Taylor Swift surprised fans on Wednesday by releasing a new “From the Vault” song, 2008’s “Mr. Perfectly Fine.” The new track will appear on Swift’s new re-recording of Fearless, which will be released April 9.
Fearless (Taylor’s Version) is the first of five albums that Swift plans to re-record after her highly publicized feud with Big Machine Label Group’s Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta over her original master recordings.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order banning state government entities from enforcing the so-called ‘vaccine passports.” According to the governor, this ban would apply to “any public or private entity that is receiving or will receive public funds through any means, including grants, contracts, loans, or other disbursement of taxpayer funds.” The order reads: “Whereas, an individual’s COVID-19 vaccination status is private health information, and no governmental entity should compel disclosure of this information by mandating a so-called ‘vaccine passport’ for COVID-19 or by otherwise conditioning receipt of services on an individual’s COVID-19 status.”
Abbott said in a statement announcing the order: “We will continue to vaccinate more Texans and protect public health — and we will do so without treading on Texans’ personal freedoms.”
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a similar executive order banning businesses from requiring customers to prove they have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to get service and barred any government agency in Florida from issuing such documentation to provide proof of vaccinations.
Two people were injured after a shooting near Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, on Tuesday. Police were called for an active shooter situation at 8:20 a.m. in the Riverside Tech Park area.
Frederick Police Chief Jason Lando said when officers arrived on scene they found two adult males injured. The victims were flown by helicopter to Baltimore, where one of the victims was released Tuesday afternoon, while the other remained in critical condition. The 38-year-old suspect, who Navy Public Affairs confirmed was a Navy hospital corpsman, then traveled to nearby Fort Detrick and was subsequently shot and killed by base personnel, police said. The suspect, identified as Fantahun Girma Woldesenbet, had been stationed at Fort Detrick base.
Demi Lovato has dropped the deluxe version of her new album Dancing With The Devil… The Art of Starting Over featuring the new track “Sunset,” as well as the live acoustic versions of “Dancing With The Devil,” “Anyone” and “ICU (Madison’s Lullabye)” from her docu-series premiere event.
Demi wrote on Instagram: “The deluxe edition of #DWTDTAOSO is out now featuring ‘Sunset’ & live acoustic performances of ‘Anyone’ ‘Dancing With The Devil’ & ‘ICU (Madison’s Lullabye)” The standard edition of the album features 19 tracks.
Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Billboardtweeted its weekly Hot 100 chart, which showed “Montero” in the coveted spot just ahead of Justin Bieber’s “Peaches” and Silk Sonic’s “Leave The Door Open.”
“Montero” has drawn criticism for its adult themes and satanic imagery. The NSFW video for “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” can be viewed – here.
Emergency crews in Manatee County, Fla., are scrambling to drain a leaking wastewater reservoir in an effort to prevent a catastrophic event that officials said could unleash a “20-foot wall of water.” The leak at Piney Point — a long-abandoned phosphate plant in the Tampa Bay area — was first discovered last month.
Workers are removing millions of gallons of water from the reservoir each day to reduce pressure on its liner, and concerns over a potential breach prompted Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency on Saturday for Manatee County, where more than 300 homes and businesses have been ordered to evacuate. Officials said Monday that a drone may have identified a second breach overnight; engineers evacuated the site but have since returned to continue their assessment. The leak has prompted a multi-agency response at the state and federal level. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency deployed an on-scene coordinator on Sunday, and a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers team arrived at the site on Monday.
Piney Point closed 20 years ago when its owners declared bankruptcy and is now owned by a company called HRK Holdings. It still stores industrial byproducts including polluted water and stacks of phosphogypsum — a waste product that emits radioactive gas, according to the EPA. Gov. Ron DeSantis stressed on Sunday that officials are most immediately concerned with the risk to local residents, saying, “public health and safety is the priority. Obviously we want to protect that in a way that minimizes any of the environmental impacts, but the goal is to ensure the integrity of the stack system as quickly as possible in order to minimize impacts to local residents and to prevent an uncontrolled discharge.”
On Monday, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson vetoed a proposed state law banning access to gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers and hormones to transgender minors. Hutchinson said he had rejected the bill, which had been approved last month by the GOP-controlled state Legislature, calling it a “product of the cultural war in America” that would interfere with the doctor-patient relationship.” Hutchinson told reporters in Little Rock if the bill became law, it would set “new standards of legislative interference with physicians and parents as they deal with some of the most complex and sensitive matters involving young people.”
The legislation prohibits public funds from being granted to organizations or entities providing gender transition procedures to people younger than 18; bans state-owned facilities from providing transition-related care; and bars the state’s Medicaid program from reimbursing or providing coverage of gender-affirming care to minors. Hutchinson said the veto was partly meant to “cause conservative Republican legislators to think through the issue again, and hopefully come up with a more restrained approach that allows a study of the science and ethics surrounding the issue before acting.”
Justin Bieber surprised fans with the release of a new gospel-infused EP titled Freedom on Easter day. “Freedom on all platforms,” the singer said on Instagram. The EP is available at your streaming service of choice.
The project contains six tracks, including the title song, “All She Wrote” featuring Brandon Love & Chandler Moore, “We’re In This Together,” “Where You Go I Follow,” featuring Pink Sweats, Chandler Moore and Judah Smith, “Where Do I Fit In” featuring Tori Kelly, Chandler Moore and Judah Smith and “Afraid To Say” featuring Lauren Walters.
Freedom comes just days after Bieber recently released his sixth studio album, titled Justice. The singer also dropped a music video for album track “Peaches” featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon.
BTS have released the music video for their latest Japanese single ‘Film Out,” the theme song for the Japanese movie Signal, which premiered last week.
‘Film Out’ will be featured in the group’s upcoming Japanese compilation album, ‘BTS, The Best’, which was announced on March 25. The record comprises a total of 23 tracks, including the Grammy-nominated ‘Dynamite’, and is slated for release on June 16.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden delivered a message of hope on Easter Sunday, encouraging more Americans to get vaccinated. In a video posted to Biden’s Twitter account, the president said the White House echoes the sentiments of Pope Francis who described getting vaccinated as a ‘moral obligation’ and stressed the importance of widespread inoculations to resuming traditional Holy Week activities in the future.
Vice President Kamala Harris also issued a video statement declaring there is “always reason for hope” amid the Easter holiday. Harris added she and the first lady were looking forward to resuming the White House’s annual Easter Egg Roll in the future, as it was canceled for the second consecutive Easter this year due to the pandemic.
