Brett Tuggle, a veteran keyboardist who toured with the David Lee Roth Band, Fleetwood Mac, Rick Springfield and many other artists, died on Sunday, June 19, “from complications related to cancer,” Rolling Stone reports. He was 70.
“Our sweet Brett Tuggle made it home tonight,” tweeted Springfield, with whom Tuggle toured and recorded during the mid-1980s. “God bless his beautiful spirit.”
Brett is survived by his two children — son Matt and daughter Michelle.
“He was loved by his family so much,” Matt told Rolling Stone. “His family was with him throughout the entire time of his illness. He was a lovely father. He gave me music in my life.”
Tuggle was a founding member of Roth’s first solo band after Diamond Dave split with Van Halen. He was a member of Roth’s backing group from 1986 to 1994. He co-wrote several songs with the singer, including “Just Like Paradise,” which reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988.
In 1992, he began playing with the Mick Fleetwood side project The Zoo, and he later served as Fleetwood Mac’s touring keyboardist from 1997 to 2017. He also played keyboards on Mac members Lindsey Buckingham‘s and Stevie Nicks‘ solo tours, as well as on Buckingham and Christine McVie‘s trek in support of the duo’s 2017 collaborative album.
In a 2020 Rolling Stone interview, Tuggle explained that he lost his gig with Fleetwood Mac after Buckingham was fired from the group in 2018, claiming that he was perceived as “Lindsey’s guy.”
Most recently, Tuggle had been touring with Buckingham during Lindsey’s 2021 solo tour, but he did not appear at any of the singer/guitarist’s 2022 concerts.
Over the years, Tuggle also played with Jimmy Page & David Coverdale, John Kay and Steppenwolf, Styx‘s Tommy Shaw and many others.
(WASHINGTON) — As top White House officials reiterate that tackling high inflation remains President Joe Biden’s chief priority, his administration is debating strategies to bring prices down — and sending mixed signals about how, and how quickly, Biden may act on an issue that is top of mind for voters and weighing on his approval ratings.
The president said Monday he could make a decision as soon as this week on whether to support Congress instituting a pause on the federal gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon, which experts have estimated could lower prices by approximately 14.72 cents per gallon.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Sunday that the administration was open to considering such a move, citing the cost on consumers. As of Monday, the national average gas price was $4.98 per gallon.
“Gas prices have risen a great deal, and it’s clearly burdening households,” Yellen said during an appearance on “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos. “So [the president] stands ready to work with Congress and [gas tax holidays are] an idea that’s certainly worth considering.”
But Yellen’s counterpart at the Department of Energy seemingly disagreed with that notion in her own appearance Sunday.
“Part of the challenge with the gas tax, of course, is that it funds the roads,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on CNN. “[W]e just did a big infrastructure bill to help fund the roads. So if we do — if we remove the gas tax — that takes away the funding that was just passed by Congress to be able to do that.”
“That’s one of the challenges. But I’m not saying that that’s off the table,” Granholm said.
A gas tax holiday would require approval from Congress, where Democrats hold a fragile majority. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has previously spoken skeptically of the idea, saying it was possibly better “PR” than policy.
Biden told reporters on Monday that, as another relief measure, gas rebate cards were also under deliberation.
“That’s part of what we’re considering,” he said when asked. “That’s part of the whole operation.”
It’s unclear, however, how such rebate cards would work — whether they would be pre-loaded or provide rebates post-purchase.
A recession isn’t guaranteed: White House
Administration officials are united on one point: A recession is “not inevitable,” they have all said.
“There’s nothing inevitable about a recession,” Biden said Monday.
Yellen, Granholm and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese likewise all used variations of that language during their Sunday show appearances.
“There’s a lot of things about the economy right now that are unique,” Deese said. “Americans are spending less money on goods, they’re spending more money on services from companies … The housing market is recalibrating.”
Yellen acknowledged Sunday that inflation was “unacceptably high,” again blaming Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and long-term supply chain issues as contributors.
“These factors are unlikely to diminish immediately, but over time, I certainly expect inflation to come down,” she said.
Still, she noted, “Consumer spending remains very strong. There’s month-to-month volatility, but overall spending is strong.” And, she added, “Bank balances are high. It’s clear that most consumers, even lower-income households, continue to have buffer stocks of savings.”
With the Federal Reserve taking increasingly aggressive action to curb inflation — raising interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point, the largest hike in nearly 30 years — Yellen said the goal was a delicate balancing act.
“[Fed] Chair [Jerome] Powell has said that his goal is to bring inflation down while maintaining a strong labor market. That’s going to take skill and luck, but I believe it’s possible,” she said Sunday.
As the administration insist there’s a way to avoid recession while reigning in inflation, Republican lawmakers are taking the opportunity to hammer Biden on higher prices — a key talking point for the GOP ahead of the November midterm elections.
“Bidenflation is costing average Americans an extra $460 a month,” Pennsylvania Rep. Lloyd Smucker tweeted on Monday.
Officials weigh more economic measures
Biden made clear Monday he has no plans to meet oil executives in person but is instead tasking top aides, like Granholm, with making his administration’s position clear.
In a letter last Wednesday, Biden called out seven oil refiners for earning record profits while oil supplies decrease. He asked the companies to increase production or risk facing White House intervention.
While the president did not specifically identify the tools he could use, Granholm hinted during a Wednesday CNN appearance that the Defense Production Act may be on the table.
In his letter, Biden also instructed his energy secretary to convene an emergency meeting with oil company executives.
Granholm will probe the companies to explain reductions in oil refining capacity, according to an ABC News report. Trade groups representing the producers contend that “U.S. refineries are running at 94 percent of capacity.”
The American Petroleum Institute also fired back at Biden’s letter, with its CEO and president arguing it was “the administration’s misguided policy agenda shifting away from domestic oil and natural gas [that] has compounded inflationary pressures and added headwinds to companies’ daily efforts to meet growing energy needs while reducing emissions.”
Separately, Yellen told federal lawmakers earlier this month that her department was reviewing Trump-era tariffs targeting China.
Economists in a March policy brief said that “eliminating the tariff would save US firms and households about $81 billion annually on direct purchases from China.”
When asked Saturday about his position on eliminating those tariffs, the president said, “We are still in the process of making up my mind.”
ABC News’ Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
As any fanboy or girl could tell you, before he strapped on the spangly outfit and vibranium shield, Evans played a different superhero: Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch, in two Fantastic Four films produced by 20th Century Fox.
However, rumors he’d be back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe turned out to be unfounded — in fact, he said he was never asked.
“God, wouldn’t that be great?” Evans said to MTV News. “No one’s ever come to me about that.”
“I really loved that character,” the Lightyear star admits of the brash, self-immolating daredevil.
“I would love it,” he added said with a giggle. “That would actually be an easier sell to me than coming back as Cap. Cap has been so precious to me, I almost don’t want to disrupt what a beautiful experience that was.
“But Johnny Storm, I feel like he didn’t really get his day, that was before Marvel really found his footing. So, who knows!”
(EL PASO, Texas) — Gaston spent years as a human rights lawyer in Venezuela defending the political opponents of Nicholas Maduro’s regime — mostly students jailed for speaking out against the government plagued by corruption.
Gaston was worried it was only a matter of time before he ended up in a cell himself, so he fled the country and made his way to the U.S.-Mexico border, swimming across the Rio Grande.
Gaston, whose full name is being withheld over fears for his safety, planned to surrender to border officials and seek asylum in the United States. Instead, he was arrested by troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety upon his arrival and sent to an immigration detention center.
“I presented him with my credentials. ‘Look, I’m a lawyer, a human rights defender. Here’s my badge,’” Gaston recounted in Spanish, speaking with ABC News. “And all he said to me was, ‘I have to stop you. Put your hands behind your back.’”
Gaston spent five weeks imprisoned in the detention center.
He is just one of thousands of migrants detained through Operation Lone Star, a Texas-run border security initiative created by Gov. Greg Abbott in March 2021 to stem the influx of migrant traffic in the state.
The program authorizes the deployment of an estimated 10,000 soldiers from the Texas National Guard and Department of Public Safety, in addition to federal agents, to handle immigration patrol.
The operation’s goal is “to prevent the criminal activity along the border,” according to the Texas government website. But since only the federal government has the power to enforce immigration law, Texas troopers and state guardsman can only make arrests if migrants trespass onto private property.
“There wasn’t any there. No notice that said that was private property, or what,” Gaston said. “Neither that I have knocked down a wall nor that I have even penetrated a fence.”
“I can tell you that this is the most terrible discrimination that a human being deprived of his liberty can suffer,” he added.
Kristin Etter, an attorney who represented Gaston’s case against the state once he was detained, said he is one of many clients who were arrested “without probable cause,” some of whom have spent months in prisons awaiting trials, unable to afford bond.
“Texas has essentially militarized the border to make apprehensions and arrests primarily of migrants for criminal trespass offenses,” Etter said.
To date, the program has made just over 4,100 total trespassing arrests, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
The strategy of expelling migrants does not appear to have curtailed immigration — but the price tag of funding the operation continues to go up with Texas taxpayers footing the bill.
Etter said Texas has spent more than $4 billion on Operation Lone Star, diverting funds from other areas in the state. And in late April, nearly $500 million in additional funding was approved by Abbott and state leadership for the program.
As Gaston’s asylum case moves through the federal courts, he said he hopes he can one day make a living for himself in the U.S. and support his family back home in Venezuela.
“It was through God’s Grace, he wanted my life to continue and help mine, to help my family, to help my country, and to stay here in the United States one way or another,” he said. “In spite of all that difference and all those events that have happened, thank God it didn’t go bad for me.”
ABC News’ Abby Cruz and Thomas Brooksbank contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The central U.S. is facing extreme heat on Monday, with temperatures forecast to skyrocket to 106 degrees in Minneapolis, 104 in Omaha, 104 in Dallas and 103 in Houston.
The sweltering conditions will then move east, with temperatures forecast to reach 99 in New Orleans and 98 in Raleigh on Wednesday.
Here are tips to stay safe from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
Wear sunscreen
Take precautions to prevent sunburn, which can make you dehydrated and affect your ability to cool down.
Use sunscreen that’s SPF 15 or higher 30 minutes before going outside. Sunscreens that say “broad spectrum” or “UVA/UVB protection” are best.
Stay hydrated
Drink extra fluids, and don’t wait until you’re thirsty.
Avoid very sugary drinks and alcohol, which can cause your body to lose more fluid, and be wary of extra-cold drinks that may cause stomach cramps.
Avoiding hot and heavy meals also can reduce your body’s overall temperature.
Limit time outside
Cut down on exercise during heat waves and rest often and in shady areas.
Try to limit your time outside to when it is cooler, like in the early morning and evening.
Check the car
Never leave children in a parked car — even if windows are cracked open.
Monitor high-risk loved ones
Anyone can suffer from heat-related illness at any time, but these people are at greater risk:
— Babies and young children
— Overweight people
— Those 65 years old or older
— People who overexert during work or exercise
— Those who suffer from heart disease or high blood pressure and those who take certain medications, including for depression, insomnia or poor circulation
Watch for signs of illness
Symptoms of heat stroke include:
— Body temperature of 103 degrees or higher
— Hot, red, dry or damp skin
— Fast, strong pulse
— Headache
— Dizziness
— Nausea
— Confusion
— Passing out
— No longer sweating
Symptoms of heat exhaustion include:
— Heavy sweating
— Cold, pale, clammy skin
— Fast, weak pulse
— Nausea or vomiting
— Muscle cramps
— Feeling tired or weak
— Headache
— Passing out
If someone shows symptoms of heat stroke or heat exhaustion, call 911, move them somewhere cooler and use towels to cool down their body.
Don’t forget about your furry friends!
Here are some tips from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for how to keep your pets safe in the heat: provide plenty of fresh water so they don’t get dehydrated; don’t over-exercise pets; never leave pets alone in a parked car; and watch for symptoms of overheating, which include excessive panting, difficulty breathing, increased heart and respiratory rate and drooling.
Animals with flat faces, like pugs, can’t pant as well and are more at risk of heat stroke. These pets, as well as older and overweight pets, should be kept inside as much as possible.
For the first time in 14 years, Billy Joel is going Down Under.
The Piano Man has announced that he’ll be performing a one-night-only show on December 10 at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia. Tickets go on sale on July 4 via frontiertouring.com/billyjoel. The venue holds 95,000 people.
In a video statement, Billy tells fans, “It’s been a really long time since I’ve been there, I’m really looking forward to coming and I’m bringing the whole family and we’re going to enjoy it. I’ll see you there.”
Billy won’t just enjoy the gig; he’ll enjoy the weather, too. When he heads to the gig, it’ll be cold in his home state of New York, but it’ll be summer in Australia.
Just ahead of the show in December, Billy will play his regular monthly concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden on November 23. He hasn’t announced his December show there yet. Billy’s next gig is this weekend at Notre Dame Stadium in Indiana.
In other Billy news, you can check out some adorable pictures of him with his young daughters Della and Remy on the Father’s Day post on his website.
(TRENTON, N.J.) — A wildfire in southern New Jersey has scorched at least 7,200 acres as of Monday morning, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said.
New Jersey Forest Fire Service crews will continue to conduct backfiring operations throughout the day to aid in containment, according to a statement from the service posted on Facebook. The fire is 45% contained, authorities said.
There are no reported injuries at this time.
The fire spread through Wharton State Forest, leaving several trails, campgrounds and roads closed.
Eighteen structures have been threatened as of Monday morning, with local volunteer fire departments from Atlantic, Burlington and Ocean Counties performing structure protection, authorities said.
As of Sunday evening, only six structures were reported as threatened and the Paradise Lake campground was evacuated.
The wildfire has affected the Washington, Shamong, Hammonton and Mullica Townships, and has been fueled by dry and breezy conditions, New Jersey Forest Fire Service said.
The National Weather Service in the Philadelphia/Mount Holly area said the gusty conditions are expected to subside.
Batsto Village and all of its trails continue to be closed to all visitors.
Boat launches along the Mullica River, the Mullica River Trail, the Mullica River campground and the Lower Forde campground are closed.
Pinelands Adventures said it has suspended kayak and canoe trips in the area.
Route 206 from Chew Road to Stokes Road and Route 542 from Green Bank Road to Columbia Road are also closed.
Authorities first addressed the growing fire midday Sunday, where it began in a remote section of Wharton State Forest along the Mullica River.
By 7:20 p.m., the fire had expanded to 600 acres and was 10% contained.
At 10:56 p.m., authorities said the fire had reached 2,100 acres and was at 20% containment.
An average of 1,500 wildfires damage or destroy 7,000 acres of the state’s forests each year, according to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.
(ATLANTA) — Buried in the data about the nation’s abortion debate is an uncomfortable truth: A disproportionate number of women seeking to end their pregnancies are Black.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women as a population have the highest rate of abortions — nearly 24 abortions per 1,000 Black women, compared to about seven abortions per 1,000 white women.
That means that if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the biggest impact would be felt by Black women in the South, where conservative legislators are set to enact restrictions.
To Monica Simpson, a leading Black activist in Georgia and executive director of SisterSong, none of this should be surprising.
“If it’s obliterated,” Simpson said of the right to abortion, “then we’re not only dealing with an access issue. In a bigger way, we’re also dealing with criminalization possibilities. And that’s a very scary thing in particular for Black folks in this country who are already over-criminalized in so many ways.”
The Supreme Court was expected to rule on the abortion case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, in the next few weeks. According to a leaked draft opinion, the court’s decision would leave the issue up to states. If that happens, more than two dozen states, mostly in the South and Midwest, plan to move ahead to severely curtail access to abortion.
Simpson’s organization SisterSong, a lead plaintiff in a Georgia abortion case, and several other Black advocacy groups say the decision is tightly coupled with race. Slavery, painful gynecological experiments and forced sterilizations are part of the nation’s history when it comes to Black women.
“We all need to be able to determine how many children we’re going to have, if we’re going to have children. We all have a human right to make decisions about our bodies,” said Toni Bond, an ethics and religious scholar who in the 1990s helped to coined the term “reproductive justice” to distinguish concerns among Black women from those of wealthier white feminists.
Among those concerns: Black women are considerably more likely to die from childbirth than white women, even when accounting for education. According to one federal study, college-educated Black women are five times more likely to die from pregnancy than college-educated white women.
Health care access is limited, too, and expensive, with many of the same states voting to restrict abortion also blocking efforts to expand Medicaid, the government’s insurance for low-income families.
Police brutality is another factor, advocates say.
“When you look at all of that in its totality, then yes, it’s going to feed into the decisions that black women make,” said Simpson.
“And if that decision is that they choose not to bring a child into this world right now, that is a decision that is a human right to make, and they should not be shamed for that decision,” she added.
During arguments on the abortion case, conservative Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett suggested safe-haven laws that allow a woman to relinquish her child to a fire station or police station have relieved women of the burdens of parenthood.
Also, anti-abortion groups say their church-based crisis pregnancy centers can assist every women, regardless of her race or ethnicity, on their journey through motherhood.
Simpson and others said that kind of thinking ignores the unique challenges that minority communities face, including the higher medical risk of pregnancy for Black women.
“I think they are not about pro-life at all. They are absolutely about pro-birth,” Simpson said of pregnancy crisis centers. “They want us to bring babies into this world, but they have not proven to us or shown us in any way where they have walked with our folks in our community through their lives.”
In the end, several advocates told ABC News they were prepared to work outside the legal system if necessary, as Black people have done historically.
“We should see this as something deeply, deeply troubling. This is not just about what is legal. This is about what is moral and just,” said Paris Hatcher, executive director of Black Feminist Future.
Because of that, Hatcher said, “I will make sure that anyone who needs an abortion will get (one) by any means.”
(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) — According to surveillance video obtained by ABC News Louisville affiliate WHAS, the mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, Greg Fischer, appears to fall to the ground after being hit.
The mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, was assaulted over the weekend while out attending community events when he was punched by the assailant. Police are still investigating and have yet to make any arrests.
Mayor Greg Fischer was attacked while visiting Fourth Street Live, celebrating Kentuckiana Pride and Juneteenth over the busy weekend.
According to surveillance video obtained by ABC News Louisville affiliate WHAS, the mayor appears to fall to the ground after being hit. The assailant was caught fleeing in surveillance footage.
According to police, and Fischer himself, he is doing fine following the assault.
“My son, who is 30 said, ‘Dad you’re not quite an old geezer yet, but it is good to see you can still take a punch,'” Fischer said on Sunday at the Louisville Central Community Center’s Juneteenth gala. “It is an unfortunate thing. We’re living in weird times these days, so it’s just another day in the life of the mayor.”
Anyone with information can call the Louisville Metro Police Department anonymous tip line at 502-574-5673.
All across the country Monday, Americans are observing Juneteenth, the holiday commemorating the end of slavery. When President Joe Bidensigned a bill last year making Juneteenth a federal holiday in the United States, one woman captured well-deserved attention.
Opal Lee, 94, was described by Biden as the “grandmother of the movement” to help make Juneteenth a nationally recognized holiday. In 2016, 89-year-old Lee, a former teacher and lifelong activist, walked from her home in Fort Worth, Texas, to the nation’s capital in an effort to get Juneteenth named a national holiday.
Every year on June 19 Lee walks 2 1/2 miles to mark the time that passed between President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, and when the news arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865. This year Lee was joined by a host of residents, visitors and supporters.
At the time of bill signing on June 17, 2021, Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black vice president, also gave Lee her due, saying, “And looking out across this room, I see the advocates, the activists, the leaders who have been calling for this day for so long, including the one and only Ms. Opal Lee.”
“I was overjoyed. I was ecstatic,” Lee told ABC News last year of her reaction to the holiday being signed into law. “I was so happy I could have done a holy dance.”
Juneteenth — also known as Freedom Day, Liberation Day and Emancipation Day — is celebrated on June 19 to mark the day when African American slaves in Galveston, Texas, were among the last to be told they had been freed two months after the Civil War officially ended.
