It’s been a month since Gregg Leakes lost his battle with cancer. Ahead of the somber anniversary, NeNe Leakes opened up about what his final days were like.
Speaking with People, the Real Housewives of Atlanta alum shared the last conversation the two had before he passed away from colon cancer on September 1.
“The last five days before his passing was really beautiful,” Leakes explained. “All of his children were there. His best friends were there. Our closest friends were there. We all sat with him around the clock.”
One of the final things Gregg did, says Leakes, was make a file of all the things he handled so family would not be in the dark about paying bills or who to contact for important financial matters.
“That took a lot of strength,” NeNe said.
The 53-year-old continued, “We talked a lot, and we made peace with what was happening” before revealing that her husband’s final words weren’t a goodbye but, rather, a promise and a request.
“I’m not going to leave you. God is going to bless you,” she recalls him saying. “He said he wanted me to move on with my life.”
“I told him I wouldn’t have chosen another husband other than him. I said, ‘I married you twice, crazy man,'” said Leakes. The couple wed in 1997 and filed for divorce in 2011. Two years later, they remarried.
“He took a deep breath, and then he stopped… I thought I would be scared, but I just held him and kissed him,” Leakes described before admitting she’s still having difficulty processing that Gregg is gone.
“I keep thinking to myself he’s away on a trip and he’ll be right back,” she confessed. “I’m still waiting for him to come home.”
(WASHINGTON) — After failing to keep her promise on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Friday Democrats are “on a path” toward a vote on a bipartisan infrastructure bill as she arrived at the Capitol, despite progressives continuing to vow to vote “no” unless a deal on a larger spending package is reached.
The speaker suggested that talking to reporters later on would be more useful than during her arrival at the Capitol — an indication no progress was achieved overnight.
Pelosi and House Democrats held a caucus meeting Friday morning as they continue trying to find a path forward on their policy agenda after Democratic leadership and the White House failed to bring progressives and moderates together behind a path forward for President Joe Biden’s broader agenda.
The breakfast meeting gave leadership an opportunity to brief members on the status of the discussions with Senate moderates and the White House — and lawmakers a chance to address each other.
ABC News asked Pelosi on Friday whether she is trying to get members on board by promising a second reconciliation bill early next year in an effort to appease members now, after vowing again on Thursday that a reconciliation bill would follow the vote on the bipartisan package.
“I don’t know about that but a reconciliation bill is not excluded. It’s not necessarily connected to this,” she said.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer arrived a minute ahead of Pelosi, only telling reporters “we’ll see” when asked whether the House will vote on the measure before the end of the d
Pelosi has insisted for two mornings now that she plans to go ahead with a vote on the Senate-passed $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill — despite progressive Democrats vowing to defeat it.
Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., reiterated on Thursday progressives’ position that they’ll vote “no” unless there is agreement with the moderate Democratic senators on a larger social spending package to accompany it.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., who along with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., is not agreeing with Democrats on a larger bill, told reporters on Thursday he already conveyed to leadership his topline number is $1.5 trillion — far below progressives $3.5 trillion number, putting the House vote in even more jeopardy.
Biden, meanwhile, has remained largely out of the public eye this week as negotiations continue behind closed doors, other than stopping at the congressional baseball game to rub elbows with lawmakers.
“The President is grateful to Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer for their extraordinary leadership, and to Members from across the Democratic Caucus who have worked so hard the past few days to try to reach an agreement on how to proceed on the Infrastructure Bill and the Build Back Better plan,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Thursday night.
“A great deal of progress has been made this week, and we are closer to an agreement than ever. But we are not there yet, and so, we will need some additional time to finish the work, starting tomorrow morning first thing,” she said.
On Thursday, Pelosi left the Capitol just after midnight and told reporters that progressives and moderates were closer to reaching an agreement on the size of their social policy package than it appeared earlier in the week.
“We’re not trillions of dollars apart,” she said.
Asked about the vote that didn’t take place Thursday as she promised, Pelosi said, “There will be a vote today,” an apparent reference to the legislative calendar, by which, because the House was in recess, Friday was still considered to be “Thursday.”
Notably, Pelosi told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on “This Week” that she’s “never bringing a bill to the floor that doesn’t have the votes” — raising questions of whether she’ll be able to have a vote this week at all.
If Democratic leaders and the White House can reach an “agreement” or get Manchin and Sinema to accept a public commitment co-signed by Biden, that could be enough to meet progressive demands, and get their support for the delayed $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan in the House.
(MONTEZUMA, Iowa) — The remains of an adolescent were discovered by a farmer in rural Iowa Thursday, along with clothes that matched what a boy who lived in the region was last seen wearing before he vanished in May, authorities said.
Xavior Harrelson was last seen the morning of May 27, days before his 11th birthday, when he left his home in Montezuma to go on a bike ride, authorities said.
His disappearance sparked a widespread search by police and community volunteers through miles of cornfields, lakes, ravines and wilderness in Poweshiek County.
Around 2 p.m. local time Thursday, the local sheriff’s office received a call from a farmer working in a field a few miles outside of Montezuma who had discovered what they believed to be human remains, authorities said.
The remains were found in a grassy area of a combined field, and the state medical examiner determined them to be human and likely those of an adolescent, according to Mitch Mortvedt, assistant director of Iowa’s Division of Criminal Investigation.
“We are not saying it is Xavior Harrelson at this time,” Mortvedt told reporters at a press briefing near the scene Thursday. “There’s a lot of work yet to be done at the scene here, and as you can imagine, the state medical examiner’s office and state anthropologist have a lot of work left ahead of them in the days and weeks, even, to come.”
The remains had likely been in the field for a “significant” amount of time, Mortvedt said, and the documentation at the scene will be a “very slow and methodical process.”
The clothing found was “consistent with what we knew Xavior to last be wearing,” he said.
Xavior was last seen wearing a red T-shirt, blue pajama pants and black high-top shoes, according to the sheriff’s office.
His family has been contacted about the development, Poweshiek County Sheriff Thomas Kriegel told reporters. “Naturally she was upset,” he said of the boy’s mother.
The field where the remains were found had not been previously searched on foot as part of the investigation, Kriegel said.
The medical examiner will be working to identify the remains, a process that could take weeks, Mortvedt said. The cause and manner of death will be investigated, and “whether or not there was foul play,” he said.
A reward for information in the case has grown to $36,000.
Anyone with information or tips is urged to call the Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office at 641-623-5679.
Billie Eilish will be performing at Disney’s live-to-film concert experience of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas this Halloween weekend.
She’ll be singing “Sally’s Song,” joining composer Danny Elfman, who’ll reprise the singing voice role of Jack Skellington.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to have Billie joining up with the nightmare crew!” Elfman says in a statement. “This will be a real treat (not a trick)!”
The cast will also include Ken Page reprising the singing role of Oogie Boogie, and “Weird Al” Yankovic who’ll be taking on the singing role of Lock. The performances, backed by a live orchestra, will be live in-sync with a showing of the film. The event will also feature a costume contest and trick-or-treating stations.
Shows will take place on Friday, October 29 and Sunday, October 31 at Banc of California Stadium. Tickets are on sale now.
(Guntersville, Ala.) — As a former Division I college football player for the University of Alabama Crimson Tide, Justin Moon faced many challenges on the field.
But more than a decade later, the 36-year-old step dad may have met his toughest opponent yet, when coronavirus left him fighting for his life earlier this summer just days before he was set to get his first dose of vaccine, he said.
“There’s only one other step beyond where I was at, and that’s cremation or going in your box,” Moon, who is still hospitalized but on the road to recovery, told ABC News. “I actually died for 4 minutes, and they paddled me and brought me back.”
Moon, of Guntersville, Alabama, was an athlete his entire life, and prior to his COVID diagnosis, he said he had no known underlying health conditions.
“I was never sick, and never missed a day of work,” said Moon, who has spent more than 10 weeks in the hospital, including nearly six weeks on a ventilator. “I could not do anything but blink. I could not talk, did not raise my head up off the pillow. You got to understand, being a 300-pound former athlete… man, that was tough.”
Now he and his wife, Mel, have dedicated themselves to spreading the word about vaccination and said that their efforts have helped encourage some 250 people to get their shots.
‘Never dreamt…this would be our story’
What had first seemed to be a sinus infection in July, turned out to be much more severe than anyone could have imagined, said Moon’s wife, Mel.
“We never dreamt in a million years that this would be our story,” said Mel.
When his symptoms worsened, Justin was taken to the hospital, and within six days of hospitalization, he was put on a ventilator.
“At one point, the doctors told my aunt, my stepdaughter and my wife to prepare to get a call in the next 24 hours, to come up here, you know, say goodbye. It is going to happen, it’s just a matter of time,” said Moon.
When the vaccines became widely available, Moon said he was hesitant given the mixed messaging on vaccinations in political circles. Even though the company he works for, Waste Connections, encouraged workers to get vaccinated, he chose not to get the shot after avoiding the disease during the first wave of the pandemic.
“I was very unsure, so I stood still. And I was wrong,” Moon said.
‘COVID doesn’t care’
Across the state of Alabama, just 42% of residents have been fully vaccinated against coronavirus as of Wednesday, a reality that drove the state to a record-breaking surge over the summer. Although infection rates are beginning to abate, less than 2% of intensive care unit beds remain available across the state.
The vast majority of the patients who are currently hospitalized at the University of Alabama Birmingham have not been vaccinated, according to the hospital, Brent Patterson, and those who tend to fare better and avoid severe illness are vaccinated.
“COVID doesn’t care. If you are healthy, but unvaccinated, it is gonna take everyone,” Patterson said.
Just prior to his diagnosis, Moon grew concerned by the increasing number of infections in the state. After a colleague tested positive for the virus, Moon said he overcame his skepticism, and made the decision, along with his wife, Mel, to get vaccinated.
His decision, ultimately, came too late, when he tested positive for the virus just days prior to when he planned to get the shot.
“If I had not been unsure of the vaccine, it would have probably gone like a lot of other stories,” said Moon. “Headaches, short breath, laying on the couch.”
‘Do your homework’
In an effort to help people truly understand the realities of COVID-19, the Moon family decided to share their story in their community.
“We don’t want anyone to ever have to go through what we’ve gone through. And that’s the lesson we learned: don’t stand still, do your homework. Don’t listen to the wrong forces, talk to your physician, and your family,” Mel said. “There can’t be anything about being vaccinated that is as bad as this.”
So far, Moon’s wife, who is working to get the word out along with his employer, says his story has convinced at least 250 unvaccinated people within the community to get the shot.
Moon’s family have been collecting texts and emails from people, who have reached out to let them know that they have got vaccinated after hearing Justin’s story. As of this week, they said they have heard from at least 250 newly vaccinated people.
“They hear the entire story of what’s going on with me, and, if they were in doubt, or we’re just in the same situation that I was, they see me, and see that I very, very seldom got sick or had any issues… if we could affect Justin like this… it can be much, much worse,” Justin Moon said.
Moon still has a long road ahead of him, undergoing grueling rehabilitation, as he works to regain his strength and his sense of feeling in his dominant right arm, which is still completely numb. He is also learning how to stand up and walk again, and he still needs oxygen after walking a few feet.
“Not too many people get a second chance at life,” said Moon. “But it didn’t have to be like that. The story could have gone very different.”
(CHICAGO) — Three years ago, a 26-year-old postal worker who was eagerly expecting her first child mysteriously disappeared in her own neighborhood.
There’s still no resolution, leaving her heartbroken mother desperate to know if her daughter is even alive or dead.
Kierra Coles was about three months pregnant when she vanished on Oct. 2, 2018, on Chicago’s South Side. Her car was found in front of her apartment with her phone and packed lunch still inside.
The Chicago Police Department considers the case “a high-risk missing person investigation with potential foul play suspected.”
For Coles’ mother, Karen Phillips, having no answers is torturous.
Phillips said police have not provided any information whenever she’s called over the last year.
“I could never reach nobody. They’re gone to lunch, they’ll call me back, they’re out of the office. It’s always something,” she told ABC News last week. “They don’t even reach out and say, ‘Well, Ms. Phillips, we’re still going through this’ … or, ‘We don’t have any new leads.’ Just say something.”
The Chicago police didn’t respond to Phillips’ claim that they ignored her calls, but in a statement to ABC News the police department said it urges “anybody with knowledge of her last whereabouts … to contact the Chicago Police Department.”
“We are seeking any and all information in an attempt to locate her and we won’t stop until we do,” police said.
For Phillips, the loss is “unbearable.”
“I went from seeing my child every day — if not seeing her, at least talking to her every day — to not seeing her in three years,” Phillips said. “I try to stay strong for the other kids, I try to not really break down in front of them. But we talk about her all the time, we got pictures everywhere. We just really want her home.”
Coles’ siblings range in age from 35 to 24. Coles, a devoted aunt to her nieces and nephews, was the last of Phillips’ children to have a baby.
Phillips said she misses the grandchild she never got a chance to meet.
“I miss him — he or she — even though they wasn’t born yet. I just miss him because she would’ve been a great mother,” she said. “For her to be a mother, we were so excited. … That was the last thing she was waiting for.”
Coles had a plan for her life and so far “everything was going according to plan,” her mother said.
Coles first wanted a good job, and after years with the post office she had saved for a car and a home. Then, she and her boyfriend decided they were ready for a baby, Phillips said.
For her to vanish “out of the blue,” she said, “I can’t understand it.”
The United States Postal Inspection Service and the FBI are both working with the Chicago police on the case.
“Since October 2018, Postal Inspectors have tracked down and vetted nearly 400 leads across the country. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service distributed thousands of reward flyers,” the Postal Inspection Service said.
“Kierra Coles is a member of our Postal family and we will continue looking for her and following up on all leads,” the agency continued. “If you know something, no matter how trivial it may seem, please come forward as it may be crucial to our investigation. Please contact the U.S. Postal Inspection Service hotline at (877) 876-2455 and reference case number 2693502.”
Some days Phillips said she “really can’t function because my mind just, you know, keeps wondering — where’s my child? Is she being harmed? Is she dead or alive?”
“It’s hard waking up every day wondering,” she said. “I just want somebody to come forward and say what happened.”
After multiple pandemic delays, Venom: Let There Be Carnage is now in theaters.
The sequel to the critically-panned but $856 million-plus-grossing 2018 movie Venom again stars Tom Hardy as journalist Eddie Brock, who shares a body with the shape-shifting, trash-talking alien symbiote, Venom.
This time around, the Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man universe spin-off sees the unlikely pair having to face off with another of their kind: Woody Harrelson‘s serial killer Cletus Kasady, who infects himself with Eddie’s blood to get his own symbiote, Carnage.
But before Eddie and Venom can fight Carnage, they need to stop fighting each other.
“In this movie, it’s like the ‘seven-year-itch’ cycle of the relationship,” director Andy Serkis says. “You’ve got two characters who are literally stuck with each other — that Odd Couple relationship was what this movie was always going to be about.”
“They have had enough of each other,” Serkis says with a smile. “Watching Tom as Venom and Eddie and was so much fun,” the Marvel movie and Lord of the Rings series veteran says.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage also stars returning player Michelle Williams, Spidey series star J.K. Simmons, and 007 movie alumna Naomi Harris.
The film’s off to a good start: it earned $11.6 million in Thursday night previews in the U.S., putting it ahead of preview numbers for F9 and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and only a few million behind Black Widow.
LCD Soundsystem is returning to the live stage in a big way.
The beloved dance-punk outfit has announced a 20-show residency running from November 23 to December 21 at New York City’s Brooklyn Steel.
Tickets go on sale next Friday, October 8, at 10 a.m. ET, with a fan pre-sale beginning Wednesday, October 6, at 10 a.m. ET. American Express Card members will also have access to pre-sale, as well, starting Tuesday, October 5, at 10 a.m. ET.
Additionally, three of the shows, taking place December 13, 15 and 16, will be exclusive to American Express Card members.
Bullet for My Valentine has released a new song called “Rainbow Veins,” a track off the band’s upcoming self-titled album.
Despite its colorful title, “Rainbow Veins” is a creepy, eerie listen, though things do brighten up in the chorus a bit, thanks to some soaring background vocals. You can download “Rainbow Veins” now via digital outlets.
“Rainbow Veins” is the fourth song to be released from Bullet for My Valentine, following “Knives,” “Shatter” and “Parasite.” The album was originally supposed to drop on October 22, but has been delayed to November 5 due to “COVID-related manufacturing delays.”
The Doobie Brothers on Friday released their first new studio album featuring all-new songs in over a decade.
Liberté features 12 original tunes by the group’s core members — Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons and John McFee — produced and co-written with John Shanks, who’s previously collaborated with Bon Jovi, Stevie Nicks and many others.
The album is The Doobie Brothers’ 15th full-length studio effort and their first album of new songs since 2010’s World Gone Crazy. It’s available now on CD and digital formats.
Coinciding with Liberté‘s arrival, the band has debuted a lyric video for one of the new songs, “Shine Your Light,” on their YouTube channel.
In addition, to celebrate the albums release, The Doobie Brothers will perform and be interviewed as part of a special that will be streamed on YouTube.com starting at 7 p.m. ET.
The Doobie Brothers gave fans an early preview of Liberté in August, when they issued a self-titled digital EP featuring four songs from the album — “Oh Mexico,” “Cannonball,” “Don’t Ya Mess with Me” and “Better Days.”
Also in August, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers finally launched their 50th anniversary tour, which was postponed from 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The trek, which sees former singer/keyboardist Michael McDonald rejoining the group, continues tonight in Spokane, Washington. The 2021 portion of the outing wraps up with an October 29 concert in Allentown, Pennsylvania, while a second leg is scheduled to begin on June 2, 2022, in West Palm Beach, Florida.
“Oh Mexico”
“Better Days”
“Don’t Ya Mess with Me”
“Cannonball”
“Wherever We Go”
“The American Dream”
“Shine Your Light”
“We Are More Than Love”
“Easy”
“Just Can’t Do This Alone”
“Good Thang”
“Amen Old Friend”
