Ed Sheeran will be this year’s “Mega Mentor” on The Voice as the show moves from the Battle Rounds to the Knockout Rounds.
During the Knockouts, each team’s contestants will compete against each other in pairs, each singing their own song. Ed will work with all the contestants and help them choose songs and make performance decisions that play to their strengths. The contestant’s coaches will then choose which one stays and which one goes.
Ed’s run on The Voice starts Monday, October 25, conveniently just days before the release of his new album =(Equals), which arrives October 29.
Mark Schafer/CBS 2021 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
When CBS’ drama FBI: Most Wanted ended last season, there was a tense situation in the home of Julian McMahon‘s Special Agent Jess LaCroix. His daughter Tali was inside with Jess’ new girlfriend Sarah, both at the mercy of Sarah’s gun-toting ex-husband — and then producers cut away with the sound of gunshots, and left viewers hanging as to who might have been killed.
The season premiere just revealed Jess managed to kill Sarah’s abusive ex in front of Jess’ loved ones.
“Oh, man, what a cliffhanger!” McMahon exclaimed to ABC Audio.
“You know, I was surprised because a lot of the time with these types of shows, they like to kind of end things…by end of season. …And the fact that they gave us the opportunity to create such a kind of dynamic cliffhanger at one that, you know, you can’t stop thinking about until it’s resolved, was just a real kind of cool idea, I thought — as agonizing as it is for a lot of us!”
He explains that this season deals with the “aftermath” of his loved ones witnessing the killing. “We certainly start the season with it not being all hunky dory,” McMahon hints.
His FBI duties aside, ABC Audio wanted to know if in this age of reboots, would McMahon ever return to another popular show in which he starred — Nip/Tuck — if the six-series FX show that ended in 2010 was revisited?
“I loved that character, man!” McMahon enthuses. “I’m not sure I can ever say no to Christian Troy.”
When ABC Audio noted few people ever said no to the womanizing plastic surgeon he played, McMahon said with a laugh, “Yeah! That was the problem!”
FBI: Most Wanted returns tonight at 10 p.m. on CBS.
Boosie Badazz is in trouble once again as he’s been kicked off the Legendz of the Streetz tour headlined by Rick Ross, Jeezy, Gucci Mane and 2 Chainz.
During the second show on the tour, Friday night in Atlanta, a fight broke out on stage while Boosie was performing his second song, according to HotNewHipHop.com. The “Wipe Me Down” rapper’s set abruptly ended and he was rushed off stage.
He did not perform on the next show on the tour, Saturday night in Greensboro, NC. Boosie tweeted, “THIS IS THE MOVE THEY PULLING OFF ON THE TOUR SO U CANT GET REFUNDS.”
Last week, Badazz was suspended from Instagram and he claims it was because he asked Drake to promote his new biopic titled, My Struggle.
After being kicked off the tour, Boosie promoted his appearance on Twitter at a party Sunday night at the Euphoria nightclub in Baltimore. A man is in critical condition after a large fight and shooting at the event, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Baltimore police said officers on foot patrol around 1:38 a.m. Monday heard gunshots and found a car with numerous bullet holes and a shattered window. The shooting victim, a 27-year-old man, was shot in the upper body and head.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 410-396-2422 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 866-7-LOCKUP.
The next stop on the Legendz of the Streetz tour, which also features special guests Fabolous, Lil Kim, and Trina, will be Friday night in New Orleans, The tour is scheduled to wrap up October 22 in Memphis.
Hey now, Steve Harwell is still the lead singer of Smash Mouth.
Fans who attended the “All Star” group’s recent concerts were surprised to see Harwell absent from behind the mic and replaced by a new vocalist, leading to speculation that the founding frontman was no longer in the band. However, a rep for Smash Mouth tells TMZ that isn’t the case.
The rep explains that Harwell took a brief leave of absence from Smash Mouth due to his ongoing cardiomyopathy heart condition, which he’s had since 2015. Issues with his heart previously landed Harwell in the hospital in 2017.
The unidentified fill-in singer, who is only described as “someone the band knows,” was recruited to handle vocal duties in place of Harwell on merely a temporary basis, the rep adds. Harwell is set to return to the stage with Smash Mouth this Thursday in Jackson, Mississippi.
(NEW YORK) — A North Carolina school board voted Monday to make masks optional for students and staff indoors, even as 430 students are under quarantine.
The Harnett County School Board voted 4 to 1 for the optional mask policy Monday and it takes effect Tuesday.
Prior to Tuesday, masks were mandatory in the school district, which has more than 19,600 students.
The board also voted to pass an amended quarantine policy allowing students exposed to COVID-19 who haven’t tested positive to return after seven days instead of 10 days. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that those who are unvaccinated should quarantine at home for 14 days after exposure. However, 10-day or seven-day quarantines are acceptable if combined with testing and a negative test result.
According to the school district’s COVID-19 dashboard, as of Monday there are 53 positive virus cases among students and 13 among staff. Further, seven staff and 430 students are currently under quarantine.
The school district has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment.
Mask mandates in schools have been an ongoing heated debate as more than 48 million children under the age of 12 are still ineligible to be vaccinated.
Pediatrician Dr. Lori Langdon spoke at the boarding meeting, saying: “Your students are my patients. I want you to remember that not all students in Harnett County are healthy … Some of them live in homes with immunocompromised parents and grandparents.”
“Our concern is that if we don’t have a mask mandate, we’re just going to be on the countdown back to virtual school and that’s not what any of us want,” she added. “My mask protects you and your mask protects me from you.”
Local residents shared their opinions both for and against the mask during the virtual meeting Monday night.
Parent Gina Carucci said during the meeting, “Obviously this is very political. Masks and virus has nothing to do with the virus, it has to do with complying with the government.”
“You’re taking away their freedom of speech, their freedom to talk to their friends, their freedom to show their smiles,” she said. “These children … it should be their choice.”
Board member Vivian Bennett was the lone member to vote against making masks optional.
“I think the best interest for the people of this county is for there to be masks,” she said before the vote. “My neighbor died, and her sister is taking care of her daughter. She says that she wears a mask every minute, even sleeps in one … I could never vote to think that I might hurt some of the people that I know and don’t know in this county.”
The move by Harnett County Schools comes as a slew of other school districts have imposed mask requirements for students and staff, at times in defiance of state -level bans on mask mandates.
Vaccinations for students will likely be the next frontier of debates. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday a state requirement for COVID-19 vaccines for all school children between 12 to 17 once the U.S. Food and Drug Administration grants full approval of the vaccine for that age group.
(NEW YORK) — A request to grant George Floyd a full posthumous pardon is headed to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk after a public defender alleged Floyd was framed in a 2004 drug bust by a former Houston police detective now indicted on murder charges.
In a letter sent Monday to Floyd’s one-time public defender Allison Mathis, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles wrote it has “completed their consideration of your client’s application requesting a Full Pardon and have voted to recommend clemency.”
The board forwarded its recommendation to Abbott for final disposition. Abbott has not said whether he will grant the pardon.
Mathis filed the request in April, writing in the petition that a “pardon is being sought because it is just and right to clear a conviction that is not supported by evidence.”
Floyd was arrested on Feb. 5, 2004, by then-Houston undercover narcotics detective Gerald Goines, who alleged Floyd provided a second suspect .03 grams of crack cocaine to sell, according to the petition. The man Floyd allegedly gave the drugs to turned out to be a police informant who sold the drugs to Goines as part of a sting operation and was not arrested or identified, according to the petition.
Floyd eventually pleaded guilty to a drug charge and was sentenced to 10 months in state jail, authorities said.
In August 2019, Goines was charged with two counts of murder related to a botched narcotics raid at a home in southeast Houston. Goines’ police colleague, Steven Bryant, pleaded guilty in June to federal charges of falsifying records and interfering with a government investigation in an attempt to help Goines cover up an illegally obtained “no-knock” warrant on the Houston home of Rhogena Nicholas and her husband, Dennis Tuttle.
During the Jan. 28, 2019, raid, a shootout erupted in which Nicholas, Tuttle and their dog were killed and four police officers, including Goines, were shot and wounded.
In announcing the indictments of Goines and Bryant, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg alleged that Goines made “numerous false statements” in the affidavit presented to the judge who signed the ‘no-knock” warrant.
The scandal prompted the Harris County District Attorney to review at least 1,400 criminal cases tied to Goines.
Ogg released a statement on Monday supporting the Board of Pardons and Paroles’ recommendation to grant Floyd clemency.
“We lament the loss of former Houstonian George Floyd and hope that his family finds comfort in Monday’s decision by the Texas State Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend clemency for a 2004 conviction,” Ogg’s statement reads.
Mathis also praised the board’s decision.
“A man was set up by a corrupt police officer intent on securing arrests rather than pursuing justice,” Mathis said in a statement. “No matter what your political affiliation is, no matter who that man was in his life or in his death, that is not something we should stand for in the United States or in Texas.”
Ben Crump, an attorney for the Floyd family, urged Abbott to grant the full pardon.
“This drug charge, which led to George Floyd’s conviction based on false evidence, helped to unravel his life,” Crump said in a statement. “Similarly, tens of thousands of Black lives are ruined by a criminal justice system that uses the war on drugs to target Black people, force them into felony pleas, incarcerate them, take away their voting rights, and destroy their families.”
Floyd died on May 25, 2020, as the result of injuries suffered when police in Minneapolis attempted to arrest him on suspicion of using a phony $20 bill to buy cigarettes. Former police officer Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee into the back of Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes as the 46-year-old Black man lost consciousness after repeatedly claiming of not being able to breathe, was convicted in April of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison. Three other police officers charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter are scheduled to go on trial next year.
(NEW YORK) — Facebook’s safety head was questioned by lawmakers on Thursday over what the company knew about the potential for Instagram to be harmful to young users’ mental health.
The Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security convened the hearing in the wake of a Wall Street Journal investigation citing Facebook’s own internal research, allegedly leaked by a whistleblower, which found Instagram adversely impacted mental health issues in teens, especially girls. Among the findings were that Instagram made body image issues worse for 1 in 3 teens.
The Journal’s reporting has sparked a fierce backlash amid accusations the tech giant publicly downplayed what it knew about how potentially harmful Instagram could be while also doing nothing to prevent it.
“We’re here today because Facebook has shown us once again that it is incapable of holding itself accountable,” Committee Chair Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in his opening remarks. “This month, a whistleblower approached my office to provide information about Facebook and Instagram. Thanks to documents provided by that whistleblower, as well as extensive public reporting by The Wall Street Journal and others, we now have deep insight into Facebook’s relentless campaign to recruit and exploit young users.”
“We now know that Facebook routinely puts profits ahead of kids’ online safety,” he added. “We know it chooses the growth of its products over the well-being of our children, and we now know that it is in defensively delinquent in acting to protect them.”
In the wake of the Wall Street Journal expose, Facebook announced earlier this week that it was “pausing” development of an Instagram for Kids platform, but stopped short of scrapping it.
Antigone Davis, Facebook’s global head of safety, faced bipartisan scrutiny as she defended the company during the hearing that lasted some three hours. She denied Blumenthal’s claims.
“We understand that recent reporting has raised a lot of questions about our internal research, including research we do to better understand young people’s experiences on Instagram,” Davis stated in written testimony. “We strongly disagree with how this reporting characterized our work, so we want to be clear about what that research shows, and what it does not show.”
“We undertook this work to inform internal conversations about teens’ most negative perceptions of Instagram,” she added. “It did not measure causal relationships between Instagram and real-world issues.”
Davis said the reporting “implied that the results were surprising and that we hid this research,” which she said wasn’t true and that the company has discussed the “strengths and weaknesses of social media and well-being publicly for more than a decade.”
She also highlighted aspects of Facebook’s in-house research that she said the Journal didn’t include in recent stories, such as reports that Instagram made “sadness” and “loneliness” better for a majority of teenage girls.
Davis said they have removed some 600,000 accounts on Instagram alone between June and August for not meeting the age requirement of 13 years old. She also said the company has “put in place multiple protections to create safe and age-appropriate experiences for people between the ages of 13 and 17.”
The hearing comes as Big Tech has come under increased scrutiny from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle over myriad issues, from allowing the spread of misinformation to allegations of political censorship. Lawmakers on Thursday compared Instagram’s policies to Big Tobacco’s previous tactics to attract users before there was government intervention.
Brooke Erin Duffy, a professor of communication at Cornell University whose research focuses on the intersection of media, culture and technology, told ABC News via email on Thursday that Big Tech’s self-regulation hasn’t worked.
Remarks from Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., referring to “traditional media’s regulation of material for children — including limitations on advertising that have long guided the television industry — attest to a growing recognition that external regulation of the platforms is critical,” Duffy said. “While Big Tech has long flaunted its mechanisms of self-regulation, these have failed — and continue to fail — its users.”
Duffy said another key takeaway from Davis’ testimony was “a refusal to agree to a long-term promise to abandon plans of further developing Instagram for Kids.” She called the initiative “part of a long-term strategy by Big Tech to court younger — and less witting — users who the platforms can inevitably collect data from.”
Lawmakers on Thursday called for the need to update the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
In prepared remarks, Davis defended building an Instagram “for tweens,” noting that other companies such as YouTube and TikTok already have developed versions of their app for those under 13.
“The principle is the same: It’s much better for kids to use a safer, more age-appropriate version of social media apps than the alternative,” Davis said. “That said, we recognize how important it is to get this right.”
“We have heard your concerns, and that is why we announced that we are pausing the project to take more time,” she added. “We’ll keep listening to parents, keep talking with policymakers and regulators, keep taking guidance from experts and researchers, and we’ll revisit this project at a later date.”
(NEW YORK) — A man is in custody after he was removed from a suspicious SUV near the Supreme Court Tuesday morning, Capitol police said.
The suspect, 55-year-old Dale Paul Melvin of Kimball, Michigan, was removed from the car and placed under arrest around 11 a.m. local time, police said.
Earlier in the morning Melvin had allegedly parked illegally and refused to talk to responding officers, authorities said. Police then brought in crisis negotiation officers.
There’s no information on motive and no weapons have been found, police said.
Everyone is safe, police said.
There were no disruptions to operations at the Supreme Court; oral arguments began as planned at 10 a.m.
The Supreme Court building remains closed to the public.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Maybe don’t hold your breath for new Rage Against the Machine music.
Speaking with NME, guitarist Tom Morello remains noncommittal about the prospect of the rap-metal titans’ reunion tour possibly leading to fresh material.
“There are no plans beyond starting rehearsals in January,” Morello says.
Rage’s tour, which will mark the first time the “Killing in the Name” outfit has shared the live stage together since 2011, was originally scheduled to kick off in 2020 before being postponed to a March 2022 launch because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While they’ve had to wait a bit, Morello says the fire is still there.
“From day one, Rage has had that sound and that fury,” he says. “It felt like that on day one and it felt like that in rehearsals two years ago.”
Morello, meanwhile, is gearing up to release a new solo album, The Atlas Underground Fire, on October 15. The record, Morello’s second under his own name, features guest spots from Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder, Bruce Springsteen, Bring Me the Horizon, Phantogram and grandson.
Drake‘s three-week reign at the top of the Billboard 200 album chart has ended as YoungBoy Never Broke Again is the new king with his latest release, Sincerely, Kentrell.
The 21-year-old rapper, whose legal name is Kentrell Gaulden, earned 137,000 units to debut at number one with the biggest sales week of his career. Drake’s Certified Lover Boy fell to second with 135,000 units.
YoungBoy is the first hip hop artist to have a number-one album in each of the last three years: 2021, 2020 and 2019. His previous studio album, 2020’s Top, and his respective 2020 and 2019 mixtapes, 38 Baby 2 and Al YoungBoy 2, each reached the top of the Billboard 200.
Gaulden has kicked off the Sincerely, Kentrell freestyle competition by inviting fans to rap over album instrumental tracks on a special YouTube channel. The grand prize winner will receive a free recording session with his studio engineer, Jason “Cheese” Goldberg.
As Sincerely, Kentrell sits at number one, Gaulden has been awaiting trial at the St. Martin Parish Correctional Center in Louisiana since April, after being charged with selling drugs and possession of stolen firearms. He recorded the album over the phone while incarcerated.
Over 75,000 people have signed a Change.org petition asking President Joe Biden to release Youngboy.
