(PIGEON FORGE, Tenn.) — Dolly Parton’s signature Tennessee theme park and resort, Dollywood, has announced a new program to help employees further their education.
Dollywood’s operating partner, Herschend Enterprises, is piloting a program that will pay for 100 percent of tuition, fees and books for employees who decide to pursue higher education, according to the Dollywood website.
The program, which is named GROW U and launches Feb. 24, will be open to all team members on the first day of their employment and applies to employees at all levels, including those who are part-time, full-time and seasonal.
It will be available to all 11,000 employees across Herschend’s 25 attractions, including The Harlem Globetrotters, Missouri’s Silver Dollar City, New Jersey’s Adventure Aquarium and Georgia’s Wild Adventures, according to a press release.
This is the latest education-focused enterprise Parton has embarked on over the course of her decades-long career. Notably, she previously launched the Imagination Library, which provides free books to children under the age of 5.
Most recently, Parton donated $1 million to research at Vanderbilt University which led to the creation of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.
Billie Eilish and her brother FINNEAS visited President Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday.
The duo is currently on Eilish’s Happier Than Ever Tour and had a show scheduled at Washington D.C.’s Capital One Arena, but before they took the stage, they made a pit stop at the White House with their parents. In addition to meeting the president, the siblings got to meet Biden’s newest German shepherd, Commander.
Biden later shared a snapshot of the trio together on social media, and wrote, “When I heard my friends @billieeilish and @finneas were in town for a show, I knew I had to invite them over to the White House. Great to see you and your family — and I’m glad you got to meet Commander.”
Finneas shared the post on his Instagram story and added, “So cool.”
(KYIV, Ukraine) — Russia has officially kicked off the main phase of huge joint military exercises in Belarus, as Western countries continue to warn Russian forces massed near Ukraine could be used to launch a possible attack.
Russia has poured an unprecedented number of troops and equipment into Belarus over recent weeks ahead of the 10-day drills, moving units almost 6,000 miles from its far east and deploying tanks, long-range artillery and advanced fighter jets.
The United States and NATO countries have expressed worries that the exercises could be used as a cover for preparations for a possible on Ukraine, whose capital, Kyiv, is less than 200 miles south.
But Russia and Belarus have insisted the drills are just defensive war games. Russia’s defense ministry on Thursday said the exercises, called “Union Resolve 2022,” will “practice averting and repelling external aggression via a defensive operation, as well as combating terrorism and defending the interests” of Russia and Belarus.
The exercises are due to end on Feb. 20 and the Kremlin has said its troops will leave Belarus then.
Russia’s deployment of troops to Belarus is part of its broader military buildup massing over 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s eastern border and to the south in Crimea. Independent military analysts have sounded the alarm over the exercises, saying the scale of the Russian deployment is vastly larger than anything since the Cold War and includes units that would be used in a major invasion, such as advanced anti-air defences and Iskander-M long-range missile brigades. Satellite imagery has shown some of the Russian units are parked only a few dozen miles from Ukraine’s border, in areas not officially designated for the exercise.
The Belarus drills will coincide with what Western countries and some analysts have said is the window when Russia will reach the point of readiness to launch a major military operation against Ukraine.
NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday warned “the number of Russian forces is going up. The warning time for a possible attack is going down.”
“We must be prepared for the worst while remaining strongly committed to finding a political solution,” Stoltenberg added.
Ukrainian officials are much more skeptical and have denied the Russian forces in Belarus appear ready to launch an offensive. Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov this week said Ukraine did not see Russia forming any strike groups in Belarus and that it had insufficient forces, he estimated only several thousand.
Ukraine’s government has said it believes the Russian buildup right now is primarily aimed at putting psychological pressure on Ukraine with the threat of attack.
In the next 10 days Russia will make a vast display of military power to the north, east and south of Ukraine, holding exercises on an unprecedented scale also outside Belarus. The period seems likely to be a key moment in determining whether the crisis escalates or if the Russian buildup turns to a bluff.
The exercises in Belarus will also overlap with large-scale Russian naval drills in the Black Sea, that on Thursday prompted Ukraine to accuse Moscow of mounting an “unprecedented” naval blockade of Ukrainian ports. Six Russian warships, including amphibious landing ships, entered the Black Sea Wednesday night, to join a fleet already there. Ukraine said it “strongly protests” against the live-fire drills between Feb. 13 and Feb. 19 that are expected to close off access to much of its coast in the Black Sea and to the Sea of Azov.
If President Vladimir Putin is preparing to attack, the Russian build up appears to be approaching a point of maximum danger, according to some analysts, who say it has nearly completed its build up of heavy equipment and is now entering a phase where it will move up personnel to man it.
That does not mean that Russia will attack — U.S. officials say they believe Putin has not yet made a decision — just that it will have the forces in place to do so within the next two weeks.
“Once the second phase of the exercise begins on the 10th, I think they’re going to have everything they need in place and I think that week or the week after would make the most sense for an escalation if Russia is planning on doing an escalation,” Rob Lee, an analyst at Kings College London’s War Studies department, told ABC News.
An analysis by Janes, the defense think tank, estimated there are at least 14 Russian battalion tactical groups in Belarus with around 8,000 to 14,000 troops. The U.S. has said it assesses as many as 30,000 could take part.
“Best case scenario at the end of the exercise they start moving that equipment out,” Lee said. But as long as that equipment is still there then the risk is going to be very high of an escalation.”
Lee said he believed a military incursion was more likely than not.
The Kremlin has denied it has any invasion plans, dismissing it as Western “hysteria.” After meeting the U.K.’s foreign minister in Moscow on Thursday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov mocked Western allegations Russia was preparing to attack, including claims it might be waiting for the ground to freeze to allow tank movements.
“It’s like when they say that Russia is waiting for the ground to freeze so that tanks can easily enter Ukraine,” he added. “It seems that our British colleagues were on similar ground today, off of which bounced all the facts we presented them.”
Key talks are taking place in Berlin Thursday aimed at continuing diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the crisis. Ukraine and Russia will meet at the so-called “Normandy Format,” the long-running negotiations, mediated by France and Germany, aimed at resolving the conflict between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists in its east.
No breakthrough is expected, but Western countries are hoping the talks can build on the small positive signs for diplomacy that emerged from French President Emmanuel Macron’s meeting with Putin in Moscow at the start of this week.
Erika Goldring/Getty Images; Jean Catuffe/Getty Images
In case you missed it, U.S. figure skater Nathan Chenwon the gold medal Wednesday night at the Winter Olympics in Beijing in the men’s singles competition, delivering a thrilling free skate program set to a medley of cover versions of Elton John songs, including “Rocket Man” and “Bennie and the Jets.”
Now, the “Rocket Man” himself has extended congratulations to the 22-year-old athlete via his social media pages.
“Congratulations Nathan Chen for winning Gold skating to ‘Rocket Man’ in the free skate finals in Beijing,” Elton writes.
The British pop-rock legend also points out that Chen is featured in new episodes of the Olympic Channel series From the Top, which Elton executive-produced for his Rocket Sports production company.
Nathan appears with singer/actress Hayley Kiyoko in three segments of the program, which pairs Olympic athletes and music artists together and features them discussing their journeys to success. You can check out the episodes at Olympics.com.
If your idea of a great Valentine’s Day is curling up with your partner for a romantic movie, you’re not alone. A recent survey from Fandango’s on-demand streaming service Vudu showed 82% of Americans do.
But what to watch? Based on Google Trends data, the number crunchers at Comparitech have ranked which states dig which movies.
The most popular movie overall is the 1988 Eddie Murphy classic Coming to America. The romantic comedy was liked by people in the most states, including Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland and South Carolina.
Some states prefer movies set within their own borders: New Yorkers pegged When Harry Met Sally as their favorite, and the fairy tale Enchanted also ranked high in the Empire State.
Californians tapped LA-set Clueless, and Hawaiians chose 2004’s 50 First Dates, the Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore movie set in the Aloha State, while Illinois residents dug Sixteen Candles — local legend John Hughes set his 1984 film in Chicago, as he often did.
Pennsylvania chose 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook — the Oscar winner starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro was set and shot in Philadelphia and hinges, among other things, on Cooper’s obsession with the Eagles.
The rankings also show some odd pairings. Nebraska drew a big heart around Real Genius. The 1986 comedy classic stars Val Kilmer and Gabriel Jarret as two super-smart college students who develop a super-laser they discover the government wants to use as a weapon. Granted, there’s a romantic subplot between Jarret’s Mitch and Michelle Meyrink‘s Jordan.
Another question mark: The Oscar-winning 1997 Holocaust film Life Is Beautiful was a favorite V-Day watch in Nevada and Florida, according to the rankings.
Survey questions, methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.
(WASHINGTON) — As a Supreme Court confirmation battle looms, Justice Sonia Sotomayor delivered a sobering warning Wednesday about intensifying partisanship that she says puts the court’s independence at the brink of crisis.
“As norms of the nomination process are broken, as more senators, congressional representatives, governors, mayors, local politicians, and the media question the legitimacy of the court,” she said, “the threat is greater and unprecedented than any time in our history.”
Sotomayor, who is poised to become the court’s most senior liberal justice when Justice Stephen Breyer retires this summer, made the unusually pointed public remarks in a high-profile virtual appearance for New York University Law School.
“The more partisan the voting becomes, the less belief that the public is likely to have that Congress is making a merit-based or qualifications-based assessment of judicial nominees,” Sotomayor said of the Senate confirmation process.
An ABC News/Ipsos poll late last month found more Americans believe politics — rather than the basis of law — guide most of the court’s decisions. Public approval of the court has also slumped to near historic lows in Gallup polling, down double digits from just over a year ago when approval was near a two-decade high.
President Joe Biden is said to be pursuing a nominee who can draw bipartisan support in part as an effort to dial-down the partisanship around confirmations.
Sotomayor said the divisive and politically polarizing process has harmed perceptions of the court’s impartiality, and also suggested it may be directly affecting the court’s functioning on the inside.
“The emphasis to pick nominees with extensive writings and publicly expressed views on precedents of the court can be viewed as a way –and can be viewed by the public as ways — to control a judge from changing his or her mind,” Sotomayor said in what was widely seen as a veiled reference to groups like the conservative Federalist Society, which has sought ideological uniformity in nominees.
“We have an obligation to keep open minds,” she said, “that we are willing to change with time and experience. If we don’t show it, people will believe — perhaps wrongly — that we are just political creatures and not independent judges.”
“The history of the court has been filled with justices changing their doctrinal views over time,” she added.
Many of the court’s conservatives have adopted a different view, vowing adherence to originalism and textualism which resists evolution in interpretation based on changing circumstances in society and the law.
Sotomayor did not directly address recent public controversies involving her colleagues, but at one point she did appear to offer veiled critiques of Justice Neil Gorsuch’s closed-door speech to the Federalist Society last week and growing questions about Justice Clarence Thomas’ potential political conflicts.
“Most appointed judges have friends and people they know in the political arenas. Ending relationships is not required,” she said, “but care by judges and ensuring that contacts do not give the impression of undue influence or endorsement is necessary.
“We must also be sensitive to not prejudging cases in speeches,” she continued. “We have a wonderful vehicle — our opinions — to set forth our judicial views. Speeches on legal issues, if not done carefully, can give the appearance of undue influence by groups we choose to give speeches to.”
(NEW YORK) — Caroline Altagracia, a college student at the University of Albany, said she became interested in cryptocurrency while still in high school.
“It’s definitely been an empowering journey,” Altagracia. “I feel like when I initially was intimidated, I had to kind of get past that and really understand that, you know, I can invest in this, I can learn about it throughout the entire process.”
Cryptocurrency and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) may be attracting more minority investors who have historically had barriers to traditional financial investment options like the stock market and real estate, according to some in the space.
“Our communities have been locked out of the financial system, we have not been able to participate, when you look at what’s happened in the banking sector, and even Wall Street. So … decentralization is an opportunity for us to not have any barriers to entry and also participate and be producers as well,” said Cleve Mesidor, who leads the advocacy group, National Policy Network of Women of Color in Blockchain, told ABC News.
Decentralization means that cryptocurrency — which is digital money — is not under the control and regulation of standard financial institutions.
Through crypto boot camps, Altagracia, who is Latina, said she learned most of the ins and outs of digital currency from Carlos Acevedo, her former high school teacher who held cryptocurrency boot camps through his organization, the Crypto Community Project.
Originally from the Bronx, New York, Acevedo, a Latino man and former English teacher, said he entered the crypto world after investing in dogecoin — another digital currency — in 2014 to help raise money for Jamaica’s Olympic bobsledding team.
Two years later, Acevedo said he began investing in Bitcoin and Ethereum (two other crypto platforms) after learning the fundamentals of cryptocurrency through podcasts and YouTube.
As his confidence built, he said he decided to take another challenge — pass on his crypto knowledge to his students.
“During my lunch break, [students] saw me watching YouTube videos, they saw me listening to podcasts, reading and they wanted to make money on Bitcoin,” Acevedo told ABC News.
“And so my lunch club kind of organically became a way for students to learn about it because I began teaching it. It really solidified my own understanding,” he said.
Acevedo said minority groups are drawn to the crypto world due to opportunities to build wealth and gain financial independence from other financial institutions.
“Younger people, minorities, people who may have not been quote-unquote, educated, on the traditional finance system,” Acevedo said. “They might see this, especially the anti-establishment in the crypto sphere as more attractive to become engaged with,” he said.
“Not only are people looking at this as a way to become financial literate, but really to take advantage and build wealth that they feel like that they have missed out on.”
Sheika Reid, is an African American woman who works in human resources for a tech software company, and also mints NFTs (non-fungible tokens) for Black artists.
NFTs are a form of currency with an intrinsic value which run on the Ethereum blockchain. Reid told ABC News that NFT pieces can be purchased and sold using different forms of crypto.
Reid said NFTs give Black artists a platform for their work to be recognized.
“Specifically for Black artists … there’s this opportunity where people who’ve never made money from their art before are making, you know, six, seven figures,” she said. “I knew that this was a unique opportunity to get people who are being excluded from the conversation involved but who bring a lot of value to the crypto space,” she added.
Digital platforms like Open Sea — considered the largest NFT marketplace, allow a diverse range of artists to profit off their work.
“Creatives can now first protect their intellectual property, monetize their work, and also create a marketplace. Creatives across the nation have made more money in the last two years than they have in the last decade. And that’s a boom to local cities and their economies,” Mesidor said.
The accessibility to all users is the appeal of crypto, according to Mesidor.
With no need of a bank account or a college degree, Reid said cryptocurrencies give marginalized groups autonomy over their investments and peer-to-peer transactions.
“It’s up to us to figure out what are some ways for us to build wealth intergenerationally so that we can, you know, have the opportunity to prosper economically,” Reid said.
As the government starts looking at the regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, Mesidor said Black and Latino innovators, entrepreneurs and small businesses need to have a seat at the table and participate in those conversations.
“Too often we are not just left out of the traditional financial system, we are left out of the policymaking, so, therefore, we end up with the same laws perpetuating the same inequities,” Mesidor said.
The financial empowerment of Latinos, according to Acevedo, is one of the main reasons he continues to teach cryptocurrencies and shape the young generation of investors.
He said what students learn in the classroom can potentially leave impact beyond borders.
“What you have here is the ability for Latinos in the U.S. to create crypto enclaves and knowledge that will then, I hope, transfer back to their home countries,” he said.
“I’m of the firm belief that if to give prosperity to people and their families, you know, I trust them more to do so than what the institutions have demonstrated in the last 10 years.”
The ability to create generational wealth with cryptocurrencies is a long-term goal for many Black and Latino investors, according to Mesidor.
The road to achieving the goal, however, it’s not easy.
“Generational wealth is something that takes a long time to build, especially for communities that have been historically disadvantaged, and historically excluded,” she said. “What we can do is move towards financial inclusion [and] focus on economic empowerment, which is anchored in financial literacy.”
And the road to financial empowerment still has its downsides. The crypto market collapsed at the end of January, wiping out more than $1 trillion.
“Never risk money that you are not willing to lose,” Acevedo said.
Yet, as her college graduation approaches, Altagracia said investing in cryptocurrencies is a stepping stone to building wealth for years to come.
“Crypto has been the opportunity for us to finally take control of our financial lives, for us to apply the knowledge that we have and find ways where it’s a benefit, not just us in our future, but our families as well,” Altagracia said.
“When it comes to minorities investing in crypto, there has been a lack of trust in the systems, but I do feel like crypto has provided a new opportunity for us to be involved.”
(NEW YORK) — When tennis star Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open in May 2021 to protect her mental health, the move shook the tennis world and put mental health in the spotlight.
As Osaka, then 23 and the No. 2 player in the world, walked away from the Grand Slam event at the top of her game, she shared her struggles with depression and anxiety with her fans. The move was unprecedented in the sport and deeply relatable for many.
“The truth is that I have suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018 and I have had a really hard time coping with that,” she wrote on Instagram at the time.
“I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris,” Osaka wrote. “I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer. More importantly I would never trivialize mental health or use the term lightly.”
Osaka, who has returned to tennis competition, most recently competing in the Australian Open, is now reflecting on that moment and why she chose to speak about her mental health.
“It was important to me to be public because … I think it gives me clarity,” Osaka, 24, said in an interview with Good Morning America. “Just saying out loud that I’ll take a break and I’ll come back when I am truly in love with the sport and I know what I want to do here; it gave me time to reset myself.”
Journaling has become a regular part of her self-care routine, she said.
“Lately, I’ve been writing in my journal, and I think that that keeps my thoughts in order,” she said. “I feel like it gives me clarity on what I want to do and what I want to accomplish.”
Osaka said her ambitions extend beyond the court to being an entrepreneur and the founder of KINLÒ, a beauty brand designed for melanin-rich skin. The company launched in September 2021 with natural skin care products and sunscreen.
“KINLÒ was made for people with melanated skin,” she said. “Because we found that there wasn’t that many sunscreen products available for them.”
Osaka said she hopes through KINLÒ she can bring awareness that skin cancer affects people of all skin tones and help everyone embrace their beauty and health inside and out. Her idea of beauty centers on celebrating our individuality with our skincare needs and rituals.
“I think to me, beauty is a uniqueness,” she said. “Just embracing your uniqueness and your individuality is what makes you beautiful to me.”
Nicki Minaj is apparently willing to make things right after being criticized for a Black History Month Event she participated in with TikTok.
According to E! Online, on Wednesday, TikTok influencers were invited to a Zoom chat with Nicki as part of TikTok’s Black History Month celebration. But Black TikTok creators later complained that the event, which had a 300-person limit, was dominated by non-Black creators.
After the event, Nicki did an Instagram Live, captured by the SipPink podcast, during which she seemed to address the issue. “I had a really great call, a really great Zoom, with TikTok today. Shoutout to everybody that was on there,” the “Do We Have a Problem” rapper told fans.
But then she went on to note, “I hear you guys. I heard what y’all were saying and let me see if I can schedule something else for you guys, ’cause trust me, I heard y’all loud and clear.”
Black creator Niccoya responded to Nicki’s comments by saying, “WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH QUEEN. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LISTENING WHEN OTHERS WONT!!”
Nicoya then added, “I’m so glad all the [B]lack creators spoke up and made noise, because if we didn’t and sat in silence nobody would have even KNOWN.”
Denise Truscello/Getty Images for Caesars Entertainment
Sting is the latest rock legend to cash in by selling the rights to his music.
MusicWeek reports that Sting has sold his entire songwriting catalog to Universal Music Publishing Group in a deal that’s worth a reported $250 million. The deal is for Sting’s solo songs, as well as songs by The Police, and includes hits like “Roxanne,” “Every Breath You Take,” “Fields of Gold,” “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” “If I Ever Lose My Faith In You,” “Desert Rose,” “Message In a Bottle” and many more.
MusicWeek reports that the deal is similar to the one Bob Dylan made, in that it includes the rights to the publisher and the writer shares of the songs. It means Sting’s songs are now in the same place as his entire recorded music catalog: Universal Music Group.
In a statement, quoted by MusicWeek, Sting says, “It is absolutely essential to me that my career’s body of work have a home where it is valued and respected — not only to connect with longtime fans in new ways but also to introduce my songs to new audiences, musicians and generations.”
He adds, “Throughout my career, I have enjoyed a long and successful relationship with UMG as my label partner…so it felt natural to unite everything in one trusted home, as I return to the studio, ready for the next chapter.”
The estates of David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen and Paul Simon recently made similar deals regarding their catalogs.
