In a tweet Wednesday, the “Soul Meets Body” band confirmed that their next record is “done.” They also revealed that new music is set to drop next Wednesday, May 11, and is available to pre-save now.
The most recent Death Cab album is 2018’s Thank You for Today, which features the singles “Gold Rush” and “Northern Lights.” Since then, they released The Blue EP in 2019, and a covers EP in 2020 to support voting rights. Meanwhile, frontman Ben Gibbard curated a tribute album to Yoko Ono, which was just released this past February.
You can catch Death Cab for Cutie live on their upcoming U.S. tour, kicking off in July.
On Wednesday, Live Nation launched its 2022 Concert Week promotion, which offers $25 tickets to shows by more than 200 artists taking place across North American throughout the summer.
In total, over 3,700 concerts will be discounted as part of the promotion, which runs through Tuesday, May 10. Among the many participating tours is REO Speedwagon, Styx and Loverboy‘s Live & UnZoomed package trek, which kicks off May 31 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Founding REO Speedwagon keyboardist Neal Doughty says he and his band mates are excited to be returning to full-scale touring following two years where the number of shows they played was reduced because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re thrilled that live music is back, of course, because that’s our entire life,” he tells ABC Audio. “But we just want to really let people know that, hey, come out of your house, it’s safe now. Live music is back and Live Nation is gonna kick-start the whole thing.”
Doughty notes that REO and Styx have toured many times together many times over the years, and the two bands really complement each other.
“[I]t just really works well,” Neal maintains. “Like our manager says, ‘One plus one equals three when it’s Styx and REO.’ And then, of course, you put somebody like Loverboy on the show, and who would not go to a show like that? I don’t know.”
Doughty also points out that his band and Styx both deliver a balanced show that offers up “the right mix between the love songs and the hard-rock songs.”
The Live & UnZoomed tour is mapped out through a September 18 concert in Bangor, Maine.
For full details about the Concert Week promotion, including a list of participating artists and venues, visit LiveNation.com/ConcertWeek.
There’s a whole lot of Mike Myers in the new Netflix comedy series The Pentaverate, which debuts today. It’s about a secret society that has been controlling the world for centuries. So as a powerful man in media, is Myers himself part of a real life secret society?
“Well, I can neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of any secret society that I am or not in,” Myers tells ABC Audio, adding, “I’ve been obsessed with secret societies my whole life. My mom was in the Royal Air Force and had a top security clearance, so I knew that there were secrets in the world.”
Myers plays eight characters in The Pentaverate, the most he’s ever done in one project. While that sounds exhausting, he says it’s more of a release for him.
“I always have characters in me that are kind of circling the airport and looking for a place to land,” he shares. “I love performing…and I love playing characters. And that has its own energy that gets you going.”
Citing previous works like Austin Powers, the actor adds, “I’m kind of used to multiple characters.”
In The Pentaverate, instead of being evil or power hungry, the secret society’s fiv leaders are known for being nice. Myers says the show comes during an interesting time in comedy and “it’s good that people are being conscious of not saying things that marginalize, disempower or ridicule.”
Myers himself is known for his trademark brand of humor that is often silly but never mean, which he uses to uncover truths.
“The truth shall set you free, but at first it’s going to upset you…And it’s important that the truth be told,” Myers expresses. “Now I love speaking the truth faster with kindness, but that’s just me.”
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Detroit 3, Pittsburgh 2
St. Louis 10, Kansas City 0
San Diego 5, Cleveland 4
Pittsburgh 7, Detroit 2
Cleveland 6, San Diego 5
Texas 2, Philadelphia 1
Chi White Sox 4, Chi Cubs 3
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Houston 7, Seattle 2
Tampa Bay 3, Oakland 0
Baltimore 9, Minnesota 4
Toronto 2, NY Yankees 1
LA Angels 10, Boston 5
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Arizona 8, Miami 7
Final Atlanta 9, NY Mets 2
Colorado 5, Washington 2
Milwaukee 18, Cincinnati 4
LA Dodgers 9, San Francisco 1
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Miami 119, Philadelphia 103 (Miami leads 2-0)
Phoenix 129, Dallas 109 (Phoenix leads 2-0)
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Carolina 5, Boston 2 (Carolina leads 2-0)
Tampa Bay 5, Toronto 3 (Series tied 1-1)
Minnesota 6, St. Louis 2 (Series tied 1-1)
Edmonton 6, Los Angeles 0 (Series tied 1-1)
(WASHINGTON) — State governments across the country are taking steps to firm up abortion rights if the Supreme Court decides to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that granted protections for a woman’s right to an abortion.
A leaked Supreme Court draft opinion published by Politico on Monday apparently shows that the court will overturn Roe. Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the draft and ordered an investigation into its release.
More than half of Americans oppose abortion bans. A new ABC News-Washington Post poll found that 57% of Americans oppose a ban after 15 weeks. Fifty-eight percent said abortion should be legal in all or most cases and 54% said the court should uphold Roe.
State legislatures have introduced a range of legislation to end existing restrictions, protect the right to abortion and increase access to abortion care, according data from the Guttmacher Institute, which studies sexual and reproductive health and rights.
While overturning Roe would not criminalize abortion at the federal level, experts said it would be left to states to regulate abortions.
“In the absence of a federal right to abortion, then each state could determine for itself whether to protect and expand abortion rights and access or whether to prohibit abortion entirely,” said Elisabeth Smith, the director for state policy and advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Smith added, “Roe, for the last almost 50 years, has provided essentially a federal floor and states are not allowed to go beneath the protections of Roe, but states were always free to create more protections and more access than Roe affords. If Roe is overruled, essentially that federal floor would be removed and all abortion policy would be up to each state.”
This map shows where abortion will remain legal in the U.S. if Roe is indeed overturned.
ABC News
The Center for Reproductive Rights estimates that up to 25 states could outlaw abortion entirely. Of the remaining, 22 states have a state right to abortion established in a state constitution or state statute, while three do not have state protections for abortion.
“So regardless of the Supreme Court’s decision, abortion will remain legal in at least 22 states,” Smith said.
Abortion is not protected in New Mexico, Virginia and New Hampshire. Smith said women in these states will still likely have access to abortion in the future.
“In New Mexico, they very recently repealed their pre-Roe ban. Virginia, two years ago, repealed many medically unnecessary abortion restrictions that had been in statute for a long time. New Hampshire does not have many of the abortion bans and restrictions that we see in the states that we term ‘hostile’ to abortion rights,” Smith said.
Live Action, a nonprofit anti-abortion group, told ABC News that 22 states already have anti-abortion laws that would kick in if Roe falls.
“Nine states in this group have pre-Roe abortion restrictions still on the books; 13 states have a so-called ‘trigger ban’ that is tied to Roe being overturned and five states have laws passed after Roe restricting nearly all abortions,” Live Action told ABC News.
Another dozen states have six- or eight-week restrictions there are not currently in effect, while Texas’ six-week restriction is in effect. Four states have constitutions that ban the right to abortion, according to Live Action.
While several states have moved to limit or ban access to abortions, many states have also moved to expand access and increase protections for them.
Progressive states are expanding access for their residents and enacting measures to support people from other states who may need to cross state borders to receive access to abortion services due to new restrictions or bans in their home state, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
State legislatures have introduced 231 protective measures in 29 states and the District of Columbia between Jan. 1 and April 14, according to Guttmacher.
Only 11 protective measures have been enacted in seven states in that time frame, according to Guttmacher.
The governor in Colorado signed a bill in April codifying the right to abortion. A Connecticut bill passed in April that protects women who get abortions, those who assist them and abortion providers, and prevents state agencies from assisting interstate investigators seeking to hold people liable. Vermont passed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to abortion which will be on the ballot in November, according to Live Action.
Despite efforts by Maryland’s governor to veto a bill that expands who can provide abortions, state lawmakers were able to override his veto in April.
Efforts to protect access to abortion include provisions expanding the types of health care professionals who can provide abortion care; legislation to assist patients with paying for an abortion; and earmarking state funds for abortion services.
Three states — Colorado, New Jersey and Washington — have enacted rules that establish or expand statutory protections for the right to abortion. Two states, Maryland and Washington, have authorized advanced practice clinicians to provide abortion care, according to Guttmacher.
California, Maryland, New York and Oregon have enacted legislation that requires health plans to cover abortion or establish a state fund to assist with abortion costs, according to Guttmacher.
(NEW YORK) — For the first time in months, daily hospital admission levels and new COVID-19 related deaths in the United States are both projected to increase over the next four weeks, according to updated forecast models used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The projected increases come after weeks of steady upticks in infections across the country, subsequent to the removal of masking requirements and mitigation measures in many states and cities.
The forecast now predicts that approximately 5,000 deaths will occur over the next two weeks, with Ohio, New York, and New Jersey projected to see the largest totals of daily deaths in the weeks to come.
“We are still in the middle of a pandemic, to be sure—there’s no confusion about that,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, told Foreign Policy last week.
The forecast models show that 42 states and territories in hospital admissions across the country, including New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Florida, are projected to see increases in the next two weeks.
Nationally, a growing number of COVID-19 positive patients have already been admitted to hospitals, requiring care, federal data shows.
Since late last month, daily hospital admission totals have been slowly increasing, particularly in the Northeast, according to CDC data. And in the last week, admissions have jumped by 20%, with emergency department visits also up by 18%.
On average, more than 2,200 virus-positive Americans are entering the hospital each day — a total that has increased by 20% in the last week, the CDC reports. This also marks the highest number of patients requiring care since mid-March.
Overall, there are about 18,300 patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19 in hospitals across the country, up by 18% in the last two weeks, the Department of Health and Human Services reports.
Although totals remain significantly lower than during other parts of the pandemic, admission levels are now on the rise in every region of the country.
Nationally, new infection rates have reached their highest point in nearly two months. More than 60,000 new cases are being officially reported each day, up by 27% in the last week, according to the CDC.
In the Northeast and New York-New Jersey region, infection rates have risen by 64.8% and 54.8% respectively, over the last two weeks.
Since last summer, dozens of states have moved to shutter public testing sites, with more at-home COVID-19 tests now available. Most Americans are not reporting their results to officials, and thus, experts say infection totals are likely significantly undercounted.
Health experts say a confluence of factors is likely driving the nation’s latest viral resurgence, including the easing of masking requirements and other COVID-19 restrictions as well as highly contagious omicron subvariants, which have been estimated to be between 30% and 80% more transmissible than the original omicron strain.
The BA.2 subvariant, BA.2.12.1, first discovered domestically last month, in New York state, continues to steadily increase in the U.S., newly released federal data shows. The subvariant now accounts for 36.5% of new COVID-19 cases nationwide, while in the New York — New Jersey area, it accounts for the majority — nearly 62% — of new cases.
With vaccine immunity waning and the presence of variants of concern growing, health officials continue to urge the public to get vaccinated and boosted to prevent the risk of severe disease and hospitalization.
“We hope that we don’t see a major uptick [in cases] as we get into the fall, but that remains to be seen. We’re going to have to wait and see, which is the reason why we’re still encouraging people to get vaccinated,” Fauci said last week. “If you’ve not been vaccinated or if you have been vaccinated and are eligible for a booster, make sure to get it now.”
(WASHINGTON) — The father of Trevor Reed, the American freed from Russia in a prisoner exchange last week, on Wednesday demonstrated outside the White House, calling for the Biden administration to help other Americans held hostage overseas, including two U.S. citizens still detained in Russia, Paul Whelan and WNBA star Brittney Griner.
Trevor Reed, a 30-year-old former Marine, was released last week after nearly three years in detention in Russia, where he was imprisoned on charges that his family and the U.S. government said were trumped up.
He arrived home in Texas last Thursday after being traded for a Russian pilot who had been serving a lengthy sentence in the U.S. for a drug-smuggling conviction. Reed is currently at a military base in San Antonio, receiving counseling and support as part of a reintegration program.
Despite reuniting with his son less than a week ago, Reed’s father Joey Reed and his daughter, Taylor Reed, travelled to Washington, D.C., Wednesday to join the demonstration with families of Americans detained in several countries, including Venezuela, Iran, China, Rwanda.
Joey Reed said he had come to urge the Biden administration to repeat what it had done for his son and to put a spotlight on the cases of the families of other detainees.
“We think there’s at least 16 cases of detainees and hostages where an exchange would bring them home tomorrow,” Reed told ABC News.
He also called on President Joe Biden to meet with the families of other hostages as he did with the Reeds, saying he felt that had been pivotal in persuading the administration to go ahead with the exchange that freed his son.
“We believe that was the complete tipping point was when we met with him,” he told ABC News. “He’s a personable guy. You know, he’s compassionate, kind. Meet with these families like they met with us.”
Joey Reed said he had come at the insistence of his son, who is passionate about freeing Whelan, the other former U.S. Marine still held in Russia and who was not part of last week’s prisoner exchange.
Reed’s release has renewed focus on the cases of Whelan and Griner, who the U.S. government believes were seized by Russia as bargaining chips.
Whelan has been detained in Russia since 2018 and is currently in a prison camp, sentenced to 16 years on espionage charges that the U.S. government and his family say were fabricated.
Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February when Russian police alleged they found vape cartridges in her luggage containing hashish oil, a substance illegal in Russia. This week, the State Department reclassified Griner as “wrongfully detained,” a designation that allows it to begin negotiating for her release and disregards the Russian criminal case against her.
Reed was freed in an exchange for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian cargo plane pilot who was jailed in the U.S. in 2011, after he was seized in a DEA sting operation and convicted of plotting to smuggle large quantities of cocaine.
Since 2018, Russia had repeatedly floated Yaroshenko as a possible candidate for a prisoner trade for Reed and Whelan. But Russia has also pressed for Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer dubbed “the Merchant of Death,” who is currently serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S. on drugs and terrorism charges.
Most experts believe Bout — one of the world’s most notorious arms dealers — is a more difficult trade for the U.S. to accept.
The U.S. is generally reluctant to make prisoner exchanges in hostage case out of a fear of encouraging hostile governments to seize more Americans.
But Joey Reed said his son’s case showed the U.S. could be more open to making exchanges if it can get Americans home.
“We just want a trade so they can bring Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner home tomorrow. And we hope that they’re working, towards that and that Trevor was just the beginning of a lot of Americans being repatriated with their country and their families,” Joey Reed said.
Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth Whelan, was also at Wednesday’s demonstration and said it was “wonderful” Reed had been released and gave her hope for her brother.
“I do think Trevor Reed’s release showed that sort of trade was possible. But I think mostly to us it signaled that tools are available,” she said. “So, we’re just asking the White House, the administration to do whatever is [possible], use whatever tools are at their disposal to bring Paul home. And the same goes for everyone.
She said she had met with national security adviser Jake Sullivan at the White House before the demonstration and that the meeting had been encouraging.
Asked about the efforts to free detained Americans, State Department spokesman Ned Price on Wednesday said, “What I can say is that we are doing everything we can — almost all of it unseen, almost all of it unsaid in public — to do everything we can to advance the commitment that President Biden has to see these Americans who were wrongfully or unjustly detained around the world — or in some cases held hostage around the world — brought home.”
Among the families represented the event were several whose relatives are held in Venezuela, including Alirio and Jose Luis Zambrano, Jorge Toledo, Tomeu Vadell, Matthew Heath, Jose Angel Pereira, Airan Berry and Luke Denman.
Relatives of Siamak and Baquer Namazi, and Morad Tahbaz, also called for help in freeing them from Iran.
One by one the families stood at a microphone and described the pain of struggling to free their loved ones and pleaded with the Biden administration to act urgently. Several said, Reed’s release had given them hope.
Neda Shargi, whose brother, Emad, is serving a 10-year sentence in Iran, addressed Reed directly, saying: “If Trevor is watching this we are so grateful to you for being strong enough to come back. And for having your parents here. Trevor, it’s because of you that we have hope.”
ABC News’ Shannon Crawford contributed to this report.
There hasn’t been much to laugh about in the Foo Fighters world over the last month or so, but perhaps the home release of Studio 666 might be able to help.
The horror-comedy movie, which stars the members of the Foos as fictionalized versions of themselves trying to record a new album in a haunted mansion, will be available to buy digitally on May 10, and on Blu-ray and DVD May 24.
Studio 666 first premiered in theaters this past February, and has been available as an on-demand rental since March. Frontman Dave Grohl also recorded a metal EP under the moniker Dream Widow, the name of a fictional band from the movie.
It was the same day that the Dream Widow EP dropped, March 25, that drummer Taylor Hawkins unexpectedly died at age 50. Foo Fighters have remained quiet since, breaking their silence only to announce the cancellation of their tour dates.
The red-carpet event is a benefit for Asian Hall of Fame‘s newly launched Brain Injury Endowment, which supports trauma survivors, victims of hate crime and brain injury research.
Seraphine will be playing a headlining set with his band California Transit Authority, or CTA, which also features former Chicago bassist/singer Jeff Coffey and veteran keyboardist Ed Roth, who also frequently collaborates with Krieger.
Both Seraphine and Krieger are Asian Hall of Fame Ambassadors, awarded annually to noteworthy non-Asian people who support the Hall of Fame’s mission of celebrating Asian excellence, cross-cultural collaboration, and multiracial fairness to with a goal of overcoming anti-Asian violence.
The event begins with a VIP reception starting at 4 p.m. PT that will include an artisan showcase, traditional performers, and food from Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand. The reception also will include a memorabilia auction featuring collectibles from Chicago, The Eagles, U2 and more.
The concert will run from 7:15 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. PT. Early bird tickets to the Celebrate Asia Festival can be purchased at AsianHallofFame.org.
(NEW YORK) — Abortion-rights advocates are responding to the leaked draft opinion of the Supreme Court majority opinion on the pending Mississippi abortion case that was first reported by Politico on Monday.
According to the copy of the draft opinion, which the court has confirmed is authentic but not final, a majority of justices appear to side with the Mississippi state legislature and will vote to effectively overturn the landmark abortion precedent set by Roe v. Wade.
Amid the reports, a recent ABC News/Washington Poll found that a majority of Americans support upholding Roe v. Wade. Since Monday, many are calling on Congress to act. President Joe Biden said Tuesday that “a whole range of rights are in question.”
Some abortion providers, like Shannon Brewer, said they weren’t surprised by the draft opinion. Brewer is the director of Mississippi’s only abortion clinic, Jackson Women’s Health. She spoke with ABC News’ podcast Start Here on Wednesday morning.
“This is what we’ve been expecting,” said Brewer. “It didn’t come as a shock to a lot of us here.”
Currently, in the state of Mississippi, abortion is legal up until 20 weeks into the pregnancy.
In October, the Mississippi state legislature passed a law that would reduce the legal number to 15 weeks. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights, an estimated 54,000 to 63,000 abortions in the U.S. occur annually at 15 weeks and later into the pregnancy.
After the Supreme Court heard arguments in December, the case remains pending.
Chief Justice John Roberts and the court released a statement Tuesday in response to the leaked draft, saying that it “does not represent a by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”
Despite this statement, Brewer said she expects the final verdict will not change that much.
“I expect them fully to overturn. I expect these states to start banning abortions immediately. I expect us to have to stop seeing patients immediately,” said Brewer. “That’s what we’re expecting and that’s what it’s looking like… It’s going to happen.”
While the Mississippi’s law remains under review by the Supreme Court, 26 states have already set so-called “trigger laws” that would immediately prohibit abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Brewer said that she is working across state lines to open other facilities, one called the Pink House West, to continue to help patients.
“This is not something that is going to just affect Mississippi within the year. This is going to affect upwards of 25 to 26 states, which is half of the United States,” said Brewer, who added that her clinic is seeing patients travel from Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma in order to receive care. “We’re still busy every single day.”
She added that the group is already seeking to open a new location in New Mexico, which is less likely to enact sweeping bans.
She said their clinic isn’t the only one – clinics across the country are overrun with patients. If Roe v. Wade is overturned, Brewer said she predicts a “catastrophe.”
“I predict a lot of unwanted pregnancies. That’ll cause unwanted births. I predict an uptick in women showing up at the hospital, bleeding out and having issues due to unsafe things that they’ve been doing out of being desperate and can’t get to a facility,” said Brewer.
Brewer said her message to women who may have just found out that they are pregnant is to “pay attention every day.”
“We don’t know from one day to the next what’s going to go on in each state,” said Brewer. “People don’t pay attention to issues going on with abortion until it affects them, until they need the service they don’t think it’s as important.”
Overall, Brewer said that women who can’t afford to travel to other states to get abortions will be affected most by banning or prohibiting abortions.
“It’s going to be the women who need it the most,” she said. “They’re going to be the ones that can’t get out.”
