Billy Idolwill release a new four-track EP titled The Roadside on September 17, and in advance of the record, the veteran pop-punk singer has made available one of the songs, “Bitter Taste,” as a digital single.
The bulk of The Roadside was written, recorded and mixed during the COVID-19 pandemic. It features contributions from Idol’s longtime lead guitarist and songwriter partner, Steve Stevens. The record, which was produced by Butch Walker, is Idol’s first collection of new original songs since his 2014 album Kings & Queens of the Underground.
The Roadside can be pre-ordered now on CD, on vinyl and as a limited-edition blue-vinyl LP, as well as digitally.
“Bitter Taste,” which was co-written by Idol, Stevens and two other collaborators, was inspired by Billy’s 1990 motorcycle accident that left him with a seriously injured leg.
“I think everyone has been feeling more reflective [during the pandemic]. So, it seemed quite logical and natural to write something about my motorcycle accident,” Idol explains about the new song. “Certainly, the motorcycle accident was the catharsis, the wake-up moment. A little bit of me got left on that roadside. But it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing in the end; it was a wake-up call. Maybe on that roadside I left behind the irreverent youthful Billy and opened the door for a more attentive father and a more sensitive musician.”
You can watch a dramatic companion music video for “Bitter Taste” at Idol’s official YouTube channel.
Here’s The Roadside EP’s full track list:
Rita Hayworth”
“Bitter Taste”
“U Don’t Have to Kiss Me Like That”
“Baby Put Your Clothes Back On”
(NEW YORK) — Two defendants indicted in a massive racehorse doping scandal in New York have have pleaded guilty.
Thoroughbred trainer Jorge Navarro and the head of a New York veterinary clinic, Kristian Rhein, were among more than two dozen people charged in a widespread scheme that prosecutors have alleged endangered horses, cheated bettors at tracks across the country and upended thoroughbred racing.
The scheme, which allegedly began in 2017, was designed to deceive regulators and horse racing officials regarding the use of performance-enhancing drugs, prosecutors said, after the indictment was filed in the Southern District of New York in March 2020.
The plot allegedly was orchestrated by veterinarian Louis Grasso, who “manufactured, purchased, sold, shipped, delivered, received and administered at least thousands of units of PEDs issues by pharmacies pursuant to invalid prescriptions provided by veterinarians participating in the scheme,” according to court documents. At least one horse died as a result.
Navarro and Rhein pleaded guilty to their roles in the distribution of adulterated and misbranded drugs. They will be sentenced in December.
Navarro has agreed to pay more than $25 million in restitution, reflecting winnings obtained through his fraudulent doping scheme, and Rhein has agreed to pay restitution of more than $700,000 in connection with fraud committed through a false billing practice.
“Kristian Rhein and Jorge Navarro represent the supply side and the customer side of the market in performance enhancing substances that have corrupted much of the horse racing industry,” said U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss. “As he admitted today, Navarro, a licensed trainer and the purported ‘winner’ of major races across the world, was in fact a reckless fraudster whose veneer of success relied on the systematic abuse of the animals under his control.”
Rhein also “flouted his oath as a veterinarian” to profit through the sale and administration of unregulated substances used by trainers engaged in fraud and animal abuse, prosecutors said.
Navarro operated his doping scheme covertly, importing misbranded “clenbuterol” that he both used and distributed to others, avoiding explicit discussion of performance-enhancing drugs during telephone calls and worked with others to coordinate the administration of PEDs at times that racing officials would not detect such cheating, according to the indictment.
Among the horses that Navarro trained and doped was XY Jet, a thoroughbred that won the 2019 Golden Shaheen race in Dubai. Navarro’s preferred PEDs included various “blood building” drugs, which, when administered before intense physical exertion, can lead to cardiac issues or death, the indictment said.
Navarro also assisted in doping Maximum Security, briefly the winner of the 2019 Kentucky Derby before being disqualified. On June 5, 2019, New Jersey racing regulators tested Maximum Security for performance enhancing drugs a short time after the horse had received a shot of SGF-1000, one of the misbranded or adulterated drugs, according to prosecutors.
In an intercepted call following that test, Rhein said, “[t]hey don’t even have a test for [SGF-1000],” according to court documents. “… There’s no test for it in America.”
Jason Kreiss, an attorney for Navarro, said in an emailed statement to ABC News that he “has accepted responsibility for his actions and looks forward to moving on with his life.” A lawyer for Rhein didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
A former sales representative for a Kentucky company that marketed SGF-1000 pleaded guilty last month to drug adulteration and misbranding of drugs charges related to the scheme.
SGF-1000 was not approved, was mislabeled and distributed without a valid prescription, assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Mortazavi said in a plea hearing for Michael Kegley.
Federal investigators intercepted calls during which Kegley acknowledged he did not know the precise contents of SGF-1000, according to the indictment. Kegley also was overheard explaining that trainers could be charged with felonies in the U.S. for doping horses.
Kegley conspired with trainers, veterinarians and others to make misbranded drugs, secretly administer them to racehorses and cheat bettors in the $100 billion global racehorse industry, prosecutors said.
When asked by a judge whether he knew that trainers intended to use the drugs on thoroughbred racehorses last month, Kegley replied, “Yes, your honor.”
Kegley has agreed to forfeit more than $3 million and faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
Mike Richards and former The Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik have been confirmed as the new hosts of Jeopardy!
Richards will take over as he full-time host of Jeopardy!’s daily syndicated program, replacing the late Alex Trebek. Bialik is set to host Jeopardy!’s primetime and spinoff series, including the upcoming Jeopardy! National College Championship, which will air on ABC next year.
Richards, who’s been serving as executive producer on the show since last year, will continue his producing role. Jeopardy!’s all-time champ Ken Jennings will return as consulting producer.
“I am deeply honored to have the opportunity to host the syndicated version of Jeopardy!,” Richards says in a statement, in part. “Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined being chosen to step into a role of this magnitude.”
“I couldn’t be more thrilled to join the Jeopardy! family,” Bialik adds. “What started out with my 15-year-old repeating a rumor from Instagram that I should guest host the show has turned into one of the most exciting and surreal opportunities of my life!”
Trebek died in November at age 80, after hosting Jeopardy! for 37 years. A series of guest hosts took over this past season, including Katie Couric, LeVar Burton, George Stephanopoulos, Robin Roberts and others.
Jeopardy! is set to begin production on season 38 last this month, with new episodes debuting on September 13, 2021.
Halle Berry makes her directorial debut with Bruised this fall, and the actress recently revealed just how far she was willing to go to ensure her labor of love crossed the finish line.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Berry explained she broke two ribs on the first day of filming. She quickly added they weren’t the same ribs she fractured when filming 2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum.
“When you break something, it calcifies and it’s stronger. You don’t usually break the same bones twice,” Berry said. She explained that she chose to work through the pain because, during Parabellum, her injury caused production to come to a standstill.
“I told the director about it, they told the insurance. We had to shut down for months and it was a big ordeal,” the 54-year-old actress recalled. “On this, because it was an independent movie, we didn’t have a big budget. The director in me said, ‘I didn’t come this far and work this hard to go home.'”
Eric Brown, who worked as the stunt coordinator for Bruised, was impressed by Berry’s determination.
“[It was] kind of a crazy injury. But that was just her intensity,” said Brown. “Halle’s a special case. I’ve worked with tons of actors, and almost none of them have that kind of work ethic.”
Bruised, a sports drama in which Berry plays a disgraced MMA fighter on a path to redemption, premieres November 24 on Netflix.
(WACO, Texas) — The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions levied punishments against Baylor University on Wednesday, following the conclusion of its investigation into several alleged rules violations.
According to a news release, the committee determined that Baylor provided impermissible benefits to student-athletes and violated recruiting rules between 2011 and 2016. They could not, however, conclude whether Baylor had violated NCAA rules when it failed to report allegations of sexual violence on its campus.
“Baylor admitted to moral and ethical failings in its handling of sexual and interpersonal violence on campus,” the panel said in its decision, “but argued those failings, however egregious, did not constitute violations of NCAA rules.”
“Ultimately, and with tremendous reluctance, this panel agrees.”
The NCAA panel says that while the organization provides resources to support member institutions in carrying out the responsibilities of reporting and addressing sexual violence on campus as required by the U.S. Department of Education, current NCAA rules don’t call for their adjudication of how schools respond to such issues. Still, the panel quotes one former university president as saying Baylor’s handling of sexual violence was a “colossal operational failure.”
Baylor was accused of shielding football student-athletes from disciplinary processes and failed to report allegations of misconduct by football student-athletes.
The panel did find that one student-athlete who had been suspended for plagiarism had been required to submit to an academic performance plan, but later was caught cheating on an in-class quiz. That incident, they say, was not reported to the university president as a failure to live up to that performance plan.
The school also was found to have used a “predominantly female student-host group, the Baylor Bruins” to recruit football student-athletes. While the group eventually allowed membership for men, the panel says it was “geared toward female participants.”
“The gender-based nature of this group is especially concerning in light of the campus-wise cultural issues…as well as the extremely troubling assertions…that the Bruins were ‘kind of at the disposal of football players in a very inappropriate way.'”
Among the penalties the NCAA panel will levy are a $5,000 fine, four years of probation, more stringent recruiting restrictions. The school must also vacate all records from contests in which ineligible student-athletes participated.
(ATLANTA) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday announced new evidence that strengthens its recommendation for pregnant people to get vaccinated.
“CDC recommends that pregnant people should be vaccinated against COVID-19, based on new evidence about the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines. COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for all people 12 years and older, including people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or trying to get pregnant now or might become pregnant in the future,” the CDC said in a summary of its updated guidance.
The update is based on further research that found pregnant people can receive an mRNA vaccine with no increased risk to themselves or their babies. Getting the vaccine early in pregnancy, including anytime before 20 weeks, poses no increased risk for miscarriage, CDC scientists found, and there are no safety concerns for pregnant people vaccinated late in pregnancy, or for their babies.
Preliminary: New CDC study found no increased risk of miscarriage after #COVID19 vaccination during early pregnancy. These findings can help inform discussions about COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy between pregnant people & healthcare providers: https://t.co/pBVlI6STf8pic.twitter.com/kruX8OJvyl
“In a new analysis of current data from the v-safe pregnancy registry, scientists did not find an increased risk for miscarriage among people who received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine before 20 weeks of pregnancy. This adds to the growing evidence of the safety of these vaccines,” the CDC said.
Until Wednesday, the CDC’s guidance for pregnant women was that they were eligible and could get vaccinated. The new guidance, which is that pregnant women should get vaccinated, is armed with more data and safety assurances. It also comes as the nation sees a significant spike in COVID cases and hospitals near capacity in states like Texas and Florida.
The risk of severe illness from COVID is much higher for pregnant women.
Pregnant women are more likely to be hospitalized and need critical care, including ventilation and admission to the intense care unit (ICU), according to the CDC, and COVID-19 during pregnancy increases the risk for preterm birth of the infants — a birth that is three or more weeks ahead of the expected due date.
Last week, two of the nation’s leading women’s health organizations, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), came out in full support of vaccinations for pregnant women.
“ACOG is recommending vaccination of pregnant individuals because we have evidence of the safe and effective use of the vaccine during pregnancy from many tens of thousands of reporting individuals, because we know that COVID-19 infection puts pregnant people at increased risk of severe complications, and because it is clear from the current vaccination rates that people need to feel confident in the safety and protective value of the COVID-19 vaccines,” ACOG president Dr. J. Martin Tucker said in a statement. “Pregnant individuals should feel confident that choosing COVID-19 vaccination not only protects them but also protects their families and communities.”
Both ACOG, a national membership organization for more than 60,000 OBGYNs, and SMFM, a global organization with more than more than 5,000 physicians, scientists and women’s health professionals, previously recommended that pregnant people have access to vaccines and should “engage in shared decision-making” about the vaccine with their doctors.
Currently, the rate of vaccination among pregnant women is very low. Just 23% of pregnant women received one dose of a vaccine during pregnancy as of July 31, per CDC data.
Billie Eilish and Foo Fighters are among the nominees for the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards.
The “bad guy” star racked up five nominations, including Best Cinematography for “Therefore I Am” and Best Direction and Video for Good for “Your Power.” Meanwhile, Dave Grohl and company received three nods: Best Rock, Best Choreography and Best Cinematography, all for “Shame Shame.”
Also competing for Best Rock are Evanescence‘s “Use My Voice,” The Killers‘ “My Own Soul’s Warning,” Kings of Leon‘s “The Bandit,” Lenny Kravitz‘s “Raise Vibration,” and John Mayer‘s “Last Train Home.”
The Best Alternative nominees are Bleachers‘ “Stop Making This Hurt,” Glass Animals‘ “Heat Waves,” Imagine Dragons‘ “Follow You,” Twenty One Pilots‘ “Shy Away,” Machine Gun Kelly and blackbear‘s “My Ex’s Best Friend,” and Willow and Travis Barker‘s “Transparent Soul.”
Other nominees include Glass Animals’ “Tangerine” and Coldplay‘s “Higher Power” for Best Visual Effects, and Lorde‘s “Solar Power” for Best Cinematography. Additionally, 24kGoldn and iann dior‘s alternative hit/mainstream smash “Mood” is nominated in two categories, including Song of the Year, and Goldn himself is up for Best New Artist.
Voting is open now via VMA.MTV.com. The ceremony will air live from New York City Sunday, September 12.
In Free Guy, comic and Get Out scene stealer Lil’ Rel Howery plays Buddy, the best friend of Ryan Reynolds‘ Guy — two pals who don’t know they’re actually background characters in a video game.
Rel explains being Reynolds’ friend onscreen was easy: “…Ryan Reynolds has been my friend in my head for a very long time,” he laughed at a recent virtual press conference. “And to this day I still don’t think he believes me. Like no, I’m a legit fan.”
Rel said to Reynolds, “When you started winning everything for Deadpool, I was calling people, like, ‘I told y’all! I told you Ryan Reynolds was a superstar!'” The admission cracked up the rest of the cast, including an embarrassed Ryan.
Superfan Rel admitted he doesn’t get nervous meeting famous people, but he was for Ryan. “I watch Definitely Maybe maybe twice a month. I still do,” the comic admits. “[It’s] one of my favorite movies.”
He adds, “…[O]ne of those fun things I…love about this business is when you just get the chance to work with people you look up to and not just as an actor, but just as a fan…So I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna take this moment. I don’t know if Ryan’s going to be my friend after this [movie], but doing this, I’m ’bout to be best friends.”
For his part, Reynolds deadpanned, “As soon as this camera’s off, it’s over, Rel.”
Ryan added on a more serious note that he was “lucky” to work with Rel and the rest of the cast, and hoped to work with them again, “either in another Free Guy movie…or in another form.”
Free Guy opens Friday from 20th Century Studios, which is owned by Disney, parent company of ABC News.
(NEW YORK) — As the number of pediatric COVID-19 cases continues to rise across the United States, parents are adding face masks to the top of their back-to-school shopping lists.
For the 2021-2022 school year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends all students ages 2 and older wear face masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, an organization of nearly 70,000 pediatricians, has also called on schools to enforce universal masking mandates.
Dr. Allison Bartlett, a pediatric infectious diseases physician at University of Chicago Medicine, is the mother of three sons who are all under age 12 and therefore not yet able to be vaccinated. Bartlett said her sons will be attending in-person school in the fall and will be wearing face masks.
“The whole COVID pandemic has changed with the delta variant and the very high levels of spread,” Bartlett told ABC’s Good Morning America, explaining the increased urgency for mask wearing. “It’s true that most kids don’t get sick, but most kids are not all.”
“I hope that parents understand that no kid likes wearing masks, but the kids that I have interacted with completely understand why they’re doing this, that they’re doing this to protect other people,” she said. “It’s a team effort and everyone has to contribute.”
With unvaccinated children at risk, parents have questions about which types of face masks will keep their children and those around them the safest.
GMA spoke with Bartlett along with Dr. Richard Malley, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Boston Children’s Hospital, and Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez, a pediatrician at Columbia University, to break down what parents need to know.
1. Children do not need N95, KN95 masks.
All three experts agreed that while N95 and KN95 masks, the types of masks often used in hospitals, provide the best protection, they are not designed nor needed to be used by children.
“N95 masks on a child may not fit and even if they do fit, they’re not as comfortable,” said Malley. “We don’t want to be recommending masks that kids are not willing to wear.”
Both Malley and Bartlett also pointed out N95 and KN95 masks do not work if they do not fit properly, which is why medical staff who wear them undergo intense fitting procedures to make sure they are secure.
“Absolutely an N95 that has been fitted to you provides the most protection. It is true in a healthcare setting but not relevant to kids and schools,” said Bartlett. “They don’t really make child size N95s and unless you’ve gone through the fit testing, it doesn’t really provide any extra protection.”
2. The mask your child will wear is the best mask.
All three experts also agreed that whatever face mask your child is willing to wear indoors at school is the best mask for them, whether it is surgical, cloth or disposable.
“It all comes down to if they’re not going to wear it, it doesn’t matter how high quality the mask is,” said Bartlett, adding as an example, “A well-fitted cloth mask works much better than a poorly-fitted surgical mask.”
Malley suggests letting a child pick out their own masks can help motivate them to wear them and help them feel part of the solution.
“Everybody recognizes that [mask wearing] is an inconvenience for kids, so one way to help the process is to let the child choose,” he said. “Go online or go to the store and have the child select the mask they’re going to wear.”
3. Parents and kids need to regularly check the fit of the mask.
In order for a mask to be effective, it needs to fit over the nose and cover under the chin, according to Malley.
“You want something that covers the nose and mouth and when they speak or laugh, that the mask is not falling off their face,” he said. “You want the jaw to be able to move.”
The face mask should also lay flat on the skin, according to Bartlett.
“In my experience, sometimes the surgical masks tend to gape more at the side because they’re rectangular,” she said. “And sometimes fabric masks work better because they fit better and are softer or more comfortable to fit the face.”
Both experts also noted it is perfectly fine for kids to use clips or bands to relieve pressure on their ears when wearing a mask.
4. Face masks can be re-worn by kids.
“As long as your mask is fitting well, as long as the mask is taut and you have a good fit at the top and at the bottom, you can keep washing it and wearing it,” said Bracho-Sanchez.
5. A sun test can help check the quality of your child’s face mask.
One technique to check the quality of your child’s mask is hold the mask up to the sun. If you can see light through the mask as you hold it stretched, it’s not thick enough.
6. Children will not get sick from wearing face masks.
Concerns about children not being able to breathe while wearing face masks or risking illness from germs in their masks are not founded in science, according to Bartlett.
“There is not a risk to kids of CO2 [carbon dioxide] retention or not getting enough oxygen,” she said. “There is no medical concern to having your face covered with a mask like this.”
When it comes to germs, Bartlett said the masks prevent foreign pathogens from coming in, so the only germs kids could have in their masks are the same germs from their body.
She did suggest though that parents send their children to school with clean, spare masks so they have one on hand to swap out if, for example, they sneeze in the mask.
“Send kids to school with a few masks and, at home, wash masks regularly and have a constant supply of masks on hand,” said Bartlett.
How’s this for a smooth move…Carlos Santana has teamed up again with his “Smooth” collaborator, Matchbox Twenty frontman Rob Thomas, to record a new song titled “Move” that will be the first single from Santana‘s star-studded upcoming album, Blessings and Miracles.
The track, which also features guest vocals by American Authors, will be released to radio on Wednesday, August 18, while the album in scheduled to arrive on October 15.
“‘Move’ came about was very much like how ‘Smooth’ happened,” explains Carlos. “It was like divine intelligence behind the scenes, and I just knew I had to record it with Rob. The song is about awakening your molecules. Ignite and activate yourself — you know, move. When Rob and I work together, we have a sound that’s splendiferous.”
In a press statement, the new song is described as “a grinding, grooving, swaggering, swaying and altogether breathtaking mix of pop and Latin rock with sure-fire hooks for days.”
“Smooth” was featured on the hugely successful 1999 Santana album Supernatural, and spent a whopping 12 consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late ’99 and early 2000. The tune also won three individual Grammy Awards — Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals — and is ranked second among the most successful Billboard singles of all time.
As previously reported, Carlos and Rob both are part of the lineup of the star-packed “We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert” event taking place August 21 in New York City’s Central Park, although it hasn’t been officially announced if they will perform together. Meanwhile, the Santana band is slated to kick off a new series of Las Vegas residency dates at the House of Blues on August 25.
