Selena Gomez rang in the big 3-0 with best friend Taylor Swift by her side.
“30, nerdy and worthy,” she captioned a sweet Instagram post on Saturday, which showed the two sitting side-by-side at a dinner table. In one photo, the Rare Beauty mogul has an arm wrapped around Taylor, who is holding up three fingers and has a shocked expression on her face.
In the second photo, which appears to be a selfie, Taylor looks somewhat proud of herself and flashes a thumbs up as Selena giggles while reading her birthday card.
Selena is longtime friends with the “Shake It Off” singer. Their friendship goes all the way back to 2005 when they were both dating members of the Jonas Brothers. Selena was dating Nick Jonas,while Taylor was seeing Joe Jonas.
“We clicked instantly and, man, that was my girl,” Selena told The Wall Street Journal in 2020. “There’s so much of my friendship with Taylor that people don’t know about because we don’t necessarily feel the need to post about everything we do.”
She added, “She has showed up for me in ways that I would have never expected… It’s been proven year after year and in every moment of my life that she is one of my best friends in the world.”
As for Taylor, she said in the same interview, “I knew from when I met her I would always have her back. In my life, I have the ability to forgive people who have hurt me. But I don’t know if I can forgive someone who hurts her.”
(PHOENIX) — Ahead of Arizona’s Aug. 2 primary, Republican voters in the battleground state say they remain torn over former President Donald Trump’s place in the party — as he and his estranged former Vice President Mike Pence support dueling candidates in the GOP governor’s primary.
At a banquet-style event in Peoria on Friday with roughly 350 guests, Pence joined a term-limited Gov. Doug Ducey and GOP secretary of state candidate Beau Lane to support gubernatorial hopeful Karrin Taylor Robson, a wealthy donor and former member of the Arizona Board of Regents widely seen as the establishment candidate.
On the heels of another prime-time Jan. 6 hearing, Pence only mentioned Trump once in his 21-minute speech to tout their accomplishments — careful not to break fully from the former president in public but taking a quick swipe at Trump’s chosen candidate, Kari Lake, saying, “There are those who want to make this election about the past.”
That day, at a rally across the state, Trump and Lake, a former TV journalist-turned-“Ultra MAGA mom,” called President Joe Biden’s victory “illegitimate” and likened the former president to “Superman” before an energized crowd of thousands.
In interviews with ABC News, voters at a Lake town hall on Saturday expressed frustration with Pence for supporting Robson and for fulfilling his constitutional duty to certify the 2020 presidential election.
“To me, it just reiterated my disappointment in Pence,” said LeAnna Perez, a teacher for deaf and hard-of-hearing students from Louisiana who moved to Arizona in February and will be voting in her first election in the state next week. “I’m done with Mike Pence. He’s proving who he truly is.”
A half-dozen Republicans in Arizona told ABC News that while they support Trump’s “America First” policies, they are split on whether he is the right person to deliver them in an already polarized political climate.
“Whoever he is sponsoring is going to have a hard time in the primary and in the general election,” said Anastasia Keller, a lifelong Republican, Arizonan and small business owner who supported Trump in 2020.
Keller added that she had relatives break off from him: “They really liked Trump and what he stood for, some of the things that he accomplished, but the mean tweets and the overall attitude — I just don’t think that he can bring the country together.”
Pence, formerly Trump’s loyal No. 2, has become one of the most prominent GOP politicians with a contrasting style — endorsing a range of local candidates even against the Trump-endorsed picks, as he did when he stumped for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp over primary challenger David Perdue.
Lake is the odds-on favorite for the gubernatorial nod, but Robson has seen a surge in polling in recent weeks with former Arizona Rep. Matt Salmon dropping out of the race to back her and blast Lake. But Lake would face an uphill battle in the general election in a state that has shifted blue, with the likely Democratic nominee, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, singling out Lake over Robson in most of her attack ads.
John Mendibles, the executive director of Arizona’s League of Veterans who is supporting Robson, told ABC News that Republicans “want level heads. We don’t want no more craziness.”
“We’ve got enough of that. That’s behind us,” Mendibles said, holding a Robson sign for the camera. “This is 2022; 2024 is coming.”
One outside strategist in the Arizona governor’s race argued that Trump’s brand in the state was tarnished given Democrats’ victories in the state in 2018 and 2020.
“Kari Lake embodies the Trump experience. … She has taken the Trump playbook and [tried] to replicate what Trump did nationally in Arizona,” said GOP strategist and lifelong Arizonan Barrett Marson. “But Trump lost in 2020 in Arizona.”
According to a recent New York Times/Siena College poll, nearly half (49%) of Republicans said they wanted Trump to seek a second term. But the other half of those surveyed told the Times that they wanted someone else to get the Republican nomination in 2024 and 16% of GOP voters said they would never vote for Trump.
Voters at Lake’s event over the weekend said they would back Trump in 2024 — but also praised Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is at 25% among GOP primary voters, according to the Times poll.
Jason J. Baker, who works for DoorDash and a Christian film company, said Trump has his vote “unless there’s a candidate that just blows him away.”
“It would be kind of close for me, because I’m a huge supporter of Gov. DeSantis, and if [South Dakota] Gov. Kristi Noem was to ever run, she’d pretty much have my vote from the announcement,” Sanchez said.
Former Suicidal Tendencies bassist Bob Heathcote has passed away. He was 58.
According to a Facebook post from his son, Chris, Heathcote died Sunday following a motorcycle accident.
“I cannot put words together other than the fact that this is a loss I will hardly recover (if ever), and the fact that he was a hard working father who raised five children, including me,” Chris’ post reads.
Heathcote was a member of Suicidal Tendencies for just one year, between 1988 and 1989. He played on the 1988 album, How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can’t Even Smile Today,before being replaced by a pre-MetallicaRobert Trujillo.
(ST. LOUIS) — Nearly 2,500 Boeing workers are set to go on strike next month after voting down a union contract on Sunday.
Workers at three St. Louis-area plants will begin the strike on Aug. 1 after rejecting an offer that insufficiently compensated workers through its retirement plan, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, or IAMAW, told ABC News.
The contract included a $2 per hour increase in the base wage for all employees, which equates to an average 7.2% wage hike, Boeing said. Workers at the three St. Louis-area facilities make an average of $29.42 per hour, the union said.
The contract would also have improved the pace at which workers move up the wage scale and a deal would’ve included a $3,000 cash bonus for each worker if it had been ratified by Sunday, the company said.
In 2014, Boeing stopped offering a traditional pension plan for new hires, replacing it with a 401(k) that fails to adequately compensate workers, Jody Bennett, chief of staff of the IAMAW Aerospace Department, told ABC News.
“We cannot accept a contract that is not fair and equitable, as this company continues to make billions of dollars each year off the backs of our hardworking members,” IAMAW said in a statement.
“Boeing previously took away a pension from our members, and now the company is unwilling to adequately compensate our members’ 401(k) plan. We will not allow this company to put our members’ hard-earned retirements in jeopardy,” the union added.
The 401(k) plan offered in the contract features a dollar-for-dollar company match on 10% of a worker’s pay, Bennett said.
Plus, for the remainder of this year, the company will automatically put an amount equivalent to 4% of a worker’s pay into the 401(k), Bennett said. That automatic 401(k) investment from the company drops to 2% in 2023 and 2024 and is eliminated after 2024, he added.
“This is about that takeaway,” Bennett said. “We can’t recommend a takeaway.”
In a statement, Boeing lamented the union’s rejection of the contract.
“We are disappointed with Sunday’s vote to reject a strong, highly competitive offer,” the company said. “We are activating our contingency plan to support continuity of operations in the event of a strike.”
Boeing reported a loss of $1.2 billion in the first quarter of this year. The company brought in $62.2 billion revenue in 2021 after a resurgence in sales of its 737 MAX, which was grounded in 2019 after two crashes left 346 people dead. The Federal Aviation Agency lifted the grounding order in November 2020.
On Wednesday, the company will release earnings results for the second quarter.
“While it may be Boeing’s name that goes on those airplanes, it’s these people that do the work to make those airplanes,” IAMAW’s Bennett said.
(LONDON) — Prince Harry has scored an early victory in his legal battle to ensure he and his family are protected by security when they are in the U.K.
A judge in London ruled Friday that the uke of Sussex’s case can go to the High Court in London, meaning Harry, sixth in line to the British throne, will face off with the Home Office, which oversees immigration and security, in court.
Harry is fighting back against a 2020 decision by the government that denied his family police protection while in Britain after he and his wife Meghan, the duchess of Sussex, stepped down from roles as senior working roles.
At the time, the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures made a decision that security would be granted on a case-by-case basis.
Harry, who now lives in California with Meghan and their children Archie and Lilibet, has said he wants police protection for his family while on British soil and is willing to pay for the cost himself.
“He says that since birth, he’s been born into a world that requires a level security,” said Omid Scobie, ABC News royal contributor and the author of Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of A Modern Royal Family. “Not just to keep himself safe, but also his extended family, the people he marries, the children he has.”
Harry has only returned to the U.K. a handful of times since moving in 2020.
He and Meghan made their first joint return to the U.K. in April, where they met briefly with Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, on their way to the Invictus Games.
The couple then returned with their children in June to celebrate the queen’s Platinum Jubilee, their first known trip to the U.K. as a family of four.
Archie, 3, was born in the U.K. but had not traveled back publicly with his parents since they moved to California in 2020.
Lilibet was born last June in Santa Barbara, California, making her the first senior royal baby born in the U.S., and the first great-grandchild of the queen to be born outside of the U.K.
Since moving to California, the Sussexes have relied on a privately-funded security team, but Harry’s legal team has said they hope to expand that soon.
The family’s current security situation is similar to that of Harry’s late mother Princess Diana who had to rely on private security protection after her divorce from Harry’s father Prince Charles in 1996.
One year later, in 1997, Diana died in a car crash in Paris after the car she was riding in was pursued by paparazzi.
“When Diana died, she didn’t have police protection. She had a private security team at that point,” said Victoria Murphy, ABC News royal contributor. “And I think it’s very clear that Prince Harry feels that the police protection is superior and that that is what he wants for his family.”
Carrie Underwood is traveling back in time to the ’90s.
Over the weekend, the superstar shared a throwback video of her cover of Patty Loveless‘ hit “Blame It On Your Heart,” filmed in her tween years. Dressed in a Garth Brooks-esque half-black, half-white shirt, a young Carrie stands in front of a green screen, showing off her impressive vocal chops and hamming it up for the camera as she sings the lyrics that tell off a cheating lover.
She then pans to a clip of her singing the classic ’90s country track onstage at the Grand Ole Opry as part of Opry Live: Opry Loves the 90s special that recently aired on the Circle Network.
“How it started, How it’s going,” she captioned the vintage clip.
“Omg I love this so much,” commented Carrie’s former tour mate, Jennifer Wayne of Runaway June, with a heart eyes emoji.
Carrie will return to the Opry on July 30 to perform a special tribute to Barbara Mandrell in honor of her 50th anniversary as an Opry member.
(NEW YORK) — Ghislaine Maxwell has been moved to a low-security federal prison in Florida to serve her 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
Maxwell, who has filed notice that she intends to appeal her conviction and sentence, is currently listed as an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee.
The facility is different than what Maxwell’s attorneys had requested. They asked that she serve her time in Danbury, Connecticut.
Maxwell, 60, was found guilty of conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to recruit, groom and abuse minors.
The outgoing director of the BOP, Michael Carvajal, was subpoenaed to testify this week before a Senate panel and could face questions about Epstein’s suicide while in jail.
Maxwell’s defense attorneys had frequently complained about the conditions of her confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where she was previously held, arguing she was subjected to harsh treatment because of her association with Epstein.
At the facility in Tallahassee, Maxwell will be expected to wake up at 6 a.m., make her bed, dress in khaki pants and khaki shirt and maintain a regular job assignment.
(NEW YORK) — As abortion laws across the South and Midwest block nearly all abortions in over a dozen states, some city politicians are seeking new ways to protect abortion access.
While city leaders can’t directly overturn state legislature, some are seeking city-wide bills to mitigate the effects of state bans.
Austin unites against Texas state law
On Thursday, Austin’s city council voted to enact the GRACE Act, which effectively decriminalizes abortion in the city. One council member, Mackenzie Kelly, was absent from the vote.
City policy will be updated to deprioritize the investigation or enforcement of any charges related to pregnancy and abortion.
While Austin is still under Texas’ abortion law that bans nearly all abortions in the state, the GRACE act aims to minimize criminal accountability for those who seek or provide abortions.
“Criminalizing abortions won’t make them go away. It only puts people of lower economic means and communities of color at risk by making seeking essential health care unsafe,” Council member Vanessa Fuentes told ABC News.
The legislation also blocks the use of city funding or other resources for information sharing, data collection and surveillance related to abortion services and other reproductive health decisions, according to District 4’s office.
The act, however, will not apply when “coercion or force” is used against a pregnant person or in cases of criminal negligence related to a pregnant person’s health, the office added.
Jenna Hanes, communications director for the District 4 office, said that council member Jose Vela believes abortion is just like any health care, and shouldn’t be limited by politics.
“Abortion being punishable by up to 99 years in the state of Texas is ridiculous, it’s a violation of human rights,” Hanes told ABC News.
The city unanimously passed another three measures on Thursday, all aimed to protect access to abortion.
One was a nondiscrimination ordinance, which does not allow a resident to be discriminated against in housing or employment based upon their previous reproductive choices.
Two other measures were introduced by the city’s mayor, Steve Adler, and passed by the council.
One is an awareness campaign regarding birth control options, including male-targeted options such as vasectomies. The second directs the city manager to explore options to assist city employees in traveling for any procedure they cannot obtain within Texas — including abortions.
“In Austin we stand together and fight for what is right. Reproductive rights and choice are fundamental rights,” Adler told ABC News.
New Orleans resistance meets state backlash
Some New Orleans officials have adopted similar measures, and are facing backlash from the state government for doing so, the New Orleans mayor’s office said.
Louisiana’s abortion laws are currently not in action, as a temporary order blocking enforcement was issued June 27 and has since been extended several times, with a state judge expected to hear arguments Tuesday, officials said.
If the laws are cleared by the judge, several New Orleans officials have pledged to resist enforcing the bans.
In June, the New Orleans City Council passed a resolution similar to the GRACE Act that prohibits public funds or resources from being used by local law enforcement to enforce the trigger ban, according to the mayor’s office.
Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams said his office will not prosecute abortion providers, and New Orleans Police Department and the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office said they will not arrest nor investigate providers.
In opposition, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry called upon the state treasurer and his fellow members of the Bond Commission, a state agency that determines who can incur debt or levy taxes, to delay any applications and funding for New Orleans and Orleans Parish until officials agree to enforce the ban, according to a statement from Landry.
New Orleans mayor Latoya Cantrell said she will continue to fight to make New Orleans a safe haven for abortion access.
“As a Black woman, I understand the devastating impact these laws will have on our health and safety. We experience a higher maternal mortality rate than any other group and we cannot risk our reproductive health care decisions being forced out of our hands,” Cantrell told ABC News.
St. Louis leaders defy the state of Missouri
A similar circumstance exists in St. Louis, where Mayor Tishaura Jones signed a bill to direct $1 million in federal relief funds to support access to abortions on Thursday, according to the mayor’s press conference.
Hours later, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed suit to block the new law, issuing a statement that the law was “blatantly illegal.”
“I believe that abortion is healthcare and that healthcare is a human right. He does not,” Jones said. “I believe, and a majority of Missourians believe, reproductive health care decisions should stay between St. Louisans, their God, and their doctor. The attorney general does not.”
Earlier this week, the St. Louis County Council voted not to adopt a similar bill to use federal funding towards abortion resources following a nearly three-hour debate on Tuesday.
The effort, sponsored by Council members Lisa Clancy, D-5th District, and Kelli Dunaway, D-2nd District, faced a 4-3 vote at the end of the meeting, blocking it from enactment.
Clancy told ABC News that she sponsored this bill because “removing the ability to access this procedure is a fundamental violation of the freedom of women and other pregnant people to self-determine their health care decisions.”
Clancy said that two abortion clinics in neighboring Illinois are the most accessible for the St. Louis region. But, for those who don’t have transportation, lodging and child care, getting to those clinics remains nearly impossible.
“My bill will help to level the playing field among those who need abortions to actually get them by providing funding for the logistics required to get an abortion across state lines,” Clancy told ABC News.
District 6 Council member Ernie Trakas told ABC News that he does not believe it is legitimate to use such funds for abortion travel, and that passing such a bill would “most definitely result in suit being file by the Missouri Attorney General.”
Harry Styles is coming back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe! He made his first appearance in The Eternals as Eros — the brother of Thanos — in a post-credits scene.
MTV News caught up with Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige and asked if the next phase of the MCU involves the “As It Was” singer.
“Yes,” confirmed Feige, “The adventures of Eros and Pip is something that is very exciting for us!” Pip also appeared in the Eternals‘ post-credits scene with Harry. He is a troll, voiced by Patton Oswalt.
Feige teased the MCU will cover all angles in its next phases, from the multiverse with Dr. Strange to the streets with Daredevil and Spider-Man. So, where does this leave Eros?
“Cosmic,” Feige teased, adding, “That is where our friends Eros and Pip live.” He didn’t delve into further detail.
In the comics, Eros has superhuman strength, regeneration and the ability to control other people’s emotions. He later adopts the name Starfox and joins the Avengers.
With the latter part in mind, two Avengers movies are slated to hit theaters in 2025. Marvel is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
In other Harry news, he collected his sixth U.K. albums chart crown thanks to his album Harry’s House, says Billboard. With his latest victory, the Don’t Worry Darling star has officially spent more weeks at the top than his former band, One Direction.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for EA Sports Bowl at Bud Light Super Bowl Music Fest
Lil Wayne reflects on the passing of “Uncle Bob,” the New Orleans police officer who helped save his life when he shot himself at age 12.
“Everything happens for a reason. I was dying when I met u at this very spot,” Lil Wayne wrote on Instagram, sharing a past image of Robert Hoobler on the porch of the Hollygrove home where he rescued the rapper.
“U refused to let me die. Everything that doesn’t happen, doesn’t happen for a reason. That reason being you and faith.” He added, “RIP uncle Bob. Aunt Kathie been waiting for u. I’ll love & miss u both and live for us all.”
According to Nola.com, Hoobler, an off-duty cop at the time, rushed young Wayne to the hospital on Nov. 11, 1994 after he shot himself in the chest with a 9mm pistol. While en route to emergency care, Hoobler worked to keep Wayne alert and spoke to him saying, “Stay awake, son. You’re going to be fine. You’ll see.”
Hoobler told TMZ about a run-in with Wayne in 2019, during which the rapper offered financial assistance to Uncle Bob if ever needed. According to the report, Uncle Bob didn’t take Wayne up on his offer but discussed joining the rapper’s team in some capacity.
Opening up during an episode of EmmanuelAcho‘sUncomfortable Conversationsinternet series, Wayne recounted the details of the attempted suicide, explaining how each cop before Uncle Bob “stepped over” him.
Years later, he finally met the man who saved his life. “I don’t want nothing,” Wayne recalls Bob saying. “I just want to say, I’m happy to see that I saved a life that mattered.”
