Shelton and Stefani celebrated five years of marriage with a night out…and fans suspect that that night out might have been Taylor Swift’s wedding. Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
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Shelton and Stefani celebrated five years of marriage with a night out…and fans suspect that that night out might have been Taylor Swift’s wedding. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
American Idol winner Hannah Harper just scored a major upgrade to her headlining tour, thanks to a new partnership with Sargento, which has signed on as the exclusive cheese sponsor of her String Cheese Tour.
The collaboration was inspired by Harper’s viral original song, “String Cheese,” which she performed during her American Idol audition. The heartfelt tune about motherhood and the pressure of trying to do it all brought Carrie Underwood (and millions of viewers!) to tears, quickly becoming one of the season’s most memorable moments.
Following the performance, Sargento reached out to Harper with a surprise package filled with string cheese. What started as a thoughtful gesture has now grown into a year-long partnership.
Throughout the String Cheese Tour, fans can expect special Sargento experiences, including ticket giveaways, exclusive content, limited-edition merchandise and plenty of other surprises along the way.
As part of the partnership, Sargento gave Harper’s tour bus a cheesy makeover, wrapping it in custom String Cheese Tour graphics and stocking the fridge with plenty of Sargento favorites, including String Cheese snacks, Balanced Breaks snack kits, Mighty Bites lunch snack kits and other natural cheeses. Fans can catch a glimpse of the newly decked-out bus when Harper rolls into the Backbone Bluegrass Festival in Strawberry Point, Iowa, on July 24.
Harper celebrated the partnership by taking fans on a lighthearted tour of her newly wrapped bus in a social media video, offering a closer look at its custom Sargento makeover.
The collaboration will also bring fans closer to the action through surprise ticket giveaways announced across Sargento’s and Harper’s social media channels. Plus, the partnership will spotlight its most dedicated supporters by recognizing standout commenters and passionate fans as the weekly “Fan of the Week,” rewarding them with tickets to upcoming tour stops.
“I’ve always loved that Sargento is a family-owned company that believes in making high-quality, natural cheese. It’s what I feed my own family at home and exactly what I want to fuel our crew on the road,” said Hannah Harper. “Having one of the first brands that believed in me join this tour makes this partnership incredibly special.”
“From the moment we first heard Hannah’s music, we knew she embodied the values that have defined Sargento for generations—family, quality and bringing people together,” said Erin Price, General Manager at Sargento. “This partnership is about much more than string cheese on a tour bus. It’s about celebrating family, supporting an artist we’ve believed in from the beginning and creating memorable moments for fans across the country.”
The collaboration won’t end when the tour does. Harper and Sargento plan to continue working together through the 2026 holiday season and into 2027 with additional fan experiences, exclusive merchandise and more.
The post From ‘American Idol’ Audition To The Road: Hannah Harper’s ‘String Cheese’ Story Comes Full Circle appeared first on Country Now.
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Upper Class passengers and certain elite frequent flyers have been able to sip on this airline’s signature sweet, tart, and bubbly cocktail for two decades.
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For many fishermen, catching lobster is just a regular part of life – until one of the rarest types of the popular crustacean wanders into the net.
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Cracker Barrel is more than just a sit-down restaurant. You can also peruse the country store section for old-fashioned sodas. These are the best ones there.
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Just when it seemed like Joey Logano would never return to these power rankings, he goes out and wins the Cup race at North Wilkesboro. Which means he’s back. Here are my power rankings as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway: Dropped out: William Byron (Last Week: 10), Carson Hocevar (Last Week: 9) On the verge: Alex Bowman, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Carson Hocevar, Erik Jones, Ryan Preece Is Kyle Larson still on this list because he’s Kyle Larson? Maybe, especially considering he has finishes of 34th, 34th and 15th the last three weeks. But he had four consecutive top fives before that stretch. A sixth at Atlanta and a fifth at North Wilkesboro shows that SVG isn’t just a road-course ace. And that should worry the competition. Logano earned his first top five since the season-opener at Daytona with his win at North Wilkesboro. But he was 12th at Chicagoland and ninth at Atlanta. So things are looking up. I know, I know, I do this every week. But here’s a look at Wallace’s recent results: third, 21st, second, 22nd, sixth, 29th and sixth. There are enough solid finishes to keep him in these rankings. Where did that hot season for Reddick go? Maybe it’s just the bad luck time of year for him. He has three finishes of 30th or worse in the last four races. But he still leads the series with five wins this year. Bell had an uncharacteristically poor day with a 19th at North Wilkesboro. That was following a pair of second-place finishes, so he doesn’t fall too far on this list. Blaney followed up the win at Atlanta with the pole at North Wilkesboro. He had to start in the back, though, and wound up 11th. Briscoe has three top-three finishes in the last four races. The thing for Briscoe is he has had too many bad races this year with five finishes of 30th or worse. Gibbs has finished third or fourth in three of the last four races. He just consistently finds his way to the front. A speeding penalty at North Wilkesboro ruined his potential to win. Hamlin had the field covered except for Logano at North Wilkesboro. He increased his regular-season points lead to 68 over Reddick, and that could pay benefits come The Chase.Latest Sports News from FOX Sports
English actress Catherine Tyldesley thought she had planned the perfect Christmas gift for her husband, Tom Pitfield, a date night to see Luke Combs perform in their hometown of Manchester. Except they accidentally found themselves at a tribute show instead of an actual Luke Combs concert. Months later, the hilarious mix-up came full circle when she and her husband finally got the chance to meet the real country hitmaker.
Back in January, the couple took to social media to recap the unexpected date night and revealed the moment they figured out they would not be seeing Combs that night. Catherine, best known for her roles as Iris Moss in the BBC drama Lilies, Karen Norris in the BBC sitcom Scarborough and more, explained that she was struggling to find the perfect gift for her other half, but she knew that he was a fan of the North Carolina native and decided to lean into that.
“I was like, ‘No way is he coming back.’ Typed in ‘Luke Combs Manchester tour dates 2026.’ Comes up Bridgewater Hall. And I was like, ‘No way is he coming to Manchester?’ Then I got the tickets and the tickets were like, I don’t know, 30 quid each. And I was like, ‘What? This is insane.’ Went into work, flexing. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I got Luke Combs tickets.’ People were like, ‘Oh, we couldn’t get them.’ And I was like, ‘I’ve got them. Mic drop,’” she recalled with confidence.
Once the tickets were booked, they proceeded to make all the other necessary arrangements for their date, which included booking a hotel, finding a babysitter and making a dinner reservation. Everything seemed to be working out great until they actually arrived at the venue.
Their first clue was that the venue was not very full.
“I was like, oh, has he struggled to sell tickets?” Catherine wondered.
Then a singer finally appears on stage whom they believed to be the warmup. Except he started to sing one of Combs’ best songs, which immediately raised another red flag.
“We’re still anticipating Luke Combs coming on. Then this guy keeps on singing. I’m like, ‘Is that Luke Combs?’ I thought he might have shaved his beard off,” she joked.
Catherine starts searching for photos of Luke Combs and then suddenly he starts speaking in an Irish accent, confirming their suspicions that this was in fact not the real country star and she had instead bought tickets to a tribute show.
“We’ve done some stupid things in our lifetime,” Tom pointed out.
She added, “This is up there. I’m so sorry, babe.”
They ended the unfortunate, but hilarious story off by asking if anybody knew a way for them to get tickets to see the real “Beautiful Crazy” singer. About a month later they had a very positive update to share, thanks to the efforts of Sports Entertainment Tours.
“We had a lot of DMs, didn’t we? And actually, there were hundreds of people who had all done the same thing,” Catherine said, noting it made her feel better knowing that other people had also been fooled by tribute bands making them believe they were seeing the real artist.
Luckily, the video caught the attention of a man named John who works for Sports Entertainment Tours. He claimed that the original video made them smile so much that they wanted to offer a legit pair of tickets to attend Combs’ headline show at Slane Castle in Ireland this summer as part of his European leg of the “My Kinda Saturday Night Tour.”
“I was like, ‘You are pulling my plunker.’ Looked him up on LinkedIn, did a bit of detective work. He’s legit. Their company emailed me.”
The couple was bursting with excitement as they revealed that they were heading to the show. Tom stated that he was “absolutely buzzing” about the opportunity.
Catherine added, “Thank you so much sports entertainment tours for quite frankly, single-handedly saving my marriage…I’ve pulled this out of the bag.”
Finally on July 18, the lovebirds not only got to attend the concert, but they got to meet the singer/songwriter himself during a meet and greet. They made share to share a slideshow of photos to social media, documenting their meeting with Combs, their view from side stage and the massive crowd that filled the venue, finally experiencing the show they had originally set out to see.
The caption revealed just how much this opportunity meant to the couple, who celebrated 10 years of marriage in May. Catherine revealed that their interaction with Combs was nothing short of amazing, and he was even willing to pose with their daughter’s mermaid for one of the photos.
She wrote, “Special doesn’t even come close!!! It turns out Luke Combs had heard all about our ‘Mix up’ 😂😂 and invited us to do a meet and greet (pinch me now) An incredible talent and such a kind soul. He even had a picture taken with Irises mermaid (she insisted the mermaid attended the concert 🧜♀️) Huge thank you to Luke Combs HQ Jess and the amazing team. Massive wife points 😂🎉🎉🎉”
Luke Combs’ run across the UK continues through beginning of August, where he will wrap up with three back-to-back nights in Wembley Stadium.
The post Luke Combs Makes Couple’s Dream Come True After Their Hilarious Concert Mix-Up appeared first on Country Now.
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By: Corinne Smith, Alaska Beacon
A legislative audit committee instructed the state auditor to investigate the past three years of process and legal compliance of the board tasked with developing policy and managing Alaska’s fisheries.
Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak and chair of the House Fisheries Committee, made the request for the special audit of the Alaska Board of Fisheries. The bicameral Legislative Audit and Budget Committee approved it at a hearing on Thursday.
“The breadth and frequency of stakeholder complaints about the Board’s process make it clear the Board has lost the public’s trust. As Chair of the House Fisheries Committee, I am compelled to act,” Stutes wrote.
She said the board has been “increasingly characterized as lacking transparency, unethical, and/or unlawful.”
The seven-member Board of Fisheries is appointed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy and confirmed by the Legislature. Each member serves a three year term. The legislative audit committee authorized an examination of the board’s activity from an Oct 12, 2023 meeting through July 1 of this year.
In a letter requesting the audit, Stutes cited concern that board members have “ethical impairments,” and pointed to recent action by the Acting Attorney General Cori Mills overruling the board’s decision to implement some fishing restrictions in an Aleutian Island fishery, Area M, as evidence.
In an unusual move, Mills stepped in and voided the regulations passed by the Board of Fish in February that implemented restrictions on the Area M fishery to allow more salmon to pass through to Western Alaska spawning streams. Area M has been the center of years of fierce debate and growing concerns from subsistence and Tribal communities in Western Alaska, where salmon runs have reached crisis lows.
Following the board’s February action, Aleutian fishing groups, local and Tribal governments filed ethics complaints against several board members citing conflicts of interest, then a lawsuit challenging the board’s action. The acting attorney general voided the decision in May. In response to that action — and in support of Western Alaska subsistence and Tribal communities — advocates filed a motion to reconsider that challenged the Attorney General’s authority to void the regulation changes and asked a court to review the decision. A judge denied the request.
The Board of Fish’s chair did not respond to a request for comment on the audit on Monday.
On Monday, a spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Law said that following the Attorney General’s disapproval memo, the board has an opportunity to reconsider the regulations to the Area M fishery “as long as they conform to the proper process.”
“In general, disapproval memos are rare as we are normally able to work with the respective state agencies throughout the regulations process and ensure the regulations comply with all necessary statutory requirements,” said Sam Curtis, a public information officer with the department. “In this case, the Department of Law took action pursuant to the Ethics Act and those proceedings are confidential by law. We cannot disclose any further information.”
Legislative committee approves the audit request
In the hearing on Thursday, Sen. Scott Kawaki, D-Fairbanks questioned the motives of the special audit request. He said claims that the board actions lacked transparency or were unethical were “rather inflammatory.”
“I want to make sure that the request is targeted at the board process and whether the processes are being adhered to, and so it’s not an opinion,” he said. “If there’s a disagreement, you can litigate and you can go to Superior Court, and that seems like that process should be separate.”
Stutes told the twelve House and Senate committee members present that the audit would focus on the board’s process and procedures only, not actions taken by the board.
“We’re not addressing any decisions that have been made by the Board of Fish. Our intent through this audit is to address the process in which these decisions are being made,” Stutes said.
Kris Curtis, a Legislative Auditor for the state and that leads the Division of Legislative Audit told lawmakers at the hearing that her office has extensive experience auditing state boards — including the Board of Fish and the Board of Game — and that the state audit would adhere to the criteria outlined in the request. That includes compliance with fisheries regulations and statutes, public notice and comment requirements and compliance with the Administrative Procedure Act and Executive Branch Ethics Act.
“We conduct all of our audits in accordance with auditing standards that require that we maintain our independence, both in fact and appearance. I have no concerns about that,” Curtis said. “To be able to address these objectives using objective criteria, we will gather sufficient, appropriate evidence, like we always do for every performance audit we issue, and we will come back to the committee with an independent, objective report.”
Curtis replied to lawmakers’ questions about the Attorney General’s decision by saying it would be evaluated by auditors.
“The answer is absolutely,” she said. “It’s informative. It’s factual. If we didn’t, we would be deficient. We will also be collecting other evidence. We will be having interviews. We’ll be reaching out to stakeholders. We’ll be examining meeting meetings. We’ll be looking at meeting minutes. We’ll be looking at the process. We’ll be doing all kinds of audit procedures.”
Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, asked her what would happen if auditors found the Attorney General acted improperly.
Curtis said her office would assess the case law cited in the decision. “If I found the Attorney General acted inappropriately, I would have to probably consult legislative, legal or outside counsel, depending on the subject and whatever we’re looking at, to inform us, the legislative audit team, about what decision they made. It’s not uncommon to seek additional legal advice when evaluating something,” she said.
House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, and a former commercial fisherman, acknowledged that the Board of Fish has often drawn criticism and controversy.
“You’ve audited just about every moving thing out there, if I recall, as a long-term legislator, and this issue is always going to be controversial,” he said. “There is a lot of concern out there on a number of fronts about the Board of Fisheries, as there always is.”
Edgmon noted that the auditors’ recommendations can be taken up by the Legislature if needed.
Curtis said auditors will work closely with the Board of Fish, who will have an opportunity to respond to the audits’ findings and recommendations. With the committee’s approval, Curtis said her office will likely begin the audit investigation in August and complete its work in four to six months.