Amazon Prime has snagged a deal with producer Norman Lear to bring his classic TV shows to streaming this month, including the Emmy-winning sitcoms All in the Family and Maude, as well as the groundbreaking Diff’rent Strokes, One Day at a Time and Good Times.
All in the Family, Good Times, Maude and One Day at a Time will launch on Thursday, July 15, on Prime Video and IMDb TV, Amazon’s premium free streaming service; 227 and Diff’rent Strokes will debut that day on Prime Video, as well.
Additional titles, including The Jeffersons,Sanford & Son and Sanford, will launch on Prime Video later in 2021.
“That Sony [Pictures Television] found a home for that library with Prime Video/IMDb TV, where new generations could find it, is the best present a man entering his 100th year can have,” said Lear in a statement.
Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios added, “Norman Lear is a national treasure and his impact on television and popular culture is immeasurable. We are so honored to bring his classic television series to Prime Video and IMDb TV so new audiences and a new generation can laugh, enjoy and be inspired, like so many of us have been throughout the years.”
(WASHINGTON) — For the first time in history, some Senate Democrats on Wednesday moved to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, proposing to the remove cannabis from the federal list of controlled substances.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, one of the leaders of the effort, promised to use his “clout” to make decriminalization a Senate priority.
“This is monumental,” Schumer told reporters. “At long last we are taking steps in the Senate to right the wrongs of the failed war on drugs.”
While Schumer conceded that Democrats do not yet unanimously support the draft decriminalization bill he unveiled, he said the announcement marks an important step in combatting injustice, especially among communities of color.
“The war on drugs has really been a war on people, particularly people of color,” Schumer said. “The waste of human resources because of the historic over-criminalization has been one of the great historical wrongs for the last decades and we are going to change it.”
Schumer said the draft bill, being proposed with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. also aims to expunge criminal records and create banking systems that give small and minority businesses a seat at the table.
Wyden called the bill, “cannabis common sense.”
Booker, who has long advocated for decriminalization, said the need for such a bill is urgent.
“Lives are being destroyed every single day and the hypocrisy of this is that, right here in the Capitol now, people running for Congress, people running for Senate, people running for president of the United States, who readily admit that they’ve used marijuana, but we have children in this country people all over this nation, our veterans, black and brown people, low income people, now bearing the stain of having a criminal conviction for doing things that half of the last four presidents admitted to doing,” he said.
To date, some 18 states have legalized the recreational use of marijuana and 37 states, along with the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, now allow the medical use of the drug.
“The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act will ensure that Americans — especially Black and Brown Americans — no longer have to fear arrest or be barred from public housing or federal financial aid for higher education for using cannabis in states where it’s legal,” the discussion draft reads. “State-compliant cannabis businesses will finally be treated like other businesses and allowed access to essential financial services, like bank accounts and loans. Medical research will no longer be stifled.”
But a number of Republicans, led by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., oppose legalization.
“I do not have any plans to endorse the legalization of marijuana,” McConnell said in 2018 when he announced his support for legalizing hemp, noting that they are “entirely separate plants.”
The federal legislation would allow states to craft their own cannabis laws, just as states do with alcohol. It would end the confusion in some states that have legalized the product in various forms, but where consumers of marijuana could face potential civil and criminal penalties.
A new federal excise tax would also be created by the legislation similar to alcohol and tobacco.
Cannabis would be taxed at 10% in the first year after the legislation becomes law. That rate “would increase annually to 15 percent, 20 percent, and 25 percent in the following years. Beginning in year five and thereafter, the tax would be levied on a per-ounce rate in the case of cannabis flower, or a per-milligram of THC rate in the case of any cannabis extract,” according to the discussion draft.
The legislation, if approved, would have an immediate effect on the lives of many, freeing some in prison for non-violent offenses.
“The bill automatically expunges federal non-violent marijuana crimes and allows an individual currently serving time in federal prison for non-violent marijuana crimes to petition a court for resentencing,” the draft states.
It would also reinvest new federal tax revenue into minority communities most affected by the 1980’s “War on Drugs” and ensure that no past marijuana-related crimes are used to refuse someone federal public assistance.
The proposed legislation would incentivize states and localities with federal aid to expunge criminal records for cannabis offenses in exchange for funding under two new Small Business Administration programs designed to help hard-hit communities.
“The Cannabis Opportunity Program will provide funding to eligible states and localities to make loans to assist small businesses in the cannabis industry owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. The Equitable Licensing Grant Program will provide funding to eligible states and localities to implement cannabis licensing programs that minimize barriers for individuals adversely affected by the War on Drugs,” the draft says of the two new SBA programs.
Research into the effects of marijuana would be improved, as well, according to sponsors.
“Researchers have stated that the cannabis produced for research is not comparable to cannabis used in adult-use and medicinal markets nationwide, and that the (Drug Enforcement Agency)’s past failures to expand federally-approved production of cannabis have further limited the productivity of their research,” the draft states.
The House passed legislation last year removing marijuana from the controlled substances list and the legislation was reintroduced in May.
R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe has contributed a track to a compilation paying tribute to The Velvet Underground and Nico‘s legendary 1967 self-titled debut album.
The record, titled I’ll Be Your Mirror, will be released September 24, and features new versions of The Velvet Underground & Nico‘s 11 songs recorded by various artists. Stipe’s contribution is a rendition of the album’s lead track, “Sunday Morning.”
I’ll Be Your Mirror is available for pre-order now. In advance of the album’s arrival, you can listen to indie-rocker Kurt Vile‘s version of “Run Run Run” now via digital outlets.
The Velvet Underground & Nico was initially a flop, but later came to be considered one of the best records of all time, as well as a massive influence on the what would become punk rock and alternative rock. Even if you’ve never actually heard the album by the Lou Reed-fronted band, you’d surely know it by its iconic Andy Warhol-designed cover artwork, featuring a partially peeled banana on a white background.
Other artists featured on I’ll Be Your Mirror include Iggy Pop, St. Vincent, Sonic Youth‘s Thurston Moore, Primal Scream‘s Bobby Gillespie, Courtney Barnett and The National‘s Matt Berninger.
Here’s the full track list:
“Sunday Morning” — Michael Stipe
“I’m Waiting for the Man” — Matt Berninger
“Femme Fatale” — Sharon Van Etten
“Venus in Furs” — Andrew Bird & Lucius
“Run Run Run” — Kurt Vile
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” — St. Vincent & Thomas Bartlett
“Heroin” — Thurston Moore feat. Bobby Gillespie
“There She Goes Again” — King Princess
“I’ll Be Your Mirror” — Courtney Barnett
“The Black Angel’s Death Song” — Fontaines D.C.
“European Son” — Iggy Pop & Matt Sweeney
Like Jon Snow before them, Foo Fighters are headed up north.
Dave Grohl and company have announced their first-ever concerts in Alaska. The shows will take place August 17 and 19 in Anchorage, and August 21 in Fairbanks.
Tickets go on sale today at noon local time via FooFighters.com.
The Alaska dates will come at the end of the Foos’ upcoming 26th anniversary tour, which was rescheduled from their planned 25th anniversary tour for 2020. Last month, the band headlined New York City’s Madison Square Garden, marking the famed arena’s first full-capacity in-person concert since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
(BALTIMORE) — A Baltimore judge has shut down efforts by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan to put an early end to enhanced pandemic unemployment benefits.
Judge Lawrence P. Fletcher-Hill of the Circuit Court for Baltimore issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday ordering that immediate action be taken to ensure Maryland residents continue to receive “any and all” expanded unemployment benefits available to them through federal programs.
The legal action came in response to multiple cases challenging Hogan’s decision, which was announced in early June. The Republican governor said at the time that many businesses were facing “severe worker shortages” and “we look forward to getting more Marylanders back to work.”
Fletcher-Hill wrote the plaintiffs demonstrated that they “will suffer irreparable harm” if the injunction was not issued, and have shown that the issuance of it “is in the public interest.”
Federal pandemic unemployment benefits include an extra $300 a week and also expand eligibility to allow more people who may not have previously qualified (such as independent contractors) to receive jobless aid. The bolstered federal unemployment insurance programs were set to last through early September, though Hogan sought to cut them off in July.
A slew of states have similarly sought to curtail the enhanced federal unemployment benefits programs. Many Republican governors, including Hogan, have argued these benefits are dissuading people from seeking work as the economy begins to bounce back from the pandemic-induced downturn. An apparent labor shortage in the restaurant industry as many businesses reopen at once has also left some employers struggling to find staff.
Many economists have refuted the argument that enhanced unemployment benefits are preventing people from working. Low hiring numbers have also sparked a debate about dismal wages in the service industry.
A spokesperson for Hogan’s office did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment Wednesday, but told The Baltimore Sun that the governor won’t challenge the decision.
“While we firmly believe the law is on our side, actual adjudication of the case would extend beyond the end of the federal programs, foregoing the possibility of pursuing the matter further,” Michael Ricci, Hogan’s director of communications, told the local outlet.
Megan Thee Stallion is among the featured artists in the new campaign from BAPE x Coach.
On Wednesday, the Good News rapper shared photos from the campaign shoot, featuring her dogs 5ive, X (ten) and her bulldog known as “Foe Thee Frenchie” on Instagram.
“Thee Hot Dog mom and my boys in @coach. Since they love tearing up [stuff], they had to get a job,” Megan writes in the caption. “#BAPExCOACH collab dropping next weekend. #coachny.”
The BAPE x Coach campaign was shot by photographer Sandy Kim and also features recording artist Cordae and Japanese model and songwriter K?ki. The two iconic brands joined forces to create a collection that blends Japanese streetwear and Coach’s signature craftsmanship. It features a limited-edition print combining Coach’s signature “C” pattern with BAPE’s signature logo across jackets, hoodies, sneakers, backpacks and more.
The BAPE x Coach collection will be available in select stores and online starting July 24.
(NEW YORK) — A judge has delayed the sentencing of a man convicted of murdering University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts after defense attorneys filed court documents accusing prosecutors of failing to disclose that police were investigating a sex trafficking “trap house” involving a man linked to a missing 11-year-old boy.
Instead of sentencing Cristhian Bahena Rivera, who was expected to receive life in prison without the possibility of parole, Judge Joel Yates will hold a hearing on Thursday on a defense motion to set aside the verdict and schedule a new trial.
A jury convicted Bahena Rivera, a 27-year-old Mexican national farmworker, in May of first-degree murder in the 2018 abduction and killing of the 20-year-old student.
On Tuesday, Bahena Rivera’s attorneys filed a motion, alleging prosecutors failed to disclose a separate investigation was occurring at the time of Tibbetts’ disappearance involving a man allegedly operating a sex trafficking “trap house” in New Sharon, Iowa, 27 miles from Brooklyn, Iowa, where Tibbetts went missing on July 18, 2018.
The 50-year-old man the defense attorneys identified by name in their motion was once the live-in boyfriend of the mother of 11-year-old Xavior Harrelson, who vanished from a rural Iowa trailer park on May 27, a day before the jury found Bahena Rivera guilty.
The motion also claimed that an investigation by the defense found that, in the past few years, at least 10 children have been reported missing in or near Poweshiek County, Iowa, the same county where Tibbetts was stabbed to death and dumped in a cornfield.
The defense attorneys filed court papers last week asking for a new trial based on information from two witnesses who came forward to law enforcement in May saying they independently spoke to a man who claimed he and a 50-year-old sex trafficker killed Tibbetts and framed Bahena Rivera.
One of the new witnesses purportedly claimed the real killer — who was in jail with the witness at the time — told him that he first saw Tibbetts bound and gagged at a sex trafficking “trap house” owned by his alleged accomplice. The man claimed, according to the defense motion, his alleged accomplice grew worried after federal authorities searching for Tibbetts showed up at a house next door to his.
“That Mexican shouldn’t be in jail for killing Mollie Tibbett, because I raped her and killed her,” the witness claimed the confessed killer told him, according to the earlier defense motion.
In their motion filed Tuesday, defense attorneys attached a police search warrant affidavit for the New Sharon home that they say “corroborates the ‘trap house’ account.”
A second individual contacted the Mahaska County, Iowa, Sheriff’s Office with a similar story involving the same man who reportedly confessed, but deputies said the witness appeared to be under the influence at the time and dismissed the story as not being credible.
Both witnesses contacted investigators within hours of each other on May 26, the same day Bahena Rivera testified at his trial that he was kidnapped by two masked men who forced him to drive them to where Tibbetts was expected to be jogging. He claimed that when they found Tibbetts, one of the men stabbed her to death, put her body in the trunk of Bahena Rivera’s car and made him drive to a cornfield, where the young woman’s badly decomposed remains were discovered a month after she went missing.
Bahena Rivera admitted on the witness stand that he placed Tibbetts’ body in the cornfield but was not involved in her murder. Bahena Rivera claimed during his testimony that he didn’t tell investigators about the masked men because they threatened to harm his former girlfriend, the mother of his daughter, if he did.
In his closing argument, prosecutor Scott Brown called Bahena Rivera’s testimony a “figment of his imagination.” A jury deliberated seven hours over two days before finding Bahena Rivera guilty.
Following the verdict, prosecutors informed the defense attorneys that the two witnesses had come forward.
The defense motion filed Tuesday argued that Bahena Rivera’s “claim based on newly discovered evidence has turned into a due process violation arising from the prosecution’s failure to turn over reports involving trap houses and kidnappings in or near the Poweshiek County area.”
Prosecutors from the Iowa State Attorney General’s Office have yet to comment on the new developments but are expected to file a response to the defense motion for a new trial on Wednesday.
L: Olivia Rodrigo; R: White House press secretary Jen Psaki; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
On Wednesday, Olivia Rodrigo went from “white cars/front yards” to the White House, where she was filming PSAs to support the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine initiative.
As previously reported, Olivia will be recording videos in which she urges young people to get the vaccine, and answers frequently-asked questions about the shot.
Addressing reporters in the White House press briefing room Wednesday, Olivia read a short statement.
“First, I want to say, I am beyond honored and humbled to be here today to help spread the message about the importance of youth vaccination,” the chart-topping star said. “I’m in awe of the work President Biden and Dr. Fauci have done and was happy to help lend my support to this important initiative.”
“It’s important to have conversations with friends and family members, encouraging all communities to get vaccinated and actually get to a vaccination site, which you can do more easily than ever before, given how many sites we have and how easy it is to find them at vaccines.gov,” Olivia continued.
She then thanked the press for “helping share this important message,” adding, “It’s so appreciated. Thank you.” She left without taking any questions.
(ANNAPOLIS, Md.) — An arrest has been made in the slaying of a Houston mom who was shot and killed while in Maryland to drop off her son at the U.S. Naval Academy, authorities announced Wednesday.
Angelo Harrod, 29, allegedly shot Michelle Cummings, 57, while she sat on an Annapolis hotel patio in the early hours of June 29, according to Annapolis police.
Harrod was confined to home detention on May 3 and allegedly cut off his ankle bracelet before the shooting, Annapolis Police Chief Edward Jackson said at a news conference Wednesday.
A warrant had been out for Harrod for absconding home detection and authorities had been looking for him, Jackson said.
Harrod was identified as a suspect in the Cummings case after police reviewed videos and photos from the crime scene, according to the chief.
“The minute we knew he was wanted … we were looking for him and we just happened to find him on June 30,” Jackson said.
Cummings was not the intended target of the shooting, police said. The shots were fired on Pleasant Street and traveled a short distance, hitting Cummings, police said.
Charges filed Wednesday against Harrod include first-degree murder, second-degree murder and attempted murder.
The attempted murder charges are because the suspect allegedly attempted “to murder two other citizens that night on Pleasant Street,” the chief said.
Harrod is being held without bond, Jackson added.
Cummings and her husband were in Annapolis at the time of her slaying to bring their son, Midshipman Candidate Leonard Cummings III, to the U.S. Naval Academy. Their son, who goes by Trey, is an incoming freshman for the Naval Academy Class of 2025, the Academy said.
Jackson said he was desperate to solve this case.
“Some nights I couldn’t sleep. I felt rage,” he said.
Jackson said he called Cummings’ husband Wednesday morning with the news. Jackson said her husband “paused,” and then said, “Thank you, chief.”
Naval Academy Superintendent Sean Buck said at the news conference, “When Trey is ready … we will welcome him back with open arms.”
Ed: Dan Martensen; Dani Filth: Katja Ogrin/Redferns
Do Ed Sheeran‘s “Bad Habits” include rocking out to heavy metal?
The U.K. tabloid The Sun quotes Ed as professing his childhood love for bands including Slipknot and Cradle of Filth, adding that he “would not be opposed” to recording a metal album of his own.
“I’m not saying I could ever step into that world,” the quote reads. “I learnt all those riffs on guitar as a kid. That’s something I’ve never thought about doing — but something I would not be opposed to creating.”
It’s unclear where exactly that quote came from, but needless to say, the idea of a death metal Ed Sheeran album has certainly raised a few eyebrows, including those of Cradle of Filth’s frontman, Dani Filth.
Re-posting the headline about Ed, Filth wrote in an Instagram post, “I’ll believe it when I see it,” though he doesn’t seem opposed to the idea.
“Fellow Suffolk lad could come good in the end,” he added, referring to the fact that he and Ed are both from that English county. He even suggested a title for an Ed metal track: “‘Dracula’s Castle on the Hill’ anyone?”
Ed Sheeran has actually hinted at his inner metalhead in the past. In 2015, he covered Iron Maiden and Limp Bizkit during a Tonight Show segment.
