(PHILADELPHIA) — The Philadelphia Flyers have sent defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere and two draft picks to the Arizona Coyotes, the team announced Thursday.
The Flyers are getting nothing back in return. Instead, the trade opens up $4.5 million in salary-cap space for the team.
“This was a difficult decision but one we thought was necessary given the reality of the salary cap,” said President of Hockey Operations & General Manager Chuck Fletcher in a statement. “Shayne has been a quality player for this organization since the moment he arrived in Philadelphia and has been a part of many special moments in his seven seasons as a Flyer.”
Gostisbehere has spent his entire seven-year NHL career in the city. He appeared in 381 games and scored 60 goals and assisted on 159 goals.
This is the second time in a week that Arizona has traded for a player and did not have to give up anything in return. On Saturday, the New York Islanders traded forward Andrew Lang and three picks to the Coyotes to dump Ladd’s $5.5 million salary.
(L to R:) Jordan Pettit, Director, Artist Relations & Programming Strategy, Opry Entertainment Group; Trisha McClanahan, McClanahan Mgmt; Damon Moberly, Sr. Vice President Promotion, Mercury Records Nashville; Lauren Alaina; Royce Risser, Exec Vice President Promotion, UMG Nashville; Jackie Jones, Vice President, Artist and Industry Relations, RIAA; Stephanie Wright, Sr. Vice President, A&R, UMG Nashville; Courtesy of Schmidt Relations/UMG NAshville
Lauren Alaina got a major surprise backstage at the Grand Ole Opry earlier this week, as not one but four of her singles received official RIAA gold certification plaques.
Her 2019 single “Getting Good” was among them, as was the title track of her 2017 Road Less Traveled album, plus two more songs off that project’s track list: “Doin’ Fine” and “Like My Mother Does.”
“This achievement as a female in country music is such an honor,” Lauren reflected on social media, sharing a couple of snapshots of the special moment when her team surprised her with her new hardware.
“Thank you to my fans for listening & buying the music I pour my heart into. These gold records are just as much yours,” she added.
Looking ahead, Lauren’s got a number of diverse ventures on the horizon. She’ll serve as opening act for Florida Georgia Line’s I Love My Country Tour this fall, and she’s also planning a couple of on-screen roles, both in an episode of the CBS series Secret Celebrity Renovation and in a starring role in the Hallmark film Roadhouse Romance.
Plus, Lauren also recently authored her first-ever book. Part coming-of-age memoir, part survival guide, the new title — called Getting Good at Being You: Learning to Love Who God Made You to Be — will be on shelves November 2.
(NEW YORK) — The Bootleg Fire is now the third-largest fire in Oregon state history as firefighters try to limit its spread amid extremely dry conditions.
The blaze had grown to nearly 400,000 acres in southern Oregon by Thursday morning and remained just 38% contained.
While the wildfire is affecting mostly rural areas, it has climbed to the top three fires to engulf the state, according to records dating back to 1900. The Long Draw Fire in 2012 scorched 557,028 acres, while the Biscuit Fire in 2002 burned 500,000 acres.
In comparison, the Beachie Creek Fire that destroyed more than 1,200 structures in northern Oregon in 2020 burned through 193,573 acres.
This year’s dry season, exacerbated by the megadrought and climate change, has created tinderbox conditions in the West.
Nearly 90 large wildfires are burning in 13 states, with more than 2.5 million acres burned so far this year.
Thousands of homes are threatened and have been evacuated in Oregon due to the Bootleg Fire.
Evacuations have also been ordered near Lake Tahoe due to the Tamarack Fire, which had burned through more than 50,000 acres by Wednesday morning and was 4% contained.
The Dixie Fire in Butte County, California, had scorched nearly 104,000 acres by Thursday and was 17% contained.
Air quality alerts were issued earlier in the week on the East Coast due to the large amounts of smoke being emitted from the fires.
The possibility for new fires to spark remained high on Thursday. Red flag warnings have been issued in parts of Montana and Idaho due to gusty winds and low humidity, while dry thunderstorms caused by the heat of the Bootleg Fire could bring lightning strikes to the drought-ridden region.
Currently, more than 46% of the contiguous U.S. is in a moderate or worse drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, and some of the regions that need rain the most are not forecast to receive any major precipitation that could alleviate the fires.
Rain is not expected for California and the Pacific Northwest. However, parts of the Southwest are seeing some relief due to monsoon storms.
ABC News’ Matthew Fuhrman, Melissa Griffin and Bonnie Mclean contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — In his first steps toward his own Cuba policy, President Joe Biden is sanctioning the Cuban defense minister and its special forces for the aggressive crackdowns on protests across the island nation earlier this month, the White House announced Thursday.
Those protests were some of the largest and most widespread in decades as Cuba reels from a new wave of the coronavirus, the economic pain of COVID-19, and shortages of food and medicine.
They also short-circuited Biden’s administration into a response. Six months into his term, Biden has yet to formulate a policy toward America’s close neighbor after his former boss Barack Obama warmed relations with Cuba’s communist government and his immediate predecessor Donald Trump all but cut contact and implemented the toughest sanctions and restrictions.”This is just the beginning – the United States will continue to sanction individuals responsible for oppression of the Cuban people,” Biden said in a statement Thursday, demanding the government “immediately release wrongfully detained political prisoners, restore internet access, and allow the Cuban people to enjoy their fundamental rights.”
The Treasury Department announced that it sanctioned Defense Minister Alvaro Lopez Miera and the Brigada Especial Nacional, the government’s special forces unit within the Interior Ministry that was deployed “to suppress and attack protesters,” according to the agency.
The new sanctions are not likely to inflict any new pain in Havana beyond the decades-old embargo, but they send a clearer message about where Biden will stand after Obama’s rapprochement and Trump’s heavy penalties. The Cuban Foreign Ministry has not yet responded, but government leaders including President Miguel Díaz-Canel repeatedly blamed the U.S. government or the Cuban diaspora in Miami for stirring up the protests.
“Treasury will continue to enforce its Cuba-related sanctions, including those imposed today, to support the people of Cuba in their quest for democracy and relief from the Cuban regime,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.
While he helped Obama’s efforts to ease tensions with Cuba and reopen trade and travel, Biden has kept most of Trump’s sanctions and restrictions in place so far as his administration completes his review.
Beyond Thursday’s sanctions, the administration announced other baby steps in staking out its own Cuba policy earlier this week, including creating a working group to study the issue of remittances — the money that Americans, especially Cuban Americans, send back to the island.
Remittances were severely restricted by the Trump administration, which said they were largely lining the pockets of the Cuban government as it charged large fees for their transmission. The limits imposed by Trump led Western Union, the financial services company, to close its operations in Cuba.
Biden’s new working group will look for ways to allow money to flow to the Cuban people without enriching the Cuban government, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday.
Biden had said last week that he would not ease those Trump-era restrictions, but administration officials denied they were backing away from that pledge, noting that the president said during a press conference that it was “highly likely that the regime would confiscate those remittances or a big chunk of it.”
“That’s certainly something that we’re mindful of and we’re looking at. That will be a point of discussion in these working groups,” Psaki said Tuesday.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price added that there’s no amount of Cuban government collection on remittances that would be “acceptable to us” but declined to get ahead of what the working group may decide.
He also announced that the State Department will launch its own review about adding staff at the U.S. embassy in Havana. Only a skeleton crew works there now after Trump’s first Secretary of State Rex Tillerson drew down embassy staff after the first reports of medical incidents sometimes known as “Havana syndrome” emerged publicly.
“The staffing at our embassy will serve to enhance our diplomatic, our engagement – our diplomatic activity, our engagement with civil society, our consular service engagement, all of which will be in service of helping the Cuban people to secure greater degrees of human rights, of freedom, of the universal rights that have been denied to them for far too long,” Price said Tuesday.
He declined to provide any timeline on when staffing changes could be made or speak to any changes in security after those “unexplained health incidents,” as the department calls them, that cause “Havana syndrome” — except to say safety will be a top consideration in this review.
Live music is back, and concert promoter Live Nation is celebrating by offering $20 tickets to its shows this summer.
The promotion, dubbed Return to Live, will let you see artists including Daryl Hall & John Oates, The Doobie Brothers, Chicago and many others at various outdoor Live Nation venues across the U.S. for just twenty bucks — taxes and fees included.
Other veteran artists participating in the promotion include Alanis Morissette, The Black Crowes, Alice Cooper, Dead & Company, KISS, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Pet Shop Boys.
The Return to Live tickets go on sale beginning next Wednesday, July 28, at noon ET. For the full list of participating artists and venues, visit LiveNation.com.
Warner Bros. has unveiled a striking new trailer for its forthcoming adaptation of Frank Herbert‘s seminal science-fiction bestseller Dune.
In the film from Oscar-nominated Arrival director Denis Villeneuve, Timothee Chalamet stars as Paul Atreides, the son of an intergalactic ruler who is called to battle over the fate of a desert planet called Arrakis. The planet is home to spice — a coveted substance that can unlock human potential, making it sought after throughout the galaxy over.
In the trailer, as Paul grapples with his responsibilities, he confesses that he’s dreamed of a mysterious young woman, who he eventually sees in the flesh on Arrakis: Chani, one of the planet’s natives — portrayed by Zendaya — caught in the battle for Arrakis in a war launched by the evil Baron Harkonnen.
Amid the trailer’s stunning visuals are a constellation of stars, including Oscar Isaac as Paul’s father, Duke Atreides; Mission: Impossible series alumna Rebecca Ferguson as his mother, Lady Jessica; and Jason Momoa as Paul’s warrior uncle Duncan Idaho. The movie also stars Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, Javier Bardem, Avengers vet Stellan Skarsgård, and The Suicide Squad‘s David Dastmalchian.
Dune is slated to be released in select theaters and IMAX and on HBO Max on October 22.
Jason Aldean started teasing a big mystery duet earlier this week, sharing that his next song, “If I Didn’t Love You,” will feature an exciting and familiar voice. “Who do y’all think is singing on this one with me?” Jason said in the caption of his post.
But Carrie Underwood made things even more interesting on Thursday when she replied to Jason’s tweet with an emoji of a woman raising her hand. Additionally, some particularly savvy fans have discovered that with a little bit of color contrast editing, the picture that Jason posted can be tweaked to reveal Carrie’s face in the blank space beside Jason.
While neither star has officially confirmed the collaboration, it seems increasingly likely that when Jason’s new song comes out, it’ll feature Carrie on vocals.
Jason’s had quite a bit of success in the past duetting with female A-Listers. His 2018 collaboration with Miranda Lambert, “Drowns the Whiskey,” was a number-one hit, as was his 2010 single with Kelly Clarkson, “Don’t You Wanna Stay,” a song that also had massive crossover success in the pop world.
Meanwhile, Carrie’s no slouch as a duet partner, either. “Remind Me,” a song she recorded with Brad Paisley, was an ACM Award-winning, chart-topping hit after its 2011 release. Another crossover smash was “The Fighter,” Carrie’s collaboration with Keith Urban.
(ATLANTA) — Atlanta Hawks rookie center Onyeka Okongwu had surgery to repair his torn right labrum in his shoulder, the team announced.
The sixth overall pick in last year’s NBA Draft will be out for the next six months and will miss the start of the NBA season. Training camps will begin in late-September with the regular season commencing in October.
During his rookie year, Okongwu appeared in 50 games averaging 4.6 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.
Dr. Neal ElAttrache performed the surgery in Los Angeles.
Paul McCartney and Beck have released a music video for their collaborative song, “Find My Way.”
The clip was co-produced by the company Hyperreal Digital, which, according to a press release, “specializes in the creation of hyper-realistic digital avatars.” The result showcases a “de-aged” version of the Beatles legend — akin to the effects used in the Martin Scorsese movie The Irishman — as he walks and dances through a trippy hotel hallway.
“The technology to de-age talent and have them perform in creative environments like this is now fully-realized, even with one of the most recognized faces in the world,” says Hyperreal CEO Remington Scott.
You can watch the “Find My Way” video streaming now on McCartney’s official YouTube channel. The clip also features cameos by the real, 79-year-old Macca and Beck.
“Find My Way” is one of many collaborations included on McCartney III Imagined, a compilation featuring updated versions of songs off Sir Paul’s 2020 solo effort, McCartney III. The collection also includes covers or remixes by St. Vincent, Queens of the Stone Age‘s Josh Homme, Blur‘s Damon Albarn and Phoebe Bridgers, among others.
McCartney III Imagined was released digitally in April. Vinyl, CD and cassette versions of the album, which include a bonus track featuring actor and DJ Idris Elba, are due out this Friday, July 23.
The guys in *NSYNC are all still friendly with each other, which is why Lance Bass felt comfortable calling all his former band mates and pranking them on TikTok.
Lance pulled the popular “#TooBusy” prank on Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick: He FaceTimed them both, and then when they answered, he claimed that he was way too busy to talk and hung up on his confused pals.
Lance then called JC Chasez and did the same thing, but it turned out that he and JC were sitting right next to each other at the time, so it wasn’t much of a prank.
But when Lance called Justin Timberlake, JT didn’t even take his call, leaving a mock-outraged Lance to exclaim, “What the f…?”
He hashtagged the post #BoybandWars, #NSYNC, #TooBusy and #DidYouJustDenyMe??
