Kane Brown is showing off some new ink that he and his wife, Katelyn, recently got in celebration of their youngest daughter, Kodi Jane.
The singer posted a photo on Instagram, showing himself and his wife holding hands. Kane has got fresh ink on his left hand, with bold letters reading “KODI.” Meanwhile, Katelyn’s got the same name in a similar font, plus Kodi’s middle name, tattooed on her right forearm.
Kane and Katelyn welcomed Kodi late last year, after keeping Katelyn’s pregnancy a secret. Kodi is the couple’s second child: Their first daughter, Kingsley, arrived in October 2019.
Both Kane and Katelyn had tattoos already. Katelyn’s are relatively small, while Kane has long rocked full sleeves. After the couple got married, Kane got a tattoo of Katelyn’s name on his right hand, with the “y” stylized into the shape of an infinity symbol.
Of course, the country-star couple didn’t forget their oldest daughter: They’ve got matching “Kingsley” tattoos, too.
Dream Theater has premiered the video for “Transcending Time,” a track off the band’s new album, A View from the Top of the World.
The clip takes us to a strange land filled with majestic eagles, flying fish and broken clocks. You can watch it now streaming on YouTube.
A View from the Top of the World, the 15th Dream Theater album, was released last October. At 6 minutes and 24 seconds long, “Transcending Time” is actually the shortest song on the record, which closes with the 20-minute title track.
Dream Theater will launch a tour in support of A View on February 2 in Mesa, Arizona.
Vijat Mohindra/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Miley Cyrus has booked her next gig and it’s with rock legend Steven Tyler. The “Midnight Sky” singer will headline the Aerosmith frontman’s Janie’s Fund Grammy Awards Viewing Party, set for April 3 at the Hollywood Palladium.
In a press release, Tyler officially announced Miley as this year’s entertainer for the fourth annual edition of gala, which raises funds for his Janie’s Fund charity. Tyler chose Miley because of her support for Janie’s Fund, which aims to help female victims of abuse and neglect.
“The support that this GRAMMY Awards Viewing Party has received is incredibly moving, and we can’t wait to continue the tradition this year,” Steven said in an official statement. “Miley joined me in this important work when we launched Janie’s Fund in 2015 and is a powerful voice and advocate for women. I can’t think of another artist that better aligns with our mission…It’s going to be an incredible night.”
Aside from a special performance, the festivities will include an auction, a red carpet, a cocktail hour and more. Among those serving as event chairs are Aerosmith, John Stamos, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Jim Carrey. Andrea Bocelli, Sir Elton John and Lionel Richie will serve as honorary event chairs.
Tyler’s first viewing party was held in 2018 and, since then, the event has raised more than $7.6 million for Janie’s Fund. The charity gets its name from the 1989 Aerosmith hit “Janie’s Got a Gun,” which is about a girl who takes revenge on an abusive parent.
(NOTE LANGUAGE) While most superheroes have bodies most can only dream about, Dwayne Johnson may be the only actor to be even more ripped than his godly alter-ego, in the upcoming Black Adam.
The Rock is no slouch in the gym on a normal day, as any of his 293 million Instagram followers can attest, but he tells Men’s Journal his “exhausting” regimen for Black Adam pushed even him to his limits.
“The training we did for this movie was the most arduous I’ve ever done in my life,” the 49-year-old Johnson admits, explaining the goal was to “surpass” Adam’s physique in the pages of DC Comics.
“One of the things that drew me to Black Adam is his origin,” Johnson says. “He started out enslaved. Any time you have a character…who has wrongfully been held down by others, it means so much more when they begin to rise up.”
He adds, “[A]s we all know, if you do something wrong, Superman and Batman are gonna try and bring you to justice. If you do something wrong to Black Adam, you’re going to die. It’s that simple.”
The star, producer, and entrepreneur also teases of a future project, “We’re going to bring one of the biggest, most bada** games to the screen — one that I’ve played for years.”
The Rock won’t reveal which game he’s adapting, though Johnson’s likeness was recently added to the super-popular multiplayer game Fortnite.
For now, he’ll only say, “Of course we’re going to do right by our gamer friends — but really we’re just going to make a great movie.”
Black Adam, which also stars Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate, Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, and Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone, opens July 29.
(WASHINGTON) — With the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer at the end of the current term, one name keeps rising to the top of the list of potential replacements: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Jackson, whom President Joe Biden nominated to replace Merrick Garland on the high-profile D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals when he picked Garland for attorney general, is a Harvard Law graduate who served as a clerk to Breyer from 1999-2000 and interviewed with former President Barack Obama for former Justice Antonin Scalia’s vacancy in 2016.
After the Supreme Court, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is the most important federal court in the country, with jurisdiction over cases involving Congress and the executive branch agencies.
Biden, who has said he would appoint the first African American woman to the Supreme Court because the court should “look like the country,” would be able to make good on that promise with a Jackson nomination. No Black woman has ever been nominated to the high court.
Other top contenders include Judge Leondra Kruger, of the California Supreme Court; Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, of the US District Court Georgia; and Judge J. Michelle Childs, of the US District Court South Carolina.
Jackson was the first Black woman confirmed to an appellate court in a decade and is one of six Black female circuit court judges currently serving. She is also one of just 39 active Black female federal judges out of 793 total.
The 51-year-old also has some bipartisan appeal. She was confirmed 53-44 to her current seat in June 2021, drawing votes from three Republicans — Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.
At the time, several Republican senators brought up the advocacy group Demand Justice, which has supported Jackson’s nomination and has called for expanding the Supreme Court.
“Demand Justice claims that the Supreme Court is broken,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said. “Do you think the Supreme Court is broken?”
“Senator, I’ve never said anything about the Supreme Court being broken,” Jackson said in response. “Again, I’m not going to comment on the structure, the size, the functioning even, of the Supreme Court.”
Under questioning, she also characterized religious liberty as a foundational tenet of the U.S. government and said the Supreme Court has made clear that the government cannot infringe on religious rights.
She was also asked if she believed race would play a role in her decision making, if mandatory minimums were racist and the role of race in the judicial system.
Jackson repeatedly emphasized her belief in judicial independence.
Jackson grew up attending public schools in Miami and graduated from Harvard College. She has served as an assistant public defender and as vice chair and commissioner on the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
The mother of two teenage daughters is related to former House Speaker Paul Ryan by marriage.
Ryan testified on her behalf when she was nominated to the district court in 2012, offering his “unequivocal” endorsement.
During her circuit court confirmation hearing, she offered a poignant response when Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., asked what the nomination meant to her.
“It is the beauty and the majesty of this country, that someone who comes from a background like mine could find herself in this position,” she answered. “And so I’m just enormously grateful to have this opportunity to be a part of the law in this way, and I’m truly thankful for the president giving me the honor of this nomination.”
ABC News’ Lauren Lantry and Adia Robinson contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — At the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine makers raced to design a shot that perfectly matched the new virus’s genetic code. Their efforts were successful, resulting in highly effective vaccines in record time.
But the virus has continued to evolve into new, concerning variants, each with a slightly different genetic code. Although current vaccines still work well against new variants, they are no longer a perfect match.
Vaccine makers like Pfizer and Moderna are now exploring tweaked booster shots to match the now-dominant omicron variant, but the U.S. government is aggressively pursuing a different approach: a pan-coronavirus vaccine that would work equally well against any COVID-19 variant.
“Since September of 2020 there have been five SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern — alpha, beta, gamma, delta and now, the current, omicron,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said at a White House task force briefing Wednesday. “So, obviously, innovative approaches are needed.”
Fauci, who heads up the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has issued $43 million in research grants across several academic institutions to support development of a pan-coronavirus vaccine, sometimes called a “universal” coronavirus vaccine.
The idea, scientists say, is to create a vaccine that works as as a generalist rather than a specialist. A pan-coronavirus vaccine will be designed using features of the virus’s genetic code that are shared universally across all different versions of the virus — and hopefully, any new versions that will emerge.
Several research groups are already working on a pan-coronavirus vaccine, including scientists at the California Institute of Technology, Duke University, University of Washington, Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
But scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research are arguably the furthest along. The Army vaccine appears to work well in monkeys, and is now being tested for safety in a phase 1 study in human volunteers.
In a rare look inside the Walter Reed laboratories last year, ABC News’ Bob Woodruff spoke to a team of Army scientists hopeful that their vaccine candidate would work not only against COVID-19 variants, but also against related coronaviruses, like those that caused the SARS-1 and MERS outbreaks in 2003 and 2012, respectively.
But designing a pan-coronavirus vaccine is no easy feat. Scientists say it could take months, even years, to find a vaccine that works equally well against multiple coronavirus strains.
“I don’t want anyone to think that pan-coronavirus vaccines are literally around the corner in a month or two,” Fauci said. Current vaccines dramatically reduce the risk of hospitalization and severe illness, even against new variants like omicron. And crucially, they are available today.
“Do not wait to receive your primary vaccine regimen,” Fauci said. “If you are vaccinated, please get your booster if you are eligible.”
ABC News’ Matthew Seyler contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Officials at the Federal Reserve on Wednesday signaled that they could “soon” raise interest rates for the first time in three years, as inflation concerns cast a shadow over the pandemic-battered economy.
The central bankers said in a statement Wednesday that they were leaving rates unchanged for now, at near-zero levels, but with a recovering labor market and the threat of inflation, this will likely change in the near future.
“With inflation well above 2 percent and a strong labor market, the Committee expects it will soon be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate,” the Fed said in a statement Wednesday.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said during his closely watched news conference Wednesday that the Fed’s “policy has been adapting to the evolving economic environment and will continue to do so,” alluding to the backdrop of elevated inflation and labor market gains.
“Economic activity expanded at a robust pace last year, reflecting progress on vaccinations and the reopening of the economy,” Powell said. “Indeed, the economy has shown great strength and resilience in the face of the ongoing pandemic.”
Powell said the sharp rise in COVID-19 cases associated with the omicron variant likely will weigh on economic growth in the short term, but he expressed hope, as health experts have suggested, that the omicron variant hasn’t been as virulent as previous strains, and that it’s expected for cases to drop off more rapidly.
Powell added that “inflation remains well above our longer run goal of 2%,” which it notably has for some time now. He attributed this largely to supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic and the reopening of the economy.
“These problems have been larger and longer lasting than anticipated, exacerbated by waves of the virus,” Powell said Wednesday. “While the drivers of higher inflation have been predominantly connected to the dislocations caused by the pandemic, price increases have now spread to a broader range of goods and services. Wages have also risen briskly, and we are attentive to the risks that persistent real wage growth in excess of productivity could put upward pressure on inflation.”
The Fed chair said that they expect inflation to decline over the course of the year, but signaled that the central bankers are taking this issue seriously — they’re very aware of the pain it causes for consumers and will be “watching carefully” to see how the economy evolves.
“We understand that high inflation imposes significant hardship, especially on those least able to meet the higher costs of essentials like food, housing and transportation,” Powell added. “In addition, we believe that the best thing we can do to support continued labor market gains is to promote a long expansion and that will require price stability. We’re committed to our price stability goal.”
Powell continued: “We will use our tools both to support the economy and a strong labor market, and to prevent higher inflation from becoming entrenched.”
The Fed officials noted in their latest policy statement that indicators of economic activity and employment have continued to strengthen.
“The sectors most adversely affected by the pandemic have improved in recent months but are being affected by the recent sharp rise in COVID-19 cases,” the statement said. “Job gains have been solid in recent months, and the unemployment rate has declined substantially.”
Still, they noted that supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic and reopening of the economy “have continued to contribute to elevated levels of inflation,” and that much of the economic recovery still remains at the mercy of the virus.
The unemployment rate as of last month fell to 3.9%, only slightly above the pre-pandemic rate of 3.5% in February 2020.
Soaring inflation, however, has thrown a new wrench into the economic recovery. Government data released earlier this month indicated that consumer prices have jumped 7% over the last 12 months, the largest one-year increase since 1982.
The Fed officials also reiterated Wednesday that they expect to continue to taper their pandemic-era asset purchasing program meant to buoy the economy during the health crisis and end it completely by early March.
In previous projections released last month, Fed officials indicated that they anticipated as many as three interest rate hikes starting in 2022.
Rihanna is donating $15 million to organizations working to find solutions to climate disasters in communities of color.
The nine-time Grammy winner announced Tuesday that her Clara Lionel Foundation is making donations to 18 climate justice organizations working in seven Caribbean nations and the United States. They include the Movement for Black Lives, the Climate Justice Alliance, and the Caribbean Climate Justice Project.
“Climate disasters, which are growing in frequency and intensity, do not impact all communities equally, with communities of color and island nations facing the brunt of climate change,” reads a statement from the foundation. “Funders must build partnerships with grassroots organizations, acknowledging their deep understanding of what is necessary to achieve climate justice in their own communities.”
The grants, made in partnership with Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s #StartSmall philanthropic initiative, are focused on groups with female, LGBT, and Black and Indigenous leaders because their communities are at the greatest risk.
In August, the foundation also donated $500,000 in emergency response funding for the earthquake in Haiti which left over 2,000 people dead, thousands injured, and hundreds missing.
Steven Tyler has unveiled details of the 2022 edition of his annual Janie’s Fund Grammy Awards Viewing Party, set for April 3 at the Hollywood Palladium, which will feature a special headlining performance by Miley Cyrus.
In a press release, the Aerosmith frontman officially announced Miley as the entertainer for the fourth annual installment of gala, which benefits his Janie’s Fund charity. Tyler chose Cyrus because of her support for Janie’s Fund, which aims to help female victims of abuse and neglect.
“The support that this GRAMMY Awards Viewing Party has received is incredibly moving, and we can’t wait to continue the tradition this year,” Steven says in a statement. “Miley joined me in this important work when we launched Janie’s Fund in 2015 and is a powerful voice and advocate for women. I can’t think of another artist that better aligns with our mission…It’s going to be an incredible night.”
Aside from a special performance, the festivities will include an auction, a red carpet, a cocktail hour and more. Among those serving as event chairs are Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Jim Carrey, Sharon Stone, John Stamos, Kelsey Grammer and Terry Crews. Elton John, Lionel Richie, Andrea Bocelli, Tiffany Haddish and Bill Maher are among the honorary chairs for the event.
Tyler’s first viewing party was held in 2018 and, since then, the event has raised more than $7.6 million for Janie’s Fund.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Ethan Hawke explains why he’d always been hesitant to take a role in the superhero genre, and why he decided to go “all in” with his first — Marvel Studios’ upcoming Disney+ show Moon Knight.
“The comic book world meant a lot to me when I was younger,” says the Oscar-nominated actor, who plays the cult leader-like baddie Arthur Harrow.
“I was always a little apprehensive; there’s a certain kind of actor that really excels in that universe, and I’m still not sure I’m one of them,” Hawke notes.
However, Moon Knight himself changed his mind. “Oscar [Isaac] asked me, and I really respect him,” Hawke says. “And I knew that if he went in, he was going to go all in, and it’s fun to do any genre with people who are all in.”
Hawke says he also appreciated that Moon Knight isn’t a household name — yet. “[I]f you do Batman or Superman or Hulk…it’s like playing Hamlet. Ninety percent of people there have an opinion about how Hamlet should be played.”
However, the Training Day vet admits he had “always been nervous about” playing the heavy.
“I’ve always had this theory that when you teach an audience how to see the demon inside you, they don’t unsee it for the rest of your career,” Hawke explains. “Jack Nicholson can be playing an accountant, and you’re still waiting for him to explode like he did in The Shining.”
Having said that, the 51-year-old actor notes, “But I realized I’m on the other side of 50, and it’s time to put a new tool in the tool kit,” adding, “Villains might be my future.”
