Daily Beast

REUTERSA man in Arkansas crashed his vehicle into a massage parlor at a local shopping center and engaged a responding SWAT team in a gunfight that led to his shooting and hospitalization, police say.Cops in Conway, outside Little Rock, had warned residents via Facebook to avoid the Lewis Crossing shopping center earlier in the day because its elite team was active at an “incident” at the location. The department later revealed on the same social media account that it had responded to a report that a driver had rammed his vehicle into a Massage Envy franchise at the site.The authorities said that their SWAT and Negotiations team verbally engaged the armed motorist, who had barricaded himself inside, before the man discharged bullets at the officers. They responded in kind and struck him. The man was then taken to a local hospital.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Sylvain GabouryAn Emmy award-winning former New York City local news anchor claims in court that the New York Post’s famous Page Six gossip column “wrecked his brilliant reputation” with “defamatory articles”—and wants the publication to cough up at least $1 million in damages.At the core of ex-broadcaster Ken Rosato’s suit is the allegation that the paper and its reporters knowingly and maliciously published a “false and baseless” article last May claiming that Rosato lost his job at ABC7 over a comment caught on a hot mic, which the paper quoted a source speculating may have been a “racial slur.” The suit, filed Friday in a Manhattan court, particularly quotes a photo caption stating “Ken Rosato was fired immediately after allegedly making a racial slur.”Rosato’s suit acknowledges that the network “dismissed” the veteran TV journalist last May, but noted the reason was undisclosed.Read more at The Daily Beast.

BravoFormer Real Housewives of Orange County star Lauri Peterson has revealed that her 35-year-old son Joshua-Michael Waring has died.Peterson took to Instagram Saturday to pay tribute to her son, who she said died on Easter Sunday. She did not explicitly reveal how he passed away but noted his well-documented history of substance abuse.“It is with a shattered heart that I write this post to let you know that my sweet Josh left this earth Easter Sunday. No one can ever prepare you for this feeling of such deep loss,” she wrote. “Every fiber in my body hurts. Josh fought every single day for most of his adult life, for his life, but this past Sunday, the challenge was too great.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

Mark WALPOLEMontana Senate candidate Tim Sheehy, one of the GOP’s top recruits for 2024, has been telling inconsistent accounts of how he received a gunshot wound in his arm.The 38-year-old challenger to vulnerable Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) has previously claimed he was wounded by a gunshot in combat, but a Washington Post story on a previously unreported incident has made the claim even more suspect.Sheehy told the paper he lied to a National Park Service ranger about shooting himself in the arm in 2015, claiming “I guess the only thing I’m guilty of is admitting to doing something I never did.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

Michelle MarchanteAn “altercation” on the patio of a Miami-area bar sparked a lethal firefight between police and an armed patron early Saturday, according to authorities—who noted that the local department had conducted a mass shooter drill at the same location last year.Local police addressed the press outside the Martini Bar, where they said a dispute around 3:30 a.m. attracted the attention of a security guard, who one of the feuding patrons promptly shot and killed. This set off volleys of bullets between the shooter and two Doral cops working off duty at the watering hole.The patron who allegedly killed the guard lost his life in the gun battle, but one of the officers himself suffered a bullet wound—as did six civilians in the scene, two described as in critical condition.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily BeastThe recent rush of congressional retirements has painted an ugly picture for both parties—for very different reasons.While both parties are hemorrhaging lawmakers this term—Democrats are losing 24 members, and Republicans are currently out 20—the consensus on Capitol Hill is that the mass exodus of respected, senior GOP members is an embarrassing reflection of a chaotic majority that’s achieved little beyond ousting its own speaker.A pair of high-profile, mid-term exits last month from Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Ken Buck (R-CO), in addition to the slew of retirements from powerful senior members, have cemented the narrative that serving in the House GOP is a miserable fate. Naturally, Democrats are trying to feed into that story, urging voters to show Republicans the door.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily BeastLike so many ill-fated journalists of 2024, I also lost my job this year. As media companies guillotined their staff to cut their Q1 budgets, I was also forced to adjust my spending and recalibrate my life. I factored in my essential costs (rent, utilities, food, gas) and bid a temporary farewell to frivolous spending (Sephora hauls, chronic eating out, $8 lattes).One cost I only considered once I was faced with my existential options was my tech and digital footprints. I was on the last legs of an old iPhone—cracked screen et al—with a battery that drained every three hours. My Gmail storage was reaching its upper limits and my personal MacBook could not compete with the speed and processing power of my work laptop.I was at my local Verizon store, facing a deadpan customer service rep asking if I wanted to shell out hundreds of dollars for a new phone with more storage. He said it was a great promotional offer and that I’d need it. He was right—I did need a new phone and more storage, now, more than ever. But I was completely paralyzed by the irony of needing to spend more, at a fiscally tough time, to try to get my life in order. And for something that was completely intangible.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesThe couple behind a Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-boosting political action committee—and a disastrous scrapped birthday fundraiser for the White House aspirant—are a “trusted” media contact for Ghislaine Maxwell and her producer partner, both former delegates to the Republican National Convention.Daphne Barak and Erbil “Bill” Gunasti and their Fighting 4 One America PAC were supposed to host a celebrity-packed fiesta with Kennedy in January to celebrate his 70th birthday and amass cash for his independent campaign for the White House. But the plans for the shindig swiftly disintegrated as various stars the duo claimed would attend—such as Martin Sheen and Dionne Warwick—denied and denounced the event, and Kennedy himself pulled out. But Barak’s personal Instagram page shows the gathering did go on at a somewhat more modest scale, and with Kennedy himself in attendance and enjoying cake.The only celebrity in the shots, however, was hip-hop legend Louis “Eric B.” Barrier.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/GettyThis isn’t your grandmother’s “Jolene.”That much was clear when it was first rumored that Beyoncé would cover the iconic Dolly Parton song for her genre-defying album Cowboy Carter, which continues to break boundaries. Dolly P herself rallied for years to get Beyoncé to cover the track, so it’s no surprise her rendition was one of the most-anticipated songs on an already buzzy album.But fans are less than pleased with Bey’s take on the scorned-woman anthem—enough for some to claim she’s “ruined” the song by changing the lyrics and lending it a more threatening tone. Since its release last Friday, plenty of users have taken to X and TikTok to voice their disappointment with Beyoncé’s changes.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Frazer Harrison/GettyActor Cole Brings Plenty, who appeared in two episodes of the Yellowstone spinoff 1923, was found dead on Friday in Kansas, days after police said they were hunting for him in connection with a domestic violence incident.The 27-year-old was the nephew of Yellowstone star Mo Brings Plenty, who posted a statement from his brother Joe, Cole’s father, on Instagram.“I am deeply saddened to confirm that my son, Cole, has been found and is no longer with us,” it said. “We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to everyone for the prayers and positive thoughts you sent for Cole. Read more at The Daily Beast.