Young Thug’s attorneys have filed an emergency motion for a bond hearing or “more humane/non-torturous in-custody housing,” claiming the rapper is being held in “dungeon-like conditions.”
In the motion, obtained by ABC News, the attorneys say Young Thug – born Jeffrey Williams – is entitled to a bond hearing as a matter of law, citing that he is not a convicted felon, a flight risk or a danger to the community. The attorneys also state that Williams is innocent of the charges being brought against him.
The motion detailed the conditions Williams has allegedly been facing at Georgia’s Fulton County Jail, claiming he has been in solitary confinement and total isolation in a windowless cell. It says he has been given “no opportunity to exercise, shower or have human contact/interaction save his counsel, day after day.”
Williams was booked on multiple racketeering and gang-related charges Monday. He was indicted along with fellow rapper Gunna and over two dozen others.
Saturday will mark the first time both Selena Gomez and Post Malone joined Saturday Night Live as host and musical guest, respectively, which NBC highlighted in a series of promos Friday.
The first promo has actress Aidy Bryant raving that their group consisted of “two pop stars and two comedy actors.” Selena, who stars in Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, corrects, “I’m actually also an actor.”
Post, who is clutching a red solo cup, chimes in with, “And I’m not really a pop star.” That leads to Bowen Yang declaring, “And I prefer drama!”
“Okay, well, I didn’t know you were also a bunch of divas,” Bryant huffs and calls everyone “rude.”
In the second promo, everyone insists Selena must be nervous about hosting SNL for the first time, but Selena keeps insisting she’s just “excited.”
“Well, you sure? You sure you don’t got ants in your pants?” Bryant insists as Post encourages her to “check to see if you actually have ants in your pants.”
A suspicious Selena asks what’s up and learns that Yang and Bryant spilled jelly on her pants, left them on the street for three days and — as a final insult, Post “spilled my ant farm on your pants.” They all say “sorry” in unison as Selena stares off in disbelief.
While this marks the “Lose You to Love Me” singer’s first time hosting, this isn’t her first time on SNL. She served as musical guest in 2016.
Saturday Night Live airs Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
This Saturday marks the 40th anniversary of the release of The Clash‘s fifth and most commercially successful studio album, Combat Rock.
Released on May 14, 1982, the album was the final Clash studio effort recorded by the lauded British punk band’s classic lineup of singer/guitarists Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, bassist Paul Simonon and drummer Topper Headon.
Combat Rock peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, and featured the singles “Rock the Casbah” and “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” as well as such gems as “Know Your Rights” and “Straight to Hell.” “Rock the Casbah” became the group’s only top-10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching #8, while “Should I Stay or Should I Go” peaked at #45 on the chart.
The music for “Rock the Casbah” was notably written by Headon on piano. The song’s popularity was bolstered by a music video that went into heavy rotation on MTV.
The album also found the band experimenting with a number of musical styles. “Ghetto Defendant” features spoken-word vocals by famed beat poet Allen Ginsberg, while “Overpowered by Funk” includes rapping by New York City-based graffiti artist Futura 2000.
Combat Rock was co-produced by The Clash and famed rock producer Glyn Johns, and was certified double Platinum by the RIAA.
As previously reported, a special expanded Combat Rock reissue, titled Combat Rock/The People’s Hall, will be released on May 20 in honor of the album’s 40th anniversary.
The People’s Hall is a 12-track collection compiled by The Clash that includes unheard, rare and early versions of songs recorded at the same time as the Combat Rock sessions. You can pre-orderCombat Rock/The People’s Hall now.
Here’s Combat Rock‘s full track list:
“Know Your Rights”
“Car Jamming”
“Should I Stay or Should I Go”
“Rock the Casbah”
“Red Angel Dragnet”
“Straight to Hell”
“Overpowered by Funk”
“Atom Tan”
“Sean Flynn”
“Ghetto Defendant”
“Inoculated City”
“Death Is a Star”
True Lies, an adaptation of the 1994 James Cameron-directed film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis, is coming to CBS as a series.
The series had been in development for a while, with Cameron producing. Last year, Shameless veteran Steve Howey and forthcoming star of Marvel Studios’ She-Hulk, Ginger Gonzaga, were announced as playingHarry and Helen Tasker, the roles Schwarzenegger and Curtis respectively played in the blockbuster film.
As in the movie, Harry is hiding from his unfulfilled wife his life as secret agent for an independent spy agency. The TV show’s cast also includes Lucas Jaye, Erica Hernandez and Omar Miller.
(HOT SPRINGS, Ark.) — Police in Hot Springs, Arkansas, said they arrested a man after a shooting left one person dead and three others injured following a high school graduation.
The three injured were transported to local hospitals to be treated and suffered non-life threatening injuries, according to the Hot Springs Police Department.
Police say the shooting occurred after a large fight broke out in a parking lot across from a convention center where the ceremony was being held for Hot Springs World Class High School on Thursday night.
“During the fight, HSPD officers and Garland County deputies were on scene attempting to defuse the situation when a single gunman began shooting into the crowd. Officers of the HSPD returned fire on the suspect, later identified as Charles Johnson,” Officer Omar Cervantes, a spokesperson for the HSPD, told ABC News in a statement on Friday.
Johnson, 25, was wounded, but able to flee the scene, Cervantes said. He was later arrested while getting treatment for his wounds at a local hospital, he said. Johnson has been charged with one count of murder in the first degree and three counts of battery.
Arkansas State Police are investigating the officer-involved shooting and the officers involved have been placed on administrative leave with pay until the investigation is complete, Cervantes said.
Hot Springs Superintendent Dr. Stephanie Nehus acknowledged the incident in a Facebook update on Friday saying school counselors and staff will be working with students who witnessed events.
“We are heartbroken that these violent events took place following such a beautiful celebration for our graduates and their families. Our Law Enforcement Officers and staff will continue to do all that we can to collaborate with local law enforcement agencies/officials to complete an investigation,” Nehus said.
No current students or graduates were involved in the incident, Nehus said in an earlier post. “Our hearts and thoughts are with all individuals who suffered injuries tonight,” she said.
Hot Springs is about an hour west of Little Rock, Arkansas.
(NEW YORK) — Delaware State University announced plans to file a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice over what its president called a “constitutionally dubious” drug search of a bus transporting its women’s lacrosse team through Georgia last month.
The historically Black university intends to file the complaint next week, alleging “misconduct” by the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office, the school’s president, Tony Allen, said during a press briefing Friday.
Allen did not go into detail on the contents of the complaint ahead of the filing, but said that “from our standpoint, the evidence is clear and compelling.”
“What we believe is that the search was conducted inappropriately, and there was implicit racial bias in the search,” he said, noting that the lacrosse team is 70% African American.
The university is seeking “justice” for the student-athletes, who may choose to pursue legal action on their own, Allen said.
Liberty County deputies pulled the bus over for an alleged traffic violation that then turned into a drug search. Nothing illegal was found, authorities and school officials said.
The incident, which occurred on April 20, came to light after one of the team’s lacrosse players wrote about the search in the school’s newspaper last week with the headline, “Delaware State Women’s Lacrosse Team Felt Racially Profiled by Police in Georgia.” The player also released a video of part of the deputies’ interactions with the team.
The team’s head coach, Pamella Jenkins, also charged that it was an incident of racial profiling in interview with ABC Philadelphia station WPVI.
In response to the allegations, Liberty County Sheriff William Bowman said this week that there was probable cause for the luggage search due to an alert from a K9.
“Although I do not believe any racial profiling took place based on the information I currently have, I welcome feedback from our community on ways that our law enforcement practices can be improved while still maintaining the law,” he said.
The sheriff’s office also released body-camera footage of the incident, during which a deputy can be heard telling the student-athletes to come forward with anything “questionable.”
“Marijuana is still illegal in the state of Georgia,” he said.
Prior to conducting the search, the deputy can be heard while in his cruiser saying, “There’s a bunch of dang school girls on the bus. There’s probably some weed. Maybe.”
The university contacted Delaware Attorney General Kathleen Jennings about the incident, who this week wrote to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division “urging a full examination,” she said.
In her letter, Jennings said she was “deeply troubled” by what happened.
“By all accounts these young women represented their school and our state with class — and they were rewarded with a questionable-at-best search through their belongings in an effort to find contraband that did not exist,” she wrote. “Not only did the deputies find nothing illegal in the bags; they did not issue a single ticket for the alleged traffic infraction.”
Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron missed the band’s show in Oakland Thursday after testing positive for COVID-19.
Frontman Eddie Vedder explained Cameron’s absence ahead of a performance of the song “Why Go,” proclaiming that the drummer is a “true artist and…a force of nature.”
Vedder then added, “However, even his superhero status could not prevent him from testing positive [for COVID-19].”
With Cameron sidelined, Pearl Jam recruited a pair of guest drummers to fill in for him: ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who joined PJ last year as a multi-instrumentalist touring member, and Richard Stuverud, who’s previously collaborated with bassist Jeff Ament.
For the night’s closing song, Vedder invited a fan named Josh Arroyo to play drums on “Yellow Ledbetter.”
A post-show photo of the set list revealed which drummer played on which song.
Pearl Jam’s tour is set to continue Friday with another show in Oakland.
(WASHINGTON) — House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol facing the Supreme Court on Friday, calling on the justices to defend access to abortion on the eve of abortion rights protests in Washington and nationwide.
It comes after the unprecedented leak last week of a Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade followed by Senate Democrats’ failure to codify abortion rights into federal law on Wednesday.
“Americans are marching and making their voices heard,” Pelosi said. “Public sentiment is everything. We will never stop fighting for patients and their health care.”
Pelosi said Republicans around the country have already mobilized a “dangerous” and “extreme” agenda to criminalize all forms of reproductive healthcare — referring to the conservative push for a nationwide abortion ban — even though Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he would not try to break a Democratic filibuster to block a ban should Republicans take control of Congress.
She warned, because Roe is based on a constitutional right to privacy, that other similar rights such as same-sex marriage and contraception would be stripped from Americans if Roe case is overturned.
Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., sponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act, commended her colleagues for passing her House bill in September that would provide a national right to abortion, calling it the “most supportive” reproductive rights bill in the history of Congress.
Chu called out West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin who voted with anti-abortion Republicans to block the Senate bill, arguing it went “too far.”
“Even though Senator Manchin did not join, all of the other 49 Senate Democrats did. I also want to talk about that to so called pro-choice Republicans who voted against whip-up because they said our bill goes too far. Well, that’s not true. It does exactly what we need it to do — uphold Roe versus Wade.”
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., co-chair of the congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, said Republican lawmakers are “out of step” with Americans’ views because a majority of them support abortion access and personal liberty to make their own decisions regarding their reproductive health care.
“This is personal for many of us,” said Lee. “It’s personal for me, because I know firsthand what being denied access to legal abortion looks like. I have personally experienced the fear the stigma, the trauma, the despair, of being denied the care that you need. I know what it’s like to have your medical decisions criminalized to be forced to travel for the care that you need and to see your future hang on the decisions of politicians rather than doctors.”
Reps. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., and Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., called on Americans to mobilize for the approaching midterms in November.
“I am proud to stand with my Democratic colleagues and with our speaker,” said Maloney. “We are united in our resolve to defend abortion rights in this country with our like minded men and women. And it’s time to take America forward again.”
(DALLAS) — Haley Taylor Schlitz made headlines in 2019 after getting accepted into nine law schools. She was just 16 at the time.
Now, after three years of classes, long nights, clerkships and internships – and a pandemic to boot – Taylor Schlitz is ready to step into her next chapter.
The 19-year-old from Keller, Texas, graduates from Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law on Friday and will become the Dallas law school’s youngest Black student to do so, the school confirmed to “Good Morning America.”
“We are incredibly proud of Haley and all she has accomplished during her time at SMU Law School. We know she is going to make a difference in this world, and we can’t wait to see all the wonderful places her career will take her,” SMU Dedman School of Law Professor Jennifer Collins told “GMA” in an emailed statement.
Schlitz told “GMA” it feels surreal to finally be graduating but is ready for her big day.
“It’s just been a lot of buildup and it’s really exciting to take off,” the student said.
She’ll be celebrating this weekend with her family, including her mother, father and siblings before she gets cracking on her bar exam studies next Monday. “My village is a huge part of my motivation to keep going,” Schlitz said.
“My mom has been probably my absolute biggest motivator, my biggest supporter, the person that I look up to the most,” she continued. “She’s an ER doctor and so for the longest time, I wanted to be an ER doctor, but even after wanting to be an attorney, and now going to law school, she’s still somebody that is such a huge life counselor, such a great advisor for me.”
When she stopped by the “GMA” studio three years ago, Schlitz said she wanted to “help other students and fight for equity” and with law school wrapped up, she wants to do just that.
“I absolutely feel that even more strongly now,” Schlitz said. “It’s so much more tangible. I’m so close to actually being able to make that impact that I’ve been talking about … write that legislation, really get active.”
Schlitz, who cited criminal law and torts law as her two favorite law school courses, hopes to work in educational policy or teach. “I have quite a few job offers and right now, it just depends on where I want to be in the country,” she said.
For others searching for their own success, Schlitz said she had one key message for them.
“You don’t find your path. You make it,” she said. “Take life by the reins, by the horns, and just really make what you want your reality.”
She also encouraged people to take advantage of opportunities and not to be afraid to take chances.
“It’s OK to make mistakes,” Schlitz said.
She went on, “Just go back to your foundation and build up again and don’t be confined to boxes or stereotypes or when other people are trying to say whether it’s no or yes. It’s really up to you.”
(AUSTIN, Texas) — The Texas Supreme Court reversed the statewide halt on investigations into parents who provide gender-affirming care to their transgender children on Friday.
However, the court also stated that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is not legally obligated to investigate such care as child abuse based on the directives from Gov. Greg Abbott and state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The court did not rule whether such investigations violate the families’ rights or not — that is still up to lower courts.
In a Feb. 22 letter, Abbott called gender-transitioning or affirming procedures “child abuse,” following an opinion from Paxton that said the same.
Paxton attacked gender-affirming care for LGBTQ youth, saying that his opinion “comes at a critical time” when “Texans are seeing the horrors that flow from the merging of medicine and misguided ideology.”
State District Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued a temporary injunction on the directive in March after hearing from the parents of a 16-year-old transgender girl who were under investigation by DFPS. Meachum also heard from attorneys from the state.
The Texas Court of Appeals later that month affirmed the injunction.
The state Supreme Court said that neither the governor’s letter nor the attorney general’s opinion changed the legal obligations of the DFPS and have no authority over the state agency. Gov. Abbott was dismissed from the case, because the court states he has no authority over such investigations.
In February, the DFPS announced that it would comply with Paxton and Abbott’s directive. It was investigating at least nine families under Paxton’s directive, an agency spokesperson told ABC News.
“In sum, we are directed to no source of law obligating DFPS to base its investigatory decisions on the Governor’s letter or the Attorney General’s Opinion,” the opinion from the Texas Supreme Court states.
The court also will uphold the decision to block an investigation into a family that is suing the DFPS and Governor Greg Abbott over the directive.
According to an ACLU complaint against the state, “some doctors and other providers have discontinued prescribing medically necessary treatment for gender dysphoria to transgender youth” as a result of Abbott’s directive.
