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Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert and more stars help St. Jude launch We Won’t Stop campaign

• No Comments • Country Music News

John ShearerIn a year that presents unique challenges for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s fight against childhood cancer, country stars are coming together for the new We Won’t Stop movement.

Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert, Darius Rucker, Kelsea Ballerini, Florida Georgia Line and many more are among the stars who’ve signed up to support the cause, modeling their new “We Won’t Stop” shirts on social media.

The movement launched Thursday in order to encourage fans to donate to St. Jude’s lifesaving mission. Thanks to those donors, families fighting pediatric cancer will never receive a bill from the Memphis-based hospital for treatment, travel, housing or food.

Effective beginning with the new campaign’s launch on Thursday, anyone who registers as a monthly St. Jude donor will receive their own We Won’t Stop shirt. You can continue to be a part of the movement by sharing a snapshot of your new shirt on social media, along with the hashtag #StJudeWontStop.

For more information, or to make a donation and become one of St. Jude’s Partners in Hope, visit the campaign’s website.

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

Florida Georgia Line tease a “big announcement” for the end of this week

• No Comments • Country Music News

John ShearerThe band mates of Florida Georgia Line have got something up their sleeves.

This week, the duo took to social media to tease something new, posting a montage video of the cover art of all four of their albums. “Big announcement coming tomorrow morning…” they wrote in the caption, alongside the hashtag “#FGL5.”

FGL will share their big news on Friday morning. Until then, fans are speculating in the comments section of the band’s post what that announcement might be. Many wondered if the duo are gearing up to announce their fifth studio album.

That’s an especially compelling possibility since their newest single, “Long Live,” is playing in the background of their social media teaser video. That’s the first release to come off FGL’s as-yet-unannounced next project.

FGL band mates Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley have also said that they’re at work on their next musical chapter. Last month, they brushed off rumors of a breakup after Tyler briefly unfollowed Brian on social media during the height of an especially fraught presidential election season.

Though the pair might not always see eye to eye in terms of politics, they assured fans that their musical partnership was stronger than ever. In fact, last month, the duo signed a multi-year touring deal in North America with Live Nation.

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

East Coast meteor lights up sky from New York to Ontario

• No Comments • National News

FILE photo – April Wong/iStockBy JULIA JACOBO, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — Pieces of a meteor were seen falling from the sky across the East Coast of the United States and Canada in the middle of the day.

Residents in upstate New York began seeing flashes of light around noon Wednesday, and by the evening, the American Meteor Society(AMS) had received more than 150 reports in seven states. The event was mainly seen in New York and Ontario, but the organization also received reports of sightings in Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Dozens of people in New York contacted local authorities and media Wednesday afternoon after hearing a “loud boom,” according to the AMS.

The sound occurs when a very bright fireball penetrates the stratosphere below an altitude of around 30 miles and explodes as a bolide — an extremely bright meteor.

While traveling westward at a speed of about 56,000 miles per hour, the meteor broke into pieces at an altitude of approximately 22 miles, which then produced the bright lights seen throughout the East Coast.

The fireball’s physical flight ended somewhere over Cayuga Lake in New York, the ground track of the event, which was computed by NASA, shows.

EarthCam tweeted a video of the meteor flashing through the Toronto skyline Wednesday afternoon, captured by a camera that faces the CN Tower.

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Several thousand fireballs occur in the Earth’s atmosphere each day, but the majority of them occur over oceans and uninhabited regions, and many are masked by daylight, according to the AMS. In addition, fireballs that occur at night are often missed because no one is out to see them. The brighter the meteor, the rarer the event.

But multiple meteor sightings have occurred in the past month.

On Monday, a bright meteor was seen throughout Japan as it fell through the sky. Small fragments of the meteor may have reached the ground, experts said.

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NASA also confirmed that a streak of blue light seen across central Texas near Killeen in mid-November was a meteor.

“A giant ball like a meteorite changed the rainbow spectrum of colors until it turned into a beautiful turquoise,” Texas resident Mary Ann Miron told ABC’s Houston station KTRK, describing the light as “huge” and colorful.

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Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Obi-Wan's lightsaber, Neo's 'Matrix' costume sell for a mint at auction

• No Comments • Entertainment News

Prop Store(LONDON) — Hundreds of pieces of Hollywood memorabilia were up for grabs in London earlier this week, and some fetched a fortune.

As part of Prop Store’s Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction, one of Ewan McGregor’s lightsabers from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith commanded just over $201,000, as did a remote controllable droid seen in Solo: A Star Wars Story. 

Other items that fetched a pretty penny included a Keanu Reeves Neo costume from The Matrix Reloaded, which sold for more than $83,000, and a Japanese-style sword wielded by the late Sean Connery in Highlander, which fetched $67,000. 

More than 900 pieces hit the block over more than 20 hours of bidding, including props from Top Gun, Alien, Tim Burton’s Batman, Fight Club, and Saving Private Ryan, as well as scripts, photos, and other treasures.

Here are some of the notable sales and what they went for, including auction fees:

Obi-Wan Kenobi’s (Ewan McGregor) Hero Lightsaber — Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith – $201,000

Light-Up Remote-control R2-S8 Droid — Solo: A Star Wars Story – $201,000

Hero Dagger of Megiddo — The Omen – $92,125

H.R. Giger-designed Special Effects Mechanical Alien Head — Alien – $83,750

Neo (Keanu Reeves) costume — The Matrix Reloaded – $83,750

Pete “Maverick” Mitchell’s (Tom Cruise) Bomber Jacket — Top Gun – $67,000

Ramirez’s (Sean Connery) Katana — Highlander – $67,000

Tyler Durden’s (Brad Pitt) Photo-Matched Red Leather Jacket — Fight Club – $54,437

Joker’s (Jack Nicholson) Fedora — Batman – $50,250

Marty McFly’s (Michael J. Fox) 2015 Jacket — Back to the Future Part II – $31,825

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Luke Combs, Gabby Barrett, Maren Morris + more shine on 'Billboard'’s year-end charts

• No Comments • Country Music News

ABCBillboard released its year-end charts this week, and it’ll come as no surprise to many country fans that Luke Combs reigns as the Top Country Artist of the year overall.

That’s a repeat title for the “Better After All” star, who nabbed the title in 2019 as well. He’s also listed as top name in the male-artist category, also landing that spot for the second consecutive year.

In fact, Luke was the top artist of the year on four out of Billboard’s five major year-end charts, coming in second only on Country Streaming Songs, which Morgan Wallen dominated. Luke came in the number-one spot on the Hot Country Songs, Country Airplay Songs, Top Country Albums and Country Digital Song Sales charts.

Meanwhile, Maren Morris hangs on to her 2019 title of Billboard’s top female country artist of the year. She’s also the only country artist to slide into the Top 10 of Billboard’s Top Hot 100 Songs of 2020, with “The Bones” sitting in ninth place.

But while Luke and Maren are accustomed to topping the charts, Gabby Barrett’s rise to the top is a breakout for the new star. She stands as Billboard’s top new artist for 2020, and her single “I Hope” even edged out “The Bones” to reign atop the Hot Country Songs year-end chart.

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