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Month: May 2026
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Baby Sprouse is officially on the way.
Yes, Dylan Sprouse and wife Barbara Palvin are expecting their first child together!
The longtime couple is preparing to become parents, with TMZ reporting that the baby is due sometime around August or September.
The couple appeared to quietly confirm the happy news while attending the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where Palvin debuted what appeared to be a baby bump on the red carpet.
The model wore a light blue gown and posed alongside Sprouse, who looked every bit the proud husband during the outing.
For fans who have followed their relationship, the update likely comes as no surprise.
Sprouse and Palvin first started dating in 2018 after initially connecting the year before. Their romance steadily grew away from the usual celebrity circus, with the pair establishing themselves as one of Hollywood’s more low-key couples.
They got engaged in 2022 before tying the knot in Palvin’s native Hungary in 2023.
The baby news also arrives just weeks after a frightening incident at the couple’s Los Angeles home.
Back in April, a trespasser allegedly entered the property they share, prompting a police response after Palvin reportedly called authorities.
Multiple outlets reported that Sprouse confronted the alleged intruder before officers arrived. Thankfully, neither Sprouse nor Palvin was harmed.
Rather than letting the scary ordeal overwhelm them, the couple later revealed they were coping with humor.
“It’s dealing with the trauma with jokes and fun,” Palvin said while discussing the incident.
Sprouse echoed that approach, adding: “We’re laughing about things the moment they happen. You got to have levity in life.”
Now, thankfully, the headlines surrounding the pair are considerably happier.
For our readers of a certain age, it might feel like just yesterday that Dylan was starring on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. Now he’s about to enter a very different kind of sweet life: parenthood.
Dylan and Barbara have always been pretty low-profile (by celebrity couple standards), so it comes as no surprise that their announcement consisted of nothing more than a bump debut during a stylish Cannes appearance.
Congratulations to the growing family!
Barbara Palvin & Dylan Sprouse Expecting First Child (And Yes, We Feel Old) was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip
Vincent Mason continues to rack up the milestones one day at a time. This week, he notched yet another major moment in his career when he made his late-night TV debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
The rising country act took to the stage to perform his breakout hit, “Damned If I Do,” off his debut album, There I Go. After being introduced by Fallon, Mason emerged in a smokey setting with just his silhouette illuminated by the array of bright lights. He eventually made his way to the mic, guitar in hand, and delivered the heartbreak-fueled track.
Co-written by the Georgia native alongside Jacob Hackworth and Lauren Hungate, “Damned If I Do” finds Mason stripping things back emotionally, leaning into a more vulnerable side as he unpacks the aftermath of heartbreak. His smooth, commanding vocals capture the inner conflict of trying to move forward while still being pulled back into memories he can’t quite let go of
“Damn right I’m a damn mess/ In the same damn spot as the night you left/ Hall of fame heartbreaker/ Damned if you ain’t the best/ Ripped the damn thing right out my chest/ Don’t know how I’m supposed to cut you loose/ Don’t know how I’m gonna let you go/ Damned if I do, damned if I don’t/ Get over you, so I guess I won’t,” Mason sings, laying it all out on the raw and unfiltered chorus.
The powerful performance ended in a roar of applause and some serious hype from Jimmy Fallon.
Prior to stepping in front of the audience, Vincent Mason was surprised with a plaque commemorating the recent RIAA Gold certification of “Damned If I Do.” This celebratory moment took place backstage surrounded by members of his family and team. On Top of earning the certification, the track also made its debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week.
As the track continues to heat up, fans have also gotten their hands on Mason’s latest single, “Don’t Ask Me,” a mid-tempo track that once again dives into the emotions that come from a heavy breakup. He paints a picture of a man navigating the pain by replaying what he could’ve done differently and wondering if anything might’ve changed the outcome.
Vincent Mason’s emotional storytelling emerges on a completely different level throughout his live performances. He is currently gearing up to close out his headlining There I Go Tour this weekend, with his final shows taking place on May 14 in New York, NY and in Boston, MA on May 15.
Alongside his own headline dates, Mason is also touring with Morgan Wallen, Parker McCollum, and Thomas Rhett throughout the year.
The post Vincent Mason Makes Late-Night TV Debut With a Performance of ‘Damned If I Do’ on ‘The Tonight Show’ appeared first on Country Now.
Country Now
Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Speedway, Ind.) — Pato O’Ward has famously found himself in contention to win the Indianapolis 500. He’s led during the last lap. But not at the finish line. O’Ward has led 95 laps in his six Indy 500 starts, and the Arrow McLaren No. 5 driver has nine career victories in the series. But none have come in the Indy 500. So what makes the Indy 500 so hard to win? “It goes greater than just driving the race car,” O’Ward told me and other reporters this week. “It goes through seven pit stops. It goes through an ever-changing strategy. It goes through the timing [of moves], the timing that I still have to get right. “And there’s so many things that are out of your control that can throw it upside down. But at the end of the day, it is up to us inside of the race cars to try and just get ourselves into that opportunity to make it happen.” An opportunity. That’s what the drivers seek at Indianapolis. And then they hope, in some ways, a little bit of racing luck falls their way. From driver to driver, they talk about how this race is different than any other. And it isn’t just the fact that more than 300,000 people will be at the track for the sold-out race on May 24 (12:30 p.m. ET on FOX). For the last few years, drivers have not raced on an oval 1.5 miles or bigger. That makes the 2.5-mile IMS oval much larger than any other race they run all year. They don’t run 500 miles anywhere else, meaning more pit stops. So what they learn one year, they can’t apply to any other track, meaning it takes a year to learn. It took Josef Newgarden 12 starts in the race to win it — his 27th career victory in the series. The Team Penske No. 2 driver then won again in his 13th and appeared to be in position to win in his 14th last year before a mechanical issue ended his day. “If we get an opportunity like we did last year, I think we’ll be in a good spot,” Newgarden told me and other reporters this week. “Every year is different, though. There’s maybe not been as many changes year over year, but I think you’ve just got to be open to the possibility to that what worked last year might not work this year.” Alexander Rossi won as a rookie in 2016. He’s been trying to earn that second victory since then. [WHO TO ROOT FOR? Guide To Choosing Your Favorite INDYCAR Driver] What makes this race so hard to win? “You should ask Scott [Dixon] that,” Rossi told me and other reporters last month. “He’s one of the best drivers of our generation, and he only has one as well. There’s just so many variables and things out of your control and it’s a very particular race.” Scott Dixon has won the pole three times since his 2008 victory, which came in his sixth start. The Chip Ganassi Racing No. 9 driver will make his 18th start this year in looking for that second win. Oh, and Dixon — the six-time INDYCAR champion — also has led more laps (677) than any other driver in race history. “Even if you have a perfect day, it only gives you a chance,” Dixon told me and other reporters. “It’s a longer race. Everybody’s pushing everything to the limit, whether that’s the driver or on the mechanical side, or on the engineering side, strategy side. “And then, like anything on ovals, it can be a, a late-race caution that could flip everything on its head as well. So some things are in your control and some things are out of your control. As far as you look at a three-hour, one-day event, it’s probably the hardest one.” Ovals. For drivers who grew up in the European formula system and move to INDYCAR, they don’t have much experience racing ovals. There are five oval tracks on this year’s schedule — Phoenix, WWTR Gateway (St. Louis), Nashville, Milwaukee and Indy. Christian Lundgaard won the race Saturday on the IMS road course. But the Arrow McLaren No. 7 driver isn’t considered a favorite this weekend because he is rarely a contender on ovals. Lundgaard told me and other reporters that his competitors have told him once it clicks for him on an oval, he will run better. “Phoenix was a big disappointment in many ways,” Lundgaard said about the March race. “The test [in February] was never really the same for me as the race was. “There’s no time out there where I’m uncomfortable. … It is just that feel of you need to be comfortable in the uncomfortable and just put the car in different positions and different places to really figure out what it’s doing. And I think some people are happier to do that than others.” [POWER RANKINGS: Christian Lundgaard Leaps After Sonsio Grand Prix Win] Helio Castroneves is more than happy to do that. He has won four Indianapolis 500s. He won his first two and then needed seven more races to earn a third and then 12 more to win a fourth. Driving an extra entry for Meyer Shank Racing, Castroneves looks to capture a victory on the sport’s biggest stage (by the way, he’s used to big other stages as a Dancing With The Stars winner in 2007). “I refuse to hear people say that you can’t do it, and I’m just going to work extremely hard and put all the little details together,” Castroneves told me and other reporters as he talked about what makes this race hard as he goes for a record fifth. “And I think that’s where I’m good at it.” Every driver says the issue is they can put all those little details together and still not win. Will Power won in his 11th start in 2018. This will be his eighth attempt at earning another and his first start for the Andretti Global No. 26 driver. “It’s so complicated with how much goes into it,” Power told me and other reporters last month. “You could name 10 different reasons why you didn’t win the past 10 races here. “It’s unpredictable. You never know what’s going to happen on race day. I think the lesson would be, is to be there at the end in that front group. That’s, if I was to tell myself something over the last 10 times I’ve done this, is you’ve got to get to the end and be at the front.” That’s exactly where four-time INDYCAR Series champion Alex Palou found himself last year. “You need to have a fast car, but only having a fast car doesn’t mean anything,” Palou told me and other reporters. “You need to have great pits, but only having that doesn’t mean anything. … It’s such a long race with so many pit stops and things that continue to change that you need to be able to react wherever you are.” Palou is used to winning by leading most of the laps in his Chip Ganassi Racing No. 10 car. At Indianapolis, in a 200-lap, 500-mile race, there will be times when a driver ends up outside the top-10. “It’s not like a straightforward race where you’re top-three and you do a good pit stop and you win,” Palou said. “It’s more of like, ‘Hey, you might be leading, but then you’re 15th four-wide on the outside, and you need to survive that. “There’s so many things that can go wrong, and as soon as one of those don’t go right, you cannot win.” Marcus Ericsson knows that. He won in his fourth Indy 500 start. But he has been close to winning two of the last three. His failure to win hasn’t come from a lack of effort. “There are so many things that you have to get right, and even when you do get everything right, it’s still not over until it’s over,” Ericsson told me and other reporters here at Indianapolis. “So it’s a tough race to win. “And it’s the race you work all year-round, or at least I do, to try and figure out how I can be better here, how I can execute better, how I can minimize mistakes — how I can just get back to Victory Lane, basically. So it’s what drives me, and I think many others.” Which brings us back to O’Ward, who, as the commercials have shown, has had his heart ripped out here at Indy. A driver can find himself in position and then must do everything right in the final laps. “[You must choose] when to make a pass, when you choose to back up to [someone] — and a yellow can come out because some other guy decided to put it in the wall,” O’Ward said. “Or you do [that move] too early, and they get you back. “I feel like I’ve had it all happen to me.”Latest Sports News from FOX Sports
Is country music in the middle of a full-on, female-led comedy renaissance? Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
Is country music in the middle of a full-on, female-led comedy renaissance? Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
MANILA, PHILIPPINES – MARCH 10: The USAID logo is seen on a machine that processes recycled plastic into construction blocks at the Pasig Eco Hub, a project impacted by the Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid, on March 10, 2025 in Pasig, Metro Manila, Philippines. The recent suspension of USAID funding by the Trump administration has resulted in the loss of at least $69.7 million (approximately PHP 4.06 billion) in aid programs across the Philippines, affecting 39 ongoing projects spanning environmental conservation, health initiatives, disaster response, and education—some of which were set to continue until 2029. Among the impacted projects is the Pasig Eco Hub, a USAID-funded waste management facility, which shut down due to financial constraints, with USAID funding cuts further disrupting its recycling and sustainability programs. (Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)
The Trump administration’s so-called “America First Global Health Strategy” turns one of the most effective and humane tools of U.S. foreign policy into an instrument of coercion. We now condition lifesaving health aid on concessions from vulnerable countries and replace partnership with exploitation, thus undermining both American values and long-term national interests.
Throughout the 20th and into the 21st century, American resources were deployed to provide relief to countless millions throughout the world. Think Herbert Hoover in the aftermath of World War I, the Marshall Plan after World War II and the later formation of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). These initiatives were driven by both genuine concern for the wellbeing of others, but also enlightened self-interest. Stable and healthy nations were less likely to wage war. American aid benefited the American economy that produced the tools and the agricultural products that were the foundation for this aid.
For decades, U.S. foreign assistance has represented a tiny share of federal spending — about one percent of the budget — but has delivered outsized benefits. It has helped contain infectious diseases before they reach our shores, stabilized fragile regions and built goodwill that strengthens diplomatic relationships while saving millions of lives at relatively low cost.
Trump has abandoned any pretense of foreign aid altruism, replacing it with a sullied quid pro quo. The new approach abandons that framework. It was previewed in his dealings with Ukraine when he conditioned continued military assistance to that country on mineral concessions before simply insisting that other NATO members buy American weaponry and transfer these to Ukraine. Trump now applies this sinister transactional approach to medical aid to some of the poorest countries in the world.
According to reporting in The New York Times and the Associated Press and analysis by Public Citizen, the administration has pressed some 30 countries in Africa and Latin America to sign agreements granting the United States access to sensitive health data and valuable natural resources as a condition for receiving even minimal health assistance. These are not routine bilateral arrangements negotiated on equal footing. They are ultimatums delivered to countries facing urgent public health crises.
Consider Zambia, where the administration has reportedly weighed a $2 billion deal withholding, among other things, HIV treatment support affecting over one million people unless the country expands U.S. access to its mineral resources. In short, it is leveraging human lives for economic gain. In other cases, countries are being asked to provide viral samples and health data without assurances that resulting vaccines or treatments will be shared equitably. This raises profound ethical concerns and threatens to erode global cooperation in disease surveillance — cooperation that is essential to preventing the next pandemic. Not surprisingly, certain governments, among them Ghana, Zimbabwe and Kenya, have rejected the overtures, having concluded that the trade-offs are too high a price.
The moral problem is obvious. Conditioning lifesaving aid on unrelated concessions exploits desperation. It echoes a discredited era when powerful nations extracted wealth from poorer ones under the guise of assistance. The United States should not revive that model, particularly in the realm of global health, where trust and transparency are indispensable.
The strategic costs are just as serious. The perception that U.S. aid is transactional and predatory will diminish cooperation on data sharing, early warning systems, and joint research. That makes Americans less safe, not more. Furthermore, foreign policy conducted through secret deals that trade public health for private advantage invites abuse and evades democratic accountability. Congress cannot exercise meaningful oversight if it is kept in the dark, and the public cannot assess policies whose consequences include preventable illness and death.
Proponents may argue that tying aid to economic or strategic benefits simply reflects realism. But realism properly understood recognizes that power is not only measured in transactions. It is also measured in credibility, alliances, and the willingness of others to cooperate in times of crisis. A policy that saves pennies while sacrificing trust is not pragmatic; it is shortsighted.
The United States can pursue its interests without abandoning its principles. That means maintaining robust global health programs that are transparent, evidence-based, and grounded in mutual benefit. It means supporting equitable access to the fruits of medical research. And it means rejecting the premise that the lives of people in poorer countries can be used as bargaining chips. When the U.S. conditions lifesaving care on extractive concessions, it diminishes the nation’s moral standing, weakens its strategic position, and endangers global health. Congress should demand full disclosure of these agreements, prohibit coercive conditions on humanitarian aid, and reaffirm a simple proposition: that American leadership is strongest when it aligns power with principle.
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Vance takes fraud fight to Maine
BANGOR, Maine — Vice President JD Vance took his fraud-fighting tour to Maine on Thursday, attempting to cast President Donald Trump and Republicans as responsible stewards of Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars in a pivotal purple state swing district.
The speech provided an opportunity for Vance — one of the administration’s top communicators — to throw out red meat to the MAGA base. He blasted Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, blaming a rise in fraud in the state on her and former President Joe Biden. He claimed Maine was “maybe the bronze medalist” for fraud in the U.S., trailing only Minnesota and California.
“Thankfully, one of them has already been kicked to the curb and one is on her way out the door,” Vance said, speaking in a hangar at the Bangor airport steps away from Air Force Two.
But hanging heavy over Vance’s remarks — and unsaid in them — was the growing discontent voters feel as Trump’s war with Iran propels inflation to a three-year high, and the White House pushes for an unprecedented $1.5 trillion in Pentagon funding from taxpayers.
Gontran Jean, who came to see Vance speak, told POLITICO he’s “not happy about” rising prices stemming from the war — but added, “we don’t really have a choice.” He said he would back Vance if he runs for president in 2028.
Vance also used his visit to offer an olive branch to Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins — a frequent Trump critic who earlier this week voted with Democrats to try and rein in Trump’s war powers. Back in January, Trump thrashed Collins and other Republican senators who voted with Democrats to curtail his Venezuela incursion, saying they “should never be elected to office again.”
Collins wasn’t present for Vance’s trip, with a spokesperson citing her perfect attendance for Senate votes. But Vance wasn’t bothered — and even heaped praise on the moderate senator.
“Here’s the thing I’ll say about Susan Collins, is sometimes I get frustrated with Susan Collins, I almost wish that she was more partisan,” Vance said. “But the thing I love about Susan is she is independent, because Maine is an independent state. And frankly, if she was as partisan as I sometimes wish that she was, she would not be a good fit for the people of Maine.”
It’s the latest example of a needle Vance attempts to thread between Trump’s impulses and the political realities on the ground. Collins faces a tight-looking general election contest with populist Democratic candidate Graham Platner that could partly decide the balance of the Senate.
Vance’s speech was also the latest in a series of recent visits the presumed MAGA heir made to key states ahead of a potential 2028 presidential bid, including Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina and Arizona. Vance maintains he’s thinking only about the present and not future political ambitions.
Bangor sits in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, which broke for Trump by more than 9 points in 2024 but has been held by Democratic Rep. Jared Golden since 2019. Last year, Golden announced he would not run for reelection, opening up a crowded primary for Democrats and a seat Republicans tabbed as a high chance to flip despite mounting headwinds for the party.
Vance in his remarks shouted out Paul LePage, Maine’s former Republican governor and the frontrunner in the district, and used the opportunity to hammer home his fraud-busting message.
The vice president called LePage “the biggest advocate for your tax dollars and the biggest threat to fraudsters that ever existed in the state of Maine.” Vance said “fraud has festered in Maine because this guy is no longer the governor.” In his speech before Vance took the stage, LePage vowed a renewed push to end fraud, which received raving enthusiasm from the audience.
“Let’s kick Janet Mills to the curb, and let’s send Paul LePage to Washington,” Vance said.
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