YouTube is pulling its streaming numbers from Billboard's charts entirely, a direct response to the publication's updated formula that values paid streams more than free ones. Starting next month, all Billboard charts, including the Hot 100 and Billboard 200, will lose YouTube's data, which has been a factor for years.
The company's global music head, Lyor Cohen, called the new weighting unfair, arguing it ignores the huge audience of fans who listen without a subscription. Billboard's recent change counts one paid stream as equal to two and a half ad-supported streams, a narrower gap than before, but one YouTube still rejects. They believe both types of engagement should count the same.
Billboard defended its complex methodology...
All five men tied to the Southern University hazing death of Caleb Wilson have been indicted by a grand jury. East Baton Rouge D.A. Hillar Moore confirmed the charges, noting the investigation remains active. Jadyn Landrum and Winston Craig Sanders face misdemeanor hazing counts, while Caleb McCray, Isaiah Earl Smith, and Kyle Thurman are hit with felonies. McCray is charged with manslaughter, Smith as a principal to that crime, plus obstruction, and Thurman with obstruction. A sixth person might still be charged.
Wilson, a twenty-year-old student and band member, died after an off-campus event linked to Omega Psi Phi pledging. Police say pledges took punches to the chest. McCray allegedly delivered the final blow that caused commotio...
A private eye found a brand new industrial incinerator, still boxed up, at a Hollywood Hills rental property linked to the rapper D4vd. Investigator Steve Fischer posted about the discovery, noting the burn cage device can hit sixteen hundred degrees, hotter than a cremation furnace. He pointed out it's illegal to operate in LA County and questioned why it was sent to a home, not a film set, if meant for a video.
The incinerator was never used. Authorities left it there for that reason. But its presence in the same house connected to the case of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose body was found in a Tesla's trunk, raises obvious questions about why it was bought. Fischer was hired by the landlord after getting no updates from the police...
Charlamagne Tha God just locked down a massive new deal with iHeartMedia, worth over two hundred million dollars. The five-year agreement keeps him hosting The Breakfast Club but really focuses on expanding his Black Effect Podcast Network, which he calls the BET of podcasting. He told Forbes he wanted more than just a talent contract, aiming for true ownership and a lasting cultural institution.
The network, a partnership with iHeart, already hosts more than sixty shows on topics from sports to mental health, featuring people like ex-NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson. It's a major reason iHeart's podcast revenue shot up recently. The deal also lines up with the company's streaming plans, getting shows like The Breakfast Club...
Tory Lanez is talking from prison for the first time since his conviction, giving an interview where he still says he's innocent of shooting Megan Thee Stallion. The rapper, serving a ten-year sentence, spoke with NBC News and discussed his legal fight and a brutal stabbing he survived behind bars. His lawyers are now asking California's governor for a pardon or a sentence reduction.
He claimed a ton of new evidence has surfaced since his trial that proves his innocence, evidence he says the court never got to see. Lanez insisted he is not a violent person and would never hurt a woman, arguing the public has the wrong idea about him. He described prison as deeply traumatic, mentioning he was attacked and stabbed numerous times in one...
The Trump White House is moving to actively strip citizenship from naturalized Americans, per internal docs. This marks a major escalation, shifting focus to people who already completed the immigration process legally.
Denaturalization used to be for huge stuff like war criminals. Now the feds want to hunt through old paperwork for minor mistakes or inconsistencies to use as grounds for revocation, even decades later. They plan to throw more staff and money at reviewing these cases. This comes on top of the administration's other harsh immigration policies, like mass deportations.
For immigrant communities, this completely moves the goalposts. Citizenship was supposed to be permanent safety, the final step. The policy signals that...
Yeah, the trusty bottle of Hidden Valley ranch on your table might be sketchy. Federal regulators just announced a recall for thousands of cases of Buttermilk Ranch dressing because it got contaminated. The FDA says over three thousand cases got pulled after Ventura Foods, the company in California that makes it, found black plastic bits in the ingredients.
The issue was some granulated onion containing what they called planting material, basically, little plastic fragments. This wasn't just the ranch; a bunch of other dressings got caught up too, like Italian and Caesar, some sold under different labels. They shipped these big food service containers all over the place, to spots like Costco and other retailers across more than two...
Two government ministers have openly accused high-ranking officials within the Zanu PF party of participating in drug trafficking. Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe recently claimed that some senior figures abuse their authority to sell illegal substances. This follows a similar public allegation made months earlier by Youth Minister Tino Machakaire, who directly stated that party bigwigs are dealing drugs.
These unusual public accusations point to a major internal conflict, suggesting protected networks are profiting from a national crisis. The claims arrive amid widespread concern over addiction, with surveys showing most citizens believe drug abuse is common in their communities. Young people are disproportionately affected...
