Senate Democrats are threatening a partial government shutdown unless Republicans agree to new limits on immigration enforcement by Friday’s deadline. A protest at an ICE family detention center in South Texas turned confrontational as demonstrators demanded the release of a five-year-old boy and his father taken from Minnesota and held at the facility hundreds of miles away. And despite pressure from President Trump to lower interest rates, the Federal Reserve is holding steady to fight lingering inflation and rising prices.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Kelsey Snell, Susanna Capelouto, Rafael Nam, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas, Ava Pukatch and Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Stacey Abbott.
Ray J is reportedly being treated at a Las Vegas hospital for a severe case of pneumonia.
Ray J, 44, was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday, January 6, with pneumonia and heart pains, TMZ reported on Wednesday, January 7, citing a “source close to the R&B singer.”
According to the outlet, Ray J previously suffered from the illness — which affects the lungs and can be caused by a viral or bacterial infection, according to the Mayo Clinic — in 2021 and “thought he could die.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Ray J’s team for comment.
A few weeks prior to his hospitalization, Ray J shared an unusual update via Instagram, revealing that he’s part of a new show called Celebrity Hitchhiker.
“I’m hitchhiking right now to try to get a place to stay tonight,” he wrote in his December 13 message. “Hopefully I can meet a new family, and it can take me in and teach me about their rules and their goals and life, and then send me on my way to the next destination.”
Ray J had filmed the video in Tampa, Florida, and said that he wanted to make it to Los Angeles in time for Christmas. At the time, he was by himself.
“I need some food and I need shelter,” he told his followers. “Just a lot of s*** that’s happened. And I just wanna get back home and see my kids. It’s a hitchhiking show, but it’s real though at the same time, and I wanna make it really authentic. I just do it for real on my phone. I mean, I have a camera in there too, but it’s just me.”
The singer, whose real name is William Ray Norwood, Jr., was arrested on Thanksgiving Day of last year for making threats to his estranged wife, Princess Love. He did an Instagram Live that day, saying that he had “the worst Thanksgiving in the f***ing world.”
In his Live, he appeared to pull a gun on Love, 41, and at least one of their children.
“Y’all wanna drive drunk? Y’all wanna drive drunk? Drive drunk. Drive drunk, Princess,” he said, to which Love replied, “Ray, you just pointed a gun— .”
Ray J was released from jail on the day of his arrest, TMZ reported at the time. (Us reached out to his representatives for comment. He has since claimed that he nearly got into a fight with a fellow inmate while behind bars.)
Ray J and Love filmed the early years of their marriage for the VH1 reality series Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood. They tied the knot in 2016 and have filed for divorce multiple times. They share daughter Melody Love, 7, and son Epik Ray, 6.
Days prior to the incident involving Love, American Express sued Ray J and his company Tronix Network in Los Angeles Superior Court, accusing him of owing a massive credit card debt — $139,849.85, to be exact. He allegedly stopped making payments in May 2025. Ray J has yet to respond to the lawsuit.
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For a long time, if you wanted to watch a movie on TV at home for free, you simply had to watch with a few commercials.
Well, if you don’t feel like shelling out the money for Netflix or HBO Max, you’re in luck: movies with ads still exist, they’re just on ad-supported streamers.
Platforms like Tubi, Pluto TV and even YouTube carry thousands of quality free movies in their libraries. This December, Watch With Us is highlighting some of the best.
Whether you want a big-budget comedy like Barbie or a prestige superhero movie like Batman Begins, you can watch it all for free at your fingertips.
Barbie (Margot Robbie) lives in the perfect dreamworld of Barbieland, where Barbies hold positions of power while all the Kens have to do is spend their days at the beach. However, when Barbie starts to experience an uncharacteristic existential crisis, she learns she must travel to the real world to see what’s going on with the girl who’s playing with her. Accompanied by a Ken (Ryan Gosling), Barbie searches for her owner while Ken gets some unsavory ideas about a newfangled concept called “the patriarchy.”
The Barbie phenomenon was certainly helped a bit by the “Barbenheimer” double-feature craze back in 2023, but make no mistake — Barbie is a fantastic and ingenious comedy film with or without the help of Christopher Nolan. Robbie and Gosling are the film’s standouts (Gosling in particular able to show off his comedic chops), but the entire cast works wonders: Will Ferrell,Kate McKinnon, Simu Liu andMichael Ceraall give hilarious performances.
Thirty-five years following the events of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049 stars Ryan Gosling now stars in this sequel as LAPD Officer K, who hunts down and kills rogue replicant models — while also being a replicant himself. When K discovers a box containing shocking information following a mission, it threatens to destabilize the relationship between humans and replicants. K’s discovery is linked to missing blade runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), whom he goes on a quest to find.
While Blade Runner 2049 didn’t do so great at the box office, it was critically acclaimed and received a number of Academy Award nominations, winning two: Best Cinematography for Roger Deakins and Best Special Visual Effects. Ultimately, director Denis Villeneuve (Dune) expands upon Blade Runner in thoughtful and exciting ways, and the film manages to be an impressive visual feat distinct from the original as well.
The final installment in Daniel Craig‘s iteration as James Bond sees 007 finally leading a peaceful life in Jamaica, having since left active service in MI6. But, of course, that respite is merely momentary, and Bond is pulled back into his former work when an old CIA friend (Jeffrey Wright) shows up in need of his help. Bond must rescue a kidnapped scientist, but the mission becomes more arduous than expected and sends him down a dangerous path.
This epic conclusion to Craig’s chapter as Bond was met with warm response from fans and critics, praising the film not only for its exciting action sequences and slick style, but its ability to oscillate between comedy, drama, horror and romance with ease. In the end, the thrilling and visually stunning film is a fitting sendoff to Craig that ends up being far more moving than most people might expect.
This Batman origin story follows Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) from developing a fear of bats to his parents’ grisly murders, to his time in Bhutan training with the League of Shadows. But when he discovers the League’s intent to destroy the “corrupt” Gotham, he returns to the city intent on cleaning up crime sans killing. With the help of his butler (Michael Caine) and tech expert Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), Batman takes on bad guys like the Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy).
Christopher Nolan’s take on Batman is credited with having revitalized the character after the poor showing in Batman & Robin from 1997. Nolan moved away from the camp of Joel Schumacher and the gothic kink of Tim Burton and turned Batman into a prestige drama film — and it paid off. Critics applauded Batman Begins for understanding the core of the character while bringing him into exciting and intelligent new territory. In the end, Batman Begins spawned a legendary trilogy.
The grand conclusion to the John Wick story (or is it?), John Wick: Chapter 4 follows the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 —Parabellum. Wick (Keanu Reeves) hides out in New York City with the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) as he recovers from having been shot. Now seeking revenge against the High Table, who want him dead, the price on Wick’s head grows higher and higher. But Wick’s final battle now goes global, as he finds himself targeted by assassins around the world in service of a powerful enemy.
John Wick: Chapter 4 manages to be more grandiose, violent and excessive than the previous three John Wick films, and yet the movie doesn’t suffer for it. Instead, this fourth film in the action franchise proves that there can never be too much when it comes to watching Keanu Reeves’ kick people’s butts. With fantastic set pieces, mesmerizing fight choreography, and genuinely solid performances, John Wick: Chapter 4 stands as a highlight in modern action blockbuster filmmaking.
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The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. is one step closer to being called the Trump-Kennedy Center.
On December 18, 2025, the White House confirmed the board of the Kennedy Center voted to rename the building that is in honor of President John F. Kennedy.
“I have just been informed that the highly respected Board of the Kennedy Center, some of the most successful people from all parts of the world, have just voted unanimously to rename the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center, because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote via X at the time. “Not only from the standpoint of its reconstruction, but also financially, and its reputation. Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump, and likewise, congratulations to President Kennedy, because this will be a truly great team long into the future! The building will no doubt attain new levels of success and grandeur.”
Soon after the news broke, several Kennedy family members spoke out against the board’s decision.
Maria Shriver questioned why Trump has been so interested in having his name be part of the cultural center.
“Next thing perhaps he will want to rename JFK Airport, rename the Lincoln Memorial, the Trump Lincoln Memorial. The Trump Jefferson Memorial. The Trump Smithsonian. The list goes on,” she wrote via Instagram. “Can we not see what is happening here? C’mon, my fellow Americans! Wake up! This is not dignified. This is not funny. This is way beneath the stature of the job. It’s downright weird. It’s obsessive in a weird way. Just when you think someone can’t stoop any lower, down they go…”
According to NBC News, Trump told reporters at the White House that he was “surprised” and “honored” by the board’s vote.
Keep reading to see how other Kennedy family members reacted to the news:
Jack Schlossberg
Jack SchlossbergJoseph Prezioso / AFP
JFK’s only grandson vowed to fight back against the Kennedy Center’s new name.
“SEND ME TO CONGRESS TO SMOKE THESE FOOLS — MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD LOUD AND CLEAR,” Schlossberg, who is running for New York’s 12th Congressional District, said via Instagram on December 18, 2025. “I won’t back down or be drowned out.”
Joe Kennedy III
After seeing Leavitt’s announcement about the Kennedy Center, JFK’s nephew decided to speak out on social media.
“The Kennedy Center is a living memorial to a fallen president and named for President Kennedy by federal law,” he wrote via X on December 18, 2025. “It can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says.”
Maria Shriver
Maria ShriverEmma McIntyre/Getty Images for Alliance for Women in Media Foundation
The journalist and niece of JFK expressed her disappointment at the Kennedy Center being renamed to the Trump-Kennedy Center.
“The Kennedy Center was named after my uncle, President John F Kennedy. It was named in his honor. He was a man who was interested in the arts, interested in culture, interested in education, language, history,” she wrote via Instagram on December 18, 2025. “He brought the arts into the White House, and he and my Aunt Jackie [Kennedy Onassis] amplified the arts, celebrated the arts, stood up for the arts and artists.”
Shriver continued, “It is beyond comprehension that this sitting president has sought to rename this great memorial dedicated to President Kennedy. It is beyond wild that he would think adding his name in front of President Kennedy’s name is acceptable. It is not.”
After workers installed Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center building, Shriver spoke out again.
“This will always be the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,” she wrote via Instagram later that month. “A great man would have said to his hand picked board, ‘Thank you, but the building already has its name. Let it stand. Let it be. I don’t need that.’ But then again…”
Kerry Kennedy
“President Trump and his administration have spent the past year repressing free expression, targeting artists, journalists, and comedians and erasing the history of Americans whose contributions made our nation better and more just,” JFK’s niece Kerry wrote via X on December 18, 2025. “President Kennedy proudly stood for justice, peace, equality, dignity, diversity, and compassion for those who suffer. President Trump stands in opposition to these values, and his name should not be placed alongside President Kennedy’s.”
One day later, Kerry reacted to Trump’s name being installed on the building.
“Three years and one month from today, I’m going to grab a pickax and pull those letters off that building, but I’m going to need help holding the ladder,” she wrote via X. “Are you in? Applying for my carpenter’s card today, so it’ll be a union job!!!”
“Perhaps the board isn’t aware that the Kennedy Center is 𝗧𝗛𝗘 memorial to the president of the United States, John F. Kennedy. Would they rename the Lincoln memorial? The Jefferson? That would be an insult to great presidents. This too is an insult to a great president,” JFK’s nephew Tim wrote via X in December 2025. “ Notwithstanding their short-sighted action, it is and will remain the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”
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Summer House fans have been part of Kyle Cooke and Amanda Batula’s relationship from the very beginning — and have weathered every storm with them, including rumors of a split.
While Cooke, 43, and Batula, 34, faced many bumps on their road to marriage since tying the knot in September 2021, they appeared to have mellowed out. That was until earlier this fall when speculation sparked that the couple were living apart amid marriage woes.
A source exclusively told Us Weekly in November that Cooke and Batula were still living together — but admitted that they were “going through a challenging time.”
Despite their struggles, the insider said Cooke and Batula are “both committed to making the relationship work.”
Cooke and Batula, meanwhile, have hinted at their recent hardships in teasers from the upcoming season 10 of the Bravo series and online.
Scroll down for everything we know about the pair amid their alleged marriage struggles:
Have Kids Factored Into Amanda Batula and Kyle Cooke’s Issues?
Courtesy of Amanda Batula/Instagram
Batula and Cooke butted heads over their future during the season 9 Summer House reunion in May, especially over Cooke’s desire to be a father despite being busy in his career.
“He’s gonna have to be on my page. If he could grow the baby, it could be on his timeline. But it’s happening in this body,” Batula exclusively told Us at the time, noting she was frustrated over how Cooke addressed the topic throughout the season.
She explained, “There was a lot of stuff on this season that was like, him wanting to be a father, and, like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but he’s having this conversation with other people, and not the person that’s supposed to carry his child.”
“So if he was actively [saying], ‘Hey, I want to have kids. Like, we should start trying to have kids,’ that would be different,” Batula added. “That’s not a conversation that we’re having.”
She then argued,“[Kyle has] been DJing, he’s gone every weekend. Like, in what world exactly? I know that he wants to be a father one day, but I know he’s not ready. And if he was ready, you know, I think he would be like, ‘I’m ready to have a family.’”
Inside Amanda Batula and Kyle Cooke’s BravoCon 2025 Weekend
The couple seemingly quieted split rumors — at least temporarily — when they sat next to each other at the “Summer House Always Wins” panel during BravoCon 2025 on November 16.
During the three-day convention in Las Vegas, their Summer House costar Lindsay Hubbard also shut down speculation that the pair hit a rocky spot.
“It’s like any relationship, there’s ups and downs,” Hubbard, 39, exclusively told Us of Cooke and Batula’s dynamic on November 14. “I know that they’re so in love with each other, and they’re very much together. Like, come on.”
Courtesy of Amanda Batula/Instagram
Are Amanda Batula and Kyle Cooke Living Together?
Batula poked fun at rumors she and Cooke are no longer living under the same roof by showing off her alleged new pad via Instagram.
“Hey guys, it’s taken me a while to talk about this, but I just wanted to confirm the rumors that Kyle and I are living separately. This is my new house,” she said on December 7, panning around a small dark area that was later revealed as a children’s playhouse.
Batula teased, “I just wanted to show you guys. This is my new house. It’s small, it’s kind of all that I can afford.”
The reality star took it a step further, showing off a wreath on the small house, saying, “I decorated for the holidays, I’m really excited. I could really use your support at this time and some privacy while we figure this out. Thanks so much.”
‘Summer House’ Season 10 Trailer Teases Amanda Batula and Kyle Cooke’s Drama
“I wanted him to stop going out and partying, and he found a career [as a DJ] where he goes out late and parties,” Batula said in a voiceover while speaking about Cooke’s choice of career.
Cooke proceeded to tell BFF Carl Radke that his wife “couldn’t care less” about his DJ career, confessing, “I don’t know what matters to her anymore.”
Elsewhere in the trailer, Cooke and Batula got into a full-blown fight about their relationship. “You know what I actually think we have an issue with? Compatibility, chemistry, intimacy,” Cooke claimed. “What about that s***?”
During the season 10 Summer House trailer, Batula told pals Hubbard and Ciara Miller that Cooke fell asleep at a fan’s house after one of his DJ gigs and allegedly “came home at 6:30 in the morning.”
“That’s f***ing insane,” Miller, 29, said in response, however, Cooke has since denied his wife’s claims.
“There’s no excuse for staying out as late as I did, but I want to be clear that I did not sleep at a fan’s apartment,” Cooke told People in a statement on December 9. “I was at an event that Amanda chose not to attend, which moved to a bar and then to an after-party.”
He claimed, “I don’t use anything to keep myself wired, so I think I ended up falling asleep on a couch, and suddenly it was almost 6 a.m. Do I regret the situation? Absolutely. But that’s the truth and full extent of what happened.”
Summer House premieres on Bravo February 3, 2026.
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“So You Think You Can Dance” star Joshua Allen’s girlfriend is sharing her side of the fight that broke out at his funeral last weekend … telling TMZ she was invited by family before his aunt allegedly attacked her. We told you all about it –…
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