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Dolly Parton wraps 2020 with an emotional “rewind” video remembering the highlights of the year

• No Comments • Country Music News

ABC/Image Group LADolly Parton is bidding farewell to 2020 on a high note, with a new montage video remembering the singer’s favorite moments of the year.

From her creation of a viral social media challenge to her Christian music success early on in the year, to the release of her A Holly Dolly Christmas album and her Billboard Hitmaker award, the video looks at the highlights of Dolly’s 2020.

Of course, perhaps her biggest moment of the year was the success of the Moderna vaccine in the fight against COVID-19. Early in the year, Dolly donated $1 million to Moderna’s research and development efforts.

“Through all the darkness, I’ve tried my best to spread some light in 2020,” the singer wrote in a caption alongside her video. “Thank you for coming along for the ride. See you in 2021!”

Whatever Dolly’s got in store for next year, it’s sure to be big. First up, she’ll celebrate a milestone birthday, turning 75 years old on January 19. While the singer’s birthday plans aren’t set in stone, she has hinted that she’d like to mark the occasion by recreating her iconic 1978 Playboy photo shoot.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

NBA to require players and some staff to wear sensors for COVID-19 contact tracing

• No Comments • Sports News

cmannphoto/iStockBy CARMEN COX, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — The NBA has new plans for managing the spread of COVID-19 during this year’s basketball season.  

A league memo obtained by ESPN outlines plans for players and some staffers to wear contract tracing sensors during team-organized activities with exception to games. The NBA will require Tier 1 and Tier 2 personnel (players, coaches and other specific staffers) to wear the Kinexon SafeZone device during team travel and local transport and during practices. The device will not record GPS location and will only activate when within 6 feet of another person wearing the device.

The league, which conceived the new precautionary strategy along with the players’ union and medical officials, began testing the new contact tracing measures Dec. 23. Officials expect to implement the plan in full on Jan. 7.

The NBA memo also states that players and staff who do not comply with the league’s sensor-wearing requirement will be subject to discipline. The memo does not include specific details about disciplinary action.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ken Jennings apologizes for past insensitive tweets: "I screwed up, and I'm truly sorry"

• No Comments • Entertainment News

ABC/Ron Batzdorff(LOS ANGELES) — Ken Jennings is addressing some of his past tweets.

In a series of posts on Wednesday, the Jeopardy! champion, who will be the show’s first guest host following the death of Alex Trebek, apologized for pass comments he’s posted on the social media platform.

“Hey, I just wanted to own up to the fact that over the years on Twitter, I’ve definitely tweeted some unartful and insensitive things,” Jennings wrote. “Sometimes they worked as jokes in my head and I was dismayed to see how they read on screen.”

Jennings went on to explain why he hasn’t deleted some of his past tweets that were deemed offensive.

“In the past, I’d usually leave bad tweets up just so they could be dunked on. At least that way they could lead to smart replies and even advocacy. Deleting them felt like whitewashing a mistake,” he tweeted. “But I think that practice may have given the impression I stand by every failed joke I’ve ever posted here. Not at all!”

One of the tweets he shared reportedly included a joke about a disabled person. Jennings apologized for the since-deleted 2018 tweet, which reportedly read, “Nothing sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair.”

Other Jennings tweets that many have called into question include a since-deleted remark about Barron Trump, and a joke about fans who had seen the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens early, which many connected to several terminally ill fans who saw the film before its premiere date.

In his posts Wednesday, Jennings said he is “truly sorry.”

“Sometimes I said dumb things in a dumb way and I want to apologize to people who were (rightfully!) offended,” he tweeted. “It wasn’t my intention to hurt anyone, but that doesn’t matter: I screwed up.”

By Hayley FitzPatrick
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

George Clooney says his film about 2020 would include COVID, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and "a lot of hope"

• No Comments • Entertainment News

Courtesy of Netflix(LOS ANGELES) — George Clooney isn’t complaining about saying goodbye to 2020, butif he had the opportunity to direct a film on this tumultuous year, the Oscar winner says he’d make sure to add “all of the things that we’ve had to bear.”

“Starting with COVID obviously,” Clooney tells ABC Audio. “Certainly then George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and all those things that would have been the lead story for the year if it weren’t for COVID along the way.”

“And then an election, and the divisiveness of an election,” he continues. “I would make a film about the idea that these are all manmade issues that man can fix.”

This may be a big undertaking considering Time magazine has declared 2020 “the worst year ever.” Still, Clooney is up for the challenge, adding that the issues we face “we did it to ourselves and so we can fix these things ourselves.”

Those fixes are what Clooney says will allow his proposed film to have a happy ending.

“And that by the end of 2020 there would be light at the end of the tunnel, which I do see,” he says. “And I feel that we’re pointing in the right direction now. I see it.”

“There’s a lot of hope with a vaccine. There’s a lot of hope with January 20th,” Clooney explains, referring to the inauguration date of President-elect Joe Biden. “There’s a lot of hope with what we’re able to do [and] how we’re able to move forward — as man can fix some of the things that man has destroyed.”

“So that would be the film,” he adds. 

Until that film comes to fruition, Clooney’s latest project, The Midnight Sky, is available on Netflix.

By Candice Williams
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Jason Aldean and his “boo thang” are beach-bound for New Year’s Eve

• No Comments • Country Music News

ABC/Image Group LAThe weather’s chilly and gray in Nashville, so Jason Aldean and his wife, Brittany, are making a tropical getaway to ring in the new year.

The “Got What I Got” star posted a video to social media this week of himself and Brittany lounging on a beach. “Happy new year,” he tells his wife from behind the camera lens.

“Happy new year!” she replies with a chuckle, as Jason pans the camera across the beach, ocean waves breaking in the distance.

“Spending New Year’s on the beach this year with my boo thang,” Jason captioned his post.

The superstar couple’s two children, three-year-old Memphis and one-year-old Navy, aren’t in the shot, though they’re probably not far away. The Aldeans have made no secret of their love of family vacations over the past couple of years, posting plenty of snapshots of the whole gang relaxing and having fun together.  In fact, Jason used home video footage of his wife and kids to make his music video for “Got What I Got.”

When he returns home in 2021, Jason’s likely going to be gearing up for a busy year ahead. He shared back in October that he’s already planning his tenth studio album.



By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.