AMC on Thursday announced the premiere dates for the sixth and final season of Better Call Saul. The seven-episode first part of season six will debut on April 18 on AMC and AMC+ with back-to-back episodes. Part two, consisting of six episodes, will begin rolling out on July 11. AMC also revealed three new original short-form series connected to the world of Better Call Saul debuting this spring, including the animated series Slippin’ Jimmy, Cooper’s Bar — starring Better Call Saul’s Rhea Seehorn — and new episodes of the Better Call Saul Employee Training Video series…
Disney+’s Beauty and the Beast prequel series has been put on hold amid delays with creative elements and scheduling challenges with its cast, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Insiders tell the outlet that the show will eventually be made, but it’s unclear if the cast — including stars Josh Gad and Luke Evans — will be available when, and if, that actually happens. Gad confirmed the news on Twitter, writing in part, “Sadly, ‘Tis true. We tried to make it all work but under the gun it wasn’t meant to be… for now.” Disney is the parent company of ABC News…
Oscar-winning filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola will receive the ICG Publicists Guild‘s Lifetime Achievement Award at the in-person 59th annual Publicists Awards on March 25 at the Beverly Hilton. The guild calls Coppola an “epoch-making writer, director and producer” and “an auteur and innovator in complete command of the medium.” In addition to The Godfather trilogy, Coppola’s credits include 1974’s The Conversation — which he co-wrote — and 1979’s Apocalypse Now. He also produced George Lucas’ Best Picture nominee American Graffiti…
(NEW YORK) — The specter of a military confrontation on the Ukrainian border is stoking fears in Europe of an interruption in natural gas from Russia — and pumping fresh life into the debate over whether President Joe Biden’s climate agenda is brushing up against difficult geopolitical realities.
Critics of the Biden administration say its efforts to curb domestic oil and gas production have complicated its ability to negotiate with Russia, which provides more than a third of Europe’s natural gas.
To others, the standoff demonstrates the need for a swift transition to clean energy, “so that we’re not held hostage by Russia moving forward,” says Erin Sikorsky, director of the Center for Climate and Security and a former intelligence official.
Either way, experts say, the conflict in Eastern Europe is shining a spotlight on the challenges ahead as governments adapt to an evolving energy landscape.
“It is clear that climate change is a huge focus for the Biden White House,” said Ben Cahill, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “But energy security realities are intervening, and they can’t be ignored.”
As Russian troops amass along Russia’s border with Ukraine, American officials are warning of a possible invasion in the coming days or weeks. In the event of an escalation, Western leaders fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin could halt gas supplies to Europe, potentially threatening Europe’s energy security.
The Biden administration has prepared contingency plans to backfill Europe’s energy needs in such an event. But oil interests and Republican lawmakers argue that a reduction in domestic fossil fuel extraction in recent years has hamstrung the United States’ ability to ensure Europe’s energy security.
Frank Macchiarola of the American Petroleum Institute told ABC News that “ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine serve as a reminder of the critical role of U.S. oil and natural gas in meeting our nation’s energy needs and ensuring our allies have access to a stable supply of affordable, reliable energy.”
On Capitol Hill, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, echoed that sentiment to Politico, characterizing the Biden administration’s scramble to shore up natural gas for Europe as “a crisis strategy that didn’t have to be.”
But many experts disagree with that critique. Because investments in domestic oil production today generally won’t impact the market for many years, Biden is limited in what he can do now to boost oil reserves. In the meantime, Cahill said, Biden should continue to advance his clean energy ambitions — but recognize the need for future U.S. oil production.
“The Biden administration should pursue its climate agenda, including tougher regulations on methane emissions from the oil and gas industry,” Cahill said. “But we’ll need fossil fuel investment for years to come, even as the energy transition picks up speed.”
Sikorsky warns critics not to conflate “the short-term crisis and the long-term strategy.”
“The administration has to do what it has to do to make sure energy supplies in Europe remain strong in the face of Russian aggression,” Sikorsky said. “But it has do that with an eye toward a more rapid transition to renewable energy.”
Because Russia’s economy relies so heavily on natural gas exports to Europe, Biden and European allies still have substantial energy-related leverage in negotiations with Moscow. The Russian government generated almost 30% of state revenue in 2020 from fossil fuel companies, including $40 billion in gas sales to Europe, according to one U.S. government report.
“The long-term threat to Russia’s market position is actually far greater” than the threat to Europe’s energy needs, said Matthew Schmidt, director of the International Affairs program at the University of New Haven. “Russia is a dinosaur. Their economy is weak. It’s a carbon-based economy, and if Putin were to use gas a weapon, he’s going to kill the market.”
Additionally, experts say renewable energy breakthroughs are closer than most leaders realize — a development that could render oil and gas obsolete in the coming decades.
Schmidt said he would encourage the Biden administration to forego any further investment in fossil foils and instead “go in on clean energy now, because that’s the long-term trend.”
This week, Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz pledged to halt production of Europe’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the event of an invasion. The U.S. and its allies could also directly sanction the Russian oil and gas industry as part of an effort to “reverse the direction of energy leverage,” according to a Brookings Institute policy paper.
But sanctions targeting Russia’s oil industry carry substantial risks for Europe’s energy needs. Enacting them would present the same outcome as Putin preemptively cutting off natural gas.
Cahill said that Biden’s quest for additional energy resources “does raise questions about whether we’ve under-invested in fossil fuels in the past five to seven years … which in turn raises questions about our ability to impose sanctions.”
For some industry experts, Europe’s dependence on Russian oil serves as a cautionary tale for the U.S. — and an impetus for the U.S. to expand investments in clean energy.
“Europe’s dependence on fossil fuels has made it vulnerable, the result of investment choices made over the course of decades,” said Trevor Higgins, vice president for climate policy at the left-leaning Center for American Progress.
“We should not repeat the same mistakes,” said Higgins. “A clean energy economy will be more secure and resilient than continued dependence on fossil fuels.”
(BEIJING) — Russian star figure skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for a banned substance during December’s Russian Figure Skating Championships, the International Testing Agency confirmed Friday, as rumors of her positive tests swirled in reports for days. However, a decision on her competing in the women’s individual event at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing will now go to an appeal hearing.
Valieva was a heavy favorite in the women’s event after scoring a record-high total in the team competition.
A World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited lab found Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, a heart medication, in a sample taken on Dec. 25, 2021, by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, known as RUSADA. RUSADA was notified of the positive result Feb. 8, at which time Valieva was provisionally suspended. The sample was collected by RUSADA, not the ITA, according to the agency, and not under the direct jurisdiction of the International Olympic Committee and thus her identity was not revealed.
The ITA was informed of the positive test on Feb. 8, after the team event was wrapped up with the Russian Olympic Committee winning gold.
The testing agency said it does not typically reveal the name of minors — Valieva is just 15 years old — but did so due to “the necessity for official information due to heightened public interest.”
The suspension prohibited her from competing further in the Beijing Games, and thus the individual event, however, Valieva appealed the suspension and RUSADA cleared her to compete on Feb. 9.
The ROC confirmed the chain of events and named Valieva in a statement Friday, saying the committee “considers it necessary to provide detailed explanations on the current situation.”
“The doping test of the Athlete who gave a positive result does not apply to the period of the Olympic Games,” the ROC said. “At the same time, the Athlete repeatedly passed doping tests before and after December 25, 2021, including already in Beijing during the figure skating tournament. All results are negative.”
However, the IOC is now challenging RUSADA’s decision, according to the ITA, and the IOC said a rushed decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will take place before the women’s event.
“The IOC will exercise its right to appeal and not to wait for the reasoned decision by RUSADA, because a decision is needed before the next competition the athlete is due to take part in (Women Single Skating, 15 February 2022),” the ITA said in a statement Friday.
The International Skating Union (ISU) later released a statement saying it “will exercise its right to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport the decision of the RUSADA Disciplinary Anti Doping Committee of February 9 to lift the provisional suspension and to ask CAS to reinstate the provisional suspension.”
The WADA also confirmed in a statement that it “intends to lodge an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in relation to the anti-doping case involving a Russian Olympic Committee figure skater who tested positive for a prohibited substance in an event prior to the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.”
“Under the terms of the World Anti-Doping Code (Code), WADA has a right to appeal the decision to lift the provisional suspension before CAS and does so on the grounds that the Code has not been correctly applied in this case,” the agency added.
The ROC noted in its statement that Valieva currently “has the right to train and take part in competitions in full without restrictions until the Court of Arbitration for Sport decides otherwise regarding her status in relation to the Olympic Games.”
“In any case, on the merits of a possible anti-doping violation, a disciplinary investigation will be conducted by RAA RUSADA in accordance with the applicable rules in the prescribed manner,” the ROC said. “Given that the Athlete’s positive doping test was not taken during the Olympic Games, the Athlete’s results and team competition results during the Olympic Games are not subject to automatic review. In addition, the Russian Olympic Committee draws attention to the fact that the Athlete’s doping test, taken after the European Figure Skating Championships in January 2022, as well as her doping test taken during the Olympic Games, gave a negative result.”
“The Russian Olympic Committee is taking comprehensive measures to protect the rights and interests of the members of the ROC Team, and to keep the honestly won Olympic gold medal,” the committee added. “The Russian Figure Skating Federation has no doubts about the honesty and purity of its Athlete, will make every effort to clarify the circumstances of the incident and provide the Athlete with the necessary comprehensive assistance and support.”
The reports began to grow in intensity after the medal ceremony for Russia’s gold medal-winning team, helmed by Valieva, was delayed. The ITA said Friday that a decision on whether the ROC will be able to keep its medals after the full appeal process for Valieva takes place, which will come once an analysis of her B sample is completed.
The figure skating team event medal ceremony was delayed due to what the IOC described as “legal issues.”
The medal ceremony was scheduled for Tuesday, before it was postponed. The athletes still have not received their medals.
Russia won gold in the team event, while the United States and Japan won silver and bronze, respectively.
Russian news outlets reported that Valieva tested positive for a banned drug before the Olympics, resulting in the ceremony being postponed. Russian newspapers RBC and Kommersant reported that Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, a medication used to treat chest pain.
Valieva made history in the event when she became the first woman to land a quadruple jump at the Winter Olympics. She won the women’s portion of the team event, earning the ROC 10 points.
“I am glad that I was able to do the quad Salchow, quad toe and the triple Axel,” she said, according to the ISU. “Only the second quad toe did not happen, but I’ll work on that.”
The young skater is scheduled to compete again in the women’s singles event next week.
Valieva is the only minor on the ROC team who participated in the team event.
Russian athlete are competing under the name “Russian Olympic Committee” due to an ongoing ban against Russia participating in the games due to its previous doping violations. This is the second Olympics in a row that Russia has been banned from.
The WADA banned the country from all international sporting events because of its doping violations.
The agency allowed athletes who could prove they are clean and unconnected to the cover-up to compete.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.7 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 915,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 64.3% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 11, 6:56 am
New York City’s unvaccinated workers face termination
About 3,000 municipal workers in New York City — less than 1% of the city’s workforce — face termination Friday after refusing to abide by a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The requirement, established under former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, applies to municipal employees hired after Aug. 2, 2021, who were told to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment and to unvaccinated police officers, correction officers, firefighters and others who opted to forego city health benefits and are currently on leave because they are not vaccinated.
The mandate achieved a vaccination rate among municipal workers of more than 95%. A number of exceptions were approved in recent months.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Thursday that some workers initially facing termination had submitted their proof of vaccination, so the final number wasn’t yet clear. He reiterated that the stragglers aren’t being fired but are “quitting.”
“The responsibility is clear,” Adams told reporters Thursday. “We said it. If you were hired, you get this job, you have to be vaccinated. If you are not following the rules, you are making that decision. You are making the decision that you are not going to follow the rules of getting vaccinated. And that is a decision they are making.”
“I want them to stay, I want them to be employees of the city,” he added. “But they have to follow the rules.”
-ABC News’ Mark Crudele and Aaron Katersky
Feb 10, 3:24 pm
1st vaccine shipments for kids under 5 could be as soon as Feb. 21, pending FDA authorization
The first vaccine shipments for children under 5 could arrive at pediatricians’ doors as soon as Feb. 21, according to a planning guide sent to states from federal health officials and obtained by ABC News.
Doses can ship once the FDA signs off.
The FDA’s independent advisory committee will meet on Tuesday and after that the FDA can issue an emergency use authorization.
The CDC’s independent advisory panel is expected to meet within days of the FDA’s authorization. Once the CDC signs off on its panel’s recommendations, vaccinations for kids under 5 can start.
-ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik
Feb 10, 2:18 pm
Walensky: Difficult to release guidance that works everywhere from NYC to rural Montana
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky acknowledged that it’s tough to make national guidelines to ease restrictions that will fit every different city and town.
“One of the challenging pieces has been how we make guidance that is general enough so that it can be applied to New York City and rural Montana and Indian country, which is our responsibility, and yet have it be specific enough so that people can get their questions answered,” Walensky said in a webinar in hosted by the COVID-19 Vaccine Education and Equity Project.
Looking to the future, Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA’s vaccine chief, said “Obviously the hope is — and I think it’s probably the 90% scenario — is that we’re going to now move into a period where … the virus becomes endemic. And we will be living alongside it probably in a period where we will start to get yearly boosters for it.”
But Dr. Sara Oliver, an epidemic intelligence service officer for the CDC, noted that, although there’s a drop in cases, the same hasn’t happened yet in hospitals.
“It’s difficult to envision a time point where we can say COVID is over if we’re still in a time period where our hospitals and ICUs are feeling the strain,” Oliver said.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Feb 10, 1:51 pm
Nevada lifting indoor mask mandate, including for schools
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak on Thursday announced an immediate end to the state’s indoor mask mandate — including for schools — citing a rapid decline in cases and a drop in hospitalizations.
“Teachers & schools will no longer be required to wear masks but school districts will need to work with their local health authorities to have plans in place to deal with outbreaks,” the governor tweeted.
He added, “Employers and organizations, including school districts, may set their own policies, and I encourage them to work with their employees and communities to ensure that policies are in place.”
Masks in Nevada will only be required on public transit per federal law, or in special facilities like hospitals or long-term care facilities.
(BEIJING) — Mikaela Shiffrin came up empty-handed in her third competition after shockingly wiping out in her first two races, both of which she was expected to contend for the gold.
Shiffrin finished ninth in the super-G, with Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami winning gold, her second medal of the Games. The event is not one of Shiffrin’s best, but she is expected to be a contender again in the Alpine combined in a week.
Two days earlier, Shiffrin had shockingly busted out of the competition just seconds into the first run of the slalom. Shiffrin missed the fourth gate in her run, the event where she won her first Olympic gold in 2014.
The skier, who was expected to challenge for several medals in Beijing, sat on the side of the hill, with her head in her hands, for 20 minutes after the stunning accident.
The 26-year-old also fell during her first run in the giant slalom on Monday, disqualifying her from the event.
“Could blame it on a lot of things…and we’ll analyze it till the cows come home, but not today,” Shiffrin said on Instagram following that crash. “Today I chalk it up to really awful timing of a really frustrating mistake. Moving focus to slalom now, AND cheering for my teammates in the second run of the GS and the DH!”
Sweden’s Sara Hector took the gold with a time of 1:55:68, followed by Italy’s Federica Brignone with a time of 1:55.97 and Gut-Behrami with a time of 1:56:41.
Shiffrin is one medal away from tying the record for most Olympic medals by a female American Alpine skier, four. She is two gold medals away from holding the record for most golds ever by a female Alpine skier, also four.
Shiffrin aims to have many chances to attempt those feats during the games as she plans on competing in three other Alpine events over the next two weeks.
She is still expected to compete in the downhill on Valentine’s Day and the combined on Feb. 17. She also said on Thursday she may compete in the team event, which she had not planned to enter coming into the Games.
Shiffrin, a Colorado native, has been competing since she was 16 and quickly became one of the sport’s all-time greatest skiers with her record-setting performances. She is the most decorated Alpine skier in the world circuit having won 11 World Championship medals, six gold.
At 18 years old she became the youngest slalom champion when she won a gold medal in the 2014 Sochi Games. Shiffrin won a gold medal in the giant slalom competition and a silver medal in the combined competition during the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
(BEIJING) — Legendary snowboarder Shaun White came up short in his bid to win his fourth overall and second straight gold medal in the halfpipe. He settled for fourth place in what he said will be his fifth and final Olympics.
Japan’s Ayumu Hirano won the gold, while Australian Scotty James earned silver and Switzerland’s Jan Scherrer took bronze.
The final results looked like they would be filled with controversy until the last run by Hirano.
Hirano landed a picture-perfect triple cork 1440 in his second run, a trick that no one has ever landed in a clean competition run, as well as two double-cork 1440s and two 1260s — but it was not rewarded by the judges. He scored just a 91.75, placing him second behind James, who was rewarded for his big switch rotations.
However, the Japanese snowboarder came back with the same run in his third and final attempt, and scored a 96.00 to launch him into first place. James finished in second with a 92.50 and Scherrer had a 87.25.
The other Americans in the final, Taylor Gold and Chase Josey, finished fifth and seventh, respectively.
White put down a full run in his first attempt, but was a bit sketchy on one landing. He cleaned it up in his second run to put down an 85.00. But sitting in fourth, just two hits into his final competition run, he clipped the deck and slid into the bottom of the pipe. White got a round of applause from his competitors as he walked to the back with some tears in his eyes.
The 35-year-old White was attempting to become the first Winter Olympian to win four gold medals in the same individual event. He won gold in Torino in 2006, Vancouver in 2010 and Pyeongchang in 2018. He also finished fourth in 2014.
“To be atop a sport like this for this long, I feel so honored to be doing that,” White told “Good Morning America” in January. “And it’s so wild because when I look around, everybody in the area are all people I used to compete with, you know, they’re coaches now.”
White teased that he had been working on new moves to compete with some of the younger athletes in Beijing, including Japan’s Ayumu Hirano and Ruka Hirano, who have both landed triple corks — triple-twisting off-axis rotations one step up from the double corks that have become commonplace for the top snowboarders. But Ayumu Hirano, despite landing the triple cork in two previous competitions, had not been able to win the events due to mistakes on other tricks.
“There’s talks of doing a 16[20], which is 180 [degrees] past the 1440,” White told “GMA,” referring to quadruple-rotation trick he landed in his 2018 gold medal run. “But it’s gonna be incredible. I don’t want to give anything away, but working on some new moves and I’m hoping that everything really peaks once I get to the competition.”
Even White’s appearance in Beijing was no certainty just weeks ago. He mostly took off from competing on the world stage since Pyeongchang, saving his aging body for one more run at the Olympics. But he tested positive for COVID-19 in December only to narrowly be cleared to compete at the last U.S. Olympic trials qualifier in early January.
He struggled at that event at Mammoth Mountain, however, and pulled out of the final due to the lingering effects of COVID-19. He rebounded in Laax, Switzerland, with a third-place finish in a world cup event on Jan. 15 — his final competition before Beijing. The finish in Laax locked up an automatic qualifying spot, though the U.S. team could have still chosen him as its one discretionary pick.
White did not compete at last month’s X Games, won by New Zealand’s James.
Gold, Josey and Lucas Foster were the other Americans in the men’s halfpipe competition. Foster was the only one making his Olympic debut, and the only one to miss the final.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Thursday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Memphis 132, Detroit 107
Miami 112, New Orleans 97
Washington 113, Brooklyn 112
Toronto 139, Houston 120
Dallas 112, LA Clippers 105
Phoenix 131, Milwaukee 107
New York 116, Golden State 114
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Pittsburgh 2, Ottawa 0
Columbus 4, Buffalo 3 (OT)
Washington 5, Montreal 2
Carolina 6, Boston 0
New Jersey 7, St. Louis 4
Calgary 5, Toronto 2
Colorado 3, Tampa Bay 2
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Gonzaga 89, Pacific 51
Michigan 82, Purdue 58
Arizona 72, Washington St. 60
Duke 82, Clemson 64
Saint Mary’s (Cal.) 86, San Diego 57
Murray St. 73, Tennessee St. 62
It’s hard to believe it’s been a decade since Whitney Houston‘s shocking and tragic death on February 11, 2012. But we will always love her: Her life story, and her music, are still captivating and entertaining fans around the world.
Ironically, Whitney died on the weekend of the Grammy Awards — a show which had honored her six times in her career — and on the exact day of her mentor Clive Davis‘ legendary pre-Grammy party. Unbelievably, the party went on as scheduled — at the Beverly Hilton, just downstairs from the hotel suite where Whitney was found dead in her bathtub.
That night, Davis told guests that Whitney would have wanted the party to go on, and that her family told him not to cancel, but he faced harsh criticism from others, including Sharon Osbourne and Chaka Khan.
At the Grammy Awards the following night, host LL Cool J opened the ceremony with a moving prayer, while Jennifer Hudson brought the audience to tears with a rendition of “I Will Always Love You.”
Three years later, Whitney’s family was once again touched by grief: In 2015, her only child, Bobbi Kristina Brown, was found unconscious in a bathtub, and after spending six months in a coma, she died at the age of 22.
An authorized biopic, I Wanna Dance with Somebody, co-produced by Clive Davis and Whitney Houston Estate president Pat Houston, is expected to hit theaters on December 23, 2022. Meanwhile, an authorized concert production starring a hologram of Whitney is currently running at Harrah’s Las Vegas.
And Whitney’s music is still being discovered by new generations through a series of remixes, such as Kygo‘s 2019 chart-topping reworking of Whitney’s “Higher Love,” Clean Bandit‘s 2021 remix of “How Will I Know,” and the 2019 “duet” “Do You Hear What I Hear,” featuring Whitney and Pentatonix.
Whitney was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020 by Alicia Keys, who said, “Whitney Houston is one of one. There is no one like her, and there never will be.”
Valentine’s Day is coming up fast, but don’t expect NFL star Rob Gronkowski to be among the crowd of procrastinators scrambling to whip up some last-minute plans. The Buccaneers tight end, who’s been dating Wipeout host Camille Kostek, told ABC Audio he knows exactly how to “be a good boyfriend.”
“She loves New York City, so I might have to take her on a date… She loves the Four Seasons,” Gronkowski declared when asked about his V-Day plans. “I shall take her up to New York City [and to] a nice restaurant there.”
While Gronk will also “bring some flowers” — a Valentine’s Day staple — he says his plans for spoiling his girlfriend rotten will cross over several state lines.
“She loves it up north… She loves the snow,” said Gronkowski, noting Kostek is a Connecticut native and is overdue for a visit back home. “We’ve been down here in Florida and it’s kind of very nice every day. [NYC] is by Connecticut, so [we’re] stopping by her parents after.” Overall, Gronkowski says his main objective is to “just be the good boyfriend that I am!”
Luckily for Kostek, after spending her days in the Sunshine State, the Sports Illustrated swimsuit model could be reunited with her beloved snow this weekend. According to ABC affiliate WTNH, Connecticut is expected to receive between one to three inches of snow on Sunday.
Kostek, 29, and Gronkowski, 32, first met when she was a cheerleader for the New England Patriots in 2013. The private couple began dating in 2015 and, in November, celebrated the eighth anniversary of their first meeting.
