(NEW YORK) — Approximately 46,000 people died on U.S. roads last year, according to preliminary data from the National Safety Council.
That number is up 9% from 42,339 deaths recorded in 2020, and up 18% from 39,107 deaths in 2019, according to the nonprofit health and safety organization.
“This devastating news serves as yet another wakeup call for this country. We are failing each other, and we must act to prioritize safety for all road users,” Lorraine Martin, president and CEO of the National Safety Council, said in a press release. “One life lost in a preventable crash is tragic enough and more than 46,000 in one year is unacceptable.”
The report comes as traffic on roads nears pre-pandemic levels. According to the Federal Highway Administration, vehicle miles traveled in the first nine months of 2021 increased 11.7% from the same time in 2020.
The cause for the continuing rise in motor vehicle deaths is not yet known. Some experts say while fewer people were on roads in the beginning of the pandemic, reckless driving ran rampant.
“What we do know, at least preliminarily through some NHTSA studies at the beginning of the pandemic, is that people are speeding, they are not wearing their seatbelts, they are driving distracted and impaired as well,” Jane Terry, the vice president of government affairs at NSC, told ABC News.
A new study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found an estimated 4% of drivers in the United States said they increased their driving during the pandemic. Those drivers tended to be younger and mostly male, AAA said.
That group also reported to engage in risky driving behaviors such as distracted driving, speeding, aggressive driving, substance-impaired driving and not using seatbelts, AAA’s report found.
In January, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg released a plan, the National Roadway Safety Strategy, to reduce road deaths across the country. The plan calls for nationwide design changes to roads and automatic emergency braking in passenger vehicles, among dozens of other initiatives — including a goal to reach zero deaths on American roadways.
“This is a national crisis,” Buttigieg said at the time. “We cannot and must not accept these deaths as an inevitable part of everyday life.”
(LONDON) — Prince William and Kate, the duke and duchess of Cambridge, went on a royal walkabout in Wales on St. David’s Day — a day to celebrate the patron saint of Wales.
On Tuesday, the couple visited Abergavenny and Blaenavon to learn about the importance of the agricultural industry to rural populations and how community organizations are providing support to young people while also celebrating the history of the region.
They kicked things off at Pant Farm, where they met with local businesses and a family-run farm. A video taken from their visit shows the duke and duchess petting goats.
📍 Pant Farm, Wales
Seeing first-hand the benefits that local businesses receive through their communities at this lovely family-run farm, promoting local produce and sustainable practices. pic.twitter.com/Rt6WGPCImD
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) March 1, 2022
William and Kate then continued their visit with a trip to Abergavenny Market, where they met with people selling locally grown produce.
The importance of community for local business is so vital as we met and heard from third, fourth and even fifth generations of family businesses welcoming customers. pic.twitter.com/OsPGG5CMEF
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) March 1, 2022
Wales is special to the royal couple, as it’s where they first lived as newlyweds. After their 2011 wedding, they rented a farmhouse in Anglesey.
Their visit comes as Queen Elizabeth is on the mend after being diagnosed with COVID-19. Over the weekend, the Daily Mail reported that the queen is feeling better and met with Prince William, Kate and their children. She also met with her other grandchild, Princess Beatrice and Beatrice’s baby daughter, Sienna.
The queen made her first virtual appearance since her diagnosis from Windsor Castle on Tuesday while meeting with Andorra ambassador Carles Jordana Madero and Chad ambassador Kedella Younous Hamidi.
Doja Cat is getting a digital makeover and will become the latest character in the popular but raunchy video game, House Party. The “Say So” singer is crashing the cast of romance-able characters and you can try your luck at winning her heart.
Doja is lending her voice to the House Party universe for her very own side story that’s filled with drama, jokes, thrills and more. According to the official press release, “Players will navigate through an unpredictable night filled with outrageous party goers as they help Doja carry out a master plan to track down a masked dancing sensation who is taking the online world by storm.”
Players will be able to interact with Doja in hopes of befriending or romancing the “Kiss Me More” singer. Her character will come equipped with three outfit changes, one of which is a “steamy hot tub bikini.” If you play your cards right, you’ll even get to help Doja create her next music video.
The Grammy nominee says she’s “so excited that I’m going to be a video game character,” and promises that her inclusion in the game means House Party is “about to get even better.” Her DLC — or downloadable content — drops this summer.
House Party, which was released in 2017, is available to play on Steam and PC with a console launch coming soon. Doja is the latest — and biggest — celebrity to be included in the game. Previous celeb additions include the Game Grumps duo Arin Hanson and Dan Avidan, as well as YouTube personality Lety.
Letsgetfr.ee, a diverse movement created by and for people of color, announced its inaugural festival kicking off on August 20 this year, to be held in Queens, New York.
Jhené Aiko, Missy Elliott, Wizkid and Anderson .Paak are among the stars set to perform during the two-day event.
“Get ready for a real diverse lineup and show that breaks the mold,” the organization said in the announcement on its Instagram account on Tuesday.
Letsgetfr.ee is the brainchild of Afropunk festival’s Matthew Morgan, partner Jocelyn Cooper, and creative agency Anomaly.
The organization’s overall mission is “to drastically shift the way the entertainment industry operates — by empowering the advancement of the next generation of fr.ee thinkers, artists, activists and innovators.”
The mission of the festival is to close the equity gap for Black, Brown, Asian, and other underrepresented people in the entertainment industry, with the aim of achieving a diversified workforce across all levels in the industry by 2030. To help achieve the mission, Letgetfr.ee says the organization will only work with brands and companies who commit to long-term systemic change.
Other musical artists slated to perform include Major Lazer, Jorja Smith, Ozuna, Kali Uchis, Flatbush Zombies, Beenie Man, Tems and more.
Tickets for the first-ever “conscious carnival” go on sale to the general public on March 9 via the ticket service DICE. Residents of Queens, NY can register to purchase tickets in advance.
Priscilla Block couldn’t be more excited about her first nomination at the ACM Awards. “I can’t even think about it,” she expresses with enthusiasm. “It’s such an honor to even be nominated.”
Priscilla became a breakout star on TikTok after her breakup anthem “Just About Over You” went viral on the platform. It later scored her a record deal and crossed over onto the mainstream country charts, hitting the top 20 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.
“I was in Vegas, it was the day that my album came out. I had my alarm set, I think I set it for p.m. instead of a.m., and I wake up in a panic,” she recalls about the day she got the news about her nomination for New Female Artist of the Year. “I have a lot of texts on my phone, so I know that people are either saying, ‘It’s OK. Next year,’ or they’re gonna say, ‘Congrats.’ I’m not even looking at the text…and I went online and saw it, and it was just so special. I cried…just soaking it in. It’s crazy.”
And while the North Carolina native is known for being authentic in her music, she plans to honor her authenticity with her ACM Awards outfit, hinting that she’s going for a non-traditional look.
“I’m not much of a dress girl, but I also know that I probably shouldn’t show up in my jeans that I wear every day,” she jokes. “So I’ve decided that I’m gonna try really hard and go all over the top. But I can say that it’s not a dress.”
The ACM Awards air live from Las Vegas on March 7 at 8 p.m. ET, streaming commercial-free on Amazon Prime Video.
Shinedown‘s Brent Smith has often said that his band only has one boss: the collective Shinedown fan base. When it came time to prep the group’s next album, the boss had only one request: “Give us a banger.”
“Like, a real banger,” Smith tells ABC Audio. “Give us something that is going to give us confidence, give us something that is going to charge us up, that’s going to get us, like, ‘Hell yeah, man, let’s go!'”
Shinedown hoped to deliver on that request with “Planet Zero,” the forceful lead single and title track off their upcoming seventh studio album.
“Sonically, we worked really hard on that,” Smith says. “On the whole record, not just the first single, like, the whole record.
So far, so good: “Planet Zero” has hit number-one on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, once again giving Smith and company the record for the most leaders in the ranking’s 40-year history.
Smith describes the album Planet Zero as “massively emotional” and full of “peaks and valleys,” which requires an appropriately intense sound.
“It’s necessary,” Smith says of the record’s hard-hitting direction. “You can’t dance around it. You can’t go halfway, if that makes any sense. If you’re going to go to this level, then you’re going to need to go all the way.”
Planet Zero will be released April 22. The “Planet Zero” video premieres this Thursday, March 3.
It’s his life, so let’s celebrate it: Jon Bon Jovi turns 60 years old today. The Bon Jovi frontman, sometime solo artist, philanthropist and occasional actor has had a pretty busy year leading up to this milestone birthday…and he’s about to get even busier.
After releasing the critically acclaimed Bon Jovi album 2020 in October of that year, Jon ended the first year of the pandemic by hitting the campaign trail for Joe Biden. He was part of the Celebrate America virtual inauguration concert in January 2021, following Biden’s victory.
As 2021 went on, Jon had a highway rest stop named after him on the Garden State Parkway in his native New Jersey, and his famous band won Pollstar‘s Rock Touring Artist of the Decade award. Jon and former band mate Richie Sambora even jointly received a prestigious U.K. songwriting award.
In November, Jon received the Intrepid Lifetime Achievement Award from New York City’s Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum for his charity work, and played several benefit shows throughout the year. The only bad part of 2021 for Jon came in October: He got COVID and had to cancel a solo appearance in Miami.
But 2022 kicked off with the best news of all: Bon Jovi is hitting the road again on a 15-stop tour that begins April 1 in Omaha, Nebraska.
Desmond Child, who co-wrote “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “You Give Love a Bad Name,” “Bad Medicine” and many other Bon Jovi songs, recorded a special birthday message for Jon, who’s the godfather of his twin sons.
“Jon Bon Jovi, you are one of the most significant people in my life, you’re a friend, you’re a brilliant collaborator,” Child said, adding with a laugh, “And it’s great to have a godfather in New Jersey, right?”
Here’s wishing Jon Bon Jovi a very Happy 60th Birthday.
Born on March 2, 1962, the New Jersey native formed Bon Jovi during the early 1980s. The band self-titled debut was released in 1984, and featured the single “Runaway,” which reached #39 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Bon Jovi’s career exploded with its third album, 1986’s Slippery When Wet, which featured not one but two chart-topping hits — “You Give Love a Band Name” and “Livin’ on a Prayer” — along with the #7 single “Wanted Dead or Alive.” The album spent eight weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200, and has gone on to sell over 12 million copies in the U.S.
The band continued its multi-platinum success with 1988’s New Jersey, which spent four weeks at #1, and yielded five top-10 hits — chart-toppers “Bad Medicine” and “I’ll Be There for You,” as well as “Born to Be My Baby,” “Lay Your Hands on Me” and “Living in Sin.”
Four other Bon Jovi albums also topped the Billboard 200 — 2007’s Lost Highway, 2009’s The Circle, 2013’s What About Now and 2016’s This House Is Not for Sale.
The group’s other notable pop hits include “Bed of Roses,” “Always” and “It’s My Life.”
In 2006, Bon Jovi scored a #1 country hit with “Who Says You Can’t Go Home,” a duet with Sugarland‘s Jennifer Nettles.
In 2018, Jon was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with Bon Jovi. Outside of music, Jon has acted in various films and TV shows, and has been noted for his philanthropy, particularly through his Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation and the JBJ Soul Kitchen community restaurants.
Next up for Jon and his band, a U.S. tour kicking off April 1.
Horror and comedy collide in the new Starz series Shining Vale, debuting Sunday.
Courteney Cox and Greg Kinnear play Patricia “Pat” Phelps and her husband Terry — a couple stuck in a rut professional and personally, and they move their whole family into an old home that turns out to be haunted. Series co-creator Sharon Horgan describes the premise to ABC Audio as “The Shining reimagined as a comedy.”
Cox’s character is not exactly the perfect wife and mother, according to Horgan’s partner Jeff Astrof, who notes, “She cheated on her husband…is not a very good mother [and] curses a lot.”
It’s not a role most people wanted to play, but Courteney says it was an amazingly complex character she was lucky to play.
“Depression and midlife crisis, all of it. I mean, you know, mental health issues and you know, the fact that she is a writer. If you just took that, and hasn’t written in 17 years and you know, she used to have all this money and contribute to the family, and now she feels hopeless and alone and depressed,” she explains. “That’s an interesting thing to play just in itself, but there’s so many things else that I get to do.”
So does Cox believe in ghosts? The Friends alum admits she didn’t — until a recent trip to England.
“I saw something and I woke up [partner, Johnny McDaid],” she recalls. “I was like, Johnny, and he said, ‘Courteney, you’re asleep.’ I said, ‘I’ve been up, I’m jet lagged, I’m not asleep, I’m not even that tired.’ But I wasn’t petrified. I just was – I was I was wanting it to stop. And I could see things, I’m not kidding.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, don’t appear to have advanced closer to the city since coming within about 20 miles, although smaller advanced groups have been fighting gun battles with Ukrainian forces inside the capital since at least Friday.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Mar 02, 5:55 am
Putin’s fiercest critic Navalny calls for daily anti-war protests
Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is urging people in Russia and around the world to stage daily protests against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We — Russia — want to be a nation of peace. Alas, few people would call us that now,” Navalny said Wednesday in a series of posts on Twitter via his spokesperson. “But let’s at least not become a nation of frightened silent people. Of cowards who pretend not to notice the aggressive war against Ukraine unleashed by our obviously insane czar.”
“They say that someone who cannot attend a rally and does not risk being arrested for it cannot call for it. I’m already in prison, so I think I can,” he tweeted. “We cannot wait any longer. Wherever you are, in Russia, Belarus or on the other side of the planet, go to the main square of your city every weekday and at 2 pm on weekends and holidays.”
“Yes, maybe only a few people will take to the streets on the first day. And in the second — even less,” he added. “But we must, gritting our teeth and overcoming fear, come out and demand an end to the war. Each arrested person must be replaced by two newcomers.”
Navalny called on people to not just “be against the war” but to “fight against the war.”
“If in order to stop the war we have to fill prisons and paddy wagons with ourselves, we will fill prisons and paddy wagons with ourselves,” he tweeted. “Everything has a price, and now, in the spring of 2022, we must pay this price. There’s no one to do it for us.”
Navalny, the most prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin, was imprisoned last year when he returned to Russia from Germany after recovering from an attempted assassination with nerve agent poisoning in Siberia. Russia has denied carrying out such an attack.
Mar 02, 5:19 am
‘You can’t stay neutral right now,’ Zelenskyy warns
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Wednesday that the international community “can’t stay neutral,” as the Russian invasion entered its seventh day.
“Neutral Switzerland has supported EU sanctions against Russian oligarchs, officials, the state, and companies. Once again – neutral Switzerland. So why do other countries wait?” Zelenskyy said in a televised address. “Our anti-war coalition has already been joined by those countries that Moscow was counting on a week ago. This is an extraordinary result. You can’t stay neutral right now.”
“We are in our homeland and there will be an international tribunal for waging the war against us,” he added.
Zelenskyy also praised his fellow Ukrainians for being “united.”
“During this time, we have truly become one,” he said. “Today you, Ukrainians, are a symbol of invincibility. A symbol that people in any country can become the best people on Earth at any moment.”
Mar 02, 4:37 am
Russia claims to have captured Ukrainian port city
Russia claimed Wednesday to have captured Ukraine’s southern port city of Kherson, the largest Ukrainian city to fall to Russian forces since the start of the invasion.
“Russian forces have taken full control of the Kherson regional center,” Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov said at a press briefing Wednesday.
Russia-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine have also seized several cities and towns, advancing nearly 100 miles since launching the offensive, according to Konashenkov.
“Ukrainian servicemen will go home as soon as they make a written pledge not to take part in the hostilities,” he said.
Meanwhile, Russian forces have “disabled” the instrument room of the the main television tower in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, “putting an end to information attacks on Russia,” according to Konashenkov, who noted that “no damage was done to residential buildings in the course of the strike.”
Konashenkov also claimed that Russian aircraft had delivered a “massive strike” on Ukraine’s military infrastructure on Wednesday.
“Sixty-seven sites have been hit,” he added. “In all, 1,502 elements of Ukrainian military infrastructure have been disabled in the course of the operation. These include 51 command and communications centers belonging to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, 38 S-300, Buk M-1 and Osa air defense missile systems and 51 radar stations.”
Mar 01, 10:59 pm
Boeing suspends all plane maintenance support for Russian airlines
The Boeing Company has suspended all parts, maintenance and technical support for Russian airlines as the conflict continues, the company announced Tuesday.
This is expected to have a significant impact on Russian carriers, as planes need constant maintenance.
“We have suspended major operations in Moscow and temporarily closed our office in Kyiv,” Boeing said in a statement. “We are also suspending parts, maintenance and technical support services for Russian airlines. As the conflict continues, our teams are focused on ensuring the safety of our teammates in the region.”
Mar 01, 10:56 pm
GOP points at Biden for Russian invasion in State of the Union response
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds implied Russia’s attack on Ukraine is connected to a lack of leadership from President Joe Biden in the Republican response to the State of the Union address, saying Biden has “sent us back in time” to the 1970s and ’80s, when the “Soviet army was trying to redraw the world map.”
Reynolds said Biden has failed on his promise to make America respected around the world once more and criticized Biden for the lead-up to the invasion, including waving sanctions against Russia and “focusing on political correctness.”
“Weakness on the world stage has a cost,” Reynolds said. “… We can’t project strength abroad if we’re weak home.”
Mar 01, 10:17 pm
‘Free world is holding Putin accountable,’ Biden says in SOTU address
In his first State of the Union address, President Joe Biden began by discussing the war in Eastern Europe and condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Biden invoked the strength of the Ukrainian people amid the attack, lauding the civilians who took up arms to defend their country and highlighting the work Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova has done on behalf of her people.
“She’s bright. She’s strong, and she’s resolved,” Biden said as first lady Jill Biden hugged Markarova.
Many lawmakers in attendance showed their support for Ukraine by wearing color-coordinated outfits and lapel pins in blue and yellow.
Biden described the invasion as “premeditated and totally unprovoked,” vowing, alongside NATO allies, to hold Putin accountable with sanctions on the Russian economy and Putin and the oligarchs themselves.
“When dictators do not pay a price for their aggressions, they cause more chaos,” Biden said. “They keep moving.”
Biden announced that American airspace would be closed to all Russian flights and pledged $1 billion in direct assistance to help “ease suffering” in Ukraine.
The president also “made clear” that while American forces would not go fight in Ukraine, he has mobilized the military to protect NATO countries.
“The United States and our Allies will defend every inch of territory that is NATO territory with the full force of our collective power,” he said.
Mar 01, 9:45 pm
Biden announces ban on Russian flights in US airspace
President Joe Biden in his State of the Union address announced the U.S. will ban Russian flights from its airspace, joining Canada and the European Union, which issued bans on Russian planes in their respective airspaces over the weekend.
“Tonight I am announcing that we will join our allies in closing off American air space to all Russian flights — further isolating Russia — and adding an additional squeeze on their economy,” Biden said.
The ban will apply to “operations of all aircraft owned, certified, operated, registered, chartered, leased, or controlled by, for, or for the benefit of, a person who is a citizen of Russia,” according to the Federal Aviation Administration. “This includes passenger and cargo flights, and scheduled as well as charter flights, effectively closing U.S. air space to all Russian commercial air carriers and other Russian civil aircraft.”
The ban will be “fully effective” by the end of the day Wednesday, the FAA said.
Mar 01, 9:12 pm
Lawmakers working to court ambassadors, diplomats ahead of UN vote to condemn Russia
While all eyes in Washington are on President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, some lawmakers have been working the phones to rally support at the United Nations for a resolution before the General Assembly to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and call for a peaceful resolution.
Working with the United States Mission to the United Nations, Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee have identified more than a dozen countries to target and called for ambassadors and key diplomats to leverage relationships to build more support for the nonbinding resolution.
“This has been a way for Congress to really play an important role working with the executive branch in getting this done and showing the world that Russia’s actions are illegal and should be condemned,” Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, a senior member of the committee that is leading the effort, told ABC News.
The vote “is an opportunity for countries to take a stand, and it’s especially a chance for the United States to demonstrate leadership among the nations of the world,” he said.
“President Biden and his administration, and now Congress, I believe, have demonstrated our ability to marshal our allies to condemn something the world has worked for decades to root out — which is a sovereign nation invading another,” Castro said.
Republicans have also been working to build support for the measure in the General Assembly, Castro said.
Mar 01, 8:35 pm
Ukrainian foreign minister addresses reports of racism
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba addressed the accounts of racism at the border by people of color attempting to flee, tweeting Tuesday, “Ukraine’s government spares no effort to solve the problem.”
Germany Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also addressed the reports of racism and discrimination during a powerful speech at the U.N. Assembly on Tuesday.
“Every refugee must receive protection, no matter what their nationality, no matter what their religion, no matter of the color of their skin,” Baerbock said.
