Every month, Costco launches new products (and seasonal returning favorites). Here are the best picks of what you can find come April, 2026.
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‘Marshals’ star Luke Grimes did what country boys do when dealing with tragedy and sorrow: he wrote a song about it. Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
‘Marshals’ star Luke Grimes did what country boys do when dealing with tragedy and sorrow: he wrote a song about it. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
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This must be such a hard time for Kristi Noem. Oh well.
Late last month, evidence surfaced depicting her husband of more than 30 years as a bimbo fetishist who’d paid money to online models and taken photos of himself imitating their colossal breasts.
One of those fetish models has now leaked some of their alleged interactions.
She’s sharing how much Bryon Noem spent to fund her “trophy bimbo” lifestyle and his apparent desire to marry her.
47-year-old fetish model Nicole Raccagno says that Bryon forked over thousands to help her pay her rent, buy handbags, and purchase jewelry.
Her secret?
She sent him videos of her 38N breasts, a bust size that many did not know existed.
Additionally, she participated in dirty chats with Bryon.
This transactional relationship seemed to escalate over time — with him telling her how much he allegedly wanted to marry her, his “Bimbo God.”
“Bryon was addicted to my bombshell Barbie curves and enormous breasts,” she explained to The Daily Mail.
“He gave me whatever I wanted – shoes, handbags, even bigger boobs,” she raved.
According to Raccagno: “He wanted me to be his ultimate bimbo bride.”
He apparently followed her OnlyFans page under the pseudonym of “Jason,” sending her messages and money.
Over time, he confessed more of his kinks … and made it clear that, at least in his fantasy, he wanted to put a ring on it.
“Would love to marry you,” Bryon allegedly confessed to Raccagno.
Allegedly, he wrote this just five days after his real-life wife, Kristi, was fired from her position in the Trump regime.
“I don’t follow politics,” Raccagno confessed. “I’m selling a fantasy.”
She acknowledged: “It might be crazy that people have wives, but that’s my job.”
Of Bryon, she added: “I think he’s a gentleman. He has some kinks, but guess what, everybody does.” True enough.
“He said he liked a pink thong,” Raccagno shared. “He would say, ‘I have one.’ He would just say he likes pink; that he wants to be a bimbo like me.”
She added: “I don’t judge. You’re paying some of my bills, so yeah, whatever makes you happy.”
(If you have any friends who do sex work even remotely along these lines, you know that it isn’t always a judgment-free zone — but it can be.)
“He would say, ‘Hi Bimbo God. Your boobs are so good. You’re so perfect.’” Raccagno shared. “‘You’re the boss.’”
She added: “He was like, ‘I want to be your slave.’ So I called him Slave Babe. I would strip out of hot bikinis, lingerie, and dresses, and then send him the videos. He loved them. He’d always say they’re hot, they’re sexy.”
According to Raccagno, Bryon spent “$1,500 every month” for her videos, which in turn helped her “pay half my rent.”
She praised: “He would never say no to me. He had to pay for my fillers, my Botox. Whenever I was not looking like a hot bimbo, he would give me money.”
Raccagno added: “I was his bimbo girlfriend, and then I was his bimbo fiancee. He said, ‘hey bimbo God, go pick out some rings. I know you want a diamond ring.’”
Obviously, reports say that Kristi Noem feels humiliated. Some suggest that this is a fitting punishment.
But “public embarrassment” doesn’t really compare to the sort of prison sentence that members of the Trump regime deserve, now is it?
Bryon Noem Spent Thousands on ‘Bimbo Fiancee God’ Fetish Model, She Reveals was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip
By: Corinne Smith, Alaska Beacon
Alaska superintendents, principals and school officials delivered sobering testimony to lawmakers at the Alaska State Capitol last week. They painted a picture of schools struggling to continue to support teachers and students amid budget shortfalls, cuts to programs, teacher shortages, rising costs and increased facility maintenance needs.
Lisa Parady, director of the Alaska Council of School Administrators, the non-profit advocacy and leadership organization that organized the annual fly-in event, said the group is concerned for all the state’s children.
“There’s no room for division,” she said, noting that there are often divides between the needs of urban and rural districts, or districts that are on the road system versus off the road system. “All those need to fall to the wayside when we’re talking about the best interest for our children in Alaska.”
School officials from across the state addressed a joint session of the House and Senate Education Committees on Mar. 30, and presented lawmakers with a list of legislative priorities and challenges for Alaska’s 53 districts and roughly 130,000 students.
Despite a historic raise in per student funding, known as the base student allocation, last year, officials say state funding still does not meet districts’ needs to hire and retain teachers, provide services and programs to students and keep up with maintaining aging school facilities.
To match the pace of inflation since 2011, school administrators said it would require the state to increase funding to the BSA by $1,283. Additionally, they highlighted student transportation costs have exceeded state funding by an estimated $65.5 million.
Several bills are currently being debated in the Legislature that would increase education funding, and a joint legislative task force on education funding is examining long term challenges with recommendations due in 2027.
School leaders’ presentation to lawmakers included research, data and testimony illustrating what the group described as converging crises faced by Alaska schools: teacher shortages, insufficient state funding and budget shortfalls and a growing number of students with disabilities needing special education services.
David Nogg, principal of Goldenview Middle School in Anchorage, highlighted how teacher shortages impact student achievement there.
“High teacher turnover is directly correlated with poor student achievement, and our children are suffering, unfortunately,” said Nogg, who is also president of the Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals, housed within ACSA.
While teacher turnover has been historically high in rural and remote districts, teacher turnover was 30% in urban districts as well, according to 2024 data from the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research.
Nogg pointed to ISER research that found that in the five districts with the lowest teacher turnover, average student proficiency in reading was roughly 85%, while among the five districts with the highest teacher turnover, the average number of students with reading proficiency was roughly 47%.
“An urgent response is needed to address the dire vacancy rates and the need for in-person educators and support personnel across Alaskan schools,” Nogg said.
Researchers estimated the average cost of teacher turnover was $27,000 per teacher, and approximately $75,000 per principal.
“Only one out of every four principals are in the same building after five years,” he said. “This high turnover rate of building principals is costly in dollars, time, relationships and most importantly, the impact on student learning.”
Nogg said his list of responsibilities has grown from managing students, staff and facilities to include additional duties like standing in as school nurse, an experience shared by principals across the state. He said many teachers and school leaders are stretched so thin they’re leaving the state.
According to a survey by ACSA of teachers on their reasons for leaving in Alaska, the No. 1 reason cited was the lack of a defined benefit retirement plan, followed by better job opportunities in other states, high cost of living in Alaska, and uncertainty of education funding.
The group said legislative action to establish and fund a public pension system, with competitive salary and benefits for educators would help retain teachers.
In the meantime, ACSA has created several programs to help districts, teachers and staff with training, professional development and mentorship throughout the state, including the Alaska Staff Development Network and the Alaska School Leadership Academy.
The Alaska Educator Recruitment and Retention Center, also a division of the ACSA, is continuing efforts to support hiring and retention of teachers, said director Jennifer Schmitz, like hosting in-person and virtual job fairs, and marketing campaigns. But there are serious challenges.
“Those are big turnover numbers that we’re looking at,” Schmitz said. “We had 345 positions that were not filled on the first day of school this year.”
There are nearly 600 international teachers working across Alaska districts this year. But with a steep visa fee for the H-1B visa program levied by the Trump administration this year, as well as new restrictions on J-1 visa placements, many districts can’t hire more international teachers, Schmitz said. “So that’s really out of reach for us right now, so we’re working through that with our immigration attorney and helping support districts and finding even finding international teachers who are already in the country, and trying to get them to Alaska.”
Schmitz noted that many international teachers are hired for their expertise in special education.
The number of students in need of special education services is growing, and school districts are struggling to meet the demand, lawmakers heard.
Melissa Matthews, director of student services for the Bering Strait School District and president of Alaska Council of Administrators of Special Education, said districts are hiring contract staff for special education services, at higher costs, which she called a “vacancy tax.”
“We are spending more on work arounds, travel, contracted itinerant staff and temporary staffing than we would on a stable, permanent workforce across Alaska. Districts are doing everything they can to uphold the civil rights of students with disabilities, but we are stretched thin,” she said.
“We need the tools to move forward from simply surviving to truly educating, because an Alaskan student’s civil rights should never depend on whether a district can find a teacher or budget constraints,” she said.
There are nearly 200 vacant special education positions across the state, according to ASCA data, Matthews said.
“These are not optional roles. They are federally required,” she said. “Within the state, we are starting to see schools without a resident special education teacher at all, relying on itinerant staff who fly or commute between sites to supervise and train paraprofessionals who will be providing the specialized services to the student. This increases costs and stretches staff to their limits.”
“It is not a model designed for student success. It is a survival strategy,” she added.
Matthews said since 2021, in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic, ASCA data shows Alaska has seen a 14% increase in the number of students with disabilities, requiring special education services.
She said that districts have to shoulder the legal obligation to meet those students’ needs, which can require increased staff because certain students’ needs require one-on-one settings.
Matthews said districts are also seeing an increase in students entering kindergarten with developmental delays, and urged the state to invest in infant learning programs and early education services to help address those delays and reduce the intensity of special education services required in later years.
Lawmakers passed increased funding for infant learning programs last year, but it was vetoed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
Randy Trani is the superintendent of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, which is facing a projected $23 million budget deficit and planning to close three elementary schools this year. He emphasized the state’s obligation under the Alaska Constitution to fund public education and said districts need predictable funding so educators can focus on student achievement.
He urged lawmakers to increase funding for the BSA and for deferred maintenance of school facilities, where the current statewide backlog is estimated at $535 million.
He said managing turnover and dwindling budgets is taking a toll on superintendents — where they would be focused on academics and school improvements, he said they’re now focused on budget cuts.
“Instead of being the academic leader in chief, we’re now the budget slasher in chief,” he said.
Trani showed lawmakers a slide of Alaska superintendents’ responses to the question of what keeps them up at night. The top three responses were budgets, school facilities, staff capacity, and “wrapping up my current job and preparing for the next job.”
“What’s on our mind, collectively, is budget and money, and you don’t see anything here about academic achievement, and that crushes people. It crushes our leaders,” he said.
Two brown bear cubs cuddle on a riverbank in Katmai National Park and Preserve while their mother fises for salmon in August 2023. Critics of a state predator-control program aimed at boosting the Mulchatna Caribou Herd say the Department of Fish and Game and Board of Game have failed to show sufficient scientific grounds for what could be more years of bear kills in the region. (Photo by F. Jimenez/National Park Service)
With just a few weeks before a renewed state-managed bear killing program is set to start in Western Alaska, conservation groups are seeking a court order to halt it.
The Alaska Wildlife Alliance and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a motion in state Superior Court on Monday requesting an injunction to bar the Alaska Department of Fish and Game from carrying out its planned Mulchatna predator control program this spring.
The motion stems from a lawsuit filed by the groups in November after the Alaska Board of Game reauthorized a Mulchatna predator control program that had previously been overturned by state court rulings.
The plaintiff groups argue the new Board of Game-authorized program, which is set to run through at least 2028, is no better than the previous program that killed 186 brown bears, five black bears and 20 wolves from 2023 to 2025. State officials have not corrected the flaws that led to court rulings that found the program to violate the state constitution, the plaintiffs argue in their new motion.
“Bears are constitutionally protected. The Alaska Constitution requires the Board to ensure that bear populations targeted by a predator control program are managed sustainably. It has been over a year since this Court held that the Board needed credible scientific evidence documenting brown and black bear populations to comply with the constitutional sustained yield requirement,” the motion said. “The Board still does not have that information, and yet it has once again authorized the Department to kill an unlimited number of brown and black bears within the approximately 40,000 square-mile Mulchatna Control Area in Game Management Units 9B, 17A, 17B, 17C, 18, 19A, and 19B.”
Alaska’s game management units are specific geographic areas designated by the Department of Fish and Game. There are 26 broad units, and some of those are divided into subunits. The areas listed in the plaintiffs’ motion are in Western Alaska.
In an emailed statement, Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang said the department has received the latest filling and officials “are reviewing it in consultation with our lawyers.”
The Department of Fish and Game argues that bear culling is necessary to help the ailing Mulchatna caribou herd, which has diminished from a peak of about 200,000 in 1997 to about 12,000 in 2019, according to the department. Hunting of Mulchatna caribou has been closed since 2021.
The department’s goal is to return the herd to a size of 30,000 to 80,000 animals. Its contested predator control program was conducted in the late spring and early summer because that is the season when calves are born and, according to department officials, vulnerable to bear predation; this year’s program is likewise set to start in that season.
Department officials have said the predator removals have already helped the caribou herd, which was estimated at about 16,000 animals last year.
But critics of the program say that scientific justification for the predator control program is lacking. They cite factors other than bear predation, including a change in habitat that has made the terrain less favorable to caribou but more favorable to moose, as likely causes of the herd’s decline. They also say the program puts important bear populations at risk, notably the brown bears of Katmai National Park and Preserve.
“I really want to see the Mulchatna caribou herd grow and thrive, but this unscientific and cruel approach of killing every bear in sight across southwest Alaska can’t be the way forward,” Cooper Freeman, Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “Alaska needs to stop wasting public resources and make wildlife management decisions firmly rooted in science and sustainability.”
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Kendra Duggar is preparing to take over the family business.
Yes, just days after her husband, Joseph Duggar, was released from jail on bond, Kendra is reportedly being trained on how to run the family business in the event that he should wind up going to prison.
As you’ve likely heard by now, Joseph was arrested on child molestation charges last month, and he’s due back in court on April 20.
His trial will take place in Panama City Beach, Florida, so Kendra might wind up running the family business sooner rather than later.
According to People, Kendra has begun handling many of the day-to-day business matters as her family navigates the ongoing situation.
Joseph owns and manages several rental properties — other than reality TV, real estate has always been the Duggars’ biggest hustle — and Kendra is preparing to take the reins.
Insiders say Kendra has assumed a larger role in managing their household finances and business dealings.
People who know the family say this shift hasn’t just been practical — it has been necessary.
Currently, Kendra and Joseph are not allowed to see their four children.
But they’re hoping that will change soon. And Kendra will need some way of supporting her large family.
Despite the gravity of the charges her husband is facing, Kendra’s focus — according to those close to the family — remains on maintaining stability for her kids and household during a difficult time.
And Kendra and Joseph’s real estate holdings may soon be a new source of drama.
As we previously reported, Kendra’s parents are living in a house owned by Joseph.
The situation was all well and good until about a year ago, when Kendra began feuding with her parents for unknown reasons.
In phone conversations that took place while Joseph was in prison, Kendra discussed the possibility of kicking her parents out of their home.
Her folks launched a GoFundMe to help them secure new housing, but they later took the fundraiser down.
We don’t know what their current situation is, but no matter what happens, it’s clear that Kendra is ruthless enough to be a landlord.
Kendra Duggar Prepares to Take Over Joseph’s Business If/When He Goes to Prison was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip
Gabby Barrett has written plenty of songs about her love for her husband Cade Foehner, but now the 26-year-old singer is exploring a side of their relationship deeper than ever before with her unreleased track “Young.”
Fans have seen the lovebirds’ relationship grow from the very start. They first met as contestants on American Idol in 2018 and just a year after their season came to a close, the two announced to the world that they were engaged. At the time they said “I do” on Oct. 5, 2019, Barrett was just 19 and Foehner was 21.
With their seventh anniversary approving this fall, Barrett decided it was finally time to touch on that chapter of her life and the realities of getting married at such a young age.
The tune finds her calling out all the people who had opinions about their decision, citing it was too soon to be that tied down and that they should enjoy being single a bit longer. However, it’s clear that they two of them did not see it that way and that to them, their love story was “Written in the stars.”
Barrett delicately strums her instrument and looks off into the distance as she sings the unreleased tune, “Young, everyone says we’re too young / Supposed to be single and dancing with strangers, waiting on tables / Just starting out, having fun…They say we should just take our time, slow it down / But I didn’t mean to need you like the air that I’m breathing / Baby, you didn’t plan on me now.”
She goes on to reiterate that they do not care about what others think, despite being called “crazy” at times.
“Hey, maybe we are / Yeah, we are,” she sings in response to that accusation. “‘Cause crazy’s how we love / It must be written in the stars / So, what if we are too young?”
In the Instagram caption that Barrett paired with the post she admits, “This wasn’t the ‘smart choice’” but goes on to add that “8 years later,” it all worked out for the best.
Foehner commented, “It’s the ride of a lifetime.”
Even back then the couple knew that this was the right path for them. During a conversation with PEOPLE in 2019, the Pennsylvania native expressed that she was confident in the fact that she had found her person and saw no point in waiting years down the road to make it official.
“It is a blessing to find a husband or wife in this life. Marriage is a profound and special thing, and we are so excited to finally be husband and wife,” she shared.
Fast forward to the present, Barrett and Foehner are now parents to three children: daughter Baylah May, 5, son Augustine Boone, 3, and daughter Ivy Josephine, 2.
In addition to raising their kids, Gabby Barrett has built a successful music career and is gearing up for even more new releases.
The post Gabby Barrett Gets Honest About Getting Married at 19 in Unreleased Track, ‘Young’ appeared first on Country Now.
Country Now
Langley took the call and answered the question. Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
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Obviously, Aubrey Plaza had an awful time last year.
That isn’t the kind of grief that goes away overnight.
However, she has found love again.
And now, she and her partner are reportedly expecting their first child.
On Tuesday, April 7, People reported that the beloved actress is now pregnant with her first child.
Congratulations are in order to Plaza and to her partner, Chris Abbott.
The baby is reportedly due this autumn, so that’s late September at the absolute earliest, mid-December at the latest.
“It was a beautiful surprise after an emotional year,” an inside source told the outlet.
The insider then added that “they feel very blessed.”
Back in March, Plaza reportedly worked to hide the first signs of her baby bump during Paris Fashion Week.
She did wear an oversized leather jacket and other loose-fitting attire to various events.
(Just a quick point of order: baby bumps don’t usually show until 16-20 weeks into a pregnancy, and pregnancies usually only last 40 weeks. That would suggest that Plaza’s due date could not be later than this summer.)
We don’t know a proper due date or any other personal info.
In other words, we know just enough to be happy for Plaza. And, why not, also happy for Abbott.
As a young adult, Plaza was in an 18-month relationship with fellow actor Michael Cera after the two filmed Scott Pilgrim vs The World together.
The two even joked about marrying — with the idea of referring to themselves as divorced at age 20 — but ultimately did not go through with it.
In 2011, she met writer and director Jeff Baena and the two hit it off, beginning a lengthy relationship.
The two married in 2021, ten years after they began dating. In September 2024, the two quietly separated.
Just a few months later, tragedy struck. Baena was found to have died by suicide in his home in the first days of 2025.
Since that time, Plaza began dating Chris Abbott, a fellow actor.
Notably, the two have worked together in the past.
In 2020, they both worked on Black Bear.
And they also collaborated on an off-Broadway Danny and the Deep Blue Sea production.
Is it too silly to refer to a pregnancy as a “collaboration?” Probably. Pregnancies are generally pretty one-sided collaborations.
There was a time — especially about a dozen years ago — when a huge portion of internet men were deeply weird about Plaza.
You know how some people have lost their entire minds about Sydney Sweeney? Like that, but without the really gross political angle.
(Oddly enough, both women have iconic The White Lotus roles. That’s probably just because that show casts extraordinary actors.)
After Baena’s death, some deeply awful people blamed his death on the separation. That’s not true, but it’s also vile to suggest.
Some people will, inevitably, be very weird about Plaza’s pregnancy. Hopefully, we as a society can keep it at a minimum.
Aubrey Plaza: Reportedly Pregnant With First Child! was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip
