(NEW YORK) — As the United States’ uneven vaccine rollout continues, lines for vaccination have begun to form in places such as Tennessee, Florida and Puerto Rico.
In Chattanooga, Tennessee, dozens of cars queued up Thursday morning, the first day that those 75 and older were eligible to get vaccinated for COVID-19.
Just after 10 a.m., the county health department issued a notice on Twitter, asking those farther back in the line to leave and come back another time.
In Florida, after Gov. Ron DeSantis expanded vaccine eligibility to those 65 years and older using an executive order, hundreds of people in Lee County, which includes Fort Myers, brought coats, chairs, blankets and tents to wait in line overnight Tuesday and get the vaccine on Wednesday.
“Supply is limited,” DeSantis said Wednesday. “We don’t have enough vaccines for all 4 million plus senior citizens in Florida.”
Abdulla Benkhatar, who is 90 and was first in line at a local recreation center, told ABC News Fort Myers affiliate WZVN-TV that he began waiting at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
“We’ve been at home for almost 10 months now,” Benkhatar said. “It’s really important to me, for my health, and to be able to do things I like to do and get back to normal.”
In Puerto Rico, health care workers have consistently been lining up at the Pedrin Zorrilla Coliseum in San Juan trying to get vaccinated, according to the Miami Herald.
Some had returned multiple nights in a row to try and get a shot, while others had defied Puerto Rico’s 9 p.m. curfew to line up on a highway overnight.
(NEW YORK) — When Ghislaine Maxwell, the accused co-conspirator of deceased sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein, first appeared in court after her arrest in July, Annie Farmer spoke up to implore the judge to keep Maxwell behind bars until trial.
“She is a sexual predator who groomed and abused me and countless other children and young women,” Farmer told the court.
Five months later, when Maxwell returned to the court armed with a new $28.5 million proposed bail package and more than a dozen letters of support from family and friends, Farmer, 41, again stepped forward to oppose Maxwell’s pretrial release.
“I believe that she is a psychopath,” Farmer wrote in a Dec. 15 letter to U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan. “She has demonstrated a complete failure to accept responsibility in any way for her actions and demonstrated a complete lack of remorse for her central role in procuring girls for Epstein to abuse.”
Now, just days after Nathan again rejected Maxwell’s application for bail, Maxwell’s legal team is lashing out at Farmer, publicly questioning her motivations and credibility, according to new court filings in Farmer’s civil lawsuit against Maxwell and Epstein’s estate.
In what is likely a preview of a potential defense strategy for Maxwell’s upcoming criminal trial, her lawyers suggested that Farmer’s acceptance of a confidential settlement offer from a compensation program for Epstein’s victims is indicative of a financial motivation for Farmer to make “false assertions” against Maxwell about events that allegedly occurred in the mid-1990s.
“The fact that [Farmer] seeks money from the estate and from Ms. Maxwell, in the millions of dollars, at the same time she is a government witness in an upcoming criminal trial on the same topic is reason enough to suspect that her newly asserted memories of abuse — without corroboration — are not based on the truth or a desire for ‘justice’ so much as her desire for cash,” Laura Menninger, Maxwell’s lawyer, wrote in a letter to the court late Wednesday.
“The motive for fabrication could not be clearer,” the letter continued.
Farmer filed the civil lawsuit in November 2019, eight months before Maxwell’s arrest, alleging she was sexually trafficked at age 16 as part of “Epstein and Maxwell’s organized ring of procuring young women and girls for sex.” During a 1996 visit to Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico, Farmer claims Maxwell pressured her into receiving a massage and “touched intimate parts of [her] body against her will,” according to Farmer’s complaint.
Farmer placed her civil lawsuit on hold in June while she presented her claims to the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Program, a voluntary restitution fund that began operating earlier this year. In October, Farmer accepted an offer from the program, which requires her to drop all pending litigation against the estate and any former employees of Epstein before she can collect.
But Maxwell’s legal team has objected to the dismissal of the lawsuit, demanding that Farmer first be required to disclose the amount of her settlement. Maxwell’s letter to the court this week reiterates that demand, even though a judge told Maxwell’s lawyers earlier this month that she would not order that information disclosed to Maxwell.
“The amount of money [Farmer] obtains from the Epstein program is very much a matter of public interest and will go to the very core of plaintiff’s credibility during the upcoming criminal trial,” Menninger wrote in a letter to U.S. Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman.
Farmer, 41, has publicly identified herself as “Minor Victim 2” in Maxwell’s criminal case and is certain to be called as a witness should Maxwell’s case proceed to trial next summer. Maxwell is charged with facilitating and, in some cases, participating in Epstein’s alleged sexual crimes against three minor girls, including Farmer, between 1994 and 1997. Maxwell pleaded not guilty to all the charges, and she has denied the allegations in Farmer’s civil case. Epstein died in federal custody in August 2019 while awaiting trial on child sex-trafficking charges.
Sigrid McCawley, an attorney for Farmer, responded swiftly in a letter to the court on Thursday, slamming Maxwell’s letter as a “vicious, victim-blaming” attack on Farmer.
“Ms. Farmer will not respond to Maxwell’s meritless challenges to the merits of her case, to her credibility, or to her entirely appropriate participation in Maxwell’s prosecution,” McCawley wrote. “Ms. Farmer simply states that she stands by the allegations in her [lawsuit] and any statements she made in related proceedings, and she intends to testify truthfully if called in any future proceedings.”
McCawley’s letter also noted that Maxwell is not paying any portion of the proposed settlement offer from the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Program.
“Maxwell should be quite pleased that she is escaping civil liability in this case without having to pay a dime to Ms. Farmer,” McCawley wrote.
A similar dispute is currently playing out in a civil case brought against Maxwell by another likely witness in the criminal trial. That anonymous accuser, Jane Doe, accepted a settlement offer from the compensation fund earlier this month and has also moved to dismiss her case. Doe’s allegations are substantially similar to those of “Minor Victim-1” in the criminal case.
But Maxwell is demanding that Doe, too, disclose the amount of her settlement before she consents to the dismissal of the lawsuit. And Maxwell has also requested that the court order Doe to pay Maxwell’s legal fees and costs for defending herself in the lawsuit. Doe is seeking dismissal of her case, Maxwell’s lawyers contend, “for substantially the same reasons as [Farmer] … a desire to get her money faster,” Menninger wrote.
Doe’s attorney, Robert Glassman, told ABC News last week, “Maxwell is clearly trying to gain an unfair advantage over all these victims.”
“She is inexplicably asking the judge to make a child rape victim pay for her attorney’s fees and costs. It’s unconscionable and sad,” said Glassman, a trial lawyer at the California firm Panish, Shea & Boyle.
The judge in Doe’s case has given the parties in until Jan. 15 to try to reach an agreement to dismiss the case that is acceptable to both sides. Maxwell’s lawyers are seeking a similar schedule in Farmer’s case.
But Farmer’s attorneys are asking the court to step in now and put an end to the dispute and allow Farmer to receive her payment from the compensation fund.
“Ms. Farmer has been trying to dismiss this case since October 14, when she asked the defendants to stipulate to dismissal,” McCawley wrote Thursday. “And Maxwell has delayed for no legitimate reason without providing any deadline whatsoever for responding.”
Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic(NEW YORK) — As with every year, we find ourselves mourning the passing of familiar faces from film, TV and celebrity, whether their passing was expected or otherwise. Here’s a look back at some of the notable celebs we lost in 2020:
Kobe Bryant — NBA icon and Oscar-winner was killed in a January helicopter crash in Los Angeles. He was 41. Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, died alongside her father and seven other victims.
Kirk Douglas — The Hollywood legend and father of Michael Douglas, known for his roles in Spartacus, The Bad and the Beautiful and Lust for Life, died in February at the age of 103. He appeared in no fewer than 80 movies before retiring in 2004.
James Lipton — Longtime host of Inside the Actors Studio died in March from bladder cancer at the age of 93. Lipton, hosted, created, and produced the popular series on Bravo, also serving as dean, and then dean emeritus, of the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University in New York City.
Jerry Stiller — Fan favorite Seinfeld co-star, father of Ben Stiller, and veteran of stage and screen, died at 92 in May of this year from natural causes.
Fred Willard — Comedic actor and improv legend, known for his roles in Best in Show, This Is Spinal Tap and Modern Family, died in May at the age of 86. His final role, in the Netflix series Space Force, debuted two weeks after his passing.
Roy Horn — One half of the famed entertainment duo Siegfried and Roy died after suffering from complications from COVID-19 in May. He was 75.
Nick Cordero — Broadway star passed away in July at age 41 after a long and devastating battle against COVID-19. He had been hospitalized with the virus for nearly 100 days.
Naya Rivera — Actress, best known for playing fan-favorite character Santana Lopez on the hit TV musical comedy series Glee, died in July of this year at age 33. Her body was recovered from California’s Lake Piru, just north of Los Angeles, after Rivera went missing while boating on the lake days prior with her four-year-old son, who was unharmed.
Kelly Preston — Actress died in July at the age of 57 after a silent battle with breast cancer. Her husband of 28 years, John Travolta, confirmed the heartbreaking news.
Regis Philbin — The beloved talk show and game show host, who held the record for the most-ever hours on U.S. broadcast television, passed away in July at age 88.
Olivia de Havilland — Academy Award-winning actress, who was the last surviving star of Gone with the Wind, passed away in July at the age of 104.
Wilford Brimley — Actor, known for such films as Cocoon and The Natural, died in August at 85. He became famous for his commercial work touting Quaker Oats and diabetes testing. He embraced being known as the “diabeetus guy” after his pronunciation of the word sparked countless memes across the Internet.
Chadwick Boseman — Black Panther and Avengers star passed away from colon cancer at age 43 in August of this year. His final film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, is out on Netflix December 18.
Dame Diana Rigg — British actress, known for her powerful roles in Games of Thrones and classic 1960s TV series The Avengers, passed away peacefully in September at age 82.
Sean Connery — The Academy Award-winning actor famous for playing film’s first James Bond died peacefully in his sleep in Bahamas in October. He was 90.
Alex Trebek — The popular TV personality best-known for hosting the game show Jeopardy! for over 30 years, died in November at the age of 80 after being diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer in March 2019.
Riser House Entertainment/Columbia NashvilleMitchellTenpenny’s gearing up to start the new year in style: He’ll release a brand-new song, “Bucket List,” at midnight tonight.
The “Drunk Me” star has been teasing something new to come for several days. Earlier this week, he tweeted an image of himself posing on a beach, with the caption, “You can’t add more days to life but you can add more life to days.”
He also shared the song’s cover art, which features himself and a love interest sitting side by side on a mountaintop, admiring the view. Yet another snapshot associated with the song features Mitchell on horseback riding through desert scrub.
“Bucket List” comes on the heels of Neon Christmas, Mitchell’s festive, seven-track holiday EP. That project arrived in late October. Meanwhile, Mitchell’s current single, “Broken Up,” is climbing the charts.
Doug Inglish/ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.(LOS ANGELES) — The Ellen DeGeneres Show will be staying on hiatus for at least another week.
Variety reports the daytime talk show was supposed to resume production on new episodes next week, but will instead remain dark due to rising COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles.
“Due to the current surge, we have decided that we will not do any shows next week and instead work from home,” producers wrote in a memo to staff Thursday, adding that all staff and crew will be paid for the week and that a COVID-19 testing schedule would be worked out.
The show has been on break since December 10, when DeGeneres announced that she had contracted the coronavirus.
Last week, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health issued a memo asking TV and film producers to “strongly consider pausing work” amid the county’s “catastrophic surge in coronavirus cases.”
MarsBars/iStockBy ERIN SCHUMAKER, ABC News
