Month: June 2021

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News Daypop

Death toll rises to 12 as search and rescue operation continues in Florida building collapse

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As of Tuesday evening, at least 12 people have been confirmed dead, with 149 others unaccounted for, after a 12-story residential building partially collapsed in South Florida’s Miami-Dade County last week. A massive search and rescue operation entered its sixth day on Tuesday, as crews continued to comb through the pile of debris in hopes of finding survivors. So far, 125 people who were living or staying in the condominium at the time of the disaster have been accounted for.

The partial collapse occurred at around 1:15 a.m. local time last Thursday at the Champlain Towers South condominium in the small, beachside town of Surfside, about 6 miles north of Miami Beach. Approximately 55 of the oceanfront complex’s 136 units were destroyed, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Raide Jadallah. Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said during a press conference in Surfside on Tuesday: “Nobody is giving up hope here. Nobody is stopping. We are dedicated to getting everyone out of that pile of rubble.”

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Surfside on Thursday, according to a statement from the White House. Last week, the president approved an emergency declaration in Florida and ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local response efforts in the wake of the partial building collapse.

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News Daypop

President Biden travels to promote his $1.2T infrastructure deal

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President Joe Biden traveled to Wisconsin on Tuesday to promote a bipartisan infrastructure proposal that would spend $1.2 trillion on various upgrades and repairs across the United States, including work on roads and bridges.  Biden told an audience in La Crosse that “America has always been propelled into the future by landmark national investments. This is a generational investment to modernize our infrastructure, creating millions of good-paying jobs, and position America to compete with the rest of the world in the 21st century.”

The investment includes $48.5 billion for public transportation, $109 billion for road and bridge projects, as well as funding to replace lead water pipes in the state and expand access to broadband Internet. The bipartisan proposal was reached last week among a group of centrist Democratic and Republican senators. The bipartisan agreement is effectively a compromise to Biden’s original infrastructure proposal, the American Jobs Plan, which was estimated to cost far more and had no Republican support.

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Sports Daypop

Seattle pitcher Hector Santiago suspended 10 games for foreign substance on glove

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Seattle Mariners pitcher Hector Santiago has been suspended 10 games and fined an undisclosed amount for a foreign substance found on his glove against the White Sox on Sunday. Santiago, who plans to appeal the ruling, will be allowed to play until the appeal process is complete.

The 33-year-old Santiago is the first player to be ejected for pitch doctoring since MLB began enforcing the new rules against foreign substances. The new rules included umpire checks on pitchers every few innings.  Umpire Phil Cuzzi found a sticky substance on Santiago’s glove when he was checked after being taken out in the fifth inning on Sunday. The glove was then put in a plastic bag by an MLB authenticator for testing.

Santiago has denied using any illegal substance, saying he was using rosin on his pitching hand, which is allowed. However, it’s only allowed on a pitcher’s throwing hand, not their glove. Santiago said on Sunday: “Once they take it back and check it, it’s just sweat and rosin. If they’re going to do all this science stuff, it’s going to be sweat and rosin. We’ll be all right.

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Sports Daypop

Wimbledon 2021: Serena Williams withdraws after injury, Roger Federer’s advances on Day 2

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Serena Williams sustained a knee injury during her first round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus at Wimbledon 2021 on Tuesday. Williams, a twenty-three time Grand Slam champion, slipped on the wet grass court at the All England Club in the first set of her match against Sasnovich. She attempted to play through the injury, but could not reach returns and broke into tears when she tried to serve. She later fell for a second time, waved to the crowd and walked off the court. Williams is a seven-time Wimbledon singles champion.

Women’s No. 1 Ash Barty advanced, beating Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-7, 6-1 in 1 hour, 44 minutes.“She is a hell of a competitor and a hell of a fighter,” Barty told reporters, when asked about Suarez Navarro. “It was a privilege to share the court with her today.”  Barty will face Russian Anna Blinkova or Hungarian Timea Babos in the second round.

Men’s No. 8 Roger Federer advanced, as well as No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, No. 6 Alexander Zverev of Germany and No. 12 Denis Shapovalov of Canada. Federer said he was “lucky” to advance out of the first round against opponent Adrian Mannarino of France. Federer and Mannarino were tied at two sets apiece when Mannarino retired in the fifth set due to what appeared to be a knee injury. “I wish him all the best and I hope he recovers quickly so we see him back on the court,” Federer said in his on-court interview. “He could have won the match at the end obviously. He was the better player. I definitely got a bit lucky.”  Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam champion, will face France’s Richard Gasquet in the second round.

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Country Daypop

Naomi Judd inducted into Songwriters Hall of Fame

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Country legend Naomi Judd has been honored after being inducted into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame. Naomi, a member of the hit making mother-daughter duo ‘The Judds,’ earned Grammy honors and a string of country hits through the ’80s and ’90s with her daughter, Wynonna Judd.  Naomi was also a co-writer behind the anthem, “Love Can Build a Bridge,” and went onto a successful acting career.

Said Naomi: “It’s always gratifying when someone acknowledges your best efforts. I love expressing my deepest feelings as I did in writing ‘Love Can Build a Bridge.’ Not only was I being celebrated at this auspicious event in Washington, D.C., I was among other accomplished songwriters. It was fun to reconnect with Valerie Simpson of Ashford & Simpson fame. We met years ago. A good time was had by all!”

Other women honored for their songwriting were Valerie Simpson, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Roberta Flack, Tawatha Agee, Klymaxx, Deniece Williams, Jeri Keever “Bunny” Hull and Veryl Howard. Along with Judd, they became the first artists to be enshrined in the new Hall, which is located inside the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

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Country Daypop

Riley Green to drop 7-song ‘Behind The Bar’ project this Friday

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Riley Green will drop a 7-song project titled, Behind The Bar, featuring a number of unreleased fan favorites like “I Let A Damn Good Woman Leave,” “That’s What I’ve Been Told,” “That’s My Dixie”, this Friday, July 2nd.

Said Riley: “I’ve always enjoyed writing songs and one of the biggest tools I’ve used over the years to shape my songwriting is playing those songs on the road for fans and gauging their reactions. I’m looking forward to releasing Behind The Bar and getting to play those songs on the road this summer.”

Riley will also celebrate the release of Behind the Bar with a live stream concert from Joe’s Bar in Chicago, which you can view via Riley’s YouTube channel.

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Entertainment Daypop

Disney Channel alum Kyle Massey charged with felony for immoral communication with a minor

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Disney Channel alum Kyle Massey, 29, is facing a felony charge for allegedly sending pornographic content to a 13-year-old girl in Dec. 2018 and Jan. 2019. The ‘That’s So Raven’ actor has been charged with one felony for allegedly sending explicit texts and videos to a 13-year-old girl, according to TMZ and Variety.  Massey was reportedly charged with one count of immoral communication with a minor on June 14 in King County, Washington. He failed to show up for his arraignment on June 28th.

The charge against Massey stems from a 2019 civil lawsuit, in which the underage victim sued the actor for $1.5 million for allegedly sending the pornographic content via Snapchat during the months of December 2018 and January 2019. The lawsuit also revealed that Massey and the 13-year-old met, alleging that she met Kyle over a decade ago at Universal City in California while with her mother. The young girl was interested in pursuing an acting career, according to the lawsuit, and Massey stayed in touch, reportedly offering to help the teen. In Nov. 2018, Kyle allegedly offered the teen a place to stay with him and his girlfriend while he planned to help her find an agent for her acting career.  Massey reportedly added the teen on Snapchat, and sent her “numerous sexually explicit text messages, images, and videos.”

Massey appeared on That’s So Raven from 2003 to 2007 and also starred in the spinoff Cory in the House from 2007 to 2008.

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Entertainment Daypop

Gal Gadot welcomes third daughter with husband Yaron Varsano

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Gal Gadot, 36, announced on Tuesday that she and husband Yaron Varsano, 46, have welcomed their third daughter together.  Gadot captioned an Instagram photo:  “My sweet family. Couldn’t be more grateful and happy (and tired). We are all so excited to welcome Daniella into our family. I’m sending all of you love and health. GG.”

Gadot and Varsano, a real estate developer, are also the parents of Alma, 9, and Maya, 4. In April, the Wonder Woman star announced that baby No. 3 was on the way, captioning a picture of her baby bump:  “Here we go again.” The couple celebrated 12 years of marriage in September 2020, and Gadot wrote via Instagram at the time: “To many more to come. I’m yours forever.”

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Categories
Rock Daypop

Movie on the life of Stone Temple Pilots’ vocalist Scott Weiland in development

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The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Paper Heart, a new movie based on the life of former Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland, is in development by Dark Pictures. Weiland died in 2015 at the age of 48.

The production company acquired the rights to base the film on the Weiland memoir Not Dead & Not for Sale, written by Weiland with David Ritz.  The movie is being written by Dark Pictures co-founder Jennifer Erwin, who identifies as a “diehard” Stone Temple Pilots fan. Erwin commented: “It’s an honor to have the trust to tell Scott’s story and the ability to portray the lesser known sides of him – the loving and tender man he was, the high school athlete he was, the melancholy soul he was and the legendary frontman that he will always be.”

Weiland formed the band Stone Temple Pilots with brothers Robert and Dean DeLeo. In 1993, the band’s debut album Core peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 followed by their biggest success a year later in 1994 when STP released the No. 1 album Purple, which included the hit songs “Big Empty,” “Vasoline” and “Interstate Love Song.”

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Categories
Rock Daypop

Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross revealed as producers of Halsey’s upcoming album

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Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross were just revealed as the producers for the next album from pop star Halsey.

Halsey announced her next album is called If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power; however, no release date has yet been announced.  She also shared a short teaser of the album earlier on her social media pages with the caption: “If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power The FOURTH album by Halsey Produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross”

Halsey has been dabbling in the rock genre recently, releasing “11 Minutes” with Yungblud and Travis Barker in 2019, “Forget Me Too” with Machine Gun Kelly in 2020, and several songs with Bring Me the Horizon. Her last release, Manic, reached number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 charts and included hit such as “Graveyard” and “Without Me.” The full-length album also featured BTS’ Suga and Alanis Morissette.

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