Toni Cornell honored her late father, Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, with a performance on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday,
Toni performed her own version of her dad’s Grammy-nominated cover of the Prince-penned classic “Nothing Compares 2 U,” which appears on the his posthumous covers compilation, No One Sings Like You Anymore Vol. 1. The two Cornells previously recorded a duet version of the song, which Toni released in 2018, a year after Chris’ death.
The 17-year-old teased the performance earlier this week, writing on Instagram, “So excited to perform a special song in honor of my dad on @fallontonight.”
Toni has previously honored her father with a cover of Leonard Cohen‘s “Hallelujah” on ABC’s Good Morning America in 2017. She’s also performed his Temple of the Dog song, “Hunger Strike.”
(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 803,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 61.2% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dec 17, 11:53 am
UK reports highest daily cases ever
The United Kingdom reported 93,045 new cases in the last 24 hours, breaking a daily record for the third day in a row.
The total number of cases over the last week now stands at 477,229, a 38.6% increase from the previous week.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
Dec 17, 11:39 am
Rockettes canceled due to breakthrough cases
Friday’s four Radio City Rockettes shows have been canceled due to breakthrough COVID-19 cases in the New York City production.
Plans for future shows haven’t been determined.
-ABC News’ Aaron Katersky
Dec 17, 11:35 am
CDC studies find schools can test kids rather than quarantine
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday endorsed a practice in schools called “test-to-stay,” which allows unvaccinated kids and staff to test instead of quarantine after being exposed to COVID-19.
The CDC says the practice can be employed in addition to other mitigation measures, such as vaccination and at least 3-feet of physical distance among students wearing masks.
The new guidance follows two studies out of Los Angeles County, California, and Lake County, Illinois. Both studies found no significant transmission in school when test-to-stay was used.
The studies were conducted before the omicron variant was detected in the U.S.
-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty
Dec 17, 11:01 am
Hospitals stretched thin in Wisconsin, Michigan
In Wisconsin, only 4% of ICU beds are available.
“This is getting really scary,” Dr. Jamie Hess, an emergency physician at the University of Wisconsin, told ABC News.
“We’re really reaching a crisis point where we have more patients to take care of then we have beds in the hospital or staff to care for them,” Hess said.
Michigan has been struggling through a similar surge for nearly three months, with the state reporting more than 6,500 new cases each day. On average, more than 500 patients are being admitted to hospitals each day.
“Where we are right now feels a lot like the first surge back in March of 2020,” Erin Dicks, a nurse manager at MICU Henry Ford Hospital, told ABC News. “We don’t have enough beds to be able to manage this.”
Dicks said so many patients are young.
“I think one of the biggest frustrating pieces for my staff is that they look at this as, this is preventable — people don’t have to die here,” Dicks said.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Dec 17, 9:01 am
Harvard joins list of universities mandating boosters
Harvard University will require boosters for all eligible members of the community, school officials said Thursday.
Earlier this week, Harvard warned of an increase in cases, saying the rise can be contributed to social events following the Thanksgiving break.
Omicron is likely already on campus, university officials added.
Harvard joins a growing list of colleges and universities moving to require third doses next semester for those eligible. Other schools include Stanford, NYU, University of Notre Dame, Syracuse, Smith College and Wellesley College.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Dec 17, 8:13 am
Illinois reports highest case number of the year
In Illinois, 11,858 new cases were reported on Thursday — the highest daily case number of all of 2021, ABC Chicago station WLS reported, citing state health officials.
Illinois confirmed its second omicron case Wednesday, detected in a suburban Chicago resident. That person is asymptomatic and vaccinated, WLS reported.
Dec 16, 8:52 pm
CDC recommends opting for Pfizer or Moderna over J&J when there’s a choice
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has signed off on its advisory committee’s recommendation that people who have a choice should get an mRNA vaccine, either Pfizer or Moderna, over the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The updated recommendation comes after a review of new CDC data on rare blood clots linked to the J&J vaccine.
“Today’s updated recommendation emphasizes CDC’s commitment to provide real-time scientific information to the American public,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement. “I continue to encourage all Americans to get vaccinated and boosted.”
Dec 16, 7:54 pm
Omicron now makes up nearly 100% of strains found in Orlando wastewater samples
The new omicron variant makes up nearly 100% of the strains found in wastewater samples in Orlando, Florida, officials said Thursday.
“It escalated rapidly,” Orange County Utilities spokeswoman Sarah Lux told ABC News.
In its first test for the variant last Thursday, the department found no evidence of omicron in the community’s wastewater, she said. On Saturday, it represented about 30% of the strains found in the samples, and by Tuesday, nearly 100%.
“So, we’re talking about zero to nearly 100 in a matter of a week,” Lux said.
All parts of the county are seeing an increasing presence of the omicron variant, she said. The southern area, home to the theme parks, has seen the highest amount of virus remnants, followed by the eastern area, which is home to the University of Central Florida.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Dec 16, 3:53 pm
CDC committee recommends opting for Pfizer or Moderna over J&J if given choice
The CDC’s advisory committee recommended Thursday that people who have a choice should get an mRNA vaccine, either Pfizer or Moderna, over the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine after a review of new CDC data on rare blood clots linked to J&J.
The vote was unanimous.
The rare blood clots are not a new safety concern and the vaccine has already become far less common in the U.S. after it was given an FDA warning label about the clotting condition. But more data that confirmed a slightly higher rate of clotting cases and deaths than was previously reported caused the CDC and FDA to take another look at the data this week.
The CDC has confirmed nine deaths and 54 cases from the severe clotting event, thrombosis with thrombocytopenia.
There could also be more cases and deaths because TSS is under-diagnosed and could be underreported, the CDC said.
The clotting is more common among women in their 30s and 40s but has been seen in adult men and women of all ages.
The experts said J&J should not be taken off the shelves and is still far more beneficial than not getting any vaccine at all.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Dec 16, 3:22 pm
Several Northeast states nearing peak levels
Maine and New Hampshire are now averaging more new cases than at any other point in the pandemic, while daily cases in Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island are nearing peak levels, according to federal data.
Five of those states — Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont — have the highest full vaccination rates in the country.
In Florida, which has been largely spared from the latest COVID-19 wave, daily cases have increased by 92% over the last two weeks, according to federal data.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Dec 16, 2:47 pm
NYC cases have tripled in the last month
COVID-19 cases in New York City have tripled in the last month, officials warned Thursday.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a six-point plan to fight the surge, including increasing testing capacity, doubling down on business inspections and distributing 1 million KN95 masks and 500,000 rapid home tests.
“We need to stop this variant,” the mayor said. “This variant moves fast. We need to move a lot faster.”
-ABC News’ Aaron Katersky
Dec 16, 8:04 am
Omicron will be dominant variant in US ‘very soon,’ Fauci says
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases, warned Thursday that omicron will become the dominant variant of the novel coronavirus in the United States “very soon.”
“It has an extraordinary ability to transmit efficiently and spread,” Fauci, the chief medical advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden, told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an interview on Good Morning America.
“It has what we call a doubling time of about three days and if you do the math on that, if you have just a couple of percentage of the isolates being omicron, very soon it’s going to be the dominant variant,” he explained. “We’ve seen that in South Africa, we’re seeing it in the U.K. and I’m absolutely certain that’s what we’re going to be seeing here relatively soon.”
Fauci, who is also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, urged Americans to “absolutely” get vaccinated against COVID-19, if they haven’t already, and to also receive a booster shot when they become eligible.
“At this point, we don’t believe you need an omicron-specific boost,” he added. “We just need to get the boost with what you got originally for the primary vaccination.”
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.
Today, December 17, marks the 50th anniversary of the U.K. release of David Bowie‘s fourth album, Hunky Dory, and two special releases are planned to celebrate the milestone.
First off, a new alternative mix is being made available as a streaming single today of the classic Hunky Dory track “Changes” created by Ken Scott, who co-produced the album with Bowie. The updated song was mixed using the original multi-track recordings.
“The new version of ‘Changes’ is a fresh look at David’s classic,” says Scott. “When listening to the original multi-track I discovered a few things that I had eliminated from the original mix and also a completely different sax solo at the end. It was those things that led me to try a new mix, trying for a slightly harder, more contemporary edge to it.”
The second release is a limited-edition 50th anniversary Hunky Dory vinyl picture disc that will be available on January 7, 2002, a day before the late Bowie would’ve celebrated his 75th birthday. The picture disc, which you can pre-order now, will feature the 2015 vinyl remaster of Hunky Dory, as well as a poster of the original version of the album’s annotated back cover image.
Meanwhile, a new lyric video for “Changes” has premiered on David’s official YouTube channel. The clip features a variety of pics from the Hunky Dory cover photo shoot, including some previously unpublished images.
Hunky Dory, which was released December 4, 1971 in the U.S., initially had little commercial success in the U.K. and the States, despite featuring such enduring songs as “Changes,” “Life on Mars?” and “Oh! You Pretty Things.”
“Changes” eventually reached #41 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1975, while “Life on Mars?” became a #3 U.K. after it was reissued in ’73.
Here’s Hunky Dory‘s full track list:
Side One
“Changes”
“Oh! You Pretty Things”
“Eight Line Poem”
“Life on Mars?”
“Kooks”
“Quicksand”
Side Two
“Fill Your Heart”
“Andy Warhol”
“Song for Bob Dylan”
“Queen Bitch”
“The Bewlay Brothers”
(PLAISTOW, N.H.) — Since the start of the school year, some teachers in New Hampshire said they’ve been on edge due to a new policy that they said punishes those who teach about oppression in America’s past and present.
“If you raise a generation without a moral backbone to recognize oppression, to recognize exclusion, to recognize a racial supremacy, then you raise a generation that will be amoral when they become the leaders,” said Ryan Richman, a teacher in Plaistow, New Hampshire.
“We’ll have no sense of right or wrong, because we have deemed that even looking at ourselves in the mirror and recognizing that the realities of the past are criminal.”
The legislation says educators cannot teach that someone’s race, sex, gender identity or other social status is inherently superior to someone else, or that someone is inherently racist or sexist, among other restrictions. Teachers can be reported by fellow teachers, parents or others and disciplined for potentially violating this policy.
Some educators, teachers union members and parents have filed suit, saying that the vague language limits their ability to teach on racial and gender-based oppression, and may impede on discussions about U.S. history and literature.
“We’re supposed to be engaging and challenging students to think about the wider world, helping them connect to ideas and expand their horizons,” said Deb Howes, president of the union American Federation of Teachers in New Hampshire. “They need to allow for honest teaching, history, current events and literature too.”
She added, “You could lose your career because you say something wrong or someone thought you said something wrong.”
In the lawsuit, AFT-NH is joined by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, “teachers in the New Hampshire Public Schools” and “parents or guardians of children in the New Hampshire public schools.”
This new law is one of many that have popped up across the country and have been touted by conservative activists targeting “critical race theory” in K-12 schools. However, critical race theory is a discipline taught at the college and graduate school levels, according to law experts and academics.
It analyzes U.S. legal systems and how they have been shaped by racism and continue to impact the progression of racism in America. Educators across the country have told ABC News that critical race theory is not part of their curriculum.
New Hampshire state Representative Jess Edwards, who co-sponsored the bill, said that legislators saw what was going on across the country concerning critical race theory.
GOP lawmakers said it makes classrooms feel divided or children feel bad about their race. Supporters of this law and similar legislation, including Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and Texas state House Rep. Steve Toth, also claim that some lessons on race can make white students feel guilty or offended.
“I think just our experience with our fellow legislators, made us realize that something bad is going on in society,” Edwards said.
The legislation does not mention “critical race theory” — a strategic choice to avoid inflammatory arguments against the policy, Edwards said.
He said New Hampshire legislators found a parent who has been trying to oppose critical race theory in schools individually, and said the school was “not really interested in listening to his position.”
Edwards said that some schools were rolling out materials “along the line of: Minorities will always be oppressed in this nation, whites will always be oppressors.”
A national conservative organization, Moms for Liberty, tweeted in November that it would offer $500 to the first family in New Hampshire who successfully filed a complaint.
Moms for Liberty has not responded to ABC News’ requests for comment.
“It’s very chilling,” Richman said. “You have this messaging coming down from the commissioner of education, restricting what we’re allowed to talk about the kinds of lessons that we’re allowed to talk about, what our students are allowed to talk about and the kinds of honest discussions that we can have about race and inequality and power. And then it’s snowballed.”
According to the New Hampshire Department of Education, the Commission for Human Rights and the Department of Justice, the law does not prohibit teachers from teaching U.S. history, and they are allowed to teach students historical concepts related to discrimination.
The policy also states that nothing in it “shall be construed to prohibit discussing, as part of a larger course of academic instruction, the historical existence of ideas and subjects identified in this section.”
However, the lawsuit argues that teachers have been targeted and intimidated due to this growing controversy about race and gender-inclusive education in schools under the guise of student protection.
“Teachers, including a Plaintiff in this action, have been made the subject of online harassment, obscenities and vicious attacks as a direct result of the climate of political intimidation created by and with the facilitation of various Defendants,” reads the lawsuit.
Some educators argue that not only are their jobs on the line because of New Hampshire’s new policy, but the education and future preparedness of their students are also at risk.
“If we’re not teaching them that, then they are ill-prepared to deal with the world around them,” Howes said. “They won’t understand why things are working or not working in the larger society, and they won’t be able to either change things that aren’t working or support things that are. They’ll have a harder time making their way through life.”
In a message to students, Richman added: “We see you. We see your value, and we see that you have the right to have the conversation about race, about injustice, about history that you deserve, and we are going to fight for you so that you can be the kind of leaders that our country deserves.”
Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger are pregnant with baby number two, multiple sources tell People.
This would be the second child for the couple, who exchanged “I do’s” in 2019. They are already parents to 16-month-old daughter Lyla Maria. Pratt also has nine-year-old son Jack with ex-wife Anna Faris.
Reps for Pratt or Schwarzenegger have not responded to requests for comment, reports People.
The baby news comes just days after the Guardians of the Galaxy star praised his wife in a birthday tribute posted to Instagram.
“Happy Birthday Honey! You are such a wonderful wife, mother, step-mother, and life partner. I simply can’t imagine how lost I’d be without you,” Pratt captioned the December 14 post. “You’re beautiful, tough as nails, reasonable, deeply thoughtful, extraordinarily smart, you’re a complete boss, eternally driven and you communicate like no other.”
Pratt continued, “Thank you for everything. Thank you for being so instrumental in my growth over the past few years. We fit so perfectly into each other’s lives that our Union is a daily reminder that God is looking out for us. Navigating the odd circumstances of our world is a task I cannot handle alone. And I’m so grateful I don’t have to. Your commitment to helping others is contagious. I’m just so grateful for the harmony you continually bring to our household. I love you so much honey. Happy Birthday!”
(NEW YORK) — The devastating twisters that tore through the South and the Midwest this weekend marked the deadliest tornado outbreak in the U.S. in a decade.
Here’s a closer look at the tornadoes by the numbers:
90 lives lost
At least 90 people were killed across five states: 76 in Kentucky; six in Illinois; four in Tennessee; two in Arkansas; and two in Missouri.
Victims’ ages in Kentucky range from a 2-month-old to a 98-year-old.
This was the deadliest tornado outbreak in the U.S. since May 2011, when more than 170 people were killed.
35 confirmed tornadoes, 44 reported tornadoes
There were at least 44 reported tornadoes across nine states: Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Indiana, Ohio and Alabama.
Of those, 35 were confirmed tornadoes.
163.5 miles
A continuous tornado path — an EF-4 — spanned 163.5 miles, tearing through Kentucky with winds up to 190 mph.
This now holds the record for the longest continuous tornado track on record in Kentucky.
Over 1,000 homes destroyed
The storms ripped out entire blocks. Beshear said Sunday, “We’re going to have over 1,000 homes that are just gone.”
“I don’t think we’ll have seen damage at this scale ever,” he said.
The governor, choking up, spoke about the destruction in Dawson Springs, a town of fewer than 3,000 residents where he said his father grew up. Beshear said his grandparents’ home is still standing but “one block up and left or right is just gone, just flattened.”
700 FEMA workers
Over 700 FEMA workers were on the ground processing claims as of Thursday, Beshear said.
74,000 meals and 1,500 tarps
FEMA so far has provided Kentucky with 74,000 meals, 18,500 blankets and 1,500 tarps, White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday.
ABC News’ Will Gretsky, Melissa Griffin, Dan Peck and Will McDuffie contributed to this report.
As we usher in 2022, Journey will be there to remind us all, “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers will be performing live in New York’s Times Square on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2022, airing on ABC at December 31. The show is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
Others acts who’ll join Ryan Seacrest and co-host Liz Koshy in Times Square this year include fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer LL Cool J, R&B/pop star Chlöe and Latin star Karol G.
Meanwhile, co-host Billy Porter will be singing aboard a riverboat in New Orleans, and reggaeton superstar Daddy Yankee will perform from his hometown of Puerto Rico.
(MADISON, Wis.) — When a tornado ravaged his hometown in Kentucky, University of Wisconsin basketball player Chris Vogt was preparing for one of his team’s biggest games of the season.
But instead of focusing on setting screens and rebounding, the 7-foot tall center said his mind was on Mayfield, the town of roughly 10,000 people suffering greatly in the aftermath of a swarm of twisters that destroyed homes of friends and killed 89 people across Kentucky and four other states.
“It was a huge game for us. I knew it was one I couldn’t miss, I didn’t want to miss. But it was definitely weighing on me as I’m kind of getting ready for the game, trying to clear my mind,” the 22-year-old told ABC News of the Saturday night game between his Badgers and Ohio State University in Columbus.
“My teammates and coaches did a great job of trying to talk to me before the game, trying to help clear my mind. As the game went on, I was able to do that a little bit more, just kind of focus on playing basketball,” he said. “But as soon as the game was over, where my heart and soul went was back to Mayfield, just thinking about what I could do to help.”
On the flight back to Madison, Wisconsin, Vogt, with the help of instructions he found by Googling, set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for Mayfield residents who lost homes in the storm.
“While I was so far away I was thinking, ‘I can’t be there tomorrow, I can’t be there for a few days, what can I do to help?'” he said. “By the time our plane got to Madison, I had it ready to go and launched it, and it’s taken off ever since.”
As of Thursday evening, Vogt’s GoFundMe page had raised more than $150,000, with donations pouring in from more than 2,200 people from across the country.
Vogt traveled to Mayfield on Thursday to see the devastation for himself. Walking around his decimated city, he said it was heartbreaking to see buildings he had walked by countless times as a child, including his favorite restaurant, all reduced to rubble.
“I was born and raised here, lived here for 18 years. Some of my fondest memories are here. I still keep in contact with a lot of my friends who are from here … my parents still live here. So, I have a lot of ties back here,” Vogt said. “Just looking around, looking at my hometown, especially the courthouse, kind of one of the more iconic buildings in Mayfield, it just looks like something out of a movie scene. It feels like kind of just a bad dream.”
Vogt said he plans to distribute the money he is raising to the Red Cross as well as to emergency resource offices in Graves County and Mayfield High School, which are helping people who are displaced by putting them in hotel rooms and providing everyday necessities. He also plans to donate part of the donations to a tornado relief fund that is being established.
“I’ve been able to see a lot of people I haven’t seen in a long time, and it kind of makes the whole situation a lot more real,” Vogt said. “To be able to be here and just shake someone’s hand and check in on them and ask them how they’re doing, how’s things going, you can kind of feel the impact being here a lot more than just being in Wisconsin.”
He said he’s been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from friends as well as strangers.
“They’re the real heroes in this whole situation. Anyone that tries to thank me, I just redirect it to the donors. They’re the ones who deserve it. They’re the heroes who made this whole thing possible,” Vogt said. “It’s humbling to see that many people reach out and support. I never would have thought it would have gotten this much support, and seeing it take off to this level is kind of inspiring to say the least.”
He added, “Something this devastating to hit such a small area has been tough, but we have felt the support of the whole country and feel like we can build it back just how it was or even better.”
Rattlesnakes, extreme heat, thieves, disease, Indian attacks and random saloon shoot-outs. Just another day in 1883 — the epic Yellowstone prequel debuting Sunday on Paramount+.
Sam Elliott plays Shea Brennan, a man who’s suffering unfathomable loss and bands together with James Dutton — the grandfather of Yellowstone’s John Dutton, played by country star Tim McGraw — on trek across the Great Plains in search of a better life during a time of westward expansion.
Elliot is no stranger to westerns, and at a roundtable event with McGraw and his co-star, Faith Hill, promoting the series, he said Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan‘s perspective on 1883 is a “fairly honest one.”
“He knows about horses, he knows about that way of life. He knows about cattle, he knows about ranching,” notes Elliott. “I think there’s just this fascination with that whole world that gives it legs.”
Despite the challenges of the frontier, McGraw thinks there’s an undercurrent of optimism that James Dutton experiences.
“Several times throughout the show, you know, James is called a ‘dreamer,’ but I also think he was running from ghosts,” the country star explains. “I think James really suffered from PTSD,” Tim said. “Three years in prison during the Civil War. I think he was looking for an untainted part of America where he could raise his kids.”
Hill, Tim’s real-life wife and fellow country star, plays Dutton’s wife Margaret, who’s is not your typical damsel-in-distress of the time. Hill says Sheridan put together a difficult shoot that reflected the growing role of women facing the challenges of frontier life.
“There were certain things…they didn’t do…maybe the rules started to change. Whether it was proper or not to be honest, I really did not care!” Hill shared.
Authorities in New Mexico have issued a search warrant for actor Alec Baldwin‘s cellphone as they probe the October fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust.
The cellphone is believed to be in the actor’s possession, according to the warrant, and authorities want to look at text messages Baldwin sent from the presumed iPhone. Investigators are also seeking to seize photos and videos, emails, internet browser histories, GPS data and more, according to the warrant.
Santa Fe County is investigating the shooting. No charges have been filed, though none have been ruled out, officials say.
Judge David A. Segura approved the search warrant on Thursday afternoon. In her affidavit, Detective Alexandra Hancock said she asked Baldwin and his attorney for the phone and was “instructed to acquire a warrant.”
A search of Hutchins’ phone found conversations about the production dating back to July 14, according to the affidavit. Hancock said she believes there may be information on Baldwin’s phone that is “material and relevant to this investigation,” and that gathering information prior to the film’s production “is essential for a full investigation,” the affidavit stated.
Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza on October 21, when the actor and producer fired a pistol he claims he was told was “cold,” meaning safe.
