Adele disappointed thousands of fans when she postponed her Las Vegas residency, Weekends with Adele, the day before it was set to begin at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace due to COVID-related production difficulties. But one extremely unlucky fan who’d tried and failed multiple times to see Adele got a special consolation prize: a FaceTime call from the super singer.
Billboard reports that the fan, Eleni Sabracos, shared her sad story to TikTok, explaining that she was a three time loser when it came to Adele. First, she bought tickets off Craigslist that turned out to be fake. Then, she flew to London, only to have Adele cancel the show. And then she arrived in Las Vegas and got the bad news.
But there’s a happy ending to the story: Some fans who went to the Weekends with Adele merchandise store at Caesars Palace were selected by members of the singer’s team to receive video calls with Adele herself — and Eleni was one of them.
She posted the moment to TikTok with the caption, “Update: I talked to Adele,” and she’s seen chatting with the star. “I love you! I’m sorry,” she says, to which Adele responds, “Why are you sorry?” “Because I feel for you,” Eleni explains. “I know you’re doing everything you can.” Eleni also told Adele she wanted to get drunk with her.
Adele promised that when Eleni finally does make it to the show, she’d pose for a photo with her.
USA Today reports that any fan who showed up at the merch store and showed their ticket was given a free tote bag filled with Adele merch. And on Friday night, fans gathered at the Colosseum and started a singalong of “Rolling in the Deep.”
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for God’s Love we Deliver
Last year, Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson told ABC Audio that both she and her sister and band mate Ann were interested in touring together again, possibly in 2022, but Nancy now says a conflict with her sibling has put those plans on hold.
On Friday, Nancy took part in a livestream chat at the social-networking site TalkShop.Live, during which fans could buy signed copies of her 2021 solo album, You and Me.
During the interview, Nancy revealed that discussions about a new Heart tour between her and Ann’s camp broke down over a disagreement regarding the musicians that would back her and Ann.
“[T]hey were trying to bring their new lineup of players that Ann wanted to put on stage as Heart with me and I wasn’t really willing to do that,” Nancy explained, referring to Ann’s current solo group, which is called The Amazing Dawgs.
“I don’t know those guys, you know, and I didn’t want to feel like a sideman,” Nancy continued. “So, [the tour]…kind of went away. They didn’t really respond to any of our responses in response to…what they [wanted]…They wanted this and I didn’t want that and nobody responded to anything, so…”
She added, “[M]y thing was that everybody that’s played on the last big Heart tour [in 2019] would be back, you know, in the same band,” then noted, “I think Ann might be a little bored with Heart. I don’t know.”
It’s worth pointing out that most of Heart’s backing band for their 2019 tour are part of Nancy’s current solo group.
Also during the interview, Nancy revealed that she also has plans for a solo acoustic album and a Christmas album.
You can buy signed CD and blue-vinyl copies of You and Me at TalkShop.Live.
It’s Downton Abbey, American style. The Gilded Age is the new show from Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, premiering tonight on HBO.
The Gilded Age, set in 1880s New York, dramatizes issues of class and race in the post-Civil War era. Fellowes tells ABC Audio he was fascinated by the new money titans of the time like J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie.
Notes Fellowes, “The whole culture that they developed with their wives and brought to New York and made a way of being rich that was America. It wasn’t a pale copy of a European tradition. It was American.”
That period in history, he calls “an extraordinary sort of training camp for when America dominated the coming century.”
“I mean, thirty-five years later, President Wilson was saying what went at the peace treaty at the end of the First World War,” he continues. “America…got to have the last word on practically everything. And by then, America’s dominance of the world had established itself.”
While the upstairs/downstairs nature of the storyline may feel similar to Fellowes’ 2011 hit series Downton Abbey, Fellowes insists The Gilded Age is its own thing, pointing out that “the Downton curve was a downward one…It was about an aristocracy having to come to terms with the loss of power, the loss of control, worrying about the roof, you know.”
“This is the opposite…a brand new civilization with all the money in the world and all the power and everything else landing on New York,” he adds.
Fellowes’ says there is one constant in everything he writes: “I always seem to have a sort of waspish older woman telling people what to do.”
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
New York 110, L.A. Clippers 102
Boston 116, Washington 87
Portland 114, Toronto 105
Orlando 114, Chicago 95
Miami 113, LA Lakers 107
Philadelphia 115, San Antonio 109
Atlanta 113, Charlotte 91
Dallas 104, Memphis 91
Minnesota 136, Brooklyn 125
Denver 117, Detroit 111
Golden State 94, Utah 92
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Pittsburgh 3, Winnipeg 2 (SO)
Ottawa 2, Columbus 1
Los Angeles 3, New Jersey 2
Seattle 5, Florida 3
St. Louis 3, Vancouver 1
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
LA Rams 30, Tampa Bay 27
Kansas City 42, Buffalo 36 (OT)
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Arizona 96, California 71
Purdue 80, Northwestern 60
Marquette 75, Xavier 64
Providence 69, Butler 62
Regina King is grieving the death of her only child.
The Oscar-winning actress’ son Ian Alexander Jr., who had celebrated his 26th birthday on Wednesday, has died by suicide.
“Our family is devastated at the deepest level by the loss of Ian,” King said in a statement obtained by ABC News over the weekend. “He is such a bright light who cared so deeply about the happiness of others. Our family asks for respectful consideration during this private time. Thank you.”
King shared Alexander Jr. with her ex-husband, record producer Ian Alexander.
King’s son frequently attended red carpet events with his mom, telling E! News on the 2019 Golden Globes red carpet, “She’s just a super mom. She doesn’t really let bad workdays or anything come back and ruin the time that we have. It’s really awesome to have a mother who I can enjoy spending time with.”
If you are in crisis or know someone in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. You can reach Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 (U.S.) or 877-330-6366 (Canada) and The Trevor Project at 866-488-7386.
(NEW YORK) — New York City dog owners are being warned after several pets may have been sickened by leptospirosis, a disease commonly associated with rats.
A city council member said this week his office had received “reports of multiple dog fatalities” in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg.
“The reports to our office indicate that dogs played at McCarren [Park] Dog Run before becoming sick,” council member Lincoln Restler said in a social media post Wednesday, which advised dog owners about the potentially deadly bacterial disease that is spread through the urine of infected animals.
In an update Friday, Restler said his office had received a report about potential cases of leptospirosis “allegedly causing the death of four dogs” that had been to the park’s dog run.
The city’s health department told ABC News Saturday it has not confirmed reports of canine leptospirosis related to McCarren Park, but it is working with the city’s parks department to inspect rat activity there.
“Dog owners who are concerned should consult their veterinarian about vaccination and seek vet care early if their dog is ill,” the health department said in a statement. “We urge veterinarians who receive positive results of leptospirosis to report it to the Health Department as required by the NYC Health Code.”
The parks department also said an “outbreak” of reported cases has been unconfirmed.
“We like our four-legged friends happy and healthy, and are sad to learn that some pups may have recently been impacted by leptospirosis,” the parks department said in a statement to ABC News. “We are actively engaged with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and exploring options to mitigate any related risks.”
On Friday, workers replaced trash cans with rat-resistant ones in the area and an exterminator conducted an inspection. Starting Monday, the park will also “work to refresh this area” including replacing wood chips.
An exterminator last treated the area for rats three weeks ago, the parks department said.
“We understand the cause for concern and urge dog owners to be vigilant and cautious when walking their pets,” it added.
Restler said the concerns highlight the need to address “the rat infestation and underlying conditions to make sure dogs & our whole community are safe.”
Dakarrie Garcia, a local dog trainer, told ABC New York station WABC he was concerned about conditions at the park.
“It’s disgusting. If you look around the park, there’s rat holes everywhere around the dog park,” Garcia said.
NYC Parks said it received two complaints regarding rodents in McCarren Park in the past year.
The health department said it investigates about 15 cases of canine leptospirosis each year and that “clusters” of the disease are “very rare.”
Symptoms of leptospirosis may include fever, chills, vomiting, muscle aches or diarrhea and usually appear one to two weeks after exposure. In some cases the disease may cause kidney or liver failure.
“Owners should not let their pets drink from puddles or other sources of water that may be contaminated with rat urine,” the health department said.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of State is preparing to approve the evacuation of some U.S. diplomats and diplomats’ families from the embassy in Ukraine, sources confirmed to ABC News.
The final authorization has not been approved, the sources said, so the scope of the evacuation is not yet clear.
A State Department spokesperson told ABC News, “We have nothing to announce at this time. We conduct rigorous contingency planning, as we always do, in the event the security situation deteriorates.”
That contingency planning has been underway for weeks now, as ABC News first reported last month that the embassy was preparing for an authorized or ordered departure.
An authorized departure allows families and non-emergency staff to evacuate, usually on commercial flights, while an ordered departure requires them to do so.
In either case, the State Department will warn U.S. citizens to depart the country, too. Ukraine is already a Level 4: Do Not Travel on the department’s travel advisory, with an explicit warning that “Russia is planning significant military action against Ukraine.”
But while Americans will be warned to depart this week, the State Department is making clear that they will not be evacuated on government aircraft, like in Afghanistan — an evacuation that the department continues to say is not a precedent.
“If there is a decision to change our posture with respect to American diplomats and their families, American citizens should not anticipate that there will be U.S. government-sponsored evacuations,” the State Department’s spokesperson said. “Currently commercial flights are available to support departures.”
The decision to evacuate some staff and families from the embassy has upset the Ukrainian government, according to one source, who said they were “p—– off.”
Ukrainians on the ground in Kyiv and at the front lines in the war between Ukraine and Russian-led forces in eastern provinces have told ABC News they are less convinced that a full-scale Russian attack is imminent. Some have suggested that the pressure from Moscow is a bluff — and one they see the U.S. as buying into with moves like this.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hinted at that during his meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken Wednesday, telling him during a photo-op beforehand, “Your intelligence is excellent, but you are far overseas, and we are here, and I think we know some things a little bit deeper.”
(NEW YORK) — The southeastern United States is weathering snow and ice yet again a week after the region was slammed with hazardous winter conditions.
Two to 4.5 inches of snow have been reported from South Carolina to east Virginia, as winter weather alerts were in effect Saturday morning from Georgia to Maryland as the storm moved out of the region.
Cold temperatures throughout the weekend will continue to make for hazardous road conditions.
In North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper urged people to stay at home due to dangerous road conditions and widespread power outages. The governor had issued a state of emergency ahead of the winter storm.
North Carolina Highway Patrol troopers had responded to more than 1,500 calls for service and 945 collisions in affected areas since Friday afternoon, the governor’s office said midday Saturday. Most were related to cars sliding off the roadway and becoming stuck or single-car collisions, the office said.
The best way to stay safe is to stay home unless you absolutely must travel. Nearly 16k power outages were reported around 4 a.m., mostly in coastal counties. Utility crews are working to quickly restore power – as of 10 a.m. about 4k outages remained.https://t.co/Pqeub3OqLrpic.twitter.com/zqUiNdPw5y
“With limited improvement and lows plummeting into the teens Saturday night, black ice will become a large hazard for the eastern half of the state,” North Carolina Emergency Management said. “Additional melting is expected Sunday, but below normal temperatures [will] keep the potential for black ice into early next week.”
Runways were also impacted by sleet and snow. At Raleigh-Durham International Airport, a Delta flight arriving from Washington, D.C., Friday night was taxiing off the runway when it slid into mud around 9 p.m. local time, airport officials said. There were no reported injuries, and the airfield reopened shortly following snow removal at an alternate runway.
Nearly 16,000 power outages were initially reported early Saturday in North Carolina, mostly in coastal counties, Cooper said, as utility crews were working to restore power. As of 10 a.m. some 4,000 outages remained, the governor said.
Authorities in South Carolina and Virginia also urged drivers to avoid impacted areas due to snow and ice conditions.
ABC News’ Melissa Griffin contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden has faced persistent challenges as his administration worked to reform U.S. immigration policy during his first year in office.
Some efforts over the past 12 months have succeeded in reversing hardline measures from the Trump era while other promises have stalled, generating harsh criticism from immigrant advocates.
Despite setbacks, Biden in sheer numbers has made more changes than Trump to federal immigrationpolicy with many reversals to the way the U.S. enforces immigration law.
Biden issued 296 executive actions during his first year compared to 86 in Trump’s first year and 472 over his four-year term, according to analysts from the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute.
Perhaps the most sweeping impact of the Biden presidency in immigration policy can be seen in the new approaches to interior immigration enforcement or the way Immigration and Customs Enforcement makes arrests.
Last September, ICE leadership moved to implement enforcement guidelines that once again made violent criminal offenders a top priority for deportation.
“This is a huge change in the way we approach enforcement writ large,” MPI Senior Fellow Muzaffar Chishti said during a policy conference this week.
While the prior administration openly justified an enforcement crackdown as a necessary means of deterrence, Biden’s security officials have ended long-term family detention and discontinued workplace raids.
Advocates decry the continued use of private ICE facilities and many have called for the end of civil immigration detention altogether.
“In the United States everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect,” Detention Watch Network Executive Director Silky Shah said Friday. “ICE enforcement and detention is inhumane, morally and financially costly, and completely unnecessary.”
Nonetheless, ICE arrests have been cut in half compared to the final year of the Trump presidency and the detained immigrant population is the lowest since 1999, according to MPI.
But at the border, it’s how the administration has handled new waves of unauthorized migration where the administration has faced immense challenges and criticism from a wide range of political perspectives.
Left-leaning advocacy groups point to the continued use of the rapid deportation protocols known as “Title 42,” which limits access to U.S. legal resources for unauthorized immigrants. The administration has engaged in legal battles to preserve the policy and, as recently as this week, continued the argument originally from Trump officials that the protocols are strictly a public health measure necessary to curb the global pandemic.
“It has been frustrating to all of us inside and personally to me I wish we there was more that we we — there’s more that — much more than we need to be doing and could be doing and — building blocks for that are also underway,” outgoing White House Deputy Director for Immigration Esther Olavarria said this week.
From the right, Biden faced strong opposition this year to his attempts at rolling back Trump-era practices including the “Remain in Mexico” policy which forced tens of thousands of asylum seekers to wait for their U.S. immigration court hearings in Mexico. After the states of Texas and Missouri launched a lawsuit against the repeal of “Remain in Mexico,” the Biden administration was forced to reinstate the practice while it continues an appeal.
“He completely dismantled the successful policies of the previous administration,” Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said at a press conference Thursday.
The year was marked with a historic level of unauthorized border crossing attempts which hit a peak of 213,000 in the month of July, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. More than a quarter of those encounters with immigration authorities involved repeat offenders.
The easing of enforcement measures against immigrants in the country without legal documentation, Republicans say, has signaled to prospective migrants that attempting an illegitimate asylum claim might succeed.
The need to strengthen the immigration legal process is another spoke in the wheel of challenges for Biden’s immigration agenda. For migrants who avoid the “Title 42” rapid expulsion process and are directed to the typical “Title 8” route, cases are brought before an administrative judge and can take months or years to resolve. This past year, the immigration court case backlog surpassed 1.5 million for the first time, according to researchers at Syracuse University.
For those on the pathway to obtaining a green card, also known as legal permanent residency, the administration made a significant change with with reversal of the Trump administration “public charge” rule, which imposed new income and education requirements on immigrant applicants.
Biden has also sought to boost refugee admissions as well as preserve DACA — the Obama-era policy that shields from deportation those brought to the country illegally as children. The administration was forced to draft a new rule implementing the program after a federal judge ordered all new applications halted.
On the legislative front, Biden’s promise to provide a pathway to citizenship for about 10.5 million unauthorized immigrants has faced major headwinds in the Senate. Multiple attempts to get some version of the proposal included in the “Build Back Better” spending package were shot down by the Senate parliamentarian last year. And this week, Biden said the agenda items in the Build Back Better Act may need to be split up anyway to get enough support.
Politically, views of Biden’s approach to immigration have dragged down his overall approval ratings over the past year. A Gallup poll released last November found just 31 percent of Americans approve of his handling of immigration issues.
(NEW YORK) — A rookie New York City officer is dead and another officer was in critical condition after they were shot responding to a domestic violence call in Harlem Friday night, police said.
Three officers responded to the scene of the call, West 135 Street, around 6:30 p.m., where a mother and her adult son, Lashawn McNeil, were fighting in a first-floor apartment, according to police.
The mother met police in the front of the apartment and when they went to a rear room to talk to McNeil, shots suddenly rang out, police said.
Officer Jason Rivera, 22, a rookie entered a hallway and was struck first, police officials with knowledge of the investigation told ABC News. Rivera, who was married, died from his injuries.
His partner, Officer Wilbert Mora, 27, tried to duck into the kitchen during the shooting, but was struck. Mora was listed in critical condition as of Saturday morning.
The third officer, a rookie who stayed with the mother in the front of the apartment, fired on McNeil, who was struck in the neck and shoulder, according to police sources.
The suspect was listed in critical condition as of Saturday morning.
A police body camera captured some of the shooting, police sources said.
“I am struggling to find the word to express the tragedy we are enduring,” NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a press conference Friday night. “We are mourning and we are angry. … Our department is hurting, our city is hurting. it is beyond comprehension.”
McNeil is believed to have had behavioral problems and posted anti-government and anti-police material on social media, according to police sources.
The suspect has five previous arrests, including one in New York City for felony narcotics possession in 2003. He was currently on probation for that arrest, police said.
Outside the city, McNeil was arrested for unlawful possession of a weapon in 1998, assaulting a police officer in 2002 and two other drug arrests in subsequent years.
He was staying with his mother to help her take care of her other son who has special needs, possibly a learning disability, the sources said.
When McNeil came up from Maryland in November, his mother ordered him not to bring guns into the house, because of his history with firearms, according to the source. She later told police she didn’t know he had the weapon, the sources said.
The mother called police Friday night asking for help with McNeil, saying that, “We’ve been having problems,” according to sources. Officers believed they were responding to a verbal domestic dispute since no weapons were mentioned, sources said.
The Glock. 45 used in the incident was reported stolen in Baltimore in 2017, police said. A licensed security guard said it was taken by her 13-year-old son, who sold it for money, according to investigators.
The teen was later arrested for the theft, but the gun was never recovered, police said.
Mayor Eric Adams called on the federal government to do more to stop the proliferation of guns in the city.
“We don’t make guns here,” Adams said Friday night. “How are we removing thousands of guns off the street and they are still finding their way into New York City?”
This has been a particularly violent week for the New York Police Department. Four NYPD officers have been shot in three incidents this week. The officers in the other shootings, which took place in the Bronx and Staten Island, did not suffer life-threatening injuries.
“It is our city against the killers,” Adams said. “This was not just an attack on three brave officers, this was an attack on the city of New York. it is an attack on the children and families of New York. We are not going to win this battle by dividing lives. We must save this city together.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland also spoke to Sewell Friday night and offered assistance from the Department of Justice or FBI if needed, according to DOJ spokesperson Anthony Coley.
“I am horrified by tonight’s tragedy in Harlem,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement. “My thoughts are with the family who answered the phone to receive the news they’ve always dreaded: that their loved one, who had sworn to protect and serve New Yorkers by joining @NYPDnews will not be coming home.”
President Joe Biden tweeted condolences to the NYPD officers and their families Saturday afternoon.
“We’re keeping them and their families in our prayers. Officers put on the badge and head into harm’s way every day. We’re grateful to them and their families for their extraordinary sacrifice,” he tweeted.
