(WASHINGTON) — A plane carrying some one million bottles’ worth of specialized infant formula from Europe was set to arrive at an airport in Virginia on Wednesday, the same day top industry executives and federal regulators were to face angry lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
The second shipment from overseas — part of President Joe Biden’s “Operation Fly Formula” — will be headed to hospitals for infants allergic to cow’s milk.
The urgently needed shipment comes amid a nationwide shortage that’s sent at least a half a dozen children to the hospital so far and has put enormous pressure on Biden to explain why his administration didn’t act sooner to prevent the crisis.
“There’s no excuse for what’s happening all across this country right now,” said Rep. Diana DeGette, a Colorado Democrat, who will lead the hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
The nation’s supply crunch became urgent last February after federal inspectors found a deadly bacteria inside a manufacturing facility by Abbott Nutrition in Sturgis, Michigan.
Abbott agreed to a voluntary recall of its formula and shuttered its facility, even as it insists there is no conclusive evidence that its formula was tied to the illnesses of four infants.
The Abbott facility is now on track to reopen within the next week or so. But the closure proved to be disastrous to a market already plagued by supply chain problems.
Abbot is the largest formula producer in the U.S. and a top contributor to a federal program that supplies formula to low-income families.
Democrats have joined Republicans in raising questions about the Food and Drug Administration’s handling of the Abbott recall. According to inspection reports and congressional testimony, the FDA was aware last fall of sanitation issues at the plant as well as a whistleblower complaint.
“You can’t hide behind an investigation. We need answers. We need them now,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.
Dr. Bob Califf, head of the Food and Drug Administration, told House lawmakers last week that the investigation into the Abbott recall is ongoing.
Califf also said his agency doesn’t have the resources to do the kind of complex analysis that would be needed to monitor the nation’s supply chain and ward off future shortages.
Califf is expected to testify Wednesday alongside other FDA officials, followed by senior executives from Abbott, Reckitt and Gerber.
Chris Calamari, Abbott’s senior vice president for U.S. Nutrition, was expected to tell lawmakers that the company plans to have more formula available at the end of June than it did in January before the recall.
“To all of the families who depend on us for a reliable supply of formula — we let you down. We are deeply sorry and are committed to making sure that a shortage like this never happens again … We plan to resume production at the Sturgis facility the first week of June. From the time we restart production at the site, it will take approximately six to eight weeks before product is available on shelves,” Calamari said in prepared remarks.
Executives from Gerber and Mead Johnson Nutrition also were expected to testify. And like Abbott, they planned to tell lawmakers they were ramping up production dramatically to address the shortage.
To address the crisis, Biden has ordered the FDA to open up the U.S. market to global suppliers and arranged for two shipments of Nestlé hypoallergenic formula to arrive from overseas. He also has invoked the Defense Production Act to ensure domestic manufacturers are first in line to access raw materials and other supplies.
The first shipment of imported formula arrived in Indiana on Sunday aboard an Air Force transport plane, and included a half a million bottles of Alfamino Infant and Alfamino Junior — enough hypoallergenic formula for 9,000 infants and 18,000 toddlers for one week.
The second shipment, scheduled to arrive Wednesday at Dulles International Airport outside of Washington, D.C., is expected to include 114 pallets of Gerber Good Start Extensive Hypoallergenic infant formula.
In total, the two shipments would stock provide 1.5 million 8-ounce bottles of the specialty formula.
First lady Jill Biden and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy were scheduled to greet the arrival of the FedEx plane.
As of late Tuesday, five out of the six infants admitted to hospitals in South Carolina and Tennessee in connection to the formula shortage had been released.
One infant who remained hospitalized in South Carolina has not been able to tolerate alternative formulas. This child also has other health complications, a hospital spokesperson tells ABC News.
(NEW YORK) — A recent viral TikTok food hack has been dubbed unsafe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Videos of halved avocados submerged in bowls or containers of water have bubbled up on TikTok and other social media platforms over the past few months. Creators and commenters alike were stunned to see the vibrant green flesh of the popular fruit still seemingly perfect after removing it from the water to use it without scraping off its usual oxidized brown layer.
But an FDA official told ABC News’ Good Morning America the agency “does not recommend this practice.”
“The main concern is with the possibility that any residual human pathogens (i.e. Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., etc.) that may be residing on the avocado surface may potentially multiply during the storage when submerged in water,” the official said in a statement to GMA.
“In addition, research performed by FDA scientists has shown that Listeria monocytogenes has the potential to infiltrate and internalize into the pulp of avocados when submerged in refrigerated dump tanks within 15 days during refrigerated storage,” they added. “In this case, even surface disinfecting the avocado skin prior to slicing would not be able to remove the contamination.”
(WASHINGTON) — May ends with another round of notable primary elections on Tuesday, this time in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and Texas.
The most-watched races will be in Georgia, with primaries for governor and the Senate.
Here is how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
May 25, 12:21 am
Raffensperger projected winner of GOP nomination for Georgia secretary of state
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger will win the Republican nomination, ABC News has projected.
Raffensperger has been running for reelection under the cloud of former President Donald Trump, who has spent much of the 2022 midterm election cycle advocating for the takedown of Georgia’s top officials after they rebuffed his requests to change the 2020 election results.
Trump endorsed Rep. Jody Hice in the secretary of state’s race. The congressman has amplified Trump’s false claims about election fraud and irregularities — a message that didn’t appear to resonate with voters on Tuesday. ABC News has projected that Gov. Brian Kemp — another target of the ex-president — will win the Republican nomination over Trump-backed David Perdue.
May 25, 12:00 am
ABC News projects Katie Britt, Mo Brooks will advance to runoff
In the Alabama Senate Republican primary, ABC News projects that Katie Britt and Rep. Mo Brooks will advance to a runoff.
They are competing to fill the seat left open by retiring Sen. Richard Shelby. The contest will take place on June 21.
Brooks flailed in the race after once securing the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. Trump rescinded his support earlier this year after Brooks, a champion of Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, suggested it was time to move on from the presidential race. But Club for Growth, a popular conservative anti-tax group, is still backing him and has spent more than $4.4 million on his behalf.
Britt, a former Shelby aide, has secured the endorsement of the outgoing senator as well as Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
May 24, 11:35 pm
McBath speaks about gun violence in victory speech: ‘We are exhausted’
Addressing supporters at an election watch party on Tuesday night, Rep. Lucy McBath, the projected winner in Georgia’s 7th Congressional District, used the moment to discuss gun violence after a mass shooting at an elementary school left at least 19 children and two adults dead in Uvalde, Texas.
“Tonight I came to give one speech but I am now forced to make another,” McBath said after briefly thanking voters and volunteers, “because just hours ago, we paid for the weapons of war on our streets again with the blood of little children sitting in our schools.”
McBath rose to national prominence in 2018, becoming a leading advocate for gun control after her son, Jordan, was shot and killed at a gas station in Florida. She described on Tuesday night the “all-consuming fear” that parents feel about their children’s safety.
“The violence that took my soon has been replayed with casual callousness and despicable frequency,” McBath said, citing the recent shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, that left 10 people dead, as well as past tragedies in Newton, Connecticut, and Charleston, South Carolina.
“We cannot be the only nation where one party sits on their hands as children are forced to cover their faces in fear,” McBath said. “We are exhausted, all of us, the American majority.”
May 24, 10:24 pm
ABC News projects Lucy McBath will win Democratic primary in Georgia
Rep. Lucy McBath will win the Democratic nomination in Georgia’s 7th Congressional District, ABC News has projected, besting Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux after redistricting pitted the two incumbents against each other.
McBath flipped Georgia’s 6th Congressional District from red to blue in 2018. She is now the presumptive front-runner to win the November general election in the solidly Democratic district, which includes the Atlanta suburbs.
Her primary win comes on the same day as a mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas. McBath has been advocating for gun control following the death of her son, Jordan Davis, from gun violence back in 2012. He was shot and killed at a gas station in Florida by a man who complained that his and his friend’s music was too loud.
In a statement, McBath said Tuesday that we as a country our better than this and that it is “imperative we act, and act now.”
May 24, 10:22 pm
Trump congratulates Walker for Georgia Senate Republican primary win
Former President Donald Trump called into Herschel Walker’s victory party on Tuesday night, congratulating the Republican nominee in brief remarks.
“And, you know, you were the greatest football player, and you’ll be an even greater politician and Senator,” Trump said. “I knew it right from the beginning when first I spoke to you and I said, this man is gonna do things that are incredible.”
Walker then thanked his campaign and supporters and made a vague jab at his opponents.
“If you live in the state of Georgia, you’re my family. And these radicals will have to come after me before they get to you. And I won’t let that happen,” Walker said.
May 24, 9:34 pm
Sarah Huckabee Sanders projected to win Arkansas’ Republican primary for governor
ABC News projects that Sarah Huckabee Sanders will win the Republican nomination for governor in Arkansas, beating out her sole competitor, Little Rock radio host Francis “Doc” Washburn.
Sanders, the 39-year-old daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee, with her victory upholds a political dynasty in Arkansas. Heading into Election Day, she secured endorsements from former President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tom Cotton, among others.
Trump made his last push for Sanders today, sending wide a statement called his endorsee a “warrior” who would do what is right, not what is “political correct.”
May 24, 9:20 pm
Ken Paxton projected winner of Texas attorney general runoff
ABC News projects that in the Texas Republican primary runoff, incumbent Attorney General Ken Paxton will win. As of 9 p.m. Eastern, with 29% of the expected vote in, Paxton leads with 66% of the vote, while George P. Bush follows with 34% of the vote.
This race was both a test of Trump’s endorsement and the power of political dynasties, in this case: the Bushes.
Paxton received former President Donald Trump’s endorsement in July 2021 but went into the runoff engulfed in scandals that include indictment for securities fraud, FBI investigations into malfeasance and marital infidelity, among others. He denies all allegations.
His opponent was Bush, who is George H. W. Bush’s grandson and son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. He is the only member of his famous family still in public office, currently serving as commissioner of the Texas General Land Office.
May 24, 9:04 pm
Marjorie Taylor Greene projected GOP winner in Georgia’s 14th district
ABC News projects that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is the winner of the Republican primary in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District.
Greene edged out five Republican competitors and overcame a legal challenge to her reelection despite her turbulent tenure in Congress.
As ABC’s Hannah Demissie reported, a group of Georgia voters said that Greene was not eligible to run for reelection due to her alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol, citing the 14th Amendment. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger agreed in early May with the court’s recommendation that Greene is allowed to stay on the ballot.
May 24, 9:03 pm
All polls are now closed
The final polls of the night have closed in Arkansas and Montana.
In Arkansas, voters are picking their party’s nominees for governor and Senate. In Minnesota, there is a special election to choose a replacement for Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who died in February.
May 24, 8:31 pm
Brian Kemp projected winner of gubernatorial primary
ABC News has projected that sitting Gov. Brian Kemp will win the Republican nomination in Georgia, defeating former President Donald Trump’s pick David Perdue.
Trump personally courted Perdue to challenge Kemp after the governor refused to indulge his baseless claims about the 2020 election. Despite the former president’s backing, Perdue consistently lagged in polling and fundraising against Kemp.
Kemp’s presumptive victory sets up a rematch between him and Democrat Stacey Abrams, who ABC News has projected to win the Democratic nomination for Senate. Their bitter 2018 race for the governorship was decided by less than 55,000 votes. Abrams admitted defeat but said she refused to call it a “concession,” citing tactics she said were used to suppress the vote.
May 24, 8:13 pm
Polls close in Alabama, most of Texas
Polls are now closed in Alabama and most of Texas.
In Texas, all eyes are on a runoff election between Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar and immigration attorney Jessica Cisneros in the state’s 28th Congressional District. Cisneros is backed by the progressive wing of the party, while Cuellar has maintained support from the Democratic establishment despite his anti-abortion stance.
In Alabama, Sen. Richard Shelby’s retirement has resulted in a competitive Republican primary between Rep. Mo Brooks, attorney Katie Britt and former Army helicopter pilot Mike Durant. Brooks initially won former President Donald Trump’s endorsement in the race, but later lost it after suggesting it was time to move on from the 2020 election. Trump has not made another endorsement in the contest.
May 24, 7:19 pm
Stacey Abrams projected to win Democratic gubernatorial primary in Georgia
In the Georgia gubernatorial Democratic primary, ABC News projects Stacey Abrams will win.
Abrams’s victory in the primary means November’s general election could be a rematch between her and Gov. Brian Kemp. Kemp defeated Abrams in 2018 by a very narrow margin that she claimed was influenced by tactics that suppressed the vote.
Following her election loss, Abrams turned to advocacy and founded a voting rights group in Georgia. She’s credited as a main figure in helping Democrats flip the state from blue to red in the 2020 election cycle.
May 24, 7:07 pm
Polls close in Georgia
Polls have closed in Georgia, where voters are picking their party’s nominees in several highly-watched Senate, House and gubernatorial primary elections. Anyone already in line as of the 7 p.m. close will still be able to cast a ballot.
The Peach State has a fraught history of long lines and voting issues on Election Day, but Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told reporters Tuesday afternoon that “everything so far has been smooth sailing.”
Candidates must receive more than 50% of the vote to win the nomination, or they will face a runoff race on June 21.
May 24, 6:54 pm
Georgia elections are biggest test yet for Trump’s “big lie”
Former President Donald Trump has gone all-in on Georgia, where he’s desperately trying to oust sitting Republican officials who pushed back on his baseless claims about the 2020 presidential election.
His picks include fellow election deniers David Perdue, a former senator running against Gov. Brian Kemp; Rep. Jody Hice, who is challenging Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger; celebrity football star Herschel Walker, who’s seeking a Senate seat; and John Gordon, a businessman trying to unseat Attorney General Chris Carr.
May 24, 6:05 pm
Texas candidates respond to elementary school mass shooting
Democrats Jessica Cisneros and Henry Cuellar, who are competing in a runoff election for a South Texas congressional seat, issued statements after 14 students and one teacher were [killed in a shooting] () at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
“This is a devastating tragedy,” Cisneros wrote on Twitter. “How many more mass shootings do children have to experience before we say enough? Sending my condolences to the children and families in Uvalde who are experiencing this unthinkable tragedy.”
Cuellar said he was “heartbroken” and urged the public to come together to support the community.
May 24, 5:05 pm
Stacey Abrams speaks after David Perdue’s ‘go back’ attack
Stacey Abrams, a Black Democrat running for Georgia governor, declined on Tuesday to directly comment on Republican David Perdue saying she should “go back to where she came from.”
“No, not at all,” Abrams, said at a news conference in Atlanta, when asked by ABC News whether she wanted to respond to what was widely labeled as racist remarks from Perdue on Monday night while giving a campaign speech in which he also charged she was “demeaning her own race.”
“I will say this,” Abrams told ABC News at Tuesday’s press conference. “I have listened to Republicans for the last six months attack me. But they’ve done nothing to attack the challenges facing Georgia. They’ve done nothing to articulate their plans for the future of Georgia. Their response to a comment on their record is to deflect and to pretend that they’ve done good for the people of Georgia.”
Perdue, running to get the GOP nomination for Georgia governor, seized on Abram’s comments last week that Georgia was “worst state in the country to live,” citing residents’ disparities in mental health and maternal mortality, among other issues.
“She ain’t from here. Let her go back to where she came from,” Perdue, a former senator challenging Gov. Brian Kemp for their party’s nomination, said at a campaign event in the Atlanta suburbs on Monday night. “She doesn’t like it here.”
May 24, 5:03 pm
Early voting surges in Georgia as state navigates new election rules
A historic number of people have voted early in Georgia’s primary elections. According to the secretary of state’s office, approximately 857,401 people voted in-person or through an absentee ballot as of Friday — roughly three times as many as at the same point in the 2018 midterm election cycle.
Republicans are touting increased voter turnout as proof a controversial election law signed last year wasn’t as restrictive as its opponents described, while Democrats say the numbers are indicative of public pushback to the legislation.
“I think it tells us that Georgia voters got the message and the message was, ‘We gotta go vote, and we’ve got to go vote early, and we’ve got to go vote in person,’” Bee Nguyen, the leading Democratic candidate for secretary of state, told ABC News’ MaryAlice Parks.
May 24, 4:25 pm
Here’s what time polls close in each state
Here’s what time polls close in each state on Tuesday. All times Eastern.
Georgia: 7 p.m.
Alabama: 8 p.m.
Texas: 8 p.m. in most of the state, 9 p.m. in the western tip
Arkansas: 8:30 p.m.
Minnesota: 9 p.m
May 24, 5:07 pm
What races Republicans, Democrats will be watching closely in Tuesday’s primaries
Tuesday’s primary elections, stretching across four Southern states, will continue to test Republican voters’ appetite for former President Donald Trump and his push of the “big lie.”
Nowhere is that more apparent than in Georgia as Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — two Republicans who balked at Trump’s requests to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential race — face challenges from enthusiastic proponents of Trump’s baseless election claims. Kemp is hoping to fight off former Sen. David Perdue, while Raffensperger is looking to rebuff Rep. Jody Hice.
Another high-profile contest in the Peach State will be the Senate primary, where football star Herschel Walker is running for the Republican nomination to likely challenge Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock. Trump-endorsed Walker has been leading the pack despite several controversies, including prior accusations of domestic violence. (Walker has denied some of the allegations and said he doesn’t remember others.)
For Democrats, the most-watched race of the night will be a runoff in Texas’ 28th Congressional District as 29-year-old immigration attorney Jessica Cisneros tries for a third time to unseat nine-term incumbent Rep. Henry Cuellar. The heated primary is the first clear test of how abortion rights may motivate voters this election cycle, given Cuellar’s position as the sole anti-abortion Democrat in the House.
And in Georgia, two Democratic incumbents — Rep. Lucy McBath and Rep. Carolyn Bordeaux — are running against each other because of redistricting.
(UVALDE, Texas) — At least 19 children and two teachers are dead after a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety — an incident that President Joe Biden decried as “carnage” in a call for lawmakers “to act.”
The tragedy in Uvalde, about 90 minutes west of San Antonio, comes just days after another deadly mass shooting in Buffalo, New York and amid a rapid rise in active shooter incidents in the country.
“When parents drop their kids off at school, they have every expectation to know that they’re going to be able to pick their child up when that school day ends. And there are families who are in mourning right now,” said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
“The state of Texas is in mourning with them for the reality that these parents are not going to be able to pick up their children,” he added.
The students killed were mainly third- and fourth-graders, according to law enforcement sources. Among them was Amerie jo Garza, who just celebrated her 10th birthday two weeks ago, according to her father, Angel.
“My little love is now flying high with the angels above,” he wrote in a statement to ABC News. “Please don’t take a second for granted. Hug your family. Tell them you love them. I love you Amerie jo.”
The 18-year-old suspect, Salvador Ramos, a student at Uvalde High School, is also dead, Abbott said, adding that Ramos “shot and killed horrifically and incomprehensibly.”
Sources said that the gunman first shot his grandmother at a separate scene. Authorities initially said the grandmother was killed but later said she was in critical condition.
Then he crashed his car outside of the school and emerged with an AR-15-style rifle, according to multiple law enforcement sources. Authorities have recovered the rifle, body armor the suspect was wearing and numerous magazines, sources said.
The suspect was immediately engaged outside the building as he approached the school by a Uvalde Independent School District police officer, who was shot by the suspect, the sources said.
After that, the suspect entered the school and allegedly opened fire, killing 18 students, who were mainly third- and fourth-graders, as well as one teacher, the sources said.
There, he traded gunfire with Uvalde ISD officer and Border Patrol Tactical Unit agents, a number of whom have children who attend the school, according to the sources. The Border Patrol agents responded to a law enforcement request for assistance.
A fourth-grade student who was inside the school at the time described the horror of the shooting in an interview with ABC News. He said the students heard banging on a window and then the teacher saw the shooter.
“She said, ‘Oh, my God, there’s a there’s a gun.’ And then she she said it was like a big one like that a big gun — she said, hurry up and get on the floor,” the student recounted. “We just hear all kinds of gunshots going off, like nonstop, like constantly gunshots. And then we’re over here all scared. What — on the ground fearing for our lives.”
Two responding police officers were among those injured, Abbott said. They are expected to survive, he said. One of the Border Patrol agents sustained injuries while trying to protect students and is at the hospital recovering, Del Rio Sector Chief Jason D. Owens told ABC News.
Uvalde Memorial Hospital initially received 13 children as patients. Two of them died and three were transferred to San Antonio for treatment, the hospital said. The conditions of the others was not immediately clear. A 45-year-old was also hospitalized after getting grazed by a bullet, the hospital said.
University Health in San Antonio said it had four patients from the shooting incident — three students and an adult woman. A 66-year-old woman and 10-year-old girl were in critical condition.
Two adult victims of the shooting, both in critical condition, are also being treated at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, according to an Army official.
A number of the shooting victims are children of Customs and Border Patrol agents, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Earlier, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District had said a shooter was located at Robb Elementary School and asked people to stay away from the area.
“There is an active shooter at Robb Elementary,” the school district said on Twitter. “Law enforcement is on site. Your cooperation is needed at this time by not visiting the campus. As soon as more information is gathered it will be shared.”
The shooting occurred shortly after 11:30 a.m. local time, police said.
The school, which has students in the second, third and fourth grades, informed parents shortly after 2 p.m. that students had been transported to the Sgt. Willie Deleon Civic Center, the reunification site, and could be picked up.
Parent Ryan Ramirez told San Antonio ABC affiliate KSAT-TV he had gone to the civic center and the elementary school trying to find his fourth grade daughter in the wake of the shooting.
“[I’m] just confused and worried. I’m trying to find out where my baby’s at,” he told the station.
The Houston Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also said it is assisting in the investigation.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has been briefed on the situation and the agency “is actively coordinating with federal, state, and local partners,” a spokesperson said. Customs and Border Protection officials in the area also responded to the scene.
The National Counterterrorism Operations Center believes there is “no known terrorism nexus” at this time, according to a law enforcement bulletin obtained by ABC News.
Does Luke Combs have a collaboration with Miller Lite in the works?
Luke took to Instagram to offer a look at a new beer can designed in his honor. In the video, Luke can be seen holding what appears to be a normal can of Miller Lite. “Wait for it …” he says. When he turns the can over, he reveals an elaborate illustration that shows the hit singer in his signature black collar shirt with a Miller Lite hat on his head, his name written in red lettering above.
The portrait is accompanied by sketches of a guitar, bass fish and the singer with a microphone in hand performing in front of a cheering crowd. “Nothing picks me up like a @millerlite beer can…,” Luke writes in the caption, referencing a line in his song, “Beer Can,” off his debut album This One’s For You.
The hitmaker is not shy about his love of the libation, as evidenced by his Platinum-selling, #1 hit “Beer Never Broke My Heart.”
As the definition of “alternative” continues to shift over time, electronic band Bob Moses now has the #1 single on Billboard‘s Alternative Airplay chart.
The duo, made up of Tom Howie and Jimmy Vallance, grabbed the top spot on the ranking this week with “Love Brand New,” a track off their new album The Silence in Between. Speaking with ABC Audio, Vallance shares that “Love Brand New” was influenced by a “pioneer of mixing dance music with alternative”: Trent Reznor.
“He’s maybe one of the best people at it,” Vallance says of the Nine Inch Nails frontman. “I think we can’t help but be inspired by acts like him, or acts that inspired him, like Tears for Fears or New Order or Depeche Mode.”
In fact, Vallance describes the very beginning of “Love Brand New” as a “little nod” to Reznor and the NIN classic “Closer.”
“We were obviously locked away not playing shows, and so … we dug into records from the past as sources of inspiration,” Vallance shares.
“Love Brand New” is Bob Moses’ first #1 Alternative Airplay single, which is fitting, given it was one of the first Bob Moses songs to feature outside co-writers: Swedish duo John Martin and Michel Zitron.
Howie shares that he and Vallance were initially “nervous” about a songwriting collaboration — “Writing songs can kinda be an intimate thing,” he says — but found it to be a rewarding experience.
“Now that we feel that we’ve really created a strong identity as the two of us, I think that we feel comfortable … [with] being able to open ourselves up to that new spark of creativity without letting too much outside influence steer us away from what we know Bob Moses is,” Howie says.
Not only is John Mellencamp adept at painting a portrait of life in small town America with his words and music, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer also is literally a talented painter.
Now, a new book showcasing his artwork, titled John Mellencamp: American Paintings and Assemblages, is scheduled to be published on October 17. The 256-page volume, which the artist curated himself, features images of 170 pieces he created, including large-scale oil paintings and mixed-media assemblages.
The book includes self-portraits and portraits of such celebrities as Marlon Brando, Johnny Cash and Mellencamp’s one-time fiancee Meg Ryan, as well as an abstract homage to Martin Luther King Jr.
The book also features essays about Mellencamp’s art, penned by publisher Bob Guccione Jr. and acclaimed journalist and critic David L. Shirey.
“Although we may primarily know Mellencamp as a rock star, one of the highest-selling of all time and a Hall of Famer, he is also a great painter, as this book shows,” writes Guccione. “Not a musician who also paints … No, John legitimately belongs in the modern art pantheon.”
Mellencamp’s most recent studio album, Strictly a One-Eyed Jack, was released in January. It features three collaborations with Bruce Springsteen.
According to a post on his official website, he’s planning to return to touring in 2023.
Things aren’t always what they seem. Case in point, after pictures of Florence Pugh and Will Poulter hanging out sparked romance rumors, the English actress took to social media to set the record straight.
“Ooookay. Man. This is getting a little silly now. No, Will Poulter and I are not dating,” Pugh, 26, wrote via her Instagram Stories on Tuesday.
“We went to the beach with our friends, who are always about a half a metre away from us in every picture, but have been cleverly cut out/ framed out so that it looks otherwise,” she explained. “You can LITERALLY see my best friend in the corner of so many shots and Archie’s arms at the sides.”
The Midsommar star continued, “I understand that the nature of this job is that you sometimes get your privacy completely bulldozed by paparazzi, but to fabricate this stuff actually does more damage than good. Thanks for saying we look sexy..doesn’t mean we’re doing the sexy.”
The lengthy statement comes days after photos of Pugh and Poulter hanging out in Ibiza went viral. To further prove her point, Pugh shared a few photos of other friends who were along on the friendly trip, before sharing a message urging people to be mindful of what they say online.
“Another note, a very important note. There’s no need to drag people through this,” she wrote. “Regardless of your opinion on who I should or shouldn’t be with, at the end of the day, if you’re complimenting someone by trolling another person…you’re just bullying. There’s literally no need to be horrible online- no need.”
“Think about what you write. Think about who it affects,” Pugh added.
Prior to the recent link to Poulter, Pugh has been romantically linked to actor Zach Braff, 47, since 2018.
On May 25, 2020, the world watched in shock as George Floyd laid on the ground, restrained under Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin‘s knee for nearly 10 minutes. Floyd was gasping for air and repeating his final words, “I can’t breathe.” Floyd’s death sparked a nationwide reckoning around social justice, police reform and systemic racism but the authors of a new biography say they set out to tell the story of the man behind the movement.
“We knew that he was much more than the 10-minute video that everyone had seen … no one should be reduced to that,” Olorunnipa told ABC Audio. “He was a human being. He loved people. He was loved by people. And it was important for us to show his full humanity.”
With access to Floyd’s family members and close friends, and drawing on over 400 interviews, the authors’ findings include personal life details such as Floyd’s relation to a formerly affluent great-great-grandfather.
“I was surprised that there was actually great wealth in his family history,” Olorunnipa said, noting there were many revelations he found interesting. He described the grandfather’s story from “one of the wealthiest people in eastern North Carolina” to a poverty-stricken man whose descendants suffered the consequences of systemic racism.
Through that example and countless others, the authors were able to draw a direct line between Floyd’s life and the book’s other main focus: institutional racism in America.
As for Olorunnipa’s wishes for the book on the second anniversary of Floyd’s death, “We need to remember what it was about George Floyd’s death … that caused so many people to say, ‘This is not right.'”
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Tampa Bay 4, Miami 0
Toronto 8, St. Louis 1
Arizona 8, Kansas City 6
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Minnesota 2, Detroit 0
NY Yankees 7, Baltimore 6
Houston 7, Cleveland 3
Boston 16, Chi White Sox 3
LA Angels 5, Texas 3
Oakland 7 Seattle 5
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Chi Cubs 11, Cincinnati 4
Colorado 2, Pittsburgh 1
LA Dodgers 9, Washington 4
Atlanta 6, Philadelphia 5
Milwaukee 4, San Diego 1
San Francisco 13, NY Mets 12
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Dallas 119, Golden State 109 (Golden State leads 3-1)
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
NY Rangers 4, Carolina 1 (Series tied 2-2)
Edmonton 5, Calgary 3 (Edmonton leads 3-1)
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Washington 70, Atlanta 50
Dallas 85, Connecticut 77
Minnesota 84, New York 78
Chicago 95, Indiana 90
