Ten days after the passing of his five-month-son, Nick Cannon has shared fond memories of Zen.
“We had a short time with a true angel,” Cannon tells People in this week’s cover story. “My heart is shattered. I wish I could have done more, spent more time with him, taken more pictures. I wish I could have hugged him longer.”
Zen died on December 5 from a brain tumor, four months after he was diagnosed. Cannon, and Zen’s mother, Alyssa Scott, then worked to make every day special with their son.
“We focused on Disneyland, our favorite place,” explains the 41-year-old entertainer. “Every month we would celebrate his birthday, just really seeing it as a victory every time he had a milestone that he was still here with us.”
Zen’s illness became more serious over the Thanksgiving weekend, when he had trouble breathing.
“He was gasping for air. We’d wake up, and he wouldn’t be breathing for maybe five to 10 seconds at a time, and then he’d let out a huge gasp,” the TV talk show host recalls. ”You could see it frightened him. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced.”
Anticipating that Zen was dying, Cannon and Scott made the decision to spend the day with their son at the beach.
“I was like, ‘We have to watch the sun rise and just be here with him one last time,'” he says. “It was beautiful.”
“He was the most loving baby,” says Cannon. “I look at being his father as a great privilege.”
Here’s wishing a speedy recovery to KISS frontman Paul Stanley, who revealed in a Twitter post that he’s having an operation on his shoulder today.
According to the message, this will be the latest in a series of surgical procedures on his shoulder.
“SHOULDER SURGERY TODAY! How many show related surgeries have I had?? I lost count at EIGHT!!” writes Stanley. “Was it worth it?!? ABSOLUTELY! Judge the value of what of you have by what you sacrificed to achieve that goal. This was a joy-filled BARGAIN.”
Earlier this year, the singer/guitarist weathered a bout with COVID-19 that briefly sidelined KISS’ End of the Road farewell tour. The trek is scheduled to resume next year with an Australian leg that kicks off March 19 in Melbourne.
(HONG KONG) — Scores of people were trapped in a Hong Kong skyscraper on Wednesday after a major fire broke out, authorities said.
Flames ignited at the World Trade Centre in Hong Kong’s bustling Causeway Bay shopping district at around noon local time, setting scaffolding ablaze and forcing many people inside to flee to higher floors, where they awaited rescue, authorities said.
At least 13 people were injured, mostly due to smoke inhalation, during the incident. One of the people suffering from smoke inhalation was hospitalized in serious condition, according to authorities.
Authorities said they believe the blaze emerged from electrical cables on the first or second level of a shopping mall inside the 38-story complex, which is under renovation. The Hong Kong Fire Services Department had received a notice that the World Trade Centre’s fire safety system, including alarms and sprinklers, were shut off due to the construction, authorities said.
More than 150 firefighters were deployed to the scene, according to authorities. Thick smoke was seen billowing out from the building’s entrance as firefighters used a crane to rescue people trapped on the rooftop.
By 4:30 p.m. local time, firefighters had extinguished the flames and evacuated everyone from the building. Some 770 people were evacuated by rescuers, while 40 others evacuated from the building themselves, authorities said.
The World Trade Centre complex houses offices, restaurants and a mall, but the shops were all closed due to the ongoing renovations.
(WASHINGTON) — Five Federal Bureau of Investigation officials “solicited” prostitutes while on an overseas trip, the Department of Justice inspector general said in a two-page report.
Four of the officials “solicited, procured, and accepted commercial sex overseas.”
“The OIG investigation also found that four of those officials lacked candor about their interactions with prostitutes and other misconduct during OIG compelled interviews and compelled polygraph examinations, in violation of FBI policies, and that one of those officials made false statements in an OIG compelled interview and compelled polygraph examination in violation of federal law, when the official denied having engaged in sex acts with a prostitute,” Inspector General Michael Horowitz wrote.
Soliciting a prostitute overseas while working for the FBI is a violation of FBI and DOJ policy.
One FBI official “lacked candor” to the Inspector General “when the official denied observing or placing pills in a package to be delivered to a foreign law enforcement officer and that another of the officials failed to report having been provided such a package.”
The inspector general says there were about 100 white pills that were seen being given to a foreign official.
A sixth FBI official did not report the misconduct in violation of DOJ policy.
The inspector general said of the five who solicited prostitutes two resigned, two retired, and one was removed. The report said three of the individuals also failed to report their interactions with foreign nationals.
There are no details in the report about where the prostitution solicitation occurred or the names of the officials involved.
Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
(LOS ANGELES) — The Los Angeles public school district’s board of education has approved delaying enforcement of its COVID-19 vaccine mandate to the fall, as thousands of students at the nation’s second-largest school district remain non-compliant.
Under the mandate, which the board passed in September, all students ages 12 and up were required to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 10, 2022, to be allowed on school campuses for the second semester, unless they had an approved exemption or deadline extension.
Currently, over 87% of eligible students are in compliance with the mandate, Los Angeles Unified Interim Superintendent Megan Reilly said during Tuesday’s board meeting, calling it a “major milestone.”
Some 27,000 students are not in compliance with the mandate, as it’s too late to complete the two-dose vaccine series to be fully vaccinated by the January deadline.
Under Reilly’s proposal, the transfer of non-compliant students to the remote program will be delayed until the beginning of the fall 2022 semester.
“It allows more time for families to get this vaccine,” Reilly said ahead of the board’s vote. “This effort remains a top priority for Los Angeles Unified. We will continue to engage students and families around the importance of vaccines and the deadlines to participate for in-person learning. We will improve vaccination rates for eligible students and we will continue to provide a consistent, stable learning environment and access to vital resources.”
Most board members said they were reluctant to vote in favor of delaying enforcement of the vaccine mandate, though did so to limit disruption to in-person learning in the middle of the school year.
“I will support this because it keeps our promise to the vaccinated students in our district that we would not disrupt their education needlessly,” board member Jackie Goldberg said. “To be clear, we are not moving one inch from the mandate. Not one inch, not a centimeter. We are simply saying you now have more time to do it because we want all of you to be vaccinated and safe. And also we do not want your not being vaccinated to disrupt the education of those who have complied.”
Board president Kelly Gonez said voting in favor of the delay “is not a decision I am happy to make.”
“But like my fellow board members, I am very enthusiastic about our vaccination progress,” she continued. “I believe that this board unequivocally made the right decision in September, and it has made our schools safer, it has made our communities as a whole safer and it has saved lives.”
The vote came a day after a Los Angeles Superior Court judge denied two parent groups’ bid for a preliminary injunction against the student vaccine mandate, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.
The school district had also mandated that staff get both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by Nov. 15, barring exemptions due to disability or religious belief.
During its meeting Tuesday, board members also approved extending the district’s student and employee vaccination policy to all district-authorized charter schools to maintain a consistent vaccine policy.
The school district is one of the few nationwide that has implemented vaccine mandates. The policies came ahead of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement in October that the state will require COVID-19 vaccines for all school children ages 12-17 once the Federal Drug Administration grants full approval. The state policy includes personal exemptions, not just religious or medical.
“So there’s plenty of latitude for families to make decisions,” Newsom told Good Morning America last week. “LA is slightly different, and we’re going to obviously have to work through that with that district.”
“You have to work to accommodate, and I have all the confidence in the world the school board will work to accommodate,” he added.
(NEW YORK) — Kroger, one of the largest employers in the U.S. with 500,000 workers, announced that it will pull paid emergency COVID leave for unvaccinated employees.
The grocery chain is also adding a $50 monthly insurance surcharge for salaried associates who are unvaccinated.
The new rules will take effect starting Jan. 1, 2022.
Kroger said this is a necessary step to protect its employees and customers.
“We have been navigating the COVID-19 pandemic for almost two years and in line with our values, the safety of our associates and customers has remained our top priority,” Kroger said in a statement about the policy shift.
The supermarket chain said employees who are fully vaccinated will still be entitled to paid leave and the new policy does not apply to workers with medical or religious accommodations.
Kroger will continue to pay $100 to workers who choose to get vaccinated.
On Wednesday, the penultimate episode of Hawkeyedropped on Disney+.
Irish actor Fra Fee plays Kazi, one of the senior henchmen of the Tracksuit Mafia, who tangles with Jeremy Renner‘s Clint Barton/Hawkeye throughout the series.
As a huge Marvel movie fan, Fee admits to ABC Audio, “I still have to pinch myself on a regular basis. It’s all very bizarre that of course, you’re desperately trying to play it cool, it’s like, say, ‘Yeah, this is a cool character, I reckon I can give this a go,’ inside, you’re completely losing your … everything,” he says with a huge laugh.
A scene in last week’s episode, that saw Fee being held at the mercy of Renner’s archer Avenger, took him a bit to get over, Fee says.
“That was a moment!” he laughs. “I’ll not tell a lie that was a moment, and we had a laugh in the car that day, but I was definitely nervous going into like, ‘What? What has happened to my little mediocre life? This is insane.'”
Fee explains, “I’ve been such a fan of this world, and I adore the movies, but one of my favorite scenes of all time is Jeremy’s scene [in Avengers: Endgame] when he loses his family in The Blip is one of the most tragic, so beautifully expressed, beautifully displayed performances, and so to actually continue his story is…just such an honor. It really, really is.”
Kinks guitarist Dave Davies has written a new autobiography titled Living on a Thin Line that’s scheduled to be released on July 7, 2022, in hardcover and e-book editions.
According to TheBookseller.com, the memoir will feature Dave’s recollections and anecdotes about The Kinks’ heyday, his turbulent relationship with his brother Ray — the band’s lead singer and main songwriter — the group’s legacy and much more.
The book also will include stories about Dave crossing paths with various other music legends, among them John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix.
“I’ve had a laugh, and shed quite a few tears, thinking back over the last six decades since The Kinks had our first hit in 1964 with ‘You Really Got Me,'” says Dave in a statement. “Here are the ups and downs of my life in The Kinks and what happened afterwards. Prepare to be amazed and, I hope, surprised.”
Editor Richard Roper, who acquired the rights to Davies’ book for the Headline Publishing Group, states, “Dave is hands-down one of the greatest musicians to pick up a guitar. His fans will absolutely adore it.”
Dave previously published a memoir titled Kink in 1996, but a post on his Instagram page reports that Living on a Thin Line “is ALL NEW WRITING never before seen in his previous autobiography — a completely new book to enjoy.”
(NOTE LANGUAGE) Ben Affleck‘s battle with alcoholism has played out in the public eye, but he made it personal in a new conversation on Sirius/XM’s The Howard Stern Show.
Affleck told Stern he “probably still would have been drinking” were he still married to his ex-wife, Jennifer Garner. The pair were married from 2005 to 2018,
“Part of why I started drinking was because I was trapped,” says the 49-year-old actor. “I was like, ‘I can’t leave because of my kids, but I’m not happy, what do I do?’ And what I did was [I] drank a bottle of scotch and fell asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution.”
Affleck says that he and Garner “tried” to make it work “because we had kids, but…we didn’t want this to be the model that our kids see of marriage.”
Ben called tabloid coverage of their divorce “Bulls***,” adding, “…We had a marriage that didn’t work. This happens. She’s somebody I love and respect, but to whom I shouldn’t be married any longer.”
He said they tried their best to split “amicably,” but “…Did we get angry? Yes, but fundamentally it was always underpinned with a respect. I knew she was a good mom. I always hoped she knew I was a good dad. I knew I was.”
Affleck admitted his kids were the reason he quit drinking. “[W]hen I felt as if it impacted them…It was the worst day of my life…But since that day, I swear to Christ, I have not ever wanted to drink once.”
Affleck and Garner share three children: 16-year-old Violet, Seraphina, 12, and 9-year-old Samuel.
The festival, which was held virtually in 2020 and 2021, will be back to a live in-person experience next year under the theme “It’s the Black Joy for Me!” It will also continue to incorporate virtual programming for attendees both live and around the world.
“The reimagining of the 2022 ESSENCE Festival of Culture in New Orleans as a ‘phygital’ — fully physical and fully digital — experience will be epic,” Caroline Wanga, CEO, Essence Communications, Inc., says in a statement.
She adds, “Given what we have collectively experienced over the last two years, the opportunity to convene and uplift in the spirit of culture, equity, celebration — and joy is more of a privilege and honor than it has ever — been. We look forward to our homecoming in the City of New Orleans and to strengthening our impact as a cornerstone of Black culture, entrepreneurship and economic inclusion – working always to serve Black women and communities deeply.”
It’s all set to kick off June 30 and run through July 3. More details on the fest, including ticketing, schedules, talent line-up and COVID protocols, will be announced in January.
The ESSENCE Festival of Culture, launched back in 1995, has become the world’s largest celebration of Black women, culture and communities, according to organizers.
