Chris Jackson/Getty Images for the Ruth Strauss Foundation
A new music center is open in Suffolk, England, thanks to Ed Sheeran‘s generosity.
BBC reports the “Bad Habits” singer raffled off one of his guitars, and the funds were enough to help open the SRH Music Ark at a primary school in his hometown. The guitar helped raise £52,765, which is roughly $63,000, for the charity auction.
The Grammy winner had the acoustic guitar specially designed for the fundraiser and worked with Northern Ireland instrument maker George Lowden. Ed had an equals sign etched into the piece’s fretboard inlays in honor of his new album =. Ed then promised to sign the guitar for whoever won it at the raffle.
A local hospital worker named Kellie Myers took home the guitar and said her two teenage sons, 14-year-old Harry and 13-year-old Jacob are thrilled to bits — especially since the “Shivers” singer wrote on it, “Henry + Jacob! Play this guitar!”
The center will now open at Sir Robert Hitcham’s Primary School in Framlingham; the school’s students are thankful for Ed’s good deed. The elementary schoolers say their new center is a “beautiful place.”
One youngster told BBC, “It’s such a privilege to have our own music space for our school and there’s many thanks for Ed Sheeran and all his team.”
Head teacher Helen Picton adds the center was made in mind for each and every student. “We have a music pod that is open to all to our neurodivergent children, we have a disabled toilet so we can have disabled facilities for the children,” she explained. “Music is the heart of our school and to actually have this wonderful resource here is a very emotional thing.”
A new official biography about late Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, authorized by the band and Watts’ family, is scheduled to be published on October 11.
Charlie’s Good Tonight: The Life, the Times and the Rolling Stones includes forewords written by Stones co-founders Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, as well as an introductory section penned by the band’s early manager and producer, Andrew Loog Oldham.
The book was written by Paul Sexton, a veteran British writer and broadcaster who has covered The Rolling Stones for more than 30 years. Charlie’s Good Tonight features interviews with Jagger, Richards and longtime Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, as well as with various friends, family members and musical collaborators.
The book will offer an intimate look at famously private Watts, who died of cancer at age 80 last August.
“Our dear friend Charlie Watts was not just a fantastic drummer but a wonderful person,” The Rolling Stones say in a statement shared by RollingStone.com. “He was funny and generous and a man of great taste and we miss him terribly. It’s great that his family have authorized this official biography by Paul Sexton, who’s been writing and broadcasting about Charlie and the band for many years.”
Adds Sexton, “One of Charlie’s good friends said to me that he was a very easy man to love. Having had the pleasure of his company on so many occasions over the course of more than a quarter of a century, that’s a sentiment I echo wholeheartedly. To be able, with the help and encouragement of those who knew him best, to draw on my time with this unique man and his fellow Rolling Stones to write his authorized biography, is a thrill and an honor.”
(ALLEN, Ky.) — A 49-year-old man is in custody after he allegedly gunned down two police officers and wounded several others in a mass shooting at his Kentucky home.
The shooting unfolded in Floyd County at about 6:44 p.m. local time Thursday, Kentucky State Police said. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear called it a “barricade situation.”
According to an arrest report, Lance Storz, who was armed with a rifle, fired multiple rounds at police officers around his home, killing two officers and a police K9.
Five other officers and an emergency management director were injured, the arrest report said.
The slain officers were identified by the sheriff’s office as Deputy William Petry and City Police Captain Ralph Frasure.
“Floyd County and our brave first responders suffered a tragic loss last night,” the governor tweeted Friday. “I want to ask all of Kentucky to join me in praying for this community. This is a tough morning for our commonwealth.”
Storz is in custody on multiple charges including murder of a police officer and attempted murder of a police officer. He entered a plea of not guilty and is being held on $10 million bond. Storz returns to court on July 11.
ABC News’ Jason Volack contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — New York lawmakers introduced legislation Friday that would ban the concealed carry of guns in a “sensitive location,” including Times Square and all mass public transportation, according to a draft of the bill.
The bill comes after a Supreme Court ruling overturned a state law that limited who could get concealed carry permits to people who had “proper cause.”
Sensitive places where guns cannot be carried include the subway, trains, buses and ferries, as well as government buildings, houses of worship, schools, libraries, public playgrounds, public parks, zoos, homeless shelters and polling places, according to the legislation.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced lawmakers’ intent to establish “sensitive places” legislation on Wednesday. The legislation was introduced in the state Senate during a special session called by Hochul that began Thursday.
The bill also seeks to ban the carry of guns on all private property by default, unless the owner of the property has signage permitting guns or has otherwise expressed consent to guns being permitted.
The law makes exceptions for law enforcement, peace officers, active duty military personnel and security, who would be allowed to carry guns in sensitive places. Those engaging in lawful hunting are also allowed to carry guns in sensitive locations.
The law would make carrying guns in the banned areas a felony offense.
A state-wide license and record database created and maintained by police will be checked on a monthly basis to determine continued accuracy and whether a person is no longer a valid license holder. The records are to be checked against records for criminal convictions, criminal indictments, mental health, extreme risk protection orders and orders of protections.
Another database would be created and maintained by police for ammunition sales.
Gun and ammunition sellers and dealers will also have to keep a record of all their transactions involving guns and ammunition.
The bill will also add a vehicle requirement to existing safe storage laws, requiring gun owners to lock up their guns in an appropriate safe storage depository out of sight from outside the vehicle and remove ammunition from the gun. Otherwise, gun owners would not be allowed to leave their firearm out of their immediate possession or in a car.
Hochul, in introducing the legislation on Wednesday, said this measure is meant to cut down on gun thefts from cars.
Currently, New York law requires gun owners to get safe storage for their guns, keeping them locked up, if they have children at home aged 16 or younger. The new legislation lifts that age requirement to 18 years old.
“Time to dust off the Aloha shirt!” That was the word from star and producer Jay Hernandez as he celebrated the news NBC has picked up his recently canceled CBS reboot of Magnum P.I.
In a move similar to NBC’s rescuing Fox’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Deadline reports the network sealed the deal Thursday night to rescue the show in a two-season, 20-episode deal.
Hernandez told fans, “It was a bit circuitous but we did it! Your love & support helped get us over the finish line, thank you & thanks to @nbc for stepping up!”
Other cast members were also feeling the love, including Perdita Weeks, who plays Juliette Higgins, the gender-swapped version of the late John Hillerman‘s character in the Tom Selleck-led original.
Posting a smiling image of herself, Weeks cheered on Instagram, “Off to the see the Ohana,” using the Hawaiian word for “family.”
Co-star and former Happy Endings star Zachary Knightonadded, “This one is for the FANS. You guys are AMAZING!”
The reboot of Magnum performed well for CBS in its Friday night slot for four seasons.
(WASHINGTON) — The White House on Friday announced the next list of recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, gun control advocate Gabrielle Giffords and actor Denzel Washington are among the 17 individuals chosen to receive the nation’s highest civilian honor. The ceremony will take place at the White House on Thursday, July 7.
Late Sen. John McCain, a Purple Heart recipient who represented the state of Arizona in Congress for decades before succumbing to glioblastoma in 2018, will be awarded the honor posthumously.
Biden and McCain’s friendship dated back to the 1970s, and the two worked together on a number of issues during their time in the Senate. In 2018, Biden delivered a moving eulogy at McCain’s memorial service, stating “we will not see his like again.”
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and former AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka also will receive posthumous awards.
President Joe Biden will be the first president to award the medals after already receiving one himself. Former President Barack Obama presented the medal to Biden in 2017, who was then serving as vice president.
“This honor is not only well beyond what I deserve, but it’s a reflection of the generosity of your spirit,” an emotional Biden told Obama during the ceremony. “I don’t deserve this. But I know it came from the president’s heart.”
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded to people who have “made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”
“These seventeen Americans demonstrate the power of possibilities and embody the soul of the nation – hard work, perseverance, and faith,” the White House said. “They have overcome significant obstacles to achieve impressive accomplishments in the arts and sciences, dedicated their lives to advocating for the most vulnerable among us, and acted with bravery to drive change in their communities – and across the world – while blazing trails for generations to come.”
Here’s a list of the other 11 Medal of Freedom recipients:
Sister Simone Campbell – Campbell is a member of Sisters of Social Service, and a prominent advocate for economic justice, immigration reform, and healthcare policy.
Dr. Julieta García – García was the first Hispanic woman to serve as a college president, having served in the top position at The University of Texas at Brownsville.
Fred Gray – Gray was one of the first Black members of the Alabama State legislature since Reconstruction, and a distinguished civil rights attorney whose clients included Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Father Alexander Karloutsos – Karloutsos is a former Vicar General of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and as a priest provided counsel to several U.S. presidents
Khizr Khan – a Pakistani immigrant whose son was killed while serving in the U.S. Army, Khan served on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom under Biden.
Sandra Lindsay – Lindsay, a New York critical care nurse, was the first American to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Diane Nash – a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Nash worked closely with King and other civil rights leaders.
Megan Rapinoe – a World Champion and Olympic soccer star, Rapinoe is also an advocate for gender pay equality, racial justice, and LGBTQI+ rights.
Alan Simpson – Simpson has served in the U.S. Senate for nearly two decades, leading on issues such as campaign finance reform and marriage equality.
Wilma Vaught – Vaught is one of the most decorated women in U.S. military history.
Raúl Yzaguirre – Yzaguirre is a civil rights advocate who served as CEO and president of National Council of La Raza for 30 years, and was once the U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic.
As the takes about the second volume of Stranger Things season 4 are pouring in, we finally have the most important review: the one from Kate Bush.
The English artist, whose 1985 song “Running Up That Hill” has been a huge, resurgent hit over the past month due to its placement in the first volume of season 4, has now revealed her thoughts on the final two episodes, which premiered Friday on Netflix.
“They’re just through the roof,” Bush writes in a spoiler-free post on her website. “I’d only seen the scenes that directly involved the use of [‘Running Up That Hill’] and so I didn’t know how the story would evolve or build.”
Bush adds that she was “so delighted” when Stranger Things creators, the DufferBrothers, reached out about using “Running Up That Hill” as a “totem” for the character Max. But now that she’s finished the season, she feels “deeply honored that the song was chosen to become a part of their roller coaster journey.”
“I can’t imagine the amount of hard work that’s gone into making something on this scale,” she writes. “I am in awe. They’ve made something really spectacular.”
Since “Running Up That Hill” was first used in the Stranger Things episodes that premiered in May, the song has run up many, many charts, reaching the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 — a career first for Bush — and #1 on the U.K.’s Official Singles chart, where it’s stayed for three straight weeks.
The song’s resurgence led the normally press-shy Bush to issue several public statements and even give a rare interview.
Day two of the 2022 Essence Festival of Culture began at the Essence Eats booth with a cooking demo by New York’s chef JJ Johnson, who was joined by P-Valley actress Brandee Evans. Together they prepared a salmon dish using plant-based cheese — inspired by a favorite at Johnson’s rice bowl restaurant, Field Trip — and discussed the importance of healthy eating in the Black community.
Evans was motivated to convert to a plant-based diet after her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2018. Considering her role as a star exotic dancer on the hit Starz show P-Valley, Evans said healthy eating also helps to get and keep her in shape.
Johnson inquired about Evans’ full regime, asking, “Some people say if you go plant-based, you can’t work out, you need lots of protein.”
Evans said she doesn’t drink protein shakes at all. “I work out all the time, I’m a workout fanatic. I don’t need it, I feel like I get the energy that I need from eating better now.” She jokingly adding, “Y’all see what I gotta wear [on the show] – nothing, so that’s another reason we had to go plant-based.”
As for Johnson, a man of Black and Puerto Rican descent, he infuses plant-based ingredients into the variety of special rice dishes created at Field Trip.
“The goal is to bring rice culture back to America and also put respect back on the rice grain,” he said. But also, “A lot of Black people don’t eat dairy,” so fresh products like the plant-based cheese used during the cooking demo are important to the community.
“I call ourselves a community-based restaurant, especially in Harlem,” he said. Johnson says he’s proud to be a Black business owner with the ability “to open the doors and [create] a safe space for all.”
(NEW YORK) — In the early days of the coronavirus vaccine rollout, scientists were hopeful it might herald the long-awaited turning point of the pandemic, not only bringing the threat of severe disease, hospitalization and death to an end, but also completely halting the spread of the disease.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, said in December 2020 that if the nation’s COVID-19 vaccine campaign went well, the U.S. could approach herd immunity by summer’s end and “normality that is close to where we were before” by the end of 2021.
A series of events last summer, including a widespread COVID-19 outbreak that hit highly vaccinated Provincetown, Massachusetts, soon swayed those hopes, as evidence emerged that vaccinated people were contracting the virus more frequently than initially expected and transmitting it to others.
In the months that followed the Provincetown outbreak, breakthrough infections would shift from a statistical anomaly to a regular occurrence.
Experts say current vaccines are still doing their most important job – dramatically reducing people’s risk of severe illness and death. But they are no longer hopeful vaccines will stop the virus in its tracks, now that it’s clear vaccinated people can develop mild disease and transmit illness to others.
The astoundingly high levels of protection against infection that was initially observed, especially for the mRNA vaccines, created by Pfizer and Moderna, have largely dissipated, especially for those with one or two doses combined with extremely transmissible variants.
“When it comes to vaccines and COVID-19 infection, there’s good news and bad news,” said Dr. Shira Doron, an infectious disease physician and hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center. “The good news is the vaccines are still doing an amazing job at preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death. The bad news is that effectiveness at preventing infection is a lot lower in the omicron era, and wanes quickly after vaccination.”
Despite the increase in the number of breakthrough infections, per capita data shows that unvaccinated Americans continue to have a greater risk of developing severe disease or death from COVID-19, than their vaccinated counterparts.
“Variant evolution and even subvariant evolution within omicron have shown that accumulation of mutations result in limited cross-protection when it comes to infection risk,” said John Brownstein, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor. “The main question continues to be does infection matter in a world where serious outcomes are averted.”
But health experts say that despite mild outcomes for many vaccinated and boosted people, waning immunity and easily transmissible variants, high caseloads have the potential to strain public health systems and put the vulnerable at risk. In addition, long COVID-19 remains a risk, although vaccinated people are less likely than unvaccinated to suffer from it.
How protected are we really?
Although the vaccine’s protection against hospitalization remains strong, data collected in the U.K. found that being vaccinated was no longer enough to protect against mild or asymptomatic infection by June 2022.
Although effectiveness against severe disease remains relatively strong across all vaccines, emerging evidence suggests that that protection also wanes over time, and in the face of newly evolved variants. A CDC analysis found three shots was roughly 90% effective against emergency room or hospital visits in the months after the third shot, but that declined to 66-78% by four to five months out.
Given mounting evidence of the benefits of three doses, the CDC recommends an additional booster dose for adults and children 5 and older.
A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine also found that as the virus continues to evolve, each new omicron subvariant is increasingly likely to lead to reinfection or breakthrough infection.
Researchers found lower antibody responses against new omicron subvariants BA.5 and BA.5 – now dominant – compared to prior omicron subvariants.
Thus, as evolving variants continue to escape protection, Doron stressed that widespread protection against infection is likely unrealistic.
“I believe it is not reasonable to expect the current vaccines to prevent infection,” Doron said. “The effectiveness isn’t high, and it is short-lived. It is not feasible to revaccinate people as often as would be needed to maintain any kind of level of protection from infection.”
Amid concerns of a renewed COVID-19 resurgence, federal officials are now in the process of deciding what type of vaccines should be made available in the fall, in order to better address variants that are increasingly getting better at eluding the immune response triggered by the vaccines.
The Food and Drug Administration said this week that it is asking the vaccine companies to produce shots for this fall that will give Americans the broadest and strongest protection against COVID-19 for its upcoming booster campaign.
The manufacturers have been advised to create vaccines that include two strains of COVID-19, the original strain and the most recent omicron BA.4 and BA.5 strains that are currently dominant in the U.S.
Although the FDA’s group of advisers voted earlier in the week in support of moving forward with the new vaccine design, some reminded Americans that these new-and-improved shots will also not be able to offer total protection from mild infections.
Although scientists say they are not giving up on finding a vaccine that can prevent all infections, they creating such a vaccine is more difficult – a feat that very few other vaccines have accomplished.
Herd immunity no longer the goal
In the first months of the pandemic, reaching herd immunity was frequently discussed by public health experts as an important long-term goal in achieving national protection against COVID-19 and returning to normalcy in the face of a deadly and mysterious disease.
However, when the occurrence of breakthrough infections became more common, despite mass vaccination, the likelihood of herd immunity began to slip away.
“The more our understanding of COVID-19 has improved, the more we’ve realized that the theoretical end state of herd immunity is unachievable,” Brownstein said. “There will likely be a continuous race between the evolution of the virus and the background immunity achieved either through infection or vaccination. Unfortunately, evolution continues to outpace our ability to gain protection.”
Doron said that she believes that “eventually” the nation will have enough immunity to treat COVID-19 like other viruses that circulate regularly, when hospitalizations and deaths are not as widespread.
“I think we will have enough immunity as a population to treat COVID-19 like we do other respiratory viruses, where we stay home until we feel better and don’t structure our lives around the virus. Immunocompromised people will still need to be careful as they always are about catching infections,” Doron explained.
Providing clear goals and outlining the benefits of vaccination remains critical to encouraging uptake among the hesitant.
“Public health has to be more clear about the goals of vaccination programs,” Brownstein said.
Many health experts agree that the goal of the nation’s current vaccine drive cannot be to prevent every infection, as providing robust protection from hospitalization and deaths remains the most critical goal in the nation’s fight against COVID-19.
“If COVID-19 had always caused only the kind of infection that we currently see in boosted people, we wouldn’t have let it upend our lives the way we did. Ultimately, what’s most important is prevention of hospitalization and death,” Doron said.
However, Brownstein noted that it is important to consider the continued risks of long-COVID, which even with less severe forms of infection.
“While prevention of hospitalization and deaths remain the priority, post-acute conditions like long COVID-19 challenge this paradigm,” Brownstein added. “Muddied messaging has led to extreme divides between those who feel protected and those who still worry about long term impacts of infection especially with unknown variants around the corner.”
Bazzi is back with the appropriately timed song “Miss America.” He said in a statement, “It’s the first piece of music I’m putting out in years that really represents where I am in this moment… There’s an optimism in this song that encourages us to take the broken pieces of the things we once stood on and put them back together in a way that makes sense to us.”
Smash Mouth also released a timely new song, “4th Of July,” their first track to feature new lead singer Zach Goode. The song embodies how Americans enjoy celebrating the holiday.
J-Hope launched his solo career with “More,” which’ll feature on his new album, Jack in the Box. His label says “More” represents his “aspirations to break the mold and grow further.” The single blends grunge and hip hop elements.
Calvin Harris teamed with 21 Savage for the song “New Money” to further hype his forthcoming album, Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2, which arrives August 5.
Somebody call 9-1-1, Sean Kingston is back with “Rihanna (Umbrella),” which sees him blending Afrobeats with Reggae pop. He crafted the track to honor the “many people from the islands or Africa” who “have not gotten their shot.” The single is the prelude of his forthcoming album, Road to Deliverance, due out later this year.
Sabrina Carpenter says of her new song “Vicious,” “This song is really narrative and personal. It’s as if I’m having a conversation. We’ve all had experiences with people we love so deeply who turn out to be different than we thought they were.”
Halsey dropped “So Good (Stripped),” an acoustic version of her all new single that lets fans fully appreciate her powerful vocals.
