The Doobie Brothers, Crowded House and Alanis Morissette are are among the many artists set to play the 2022 Bourbon & Beyond festival, taking place September 15-18 in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Doobies — featuring the band’s 50th anniversary tour lineup, including Michael McDonald, Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons and John McFee — will headline the festival’s final day, along with Grammy-winning country star Chris Stapleton. Morissette will headline the fest’s first day alongside Jack White, while Crowded House will be part of the bill on September 17.
This year’s other headliners are Pearl Jam, Kings of Leon, Greta Van Fleet and Brandi Carlile. Other performers include longtime Tom Petty guitarist Mike Campbell and his solo group The Dirty Knobs, Jimmie Vaughan, Elle King, Robert Randolph Band, St. Vincent, Cold War Kids and more.
Billed as “The World’s Largest Bourbon & Music Festival,” the four-day event will showcase more than two dozen craft bourbons, and also will feature special culinary experiences and much more.
Tickets are on sale now. For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit BourbonandBeyond.com.
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — The return of tourists to Capitol Hill — and their discarded food and trash — should have been a “telltail” sign.
Following several “aggressive” incidents, Capitol Police warned the public Tuesday not to approach any foxes reportedly raising alarms around the Capitol complex.
“We have received several reports of aggressive fox encounters on or near the grounds of the U.S. Capitol,” Capitol Police tweeted at 12:50 p.m. on Tuesday. “For your safety, please do not approach any foxes. Animal Control Officers are working to trap and relocate any foxes they find.”
A Capitol Police spokesman told ABC News that a fox “bit or nipped” at least six people, including one lawmaker.
The office of the House Sergeant at Arms had also warned lawmakers in a memo about the fox reportedly biting people and said: “There are possibly several fox dens on Capitol Grounds.”
Pictures of the cute — but potentially dangerous — creature first popped up on social media on Monday. The fox was spotted scavenging on the streets nearby Tuesday afternoon, despite the area being crowded with tourists now that the Capitol complex reopened to the public last month after being mostly closed for two years because of the pandemic.
After workers spent hours trying to find the animal in question, Capitol Police tweeted a photo at 3:36 p.m. of the culprit in a cage with the line “Captured.”
— U.S. Capitol Police (@CapitolPolice) April 5, 2022
Some on the internet were quick to call for the fox — who was captured with the help of the Humane Rescue Alliance — to be freed. One social media account cosplaying as the “Capitol Fox” also appeared on Twitter Tuesday, even releasing a statement on what the fox called its “illegal arrest.”
“As a fox, I cannot speak. And too often — I have nobody to speak for me. They mock me in songs, they wear me as clothes, and they hunt me down like a criminal in my home. For what, I ask you?” the statement said.
Notably, foxes are susceptible to rabies and can transmit the disease to humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — a fact one lawmaker knows now all too well.
While Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, told reporters she had a close encounter with the fox Monday evening and showed a video she took of the usually nocturnal animal, for Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., the encounter was far closer: Bera was bitten.
The congressman’s office confirmed that he was “nipped on the leg” in a statement to ABC News and admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center where he received several shots.
Bera, who is a physician, tweeted a warning a light-hearted warning about his close call.
What does the fox say? Last night, I found out…
Joking aside, animal bites are extremely serious. In the case of an encounter, please speak with a physician immediately: https://t.co/J4tmdlZzQI.
(NEW YORK) — The flashlights of the Ukrainian army followed Zi Faámelu, a transgender woman from Ukraine, as she walked through a swamp and hid from the military while crossing the Romanian border.
Tall, sharp bushes scratched the singer’s face, and the rough waters from the river pulled her body in the opposite direction. She knew it was the only chance she had to escape.
She was carrying only her passport, wrapped in a trash bag to protect it from the water. Her passport identified her as male, making it illegal for her to flee Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered all men to join the army.
Once she made it to the other side, Faámelu could only think of the fact she made it alive.
“I knew this was my last chance of survival and I had to do something like this real quick,” she told ABC News.
“I was almost drowning and I drank so much water. And I was very exhausted and I swam. I thought I [wouldn’t] make it. But somehow I reached the other side.”
At the first checkpoint, Faámelu said the guards took a photo of her passport and sent it across the border to prevent her from leaving the country. The treatment she received at the border, she said, was similar to the reality she faced for being a trans woman in Ukraine.
“My story is not like popular opinion right now because I know the inside of it all. And it’s not pretty,” she said. “It’s ugly. So I know the world stands with Ukraine, but they don’t know what’s going on inside the country.”
Throughout her life, Faámelu said she faced discrimination and transphobia. The invasion made things worse, she said, and she found herself stuck inside her apartment due to fear of persecution.
“At first, I wanted to leave Kyiv because there were bombings, but there was a group of dangerous people moving around this city. Homophobic, transphobic people that were preying on LGBTQ folks,” she said.
Faámelu is not the only one who says she fears for her safety. Olha Raiter traveled with her ex-partner, Uliana, and their 7-month-old son to Berlin from Ukraine by car. The trip took about 68 hours, and their car became a temporary home as they saw their country being shelled.
“I tried to stay positive because you could just die in one second if you just imagine what’s going on,” Raiter said.
“We have to be positive. We have to believe,” she added.
Raiter always wanted to have kids, but she said it was difficult to make it a reality because of how it would be viewed by society.
“I couldn’t get married,” she said. “We are all discriminated against in Ukraine because we cannot get the same rights. We have Damien together, but officially, she’s nobody to him, even if she’s a mother the same as me … and she was there from the very beginning and she was there when I was delivering him. But she still, according to Ukrainian law, … she’s nobody.”
Raiter says, “We were moving in the right direction. We put pressure on our government, and it changes. I didn’t have a feeling that this was a country that didn’t want me.” Despite the hardships and the rough reality members of the LGBTQ community say they face in Ukraine, Raiter did not leave the country because she felt unwanted, but feared raising a child among war. She hopes to return to her home country one day to raise Damien.
“I want [Damien] to … grow up in Ukraine, and I think it’s important because it’s important for me. I know it’s possible,” Raiter said.
Svetlana Shaytanova works for Quarteera, a nonprofit organization creating a safe space for members of the Russian-speaking LGBTQ community in Germany. She focuses her work on spreading awareness and sharing the harsh realities faced by queer people, like Faámelu.
The reality for trans people in Ukraine and across Europe, Shaytanova said, is that it’s harder than it might appear.
“They don’t want us to exist,” Shaytanova said.
“It’s not the government that persecutes people; they put laws in place that allow the general population to be openly aggressive against queer people.”
Faámelu is currently staying with a German family – and she says she feels lucky.
“It’s a perfect place for me right now. It’s just luck, … because I could’ve died [at the border],” she said.
When Faámelu crossed the border, she left everything behind – her clothes, belongings and even her art pieces. In the midst of the chaos, she still hopes to keep making music and continue her activism within the trans community.
“[My voice] is the only thing I have now … because I have nothing. They took everything away from me,” she said.
Faámelu says change must be made so others don’t have to be discriminated against and fight for their lives as she did at the border. The issue, she said, is beyond the Russian invasion.
“We’re fighting for our lives as trans people,” Faámelu said. “It’s a war for recognition, for getting noticed, for getting hurt. But we are humans. We deserve our rights.
(NOTE LANGUAGE) –Rappers Lil Wayne and T.I. reunited at Dreamville Fest this past weekend, marking the duo’s first public appearance together since their dispute over Black Lives Matter comments.
In 2016, during an interview with ABC News’ Linsey Davis,Lil Wayne said he felt no connection to the Black Lives Matter movement, and that it “just sounds weird.”
At the time, T.I. responded to the comments with a lengthy Instagram message for Lil Wayne. “I’m at a complete loss of words here,” the rapper started. “I don’t know what you goin thru, or what you are attempting to avoid but this s*** is absolutely unacceptable!!!!”
Since the exchange, the only time the two rappers were mentioned together was regarding the BLM incident. That all changed on Sunday night, when T.I. walked on stage during Wayne’s performance and embraced him. The two shared a tight hug and fans went wild.
—Nicki Minaj recently showed love to a fellow music artist. On Monday, she slid into Doja Cat‘s DMs to congratulate the singer on her first-ever Grammy win. “Congratulations on your Grammy mama. You really really really really really really really ***** deserve it,” Nicki said.
After Doja rushed from the bathroom to the stage to accept her Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Kiss Me More,” she delivered an emotional speech. The win comes at a time when the superstar has been back and forth on quitting the music industry.
Nicki has been nominated many times for a Grammy, but hasn’t yet won.
–In the latest update on the Cardi B.-Tasha K defamation case, a judge has forced the blogger to delete old posts of Cardi, according to TMZ.
Back in January, Cardi B was awarded over $1 million, after she sued Tasha for posting content that alleged Cardi had STIs and used drugs.
(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin got into a fiery exchange with Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz during a House Armed Services Committee budget hearing Tuesday, as Gaetz accused the Pentagon of strategic failures due to misplaced focus on alleged “wokeism.”
Gaetz began by asking Austin why taxpayers should fund lectures supporting socialism at the DOD-funded National Defense University, a reference to a recent virtual event hosted by the school titled “Responding to China: The Case For Global Justice and Democratic Socialism,” presented by French economist Thomas Piketty.
Austin said he was unaware of the lecture.
“So now that you know that they did this, would you agree that embracing socialism is not an effective strategy to combat China?” Gatez asked.
“I certainly don’t agree with embracing socialism,” Austin replied.
Gaetz continued, asking, “So why would we invite people we don’t agree with to evangelize views and values that we don’t share at the National Defense University, when we should be learning strategy about how to combat our enemies and make assessments that are accurate?”
Austin responded that learning strategy and other relevant subjects is the focus of military universities.
Decorum began to crumble as the two men started talking over one another, Gaetz reiterating the controversial content of the lecture, Austin reiterating that the Pentagon does not embrace socialism.
“I control the time!” Gaetz protested.
The Florida congressman proceeded to accuse the Defense Department of making poor predictions about the invasion of Ukraine and the fall of Afghanistan.
“You guys told us that Russia couldn’t lose. You told us that the Taliban couldn’t immediately win. And so I guess I’m wondering what in the $773 billion that you’re requesting today is going to help you make assessments that are accurate in the face of so many blown calls.
Austin paused for nearly six seconds before responding.
“You’ve seen what’s in our budget, you’ve seen how the budget matches the strategy, and so I’ll let that speak for itself,” he said.
The secretary then grew visibly annoyed when Gaetz said the U.S. has fallen behind other countries in terms of hypersonic weapons.
“What do you mean we’re behind in hypersonics? How do you make that assessment?” Austin said.
“Your own people brief us that we are behind and that China is winning. Are you aware of the briefings we get on hypersonics?” Gaetz asked.
Austin responded, “I am certainly aware of briefings that we provide to Congress.”
MORE: China’s reported hypersonic weapon test raises security concerns
Gaetz again attacked the Pentagon’s priorities.
“While everyone else in the world seems to be developing capabilities and being more strategic, we’ve got time to embrace critical race theory at West Point, to embrace socialism at the National Defense University, to do mandatory pronoun training,” he said.
Austin fired back: “This is the most capable, the most combat-credible force in the world. It has been and it will be so going forward. And this budget helps us to do that.”
“Not if we embrace socialism,” Gaetz said.
Austin then implied Gaetz was being unpatriotic.
“The fact that you are embarrassed by your country, by your military, I am sorry for that,” Austin said.
Gaetz retorted as Austin was still speaking: “Oh no, no, I’m embarrassed by your leadership, I am not embarrassed for my country.”
“It’s what you’re saying, it’s what you’re saying,” Austin said.
“I wish we were not losing to China … That is so disgraceful that you would sit here and conflate your failures with the failures of the uniformed service members. You guys said that Russia would overrun Ukraine in 36 days. You said that the Taliban would be kept at bay for months. You totally blew those calls. And maybe we would be better at them if the National Defense University actually worked a little more on strategy and a little less on wokeism,” Gaetz said.
“Has it occurred to you that Russia has not overrun Ukraine because of what we’ve done and our allies have done? Have you ever even thought about that?” Austin said.
Gaetz used his remaining seconds to reply: “But that was baked into your flawed assessment. And so I saw that the Obama administration tried to destroy our military by starving it of resources, and it seems the Biden administration is trying to destroy our military by force feeding it wokeism. I yield back.”
Want to join DNCE on a song? Joe Jonas has announced an “Open Verse Challenge,” asking fans to create their own remix to “Dancing Feet.” All you need to do is download the music clip Joe provided and come up with your own lyrics. Be sure to stitch them on TikTok to enter.
Camila Cabello‘s Familia album isn’t the only thing she’s dropping on Friday — she’s also releasing the single “Psychofreak” and its music video. She shared a snippet to Twitter and hinted it will have a spider theme. She later showed off the black leather outfits she and song collaborator WILLOW wear in the vid.
Maroon 5 sent another song into Spotify’s “Billions Club” — their 2012 hit “Payphone.” It’s their fifth song to amass over a billion streams on the service. “THANK YOU, so much, for continuing to enjoy,” the band tweeted. Interestingly, the song celebrates its 10th birthday on April 16.
On the topic of Maroon 5, their “Beautiful Mistakes” collaborator Megan Thee Stallion is going makeup free until Coachella kicks off on April 15. She even shared a makeup-free selfie, causing fans to ask in droves how she achieves such clear, smooth skin.
Lady Gaga has some new admirers — K Pop sensations BTS revealed to Entertainment Weekly it’s their dream to collaborate with her. The “Dynamite” singers also hope Olivia Rodrigo joins them in the studio, with whom they pretended to get flirty ahead of their Bond-themed Grammy Awards performance on Sunday.
Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish were nominated for the 26th Annual Webby Awards. Ariana was highlighted in fashion and beauty for her r.e.m. beauty while Billie was honored in media and entertainment for lending her music to Beat Saber on Oculus Quest 2. Voting’s now open and winners will be announced May 16.
(BERLIN) — German authorities took down the world’s largest illegal marketplace on the darknet with the help of U.S. law enforcement agencies, they said.
Hydra Market was a Russian-language marketplace that had operated via the Tor network since at least 2015 and was known for extensive drug trafficking, according to German authorities. The market’s 17 million known customers were also known to buy and sell forged documents and stolen credit cards, they said. In 2020, its sales amounted to well over $1 billion euros.
German authorities said they seized Hydra’s server infrastructure and about $25 million in bitcoin on Tuesday.
“The seizures carried out today were preceded by extensive investigations that have been conducted…since August 2021 and in which several US authorities were involved,” the German federal police announced.
Numerous U.S. agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the IRS Criminal Investigation and others were involved in the operation, they said.
The investigation targeted the operators and administrators of Hydra, according to German authorities. Among other things, authorities said the market was being used for criminal transactions, money laundering and abundant sales of illegal narcotics.
Hydra was the illegal marketplace with the highest turnover worldwide, German authorities said. Its sales amounted to at least 1.23 billion euros in 2020 alone. It also offered a service for obfuscating digital transactions, complicating crypto investigations for law enforcement agencies.
In addition to the law enforcement actions taking down Hydra’s illegal marketplace, the U.S. sanctioned the company, along with a virtual currency exchange based in Estonia, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.
“The global threat of cybercrime and ransomware that originates in Russia, and the ability of criminal leaders to operate there with impunity, is deeply concerning to the United States,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in the statement. “Our actions send a message today to criminals that you cannot hide on the darknet or their forums, and you cannot hide in Russia or anywhere else in the world.”
Hydra accounted for some 86% of illicit Bitcoin transactions in Russia in 2019, according to the U.S. Treasury, while Estonian exchange Garantex was used for over $100 million in virtual currency transactions associated with illicit actors. Estonian authorities stripped Garantex of its license in February, but it continued to operate “through unscrupulous means,” the department said.
These sanctions are an attempt by the Biden administration to show that virtual currency will not be able to evade U.S. and international sanctions on Russia or other criminal actors.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control “is closely monitoring any efforts to circumvent or violate Russia-related sanctions, including through the use of virtual currency, and is committed to using its broad enforcement authorities to act against violations and to promote compliance,” the department said.
Paramount+ has announced a four-part docuseries called Ghislaine — Partner in Crime, about Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted ex-girlfriend of politically connected sex trafficker and abuser Jeffrey Epstein.
The show will be available to stream in full starting April 7, and its producers promise that it will feature “revealing, emotional interviews with Maxwell’s siblings Ian, Kevin and Isabel Maxwell; her friends; legal experts; and her alleged victims.”
“The docuseries unravels the shocking pyramid scheme of sexual abuse that Maxwell controlled, and uncovers what really happened at Epstein’s properties, including his private island,” the announcement teases.
See It Now Studios producer Susan Zirinsky adds that the docuseries “paints a vivid picture of Maxwell’s privileged yet turbulent lifestyle, from the parties and the A-list friendships to the trial.”
In December, a jury convicted Ghislaine of conspiring with and aiding serial sex offender Epstein in his sexual abuse of underage girls. Epstein reportedly killed himself under mysterious circumstances in 2019, while in a New York City prison where he was awaiting trial.
Bob Dylan has won a lawsuit brought against him by the widow of Jacques Levy, who co-wrote seven songs on Dylan’s 1976 album Desire, seeking a portion of Bob’s lucrative catalog sale to Universal.
Billboard reports that a New York appeals court announced Tuesday that it had rejected a lawsuit Claudia Levy filed against Dylan, Universal Music Group and other parties last year alleging she was owed a $7.25 million stake in the $300 million catalog sale to Universal.
The court upheld a ruling by a trial judge in August 2021 that Jacques Levy had signed away his catalog rights to the songs long ago, noting that under a 1975 agreement, the compositions, “with all the copyrights, were to be Dylan’s ‘sole property.'”
The court added, “Nothing submitted by plaintiffs concerning music industry custom and practice supports a reading otherwise, or even suggests an ambiguity in the relevant contractual language.”
Among the songs Levy co-wrote with Dylan for Desire were the hit “Hurricane,” “Mozambique” and “Isis.”
Claudia Levy originally filed her lawsuit in January 2021, and after the trial judge rejected the case while characterizing Jacques’ 1975 deal with Dylan a work-for-hire-agreement. Claudia appealed the decision, claiming that her late husband was being written “out of Dylan’s history.”
This past January, Dylan described the attempted appeal of the lawsuit as an “opportunistic attempt” at an “unjustified windfall.”
According to Billboard, Levy can appeal the decision once more, in front of New York’s Court of Appeals, although the magazine notes that “such reversals are rare.”
Dylan attorney Orin Snyder tells Billboard, “Today’s decision puts the nail in the coffin of this opportunistic lawsuit. We are pleased the court has again rejected this sad attempt to profit off of Bob’s recent catalog sale.”
(OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.) — Oklahoma passed a bill Tuesday that would make performing an abortion a felony, punishable by up to several years in prison.
The bill was passed in the state House 70-14 without a single Democratic vote after passing the Senate last year. Just one Republican state representative voted against the bill.
It is now heading to the desk of Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, who is expected to sign it into law.
Under the bill, any medical provider who performs an abortion would face a fine of $100,000 and up to 10 years in prison. The only exceptions for performing an abortion would be if the mother’s life is in danger.
State Rep. Jim Olsen, who sponsored the bill, did not return ABC News’ request for comment.
However, he did stress to the Associated Press that penalties would only be imposed on medical professionals who perform abortions, not on women who receive them.
Passage of the bill occurred the same day a “Bans Off Oklahoma” rally was held at the state Capitol in support of abortion rights.
“These legislators have continued their relentless attacks on our freedoms,” Emily Wales, interim president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes — which organized the rally — told the Associated Press. “These restrictions are not about improving the safety of the work that we do. They are about shaming and stigmatizing people who need and deserve abortion access.”
In the past few years, anti-abortion bills have passed in Oklahoma Legislature, only to be overturned by the courts who deem them unconstitutional.
It’s unclear whether this bill will face the same challenges, but it comes on the heels of several Republican-led states passing legislation ahead of a Supreme Court decision in June that will decide the future of Roe v. Wade.
The court will review a 15-week ban in Mississippi and decide whether or not it is constitutional.
In preparation for Roe to be overturned, or gutted, Arizona and Kentucky moved forward on 15-week abortion bans last week.
The Arizona legislation, which was signed by Gov. Doug Ducey, only includes exemptions for medical emergencies when continuing with the pregnancy would “create serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function” for the mother.
Meanwhile, in Kentucky, the ban passed along with other anti-abortion measures including making it illegal to send drugs for medical abortions through the mail and requiring the names of physicians who provide medication abortions to be published online.
Additionally, last month, Idaho became the first state to pass and sign legislation modeled after the recent law passed in Texas that bans abortions after six weeks.
Since the law in Texas went into effect in September 2021, thousands of women have flocked to Oklahoma to receive the procedure.
A recent study from the Texas Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Texas Austin found that of the 1,500 women that traveled out of state every month to receive abortion since September, 45% visited Oklahoma.
