The trial for Alec Baldwin’s on-set Rust movie shooting is set to begin on Tuesday and is scheduled to be held over the course of 10 days. 

The shooting occurred in October 2021 when a gun Baldwin was holding fired a live round and killed 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Jury selection will begin on Tuesday and be followed by opening statements set for Wednesday, with the trial projected to conclude on July 19. 

If Baldwin is found guilty, he faces 18 months in prison. The actor has maintained that he did not know the gun carried live ammunition, and he has implied he did not pull the gun’s trigger.

Baldwin’s defense team will argue that an actor is not responsible for checking the bullets of the gun for potential live rounds, which Baldwin’s union, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, has supported. The defense will also contend that they never had the chance to examine the gun Baldwin was holding, arguing that an FBI test caused irreparable damage to the weapon.

The prosecutors in this case, meanwhile, will make the argument that Baldwin was reckless in his handling of the weapon, and will also have film production crew members provide testimony. Among those who could testify are director Joel Souza, who had been injured during the shooting that killed Hutchins, and crew member Zac Sneesby, who is expected to testify that he saw Baldwin pull the gun’s trigger, according to court filings.

Those who wish to watch the trial live can do so with the broadcast channel Court TV and other channels airing it.

Baldwin’s trial comes about three months after Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the 27-year-old armorer of Rust, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, with the judge stating that she “alone” was responsible for turning “a safe weapon into a lethal weapon.” Prosecutors argued in the case that Gutierrez-Reed had “repeatedly” failed to maintain proper firearm safety, which led to Hutchins’s death.

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A new court filing has claimed that Baldwin “engaged in horseplay with his gun” and “fired a blank round at a crew member” prior to Hutchins’s death. Other claims in the court filing said that Baldwin was distracted during firearms training because he was talking to his family on FaceTime.

Baldwin announced the launch of a new reality show on TLC last month, which will star him and his family and air in 2025.

President Joe Biden’s campaign has dismissed any possibility of the president dropping out of the 2024 election, arguing that Biden is resolved in his goal of beating former President Donald Trump.

Discussions of potentially replacing Biden as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee have gone up significantly since the first presidential debate, with Biden appearing in his first post-debate interview on Friday in an attempt to quell concerns. During the interview, Biden was asked how he would feel if Trump won the election against him this November. The president appeared to accept a loss as long as he did the best job “I know I can do.”

“I think that the president is saying nobody’s going to work harder than he has to defeat Donald Trump,” said Quentin Fulks, the Biden campaign’s principal deputy manager, on MSNBC’s Inside with Jen Psaki. “He understands the stakes of this election. I mean, take a look back at why the president ran the first time. He saw Charlottesville, he saw Trump and what he was doing to this country, and he got in the race.”

“This isn’t about Joe Biden thinking that he’s the only person that can beat Donald Trump,” he added. “This is the fact that Joe Biden believes deeply he has a better vision for this country, and that is what we are doing on this campaign to make sure that we are drying the contrast between those two visions.”

Fulks’s comment on Charlottesville referenced a debunked report that Trump once said there were “very fine people on both sides” at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. Biden also referenced this report during his debate with Trump, with the former president pushing back and stating the story was false.

Fulks added that there is “broad support” for Biden ahead of the 2024 election, though he argued that people do want “reassurance.” He also said that Biden’s campaign is in “a strong position,” and that the president gets his energy from voters and supporters.

In the wake of the debate, Biden’s campaign announced a $50 million ad buy to “capitalize on pivotal high viewership and political diverse audiences.” Some of these ads will play during the season premiere of The Bachelorette, as well as the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, has contended that Biden “should ignore his many critics” and continue “his campaign of American Destruction.” He also joked that Biden ought to “MAKE CHINA GREAT AGAIN,” a play on Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.

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Some Democrats have still expressed worry about keeping Biden in the race, with former Democratic Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan being among those within the party asking the president to step aside. Ryan also predicted that more House Democrats would ask Biden to step aside once they return from their 4th of July break.

Gov. Josh Green (D-HI) suggested that Biden will make a decision about staying in the race within the next couple of days. He added that he thinks Biden will stay in the race “unless he feels that it is not winnable.”

A growing number of retailers are reconsidering their reliance on self-checkout lanes in an effort to clamp down on the shrinkage and theft of their merchandise.

Among those reworking its use of self-checkout lanes are bargain retailers Dollar General and Five Below, the former of which removed this option at 12,000 of its locations. Five Below, meanwhile, has stated that it is removing the self-checkout option at its “highest risk locations.”

Target has also been reevaluating its self-checkout lanes, as it announced in March that most of its stores nationwide would only allow customers to use self-checkout when buying 10 items or less. These lanes could also be closed entirely depending on the time of day and how many customers are shopping.

A study from last year found that 69% of respondents believe that self-checkout lanes are a contributing factor to shoplifting at stores. 15% of respondents also admitted to stealing items via self-checkout, with 44% of these respondents saying they were likely to use this method to steal in the future.

Management for Costco, which revealed last year that it was adding more staff to self-checkout lanes to prevent theft, stated that its shrink in merchandise had increased, at least in part, “due to the rollout of self-checkout.”

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Grocery retailer Safeway revealed earlier this month that it was also removing its self-checkout lanes in the San Francisco Bay Area in California, citing the need to create a safe environment for both its employees and customers. One of the chain’s locations in Oakland, California, had already removed these lanes and replaced them with a display of soda cans.

Stores in the United States and Europe using self-checkout lanes and apps have had a loss rate of about 4%, according to a study. 

Comedian and former talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has canceled multiple stops of her “Last Stand… Up” comedy tour, with no specified reason given for the cancellations.

DeGeneres began her comedy tour in April, marking her first since her talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, ended in 2022 after 19 years on the air. However, four locations, including Houston, Texas; San Francisco, California; Seattle, Washington; and Chicago, Illinois, have now been listed as canceled, according to listings on Ticketmaster.

Ticket holders have been informed that they will be issued refunds sometime within 14 to 21 days.

Talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show had been canceled in the wake of allegations that DeGeneres created a hostile work environment for her employees. The comedian denied these accusations during a tour stop in Santa Rosa, California, though she acknowledged that she could be “demanding and impatient and tough.”

“I am many things, but I am not mean,” she stated.

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The next tour date is scheduled for Denver, Colorado, on Monday, with the entire tour concluding next month in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Aug. 17.

Following the cancellation of DeGeneres’s show, Kelly Clarkson, the singer who became famous for winning the first season of American Idol in 2002, took its place with her own The Kelly Clarkson Show.

Gun owners in Louisiana can start enjoying additional freedoms on Independence Day, thanks to a new law allowing them to conceal carry without a permit.

The new law applies to all state residents who are at least 18 years old and do not have any restrictions preventing them from owning a gun due to previous felonies. Republican state Sen. Blake Miguez, who wrote the legislation for this law, explained that residents should be free to exercise their Second Amendment rights to protect themselves and their families and that criminals in the state should “fear the consequences of their actions.”

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“Louisiana now proudly joins the ranks of states that recognize the fundamental right to carry a firearm without the need for a government-issued permit,” Miguez wrote on Facebook. “As we enjoy the fireworks and festivities, let us also uphold the responsibilities that accompany our Second Amendment rights. We must handle our freedoms with the utmost care and respect, ensuring safety for all our communities.”

There are a few restrictions to this new law that gun owners should be aware of, including no concealed carry in a private residence without permission from the owners. Additionally, concealed carry will still not be allowed in locations where firearms are prohibited. 

The law was signed by Gov. Jeff Landry (R-LA) back in March, who also signed a bill that expanded death row execution methods to include electrocution and nitrogen gas. Landry explained that he signed these bills “to start to make Louisiana safe.”

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Online data surveying the safety of all 50 states indicated that Louisiana is the third most dangerous state in the country, behind New Mexico and Arkansas. 

Louisiana’s new concealed carry law makes it the 29th state to allow gun owners to conceal carry without a permit. Other states include Wyoming, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Texas.

Former Biden White House communications director Kate Bedingfield argued Democrats should not be pressing the panic button on President Joe Biden’s reelection bid and instead stick with him as the presumptive nominee.

Discussions about replacing Biden with another Democratic candidate have grown exponentially since the first presidential debate last month, during which the president performed underwhelmingly against former President Donald Trump. Bedingfield, however, encouraged Democrats to “level-set” their concerns about Biden, claiming that post-debate polling was not as drastically bad as some predicted.

“I would not argue the status quo is great for him either,” Bedingfield said on CNN This Morning. “I mean, you see him consistently within 1 or 2 points in swing states that he needs to win. So I‘m not arguing that the landscape looks terrific for him right now, but it is also true that the bottom has not fallen out since the debate. So I think that should be the point of discussion.”

Bedingfield added that swapping Biden out with someone else would not be “a magic fix” to the Democratic Party’s chances at winning the 2024 elections, as doing so would be a very difficult process. She also argued that if this were to happen, the replacement candidate would be placed “in the firing line.”

Going forward, she encouraged the Biden campaign to “push the narrative back to Trump,” and to be more aggressive in this push to remind voters about the likely rematch between the two. Bedingfield argued that Biden has so far not made a noticeable effort with this, as he has only appeared at one rally post-debate.

Bedingfield was one of several CNN anchors who criticized Biden’s performance right after the network’s debate, arguing that the president failed to show voters that he has the stamina to serve in the White House for another four years.

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Biden is speaking with multiple Democratic governors throughout this week as the party continues to grapple with the possibility of replacing him. Govs. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), and Wes Moore (D-MD), among other governors, have been suggested as replacements.

The Biden family has so far dismissed the idea of the president dropping out, with first lady Jill Biden stating that they will “continue to fight” in this election cycle and that her husband will “always do what’s best for the country.”

Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) claimed Sunday that former President Donald Trump has “dementia,” citing statements she had heard from “healthcare professionals.”

Pelosi was asked about the possibility of President Joe Biden stepping aside from his bid for reelection this November, specifically in wake of the president’s performance during the first presidential debate. The former House speaker contended that she has spoken to California residents who are still in support of Biden even after the debate, and that the president has the chance to show he has “the stamina” to continue working his position.

“And by the way, while the press and for some reason they don’t, there are healthcare professionals who think that Trump has dementia, that his connection of his thoughts do not go together,” Pelosi claimed. “Not only that he just lies, he doesn‘t even know the truth, so if we‘re just talking about mental acuity, let’s be fair about it.”

Pelosi also admitted that Biden had “a bad night” during his debate but argued that he has had “a great presidency” as a whole, noting that voters should remember that come November. She also encouraged people to “move on” from the first debate.

In regards to any concerns she has about Biden potentially bringing other Democrats down in the 2024 elections, Pelosi brushed those aside and argued that Democrats will “definitely” win the House of Representatives back. She stated that the party experienced a boost in fundraising after the debate.

However, polling data released in the wake of the debate stated that 72% of respondents did not believe Biden had the mental and cognitive health to serve as president. This was slightly up from the 65% of respondents who said the same prior to Thursday night.

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Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) stated Sunday that Democrats are having “a serious conversation” about whether to keep Biden on the 2024 presidential ballot. He also contended that “our party is going to be unified” whether or not Biden continues his campaign for reelection.

Biden’s performance at the CNN debate has brought back attention to a report from former special counsel Robert Hur, which was released in February this year. Hur declined to prosecute Biden for mishandling classified material, with the report stating this is partly because the president displayed memory problems and came off as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it grapples with almost $1 billion in debt.

The media company, best known for owning the Redbox movie rental kiosk brand, informed its employees of its filing on Saturday, which was done with a Delaware bankruptcy court. The filing states that the company owes $970 million, and lists multiple unsecured creditors, including Walmart, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, and Paramount Pictures, among others.

“Overnight we filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection,” a message to employees read. “In connection with the filing, we have applied for approval of a debtor in possession [DIP] loan. Upon court approval, we expect payroll to be funded early in the week and funding for this upcoming week’s payroll to also be secured. We also expect to have the funds to reinstate medical benefits back to May 14, 2024 and going forward. We will provide regular updates.”

Earlier this month, an SEC filing from the company stated that its net losses last year was $636.6 million, up drastically from 2022’s $111.2 million. The filing stated that unless funding for the company was secured, bankruptcy could be considered a possibility.

Besides Redbox, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment is also known as the parent company of Crackle and Popcornflix, both of which are ad-supported free streaming services.

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Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment’s financial woes come after the company has made several acquisitions, including Redbox Entertainment in 2022 for $375 million. The iconic red kiosks were well-known for their locations inside stores like Walmart and Walgreens, and provided a means for people to rent physical DVD movies after movie rental Blockbuster went underwater in the early 2010s.

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment is the latest media group to struggle financially, as Vice Media filed for bankruptcy in May last year before being acquired by Fortress Investment Group shortly after. Cineworld, the owner of the Regal Cinemas outlet, similarly filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy before emerging from bankruptcy last year.

Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki contended that Democrats swapping out President Joe Biden with a different candidate would be a difficult process, noting how many voters are already attached to Biden.

Psaki’s assessment on replacing Biden comes after he debated former President Donald Trump on Thursday, during which the president gave a “very bad” performance. Psaki was especially critical of Biden’s performance during the first 30 minutes of the debate, as well as how he failed to make the case for what he would do in a second term, such as securing abortion access or improving the economy.

“But there is no question the next few weeks are going to be rocky for the Biden campaign,” Psaki wrote. “There will be ongoing discussions about the possibility of an open convention, and about replacing Biden on the ticket. While that may sound like a good idea on editorial pages, it would be quite challenging to pull off. The public has already chosen Biden, and a brokered convention means party delegates — and not the public — pick the nominee (from a large field of ambitious and talented people) in what would also be a messy and divisive process.”

Going forward, Psaki encouraged the Biden campaign to work harder on winning over voters, including the mobilization of Democratic governors. Among those listed were Govs. Gavin Newsom (CA), Wes Moore (MD), and Josh Shapiro (PA) — all of whom have been floated as possible replacements for Biden in the 2024 election.

Psaki also suggested that Biden take his underperformance at the debate and use it as motivation to prove his naysayers wrong, suggesting that voters still prefer him over “creepy convict Don.” However, she stressed the need to recognize that the incumbent president is currently “the underdog.”

The idea of replacing Biden with a different candidate has been floated for some time now, though such suggestions have been largely turned down, even after the debate. Biden’s deputy campaign manager, Rob Flaherty, argued in an email that the president would remain the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee and slammed “the bedwetting brigade” asking for Biden to drop out.

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Among the Democrats who have backed Biden after Thursday’s debate is Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) who argued that the president’s performance reminded him of himself when he wished he had delivered a better sermon. However, he did not give a direct answer when asked if Biden ought to take a cognitive test.

Former United Nations ambassador and former 2024 presidential candidate Nikki Haley has cautioned her fellow Republicans that any candidate replacing Biden would likely be someone younger, putting Democrats in a better position to beat Trump. She also predicted down-ballot lowered enthusiasm among Democrats if Biden is kept at the top of the ticket.