According to multiple reports, an intruder managed to bypass security at NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza studios on Thursday morning before confronting host Craig Melvin in a restricted area.
The man allegedly lunged at Melvin while shouting a racial slur, prompting a swift response from security and police.
Craig Melvin attends The National Board of Review Annual Awards Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on January 07, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for National Board of Review)
Fortunately, no one was physically injured.
Law enforcement sources say the incident unfolded shortly after 9 a.m. when a 41-year-old man entered an unauthorized area near Studio 1A.
The suspect reportedly asked staff members for Al Roker before encountering Melvin instead.
According to TMZ, the suspect, who has been identified as Andrew Truelove, was subdued when security personnel and an NYPD officer working at Rockefeller Center quickly intervened and took the man into custody.
The investigation into the incident remains ongoing.
In a statement released after the incident, NBC confirmed there had been a security breach at the Today studio.
“There was a security incident this morning at the Today show studio,” the network said.
“An individual entered an unauthorized area in a vestibule near Studio 1A. The person approached anchor Craig Melvin, who alerted security.”
NBC added that the suspect was detained by law enforcement “without further incident,” stressing that “there was no altercation, and no one was injured.”
The network also said it is cooperating with authorities while reviewing its security procedures.
“NBC and TODAY take the safety and security of our employees, talent, staff and guests extremely seriously,” the statement continued.
“We are reviewing the incident and our security protocols and remain committed to providing a safe and secure environment for everyone who works at and visits our studios.”
Although the frightening encounter reportedly caused Melvin to miss the opening moments of the show’s third hour, he returned to the broadcast later that morning and did not publicly address what had happened on-air.
Al Roker and Dylan Dreyer also resumed the program after the incident.
The security breach has nevertheless raised serious questions about how an unauthorized individual was able to gain access to a restricted area inside one of television’s most recognizable studios.
Thankfully, the situation ended without physical injuries. It was a fortunate outcome in what could have been a far more tragic incident.
The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority could acquire a 30-square-mile parcel of state land in the Mat-Su. (Photo by Nathaniel Herz/Northern Journal)
Alaska’s economic development agency is envisioning a new industrial park with data centers and a freight hub on a 30-square-mile parcel of state land just north of the thinly settled city of Houston, in the Mat-Su region some 60 road miles north of Anchorage.
The new plans from AIDEA, whose other development projects around the state have sometimes prompted harsh backlash, could “foster job creation, attract private investment, and support long-term economic development opportunities in the Mat-Su region,” spokesperson Robyn Reyes said in an email Tuesday.
Multiple aspects of AIDEA’s proposal are a good fit for the area, according to some local officials. But the data center idea is already prompting concerns, as are the potential impacts of the industrial park on a vast network of trails used for mushing and other recreation.
“A development like this? If they take away all of that wildlife and recreational trails, that’s it — we don’t get any of that back,” said Lisa Johansen, a Houston City Council member who has already proposed a ban on data centers within city limits.
The proposed “noncompetitive sale” by the Department of Natural Resources to AIDEA was first announced last week after AIDEA filed an initial application in December, according to a state land database. The parcel sits northeast of the Parks Highway, with a connecting road splitting off roughly 1.5 miles north of Houston’s Three Bears convenience store.
Asked about the sale, department spokesperson Lorraine Henry shared a brief statement saying the agency is inviting public comment on the preliminary decision through Aug. 19.
In a 41-page decision document released last week, the department said AIDEA’s proposed development would include a logistics hub near the Alaska Railroad and the Parks Highway; transmission infrastructure for utilities such as electricity and natural gas; “advanced manufacturing pads”; and “scalable data centers” that would use the utilities.
AIDEA’s project, the decision document said, would be in the public interest because it would create construction and operations jobs, diversify the statewide economy “beyond traditional resource extraction” and boost demand for materials, services and maintenance for local businesses.
The department did not release AIDEA’s application with the decision, and officials did not immediately respond to a request for a copy.
AIDEA responded to a request for comment with its own brief statement saying its objective is to “help facilitate economic development opportunities that advance industry, create jobs, and promote long-term economic prosperity for Alaskans.”
“At this stage, the proposal remains within (the department’s) public review process, and AIDEA has no additional comment beyond the information contained in the preliminary decision,” Reyes, the AIDEA spokesperson, said.
AIDEA owns other infrastructure around the state, including a shipyard in Ketchikan and a road used to haul zinc from a large mine to the Northwest Arctic coast.
Some of its other active projects, including oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and a proposed mining road in the Arctic that would cross a national park, have prompted significant backlash from advocates.
The Matanuska-Susitna Borough, where the industrial park property is located, does not regulate or require special permits for energy generation facilities or data centers, according to borough code.
Large new energy transmission lines require a borough permit certifying that utility officials held a series of public meetings about the project and have a plan for addressing residents’ concerns. They do not require borough approval.
Whether the borough should play host to an industrial park that could include a large data center became a flashpoint in March when its assembly voted 6-1 to designate three parcels for the purpose, overriding a veto by Mayor Edna DeVries.
The measure, initially approved in a 5-2 Assembly vote, directs borough staff to work with coal power developer Terra Energy Center Corp. to pitch other businesses on developing a data center or another project with large electric demand. Such projects, according to the Assembly-approved plan, would be located on borough land near Port MacKenzie, Big Lake or the proposed West Susitna Access Road.
Area officials, including Houston Mayor Carter Cole and Mat-Su Borough Manager Mike Brown, said they were not told about the new land transfer and development proposal before the natural resource department’s public notice was released Friday.
The City of Houston sits west of Wasilla along the Parks Highway. (Photo by Amy Bushatz/Mat-Su Sentinel)
Brown said he believes the planned logistics hub is a logical fit for that part of the borough, which is already home to other industrial uses, including gravel extraction.
The data center, however, is a different matter.
“An intermodal logistics hub that is connected to the Parks Highway and rail mainline? I could see that,” he said. “It’s the data center that causes someone to go, ‘Hmm, what’s up with that?’”
“If it didn’t have that listed, I’d probably go, ‘Oh, a logistics center. That’s not a terrible idea,’” Brown added.
Mat-Su Assembly member Ron Bernier, whose district includes Houston, said he supports AIDEA’s development in the area and doubts a data center is a likely outcome.
“Let’s bring it. Let’s build Alaska,” he said. “I don’t see them putting a data center there. I don’t think it’s a very worrisome thing for people.”
In Houston, where the municipal boundaries abut a portion of the land the state is proposing to transfer, local officials have already been debating whether data centers belong within city limits.
An ordinance introduced to the City Council in June by Johansen would ban such developments because they pose a public safety hazard, “create a documented risk of accelerated permafrost thaw” and use water in volumes that “could negatively impact local water supplies,” the proposal states.
The council voted Thursday to postpone a vote on the measure until members’ next meeting Aug. 13, to allow discussion during a work session that has not yet been scheduled.
“I’m anti-things that aren’t going to give back to the community,” Johansen said at last week’s meeting. “Let’s concentrate on solutions that are going to bring something back to the community.”
Johansen said that in addition to her concerns about the impact of a large data center, the proposed development could harm area wildlife and the trails used for recreation and dog racing. She said she plans to draft a city council resolution opposing the plan.
Nathaniel Herz welcomes tips at natherz@gmail.com or (907) 793-0312. This article was originally published in Northern Journal-Anchorage Press. Subscribe at this link.
This story was reported in collaboration with Mat-Su Sentinel, an independent nonpartisan news website serving Mat-Su. Subscribe here.
The entrance to the Alaska Gasline Development Corp.’s Anchorage office is seen on Aug. 11, 2023. The state-owned AGDC is pushing for a massive project that would ship natural gas south from the North Slope, liquefy it and send it on tankers from Cook Inlet to Asian markets. The AGDC proposal is among many that have been raised since the 1970s to try commercialize the North Slope’s stranded natural gas. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
When it comes to developing Alaska’s private-sector energy industry, certain members of Alaska’s Senate majority have misunderstood or misrepresented the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation’s plans. From our perspective, members of the Senate and their “leave it in the ground” environmentalist backers are trying to choke the life out of the Alaska LNG Project in the name of protecting Alaskans.
By wrapping layers of economically unviable mandates in the flag of “protecting Alaskans,” Senators in the majority successfully injected “poison pills” into legislation that was meant to enable the largest infrastructure project in state history.
Moving the goalposts on private investment
They claim that Glenfarne, the project developer, doesn’t need legislation to build the project. This betrays a fundamental ignorance—or deliberate misrepresentation—of how mega-project financing works. International investors are very highly unlikely to commit tens of billions of dollars to a state with a volatile fiscal regime without long-term tax certainty.
What the Senate actually did was take a predictable tax framework and append unnecessary and arbitrary penalties, micromanaged timelines and aggressive corporate restructuring demands to it. No private entity can secure global financing when a state government mandates statutory completion deadlines under threat of asset forfeiture. By demanding a final investment decision on a rigid, state-imposed timeline, the Senate didn’t protect Alaskans; they created a framework that looks as though it were designed to ensure the project fails before it starts.
The agreement between AGDC and Glenfarne is carefully designed to propel this project forward while at the same time protecting the state’s interests. One example is the option for the state to invest in Alaska LNG. AGDC has consistently and clearly identified the investment as an option and not a request or an ask despite reporting in the Alaska Beacon to the contrary. State policymakers, not AGDC or Glenfarne, will have to weigh benefits and risks of investment.
The S-Corporation bait-and-switch
The centerpiece of their defense is their sudden crusade on the back of Alaska LNG to close the “S corporation loophole,” driven by a jaw-dropping misrepresentation of basic accounting. They claim that Glenfarne will make “$5 billion in profits per year.” This is flatly untrue, and the Senators should know it. They are muddling gross project revenues with net corporate profits. To generate those revenues, Glenfarne and its partners must first service the debt on an estimated $54 billion construction bill, cover pipeline operating costs and pay upstream producers for the actual gas. To tell Alaskans that a developer is pocketing $5 billion in pure, untaxed profit when they haven’t even cleared the hurdle of paying off their initial investment is economic illiteracy at best, and intentional deception at worst.
Using a targeted infrastructure bill to wage an ideological war on major producers like Hilcorp—the very company keeping Southcentral Alaska warm right now—is a reckless gamble with our energy security. Senate Democrats and their anti-industry allies see the need for Alaska LNG as a vehicle to open Pandora’s Box for an ever-expanding web of personal income tax in Alaska.
Weaponizing good intentions
The Senate rhetoric surrounding Alaska hire and a $5 natural gas cap takes a universally popular concept and weaponizes it into unworkable statutory mandates.
Glenfarne and Alaska’s Building Trade unions already voluntarily signed a binding historic memorandum of understanding for a project labor agreement with Alaska trade unions. The market was already aligned to protect local workers. By twisting market-driven solutions into rigid statutory pretzels, the senators aren’t helping labor—they are killing the very project that would provide thousands of union jobs. The same goes for the $5 gas cap. Dictating market prices in state law is an absolute non-starter for private capital.
The reality
You cannot tax, mandate and regulate a project into existence. If the economics don’t work, the gas stays in the ground—which is precisely what the Senators’ most vocal supporters want.
Alaskans need to look past the populist theater. We face a looming energy crunch in Southcentral Alaska. We need real solutions, private capital and reliable partners. What we do not need are partisan politicians treating a multi-billion dollar lifeline for our state as a political football.
The Senate’s bill didn’t ask Glenfarne to keep its promises. It would force Glenfarne to accept terms that make the project completely unbankable. Whether or not this is by design is anyone’s guess. It’s time to call this strategy what it is: a coordinated effort to kill Alaska energy under the guise of defending it.
Dolly Parton’s remarkable life story is headed to Broadway this winter with the highly anticipated debut of DOLLY: A True Original Musical. Following a record-breaking world premiere in Nashville, the production is making its way to New York, where audiences will experience the country icon’s journey told through her own words and timeless music.
Here’s everything fans need to know before the curtain rises next winter.
When Does DOLLY: A True Original Musical Open?
The musical officially opens on Tuesday, January 19, 2027, a fitting date as it coincides with Parton’s 81st birthday.
Fans won’t have to wait until opening night to see the show, though. Preview performances begin Monday, December 7, 2026, giving audiences an early look before the official Broadway premiere.
Dolly Parton; Photo Provided
What Music Is Included?
Featuring a mix of Dolly Parton’s iconic songs and new music written especially for the stage production, DOLLY: A True Original Musical also includes a book by Parton and two-time Emmy Award winner Maria S. Schlatter. The production is directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher.
Behind the music is an award-winning creative team led by two-time Tony and Grammy winner Stephen Oremus as music supervisor and Charity Wicks as music director. The production also features orchestrations by John Clancy, musical consulting from longtime collaborator Kent Wells, plus vocal and music arrangements from Richard Dennison and Gregg Perry, who have spent decades creating music alongside Parton.
Who Has Been Cast?
Casting for the Broadway production has not yet been announced.
Cast members, creative team updates and production details are expected in the coming weeks.
Dolly Parton; Photo by Andrew Wendowski
What Dolly Parton Is Saying
Parton couldn’t be more excited to bring her story to Broadway.
“My whole life has been a musical. A grand ole opera really! We have a wonderful director, sets, costumes, choreography, music and all the things you need to make a wonderful, entertaining show! Can’t wait to see you there!” she shared.
What Others Are Saying
Director Bartlett Sher says audiences will experience a side of Dolly they’ve never seen before.
“During our world premiere in Nashville, I was overwhelmed by the deep connection audiences have with Dolly. You mention her name and people light up and share a time that she has inspired them and brought them joy. But despite all of that genuine love, Dolly has never really shared her story before. She’s offered glimpses and peeks, but this musical allows her to reveal the unfiltered story in her own words. As we prepare to come to Broadway, we’re thrilled to show that rhinestones were never her whole story.”
Adam Speers of ATG Productions also reflected on what audiences can expect from the Broadway version.
“Having worked with Dolly on both the new version of 9 to 5 in the West End and on DOLLY, I can say without hesitation that being in her orbit changes how you think about what one person can give to the world. What defines her is not only extraordinary talent, but a lifetime of conscious choices – to lead with kindness, to contribute meaningfully, and to give back in ways that have endured, all with inimitable style and great humor. After everything we learned during our world-premiere in Nashville, we’re shaping the show and deepening the storytelling so that the Broadway production fully captures the spirit of this amazing woman. To be opening the show on Dolly’s 81st birthday is not only a celebration of a milestone, but of a life shaped by generosity, courage, and purpose that, in this moment, feels not only uplifting and inspiring, but essential.”
Meet the Creative Team
The Broadway production brings together an impressive team of award-winning creatives, including:
Fans who register at the show’s website can access an exclusive pre-sale before tickets become available to the general public.
Eligible Capital One cardholders also receive early access during the pre-sale period.
General ticket sales are on sale now, with performances currently scheduled through November 21, 2027.
Is It Family Friendly?
The production is recommended for most audiences, although children ages 8 and under may find some content unsuitable.
It All Began In Nashville
Before heading to Broadway, DOLLY: A True Original Musical debuted in Parton’s hometown of Nashville at Belmont University’s Fisher Center for the Performing Arts.
The production sold out its entire run and became the most successful production in the venue’s history, drawing international attention ahead of its Broadway transfer. The musical also reflects Parton’s long-standing relationship with Belmont University through initiatives like Dolly U and her induction into the university’s Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum.
In 2007, a 20-year-old Lionel Messi posed for a Barcelona charity calendar, gently bathing a baby in a plastic tub. The baby’s family had won a UNICEF raffle. Nobody thought about the photo again for 17 years. The baby was Lamine Yamal. You could write fiction for a decade and never come up with that. On Sunday at the World Cup final in New Jersey, the greatest player of all time faces the teenager many believe will inherit the title, and there’s photographic evidence that Messi literally held him first. Both came through La Masia. Both wore No. 19 at Barcelona before switching to the 10. The soccer gods stopped being subtle a long time ago. Somehow, the two teams are just as compelling as the two stars. Start with the history, because there’s barely any. Spain and Argentina have met once at a World Cup, a 1966 group-stage game that Argentina won 2-1 behind a Luis Artime brace. They’ve never met in a knockout match. The all-time series is deadlocked at six wins apiece. This year’s Finalissima was supposed to settle things in March before it was called off, so instead the reigning European and South American champions will meet for the first time in World Cup final history, with the biggest trophy in sports on the table. Fine. That works too. The paths could not look more different. Spain dismantled France 2-0, making the tournament’s most feared attack look ordinary. This is the best possession team in the world, and more importantly, the team with the clearest identity in the sport. In an era where so many teams press and build up the same way, Spain still looks unmistakably like Spain. That’s worth something in a one-off final. And the names driving it aren’t the ones anyone predicted. Yamal has one goal all tournament, scored back on matchday two, which would have sounded like a crisis in May and instead describes a finalist. Mikel Oyarzabal leads the team in scoring and buried the penalty that broke France. Rodri looked like the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner again, conducting business in the midfield. Behind him, the wall: Pau Cubarsí and Aymeric Laporte have conceded once in seven matches, Unai Simón set a World Cup clean sheet record, and the fullbacks have been a cheat code on either end. Marc Cucurella erased Kylian Mbappé for 90 minutes, while Pedro Porro scored the nail in the coffin. Argentina, meanwhile, has stumbled through the knockouts like a heavyweight who keeps getting up: 3-2 over Cape Verde, 3-2 over Egypt, 3-1 over Switzerland in extra time, and now 2-1 over England after trailing in the 85th minute. No team had ever scored multiple stoppage-time winners in a single World Cup. Argentina now has. At some point, “lucky” stops being the word and “inevitable” takes over. The Albiceleste’s engine is a 39-year-old. Messi assisted both goals against England, has scored eight times in the tournament, and keeps rewriting the record books weekly. His legs have aged. His brain hasn’t. And Argentina showed England exactly what Spain should expect. The first 30 minutes in Atlanta were a street fight: eight fouls and zero shots on target by the first hydration break, bodies down everywhere, and rhythm nowhere to be found. Thomas Tuchel’s England took a 55th-minute lead through Anthony Gordon and then sat on it, inviting wave after wave until the dam broke. Enzo Fernández bent one in from distance. Lautaro Martínez headed the winner in stoppage time off a fantastic right-footed Messi cross. Tuchel has been torched for his second half tactics, and deservedly so, but here’s the warning for Sunday: Argentina will try to drag Spain into that same alley. That’s the whole final, really. Spain wants a game of order. Argentina wants a game of chaos. One team has conceded a single goal. The other refuses to die. And in the middle of it all, a man and the baby he once bathed, meeting again with the world watching.Latest Sports News from FOX Sports
Meet Rose Palermo, the hot-shot Nashville divorce lawyer who’s representing Jelly Roll, RaeLynn and Summer Pardi in their respective divorces this year. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
Meet Rose Palermo, the hot-shot Nashville divorce lawyer who’s representing Jelly Roll, RaeLynn and Summer Pardi in their respective divorces this year. Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
We have some very sad news to report from the world of reality television today:
Mary Jo Campbell — the beloved mother of Kris Jenner — has passed away.
She was 91 years old.
Kris Jenner attends the #BoF500 Gala during Paris Fashion Week at Shangri-La Hotel Paris on September 30, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for The Business of Fashion)
Over the years, Mary Jo put in numerous appearances on the Kardashian-Jenner clan’s reality shows, often providing wry commentary and comic relief.
News of her passing comes courtesy of a post on Kris’ Instagram page.
“Today, we said goodbye to my beautiful Mommy MJ. There are no words that could ever capture what she has meant to me or the heartbreak of having to say goodbye. My mom was the heart of our family,” Kris wrote, adding:
“She taught me everything that truly matters… to love your family fiercely, to be kind, to show up for the people you love, and to never take a single moment together for granted.
“She taught us that family is everything. She showed us how to love unconditionally and how to find joy in the little moments.”
Kris went on to detail the many ways in which Mary Jo enriched her life, as well as the ways in which the entire family plans to honor her memory going forward:
“She showed me how to face life’s challenges with resilience and faith. Mom, thank you for every sacrifice you made, every piece of wisdom you shared, and every moment you loved us so completely,” she wrote, adding:
“I will miss our daily talks, your smile, your laughter… Our hearts are broken, but we find comfort knowing that love like yours never truly leaves us. Your love will live on in our family, in our traditions, in every moment we are together, and in every life you touched.
“When I look at my kids and my grandkids, I will forever see pieces of you in all of us. There is not a part of me that isn’t shaped by you. And if I have done anything right in this world, it’s because I spent my life trying to live in a way that would make you proud.
Kris concluded with a message of gratitude for the lessons she learned from her belioved mother:
“Every memory, every moment, every blessing, it was all because of you, and I will forever thank God every single day for making you my mommy. My heart is broken into a million pieces… thank you for giving me the greatest childhood and oh what a beautiful blessed life,” Kris wrote, concluding:
“I love you forever Mommy. Thank you for giving us everything.”
Kim Kardashian famously enjoyed a very close relationship with her grandmother Mary Jo, and we’re sure she and her siblings will be offering tributes of their own in the near future.
Our condolences go out to the entire family as they begin their grieving process.
If there’s one thing to know about Russell Dickerson, it’s that he will always keep a crowd entertained, even though unplanned moments like a wardrobe malfunction.
On Friday, July 10, he country act took the stage at Arnolds Park Amusement Park in Iowa as part of the venue’s Premium Summer Concert Series. While performing in front of the packed crowd, he discovered that his pants zipper had been down. Rather than letting the mishap derail the show, Dickerson leaned the moment with his signature humor.
Photo Courtesy of Russell Dickerson
He paused to address the issue as soon as he realized what was happening. In a fan-captured video, he’s seen sitting on the steps on his stage and accusing the crowd, “I didn’t see nobody telling me my fly was down.”
The video then cuts to a clip prior to that moment, where Dickerson was unknowingly dancing and grooving his hips while his fly was very clearly down. He finally realized mid-song and even changed the lyrics to the tune he was singing and changed the lyrics to say, “gotta zip my…” while fixing the issue at hand.
Dickerson later apologized, “I’m sorry this is a family friendly event, I know, I’m sorry”
He later joked that he had noticed fans motioning that his zipper was down, but at the time he didn’t realize what they were trying to tell him. Russell Dickerson’s initial thought was that they were trying to start a new handshake, and then figured they were having such a great time, they were indicating that they wanted the music turned up even louder. But the truth is they were just attempting to help let him know about the real issue at hand.
“I apologize on behalf of myself, my family, my touring crew, my personal, I’m sorry,” he added, causing laughter to erupt from the crowd.
Once the “Happen To Me” singer’s pants were properly zipped up, the epic show continued.
Russell Dickerson wrapped up his headlining RUSSELLMANIA Tour in May, which included a sold-out Red Rocks show. Throughout the summer he has kept himself busy making appearances at a slew of various fairs and festivals.
Next up, he will head to St. Johns, NL for the Churchill Park Music Festival on July 24 followed by a trip to Timmins, ON for the Rock On the River event on July 25.
A full list of upcoming tour dates can be found on his official website.
