While Jason Aldean may be best known for his jam-packed career of country hits, his wife, Brittany, is quickly gaining notoriety for her interior design taste.
She gave fans a virtual house tour of the family’s new home in Florida this week, posting a montage of views of each room in the beachside abode. Light-filled interiors and beachy blues are a theme throughout the mansion, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the ocean and photos of family memories adorning the walls.
“This is for those of you who love home decor,” Brittany wrote. “I personally am obsessed with interiors…so here’s our new Florida home for some potential inspo!”
The master bedroom is decked out in denim blue, a fringed chandelier hanging from the ceiling and a balcony outside the windows. But it’s not just Brittany and Jason’s space that’s deluxe: Even the kids’ room is exquisitely decorated, with green wallpaper adorned with palm fronds and blue-and-green bunk beds.
At the end of her tour, Brittany shows off the most precious things of all in the new home: her family members. Jason sips a beverage in the kitchen, while toddler daughter Navy blows a kiss to the camera as she dances around in the hallway.
The Aldean family recently moved out to Florida, and both Brittany and Jason are self-described beach people who prefer a tropical lifestyle over the colder, more landlocked Nashville. In addition to Navy, they’re also parents to 4-year-old Memphis.
(NEW YORK) — When Payton Gendron, the 18-year-old white man charged in connection with the murders of 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, was a senior in high school, he allegedly wrote a paper saying that he wanted to commit murder-suicide, according to authorities.
That prompted the assistant principal of Gendron’s high school to call New York State Police and report Gendron, according to law enforcement. After a day-and-a-half mental health evaluation a year ago, Gendron was released and his behavior wasn’t flagged to authorities before he allegedly carried out the mass shooting last Saturday.
Gendron has pleaded not guilty.
Law enforcement sources tell ABC News how they handle mental health evaluations and police investigations regarding disturbed people and their access to firearms is very much a work in progress.
They point to how easily Gendron allegedly sidestepped an investigation to see if he was dangerous following the incident at his high school.
Buffalo suspect had made references to murder-suicide, sources say
A review by ABC News of the 589-page document allegedly containing messages first posted on the social media platform Discord appears to show that Gendron simply misled law enforcement and mental health officials when confronted after writing that senior class paper that he had thoughts of murder-suicide.
In the document, Gendron writes of landing in a hospital emergency room in May 2021 for 20 hours because he referenced murder-suicide in terms of how he planned to mark his graduation from high school — as part of an economics assignment.
He told law enforcement and mental health officials he been joking. According to the social media messages, that was a lie. He allegedly wrote in Discord that the murder-suicide reference was specifically about his developing plans to murder minorities whom he believed were replacing white people in American society.
Gendron said the murder-suicide quote in his school assignment may have even been a cry for help but he lied so he could keep his plan in motion, because killing, he said, was precisely what he was planning.
Ohio shooter made hit-list in high school
Previous mass shooters have often left clues or raised concerns with others and, in some cases, authorities have missed signals that could have otherwise prevented an attack.
On a summer night in August 2019, Connor Betts opened fire at the entrance of Ned Peppers Bar in downtown Dayton, Ohio, killing nine, including his brother, and wounding 17 before responding officers shot him to death.
Betts, according to the U.S. Secret Service, “had a history of concerning communications, including harassing female students in middle and high school, making a hit list and a rape list in high school, telling others he had attempted suicide, and showing footage of a mass shooting to his girlfriend.”
Betts had an “enduring fascination with mass violence,” the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit concluded in a report released in November.
“The FBI’s BAU assessed the attacker’s enduring fascination with mass violence and his inability to cope with a convergence of personal factors, to include a decade-long struggle with multiple mental health stressors and the successive loss of significant stabilizing anchors experienced prior to August 4, 2019, likely were the primary contributors to the timing and finality of his decision to commit a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio,” the report stated.
One reason that family and friends did not alert authorities about Betts was potentially because of “bystander fatigue,” according to the report.
Bystander fatigue occurs when people around the suspect don’t pay attention or take any action “due to their prolonged exposure to the person’s erratic or otherwise troubling behavior over time,” according to the Behavioral Analysis Unit.
FBI warned about accused Parkland high school shooter
Nikolas Cruz has pleaded guilty to walking into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 18, 2018, and opening fire inside the school killing 17 and wounding 17 more.
More than a month before the shooting, the FBI was warned about Cruz by a person close to him through the FBI’s public access tip line, according to an FBI statement in 2018.
“The caller provided information about Cruz’s gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting,” the FBI statement says.
The information, the FBI admitted, should have been forwarded to the FBI Miami field office and assessed as a “threat to life,” where it would’ve been investigated.
The school shooting was one of the deadliest in American history.
The FBI was later sued by the families of the Parkland shooting for not appropriately assigning the call to the Miami Field Office. In March, the Justice Department, while not admitting the full guilt of missing the signals Cruz exhibited, settled with the families for $127 million.
A jury will decide whether to sentence him to death or life in prison without chance of parole.
In October of that same year, Robert Bowers is accused of walking into the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and killing 11 people. Bowers, according to a criminal complaint charging him with the crime, made comments shortly after he was arrested to investigators about wanting to kill people who are Jewish.
Bowers, according to authorities, made posts on the social media site gab and early as July 2018 posted and reposted photos with antisemitic tropes, as well as a photo of a target that he reportedly shot by with a handgun, according to authorities.
Bowers was not known to law enforcement before October 2018, the then FBI Special Agent in Charge told reporters at the time. Moments before he carried out the shooting, Bowers posted antisemitic statements on the platform.
Bowers is facing trial for the 2018 shooting and has pleaded not guilty.
Charleston church shooter reportedly went on bigoted rant
Three years earlier, in 2015, Dylann Roof walked into the Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and killed nine African-American parishioners attending Bible study.
Friends told the New York Daily News that two weeks before the shooting, Roof went on a bigoted rant while drunk about “segregation and killing people.”
“He said he was planning for about six months to do something crazy,” said Joseph Meek, a friend of Roof. “He wanted it to be segregated. He wanted it to be white with the white, Black with the Black. All the races segregated.”
Meek, according to the Daily News, took a gun away from Roof two weeks before the shooting unfolded.
“I only took it away because he was drunk. I didn’t take him seriously,” Meek said. “I do feel a little guilty because I could have let someone know,” Meek told the Daily News.
Roof is appealing his capital punishment sentence.
Signals before mass shootings common
Alerting someone or giving a warning sign before a mass shooting is common, according to the U.S. Secret Service, which published a report in 2020 titled Mass Attacks in Public Spaces. The report found that nearly 65% of the mass attacks they studied in 2019 the attacker had threatened someone in the past, and 57% of attackers made some form of communication prior to the attack that should’ve elicited concern but didn’t.
“These concerning communications included making paranoid statements, sharing videos of previous mass attacks, vague statements about their imminent death, and one attacker telling his school counselor that he had a dream about killing his classmates,” the report says.
Javed Ali, former senior counterterrorism director at the National Security Council, told ABC News the shooting in Buffalo underscores the challenges law enforcement has in identifying shooters.
“The horrific attack in Buffalo underscores the challenges for law enforcement in identifying and preventing mass-casualty lone wolf terrorist attacks, with this being the latest in a string of similar ones committed by other white supremacists in the United States,” Ali, now an associate professor at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, said.
“In these attacks, white supremacist lone wolves focused on different victims — including African Americans, Latinos, Jews — based on their belief in anti-immigrant and racist tropes found in conspiracies like the “great replacement theory” or other sources like manifestos written by infamous attackers such as Anders Brevik and Brentan Tarrarent that fuel white supremacy across the globe,” Ali said.
Breivik is a Norwegian who killed 77 people in 2011 and Brenton Tarrant carried out the 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand, shootings at two mosques, murdering 51 people.
Deftones will be without guitarist Stephen Carpenter for the band’s upcoming international shows.
In a video statement posted Friday, Carpenter says, “As much as I would love to be on the road with my brothers right now playing for all of our incredible international fans, I’ve chosen to remain playing domestically for now.”
“With everything going on in the world, I’m just not ready to leave home or the country yet,” he adds.
Guitarist Lance Jackman will fill in for Carpenter in his absence.
“Give him some love,” Carpenter says. “Have a great time. I wish I could see every one of you. Thanks for your understanding.”
Deftones is set to launch a tour of Europe in June. Presumably, Carpenter will miss the band’s upcoming two shows in Canada this weekend, as well.
The Deftones’ lineup has already been looking different lately due to the departure of longtime bassist Sergio Vega, who left the band last year as the result of a contract dispute. Vega was replaced by former Marylin Manson bassist Fred Sablan.
(NEW YORK) — Mothers across the U.S. are banding together to respond to the baby formula shortage emergency and execute short-term solutions in local communities while corporations and the federal government scramble to address the crisis on a national level.
Kerissa Miller, a mom from Kennewick, Washington, started the Find My Formula, Tri Cities WA Facebook group on May 11 to pay it forward after another mom helped her by donating much-needed formula for her 6-month-old son.
Miller’s son MJ was born two months early and needs to be fed a special baby formula made specifically for premature babies. Similac’s NeoSure is one of the formulas impacted by the Abbott Nutrition recall in February. Miller said she isn’t able to breastfeed her son and her son’s pediatrician also told her there weren’t any other formula substitutes that would work for him.
The Facebook group helps parents and caregivers like her in southeastern Washington ask for formula, share information on formula stock at local stores and facilitate formula donations for each other.
“Moms message us and call us crying. They’re on their last can of formula so the need is extremely urgent,” Miller told “Good Morning America.” “When these moms go on Facebook looking for formula, they’re at such a desperate state that delivery is really the only option to help that baby get fed right away.”
Miller and a team of several moderators as well as three delivery drivers, including Mac Jaehnert, set out every day to respond to Facebook posts from parents in need and coordinate formula pickups and drop-offs.
“We’ve fed hundreds of babies just by gifted formula to us. There’s no other option,” Miller said. “Pediatricians can’t supply the need. There’s just no formula to go around so we’re just depending on moms to donate formula to us to feed each other’s babies. It’s a crazy world we live in where Facebook feeds our babies.”
In just nine days, the public Find My Formula, Tri Cities WA group has ballooned to over 560 members. Some days, Miller said she drives up to six hours with her son to make formula deliveries after she gets off her eight-hour night shift as an environmental wastewater operator simply to help.
“All we have right now is community so we’re just doing everything that we can to help the babies because this has affected the wealthy, the middle class and the poor,” Miller, who is also currently four months pregnant, said.
“I’ve delivered formula to mansions and those moms can purchase it but they can’t because it’s just not available. And the moms that are suffering the hardest are the moms on WIC,” she added, referencing the federal benefits program for low-income Americans. “It’s just a crisis that you never knew existed in America.”
“All I can do is just go pick up a can of formula and go drop it off before I go to bed.”
Marcela Young has also been dedicating her time to ease the formula crisis. Young is a mom to an 8-month-old and although her son doesn’t need baby formula, seeing stories of other families impacted by the shortage resonated with her.
“I don’t formula feed personally, but I do know a lot of moms that do and just the feeling of not being able to help your child is just very close to home,” Young told “Good Morning America.”
Young, a consultant in the Houston area, remembered that one of her former classmates had started a company that lets people create interactive maps online and quickly realized the map tool could be one way for her to help others.
That’s how the 29-year-old launched her “Fighting the Formula Shortage” map last week. The map, hosted by Proxi, is viewable on a computer, phone or tablet, and lets anyone add any point to a global map and organize it under several categories: “need formula,” “can donate formula,” “need breast milk,” “can donate breast milk,” “formula in-store” and “milk bank.”
“The way the map works is you add a point anywhere in your country. You don’t have to put your actual address,” Young explained, adding that anyone who adds a new point will also receive a welcome email afterward.
But Young also tries to help arrange connections whenever possible.
“People do reach out and say, ‘Hey, I have this pin that I’m looking at near my area. They need formula. I see formula at my store, I would like to ship it to them or I’d like to take it to their house or wherever to meet up,’” Young said. “Then I, as the admin of the map, can see their information if they decided not to share it, and then put them in contact with each other. I make sure that the person receiving it knows who’s going to contact them and I try to make sure that the other one knows who needs it.”
Young has spread the word about her map through her friend network and on social media on the Fighting Formula Shortage Facebook and Instagram pages. As with many groups online, Young also warns others to stay vigilant about potential scammers.
“First and foremost, be careful, be safe,” Young said. “If you’re going to do something virtually with someone, ask a lot of questions. If you’re going to meet with someone locally, please do it in a public place. That way, you’re avoiding different issues out there.”
“There’s a lot of good in humanity still,” she added. “And it’s been really nice to see people stepping up and willing to spread [the] word, spread resources.”
(CHICAGO) — Nine people were shot, two of whom died, in a chaotic scene outside a McDonald’s on Chicago’s Near North Side Thursday. Police said they have arrested a suspect.
A dispute broke out between two groups at approximately 10:41 p.m. eventually leading one individual to fire shots into the crowd, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown told reporters at a press conference Friday.
Police do not know what caused the fight, Brown said.
Officers pursued the suspect into a Chicago Transit Authority train stop and arrested a suspect as well as a person who Brown said obstructed the officers.
A woman fleeing in a group along with the alleged shooter came in contact with the third rail at the train stop and has been hospitalized, Brown said.
Police said surveillance footage showed that an individual had handed the shooter the gun, but they have not yet been able to identify that person, according to Brown. A gun was recovered from the scene, police said.
“If the person who did this doesn’t have a gun, this is just a personal conflict that may or may not lead to fights, [but] no one being killed,” Brown said.
Brown said police have installed two fixed posts of officers and a revolving post of officers in the area. The shooting took place in a crowded downtown area near Loyola University Chicago and the city’s so-called Magnificent Mile home to upscale shops and historic buildings.
Brown said there is an ongoing “gun crime crisis” in Chicago and across the country.
“Our officers have taken more guns that are illegally possessed off the streets of Chicago than we have in our history,” Brown said.
Police recovered 11,400 guns in 2020, and over 12,000 in 2021, both record-breaking years. Police are on pace to surpass last year’s record, Brown said.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called the shooting “an outrageous act of violence.”
“It is simply awful, and unacceptable that once again another tragedy occurs because firearms are in the hands of people who simply do not care about themselves or the value of another’s life,” Lightfoot said in a statement.
She added, “Our police department is hard at work to make sure those responsible for last night’s incident are held accountable, for the safety and well-being of us all.”
Today’s New Music Friday features an alternate version of new hit by a superstar, a long-awaited return and some follow-up singles by rising stars.
Sam Smith has released an intimate acoustic rendition of their new single “Love Me More,” and it comes with a performance video filmed at Los Angeles’ famed Capitol Records Tower, which you can watch now.
James Bay returns with “One Life,” from his forthcoming album Leap, due out in July. James tells the U.K.’s Official Charts Company, “‘One Life’ is a complete celebration of my journey so far with [my partner] Lucy and how important that part of my life is.”
Em Beihold‘s breakthrough single “Numb Little Bug” just went RIAA-certified Gold, and now she’s out with a new song and video: “Too Precious.” The piano-based tune finds Em telling someone they can’t be together because they want her to be a pot-smoking, reckless rebel and she just doesn’t roll like that.
Tai Verdes has dropped a new track called “100sadsongs,” which he says is about “living in the emotion of songs.” Tai will also perform on Sunday night’s American Idol finale on ABC.
Hayley Kiyoko‘s back with a new single called “For the Girls,” and the video features Hayley starring in a must-watch, all-female spin on The Bachelor. The song is from her upcoming album Panorama, out July 29. The video features a guest appearance by Hayley’s girlfriend, Bachelor alum Becca Tilley.
Oliver Tree has premiered a new song called “I Hate You.” The track isn’t exactly subtle, with lyrics including “I hate you/You’re the worst best friend I ever had.” Oliver’s newly announced headlining tour will start August 4 in San Diego. For the full list of dates and ticket info, visit OliverTreeMusic.com.
“If You Love Her” singer Forest Blakk is out with a new song called “Give You Love.” In a statement, he says, “When you fall for someone, you choose the good days along with the bad days … [it’s about] accepting the people you love for all they are and loving them for it!”
Denise Truscello/Getty Images for House of Blues Las Vegas
An in-depth documentary about the life of rock-guitar legend Carlos Santana is currently in the works and is being directed by Emmy-winning Mexican American filmmaker Rudy Valdez.
The as-yet-untitled film will examine Santana’s life and musical journey from a teenage street musician to leading a world famous and Grammy-winning rock band. The movie will feature previously unseen archival film footage and and unheard songs.
The film is being produced by Imagine Documentaries in collaboration with Sony Music Entertainment. Imagine co-founders Ron Howard and Brian Grazer are executive producing the project.
“I am honored and grateful to have partnered with Imagine Documentaries and Sony Music to bring my story to light,” Santana says, noting that his story “is one of triumph and adventurousness.”
He adds, “The intentionality of this film is to touch people’s hearts and to inspire people to reconnect with their own light that they may ignite blessings and miracles.”
Meanwhile, Imagine executive Justin Wilkes says, “We’re thrilled that Carlos has entrusted us with bringing his incredibly inspirational story to life in this film. He is one of the greatest musicians of all time, and throughout his career, Santana has unapologetically broken down borders and reinvented a tone universally celebrated across the globe.”
In other news, the 10th anniversary of the start of Santana’s first Las Vegas residency show at the House of Blues was celebrated on Wednesday with a ceremony at the venue.
At the event, the 74-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer was presented with the Las Vegas Icon Award by county commissioner Justin Jones. Santana’s manager, Michael Vrionis, announced that Santana had signed a multiyear extension to his House of Blues residency.
(WASHINGTON) — Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday announced the Justice Department is taking action to combat hate crimes through the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, mentioning how last weekend’s mass shooting in Buffalo is being investigated as such a crime.
DOJ is investigating whether the shooter who gunned down 10 Black people last Saturday at a Buffalo supermarket targeted the victims because of their race.
Garland told an audience that included Black and Asian community leaders that “an entire community was terrorized.”
“Last weekend’s attack was a painful reminder of the singular impact that hate crimes have not only on individuals but on entire communities,” he said. “They bring immediate devastation. They inflict lasting fear,” he continued.
“We are employing every resource we have to ensure accountability for this terrible attack, to ensure justice for grieving families and provide support for the community,” he said.
Garland pledged to use “every available tool” to investigate hate crimes overall, saying they are “evolving” and that federal prosecutors must evolve strategies to combat them.
DOJ is required to do so by congressional mandate in the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act.
“No one in America should fear violence because of who they are,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said. “This department will not tolerate any form of terrorism, hate based violence or unlawful discrimination.”
DOJ says they are partnering with the Department of Health and Human Services to lay out steps “law enforcement, government officials, community based organizations and others can take to raise awareness of increased hate crimes and incidents, and to use this increased awareness as a tool for prevention and response,” according to a Justice Department official who briefed reporters on Thursday.
One example, the DOJ official said, was addressing the need for language and cultural competency when engaging with communities affected by hate crimes
Garland also announced grant solicitations “including to programs established under the new Hire No Hate Act to support states to create state run hate crime reporting hotline and to support increased law enforcement reporting to the National Incident based Reporting System.”
On the same day as Garland’s announcement, leaders from the NAACP were set to meet with him, and they released a two-page plan to stop another mass shooting.
“We’re focused on preventing the next attack. We need to act. Democracy and white supremacy cannot coexist and will never coexist,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement. “It’s one or the other. We’re fighting for democracy.”
An NAACP source told ABC News the “spread of white supremacy across social media platforms” would be a main topic of discussion.
ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report.
Oliver Tree has premiered a new song called “I Hate You.”
As its title suggests, the track isn’t exactly subtle, with lyrics including “I hate you/You’re the worst best friend I ever had/So thank you/’Cause nothing else could be that bad.”
You can listen to “I Hate You” now via digital outlets. Its accompanying lyric video is streaming now on YouTube.
“I Hate You” follows Tree’s new album Cowboy Tears, which just dropped last February. The record includes the single “Cowboys Don’t Cry.”
In other news, Tree has announced a U.S. headlining tour in support of Cowboy Tears. The outing kicks off August 4 in San Diego and will travel across the country before wrapping up on October 1 in Santa Cruz, California.
Have Madonna‘s controversial Instagram posts finally caught up to her?
The Queen of Pop posted a video on Friday showing her and DJ Sickick, her partner on her latest “Frozen” remix, attempting to go live on Instagram Thursday night to talk about the track. But when she hits the button, a note pops up saying, “Blocked from sharing live videos” due to “going against community guidelines.”
“What the f**k? What’s happening?” Madonna asks. Wondering if it’s because she’s showing too much of her body, she then jokes, “I’ve never worn so many clothes in my life!”
When someone points out that the block is due to Instagram’s desire to “continue to be an authentic and safe place for inspiration and expression,” Madonna — whose whole brand is basically about authenticity and free expression — responds, “I’m speechless.”
In her Instagram Story, Madonna then apologized to fans, saying, “I’m sorry to let everybody down. I was really looking forward to this.” She also pondered what caused the block, noting that Instagram is being “really mysterious.”
“They’re not giving me a reason,” she says. “It’s like a bureaucracy inside of a computer.” She then comments that she hasn’t posted “anything crazy” on Instagram, “not this week anyways.”
That leads her to wonder if it’s a “delayed reaction” to the NFTs she posted last week. Those NFTs — collectible digital artwork she created for charity — featured graphic, 3D digital images of her fully nude, including genitalia, giving birth to trees and butterflies.
As for the new “Frozen on Fire” remix, it’s out now, and features new vocals and a new verse. It’s the fourth iteration of the song since Sickick first remixed it for TikTok last year.
