WASHINGTON — In a surprising twist, a former Chief Financial Officer of the Southern Poverty Law Center opted not to appear in person to answer allegations of channeling $1.2 million in donor funds to white supremacist organizations.

Heidi Beirich waived her right to be present at a virtual court arraignment held in Alabama’s Middle District, where she faced 14 serious felony charges, including wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering.

Her legal representatives took her place during the Zoom session and entered a plea of not guilty to all charges on her behalf before US Magistrate Judge Kelly Pate.

Judge Pate scheduled the trial to commence on October 5. However, both the prosecution and defense teams suggested that the date might be postponed, citing the extensive evidence requiring thorough review in this intricate case.

“Dr. Beirich is innocent, and this case is without merit,” her attorney, Michael Proctor, asserted in an earlier statement, emphasizing the defense’s position regarding the charges.

“We believe the charges against her and the SPLC are politically motivated, and Dr. Beirich has been targeted in this case because of the important work she has done to combat hate groups and extremists.”

Beirich is the only named defendant in the US government’s sweeping prosecution of a group billed as a defender of civil rights. Instead, prosecutors allege Beirich paid informants to keep hate groups afloat and even become lovers with a member of a white supremacist group SPLC was officially trying to take down. 

SPLC itself has already pleaded not guilty to using $4.1 million in donor funds to bankroll informants in extremist groups.

Beirich joined the SPLC in 1999 and went on to serve as the director of its Intelligence Project from 2012 to 2019, which was dedicated to tracking and monitoring hate groups.

In that role, she also allegedly paid off informants in white nationalist groups, including one named “F-9” in the National Alliance.

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F-9 was paid in particular to break into National Alliance headquarters and steal 25 boxes of documents in 2015.

Another informant from the hate group, “F-39,” was paid a smaller sum of $6,000 “to falsely take responsibility for the burglary,” per the federal indictment.

Some of those materials were later used to author an article for SPLC’s blog “Hatewatch,” which was part of the Intelligence Project. Beirich’s article, “Chaos at the Compound,” is still available online.

As an SPLC employee, Beirich also allegedly was “in a romantic relationship with F-9,” where the couple shared joint bank accounts and a house, according to the indictment.

Between 1999 and 2019, Beirich allegedly facilitated more than $1.2 million in payments from SPLC donors to National Alliance’s F-9.

In the initial June 2 court filing, Beirich had just been listed as the “person who would become Director of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project” and “Employee-2,” before being unmasked in a Post report from June.

When announcing the case earlier this year, then-Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche claimed SPLC’s work was instead “manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred.”

FBI Director Kash Patel previously said Beirich “was at the center of our ongoing investigation into SPLC.”

The far-left nonprofit “knowingly misled donors, who believed their money was being used to dismantle violent extremist organizations – when in fact, part of those donations were instead being used to pay senior leadership within those extremist groups,” according to the FBI boss.

Beirich lives in Palm Springs, Calif., and had made her initial appearance in federal court in Riverside earlier this month, Proctor said. Patel and other media reports indicated she had initially been arrested.

The final witness in Lindsay Clancy’s case has taken the stand, marking the conclusion of a tense five-week trial as she awaits her verdict.

On Tuesday, FBI forensic psychiatrist Dr. Gregory Saathoff testified as the prosecution’s closing rebuttal witness in the high-profile murder trial.

In 2023, Clancy, 36, tragically took the lives of her three children—five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson, and Callan, who was only eight months old—at their home in Duxbury, Massachusetts.

She used exercise bands to strangle her children and then allegedly attempted suicide, a bid that was unsuccessful and left her paralyzed, confined to a wheelchair permanently.

Although Clancy has confessed to the killings, she has pleaded not guilty to murder, citing postpartum psychosis as her defense. She is seeking commitment to a state mental health facility rather than being sentenced to prison.

Saathoff, who interviewed Clancy by Zoom twice for a total of about 11 hours, revealed new details about her version of the killings.

Clancy told him that her hallucination – the voice – occurred when she was standing at the refrigerator.

She said she was making the children their dinner when Patrick called.

He had called at 5.33pm, but she missed it and called back one minute later.

After she returned the call, she said she then heard the voice.

However, Dr Saathoff testified that she told Dr Margaret Spinelli she heard it almost as soon as Patrick left the home, around 5.15pm.

She also told some experts that the children would suffer if she did not kill them as well as herself – but had not said that to him.

The voice was ‘very clear, ‘came from outside her head,’ and was ‘constant.’

The voice repeated ‘over and over and over again’ while she was killing her children. Then it stopped when she had finished killing the children, he said.

It’s not typical for someone in psychosis to hear the voice only one time or to hear a constant voice rather than intermittent, according to Saathoff.

She said it was the ‘same thing in the same tone repeated over and over and over until she had strangled Callan.’

Committing the act is not curative of the voice, he added.

The forensic psychiatrist said the widely different reports from Clancy and Patrick raised doubts.

‘One of them is not correct in their statement,’ he said.

A bowl of chicken nuggets was found on the couch in the home during the search – where Dawson had been sitting eating – supporting Patrick’s account.

‘It’s hard to know which version is the one I should consider,’ he said.

Dr. Saathoff testified that Patrick told him they had never gotten takeout from 3V, but they had from several other places nearby.

They had eaten there before, though, and liked it, he testified.

The order in which she made those decisions was not what Clancy said.

Instead of asking her husband if they should get takeout, he said she did a lot of searching for the restaurant and the route first.

Clancy looked into the Miralax for Cora and CVS after 4pm but did not mention the importance of picking it up until just before he left, he said.

‘She also added on that errand right before he left,’ he said.

‘It lengthened the trip. It added one extra obligation for Patrick, and that would make for a longer time that he was away,’ he said.

Clancy said that, after calling Patrick, that was when she took Dawson down the stairs into Patrick’s office to strangle him.

Cora and Callan were left upstairs.

Clancy said she could not recall what she said to get him to come downstairs or whether he resisted.

She then went up to get Cora, bringing her into the living room area of the basement.

After killing Cora, she then went back upstairs to get Callan.

She could not remember where she had left Callan during that time.

‘Dr Resnick described Ms Clancy as a puppet, but the children were not puppets,’ Dr Saathoff testified.

He noted how active the children were in footage from a water park and a museum.

Judge William Sullivan then called for the jury to be dismissed for the day.

He advised that the evidence will likely conclude on Wednesday, and then he will meet with the attorneys.

Sullivan anticipates closing arguments on Thursday, after which the jury will begin deliberations.

On Tuesday, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled an innovative initiative aimed at expediting urgent cases within the city’s Housing Court. Known as the Unified Court System, this program seeks to swiftly address emergency housing issues across New York City.

“I am delighted to introduce the Unified Court System, which will significantly speed up emergency housing court proceedings where New Yorkers’ health, safety, and overall well-being are endangered,” Mamdani declared at a press conference held on Tuesday.

According to Mamdani, this pioneering system is designed to cut down the waiting period for tenants seeking emergency hearings related to possible landlord neglect.

“This expedited process will prioritize the most urgent and complex cases,” Mamdani stated. “These include situations where at least a third of a building’s units are under an open vacate order, forcing families out of their homes, and circumstances where a similar proportion of units are dealing with immediate and hazardous violations concerning essential services.”

In cases of “persistent and extreme negligence” where tenants request entirely new building management, judges will require parties to return to court “within five days after service is completed,” Mamdani announced.

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When asked how his office would differentiate between a landlord who was persistently negligent and one who simply couldn’t afford to keep up with the costs of building management, Mamdani did not hold back.

“We’re talking about cases where a third of the building is facing some kind of a serious violation. Cases where we have elevators broken down,” he started.

“When it comes to the law, everyone has to follow it. And for far too long that has somehow not been understood when it comes to housing in our city. If a landlord is not able to follow the law, then they should not be a landlord of that property,” he replied.

When asked about how to enforce any violators who might not appear to Housing Court after the five-day window, Mamdani said, “There is still a lot of work to follow through on.”

News Media contacted the mayor’s office for further comment.

In the shadow of unimaginable tragedy, a Montana father is speaking out about the frantic moments he experienced upon hearing a gunman had stormed his home, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake. His desperate calls to reach his children, lost amid the chaos as the residence was engulfed in flames, haunt him.

Adam Ghekiere, stricken by the loss of his entire family, recounted the heart-wrenching trauma to The U.S. Sun. The victims included his daughter Charlotte, 12, his son Landon, 15, his wife Megan, two stepchildren aged 7 and 13, their wheelchair-bound great-grandmother, 92, and two other relatives—all casualties of this shocking mass shooting.

While performing his duties as a rescue firefighter at an airshow on Sunday evening, Ghekiere’s world turned upside down when alerts over the communication system pointed to an emergency unfolding near his in-laws’ home in Billings.

“I tried to reach my family, dialing the house repeatedly, but the silence was piercing,” he shared with the outlet. His attempts to check the locations of his children, Landon and Charlotte, were met with the same crushing silence.

His fears intensified upon arrival at the scene, where officials maintained a safety perimeter due to the active shooter situation. “The moment I was barred from my home, I realized I was living my worst nightmare,” he reflected, his voice filled with the weight of his loss.

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Ghekiere said the killer, who took his own life after shooting up the house, is a member of his extended family who had begun harboring a grudge toward his parents.

“I don’t think the shooter expected my kids to be there,” said Ghekiere.

Police have not given an official motive yet for the killings and have not released the suspect’s name.

Authorities are expected to hold a press conference on Wednesday to give further details.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

In a poignant final interview conducted just four days before her passing, Dolly Parton expressed heartfelt admiration for her late husband, Carl Thomas Dean, while also sharing an optimistic outlook on her enduring career.

On Tuesday, news of Parton’s death was announced by her nephew, Bryan Seaver, who also served as her chief of security. The legendary country music star passed away at the age of 80.

In a conversation with People last week, the Queen of Country music divulged that there were still “so many things” on her list of aspirations.

The iconic “Jolene” singer discussed her health candidly, alongside the projects that had her excited about the future. She admitted that while attending to her husband’s needs, she had overlooked some of her own health concerns.

“It’s not like I haven’t encountered challenges with my health,” Parton shared during what would be her last interview, reflecting on difficult times with remarkable resilience.

‘But I think because we live in a 24/7 world with social media, everything gets magnified in ways it wasn’t years ago. I used to joke that I was the Queen of the Tabloids, but now I guess I can say I’m the Queen of Social Media AI! Seriously, though, even though I’m still healin’, I’m still workin,'” Parton continued. 

‘You know me — as I’ve often said — I’ve dreamed myself into a corner and I still have so many things I want to achieve, so I’m gonna keep on working as long as I can to see everything come to life.’ 

Concerns loomed for months about Parton’s health, but the pop culture icon frequently dispelled her fans’ fears.  

She pulled out of multiple public appearances, including a residency in Las Vegas and the opening of a new ride, NightFlight Expedition, at her theme park, Dollywood. 

Fan videos of the event captured Parton’s recorded message, in which she told attendees she was still in Nashville. 

‘So my Nashville doctor has kind of clipped my wings, saying, “You ain’t traveling this week.” So I guess if your doctor tells you, “You ain’t traveling this week,” you ain’t traveling this week,’ Parton said in the video message. 

Earlier this year, Parton told her fans that she was responding to medication, but the treatment made her feel ‘a little swimmy-headed,’ and she needed time to heal before getting back on stage. 

She reassured her fans that she was still hard at work on projects like her new museum, Life of Many Colors, in Nashville, her new hotel and Broadway show, Dolly: A True American Musical. 

Elsewhere in her final interview, Parton revealed that she was excited about her partnership with Community Coffee to launch Cup of Ambition Coffee. 

‘That’s a dream I’ve had for over 40 years, ever since I wrote the line about “cup of ambition” in my song 9 to 5,’ she said. 

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‘But, you know, some dreams take longer to come to life than others.’ 

Parton wrote and recorded 9 to 5 in 1980 for the comedy film of the same name, in which she starred alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.

She wrote the track on set by clicking her nails together to form the beat, and it became one of her biggest hits of the decade.

It went on to win numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Original Song and Country Song of the Year and Female Country Vocal of the Year at the Grammy Awards.

Parton’s death came over a year after her husband’s, to whom she was married for nearly 60 years. 

In her tribute at the time, she reflected on the ‘many wonderful years’ they spent together, expressing their deep love and thanking fans for their prayers.

‘Carl and I spent many wonderful years together,’ she said. ‘Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.’

Parton and Dean first met at a laundromat in Nashville in 1964, when she was just 18. They married in 1966, and he remained a constant, supportive figure behind the scenes.

Parton’s nephew announced her death in a touching tribute, revealing in a video message that she had ‘asked of me years ago before I fully absorbed it as a future reality.’

Seaver hailed his aunt for having ‘lived in the light’ and said she was now ‘in the arms of Jesus’ and the company of her husband, as well as her parents and ‘countless others who have watched her and longed to meet her in the heavens.’

Her team said in a statement that she had a ‘rhinestone life that shone bright enough for the world to see, Dolly will forever stand as an inspiration not only through her timeless music and prolific songwriting, but also her wit, warmth, and kindness that made us all feel like family.’

‘Dolly Parton’s legacy is one of love, compassion, and resilience,’ it continued.

‘With a seven-decade career, she inspired multiple generations of artists and fans with her music and an unwavering commitment to making the world a better place. Her songs will continue to resonate with people of all ages, and her philanthropic work will have a lasting impact.’

In a compelling account, former TOPGUN instructor and F-18 pilot Matthew “Whiz” Buckley shared insights with News Media about a recent incident involving a Marine Corps F-18 crash in Washington state. Buckley explained how the pilot’s swift decision to eject illustrates the intense force of the maneuver and how the subsequent shock can paradoxically render an aviator serenely calm.

The event unfolded on June 13, 2026, when Marine Corps Major Jackson Simon, with a bloodied visage, emerged from dense forest. He proceeded to walk towards a nearby Yakima County sheriff’s deputy. Bodycam footage captured this extraordinary moment, revealing a soldier who appeared remarkably unfazed despite the circumstances.

Major Simon’s response to the crash was understated. “I’m a little frazzled,” he mentioned calmly. His F-18 Hornet had plunged into the woods, setting off a minor wildfire near Rimrock Lake, yet Simon’s composure remained intact.

Reflecting on this demeanor, Buckley, who amassed substantial experience with the F-18 Hornets during his 15-year tenure with the U.S. Navy, suggested that Simon was likely grappling with the effects of shock, a waning adrenaline rush, and the mental fortitude instilled by military training, which teaches pilots to manage stress by compartmentalizing emotions.

“If anything’s going wrong, we focus on the task. Everything else goes away,” Buckley told News Media. “That was the most violent thing that ever happened to that Marine in his entire life.”

Buckley served as a pilot in the Navy from 1991 to 2006 and said he was fortunate never to have ejected from an aircraft. The experience can have a devastating toll on the human body.

“Some folks don’t go back to flying status. I mean, you can lose a couple inches in height. Your spine compresses. Some people get shorter,” Buckley said.

A meta-analysis of more than a dozen studies looking at 1,710 military aircrew ejections found a pooled mortality rate of 10.5%, while 29.8% suffered major injuries. The studies were published between 1971 and 2019.

“When you pull that handle, you have two choices: die or maybe live. And I said ‘maybe live’ because it’s incredibly violent. I think the average ejection seat is like 10 to 20 G’s of force,” Buckley added. “Most folks don’t even remember the ejection. They remember pulling the handle and then waking up in their parachute.”

Buckley said the pilot’s body positioning before the ejection is extremely important in preventing potentially life-threatening injuries. For example, if their arm is extended away from their body, the sudden wind blast could cause it to be “ripped out of the socket.”

There’s also a phenomenon called “seat slap,” which occurs if the pilot does not have their legs flush with the seat prior to ejecting.

“If you look at an ejection seat in a fighter jet, it’s rock hard. We’re not sitting on a cushion,” he said. “If your legs aren’t flat on the seat, it could break both of your legs and now you bleed out and die.”

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In some instances, pilots who find themselves in trouble have time to slow their aircraft and perform a controlled ejection, which can reduce the forces involved, Buckley said.

Based on video of the crash, Simon’s plane was traveling at a high rate of speed before it struck the trees and exploded, likely leaving little opportunity for a controlled ejection.

Simon had been performing low-flying maneuvers while spectators on the ground watched, according to KIRO 7. After that, his plane reportedly clipped some power lines, which led to it going down.

The Marine Corps has not publicly confirmed that Simon’s F-18 struck power lines before the crash and has said the cause of the mishap remains under investigation.

According to Buckley, this “clearly” wasn’t supposed to happen.

“We have minimum altitude restrictions. And there ain’t no 500-foot trees, right? So I don’t know what they were doing. It doesn’t sound like from his initial statement that there was anything wrong with the airplane. So that’s usually not a good sign,” Buckley said.

Buckley then speculated about what may have been going through Simon’s mind before the crash.

“It looked like a beautiful day. People out on a lake. ‘Hey, there’s some people down there on the lake. Why don’t we go show them what their tax money is [for]? You know, America.’ I hope it wasn’t something like that,” he said.

News Media reached out to the third Marine Aircraft Wing, the West Coast-based Marine aviation unit to which Simon’s aircraft was assigned.

Buckley said Simon will likely go before a review board that will evaluate his actions surrounding the crash. At the conclusion of the process, the board can recommend what should happen to an aviator’s flight status.

If he’s found to be at fault, Simon could lose his “wings” or he could be allowed to continue flying, just under what Buckley described as “double secret probation.”

“I don’t know what the board’s gonna do, but it’ll come out. It should because…this is a $60 to $65 million Hornet. We deserve to know what happened,” he added.

Dolly Parton, the legendary music icon, has passed away at the age of 80. Her nephew, Bryan Seaver, shared the somber news with fans through an emotional video tribute.

Seaver, who served as Parton’s long-time head of security, introduced the video on Tuesday with the caption, “A message from the family of Dolly Parton.”

“Hello everyone, I’m Bryan Seaver, the son of Cassie Parton, bringing news from the Parton and Owens family,” he began. “Today, I announce the passing of my beloved Aunt Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean. To us, she was a sister, a cherished ‘Sis,’ and known as ‘Granny’ or ‘Gigi’ to different generations.”

Continuing with a reflective tone, Seaver said, “Years ago, Dolly requested of me to share this message when the time came, long before I could comprehend this eventuality. For over two decades, I had the honor of overseeing her security—a responsibility my father, Larry, once held. I had envisioned the weight of this moment, yet did not truly understand it until this day. It is a privilege mingled with immense pride and profound sadness. But our sorrow remains here, while Dolly moves beyond.”

Paying tribute to her legacy, he added, “Dolly lived her life in the light and is now embraced by Jesus. Surely, she is reunited with Carl, her parents, and many others who eagerly awaited her in heaven. My journey with Dolly began as a child, experiencing life on the road in the early 1980s. She not only opened doors for me but inspired our entire family to reach heights we never imagined possible.”

“Dolly also opened doors for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians and dreamers from every walk of life, and across every continent,” he pointed out. “By her example, we believed that anything was possible. She never saw a door she couldn’t open and the doors she opened made and changed history.”

“My family and I have shared a lifetime of beautiful memories with Dolly, but so have you,” he added. “She has always been on your television, your record player, your CD, and on your phone playlist, becoming an extended part of your family, whether you liked it or not. Our family and the team she has entrusted with her legacy will work diligently to ensure her spirit will live with us forever.”

ALSO READ: Heartfelt Tributes Flood as Legendary Country Icon Dolly Parton Passes at 80

The message concluded, “Dolly was a farmer just like her Daddy. He farmed the soil, she farmed songs and happiness. Dolly called me and said she wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest. Rest in peace aunt dolly. Aunt Granny. Gigi. May God Bless Dolly Parton and may got bless you all. She will always love you.”

The official press release on her death also reads, “A rhinestone life that shone bright enough for the world to see, Dolly will forever stand as an inspiration not only through her timeless music and prolific songwriting, but also her wit, warmth, and kindness that made us all feel like family.”

The press release continued, “Dolly Parton’s legacy is one of love, compassion, and resilience. With a seven-decade career, she inspired multiple generations of artists and fans with her music and an unwavering commitment to making the world a better place. Her songs will continue to resonate with people of all ages, and her philanthropic work will have a lasting impact.”

Per the press release, at Parton’s request, a small, private service will be held for immediate family.

“Dolly’s fans and friends from around the world are encouraged to pay tribute to Dolly on social media by tagging @DollyParton or by leaving a message at www.dollyparton.com,” it concluded. “In lieu of flowers the family asks for donations to be made to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library at www.imaginationlibrary.com.”

Parton had been dealing with health issues in the months before her death. In her final interview with People Friday, she noted that her recent struggles stemmed from not “pay[ing] attention” while “watching over” her late husband, Carl Thomas Dean.

Dean died in March 2025 at 82, nearly 59 years into the couple’s ultra-private marriage.

Dolly Parton, the iconic country music superstar, has passed away at the age of 80.

Today, confirmation of her death came via a heartfelt Instagram video shared by her nephew and head of security, Bryan Seaver.

‘Years ago, Dolly entrusted me with this task for a time I couldn’t quite envision until now,’ Seaver disclosed.

He praised his beloved aunt for living a life filled with light and expressed comfort in knowing she is now reunited with her late husband Carl Dean, her parents, and ‘countless others eagerly awaiting her in the afterlife.’

Widely revered as the Queen of Country, Parton leaves behind a remarkable legacy that spans six decades, with timeless classics like “Jolene” and “9 to 5” cementing her place in music history.

Her passing came after months of health woes that saw her pull out of a string of public appearances, fueling fan fears for her wellbeing. 

Seaver fondly recalled joining Parton on tour when he was a child in the 1980s, sharing that she ‘opened doors not just for me but for her entire family to reach the potential we didn’t even know was possible.’ 

He characterized her as a ‘a farmer, just like her daddy; he farmed the soil, she farmed songs and happiness. Dolly called me and said she wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life of wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest.’

In an interview published just four days before her death, Parton had declared she still had ‘so many things I want to achieve’ and vowed to continue ‘working as long as I can to see everything come to life,’ via People.

She explained that she had been grappling with ‘some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl.’

The fourth of 12 children, Parton was born in Pittman Center, Tennessee, on January 19, 1946. 

She and her siblings – Willadeene, David Wilburn, Coy Denver, Bobby Lee, Stella Mae, Cassie Nan, Randel Huston ‘Randy,’ Larry Gerald, twins Estel Floyd and Freida Estelle, and Rachel Ann – were raised in the Great Smoky Mountains where they slept on beds made of straw and lived with no running water, gas or electricity.

Having developed a love of music at an early age, Parton sang frequently on the local radio and make television appearances in East Tennessee as a child before releasing her first single, Puppy Love, at the age of 13.   

In 2008, Parton told NPR that her 1973 song Jolene was partly inspired by a local bank teller who used to flirt with her late husband.

‘She got this terrible crush on my husband,’ she said at the time. ‘And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. 

‘It was kinda like a running joke between us — when I was saying: “Hell, you’re spending a lot of time at the bank. I don’t believe we’ve got that kind of money.”‘

Years later, she told a crowd at the Glastonbury Festival of the song: ‘I wrote that years ago when my husband… was spending a little more time with Jolene than I thought he should be.

‘I put a stop to that. I got rid of that redhead woman in a hurry.’

Parton’s 1974 hit, I Will Always Love You, was written about the experience of cutting ties with her former business partner and mentor Porter Wagoner as she set her sights on pursuing a solo career.

The song reached the top spot of the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart: first in June 1974, then again in October 1982.

Parton famously refused to let Elvis Presley record his own version after his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, demanded she sign over half of the publishing rights.

‘I wouldn’t let Colonel Tom Parker,’ she recalled in an interview with BBC Radio 2 in 2023.

‘See, Elvis loved the song. In fact, I talked to Priscilla not very long ago. She said, ‘You know, Elvis sang that song to me when we were walking down the courthouse steps when we got divorced’.

‘He loved the song, wanted to do it, had it worked up, they’d already called me to come down to the studio to meet him, and to be part and hear the song.

‘And the night before, Colonel Tom Parker calls me and says: “Well, you know we don’t record anything with Elvis unless we have publishing on it, or at least half the publishing.”

‘Well, I said, because I had a number one song on it, I said: “This is the most important copyright in my whole publishing company, and I can’t do that.”

She added that Parker said they couldn’t do that, and the song fell apart, with Parton adding she was, ‘heartbroken’ because she always wanted to hear Presley sing it.

She was vindicated in her determination to retain the rights when Whitney Houston recorded the song for her 1992 film The Bodyguard, whereupon it became an thunderous international hit that carried the soundtrack album to 18 times platinum.

Parton went on to write and record the song 9 to 5 in 1980 for the comedy film of the same name, in which she starred alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.

The track, which she wrote on set by clicking her nails together and forming the beat, became one of her biggest hits of the decade.

It went on to win numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Original Song and Country Song of the Year and Female Country Vocal of the Year at the Grammy Awards.

In March 2025, Parton lost her husband Dean after nearly 60 years of marriage.

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In her heartbreaking tribute, she reflected on the ‘many wonderful years’ the pair spent together as she expressed her deep love for Carl and thanked fans for their prayers.

‘Carl and I spent many wonderful years together,’ she said. ‘Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.’

Parton and Dean first met at a laundromat in Nashville in 1964, when she was just 18 years old.

The couple married in 1966 and throughout the dizzy heights of fame, Dean remained a constant and supportive figure for Parton behind the scenes.

In 2023, she spoke about how they first met in her Channel 5 documentary, Dolly Parton: In Her Own Words.

‘I’d never been in a laundromat before,’ she recalled. ‘I walked outside there was this good-looking man that drove by the wishy-washy laundromat. And he pulled over to the side.

‘So, we started talking and we married two years later.’

In 2024, Parton gave a rare glimpse into her marriage and revealed the reason why her husband refused to attend events with her.

Speaking on an episode of Bunnie Xo’s Dumb Blonde Podcast, she said that while her late husband loved her music, he was ‘not the least bit interested in being in it.’

Recalling a pivotal moment early in their marriage, Parton said she once convinced Dean to attend an awards show in 1967 when she won BMI Song of the Year.

Despite the big win, ‘homebody’ Dean told her: ‘I wish you the best, but don’t ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things because I ain’t going.’ And, she added, he never did.

Throughout their decades together, the couple, who renewed their vows in 2016 at their Nashville home, relied on their shared sense of humor to avoid conflict.

Speaking fondly of her ‘hilarious’ husband, the singer added: ‘He’s quiet and I’m loud, and we’re funny…we have a lot of fun.

‘Anytime [there is] too much tension going on, either one of us can like, find a joke about it to really break the tension, where we don’t let it go so far.

‘We never fought back and forth.’

At the end of September 2025, Parton raised fan concerns for her health by announcing that she would be postponing her Las Vegas residency — originally scheduled from December 4 to December 13 at the Colosseum Theater at Caesars Palace — until September 2026 due to ‘health challenges.’

She shared the news directly with fans on Instagram, explaining that she had been facing health challenges that required her to undergo several medical procedures.

‘I want the fans and public to hear directly from me that, unfortunately, I will need to postpone my upcoming Las Vegas concerts,’ Parton wrote.

‘As many of you know, I have been dealing with some health challenges, and my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures.’

In her signature style, she joked that it felt like time for her ‘100,000-mile check-up,’ clarifying that it wasn’t her ‘usual trip to see [her] plastic surgeon.’

‘Don’t worry about me quittin’ the business because God hasn’t said anything about stopping yet,’ she said.

‘But, I believe He is telling me to slow down right now so I can be ready for more big adventures with all of you. I love you and thank you for understanding.’

In October, the hitmaker’s younger sibling, Freida Parton, worried fans when she asked for prayers for Parton.

However, hours later Freida returned to Facebook with an update, sharing she didn’t mean to ‘scare anyone’ and adding that Parton has ‘been a little under the weather.’

She added that it wasn’t her intention to ‘make it sound so serious’ and that she made her earlier public appeal simply because she believes in ‘the power of prayer.’

Parton’s death was greeted with a flood of tributes, including from her fellow country singer Maren Morris, who shared a video of herself singing with the late icon in a private setting and wrote: ‘there will never be another. @dollyparton was who we could all agree on. she was and is such a light.’

‘No!!!!!!’ exclaimed Sarah Jessica Parker. ‘I never met @dollyparton but my gosh, did I love her. I don’t think any of us had to know her to love her. One of the greatest this country ever produced. Legend. For real. Forever.’

Parker vaunted Parton for ‘always advocating for those she knew and understood needed a champion. What a loss. But aren’t we so lucky,so fortunate for the endless gifts she shared. With the world. Godspeed and RIP. You will be terribly missed.’

‘One of one,’ wrote Pedro Pascal with a broken heart emoji. ‘We must make more.’ 

In a dramatic turn of events, Tucson authorities have apprehended Alex James Barnett, 33, the suspect in a recent police recruit shooting. Barnett was discovered concealed within an apartment complex, almost a week following the violent home invasion that targeted Tucson police recruit Carlos Ramirez, 23.

The assault left Ramirez’s fiancée, who serves as a corrections officer in Pima County, injured. She remains hospitalized but is currently in stable condition.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department reported receiving a tip that led them to Barnett’s location near the intersection of East Broadway Boulevard and South Camino Seco. Around 6 p.m. Monday, SWAT officers engaged in a tense three-hour standoff before finally detaining him. Thankfully, the operation concluded without any additional injuries.

Previously, law enforcement had already detained another suspect in connection to the case. Santiago Jorge Rogers, 39, was captured at a hotel situated near the Tucson International Airport on Saturday morning.

Both suspects are being held without bail at the Pima County jail.

Barnett has a rap sheet that includes prior burglary and weapons convictions and has also been known as Alex Wilson, according to court records. In December 2024, he pleaded guilty to an unlawful imprisonment charge.

A search of Pima County courts for prior cases came back empty for Rogers. However, a man of the same name and age has drug and shoplifting convictions in Yavapai County, possession of contraband behind bars in Navajo and Graham Counties, and a number of lesser charges in Prescott.

Surveillance video shows men identified as Rogers and Barnett in black clothing and picking up items at a gas station convenience store about 20 minutes before the shooting.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos previously said the suspects were wearing all black clothing and ski masks during the attack.

A third man linked to the suspect vehicle has also been contacted by authorities in connection with the case but was not immediately charged.

“No arrest has been made as investigators work to determine his involvement,” the department said.

Ramirez was shot dead at his home in southwestern Tucson early Wednesday morning, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department (PCSD).

He was expected to graduate from the police academy on Aug. 27 and had previously worked for PCSD as a corrections officer.

His 23-year-old fiancee, whose name has not been released, also works as a corrections officer in the department.