Categories
News Daypop

President Biden requests $33 billion in additional emergency aid from Congress for Ukraine

In a speech on Thursday, President Joe Biden called on Congress to immediately pass a measure for $33 billion in additional emergency support to Ukraine to defend against Russian forces. The United States have already given billions to the Ukraine war effort.

In his remarks Thursday, the president stressed the importance of U.S. aid in repelling Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.  Biden said: “We need this bill to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom. We either back the Ukrainian people as they defend their country, or we stand by as Russians continue their aggression and atrocities in Ukraine. We’re helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression. As long as the assaults continue, we will continue to provide assistance.”

The White House said in a statement earlier Thursday: “President Biden will send a proposal for a comprehensive legislative package that will enhance the United States government’s authority to hold the Russian government and Russian oligarchs accountable for President Putin’s war.”

The U.S. has already provided Ukraine with more than $3 billion since Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24. The new efforts announced Thursday include greater ability to seize Russian assets, transfer some of those assets to Ukraine, tightening sanctions and expanding prosecution powers.

Editorial credit: BiksuTong / Shutterstock.com

Categories
News Daypop

Oklahoma House approves anti-abortion bill, banning abortions after 6 weeks

On Thursday, the Oklahoma House passed a bill banning abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy, sending it to Governor Kevin Stitt for his signature to become law. The S.B. 1503 bill (detailed in full here) is modeled after Texas’ six-week abortion ban law.

The bill states in part that the law is to be “enforced exclusively through a private civil action” empowering “any person” to bring civil action against doctors who perform abortions in violation of this bill. It also allows any person to sue someone who “aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion” if it is performed in violation of the bill. That includes anyone who pays for an abortion or reimburses the costs of an abortion.

Stitt signed into law another anti-abortion bill April 12, making it a felony for medical providers to perform nearly all abortions in the state. Medical workers could go to prison for up to 10 years and be fined up to $100,000 for performing abortions unless they are done to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency.

Editorial credit: Vic Hinterlang / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Country Daypop

Tim McGraw and Sam Hunt to headline inaugural GoldenSky Festival in Sacramento, CA

Tim McGraw and Sam Hunt will headline the inaugural GoldenSky Music Festival at Discovery Park in Sacramento, CA. The first-time event will take place during the weekend of October 15-16.

Among the many country artists scheduled to perform at GoldenSky are Brothers Osborne, Midland, Carly Pearce, Parmalee, Michael Ray, Diamond Rio, Brian Kelley, Lindsay Ell, and BRELAND. There will also be a daily beer festival, free to ticket holders who buy passes before May 6, with over 100 local, regional and national craft beers, seltzers, and ciders. From that date onwards, admission to the beer festival can be added to an overall ticket for an extra $10. Day tickets begin at $59.99 plus fees, and full weekend general admission tickets at $89.99 plus fees, with VIP options also available.

For more information head to goldenskyfestival.com.

Editorial credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Country Daypop

Brandi Carlile pulls out of Stagecoach Festival after testing positive for COVID-19

Brandi Carlile has tested positive for COVID-19, and as a result will miss her performance at Stagecoach Festival this weekend.

The 40-year-old Carlile said in a video on Instagram that she tested positive for the virus, sharing: “It finally happened. I have the COVID, so I won’t be able to come to Stagecoach. It’s horrible.  I’m a few days in and I have a chest infection, but I think I turned a corner today and I’m starting to feel a little bit better. I just wanted to let everybody know that I’m devastated to be missing you and I hope that you have a wonderful time out there with all my friends.”

Carlile was scheduled to perform on Friday at Stagecoach Festival in Indio, Calif.  The lineup still includes Thomas Rhett, Maren Morris, Midland, Tanya Tucker and others.

Carlile will launch her Beyond These Silent Days tour in support of her seventh studio album, In These Silent Days on June 11 in George, Wash.

Editorial credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Entertainment Daypop

Lady Gaga announces new song from upcoming film ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ titled ‘Hold My Hand’

Lady Gaga has announced the new song from the upcoming Tom Cruise film Top Gun: Maverick titled ‘Hold My Hand.’ The song is written by Gaga and will be featured in the film, opening May 27. It will also be released on May 3 (you can pre-save the track – here).  Earlier this week, the singer teased lyrics from the song, writing, “Hold my hand everything will be ok I heard from the heavens that clouds have been grey.”  The following day she shared, “Pull me close wrap me in your aching arms I see that you’re hurtin’”

Tom Cruise returns as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in  Top Gun: Maverick.  According to a synopsis of the film, Maverick is ‘a courageous test pilot who dodges the advancement in rank that would ground him. He finds himself training a detachment of TOPGUN graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose.’

Gaga’s ballad comes after Cruise was first spotted at her Las Vegas show, Enigma in December 2019. “Hold My Hand” was written for the motion picture and is featured throughout the film.

Editorial credit: Andrea Raffin / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Entertainment Daypop

Bad Bunny to star in Spider-Man standalone film ‘El Muerto’

Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — better known by his stage name Bad Bunny — has been cast as the newest Marvel hero, and will lead the Spider-Man standalone comic book film “El Muerto.” Ocasio will be the first Latino actor to headline a live-action Marvel film.

Sony Motion Picture Group president Sanford Panitch made the announcement at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.  Known as Juan-Carlos Estrada Sanchez in the comics, El Muerto is a wrestler whose powers are handed down by ancestry in the form of a mask (which, according to Marvel’s official site, gives him superhuman strength). In past comics, El Muerto has gotten in the ring with Spider-Man himself.  At CinemaCon, Sony suggested Ocasio will portray ‘an antihero on the verge of inheriting his father’s power.’

Bad Bunny is a noted professional wrestling fan who competed at WWE’s WrestleMania 37 in April and at the 2022 Royal Rumble in January. Bad Bunny told the crowd at CinemaCon about his love of wrestling, adding, “to bring El Muerto to life is just incredible…so exciting.”   Bad Bunny’s acting experience includes a previous role in ‘Narcos: Mexico’, and he will next be seen in Bullet Train, which comes to theaters on July 29.

“El Muerto” is set to hit theaters on Jan. 12, 2024.

Editorial credit: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com

Categories
News Daypop

Miami judge vacates life sentence of man wrongfully convicted of murder in 1991

On Wednesday, a judge in Miami vacated the life sentence of Thomas “Jay” Raynard James, a 55-year-old Black man who prosecutors said was wrongfully convicted because of mistaken identity in 1991.  As he left a Miami courtroom with his attorneys and family members, James said: “I feel good. Real good.”

Still wearing his red prison uniform and shackles, James stood behind his mother, Doris Strong, earlier in the day as Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle detailed a 90-page motion her office filed asking for the conviction to be vacated. James, who was 23 when he was convicted, was expected to be released after paperwork was completed Wednesday.

Fernandez Rundle said that over the past year members of her office’s ‘Justice Project’ reviewed over 20,000 pages of documents, reinterviewed witnesses, resubmitted fingerprints and retested DNA samples. She said the case has gone through numerous appeals, post-conviction reviews, and reviews by a private investigator and the Innocence Project of Florida Inc. In a 90-page motion to vacate the conviction, prosecutors said “what appears to be a chance coincidence that the defendant, Thomas Raynard James, had the same name as a suspect named by witnesses and anonymous tipsters … led to the defendant’s photograph being included in a lineup, and set in motion a mistaken identity.”

At the trial, eyewitness Dorothy Walton told jurors that she was sure that James pulled the trigger. However beginning last fall, Walton said she had some concerns about her testimony.  She initially refused to meet with prosecutors, but earlier this month made contact and said she now believes she made a mistake in identifying James as the gunman.  Over the years there have been conflicting stories about detectives confusing James with another man who shared his name, but that man had been arrested and was in jail at the time of the shooting.

Editorial credit: Fane inc / Shutterstock.com

Categories
News Daypop

3 dead in Mississippi hotel shooting; alleged gunman dead after 2-hour standoff

The alleged suspect in a shooting that killed three people at a hotel in Biloxi on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast was found dead in the nearby city of Gulfport hours later, after a standoff with police. Gulfport Police Department’s incoming chief Adam Cooper said that the man holed up at a Gulfport store after fleeing from a vehicle that had been carjacked.

Cooper said police fired teargas about 20 to 30 minutes after arriving at the scene and trying to negotiate with the man. After getting no response, police entered the store to find the man dead.  Police say the carjacking victim in Gulfport was injured but he did not know whether that driver was hit by gunfire that was reported at the scene.

Gulfport and Biloxi police were working to confirm whether the dead man is connected to the triple homicide Wednesday morning at the Biloxi Broadway Inn. Biloxi Police Department Capt. Milton Houseman confirmed that three people were killed but had no details on their identity.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/dead-mississippi-hotel-shooting-police-standoff-84349819

Editorial credit: SevenMaps / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Country Daypop

Jimmie Allen reveals the lineup for the second annual Bettie James Festival

Jimmie Allen has revealed the lineup for the second annual Bettie James Fest, taking place on Saturday, August 13th at Hudson Fields in Allen’s hometown of Milton, DE.  This year’s performers include We The Kings, Lainey Wilson, Neon Union, Chayce Beckham, JJ Rupp and Kounty. Two additional opening acts will be selected through a social media contest later this year, with details to come on Allen’s social media platforms.

Allen will once again serve as headliner for the festival, which he established in 2021 in honor of his late grandmother Bettie Snead and late father James Allen.  Said Allen: “Bettie James Fest part two! Bettie James Fest is a music festival that I put on in my hometown of Milton, DE, in honor of my grandma Bettie and father James. It’s a multi-genre day of music, celebrating life and different types of music. It’s super fun, and it’s a way for me to come back and dive back into my hometown and bring music here. It’s the one show that I look forward to most every year. To be able to come back to the place that raised me, after having a little bit of success, just means so much ‘cause these are the people that made me who I am. This is the town that made me who I am. And it’s great because we also get to have Delaware artists come down and be part of the festival as well. Bettie James Fest… Part 2… Going down August 13, 2022 – Hudson Fields in Milton, De… I’ll see y’all there!”

Tickets go on sale Friday, April 29th.

Editorial credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Country Daypop

Chris Janson, Ingrid Andress, Cole Swindell and more to perform during Ascend Amphitheater Nighttime Concerts at CMA Fest

The Country Music Association has revealed the lineup for the CMA Fest Nighttime Concerts at Ascend Amphitheater, taking place on Friday, June 10 and Saturday, June 11.

On Friday, Chris Janson will headline and will be joined by Boy Named Banjo, LANCO, Peytan Porter and Mitchell Tenpenny.  Cole Swindell will headline Saturday’s show, which will also feature performances by Ingrid Andress, Tyler Braden, Shy Carter and Randall King. Carter will also serve as the host of the evening.

Tickets are required for entry into the Nighttime Concerts at Ascend Amphitheater. Public on-sale begins Friday, April 29 at 10:00 AM/CT.  Tickets can be purchased at CMAfest.com or Ticketmaster.com.  For $53 per night, fans can purchase standing room and pit access, or fans who prefer a reserved seat, single day seats are available as well for $39 per night. Lawn seats are also available for $24 per night.

Chris Janson and Cole Swindell To Headline CMA Fest Nighttime Concerts at Ascend Amphitheater

Editorial credit: Sterling Munksgard / Shutterstock.com