After 18 seasons, Grey’s Anatomy is still kicking, and while there are no signs that the ABC medical drama is ending anytime soon, creator Shonda Rhimes is teasing what that will look like when the time comes.
Speaking with Variety, the acclaimed producer, screenwriter, and author admitted that she’s “written the end of that series, I want to say, a good eight times.”
“I was like, ‘And that will be the end!’ Or, ‘That’ll be the final thing that’s ever said or done!’ And all of those things have already happened,” she shared. “So I give up on that, you know what I mean?”
Rhimes also explained that she’s not sure she’ll know the exact details of how Grey’s Anatomy will wrap, considering that she “handed off all the reins” to its current showrunner, Krista Vernon, back in season 14.
“Am I going to be the person who decides like what the final scene is? I don’t know!” Rhimes revealed. “If you’d ask me this question three years ago, or prior to Krista arriving, I would have said, ‘Yes, I can tell you exactly how it’s going to end. But once you hand off the ball for real, it’s just different. So I don’t know yet.”
One thing Rhimes does have control over is when Grey’s Anatomy will take its final bow, at which time she says, “I take full responsibility for that when or if everybody gets mad at me.”
Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
“It’s been such a long time,” Cierra Chub said Monday on “Good Morning America.” “Each [of my kids] came up to visit once, but it’s not the same.”
Cierra Chubb, of South Carolina, was hospitalized with COVID-19 in July, while she was around 37 weeks pregnant.
Just two days after she was admitted to the hospital, she had to undergo an emergency cesarean section because her pregnancy was in distress.
She delivered her third child, a son named Myles, on July 26, two weeks before his due date.
While Myles was born healthy, Cierra Chubb’s condition quickly deteriorated after his birth. She was put on a ventilator and then an ECMO machine, on which she stayed for nearly 30 days, according to her husband, Jamal Chubb, who became the sole caregiver for their three children and documented his wife’s journey on TikTok.
“It’s just one of those things where you’re living life and then all of a sudden everything feels like it’s collapsing,” Jamal Chubb said on “GMA.” “At first I started sharing the story on Tiktok just because I wanted to update people because I kept getting a lot of text messages, and then it grew from updating to informing people on what I’m seeing with COVID firsthand and encouraging people to get vaccinated.”
“It kind of took on a life of its own,” he said, adding that his family has received “so many prayers” from people around the world.
In what Jamal Chubb described as “truly a miracle,” his wife’s condition began to improve over the past two months.
Cierra Chubb, who was not vaccinated when she was diagnosed with COVID-19, was able to walk out of the hospital on Oct. 27. She was cheered on by medical staff who lined the hallways to say goodbye.
“I had been there so long that I’d gotten to know the nursing staff and the respiratory specialists very well, but I wasn’t expecting that there were going to be that many people invested in my wellness,” she said. “It was incredible.”
Her recovery continued at a rehabilitation center — where she relearned everything from walking to writing — until Monday, when she was able to go home.
“I’ve been crying in the car all morning on the way up here,” Jamal Chubb said of his final drive from the family’s home to the rehabilitation center. “It is just surreal that this is the last time I’ll have to make this drive and she’ll be home with our family.”
He said his wife’s last words before she was put on a ventilator were, ‘I’m coming back to my family,’ and he put those words on his own social media so he could use them as motivation.
“That’s the hope I held onto as you progressed,” Jamal Chubb said to his wife. “It gave me hope every day to read it because that’s what I knew you wanted to do, you wanted to come back.”
Cierra Chubb said she was amazed at how her husband stepped up as a single dad to their three children, ages 7, 2 and nearly 4 months.
“Raising kids by yourself is just taxing,” she said. “When you get married, you are never expecting to have to do that part on your own, it’s a partnership and Jamal and I have always shared things equally.”
“He’s a very involved dad so I think this jump for him versus maybe your average guy wasn’t that big, but with me being sick on top of it, has to have been exhausting to say the least,” she said. “He’s been a rock star the entire time.”
(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) — Police are hailing a Nashville, Tennessee, pastor as a hero after he tackled a gunman at the church altar.
Dezire Baganda, 26, was sitting at the front of the Nashville Light Mission Pentecostal Church on Sunday when he allegedly took out a gun and headed to the altar where the pastor was praying with congregants, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said.
Surveillance video showed the suspect waving the gun and pointing it at worshippers. Police said Baganda told everyone to get up.
The pastor quickly tackled Baganda, police said, and several church members jumped in to help take away the gun.
No shots were fired, police said.
“The heroic actions of a local pastor and several of his parishioners saved a church from further violence,” police said in a statement.
Baganda was not a church member but had been to services there before, according to the pastor.
Baganda is charged with 15 counts of felony aggravated assault, police said, adding that more counts are expected.
Luke Combs is still trying to determine what to perform at the CMA Awards, and he’s calling on fans for their help.
On Sunday, Luke took to Twitter to share that he’s toying with different performance ideas, including debuting a new song that fans will be able to access immediately after the show.
“Still trying to decide what I want to sing on the CMA Awards this Wednesday. Would y’all be cool with a brand new, unreleased song? And I’ll have it available to stream/purchase everywhere after my performance,” he teases.
Fans were quick to reply in the comment sections, with some requesting recently shared unreleased songs “Joe” and “The Kind of Love We Make,” and another suggesting “The Great Divide,” his bluegrass collaboration with Billy Strings.
“Omg that would be amazing! Your music speaks to people so whatever you decide to do will be the right decision,” writes one encouraging fan, while another says, “You can sing anything YOU want we love it all!!” alongside a heart emoji.
Luke is up for three of the night’s awards, including the pinnacle Entertainer of the Year, along with Male Vocalist of the Year and Song of the Year for “Forever After All.” The CMA Awards air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on ABC on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.
Finally, Foo Fighters are starring in their own movie.
Dave Grohl and company have announced Studio 666, an upcoming horror-comedy film set to premiere in domestic theaters February 25, 2022.
In Studio 666, the Foos enter a creepy mansion to record a new album, only to find themselves battling “supernatural forces that threaten both the completion of the album and the lives of the band.” You may recall that, leading up to the release of the new Foo Fighters album Medicine at Midnight, Grohl repeatedly said the house in which they recorded it was haunted.
“After decades of ridiculous music videos and numerous music documentaries under our collective belts, it was finally time to take it to the next level,” Grohl says. “Like most things Foo, Studio 666 began with a far fetched idea that blossomed into something bigger than we ever imagined possible.”
“Filmed at the same house where we recorded our latest album Medicine at Midnight (told you that place was haunted!) we wanted to recapture the classic magic that all of our favorite rock and roll movies had, but with a twist: hilarious gore that f***ing ROCKS,” he continues. “Be ready to laugh, scream, and headbang in your popcorn. Studio 666 will f*** you up.”
In addition to the six Foo members, the Studio 666 cast includes Whitney Cummings, Leslie Grossman, Will Forte, Jenna Ortega and Jeff Garlin.
(NEW YORK) — Pamela Wilson, a second grade teacher in Washington state, has been an educator for 18 years.
This year, amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that has disrupted three consecutive school years, Wilson said she is facing a level of burnout she never has before.
“I sit in my car and don’t want to go in,” Wilson told “Good Morning America.” “It’s not because of my students, it’s because of the broken system around them that’s been magnified by the pandemic.”
“The system is broken and we see that it’s broken, but everyone tries to go on like it’s normal,” she said.
Wilson, a public school teacher, said her school has a shortage of full-time teachers as well as a shortage of substitute teachers, which means teachers like herself are burdened with no time off and no time for planning, leading to 12-hour workdays.
“This is my passion and I love my job, but I’m struggling this year, wondering, if this is the new normal, can I do this job anymore?” said Wilson. “I keep waiting for it to get better and it gets worse.”
Charity Turpeau, the 2021-22 middle school teacher of the year in her Louisiana school district, said she too has never seen burnout among teachers at this level in her 16 years of teaching.
“I absolutely love what I do, but lately with the workload, demands from the state, pandemic restrictions, and lack of pay I feel as if I am doing less of what I love, which is teaching,” she said. “The paycheck does not match the amount of workload we are given and the overtime we work to try and complete it all.”
Schools across the country have faced a shortage of teachers in recent years, mainly due to low pay and stressful working conditions. The burnout among teachers this year though, amid the ongoing pandemic, has led to a shortage that teachers like Wilson describe as “unbearable to the system.”
Brittni, who asked that her last name not be used, quit her job as a kindergarten teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, this September, a few weeks into the school year.
“I was very overwhelmed with lots of responsibility and little support and long hours,” she said. “I don’t think people understand how hard it is to be a teacher,” she said. “We all love kids, that’s why we do it, but we have to have some kind of respect and some kind of support to keep it going.”
The state of Florida opened the school year with a shortage of 5,000 teachers, a number that by October had slightly increased, according to a spokesperson for the Florida Education Association.
And school districts across the country are reporting a triple whammy of not only a shortage of teachers but also substitutes and school support staff, like bus drivers.
“It’s just not teachers, but staff in general — custodial staff, support staff, administrative staff,” said Dr. Mark P. Holtzman, superintendent of McKeesport Area School District in Pennsylvania, which educates more than 3,000 students. “It’s been a gradual problem and obviously, the pandemic has not impacted it positively.”
Holtzman said his district, which employs around 300 teachers, has been hit hard by veteran teachers choosing to retire and a lack of new teachers entering the field.
“Now it has kind of hit the wall where we’re struggling to fill slots with quality candidates, and substitute teachers don’t exist, so trying to fill classrooms is almost impossible,” he said.
With a lack of substitute teachers to fill the holes, full-time teachers are being asked to do the impossible, teachers and advocates say.
“The burden of the workload has doubled and tripled,” said Katherine Bishop, a teacher for 23 years and current president of the Oklahoma Education Association. “Teachers don’t even have their preparation time anymore. They’re covering classes or taking double the students, and we’re still in a pandemic, teachers, kids, and support professionals are still getting sick.”
Added Turpeau, “Teachers are getting overwhelmed and they’re leaving, and teachers that are staying on are taking on additional challenges. They add stuff on us, and when they add one thing, they take away 15 minutes of our time.”
However, it remains unclear whether Congress will pass paid family leave, a measure that was promised by President Joe Biden on the 2020 campaign trail.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Wednesday that she would include four weeks of paid family leave and medical leave into the $1.85 trillion social spending bill. The decision came just days after the measure was put on the chopping block when top Democrats failed to come to a compromise with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).
While Manchin has not explicitly said he will oppose a plan with paid family leave included, he has expressed concerns about the cost of the program and disapproved of its placement in the reconciliation bill.
“I just think it’s the wrong place to put it because it is a social expansion,” Manchin told reporters on Nov. 3, adding it would mean “getting in more debt and basically putting more programs that we can’t pay for that we are having problems with now.”
Manchin’s concerns come as education advocates in his own home state of West Virginia urge him to pass federal paid leave.
“The sooner that we can tackle this and address this issue, the better,” said Dale Lee, president of the West Virginia Educators Association. “The conditions are only going to get worse with the mental stress that has been put on educators this year. More and more people are either going to retire or leave the profession altogether. We can’t fill the positions that we have right now. Almost every county in West Virginia has a teacher shortage, and every county has a substitute shortage because you don’t have enough subs on any given day to fill in for the educators that are out,” Lee added.
Teneshia Moore, a Southfield, Michigan, middle school science teacher, told ABC News that she would like Manchin and other lawmakers to consider how federal paid leave would dramatically impact the lives of educators like herself, who continued to have little recourse during the demanding times of the pandemic.
“I would ask him [Manchin] to put himself in our shoes,” Moore said. “Think about how it affects people that are here in the trenches. He has paid leave, what’s wrong with teachers having paid leave? What would be wrong with teachers having the same thing that he has.”
With 12 days of annual paid leave, Moore said she relied on her rollover sick days after not taking time off from previous years so she could care for her family members who were infected with COVID-19.
“I had to take care of my mother. She had COVID twice during the initial phase [of the pandemic]. I lost an aunt to COVID. I lost a stepfather to COVID,” she said. “I had to take care of all those people and I literally dwindled my sick days down to little or nothing.”
Erin Castillo, a high school teacher in Fremont, California, said her school started the year short 40 teachers, which has caused her workload to nearly triple.
She gets two paid personal days off per year, along with 10 sick days, but no paid maternity leave.
“If I need maternity leave, then that’s coming out of my sick leave, so often teachers are all saving those up for maternity leave so they can get paid, which means they’re left with two paid days off,” she said. “That’s really hard for teachers to get through.”
Describing the workload she and other teachers are facing this year, Castillo said, “I think it’s beyond the typical teacher burnout that people talk about. I describe it as trying to come up for air and there’s no chance to catch your breath because more and more just keeps coming at you.”
Shortage likely to continue without support, experts say
Education experts including Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, say they worry what will happen to the education system long-term if teachers are not supported now.
A study conducted by the AFT with the Rand Corp. earlier this year found one in four teachers were considering leaving their job by the end of the school year. Teachers were also more likely to report experiencing frequent job-related stress and symptoms of depression than the general population, according to the study.
“What COVID has done is exacerbated all the inequalities and the inequities [of education], but teachers will always attempt to do what’s asked of them, which covers up some of the inequalities and some of the inequities,” said Weingarten. “We need to give them the conditions in which they can teach and kids can learn if we’re serious about having kids not only survive past COVID, but get their mojo back and thrive.”
Kim Anderson, executive director of the National Education Association, says the solution needs to start with better pay for teachers and go beyond that to offer better working conditions and more autonomy and respect for teachers.
“Delivering a world-class public education to every single student in America requires more than short-term Band-Aids,” she said. “It requires a unified, non-politicized, authentic attempt to address the reinforcement of and transformation of one of the most important institutions in our country, and that is our public education system.”
Anderson pointed to a survey of NEA members conducted in June, before the start of this school year, that found nearly one in three educators said the pandemic was likely to make them leave the profession earlier than expected.
She said now more than ever, America’s education system needs more investments in teacher recruitment, preparation, support and compensation.
“We need mentoring and professional learning communities that are led by educators, for all educators. We need strategic partnerships with teacher preparation programs for new educators, as well,” she said. “We need teacher residency programs within school districts to build a long-term pipeline.”
Nieka Richard, a California teacher who went viral when she posted on TikTok about quitting her role, said she wants people to know how important teachers are and warns what may happen if teachers aren’t supported.
“If teachers are stretched really thin, then the education cannot be as robust as it should be,” said Richard. “And we as a country are going toward even more detrimental times because people are not properly educated and it starts in the classroom. It starts with the teachers.”
ABC News’ Kaila Nichols contributed to this report.
The first performers for the 2021 American Music Awards have been announced: Olivia Rodrigo, BTS, Megan Thee Stallion and Bad Bunny are all playing the show, which airs November 21 on ABC.
BTS will be giving fans the world TV premiere of their hit “Butter,” but what’s exciting is that Megan will be joining them for the performance. Olivia will be making her American Music Awards debut; she’s this year’s leading nominee with seven nods. Both BTS and Olivia are nominated for Artist of the Year.
Cardi B will host the show; voting is now open globally via TikTok. You can vote once per category per day by searching “AMAs” on TikTok, or you can vote online.
Maria Shriver is sticking up for her son-in-law Chris Pratt, commenting on that post about his new baby that caused such a flap online.
Pratt was flamed online last week for a sweet post to his wife, in which he thanked her for giving him a “gorgeous healthy daughter” that some read into that as a dig against Faris, as their child was born premature, and because of that, suffered health complications.
“I want to remind you today what a good man you are,” responded Shriver, the mom of Pratt’s wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, who’s the daughter of Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Shriver, 66, mentioned both of Pratt’s children: 8-year-old Jack, from his marriage to ex Anna Faris, and his baby daughter with Katherine, Lyla.
“What a great father you are to Jack and Lyla, what a great husband you are to Katherine [and] what a great son in law you are to me and what a great sense of humor you have!!” said Shriver. “I love you Chris, keep being your wonderful self, rise above the noise. Your kids love [you] your family loves you [and] your wife loves you. What a beautiful life, I’m proud of you xo.”
While not addressing the situation directly, Pratt took to Instagram on Friday in a series of Stories to say he was feeling “depressed,” but found some peace in running in nature and listening to praise music.
(HENRY COUNTY, Ga.) — Investigators in Georgia and NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal are offering a $30,000 reward for any information regarding a suspect who shot and wounded a police officer last week.
Henry County Police Officer Paramhans Desai, 38, was responding to a domestic disturbance on Thursday and was attempting to make an arrest, the Henry County Police Department said in a statement. Jordan Jackson, 22, of McDonough, Georgia, allegedly shot Desai and fled the scene in a 2016 Honda Civic, according to the police.
Desai was taken to Grady Medical Center and was listed in critical, but stable condition Sunday, the police said. Desai, who is married and has two children, has been with the Henry County PD for two years and previously worked for the Georgia Department of Corrections and DeKalb County Police, the police said.
On Sunday, a reward for information on Jackson’s whereabouts was announced and the money came from several sources.
The Harris County Sheriff’s office and the U.S. Marshals Office each offered $10,000, Crime Stoppers Atlanta offered $5,000, the Henry County PD said.
O’Neal, who lives in Henry County and is an honorary deputy in Clayton County, Georgia, also offered $5,000.
Anyone with tips can call Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 800-597-TIPS (8477).
(LAS VEGAS) — With an eye on both the midterm elections and 2024, a host of Republican lawmakers — including many potential presidential contenders — spoke in Las Vegas at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting this weekend. Most called this past week’s election outcomes a signifier of things to come during midterms.
“As we move forward, the signs are clear and the trends are unmistakable,” House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy said Saturday. “A Republican wave is underway.”
Attendees aim to ensure that GOP gains continue through 2024’s presidential election, with possible candidates making their case without explicitly stating their intentions.
“A lot of people have come here to audition,” said Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Saturday night.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and former Vice President Mike Pence all spoke at the event. The conference also featured a video message from former President Donald Trump.
“We will win back the House. We will win back the Senate,” Trump said in his video address. “And we will win back in 2024 that beautiful white building sometimes referred to as the White House.”
While there has been no shortage of commentary on the fact that Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin kept Trump at an arm’s length, most of the speakers in Las Vegas leaned hard into their support of Trump.
“President Trump’s single most redeeming characteristic — the man has a steel backbone and he doesn’t back down,” Cruz said Friday to boisterous applause. “After years of Republicans scared of their own shadows, there’s a reason we celebrate a leader who’s willing to stand up and fight.”
“Who’s going to be the nominee [in 2024]? I don’t know, but I do know this, that Donald Trump was a hell of a president,” said Graham.
On Friday night, Scott, who is the chair of the National Republican Senate Committee, told ABC News that Trump will do “whatever he can” to help Republicans take control of both chambers of Congress in 2022. Depending on the race, it could mean standing back.
“You should listen to the candidate because they know their state and they know their race,” Scott said. “And so you should let them figure out how involved you should be and that’s anybody, including the NRSC.”
On Saturday, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel told attendees that connecting voters on issues they care about and presenting a united party to the electorate are the keys to winning more elections.
The Republican Jewish Coalition meeting typically centers on foreign policy, like relations with Israel and with other nations in the region. Former Vice President Mike Pence largely touted the accomplishments of the Trump administration as it pertains to Israel, including moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.
“Under the Trump-Pence administration, if the world knew nothing else the world knew this. America stands with Israel,” said Pence. “Our administration was able to take historic steps to strengthen the ties in the American people and the Jewish state of Israel.”
In addition to U.S.-Israeli relations, this time around at the annual meeting there was a great deal of attention paid to domestic issues.
Among the most talked-about issues was teaching so-called critical race theory in schools, a topic that has emerged as a flashpoint in conservative circles. Every speaker referred to critical race theory during their remarks, with some, like Haley, calling it “liberal indoctrination.”
“We’ve got the midterm elections next year where the stakes couldn’t be higher,” she said Saturday. “Those elections are about whether we stop socialism, defend our borders, return on fiscal sanity and get the liberal indoctrination out of our schools.”
“We’re watching critical race theory and during the woke curriculum infiltrate our school districts,” Noem said.
Opposition to vaccine mandates was also a frequently mentioned topic.
DeSantis spoke of his opposition to voting reform, framing changes as a danger to Republican ability to wield power.
“They want to make conservative Americans second-class citizens,” said DeSantis. “They want to lock us out from being able to exercise power to be able to exercise policy.”
President Joe Biden’s agenda, including his newly passed infrastructure plan, also made waves. Most framed Biden’s agenda as being hijacked by progressives in comparison to how he campaigned. The word “socialism” was used freely to describe the Democratic agenda throughout the event.
During Christie’s remarks Saturday, he cited his record of supporting Trump, but implored the crowd to give up on trying to relitigate the 2020 election. The response from the crowd to Christie, an ABC News contributor, was tepid.
“We can no longer talk about the past and past elections. No matter where you stand on that issue, no matter where you stand, it is over,” said Christie.
