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NEED TO KNOW

• Jerry Kennedy, a Nashville producer who also played guitar for Tammy Wynette and Roy Orbison, has died at age 85

• The late musician spent a few weeks in a Franklin comfort center before he died after being diagnosed with congestive heart failure, according to his son, Gordon Kennedy

• "You just have to turn on the radio and you'll hear his fingerprints everywhere," Gordon said of his late father

Jerry Kennedy, a Nashville producer who also played guitar forTammy WynetteandRoy Orbison, has died. He was 85.

"The musician sits on one side of the glass. The producer sits on the other. My father sat on both in this world," Jerry's son,Gordon Kennedy, wrote in a Sunday, Feb. 15,Instagram tributealongside a throwback photo of his late father. "Scripture tells us we only see through a smoky glass this side of heaven. I imagine my father sitting on this side and last Wednesday, hearing a voice on the other side saying 'come on in and listen.' "

Gordon, who is a multi-Grammy Award-winning songwriter and record producer himself, confirmed toThe New York Timesthat his father died after being diagnosed with congestive heart failure. He also toldThe Tennesseanthat Jerry spent a few weeks in a Franklin comfort care facility before he died on Wednesday, Feb. 11.

In the days after his father's death, Gordon recalled toThe Tennesseanthat someone approached him at a funeral home, offering to make him a piece of jewelry with his father's fingerprint to ensure his legacy would be preserved.

Joe Rudis / The Tennessean via Imagn

"I just said, 'You just have to turn on the radio and you'll hear his fingerprints everywhere,' " he remembered responding. "And they'll be there forever. We've got them in a much more significant way than a necklace. You can hear his fingerprints."

Indeed, Jerry played a role in shaping the music made in Nashville throughout the 1960s and 1970s, featuring his iconic fretwork in hits by Tammy Wynette, Roy Orbison, Roger Miller and many more. He also co-wroteEric Clapton's Grammy Award-winning single, "Change the World," in 1996.

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Even in the days leading up to his father's death, Gordon recalled someone in the facility turning on the classic country music channel, where Jerry's music was often featured.

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"There were days where I remember walking towards his room and I hear music coming out of his room and it was Tom T. Hall's 'Fox on the Run,' from the bluegrass album they did," he toldThe Tennessean. "It was a different song every day. We would hear 'I'll Go To My Grave Loving You' by the Statler Brothers or a Tammy Wynette song he played on. I was just amazed at how frequent it was."

Beyond working on hit songs likeElvis Presley's "Good Luck Charm" and Leroy Van Dyke's "Walk on By," Jerry, who signed a recording contract with RCA as a child, later went on to start his own company: JK Productions.

In addition to Gordon, the late musician is survived by his wife, Dolores Dea-Kennedy, and his two younger sons, Bryan and Shelby. He also has three grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and his two sisters, Barbara Blaylock and Kathy Price.

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Nicole Hester/The Tennessean via Imagn

Noting that all of Jerry's children were with him on the day that he died, Gordon went on to recall hearing Jeannie C. Riley's 1968 song "Harper Valley PTA," on which Jerry played dobro, in the hours before his death.

"That was on the day he passed away," he said. "There was just a constant reminder even while we were sitting with him for this handful of weeks, that this stuff is going to stay on a loop forever."

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AddHalle Berryto the list of stars who don't feel like winning an Oscar changed their career necessarily for the better.

TheCrime 101star recently opened up toThe Cutabout her historic win for Best Actress for her performance inMonster's Ball. The win was the first, and remains the only, one for a Black woman in the category.

"That Oscar didn't necessarily change the course of my career," Berry told the outlet. "After I won it, I thought there was going to be, like, a script truck showing up outside my front door. While I was wildly proud of it, I was still Black that next morning. Directors were still saying, 'If we put a Black woman in this role, what does this mean for the whole story? Do I have to cast a Black man? Then it's a Black movie. Black movies don't sell overseas.'"

In the same interview, Berry also revealed that she once advised fellow starCynthia Erivo— who has twice been nominated in the category for her roles inHarrietandWicked— not to place any real weight on winning an Oscar.

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"You goddamn deserve it, but I don't know that it's going to change your life," she said she told Erivo. "It cannot be the validation for what you do, right?"

Berry previously toldMarie Clairein 2024how disappointed she was that her historic moment didn't have more of a snowball effect for the industry, saying she's "eternally miffed that no Black woman has come behind me for that Best Actress Oscar. I'm continually saddened by that year after year. And it's certainly not because there has been nobody deserving."

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TheCatwomanstar is one of several actresses to open up about how winning an Academy Award didn't necessarily have the intended career effect. Melissa Leo, who won Best Supporting Actress forThe Fighterback in 2011,shared her brutally honestthoughts about her win, including that she believes it has, in fact, had a negative impact on her career.

"Winning an Oscar has not been good for me or my career," she said recently in a reader Q&A withThe Guardian, adding, "I didn't dream of it, I never wanted it, and I had a much better career before I won."

And Marcia Gay Harden, who won Best Supporting Actress for the 2000 moviePollock, famously told theLos Angeles Timesin 2003that the award was "disastrous on a professional level" for her.

"Suddenly the parts you're offered and the money become smaller. There's no logic to it," she added.

Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly

Savannah Guthrie's mother's abduction is already having a chilling effect on how network starsshow off their familiesto viewers,RadarOnline.comcan reveal.

Nancy Guthrie, 84, wasprominently featuredin a Tucson, Arizona, hometown visit segment theTodayco-host did in November 2025. She remains missing 15 days after anarmed intruderforcibly took her from her home on February 1.

Family Tie-In Segments 'Pulled'

"There were at least three family tie-ins pulled this week," one senior morning producer revealed to Hollywood insiderRob Shuter, who wrote about it onSubstack. "It suddenly feels different."

Not only isNBCcurtailing segments featuring family members of its talent, butABCandCBShave also "paused similar pieces featuring" the children and parents of their big-bucks anchors.

"No one wants to blur the line between storytelling and exposure right now," a source spilled.

'An Industry-Wide Recalibration'

It's not just the big three networks but cable TV outlets who are also pressing pause on showing off the families of their stars. It's an industry-wide recalibration," a media executive told Shuter. "When real life becomes frightening, the 'we're one big family' model feels riskier."

Pieces focusing on the family of top talent are meant to draw in the audience and make them feel as if they're part of the family.

It's also been used over the years to help viewers gain insight into their favorite talent, especially on the all-important morning shows watched by both parents and children as they get ready to start their days.

Nancy Guthrie's Abduction Is a 'Wake Up Call' For Morning Show Stars

Shuter notes while "connection" was the goal, it also "invites vulnerability."

"This is a wake-up call," the insider explained about Nancy's mysterious abduction after she had been featured onTodayover the years.

"The human touch isn't going away – but the access might," they explained about how the relatives of top talent appearing on social media and in televised segments could be scaled back.

Savannah took viewers back to Tucson in a November 2026 "Homecoming" segment, a six-minute love-letter to the town she grew up in and how it shaped her.

"I'm proud when I say I'm from Tucson, Arizona. I grew up there, went to college there. My mom still lives there," she gushed at the time to viewers before the piece rolled.

"I want to go home to show you everything from the giants of the desert to the people who raised me," Savannah revealed about the piece, which included her mom and her sister, Annie.

'Today' Viewers Knew Where Nancy Guthrie Lived

Savannah brought viewers along as she returned to the University of Arizona campus, where she attended college, and to her former sorority house.

But she saved the most heartwarming moments for last, ending the visit by having her mom and sister join her for lunch at a beloved Mexican restaurant where they had shared so many meals in the past.

Savannah made it clear that both her mother and sister still lived in Tucson while asking Nancy why she decided to raise her family in Southern Arizona.

"The air, the quality of life. It's laid back and gentle. I like to watch the javelinas eat my plants," Nancy described her peaceful desert life.

She was abducted from her home in the city's Catalina Foothills area by a masked gunman, and fifteen days later, there has been no sign of the ailing grandmother.

Despite a massive search by the Pima County Sheriff's Department and the FBI, her disappearanceremains a complete mystery.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The Australian government will not repatriate from Syriaa group of 34 women and childrenwith alleged ties to the Islamic State group, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday.

The women and children from 11 families were supposed to fly from the Syrian capital Damascus to Australia but Syrian authorities on Monday turned them back to Roj camp in northeast Syria because of procedural problems, officials said.

Only two groups of Australians have been repatriated with government help from Syrian camps since the fall of the Islamic State group in 2019. Other Australians have also returned without government assistance.

Albanese would not comment on a report that the latest women and children had Australian passports.

"We're providing absolutely no support and we are not repatriating people," Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp. in Melbourne.

"We have no sympathy, frankly, for people who traveled overseas in order to participate in what was an attempt to establish a caliphate to undermine, destroy, our way of life. And so, as my mother would say, 'You make your bed, you lie in it,'" Albanese added.

Albanese noted that the child welfare-focused international charity Save the Children had failed to establish in Australia's courts that the Australian government had a responsibility to repatriate citizens from Syrian camps.

After the federal court ruled in the government's favor in 2024, Save the Children Australia chief executive Mat Tinkler argued the government had a moral, if not legal, obligation to repatriate families.

Albanese said if the latest group made their way to Australia without government help, they could be charged.

It was an offense under Australian law to travel to the former Islamic State stronghold ofal-Raqqa provincewithout a legitimate reason from 2014 to 2017. The maximum penalty was 10 years in prison.

"It's unfortunate that children are impacted by this as well, but we are not providing any support. And if anyone does manage to find their way back to Australia, then they'll face the full force of the law, if any laws have been broken," Albanese added.

Thelast group of Australiansto be repatriated from Syrian camps arrived in Sydney in October 2022.

They were four mothers, former partners of Islamic State supporters, and 13 children.

Australian officials had assessed the group as the most vulnerable among 60 Australian women and children held in Roj camp, the government said at the time.

Eight offspringof two slain Australian Islamic State fighters were repatriated from Syria in 2019 by the conservative government that preceded Albanese's center-left Labor Party administration.

The issue of Islamic State supporters resurfaced in Australia after the killings of 15 people at aJewish festival at Bondi Beachon Dec. 14. The attackers were allegedly inspired by IS.

A Mardi Gras social group says it is investigating an incident on a float during its Feb. 14 parade in which a Black doll appeared to hang by the neck from a necklace of beads.

Photos and videos of the doll being held over the side of the float using beads, necklaces commonly tossed to parade revelers at Mardi Gras, began circulating after it was spotted during aKrewe of Tucksorganizationparade in New Orleans, Louisiana.

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Videos appear to show the doll hanging by its neck from a strand of beads as it's held alongside other necklaces waiting to be tossed into the crowd of paradegoers. A young girl caught the doll attached to the beads at the parade,according to a postby the City of New Orleans.

The Krewe of Tucks organization condemned the action following the parade, writing in astatement posted on social mediathat the "behavior is intolerable and completely contrary to the beliefs and values that the Krewe of Tucks holds."

"We intend to fully investigate this incident and the responsible riders will no longer be permitted to have any association with the parade," the statement read. "The leadership wishes this had been brought to our attention during the parade because it would have been addressed immediately. This was brought to our attention through social media and we are immediately investigating."

The US military is continuing asignificant buildupof air and naval assets in the Middle East ahead of planned talks with Iran in Geneva on Tuesday. The pieces are being moved into place both to intimidate Tehran and to have options to strike inside the country should negotiations over its nuclear program fail, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

US Air Force assets based in the United Kingdom, including refueling tankers and fighter jets, are being repositioned closer to the Middle East, according to sources familiar with the movements.

The US is also continuing to flow air defense systems to the region, according to a US official, and several US military units deployed in the region that were expected to rotate out in the coming weeks have had their orders extended, said one source familiar with the matter. Dozens of US military cargo planes have transported equipment from the US to Jordan, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, according to flight-tracking data.

On Friday evening, multiple fighter aircraft were also given diplomatic clearance to enter Jordanian airspace, according toopen-source air traffic communications. Satellite images show 12 US F-15 attack planes have been positioned at Jordan's Muwaffaq Salti Air Base since January 25.

More broadly, open-source flight data reveals there have been over 250 US cargo flights into the region.

President Donald Trump has been threatening military action against Iran for weeks, beginning last month when he warned Iranian leaders that he was prepared to order an attack if the government did not stop killing protesters. And on Friday, he said he believes regime change "would be the best thing that could happen" in Iran.

The buildup of military assets and emphasis by Trump and senior members of the administration that regime change is preferable has the region on edge and increases the stakes for Tuesday's talks, which the president said Monday he will be "indirectly" involved in. The Switzerland talks are expected to be led by Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, on the US side, with Iran represented by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

'No one knows' who would take over

But the administration still does not appear to have a clear understanding of what would come next if it removed the Iranian regime, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed this during a congressional hearing late last month, telling lawmakers that "no one knows" who would take over if the regime fell.

The likely alternatives could be even more problematic for the US and its allies, sources said. In the short term, the hard-line Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps would likely fill any leadership void, the US intelligence community believes, according to sources.

The IRGC "is definitely prominent and functions above the standard military bureaucracy, but it is hard to predict exactly what would happen in a regime collapse scenario," said one source familiar with recent US intelligence reporting on the matter.

The US also lacks clear insight into the IRGC's hierarchy following the US assassination of Iran's most powerful military commander, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, during Trump's first term.

Whereas US intelligence officials had a very good understanding of the power dynamics in Venezuela before the US captured then-President Nicolás Maduro last month, they lack the same insight into who, if anyone, would constitute a viable replacement for Iran's supreme leader, sources said.

Multiple sources said there were legitimate reasons to consider kinetic action several weeks ago at the height of the Iranian protests. At that point, there was a small window of time when US strikes could have potentially tipped the balance in favor of the opposition, providing momentum for Iranians to overthrow their government organically.

Those sources now wonder whether Trump "missed the moment" and question whether military strikes weeks later would accomplish what they could have last month.

At the time, however, US military assets were concentrated in the Caribbean rather than the Middle East, limiting the administration's options and worrying the Israelis, who were concerned they would be left exposed if Iran were to retaliate by attacking them with ballistic missiles.

Since then, Trump has shifted his rationale for a potential attack, framing it around Iran's reluctance to stop enriching uranium for its nuclear program.

"I think they'll be successful," Trump said Friday of the upcoming talks. "If they're not, it's going to be a very bad day for Iran."

Unlike last month, the US now has the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group in the region, the USS Gerald Ford carrier strike group on the way, and fighter jet squadrons and tankers being rapidly repositioned.

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"In case we don't make a deal, we'll need it," Trump said Friday, when asked why the Ford was headed to the region.

The buildup gives the US military extensive strike options should Trump order an attack. Guided-missile destroyers steaming with the carriers, for example, can carry dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of 1,000 miles and wielding 1,000-pound conventional warheads. US Navy carrier strike groups usually operate with an attack submarine that can also launch Tomahawks. F-35 and F-15E fighter jets can carry an array of guided bombs and air-to-surface missiles.

Among the potential targets for strikes are the headquarters of the IRGC and other military installations beyond Iranian nuclear sites, according to multiple sources. There is also some discussion about the US and Israel conducting joint operations, the sources said. Those could resemble Operation Midnight Hammer last summer, when the US struck Iranian nuclear sites toward the end of the 12-day Israel-Iran war, they added.

'It's hard to do a deal with Iran'

Trump said over the weekend that the US "doesn't want any enrichment," indicating that he will not settle for a deal that allows even low-level uranium enrichment by Iran. Given Iran's position that enrichment is its right, sources said there may not be space for negotiation.

But the sources also noted that hard-line positions going into negotiations can always change.

There are also other ways the Iranian government could try to ward off a US attack, including with economic incentives. During multiple rounds of US-Iran talks last year, there were discussions about possible business deals that could be struck in conjunction with a nuclear agreement, including granting the US privileged access to developing Iran's oil, gas and rare earths resources, one source said. That topic is expected to be raised again, this person added.

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, met with Araghchi in Geneva on Monday for what both described as "in-depth technical discussions," as preparations intensify for the crucial nuclear negotiations Tuesday.

In public remarks, Rubio has maintained that Trump prefers a diplomatic resolution. But he has also repeatedly stressed that such a deal will be difficult.

"Iran ultimately is governed and its decisions are governed by Shia clerics — radical Shia clerics, okay? These people make policy decisions on the basis of pure theology. That's how they make their decisions. So, it's hard to do a deal with Iran," Rubio said at a press conference in Budapest, Hungary, on Monday.

Asked Sunday whether the administration would inform Congress if it decides to attack Iran or attempt to remove Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Rubio would not commit.

"We'll follow whatever the law is on it, and it depends on the circumstance it would lead to. But right now, we're talking about negotiations," he said at a press conference in Slovakia.

"If that changes, it'll be obvious to everyone. And obviously, whatever the law requires us to do, we'll do," he added.

Regional allies including the Arab states in the Persian Gulf are deeply concerned that US military action could destabilize the region. They have lobbied for holding off on military action to give diplomacy more time, according to sources familiar with the talks.

"Everybody is pushing against a strike," said a diplomat from the region. This person added that Israel is the only regional player that has been urging the US to attack.

Iran, meanwhile, held further military exercises less than 24 hours ahead of the Geneva talks. On Monday, Iran's official Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported that the IRGC had launched a "valiant defense" of three Iranian islands by land, air and sea that are the subject of a longtime border dispute between Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

According to the report, IRGC drones are positioned at Iran's southernmost point, ready to confront any aggressors.

Iran's armed forces chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi, warned Sunday that "Trump should know that he would be entering a confrontation that gives harsh lessons, the outcome of which would ensure that he no longer bellows threats around the world," according to state-run Press TV.

This story was updated with additional developments.

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The Gist

• Kate Middleton has long been close with her younger sister, Pippa Middleton.

• During the Princess of Wales's cancer journey in 2024, Pippa made a notable appearance alongside her sister at Wimbledon in July of that year—only Kate's second public appearance of the year up to that point.

• In a new royal biography, it is revealed by Russell Myers that Pippa also played a role in writing the script for Kate's video where she announced her cancer diagnosis in March 2024.

Pippa Middletonand her older sisterKate Middletonare famously close—and Pippa was there for Kate during one of the most difficult times in her life, playing a pivotal role in helping the Princess of Wales during her cancer journey.

After being diagnosed with cancer in early 2024, the future queen announced her health news to the world on March 22 of that year. According to the new biographyWilliam and Catherine: The Monarchy's New Era: The Inside Story—out March 10 in the U.S.—Pippa helped Kate craft the speech she gave as she sat on a bench in the gardens of Windsor Castle, yellow daffodils blooming in the background. This detail—that Pippa helped Kate write her remarks—was previously unknown to the public before biographer Russell Myers shared it in his new book.

According to an excerpt of the book, when it came time to writing the speech, "Catherine's family rallied 'round, with her sister Pippa helping to write the script for the short video statement." The excerpt also said that Kate's speech that Friday was of utmost significance, with Myers writing, "Much like the announcement of the death of [Queen] Elizabeth II, it felt like an earthquake whose reverberations were felt around the world."

Beyond the speech, Pippa showed support to her older sister several other times throughout 2024, including joining her andPrincess Charlotteat Wimbledon in July—only Kate's second public appearance of the year up to that point—and, in December, attending Kate's "Together at Christmas" carol concert at Westminster Abbey.

Pippa previously toldTodayin 2014—in what was her first-ever television interview—that she and Kate "spend a lot of time together. We still do a lot together as a family. And I think that's really the heart for all of us is having a really close family that we can sort of be normal with each other, treat each other normally. And that's sort of kept us all, you know, affixed to the ground."

Pippa added that she and Kate "have a very normal, sisterly relationship," adding, "We're very close. And, you know, we support each other and get each other's opinions and things."

Of not just Pippa but also their brotherJames Middleton, a source toldThe Timesthat the Middleton siblings "are incredibly tight,"adding, "Pippa not only as a sister, but as a best friend she can confide in. They are extremely loyal to one another."

Of deciding to make her video announcement, Myers wrote that the Princess of Wales did so because "She had seen the positivity and warmth that had greeted the King [Charles] when he had been so open about his own diagnosis. More than that, though, the princess believed that her experience could benefit others in similar distressing circumstances."

"The days beforehand were filled with shock, but at that moment, it was genuinely as if the world stood still," a senior palace sourcetold Myers.

Pippa, along with James and their parents Carole and Michael Middleton, were regular fixtures at the Prince and Princess of Wales' home, Adelaide Cottage, during those difficult months, rallying around them with "quiet evening dinners" and "playdates to keep the children entertained" as Kate went through chemotherapy treatment. The future queen announced her chemotherapy had ended in September 2024, and in January 2025 shared that she is in remission.

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