Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Capital Concerts Inc.
Lauren Alaina is officially a member of the Grand Ole Opry — with a little help from Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.
During the Opry’s Saturday night broadcast, the “Road Less Traveled” singer became the Opry’s newest member when she was inducted by Trisha, who also extended the invite in December.
“Since I was a little girl, I’ve dreamed of this moment,” Lauren said through tears, calling the honor “the biggest dream come true.” “Most little girls dream of their weddings, I dreamed of this.”
The night was made even more special for the new inductee when Trisha invited husband Garth onstage to play guitar on “Walkaway Joe,” much to Lauren’s shock and awe. The two Georgia natives traded vocals on the classic country hit, with Lauren giving Garth a hug as he strummed the melody.
At 27, Lauren is now the youngest living member of the Grand Ole Opry.
(NEW YORK) — New York City began distributing free, at-home COVID-19 test kits across the five boroughs Monday.
Tests, made by the company Flowflex, will be available at 27 public library branches and 14 cultural landmarks including the American Museum of Natural History, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and the Staten Island Zoo.
Across the city, there are 13 sites where tests can be picked up in Queens, 10 in Brooklyn, seven in Manhattan, six in the Bronx and five in Staten Island. More sites are expected to be added over the next few weeks.
“Our mission remains to make testing resources accessible for all New Yorkers to safely and confidently manage the pandemic,” Dr. Ted Long, executive director of the NYC Test & Trace Corps, said in a statement. “Distributing at-home tests at cultural sites and libraries provides familiar, prominent locations for people to pick up the resources they need to know if they have COVID-19 and to return to the beloved destinations that make our city so special.”
He continued, “I am grateful for our cultural and library partnerships and excited to see them lead New York City safely forward.”
Test & Trace will be delivering kits to the libraries and cultural sites once a week, and supplies are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
“We will have sent out over 350,000 tests by end of week. [Distribution] to each site varies, but we are confident that we can meet demand,” a spokesperson for NYC Health + Hospitals, which oversees Test & Trace, told ABC News in a statement.
Test kits are limited to one per person and, although distribution will be up to the individual site, Test & Trace is recommending one per day, the spokesperson added.
Test & Trace said its website will be updated daily with the hours and locations of sites where the tests are available.
The new program comes just two weeks after Mayor Eric Adams said the city will be offering free at-home, same-day delivery of COVID antiviral pills for those with mild to moderate symptoms.
The city is also pushing for more residents to get vaccinated. Over the weekend, Adams announced the return of cash incentives including a $100 gift card for anyone who gets their first dose or is boosted at a city-run or SOMOS Community Care site through the end of February.
The gift cards will be eligible for use through March 31.
(WASHINGTON) — On Monday’s fourth anniversary of the Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting, during which his son was killed, Manuel Oliver climbed atop a construction crane near the White House and unfurled a banner calling on President Joe Biden to do more to get gun control legislation passed, according to news reports.
Photos showed a large banner depicting an image of his son, Joaquin Oliver, who was one of 17 victims in the shooting at the high school in Parkland, Florida, and read “45K PEOPLE DIED FROM GUN VIOLENCE ON YOUR WATCH.”
Oliver climbed down the crane with another individual at approximately 10 a.m., and was met by officers who escorted him into an ambulance in handcuffs for a brief moment before he was led away, ABC News affiliate WJLA-TV reported.
In a statement to ABC News, the Metropolitan Police Department said officers located and apprehended one individual on the 700 block of 15th St., NW at approximately 5:40 a.m.
“Two other individuals were located on a crane near the location. At approximately 10:06 am, the two individuals located on the crane were taken into custody as well. Preliminarily, three individuals were arrested from the scene,” the Metropolitan Police Department confirmed.
The Metropolitan Police Department did not release the identities of the individuals arrested, but WJLA identified Oliver.
In a statement marking the shooting’s anniversary, Biden said his administration stands with the Parkland families, “Americans in every corner of our country who have lost loved ones to gun violence or had their lives forever altered by a shooting” and “those working to end this epidemic of gun violence.”
“I have put forward a comprehensive plan to reduce gun crime that includes curbing the proliferation of ‘ghost’ guns, cracking down on gun dealers who willfully violate the law, issuing model extreme risk protection order legislation for states, and promoting safe firearm storage, among other efforts,” Biden wrote.
(WASHINGTON) — First Lady Jill Biden is spreading love — and offering a teaching moment to elementary school students — at the White House on Monday to mark Valentine’s Day.
For the second year in a row, the first lady delivered a valentine to the nation with a colorful heart-filled display on the White House North Lawn.
The decor, this year, features hand-painted wooden artwork in the shapes of the family’s first pets — new cat, Willow, and German Shepherd puppy, Commander.
A massive, wooden heart between the two pets is inscribed with Corinthians 13:13: “Three things will last forever — faith, hope, and love — and the greatest of these is love.”
The heart-shaped decorations also extend inside the White House to the East Wing, where the first lady has featured the “heart-work” of second-grade students in Washington whose teacher, Alejandro Diasgranados, was awarded teacher of the year for 2021.
According to the first lady’s office, the students were asked to incorporate words reflecting her values including “family,” “kindness,” and “peace” to guide their Valentine’s Day heart designs. Diasgranados and some of the 21 students that created the 42 paper hearts on display in the East Landing are scheduled to visit the White House on Monday to see their work.
Three large, red hearts reading “hope,” “healing” and “love” were also on display in the East Wing.
After spending the weekend at Camp David, President Joe Biden and the first lady returned to the White House earlier Monday morning holding hands as they walked into the residence. Biden did not answer questions but lowered his mask to tell reporters, “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
For the Bidens’ first Valentine’s Day in the White House, the first lady decorated the North Lawn with three giant, hand-painted hearts that read “hope,” “unity” and “love.”
Now that Rihanna no longer needs to hide her pregnancy, the “Umbrella” singer can step back into the public eye and continue doing what she loves — making people happy. Over the weekend, she and boyfriend A$AP Rocky shocked fans when they decided to pay a surprise visit to one of her Savage X Fenty stores.
Peoplereports that the couple, both 33, crashed the Savage X Fenty store at the Westfield Culver City mall in Los Angeles. Rihanna wore a Valentine’s Day ensemble comprised of a striking crimson hooded robe and matching strappy heels that showed off her white pedicure.
As for her boyfriend, A$AP Rocky wore matching red and white trainers along with a blue-gray pinstripe tuxedo, white undershirt and black tie.
The two posed for photo ops around the store, including in front of mannequins that were modeling signature pieces from Rihanna’s new Valentine’s Day line.
Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty stores transitioned from an online-only platform to brick and mortar locations this year, with the first location opening in Las Vegas in January. She plans to open more locations in Houston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
The “Diamonds” singer first announced she was opening physical Fenty stores via Twitter on January 7, and said in a subsequent tweet, “[I] can’t believe it’s actually that time, and I can’t wait for you to have this experience irl.”
Could we possibly see The Jonas Brothers take over the Super Bowl Halftime show? Nick Jonas certainly hopes so.
Speaking with People, the “Jealous” hitmaker says taking center stage during the Big Game is on his and his brothers’ “bucket list,” for sure. “It’s been a dream for us,” he expressed. “I hope one day we get to do it!”
While the trio will have to wait to see if the NFL decides to grant their wish, Nick did make a small appearance during Sunday night’s Super Bowl. He teamed with a different trio — the Jones trio comprised of Leslie Jones, Tommy Lee Jones and Rashida Jones — for Toyota’s Big Game commercial.
The ad sees the three Joneses racing in their new Toyota Tundra trucks and pulling stunts definitely meant for the professionals before arriving at their destination. When Jonas pulls up and tries worming his way into the Jones trio, noting the similarity of their last names, 75-year-old Tommy Lee Jones barks, “Try to keep up, whoever you are.”
Nick said the Men in Black actor created some of the “funniest moments” while filming because he would improvise his lines. “I think the line he says ‘Whoever you are’ was an improv line, and it made me laugh hard every time he said it,” he said.
Nick, who recently welcomed his first child with wife Priyanka Chopra, said he has big plans for this year. “I also have a lot of creative ventures that I am working on now, both on the music side of things but also on the film, television, and development side,” he teased. “I am really looking forward to getting those things up and going, and I am excited for this next step in my career.”
Mike Coppola/Getty Images for American Heart Association
(NEW YORK) — Actress Susan Lucci is opening up about her battle with heart disease.
The 75-year-old, best known for her role as Erica Kane on the ABC daytime drama All My Children, told Good Morning America’s Amy Robach that she recently underwent an emergency heart procedure for the second time.
“I was having kind of a shortness of breath,” said Lucci, adding that she soon also felt discomfort around her ribcage and her back, similar to symptoms she had three years ago with her first heart scare.
“I thought, ‘This is crazy. These are the same kind of symptoms that I had three years ago but it can’t be,'” she said. “But when I lay down, I started to feel a sharp coming-and-going pain in my jaw.”
Lucci said when she called her doctor, he told her to go to the emergency room.
After undergoing several tests, Lucci’s doctor told her that she experienced an 80% blockage in one of her arteries due to plaque buildup. She was rushed to a cardiac catheterization lab, where another stent was put in to open up the blockage.
“She wasn’t having a heart attack this time and she wasn’t unstable,” Lucci’s doctor, Dr. Richard Shlofmitz, chairman of cardiology at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn, New York, told GMA. “But she had symptoms that were certainly concerning to me that something might be wrong.”
Shlofmitz said if Lucci waited for her symptoms to get worse, it could have turned into a major emergency.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S. About 1 in 16 women age 20 and older have coronary artery disease, the most common type of heart disease in the U.S.
The CDC says that heart disease may sometimes be “silent” and not diagnosed until other symptoms are present. To lower your chances of heart disease, doctors suggest managing stress levels, getting blood pressure checked regularly, check for diabetes and to quit smoking. Other ways to lower your risk of heart disease include being active, eating healthy and limiting alcohol intake.
Now Lucci, an advocate for the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign, is urging other women to listen to their bodies.
“Listen to your heart and act on [the symptoms],” Lucci said. “Give yourself permission to take good care of yourself. Be your own best friend. Be your own advocate. You’ll save your life.”
Jason Aldean declares himself a rock n’ roll cowboy with his new tour.
On Monday, the ACM Artist of the Decade announced that he’s launching the 34-date Rock N’ Roll Cowboy Tour, with Gabby Barrett, John Morgan and Dee Jay Silver set to open.
It begins on July 15 in Scranton, PA and continues through October 29, when it wraps in Wichita, KS. Along the way, Jason and crew will stop at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, and for a two-night stay at Bank of NH Pavilion.
The Rock N’ Roll Cowboy Tour is named after a track off Jason’s upcoming album, Macon, Georgia, that he says is “all about knowing you belong on the road.”
“I’m ready to get back out and feel the nights come alive,” he adds.
Tickets go on sale February 18 at 10 a.m. local time. Visit the singer’s website for a full list of dates.
Maynard James Keenan helped give a proper sendoff to Tool‘s opening band with an onstage prank.
The group Blonde Redhead, who’d been supporting Tool for the band month on their U.S. tour, played their final show with Keenan and company last week in Miami. To mark the occasion, Keenan invaded Blonde Redhead’s set to dance around while wearing a blonde wig, surrounded by others wearing red wigs.
Blonde Redhead‘s vocalist Kazu Makino shared footage from the prank in an Instagram Story, which was later re-posted by Keenan. In the caption, Makino wrote, “[Tool] making a point of our last show…this is how I look when I’m stunned.”
Keenan himself is a big fan of Blonde Redhead — ahead of the tour, he shared a long Instagram post explaining why he picked the band specifically to be Tool’s opener.
Tool’s tour is set to continue February 19 in Boston with support from The Acid Helps.
(Pictured: Jhene Aiko) Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation
A fumble by NBC during Sunday night’s Super Bowl broadcast misidentified country singer Mickey Guyton as Jhene Aiko.
Social media was not having it after the network cut to country star Guyton, who was preparing to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and identified her as Aiko, who was singing “America the Beautiful.”
The reaction on Twitter was swift and brutal, with one person writing, “Jhene Aiko and Mickey Guyton don’t look alike. Tighten up NBC. All black folks don’t look alike.”
Another tweeted, “ummm… who confused Jhene Aiko and Mickey Guyton? Its tone deaf…. (On your part).” Yet yet another wrote, “Mickey Guyton slays the anthem. Too bad the same couldn’t be said for whoever wound up confusing [her for] Jhene Aiko.”
Shortly after the incident, an NBC Sports spokesperson tweeted an apology: “Leading into Jhene Aiko singing ‘America the Beautiful,’ we incorrectly showed Mickey Guyton and misidentified her before showing Aiko’s performance. We apologize to both artists for the error.”
