Flavor Flav is shedding some light on how that picture of him with Kim Kardashian, Pete Davidson and Kris Jenner came to be. Turns out Flav was a gift from Kim to her rumored beau, Pete.
Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, the rapper said, “When it comes down to Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian, first of all, to me, that is family…And the whole night I was so honored to be in their presence.”
“One thing that I could say is Pete Davidson loves himself some Flavor Flav. Everything he does is, ‘Flavor Flav this, Flavor Flav that, Flavor Flav this, Flavor Flav that.’ So Kim said, ‘OK, well, for your birthday, you are going to have Flavor Flav.’ She sent for me and that’s how I ended up there,” Flav explained, adding, “I was the birthday gift.
Davidson turned 28 last month and celebrated his birthday with the group in Palm Springs. In posts shared to social media, the foursome donned matching plaid pajamas, which further fueled romance rumors between the SKIMS founder and SNL cast member.
“When it comes down to Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian’s relationship, only them two know it best,” Flav expressed when asked about the two’s relationship. “They just invited me into the circle, but I really don’t know the full [story].”
“And plus besides, that’s Kim and Pete, man. I would rather them tell about their situation than me,” he added. “But I’m grateful to them that they gave me the opportunity to be the first to publicize the picture with both of them together.”
(NEW YORK) — The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted Americans’ perceptions of health care, and not for the better, according to a new survey.
Nearly half of Americans say the pandemic has worsened their perceptions of the U.S. health care system, with many describing it as “broken” or “expensive,” according to the West Health-Gallup survey released this week, the largest survey conducted on U.S. health care since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The high price of health care was a major factor, with a staggering one-third of Americans intentionally delaying or declining medical care over cost concerns.
In the midst of a pandemic, 14% of people with COVID-19 symptoms reported that they didn’t seek medical care because they worried they wouldn’t be able to afford it, a Gallup poll from April 2020 found.
In the new survey, nearly all sectors of society reported deep concerns about the health care system, including the insured and uninsured, wealthy and poor. The pandemic has also raised awareness of the unequal impact on Black, Hispanic and other non-white groups.
The survey found nearly three out of four Americans believe that their household pays too much for the quality of health care they receive, and an estimated 58 million U.S. adults find health care costs to be a major financial burden for their families.
One survey respondent, a white, Republican woman in her 60s, told researchers, “It’s hard when you have three or four kids and you’re trying to juggle the cost, and you’re deciding should I go to the emergency clinic or can we wait another day.”
Avoiding treatment due to rising costs is a problem facing both poorer and richer Americans. Around 34% of people with household incomes of less than $24,000 reported not seeking care in the prior three months due to cost. Twenty percent of people in high-income households (earning more than $120,000 annually) reported the same.
One in five U.S. adults reported they or a member of their household had a health problem worsen after postponing their medical care due to concerns about cost.
“Postponing care is only going to create higher costs in the long run,” said Dr. Blythe Adamson, founder of Infectious Economics LLC and affiliate professor at the University of Washington. “If we’re detecting cancer later on, that patient will have worse outcomes and more expensive care.”
The West Health-Gallup survey found that 60% of Americans reported the pandemic has made them more concerned about unequal access to quality health care services. Among Black Americans and Hispanic Americans, this concern was higher at three-fourths and two-thirds, respectively.
“We get brushed aside, African Americans, a lot of times,” said one survey respondent, a Black, Democrat woman in her 40s. “Things that we say, we feel it gets brushed off, they’re not really taking it seriously, like, oh, she’s just complaining again or it’s not serious, that kind of thing.”
Essential workers, who have lower income on average, continue to face greater COVID-19 risks than those with higher-income, more Zoom-friendly jobs.
“We continue to see low-income workers having high COVID-19 exposure at their job and not having insurance,” Adamson said. “These people are more likely to be hospitalized and thrown into bankruptcy.”
While some Americans have benefited from expanded access to telemedicine, inequities remain.
While other countries have government-backed health care, the US still relies on a mix of public and private health care insurers, which can create confusion and unequal pricing, according to Adamson.
Plus, as Adamson pointed out, “There are still many low income people that don’t have reliable internet, smartphones or computers that they can use in a telemedicine visit.”
Collectively, the survey shows that the pandemic appears to have worsened people’s views on the U.S. health care system.
“What’s changed in people’s minds is value in health care. Are we really getting a good value for every dollar we’re spending on prevention, on treatments, on hospitalization in this system?” Adamson asked.
Many of the challenges of the existing health care system were exposed under the strain of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our current system is unsustainable, especially for the poor,” Adamson said.
Nicholas Nissen, M.D., is an author, host of the “Brain Health with Dr. Nissen” podcast and a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.
Months after losing her husband to cancer, NeNe Leakes appears to have found a new boo.
The Real Housewives of Atlanta alum is dating businessman Nyonisela Sioh, who owns a couture suit company in Charlotte, North Carolina, sources tell TMZ. Sioh, who is originally from Liberia, was reportedly introduced to NeNe by Peter Thomas, the ex-husband of fellow RHOA alum Cynthia Bailey.
Although it’s unclear how long the pair have been dating, Sioh did make an appearance at NeNe’s surprise birthday party that her son threw for her in Atlanta. Several pictures from the party show the reality star standing next to her new beau, who’s rocking a gray full beard and lavender suit.
NeNe’s possible new romance comes more than three months after she lost her husband, Greg Leakes, to cancer. They were married for 20 years.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Thursday is set to award the Medal of Honor — the nation’s highest military award for valor — to three U.S. soldiers for their service during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, including Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe, the first Black service member to be honored for heroic actions during the war on terror launched after the 9/11 attacks.
Cashe suffered fatal injuries while serving in Iraq on Oct. 17, 2005, after rescuing fellow soldiers from a burning vehicle during Operation Iraqi Freedom in the Salah Ad Din Province, according to the White House. He will be honored posthumously.
Cashe died 16 years ago at the age of 35 and his widow, Tamara Cashe, is set to accept the award on his behalf during a ceremony at the White House.
Cashe’s sister Kasinal Cashe-White recalled her brother as “very rambunctious,” a “daredevil” and “a good kid all around.”
She told ABC News in an interview on Wednesday that receiving the Medal of Honor “means everything” to the family.
“We lost our brother. He can’t be replaced. But this award means that his name his legacy will go down in history,” she said.
Cashe grew up in Oviedo, Florida, and enlisted in the U.S. Army in July 1989 after graduating from Oviedo High School. He was deployed in the 1991 Gulf War and served in Korea and Germany before being deployed to Iraq in 2005 while serving as a a platoon sergeant in the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Asked how she feels about Cashe being the first Black soldier to receive the highest award for valor for service during the war on terror, Cashe-White said her brother “earned” the honor through his actions.
Biden will also posthumously honor Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Celiz, an Army Ranger who died at 32 years old during a 2018 firefight in Afghanistan, as well as Master Sgt. Earl Plumlee, a Special Forces soldier who fought off Taliban suicide bombers in Afghanistan in 2013 and is set to attend the ceremony, according to the White House.
Each of the service members demonstrated courage and gallantry by putting their own lives on the lines to aid their comrades and the actions that led them to receive the honor, a White House press release said.
When the vehicle that Cashe was commanding became engulfed in flames during an attack, his uniform caught fire and he sustained severe burns while extinguishing the flames and rescuing his fellow soldiers, according to the White House. Even after sufering injuries, he repeatedly approached the vehicle and helped four soldiers escape while being targeted by live fire.
“Despite the severe second and third degree burns covering the majority of his body, Sergeant First Class Cashe persevered through the pain to encourage his fellow Soldiers and ensure they received needed medical care,” the White House said. “When medical evacuation helicopters began to arrive, he selflessly refused evacuation until all of the other wounded Soldiers were first evacuated.”
Celiz, who died of wounds he received in combat on July 12, 2018, in Afghanistan’s Paktia Province, was attacked while leading an operation to disrupt attacks against the U.S. and allied forces and saved six live through his actions, the White House said.
His wife, Katie Celiz, told ABC News in an interview Wednesday that her husband was a “family man” who had an “amazing relationship” with their daughter.
“Chris believed in putting his men and his mission first,” she said. “Chris believed that we should always do good, whether it was the easy thing to do or not.”
During the operation he “voluntarily exposed himself to intense enemy machine gun and small arms fire” to help the U.S. and its allies reach safety and to administer aid to a wounded soldier, the White House said.
After he was hit himself, he signaled for the aircraft to depart without him.
“His selfless actions saved the life of the evacuated partnered force member and almost certainly prevented further casualties among other members of his team and the aircrew,” the White House said.
Plumlee, who spoke with ABC News on Wednesday, is also being honored for his heroic actions while serving in Afghanistan.
While responding to an explosion on the U.S. base, he fought off 10 Taliban suicide bombers dressed in Afghan National Army uniforms and came under fire several times, according to the White House. He placed himself in harms way by leaving cover to protect his base and helped render first aid to a wounded soldier, carrying him to safety.
“Without cover and with complete disregard for his own safety, he advanced on the superior enemy force engaging multiple insurgents with only his pistol,” the White House said.
ABC News’ Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Two senators are taking aim at the widespread issue of fake and ineffective masks flooding the U.S. market.
A new bill announced Thursday and obtained exclusively by ABC News will grant more authority to the Food and Drug Administration to enforce and punish counterfeiters in the mask industry. It’s a bipartisan effort by Sens. Chris Murthy of Connecticut, a Democrat, and Mike Braun of Indiana, a Republican.
It is the first piece of legislation in a large pandemic response package that will be rolled out by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in the next few weeks.
The wide-ranging bipartisan package, which the committee has been working on for months, will target various holes in the nation’s pandemic response infrastructure by improving the supply chain for medical equipment and addressing health inequities that have put minority populations at higher risk, among other measures.
The legislation announced Thursday, called the Protecting Patients from Counterfeit Medical Devices Act, comes as public health experts are urging Americans to renew their vigilance on masking in the face of omicron, a quickly-spreading COVID-19 variant of which infections have increased sevenfold in the U.S. over the last week.
New York, California, Illinois, Nevada and several other states have recently reimposed indoor mask mandates.
“In looking at early data on transmissibility of omicron from other countries, we expect to see the proportion of omicron cases here in the United States continue to grow in the coming weeks,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at a White House briefing on Wednesday.
“What does this mean for individuals and families as we head into the winter months? A time when families may be gathering with one another over the holidays?”
“It means that it is vital for everyone to get vaccinated and boosted if they are eligible. Given the increase in transmissibility, this also means continuing to be vigilant about masking in public indoor settings, in areas of substantial or high community transmission. And as of now, this represents about 90% of all counties in the United States,” she said.
The new bill is also aimed at protecting health care workers who could face a surge of patients this winter.
Last February, the Department of Homeland Security announced it seized 10 million counterfeit 3M N95 masks, including some possibly headed for hospitals.
Since the start of the pandemic, Customs and Border Patrol has seized more than 34 million counterfeit masks, and nearly 60% of the counterfeits were seized in 2021, according to the FDA.
Earlier this year, the FDA asked for broader powers to seize and punish counterfeiters, telling Congress that the agency is currently limited to destroying certain fakes.
The current ability to enforce the rules around fraudulent PPE “is incomplete and there will be limited deterrence for the selling of counterfeit devices, especially domestically,” the FDA said in its 2022 budget request.
“The revisions proposed will help keep counterfeit devices like these out of the United States and facilitate enforcement actions against those that find their way into interstate commerce,” the FDA said.
A new documentary aims to reveal a lot about the dreams and demons that drove Juice WRLD, a rapper who died of an accidental drug overdose two years ago in Chicago. Tommy Oliver directed Juice WRLD: Into the Abyss, which premieres tonight on HBO, and he tells ABC Audio that viewers will learn that Juice was more than just a rapper.
“He was somebody who cared about mental health,” Oliver explains. “He was somebody who used his platform to try to move that conversation forward in trying to destigmatize it. He was somebody who could hang with the hardest rappers or somebody who could bang out with people who don’t like rap, but they love rock and all of it.”
Additionally, Oliver, who admittedly was just a casual fan when he started on the project, adds that he learned a lot about the late artist and even ranks him among the greatest.
“I learned so much of just how sweet of a person he was and that he is the GOAT freestyler bar none and that he’s one of the best artists of all time,” he says.
Given that the documentary film is based on Juice WRLD’s life, audiences will see a lot of drug use on camera, which Oliver explains was pretty much unavoidable in an effort to accurately tell the rapper’s story.
“I genuinely don’t know how I could have told his story, especially in this version without the drugs, because the drugs were omnipresent,” he says.
“I was never going to glamorize them or the usage of them, was never going to sensationalize it,” Oliver adds. “It was about offering context for the situations, for him, but there was no telling his story without it.”
(HONG KONG) — Five children died in Australia on Thursday after wind lifted the bouncy castle they were in about 32 feet into the air, local police said.
Nine children were in the castle at about 10 a.m. local time when it fell to the ground, Tasmania Police said in a statement. The students at Hillcrest Primary School had been celebrating the end of the school year, the statement said.
“On a day where these children were meant to be celebrating their last day at primary school, instead we are all mourning their loss,” Police Commissioner Darren Hine said.
Two girls and two boys were killed, police said in an initial statement. Another five children with serious injuries were rushed to the hospital, where one later died, police said. Three children were still in serious condition at about 1 a.m. local time. The students were in 5th and 6th grade, officials said.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the incident “unthinkably heartbreaking.”
“Young children on a fun day out together with their families and it turns to such horrific tragedy, at this time of year, it just breaks your heart,” Morrison said.
Police said a “significant local wind event” caused the castle to lift about 10 meters, or 32 feet, off the ground.
Two helicopters and other emergency vehicles rushed to the scene in Devonport within minutes of the incident, police said.
“The loss of any child impacts significantly on our community and this tragedy is understandably distressing for us all,” Hine said. “This incident will impact all of us in different ways so it’s important that we all look after each other at this difficult time.”
Police said they’ve launched an investigation with help from WorkSafe Tasmania, the country’s workplace-safety regulator.
(HONG KONG) — Four children died in Australia on Thursday when wind lifted the bouncy castle they were in about 32 feet into the air, local police said.
Nine children were in the castle at about 10 a.m. local time when it fell to the ground, Tasmania Police said in a statement. The students at Hillcrest Primary School had been celebrating the end of the school year, the statement said.
“On a day where these children were meant to be celebrating their last day at primary school, instead we are all mourning their loss,” Police Commissioner Darren Hine said.
Two girls and two boys were killed, police said. Another five children were rushed to the hospital with serious injuries, police said. The students were in 5th and 6th grade, officials said.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the incident “unthinkably heartbreaking.”
“Young children on a fun day out together with their families and it turns to such horrific tragedy, at this time of year, it just breaks your heart,” Morrison said.
Police said a “significant local wind event” caused the castle to lift about 10 meters, or 32 feet, off the ground.
Two helicopters and other emergency vehicles rushed to the scene in Devonport within minutes of the incident, police said.
“The loss of any child impacts significantly on our community and this tragedy is understandably distressing for us all,” Hine said. “This incident will impact all of us in different ways so it’s important that we all look after each other at this difficult time.”
Police said they’ve launched an investigation with help from WorkSafe Tasmania, the country’s workplace-safety regulator.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 801,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 61% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Dec 16, 6:14 am
France to ban non-essential travel with UK over omicron surge
France announced Thursday that it will ban non-essential travel to and from the United Kingdom due to the country’s surge in cases of the omicron variant.
Starting Saturday, France will require people to have “a compelling reason” to travel between the two countries. Travel for tourism or work will not be allowed. French citizens, however, can return to France, according to a statement from the French prime minister’s office.
All travelers from the U.K. will be required to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken less than 24 hours before departure. Upon arrival in France, they must self-isolate for a week, but that period can be ended after 48 hours if they test negative for COVID-19 again.
The new rules apply to people regardless of their vaccination status.
“Faced with the extremely rapid spread of the Omicron variant in the United Kingdom, the Government has chosen to reinstate the need for an essential reason for travel from and to the United Kingdom, and to strengthen the requirement for tests on departure and arrival,” the French prime minister’s office said in the statement Thursday. “The Government is also calling on travelers who had planned to visit the United Kingdom to postpone their trip.”
Dec 16, 4:24 am
Indonesia confirms 1st case of omicron variant
Indonesia announced Thursday its first confirmed case of the omicron variant.
The case was detected in a janitor who works at the COVID-19 Emergency Hospital of Kemayoran Athletes Village in Jakarta, according to a statement from Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin.
The hospital’s cleaning staff are routinely tested and the results for three people were positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 10. Those samples were then sent to a genome sequencing lab, which identified the omicron variant in one of the samples on Wednesday, according to the statement.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Health has also identified probable cases of omicron among five travelers who were in quarantine — two Indonesian citizens who had just returned from the United Kingdom and the United States, and three foreigners from China. Their test samples are being sequenced and the results will be known in a few days, according to the statement.
The health minister urged Indonesians “not to panic and to remain calm,” and to get vaccinated against COVID-19 if they haven’t already.
“The arrival of new variants from abroad, which we identified in quarantine, shows that our defense system against the arrival of new variants is quite good, we need to strengthen it,” Sadikin said. “So it’s normal to stay 10 days in quarantine. The goal is not to make it difficult for people who came, but to protect the people of Indonesia.”
Dec 15, 4:46 pm
Forecast: US could see up to 845,000 deaths by early January
Forecast models used by the CDC suggest weekly death totals and hospital admissions will rise over the next four weeks.
The U.S. could reach a total of 845,000 deaths by Jan. 8, according to the forecasts from the COVID-19 Forecast Hub at UMass Amherst.
The COVID-19 Forecast Hub team monitors and combines forecasting models from the nation’s top researchers. They then create an ensemble, usually with a wide cone of uncertainty. Nicholas Reich, a biostatistician who runs the forecasting model, told ABC News Wednesday that he doesn’t think the forecasts included omicron in their predictions because the majority of data isn’t publicly available yet in a format that can be easily incorporated into a model.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Dec 15, 4:20 pm
US cases up 45% in the last month
The U.S. is now reporting nearly 118,000 new cases each day — up by 45% in the last month, according to federal data.
Daily COVID-19-related hospital admissions have leapt by 46% in the last month.
Maine and New Hampshire are now averaging more new cases than at any other point in the pandemic, according to federal data.
New Hampshire currently holds the nation’s highest case rate, followed by Rhode Island, Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
(NEW YORK) — A storm system is impacting the Midwest and 29 states are on alert for damaging winds, heavy snow and avalanches.
A tornado threat was issued for Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, with a tornado touching down in Plainview, Minnesota, just outside Rochester, on Wednesday night, according to the National Weather Service. This was the first time Minnesota has recorded a tornado in December.
There is already snow on the ground in parts of Minnesota where more tornadoes could occur Wednesday into Thursday.
Heavy rain is expected for Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas on Thursday and Friday. There could be between 2 to 4 inches of rain in the area, which was severely impacted by the deadly storms last weekend.
Forty-four deadly tornadoes tore through nine states last weekend, killing at least 88 people. Kentucky was by far the hardest hit.
Severe storms were impacting Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin Wednesday afternoon and into the evening across the Mid-Missouri Valley to the Upper Mississippi Valley.
“Widespread severe wind gusts of 60-75 mph along with at least a few tornadoes are likely from late afternoon through this evening,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Embedded gusts of 80 to 100 miles per hour and a strong tornado or two are also possible, particularly across western to northern Iowa and southeast Minnesota.
Hundreds of thousands of customers in the area — from Colorado to Kansas and Minnesota — were without power at 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Areas from Texas to New York could see very strong winds ahead of the storm. Wind gusts could be between 40 to 70 mph.
There is an avalanche warning in place for the West, where 5 feet of snow was reported in the mountains. More snow is still expected.
This storm system has already brought more than 8 inches of rainfall in Southern California. The state also saw mudslides and debris flow, forcing some people to be rescued. There is also an avalanche warning issued for California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Whiteout weather conditions shut down Interstate 90 from California to Nevada Monday night. Parts of Northern California saw rockslides and mudslides.
