Lil Baby, Usher and Victoria Monét have brought home the gold from the 2024 ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards, which took place Thursday night in LA.
Lil Babyreceived the Songwriter of the Year Award for his work on It’s Only Me cuts “Forever,” “Freestyle” and “Heyy,” while Victoria’sASCAP Vanguard Award was given to her for “On My Mama” and the “innovative work that is helping to shape all of music,” a press release states.
Usher was awarded the ASCAP Voice of the Culture Award for his contributions to music and culture. He was also praised for his pen on “Glu” and “Good Good.”
Other winners of the night include SZA‘s “Snooze” as R&B/Hip-Hop and Rap Song of the Year, “ICU” by Coco Jones, “Just Wanna Rock” by Lil Uzi Vert, Summer Walker‘s “Karma” and 21 Savage for “Spin Bout U.”
(UVALDE, Texas.) — Two people have been indicted in connection with the investigation into the 2022 mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, ABC Austin affiliate KVUE reported Thursday.
Former Uvalde School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo has been indicted and booked into the Uvalde County jail, Sheriff Ruben Nolasco confirmed to ABC News.
Arredondo is facing 10 charges of child endangerment and being held on a $10,000 bond, an official briefed on the case told ABC News.
The second person indicted is former Uvalde School District police officer Adrian Gonzalez, the San Antonio Express-News and Uvalde Leader News. ABC News has not independently confirmed the second charging.
According to the sheriff, the second person has not surrendered to the jail and is not in custody.
Families of the victims have been notified, according to officials.
The charges were first reported by the San Antonio Express News.
ABC News has reached out to the district attorney for comment.
Nineteen students and two teachers were killed in the massacre at Robb Elementary on May 24, 2022, in the second-worst school shooting in American history.
The Justice Department released a scathing report earlier this year after it found “critical failures” before, during and after the shooting, and major departures from established active-shooter protocols.
Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell began her criminal investigation into the law enforcement failures shortly after the shooting and convened a grand jury to review evidence against hundreds of officers in January.
Mitchell initially said in May 2023 that she had been “optimistic” that the investigation would be completed by the one-year mark, but added that it was “not surprising” that it was still ongoing “given the magnitude of this investigation.”
Mitchell did not respond to messages seeking comment Thursday.
Anne Marie Espinoza, director of communications and marketing for Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, released a statement Thursday, saying, “As we have done and continue to do, we extend our sincerest sympathies to all who lost loved ones.”
“Our hearts go out to everyone affected by this challenging situation,” Espinoza said.
Ana Rodriquez, mother of Maite Rodriquez, who was killed in the shooting, confirmed that the DA’s office had alerted her of the filing.
“My heart breaks for Maite. My heart breaks for her siblings,” Rodriquez told ABC News, adding, “The fact that these two people are being held accountable doesn’t change anything for me, it doesn’t bring her back.”
Rodriguez said the indictments Thursday do not equate to “complete justice,” saying, “Not everyone who … needs to be held accountable is going to be held accountable.”
Javier Cazares, the father of Jackie Cazares, who was also killed in the shooting, confirmed that he, too, spoke with the DA’s office ahead of the filing.
“It’s something. We were hoping more, but they are going to finally bring someone to justice,” Cazares said, echoing Rodriguez’s concerns.
“We feel there should be more facing charges,” he added.
ABC News’ Ismael Estrada, Bonnie McLean and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
— Commonand Pete Rock have released “All Kind of Ideas” and its accompanying video. The track is the first new studio record Pete Rock has rapped on in five years. The video captures the two working during a studio session, with the process embodying “the nostalgic underground hip-hop scene of the 90s.”
“All Kind of Ideas” is the third cut off Common and Pete’s joint album, The Auditorium, Vol. 1, following “Wise Up” and “Dreamin.'” It’s due out July 12.
— If you’re wondering what label Gunna is on, he told Spotify’s RapCaviar the answer. “I’m still providing. We still pushing. No paperwork has been changed,” said the rapper, who was released from jail after entering an Alford plea in the YSL RICO case. “So it’s like, whatever’s been getting and how we’ve been pushing this s***, it’s still going.”
— Earl Sweatshirt, Yasiin Bey, Daniel Caesar and more are coming together for a special cause. They’re set to perform at the Troxy in London on July 4 for the Artists for Aid concert benefitting the people of Gaza and Sudan. Tickets are now available to purchase.
— XXXTentacion‘s father is the latest to sing Kendrick Lamar‘s praises. While many have praised K. Dot for his lyrical ability, Dwayne Onfroy simply shared a message thanking him for supporting his late son.
“Special big-up, shoutout goes to Kendrick Lamar…I just want to say, first off all, thank you for giving my son a platform when he was an unknown artist. On his first single.You gave him a shoutout when his album released. You stepped up to the plate for him when a lot of people just stood by and stood back,” he said, in part.
(WASHINGTON) — Progressive Democrats undeniably suffered their most significant defeat of the 2024 election cycle Tuesday when Rep. Jamaal Bowman lost his New York 16th Congressional District’s Democratic primary. What it means for the movement he belongs to, however, is less clear.
Bowman’s defeat at the hands of Westchester County Executive George Latimer laid bare the nasty divisions among Democrats over support for Israel. Pro-Israel outside groups dumped nearly $15 million — an unprecedented amount of cash — into the race, fueling an avalanche of ads that knocked Bowman and promoted Latimer’s own liberal bona fides on issues like abortion.
The strategy, led by groups allied with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and Democratic Majority for Israel, worked. They netted their most significant win yet in the party’s internal battles over Israel, and a new playbook was born for how to challenge other progressive lawmakers — including Rep. Cori Bush, who is facing a well-funded primary challenger in her St. Louis district this August.
However, operatives estimated that Bowman was particularly low-hanging fruit for his critics. He offered pro-Israel groups ammunition by denying that Hamas committed rape during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel (he later apologized), reports later surfaced that he had spread 9/11 conspiracy theories, and he drew controversy for pulling a fire alarm in the U.S. Capitol, vulnerabilities his compatriots lack.
“I think that this was a referendum on both his persona, his comportment, but also on his legislative record and his messaging,” said Jon Reinish, a New York Democratic strategist who worked with groups opposed to Bowman.
“I think that this is absolutely replicable,” Reinish said. “But you also can’t deny the fact that he was, in his own way, a unique case who inflicted a lot on himself here.”
Bowman, who first won his seat in 2020 by unseating a 16-term incumbent accused of losing touch with his district, entered office vowing a shakeup in Washington. Along the way, he ruffled feathers.
Bowman engaged in shouting matches in Capitol hallways. He voted against Democrats’ infrastructure bill, a cornerstone of President Joe Biden’s agenda. And last year, he pulled a fire alarm in a House office building in what he called an accident but what was believed by some to be an attempt at delaying a vote — an action that earned him a censure and misdemeanor charge.
Opposition to Bowman spiked when video went viral of him saying that stories of sexual violence that took place on Oct. 7 were false “propaganda,” which compiled on ceaseless criticisms of Israel and its military operations in the Gaza Strip. Resurfaced blog posts also revealed a past in trafficking 9/11 conspiracies.
All of that culminated in a 10-figure investment by outside groups opposed to Bowman and helped usher Latimer — a local politician with longstanding support — into the primary.
“[V]oters want members of Congress who are going to bring people together to get things done, not people who are divisive. And there is no question that Jamaal Bowman emerged as an extraordinarily divisive figure, not only on Israel issues, but on other issues as well,” said DMFI President Mark Mellman.
The push against Bowman is just the latest salvo in what is anticipated to be a concerted outside effort to defeat lawmakers who advocate for less support for Israel, with Bush widely anticipated to be the next target.
Like Bowman, Bush is a junior House member and staunch progressive. Where Bowman faced legal headwinds over the fire alarm, Bush is facing a Justice Department probe over her use of campaign funds. House Democratic leaders haven’t signaled that they’ll campaign with Bush, just like they didn’t with Bowman. And, like Latimer, primary opponent Wesley Bell Bell holds local office as the prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County.
Seemingly chomping at the bit, DMFI Wednesday touted the results of an internal poll showing Bush virtually tied with Bell.
“You put those two things together, and if you don’t take them as a warning sign, you’re not a very capable politician,” Mellman said, referencing Bowman’s loss and DMFI’s survey. “Cori Bush has the same kind of vituperative, anti-Israel rhetoric, the same kind of anti-Israel votes, the same kind of divisive approach to politics on this issue and on broader Democratic issues.”
Liberals, meanwhile, predicted Bowman’s loss will serve as proof of concept for groups looking to boot progressives.
“They want to make sure that progressives don’t continue to grow power, speak out on Gaza, challenge the party line with Biden, and they wanted to get a head on a stick, and they did. And so, I think the warning sign is there. Will this make them double down? I think so,” added Our Revolution Executive Director Joseph Geevarghese.
Still, it’s possible that Bowman was uniquely vulnerable.
Bowman’s district is significantly more fertile ground for attacks than Bush’s; it boasts a hefty Jewish population and is plurality white. Bush’s district is more urban and about 45% Black, according to Census data.
Bowman also had some presence as a former middle school principal, but Bush rose to local prominence as an activist who played a role in the Ferguson protests after 2014 after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown.
Moreover, Latimer could prove to be what New York Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf called a “uniquely good candidate.”
And, operatives agreed, Bowman’s initial rape denialism sets him apart from other lawmakers who are critical of Israel’s government and operations in Gaza.
“Much of what occurred to Bowman was political suicide,” said Sheinkopf. “The rape denialism invigorated the anti-Bowmans and set the stage for the value of the kind of expenditure that was done here.”
Mellman also conceded that without Bowman’s particular weaknesses, “it would have been a much closer campaign.”
Moving forward, progressives suggested that candidates can still talk about the war in Gaza, which has left tens of thousands dead, without alienating voters.
“I think she can talk about it. I think Jamaal’s rhetoric got rather intense and turned some people off in the last two months. Loaded terms, like ‘Zionist’ and ‘settler colonial,’ and the conspiracies, I think there’s better rhetoric you can use around the issue to get your point across without being so provocative,” said one New York progressive operative.
Already, pro-Israel outside groups don’t have a perfect record. Rep. Summer Lee, a Pittsburgh-based progressive, handily fended off a well-financed primary challenger in April, though AIPAC and DMFI largely stayed out of that race.
And while progressives took Bowman’s loss as a warning sign, it also could serve as a wakeup call.
“People suggest ‘this is a mortal blow to the anti-Israel progressives within the Democratic Party.’ That does not appear to be the case. People are underselling the Working Families Party, the Democratic Socialists of America and the Justice Democrats. They’re going to redouble their efforts and organize,” Sheinkopf said.
Justice Democrats, one of the nation’s leading progressive groups, is already gearing up for Bush’s race, pushing the Democratic establishment to join it. And other progressives are pushing her to take an aggressive stance against an anticipated flood of funding for Bell.
“Cori Bush’s race is up next,” said spokesperson Usamah Andrabi. “The Democratic Party should put all of its resources behind folks like Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush because they are going to be who leads them to a victory in November.”
“The most important thing for her to do in this moment is to inoculate, and that means to really speak to voters about what is going to come down the pike. ‘You’re going to get inundated with mail and TV advertising that says that I am not fighting for you. I am not fighting for this district, and it’s going to be lies.’ I think that’s the first thing I would take away. We’ve seen their playbook now unfold,” Geevarghese added.
Bush, for her part, appears ready for a fight.
“These same extremists are coming to St. Louis,” Bush said of anti-Bowman outside groups after Tuesday’s race. “We will continue to fight for the future St. Louis deserves and show that organized people beats organized money. Because St. Louis is not for sale.”
Megan Thee Stallion‘s album MEGAN comes out on Friday, but just ahead of its release, she was forced to make a change. Taking to Instagram Live Wednesday, she revealed she had to rerecord a song that referenced an anime series to avoid losing the entire sample. As she explains, the production company instructed her that the new version must not include characters’ names or other references to the series. She was also told she couldn’t cosplay as any of the characters for a music video.
“Y’all will never believe what the motherf*** just happened to me! I’m not talking bad because I’m very grateful. Y’all know how I told y’all I got an anime sample on my album? This has probably been the hardest song to try to have on my album — but like I said I’m not complaining ’cause I’m grateful,” Meg began.
“This is a very big production company so for them to even say yes — and I be cussing and s*** — like I said, I’m grateful. I’m not complaining,” she continued. “I really wanted this sample. I really wanted to do it, so I’m doing everything I got to do to keep it. But change the names? Change the names the day before the album out? That was nuts.”
Meg says fans will understand why the production company “was giving us a hard time” once they hear the track. She hopes they “think this s*** sound fire, ’cause I had to jump through 8 million hoops to get this s***.”
(ALTON PARK, Ill.) — A massive, 100-foot-wide sinkhole left a soccer field in southern Illinois partially collapsed, according to officials.
The sinkhole formed at approximately 9:15 a.m. Wednesday at Gordon Moore Park in Alton, Illinois, which lies over a limestone mine operated by New Frontier Materials, the company said in a statement to the Alton Telegraph.
There were no injuries as a result of the incident, officials said.
“No one was on the field at the time and no one was hurt, and that’s the most important thing,” Alton Mayor David Goins told the outlet.
Footage of the sinkhole forming shows a light pole, benches and the soccer field’s artificial turf being swallowed into the mine below.
The mine, which has a reported 40 to 50-foot thick ceiling, collapsed and resulted in the 100-foot-wide hole, officials told the outlet.
“The impacted area has been secured and will remain off limits for the foreseeable future while inspectors and experts examine the mine and conduct repairs,” New Frontier Materials’ spokesman Matt Barkett said in the statement.
“Safety is our top priority. We will work with the city to remediate this issue as quickly and safely as possible to ensure minimal impact on the community,” Barkett said.
Barkett said the mine collapse was reported, as required, to the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.
ABC News reached out to New Frontier Materials for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Michael Haynes, Recreation Department director for Alton Parks, told First Alert 4 the mines, which have been active in the area for decades, have never been an issue for the park above.
“The mines have been here and in this area for decades and decades,” Haynes told the outlet. “It’s never been brought up before so I’m told it’s an anomaly. We’ll wait until the investigation is complete,” he said.
