The history of the word ‘redneck’ is truly a wild ride. Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
Month: June 2026
The history of the word ‘redneck’ is truly a wild ride. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
Lockers line the halls of Ben Eielson Junior Senior High School on April 22, 2024. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)
Alaska school districts that have grown to rely on international teacher hires are likely to do without them this year, even after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s fee hikes for highly skilled worker visas on Monday.
The Trump administration raised the fee from $5,000 to $100,000 last September, which put Alaska school districts’ international teacher hiring on hold. Districts have increasingly relied on international hiring to fill an ongoing teacher shortage across the state, particularly in rural and remote districts. The nearly 2,000% cost increase put the visas out of reach for districts that are already facing severe budget deficits and school closures.
Lisa Parady, executive director of the Alaska Council of School Administrators, a non-profit leadership and advocacy group that supports districts in hiring, said the court ruling was welcome news. However, she said there is concern the federal government could appeal and reinstate the fee.
“So that puts us in a really hard place. We are thrilled because we believe this is the right interpretation of the law, and we really hope that it will be sustained, and that the government will not be able to get a stay or would lose in an appeal, but in the meantime we’re still a little bit in limbo,” she said.
She said that school districts are unlikely to hire through the H-1B visa program now, due to the risk of losing tens of thousands of dollars of application processing fees if the federal government appeals the court decision successfully.
“The chance of taking a risk of losing those fees, if they could submit now, is just a risk. And I think our districts are largely risk averse because they don’t have those kinds of funds to take risks with,” she said.
Jennifer Schmitz, director of the Alaska Educator Recruitment and Retention Center, a division of the Alaska Council of School Administration, said some districts previously lost processing fees and even new international hires from the Philippines when the Trump administration enacted the increased visa fee last fall.
“Most districts are going to want to wait and watch over the next month or two and see what happens, and then maybe move forward,” she said.
Currently, roughly 570 international teachers are working in Alaska via the visa program. And there are over 1,200 teacher and staff openings in Alaska posted on a job board run by the Alaska Educator Retention and Recruitment Center.
The H-1B visa is valid for six years. As those Alaska-based teachers’ visas expire in the next several years, Parady said Alaska schools will reach a crisis point for hiring.
“We’re going to be in a full-blown crisis, because we don’t have people standing in line to fill those positions,” she said. “We have been operating in the largest crisis and educator shortage in America, and at the local level in Alaska’s the worst crisis we’ve ever seen. And so while we aren’t feeling the full effect of those not being available to districts, we’re going to. Unless this terrain changes.”
The Alaska Legislature unanimously passed a resolution in May that urges the Trump administration to waive the steep visa fee to allow the continued recruitment and hiring of international teachers.
Last year, Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski introduced legislation to create an educator exemption from the increased fee. After the Monday ruling, her office said she will continue to work with the U.S. Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin to create an administrative waiver from the fee to help bring teachers to Alaska.
“I will continue working to eliminate this fee permanently so that Alaska’s students are receiving the best education possible, regardless of the outcome of future legal challenges,” she said in a social media post on Monday.
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Back in August of 2025, Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi adopted a baby girl.
So the Stranger Things star is already a mom.
But if everything goes according to plan, her family is far from complete.
Millie opened up this week about motherhood, adoption, and her hopes for the future, revealing that while she still hopes to experience pregnancy one day.
Appearing on Kylie Kelce’s “Not Gonna Lie” podcast, Millie explained that adoption wasn’t some backup plan or last-minute decision.
In fact, she says it’s something she dreamed about since childhood.
“Always, always wanted to adopt,” she shared (via People), recalling that even her childhood dolls were “adopted” in her imagination rather than biological children.
The actress and Bongiovi announced last summer that they had welcomed a baby girl through adoption, describing the experience as the beginning of a beautiful new chapter for their family.
Since then, the couple has remained fiercely protective of their daughter’s privacy, declining to reveal her name or show her face publicly.
Brown made it clear that adoption doesn’t mean she’s closed the door on having biological children.
Quite the opposite, actually.
“It’s not because I don’t want that,” she said when discussing carrying a child herself. “Hopefully one day that’s in my future.”
The 22-year-old explained that she spent years learning about adoption, birth mothers, and the social work side of the process before she and Jake ultimately decided to move forward.
She added that adoption wasn’t simply a way to start a family. Rather, it was something she felt deeply passionate about.
“Adoption is love, adoption is forever,” Millie said.
Of course, becoming a mother at such a young age has also brought plenty of criticism.
Because this is 2026, and the internet simply cannot let people live their lives as they see fit.
Elsewhere in the interview, Brown revealed that she’s been shocked by the judgment she’s received from other women since becoming a parent.
“I was like, ‘This is vicious. You are vicious.’ And I don’t have time for angry women that just need to feel like they need to bring you down, especially when it comes to motherhood. I’ve never experienced anything like this,” she said.
But thankfully, all that harsh judgment has not dissuaded Millie from expanding her family.
The actress has talked for years about wanting a large brood. Both she and Jake (the son of rock legend Jon Bon Jovi) come from families with four children, and she’s repeatedly said she hopes to follow a similar path.
For now, however, Brown seems focused on enjoying life with her daughter and navigating the challenges of first-time motherhood.
And judging by the way she talks about her family, it’s safe to say she’s loving every minute of it.
Millie Bobby Brown Says She’s Still Hoping to Give Birth Some Day After Adopting … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip
As refreshing as watermelon is – with or without salt – a sprinkle of this antioxidant-rich spice can make summer’s sweet treat even better.
Mashed – Fast Food, Celebrity Chefs, Grocery, Reviews
Billy Ray Cyrus is opening up about one of the darkest chapters of his life in a new interview.
During a recent in-depth interview with PEOPLE, the “Achy Breaky Heart” singer shared that he was going through a serious battle with sepsis in 2024 that nearly claimed his life.
“I got really sick and almost died,” Cyrus admitted to the outlet.
While making frequent trips in and out of the hospital, Cyrus said he turned to prayer for strength. He would spend hours at home kneeling beside his dog, Tommy Jack, at what he calls his “prayer rock,” asking God for a miracle. According to Cyrus, he spent so much time there that the constant pressure left a permanent white mark on his knee.
“I started getting on that rock every morning, every day, every sunset, every night…I was like, ‘God, please, I need a miracle. I need a miracle.’ Tommy Jack would be sitting there with me going, ‘He needs a miracle. He needs a miracle. Please, he needs a miracle.’”
It turned out that his prayers were answered because just before he prepared to go in for one more surgery, his doctors told him, “Mr. Cyrus, it’s gone. It healed.”
Throughout that difficult journey of multiple hospital visits, a loss of his voice, and an uncertain future, Cyrus said Noah’s recording of “Don’t Put It All On Me,” a track written by his son, Braison Cyrus, became his source of comfort and hope.
“She’s got that one song honestly that saved my life. It’s called ‘Don’t Put It All On Me’. Braison wrote that and that was I think one of the only songs on her album that was not written by her. Braison wrote it and she cut it,” he explained.
Cyrus admits he listened to the song so often he became “addicted”
“It was the only thing that somehow gave me a little bit of peace in that moment…I just loved it so much and to me, that’s what it felt like. And I do credit that particular song was saving me. It’s part of it, for sure.”
The health issues left him struggling to sing or even speak, but after experiencing that first miracle, Cyrus discovered a newfound source of strength to get back up and start dreaming again. This led him to record his duet with Noah titled, “On Our Way Along,” which arrived back in April.
“The oddest part about it is that was the beginning of Braison saying, ‘Dad, I don’t know what’s going on with your voice, but this is the most I’ve ever loved your singing.’ And him and Noah started comparing it to some of Larry Cohen, Johnny Cash. They started comparing it to some really great sounds that Kris Kristofferson, one of them had mentioned.”
Cyrus went on to challenge himself not only through the new album he’s building out, but also his time on The Masked Singer in February 2026 as the “Owl” in Season 14. Eventually, his voice came back to him, something he credits to “God’s timing.”
@maskedsingerfox No need to wonder “who” any longer — #OwlMask‘s just been revealed as @Billy Ray Cyrus!🦉🎶 Watch his major unmasking and performances on #TheMaskedSinger, streaming on @hulu ♬ original sound – The Masked Singer
Now Billy Ray Cyrus has not just one new collection of songs in the works that he feels very strongly about, but several. This upcoming set of music is expected to be a look back on the emotions he endured through divorce, finding a new love with actress Elizabeth Hurley, repairing his relationship with his family and coming back to music.
“I love this music and I feel really, really like a full plate of what this music is. And even I’ve written so many new songs with new stuff. I’ve got two or three albums in the can…I’m up to speed on the music and I love it right now and going out on tour and playing, taking it to the people, that’s a fun part. But I also got some creative things that I want to do and acting in particular right now.”
Billy Ray’s forthcoming album, The Hill, is set to arrive on June 16. This will mark his first new record in 14 years. He also has several performances on the books throughout June and July.
The post Billy Ray Cyrus Reveals He ‘Almost Died’ In 2024 appeared first on Country Now.
Country Now
‘Farmer Wants a Wife’ Season 2 wrapped in 2024 and now the question is, which couples are still together?
Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
‘Farmer Wants a Wife’ Season 2 wrapped in 2024 and now the question is, which couples are still together?
Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
If you’re just going to Cracker Barrel for a sit-down meal, then you’re missing out on the entire store section of the chain, from boxed mixes to retro sodas.
Food Republic – Restaurants, Reviews, Recipes, Cooking Tips
For nearly four years, Ken Salazar — the U.S. ambassador to Mexico under former President Joe Biden — grew increasingly frustrated with the White House’s border plan.
Salazar says he begged for a “border czar” to run point on interagency coordination; he never got one, and instead, the moniker was inaccurately and problematically affixed to then-Vice President Kamala Harris. He asked for the White House to openly call it a border “crisis”; the designation came too late.
Salazar became so distraught that by July 2024, three weeks after Biden’s disastrous presidential debate performance, he decided to take matters into his own hands: “I should run for president,” Salazar told himself, according to his forthcoming book, a copy of which POLITICO obtained before its July 28 release date.
“There was political failure to understand the reality of the crisis at the border, and the political consequence it would have on Democrats in the 2024 election,” Salazar told POLITICO.
Salazar doesn’t want his party to repeat the past. His book, Borderlands: My Fight for an Inclusive America, is part-memoir, part-manifesto. Salazar — the former Interior secretary, Democratic U.S. senator, and Colorado attorney general — makes a case for what he calls “a new North American alliance,” in which the U.S., Canada and Mexico integrate their supply chains, jointly patrol their shared borders and promote cultural and educational exchanges. He sees it as a revival of former President John F. Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress.
But the book is also a warning to future 2028 Democratic presidential candidates.
Salazar is positioning himself as his party’s immigration whisperer, meeting with presidential hopefuls and pitching them on his “borderlands platform,” which says the U.S.’ borders are “broken” and “must be fixed.” He said in an interview that he’s already met with Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego about his plan, and he has a meeting scheduled with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. (Spokespeople for Kelly, Gallego and Pritzker did not respond to requests for comment.)
Salazar never followed through with his plan of running for president in 2024. Although he dialed up advisers and operatives and drafted out a platform, the Democratic Party did not hold a mini-primary to choose its new nominee after Biden dropped out. Instead, Biden hand-picked his successor, Harris — a decision Salazar calls a “mistake.”
Salazar writes that he consistently petitioned the White House to create a “border czar” position, allowing someone in Washington to run point on the interagency response to the immigration crisis. Harris, as vice president, had been tasked with addressing “root causes” of migration, and she devoted her efforts to addressing corruption in Central America. Salazar saw that as insufficient: “But sadly, her designation in this position was having no effect on migration flows,” he writes. He pressed several White House officials, and even Biden himself, to create the position. The designation never came.
“[Harris] had been placed in charge of getting at the ‘root causes’ of migration, but many felt she had been ineffective,” Salazar writes, suggesting perhaps she hadn’t been given enough authority or felt that taking more responsibility on the issue would be “political suicide.” “For whatever reason, she had been unable to help with the border and migration crisis, even though she’d sat next door to the Oval Office for almost four years.”
A spokesperson for Biden declined to comment, and a spokesperson for Harris did not respond to a request for comment.
Salazar’s book arrives at a moment when Americans view President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement with widespread pessimism. A POLITICO Poll in April showed that half of Americans — including one quarter of his 2024 voters — said Trump’s mass deportations campaign is too aggressive. But his border policy is still viewed favorably, and Americans still broadly trust Republicans over Democrats on immigration — a fact some Democrats chalk up to a “Biden hangover.”
It’s likely to kickstart a fresh round of recriminations within the Democratic Party, on the heels of former first lady Jill Biden’s new memoir detailing her husband’s exit from the 2024 campaign. Joe Biden is also expected to release a new book soon, though a spokesperson clarified that “the release date has not been finalized.”
Salazar, in his book, is candid about the failures of the previous administration — and how those shortcomings provided a window for Trump to ride a wave of voter frustration with immigration enforcement back into office.
His administration colleagues disappointed him on other fronts. In October 2023, when former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas visited Mexico, Salazar notes he pushed him for a consistent, White House-driven message on the border crisis. (“We used the word ‘crisis’ freely and often,” Salazar writes, “even if at that time the White House refused to acknowledge it as such.”) Salazar claims Mayorkas told him: “Ken, I have a lot on my plate already. I’m about to be impeached for all this border stuff. The Republicans have it out for me.”
Mayorkas declined to comment about Salazar’s characterization.
Salazar’s consistent efforts, and failures, to garner buy-in from the White House on addressing the border crisis led him to question how seriously his Democratic colleagues took the issue and how well they understood the U.S.’ relationship with Mexico. “I’m not sure this administration knows what they’re doing,” Salazar told his wife at the tail end of Biden’s visit to Mexico in 2023.
Finally, in June 2024, Biden issued an executive order that effectively closed the southern border, which Salazar cheered as a success. “This should have been a moment of vindication — after all, American voters were demanding action on the border — but it was too late, and images of an out-of-control border would dominate the closing months of the presidential election,” Salazar writes. (Last month, Mayorkas also implied the Biden administration should have taken that action sooner.)
The border was “antiquated, under-resourced, underdeveloped, insecure, and broken,” Salazar adds. “In this, Trump had been correct.”
It’s a warning sign to Salazar’s party both in this year’s midterm cycle and in 2028: Downplay voters’ concerns on immigration and the border at your own peril.
Salazar’s hope is that the Democratic Party’s next standard-bearer will take up his “borderlands” platform, which places the impetus for border enforcement upon all three North American countries. If no one does, though, he isn’t closing the door on a run himself.
Asked three times by POLITICO if he’s considering a presidential bid in 2028, he demurred. “I can’t see the future beyond the reality that we have a November 2026 election, and a lot’s going to happen this year,” he said. “Looking ahead, I want this borderlands platform to be part of that agenda for the future.”
Eric Bazail-Eimil contributed.
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