Another wintry blast is headed our way. A Winter Weather Advisory will take effect at midnight Friday (1/15) for the No Coast Network listening area until 6pm Friday. The National Weather Service says we can expect 2 to 4 inches of snow….along with winds gusting to up to 35 miles an hour that will significantly reduce visibility for your drive to work or school Friday. Keep tuned to the No Coast Network for the latest weather updates.
Maren Morris Ready To Start Recording New Album
There’s good news for Maren Morris fans. The singer revealed in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe that she’s about to start recording her next album.
“I have got, I would say, mostly a full record written. And I’m leaving in a couple of weeks to start recording with Greg Kurstin,” she shared, referring to the producer who co-produced “Girl” with Busbee. “[Canceling my tour] was definitely sad. But at the same time, I’ve never had this much time to myself to write and not have an end point or some sort of time lock on it.”
She adds, “With my second record, I feel like I had to write that so quickly. And I’m not trying to disparage it by any means — I just think now, I’m just so excited to have some space to write.”
Source: The Boot
This day in Country Music History
- oday in 1976, Glen Campbell and “Rhinestone Cowboy” scored four GRAMMY nominations, including Record of the Year.
- Today in 1986, Reba McEntire joined the Grand Ole Opry during a CBS special celebrating the Opry’s 60th Hank Snow boycotted the special when producers limited him to one verse of “I’m Moving On.”
- Today in 1988, the “Trio” album, by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris, received a GRAMMY nomination for Best Album.
- Today in 1995, Tim McGraw’s single, “Not A Moment Too Soon,” claimed the #1 position on the Billboard country chart
- Today in 2000, Deana Carter’s “Did I Shave My Legs For This?” hit the 5-million mark.
- Today in 2006, “She Let Herself Go” went to #1 on the Billboard country chart for George Strait.
- Today in 2009, Billy Currington earned a gold single for the Luke Bryan-penned “Good Directions.”
- Today in 2010, Mindy McCready suffered a seizure on camera at the close of the season’s second episode of “Celebrity Rehab” on VH1.
- Today in 2013, Parmalee’s “Carolina” was released.
- Today in 2017, Tucker Beathard made his Grand Ole Opry debut at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.
- Today in 2017, Sturgill Simpson was the musical guest on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”
- Today in 2018, Dan + Shay performed during halftime of an NFL playoff game at Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field. Among their songs, “Nothin’ Like You,” “From The Ground Up” and “How Not To.” In the end, the Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the Steelers, 45-42.
- Today in 2018, Dierks Bentley threw a grand-opening party for his Whiskey Row venue in Nashville. Among his famous friends celebrating with him? Thomas Rhett, who performed “That Ain’t My Truck,” Maren Morris – who covered “Strawberry Wine” and Brothers Osborne, who rocked a rendition of “Chattahoochee.”
- Today in 2020, officials in Hendersonville, Tennessee, voted to rename a portion of East Main Street as Conway Twitty Lane. The community was previously the home to his tourist attraction Twitty City.
- Today in 2020, Merle Haggard & Willie Nelson’s single, “Pancho And Lefty,” was named a 2020 addition to the GRAMMY Hall of Fame, along with Patsy Cline’s “Walkin’ After Midnight,” The Stanley Brothers’ “I’m A Man Of Constant Sorrow,” The Chuck Wagon Gang’s “I’ll Fly Away” and Blind Alfred Reed’s “How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live.”
Trump on verge of 2nd impeachment after Capitol siege
By LISA MASCARO and MARY CLARE JALONICK
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is on the verge of being impeached for a second time in an unprecedented House vote Wednesday, a week after he encouraged a mob of loyalists to “fight like hell” against election results just before they stormed the U.S. Capitol in a deadly siege.
The House chaplain opened the session with a prayer for “seizing the scales of justice from the jaws of mob-ocracy.”
While Trump’s first impeachment in 2019 brought no Republican votes in the House, a small but significant number of leaders and lawmakers are breaking with the party to join Democrats, saying Trump violated his oath to protect and defend U.S. democracy.
The stunning collapse of Trump’s final days in office, against alarming warnings of more violence ahead by his followers, leaves the nation at an uneasy and unfamiliar juncture before Democrat Joe Biden is inaugurated Jan. 20.
Trump, who would become the only U.S. president twice impeached, faces a single charge of “incitement of insurrection.”
The four-page impeachment resolution relies on Trump’s own incendiary rhetoric and the falsehoods he spread about Biden’s election victory, including at a White House rally on the day of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, in building its case for high crimes and misdemeanors as demanded in the Constitution.
“If inviting a mob to insurrection against your own government is not an impeachable event, then what is?” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a drafter of the article of impeachment.
Trump took no responsibility for the riot, suggesting it was the drive to oust him rather than his actions around the bloody riot that was dividing the country.
“To continue on this path, I think it’s causing tremendous danger to our country, and it’s causing tremendous anger,” Trump said Tuesday, his first remarks to reporters since last week’s violence.
A Capitol police officer died from injuries suffered in the riot, and police shot and killed a woman during the siege. Three other people died in what authorities said were medical emergencies. Lawmakers had to scramble for safety and hide as rioters took control of the Capitol and delayed by hours the last step in finalizing Biden’s victory.
The outgoing president offered no condolences for those dead or injured, only saying, “I want no violence.”
At least five Republican lawmakers, including third-ranking House GOP leader Liz Cheney of Wyoming, were unswayed by the president’s logic. The Republicans announced they would vote to impeach Trump, cleaving the Republican leadership, and the party itself.
“The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack,” said Cheney in a statement. “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”
Unlike a year ago, Trump faces impeachment as a weakened leader, having lost his own reelection as well as the Senate Republican majority.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is said to be angry at Trump, and it’s unclear how a Senate impeachment trial would play out. The New York Times reported that McConnell thinks Trump committed an impeachable offense and is glad Democrats are moving against him. Citing unidentified people familiar with McConnell’s thinking, the Times reported McConnell believes moving against Trump will help the GOP forge a future independent of the divisive, chaotic president.
In the House, Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California, a top Trump ally, scrambled to suggest a lighter censure instead, but that option crumbled.
So far, Republican Reps. John Katko of New York, a former federal prosecutor; Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, an Air Force veteran; Fred Upton of Michigan; and Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington state announced they, too, would join Cheney to vote to impeach.
The House tried first to push Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to intervene, passing a resolution Tuesday night calling on them to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove Trump from office. The resolution urged Pence to “declare what is obvious to a horrified Nation: That the President is unable to successfully discharge the duties and powers of his office.”
Full Coverage: Trump impeachment
Pence made it clear he would not do so, saying in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, that it was “time to unite our country as we prepare to inaugurate President-elect Joe Biden.”
Debate over the resolution was intense after lawmakers returned the Capitol for the first time since the siege.
Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, argued that Trump must go because, as she said in Spanish, he’s “loco” — crazy.
In opposition, Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio said the “cancel culture” was just trying to cancel the president with his ouster.
While House Republican leaders are allowing rank and file lawmakers to vote their conscience on impeachment, it’s far from clear there would then be the two-thirds vote in the evenly divided Senate needed to convict and remove Trump. Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania joined Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska over the weekend in calling for Trump to “go away as soon as possible.”
With just over a week remaining in Trump’s term, the FBI warned ominously of potential armed protests by Trump loyalists ahead of Biden’s inauguration. Capitol Police urged lawmakers to be on alert.
New security in place, lawmakers were required to pass through metal detectors to enter the House chamber, not far from where Capitol police, guns drawn, had barricaded the door against the rioters. Some Republican lawmakers complained about the screening.
Biden has said it’s important to ensure that the “folks who engaged in sedition and threatening the lives, defacing public property, caused great damage — that they be held accountable.”
Fending off concerns that an impeachment trial would bog down his first days in office, the president-elect is encouraging senators to divide their time between taking taking up his priorities of confirming his nominees and approving COVID-19 relief while also conducting the trial.
The impeachment bill draws from Trump’s own false statements about his election defeat to Biden. Judges across the country, including some nominated by Trump, have repeatedly dismissed cases challenging the election results, and former Attorney General William Barr, a Trump ally, has said there was no sign of widespread fraud.
Like the resolution to invoke the 25th Amendment, the impeachment bill also details Trump’s pressure on state officials in Georgia to “find” him more votes and his White House rally rant to “fight like hell” by heading to the Capitol.
While some have questioned impeaching the president so close to the end of his term, there is precedent. In 1876, during the Ulysses Grant administration, War Secretary William Belknap was impeached by the House the day he resigned, and the Senate convened a trial months later. He was acquitted.
Trump was impeached in 2019 over his dealings with Ukraine but acquitted by the Senate in 2020.
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Associated Press writers Alan Fram and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
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This story has been corrected to show Trump’s first impeachment was in 2019, not last year.
One injured in two vehicle crash in Marion County
One woman was injured in a two vehicle accident Tuesday night (1/12) in Marion County. The Iowa State Patrol says around 7:20pm, a car driven by 27-year-old Brittany Hartman of Columbia failed to stop at the stop sign at Upton Road and Highway 14, crossed the northbound lane of 14 into the southbound lane and hit a pickup truck driven by 43-year-old Bradley Duckworth of Knoxville. Hartman had to be removed from the vehicle by mechanical means. She was airlifted to a Des Moines hospital with injuries. Duckworth was not injured.
No winner in Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing
Lottery players will have a shot Friday night (1/15) at the fifth-largest jackpot in U.S. history after no tickets matched all the numbers in the latest Mega Millions drawing. The jackpot for Tuesday night’s (1/12) Mega Millions was $625 million and lottery officials say it’s rising to an estimated $750 million. The Mega Millions numbers drawn Tuesday were: 12-14-26-28-33, Mega Ball: 09. The big prize for Powerball, the other national lottery game, is $550 million for Wednesday night’s (1/13) drawing. Mega Millions and Powerball are both played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Powerball also is offered in Puerto Rico.
Reynolds outlines 2021 agenda, including $150 M for broadband
BY
Republican Kim Reynolds used tonight’s “Condition of the State” address to press for a law requiring schools to offer 100% in-person instruction.
“I’m asking the legislature to immediately send a bill to my desk that gives parents the choice to send their children back to school full-time,” Reynolds said. “We can’t wait any longer and our kids can’t wait any longer.”
Reynolds criticized schools — mainly in Iowa’s urban areas — that failed to reopen all day, Monday through Friday, this fall. She’s asking legislators to no longer allow urban schools to deny “open enrollment” transfers to neighboring districts and the governor is calling for “education savings accounts” that would give parents state money to cover private school tuition.
“If there’s one thing the pandemic has taught us about education, it is that our parents need choice and it’s not just in person versus virtual,” Reynolds said. “Sometimes, it’s about which school to attend altogether.”
Republican lawmakers cheered the governor’s education agenda. House Democratic Leader Todd Prichard of Charles City said the governor is taking an “adversarial” approach toward public schools and teachers, who are on the front lines of the pandemic.
“We would love to have 100% in-person learning. We know that is the preferred method, but we need to make sure that it’s be done safely,” Prichard said, “so I think instead of dictating by fiat to these schools across the state, ‘This is how you’re going to do it,’ let’s support them. Let’s support their plans.”
And Prichard said Democrats will oppose diverting public tax dollars to private schools.
“I don’t think we can have it both ways where we can put more burdens on public schools, but take away funding,” Prichard said. “That’s really concerning.”
Reynolds spoke for more than 41 minutes last night and offered a long list of priorities, including making child care and housing more affordable — and more available. Reynolds also called for spending $150 million in each of the next three years to boost broadband.
“As we’ve seen during the pandemic, high speed internet is as vital to our communities as running water and electricity,” Reynolds said. “If they don’t have it, they can’t grow.”
Iowa has the second-slowest broadband speed in the country, according to the governor, and she said it’s “rarely” even available in a third of the state.
“Let’s plant a stake in the ground and declare that every part of Iowa will have affordable, high-speed broadband by 2025 and we’ll get there by committing $450 million over that time period, which will leverage millions more in private investment,” Reynolds said, “giving Iowa the biggest buildout of high-speed internet in the country.”
Reynolds used a portion of her speech to introduce Davenport police officers who were ambushed last summer and the officers were applauded by lawmakers. Reynolds then called for legislation to both increase penalties for rioting or attacking police and to ban racial profiling.
“No actions should ever be taken based on the color of someone’s skin,” Reynolds said, to applause.
Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls of Coralville saod lawmakers and the governor took a first step last June by passing a law banning the rehiring of officers fired for misconduct.
“Figuring out ways to take that next step on justice reform, while continuing to support our men and women in uniform in our law enforcement agencies is something that we should obviously be taking a look at doing,” Wahls said.
House Speaker Pat Grassley, a Republican from New Hartford, told reporters legislators have to dig into the details, but he praised the governor’s overall agenda.
“The governor laid out a lot of what I would call aggressive, forward-thinking proposals,” Grassley said.
Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver says the governor presented a “positive, optimistic message.” As is common in a “Condition of the State” speech, Reynolds reviewed the past year, which in the case of 2020 included a devastating derecho and a pandemic, and she praised citizens for going “beyond Iowa nice” to help neighbors navigate tough times.
“That’s how I know that the condition of our state is strong because you are strong,” she said, ” stronger than you ever imagined.”
Reynolds, who asked for a moment of silence during her speech to honor those who’ve died during the pandemic, later urged Iowans not to return to “normal” once it’s over, but to “be better, think bigger and be bolder.”
There were fewer people present in the House of Representatives for the speech, as most Democratic lawmakers chose to watch the speech elsewhere in the Capitol or at home rather than crowd onto the House floor.
Rascal Flatts Share Their Solo Plans For 2021
Rascal Flatts was unable to go on their Farewell Tour in 2020, but that’s not stopping them from exploring projects outside the band in 2021. Joe Don Rooney says he plans to spend the year focusing on songwriting, which he says “is just my favorite thing to do,” especially if he can “create something that might be good.”
Jay DeMarcus on the other hand plans to concentrate on his Christian record label Red Street Records, noting, “I’m really devoting a lot of time to that. So, we’re not slowin’ down.”
As for Gary LeVox, he plans to work on his just-launched clothing line, Freedom Farms and LeVox Wear, as well as a solo album, and at least one thing that’s a bit out of the ordinary – goat yoga. “It’s weird but there’s nothing to do and I own that farm,” he says, “so I’m raising goats and we’ve got yoga goin’ on.”
This day in Country Music History
- Today in 1968, Johnny Cash recorded the live album, “Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison” in California – he remade “Folsom Prison Blues” in the process. Also on hand – June Carter, The Carter Family, Carl Perkins and The Statler Brothers.
- Today in 1978, the “Waylon Live” album by Waylon Jennings was certified gold.
- Today in 1981, country movie music scores big at the GRAMMYs, as the “Urban Cowboy” soundtrack scored four nominations.” Roadie” songs get three, and “Honeysuckle Rose” picks up two. Sissy Spacek gets a nomination for her performance of “Coal Miner’s Daughter”
- Today in 1990, Keith Whitley hits #1 on the Billboard country chart with “It Ain’t Nothin'”
- Today in 1992, George Strait’s “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind” album was certified platinum.
- Today in 1994, Clint Black’s fourth album, “No Time To Kill,” went platinum.
- Today in 1994, Alan Jackson hit #1 with the single, “Gone Country.”
- Today in 1995, Joe Diffie’s album, “Third Rock from the Sun,” went platinum.
- Today in 1995, the “Lead On” album by George Strait was certified gold and platinum simultaneously.
- Today in 1996, Faith Hill was at #1 on the Billboard country singles chart with “It Matters To Me”
- Today in 1996, Martina McBride made her first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry since becoming a member the previous November. Terri Clark made her Opry debut the same evening.
- Today in 1997, Brooks & Dunn’s album, “Borderline,” went double platinum.
- Today in 1997, Toby Keith’s “Blue Moon” album went gold.
- Today in 1999, the album, “Who I Am,” by Alan Jackson was certified quadruple platinum.
- Today in 2002, the first episode of “CMT Crossroads” aired, pairing a country act with a non-country performer. In this inaugural show matched “Passionate Kisses” songwriter Lucinda Williams with Elvis Costello.
- Today in 2006, Big & Rich’s “Comin’ To Your City” album was certified gold and platinum simultaneously.
- Today in 2010, Trace Adkins signs a recording deal with Toby Keith’s Show Dog-Universal Music during a press conference at BMI in Nashville.
- Today in 2012, Jake Owen broke his collarbone skiing in Crested Butte, Colorado, forcing the cancellation of several concerts.
- Today in 2015, Brad Paisley’s “Crushin’ It” hit the airwaves.
US shifts to speed vaccinations; won’t hold back 2nd doses
By ZEKE MILLER and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
WASHINGTON (AP) — Barely a month into a mass vaccination campaign to stop the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration unexpectedly shifted gears Tuesday to speed the delivery of shots. A slow start had triggered widespread concern from states and public health officials.
Now, Health and Human Services Alex Azar has announced two major changes. First, the government will no longer hold back required second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, practically doubling supply. Second, states should immediately start vaccinating other groups lower down the priority scale, including people age 65 and older, and younger people with certain health problems.
The move better aligns the outgoing administration with the new Biden-Harris team. On Friday, President-elect Joe Biden said he will rapidly release most available vaccine doses to protect more people. He said he supported immediately releasing vaccines that health authorities were holding back out of caution, to guarantee they would be available for people needing their second dose.
“We had been holding back second doses as a safety stock,” Azar said on ABC. “We now believe that our manufacturing is predictable enough that we can ensure second doses are available for people from ongoing production. So everything is now available to our states and our health care providers.”
Simultaneously, he gave states the green light to dramatically expand the pool of people eligible to receive vaccines.
“We are calling on our governors to now vaccinate people aged 65 and over, and under age 65 with a (health condition) because we have got to expand the group,” he said.
As of Monday morning, the government had distributed about 25.5 million doses to states, U.S. territories and major cities. But only about 9 million people had received their first shot. That means only about 35% of the available vaccines had been administered.
Initially, the shots were going to health care workers and nursing home residents. Those 75 and older were next in line. But problems arose even in vaccinating that limited pool of people. Some hospital and nursing home workers have been hesitant to get the vaccine. Scheduling issues created delays in getting shots to nursing homes.
Some states, including Arizona, have or are planning to open up mass vaccination centers, aiming to inoculate thousands of people a day in a single location. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis opened up vaccinations to people 65 and older. In other states, local health authorities have started asking residents 65 an older to register, in anticipation the vaccination campaign would be expanded.
“We’ve got to get to more channels of administration,” said Azar. “We’ve got to get it to pharmacies, get it to community health centers.
“We will deploy teams to support states doing mass vaccination efforts if they wish to do so,” he added.
Although Azar said the shift was a natural evolution of the Trump administration’s efforts, as recently as Friday he had raised questions about whether Biden’s call to accelerate supplies was prudent. The Trump administration, which directed a crash effort to develop and manufacture vaccines, is hoping to avoid a repeat of earlier debacles with coronavirus testing. Dubbed “Operation Warp Speed,” the effort has produced two highly effective vaccines, with more on the way.
Each state has its own plan for who should be vaccinated, based on recommendations from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC recommendations give first priority to health care workers and nursing home residents.
But the slow pace of the vaccine rollout has frustrated many Americans at a time when the coronavirus death toll has continued to rise. More than 376,000 people have died, according to the Johns Hopkins database.
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said hundreds of thousands of people are getting vaccinated every day across the nation, but the pace of inoculations needs to improve.
“We’re in a race against this virus and quite frankly, we’re behind,” Adams told “Fox & Friends.” “The good news is that 700,000 people are getting vaccinated every single day. We’re going to hit 1 million people and we need to continue to pick up that pace.”
In Philadelphia, health department spokesman James Garrow, said the new direction from Washington will take time to figure out before it impacts vaccine distribution in the city. “This is a wholesale change out of the blue after months of planning,” Garrow said.
Washington, D.C. on Monday opened up vaccines to residents 65 years and older and the system was quickly overwhelmed. People reported problems with the website for registration and hours-long waits to register by phone. A message on the city’s website Tuesday morning read, “All 6,700 of the available vaccination appointments for the week of 1/11/21 were filled.”
Full Coverage: Coronavirus vaccine
Biden is expected to give a speech Thursday outlining his plan to speed vaccines to more people in the first part of his administration. His transition team has vowed to release as many vaccine doses as possible, rather than continuing the Trump administration policy of holding back millions of doses to ensure there would be enough supply to allow those getting the first shot to get a second one.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine requires a second shot about three weeks after the first vaccination. Another vaccine, this one produced by Moderna, requires a second shot about four weeks afterward. One-shot vaccines are still undergoing testing.
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AP writers Candice Choi in New York and Carole Feldman in Washington contributed.