Month: October 2022

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Pop Daypop

‘American Idol’ runner-up Willie Spence dies in car crash at age 23

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The family of former “American Idol” runner-up Willie Spence confirmed that he died in a car crash in Marion County, Tenn.  Authorities reported that Spence was driving a 2019 Jeep Cherokee on Interstate 24 in Marion County, Tenn., when his vehicle left the road at about 4 p.m. Tuesday and collided with the back of a tractor trailer. Spence was pronounced dead at the scene from “multisystem trauma due to motor vehicle accident,” according to the Marion County Medical Examiner. The Tennessee Highway Patrol is investigating the accident.

The 23-year-old Spence was runner up to Chayce Beckham in Season 19 of the show. Beckham shared a tribute to Spence on Instagram: “It’s hard to find the words to say here, other than I loved Willie very much. He was a good sweet soul, and a warm beam of light in a cold and dark world that needed him so much.”

The “American Idol” Twitter page offered condolences on the loss of Spence: “We are devastated about the passing of our beloved American Idol family member, Willie Spence. He was a true talent who lit up every room he entered and will be deeply missed. We send our condolences to his loved ones.”  ‘American Idol’ host Ryan Seacrest also tweeted, “Everybody on and off set loved him. @Williespence you’ll be deeply missed.”

Editorial credit: George Sheldon / Shuttestock.com

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Niall Horan announced as new coach for Season 23 of ‘The Voice’

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NBC’s musical competition series ‘The Voice’ announced the new lineup of coaches for Season 23 next spring.  Chance the Rapper and Niall Horan have signed on as new coaches for the upcoming season, joining returning coaches Kelly Clarkson and Blake Shelton. Carson Daly will also return as host of the show.

Per NBC, ‘Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Niall Horan brings a plethora of experience and a massive fan following to the show swiftly taking the world by storm. A former member of One Direction, known as one of the bestselling boy bands of all time, he has toured the world and played to millions of fans in sold out stadiums worldwide, including Wembley Arena. Horan is a storyteller at heart. His two solo albums Heartbreak Weather and 2017’s Flicker, released on Capitol Records, were critically acclaimed. The latter debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the US and produced the hit singles “This Town” and “Slow Hands.” Horan’s emotive voice is rich and insightful as he effortlessly captures his real-life experiences and range of emotions. The result is a whirlwind of modern pop and nostalgic grooves. Fans are eagerly awaiting his next solo project.’ Niall said in a statement: “I’m excited to be joining this season of ‘The Voice’ as a coach. I’m looking forward to meeting and mentoring the new crop of talent while we battle it out with the other teams!”

The Voice also announced that after 23 seasons, Blake Shelton will bid farewell following Season 23. Shelton has been a mainstay since the show’s inception and has eight wins under his belt; he’s also coached 15 artists whose songs have hit No. 1 on the iTunes Top Songs chart. Shelton posted on Instagram saying in part: “I’ve been wrestling with this for a while and I’ve decided that it’s time for me to step away from The Voice after season 23 … This show has changed my life in every way for the better and it will always feel like home to me.”

Camila Cabello, John Legend, Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton are the current coaches for Season 22.

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Justice Department urges Supreme Court to reject former President Trump’s request over seized Mar-a-Lago documents

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On Tuesday, the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to reject former President Donald Trump’s request to allow the special master reviewing documents seized from Mar-a-Lago access to those marked as classified. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said in court papers that Trump would suffer “no harm at all” if the documents are temporarily withheld from the special master.

Whatever the court decides will not affect the Justice Department’s access to the same documents in its criminal investigation. The more than 100 classified documents are just a small portion of the 11,000 records seized by federal agents amid concerns that Trump had unlawfully retained official White House records after leaving office. The Supreme Court is reviewing a Sept. 21 decision by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that barred the special master, Judge Raymond Dearie, from reviewing the documents. Under federal law, official White House records are federal property and must be handed over to the National Archives when the president leaves office. Trump says he did nothing improper and wants Dearie to determine the status of the documents, including those marked as classified. A decision by the Supreme Court is due at any time.

Trump’s lawyers had said the appeal’s court’s decision to block access to the special master “impairs substantially the ongoing, time-sensitive work of the special master …any limit on the comprehensive and transparent review of materials seized in the extraordinary raid of a president’s home erodes public confidence in our system of justice.”

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Prosecutors drop all charges against ‘Serial’ podcast subject Adnan Syed

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On Tuesday, the Baltimore City State Attorney’s Office announced they have dropped all charges against ‘Serial’ podcast subject Adnan Syed for the 1999 murder of his former girlfriend. The move comes weeks after Syed’s conviction was overturned on September 19th, and he was released without bail and placed on home detention with GPS monitoring while prosecutors were given 30 days to decide whether to move for a new trial or drop the case.

Syed was sentenced to life in prison in 2000 for the murder Hae Min Lee; his case gained national attention more than a decade later in 2014 as the subject of the podcast “Serial.” Erica Suter, Syed’s attorney and director of the Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Baltimore Law School, said: “Finally Syed is able to live as a free man.”  

The Maryland Office of the Public Defender said in a statement that the decision to drop the charges was made after DNA testing “excluded Mr. Syed from the DNA recovered at the scene…the DNA results confirm what we have already known and what underlies all of the current proceedings: that Adnan is innocent and lost 23 years of his life serving time for a crime he did not commit.”

Syed, just 17 years old at the time of his arrest, has maintained his innocence in the killing of the 18-year-old Lee, his classmate and ex-girlfriend, who was strangled to death and found buried in a park in Baltimore County in 1999.  However after a yearlong investigation into the case, prosecutors said they had produced evidence suggesting the involvement of two alternative suspects.   One of the suspects threatened Lee, saying “he would make her disappear” and “would kill her.” and one of the suspects was described as a serial rapist convicted in a series of sexual assaults after Syed’s trial. Police also discovered Lee’s car near one of the suspect’s residences.

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MÅNESKIN release new single ‘The Loneliest’ ahead of the launch of their U.S. tour

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MÅNESKIN have released the rock power ballad with “The Loneliest,” which you can listen to here.

Said MÅNESKIN vocalist Damiano David: “This song means a lot to me. It’s a personal song but I hope you can all relate to it in your own way. We’re having a whirlwind year touring the globe, meeting fans at gigs and festivals all over the world, from Japan to America to Europe and beyond, and we can’t wait to continue touring and releasing more music into 2023!”

The Italian rockers are about to launch a major North American tour on Oct. 31 in Seattle, and wrapping up on Dec. 16 in Las Vegas. MÅNESKIN will then take a break from touring before heading back on the road in Europe starting Feb. 23 in Pesaro, Italy.

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Blink-182 reuniting with Tom DeLonge for new album and world tour

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Tom DeLonge will rejoin Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus as Blink-182 for the first time since 2015 for a new international tour. Serving as support on the international tour will be Turnstile in North America, Rise Against in Australia, The Story So Far in United Kingdom & Europe and Wallows in Latin America.

DeLonge and Hoppus founded Blink-182 in 1992, and Barker joined as drummer in 1998. The band went on hiatus in 2005 but reunited for a reunion tour and new music in 2009. DeLonge officially left the band in 2015. In 2021, Hoppus revealed he had been diagnosed with cancer, and he, Barker and DeLonge had been meeting after his diagnosis, leading many fans to speculate about a reunion. Hoppus is now cancer-free.

The tour announcement includes multiple festival appearances in Latin America and the US, such as Lollapalooza alongside co-headliners Billie Eilish & Drake, and the 2023 edition of We Were Young with Green Day and more.

The band is also dropping a new song on Friday, titled “Edging,” which marks the first time the trio has released new music together in a decade.

Tickets for Blink-182’s tour go on sale at 10 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 17 at blink182.com or via Ticketmaster.

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Los Angeles City Council president resigns from post after racist remarks are leaked

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On Monday, President of the Los Angeles City Council, Nury Martinez, resigned from her post after audio of her making repeated racist marks was leaked. In a statement, Martinez announced that she would resign effective immediately, and apologized for her off-color remarks. The leaked audio surfaced ahead of the Nov. 8 election in which several council seats are up for grabs; it was not immediately clear who recorded it.

First posted to Reddit, the audio containing Martinez’s remarks was obtained and published by the nonprofit community news platform Knock LA and the Los Angeles Times. The conversations also included council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon, as well as the president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, Ron Herrera.

Martinez can be heard saying in one of the recordings, regarding Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón: “[Expletive] that guy, he’s with the Blacks,” and in another recording, Martinez appeared to say that the adopted Black son of fellow City Council member Mike Bonin, who is white, “looks like a little monkey” in Spanish.  Bonin and his husband, Sean Arian, said in a statement: “We are appalled, angry and absolutely disgusted that Nury Martinez attacked our son with horrific racist slurs, and talked about her desire to physically harm him. It’s vile, abhorrent, and utterly disgraceful.  No child should ever be subjected to such racist, mean and dehumanizing comments, especially from a public official. It is painful to know he will someday read these comments.”

Martinez served as the president of the City Council since late 2019 and is the first Latina woman to hold the position. However despite her resignation, Martinez is expected to remain on the 15-member City Council, and in her resignation statement she did not mention leaving her seat as a council member.

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Third largest freight rail union rejects tentative agreement to avert a nationwide rail strike

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The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division — the country’s third largest freight rail union — has voted down a tentative agreement brokered by the Biden administration to avert a nationwide rail strike.  The union is the first labor group to reject the offer; according to a statement released Monday, 56% of its almost 12,000 workers turned down the agreement over a lack of time off.

Union President Tony Cardwell in a statement:  “Railroaders are discouraged and upset with working conditions and compensation and hold their employer in low regardRailroaders do not feel valued. They resent the fact that management holds no regard for their quality of life, illustrated by their stubborn reluctance to provide a higher quantity of paid time off, especially for sickness.”

Since four other unions have already approved the deal, so the rejection of the agreement does not signal a strike. However, seven more are scheduled to vote through the middle of November, and if one union were to strike, others could refuse to cross the picket line.

Last month, the Biden administration brokered the tentative deal which gives union members an average 24% pay increase over five years, improved working conditions and caps on what they have to pay for healthcare. The administration worked until the final hour to avert a rail strike that threatened to sever the supply chain, by cutting 40% of long-haul U.S. cargo, and cripple the economy.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/large-rail-union-rejects-deal-renewing-strike-possibility-91298002

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Watch the trailer for Selena Gomez’s Apple TV+ documentary ‘My Mind and Me’

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Selena Gomez acknowledged World Mental Health Day on Monday, Oct. 10 by sharing on Instagram a trailer for her upcoming Apple TV+ documentary “Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me,” set to be released Nov. 4.  In the Instagram caption, Gomez writes:  “Every breath, a breakthrough. In honor of #WorldMentalHealthDay I wanted to share the trailer for my documentary ‘Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me.’  November 4 on @AppleTVPlus”

Gomez puts her mental health front and center in the documentary, and according to a press release, “Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me” follows the actor and singer’s “six-year journey into a new light.”  Gomez is heard narrating the trailer’s opening moments, saying, “Just be who you are, Selena. No one cares about what you’re doing. It’s about who I am, being okay with where I am. I am grateful to be alive.”

Take a look at the trailer for ‘My Mind and Me’ – here.

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Imagine Dragons release music video for ‘I Don’t Like Myself’ on National Mental Health Day

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On World Mental Health Day on Monday, October 9, Imagine Dragons released the music video for “I Don’t Like Myself” from their album Mercury – Acts 1 & 2. Alongside the music video release, Imagine Dragons partnered with Crisis Text Line, encouraging fans to support the organization and their work through fundraisers available across the band’s social media platforms.

Crisis Text Line is a not-for-profit organization providing free, high-quality text-based mental health support and crisis intervention throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, in English and Spanish. The organization’s services are available 24 hours a day, every day. Those seeking support can text MUSIC to 741741 to reach a live, trained volunteer Crisis Counselor.

Said Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds: “I wrote this song at a very low point for me. I struggled quite a bit with self-love over the years. I was in a deep rut of depression and turned to music for refuge. I’ve since spent many years in therapy working on self-love. I believe therapy is the reason I am still alive today. If it’s ever a question of whether or not you should go to therapy. The answer is always yes. Stay alive.”

Watch the music video for ‘I Don’t Like Myself’ – here.

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