Britney Spears may have been released from her restrictive 13-year conservatorship, but her legal woes are far from over.
TMZ reports her lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, is butting heads with the pop singer’s father, Jamie Spears. The family patriarch asked a judge to compel his daughter to sit for a deposition. Rosengart says the request was made “shortly after his daughter’s wedding and just before Father’s Day.”
Rosengart argued Jamie’s “shameless” request was out of “revenge,” which he said is “morally abominable.” The attorney admonished, “Mr. Spears refuses to simply go away, as he should and as any decent man or father would do.”
As previously reported, both parties have been wrestling for more than six months to compel both Britney and Jamie to sit for their respective depositions. Jamie’s attorney, Alex Weingarten, previously stated his client would answer Rosengart’s questions — but only if the “Toxic” singer agrees to be deposed by him.
Rosengart previously said he wants Jamie to answer questions — under oath — about alleged financial misconduct during Britney’s conservatorship. Rosengart also wants Jamie to respond to the allegations that he bugged Britney’s bedroom and recorded her private conversations — and paid for it with Britney’s money.
It is not known what questions Britney would be asked should she be deposed. Since her bombshell testimony last June, she leveled numerous and often serious accusations against her family. She called the conservatorship “abusive” and alleged she was forced against her will to take medication, enter a mental health facility and have an IUD contraceptive inserted.
Britney could be compelled to clarify her remarks.
Depositions aside, Britney is also fighting against separate requests from Jamie and her mother, Lynne Spears, to pay their attorney fees. The next major hearing is set for July 27.
Carly Pearce and Brett Eldredge are on deck to perform during NBC’s Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks for Independence Day. They’re joining an all-genre bill featuring acts like 5 Seconds of Summer, Jaoquina Kalukango, Pitbull and rising country act Filmore.
Speaking of Pitbull and Filmore, the two artists are about to release a new duet called “USA.” The track is due out Friday, just in time for the Fourth of July next week.
Just weeks after revealing his stomach cancer diagnosis, Toby Keith and his team are telling fans to be aware of imposter social media accounts issuing “falsified updates” about the singer’s health. They issued a statement reminding fans to be watchful of fake accounts, especially any account requesting money.
(WASHINGTON) — As Americans head to crowded airports for a revival of European summer vacations, it looks like next year will be more expensive for those headed to the European Union.
A 7 euro fee, translating to $7.42, is expected to go into effect in May 2023 for foreign visitors aged 18 to 70 years old as part of a new European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS), according to the European Commission.
As part of the system, travelers will have to apply for authorization through the official website or app before their trip abroad.
ETIAS is intended to increase revenue for the EU and to create a central data repository on non-Europeans who visit the area.
“EU Member States’ border management authorities currently have little information about travellers exempt from visa requirements entering the EU,” Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency who will have a key role in the new system, said in a statement.
“ETIAS will therefore be an important means of addressing this information gap by supporting security screening and risk assessment of travellers, reinforcing the internal security of the Schengen Area,” the agency added.
The European Commission said that ETIAS will be a largely automated system used to identify security, irregular migration or high epidemic risks posed by visa-exempt visitors traveling to the Schengen States, which refers to 26 European countries including France, Italy, Germany and Greece.
ETIAS will also facilitate the crossing of borders for the vast majority of travelers who do not pose the aforementioned risks.
The European Commission said that most travelers who apply for the ETIAS authorization will be approved within minutes. The estimated 5% of travelers who aren’t, the commission said, could receive the travel authorization in up to 30 days.
Once granted, the authorization will be valid for three years or until the expiration date of an individual’s travel document, such as a passport.
The authorization will be checked by border guards along with other travel documents.
ETIAS was first proposed by the European Commission in 2016, and has since faced negotiations within the commission’s legislation. Now, the system will become enacted by mid-2023, the commission said.
“Our police officers and border guards need to have the right tools to do their jobs – keeping our citizens safe and our borders secure. ETIAS will pre-screen visa-free visitors for potential security problems, while the reinforced eu-LISA will allow us to continue to modernise EU-wide information systems for law enforcement and border management,” Commissioner for the Security Union Julian King said following the 2018 agreement by the commission to establish ETIAS.
ETIAS adds to the preexisting Schengen visa system, which did not require such authorization from visitors from at least fifty countries around the world, including the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The European Commission began discussing the new system after it was found that an estimated 30 million visitors came to the EU without being required to have a Schengen visa.
ETIAS has similar characteristics to the United States’ Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), which is available to travelers from countries granted a Visa Waiver Program.
In May, the fee for ESTA increased from $14 to $21, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
(NEW YORK) — Short-term rental giant Airbnb has issued a permanent global ban on parties following a string of shootings that have broken out nationwide at properties it lists.
The company announced Tuesday that a temporary party ban it enacted in August 2020 over health concerns prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic is being officially codified into its policies.
While the company did not specifically cite the shootings that have occurred during parties at its listed properties, it said in a statement, “Over time, the party ban became much more than a public health measure.”
“It developed into a bedrock community policy to support our Hosts and their neighbors,” Airbnb said in its statement.
The San Francisco-based company said the ban is meant to “deter the very rare cases of Hosts who do not operate responsibly, or guests who try to throw unauthorized parties.”
Airbnb said violations of its party ban will result in “serious consequences” for guests, including suspension of accounts or full removal from the platform.
In 2021, more than 6,600 guests were suspended from Airbnb over violations of its temporary party ban, according to the company.
Airbnb said that after the temporary ban was imposed, reports of parties dropped 44% year-to-year.
“Strong policies must be complemented by strong enforcement,” the company said. “We’ve introduced a number of anti-party measures in recent years to enforce our policy and try, to the best of our ability, to stop both unauthorized parties and chronic party houses.”
Despite the temporary ban, several shootings have occurred at Airbnb rentals across the country.
In April, two teenagers were killed and eight people were wounded when a barrage of 50 gunshots broke out at a Pittsburgh Airbnb rental house, where police said roughly 200 people were having a party. Some escaped the gunfire by jumping out of windows.
Airbnb responded to the Pittsburgh shooting by issuing a lifetime ban against the person who rented the house and filed a lawsuit against them. The company confirmed that an “unauthorized party” was thrown without the knowledge or consent of the house host, who specifically stated in the listing page that no parties were allowed and that any evidence of a party would result in a $500 fee.
The Pittsburgh shooting came just days after a 23-second running gun battle, in which up to 50 shots were fired, erupted during a teenager’s birthday party at an Airbnb rental in Houston that left one person wounded, authorities said.
The Houston incident happened on the same day a shooting occurred at an Airbnb rental house in the Sacramento, California, suburb of Elk Grove that left an 18-year-old man dead, according to the Elk Grove Police Department. Police said the Airbnb rental was being used for a party at the time of the fatal shooting.
On June 11, four men were shot in a drive-by shooting on an Airbnb rental in Detroit that was being used for a bachelor party, police said.
The temporary party ban Airbnb imposed in 2020, also put a cap on the number of people allowed to occupy a home at 16. The company said the new policy removed the occupancy cap on some large homes that have ample room to accommodate 16 or more people, including castles in Europe and beachfront villas in the Caribbean.
“Amazing properties like these thrive on hosting multi-generational family trips and larger groups, and removing this cap is meant to allow those Hosts to responsibly utilize the space in their homes while still complying with our ban on disruptive parties,” Airbnb said. “This decision was made based on feedback from the longstanding and trusted members of our global Host community, and it will take effect in the coming months.”
After former Real Housewives of Atlanta star NeNe Leakes filed a racial discrimination suit against the Bravo network and the producers of the show in the spring, she is reportedly negotiating a settlement.
This week, an Atlanta judge granted an extension until August 19 to settle the dispute, according toPage Six.
Leakes, who appeared in 11 seasons of RHOA, filed the lawsuit in April, claiming that she suffered years of racist remarks from former co-star Kim Zolciak-Biermann. The 54-year-old entertainer says that Bravo, NBCUniversal and show executive producer Andy Cohen “fostered a corporate and workplace culture in which racially-insensitive and inappropriate behavior is tolerated — if not, encouraged.”
Leakes also claims that as a result of her lawsuit, she was blacklisted and prevented from working.
As previously reported, NeNe is also facing another legal battle: she is being sued by the estranged wife of her boyfriend, Nyonisela Sioh. Malomine Tehmeh-Sioh alleges that Leakes was having an affair with Nyonisela while he was still married to her and broke up their relationship. Malomine claims she suffered “emotional distress, humiliation and loss of affection.”
Earlier this month, NeNe responded to the lawsuit on Instagram.
“I’m already out here a husband stealer and this is too much. And ain’t nobody out here stealing husbands. Are they? I would never,” she said, before adding, “Nobody wants to steal nobody else’s problems.”
Leakes previously said that Sioh brought joy to her life after the loss of her late husband, Gregg Leakes, who died in September after a battle with colon cancer.
Irish artist Dermot Kennedy, who’s currently on the road opening for Shawn Mendes on his Wonder tour, has announced details of his second album.
The project, called Sonder, will be out September 23. The title is a term that was coined in the book The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, and is defined as “the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.”
In a statement, the “Something to Someone” artist says, “The meaning behind ‘Sonder’ has resonated with me so much for years. I exist in an industry where we’re encouraged to constantly only think about ourselves and I find that exhausting and uninspiring. I want to learn about you.”
He adds, “Let us share all of our triumphs, all of our troubles. Let this music belong to all of us, to find our own stories and our own solace within it.”
Dermot has also released a new song from the project called “Dreamer,” along with a video.
He’ll be on tour with Shawn through August 20. He’ll then play the Life Is Beautiful Festival in Nevada on September 18 and Eddie Vedder‘s Ohana Festival in California on September 30.
Being the bestie of a superhero was a long-running trope in the comics world before Jacob Batalon‘s character, Ned, referred to himself as being Peter Parker’s “man in the chair” in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Actor Matt Lintz plays just that — specifically, high-schooler Bruno Carrelli, the keeper of Kamala Khan’s secret identity — in Marvel Studios’ hit Disney+ show Ms. Marvel.
So, let’s talk about Bruno.
He’s a tech genius, and also trains Kamala to use her newfound cosmic powers. “It’s so cool,” Lintz says of the role. “I mean, you know, it’s like the Ned to Peter Parker, the Q to James Bond.”
He adds, “I mean, it was really cool having that dynamic of, you know — my best friend has these superpowers and we have to keep this huge secret, and traversing that. And the dynamics it creates was a challenge, but it was so fun!”
The actor, who starred in movies including Pixels and shows like The Walking Dead, laughs as he recalls he almost slept through the call in which he found out he got the key role.
“I mean, it was insane. Like I was asleep in my bed and I got a call and I almost didn’t answer, but I ended up answering. It was my team saying I got it,” the 21-year-old says.
“It was a role I really wanted. And, you know, I was, you know, like it was a long audition process and pretty grueling. And I really got attached to the character. And when I got that call, I mean, it was just this big sigh of relief and excitement.” –
The fourth episode of Ms. Marvel is now streaming on Disney+.
(WASHINGTON) — Former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony before the House Jan. 6 committee Tuesday added a new layer of political consequences for Donald Trump after she detailed a defiant president she said wanted to lead supporters from his rally on the Ellipse to the Capitol even after being warned they were armed.
There are political ramifications as well for several vulnerable members of Congress, notably five of the 35 GOP members of the House of Representatives who voted in May 2021 in favor of a bipartisan commission to probe what surrounded the attack on U.S. Capitol and who faced a primary or runoff contest Tuesday night.
Of the group of five, four survived, with one loss.
Of the total group, 16 of the 35 have advanced from their early contests, three have lost, while nine others resigned or retired.
Inconsistent results in these primaries show Republican voters’ political fealty is unclear: Are they steadfastly loyal to Trump or are they satisfied with elements of Trumpism paired with more home-grown politics? The answer to that question is a sword of Damocles for many of these candidates — having to assess whether breaking party ranks will come back to bite them.
It’s critical to note that support of a bipartisan probe has not equated to full-throated endorsement of the current House bipartisan Jan. 6 committee.
In fact, one of the commission supporters, Rep. Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma, who won Tuesday night, recently called the public hearings a “dangerous, political stunt,” similar to what Trump himself has said. (Such line-toeing rhetoric can be a firewall against attacks from a Trump-endorsed challenger — or accusations of being a RINO (Republican In Name Only).
Similar tactics likely aided Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., fend off a challenge from Navy pilot Michael Cassidy in his runoff election as well as Utah’s Rep. Blake Moore, who claimed his vote was to back the commission investigating Capitol security decisions made by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Sometimes, even not criticizing the Jan. 6 committee didn’t hurt. Rep. John Curtis, of Utah, said of Hutchinson’s testimony: “It was an extremely credible witness, but you always want to hear from other side.”
At the time of his vote on the commission, Curtis, who won his primary Tuesday night, called the original measure to create one “imperfect.”
Not all firewalls were as strong, though, as was the case with Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis who was bested by Trump-backed Rep. Mary Miller, who attacked Davis for stabbing “Trump in the back by voting for the sham January 6th commission.” Ironically enough, Davis congratulated Trump and Miller in his concession speech.
These Republicans losing their races Tuesday may not be entirely sad news for Democrats, regardless if they’ve nationally stood with any anti-Trump sentiment on principle.
Several deep-pocketed left-wing donors, with the help of national groups, have bolstered election-denying right-wing candidates, seemingly in the hope of a more decisive general election victory against an easier-to-beat foe come November.
In Illinois’ gubernatorial race, for example, incumbent Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Democratic Governors Association spent $30 million in ads attacking moderate Republican challenger Richard Irvin, in turn raising the profile of Trump-endorsed candidate state Sen. Darren Bailey.
The Democrats’ ploy worked out in their favor — Bailey bested Irvin in the primary. But such political puppeteering is dangerous and can easily backfire with an electorate that is seeing historically high numbers of Republican voter registrants coupled with historically low approval numbers for President Joe Biden across a flurry of sectors.
Consequences are just as stark across the aisle.
The 80% survival rate of these Republicans is an early smoke signal in GOP races with even higher political stakes: the August primaries of Washington House Reps. Dan Newhouse and Jaime Hererra Beutler, alongside Michigan Rep. Peter Meijer, and Wyoming Liz Cheney – four of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump.
(NEVADA COUNTY, Calif.) — At least 700 firefighters are battling the Rices Fire in northern California on Wednesday, where hundreds of residents have been evacuated from their homes, officials said.
The fire, which has burned 769 acres and is 0% contained as of Wednesday morning, has led to mandatory and warning evacuation orders, according to the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office. It has impacted 355 homes and other buildings in the area, according to local officials.
The fire is expected to be fully contained on July 1, according to a Cal Fire Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit report on Wednesday.
There are no reported civilian injuries, and one reported firefighter injury.
Evacuation warnings and orders remained active for 12 zones on Tuesday night, according to police.
“Today, the fire exhibited active fire behavior with wind driven runs and single tree spotting and long range spotting. It is burning in dormant brush, hardwood slash and brush,” a statement from Cal Fire said on Wednesday.
Steep and rugged terrain, critically dry and receptive fuel beds, and drought have led to the continued fire activity, authorities said.
Cal Fire Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit Chief Brian Estes said the fire has been burning to the north and northeast towards the Yuba River drainage.
“If it does go into the over the Yuba River drainage and crosses that drainage that crosses into Yuba County from Nevada County then we could have some tremendous impacts to the communities of Dobbins, Oregon House and Brownsville,” Estes said in a press conference on Tuesday evening.
The fire began around 2 p.m. on Tuesday off Rices Crossing Road and Cranston Road, according to the Cal Fire Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit.
Four structures were confirmed to be destroyed as of Wednesday morning. An additional 500 buildings are threatened along with South Yuba State Park, officials said.
Estes said the Rices fire is already a massive operation and it’s vital to contain the fire before it spreads further.
“I think we’re going to see a trend for Northern California to start to see more large fires, and so we have a long summer ahead of us,” Estes said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, according to Cal Fire.
The Madelyn Helling Library is open as a shelter for residents forced to evacuate and animals can be taken to the Nevada County Fairgrounds for shelter, according to the sheriff’s office.
“We make sure that we have lots of law enforcement personnel in the areas to make sure that the people that are in that area are supposed to be there,” Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said at a Tuesday evening conference. “We want to make sure that we don’t have any looting.”
Johnny Cash‘s former California home is up for sale, and it’s fit for a country king.
The home was originally built in 1961 in Ventura County, about an hour outside of Los Angeles, where the “Ring of Fire” singer and his first wife, Vivian, lived when traveling to California. The five-bedroom, ranch-style home was built specifically to cater to Cash’s taste is now selling for just under $1.8 million.
The Hollywood Reporterstates that many of the home’s original features remain intact, including ceilings adorned with glitter, a wood-paneled studio where Cash wrote and recorded songs, an intercom system and even a turntable mounted on the wall.
Photos reveal that the property includes a pair of bedroom suites and Cash’s black commode in the bathroom, while the master bedroom offers stunning views of rolling hills. The house is also equipped with an in-ground pool.
According to the listing, Johnny and Vivian used the house as a “serene getaway” for them and their four daughters Rosanne, Tara, Cindy and Kathy. “You can feel the spirit of ‘The Man in Black’ as you traverse the private driveway towards the iconic house,” as described in a statement.
