The new dramedy Mr. Corman is very personal for creator and star Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The Apple TV+ series debuts today, and he tells ABC Audio that he knows he’s been very lucky in life, and he wanted to imagine a character that perhaps didn’t have the same kind of advantages.
“I feel so grateful for so much in my life,” he says, naming his family, safety, and health as examples. “And when I think about it, I actually think that a lot of that just comes down to luck. And part of not taking my luck for granted.”
The lead character in the Mr. Corman is a teacher, and there’s a very specific reason for that — Gordon-Levitt wrote the character as an alternate universe version of himself.
“I always thought that teaching was something I would love to do,” the actor revealed. “I find teachers incredibly admirable. I wish that teachers were the heroes and valorized and celebrated in our world much more than entertainers.”
Another detail that is very intentional is the main character’s name, Mr. Corman, which Gordon-Levitt says was well thought out.
“Well, cor is also the word ancient word for heart,” he shares, adding that the character goes through highs and lows. “But I wanted the North Star to be that he’s got heart and that the show would have heart.”
“Because that’s to me, ultimately what I care about most when I’m watching something,” Gordon-Levitt admits. “I don’t care what genre it is I’m watching, if something feels like it’s got a genuine heart, then I’ll get drawn in.” (AUDIO IS ABC 1-ON-1)
The first two episodes of Mr. Corman are available to stream now on Apple TV+, with the remaining eight episodes dropping every Friday.
(PORTSMOUTH, Va.) — Police are on the hunt for several suspects after a 15-year-old boy was fatally shot in Virginia earlier this week, authorities said.
The Portsmouth Police Department released surveillance videos that capture the deadly shooting, which occurred Monday on Chowan Drive in Portsmouth, near Norfolk.
One video “depicts several suspects getting out of a black 4-door vehicle, shooting at the victim, and returning to the vehicle,” the department said Wednesday.
Police also shared a still of the car believed to be involved in the shooting.
Another surveillance video captured a barrage of shots that police say were fired at the victim.
Dozens of evidence markers were visible on the street at the crime scene following the shooting.
The 15-year-old victim was taken to a local hospital, where he later died of his injuries, according to Norfolk ABC affiliate WVEC.
Police did not share any further details on the shooting.
The boy is the fifth child under the age of 16 to be fatally shot in Portsmouth this year, according to WVEC.
Anyone with information is asked to call 757-393-8536.
(PROVIDENCE, R.I.) — Police are investigating after a mob of ATV and dirt bike riders allegedly pulled a woman out of her car and beat her in a late-night attack in Providence, Rhode Island — the latest incident in what officials are saying is a spate of “out of control” violence.
The incident happened Tuesday night, officials from the mayor’s office said. Around 11:30 p.m., the 35-year-old victim had honked her horn at a group of ATV and dirt bike riders after they failed to move through two green lights, according to ABC Providence affiliate WLNE.
As she drove away, the group surrounded her car and several riders opened the driver’s side door, dragged her onto the street and began assaulting her, according to WLNE.
Cellphone video obtained by WLNE showed the woman on her knees in the street while an assailant repeatedly punched her.
Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza said the woman was “shaken and injured” in the “awful incident.”
The ATV and dirt bike riders reportedly fled.
The victim hurt her head and knees but did not need to be hospitalized, according to the Providence Journal. The paper reported that the driver’s friend and the friend’s 8-year-old daughter were in the car at the time of the attack.
ABC News has reached out to the Providence Police Department for updates on the incident.
The assault is the latest in a string of violence that has plagued the capital city, including a drive-by shooting Sunday that fatally killed a 24-year-old woman, leading to calls for stronger enforcement.
On Friday, Providence City Council President John Igliozzi sent a letter to Gov. Dan McKee requesting that Rhode Island State Police troopers be deployed to the city to assist police in confronting the crime wave.
“As you know, the headlines regarding crime in the city of Providence over the last few weeks have been shocking — murders, drive-by shootings, stabbings, gang incidents and roving throngs of ATV and dirt bike riders terrorizing our neighborhoods,” Igliozzi wrote.
“This wave of violent crime is unacceptable, and we need to act immediately to restore public safety and make our city’s residents once again feel safe walking and sitting outside in their own neighborhoods,” the letter continued, which pointed to a lack of staffing in the police department as an issue.
“The gun violence, the physical attacks and reckless behavior of individuals in our city have resulted in grief, loss and fear in our community,” he said in a statement. “It is time for the city to take decisive action to put a stop to this senseless violence and better serve the people trying to make a home in the city of Providence.”
A meeting will be scheduled for early next week, Igliozzi said.
Providence officials have also been working for years to address people illegally riding ATVs on city streets, especially during the summer.
“We will continue to dedicate all our available resources to getting these illegal ATVs off our streets and to bring those responsible to justice,” Elorza said in a statement.
Police have seized and destroyed over 200 bikes since 2017, according to the mayor’s office.
“[We] will continue to pull over and arrest people who are using these bikes illegally,” the mayor said.
Charlene & Dusty Hill in 2011; Gary Miller/FilmMagic
The widow of ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill has penned a heartfelt message about the passing of her husband, including what happened during his final moments. The band has shared it on their official website.
Charlene “Chuck” Hill begins the note, titled “My Sweet Dusty,” by saying, “After 19 wonderful years of marriage that ended too soon, I’ve decided to step out into Dusty’s spotlight to thank all of his fans, colleagues and friends for the overwhelming outpouring of love for The Dust.”
She continues, “He was the kindest, most gentle and caring man a woman could ever Hope to find in a lifetime. Many don’t believe in fairy tale marriages but Dusty and I truly lived one! We were inseparable.”
Charlene then notes that after Dusty was forced to leave ZZ Top’s trek because of his health issues, “[t]he plan was for another round of physical therapy, with a different approach, to help his chronic bursitis. The plan was he would return to the second leg of the tour in September.”
Describing Dusty’s passing early in the morning on July 28, Charlene notes, “He woke me up and we talked and as he was sweetly chatting with me he suddenly stopped and he was gone in an instant.”
She also points out that Hill greatly loved and appreciated all of his fans.
Charlene finishes her message by paraphrasing a quote from the TV series This Is Us, which she calls her “last love letter” to her husband: “The single most extraordinary thing I have ever done in my life is fall in love with you. The single most extraordinary gift I have ever received in my life was for you to ask me to marry you…I will be with you again. Love you to infinity and back.”
(WASHINGTON) — Nearly seven months to the day a pro-Trump mob attacked the U.S. Capitol, President Joe Biden on Thursday signed a bill awarding Congress’ highest honor — the Congressional Gold Medal — to law enforcement officers he said defended democracy on Jan. 6.
“We cannot allow history to be rewritten. We cannot allow the heroism of these officers to be forgotten. We have to understand what happened — the honest and unvarnished truth. We have to face it,” Biden said in remarks in the White House Rose Garden, speaking to lawmakers, law enforcement officers and their families.
Biden said the Jan. 6 assault presented a dark test of “whether our democracy could survive, whether it could overcome lies and overcome the fury of a few who were seeking to thwart the will of the many.”
“While the attack on our values and our votes shocked and saddened the nation, democracy did survive,” Biden said firmly. “Truth defeated lies. We did overcome. That’s because of the women and men of the U.S. Capitol Police, Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and other law enforcement officials we honor today.”
Police officers fielded greetings from some of the lawmakers they protected, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Rule Committee Chair Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and other senators who co-sponsored the bill, for the afternoon ceremony.
Also present was the mother of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who lobbied Congress to pass legislation for a bipartisan select commission to investigate the attack, which Senate Republicans ultimately blocked. Biden offered his condolences to Sicknick’s family and families of other fallen officers in his remarks, including the children of fallen Capitol Police officer Billy Evans who was killed in a separate attack on the Capitol in April.
“I offer you, not only our condolences but recognize your courage. The courage of your children. And you have our most profound gratitude,” Biden said.
The bipartisan legislation authorizes the creation of four medals — one for the Capitol Police, one for the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, DC, one for display by the Smithsonian to acknowledge other agencies that helped defend the building and a fourth at the Capitol.
Biden said the medals would serve as a reminder of the truth of the attack.
“My fellow Americans, we must all do our part to protect and to preserve our democracy. It requires people of goodwill and courage to stand up to the hate, the lies, the extremism that led to this vicious attack,” he said. “It requires all of us working together — Democrats Republicans, Independents, on behalf of the common good to restore decency, honor and respect for our system of government.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking ahead of Biden, recalled returning to the Senate chamber around 8 p.m. after the riot and witnessing American democracy persevere.
“We gathered in the Senate chamber, in the same chamber where the New Deal was struck and the Great Society was forged, in the same chamber where the Interstate Highway System was started and voting rights were won. And in that chamber, just before 1 a.m., as officers stood guard, the final vote was tallied,” she said.
“As those officers continued, even at that late hour, to secure our Capitol, they secured our democracy. So, let us never forget that. And let us always remember their courage,” she added.
The Senate voted unanimously on Tuesday to pass the legislation without a recorded vote, a rarity in a polarized Washington. The House passed the bill back in June with 21 Republicans voting against it.
“I am still stunned by what happened in the House, where 21 members of the Republican caucus voted against this legislation,” Schumer said Tuesday. “The Senate is different.”
The event falls in the grim shadow of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department announcing this week that two officers who responded to the Jan. 6 riot died by suicide in July.
It also comes as the House select committee investigates the Capitol attack, holding its first hearing in which lawmakers heard dramatic, emotional accounts from officers who defended the building. They all detailed fearing for their lives the day as the Capitol building devolved into “a medieval battle,” as one officer described it.
Some 140 police officers suffered injuries during the attack and 15 were hospitalized.
In the months since, law enforcement suicide experts say the families of those who responded to the incident say they’ve behaved differently. Karen Solomon, who runs Blue H.E.L.P, a nonprofit that works on reducing the stigma of mental health issues in law enforcement, told ABC News, “We are still ignoring the needs of some of the victims of this event — the police officers.”
Metropolitan Police Department officers Michael Fanone, also present on Thursday and seen sharing a hug with Pelosi, is among the voices who have flatly rejected any attempts to rewrite history and downplay the attack as something the country should move on from.
“The indifference shown to my colleagues is disgraceful,” he said, slamming his fist on a congressional witness table last month. “I feel like I went to hell and back to protect them and the people in this room, but too many are now telling me that hell doesn’t exist or that hell actually wasn’t that bad.”
(SAN JOSE, Calif.) — Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and her partner Billy Evans welcomed their first child, William Holmes Evans, on July 10, in Redwood City, California, according to birth records obtained by ABC News.
The birth comes as Holmes is awaiting criminal trial for 12 counts of fraud, beginning Aug. 31 in San Jose, California. If convicted, Holmes could face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each count of fraud. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The charges stem from allegations that Holmes, a Stanford dropout who became a media darling, engaged in a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud investors about her blood-testing company, and a separate scheme to defraud doctors and patients, according to the indictment.
During a pretrial hearing in June, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila stated there would be a quiet room for Holmes to tend to the newborn during breaks in the trial.
Holmes, 37, first informed the court of her pregnancy in March 2021, according to court filings. The news delayed the trial, previously scheduled for July 13, for a fourth time. The date had been moved three times due to the pandemic.
During a Zoom hearing following the filing, the prosecution voiced their frustration, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Leach saying it was “frustrating and disappointing to learn about this now.”
“Right or wrong, that is going to have a bearing on the jury’s perception of her,” Caroline Polisi, a federal white-collar criminal defense attorney, told ABC News’ Rebecca Jarvis in “The Dropout: Elizabeth Holmes on Trial” podcast. “Those types of things actually play a really large role in trials, even though they’re not supposed to.”
“Not only is that going to help her in her trial, but it will really help her in the event that she is convicted,” Polisi added. “The fact that she is a young, new mother is going to play into any potential sentence.”
However, defense attorney Jose Baez, famous for defending Casey Anthony, thinks it could backfire.
“I really think that could backfire because once a juror feels that one side is trying to manipulate them over another, they’re not going to like it,” he said.
Polisi and Baez, who are not associated with the trial, are among the top legal experts who will be appearing in “The Dropout: Elizabeth Holmes on Trial,” an upcoming series of new episodes to ABC News’ No. 1 hit podcast, “The Dropout.” Each week, the podcast will take listeners inside the courtroom and track the trial with real-time reporting on the most important developments.
The new episodes will feature conversations between Jarvis and Holmes’ former colleagues and acquaintances, Theranos patients, top legal experts and others who will provide insight into the trial and Holmes.
The podcast will also bring listeners up to speed on the twists and turns since Holmes was first charged.
“The Dropout: Elizabeth Holmes on Trial” debuts with two episodes on Aug. 31 and is available for free on major listening platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, TuneIn, Audacy and the ABC News app.
New episodes post Tuesdays throughout the trial with bonus episodes as news warrants. It is written by Rebecca Jarvis, Victoria Thompson and Taylor Dunn. Jarvis and Dunn are producers, and Thompson is executive producer.
Aaliyah‘s uncle and the co-founder of Blackground Records, Barry Hankerson, has secured a new deal with the EMPIRE music company, which will release previous albums from the late singer, and well as from Tank, JoJo and other artists.
According to Billboard, a total of 17 albums will be released from Hankerson’s Blackground Records label, which is being revived as Blackground 2.0. Some titles will be available on streaming services for the first time, as well as in physical and digital formats.
Aaliyah released three albums before her 2001 death in a plane crash, but only her 1994 multi-platinum debut, Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number, is available for streaming.
As of Wednesday afternoon, R&B singer Tank archived all the images and videos on his Instagram except for three posts dedicated to his first three studio albums — 2007’s Sex Love & Pain, 2002’sOne Manand his 2001 debut,Force of Nature — all of which he recorded for Blackground Records.
“I prayed for this day,” Tank captioned each post, revealing that all three albums will be available on streaming services on September 17.
Meanwhile, JoJo’s self-titled debut and her sophomore album, The High Road, will be released the following week, on September 24, according to Pop Crave. Though fans expressed their enthusiasm over being able to stream the singer’s “original” debut album, JoJo says she’d appreciate it if fans support the 2018 version she re-recorded.
“Thanks for the love babe,” JoJo tweeted in response to a fan. “Never telling you what to do, but just so you know…a stream of the re-recoded 2018 version supports me and helps me continue to do what I love. Streaming the original unfortunately does not.”
(L-R): Adria DeLaune (The AMG), Kailyn Finnegan (The AMG), Martha Earls (EFG Management), Becky Harris (Huskins-Harris Business Management), Ken Robold (Sony Music Nashville), Chris Young, Kane Brown, Randy Goodman (Sony Music Nashville), Jennifer Way (Sony Music Nashville), Caryl Atwood (Sony Music Nashville), Amanda Good (The AMG), Rob Beckham (The AMG); Alan Poizner
After spending back-to-back weeks at the top of the country chart, Chris Young and Kane Brown’s hit duet, “Famous Friends,” has reached yet another milestone. The song is now RIAA-certified Gold, and the pair received a plaque to mark the accomplishment earlier this week.
“I’m really, really proud of this song and had no idea that it was going to end up blowing up like it did,” Chris said at the time. “And I couldn’t be happier honestly that I get to have a hit on the radio with someone who’s been a friend of mine for a long time.”
That friendship is one that blossomed out of musical admiration: As an aspiring singer, Kane looked up to Chris.
“It’s a full-circle moment for me. You inspired me to get into music and we actually got to take this one to No. 1,” Kane reflected.
“Famous Friends” is also the title track of Chris’ new album, which is due out on Friday. The song also lends its name to his upcoming tour.
On the same night that he was celebrating his current single’s Gold status, Chris was surprised with even more hardware to add to his collection. He was presented with a triple-Platinum plaque for his 2015 hit, “I’m Comin’ Over,” a Platinum plaque for 2018 single, “Hangin’ On,” and Gold certification for his 2017 album, Losing Sleep.
(Sturgis, S.D.) — While a series of high-profile events have been canceled this week due to the looming threat posed by the delta variant, one that last year contributed to hundreds of COVID-19 cases will not.
South Dakota’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which begins Friday and runs through Aug. 15, is expected to draw upwards of 700,000 attendees. Last year’s rally, which took place during the height of the United States’ summer surge, had more than 400,000 estimated attendees, many of whom didn’t wear masks as they patronized bars, restaurants and concerts.
The downstream effect was tangible: At least 649 COVID-19 cases were linked to Sturgis, including secondary and third-degree contacts.
“The Sturgis rally had many characteristics of a superspreading event: large crowds, high intensity of contact between people, potential for highly infectious individuals traveling from hotspots, and events in poorly ventilated indoor environments,” a 2020 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study concluded.
“Such mass events can result in the resurgence of COVID-19 in counties and states even after epidemic control has been achieved through local risk mitigation activities,” the authors wrote.
This year, the CDC has designated Meade County, where Sturgis is located, an area of “high community transmission.” The agency recommends that anyone residing in or visiting such an area wear a mask in public indoor spaces.
South Dakota’s vaccination rate also trails the national average. As of Thursday, 53% of residents had received at least one dose, and 47% were fully vaccinated, according to the CDC, compared with 58% of and 50%, respectively, of all Americans.
Republican Gov. Kristi Noem supports the rally, a major economic driver in the state.
“There’s a risk associated with everything that we do in life,” Noem wrote on Twitter Wednesday. “Bikers get that better than anyone.”
“It’s been extremely busy compared to other years so far,” said Pete Gold, the owner of One-Eyed Jack’s Saloon, a Sturgis-based biker bar. He estimated that at least 100,000 people had arrived in town already.
“There’s not one single person here wearing a mask,” he added. “These people — bikers, Trump supporters, South Dakota Republicans — do not believe in it.”
Despite being unconcerned about COVID-19 or the delta variant, Gold said that he and his family got vaccinated because they want to travel internationally, including to Thailand, where he lives for part of the year.
“I suffered through two Pfizers,” he said. “I have a lot of countries I haven’t been to, so if I don’t get vaccinated, I can’t go.”
LeVar Burton says he’s still “blessed beyond measure” amid news that Jeopardy! executive producer Mike Richards is in “advanced negotiations” to become the game show’s host following the death of Alex Trebek.
“I have said many times over these past weeks that no matter the outcome, I’ve won,” Burton tweetedon Thursday.
“The outpouring of love and support from family, friends, and fans alike has been incredible!” he added. “If love is the ultimate blessing and I believe that it is, I am truly blessed beyond measure.”
As previously reported, Burton, who said hosting Jeopardy! was his “dream job,” has been campaigning for the gig since 2013. After fans rallied for Burton to become Trebek’s official replacement with a Change.org petition, the Reading Rainbow and Roots actor was added to the Jeopardy! guest hosting lineup, taking the reins from July 26 to July 30.
