Analysis from the Democratic and Republican perspective.
The addition of the union workers to nearly 6,500 nonunion layoffs already announced brings the Disney-related job losses in Florida to more than 15,000 workers.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — About 8,800 part-time union workers at Walt Disney World in Florida will be part of the 28,000 layoffs in Disney’s parks division in California and Florida, union officials said Wednesday.
The addition of the union workers to nearly 6,500 nonunion layoffs already announced brings the Disney-related job losses in Florida to more than 15,000 workers.
Disney officials announced last week that it was laying off 28,000 workers because of the coronavirus pandemic. Two-thirds of the planned layoffs involved part-time workers and they ranged from salaried employees to hourly workers.
Disney’s parks closed last spring as the pandemic began spreading in the U.S. The Florida parks reopened this summer, but the California parks have yet to reopen as the company awaits guidance from the state of California.
In a letter to employees, Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Parks, Experience and Product, said California’s “unwillingness to lift restrictions that would allow Disneyland to reopen” exacerbated the situation for the company.
Disney has soared to success with the breadth of its media and entertainment offerings, but is now trying to recover after the coronavirus pandemic pummeled many of its businesses. It was hit by several months of its parks and stores being closed, cruise ships idled, movie releases postponed and a halt in film and video production.
The layoffs of the part-time union workers were announced by the Service Trades Council Union, a coalition of six unions that represents 43,000 workers at Disney World.
“These are unprecedented times,” the Service Trades Council Union said in a statement. “It is unfortunate anytime a worker is laid off and the mass layoffs that Disney is facing are extremely difficult for 1,000s of Cast Members.”
No fulltime workers, also called cast members, will be laid off under the deal the unions negotiated with Disney. Over the next two years, workers who have been laid off will get priority when Disney starts hiring again, and they will retain their seniority and pay rate.
According to the deal with the unions, full-time workers whose positions aren’t needed by the company can transfer to another position. But if they don’t agree to the transfers, they can be laid off. Those workers who are laid off will receive two months pay.
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Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP.
The Attorney General of Michigan says law enforcement stopped a plot to overthrow the state government and kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
“It’s OK to not be OK,” Henson, the latest recipient of the Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion, told The Associated Press via email. “Tell someone. Your vulnerability is actually your strength.”
“Empire” star Taraji P. Henson has enjoyed wealth, celebrity, a Golden Globe win and an Academy Award nomination. But behind the scenes, she’s battled anxiety and depression.
On Thursday, the 50-year-old actress and filmmaker — who has spoken publicly and powerfully about her private struggles — was honored by the Boston-based Ruderman Family Foundation for her work to end the stigma around mental illness.
“It’s OK to not be OK,” Henson, the latest recipient of the Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion, told The Associated Press via email. “Tell someone. Your vulnerability is actually your strength.”
Henson was nominated for an Oscar for 2008′s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” She also won critical acclaim for 2016′s “Hidden Figures,” about three African American mathematicians at NASA who played a key role in the early days of the U.S. space program, and won a 2016 Golden Globe for her role as Cookie Lyon in television’s “Empire” series.
In 2018, the Washington, D.C., native started the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation to stop those with mental illness from being stigmatized — especially Blacks, who she says are less likely to seek treatment.
This year, with the coronavirus pandemic complicating people’s mental health struggles, Henson’s foundation has been helping African Americans — who’ve been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 — access free online therapy.
Henson named the foundation for her father, a military veteran whom she said “returned broken” from his service in Vietnam. The organization, she said, is “committed to offering support to African Americans who face trauma daily simply because they are Black.”
Henson also is among several actors participating in a series of virtual panels about inclusion and equity in Hollywood hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization that puts on the Oscars.
The Ruderman Family Foundation works for more inclusion and opportunities for the disabled. Previous recipients of its award include filmmaker brothers Peter and Bobby Farrelly, Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps, Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin and former Democratic U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, of Iowa, a driving force behind the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“When role models and influencers like Taraji are so vocal about their own experiences with mental illness, it has the potential to inspire millions of people to accept their own mental health issues and find healthy ways to address them,” said Jay Ruderman, president of the group.
“But it hasn’t just been words with Taraji. She took action,” he said. “We need more people like Taraji to continue to eliminate the stigma around mental health across all our communities in America.”
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Follow AP New England editor Bill Kole on Twitter at http://twitter.com/billkole.
Senator Kamala Harris is the first Black woman to be picked as a Vice Presidential running mate on a major-party ticket.
On this launch of “Ladies Night”, we all celebrated Howard University alumnae Senator Kamala Harris as she stepped into the VP Debate with Vice President Mike Pence.
As we raised our glasses, we talked about how she is a woman of firsts and what this means to us as black women in America. Tonight was a quick pop in, to let our viewers know that we’ll be watching the debate with them.
We then joined our listeners/viewers on social media to view the debate in real time together.
See you next week, and every Wednesday at 9pm, for WHUR LADIES’ NIGHT!
Sesame Workshop — the nonprofit, educational organization behind “Sesame Street” — will later this month air the half-hour anti-racist special “The Power of We” and hopes families will watch together.
NEW YORK (AP) — “Sesame Street” has always pressed for inclusion. Now in the wake of the national reckoning on race, it’s going further — teaching children to stand up against racism.
Sesame Workshop — the nonprofit, educational organization behind “Sesame Street” — will later this month air the half-hour anti-racist special “The Power of We” and hopes families will watch together.
The special defines racism for younger viewers and shows how it can be hurtful. It urges children who encounter racism or hear someone else be the victim of it to call it out. “When you see something that’s wrong, speak up and say, ‘That’s wrong’ and tell an adult,” 6-year-old Gabrielle the Muppet advises.
The special, composed of little skits and songs in a Zoom-like format, will stream on HBO Max and PBS Kids and air on PBS stations beginning Oct. 15.
In one animated skit, a Black Muppet is told by a white Muppet that he can’t dress up like a superhero because they’re only white. Though hurt, the Black Muppet nevertheless refuses to stop playing superheroes, saying they can come in all colors. The white Muppet soon apologizes. “Racism hurts and it’s wrong,” is the message.
In the song “How Do You Know?” racism is dealt with head-on. “Hey, Elmo, how would you feel if I said, ‘I don’t like you ‘cause I don’t like the color red?‘” sings Tamir, a Black, 8-year-old Muppet. Elmo responds: ”Elmo wouldn’t care what you said ’cause Elmo is proud, proud to be red!” It concludes with the lines: “Speak up. Say something. Don’t give in.”
“We believe that this moment calls for a direct discussion about racism to help children grasp the issues and teach them that they are never too young to be ‘upstanders’ for themselves, one another, and their communities,” said Kay Wilson Stallings, executive vice president of creative and production at Sesame Workshop, in a statement.
Current and former Sesame Street human cast members Alan, Charlie, Chris and Gordon take part in the special, alongside celebrity guests Yara Shahidi, the star of “grown-ish;” “Hamilton” star Christopher Jackson; and Grammy-nominated singer Andra Day.
Viewers are offered tips to help their communities unite, including chalk drawings, making positive signs and going to sing-a-longs. When outside, all the puppets wear masks, even the letter puppets. The special concludes with the slogan “Listen. Act. Unite.”
Sesame Workshop has included online resources for parents to help guide conversations with their child about race, including talking, singing and breathing together. “Sharing can help us feel better,” is one tip. There are also downloadable pictures to color and a certificate with a place to put the name of an upstander.
“Sesame Street,” which last year celebrated its 50th anniversary, has a history of explaining the world to children, tackling everything from foster care to substance abuse. The latest special comes on the heels of “Sesame Street” contributing to “Coming Together: Standing Up To Racism,” a CNN town hall special in June hosted by Van Jones and Erica Hill.
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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
Arena Stage’s film production of “Inside Voices”
Inside Voices and COVID-19 will air on WHUT-TV and on WHUR-World 96.3HD2 tomorrow (Friday, October 9th at 8pm) and again October 11th at 11am.
Tune in to Taking it to the Streets, weekday mornings at 6:15, 7:08 and 8:40 on the Steve Harvey Morning Show on 96.3 WHUR.
Follow me on facebook and twitter at @bobbygailes for updates and to stay connected.
Listen to this mornings segment here:
It will be the first time that a woman of color has squared off in such a debate.
Washington benches QB Haskins, switches to Allen vs. Rams
DC targets Wards 7 and 8 to improve chances of family success.
“We know that when we build stronger families, we also build stronger communities,” said Mayor Bowser. “This investment in our Family Success Centers is about meeting the needs of our parents and children and creating support networks in the neighborhoods they live. We thank all of our partner organizations for their tireless work and giving more of our families in Wards 7 and 8 the opportunity to thrive.”
In December 2019, Mayor Bowser announced the grantees selected to operate the Family Success Centers. Over the past nine months, CFSA has facilitated an intensive planning process to help the grantees prepare for opening on October 1.
The locations of the centers and partner organizations are:
Ward 7:
Ward 8:
Many of the services available at the centers are provided by District Government agencies, including the Department of Human Services, Department of Employment Services, Department of Behavioral Health, DC Public Libraries, the Office of Neighborhood Services and Engagement, and DC Public Schools. Each center’s priorities were determined in partnership with its surrounding community to identify where there are gaps in serving families and customize support to fit the needs of its residents.
“At CFSA, we believe all families want to take care of their children and thrive,” said CFSA Director Brenda Donald. “Our investments are directed to neighborhoods where health outcomes, education data, rates of substantiated abuse and neglect, and crime statistics indicate that we need to go further upstream with support services to ensure that no family is left behind. We are taking a whole family, whole community approach to remove barriers, link families to services, and make sure all residents have their chance to thrive.”
Families First DC and the District’s federal Five-Year Family First Prevention Plan round out DC’s robust city-wide prevention strategy, in conjunction with services provided by city agencies and community partners. The District was the first jurisdiction in the nation to submit and have a plan approved by the federal Children’s Bureau.
For more information about the Families First DC Success Centers, visit www.cfsa.dc.gov/page/families-first-dc.
San Francisco-based Airbnb said it will ban one-night rentals of entire homes in the U.S. and Canada on Oct. 30 or Oct. 31. Previously booked one-night rentals will be canceled and Airbnb will offer refunds.
Airbnb will prohibit one-night rentals over Halloween weekend as part of its ongoing effort to crack down on party houses.
The action, announced Friday, comes nearly a year after a deadly shooting at an Airbnb in Orinda, California. Five people were killed in the shooting, which happened during an unauthorized Halloween party.
San Francisco-based Airbnb said it will ban one-night rentals of entire homes in the U.S. and Canada on Oct. 30 or Oct. 31. Previously booked one-night rentals will be canceled and Airbnb will offer refunds.
Airbnb said it will also look more closely at two- and three-night reservations during Halloween. A guest may be denied, for example, if they try to book a whole home close to their own home during that period and they don’t have a history of positive reviews on Airbnb.
Airbnb has taken a series of steps to crack down on parties since last year’s shooting. Last November, it started manually reviewing U.S. and Canadian reservations to weed out suspicious rentals.
The company’s efforts have intensified as it prepares for an initial public stock offering, which could come later this year.
In July, the company banned U.S. and Canadian guests under age 25 with fewer than three positive reviews from booking entire homes close to where they live. That policy was later expanded to the United Kingdom, Spain and France. And in August, Airbnb banned parties worldwide and limited occupancy at its rentals to 16 people.
Airbnb has also warned guests and hosts that it could take legal action against violators. In August, for the first time, it started legal proceedings against a guest who held an unauthorized house party in Sacramento, California.
“Black Entrepreneurs Day” is aimed at providing “guidance and inspiration to the next generation of rising entrepreneurs,” according to Monday’s announcement. It’s scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. EDT Saturday, Oct. 24, on platforms including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Shark Tank” veteran Daymond John will host a live-streamed special aimed at bolstering Black entrepreneurship, with Shaquille O’Neal, Gabrielle Union and Jamie Foxx set to participate.
“Black Entrepreneurs Day” is aimed at providing “guidance and inspiration to the next generation of rising entrepreneurs,” according to Monday’s announcement. It’s scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. EDT Saturday, Oct. 24, on platforms including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
While the year has been challenging for many, it’s “also created tremendous opportunities for people throughout this country to rise up to be heard,” John, the CEO and founder of the lifestyle brand FUBU, said in a statement.
Black entrepreneurs and small business owners are eligible to seek a share of $175,000 in grant money contributed by the special’s business sponsors. Applications for the seven NAACP-administered grants can be filed through Oct. 12 at BlackEntrepreneursDay.com, with recipients to be announced during the live stream.
John plans one-on-one conversations with his guests, who will also include LL Cool J and media magnate and BET co-founder Robert Johnson. Musicians Chance The Rapper and Questlove are set to perform.
“Love never left off,” says Fox, speaking by Zoom alongside Rob from New Orleans. Says Rob: “Instead of a story of crime and punishment, a story of love and conviction was put before our people to see.”
NEW YORK (AP) — For the 21 years while Sibil “Fox” Richardson’s husband, Rob, was imprisoned, they were, she says, “a telephone, letter-writing, visitation, just-stay-alive and keep-your-head-above-water couple.”
How long is 21 years plus four days? Garrett Bradley’s acclaimed documentary about the Richardson family, “Time,” measures its passage through a father’s absence. It’s seen in children growing up, graduations coming and going, faces changing with age. Made with family video diaries shot by Fox of herself and their six children that span more than two decades, “Time” lends a powerfully intimate portrait of the toll of mass incarceration.
Many films have sought to capture the impact of America’s prison industrial complex, but “Time” is something else. The film, which Amazon will release in select theaters Friday and launch on Amazon Prime next week, is a lyrical, black-and-white montage that digs into the long-term ache of incarceration. In footage that unspools more circularly than chronologically, toddlers turn into young men and then back again.
It’s also about an enduring love. Throughout the two decades, Fox remains steadfastly devoted to her husband. She becomes a social rights advocate and works tirelessly to get him freed from the Louisiana State Penitentiary where he’s serving a 60-year sentence for robbing a bank.
“Love never left off,” says Fox, speaking by Zoom alongside Rob from New Orleans. Says Rob: “Instead of a story of crime and punishment, a story of love and conviction was put before our people to see.”
Rob and Fox were high-school sweethearts. They married, bought a house and planned to start a business. But when their plans for a hip-hop clothing store fell through in 1997, they held up a branch of the Shreveport Credit Union. The scheme was poorly thought out; they didn’t steal any money and no one got hurt. But their sentences were harsh. Fox, the getaway driver, got 19 years. Rob got 60 years.
“It was hard to even admit out of pride and out of guilt that our actions had led us to such a lowly place,” says Fox. “We’re good people. And sometimes good people do the darnedest dog-gone things.”
They never claimed they were innocent but the length of sentence seemed to them excessive. Fox was three-months pregnant with twins at the time of sentencing. In “Time,” she grows furious, weary and increasingly impatient with the bureaucratic appeals process. “These people have no respect for other human beings’ lives,” she says in the film.
“We want to believe that justice is not just some imaginary thing that we’ve conjured up inside of our minds,” Rob says now. “When you find yourself up against a system, the system, you realize how heinous and harsh and unusual such a system is, it takes you back to another space in time where people wanted to justify slavery.”
Bradley, 34, was working on “Alone,” a 2016 short about incarceration from the point of view of a single mother, when she met Fox. Bradley first began filming Fox imagining she would make a sister short to “Alone.” On what was to be her last day shooting, Fox handed her 100 hours of mini-DV tapes. Her plans went out the window.
“Getting a hundred hours-worth of Fox’s family archive and personal footage was very much a thwarting of the vision I thought I had,” says Bradley. “But it was completely necessary and opened up doors that needed to be opened.”
With editor Gabriel Rhodes, Bradley sifted through the tapes and something larger took shape that captured the hard-to-see family reality of incarceration. She scored it partly with the piano solos of Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, an Ethiopian nun who released a handful of records in the 1960s.
At the Sundance Film Festival in January, “Time” won the award for documentary directing. Bradley credits the films of the L.A. Rebellion by filmmakers like Charles Burnett and Julie Dash as inspiring her formally adventurous but deeply humanistic approach to filmmaking. She envisions “Time” as a kind of meeting of her film and Fox’s. Next month, she’ll present an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art of vignettes interspersed with footage from 1913’s “Lime Kiln Field Day,” one of the first films made with an all-Black cast.
“I’m interested in seemingly opposing ideas or communities or individuals and thinking about filmmaking as a tool to bring these things together to create sort of third ideas or proposals for a blending and communication,” says Bradley.
Bradley kept shooting, too, including the day Rob finally got out of prison. So ecstatic to finally be reunited, Fox and Rob quickly set to making love in the backseat even with a cameraperson from the documentary crew in the front seat. You’d say they picked up right where they left off, but Fox disagrees.
“This is a well-oiled machine over here,” she says, laughing. “Our sex life at 50 is so much better.”
So is everything else. Fox sees the difference most in their children’s eyes, in their sense of security. “It’s better than I ever imagined,” she says. Early in the pandemic, Rob and Fox each contracted COVID-19, and as difficult as the experience was, they had the chance for the first time in a long time to take care of each other. They’ve since regularly posted videos of their family workouts on Instagram.
“Time” resurrected a lot of what they — and Rob, in particular — are also trying to get past. Watching and talking about the film, he says, has been both therapy and torture.
“You’re aware of a lot of things that took place because you’ve been there by way of phone, but it’s something else when you put video with audio,” he says. “You can hear the voices and hear the sounds and hear the lectures, but it’s another all together different when you can see the images and the faces.”
Bradley screened the film for the family shortly before its Sundance premiere.
“We’ve been crying ever since,” says Rob, smiling.
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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
“Saturday Night Live” scored its biggest season premiere audience in four years and second best in 12 years, emphasizing the importance of presidential election time for the NBC comedy show.
NEW YORK (AP) — The big debate — the one between Alec Baldwin and Jim Carrey — was a winner in the ratings.
“Saturday Night Live” scored its biggest season premiere audience in four years and second best in 12 years, emphasizing the importance of presidential election time for the NBC comedy show.
Its “cold open” featured Baldwin, portraying President Donald Trump, satirizing last week’s debate performance. Carrey debuted with his impersonation of Democratic opponent Joe Biden.
During a busy week for news and sports, “Saturday Night Live” was the most-watched entertainment show, despite starting at 11:35 p.m. on the East Coast, the Nielsen company said. It was shown live across the country, which meant it aired during prime time in the West.
With 8.24 million viewers, it was the second most-watched “SNL” episode since May 2017, with the exception being last December’s triumphant return of Eddie Murphy.
It was also a return to its familiar New York studio for the comedy show, which did a few remote episodes last spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The strong ratings overshadowed some rough reviews. “The Late Shift” author Bill Carter called it a “standout — not in a good way” for some uniformly flat skits.
“We needed ‘Saturday Night Live’ to rise to the occasion for this moment, and it didn’t,” agreed Eric Deggans, critic for National Public Radio. “Let’s hope the nation’s firehose of news will slow a bit, and the show will have time to catch its breath and raise its game.”
NBC was the most-watched broadcast network last week, averaging 5.5 million viewers in prime time. Fox had 3.9 million viewers, ABC had 3.8 million, CBS had 2.7 million, Univision had 1.14 million, Ion Television had 1.11 million and Telemundo had 1 million.
Fox News Channel topped the cable networks with an average of 5.18 million viewers in prime time. ESPN had 3.9 million, CNN had 2.85 million, MSNBC had 2.8 million and HGTV had 1.16 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news ratings race with an average of 8.2 million viewers, NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.3 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.4 million.
For the week of Sept. 28-Oct. 4, the top 20 prime-time programs, their networks and viewerships:
1. Presidential Debate, Fox News, 17.88 million.
2. NFL Football: Philadelphia at San Francisco, NBC, 15.08 million.
3. NFL Football: Kansas City at Baltimore, ESPN, 14.7 million.
4. “Debate Preview,” Fox News, 12.96 million.
5. Presidential Debate, ABC, 12.65 million.
6. “Debate Analysis,” Fox News, 12.58 million.
7. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 10.76 million.
8. “NFL Sunday Night Pre-Game,” NBC, 9.86 million.
9. Presidential Debate, NBC, 9.69 million.
10. “Debate Analysis,” ABC, 8.71 million.
11. Presidential Debate, CNN, 8.33 million.
12. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Tuesday), Fox News, 8.29 million.
13. “Debate Analysis,” CNN, 8.12 million.
14. NBA Finals: Miami vs. L.A. Lakers (Game 1), ABC, 7.58 million.
15. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 7.53 million.
16. Presidential Debate, MSNBC, 7.21 million.
17. “Hannity” (Tuesday), Fox News, 7.16 million.
18. “Monday Night Kickoff,” ESPN, 7.01 million.
19. “Debate Analysis,” MSNBC, 6.97 million.
20. “Debate Analysis,” NBC, 6.94 million.
Byrd acted in films including “Clockers,” “Chi-Raq,” “Bamboozled,” “He Got Game” and “Da Sweet Blood of Jesus.”
ATLANTA (AP) — Authorities are offering a $10,000 reward as they continue to search for the person who shot actor Thomas Jefferson Byrd in Atlanta.
Best known for his roles in Spike Lee films, Byrd was found dead around 1:45 a.m. Saturday morning on the city’s southwest side. He had been shot multiple times in the back.
The reward was announced Tuesday. Police have not identified a suspect in the 70-year-old actor’s shooting death or said why it may have happened.
Byrd was found shot near his home and died before he could be taken to a hospital. Robert Calloway told WSB-TV he found Byrd in a yard and ran to a fire station for help. Calloway didn’t know Byrd.
“I thought he had a health issue. He was in the yard,” Callaway said.
Byrd acted in films including “Clockers,” “Chi-Raq,” “Bamboozled,” “He Got Game” and “Da Sweet Blood of Jesus.” Also a stage actor, Byrd was nominated in 2003 for a Tony award for for his performance in the Broadway revival of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” co-starring Whoopi Goldberg and Charles S. Dutton.
Police ask anyone with information to call them or Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477, or submit information online at www.StopCrimeATL.com.
“He was the best father I could ask for,” Van Halen’s son Wolfgang wrote in a social media post. “Every moment I’ve shared with him on and off stage was a gift.”
A person close to Van Halen’s family confirmed the rocker died Tuesday due to cancer. The person was not authorized to publicly release details in advance of an official announcement.
“He was the best father I could ask for,” Van Halen’s son Wolfgang wrote in a social media post. “Every moment I’ve shared with him on and off stage was a gift.”
With his distinct solos, Eddie Van Halen fueled the ultimate California party band and helped knock disco off the charts starting in the late 1970s with his band’s self-titled debut album and then with the blockbuster record “1984,” which contains the classics “Jump,” “Panama” and “Hot for Teacher.”
Van Halen is among the top 20 best-selling artists of all time, and the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. Rolling Stone magazine put Eddie Van Halen at No. 8 in its list of the 100 greatest guitarists.
Eddie Van Halen was something of a musical contradiction. He was an autodidact who could play almost any instrument, but he couldn’t read music. He was a classically trained pianist who also created some of the most distinctive guitar riffs in rock history. He was a Dutch immigrant who was considered one of the greatest American guitarists of his generation.
Honors came from the music world, from Lenny Kravitz to Kenny Chesney. “You changed our world. You were the Mozart of rock guitar. Travel safe, rockstar,” Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx said on Twitter. Added Lenny Kravitz: “Heaven will be electric tonight.”
The members of Van Halen — the two Van Halen brothers, Eddie and Alex; vocalist David Lee Roth; and bassist Michael Anthony — formed in 1974 in Pasadena, California. They were members of rival high school bands and then attended Pasadena City College together. They combined to form the band Mammoth, but then changed to Van Halen after discovering there was another band called Mammoth.
Their 1978 release “Van Halen” opened with a blistering “Runnin’ With the Devil” and then Eddie Van Halen showed off his astonishing skills in the next song, “Eruption,” a furious 1:42 minute guitar solo that swoops and soars like a deranged bird. The album also contained a cover of the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me” and “Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love.”
Van Halen released albums on a yearly timetable — “Van Halen II” (1979), “Women and Children First” (1980), “Fair Warning” (1981) and “Diver Down” (1982) — until the monumental “1984,” which hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200 album charts (only behind Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”). Rolling Stone ranked “1984” No. 81 on its list of the 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s.
“Eddie put the smile back in rock guitar, at a time when it was all getting a bit brooding. He also scared the hell out of a million guitarists around the world, because he was so damn good. And original,” Joe Satriani, a fellow virtuoso, told Billboard in 2015.
Van Halen also played guitar on one of the biggest singles of the 1980s: Jackson’s “Beat It.” His solo lasted all of 20 seconds and took only a half an hour to record. He did it as a favor to producer Quincy Jones, while the rest of his Van Halen bandmates were out of town.
Van Halen received no compensation or credit for the work, even though he rearranged the section he played on. “It was 20 minutes of my life. I didn’t want anything for doing that,” he told Billboard in 2015. “I literally thought to myself, ‘Who is possibly going to know if I play on this kid’s record?’” Rolling Stone ranked “Beat It” No. 344 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Jackson’s melding of hard rock and R&B preceded the meeting of Run-DMC and Aerosmith by four years.
But strains between Roth and the band erupted after their 1984 world tour and Roth left. The group then recruited Sammy Hagar as lead singer —some critics called the new formulation “Van Hagar” — and the band went on to score its first No. 1 album with “5150,” More studio albums followed, including “OU812,” “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” and “Balance.” Hit singles included “Why Can’t This Be Love” and “When It’s Love.”
Hagar was ousted in 1996 and former Extreme singer Gary Cherone stepped in for the album “Van Halen III,” a stumble that didn’t lead to another album and the quick departure of Cherone. Roth would eventually return in 2007 and team up with the Van Halen brothers and Wolfgang Van Halen on bass for a tour, the album “A Different Kind of Truth” and the 2015 album “Tokyo Dome Live in Concert.”
Van Halen’s music has appeared in films as varied as “Superbad,” “Minions” and “Sing” as well as TV shows like “Glee” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” Video games such as “Gran Turismo 4” and “Guitar Hero” have used his riffs. Their song “Jamie’s Cryin” was sampled by rapper Tone Loc in his hit “Wild Thing.”
For much of his career, Eddie Van Halen wrote and experimented with sounds while drunk or high or both. He revealed that he would stay in his hotel room drinking vodka and snorting cocaine while playing into a tape recorder. (Hagar’s 2011 autobiography “Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock” portrays Eddie as a violent, booze-addled vampire, living inside a garbage-strewn house.)
“I didn’t drink to party,” Van Halen told Billboard. “Alcohol and cocaine were private things to me. I would use them for work. The blow keeps you awake and the alcohol lowers your inhibitions. I’m sure there were musical things I would not have attempted were I not in that mental state.”
Eddie Van Halen was born in Amsterdam and his family immigrated to California in 1962 when he was 7. His father was a big band clarinetist who rarely found work after coming to the U.S., and their mother was a maid who had dreams of her sons being classical pianists. The Van Halens shared a house with three other families. Eddie and Alex had only each other, a tight relationship that flowed through their music.
“We showed up here with the equivalent of $50 and a piano,” Eddie Van Halen told The Associated Press in 2015. “We came halfway around the world without money, without a set job, no place to live and couldn’t even speak the language.”
He said his earliest memories of music were banging pots and pans together, marching to John Philip Sousa marches. At one point, Eddie got a drum set, which his older brother coveted.
“I never wanted to play guitar,” he confessed at a talk at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in 2015. But his brother was good at the drums, so Eddie gave into his brother’s wishes: “I said, ‘Go ahead, take my drums. I’ll play your damn guitar.’”
He was a relentless experimenter who would solder different parts from different guitar-makers, including Gibson and Fender. He created his own graphic design for his guitars by adding tape to the instruments and then spray-painting them. He said his influences were Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix.
Van Halen, sober since 2008, lost one-third of his tongue to a cancer that eventually drifted into his esophagus. In 1999, he had a hip replacement. He was married twice, to actress Valerie Bertinelli from 1981 to 2007 and then to stuntwoman-turned-publicist Janie Liszewski, whom he wed in 2009.
“I’m so grateful Wolfie and I were able to hold you in your last moments,” Bertinelli wrote on Instagram, showing an image of their baby son. “I will see you in our next life.”
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AP Music Editor Mesfin Fekadu contributed to this report.
The moratorium on evictions has been extended
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The image of Trump standing on a balcony and removing his mask after a helicopter dropped him off Monday evening, then turning to enter the White House maskless, could hardly be reassuring to people who work there.
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s return to the White House to recover from the coronavirus seems certain to raise the already heightened anxiety level of the journalists assigned to follow him.
Three reporters have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days while covering a White House described as lax, at best, in following basic safety advice like wearing masks. Discomfort only increased Monday with news that press secretary Kayleigh McEnany had tested positive.
The image of Trump standing on a balcony and removing his mask after a helicopter dropped him off Monday evening, then turning to enter the White House maskless, could hardly be reassuring to people who work there.
After McEnany’s announcement Monday, Fox News chief White House correspondent John Roberts spent part of his afternoon waiting outside an urgent care center for his own test. He had attended McEnany’s briefing last Thursday. She didn’t wear a mask, and neither did one of her assistants who later tested positive, and Roberts sat near both of them. He tested negative.
He called it an inconvenience, but stronger emotions were spreading. American Urban Radio Networks correspondent April Ryan said she found it infuriating that Trump and his team had risked the health of her colleagues. CNN’s Kaitlan Collins said it was “irresponsible, at best.”
“It’s frustrating,” said Jonathan Karl, ABC News White House correspondent. “Frankly, it makes you angry.”
Trump takes the health and safety of those who work for and cover him very seriously, spokesman Judd Deere said. The White House works to incorporate current CDC guidance and best practices to limit COVID-19 exposure to the greatest extent possible on the grounds and when the president is traveling, he said.
Yet Trump clearly dislikes masks, and it is a message that has filtered down through much of his staff.
The White House Correspondents Association has placed signs on the door to the press briefing room saying that masks are required for admittance.
“The only people who have habitually not followed that rule have been that White House staff,” Karl said.
When asked why, staffers generally say they don’t wear a mask because they tested negative that day, said CBS News correspondent Weijia Jiang. But doctors have made clear that a negative test doesn’t mean you don’t have COVID-19 or aren’t contagious, “so it seems like covering their face is a simple way to protect people,” she said.
Michael D. Shear of The New York Times is the only reporter to reveal his positive test. Shear can’t say for sure where he contracted the virus, but he covered Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on Sept. 26 and rode back on Air Force One, where the president spoke to reporters without a mask.
“What’s frustrating is when you know the risks can be mitigated if they took it more seriously,” he said Monday. Shear took a coronavirus test late Thursday and found he was positive the next morning; his wife is positive, too.
No one in the White House has criticized him for wearing a mask, but there have been times when people told him “I can’t hear you.”
“My feeling is you just talk louder at that point,” he said. “I’m not going to take my mask off.”
Shear said he’s surprised that no one at the White House has reached out to him for contact tracing.
Following the the positive tests for Shear and two others, the WHCA recommended remote work for all reporters who are not part of the day’s press pool and who don’t have an enclosed work space.
The 13-member press pool, with a rotating cast of electronic and print journalists, is responsible for following the president when he leaves the White House; the WHCA objected Sunday when the pool wasn’t alerted to Trump’s drive-by of supporters outside his hospital.
The White House has generally been responsive to the WHCA’s safety concerns for the pool, said Zeke Miller, the association’s president and an Associated Press reporter. For example, the White House arranged to increase the buffer zone between the audience at Trump rallies and journalists.
The AP has its own rotation system so it has only one reporter at the White House while others work at home. If he comes into contact with someone who has tested positive, Miller said he’s prepared to go to a hotel and not home to his family, although he hasn’t had to do that yet.
The atmosphere is markedly different at the Capitol, said Andrew Desiderio, who covers the Senate for Politico. With the exception of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, virtually all staff and senators wear masks, he said. They follow the lead of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, he said.
As a result, Desiderio isn’t worried about the seven-minute interview he conducted last week with Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson days before Johnson revealed a positive COVID test. Both men wore masks and kept their distance, he said.
But at the White House, Ryan said she is concerned for fellow reporters. With underlying health conditions, she’s been doing her job from home since March.
“My colleagues, I give them all props,” she said. “But I didn’t sign up to die for this, especially for someone who’s always saying that we’re the enemy.”
Jonathan Price was walking away from Wolfe City Police Officer Shaun Lucas on Saturday night when Lucas opened fire, killing Price, the Texas Rangers said in a statement released by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
A white police officer has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a Black man following a reported disturbance at a convenience store in a small East Texas town, authorities said.
Jonathan Price was walking away from Wolfe City Police Officer Shaun Lucas on Saturday night when Lucas opened fire, killing Price, the Texas Rangers said in a statement released by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Lucas, 22, was booked into the Hunt County Jail on Monday night, the Texas Rangers said. Jail records show bail was set at $1 million.
It wasn’t immediately known if Lucas had a lawyer who could comment on his behalf.
Lucas had been with the Wolfe City Police Department for a little less than six months when the shooting took place, according to records from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. His prior law enforcement experience had been working as a jailer with the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office for about five months.
As of last year, Wolfe City’s police department had five officers and a chief of police, all of whom were white men, according to Texas Commission on Law Enforcement data. The town about 70 miles (113 kilometers) northeast of Dallas has about 1,500 residents. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 71% of its residents are white, 14% are Black and 13% are Hispanic.
According to the Texas Rangers’ statement, Lucas responded to a disturbance call on Saturday night following a report of a possible fight. He encountered Price, 31, who was reportedly involved in the disturbance, and Price “resisted in a non-threatening posture and began walking away,” the Texas Rangers said.
Lucas used a stun gun before shooting Price, who was taken to a hospital and died, the statement said.
Police didn’t release details about the disturbance, but family and friends of Price said Monday that the one-time college football player was intervening in a domestic disturbance when he was shot.
“When police arrived, I’m told, he raised his hands and attempted to explain what was going on,” said civil rights attorney Lee Merritt in a Facebook posting. “Police fired Tasers at him and when his body convulsed from the electrical current, they ‘perceived a threat’ and shot him to death.”
After Lucas’ arrest was announced, Merritt posted: “This didn’t happen quickly. It should (have) happened the day he murdered JP. John should still be here.”
Price’s relatives and friends said Price, a Wolfe City employee, was a figure well-known in the close-knit community.
“He had a bright future. He was going to start up his own business, a fitness center,” Price’s sister, April Louis, told CBS This Morning. “And it’s just, it’s just gone. I mean, it didn’t have to end like that.”
Price played football in 2008 for Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. Hardin-Simmons football coach Jesse Burleson tweeted that the university “lost one of our own in a terrible situation. Jonathan Price was an awesome young man during his time with Cowboy football.”
Former Major League Baseball third baseman Will Middlebrooks, who grew up with Price, said on Facebook: “I’m sick. I’m heartbroken… and I’m furious.” Middlebrooks started an online fundraiser for Price’s family that surpassed its $50,000 goal in less than 24 hours.
Rashad expressed her longing to go to the theater, sometime that she even admitted that she took for granted, but now since it’s gone she misses it greatly.
Phylicia Rashad says she misses the “privilege” of going to theater. Rashad expressed her longing to go to the theater, sometime that she even admitted that she took for granted, but now since it’s gone she misses it greatly.
Rashad discussed the many different roles she has played not just on the big screen but in theater as well.
Phylicia Rashad discusses her background in theater and playing edgy maternal roles. Rashad discussed the many different roles she has played not just on the big screen but in theater as well. Rashad also spoke on the theater not being able to be consumed at a mass-public level.
Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church Michael Curry talks about his book Love Is The Way: Holding Onto Hope In Troubling Times and how love for God and one another will see us through.
Gospel singer Benita Jones talks about how she was renewed following surviving a horrific car accident, a difficult divorce, and a departure from a position as Minister of Music at a Nashville megachurch.
Medical and political implications of President Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis.
Trump says he’s leaving hospital for White House.
The updated guidance comes after the agency mistakenly posted a revision last month that said the virus
The CDC’s new guidance says, “These transmissions occurred within enclosed spaces that had inadequate ventilation.Sometimes the infected person was breathing heavily, for example while singing or exercising.”
Last month… the CDC posted similar information about the coronavirus and then took it down, calling the post a mistake.
The updated guidance comes after the agency mistakenly posted a revision last month that said the virus.
Jay Ellis discusses the evolution of his character on “Insecure,” ‘Lawrence,’ revealing what he would like to see happen to him in season 5.
Jay Ellis discusses the evolution of his character on “Insecure,” ‘Lawrence,’ revealing what he would like to see happen to him in season 5.
#Insecure #HBO
The surprise finale of season 4 of “Insecure” shocked many, including Jay Ellis himself, who stars as ‘Lawrence’ on the hit HBO show.
The surprise finale of season 4 of “Insecure” shocked many, including Jay Ellis himself, who stars as ‘Lawrence’ on the hit HBO show.
#Insecure
DC officials are preparing to allow as many as 21,000 students to return to school buildings November 9th.
Students with significant special education needs will also be able to return to classes. Mayor Muriel Bowser was joined today by Schools Chancellor Dr. Lewis Ferebee in making the announcement. The Washington Teachers Union has pushed back against the city’s return to in-person learning, saying DC officials have failed to provide a plan to ensure safety.
12 and counting. That’s the number of people associated to President Trump who have now tested positive for the coronavirus.
Fire prevention safety tips that everyone should follow.
Look. Listen. Learn. Be aware – fire can happen anywhere. Fire Prevention Week is October 4th thru October 10th. www.fems.dc.gov
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We examine what the coronavirus infection means for President Trump’s health and the politics going forward.
Vice President Mike Pence, who has tested negative for COVID-19, plans to continue to his campaign schedule.
President Donald Trump’s campaign manager says all campaign events involving the president and his family will either be turned into virtual events or postponed until further notice.
Bill Stepien, who heads Trump’s reelection, says Vice President Mike Pence, who has tested negative for COVID-19, plans to continue to his campaign schedule.
The announcement comes after Trump tweeted earlier Friday that he and his wife tested positive for the coronavirus.
It is not clear when the president was exposed. One of the president’s top advisers, Hope Hicks, tested positive on Thursday for the virus. Two others — Utah Sen. Mike Lee and University of Notre Dame president Rev. John Jenkins — who attended Trump’s Rose Garden ceremony on Saturday to announce the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court — have also tested positive for the virus.
Grand jury audio details moments before Breonna Taylor died.
Trumps are in isolation at the White House after testing positive for the coronavirus.
“Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately,” Trump tweeted. “We will get through this TOGETHER.”
Earlier in the night, it was reported that Trump aide Hope Hicks had tested positive for the virus and was exhibiting some symptoms. Hicks had traveled several times this week with Trump, including to the Tuesday Presidential debate and to a Wednesday rally.
Trump and the First Lady are now in quarantine and are said to be “feeling good.” The White House says Trump will continue to carry out his duties while in isolation.
The National Center for Children and Families are looking for Foster Parents
We’re looking to people who have love in their hearts and room in their homes. Providing a home full of love for a child in need. That’s the mission of the National Center for Children and Families and they need your help. My guest is Tonya Sherman – Director of Recruitment and Training for National Center for Children and Families. If you’re interested in becoming a foster parent call 202-674-0133 or get more information here:
Listen to this mornings segment here:
Meditation is how Stokley copes with the pandemic, along with the racial tensions the country is going through.
During this time of racial division in the U.S., Stokley says this is the time to remember and fully embrace who we are. We, as black people, are the ones who upgrade the culture. Remember the joy, the roller skating when we grew up. The dancing. Everything.
That’s why he joined forces with Snoop at a roller skating rink for the video of his hit song, “Vibrant”. It’s definitely a vibe!
Like many artists these days, Stokley has found a way to connect with fans in a different way. If he’s not on social media performing, you can catch him on Twitch playing all of his favorite music. While he says he is eager to get back to touring, he admits that he’s loving the precious time spent with his family.
On the heels of two #1 hits from his forthcoming album, Sankofa – “She,” and “Vibrant,” Stokley is keeping his vocals sharp. When asked to leave us with something inspiring, while the country is still in the middle of a pandemic, he serenading us (okay, I’m gonna say “me”) with an a cappella rendition of his hit single, She! He sounded soooo good! What a night!
Part one of a two-part examination of the issue concerning black women.
Trooper’s body cam mic records talk of beating, choking Black man.
Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth was killed in a car crash hours after he was told he would be fired for his role in the death of Ronald Greene.
Congolese activist campaigning to take back art he says was plundered by colonizers.
“To say, ‘He’s not going to follow the rules so we aren’t, either’ — it’s an unprecedented situation,” Raddatz said. “That was so out of control.”
The commission said Wednesday that the debate “made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues.”
One possibility being discussed is to give the moderator the ability to cut off the microphone of one of the debate participants while his opponent is talking, according to a person familiar with the deliberations who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The next presidential debate is a town hall format scheduled for Oct. 15 in Miami.
Meanwhile, the Nielsen company said that 73.1 million people watched the debate on television, where it was shown on 16 networks. That’s more than any other television event since the Super Bowl, even if it fell short of the 84 million who watched the first debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016. That was the most-watched presidential debate ever.
Moderator Chris Wallace struggled to gain control of Tuesday’s debate in Cleveland because of frequent interruptions, primarily by Trump. The candidates interrupted Wallace or their opponent 90 times in the 90-minute debate, 71 of them by Trump, according to an analysis by The Washington Post.
Wallace, of Fox News, pleaded for a more orderly debate, at one point looking at Trump and saying, “the country would be better served if we allowed both people to speak with fewer interruptions. I’m appealing to you, sir, to do that.”
“Ask him, too,” Trump said.
“Well, frankly, you’ve been doing more interrupting than he has,” Wallace said.
Biden on Wednesday called the debate “a national embarrassment.” But despite some suggestions that the final two presidential encounters be canceled, both campaigns said they expected their candidate to attend.
Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said the commission was “only doing this because their guy got pummeled last night. President Trump was the dominant force and now Joe Biden is trying to work the refs.”
ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, who moderated one of the three Trump-Clinton debates in 2016, said Wallace was put in nearly an impossible situation. Faced with the same behavior, she said she might have called a full stop to the debate for a moment to recalibrate.
She never had the option, technically, to cut off the microphone of a candidate four years ago, she said. It also wasn’t in the rules that were agreed to in advance by the candidates and commission.
“To say, ‘He’s not going to follow the rules so we aren’t, either’ — it’s an unprecedented situation,” Raddatz said. “That was so out of control.”
Twitter was ablaze with criticism for Wallace early in the debate for losing control of the proceedings. That was illustrated by MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, who tweeted, “What is Chris Wallace doing? He has no control over the debate. He asks a question and let’s Trump continue yelling. This is a disgrace.”
By the time he was on “Morning Joe″ the next morning, Scarborough had cooled off. He called on the debate commission to act.
“While it was extraordinarily frustrating, I think all of us need to walk a mile in his shoes before saying the morning after, ‘He could have done this, he could have done that,’” Scarborough said.
Some of the president’s supporters felt that Wallace was too hard on their candidate. Trump himself suggested he was also debating Wallace, “but that’s no surprise.”
Wallace even got some criticism from opinion personalities on his own network. “Trump is debating the moderator and Biden,” primetime host Laura Ingraham tweeted during the debate.
Another Fox colleague, Geraldo Rivera, expressed more sympathy.
“The guy signed up to moderate a debate and he ended up trying to referee a knife fight,” he said.
Wallace, host of “Fox News Sunday,” was not immediately made available for comment by Fox.
There is some skepticism about what the commission can do that is really meaningful. “I’m not sure that there’s a format change that can solve that problem,” said Sen. Pat Toomey, Republican, of battleground state Pennsylvania.
Wallace is the only presidential debate moderator this cycle with prior experience, after receiving praise for handling the final Clinton-Trump debate in 2016. The other two moderators are Steve Scully of C-SPAN and Kristen Welker of NBC News.
Scully moderates the Miami debate, a town hall format where citizens get to ask questions, which may make interruptions more difficult.
“Having prepared for these, the town hall is a completely different event in the debate Olympics,” tweeted David Plouffe, an adviser to former President Barack Obama. “If Trump brings the same nastiness to Florida, it will be doubly painful to watch but it will be doubly painful for him politically.”
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Associated Press writers Bill Barrow, Laurie Kellman and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.
Power, high fashion, and smoldering lips!
If you ever wondered why the TV show “Power” is such a hit, Show Runner Gary Lennon gave us some very good reasons why. What a great conversation! He talked about how his success as a writer came from telling his authentic truths about his personal life. He encouraged writers to tell their own stories, warts and all.
Why is Steve Harvey always looking so damn good these days? Well, he has a new stylist. Millennial Elly Karamoh talks about new, extremely high profile client, our very own Steve Harvey! Yes, the Steve Harvey Morning Show is #1 morning show and the king is looking fresher than ever.
Make Up Maestro/Celebrity MUA Derrick Rutledge joined the conversation and taught us all how to perfect the red lip! Yassssss! We’re gonna be all set this fall and holiday season.
“This is about learning. And about how we can make it better,” he said, speaking from the couple’s home in Santa Barbara, California.
LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry has spoken about his “awakening” to race issues as he and his wife, Meghan, launched an anti-racism campaign to mark Black History Month in the U.K.
In a video interview with the Evening Standard newspaper published Thursday, Harry said London sometimes “doesn’t feel as diverse as it actually is” and that he wanted to use his celebrity to raise awareness about the Black community and the challenges it faces.
He stressed that his and Meghan’s campaign wasn’t about “pointing the finger, it is not about blame.”
“This is about learning. And about how we can make it better,” he said, speaking from the couple’s home in Santa Barbara, California.
The couple released a list of Black people recognized for challenging prejudice, calling them “next gen trailblazers,” along with an opinion piece in the newspaper.
“For as long as structural racism exists, there will be generations of young people of colour who do not start their lives with the same equality of opportunity as their white peers,” wrote the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as Harry and Meghan are formally known.
Meghan, a former American actress known as Meghan Markle, identifies as biracial. Her mother is Black and her father is white.
The couple, who quit as senior working royals in March to pursue their financial independence, announced a deal with Netflix last month to produce a range of films and series for the streaming service.
The pop star, 32, told The Associated Press for her new album she’s already held “tons of writing camps” — where songwriters are put into groups to create original tracks for artists.
NEW YORK (AP) — It’s been four years since Rihanna released an album but the singer is working hard on recording new music.
The pop star, 32, told The Associated Press for her new album she’s already held “tons of writing camps” — where songwriters are put into groups to create original tracks for artists.
Now, she said she’s asked herself the questions: “What do I feel personally? What do I want to put out, and as an artist, how do I want to play it with my art? How do I want to interpret that?”
“How do I want to reimagine it because it’s been so structured before,” Rihanna continued in a recent interview.
The multi-genre artist who has won Grammys in the R&B, dance and rap categories added: “You do pop, you did this genre, you do that, you do radio, but now it’s just like, what makes me happy? I just want to have fun with music. Everything is so heavy. The world that we live in is a lot. It’s overwhelming every single day. And with the music, I’m using that as my outlet.”
Rihanna’s “ANTI,” the singer’s eighth album released in 2016, was a critically acclaimed effort, launching multiple hits such as “Work,” “Love on the Brain,” “Needed Me” and more. Overall, Rihanna’s achieved 14 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart since making her debut in 2005. She’s accumulated 31 Top 10 hits on the chart.
Since the release of “ANTI,” she’s guest appeared on songs like DJ Khaled’s “Wild Thoughts,” Kendrick Lamar’s “Loyalty,” N.E.R.D.’s “Lemon” and Future’s “Selfish.” Her only 2020 release has been “Believe It” with PartyNextDoor.
Rihanna, who has been uber-busy with her successful makeup and fashion lines, says the pandemic has challenged things musically speaking, but she plans to press on.
“I want to go on tour but I can’t, so I’m stuck with music that I love, and now I’m trying to figure out how I can even create visuals to that,” she said. “That’s a challenge as well. But I love challenges so, you know, I’m gonna get it done.”
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AP Music Editor Mesfin Fekadu contributed to this report.
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Tweet on releasing a new album. The singer describes what consists of the new album saying that the album is about “the ins and outs of love.”
Tweet on releasing a new album. The singer describes what consists of the new album saying that the album is about “the ins and outs of love.”
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. KNOW YOUR NUMBERS and learn how to do a breast self-exam.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. KNOW YOUR NUMBERS and learn how to do a breast self-exam.
Broad examination of the first presidential debate of the 2020 election season.
Audio recordings of the proceedings were originally supposed to be released Wednesday.
The commission says it “intends to ensure that additional tools to maintain order are in place for the remaining debates.”
Trump’s frequent interruptions of the Democratic presidential nominee defined Tuesday night’s debate, with Biden frequently unable to complete a sentence.
Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News pleaded with Trump several times to allow Biden to speak uninterrupted, to no avail.
The nonpartisan commission has organized every general election presidential debate since 1988. In a statement, the commission said the first debate “made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues.”
The commission says it “intends to ensure that additional tools to maintain order are in place for the remaining debates.”
And the commission says it’s “carefully considering the changes that it will adopt and will announce those measures shortly.”
“As heartbreaking as it is to take this action, this is the only feasible option we have in light of the prolonged impact of COVID-19 on our business, including limited capacity due to physical distancing requirements and the continued uncertainty regarding the duration of the pandemic,” he said.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Squeezed by limits on attendance at its theme parks and other restrictions due to the pandemic, The Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday it planned to lay off 28,000 workers in its parks division in California and Florida.
Two-thirds of the planned layoffs involve part-time workers but they ranged from salaried employees to hourly workers, Disney officials said.
Disney’s parks closed last spring as the pandemic started spreading in the U.S. The Florida parks reopened this summer, but the California parks have yet to reopen as the company awaits guidance from the state of California.
In a letter to employees, Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Parks, Experience and Product, said California’s “unwillingness to lift restrictions that would allow Disneyland to reopen” exacerbated the situation for the company.
D’Amaro said his management team had worked hard to try to avoid layoffs. They had cut expenses, suspended projects and modified operations but it wasn’t enough given limits on the number of people allowed into the park because of social distancing restrictions and other pandemic-related measures, he said.
“As heartbreaking as it is to take this action, this is the only feasible option we have in light of the prolonged impact of COVID-19 on our business, including limited capacity due to physical distancing requirements and the continued uncertainty regarding the duration of the pandemic,” he said.
California’s health secretary on Tuesday said the state was close to working out a way to have the theme parks reopen in a responsible way.
“We know that a number of Californians are eager and wondering when that is coming, and we’re working with those industries to put out something that’s thoughtful, allows us to maintain the rest of our framework in a strong way, and really following those principles of slow and stringent to ensure those large activities are done responsibly,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of California Health and Human Services.
Disney officials said the company would provide severance packages for the employees, where appropriate, and also offer other services to help workers with job placement.
Officials with the union that represents the actors who play Disney characters at the theme parks said they were having conversations with Disney officials about how they would be impacted, according to Actors’ Equity Association.
Officials with the Service Trades Council Union, which represents 43,000 workers at Disney World in Florida, said they were having similar conversations.
“We were disappointed to learn that the Covid-19 crisis has led Disney to make the decision to layoff Cast Members,” the coalition of six unions said in a statement.
About 950 workers from Unite Here Local 11 in California will be laid off starting Nov. 1, union leaders said.
Disney officials didn’t offer a breakdown of the layoffs between the Florida and California operations. Walt Disney World in Florida has around 77,000 employees, while the Disneyland Resort in California has more than 30,000 workers.
With its parks closed due to the pandemic in April, Disney furloughed up to 43,000 workers while still paying for their health insurance at its Florida resort. It brought many of them back after it reopened in July. Furloughed workers in California also received health benefits.
In a statement, U.S. Rep. Val Demings, a Democrat from Orlando, said the layoffs showed the need for more coronavirus-related relief from Congress.
“These layoffs show yet again how desperately that assistance is needed by American households and businesses,” Demings said.
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Associated Press writers Adam Beam in Sacramento, California, and Amy Taxin in Orange County, California, contributed to this report.
“I ended up skipping like half of my classes,” Addison smiled. “It was nice. It was like a new start.”
NEW YORK (AP) — In RVs, rental homes and five-star resorts, families untethered by the constraints of physical classrooms for their kids have turned the new school year into an extended summer vacation, some lured by the ailing hotel industry catering to parents with remote learners through “roadschooling” amenities.
With the pandemic ongoing, the change of scene for desperate work- and school-from-home families boils down to “risk versus reward,” said Amanda Poses, a travel consultant and mother of two teenagers in Austin, Texas. “God willing, we don’t have the opportunity to do this again.”
Poses and her husband let 13-year-old Addison attend school from Park City, Utah, for three days of a five-night stay in early September. In search of a flight of three hours or less, they rode horses, hiked and zip-lined. They went tubing and enjoyed an alpine slide. And, yes, there was a bit of logging in to school.
“I ended up skipping like half of my classes,” Addison smiled. “It was nice. It was like a new start.”
Addison’s 16-year-old brother sat out the trip. “He was concerned about being distracted,” mom said.
One of the places the family stayed, the luxury Montage Deer Valley mountain resort, now offers “Montage Academy” for distance learners, complete with an all-day monitored “study hall” and access to virtual tutors. Other hotels are offering on-site tutors and tickets for “field trips” at area attractions.
Anna Khazenzon, a data and learning scientist for the online study platform Quizlet, said the monotony of weeks stuck at home for school on top of six months of pandemic restrictions risks bringing on burnout for distance learners.
But there are dangers lurking in schoolcations as well.
“Formal schoolcation programs have the potential to create further achievement gaps between high- and low-income families, and more cost-effective versions should be developed, but overall there are many learning benefits for taking children on schoolcations,” Khazenzon said. “If students are burnt out and under-stimulated studying at home, then they may not be engaged in class at all.”
Jennifer Steele, an associate professor of education at American University, said that if distance learners don’t show up for class during schoolcations, “we would expect them to lose some knowledge and skills.” In addition, she said, the idea “exposes socioeconomic inequities in terms of people’s inability to leave and go to difference places.”
Since the start of the pandemic, families of means have decamped to second homes or taken long-term rentals in vacation spots around the world. With summer over, schoolcations offer others similar experiences, whether they’re roughing it on the road for extended periods or spending on hotels and resorts trying to make up for a summer slump.
For Jayson and Tammy Brown, schoolcations for their three kids have been both ongoing and life-affirming over the past five years. The parents and 11-year-old Jayde, 13-year-old Jay’Elle and 14-year-old Jayson are used to traveling the world with school topics in mind, but the pandemic has them avoiding planes.
Before the pandemic, there was a trip to Israel at a time Jay’Elle was studying the Mideast. Young Jayson made science connections between rock formations there and bioluminescent organisms he saw on another adventure.
In South Africa, the family focused on Nelson Mandela, visiting the former prison and military fort Constitution Hill, which has been turned into a history museum on the country’s journey to democracy.
The Browns have taken a few road trips within driving distance of home in Atlanta since March, and have more planned. Tammy, a special education teacher, is handling her students remotely. She and her husband make sure their kids log on to school when attendance is required.
“Oh we stay on them for sure,” dad said.
What do the kids think they’re gaining?
“I find it much more fun than school, being able to experience firsthand what I’m actually learning in class,” Jay’Elle said.
Her brother’s favorite part of all that travel? “The food, and the animals,” he said.
The siblings are writing a book about their travels.
Terika Haynes, a luxury travel planner in Orlando, Florida, said all of the “school from paradise” packages she’s recently spotted guarantee dedicated workspaces for children. Some are adding after-school activities, including sports training for student athletes.
Packages range from seven to 21 days, she said.
“It’s a bit too early to capture numbers since these programs are just starting to roll out, but these programs are designed for those with more of a disposable income who are accustomed to luxury,” Haynes said.
In Florida, the Marker Key West Harbor Resort began offering private tutors in mid-September. It has technical support available for kids, and educators to cover local topics, such as the island’s literary history and marine life. There have been a handful of reservations so far.
The extras add between $225 and $250 to the room rate, which varies depending on the date and room type.
“Family vacations are the new field trip,” said Lee Rekas, the resort’s director of sales and marketing. “The virtual learning has been tough for a lot of kids. They’re stuck on screens all day or sitting there at home, with their parents over their shoulders, doing work sheets.”
Stephanie Gunderson, a stay-at-home mom in southeastern Pennsylvania, plans a two-week trip to North Carolina’s Outer Banks in October with her four children — ranging from 5 to 13 — and their school-issued iPads. Her husband will stay behind to work.
They’ll be staying in a small cabin close to the beach that they rented at a lower, off-season price. They’re packing in their food and will bypass the usual tourist attractions.
“We plan primarily to stay in the cabin doing schoolwork. That’s the No. 1 priority, for the kids to attend school but then having the late afternoons free to walk on the beach or walk on a trail,” she said.
Breaux Walker and Edie Silver Walker prefer Stormy, the nearly 30-foot RV they bought for $17,000 just before they took off Aug. 8 from home in San Francisco with their sixth-grader and twin first-graders. Logging in to school and homework is mandatory, the parents said.
“We’re working our itineraries around WiFi. We’re using hot spots on our cell phones a lot,” Silver Walker said from Ennis, Montana, about seven weeks in.
Reyne, the 11-year-old doing full days of live instruction, didn’t miss a moment when Stormy blew an air hose in the middle of school in a sleet storm north of Helena, Montana, on Interstate 15.
“With her laptop and her headphones, she just hopped up into the tow truck,” Silver Walker laughed.
Breaux added: “We’re out in the woods every single day after they go to class. They’re getting the coolest, most experiential, useful education every day.”
