Take a look at trending topics for today, Aug. 8:
DJ Casper
DJ Casper, born Willie Perry, Jr., has died after a battle with cancer, his wife told CNN affiliate ABC7 Chicago on Monday.
The Chicago native was reportedly 58. CNN has reached out to his family for comment.
Casper was responsible for the popular song “Cha Cha Slide,” which came out 23 years ago this month. Coming off of his “Cha-Cha Slide: The Original Slide Album,” the track gave way to a popular line dance that is still performed at events all over the world.
Casper’s “Cha Cha Slide” has quickly become a staple at events from proms and weddings to corporate functions and more – wherever dance is a part of a celebration – thanks to its easy dancability and the way it fits into the Black tradition of line dances including the Electric Slide and the Cupid Shuffle.
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After a journey of self-discovery, game show host Wayne Brady has said he is pansexual.
Wayne Brady
Wayne Brady, known for hosting the TV show “Let’s Make a Deal,” has announced that he is pansexual.
“I advocate mental health for all and a part of that is self transparency. In doing my work, I’ve come to see a few truths, one of them being that I want to be free to love whomever I want,” the game show host posted on Instagram.
“This truth makes me Pan and part of the Igbtq+ family.”
Brady said it was “scary as hell” to come out with his sexuality, but said those he admires most are people with the courage to be themselves.
“This shouldn’t shake anyone’s world, but if it bothers you at all, that’s your business: I was so afraid of having my manhood questioned, but screw that. A ‘real man’ in my eyes, isn’t afraid to be honest and happy,” he wrote.
“From now on, I’ll be over here living my best life,” he added.
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FILE - Rapper Tory Lanez performs at HOT 97 Summer Jam 2018 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Three years have passed since hip-hop superstar Megan Thee Stallion was shot multiple times by rapper Lanez in Los Angeles following a summer pool party at the home of Kylie Jenner. On Monday, Aug. 7, 2023, Lanez is scheduled to be sentenced, following his December conviction on three felony charges.
Tory Lanez
A judge sentenced rapper Tory Lanez to 10 years in prison Tuesday for shooting and wounding hip-hop superstar Megan Thee Stallion.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Herriford handed down the sentence to the 31-year-old Lanez, who was convicted in December of three felonies: assault with a semiautomatic firearm; having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
The sentence brings an end to a dramatic trial that created a cultural firestorm in the hip-hop community, churning up issues including the reluctance of Black victims to speak to police, gender politics in hip-hop, online toxicity, protecting Black women and the ramifications of misogynoir, a particular brand of misogyny Black women experience.
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Wegovy
International Cat Day
Ciara and Russell Wilson
Top headlines for Tuesday, Aug. 8:
Now that July’s sizzling numbers are all in, the European climate monitoring organization made it official: July 2023 was Earth’s hottest month on record by a wide margin. July’s global average temperature of 16.95 degrees Celsius was a third of a degree Celsius (six tenths of a degree Fahrenheit) higher than the previous record set in 2019. That's according to Tuesday's calculations by Copernicus Climate Change Service, a division of the European Union’s space program. Normally global temperature records are broken by hundredths or a tenth of a degree, so this margin is unusual.
Throngs of fans have gathered in the Irish coastal town that singer Sinéad O’Connor called home to say goodbye following her funeral. O’Connor’s family invited the public to line the waterfront in Bray on Tuesday as her funeral procession passed by. An old VW camper van with rooftop speakers blasting a Bob Marley song led a hearse through a thick crowd of admirers. They tossed flowers on the car as it passed and clapped as it stopped briefly outside her former home. O’Connor was found unresponsive at her London home on July 26. Police have not said how she died, though they said her death was not suspicious.
At least two people have died, thousands of U.S. flights have been canceled and more than 1 million have lost power as destructively strong storms moved through the eastern U.S. Residents had been warned to stay indoors Monday. The threat of severe thunderstorms and tornados stretched from Alabama to New York. Officials say a 15-year-old boy was killed by a falling tree in South Carolina and a 28-year-old man was killed by lightning in Alabama. Homes and businesses in nearly a dozen states lost power as trees and power lines fell onto roads and homes. FlightAware says more than 2,600 U.S. flights have been canceled and nearly 7,900 delayed.
The destruction that resulted from a glacial dam bursting in Alaska's capital highlights the danger such flooding poses around the world. Authorities say several homes, including two condo buildings, have been condemned after the levels of the Mendenhall River in Juneau rose to unprecedented levels. Two homes fell into the river completely Saturday after an ice dam on the Mendenhall Glacier gave way, sending torrents of water downstream. Researchers say such glacial floods could threaten about 15 million people around the world.
Voters in Ohio reject GOP-backed proposal that would have made it tougher to protect abortion rights
Ohio voters have resoundingly rejected a Republican-backed measure that would've made it more difficult to pass abortion protections. The vote sets up a fall campaign that'll become the nation’s latest referendum on the issue since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a nationwide right to abortion last year. The defeat of Issue 1 keeps in place a simple majority threshold for passing future changes to the Ohio Constitution, rather than requiring a 60% supermajority. Ohio Republicans placed the question on the summer ballot in hopes of undercutting a citizen initiative voters will decide in November that seeks to enshrine abortion rights in the constitution. Tuesday's result marks the latest setback for Republicans in a conservative-leaning state.
President Joe Biden has signed a national monument designation for the greater Grand Canyon, declaring it good “not only for Arizona but for the planet.” Tuesday's move turns the decades-long visions of Native American tribes and environmentalists into reality. It will help preserve about 1,562 square miles just to the north and south of Grand Canyon National Park. Representatives of various northern Arizona Native American tribes attended Biden’s remarks. They have advocated for increased protections on the land for decades. Mining companies have opposed the move. Biden also used his visit to Arizona, which is critical to next year's presidential race, to criticize Republicans. Biden is on a three-state Western trip.
Officials say the death toll from Russian missile strikes that hit apartment buildings in an eastern Ukrainian city has climbed to seven, with 81 people injured. Two Russian missiles slammed into the downtown area of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region that is partially occupied by Russia, on Monday evening. Local officials said the missiles damaged apartment buildings, houses, a hotel, dining establishments, shops and administrative buildings. The Kremlin says its forces target only military assets and claim other damage is caused by debris from Ukrainian air defense weapons.
A Colombian man once seen as one of the world’s most dangerous drug lords has been sentenced to 45 years in prison in the U.S. Dairo Antonio Úsuga — known as Otoniel — was sentenced Tuesday in a federal court in New York. He pleaded guilty in January to high-level drug trafficking charges. Úsuga headed the Gulf Clan, a cartel and paramilitary group with a blood-drenched grip on much of northern Colombia. Úsuga was Colombia’s most-wanted kingpin before his arrest in 2021. When pleading guilty, he admitted smuggling tons of U.S.-bound cocaine and acknowledged “there was a lot of violence.”
Nearly two weeks have passed since the coup in Niger, and the two men making competing claims to power have gone quiet in recent days. One is the ousted president, who said last week he’s being held hostage and has been publicly silent since then. The other is the military junta leader who asserts he acted for the country's security and has encouraged Nigeriens to defend it from any foreign intervention. Here’s a look at President Mohamed Bazoum and Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani as Niger’s junta defies a threat by the West African regional bloc to step in and use force if necessary.
