ABC/Image Group LAJust in time for Christmas, Dan + Shay have teamed up with the Safe Haven Family Shelter to give three Nashville-area families the gift of a lifetime.
The duo recently surprised three families experiencing homelessness with their own starter homes, fully furnished and even decorated for the holidays. When the families arrived to check out their new homes, the band mates were waiting inside to greet them in person, wish them happy holidays and even play a song or two.
“For us to be able to come here and sing some songs and help people get back on their feet, to get into a home, to get some amazing new furniture — it’s an incredible feeling for us,” the band mates explain in a video.
Dan + Shay also told People that the experience was a deeply meaningful one for both of them.
“I speak for both of us when I say it was life-changing,” explains Dan Smyers. “It put everything into perspective, and made us truly appreciate all the blessings in our life that we can sometimes take for granted.”
The pair is getting into the holiday spirit from a musical standpoint, too. They recently released two festive original songs, “Take Me Home for Christmas” and “Christmas Isn’t Christmas.”
narvikk/iStockBy ROSA SANCHEZ, EMILY SHAPIRO and IVAN PEREIRA, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 77.8 million people worldwide and killed over 1.7 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Here’s how the news is developing Wednesday. All times Eastern:
Dec 23, 8:55 am 803,000 Americans filed jobless claims last week
Another 803,000 workers lost their jobs and filed for unemployment insurance last week as the pandemic rages, the U.S. Department of Labor said Wednesday.
The latest figure is slightly less than last week’s figure, but still remains well above pre-pandemic levels.
The DOL also said Wednesday that some 20.3 million people were still receiving some form of unemployment benefits through all government programs as of the week ending Dec. 5. That figure was 1.7 million for the comparable week in 2019.
The latest economic data from the DOL also comes as the COVID-19 relief package, which includes extended unemployment benefits, faces a new hurdle as President Donald Trump has indicated he will not sign the bill yet.
The unemployment rate in the U.S. was 6.7% last month, according to the DOL’s most recent employment situation report. In February, prior to the pandemic, the unemployment rate was 3.5%.
Dec 23, 7:13 am Pfizer, BioNTech to supply US with 100M more vaccine doses
The U.S. government has ordered 100 million additional doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Business Wire announced Wednesday morning.
This brings the total doses of the vaccine for the country to 200 million.
“With these 100 million additional doses, the United States will be able to protect more individuals and hopefully end this devastating pandemic more quickly,” said Albert Bourla, the chairman and CEO of Pfizer. “We look forward to continuing our work with the U.S. government and healthcare providers around the country.”
All 200 million doses are expected to be delivered by July 31, 2021, allowing for 100 million people in the U.S. to be vaccinated.
“Securing more doses from Pfizer and BioNTech for delivery in the second quarter of 2021 further expands our supply of doses across the Operation Warp Speed portfolio,” said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. “This new federal purchase can give Americans even more confidence that we will have enough supply to vaccinate every American who wants it by June 2021.”
Dec 23, 6:46 am US sees second deadliest day with over 3,000 deaths
Tuesday became the second deadliest day on record since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., with 3,401 new deaths, according to new data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The deadliest day was last week, Dec. 16, when 3,656 new deaths from the virus were reported.
The U.S.’ seven-day average of daily deaths is now 2,654, according to The COVID Tracking Project.
December is set to surpass April as the deadliest month since the start of the pandemic.
Courtesy of Netflix(NEW YORK) — George Clooney is not one to shy away from challenges, but when it came to making his first Netflix film, The Midnight Sky, he admits he took on a lot.
“Look, this was a big, tall order because it was one of the more difficult acting jobs I’ve ever had,” Clooney tells ABC Audio. “And it’s certainly the most difficult directing job I’ve ever had.”
Clooney, who also serves as the film’s producer, says he picked the project, which is based on the novel Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton, because he felt it was “really interesting and timely.”
“I felt like it was a good time to talk about all of these kind of issues,” he says. “And I thought it was an entertaining, smart movie. So it seemed like if you’re going to do it, this is the right one to do it on.”
The film, also starring Felicity Jones and David Oyelowo, follows Clooney’s character of Augustine, a scientist in the Arctic who races to stop astronauts from returning home to a mysterious global catastrophe. Clooney says the film is really about his character “com[ing] to terms with his own regrets and his seeking redemption along the way.”
“And I think that that’s sort of what drives him the whole way,” he says. “So maybe that sort of blinds him to everything else.”
While Clooney admits it was a heavy lift to make a project set in both outer space and the Arctic, the Oscar-winner jokes that the real challenge was dealing with Clooney himself.
“Well, George Clooney is a pain in the [butt] to direct. I’m going to tell you right now,” he quips. “He doesn’t listen to the director.”
ABC/Craig Sjodin(LOS ANGELES) — The two-part season 16 finale of The Bachelorette concluded on Tuesday with Tayshia getting engaged to Zac.
But first, Tayshia had to figure out how to handle Ben’s surprise return and his bombshell announcement that he was in love with her. We got an indication of what her answer would be when, against her better judgement, the two shared a long, passionate kiss.
Sure enough, Ben surprised Ivan and Zac by showing up for what would be a shocking rose ceremony.
It began with Tayshia pulling Ivan away for a private conversation, where she revealed that while they meshed on so many levels, their religious differences posed a problem. That, coupled with Ben’s return, left Tayshia with no other choice than to send Ivan home.
Next, it was time for Ben and Zac to meet Tayshia’s parents.
Both suitors earned her parents’ approval, each convincing them that they were truly in love with Tayshia, and leaving the Bachelorette confident with the choices she’s made.
Unfortunately, the high Tayshia felt after the meetings, was short-lived, when she received a surprise visit from her dad, who felt that while he “liked Zac” and Ben “was a good guy,” he didn’t want to see a repeat of her past mistakes.
“You’ve learned from every step from since…your divorce,” he said, “and what I wanna make sure is that we can do whatever we can to not go down that path again.”
The conversation left her a little less certain about whether she was really ready to tie the knot.
One more date with Zac — the last before making the biggest of her life — restored her confidence a little bit, though she tried her best not to let the moment cloud her judgement.
Later, Tayshia opened up to Zac about her fear that his feelings for her might change if down the road she just wanted “to be like, a mom,” and he thought, “But you were once this one, ambitious, like, girl.”
“I understand the word commitment. I understand the word loyalty…I understand what these things mean,” he assured her, adding, “whether or not in five years you’re gonna be a stay-at-home mom or waitress…it doesn’t matter to me, as long as you’re happy, because that’s not the reason…I love you.”
That reassurance brought Tayshia the clarity needed, along with the realization that Zac was her true love. When she and Ben met for what was to have been their final date, Tayshia broke the news to him that, “I care about you so much, but I just feel like my heart is with somebody else.”
The only remaining question was whether Tayshia was ready to accept Zac’s proposal.
After a long buildup, Zac popped the question, to which Tayshia, wiping tears from her eyes answered, “Yes! Yes, yes, yes! I love you.”
The couple then rode off — or rather walked off — in the same toy cab Zac had brought to their hometown date. However, this time, it was adorned with a “just engaged” sign and tin cans dragging tin cans dangling from the rear as Zac and Tayshia hummed “New York, New York.”
The Bachelor season 25 kicks off January 4 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
ABC/Image Group LAJust in time for Christmas, Dan + Shay have teamed up with the Safe Haven Family Shelter to give three Nashville-area families the gift of a lifetime. 
