Today is Friday, June 7, 2024.
It is the 159th day of the year.
207 days remain.
WHAT’S ON TAP
SPACEX celebrates a successful mission and technology foils another robbery ring. Details in HIT LIST.
JELLY ROLL’s felon status is causing an issue for his tour plans. More in SHOWBIZ.
DIANE VON FURSTENBERG details her younger, wilder days in a new documentary. Details in CASTING CALL.
KIM also thinks parenting is hard. More in KARDASH.
An awkward dustup in Normandy. Details in ROYALS.
###
HIT LIST
SPACEX successfully completed its fourth Starship mission on Thursday. The most powerful rocket ever built made it into space before returning through the atmosphere and successfully splashing down in the ocean. Remarkably, a live video feed onboard the rocket streamed the entire flight.
In a celebratory post on X, ELON MUSK wrote, “Today was a great day for humanity’s future as a spacefaring civilization! Nothing unites us more than working together towards inspiring objectives.”
SpaceX confirmed that the mission concluded with a soft splashdown despite the failure of a damaged flap on the rocket. [via Morning Martini]
MEANWHILE: BOEING’s Starliner successfully docked with the International Space Station Thursday afternoon after managing a helium leak causing thruster issues. The two astronauts will remain on the ISS for just over a week. [via NBC News]
###
California no longer holds the title for the state that sells the most legal weed — the left coast state has been edged out by Michigan.
Cannabis analytics firm BDSA reports that dispensaries in Michigan sold 22 MILLION cannabis products in March, beating out California by about 700,000 units. In this case, a product counts as a single individually-wrapped product, like a vape pen or package of edibles.
Overall for the first quarter, California shops sold more than $1 BILLION of legal weed to Michigan’s $786 MILLION. [via SF Gate]
###
Technology foiled another organized crime ring — this time with an Apple Watch transmitting a signal from a stolen suitcase.
A Spirit Airlines flier packed her watch and computer into her checked bag on a flight to Fort Lauderdale, but the bag never made it off the carousel. After filing a complaint with the airline, the passenger, Paolo Garcia, got a notification on her phone that her watch was broadcasting a signal.
Undeterred, Garcia drove to the address, where she saw multiple suitcases. After connecting with authorities, they informed her that the resident of the address works for a retail store in the airport and worked the day of the flight.
IT GETS WORSE: Security footage from a back room of another airport store shows the suspect going through the suitcase. He was promptly arrested. [via People]
###
A 5-year-old girl in Arkansas remarkably avoided tragedy after a tree fell into her bedroom.
The girl’s grandmother tells local media they had bunked up together the night before. Grandma got up in the morning to get some fresh air. Seconds later, the tree crashed through the roof.
By some miracle, the young girl got out of bed to follow her grandmother outside so she was not in the bed, but was still trapped in the room until her grandparents smashed down the door to get her out. “She was drenched and had insulation all over her hair … but she was really a trooper,” grandma says. [via 4029TV]
###
Two-year-old Paisley Toten was feeding animals at the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose, Texas when a grazing giraffe decided that she looked tastier than the food.
Video taken by a fellow park goer shows the giraffe going in for the food and coming up with the toddler in its mouth, holding her up by the collar of her shirt.
Paisley’s mom yelled at the animal who quickly released the toddler unharmed. While she was unscathed from the incident, her parents told a local news outlet that the ordeal “scared the hell” out of them.
BY THE WAY: On their way out of the park Paisley picked out a souvenir from the gift shop -- a toy giraffe. [via Star-Telegram]
###
DEATHS
Actor TOM BOWER has died.
He passed away at his home in Los Angeles last week. No further details have been shared.
Bower is best known for his roles in “The Waltons” and “Die Hard 2.”
He was 86.
###
BY THE NUMBERS
📈 The DOW increased 78 points (0.2%) to close at 38,886 on Thursday. The S&P lost 1 point (0.02%) to close at 5,352 and the NASDAQ lost 14 points (0.08%) to close at 17,173.
🛢 WEST TEXAS INTERMEDIATE closed at $75; BRENT CRUDE at $78.
⛽ The national average price of a GALLON OF GAS was $3.48 on Thursday.
₿ BITCOIN ticked down, trading around $70,500.
🛩 There were more than 4,210 FLIGHTS delayed within, into, or out of the United States on Thursday and more than 170 such cancellations.
💰Tonight’s MEGA MILLIONS drawing will be for a $20 million jackpot or a $9.4 million cash payout. Saturday night’s POWERBALL drawing will be for a $206 million jackpot or a $95.7 million cash payout.
###
SHOWBIZ NEWS
New Music Friday
Aurora, “What Happened to the Heart?”
Bon Jovi, “Forever”
Carly Pearce, “Hummingbird”
Charli XCX, “Brat”
JD Pinkus, “Grow a Pear”
Meghan Trainor, “Timeless”
SHAED, “Spinning Out”
Tems, “Born in the Wild”
###
Actor SAM HEUGHAN joked about his plans to steal TAYLOR SWIFT from TRAVIS KELCE.
“How could she resist? She’s gonna shake him off and take me out instead. I’m really excited,” he joked on Instagram last week.
The topic came up ahead of Heughan and his “Outlander” castmates attending Swift’s show in Scotland over the weekend. [via Page Six]
###
JELLY ROLL says he is having issues booking shows for his international tour -- not because of a lack of interest from fans, but because of his past crimes.
“It’s funny, America has finally agreed to let me leave and give me a passport, but some countries won’t let me come because of my felonies. We’re working on that,” he told Interview Magazine.
JR has been to jail about 40 times for drug-related charges, and served time as a teen for aggravated robbery. He has since turned his life around, making a name for himself in the country-music world. [via Interview Magazine]
###
SEAN KINGSTON is out on bond.
After posting the $100,000, he took to Instagram to let his fans know he is out, writing “great to be home.”
The update comes a week after Kingston was arrested, along with his mom, on charges of fraud connected to a string of thefts they allegedly committed, including stealing jewelry, furniture, and a Cadillac Escalade. [via Billboard]
WORTH NOTING: Kingston’s mom is also out. She was spotted outside her son’s home last week.
###
TOM CRUISE gave DAKOTA FANNING her very first cell phone.
While filming “War of the Worlds,” Fanning celebrated her 11th birthday, for which Cruise got her a Motorola Razr. “I didn’t have anyone to call, but I wanted a Razer so bad,” she shared during an appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”
Cruise has continued on with the gifts, sending her shoes -- not phones -- every year on her birthday. [via Variety]
###
CASTING CALL
While most grandparents pass down words of wisdom, fashion designer DIANA VON FURSTENBERG plans to tell hers about the time she almost had a threesome with DAVID BOWIE and MICK JAGGER.
She detailed the conversation in her new documentary, “Diane von Furstenberg: Women in Charge,” confessing to the camera that she didn’t go through with it, but had “considered” it for a time.
“I was having a man’s life in a woman’s body,” she added while revealing she was also once “with Warren Beaty and Ryan O’Neal on the same weekend.” [via Page Six]
###
ADAM LEVINE is returning to “The Voice.”
After exiting the show in 2019, the MAROON 5 frontman will return for Season 27 this fall.
He will join MICHAEL BUBLE and KELSEA BALLERINI who are making their coaching debut with the upcoming Season 26.
JOHN LEGEND is also returning as a coach for the new seasons. [via ET]
###
PAT SAJAK’s first post-“Wheel of Fortune” gig is a role in a play called “Prescription: Murder” for a community theater in Hawaii.
He will play a psychiatrist with a murder plan.
The show isn’t gonna hit the stage until July of next year, however. [via TMZ]
BY THE WAY: Friday was his last time hosting the game show.
###
The forthcoming book in the “Hunger Games” franchise is getting a film adaptation before it even hits the shelves.
“The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” revisits the “world of Panem 24 years before the events of ‘The Hunger Games,’ starting on the morning of the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games,” according to the synopsis.
The book is due out next March, and the film is scheduled to hit theaters in November 2026. [via People]
###
JAKE GYLLENHAAL is looking at the positives when it comes to being legally blind.
“I’ve never known anything else,” he told The Hollywood Reporter of his 20/1250 vision.
Gyllenhaal has worn corrective lenses since he was six after undergoing surgery on his lazy eye.
FOR THE RECORD: The American Foundation for the Blind determines visual acuity of 20/400 as very low functional vision. [via THR]
###
THE DAILY KARDASHOPUS
Following in sister KHLOE KARDASHIAN’s footsteps, KIM KARDASHIAN also thinks being a parent is hard.
In the most recent episode of “The Kardashians,” Kim shares her struggles over being a single-mom of four, saying, “I thought I was going to end up on an episode of ‘Snapped’ yesterday.”
As for how she manages -- beyond her hired help, of course -- Kim says she has “super supportive” friends who she can lean on. [via ET]
###
WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS
France’s First Lady BRIGITTE MACRON committed a royal protocol faux pas during a memorial event in Normandy on Thursday when she reached out to give QUEEN CAMILLA an affectionate squeeze of the hand during a wreath-laying ceremony.
Video shows the two women, each dressed in white dresses and heels, setting down a wreath at a D-Day memorial then taking a step back. That’s when Macron reached over to grab the Queen’s hand.
After a few awkward moments, with the Queen not accepting the gesture, the women slowly walked backward and Macron awkwardly withdrew.
While there are no formal rules when engaging with the monarchs, even among other Heads of State, it’s commonly understood that any touch-feely exchange beyond a quick, firm handshake is too much for the notoriously aloof House of Windsor. [via DailyMail]
###
DAY OF THE YEAR
National VCR Day
World Food Safety
June Bug Day
World Caring Day
National Donut Day
National Chocolate Ice Cream Day
###
ON THIS DATE
1494 - The Treaty of Tordesillas is signed, splitting territories in the New World and beyond between Spain and Portugal.
The border was arbitrary, since much of the land had not been mapped.
The Portuguese took much of South America, while the Spanish pushed on into the North.
Because of the Portuguese exploration of South America, there are more speakers of their language in Brazil than in Portugal.
###
1776 - The first draft of what would become the Declaration of Independence is presented to the Second Continental Congress.
Richard Henry Lee was the author, and titled it a "Resolution of Independence." The document asserted that the United Colonies were free and separate from the British Empire.
After discussion and numerous drafts, the final Declaration of Independence would be approved on July 4 that year.
###
1939 - The first reigning British monarch visits the United States.
King George VI and his wife Elizabeth cross from Canada into the US at Niagara Falls. This is the same King George depicted in the hit movie "The King's Speech."
While visiting New York and Washington, DC, the royals lobbied for American intervention in the brewing conflict in Europe.
###
1942 - After four days of bloody fighting, American troops declare victory in the Battle of Midway.
The US Pacific Fleet was heavily outnumbered by the Japanese, but managed to sink four enemy aircraft carriers while only losing one of its own. 292 aircraft were also gunned down, and 2500 Japanese navy men lost their lives.
The battle is considered a poignant turning point in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Later that summer, Americans began their counteroffensive at Guadalcanal, and remained on the march until the Japanese surrendered in 1945.
###
1966 - Ronald Reagan wins his first major political seat, becoming Governor of California.
The momentum of Barry Goldwater in 1964 and the relentless support of conservative heavyweight William F. Buckley helped land him the top spot in one of the nation's most liberal states.
He would fail to win the GOP Presidential nomination twice, each in 1968 and 1976. Finally, he would be nominated and beat Jimmy Carter in 1980.
###
1980 - The first American solar power plant begins operations in Utah.
The largest in the world at the time, composed of 250,000 solar cells, it was used to power facilities at the National Bridge National Monument, including the visitor center, staff residences, and maintenance facilities.
###
2012 - Remains of the Curtain Theatre, where some of Shakespeare’s plays were first performed are found under a pub in London.
Archeologists unearthed the remains in Shoreditch, an area in northeastern London, during construction for a residential and commercial development project.
The Curtain Theatre, which opened in 1577, was London’s second playhouse. It was the main venue for Shakespeare’s plays between 1597 and 1599.
###
2020 - The COVID-19 global death toll passes 400,000 with confirmed cases nearing 7 million, according to Johns Hopkins.
###
BIRTHDAYS
Christian McCaffrey - football player - 28
Swae Lee - rapper - 31
Fetty Wap - rapper - 33
Emily Ratajkowski - model - 33
Iggy Azalea - rapper - 34
Mair Mulroney - actress, “Unchained” - 35
Michael Cera - actor, “Superbad” & “Juno” - 36
Bill Hader - actor, “SNL” & “Barry” - 46
Allen Iverson - basketball player - 49
Bear Grylls - reality star, “Man vs. Wild” - 50
Mick Foley - wrestler - 59
Kym Whitley - actress, “Young & Hungry” - 63
Mike Pence - Vice President - 65
Liam Neeson - actor, “Taken” & “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace” - 72
Tom Jones - pop singer - 84
Born On This Date
Lance Reddick - actor, “The Wire” & “John Wick” - 1962 (d. 2023)
Prince - pop singer - 1958 (d. 2016)
Dean Martin - pop singer - 1917 (d. 1995)
###