Toby Keith is ready to go back on the road. The singer is set to launch his “Country Comes to Town Tour,” this weekend
The 25-city tour, with special guests Colt Ford, Jackson Dean, Matt Stell, Clay Walker and more on select dates, kicks off June 20th in Prescott, Arizona, wrapping December 3rd in Estero, Florida, with more dates expected to be announced.
October 14th, Toby Keith will perform at the Xstream Arena in Coralville, Iowa.
Earlier this year Carrie Underwood headlined a special Easter concert at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, performing songs from her gospel album “My Savior.” Well, folks who couldn’t make it to Nashville, or didn’t catch the livestream, now have another chance to check it out.
Carrie is set to release her first-ever gospel live performance DVD, “My Savior: LIVE From The Ryman,” on July 23rd. The special features gust appearances by Cece Winans and Bear Rinehart, frontman of the rock band, NEEDTOBREATHE.
In addition, on release day a TV special featuring performances from the DVD will air on PBS, DIRECTV, DISH TV, Circle TV and more, and it will be available on the Gaither TV YouTube Channel for a limited time.
“What I hope is the week after the shows, people go, “Hey look man, we mass-assembled and we sang and we had fun like it was 2019 — and we’re not worse off for it,’” he tells “Billboard,” adding, “for me, the most important thing is what happens after that in that city. Did everyone come out of it OK? And if so, then, thank you, God,” noting, “That’s what you’re hoping for more than anything.”
As for precautions that will be taken, Garth says, ”you do all you can do,” noting venues are hiring more ticket staff, and will be handing out masks to those who want one. “We’re all taking our steps toward recovery at our own pace and let’s all be family,” he says. “Let’s all have a good time, and let’s respect each individual’s way of how they’re handling this and coming out of it.”
Source: Billboard
By The Associated Press
CARBIS BAY, England – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson greeted leaders from the Group of Seven nations and the European Union on a wooden boardwalk on the freshly raked sand of Carbis Bay to open the G-7 summit on Friday.
Johnson wore a charcoal gray suit and light blue tie. The prime minister’s wife, Carrie Johnson, was in a hot pink mid-length dress.
The couple greeted leaders with elbow bumps and small talk about social distancing and the weather, under typically moody English skies.
U.S. first lady Jill Biden said, “I feel like we are at a wedding.”
Johnson, who wed the former Carrie Symonds last month, later joked it was like walking down the aisle.
Reporters asked U.S. President Joe Biden what his message was for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, whom Biden is scheduled to meet with next week. The president replied, “I’ll tell you after I’ve delivered it.”
The G-7 leaders posed for a group photo. As the group walked away, led by Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron threw his arm around Biden’s shoulder and began an animated discussion. The remarks were inaudible.
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FALMOUTH, England — Hundreds of people have gathered for climate change protests near the site of the Group of Seven leaders’ summit in southwest England.
Ahead of the official start of the three-day talks, some activists sent a barge carrying inflatable caricatures of U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson floating off the coast of Cornwall on Friday. The figures had messages written on their hands reading “Wave of Hope” and “Crack the Crises.”
Later, around 500 people joined a rally in St. Ives organized by the Extinction Rebellion climate activism group. Protesters wore blue and green gowns and headdresses while holding flags that read “G7 drowning in promises” and “Action not words.”
Climate change is a top issue on the G-7 summit agenda, along with recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
Dozens of young people also joined a protest on behalf of Fridays for Future, a youth climate movement kicked off in 2018 by activist Greta Thunberg.
“I’m inspired by the youth who are leading Fridays for Future. I think they are amazing, and if we have any hope, the hope is with them and not with our rich, greedy, lying leaders of the world meeting for the G-7,” said Jill Eastland, 56, who joined the protest.
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CARBIS BAY, England — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she hopes Group of Seven leaders achieve “very good results” on coronavirus vaccines and show the world “we’re not just thinking of ourselves.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said ahead of a leaders’ summit starting Friday that he expected the G-7 to commit to sharing 1 billion doses with countries around the world.
Germany has said it plans to donate 30 million of its vaccine doses by the end of the year, part of a commitment of 100 million by the European Union. Merkel’s government has noted that Germany has been a major donor to the U.N.-backed COVAX facility, which is supplying doses to poorer countries, and that the EU has been a major exporter of vaccines.
Merkel said after arriving at the summit: “I hope that we will achieve very good results to show that we’re not just thinking of ourselves, but we’re also thinking of those who don’t yet have the opportunity to get vaccinated — above all, African countries, but others, too.”
She didn’t elaborate on what those results would be.
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CARBIS BAY, England — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she expects the Group of Seven to send a strong signal for “values-based multilateralism,” but she cautioned that problems such as climate change won’t be solved without China.
Merkel said after arriving at a G-7 leaders’ summit in southwest England on Friday that U.S. President Joe Biden “represents the commitment to multilateralism that we have been missing in recent years.”
The chancellor added: “We put in a strong word here for multilateralism here, and for values-based multilateralism.” She said that puts the G-7 — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – at odds with Russia and also “in some aspects” with China.
Merkel is attending what’s expected to be her last G-7 summit after nearly 16 years in power.
“We need everyone in the world — we want to work together, particularly in the areas of climate protection and biodiversity. We will never achieve solutions there without China,” she said.
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FALMOUTH, England — British police say seven people were arrested after officers found two vehicles carrying paint, smoke grenades and loudspeakers close to the Group of Seven summit venue in southwest England .
Police said Friday that officers searched a car and a van about seven miles (11 kilometers) from the Carbis Bay Hotel on Thursday afternoon and found the items inside.
Four men and three women were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit public nuisance and possessing an article with intent to commit criminal damage. All seven remain in police custody.
Police said they support safe and legal protests but criminal activity and public disorder are not tolerated.
Security is tight around the G-7 venues near St. Ives, England, where leaders of the world’s wealthy nations are gathering for three days of talks. Armed soldiers guarding the main sites and some 5,000 extra police officers from around the U.K. deployed to the area.
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HAYLE, England — U.S. first lady Jill Biden and Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, are touring a preschool in southwestern England and learning how the children care for some rabbits.
The women also plan to take part in a talk about early childhood education. The White House says it’s the first time they’ve met.
Biden and the former Kate Middleton are visiting with 4- and 5-year-olds at Connor Downs Academy in Hayle, England. Biden carried a bowl of carrots when they went outside to see the bunnies.
Biden is a longtime English teacher who focuses on education, as does Kate, a mother of three young children.
The first lady is traveling with her husband, President Joe Biden, who is attending a Group of Seven summit of the world’s largest economies opening Friday in Carbis Bay.
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CARBIS BAY, England — Workers are carefully raking the sand on the beach where British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will greet Group of Seven leaders at the start of their summit in southwestern England.
The backdrop for the greetings and family photo on Friday is an idyllic view of Carbis Bay, with the event’s huge security operation just out of sight.
A Royal Navy destroyer is moored in the bay, and armed police and snipers are ringing the seaside resort where leaders of seven wealthy nations are meeting for the first time in two years.
The G-7 nations are f Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
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PLYMOUTH, England — U.S. President Joe Biden is going to be hosting German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House next month.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced Friday that Merkel, who is leaving office later this year, will visit Washington on July 15.
Psaki, in a statement, said the meeting will affirm ties between the two nations and the leaders will discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and international security.
Merkel will be the first European leader to visit the White House.
She and Biden were set to meet later Friday at the Group of Seven summit, a gathering of some of the world’s wealthiest nations, taking place in England.
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FALMOUTH, England — The mother of a British teenager killed in a road accident involving a U.S. diplomat’s wife says she is hopeful of progress in the stalled case after Prime Minister Boris Johnson raised the case with President Joe Biden at the G-7.
Harry Dunn, 19, died in 2019 when his motorcycle collided with a car driven by Anne Sacoolas near a military base in England used by the U.S. Sacoolas claimed diplomatic immunity and returned to the United States after the crash. She has been charged in England with causing death by dangerous driving but is refusing to come back to Britain.
The U.K. government said Johnson discussed the issue with Biden when they met Thursday, “and reiterated that the U.K. wants to see justice done for the family.” Johnson said the president was “extremely sympathetic” to the family’s plight.
Dunn’s mother, Caroline Charles, said she hoped Biden’s personal experience of similar tragic loss would help U.S. authorities take a “different view” of the case.
Biden’s first wife and their 1-year-old daughter died in a car accident in 1972.
“It is almost two years since we lost Harry in August 2019 and it would be lovely to think that all parties can now come together to help bring this living nightmare to an end so that we can try to rebuild our shattered lives,” Charles said.
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BERLIN — The German government says a member of the country’s advance team to the G-7 summit has gone into precautionary quarantine after a coronavirus case was reported in their hotel in the Cornish town of St. Ives.
The government said in a statement Friday that the incident would have no impact on German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her delegation’s trip to the summit in Carbis Bay.
The new U.S. Drought Monitor map shows 90% of Iowa is experiencing some type of dryness or drought.
The Iowa DNR’s Tim Hall says only one section of the state has no water worries.
“Southeastern Iowa way down in the corner — they’re not showing any dryness or drought — but virtually the rest of the state is,” Hall says. “The area of concern in northwest Iowa has grown a little bit. So, certainly, the conditions are not trending in the direction we’d like to see them.”
The map shows 32% of the state rated as abnormally dry, 47% rated as in moderate drought and 10% rated as severe drought. Hall says streamflow conditions across approximately half of the state are now classified as “below normal.” He says the dry conditions in the north are now impacting things downstream.
“As that lack of runoff works its way down through the system, we are seeing that reflected in the watersheds that run through central Iowa,” according to Hall. “So even though we may not be a dry here as in some parts of the state. The parts that feed those river systems have been exceptionally dry, so we are starting to see very low stream levels in parts of the state.”
Hall says the dry weather is worse this year because there wasn’t much moisture in the reserve. “Last year we entered 2000, we entered the growing season with a significant supply of groundwater and soil moisture leftover from 2018 and ’19, which were really wet years. He says. “This year — 2021 — we came into the year with almost no excess soil moisture and groundwater. So, it’s as if we started with an empty tank.”
Hall says the weather data for June, July and August show there is a chance to run things around. “Over that three-month period statewide we average right at about an inch per week of rainfall. And that’s a pretty hefty chunk of moisture,” Hall says. “If we were able to get normal rainfall for the next three months — I think we would be in pretty good shape. The challenge is, every week that goes by without rain puts us another inch behind.”
He says you always have to wait and see with the weather.
“We’re not panicking yet. But we’d really like to see some rain here in the month of June to start to replenish some of the soil moisture and start to get us back on track,” Hall says.
Some cities are asking residents to be smart about their water use as the dry conditions continue. Hall says those measures may be ramped up more if the lack of rainfall continues.
Oskaloosa will be a busy place this weekend. Friday night (6/11), there’s Friday After 5 with the bands 9:53 and Journey’s End performing from 5 until 9. On Saturday (6/12), there’s Art on the Square from 9 until 4….as well as the Stephen Memorial Animal Shelter’s annual Bark-B-Que fundraiser at Mahaska Drug. Terry Gott with the Animal Shelter tells us what will be taking place.
“We’re going to be serving hot dogs, cheddar dogs, a bag of chips and a drink for a free will donation. The Fire Department will be there with their fire dog, so that kids can get pictures with them. Austin Rogers will be there for a little bit with the K-9 dog.”
There will also be face painting, kids’ games and a bake sale….with free will donations supporting the Stephen Memorial Animal Shelter. The Bark-B-Que runs from 10 until 3 Saturday at Mahaska Drug.
An Ottumwa woman was arrested after allegedly threatening to blow up the Wapello County Attorney’s Office. According to court records, 30-year-old Siearre J’Ashea Smith was said to be upset over a forfeiture case. The document says Smith entered the County Attorney’s Office on May 25 and began yelling at employees saying “This place needs blowing up and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.” Smith left without hurting anyone. Smith is charged with threat of an incendiary or explosive device, which is a Class D felony. She is currently free on bond.
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