Season two of The Flight Attendant took off Thursday on HBO Max. Kaley Cuoco, Rosie Perez, and the rest of the gang are back, doing double duty as flight attendants who moonlight as government spies or double agents.
Griffin Matthews plays one of those doing double duty, joking with ABC Audio he now thinks all flight attendants he meets also work for the CIA.
“I’m not wondering. I’m sure of it,” he teases. “No, you think of them as different people now, you know, like now I really think about their lives back in that galley. They’re talking about passengers. Maybe there are some interpersonal dramas. I have a great respect for flight attendants these days.”
Perez also has a whole new respect for those who take care of us in the sky and the knowledge they have, including “having to know how a plane operates, having to be the people to keep calm just in case something goes wrong, having to deal with unruly passengers, you know, my heart just goes out to them.”
“It’s very, very different,” she adds. “Even when they come in and say ‘Ms. Perez we’re so happy’ and I say, ‘OK, thank you, I don’t want to bother you.’ And they’re like, ‘what?’ You know, because they have a lot to deal with.”
Although Perez’s character is a CIA agent, in real life, the spy life might not be for her.
“I think what would make me a good CIA agent is that I would, you would never assume that I’m a CIA agent. And what would make me a lousy CIA agent, I think, is that I’m just too much of a nervous wreck,” she says. “But I can keep a secret.”
(PHILADELPHIA) — Health officials in Philadelphia voted Thursday evening to drop the city’s indoor mask mandate, just days after the requirement officially went back into effect on Monday.
“Due to decreasing hospitalizations and a leveling of case counts, the city will move to strongly recommending masks in indoor public spaces as opposed to a mask mandate. Given the latest data, the Board of Health voted tonight to rescind the mandate,” a representative from Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney’s office told ABC News on Thursday.
It is still unclear exactly when the mandate will officially be lifted.
Philadelphia first ended its mask mandate in the beginning of March before reinstating it a little over a month later. The new mask mandate that went into effect Monday required masks in all indoor public spaces, including schools, childcare settings, businesses, restaurants, and government buildings.
“I sincerely wish we didn’t have to do this again. I wish this pandemic was over just as much as any of you but I am very worried about our vulnerable neighbors and loved ones,” Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole said during a press conference when the new mandate was first announced April 11. “My hope that our actions today will slow the spread of COVID and help us avoid seeing our ERs, once again, gets so crowded, that people can’t get timely care when they need it.”
The abrupt shift comes just hours after Kenney had defended the decision to reinstate the city’s mask mandate during a Thursday interview with Washington Post Live.
“Our health professionals recommended that we do a mandate again, because their data have shown that mandates get people to wear them more than just highly recommended,” Kenney said in the interview. “Our case counts were 240% higher than they were when we got rid of the mask mandate a month ago. … Our belief is that wearing masks again will tamp down the case counts and hospitalizations … and allow us … to get back to more normalcy.”
The city’s mask mandate had drawn sharp criticism from some residents, with some local business owners going as far as to file a lawsuit against the city in an effort to overturn the requirement.
When asked about the pushback, Kenney insisted that he believes wearing a mask is the “simplest” action someone can take to keep their community safe.
“The mask issue … has become such a politicized issue. It’s the most simplest thing you can do to keep yourself safe and to keep people safe. And the politicization of this issue … has just made everyone crazy about it. It’s not a big burden to wear a mask,” Kenney told Washington Post Live. “I’m sad to say that this nation has devolved into a selfish bunch who want what they want for themselves and are sometimes not willing to help each other out as Americans.”
Warner Bros. Discovery has pulled the plug on CNN+, just a month after its launch. “As we become Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN will be strongest as part of WBD’s streaming strategy which envisions news as an important part of a compelling broader offering along with sports, entertainment, and nonfiction content,” Chris Licht, chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, said in a statement on Thursday. “We have therefore made the decision to cease operations of CNN+ and focus our investment on CNN’s core news-gathering operations and in further building CNN Digital. Licht said the move was “not a decision about quality,” but that their customers and CNN would “be best served with a simpler streaming choice”…
Paramount has announced the title of its forthcoming movie based on the beloved role playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves will star Chris Pine, Hugh Grant, Michelle Rodriguez, Bridgerton vet Regé-Jean Page, Sophia Lillis, Justice Smith, Chloe Coleman, and Daisy Head, and will debut March 3, 2023. Pine previously called the movie’s tone a cross between Game of Thrones and The Princess Bride, with a little of Monty Python and the Holy Grail thrown in for good measure…
In a post on social media, 90 Day Fiancé stars Robert Springs and Anny Francisco confirmed their seven-month-old son Adriel has died. “I am devastated and [so is] my family,” Anny wrote, adding, “I never thought I would lose my son. He was a fighter… his heart couldn’t take it… my heart is broken it’s a big pain…so difficult.” The pair, whose courtship was followed by the reality series, also have a 20-month-old daughter, Brenda Aliyah…
Robert Morse, who played Bertram Cooper on AMC’s Emmy-winning series Mad Men, has died at the age of 90,The Hollywood Reporter notes. A two-time Tony winner, Morse was remembered by screenwriter Larry Karaszewski on Twitter as a “good pal,” and “a huge talent and a beautiful spirit”…
Freeform’s Cruel Summer is returning as an anthology series, the cable outlet announced on Thursday. The second season will feature a new mystery, along with a new cast, including Sadie Stanley, Eloise Payet, Griffin Gluck and KaDee Strickland, Lisa Yamada and Sean Blakemore. Additionally, Power Book IV: Force co-exec producer Elle Triedman is the new showrunner, replacing Tia Napolitano. Napolitano replaced creator Bert V. Royal after disagreements with the network. Set in an idyllic waterfront town in the Pacific Northwest, the next chapter of Cruel Summer “follows the rise and fall of an intense teenage friendship,” approached from “three different timelines surrounding Y2K,” according to press materials…
(WASHINGTON) — GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Friday will become the first member of Congress to publicly testify under oath about the events surrounding the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Monday night, a federal judge allowed a legal challenge by a group of Georgia voters to move forward as they seek to disqualify Greene from running for reelection, citing her alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
The voters argue a provision of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment known as the “disqualification clause” prevents Greene from holding federal office.
Passed shortly after the Civil War, the Disqualification Clause bars any person from holding federal office who has previously taken an oath to protect the Constitution — including a member of Congress — who has “engaged in insurrection” against the United States or “given aid or comfort” to its “enemies.”
An avid supporter of former President Donald Trump, Greene has denied any involvement in the attack and said she is appealing.
Judge Charles Beaudrot will preside over Friday’s hearing and witnesses will also be called to testify.
The time frame for the judge to render his decision on whether or not Greene should remain on the ballot is tight. Early voting for the Georgia primary begins May 2 and the primary itself is on May 17.
In an interview Tuesday with ABC News affiliate WTVC, Greene called the legal challenge a “scam.”
“All I did was what I’m legally and allowed to do by the Constitution as a member of Congress, and that was I objected to Joe Biden’s Electoral College votes from a few states,” Greene said.
Greene also said she was a “victim” on Jan. 6.
Mike Rasbury, one of the voters challenging Greene’s eligibility to run for reelection, said in a statement that Greene “took an oath of office to protect democracy from all enemies foreign and domestic … However, she has flippantly ignored this oath and, based on her role in the January 6 insurrection, is disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution from holding any future public office.”
Rasbury will be in the courtroom when Greene testifies.
Ron Fein, a lawyer representing the voters and legal director of Free Speech For People, told ABC News in an email that the Georgia “voters who filed this lawsuit have a right to have their challenge heard” and that he looks forward to questioning Greene under oath.
James Bopp, Greene’s attorney, told ABC News Tuesday that the challenge to Greene is “absurd” and that it shouldn’t be up to judges to decide who represents Georgia’s 14th Congressional District.
Bopp also represents GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who is facing a similar challenge against his reelection from a group of voters in North Carolina.
Cawthorn’s lawsuit to dismiss the challenge to his reelection is set for oral arguments May 3 before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia.
Speaking on Fox News Monday night, Greene told host Tucker Carlson that Democrats are trying to keep her name off the ballot, maintaining she had nothing to do with the attack on the Capitol.
“I have to go to court on Friday and actually be questioned about something I’ve never been charged with and something I was completely against,” Greene said.
The challenges against Greene and Cawthorn are part of a larger legal effort to prevent anyone allegedly involved in the events surrounding Jan. 6 — or who supported it — from running for reelection.
Similar challenges are being brought against GOP Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs of Arizona and theoretically could be brought against Trump if he decides to run for office again in 2024.
According to the CPSC, Best Buy has received 68 reports from U.S. consumers and 36 reports from Canadian consumers of the air fryer or air fryer ovens catching fire, burning or melting.
These include seven reports of minor property damage and two reports of injuries, including an injury to a child’s leg.
Consumers are advised to immediately stop using the recalled product and return it to Best Buy for a refund in the form of a store credit, Best Buy said. The company said it is also contacting known purchasers directly to arrange returns.
(COVINGTON, Ga.) — A small plane crashed in the lot of a General Mills plant in Georgia shortly after takeoff Thursday evening, killing all aboard, authorities said.
The plane took off from the Covington Municipal Airport around 6:45 p.m., Covington Police Department Captain Ken Malcom said during a press briefing.
Witnesses told police it appeared that the aircraft, believed to be a Cessna twin-engine propeller plane, was having trouble gaining altitude and that it sounded like there was engine trouble.
Malcom said the plane then suddenly veered and crashed into the lot of the General Mills plant, located about a mile from the airport. The plane went down in an isolated area that stored tractor-trailers, some of which caught fire, he said.
There were no survivors, Malcom said. It is unclear how many people were aboard the plane, and police are working to determine who the victims are, he said.
No one was injured on the ground, according to Malcom, who noted that many lives were potentially saved since the plane didn’t crash directly into the plant.
Fire personnel was still working to put out the fire at the scene several hours after the crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.
ABC News’ Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.
(DULUTH, Minn.) — A family of four, including two children, were fatally shot while sleeping in their Minnesota home in what police believe to be a murder-suicide incident, authorities said.
The suspected gunman, a relative of the family, was found dead in the home from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Duluth Police Department Chief Mike Tusken said.
“It’s just a sad day,” a visibly shaken Tusken said during a briefing on the incident Thursday.
“In 32 years, we haven’t seen anything like this, when we’ve had four victims of a homicide,” he said.
The victims were publicly identified by police following next-of-kin notification as Riana Lou Barry, 44; Sean Christopher Barry, 47; Shiway Elizabeth Barry, 12; and Sadie Lucille Barry, 9.
Duluth police had responded to the home in the East Hillside neighborhood shortly after noon on Wednesday, stemming from a request for a welfare check in neighboring Hermantown regarding an individual experiencing a mental health crisis.
A family member had provided the Hermantown Police Department with a message the suspect allegedly sent to them and later posted on social media indicating that he intended to harm himself and other family members, authorities said.
Hermantown police were unable to locate or make contact with the suspect, identified as 29-year-old Brandon Taylor Cole-Skogstad. They provided Duluth police with the address of the Duluth home owned by the suspect’s aunt and uncle, authorities said. Duluth police had also received information that the suspect had access to a weapon, Tusken said.
Duluth police who responded to the home heard what they believed to be a single gunshot as they knocked on the door, authorities said.
After securing the scene, police initially used robots and drones to search the premises, though the devices were unable to enter all the rooms, Tusken said. A room-by-room search by a tactical team found the victims in their beds dead from apparent gunshot wounds, he said. A family dog was also found dead, he said.
A 9mm handgun was found near the suspect, the chief said.
A 911 call history search did not indicate any prior concerns involving Cole-Skogstad, police said.
“This is a tragedy for Minnesota, a tragedy for, certainly, the city of Duluth and for this community,” said Tusken, who added that he hopes getting the facts out will provide some “closure and healing.”
No further details were provided amid the ongoing investigation.
Duluth City Council President Arik Forsman told reporters he knew the family, who was known for selling Girl Scout cookies at an East Hillside church.
“No family or community should have to go through what has been happening over the last 24 hours,” he said. “It’s hard to put into words the sadness that I feel as a councilor, as a Duluthian and as a father.”
“That was compounded when the names were released, because these folks were my neighbors in Lakeside,” he continued.
Duluth Mayor Emily Larson said the incident is “deeply painful” for the community.
“As a parent and member of a family, it is wrenching to consider what the Barry family might be feeling,” she said in a statement. “There is only loss to every part of this story. To the Barry family: our community mourns with you and we share in your pain. Because your loss is our community’s loss.”
(GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.) — Thousands of Michigan GOP leaders are gathering in Grand Rapids on Saturday to decide which candidates will make it onto November’s ballot in what will be a major test of former President Donald Trump’s hold over the state party.
Trump has made his presence known in the state, endorsing candidates up and down the ballot, mainly focusing on whether or not they believe his baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen.
In two of the most closely watched races of the weekend, Trump has endorsed Kristina Karamo for secretary of state and Matt DePerno for attorney general. Both have become sounding boards for his unfounded election claims.
DePerno, a lawyer, filed suit seeking to audit the 2020 election results in Antrim County; however, those efforts were dismissed by a Michigan court Thursday. Karamo was part of the Supreme Court lawsuit that was eventually rejected seeking to overturn the 2020 results after claiming she personally witnessed election fraud in Detroit.
DePerno is facing state Rep. Ryan Berman and former Michigan House Speaker Tom Leonard, who is seeking a rematch against incumbent Dana Nessel after losing in 2018. Karamo is running against state Rep. Beau LaFave and Cindy Berry, a Chesterfield Township clerk.
“It’s true that any past party president, you know, would be a very influential endorsement,” Matt Grossmann, a political science professor at Michigan State University, told ABC News. “What is not routine at all is that the president is making a decision on the basis of people’s views of whether the last election was stolen or not.”
In Michigan, party delegates nominate candidates for most statewide offices at party conventions rather than holding primaries. The party will formally nominate those candidates in August.
This is the earliest Michigan Republicans have ever held the convention as the party looks to maximize its chances of flipping seats in the battleground state. Trump lost Michigan in 2020 by about 150,000 votes.
“These candidates need the time really to make the case as to why you should be elected,” Gustavo Portela, communications director for the Michigan Republican Party, told ABC News. “It also gives the party an opportunity to back them financially.”
The former president’s particular focus on the state sets up a showdown between the two Trump-endorsed candidates and their opponents this weekend. Trump has also endorsed 10 candidates for seats in the state legislature.
Some in the party have signaled they want to shift away from focusing on 2020. On April 11, Michigan counties held conventions to choose the delegates who will represent them at this week’s state convention. In Macomb County, people were seen on video shouting over each other and trading insults. The night ended with a vote removing the county party chairman and staunch supporter of the former president, Mark Forton.
Amid the infighting among the two wings of the party, Portela says Saturday’s decision will ultimately be determined by who has the best chances of winning in the midterms.
“I understand the president is always going to be involved, but ultimately it comes down to the delegates and what they have to say,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden will sign an executive order Friday calling to protect old-growth forests on federal lands, strengthen reforestation initiatives and global partnerships to end deforestation, and take more steps to protect critical forests from wildfires.
Under the order, the Interior Department and the Department of Agriculture will conduct the first inventory of old-growth trees on federal lands and use that information to develop new policies to protect critical forests. Federal agencies will be asked to set reforestation targets for 2030.
The order will also call for the strengthening of partnerships with states, tribes, private landowners and other stakeholders to protect forests from wildfires, including by requesting $6.1 billion for wildfire risk reduction in the president’s 2023 budget.
“We’re talking about additional steps and the administration’s plan to conserve, restore and replant our federal forests with a particular focus on on some of the crown jewels of these federal lands, stands of old-growth trees,” a senior administration official told reporters Thursday night. “These old-growth forests are significant carbon sinks, yet many of them are under really tremendous threat from climate driven droughts and wildfires.”
Another senior administration official added, “America’s forests are among our most important climate solutions. They absorb more than 10% of U.S. annual greenhouse gas emissions, while providing a plethora of additional benefits for wildlife flood control and clean water, clean air.”
The first step, however, will be to decide what is considered “old-growth,” because there is no official definition of which trees or forests fit this category.
Old-growth forests are considered especially important to protect, because older trees and more diverse ecosystems have the potential to capture carbon in the soil and plants. Protecting them from deforestation has been a big international priority with 137 countries pledging at COP26 to end forest loss by 2030.
When asked about how these initiatives would deal with the impact of logging on taking down old trees, a senior administration official said the president is taking “the exact right approach” to define and track down these old-growth trees and then use that information and science to determine the best path forward.
But some organizations, such as Food and Water Watch, have indicated that Biden’s action on forests is not nearly enough. Climate activists are expected to protest outside Biden’s event in Seattle on Friday.
“President Biden seems to think we’re celebrating the first Earth Day in 1970, rather than in depths of the climate crisis in 2022,” Thomas Meyer, the national organizing manager of Food and Water Watch, said in a statement. “Protecting forests without addressing the root cause of the climate crisis, namely the continued extraction and burning of fossil fuels, will do very little to slow global warming.”
“The president has many effective tools at his disposal to address the climate and public health impacts of fossil fuels in a serious way,” Meyer added. “He should start by following through on his pledge to end fracking on public lands and stop offshore drilling, and directing his agencies to reject all new fossil fuel infrastructure.”
Good Morning America will have more Friday morning with National Geographic and the importance of protecting endangered trees.
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — Florida’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted during a special session Thursday to send two highly controversial bills — one that greenlights Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plan to redraw the state’s 28 districts into a GOP-friendly configuration that splits up Black voters and another that would eliminate Walt Disney World’s special district — to the governor’s desk for signature.
DeSantis’ map, if it survives expected legal challenges, would wipe out any gains by Democrats made during the national redistricting process by adding four Republican-leaning seats and eliminating three highly competitive seats from the previous map. That would leave the state with 18 Republican-leaning and eight Democrat-leaning seats and threaten the already razor-thin majority Democrats hold on the House of Representatives.
It would also split up Black voters by slashing the number of Black-majority districts in half from four to two and overhauling Florida’s 5th District, which stretches in North Florida from Tallahassee to Jacksonville and is represented in Congress by a Black Democrat — Rep. Al Lawson.
The measure that would eliminate Walt Disney World’s status was put forward by Republicans after Disney vowed to help repeal Florida’s highly-controversial Parental Rights in Education Law, dubbed by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which limits the teaching of gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms. The bill would terminate the 25,000-acre Reedy Creek Improvement District that Walt Disney World uses to operate as its own municipality, along with five others.
ABC News is owned by The Walt Disney Company, which also owns Walt Disney World.
Florida Democrats’ attempt to block the two votes failed Thursday despite a group taking to the House floor with signs in protest moments before the legislature was to vote around midday.
One of those protestors was Rep. Angie Nixon, who demanded the legislature draw its own map rather than move forward with the one submitted by DeSantis and his advisers.
“Our demands are clear. The legislature needs to draw maps,” said Nixon. “The Republicans in leadership need to come to the Democratic leadership, and we’re going to draw some constitutional maps. Those are our demands and we will not be moved.”
Democrats were able to stave off the special session for an hour, but Republicans eventually returned to the chamber and moved to push both bills successfully, over yells and chanting from dissenters.
“This is how Democracy dies: with a round of applause,” wrote Rep. Anna Eskami on Twitter moments after the legislature approved the redistricting map.
DeSantis, a Republican, originally called the special session after vetoing a GOP-backed version of redistricting maps passed through the Florida House and Senate, claiming that the preservation of districts that lump voters together by race was unconstitutional.
Earlier this month, DeSantis vowed to submit a “race-neutral” map.
“We are not going to have a 200-mile gerrymander that divvies up people based on the color of their skin. That is wrong,” said DeSantis. “That is not the way we’ve governed in the state of Florida and so that will be that. And obviously, that will be litigated.”
On Wednesday, the Republican-led Florida Senate voted to pass the two bills, which are expected to be signed into law by the end of the week.
