There’s a lot to like on Billboard’s Rhythmic Airplay chart for Future, Metro Boomin and Kendrick Lamar, whose collaboration “Like That” climbs to No. 1 on the radio ranking list dated May 18. The song rises from No. 3 after a 12% increase in plays made it the most-played song on U.S. monitored rhythmic radio stations in the tracking week of May 3-9, according to Luminate.
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Thanks to the 12% surge on already strong airplay, “Like That” wins the Greatest Gainer honor, awarded each week to the song with the largest increase in plays among the chart’s 40 titles. A pair of Texas stations, KBBT-FM in San Antonio and KBFM-FM in McAllen, lead the way with the most “Like That” plays in the latest tracking week, while Fresno, Calif.’s KBOS-FM rounds out the top three.
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“Like That” awards Future his sixth Rhythmic Airplay No. 1. Here’s a review of his half-dozen champs, all of which ruled for one week except “Way 2 Sexy,” a two-week occupant of the penthouse.
“Jumpman,” with Drake, on the chart dated Feb. 2, 2016
“Wait for U,” featuring Drake & Tems, July 2, 2022
“Like That,” with Metro Boomin & Kendrick Lamar, May 18, 2024
Producer Metro Boomin, meanwhile, picks up his second visit to Rhythmic Airplay’s top slot as a credited artist. His prior leader came with “Creepin’,” a teamup with The Weeknd and 21 Savage that led the list for three frames. As a producer, he’s been behind several more No. 1s at the radio format, including the aforementioned “Jumpman” and “Mask Off,” Migos’ “Bad and Boujee,” featuring Lil Uzi Vert and The Weeknd’s “Heartless.”
For Kendrick Lamar, “Like That” becomes the MC’s fifth No. 1 on Rhythmic Airplay and first since 2018. The Pulitzer Prize winner’s collection of champs now looks like this:
“Humble.,” three weeks at No. 1, beginning June 3, 2017
“Pray for Me,” with The Weeknd, two, April 14, 2018
“Like That,” with Future & Metro Boomin, one (to date), May 18, 2024
Elsewhere, “Like That” extends its Rap Airplay reign to a third week at No. 1, with a 13% gain in audience for the latest tracking week. It repeats at its No. 3 best on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, though it added 14% more plays in the week. Continued progress at the rhythmic and R&B/hip-hop formats pushes “Like That” 20-17 on the all-genre Radio Songs chart. There, it improved to 29.4 million in total audience, up 13% from the prior week.
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - A woman found guilty on five counts in connection with the November 2021 drunk-driving wreck that claimed the lives of a mother and her infant son will likely die in prison.
On Wednesday, Hinds County Circuit Judge Winston Kidd sentenced Beth Ann White to 110 years in state custody, with the sentences on all five counts running consecutively.
“I’ve been doing this for a while, and the charges that we have here today cannot get much more serious than what you’ve been convicted of,” Kidd said. “I cannot imagine what it is to experience something so vile and heinous like this family had to experience... No family should have to go through something like this.”
The sentencing comes nearly three years after White killed Allison Conaway and her six-month-old son Alex while driving drunk near the intersection of U.S. 18 and Springridge Road.
Allison, who was 39 at the time, and Alex died at the scene. Her two daughters, Chloe and Chelsea, were severely injured and are living with the results of those injuries today.
Kidd reminded the courtroom of photos from the scene of the wreck, including one where Allison’s lifeless body was slumped over the steering wheel of her car.
“No one deserves to die in this manner,” he said.
The judge also pointed out that Alex would have turned three during the trial. However, because of White’s actions, he will never experience that milestone or any other.
White was sentenced on May 2. Kidd told the courtroom that he delayed sentencing to “review the matter regarding what would be the appropriate sentence.”
“You made a decision to drink alcohol and get into your vehicle and drive down Highway 18. And I remind you of what the witnesses said about your conduct, driving at an excessive rate of speed, driving all across the roadway and sometimes going on and off the roadway... throwing rocks everywhere,” he said.
“What stands out in my mind, from the testimony of those witnesses... is when they stated that you would drive so reckless that they just let you have the roadway,” he continued. “You were endangering the lives of everyone traveling on Highway 18.”
According to prosecutors, White had a blood alcohol level more than three times the legal limit and had drugs in her system at the time of the wreck.
“You have not once apologized, and for that, you should be ashamed.”
Prosecutors, as well as Allison’s family, asked for the maximum sentence on all counts.
Alice Hutchins, Allison’s mother, spoke, while Allison’s husband, Charles Conaway, had a statement read into the record by prosecutor Sue Perry.
According to that statement, Conaway said the verdict and White’s sentencing bring closure, but not restoration.
“We still have a long journey ahead, and there will forever be a void because they do not have Allison and Alex,” he wrote. “I ask the court to consider the magnitude of the impact of this crime. I would ask your honor to consider sentencing Ms. White to the maximum sentence [allowed] under the law.”
Hutchins said because of White, she’ll never know what it’s like to have a grandson, while Allison won’t be there to help her daughters as they grow up.
“There are just some things that only a mother can say or do for their daughters. Chelsea and Chloe will not have their mother to help them understand the changes their bodies will go through as they mature. These girls [will] have to endure ongoing medical issues... They may have learning disabilities, and even suffer from seizures.”
Allison Conaway and her family pose for a photo weeks before Allison and her son were killed by a drunk driver.(Charles Conaway)
“I want Charles to know that I believe he is doing a good job with Chloe and Chelsea. I appreciate him for stepping up and serving as both father and mother to the girls,” she continued. “I want him to know he has my support and my assistance in any way that I can give it to him.”
Like Kidd, she also recognized that White had not shown any remorse during the trial or at the scene of the crime.
“While in jail awaiting trial, she was found to get ahold of drugs and consume them,” she said. “That tells me that she has learned nothing and has no plans to change. In fact, the day she eventually gets released, she will go straight to the nearest bar.”
White declined to give a statement prior to her sentencing. Kevin Camp, White’s attorney, asked the judge to set aside the jury’s verdict, arguing, in part, that the jury instructions were not updated based on the new indictment.
White’s previous trial ended in a hung jury. A new indictment, with new charges, was filed after that. One of those charges was related to White’s blood alcohol concentration at the time of the incident.
“That’s the one offense that was not proven because the expert from the state testified that he didn’t know what the blood alcohol level was at the time of driving. It could have been below the legal limit. It was most likely higher than the legal limit, but you don’t know for sure,” he said.
Kidd said the motion had no merit, and that he would proceed with the sentencing.
Camp said he’s going to appeal the decision this week.
“What she was charged with, which is having [a] blood alcohol of .08, they weren’t able to meet that burden. There’s a saying that the state basically wrote a check that they couldn’t cash, and that’s what happened,” he said. “There’s ample proof of the other charges and they just didn’t charge her right.”
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JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - A woman found guilty on five counts in connection with the November 2021 drunk-driving wreck that claimed the lives of a mother and her infant son will likely die in prison.
On Wednesday, Hinds County Circuit Judge Winston Kidd sentenced Beth Ann White to 110 years in state custody, with the sentences on all five counts running consecutively.
“I’ve been doing this for a while, and the charges that we have here today cannot get much more serious than what you’ve been convicted of,” Kidd said. “I cannot imagine what it is to experience something so vile and heinous like this family had to experience... No family should have to go through something like this.”
The sentencing comes nearly three years after White killed Allison Conaway and her six-month-old son Alex while driving drunk near the intersection of U.S. 18 and Springridge Road.
Allison, who was 39 at the time, and Alex died at the scene. Her two daughters, Chloe and Chelsea, were severely injured and are living with the results of those injuries today.
Kidd reminded the courtroom of photos from the scene of the wreck, including one where Allison’s lifeless body was slumped over the steering wheel of her car.
“No one deserves to die in this manner,” he said.
The judge also pointed out that Alex would have turned three during the trial. However, because of White’s actions, he will never experience that milestone or any other.
White was sentenced on May 2. Kidd told the courtroom that he delayed sentencing to “review the matter regarding what would be the appropriate sentence.”
“You made a decision to drink alcohol and get into your vehicle and drive down Highway 18. And I remind you of what the witnesses said about your conduct, driving at an excessive rate of speed, driving all across the roadway and sometimes going on and off the roadway... throwing rocks everywhere,” he said.
“What stands out in my mind, from the testimony of those witnesses... is when they stated that you would drive so reckless that they just let you have the roadway,” he continued. “You were endangering the lives of everyone traveling on Highway 18.”
According to prosecutors, White had a blood alcohol level more than three times the legal limit and had drugs in her system at the time of the wreck.
“You have not once apologized, and for that, you should be ashamed.”
Prosecutors, as well as Allison’s family, asked for the maximum sentence on all counts.
Alice Hutchins, Allison’s mother, spoke, while Allison’s husband, Charles Conaway, had a statement read into the record by prosecutor Sue Perry.
According to that statement, Conaway said the verdict and White’s sentencing bring closure, but not restoration.
“We still have a long journey ahead, and there will forever be a void because they do not have Allison and Alex,” he wrote. “I ask the court to consider the magnitude of the impact of this crime. I would ask your honor to consider sentencing Ms. White to the maximum sentence [allowed] under the law.”
Hutchins said because of White, she’ll never know what it’s like to have a grandson, while Allison won’t be there to help her daughters as they grow up.
“There are just some things that only a mother can say or do for their daughters. Chelsea and Chloe will not have their mother to help them understand the changes their bodies will go through as they mature. These girls [will] have to endure ongoing medical issues... They may have learning disabilities, and even suffer from seizures.”
Allison Conaway and her family pose for a photo weeks before Allison and her son were killed by a drunk driver.(Charles Conaway)
“I want Charles to know that I believe he is doing a good job with Chloe and Chelsea. I appreciate him for stepping up and serving as both father and mother to the girls,” she continued. “I want him to know he has my support and my assistance in any way that I can give it to him.”
Like Kidd, she also recognized that White had not shown any remorse during the trial or at the scene of the crime.
“While in jail awaiting trial, she was found to get ahold of drugs and consume them,” she said. “That tells me that she has learned nothing and has no plans to change. In fact, the day she eventually gets released, she will go straight to the nearest bar.”
White declined to give a statement prior to her sentencing. Kevin Camp, White’s attorney, asked the judge to set aside the jury’s verdict, arguing, in part, that the jury instructions were not updated based on the new indictment.
White’s previous trial ended in a hung jury. A new indictment, with new charges, was filed after that. One of those charges was related to White’s blood alcohol concentration at the time of the incident.
“That’s the one offense that was not proven because the expert from the state testified that he didn’t know what the blood alcohol level was at the time of driving. It could have been below the legal limit. It was most likely higher than the legal limit, but you don’t know for sure,” he said.
Kidd said the motion had no merit, and that he would proceed with the sentencing.
Camp said he’s going to appeal the decision this week.
“What she was charged with, which is having [a] blood alcohol of .08, they weren’t able to meet that burden. There’s a saying that the state basically wrote a check that they couldn’t cash, and that’s what happened,” he said. “There’s ample proof of the other charges and they just didn’t charge her right.”
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See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Pleaseclick hereto report it and include the headline of the story in your email.
Gore points to West Texas billionaires Tim Dunn and brothers Farris and Dan Wilks, who have contributed to various political action committees that have poured millions into legislative candidates who have promoted vouchers. The men also fund or serve on the boards of a host of public policy and advocacy organizations that have led the fight for vouchers in Texas.
In recent years, the largesse from Dunn and the Wilks brothers has reached local communities across Texas, including Granbury, near Fort Worth, where fights over library books, curriculum and vouchers have dominated the community conversation.
Gore said that she believes school board candidates are being recruited, at times without their full knowledge, in an effort “to cause as much disruption and chaos as possible” and weaken community faith in local school districts.
In 2021, two local men — former state representative Mike Lang and political consultant Nate Criswell — asked Gore to run for school board. At the time, the three were co-hosts of a web-based talk show that targeted local officials they believed were insufficiently conservative and were straying from GOP platform positions. They took frequent aim at the Granbury school district, which they alleged was allowing explicit sexual content into school libraries and teaching divisive ideas about race.
Gore broke from the group shortly after taking office in January 2022, when she concluded that the materials she had warned about on the campaign trail were not present in Granbury schools. She claims the men and other leaders of the far-right faction in Hood County, home to Granbury, dismissed her findings. They continued to pummel the district over books and curriculum, supported school board candidates who sought to remove a growing number of titles from library shelves, and worked to derail three bond elections that would have funded new and renovated buildings for the overcrowded district.
That’s when Gore said she began to piece together connections that hadn’t been previously apparent to her.
Lang, a Republican who represented Hood County in the state Legislature for four years, received more than $600,000 in campaign contributions — more than half his total — from direct donations from or PACs funded by the Wilks brothers and Dunn. On the campaign trail, Lang supported providing public money for private schools and, in 2017, voted against a House measure that prohibited funding for school vouchers. He did not respond to requests for comment.
Criswell declined to answer specific questions but said he has closed his consulting firm, Criswell Strategies, and has “stepped away from the local political scene, aside from occasionally sharing posts on social media.”
According to her campaign finance reports, Gore did not receive any money from the men. But another school board candidate, her then-ally Melanie Graft, received a $100 in-kind contribution from Defend Texas Liberty for advertising expenses. Graft did not respond to written questions or requests for comment.
“I was knee-deep in it,” Gore said about the local connections to the billionaires. “I guess I was just too naive. I should have known better.”
Neither Dunn nor a representative of the Wilks family responded to questions. Dunn recently penned an opinion piece in the Midland Reporter-Telegram arguing that he was not the leader of the statewide push for vouchers and has never made public statements on the topic.
Nearly two decades ago, however, Dunn argued in favor of a voucher-like program, saying that the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank on whose board he has served for more than 20 years, supported such an idea “as long-time advocates of eliminating the government monopoly in public education.” In March, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who is among the state’s fiercest advocates for directing public education funds to private schools, credited the organization’s longtime advocacy with bringing the state to the “threshold” of a voucher-like program.
Dunn is also the founder of Midland Classical Academy, a private school that offers its approximately 600 K-12 students a “Classical Education from a Biblical Worldview,” according to its website. The school believes in interpreting the Bible in its literal sense, which it takes to mean that marriage can only be between a man and a woman and that there are only two genders.
Zachary Maxwell, Lang’s former chief of staff who later worked for Empower Texans, a pro-voucher public policy organization whose associated PAC was largely funded by Dunn and the Wilks brothers, would not speak about his time there, citing a nondisclosure agreement he signed when he left the organization.
Maxwell, however, said he has become disenchanted by Dunn and the Wilks family’s efforts to exert control over the state’s politics. He said Hood County hard-liners, some of whom have close ties to PACs funded by Dunn and the Wilks brothers, were trying to use Gore and Graft to drive a wedge between rural residents and their school district in an effort to build support for vouchers. The women’s presence on the school board enhanced the legitimacy of the group’s claims about pornography in libraries and Marxist indoctrination, Maxwell said.
“It’s all about destroying the trust with the citizens to the point where they would tolerate something like doing away with public schools,” he said in an interview.
Over the past two years, Abbott has teamed up with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, embarking on a tour of Texas towns to promote vouchers. Following the narrow defeat of voucher legislation in November in the Texas House of Representatives, the Republican governor campaigned to unseat lawmakers in his party who opposed such legislation. He successfully ousted five of them.
One of the Republicans who lost in the primary was Glenn Rogers, whose rural district sits just north of Hood County and whom Abbott endorsed in 2020. This time around, Abbott gave $200,000 in campaign support to Rogers’ pro-voucher opponent. Dunn and the WiIlks brothers donated another $100,000.
Rogers, who represented Hood County until 2021, when lawmakers changed the boundaries of his district, said he believes privatizing public education is at the core of Dunn and the Wilks brothers’ political efforts in Hood County and across the state.
“Whether it’s at the school board level or it’s what’s happening in the Texas Legislature right now, that’s their end goal,” he said.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) was subjected to ridicule Tuesday over his emotional explanation as to why he decided to join former President Donald Trump at his criminal hush money trial.
Vance, considered a potential running mate for the presumptive Republican nominee, did not speak of politics during his Fox News interview, but of friendship.
"I was there to support a friend," said Vance. "Recognizing that sometimes it's a little bit lonely to sit up there by yourself, I offered to, you know, come in and just maybe be a friendly face in the courtroom."
President Joe Biden's campaign leapt at the words "lonely" and "friendly face" when they shared a video clip of Vance's statement on social media Tuesday afternoon.
Followers on X were quick to take the bait and offer their own opinions on Vance's purported friendship with Trump.
"At what point are we going to talk about how truly crazy/pathetic/bizarre it is that grown men are acting like this?" wrote former President Barack Obama strategist Jim Messina.
Another X user argued Vance's presence in Manhattan criminal court on Monday only highlighted the absence of former First Lady Melania Trump.
"Why isn't his loyal, devoted wife by his side?" wrote @ScoopTheGhost.
X user @HansonRitta resorted to satire with a comment comparing Trump's treks to court to a little boy going to school.
"There was once a kid so bad he didn't have any friends," they wrote. "His Mom had to tie a steak around his neck to get the dog to play with him. Basically that is trumps trial. The campaign had to convince politicians to come."
X user @brothersjudd challenged Vance's claim to friendship.
"Donald couldn't pick him out of a police line-up, he wrote. "Which is pretty much where this career trajectory ends."
Simmer down now! Cheri Oteri is joining the cast of And Just Like That… for the the Max show’s third season, which just began shooting this week. While the Saturday Night Live alum’s role is still unknown, Oteri broke the news of her involvement on Instagram, posting photos of herself on set with creator Michael Patrick King. “I’m in New York and just finished shooting And Just Like That… and it was so much fun,” Oteri said in a video taken after filming in Lincoln Center Plaza. She also shared photos on set with stars Mario Cantone (Anthony) and Sarita Choudhury (Seema), giving us some fodder to speculate about who she’ll be playing and just how much she’ll appear. We can only hope she’ll be in every single scene of every single episode.
Oteri is the latest casting to come out as the show begins shooting its new season. Most recently, Rosie O’Donnell also announced her casting via Instagram, revealing that she’ll be playing a character named Mary, and gets to wear a wig. With series regulars Sara Ramirez (Che Diaz) and Karen Pittman (Dr. Nya Wallace) exiting the show, there’s plenty of room for fresh faces to join the rotation cycling through Samantha’s vacated fourth seat. And while we’re on the subject, when will Molly Shannon and Amy Sedaris finally get to reprise their roles as Carrie Bradshaw’s two powerhouse book publishers?
Simmer down now! Cheri Oteri is joining the cast of And Just Like That… for the the Max show’s third season, which just began shooting this week. While the Saturday Night Live alum’s role is still unknown, Oteri broke the news of her involvement on Instagram, posting photos of herself on set with creator Michael Patrick King. “I’m in New York and just finished shooting And Just Like That… and it was so much fun,” Oteri said in a video taken after filming in Lincoln Center Plaza. She also shared photos on set with stars Mario Cantone (Anthony) and Sarita Choudhury (Seema), giving us some fodder to speculate about who she’ll be playing and just how much she’ll appear. We can only hope she’ll be in every single scene of every single episode.
Oteri is the latest casting to come out as the show begins shooting its new season. Most recently, Rosie O’Donnell also announced her casting via Instagram, revealing that she’ll be playing a character named Mary, and gets to wear a wig. With series regulars Sara Ramirez (Che Diaz) and Karen Pittman (Dr. Nya Wallace) exiting the show, there’s plenty of room for fresh faces to join the rotation cycling through Samantha’s vacated fourth seat. And while we’re on the subject, when will Molly Shannon and Amy Sedaris finally get to reprise their roles as Carrie Bradshaw’s two powerhouse book publishers?
