(WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.) — A high schooler has died after being shot Wednesday at Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, authorities said.
The victim was identified by authorities as William Chavis Raynard Miller Jr.
The suspect has not been apprehended, authorities said at a news conference over four hours after the shooting was reported around noon. The suspect is believed to be a student, authorities said.
“We have a mother and family who will not be able to hug their child tonight,” Winston-Salem Police Chief Catrina Thompson said.
No one else was shot, authorities said, but some students suffered trauma-related health problems, including one student who had a seizure.
The school was locked down immediately after the shooting, police said. Once the campus was secured, students were sent to a local grocery store to be reunited with their parents, the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office said.
There is no known threat to the school at this time, police said.
Agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to the scene.
Mount Tabor’s school year started just last week.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper noted in a tweet that this was the second school shooting in the state this week. A 15-year-old was injured in a shooting at New Hanover High School in Wilmington on Monday.
“Our prayers are with the victims, their families and all the students of Mt. Tabor High School in Winston-Salem,” Cooper tweeted. “We must work to ensure the safety of students and educators, quickly apprehend the shooter and keep guns off school grounds.”
The Weeknd received an Emmy nomination for his Super Bowl halftime performance, and now Showtime is taking us behind the scenes of the multi-million dollar production in a new documentary titled The Show.
A trailer was released Wednesday capturing the numerous rehearsals in dance studios and stadiums, and the preparations for the special effects, as well as clips from the actual show.
The Blinding Lights singer, who spent $7 million himself to create his halftime mini-concert, recently told The Hollywood Reporter that he felt enormous pressure to deliver a special show.
“Oh yeah, absolutely. Naturally. Just the idea that it’s the Super Bowl alone, you know, there was that pressure,” he said. “Then, having to adjust to what we’re dealing with and making it a COVID-safe, COVID-free environment.”
“The silver lining was that we got to be very creative and got to make it a cinematic journey,” The Weeknd continued. “Less of a halftime show spectacle, more of a narrative. So there was a silver lining in that, but we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into. We were kind of blind, but it turned out great.”
The halftime performance is up for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special. The Show will debut Friday, September 24 at 9 p.m., 8 p.m. Central, on Showtime.
(NEW YORK) — Once a touchy subject in the private sector, a new survey indicates that most firms are now planning on having COVID-19 vaccine mandates for their workforce.
The number of companies requiring workers to get the shot is expected to surge over the next several months, according to data released by Wednesday by Willis Towers Watson, a multinational advisory and insurance firm.
Over half of the employers surveyed (52%) said that by the fourth quarter of 2021, they could have one or more vaccine mandate requirements in the workplace. This ranges from requiring vaccinations for employees to access common areas (such as cafeterias) to requiring the jab for a subset of specific employees to requiring it for all employees. This is a major hike from the current 21% of firms that have some type of vaccine mandate in place for employees.
The survey was conducted between Aug. 18 and 25 — in the wake of the insidious spread of the more contagious delta variant — and respondents included nearly 1,000 U.S. employers that together employ nearly 10 million workers.
“The delta variant has made employers take new actions to keep their workers — and workplaces — safe and healthy. We expect even more employers to institute vaccine mandates in the wake of FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine,” Dr. Jeff Levin-Scherz, the population health leader at Willis Towers Watson, said in a statement.
“This is not an easy situation for employers to navigate,” Levin-Scherz added. “For instance, new policies such as tracking workers’ vaccinations can improve safety but also bring additional administrative requirements. At the same time, employers will continue efforts to encourage vaccination and communicate regularly with employees.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are imploring Americans to get the COVID-19 vaccine to protect themselves and those around them from the virus that has left more than 600,000 dead in the U.S.
“COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective,” the CDC states on its website. “Millions of people in the United States have received COVID-19 vaccines under the most intense safety monitoring in U.S. history.”
Still, vaccine requirements have emerged as a hot button issue for a vocal faction of Americans resisting the shot, despite the U.S. recording the highest number of coronavirus cases.
Breaking down the survey data further, some 29% of employers said they are planning or considering making vaccinations a requirement to gain access to the workplace, and some 21% are planning or considering vaccination as a condition of employment for all employees.
The number of firms that track or will track their employees’ vaccination status is also rising, the data found. Some 59% of employers currently track their employees’ vaccination status, and an additional 19% are planning or considering to do so later this year — bringing the total to some 78% of employers.
Around 31% of employers are either offering or considering offering financial incentives to staff for getting vaccinated.
The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission said employers can legally require COVID-19 vaccines to re-enter a physical workplace as long as they follow requirements to find alternative arrangements for employees unable to get vaccinated for medical reasons or because they have religious objections. Still, mandates have spurred showdowns and lawsuits from workers across the country.
Approximately 61.4% of the U.S. population 12 years of age and older are fully vaccinated as of Wednesday, according to CDC data, and some 72.2% have received at least one dose.
Separate from vaccine mandate plans, around 80% of respondents also said that they require employees to wear masks indoors at any location — and an additional 13% are planning or considering doing so. A majority (75%) are also using workplace exposure tracing to alert employees to a potential exposure, with another 8% planning or considering doing so.
As for a return to normal, about 39% of companies now expect their organizations won’t reach a “new normal” in terms of returning to the workplace and ending pandemic-related policies and programs until the second quarter of 2022. About a quarter (26%) expect a return to normal in the first quarter of 2022.
Paramount has made 2022 the year of Tom Cruise. The studio has bumped his pandemic-delayed Top Gun: Maverick until 2022, along with the star’s anticipated seventh Mission: Impossible film.
Paramount now says Maverick will open May 27, over Memorial Day weekend of 2022, and Mission: Impossible 7 will come to theaters on Sept. 30, 2022.
Incidentally, Top Gun: Maverick‘s move from its November 19, 2021 release date led Sony to bump by a week the release of its own pandemic-delayed film, Ghostbusters: Afterlife. The movie will now open on that date to take advantage of IMAX and other higher-quality theaters that Top Gun‘s move freed up.
As part of the celebration, John and Yoko’s experimental 1971 film Imagine will be screened that day at 2:30 p.m. ET at select theaters or online for free. Fans also will be able to check out the movie, which was restored and re-released in 2018, on Amazon Prime’s music-themed streaming service The Coda Collection. A free seven-day trial is available for non-subscribers.
Also, U.K. radio presenter Tim Burgess will host a special edition of his popular Tim’s Twitter Listening Party at the same time as the Imagine screenings. A variety of notable people associated with Lennon and the album are confirmed to take part in the event, including Yoko, Sean, bassist Klaus Voormann and drummer Alan White.
Subscribers of the AXS TV channel in the U.S. also will be available to watch the movie. The Imagine film can be rented or purchased via Apple TV, iTunes or Amazon Prime, or on Blu-Ray and DVD.
Prior to the September 9 celebrations, AXS TV will be airing an Imagine-related programming block on September 6 starting at 8 p.m. ET. The channel will screen the 1988 documentary Imagine: John Lennon, followed by the Imagine film.
Various well-known musicians also will appear on AXS TV to discuss how John and Yoko have impacted their lives, and the influence the “Imagine” song and album.
Also, a limited-edition, two-LP white-vinyl set featuring the 2018 “Ultimate Mix” of Imagine plus select outtakes will be released on September 10. Here’s the track list:
LP 1: Imagine — Ultimate Mixes
Side A
“Imagine”
“Crippled Inside”
“Jealous Guy”
“It’s So Hard”
“I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier Mama I Don’t Wanna Die
Side B
“Gimme Some Truth”
“Oh My Love”
“How Do You Sleep?”
“How?”
“Oh Yoko!”
LP 2: Imagine Outtakes
Side C
“Imagine” (Original demo recorded at Ascot Studios)
“Imagine” (Take 1)
“Crippled Inside” (Take 3)
“Crippled Inside” (Take 6 alternate guitar solo)
“Jealous Guy” (Take 9)
“It’s So Hard” (Take 6)
Side D
“I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier Mama I Don’t Wanna Die” (Take 25)
“Gimme Some Truth” (Take 4)
“Oh My Love” (Take 6)
“How Do You Sleep?” (Takes 1 & 2)
“Oh Yoko!” (From Bed Peace footage – Sheraton Hotel, Bahamas 1969)
Taraji P. Henson and Gabrielle Union are teaming up behind the camera for a brand-new project.
According to Deadline, the two have signed on to produce Sorcerority, a feature film adaptation of Mikhail Sebastian and George Watson‘s graphic novel of the same name. The book follows Melanie, a young girl who follows in her late mother’s footsteps by enrolling into a historically African-American coven and university of magic. There, she “discovers her enrollment into the school may not be entirely of her own choosing, but rather the calculated actions of a higher authority.” Casting for the film has yet to be announced.
In other news, Jay Ellis, Kiersey Clemons and Alison Brie are set to star in Dave Franco‘s romantic comedy Somebody I Used to Know. Directed and co-written by Franco, the film follows Brie as a workaholic who reunites with an ex-boyfriend, played by Ellis, during a trip to her hometown. During their encounter, Ally begins to “question all of her prior life choices.” A release date for Somebody I Used to Know has not been announced.
Finally, fresh off of his Candyman box office success, Jordan Peele has inked a multi-year television deal with Universal Studios via his Monkeypaw Productions banner, Deadline reports. As you may recall, Peele had previously signed a first-look TV deal with Amazon Studios back in 2018. Under his new deal, the Oscar winner will get to develop television projects across Universal Studio Group divisions.
Simon Shin/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(CHICAGO) — As new COVID-19 cases emerge with the spread of the delta variant, businesses have implemented updated health protocols to ensure staff and customer safety.
While certain cities and states now require proof of vaccination to dine inside or shop in stores, fast food chains are assessing their own best practices.
Joe Erlinger, president of McDonald’s USA, recently discussed in an internal company meeting the enhanced safety policies for their restaurants and franchisees in consultation with public health experts and the Mayo Clinic.
According to the fast food company, Erlinger surmised in the meeting that McDonald’s will continue to operate its business from the same mindset they had during the peak of the pandemic 18 months ago.
“We’re monitoring the impact of the delta variant closely and recently convened together with our franchisees to underscore existing safety protocols, reinforce our people-first approach and provide updates on the rise in cases in the country,” a representative said in a statement shared with “Good Morning America.”
While the company said it has successfully served customers through digital, delivery, drive-thru and dine-in over the last 18 months, McDonald’s said it will consider adapting as needed.
“Should we see further changes in customer behavior, we are well positioned to adapt while maintaining high standards for safety,” the statement said.
McDonald’s initially closed its U.S. dining rooms in March 2020 and reopened to 70% capacity last month with procedures that incorporate local case counts, local regulations and guidance and community feedback.
Local owners and operator work in partnership with the field offices to make dining room decisions.
McDonald’s has implemented a facial covering requirement for all crew and customers in hot spot counties regardless of vaccination status. Additionally, all corporate employees are required to get vaccinated.
Erlinger also told employees that meetings are continuing, but with strict safety protocols and limits on size in place.
(WASHINGTON) — For the first time in 39 years, Social Security payments made to retired Americans this year, and every year after, will exceed tax revenues coming into the federal government in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic’s economic downturn, according to a new government report.
Social Security payments for retired Americans will be exhausted in 2034 — a year earlier than previously predicted, says the 2021 report from the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees, which oversees both programs. After that, tax incomes will only cover 76% of anticipated benefit needs. As for Social Security’s disability insurance program, those funds will run dry in 2057 — eight years earlier than previously predicted.
The recession and increased mortality rate due to the COVID-19 pandemic are the main factors driving the earlier depletion of funds, according to the report — the red flags adding to the pressure for federal lawmakers to act as a wave of retiring baby boomers and the pandemic’s new variants are sure to put more strain on an already stressed system.
The report says last year’s Social Security income exceeded costs by $11 billion. When excluding interest earned on the program’s trust fund assets, the program’s deficit is $65 billion.
While the funding shortfall would seem to point to benefit cuts, the nonpartisan Concord Coalition estimated Wednesday that Social Security could start liquidating the trust funds’ bonds to cover its obligations absent congressional action.
“Sudden and substantial benefit cuts await Medicare and Social Security beneficiaries in less than 15 years — well within the lifetimes of many current recipients — as long as lawmakers continue to ignore the warning signs in these reports. Solutions must be found that are fiscally and generationally responsible,” said Robert Bixby, the coalition’s executive director.
Though there has been no movement on Capitol Hill or within the Biden White House to address the report’s findings, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen affirmed the administration’s commitment to sustaining some of the nation’s most prominent social welfare programs.
“Having strong Social Security and Medicare programs is essential in order to ensure a secure retirement for all Americans, especially for our most vulnerable populations,” Yellen said in a statement Tuesday. “The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to safeguarding these programs and ensuring they continue to deliver economic security and health care to older Americans.”
As for Medicare, the report indicated the depletion of its funds in 2026 remains unchanged.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued a statement Tuesday saying Congress must work “hand in hand with President Biden” to ensure the continuation of both Social Security and Medicare.
When Social Security funds are dried up, “workers in the future will take a 25% cut in benefits, even though they’ll still be contributing to Social Security with every single paycheck,” Wyden said in the statement. “And while the projected depletion of the Medicare Trust Fund remains unchanged from last year’s report, this provides cold comfort to the millions of Americans who rely on the Medicare program for their health care.”
The report says both Social Security and Medicare will soon face “long-term financing shortfalls.” The COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying recession significantly impacted both programs’ funds, with employment, earnings, interest rates and GDP dropping substantially last year.
On average, 65 million Americans receive Social Security benefits each month, and a rapidly growing retired population, compounded by a decreasing birth rate, will only increase program costs.
By 2034, adults 65 and older are projected to outnumber the population under age 18 for the first time in the nation’s history, according to data from the Census Bureau.
ABC News’ Trish Turner contributed to this report.
Starting today, the streaming service Shudder is getting a jump on the spooky season with its second annual “61 Days of Halloween” lineup.
The subscription service, which caters to fans of horror movies and thrillers, announced a massive slate of both new and classic content that will unfurl as we get closer to October 31.
The lineup features new movie premieres and original series debuts. Included will be a new Halloween special with genre fave Joe Bob Briggs, a new season of the drag competition Dragula, and new offerings to Shudder’s library of scary films, including Brian De Palma‘s classic Carrie and Tobe Hooper‘s Poltergeist.
Shudder will also unveil a new version of its annual yule log — that is, the 24/7 streaming jack-o-lantern known as the Ghoul Log — as well as a return of Shudder’s Halloween Hotline, which lets fans get personalized movie recommendations from the streaming service’s head curator, Samuel Zimmerman.
If you’re a Lady Gaga fan, you may want to have some Words with Friends today.
Gaga’s charity, the Born This Way Foundation, has teamed up with a number of partners, including Zynga’s super-popular game, Words with Friends, to promote its annual #BeKind campaign, now in its fourth year. Today, September 1, the Word of the Day on Words with Friends is “Kindness,” in honor of the campaign, which encourages players to sign up to practice kindness for 21 days.
Specifically, the #BeKind21 campaign is asking participants to pledge to do one act of kindness each day from September 1 to September 21 to build “kinder, more connected communities” that “foster mental wellness.”
Words with Friends is one of 400 non-profit organizations, businesses, communities and school districts that are coming together for #BeKind21. Some of those partners include Duncan Hines, CareBares, Hilton, Indeed, Kate Space, PacSun, MGM Resorts, Under Armour and Zappos.
Gaga’s mom, Cynthia Germanotta, the president and co-founder of the Born This Way Foundation, says, “We’ve learned from young people that they believe experiencing, and even witnessing, more kindness in the places they live, work, and play will help to improve their mental wellness.”
