GEAR JRNL

By Laila Bassam and Enas Alashray

Aftermath of an Israeli strike in Lebanon's Bekaa valley

BEIRUT, Feb 21 (Reuters) - At least 10 people were killed and 50 wounded in Israeli strikes in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, two security sources ‌told Reuters, after the Israeli military said it had targeted Hezbollah sites in the ‌Baalbek area.

The strikes on Friday were among the deadliest reported in eastern Lebanon in recent weeks and risk testing a ​fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Shi'ite Islamist group Hezbollah, which has been strained by recurring accusations of violations.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it struck Hezbollah command centres in the Baalbek area, part of eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.

In a separate statement on Saturday, it said it had "eliminated several ‌terrorists of Hezbollah's missile array ⁠in three different command centres ... recently identified as operating to accelerate the organization's readiness and force build-up processes, while planning fire attacks towards Israel."

Hezbollah said on ⁠Saturday that eight of its fighters, including a commander, Hussein Mohammad Yaghi, were killed in Friday's strikes in the Bekaa area.

Advertisement

CEASEFIRE BROKERED IN 2024

Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in 2024 intended to ​end ​more than a year of cross-border exchanges of fire ​that culminated in Israeli strikes that weakened ‌the Iran-aligned group. Since then, the sides have traded accusations of ceasefire violations.

U.S. and Israeli officials have pressed Lebanese authorities to curb Hezbollah's arsenal, while Lebanese leaders have warned that broader Israeli strikes could further destabilize the country already battered by political and economic crises.

Separately, the Israeli military said it also struck what it described as a Hamas command centre from which militants operated in ‌the Ain al-Hilweh area in southern Lebanon. Ain al-Hilweh ​is a crowded Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon.

Lebanese President Joseph ​Aoun condemned the overnight Israeli strikes on ​the Sidon area and towns in Bekaa as a "new violation" of Lebanon's ‌sovereignty and a breach of U.N. obligations, urging ​countries backing regional stability, ​including the United States, to press for an immediate halt to avert further escalation, the presidency said.

Hamas condemned in a statement the Israeli strike on Ain al-Hilweh and rejected Israeli ​assertions about the target, saying ‌the site belonged to the camp's Joint Security Force tasked with maintaining security.

(Addditional Reporting ​by Ahmed Tolba and Muhammad Al Gebaly in Cairo; Writing by Enas Alashray; Editing ​by Rod Nickel, Rosalba O'Brien and Alex Richardson)

When a homicide detective in California's Central Valley last year reopened the investigation into the unsolved killing of a bakery owner, she turned to an increasingly popular forensic tool credited with helping solve hundreds of cases across the United States and Canada in recent years.

The detective, Ashley Sanchez of the Kern County Sheriff's Office, said she was confident she had evidence that could help identify a person whom she believes was involved in the gruesome 2010 death of Juanita Francisco, 49. But paying for the genetic genealogical work needed for that effort was not so straightforward, she said.

In the end, it was funded not by local taxpayers or a state or federal grant,but by a crowdsourced fundraiser.

That unusual funding source reflects what experts say is the often grim financial reality for many seeking to use the technique, which surged in popularity after the arrest of the "Golden State Killer" eight years ago and has been used to solve more than 1,600 cases in the U.S. and Canada,according to an ongoing tally updated earlier this yearby a criminology professor at Douglas College in Canada.

Authoritiesinvestigating the possible abduction of Nancy Guthrieare also exploring the possibility of using the method, which relies on traditional genealogical research and modern DNA analysis to unravel unsolved crimes and cases of unidentified human remains.

Some government grant funding is available, said David Gurney, director of the Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center at New Jersey's Ramapo College, but the amount of money provided by the federal government and states "is not even scratching the surface."

In many instances, that means crowdfunding has been the solution. Tracey Dowdeswell, the criminology professor in Canada, estimated that roughly 120 of the 1,600 cases in her database were crowdfunded, though she said that number is likely an undercount and she cautioned that many cases often have several sources of funding. Most are cases of unidentified remains, she said.

Dozens more cases listed on sites likeDNA Doe Project,Moxxy Forensic InvestigationsorDNASolves— where Francisco's funding drive was posted — have been successfully crowdfunded and not yet solved or posted and not yet funded.

"I think it is amazing that members of the public are willing to donate money to help solve these cases," Gurney said. "But it's not a sustainable criminal justice system."

David Mittelman, CEO of Othram, the Texas-based DNA lab behind DNASolves, described that site as the destination for a subset of the company's cases that "literally cannot be worked — not because there's no evidence, not because there's no interest, but because there's no funding channel for them."

To Gurney, the necessity of crowdfunding shows how little awareness there is that genetic genealogy could help clear the backlog of unsolved cases in the U.S. He cited federal data showing the method could potentially be used in hundreds of thousands of unsolved violent crimes and tens of thousands of unidentified remains cases.

"It's going to be difficult to scale up this work to tackle the backlog of uncleared cases until there is more funding," Dowdeswell said.

Just a handful of labs

Genetic genealogy relies on a few crucial components. Researchers need a DNA sample — and a profile — for the person they're trying to identify. And they need to upload that profile to GEDMatch or FamilyTreeDNA, the consumer DNA databases that permit access for law enforcement purposes. That profile can then be used to develop a family tree to help pinpoint the source of the unidentified DNA.

Obtaining a suitable profile can be a daunting task, however, since the DNA samples needed to develop those profiles are often old and degraded, said Kendall Mills of Season of Justice, a nonprofit that fundraises for law enforcement agencies that need advanced DNA analysis but can't afford it.

Only a handful of private labs in the U.S. — labs like Othram — are capable of doing the kind of work required to develop those profiles, Mills said.

"Typically, the private labs have access to more sensitive technology, newer technology," she said. "They also have the ability to conduct a lot of research and development that our taxpayer-funded labs just don't have the capacity for. But they come with a higher price tag."

Advertisement

The consumer DNA databases provide researchers access for a fee of more than $1,000, Gurney said.

Some state and federal agencies are beginning to do the labor-intensive genealogy work that follows, Gurney said, but the vast majority of that research is done with assistance from a patchwork of nonprofit organizations, for-profit companies and at least one school — Ramapo.

Some groups like Ramapo and the DNA Doe Project, a pioneering nonprofit that has worked with law enforcement agencies and medical examiners to help solve more than 150 cases using genetic genealogy, rely in part or entirely on networks of volunteers for their genealogy work and do it at no cost. Others, like Othram, do it in-house for a fee.

For Othram, only a small percentage of its genealogy cases are crowdfunded, Mittelman said, noting that the company typically relies on a mix of state and federal grants, philanthropic gifts and nonprofit funding. Still the company's DNASolves sitelists dozens of casesfrom across the country that have been successfully crowdfunded, andseveral more— each in pursuit of a $7,500 goal — that have not. Dowdeswell said she's cataloged 40 cases that have been solved through the site.

DNASolves was initially developed to highlight case outcomes, Mittelman said, but Othram began using it for crowdfunding after a law enforcement agency couldn't afford forensic work on a high-interest case. The company launched a fundraiser that was immediately successful, he said.

Gurney said the center at Ramapo doesn't need crowdfunding because its casework is funded by an educational component — the center offers a certificate in genetic genealogy — and donors.

But for the DNA Doe Project, crowdfunding is vital, said Matthew Waterfield, the organization's director of communications.

In Waterfield's view, the single biggest obstacle for genetic genealogy is the cost of lab work and rising upload fees associated with the DNA databases relied upon by investigators.

He recalled the case of an unidentified elderly woman found in a shallow Arizona grave that needed nearly $5,000 in funding to cover lab and database access fees. It took many months for the organization to raise that moneythrough its "Doe-Nate" site, he said, and eight hours for its network of volunteer genealogists to solve the case once they could upload the DNA profile.

"I would love to tell you that was an isolated case, but it isn't," Waterfield said. "We have other cases where it has taken quite a while to get the money together, and once the money has come through, our volunteers have set up on the case, and within hours or days or weeks, have identified somebody, resolved a cold case and provided answers to a family after decades."

If more funding were available, Waterfield added, "we would be seeing an unfathomable number of cases being solved right now."

Advocating for federal funding

To try and address the field's financial woes, Othram has advocated for the Carla Walker Act — federal legislation that would fund $10 million in annual grants for law enforcement agencies to pay for genetic genealogy services if they can't do the work in-house, he said, and it would pay for public crime labs to upgrade their equipment so they can begin doing the work themselves.

"You're not gonna clear hundreds of thousands of cases with one company or even 10," Mittelman said. "What you really need is hundreds of labs working in concert with modern technology."

Waterfield said the DNA Doe Project supports the bill, which has been introduced in theHouseandSenatewith bipartisan backing. The provision that provides funding to law enforcement agencies, he said, could help keep the price of lab work down by allowing those agencies to choose from a range of companies and genetic genealogy researchers.

For Sanchez, the homicide detective, promoting a fundraiser for a cold case investigation is something she never thought she'd have to do. But she did, appearing in a lengthy video about the case released by her department in November and in an interview on the livestream of a true crime show in December.

The case was posted on Nov. 21. By early January, it had been funded.

Now, Sanchez said, she can get back to doing her job — and hopefully get the lead she needs to find out who murdered Juanita Francisco.

By Andreas Rinke

STUTTGART, Germany, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Germany's ruling conservatives on Saturday passed a motion to ban social media use for under 14s and introduce more stringent digital verification checks for teenagers, building momentum for such ‌limits in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.

At a party conference in the city of Stuttgart, Chancellor Friedrich Merz's ‌Christian Democratic Union also called for fines for online platforms that failed to enforce such limits, and European Union-wide harmonisation of age standards.

A growing number of ​countries, including Spain, Greece, France and Britain, are looking at similar social media bans or restrictions on accessing platforms like TikTok or Instagram.

It follows the example of Australia, which last year became the first country to force platforms to cut off access for children.

European nations are more broadly ratcheting up pressure on social media companies, risking a backlash from the United States. President Donald Trump has threatened ‌tariffs and sanctions if EU countries impose new ⁠tech taxes or online regulations that hit U.S. firms.

"We call on the federal government to introduce a legal age limit of 14 for the use of social networks and to address the special ⁠need for protection in the digital sphere up to the age of 16," said the motion that passed on Saturday.

Merz's coalition partners the Social Democrats have also backed social media curbs for children. Pressure from both parties in the coalition makes it increasingly likely that the ​federal ​government will push for restrictions.

However, under Germany's federal system, media regulation is ​a state‑level responsibility and states must negotiate with ‌each other to agree consistent nationwide rules.

SCHOOLCHILDREN IN BONN DISCUSS THE BAN

Advertisement

The ban could affect children like those at the Cardinal Frings Gymnasium in the city of Bonn, several of whom a day earlier were scrolling on their phones in the school grounds.

"I think it's fair, but I think it should be up to the parents to decide whether to forbid it, not the state," said 13-year-old Moritz, who says he only watches YouTube.

"For children under 12 it should be forbidden, but from age 12 onwards ‌I think children can already distinguish between what is fake news and ​what is not."

His classmate Emma, 13, almost exclusively uses Snapchat, but has ​a time limit on her phone.

A ban would be "kind ​of unusual, because you get used to sending your snap in the morning before school, or what ‌my friends do, like just scrolling through Instagram or ​TikTok for a bit," she said.

Ella, ​12, scrolls through social media several times a day.

"So I have TikTok and Instagram myself, but I understand that it's all addictive, and the more you scroll, the more you want to see."

Teacher Till Franke said that for ​many of the children, "it would be a ‌shock at first, because of this daily use of social media".

But eventually, the students would get used to it, ​he said, "because they would find other niches where they could communicate with each other".

(Andreas Rinke, Stephane Nitschke ​and Petra Wischgoll; Writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Jan Harvey)

Christopher Saunders/Netflix

Conspiracy, lies, high-stakes politics and elaborate action sequences all make upThe Night Agent's season 3 finale.

The Netflix show has seen special agent Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) stop a presidential assassination and chemical warfare, but season 3 finds him tackle his biggest conspiracy yet. Peter must go through a winding investigation that takes him from a financial conspiracy involving intelligence broker Jacob Monroe (Louis Herthum) all the way to the top of the White House.

Specifically, creator Shawn Ryan toldTudumthat season 3 would be "an adrenaline-fueled thrill ride across Istanbul, Mexico City, Washington, New York, and the Dominican Republic."

Without his partner/girlfriend Rose (Luciane Buchanan) around, Peter teams up with multiple people this season including whistleblower Jay Batra (Suraj Sharma), journalist Isabel De Leon (Genesis Rodriguez) and presidential security agent Chelsea Arrington (Fola Evans-Akingbola) — who fans may remember from season 1.

After a presidential money laundering scheme is uncovered, Peter and Chelsea must get Isabel and one of the bankers involved toThe Financial Registerto report it, but can they do it while being hunted?

Here's everything to know about the ending ofThe Night Agentseason 3.

What happened inThe Night Agentseason 3?

Courtesy of Netflix

Season 3 ofThe Night Agenttied many loose ends together stemming back toseason 2when Peter needed help from intelligence broker Jacob to stop a terrorist attack. Jacob not only forced Peter to break into the United Nations to steal classified documents to get his help, but told Peter he would be forever indebted to him.

Jacob used these documents to prove that democratic candidate Patrick Knox was behind Fox Glove — a CIA chemical warfare research and development program — which swung the election in favor of Richard Hagan (Ward Horton). It is later revealed that Richard's wife Jenny (Jennifer Morrison) had negotiated with Jacob to get her husband in power.

Jacob would donate millions to Richard's campaign in exchange for him having access to the daily Presidential Briefs, so he could then sell the information. Later, Chelsea helps to reveal that Jenny had been working with Jacob all along and had staged a staffer attack. The staffer was involved in helping Jenny provide information, which made her partially responsible for providing intel that led to terrorist attacks.

Once Chelsea was onto Jenny, the White House was set to put out a story that Chelsea killed the White House staffer out of her own instability as opposed to Jenny's orders. This led to Chelsea seeking Peter's help as they teamed up to go against the president and stop his corruption.

Why did the Hagans want Freya, Chelsea, Jay and Isabel killed?

Christopher Saunders/Netflix

Isabel and Jay met with staff atThe Financial Registerto try to convince them of the deceit going on in the White House. Isabel explained to them that "[Jacob] funnelled money through [Jenny's] charity ... and illegally back into the Hagan campaign as leverage or blackmail in exchange for classified intel."

The Financial Registerwants more proof to print the story so Isabel realizes that if she can get an interview with Walcott Capital banker Freya — who helped Jacob launder the money — they'll have their evidence.

This leads to the ensuing final chase, with Peter and Chelsea trying to safely get Freya and Isabel toThe Financial Registerfor a live-streamed interview.

How didThe Night Agentseason 3 end?

Christopher Saunders/Netflix

The Night Agent's third season ends with Peter's morality helping to save the day. Shortly after the shocking reveal that Isabel is actually Jacob's daughter, he is killed at the request of Jenny to cover up her money laundering.

Advertisement

Once Isabel got a hold of Jacob's files, she had what she needed to expose the president and first lady, but the first family was already hot on her trail.

While Chelsea gets Freya toThe Financial Registerafter a struggle in the park — which ended with her stabbing an assailant with a mini lamp post — Peter is in a shootout with the president's henchman Adam. Adam served in the military with President Hagan, was Peter's partner and has a hard time believing that the president is corrupt.

However, when Peter approaches him, despite having been shot, Peter is able to appeal to Adam's conscience. Adam lets them go as Isabel does a livestream interview, outing President Hagan and his wife for their criminal tactics to both win the election and keep their illegal funding under wraps.

What happens to Peter and does he get together with Isabel?

Christopher Saunders/Netflix

Peter began the season flirting with Isabel in Istanbul, and ended it thanking her for giving him someone to trust. However, their connection appeared to be platonic as Isabel left Peter with some wise advice, sharing she'd be travelling to Barcelona for both business and pleasure.

As the episode ends, Peter reveals he will be taking some time off from being a night agent to try and find balance, taking Isabel's advice. However, his itch to get back to work shows itself when Mosley tells him he has a new partner in mind and Peter excitedly asks who it is.

After walking away, Peter buys an ice cream and realizes it's a Razzmatazz, the same one his mother bought him as a child. Near the beginning of the episode, Peter told Chelsea that his last memory with his deceased mother is of her getting him this ice cream on a beach that he's been looking for ever since.

Did Theo and Chelsea stay together?

Christopher Saunders/Netflix

Chelsea's fiancé, Theo, clearly loves her, but there are serious complications in their relationship as the two work together. Theo is not just enamored with Chelsea, but with the idea of being in the president's inner circle.

After Chelsea shoots the White House staffer to save Jenny's life, Theo and Chelsea are invited to the White House for dinner. Chelsea finds the phone Jenny took, confirming her suspicions that the attack was staged, while Theo feels even more indebted to the White House, straining their relationship.

Eventually, he finds out they're planning to blame Chelsea for the whole ordeal and he begins calling the press to stop the story from coming out. He leaves the White House and reunites with his fiancée.

In the post-credits, the couple are shown planning their wedding together, with their relationship fully intact.

What happens to other characters inThe Night Agent?

Christopher Saunders/Netflix

After the world finds out about the Hagans' illegal activities throughThe Financial Registerinterview, a news report flashes on-screen. It implies Richard is no longer president as it reads "Hagan pardons himself and wife ahead of senate conviction, exits White House, signs new media deal."

On the side of the whistleblowers, Jay began the season as a junior analyst fugitive on the run after catching illegal transactions via his company FinTech. As the season ends, he is seen being interviewed on a financial news broadcast diagramming how he figured out the Hagans' plot. He is now a government financial analyst.

On a scarier note, throughout the season, there's a mysterious contract killer named "the father" working for Freya while trying to hide his career from his son. After taking Peter hostage, the night agent helps convince the father that he can change paths and focus on time with his son.

The father tells Freya he is quitting his job and she threatens that he will constantly have to look over his shoulder. For the final cliffhanger ofThe Night Agentseason 3, in the epilogue, the father is seen slipping poison into Freya's drink, hoping to free himself of threats before playing football with his son.

Read the original article onPeople

Will Heath/NBC

NEED TO KNOW

• Saturday Night Live is not new on Feb. 21

• The late-night comedy sketch series returns on Feb. 28

• SNL airs at 11:30 p.m. EST / 8:30 p.m. PST on NBC

Saturday Night Liveis not new tonight.

The late-night comedy sketch series will not return for a new episode until Feb. 28. The latestSNLepisode that was new aired on Jan. 31, withAlexander Skarsgårdserving as host andCardi Bperforming musical guest duties.

SNLwent through a cast shakeup following itsmilestone 50th season.Devon Walker,Emil Wakim,Michael Longfellow,Heidi GardnerandEgo Nwodimall announced their exits, and the television seriesadded some fresh faces to the mixfor season 51, with Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska all joining as featured players, alongside returnees Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline.

That group joined returning cast membersMichael Che,Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes,Chloe Fineman,Marcello Hernández,James Austin Johnson,Colin Jost,Sarah Sherman,Kenan Thompson.Bowen Yangalso rejoined, but he later exitedSNLduring the Dec. 13 episode.

Here, find everything you need to know about the latest when it comes toSNL's season 51.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

Is there a new episode ofSNLtonight?

No,SNLis not new tonight.

Advertisement

The late-night comedy sketch series will not return for a new episode until Feb. 28.

Who will host and perform onSNLnext?

Heated Rivalry'sConnor Storriewill serve as host andMumford & Sonswill perform as the musical guest.

The episode will mark the actor's hosting debut. The British folk rock band, meanwhile, returns as musical guest for the fourth time.The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

What time doesSNLair?

SNLairs at 11:30 p.m. EST / 8:30 p.m. PST.

Where can I watchSNL?

New episodes ofSNLair live onNBCandPeacockon Saturdays, and they are later available to stream.

Saturday Night Liveairs weekends on NBC.

Read the original article onPeople

Bart Millardcouldn't have imagined any of this.

In 2001, the MercyMe frontman released his rousing anthem "I Can Only Imagine," which is now the best-selling Christian single of all time with more than 5 million copies sold.

The song went on to inspirea 2018 movie of the same name, which chronicled Millard's tumultuous upbringing and grossed a staggering $86 million worldwide on a $7 million budget.

Eight years later, he's back with "I Can Only Imagine 2" (now in theaters), a faith-based drama that tells the next chapter of Millard's story on and off stage.

"I don't know if there's a lot of sequels to biopics, so I didn't know I would be here again," Millard says with a laugh. "As a songwriter in a band, it's intoxicating any time an audience connects with your story. You realize, 'Oh, man, we're not alone in this.' Sadly, we all have suffering in common."

Millard, 53, and the film's co-director, Andrew Erwin, recently called USA TODAY to tell us about the emotional real-life inspiration behind "I Can Only Imagine 2":

Is 'I Can Only Imagine 2' a true story?

The sequel picks up shortly after the events of the first movie, as Bart Millard (played byJohn Michael Finley) is riding high on the chart-topping success of MercyMe's "I Can Only Imagine." But his world caves in when he and his wife (Sophie Skelton) receive the devastating diagnosis that their young son, Sam, has been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

As a teenager, Sam (Sammy Dell) is eager to pursue his own musical ambitions. But Bart is hypervigilant about his son's fragile health and tries to discourage him from joining the band on the road.

"Sam's had over 60,000 shots in his lifetime," Millard says. "He's only 24 now, and he hasn't had an actual shot in the last seven or eight years because technology's advanced so far. So that's a lot in a small amount of time."

At screenings of the movie, Millard has met other parents of children with chronic illnesses.

"They're like, 'It never ends. Every day is hard,' " Millard recalls. "Gosh, there's so many struggles. I'd heard that the divorce rate is pretty high among people with kids with chronic illnesses. I get it. My greatest achievement is that I'm still married and she's still amazing. But man, those early years were hard. Sam was diagnosed the same week we brought home our second child, Gracie, who was born six weeks premature. It was a little chaotic."

Who was Bart Millard's father?

The first "I Can Only Imagine" movie traced Bart's relationship with his abusive dad, Arthur (Dennis Quaid), who found God before his death from pancreatic cancer in 1991. Arthur only appears in flashbacks in the sequel, but his presence looms heavily over Bart.

Advertisement

In trying to be the good father that Arthur wasn't, Bart struggles to balance caregiving for his son with the demands of touring. Sam, meanwhile, feels that his dad is both overbearing and neglectful of his music dreams, and tensions run high between them.

More:Milo Ventimiglia talks filming weeks after losing home, welcoming child

"It was trial and error. I didn't have the best owner's manual to go by," Millard says. "As far as being a parent, the best advice I was ever given was: If you ever just sit around and worry whether you're a good parent or not, you're probably a pretty good parent.'"

A lot of times, "we feel like we've got to get it perfect," Erwin adds. "Showing up is nine-tenths of the battle. That was the beautiful gift that was given in this story: just being present."

How did Tim Timmons' cancer battle inspire 'Even If?'

The film also charts Bart's friendship with fellow Christian singerTim Timmons(Milo Ventimiglia), who opened forMercyMeon tour. As the movie depicts, Tim was diagnosed with an incurable cancer in 2001 and told that he only had five years to live.

Tim's terminal diagnosis, coupled with Sam's health problems, inspired the two men to write "Even If," a meditative anthem about clinging to faith and finding strength in God during the hardest of times. Released in 2017, the song is MercyMe's biggest hit after "I Can Only Imagine."

"If 'I Can Only Imagine' is about hope for tomorrow, 'Even If' is hope for today," Erwin says. "Tim is still alive and kicking, 25 years after he was given five years to live. To those of us who have known Tim behind the scenes, he's this silent, unsung hero that never craved the spotlight. And every morning, he writes an 'X' on his wrist to say, 'Thank you for another day.' "

Will there be an 'I Can Only Imagine 3?'

MercyMe put out their 12thstudio album, "Wonder & Awe," last summer, and Millard's son continues to release his own music under Sam Wesley.

"He's a beautiful soul," Millard says. "I usually keep my mouth shut and hear other people rave about him, which makes me the proudest dad on the planet. He's a talented, been-through-hell kid."

So now with two movies under their belts, would the band ever consider a trilogy?

"Let's not get that far ahead yet!" Millard exclaims. "Let's see how this one does. I would have said there'd never be a second one."

But if there is, "we joke that it's going to be with lasers and in space," Erwin adds. "You never know!"

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:'I Can Only Imagine 2' true story – What's real in the MercyMe sequel?

As the investigation intothe disappearance of Nancy Guthrienears the end of three weeks, the FBI is continuing to press forward with an analysis of cell phone data, video, and interviews, an agency official said Friday.

That work includes the challenging effort of retrieving any additional images of the suspect from the back-end of Guthrie's video security system, the official said.

At the agency's Tucson field office, the command post remains fully active, the official said. Some personnel are being rotated through the post to keep "fresh eyes" on the case reviewing evidence, a second official said.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said in an interview Friday that he believes investigators are getting closer to identifying some of the articles of clothing worn by the masked man captured on Guthrie's security camera and released last week by the FBI.

His backpack — a 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack — was previously identified as a product sold exclusively at Walmart.

Advertisement

In addition to trying to identify the suspect's pants, shoes and jacket, Nanos said, investigators are visiting gun stores and asking about the holster he was seen wearing and the firearm he appeared to be carrying.

The department is also awaiting an analysis from partial DNA found at Guthrie's home.

Asked about his message to the Guthrie family, he said: "We're not quitting. We'll find her."

Guthrie, the mother of "TODAY" co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, was last seen on the evening of Jan. 31, when she was dropped off at home shortly before 10 p.m., according to a timeline provided by Nanos.

Her doorbell camera disconnected at 1:47 a.m. on Feb. 1. Her pacemaker disconnected from her phone less than an hour later. Her family reported missing later that day.

Nanos has said investigators believe she was taken in the middle of the night. Authorities have not identified a possible motive, nor have they identified any possible suspects.