Fresh from their stint on the 2022 Flower Power Cruise, The Zombies kick off their first North American tour since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic tonight in Orlando, Florida.
The famed British Invasion band’s trek, dubbed the Life Is a Merry-Go-Round Tour, features a total of 49 dates and is broken into spring and summer legs.
The springtime outing, which visits mainly East Coast venues, is scheduled through a May 1 show in Fall River, Massachusetts. The summer leg, which is dominated by concerts in Canada and the Western U.S., begins on June 21 in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, and wraps up with a three-date stand, July 28-30, in Park City, Utah.
The Zombies will be playing plenty of hits and fan favorites on the tour, along with some brand-new tunes. The band also will be selling a new CD/DVD package, Live from Studio Two, exclusively at the concerts. The release documents the group’s special 2021 performance at London’s Abbey Road Studios that premiered as a livestream event.
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A California task force’s decision to limit reparations for slavery to people who can trace their lineage to free and enslaved Black people living in the U.S. during the 19th century has drawn criticism from task force members and experts who say the decision makes eligibility difficult to prove and narrows slavery’s impact on African Americans today.
The committee, convened in 2020 through legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, delayed deciding who would be eligible for reparations in February. Some members wanted reparations to go solely towards descendants of Black people during the 19th century while others argued financial reparations should go to all Black people in the state regardless of lineage, including Caribbean and African people.
The task force voted 5-4 in favor of limiting compensation to direct descendants.
Civil rights attorney Lisa Holder, a member of the task force, argued in favor of expanding the pool of those receiving reparations.
“Anyone who has some proximity to those harms and is a person with black skin needs to be included in the broader class, then we can decide, to then differentiate in terms of who gets more reparations, but we can’t just exclude people who were harmed, right off the bat,” Holder said before the vote Tuesday.
Jovan Lewis, a University of California, Berkeley, professor and task force member, voiced support for limiting reparations.
“And so we’re talking about…reparations being the opportunity for African Americans who are foundational, to this country, being able to identify themselves and be identified as a distinct group,” Lewis said at the hearing.
Tony Burroughs, the founder and CEO of the Center for Black Genealogy, told ABC News there are several issues with using family lineage to determine reparations. One is faulty oral history – family stories changing as they are passed down from generation to generation. Another is that many records of those enslaved are not readily available, as there is limited written history of enslaved people.
Names also pose a problem for those seeking compensation, Burroughs said. Family names may have changed since the 19th century. Names were also spelled differently back then, he said.
The task force also faces questions about what constitutes reparations.
“Direct cash payments, is only one form but then there’s also restitution… And then satisfaction in the more symbolic forms of reparations, like a formal apology commemoration,” Kamilah Moore, an attorney and chair of the task force, told ABC News.
And while the task force can create recommendations, their findings will not automatically become law. It will then have to be taken up by the California legislature before it can reach the governor’s desk to become law.
“That’s our biggest hurdle of finding 41 votes on the assembly side once we’re finished with this project, and 21 on my side of the house, to get this to the governor’s desk, and hopefully he’ll add his signature to whatever we come up with that we feel will not make people whole, but at least try to recognize and address it makes a level of atonement,” California state Sen. Steve Bradford, a task force member, told ABC News.
Reparations have been paid out to other groups in the past. The federal Civil Liberties Act of 1988 granted reparations to Japanese Americans who were interned by the U.S. government in camps during World War II. The act gave each surviving victim an official apology and $20,000.
“There were a lot of folks who weren’t born during World War II, when the Japanese were interned, but the state in this country found a way to pay reparations to Japanese Americans…we have been at the table making sure that they were made whole,” Bradford told ABC News.
The task force says it plans on publishing its first report findings in June, focusing on the history of enslavement, and its effects on African Americans including mass incarceration, poverty and Jim Crow-era segregation.
The task force’s recommendations, regardless of the outcome, could set a precedent for the rest of the nation on reparations for slavery.
“It is often said, so goes California so goes the nation, this is where this nation should be,” Bradford said. “They should be following the lead of California on reparations… there’s still a lot of healing that needs to be done not just in California but in this country, and we’re willing to step out and lead by example. So I hope they follow the work that we’re doing here in California.”
(NEW YORK) — As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in England, the country is also experiencing a surge in reinfections.
Provisional data shows that, as of the week ending March 20, 2022, laboratory-confirmed reinfections — two positive tests taken more than 90 days apart — have surpassed 50,000 per week in England, 10.7% of all cases, according to a weekly report from the U.K. Health Security Agency published Thursday.
This is a jump from the less than 20,000 weekly reinfections recorded during the last week of February in England.
The weekly rate is increasing in all age groups and has nearly doubled in one week among those aged 30 and older, the report shows.
Vaccination rates are high in England with 85.8% of those aged 12 and older fully vaccinated and 66.8% boosted.
Additionally, as of Friday, 99% of the adult population in England is estimated to have detectable COVID-19 antibodies either from previous infection or from vaccination, according to the U.K. government.
There were only 7,093 reinfections reported in Scotland, 10.4 percent of all cases, in the week ending March 27. Recent data on reinfections were not readily available for Wales and Northern Ireland.
So, with such high coverage, why have so many in England been reinfected with COVID-19?
Experts said there are a few reasons for the uptick including the spread of the BA.2 variant, waning immunity and the further relaxing of COVID-19 mitigation measures in England.
BA.2 is more transmissible
Dr. Ali Mokdad, an epidemiologist with the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle, told ABC News the spread of the BA.2 variant is undoubtedly playing a role in the rise of reinfections in England.
“BA.2 is more infectious so more people can be infected by being exposed to it,” he said. “The time needed for you and me to sit close together to get the infection is much shorter.”
BA.2, which is a subvariant of the original omicron variant, has become the dominant variant in England.
Data from the UKHSA estimates BA.2 currently accounts for 93.7% of all COVID-19 cases in England. Less than two months ago, it made up less than 5% of cases
A preprint from Sweden, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, suggests BA.2 may be more contagious due to higher viral loads in the nose and throat than the original BA.1 variant.
Early data from the U.K. and Denmark also suggests it is possible to be infected with BA.2 after having been infected with BA.1, although this is less likely.
Mokdad said the numbers from these studies are too low to warrant any serious concern.
It is unclear from the U.K. data how many of the reinfected cases are among those who are fully vaccinated and those who are boosted.
However, several studies have shown booster shots lower the risk of reinfection.
An Israeli study published in JAMA Internal Medicine in November 2021 found 1.8% of COVID-19 tests were positive in adults that were boosted compared to 6.6% in adults that had two shots.
While BA.2 is more transmissible than BA.1, it does not appear to increase the risk of hospitalization.
Professor David Heymann, from the department of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said the rise of reinfections should not concern people because the number of hospitalizations and deaths remains low.
“The vaccines are suppressing serious illness and death, even if you get reinfected,” he told ABC News. “What we do know is there’s no cause for real alarm at present because the hospital surveillance is showing COVID remains a minor disease” for the vaccinated.
Waning immunity
Mokdad said many people who got their second dose, or even their third dose, received it five to six months ago so their immunity will have waned by now.
“What we know from the data — and we have a lot of evidence, including from the UK — is that, starting at three months your immunity, especially against infection, drops rapidly,” Mokdad said. “And by five months, your immunity against infection is basically 20%.”
A January report from the UKHSA found the effectiveness of two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is what most people in the U.K. have received, dropped from 50% against omicron to virtually no effect 20 weeks later.
A booster from either Pfizer or Moderna raised the protection against omicron to around 60%, but it fell to as low as 40% 10 weeks later.
Mokdad said for those who weren’t infected with the original omicron variant during the last wave, this also increases the risk of reinfection because contracting the virus will have acted like a natural booster shot for most healthy individuals.
Behavioral changes
Experts say behavioral changes after restrictions were lifted are also likely playing a role in the rise of reinfections.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson had been lifting COVID restrictions in England since the beginning of the year and, on Feb. 25 dropped all remaining rules for the country, including the requirement to self-isolate after testing positive, contact tracing and free administration of rapid tests.
This means many people are no longer wearing masks or staying home from work or school, or self-isolating if they are ill.
“Suddenly, they lifted these mandates,” Mokdad said. “People are tired and have changed their behavior. Suddenly, you have 30% or 40% susceptible because of waning immunity and the fact they have not been exposed to BA.1, and BA.2 is circulating, then you see this rapid increase in cases.
When Johnson lifted the mandates, he gave a speech to the House of Commons in which he stated he wanted England to pivot away from preventing COVID-19 and “learn to live with this virus.”
Professor Daniel Altmann, from the department of immunology and inflammation at Imperial College London, said this has led to “confusion” about how to prevent reinfection.
“This means that people are confused about safety — many are going out to work and school when knowingly infected, fewer wearing masks,” he told ABC News. “It looks like an untenable policy when one considers … omicron, somewhat milder but poorly immunogenic and able to reinfect people sometimes over and over at intervals of a few weeks.”
From hardcore rap records to cute relationship tracks, check out this week’s New Music Friday for the culture’s latest & greatest in music.
— City Girls ft. Fivio Foreign, “Top Notch” — Hip hop’s favorite Miami duo pull out the glitz, glam and bars on the New York drill-inspired track. JT & Yung Miami link up with Brooklyn’s own Fivio to seal the deal.
— Nicki Minaj ft. Fivio Foreign, “We Go Up” — The new hardcore rap track shows that Fivio Foreign is just getting started, and Nicki delivers her vicious and unforgettable style on the new drill track.
— Wiz Khalifa, “Iced Out Necklace” — The Taylor Gang rapper delivers two minutes and 35 seconds of quick and explicit lyrics on his latest track. Earlier this week, he released the documentary Still Rolling Papers, featuring never-before-seen footage of the rapper’s journey to stardom.
— A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie ft. Ella Bands, “Playa” — The New York rapper released not one but two tracks for the latest single. Rising star Ella Bands lends her vocals to one and Grammy-winning artist H.E.R joins A Boogie on the other.
— Freddie Gibbs ft. Rick Ross, “Ice Cream” — Twitter has been loving this Freddie/Rozay collab. The fiery rap anthem samples Raekwon‘s 1995 iconic song of the same name.
Justin Harris, known by his stage name Saucy Santana, is an up-and-coming openly-gay rapper from Florida. He first rose to music fame due to his association with the rap duo City Girls and is now making a name for himself. His breakthrough anthem, “Walk,” garnered extreme popularity in 2020.
After being postponed from January 31, the 2022 Grammy Awards ceremony finally takes place this Sunday. Here’s a rundown of many of the veteran artists who will vie for honors:
AC/DC was nominated for three Grammys, while Paul McCartney received two nods.
The Australian hard rockers and the former Beatles legend both will compete for the Best Rock Album prize, for Power Up and McCartney III, respectively.
AC/DC also was nominated for the Best Rock Performance honor for “Shot in the Dark,” while the song’s video scored a nod in the Best Music Video category. McCartney also is in the running for Best Rock Song, for “Find My Way” from McCartney III.
Other veteran artists receiving Grammy nominations this year include ABBA, Jackson Browne, Los Lobos, Police drummer Stewart Copeland, Carole King, Steve Cropper and ex-Talking Heads frontman David Byrne.
ABBA is up for the Record of the Year for their new song “I Still Have Faith in You.” Browne and Los Lobos will vie for the Best Americana Album trophy for their respective records Downhill from Everywhere and Native Sons.
Copeland’s collaborative album with Ricky Kej, Divine Tides, is nominated for Best New Age Album. King received a Best Song Written for Visual Media nod for “Here I Am (Singing My Way Home),” which she co-wrote for the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect.
Cropper’s Fire It Up will compete for the Best Contemporary Blues Album honor.
Check out the full list of nominees at Grammy.com.
The Grammys airs live from Las Vegas at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, although many winners will be announced during the “Premiere Ceremony” event, which begins at 3:30 p.m. ET and will be streamed on the Recording Academy’s YouTube channel and on Live.Grammy.com.
It’s a wrap for Star Trek: Discovery. Sonequa Martin-Green has just finished her latest voyage as Captain Michael Burnham in Season 4…and she still hasn’t come back to Earth.
“It was quite profound,” she tells ABC Audio of the season ender’s surprise Stacey Abrams cameo. “She was utterly wonderful! You have this civil hero right in front of you. This legend in-the-making right in front of you.”
As it turns out, Abrams was no stranger to being in front of the camera, Martin-Green says: “And also completely talented! Because it turns out she’s acted some, and she did a fantastic job as the President of United Earth.”
While promoting her new partnership with Crest, to raise awareness for good oral hygiene for kids, Martin-Green says things are going full-speed ahead for the cast and crew of Discovery.
“We officially have gotten into our groove. I love where we end in Season 4,” she says.
And she’s happy for the setup going into Season 5. “With peace being restored, and The Federation really building exactly, and strengthening and everything. And I think that we are going to have some time where we can kind of coast there. And I applaud the writers for that. For the art imitating life in that way right? Because that big conflict in Season 4 is very much a representation of the pandemic.”
Episodes of Star Trek: Discovery are available now on Paramount+.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced it is officially ending Title 42, the controversial policy implemented by the Trump administration restricting migrants from coming into the country under the auspices of a public health emergency.
The policy was first enacted at the beginning of the pandemic and has remained in place since then, despite advocates criticizing the administration for keeping the policy in place.
The lifting of Title 42 will occur on May 23 to give the Department of Homeland Security adequate time to prepare, including getting more COVID-19 vaccine doses and other measures to deal with the expected influx of migrants, the CDC termination notice written by Director Rochelle Walensky says. Earlier this week, the department gave reporters an estimate that up to 18,000 migrants could be apprehended at the border each day if Title 42 were to be lifted.
“DHS has represented that over the next several weeks it is taking important steps to implement processes in preparation for the full resumption of border operations,” the order says.
The termination notice says that Title 42 was implemented to prevent diseases from coming into the United States for only a period of time and DHS was consulted in the termination of this rule.
“Following an assessment of the current epidemiologic status of the COVID-19 pandemic and the U.S. government’s ongoing response efforts, I find there is no longer a public health justification for the August order and previous orders issued under these authorities,” Walensky writes.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement that Title 42 is “not an immigration authority, but rather a public health authority used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to protect against the spread of communicable disease.”
“Once the Title 42 Order is no longer in place, DHS will process individuals encountered at the border pursuant to Title 8, which is the standard procedure we use to place individuals in removal proceedings,” Mayorkas said. “Nonetheless, we know that smugglers will spread misinformation to take advantage of vulnerable migrants. Let me be clear: those unable to establish a legal basis to remain in the United States will be removed.”
Homeland Security and State Department officials on a call with reporters Friday sought to reassure the American public that there is a plan in place to deal with the increase in migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border that lifting Title 42 will trigger.
One of the driving reasons behind the delayed implementation of the Title 42 repeal is to allow authorities at the border time to ramp up the vaccination program announced last month, administration officials said Friday.
“That is going to take some time to ramp up,” a senior DHS official said. “The time period is meant to ensure that we can do processing safely and humanely and consistent with best public health practices.”
This week, CBP is distributing about 2,000 vaccines a day at 11 locations and plans to scale up the process in coming weeks to distribute 6,000 vaccines a day at more than two dozen locations along the border, one official said. Migrants will be given Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and those who refuse will either be detained or released with more stringent monitoring requirements, the official said.
Officials said they are beefing up CBP and ICE officials at the border to deal with the expected influx of migrants. Border Patrol sources tell ABC News they are hiring as many agents as they can to help with potential processing increases.
DHS officials told reporters the decision to terminate Title 42 was part of a “fact finding” mission about a “range of items” and trends on the southwest border.
While the May 23 decision runs contrary to demands from advocates to immediately repeal the policy, agents at the border remain concerned that they will not have enough time to ramp up processing capacity in the event of the anticipated migration surge.
FEMA is continuing to work with local nonprofits and municipal governments to fold them into the planning process for handling migrants as they’re released.
Officials told reporters they’ve been working with immigration groups to identify the particularly vulnerable individuals who are in Mexico and are looking for ways to “streamline the process.”
ABC News’ Mireya Villarreal contributed to this report.
How diverse is the list of stars who could take home a Grammy Sunday, might you ask? Let’s take a look at some of the Black artists nominated, some of whom will be new to the Grammy stage, others who are looking to add to their collection.
Louisiana superstar Jon Batiste is the most nominated artist of any this year, with 11 nods. Kanye West could take home five golden gramophones, adding to his collection of 22. Saweetie, Tems, Baby Keem,Jimmie Allen and Jazmine Sullivan — the latter of whom’s been nominated 15 times, including this year’s three nods, but hasn’t yet won — could all take home their first-ever award.
Winners will be announced at the 64th annual Grammy Awards, which will be broadcast live on Sunday, April 3 at 8:00 p.m. ET on CBS.
Here’s an overview of some of the artists nominated in top categories:
Record of the Year
Jon Batiste — “Freedom”
Giveon (w/ Justin Beiber) — “Peaches”
Doja Cat ft. SZA — “Kiss Me More”
Lil Nas X — “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)”
Silk Sonic — “Leave the Door Open”
Album of the Year
Jon Batiste — We Are
Doja Cat — Planet Her (Deluxe)
H.E.R. — Back of My Mind
Lil Nas X — Montero
Kanye West — Donda
Song of the Year
Alicia Keys (& Brandi Carlile) — “A Beautiful Noise”
H.E.R. — “Fight for You”
Doja Cat ft. SZA — “Kiss Me More”
Silk Sonic — “Leave the Door Open”
Lil Nas X — “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)”
Giveon (w/ Justin Beiber & Daniel Cesar) — “Peaches”
Best New Artist
Jimmie Allen
Baby Keem
Arlo Parks
Saweetie
Best R&B Song
H.E.R. — “Damage”
SZA — “Good Days”
Giveon — “Heartbreak Anniversary”
Silk Sonic — “Leave the Door Open”
Jazmine Sullivan — “Pick Up Your Feelings”
Best Rap Performance
Baby Keem ft. Kendrick Lamar — “Family Ties”
Cardi B — “Up”
J. Cole ft. 21 Savage & Morray — ”My Life”
Drake, ft. Future & Young Thug — “Way Too Sexy”
Megan Thee Stallion — “Thot Shit”
Best Rap Song
DMX ft. Jay-Z & Nas — “Bath Salts”
Saweetie ft. Doja Cat — “Best Friend”
Baby Keem ft. Kendrick Lamar — “Family Ties”
Kanye West ft.Jay-Z — “Jail”
J. Cole ft. 21 Savage & Morray — ”My Life”
Best Rap Album
J. Cole — The Off-Season
Drake — Certified Lover Boy
Nas — King’s Disease II
Tyler, the Creator — Call Me if You Get Lost
Kanye West — Donda
Best Gospel Album
Jekalyn Carr — Changing Your Story
Tasha Cobbs Leonard — Royalty: Live at the Ryman
Maverick City Music — Jubilee: Juneteenth Edition
Jonathan McReynolds & Mali Music — Jonny X Mali: Live in LA
CeCe Winans — Believe for It
Honorable mentions to Spice, nominated for Best Reggae Album, Wizkid for Best Global Music Album, Tems (w. Wizkid) for Best Global Music Performance, Mickey Guyton for Best Country Album & Solo Performance, Hit Boy for Producer of the Year, and LeVar Burton, Don Cheadle, J. Ivy, Dave Chappelle & Barack Obama, all nominated for Best Spoken Word Album.
Meghan Trainor says when it comes to her choice of underwear, she’s team granny panties, and has made her case why she will never forsake her full-coverage undies for a thong.
On her podcast Workin’ On It, the Grammy winner explained, “I love me a granny panty. I cannot wear thongs, I’m such a loser.” Meghan added, “Never wore a thong. I tried when I was younger and I hated it.”
She later admitted that was a little white lie, because she had to wear a thong when she sported a full bodysuit in 2019 for LA PRIDE. While she said on Instagram at the time that she “never felt more sexy in my life,” 2022 Meghan came clean and confessed that she was “so uncomfortable.”
The “Title” singer noted that it should be no secret that she wears big underwear. “When I record my workout videos, when my trainer’s recording me we’re always like, ‘Granny panties!’ Like it’s on my Instagram,” she laughed.
Meghan added that she “only” gets her underwear from Victoria’s Secret, “because they know how to make a good granny panty.” She also admitted that she is still wearing her “maternity panties” despite giving birth to her son Riley last year, because they “are large and they hug me.”
The “All About That Bass” artist also mused over the possibility of coming out with her own line of granny panties designed specifically to hide the lines. Whether or not she goes through with it has yet to be seen.
Jimmie Allen’s been pursuing a variety of fun activities and appearances outside his musical career lately, and his latest venture is as a guest star on the classic television show Let’s Make a Deal.
The show tweeted some pictures from his appearance on set, where he hung out with audience member contestants and even brought along his acoustic guitar for a quick musical interlude.
Jimmie is versatile on camera: He’s guest-hosted the Today Show, signed on as an executive music producer for the Netflix series Titletown High, and competed on Dancing with the Stars.
Of course, that’s not counting Jimmie’s many musical accomplishments, which are only growing: he’s nominated in the all-genre Best New Artist category at the 2022 Grammy Awards, which take place this weekend.
