline.
Ten people were killed and three others were injured in a mass shooting at a supermarket in New York’s second-largest city on May 14. A white 18-year-old man targeted the predominately-Black neighborhood in what police called “racially motivated violent extremism.” The alleged shooter has been charged with 25 related crimes, including murder and attempted murder.
(WASHINGTON) — White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who took over as the President Joe Biden’s chief spokesperson just over three weeks ago, told ABC’s Good Morning America on Tuesday that Biden is “very encouraged” by gun safety negotiations in Congress as lawmakers urgently try to reach a deal in principle this week in the wake of recent shootings.
“This is a priority for and this is a very serious issue for this president, but right now, we’re watching what Congress is doing, because we can’t do this alone, he cannot do this alone, and we’re very encouraged,” Jean-Pierre told GMA Anchor Robin Roberts, who pressed her on whether Biden was personally lobbying senators after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas in which 19 children and two teachers were killed.
“So, I’ll say this, the president has been very clear,” Jean-Pierre continued. “He made his speech on Thursday. He spoke directly to the American public to continue to lay out the importance of dealing with gun violence, how this is destroying schools clearly and communities and how we have to act now and we cannot wait any longer.”
“But he wants to give the Senate and Congress on the Hill some space to have the conversation,” she added. “It sounds very promising. We are encouraged by it.”
Jean-Pierre said the White House Office of Legislative Affairs has had direct communication with the negotiators “dozens of times.”
“So, that is that is how we have been really dealing with this — making sure that we can do whatever it is that we can do on our end and getting updates from them as well,” she added.
The exclusive interview comes as Biden has called for lawmakers to act on gun safety legislation, but as Senate negotiators are considering a package much more narrow than what he asked for.
Biden called for an assault weapons ban, and if not, he said, then to raise the age to buy assault weapons from 18 to 21. Instead, lawmakers are considering measures like expanded background checks, incentives for states and localities to institute red flag laws, and increased funding for school security and mental health programs.
Throughout negotiations, Jean-Pierre has been on the defensive on Biden’s involvement as some have questioned whether the president should be taking a larger role in talks. She has argued Biden has been involved for decades and is giving senators “a little space” to work.
At Monday’s press briefing, Jean-Pierre indicated that even if the senators ultimately propose a package that falls far short of the wish list Biden outlined in prime-time remarks last week, incremental changes would be acceptable to Biden. When reporters pressed her on the president’s lack of personal involvement in the talks, she confirmed Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy’s assertion that he has spoken with the White House every single day since the negotiations began — but that can be on the staff level, not directly with Biden.
Jean-Pierre made history when she took over from Jen Psaki on May 13, becoming the first Black woman and first openly gay person to hold the position of White House press secretary.
When Jean-Pierre anchored her first White House briefing last year, as she was filling in for Psaki, ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Mary Bruce asked her about making history at the podium.
“It’s a real honor to be standing here today,” Jean-Pierre said. “I appreciate the historic nature, I really do, but I believe that being behind this podium, being in this room, being in this building, is not about one person. It’s about what we do on behalf of the American people.”
Previously, Jean-Pierre was principal deputy White House press secretary, and during the 2020 presidential campaign, she was then-candidate Kamala Harris’ chief of staff. She also served in the Obama White House as the regional director in the Office of Political Affairs for the northeast. Before joining the Biden campaign, she was a senior executive at MoveOn.org and an MSNBC analyst.
Jean-Pierre was born in Fort-de-France, Martinique, to Haitian parents, who later moved briefly to France and then immigrated to the U.S. and settled in Queens when she was 5. They later moved to Hempstead, Long Island, where her father worked as a cab driver, and her mother as a home health care aide. Though Jean-Pierre wasn’t born in Haiti, she calls herself a “proud Haitian-American.”
Variety reports Borat Subsequent Moviefilm breakout star Maria Bakalova has joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a “key role” in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Bakalova’s role, like most details pertaining the film, is being kept secret. Filming recently wrapped up on the third chapter, which will star Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Sylvester Stallone, Karen Gillan, Elizabeth Debicki, Will Poulter, Chuk Iwuji and Daniela Melchior. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 debuts May 5, 2023, from Marvel Studios, which is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News…
Netflix dropped a new teaser for highly anticipated adaptation of the popular Neil Gaiman comic book series The Sandman, and also announced the release date: August 5. The streaming service describes the series as “a rich blend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction, historical drama and legend are seamlessly interwoven, The Sandman follows the people and places affected by Morpheus, the dream king, played by Tom Sturridge, as he mends the cosmic — and human — mistakes he’s made during his vast existence.” The cast also includes Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer, the ruler of Hell, joining Vivienne Acheampong, Boyd Holbrook, Charles Dance, Asim Chaudhry and Sanjeev Bhaskar…
Ted Lasso‘s Juno Temple, Mad Men‘s Jon Hamm and Atypical‘s Jennifer Jason Leigh have been tapped as leads in the upcoming fifth installment of the FX limited series Fargo, according to Deadline. Temple, Hamm and Leigh will play the central characters of Dot, Roy and Lorraine, respectively. Creator and executive producer Noah Hawley is keeping the plot of the new season under wraps, though, per Deadline, it’s “set in 2019 and answers two questions: When is a kidnapping not a kidnapping, and what if your wife isn’t yours?” Previous seasons of Fargo have been headlined by Billy Bob Thornton, Kirsten Dunst, Ewan McGregor and Chris Rock, among others…
AMC Networks has set August 14 as the premiere date for new episodic anthology series Tales of the Walking Dead. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom actress Daniella Pineda, Brooklyn Nine-Nine alum Terry Crews, Parker Posey, Rough Night‘s Jillian Bell, ER‘s Anthony Edwards and Hacks‘ Poppy Liu star in the Walking Dead spinoff. Each stand-alone episode will focus on both new and established characters within the Walking Dead universe. The premiere will air on AMC and AMC+, with the first two episodes streaming that same night on AMC+. Subsequent episodes will stream one week early, beginning Sunday, August 21…
(NEW YORK) — Ramon Benavides, 2022’s Texas Teacher of the Year, choked up, clutching his infant son as his mind raced with thoughts of the recent mass shootings in his home state.
From the attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 to the Uvalde school massacre, the tragedies conjure up unimaginable fears felt not only by parents — but by teachers.
“I can’t even find the words to really explain how I’m feeling,” Benavides said. “I held him [his son] super tight because many parents, teachers involved, you know, they’re, they’re not coming back to their families and their families aren’t aren’t going to be able to embrace their loved ones as I did with my little boy last night. And it’s painful, it’s hurtful, and like I said, it’s just so many emotions just going on.”
The El Paso educator said he is devastated by the killing of 19 children and two of their teachers at Robb Elementary School. The shocking news struck his “soul,” he said, and he is having trouble making sense of it.
“I’ve lived across Texas, so this is something that just hits us all,” he told ABC News. “It kind of leaves you breathless, it’s like a punch to the gut.”
Teachers’ mental health
Having to deal with school shootings is just one of the factors taking a toll on teachers’ mental health.
Educators cite a range of emotions, including anxiety and sadness during a pandemic — now in its third year — as reasons more than half of them plan to leave their chosen profession, according to a survey from the National Education Association. While burnout is a primary cause teachers want out of the classroom, now some are haunted by fears that they, their families and their students now won’t be safe — even at school.
In the almost 10 years since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, there have been more than 900 school shootings, according to the gun violence prevention organization Sandy Hook Promise and the Center for Homeland Defense and Security. The attack in Uvalde is the latest in a long series of acts of gun violence terrorizing students and teachers alike. Last year, there were 42 acts of campus gun violence at K-12 schools in the U.S.
“Mental health in this country is already bad with the pandemic,” Lee Perez, Nebraska’s 2022 Teacher of the Year, told ABC News. The Uvalde shooting, he said, “is only going to make it worse.”
He knows how the pressures can push teachers to their limits. Perez dealt with anxiety and depression due to stress from the pandemic and how the spread of COVID-19 disproportionately affected marginalized minority communities.
Teachers’ job-related stress levels and symptoms of depression were higher than most employed adults, according to Rand Corporation’s 2021 State of the U.S. Teacher Survey. A recent poll of over 3,000 National Education Association (NEA) members emphasized over 90% of educators believe stress is a serious issue.
Dr. Christine Crawford, associate medical director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said that exposure to horrific events like the Uvalde shooting “can elicit symptoms that are consistent with a trauma response, almost.”
She explained that after hearing or reading about events like a mass shooting, people may notice they are more on edge or irritable and may experience other symptoms such as difficulty sleeping or concentrating. These symptoms, Crawford said, may present after repeated exposure to similar events, even if someone didn’t experience the trauma firsthand.
“We do know that there is this phenomenon known as vicarious trauma,” Crawford explained. “So, just hearing about a traumatic event, you can almost imagine yourself in that sort of scenario and that can further kind of exacerbate some of the symptoms that I just described.”
It highlights, she said, that even in a small community, “you don’t fully know each and every person and what it is that they’re capable of. And so this kind of sense of safety within the community can certainly be threatened.”
Benavides says he’s taking it “day-by-day.” But Perez, his state’s first Latinx and English as a Second Language (ESL) recipient of the top teacher honor, said the shooting in Uvalde also hit close to home.
“These beautiful brown babies [were] just murdered in cold blood,” he said, adding, “it puts people of color … puts us on pins and needles.”
Perez had his first child at the beginning of this month. He tearfully discussed “strategizing” to protect his baby girl, Natalia, if Congress doesn’t pass universal background checks or mental health red flag laws.
“It really adds to that anxiety that has been brought on by all the stuff that’s happened two years ago,” Perez said. “As educators, we always tell families, communities and our students, ‘you are safe at school,’ but then this happens, and then the question becomes, well, ‘are students safe at school? Is anybody safe at school?'”
‘It scares you,’ one teacher said
Teachers have faced mental health struggles throughout the pandemic that initially shuttered schools and has upended education over the last two years. Their fears of contracting a deadly virus, combating a nationwide staffing and substitute shortage and increasing demands on their time have made a tough profession — even harder.
“Teachers are doing amazing work, and they are providing work during a very challenging time. They already had to provide support – to teach kids during a pandemic, and then to have these events happen, can be further traumatizing for some of our teachers,” Crawford said. “And so we certainly do need to have compassion for these teachers, empathy for these teachers, because they really have been faced with a tremendous amount of stress and trauma over the last few years.”
Experts have been monitoring the effects of the pandemic on the mental health of Americans over the last two years. Since April 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been documenting self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression, using Household Pulse Surveys. These metrics, compared with similar data collected in 2019, show a dramatic increase in symptoms.
Colorado’s Autumn Rivera was a 2022 finalist for the national teacher of the year award who says she considered seeking mental health counseling at her school after the Uvalde shooting. With the school year ending, Rivera is taking time to process her feelings because she can’t accept the fact that many of those slain were Latinx.
“Those are my students,” Rivera said, comparing the population she teaches to the students at Robb Elementary. “That is me and those two teachers, you know, very similar backgrounds, very similar situations, and it just broke my heart.”
For now, Perez struggles with the notion of when this might happen again, advocating for Congress to enact sweeping gun reform that could prevent future attacks on schools. Ultimately, he hopes his daughter has a safer future than today’s students who do lockdown and active shooting drills.
“It scares you,” he said. “Where is it safe? The fact that you have to ask that question scares, not just teachers, but everybody.”
The National Alliance on Mental Illness HelpLine offers resources and support to people experiencing mental health struggles. The HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or helpline@nami.org. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available toll-free, 24/7, to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress at 1-800-273-8255.
