He was just a country newcomer with a promising new single. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
Month: March 2026
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TLC has officially booked the return of Welcome to Plathville.
But the long-running reality show will look very different this spring than it looked in the past.
For starters, Olivia Plath has already said she will NOT return to the program… not after she and Ethan Plath ended their marriage and Olivia very quickly moved on with her life.
Now, meanwhile, in the first trailer for Welcome to Plathville Season 8, we hear Lydia decree on air: “Everyone’s stepping into a whole new chapter in their lives.”
She does so as we check out footage of newlyweds Lydia and Zac Wyse, the latter of whom was unwittingly involved in family drama last season after Isaac and Micah Plath got into a brawl at his wedding.
“I’ve been angry,” Lydia says in the trailer. “I’ve been really upset at my family for what they did.”
The preview also feature Plath matriarch Kim returning to the family farm in Georgia, ready to concentrate on her future and her rekindled relationship with boyfriend Ken Palmer.
While Kim seems happy in this relationship, though, she’s well aware that things are very fractured between her and Lydia. She’ll try to mend fences in a number of uncomfortable ways.
“I smoked pot in college, also known as a doobie,” Kim tells a confused Lydia during one of their mother-daughter bonding attempts.
In another scene, the two have a more serious discussion about their strained connection.
“You and I used to be really close before the divorce,” Kim says, to which Lydia (who has often slammed her loved ones as fake Christians) responds:
“Whenever I would talk to you, it just felt like I was talking to a brick wall.”
Season 7 of Welcome to Plathville wrapped up with Kim and Barry Plath celebrating the official end of their 24-year marriage and the news that they had at last finalized their divorce.
On future episodes, fans will see what Barry acts like as a single man while searching for a potential partner that has “the Sandra Bullock look,” according to the patriarch.
“I’m single and ready to mingle,” a back-on-the-dating-scene Barry declares.
For his part, Ethan Plath will make a “bold move” in the hopes of maintaining his relationship with girlfriend Teegan… while younger brother Isaac fears his relationship with girlfriend Kaylynn is moving too quickly.
Elsewhere: Micah Plath will be trying to rebuild his life after splitting from Veronica Peters; and Moriah Plath will be hoping to find peace in Montana.
Welcome to Plathville Season 8 premieres March 31 on TLC.
Welcome to Plathville Season 8: Trailer, Release Date and… Sandra Bullock?!? was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip
A springtime dessert has graced Costco’s shelves. It’s a classic fruit-flavored treat that is sweet but also packs a little bit of tartness.
Mashed – Fast Food, Celebrity Chefs, Grocery, Reviews
A party tray should make the art of hosting friends and family both simple and delicious. Sam’s Club has plenty of options, but are they good ones?
Mashed – Fast Food, Celebrity Chefs, Grocery, Reviews
Reading Time: 3 minutes
You don’t need to be “crazy” to murder someone.
But while the mentally ill are more likely to be the victims of a violent crime than to commit one, some murderers seem like they have something going on.
Is paying for liquor using blood-soaked bills and then gouging out your eyes enough to avoid a trial?
Warning: this story contains upsetting details including a brutal murder and act of self-mutilation.
Robert Brandon Keller is in a world of trouble
On October 14, 2024, 43-year-old Bruce Dupree was found dying on the side of the road.
He had numerous stab wounds.
The injuries included his torso, his head, his hands, his arms, and his neck.
First responders raced into action to attempt to save Dupree’s life.
Unfortunately, they were unable to do so, and Dupree passed away from his injuries a short time later.
When a break in the case came, it doesn’t appear to have been the result of super-sleuthing.
A liquor store employee contacted authorities after a man with literal blood on his hands paid for purchases with cash that was also covered in blood.
Police responded to the tip and arrested 32-year-old Robert Brandon Keller.
They charged him with two counts of murder, armed robbery, hijacking a motor vehicle, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm or knife in the commission of a felony.
The crime for which Keller is accused is already unthinkable — ending a life for so little. But a new, gruesome twist was soon to come.
This is where the story takes another gruesome turn
According to court documents, Keller took a ghoulish action during custody that most would find unthinkable.
He allegedly gouged out both of his eyes and bit off part of his tongue.
Naturally, the court ordered psychological exams to determine whether he was competent to stand trial after this seemingly deranged behavior.
Competency to stand trial has very specific standards. It goes beyond someone doing something clearly irrational — such as paying for alcohol in blood-soaked bills, or mutilating yourself.
Shockingly, two psychologists determined that Keller is competent to stand trial.
Dr. Jeremy Gay determined that Keller “was not suffering from either a delusional compulsion at the time of the crime or an inability to distinguish right and wrong at the time of the crime.”
Dr. Daniel Fass attested that Keller’s mental capacity and ability to represent his interests in court “were much better than a lot of the people” whom he evaluates.
Another piece of evidence may have been a deciding factor for the court.
A jailer testified at a February hearing that Keller “was not mental and that he said he heard voices to cover his ass.”
The trial has not yet been scheduled. All things considered, Keller may have a long time in the dark to contemplate his situation.
Robert Keller Found Competent to Stand Trial Despite Gouging Out Eyes, Biting Off Part of … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip
Tomato toast shines by letting a few simple ingredients take center stage, but its fresh flavors are elevated even further by a savory, fishy addition.
Food Republic – Restaurants, Reviews, Recipes, Cooking Tips
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Kaley Cuoco is doing the common celebrity thing where she’s revealing how another star was rude to her on set early in her career.
But unlike most actors who spill that sort of tea, Kaley is naming names!
Yes, during her recent appearance on Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast, Kaley spoke about being rudely snubbed by Rose McGowan during her time on “Charmed.”
Kaley joined the cast in the show’s eighth season, and she says she was not warmly greeted by Rose, who was one of the show’s three stars since day one.
“You know when you do so many things and you just forget about terrible moments? Imagine this: I’ve never met anyone. It’s their gallery shoot,” Cuoco said, adding:
“I’m the new girl. You’ve got Alyssa Milano, Rose McGowan, and Holly Marie Combs. I’ve never met them. Think about that. I’m joining their family photo, and I’m 21.”
Kaley went on to say that things were awkward with Rose right from the jump:
“I walk in that gallery, and I am so freaking nervous. It’s on their lunch break. They’re all in the corners eating,” she said, adding:
“I walk in, Alyssa Milano sees me, and – I will always tell this story about her – she got up, ran over to me, and welcomed me to the show, gave me the biggest hug in the world, so happy, so kind. I will never forget that.”
“Rose [was] maybe not as happy. I don’t know. I still don’t know if she likes me.
“I don’t know. But Alyssa was amazing. I was terrified. It’s a weird thing coming into a show with them in year eight, and I only did the one season.”
This is not the first time that Kaley has hinted at friction with Rose:
“I came into ‘Charmed’ really not thinking anything other than I got this cool job. It was intense and difficult,” she said in a recent interview with The Independent.
“There were a few people on that show that were wonderful to me, and there were a few people that weren’t. I remember them both very clearly.”
Well, we now know at least one person who falls into the “not wonderful” column.
These days, Cuoco is happily married to Tom Pelphrey, and she remains one of TV’s most in-demand actresses.
McGowan has yet to respond to her former co-star’s allegations of rudeness. But she has a reputation as a bit of a firebrand, so we wouldn’t be surprised if she claps back soon!
Kaley Cuoco Blasts Rose McGowan For Rudeness on ‘Charmed’ Set: ‘I Was … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip
Being so famous, don’t you think Elvis would be welcome anywhere? Apparently not! See which popular eatery said he had to take his food to go from.
Mashed – Fast Food, Celebrity Chefs, Grocery, Reviews
When the bombing of Iran began on Feb. 28, 2026, the Trump administration had not informed the American people exactly what it was prepared to achieve.
Was the attack intended to degrade Iran’s nuclear program? Trump had declared that “obliterated” after last June’s bombing.
Was it to slow Iran’s ballistic missile program? U.S. intelligence assesses that Iran is years away from any ballistic missile that could strike the United States.
Was it to show support for Iran’s opposition, as Trump’s earlier “HELP IS ON ITS WAY” posts on Truth Social suggested? A bombing campaign that was bound to kill innocent Iranians, including 175 people at a girls elementary school near a military base, seemed an odd form of support.
I am a scholar and former practitioner of intelligence and national security policy in the White House. I believe there are lessons in effecting political change in Iran that can be taken, ironically, from the very U.S.- and British-led clandestine campaign in the mid-20th century that set Iran on the road to the intense anti-Western and anti-American sentiment that has characterized its government policy for decades.
How does this end?
President Trump has said he wants regime change in Iran but has articulated no strategy for achieving that end.
Strategy is the connection between means and ends. For waging a war, it means asking whether the military means available match the desired military outcome. In trying to effect political change, it means asking whether the instruments employed will produce the desired change.
As journalist Fareed Zakaria put it, “‘Bomb and hope’ is not a strategy.”
Looking at the last U.S. effort at regime change in Iran – the CIA’s 1953 covert program to oust Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh and strengthen Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s rule – offers insight into what might have been … and what still might be this time around in Iran.
Mossadegh had moved to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company – effectively, British oil interests. Britain responded with an an oil embargo and a severe economic squeeze on Iran.
Western powers feared that prolonged Iranian instability could open the door to Soviet influence in the oil-rich country – a central Cold War concern.
By early 1953 the U.S. government, under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorized the CIA to prepare a covert plan to remove Mossadegh and restore effective power to the shah, who at the time held a more ceremonial role. British intelligence had been pushing a similar agenda, and the two services collaborated on both the strategy and its implementation.
The operational details, especially those declassified in recent decades, paint a striking picture of a carefully planned clandestine political intervention that was successful, rather than a simple military invasion.
A far cry from ‘bomb and hope’
The British-American budget for the joint plan was modest by military standards. It was aimed at propaganda and influence operations, and it sought to shape public perception and political support.
Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images
It was composed of three elements. First it funded newspapers and printed propaganda designed to discredit Mossadegh, portraying him as corrupt or sympathetic to communism. The propaganda also promoted fears of instability and communist infiltration.
Second, according to declassified histories, agents staged “false flag” incidents – attacks attributed to communists, for example – to stoke fear and backlash against Mossadegh among religious and conservative groups.
Third, the coup planners attempted to engage influential clerical leaders and organizations to amplify anti-Mossadegh sentiment.
Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images
Shaping the crowds on Tehran’s streets proved critical to the operation. The CIA organized demonstrators to pose as pro-shah protesters, including paying individuals to chant slogans and confront Mossadegh supporters.
These orchestrated demonstrations climaxed on Aug. 19, 1953, when pro-shah forces and sympathetic leaders in the Iranian military – with CIA financial and logistical backing – seized key points of the country, confronted Mossadegh loyalists and helped topple his government. Estimates suggest around 200 to 300 people were killed in the chaotic fighting in Tehran.
What might have been, and what might be
The Mossadegh coup occurred in a less transparent world. However – and regardless of how you feel about it – the coup suggests the value of having a strategy to accomplish political change and, beyond Israel, bringing allies along if possible.
So far, Trump has called for the Iranian military and the Revolutionary Guard to lay down their arms. But the Trump administration has provided no guidance on how to do so, or to whom to do so.
Surely, the administration should be able to devise a plan for potential political change in Iran. It has insight from the years it has spent negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran. Recent events suggest the extent of Israeli, if not American, penetration of Iran.
Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images
In 2018, for instance, Israel’s Mossad national intelligence agency broke into an Iranian facility and stole archives on Iran’s nuclear activities, 55,000 pages and another 55,000 files stored on CDs.
In June 2025, Israel conducted covert drone operations deep inside Iran, in concert with airstrikes on Iranian missile and military infrastructure. Mossad reportedly established an undercover drone network and launched explosive drones to neutralize air defenses and missile launchers before the main attack.
The successful targeting of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his close associates in the latest round of airstrikes suggests the extent of likely Israeli monitoring of Iranian communications by Mossad and the CIA.
Crises tend to put pressure on governments to open communications channels, and the take from any successful eavesdropping might be passed to opposition groups to help them organize and avoid capture.
If Israel can smuggle explosive drones into Iran, it should be able to make the satellite internet provider Starlink and its kin available to enable the opposition to better – and more safely – organize.
It is late in the day to emulate the Mossadegh coup with information operations, and it is probably more difficult in an era of ubiquitous social media, not newspapers. But it’s not too late to try.
I believe those brave opposition elements in Iran, who have been killed by their government and bombed by the United States and Israel, deserve no less.
Gregory F. Treverton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Politics + Society – The Conversation
NOTN- Alaska lawmakers are urging the federal government to waive steep new fees on H-1B visas for international teachers, warning that hundreds of classrooms could be left without educators if school districts are forced to absorb the added costs.
On Monday, the Alaska House Education Committee heard testimony on House Joint Resolution 39, which calls on the state’s congressional delegation to seek an exception to a recent presidential proclamation that imposes a $100,000 annual fee per H‑1B visa holder.
Many Alaska districts, particularly in rural and remote communities, rely heavily on international teachers to fill longstanding vacancies.
Rep. Alyse Galvin, the sponsor of HJR 39, told the committee the resolution is meant to give U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and the rest of Alaska’s delegation a stronger hand in Washington, D.C.
“We are unfortunately without enough educators before students, and so we are facing a really tough time in recruitment and retention of teachers, especially in rural and remote communities. Many school districts across Alaska use international recruitment to fill our school vacancies, with cases of international hires filling 60% of the total teaching staff in western Alaska.” Said Galvin, “We heard last week about how hard they’re working to grow our own teachers, we are still facing this gap. Our H-1B teachers are very important to us, and with the most recent proclamation by the President, we now have an imposition of a $100,000 fee for any employer who is hiring H-1B, so any new ones coming in will be having to face that cost, at least our school districts will and this is insurmountable.”
Galvin said some districts also face deep budget holes, including an estimated $90 million deficit for the Anchorage School District alone and more than $200 million in combined shortfalls across the state. Many districts have already exhausted their reserves, she said.
The committee also heard from Dr. Lisa Parady, executive director of the Alaska Council of School Administrators, who said Alaska employs 573 international teachers, including 341 on H‑1B visas.
“Alaska is already facing a severe teacher shortage, at the start of the school year, we had at last report, 345, first day teacher vacancies, which equates to thousands of Alaska students beginning school without a teacher. Many Alaska districts, especially rural and remote communities, struggle annually to fill critical positions. International educators are not a luxury, without these educators, class sizes increase, course offerings shrink, student services are reduced, student outcomes suffer.” Said Parady.
Some lawmakers used the hearing to argue that while HJR 39 may help in the short term, it does not solve deeper problems with Alaska’s teacher workforce.
Rep. Andi Story, who co-chaired the committee Monday, heard concerns about pay and retirement. Galvin noted that unlike other states, Alaska does not have a single statewide pension system for all educators, and cited research that found Alaska’s average teacher salaries are roughly 30% lower than those in Washington state.
HJR 39 would not change the law, but would formally express the Legislature’s support for waiving or exempting Alaska school districts from the new visa fees.