Less than a month shy of his second birthday, Maren Morris’ baby boy Hayes is rocking his first pair of cowboy boots.
It’s rare that the country star shares photos of Hayes on her socials, but she made an exception to document the big moment, which took place during a trip to Fort Worth, Texas. The family snaps show Hayes giving his new boots a spin outside the store where he bought them, as proud parents Maren and Ryan Hurd watch their boy embrace his Texas roots.
“First pair of boots,” Maren wrote.
The Forth Worth Stockyards is familiar stomping grounds for Maren, no pun intended. The place where the photos were taken is just blocks away from Billy Bob’s Texas, a mainstay honky tonk on the regional and national country touring circuit.
Hayes comes by his flair for Western wear honestly. Not only are his parents country singers, but Maren’s also a Texas native. In March 2020, when she was nine months pregnant with Hayes, she played the famed Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, meaning that Hayes was yee-hawing even in utero.
Sure enough, hours after purchasing the boots, Maren shared a picture of Hayes, still rocking his new kicks. “He won’t take them off,” she explained.
Lights, camera, action: All the staging and performance details are falling into place for the 2022 ACM Awards, and all the acts on the bill are eagerly awaiting the big night — even if it rains.
“I think they’ve got a roof on that place, right?” jokes Josh McSwain of Parmalee, who will perform their hit duet with Blanco Brown, “Just the Way,” along with special guest Brooke Eden.
With an extra act onstage with them, Parmalee’s Matt Thomas promises “a different version of the song,” but he’s not spilling too many details for now.
“It’s good to kind of just broaden the view of the song,” he elaborates. “And for us, you know, [it’s] the first time being on an awards [show] stage, you know?…So we’re blown away already by just being part of it.”
Mitchell Tenpenny admits that he’s feeling anxious as he gears up to perform “At the End of a Bar,” his single with Chris Young. “I’m a little nervous, honestly, because it’s just been so long since we’ve done it,” he notes.
But those are good nerves: It’ll be a lot of fun to get onstage during the show, especially with a friend, he admits.
“I’m beyond excited,” Mitchell says. “It’s been two or three years since I’ve been back. So I’m excited to, first…go to the ACMs again and sit down there with everybody. But then to get to perform with my buddy Chris?…Exciting is the word.”
The ACMs will stream on Amazon Prime Video on March 7 beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
Bring Me the Horizon‘s Malta Weekender festival will be better than Fyre Festival in at least one regard.
Speaking to NME about the upcoming destination event, which the “DiE4u” rockers will host and headline on the Mediterranean island country, frontman Oli Sykes declared, “It’ll be like Fyre Festival, but with better sandwiches.”
In case you blocked it out of your memory, Fyre Festival was billed as an exclusive, luxury event in the Bahamas, co-founded by rapper Ja Rule and promoted by high profile models including Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski. However, when attendees arrived, they were instead greeted with unfinished facilities and disaster relief tents.
Better food aside, BMTH’s Malta Weekender just needs to happen at all to have a leg up on Fyre Festival, which was soon canceled after headliners Blink-182 and other artists dropped off the bill.
Malta Weekender takes place May 26-30. In addition to Horizon’s own headlining sets, the lineup includes Bullet for My Valentine, Beartooth, Motionless in White, PVRIS and Spiritbox.
In related news, Bring Me the Horizon has helped Ed Sheeran earn a career-first with their joint rendition of the pop star’s song “Bad Habits.”
The collaboration, which the two acts performed together at the BRIT Awards in February before releasing a studio version, debuts at number two on Billboard‘s Hot Hard Rock Songs chart, marking the first time Sheeran has appeared on the ranking.
Camila Cabello and Ed Sheeran are back at it again! And, by back at it, we mean back with another collaboration in the form of their new single “Bam Bam.”
Over an upbeat, Latin-inspired melody, Cabello sings about life and growth after a breakup with lyrics that seemingly reference her prior relationship with Shawn Mendes, whom she split from late last year.
“You said you hated the ocean / but you’re surfin’ now / I said I’d love you for life / but I just sold our house,” the song begins. “We were kids at the start / I guess we’re grown-ups now / Couldn’t ever imagine even havin’ doubts / But not everything works out, no.”
Coming to terms with the fact that not everything works out as planned, the Cuban-American singer takes on a carefree attitude, learning to dance and have fun through the heartache, as shown in the chorus lyrics: “Así es la vida, sí / Yeah, that’s just life, baby / Yeah, love came around and it knocked me down / But I’m back on my feet.”
Later, Sheeran chimes in with his own verse and the two harmonize together before the song comes to an end.
“Bam Bam” is the latest collaboration from Cabello and Sheeran, who previously teamed up on the English singer-songwriter’s 2019 track “South of the Border,” which also featured Cardi B.
Prior to the songs, release the “Havana” singer shared a teaser of the music video, which shows the two enjoying a drunken night with friends. Also ahead of the “Bam Bam” drop, Cabello revealed the release date for her third studio album.
“2 facts: it’s my birthday and this album is my whole f****** heart,” she tweeted. “FAMILIA. Out April 8.”
Yes, you read that correctly…rapper Snoop Dogg and supermodel Heidi Klum have teamed up for an upbeat, catchy dance track, “Chai Tea with Heidi.”
In the video for the new song, which dropped Thursday, Snoop can be seen dancing and bopping alongside Klum, who sings the hook of the tune.
“When I give my heart again, I know it’s gonna last forever/ No one tell me where or when, I know it’s gonna last forever,” the model sings.
“It was truly an honor to collaborate with so many amazing people to create this fun and upbeat music video,” said Klum. “I am still pinching myself to make sure this really happened.”
The 48-year-old model teased the new song and video many times on her Instagram, including a February behind-the-scenes post captioned, “Cant wait for my turn.”
“I love stepping outside of my comfort zone and challenging myself, so it was something I was definitely considering,” Klum said about the song in an interview with the New York Post. “I am a huge Snoop Dogg fan and I figured I needed to go big or go home.”
The fun dance track marks Klum’s first since her 2006 holiday tune, “Wonderland.”
(WASHINGTON) — They labored together in the shadows of legal giants on the nation’s highest court, seeing firsthand what it takes to be a justice. Now, a group of two-dozen former law clerks from the 1999 Supreme Court term want one of their own to don a black robe.
In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, obtained first by ABC News, the former clerks extoll the intellect and character of Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson with whom they served.
“We hold diverse points of view on politics, judicial philosophy, and much else. Yet we all support Judge Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court,” the group writes, “because we know her to be eminently qualified for this role in intellect, character, and experience.”
The letter comes as Jackson faces questions about her experience and qualification following nomination by President Joe Biden last month as the first Black woman ever elevated to the Supreme Court.
Jackson, who currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C., is a former clerk of Justice Stephen Breyer. The letter is signed by three other fellow former Breyer clerks from her year, as well as clerks for Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sandra Day O’Connor and David Souter.
“During our Term at the Court, we had the opportunity to work closely with Judge Jackson on a host of some of the most significant and contested issues of the times,” the group writes. “We came to know Judge Jackson as someone of exceptional intellectual gifts and unimpeachable character who approached her work with great care and professionalism.”
While clerks are not always ideological carbon copies of their bosses, justices in recent years have increasingly tended to select young lawyers who are “ideologically compatible,” research shows. Jackson’s boosters say the endorsement by former clerks of conservative justices corroborates a cross-cutting appeal.
Several highly respected conservative legal luminaries have also endorsed Jackson in recent days, including former federal appellate judges J. Michael Luttig and Thomas B. Griffith, and attorney William Burck, who represented several former Trump White House officials.
Jackson began a blitz of introductory one-on-one meetings with Republican and Democratic senators on Capitol Hill this week ahead of televised confirmation hearings later this month.
Biden has said he hopes to have Jackson confirmed to the bench with bipartisan support before Easter, though she would not be sworn in until Breyer retires at the end of June.
Clerks, who are recent law school graduates at the top of their classes, assist the justices with legal research, preparation of questions for oral argument and drafting opinions. Each justice accepts three to four clerks per term.
“A clerkship does give you an inside look on the dynamics of the court,” said Rachel Barkow, a former clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia and former Harvard Law School classmate of Jackson. “In the year that you’re there, you can witness how personalities may matter, sometimes how you run your chambers might matter and how cases are presented to you.”
Six of the nine current Supreme Court justices were clerks on the high court before they were later nominated and confirmed.
(NEW YORK) — Music producer Derrick Harris filed a lawsuit against the City of New York and the New York Police Department alleging he was wrongfully accused of sexual assault and imprisoned for four years on Rikers Island.
Harris was acquitted on some of the charges in 2015 and cleared of all charges in 2020, according to the lawsuit.
The city played a role in the arrest of Derrick Harris for “a bogus rape accusation, leading to his wrongful incarceration for four years,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump said at a press conference Thursday.
Harris was “wrongfully and falsely accused based on police lies,” he said.
Crump said evidence was fabricated against Harris to keep him imprisoned in Rikers Island for four years after his arrest and prior to trial. Harris was injured during his imprisonment, including suffering a skull fracture, he said.
The lawsuits also lists as defendants the police officers who arrested Harris, former New York District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and Carolina Holderness, the former deputy chief for the special victims bureau at the District Attorney’s office.
The NYPD declined to comment because they said they had not been served with the lawsuit.
Representatives for the city of New York, Vance Jr. and Holderness did not immediately reply to ABC News’ requests for comment. Attorney information for the officers was not immediately available.
According to the lawsuit, Harris was beaten and arrested at his home by NYPD officers on Sept. 12, 2011, after an incident in which a female acquaintance screamed for help from the balcony of his apartment, alleging he had sexually assaulted her. The woman left, but hours later officers entered his home without a warrant, the lawsuit claims.
Harris was punched, pushed and slammed to the ground by the officers, the lawsuit says. He was handcuffed without explanation or attempts at de-escalation, he alleges in the lawsuit.
After his arrest, the lawsuit says officers falsified witness evidence and evidence at the scene to obtain a warrant to search his home. It also claims that the alleged victim’s rape kit and other physical evidence was improperly handled and that Harris had to have the evidence tested which showed his DNA was not present and proved his innocence.
“And then he found out how easy it was for the system to gobble up a black man and just tried him out,” Crump said.
Prior to the incident, Harris was a self-employed music producer with clients including Wu-Tang Clan, Alicia Keys and Busta Rhymes. He had no prior convictions or time in prison, according to the lawsuit.
“I feel like if I wasn’t a black man, then the fact that they had evidence to prove my innocence within a few months of me being arrested, I would have not had to stay on Rikers Island for over four years, just like they did to Kalief Browder,” Harris said at the press conference, referencing the teenager who was imprisoned on Rikers Island for three years without a trial.
“They hold you on Rikers Island, with no case at all, in an attempt to try to get you to take a guilty plea. And it’s wrong. It has to be stopped,” Harris said.
(WASHINGTON) — A top Justice Department official has a stern warning for Russian oligarchs who attempt to evade U.S. sanctions: Nobody is out of the DOJ’s reach.
“The point of going after Putin’s cronies and Russian oligarchs who seek to violate our laws and shield their assets is to say that nobody is beyond the reach of our system of justice, beyond the reach of our work and cooperation with our allies, and that these cronies and oligarchs who seek to support and bolster the Russian regime shouldn’t be able to get away with that while people are dying,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told ABC News’ Byron Pitts.
The Justice Department on Wednesday announced a task force to target the assets of Russian oligarchs after President Joe Biden previewed the move in his State of the Union address Tuesday night.
The U.S. says some of the oligarchs have ties to President Vladimir Putin and he uses them to launder or hide hundreds of millions of dollars obtained through corruption.
Dubbed Task Force KleptoCapture, the group will investigate and implement new sanctions, combat unlawful efforts to undermine restrictions taken against Russian financial institutions, go after oligarchs who use cryptocurrency to evade U.S. sanctions and seize the assets of Russian oligarchs.
The deputy attorney general urged U.S. businesses to shore up their compliance with sanctions and make sure they know who they’re doing business with.
“Because if they don’t and they run afoul of the sanctions, the consequences can be quite severe,” she said. “And our investigations are often aided by companies and financial institutions that say, ‘You know what, we’re seeing some unusual activity,’ and sharing that information with us, and that’s critically important.”
Monaco said the task force is a “commitment” from the DOJ to put the full weight of the agency behind combatting “efforts of oligarchs and Putin’s cronies to evade sanctions, to launder money, to violate the sanctions that we’re imposing in an unprecedented way with our international partners.”
The deputy attorney general juxtaposed the images playing out on TV of people suffering in Ukraine with some of Russia’s wealthiest citizens evading sanctions.
“We’ve got people dying, bombs falling on civilian populations. All the while you’ve got oligarchs, Putin’s cronies who have engaged in corruptly acquiring billions of dollars, shrouding it and hiding it in luxury items in the West,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — Environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, claiming the agency has failed to help preserve Florida manatee habitats as the species faces rising deaths.
Nearly 1,100 manatees died in 2021, which is roughly 20% of the east coast population of manatees, according to a lawsuit filed by Save the Manatee Club, the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife.
“We’ve now had almost 300 [die] in 2022,” aquatic biologist Patrick Rose told ABC News. Rose is the executive director of Save the Manatee Club, the non-profit organization started by singer Jimmy Buffet in 1981 that is dedicated to protecting manatees and preserving their natural habitat.
The group tells ABC News that popular waterways for manatees, like the Indian River Lagoon on Florida’s east coast, have suffered years of pollution from sources like failed septic tanks, improperly treated sewage and fertilizer that deposits nutrients into the water.
“That excess nutrient causes algal blooms that were so severe that it shaded out the seagrass that manatees and other species depend on. The seagrass died,” Rose said.
Manatees typically eat 100 to 200 pounds of seagrass and other plants every day, or roughly 10-20% of their body weight. With so little seagrass available, the manatees have been starving, and in 2021 U.S Fish and Wildlife declared the high number of manatee deaths “an unusual mortality event”.
According to the lawsuit, the Florida manatee was first listed as an endangered species in 1967, but to help protect the animals even further, USFWS designated areas where manatees are found as a “critical habitat” in 1976. Critical habitats are specific areas that have biological and physical features that are important for the survival of a species.
When the critical habitat was first established, important components of the habitat, such as the seagrass, were not taken into consideration, Rose said.
But by 2008, updated Congressional and USFWS definitions of a critical habit and new scientific information required that the manatee’s critical habitat designation be adjusted, according to the lawsuit.
Environmental groups requested that USFWS update the term in 2008 and the agency agreed, but never followed through, according to the lawsuit.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not respond to an ABC News request for comment on the lawsuit.
Save the Manatee Club hopes the USFWS “will work with us now to ensure that seagrasses and warm water habitat are better protected to prevent a continuation of the devastating losses of so many manatees due the continuing loss of seagrasses, which are literally “critically important” to the future survival of manatees,” Rose said.
Save the Manatee is also appealing to the United States Environmental Protection Agency in hopes to upgrade water quality standards so that seagrass will not continue to die from pollution.
“Ultimately, we believe that we must use the provisions of both the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act to ensure that manatees are protected today and for the foreseeable future,” Rose said.
If the court rules in favor of the environmental groups, it will result in higher standards and stiffer penalties for those who pollute waters which kill seagrass. According to Rose, until the standards are raised, the manatees and their ecosystems will continue to be under threat.
After giving Spotify a Weezer makeover, Rivers Cuomo and company have now turned their attention to Wordle.
The “Buddy Holly” rockers have launched Weezle, their own version of the popular word game that’s been sweeping the internet over the past few months. Just like with the original Wordle, Weezle gives you six chances to guess a five-letter word, though this version, of course, is all Weezer-themed.
“If you like Wordle and Weezer, you’ll probably like Weezle,” Cuomo says.
If that describes someone like you, you can try out the first Weezle now at Weezle.web.app. If you need a hint — spoiler alert — try looking at the track list for Weezer’s Blue Album.
As for that Weezer version of Spotify, that would be Weezify. Cuomo launched Weezify in January amid artists including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell removing their music from the streaming platform in protest of its continued hosting of Joe Rogan‘s podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, which has been criticized for spreading misinformation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines.
Meanwhile, Weezer has been working on new music, and plans to release four albums this year as part of the band’s SZNS project.
