(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Thursday’s sports events:
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Houston 3, LA Angels 1
Boston at N-Y Yankees 1:05 p.m.(Postponed)
Seattle at Minnesota 4:10 p.m.(Postponed)
NATIONAL LEAGUE
St. Louis 9, Pittsburgh 0
NY Mets 5, Washington 1
Cincinnati 6, Atlanta 3
Chicago Cubs 5, Milwaukee 4
Arizona 4, San Diego 2
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Charlotte 128, Orlando 101
Toronto 119, Philadelphia 114
Milwaukee 127, Boston 121
New Orleans 127, Portland 94
Minnesota 127, San Antonio 121
Denver 122, Memphis 109
Golden State 128, LA Lakers 112
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Philadelphia 4, Columbus 1
NY Rangers 3, Pittsburgh 0
Montreal 7, New Jersey 4
Nashville 3, Ottawa 2
Carolina 5, Buffalo 3
Seattle 2, Chicago 0
Toronto 4, Dallas 3 (OT)
Vancouver 5, Arizona 1
Edmonton 3, Los Angeles 2
Calgary 4, San Jose 2
In the new spy thriller All the Old Knives, out today on Amazon Prime Video, Thandiwe Newton and Chris Pine play CIA agents with a lot of secrets. It’s an old school kind of movie, full of action and romance and international intrigue, which drew in Newton.
“I was really intrigued by the world of the CIA, which wasn’t familiar to me,” she tells ABC Audio. “And as a woman in that high level, I just thought I’d love to represent that.”
Pine agrees, telling ABC Audio he loved “the romance…the intrigue” and “the thriller” of the movie, explaining, “It was every kind of, the kind of films that I like to watch, that I like to read as an actor reading scripts. And was just passionate about making it happen.”
Newton thinks it’s the kind of story that will keep us all guessing, and when she watches movies like this, she’s not trying to figure it out the whole time.
“I’m not the read the last page of the book person,” she says. “I don’t understand that. But, yeah, I mean I do understand, of course, you don’t wanna be so scared all the time. No, I love not knowing.”
Pine also loves the element of surprise, and admits it can be annoying to watch with people who are constantly trying to guess the twist.
“That’s what my father does and it drives me crazy,” he shares. “In the middle of it he’ll be like, well, he’s going to die. Or, she did it…He’s done it since I was a kid, and I just can’t stand it.”
Nathan Kress, who returns as Freddie, admitted that he was worried fans wouldn’t like the reboot, telling ABC Audio, “The internet loves to be negative and critical about everything…For a show that was so nostalgic to kids as they grew up and so foundational to their lives — while trying to bring it back in a new way? It was high-stakes stuff! The anxiety level was very high.”
Star Miranda Cosgrove agreed, saying, “It was a lot of pressure. We really wanted people to like it.”
One person not sweating it was Jerry Trainor, who returns as Spencer. “I didn’t doubt us for a second,” he attested. “I was like, ‘Oh, we’re coming back? You’re welcome, America!'”
When the positive reviews arrived, Kress said everyone felt “a wave of relief knowing we did it!” He believes fans love the show because producers were able to balance what fans loved about the original iCarly, while keeping things fresh. “Literally, the math checks out,” he said.
With season one cleared, Cosgrove revealed, “We got to relax a little bit” this time around, and teased some shenanigans the iCarly crew gets into. “There’s a lot of stunts and weird things. I get to hit Jerry the face with the cantaloupe,” she laughed.
Trainor deadpanned, “I get lit on fire. I sacrifice my body.”
iCarly also amps up the nostalgia factor by bringing back Josh Peck, who starred alongside Cosgrove in her first show, Drake & Josh. She said it “was awesome” bringing Peck into the iCarly crowd. She revealed he “plays Carly’s manager” and appears on “multiple episodes.”
Quarto Valley Records; Scott Dudelson/Getty Images
Edgar Winter‘s upcoming album, Brother Johnny: An All-Star Tribute to Johnny Winter, is a loving homage to his late older sibling that features an impressive cast of guest musicians joining him on versions of various original tunes and covers that Johnny Winter recorded throughout his career.
Among the many artists who contributed to the album was Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died unexpectedly on March 25 at the age of 50. Rather than playing drums on the project Hawkins lent his vocal talents to a rendition of “Guess I’ll Go Away,” a Johnny-penned tune that appeared on his 1970 album Johnny Winter And.
Edgar tells ABC Audio that with Hawkins passing away before the Brother Johnny album’s April 15 release, it makes the track “sort of like a tribute within a tribute.”
“It’s such an odd happenstance,” Edgar notes. “I mean, here’s a guy that’s singing a tribute song to my brother, Johnny, and he sings the song and then…passes away himself. And in similar circumstances, in a hotel room, on the road. It’s just bizarre, and very compelling.”
Regarding the experience of working with Taylor, Edgar says, “I’m so happy to have had the opportunity to meet him, because he had such energy, just pure love of music…And it touched my heart.”
He adds, “It’s probably one of his last performances, and it means the world to me to have him on the song.”
The 75-year-old rocker also points out that Hawkins’ performance brought an element he felt was missing from the project.
“I wanted a more modern approach to the vocal, rather than an old school blues-style approach,” Edgar explains. “And that was perfect for Taylor.”
Brother Johnny can be pre-ordered now. Here’s the album’s full track list:
“Mean Town Blues” — featuring Joe Bonamassa
“Alive and Well” — featuring Kenny Wayne Shepherd
“Lone Star Blues” — featuring Keb’ Mo’
“I’m Yours and I’m Hers” — featuring Billy Gibbons & Derek Trucks
“Johnny B. Goode” — featuring Joe Walsh & David Grissom
“Stranger” — featuring Michael McDonald, Joe Walsh & Ringo Starr
“Highway 61 Revisited” — featuring Kenny Wayne Shepherd & John McFee
“Rock ‘n’ Roll Hoochie Koo” — featuring Steve Lukather
“When You Got a Good Friend” — featuring Doyle Bramhall II
“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” — featuring Phil X
“Guess I’ll Go Away” — featuring Taylor Hawkins & Doug Rappoport
“Drown in My Own Tears”
“Self Destructive Blues” — featuring Joe Bonamassa
“Memory Pain” — featuring Warren Haynes
“Stormy Monday Blues” — featuring Robben Ford
“Got My Mojo Workin'” — featuring Bobby Rush
“End of the Line” — featuring David Campbell Strings
(WASHINGTON) — Supreme Court confirmation battles are typically remembered for a few searing or pithy exchanges — or, just as likely, not at all.
The memories of and lessons drawn from Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s successful nomination, though, are likely to be as divided as the political climate that produced them. That means partisan takeaways that confirm particular worldviews of 2022 — and, just maybe, a different path that points toward a less overheated political climate.
Jackson’s nomination elicited soaring pride from many Democrats, an emotional reaction driven by her unique life story, deep qualifications, and, with Thursday’s 53-47 Senate vote, her place in history. The Supreme Court will now have its first Black woman justice, and Jackson will serve on the first-ever high court where white men constitute a minority of the membership.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., quoted a famous Maya Angelou poem in celebrating Jackson’s committee vote on Monday: “You may try to write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies. You may trod me down in the very dirt. But still, like dust, I rise.”
It’s fair to say that most Senate Republicans saw the moment differently. For them, Jackson’s nomination was a chance to prosecute Democratic policies and settle scores from past nomination fights — with sometimes strange detours into matters including sentencing for child porn offenses, defining what a woman is and determining whether babies are racist.
Speaking on the Senate floor this week, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., drew an explosive historical through-line connecting the late Justice Robert Jackson to the woman who will now be the newest Justice Jackson, referencing her work as a federal public defender on behalf of suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay.
“The last Judge Jackson left the Supreme Court to go to Nuremberg and prosecute the case against the Nazis. This Judge Jackson might have gone there to defend them,” Cotton said.
President Joe Biden’s decision to name a Black woman to the court meant that it was perhaps inevitable that the confirmation battle would showcase racial tensions as well as political opportunism.
With Democrats controlling 50 Senate votes as well as the vice-presidential tiebreaker, there was little doubt from the start that Jackson would be confirmed. But three Republican senators wound up breaking with their party and voting for her — not a huge number, yet a significant marker for who they are and where they want to go from here.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, break fairly regularly with their party on judicial appointments. Both support abortion rights and had voted to confirm Jackson less than a year ago to her most recent federal judgeship, and both said they felt that Jackson’s qualifications merited her confirmation.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., joined them in voting for Jackson last year for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. He made clear in his questioning last month, though, that she would be held to account, in part, for how Democrats handled previous Supreme Court confirmations. In explaining his “no” vote now, he blamed what he called her “judicial activism” as well as sentencing in child pornography cases that were part of the public record before last year.
The biggest surprise came from Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who did the opposite of Graham in voting for Jackson on Thursday after voting against her last year. Romney said he dug into her record and met with her to help establish in his mind that she is “within the mainstream” and therefore worthy of confirmation.
Like Collins and Murkowski, Romney expressed concern about what it means to have Supreme Court justices confirmed strictly along party lines.
Romney offered a characteristically understated indictment of his colleagues in explaining his vote to reporters: “Perhaps we are going to have to reconsider the process that we are going to pursue in the future.”
Romney was the most recent Republican nominee for president before former President Donald Trump, though that description significantly overstates his sway in the modern GOP. It’s also worth noting that Trump’s three Supreme Court nominees got a total of five Democratic votes, picking up four for Justice Neil Gorsuch, one for Justice Brett Kavanaugh and then zero for Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Modern court confirmation battles combine some of the worst grievances and grudges accumulated over decades with some of the worst new tactics of demonization. Another lasting image of Jackson’s confirmation might be the shot of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, checking his Twitter mentions moments after an aggressive round of questions directed at his former Harvard Law School classmate.
In another slice of choose-your-own-reality politics, Jackson’s ascension to the high court may change nothing in terms of the Supreme Court’s ideology, given that she is replacing Justice Stephen Breyer, whom she once clerked for and remains close with. At the same time, it may change everything when it comes to representation on the court.
Similarly, the process that got her to the Supreme Court speaks volumes about the state of modern politics without changing very much at all. As with so much in 2022, you can watch the same events play out and come away with starkly divergent views of why it matters.
(MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.) — Amir Locke’s mother said she doesn’t want her son’s death to be in vain and is calling on lawmakers to reform one of the most controversial police tactics.
Karen Wells spoke with ABC News Live’s Stephanie Ramos Wednesday, just hours after Minnesota prosecutors announced they wouldn’t charge the officer who shot Locke during a “no knock” warrant in February.
Locke, 22, wasn’t under investigation for the Saint Paul case which led to the warrant, investigators said.
Wells told ABC News that such warrants, which allow law enforcement members to enter someone’s home without announcing their presence, should be banned from Minnesota.
“They’re not good for my son. They’re not good for anybody else. Because in the end, it doesn’t do anything. It brings harm, it brings death, which is what happened with my son,” Wells told ABC News.
Locke, who legally owned a gun, was sleeping under a blanket on the couch on Feb. 2 when the officers came into the apartment and executed the warrant. Police body camera footage shows a gun was in Locke’s hand when he began to sit up as police approached him.
Minneapolis Police Department officer Mark Hanneman fired three shots killing Locke, according to investigators.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and Minnesota Attorney General’s office reviewed all the evidence surrounding the shooting, and said that there was insufficient evidence to charge the officer.
“Specifically, the State would be unable to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt any of the elements of Minnesota’s use-of-deadly-force statute that authorizes the use of force by Officer Hanneman. Nor would the State be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt a criminal charge against any other officer involved in the decision-making that led to the death of Amir Locke,” the DA and AG’s offices said in a joint statement Wednesday.
Wells said she spoke with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison before the announcement was made.
“I reiterated to him that I was not disappointed. I was disgusted with the decision,” she said.
“No knock” warrants have come under scrutiny over the last couple of years due to high profile shootings of Black victims.
Louisville, Kentucky banned “no knock” warrants in 2020, a few months after Breonna Taylor was killed by police in her sleep when they executed an order. Activists and elected officials have pushed other states and the federal government to follow suit.
Ben Crump, Wells’ attorney, told ABC News that 82% of “no knock” warrants are done on Black residents’ homes.
“Until we can have it where it is done equally and justly then the Department of Justice needs to review everything that Minneapolis has done executing these warrants,” he told ABC News.
In the meantime, Wells said she hopes all elected officials take a long hard look at the police policy and think about her son’s life.
“Amir had a beautiful spirit. He had a beautiful smile. He was my baby boy,” she said.
Gilbert O’Sullivan, the Irish-born U.K. pop veteran best known for his 1972 chart-topping ballad “Alone Again (Naturally),” will release his 20th studio album, Driven, on July 22.
In advance of the record, O’Sullivan has released as a lead single “Take Love,” an upbeat, R&B-infused pop gem that finds him duetting with Scottish singer/songwriter KT Tunstall.
The track is available now via digital formats, while a music video for the tune has premiered at Gilbert’s official YouTube channel.
In a Facebook post, O’Sullivan says of the clip, “It was such a joy to have the very talented KT alongside me in this video. Even though we had never met before, you can see how well we got on and the fun we had together filming it. We both love what came out of it. We hope you do too.”
Driven is a 13-track collection that also features a duet with Simply Red frontman Mick Hucknall — a song called “Let Bygones Be Bygones.”
The album was produced by Andy Wright, whose previous projects include albums by Simply Red, Simple Minds and Echo and the Bunnymen.
Driven, which can be pre-ordered now, is a follow-up to O’Sullivan’s 2018 self-titled album. It will be available on CD, on cassette, via digital formats, and as an LP pressed on standard black vinyl or limited-edition clear vinyl.
Last month, Gilbert mounted a brief U.S. tour, and he was supposed to have launched a short series of U.K. dates this past Wednesday, but revealed via Facebook that he had to postpone the first three shows because he was battling “a nasty viral infection.” Check out his tour schedule at GilbertOSullivan.co.uk.
Here’s Driven‘s full track list:
“Love Casualty”
“Blue Anchor Bay”
“Let Bygones Be Bygones” — featuring Mick Hucknall
“Body and Mind”
“What Are You Waiting For”
“Let Me Know”
“Take Love” — featuring KT Tunstall
“Back and Forth”
“If Only Love Had Ears”
“You Can’t Say I Didn’t Try”
“You and Me Babe”
“Hey Man”
“Don’t Get Under Each Other’s Skin”
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson‘s new band, Envy of None, will release a seven-inch single pressed on yellow-and-blue vinyl, reflecting the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
The limited-edition disc, which will be available on July 7, features two tracks from Envy of None’s upcoming self-titled debut album: “Enemy” and “You’ll Be Sorry.” The latter song is one of five bonus tracks appearing on the deluxe versions of the album.
Proceeds from sales of the single will be donated to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to support the organization’s Ukraine emergency response.
The “Enemy”/”You’ll Be Sorry” vinyl single can be ordered at VisionMerch.com. Only 500 copies will be available — 250 signed copies priced at $100, and 250 unsigned discs costing $50.
Envy of None will match the funds raised by the single for the UNHCR’s Ukrainian relief efforts.
In addition, fans will have the opportunity to purchase a 30-minute Zoom chat with Lifeson and his Envy of None band mates for $1,000, with the money raised going to the UNHCR. Only 10 slots are available.
Also, Envy of None will discuss the album during a livestream Q&A taking place this Sunday, April 10, at 12 p.m. ET at nugsnet’s YouTube channel. The event is free to anyone who donates to the UNHCR.
The band says in a joint statement, “As another generation witnesses first had the horrors of yet another war, we can strive to temper our helplessness by supporting the difficult, but necessary work UNHCR provides to lessen the burden for millions of displaced people.”
Envy of None will be released on Friday, April 8. You can pre-order it now.
(PHILADELPHIA) — Officials in Philadelphia are recommending residents start wearing masks indoors again due to a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Data shows the city is currently averaging 94 new cases of COVID-19 per day.
This marks a 50% increase in infections over the last 10 days.
Additionally, over the last two weeks, 3.3% of COVID-19 tests in Philadelphia have come back positive compared to 1.4% just one month earlier.
“It’s not huge numbers we’re seeing, but it’s enough to take notice,” Dr. Darren Mareiniss, an emergency medicine and infectious disease expert at Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia, told ABC News.
Earlier this year, Philadelphia set three COVID-19 benchmarks, and two would have to be met to trigger the return of indoor mask mandates.
These benchmarks include average new daily cases above 100 but below 225; hospitalizations above 50 but below 100; and cases increasing by more than 50% in the previous 10 days.
So far, just one benchmark has been met: the increase of cases by more than 50%.
However, the city is closing in on meeting the hospitalization benchmark. As of Monday, 48 patients are hospitalized in Philadelphia with COVID-19.
This has led officials to recommend residents wear masks indoors ahead of a potential mandate going into effect.
“As we see more cases of COVID-19 in the city, everyone’s risk goes up,” Dr. Cheryl Bettigole, commissioner for the city’s Department of Public Health, said in a statement. “That means that now is the time to start taking precautions. It’s not required yet, but Philadelphians should strongly consider wearing a mask while in public indoor spaces.”
The department did not return ABC News’ request for comment.
Mareiniss believes the increase is partly due to the spread of BA.2, a subvariant of the original omicron variant.
BA.2 makes up more than 84% of COVID-19 samples in the Northeast that have undergone genome sequencing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This has closely mirrored what’s occurred in several countries in Europe, including the United Kingdom, which hit a record-high 1 in 13 people being infected with the virus last week, according to the government’s Office for National Statistics.
Mareiniss added that the rise in cases in Philadelphia is also because several mitigation measures have been relaxed since the end of the omicron wave.
“We’ve relaxed a lot of restrictions, people are not masking indoors; it’s much easier to transmit the virus when people are indoors unmasked,” he said. “So, we’re going to see an uptick. The question is how much of an uptick.”
He stressed the importance of people getting vaccinated if they haven’t already and said to follow the health department’s recommendations of wearing masks in indoor settings.
“Right now, I would recommend indoor masking for everyone given the rise of cases,” Mareiniss said. “Your behavior should be dictated by the level of disease in the community … and, as levels rise, you should consider masking. I would try to mask indoors and avoid indoor dining.”
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
Avril Lavigne is engaged to boyfriend Mod Sun and opened up about her new heart-shaped sparkler, telling People, “It has the words ‘Hi Icon’ engraved in it, which were the first words he ever said to me. And it has Mod + Avril on the inside.” Avril gushed, “He knew from the very beginning I wanted a heart-shaped diamond because on the day we met, we had matching heart-shaped paved rings on. We’ve worn them every day since, so its only fitting to have a heart-shaped engagement ring. I love it so much.” She said of Mod popping the question, “It was the most perfect, romantic proposal I could ever ask for. We were in Paris on a boat in the Seine River. We had a violin player, champagne and roses.”
Taylor Swift got a “Fancy Like” invitation from Walker Hayes. The country star took to his Instagram Story on Thursday and asked his fans to vote yes or no on this question: “Do we need a Taylor Swift collab on ‘Delorean‘?” Those voting yes outweighed the nays about three to one. Taylor has yet to respond.
Mandy Moore released “Little Dreams,” her newest song off her In Real Life album. Mandy said in a statement about the track, “I wanted to write a song about how a life is comprised of these seemingly mundane moments that ultimately all piece together to form something greater… Those quieter, simpler moments are worth recognizing and celebrating too.”
Don’t forget Camila Cabello‘s TikTok Live concert is tonight, during which she’ll premiere her new album, Familia. The concert starts at 7 p.m. ET. The immersive show uses XR, or Extended Reality, technology that Camila says will create a “fantastical trip through the artist’s mind.”
