ST. JOSEPH, Ill. — At St. Joseph Grade School, young minds were put to the test as over 100 fourth graders participated in the Shark Tank Entrepreneur Fair, an event designed to give children a platform to display their creativity and business acumen.
“We achieve greater success when we pursue our true passions and follow our calling,” expressed Mindy James, a dedicated fourth-grade teacher, emphasizing the importance of nurturing students’ innate interests.
“It’s essentially a traditional reprimand, that’s the reality we’re facing,” he remarked.
“We must confront it head-on and recognize that the constituents of Farrer are delivering a clear message.”
Littleproud suggested that the vote was a form of protest not only against the Liberal Party but also the Albanese administration. He emphasized the necessity for the Coalition to rally around core principles, which were seemingly abandoned after last year’s overwhelming election loss.
“The Coalition chose to distance itself from its policies, leaving us with no clear stance,” he explained.
“Meanwhile, Pauline Hanson, a shrewd political figure for three decades, stepped in to occupy that void and champion many of the principles we traditionally uphold.”
The Liberal Party recorded 12.6 per cent of the vote in the Farrar byelection with the Nationals getting just 9.76 per cent as of Sunday morning, with One Nation leading the two-party preferred vote against Independent Michelle Milthorpe by a margin of 7.3 per cent.
Nine News political editor Charles Croucher said the decimation of the Liberal Party vote was a sign it was losing more and more of Australia, after losing urban areas in large numbers at the two previous federal elections.
“They are running out of places to start winning seats,” he said.
“It was going to be the party of the outer suburbs it clearly can’t be the party of the bush anymore if that’s the result that’s coming in.”
Croucher said the party was stuck between a rock and a hard place as forces on the left and right of politics continue to take voters the Liberal Party used to rely on for decades.
“What we’re seeing is the Liberal party being stuck between this surge of One Nation on the right, the climate-minded independent, and Labor who are winning in the cities,” he said.
“It’s squeezing the Liberal Party, the party of Menzies, Howard, what was naturally the party of government, out of contention at all.”
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Recent audio recordings have surfaced capturing the tense moments after a Frontier Airlines plane collided with an individual on the runway, revealing the pilots’ stunned reactions to the tragic incident.
On Friday evening at Denver International Airport, Flight 4345 tragically struck and killed a person who had wandered onto the runway during takeoff, leaving behind a scene described as containing “human remains.”
Airport representatives reported that the individual gained access to the runway by scaling a fence and suddenly appeared in the path of the aircraft around 11 PM.
In the newly released audio, an air traffic control operator can be heard alerting pilots about “a person walking on the runway” just moments before the unfortunate collision occurred.
The Frontier aircraft, already cleared for takeoff to Los Angeles, was accelerating along the runway when it abruptly came to a stop following the incident.
‘Tower, Frontier 4345, we’re stopping on the runway. Uh, we just hit somebody… we have an engine fire,’ the pilot said, according to air traffic control audio.
He recalled seeing the ‘individual walking across the runway.’
‘I do have limbs on the runway, I believe the aircraft has struck an individual,’ the air traffic control employee confirmed during flight communications, first reported by TMZ.
At least 12 passengers from the aircraft (pictured) were treated for minor injuries
A pedestrian was struck by one of the plane’s engines. Passengers recalled seeing the victim’s legs spinning around
‘I’ve got what appears to be a deceased person on the runway,’ the employee added.
The unidentified victim was partially stuck in one of the airplane’s engines, causing the cabin to fill with smoke.
‘We’ve got smoke in the aircraft, we’re going to evacuate on the runway,’ the pilot calmly told air traffic control.
Emergency personnel were quickly called to the scene as those aboard the Airbus A321neo braced for evacuation.
Passengers and crew evacuated the plane using emergency slides, though some alleged sitting on the plane for three minutes before being evacuated to safety.
There were at least 12 minor injuries among those on the aircraft and five people were transported to local hospitals.
The rest of the passengers were bused to the terminal and have since left on a new Frontier flight.
There were 224 passengers on board the plane.
A Frontier Airlines flight collided with a pedestrian during takeoff at Denver International Airport on Friday night
Passengers escaped to safety by sliding down the emergency slide of the aircraft after the collision on Runway 17L
One passenger described watching the ‘legs of a human’ spin around in the engine as the cabin filled with smoke, reported the New York Post.
‘The majority of people didn’t know what was going on or what happened,’ said Minnesota father John Athens.
‘But there was just a big explosion and, obviously, when you hear a big explosion, people start screaming, kids are crying and it was horrific.’
Blood was visible in the impacted engine of the Airbus A321, as seen in photos circulating on social media that the Daily Mail has chosen not to publish.
Denver International Airport released a statement confirming that a person ‘jumped the perimeter fence’ near the runway and was hit two minutes later at 11.19pm local time.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made a statement on social media condemning the acts of the victim.
‘Late last night, a trespasser breached airport security at Denver Int’l Airport, deliberately scaled a perimeter fence, and ran out onto a runway,’ he said.
‘The trespasser on the runway was then struck by Frontier Airlines Flight 4345 during takeoff at high speed. The pilot stopped takeoff procedures immediately.’
‘Tower, Frontier 4345, we’re stopping on the runway. Uh, we just hit somebody… we have an engine fire,’ the pilot was heard saying on air traffic control audio. Denver International Airport is pictured in a file photo
‘No one should EVER trespass on an airport,’ Duffy added.
Runway 17L, where the collision occurred, shut down following the crash. It reopened before 11am on Saturday.
The Denver International Airport confirmed Saturday that it was not an employee who had been struck and there were no signs of forced entry onto the runway.
‘The airport has examined the fenceline and found it to be intact,’ it wrote on social media.
‘We are extremely saddened by this incident and express our sympathies to those involved,’ the statement concluded.
Frontier and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating. The National Transportation Safety Board is also aware of the incident.
Inset: Robert Zimmerman (Lewistown Police Department). Background: The residence Zimmerman allegedly set on fire in Lewistown Borough, Pa. (Google Maps).
A Pennsylvania resident finds himself incarcerated following accusations of igniting a deadly house fire, reportedly due to a woman turning down his romantic overtures, as stated by authorities in the state.
Robert Zimmerman, aged 40, faces pending criminal charges after his arrest earlier this week due to an outstanding warrant linked to the fatal arson, reported the Lewistown Police Department.
The tragic event transpired late Wednesday night at a home on Bratton Avenue in Lewistown Borough, a quaint town approximately halfway between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Authorities noted that firefighters responded to the scene around 11:55 p.m. The residence owner had been renting rooms to various tenants, including 44-year-old Brandy Phillippe.
Tragically, Phillippe did not survive the fire, as reported by Lancaster’s NBC affiliate WGAL.
“Preliminary investigation has determined Ms. Phillippe attempted to flee the residence during the fire but was unable to escape,” the Mifflin County Coroner”s Office said in a statement released Friday. “She was pronounced dead at the scene.”
As officers arrived at the scene of the crime, several witnesses said the fire was intentional and warned of people still trapped inside.
In the end, two other residents were harmed as a result of the inferno, according to law enforcement.
One man suffered significant injuries to his face after jumping from a second-floor window; he also suffered internal burns to his throat. A woman fell onto the sidewalk after falling from a second-floor window from which she was previously seen hanging, police said.
“I could see orange flames coming out the kitchen window. And they were really high,” a neighbor told WGAL. “I saw, people standing outside the, the door there. And then a few minutes later I heard, someone yell, ‘Jump! Jump!’ The, I guess men were saying for someone to jump there.”
The neighbor also expressed grief for a small community of cats that lived near the house and were killed during the fire.
Witnesses would later tell police they saw Zimmerman at the residence in the moments before the flames broke out. The defendant allegedly had professed his love for a woman who lived in the building, according to Harrisburg-based CBS affiliate WHP.
Investigators believe the defendant grew despondent after being rejected by the woman and began setting fire to several items on the first floor of the residence. Witnesses told police that Zimmerman admitted to starting the inferno – and said that he watched the house burn from a nearby alleyway. Witness statements were corroborated using surveillance footage, according to law enforcement.
The defendant was eventually arrested at a boarding house on East Third Street. Arresting officers said he smelled of ash and smoke. He also showed signs of an overdose and was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was cleared hours later, then taken to the police station for questioning.
“Zimmerman claimed that he could not recall any details at the exact time the fire started but was able to make several statements about events immediately before and after the fire started,” the police department said. “Zimmerman was informed that an occupant of the residence died as a result of the fire and he had a strong emotional response to this.”
Police anticipate formal charges will be filed in the case against the defendant soon, according to a press release.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed optimism on Saturday that the conflict with Ukraine might soon conclude.
In a statement to reporters, as reported by Reuters, Putin remarked, “I believe the situation is nearing its conclusion.”
His comments followed an announcement by former U.S. President Donald Trump about a three-day ceasefire to commemorate the Soviet Union’s World War II victory, which also included a significant prisoner exchange between the two countries.
The ceasefire commenced on Saturday and is scheduled to last until Monday, according to Trump’s post on Truth Social. He noted, “The celebration in Russia is for Victory Day, but similarly in Ukraine, as they played a crucial role and were significant participants in World War II.”
On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated his belief that the conflict with Ukraine could soon come to an end. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP)
“This ceasefire will include a suspension of all kinetic activity, and also a prisoner swap of 1,000 prisoners from each country,” he added. “This request was made directly by me, and I very much appreciate its agreement by President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.”
The day was celebrated with Russia’s most scaled-back Victory Day parade in years.
The war in Ukraine has dragged on for more than four years after Russia invaded the country in February 2022, with the Kremlin initially believing it could win quickly yet Russia still hasn’t been able to take the entire Donbass region.
President Donald Trump walks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Putin told reporters that he would prefer to talk to former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder when asked about talks with European leaders.
He added that he would only consider speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after a lasting peace deal had been agreed upon.
On X, Zelenskyy confirmed the exchange of prisoners captured during the four-year conflict, which began when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President-elect Donald Trump shake hands after their meeting at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris, France, on Dec. 7, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidency/Anadolu/Getty Images)
“Within the framework of the negotiating process mediated by the American side, we received Russia’s agreement to conduct a prisoner exchange in the format of 1,000 for 1,000,” he wrote. “A ceasefire regime must also be established on May 9, 10, and 11. Ukraine is consistently working to bring its people home from Russian captivity. I have instructed our team to promptly prepare everything necessary for the exchange.”
Zelenskyy also thanked Trump for his diplomatic involvement in the process and said he hopes the United States will make sure Moscow abides by the agreement.
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Betty Broderick, a former socialite from Southern California who gained national infamy for the 1989 murders of her ex-husband and his new wife, has passed away at the age of 78 while serving her prison sentence.
SAN DIEGO — Betty Broderick, once a prominent figure in La Jolla, California, has died in prison. Known for the shocking 1989 double murder of her ex-husband and his new spouse, Broderick was 78 at the time of her death.
Since 1992, Broderick had been serving a life sentence for second-degree murder at the California Institution for Women located in Corona.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirmed that Broderick died of natural causes at 3:40 a.m. on Friday. The San Bernardino County Coroner is tasked with determining the precise cause of her death.
The tragic saga began with a tumultuous affair and a contentious divorce, culminating in a violent act of murder. More than three decades ago, Betty Broderick, then a San Diego socialite, shocked the nation by fatally shooting her ex-husband and his new wife while they slept in their home on Cypress Avenue, near Balboa Park.
It began with an affair followed by a bitter divorce and ended in a brutal murder. More than 35 years ago, Betty Broderick, a San Diego socialite, brutally gunned down her ex-husband and his new wife as they slept in bed at their home on Cypress Avenue near Balboa Park.
The notorious killer was denied parole three times.
“He used to say, ‘If she wants to get me, she’s going to get me’,” said Lorraine Kimel-Hennessy, who covered the cases as a reporter for News 8 in 1989. Kimel-Hennessy also knew the victims personally.
The case shocked the community and captivated the nation.
It had all the elements of a human drama: infidelity, wealth, an elegant home and a suburban mom turned admitted killer, who showed no signs of remorse.
The exes had four children together.
Prosecutors portrayed Broderick as a jilted ex-wife, hell-bent on getting revenge after her husband, a prominent San Diego attorney, left her for a younger woman.
“She was a very angry and bitter woman that the only thing that would satisfy her is getting to take it out on the people that stole [her] life,” Terry Degelder said.
Degelder was the lead detective on the case for the San Diego Police Department’s homicide unit.
“It was very cold-blooded and calculated,” he said.
The crime would turn out to be as controversial as it was brutal.
“There are still people out there that believe it was Dan’s fault,” Kimel-Hennessy said.
It all unfolded in the early morning hours of Nov. 5, 1989.
Investigators say Betty, using a house key she stole from her daughter, snuck into the couple’s home and shot Linda in the head at point-blank range and then shot Dan in the chest as he jumped off the bed.
“Which did not kill him immediately, so he was reaching for the telephone, and she pulled the phone out of the wall so he couldn’t get it,” Degelder said.
That infamous scene and other examples of Betty’s spiraling rage were later played out in a CBS made-for-TV movie.
“There were these stories about this woman who’d driven her car into her ex’s house and she burned his clothes in the street, she left obscene messages on their phone machine,” Kimel-Hennessy said.
During the trial, prosecutors painted a picture of a scorned woman, set on revenge, who had tormented the couple in the years since her divorce.
Kimel-Hennessy said to simply put it, “She was out for blood.”
Betty maintained she was an abused wife, driven to kill.
“There was a lot of women who sympathized with her, but they didn’t know the facts,” Degelder said.
Betty felt she was the victim. She told jurors she financially supported her husband through medical school and law school, and then when he became successful, he discarded her for someone younger.
CBS News has unveiled the complete interview with Los Angeles mayoral hopeful Spencer Pratt following his criticism of the network for what he termed a “comical 5-minute hit piece” that aired recently.
Pratt expressed his frustration with the outlet for conducting an interview lasting over an hour at his fire-damaged property in Pacific Palisades, only to air brief excerpts, including segments from his stint on the MTV reality show “The Hills.”
“They can’t beat my ideas, they can’t beat me in the debates, so they resort to turning my campaign into a spectacle,” Pratt stated on X Friday, part of a series of posts criticizing the network.
Within a day, CBS News published the full 28-minute interview, emphasizing Pratt’s discussions on “his campaign, his vision for the city, and the reasons it’s gaining traction with voters on social media.”
In a turn of tone, the candidate responded positively, stating, “A new era of responsible journalism! Thank you to CBS for sharing our complete interview so that voters can hear directly from their next Mayor!”
The network’s earlier, 4-minute clip featured a tidbit in which Pratt he compared himself to former President Barack Obama.
“I mean, look at Obama. He was a community organizer,” he said. “I’ve won two community advocate awards…Nobody thought, ‘Why can Obama become a senator and then the president?’ He had no experience running the whole entire country, which is way bigger than LA.”
The California Post contacted CBS News for comment.
The network has a history of political candidates targeting its news division over edited interviews.
Last year, CBS New corporate owner, Paramount Global, paid $16 million to settle with President Donald Trump over a “deceptively edited” interview it aired with former Vice President Kamala Harris.
The company and CBS had called Trump’s case “completely without merit,” though later settled.
Chicago is rolling out the red carpet for mothers this weekend with a host of celebrations.
On Saturday, the city and its suburbs buzzed with events dedicated to honoring the invaluable contributions of moms, all leading up to Mother’s Day on Sunday.
Beyond family gatherings, mothers are coming together to uplift and support one another in meaningful ways.
Saturday’s festivities were highlighted by the 2026 Magnificent Mothers of Praise and Power Extravaganza on the West Side, where 81-year-old mother and grandmother Barbara McGowan joined the celebration.
“Being a mom is an everyday role, not just something for today,” McGowan expressed. “You’re always a mom.”
Sponsored by 37th Ward Alderwoman Emma Mitts, the event brought the community together to celebrate and highlight local mothers.
“It just became a tradition, because now we’re celebrating six years of the Mother’s Day Extravaganza, and we just go all out,” Ald. Mitts said.
Special guests along with elected officials attended the pre-Mother’s Day event, which featured appliance giveaways and the gifting of other essential items donated by Black Men United.
“You name it, it’s out there, icemaker, air fryers,” said Bishop John Harrell with Black Men United. “We’re just here to say, mothers, we love you.”
In west suburban Oak Park, Illinois U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth hosted local leaders, community activists and moms to talk about the challenges of motherhood and what families now face under the current administration.
For many moms this Mother’s Day weekend, the holiday is bittersweet because they’ve tragically lost a child. Around 125 moms attended this year’s Purpose Over Pain Mother’s Day Brunch.
Dantingnac Lock lost her 36-year-old son Cordero in December 2022.
“We all we all walk in the same shoes,” Lock said. “Our stories may be different, but we all have lost somebody that we birthed.”
Co-organizer Pam Bosley says she hopes to help mothers coping with their pain. She lost her son Terrell to gun violence in 2006.
“You get a chance to talk about how you feel,” Bosley said. “If you don’t even talk about it, we could look at you and know what you feel. So it’s a sister circle that no mother wants to be in.”
The moms received a “sip of healing” tea cup symbolizing their emotional journey and released balloons in their children’s honor.
More events and celebrations are being over the weekend across the Chicago area.
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Israeli drones targeted vehicles south of Beirut, resulting in the deaths of four individuals, while air assaults in southern Lebanon claimed the lives of at least 13 people, including a man and his 12-year-old daughter, as reported by Lebanese officials.
This recent wave of strikes signals a further intensification of conflict, even after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was declared on April 17. Despite the truce, both parties have persisted with their daily offensives.
On Saturday, local time, two attacks occurred on the highway connecting Beirut with the southern port city of Sidon, injuring multiple individuals. A third strike happened on a road leading to Lebanon’s Chouf region, resulting in three fatalities, according to the National News Agency (NNA).
The Lebanese health ministry confirmed that an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Saksakiyeh resulted in at least seven deaths, including a child, and left 15 others injured. These figures were described as preliminary.
Additional strikes were reported in southern Lebanon, with the village of Bourj Rahhal experiencing a strike that killed three and another in Maifadoun claiming one life, as noted by the agency.
In a separate incident, the ministry said three Israeli drone strikes killed a Syrian man who was riding a motorcycle with his 12-year-old daughter in the city of Nabatiyeh.
The ministry said that after the initial strike, the man and his daughter managed to move away from the site only to be attacked again by the drone instantly killing the man.
The girl then moved about 100m away and was hit again by the drone after she had already been wounded. The girl later died in a hospital, NNA said.
“The Ministry of Public Health denounces this barbaric targeting and the deliberate violence against civilians and children in Lebanon,” the ministry said in its statement added that the strike marks an ongoing series “of grave violations of International Humanitarian Law”.
The Israeli military said Hezbollah fired explosive drones into Israel near the border with Lebanon, adding that three soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, in one of the attacks. It claimed Hezbollah fired drones inside Lebanon one of which hit an Israeli vehicle without inflicting casualties.
Hezbollah claimed several attacks inside Lebanon, as well as firing a drone at an Israeli military post in the northern town of Misgav Am.
The latest war between Israel and Hezbollah began on 2 March, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, two days after the United States and Israel launched a war on Hezbollah’s main backer, Iran.
Israel has since carried out hundreds of airstrikes and launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, capturing dozens of towns and villages along the border.
Later, Lebanon and Israel held their first direct talks in more than three decades. The two countries have formally been in a state of war since the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.
A new round of talks is scheduled to take place in Washington over two days starting next week.
A 10-day ceasefire declared in Washington went into effect on 17 April. The ceasefire was later extended by three weeks.
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For over sixty years, Dolly Parton and her husband Carl Dean shared a love story that withstood the challenges of fame and time. Their enduring relationship is a rare fixture in the often tumultuous world of Hollywood, despite Dean’s preference for life outside the public eye.
Carl Dean, known for his reclusive nature, seldom appeared alongside Parton during her many significant career moments. He chose the comfort of their home over the glitz of red carpet events. Nevertheless, Parton frequently credited him as her stabilizing force, cherishing their weekends filled with homemade breakfasts, whether it be pancakes or waffles.
Reflecting on their relationship, Parton once remarked, “I met my husband before I became a star, and he doesn’t care about any of it.” This sentiment captured the essence of their bond, rooted firmly in simplicity and love rather than celebrity status.
Despite composing some of the most iconic love songs, including the timeless “I Will Always Love You,” famously covered by Whitney Houston, Parton found herself at a loss for words following Dean’s passing. He died in March 2025 at the age of 82, with the cause remaining private.
In a heartfelt message to her fans, the 80-year-old music legend expressed her sorrow, stating, “Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.” Her words reflected a deep, enduring love, one that transcended the spotlight and left a lasting legacy.
That loss of the love of her life has seemingly taken its toll after she abruptly canceled her Las Vegas residency, initially blaming a ‘treatable’ but mysterious health issue, and scrapped six previously postponed shows scheduled for September. But always the icon, bedecked in her usual rhinestones, she posted a cheery video to update her adoring fans – though they’d be forgiven for being fooled by her lipsticked ear-to-ear grin.
The Daily Mail has learned that her heartbreak over her husband’s death is believed to be the key factor that led to her own health struggles, and that grief, rather than illness alone, has derailed her return to the stage.
Dolly Parton sparked concern after cancelling her Las Vegas residency, initially citing a ‘treatable’ health issue, though her husband’s death is now believed to be the key factor; (pictured January 2025)
Her husband Carl Dean died in March 2025 at the age of 82 from undisclosed causes, with those close to the singer saying she is still grappling with the loss
The insider said: ‘The life she lives now without him is crippled in comparison. To know that she will never be the same absolutely has affected her deeply. Emotionally, personally, physically, it all has taken a toll. This loss will and has forever changed her and is a main reason that she has had health issues as of late.’
The source claimed that after the tragedy, she ‘was not eating right, not doing the things she usually would do for her continued health, and she let things slip.’
Known for living life to the fullest and famously ‘approaching it with her foot on the gas pedal’, the Southern spitfire is said to be struggling to regain her spark since Dean’s passing.
‘She has given herself various amounts of time to grieve and may have not grieved enough and has left some things in God’s hand,’ the source said.
Now, Parton, according to the insider, is ‘still trying to figure it all out.’
‘When Carl died, that was the first time brakes were applied and reality set in and she didn’t know how to handle it,’ the source said.
When Parton pushed ahead with work and ‘attempted to restart the clock… some health issues came along to disrupt matters,’ they added.
The Daily Mail has reached out to reps for Parton for comment.
The loss of Dean – whom she met in 1964 when she was just 18 – has seemingly cut deep.
In an emotional video shared Monday, Parton offered fans a health update after canceling her residency, but it was clear Dean’s death was at the forefront of her thoughts as she repeatedly thanked fans for their support.
Holding back tears, Parton said: ‘I want you to know also that a lot of you have been concerned about me and Carl, and you were so great about that.’
She continued: ‘After going through a year of firsts – I mean the holidays, and especially on our wedding anniversary, and the day of his death March 3, you know, that was hard for me.
‘But I will always love him and I’ll always miss him. But you would be surprised at how much your love and concern meant to me during that time. Lord, my house and my porch looked like the botanical gardens with all the flowers.’
However, the insider told the Daily Mail that even all of the support and concern from those who love her isn’t quite speeding along the grief process.
‘Knowing Carl for decades and being the most important person in her life, now that he is gone, as much as she can take comfort in other family members and fans having her back, it is never the same,’ the source said.
Parton and Dean married in 1966 in Ringgold, Georgia, after meeting two years earlier at a Nashville laundromat.
They never had children and famously kept their marriage fiercely private.
The source claimed Parton ‘was not eating right, not doing the things she usually would do for her continued health, and she let things slip’
In an emotional video shared Monday, Parton offered fans a health update after canceling her residency, but it was clear Dean’s death was at the forefront of her thoughts as she repeatedly thanked fans for their support
Dean rarely appeared in public with her, and she only ever shared a handful of photographs of him. That privacy forced her to address relationship rumors over the years, and she once joked that some people didn’t believe he even existed.
‘A lot of people say there’s no Carl Dean, that he’s just somebody I made up to keep other people off me,’ she told the Associated Press in 1984.
Explaining his absence from the spotlight, Parton later said in a 2024 podcast interview with Bunnie Xo that he simply couldn’t stand show business.
She recalled how he once attended an awards show in 1966 and hated every minute of it. He reportedly said, according to Parton: ‘I love you, and I will support you in your career any way I can, but I am not going to any more of these wingdings.’
Now, that private love story has ended in devastating loss – and insiders say the emotional toll is beginning to show physically.
During Monday’s update, Parton admitted she’s ‘always had problems with my kidney stones’ but for the past three years her immune and digestive systems ‘got all out of whack’ and need to be ‘rebuilt and strengthened.’
She continued: ‘The good news is I’m responding really well to meds and treatments and I’m improving every day.
‘Now, the bad news is, it’s gonna take me a little while before I’m up to stage performance level because some of the meds and treatments make me a little bit “swimmy-headed” as my grandma used to say. And of course, I can’t be dizzy carrying around banjos, guitars and such on five-inch heels. And you know that I’m going to be wearing them!’
She added she still ‘has some healing to do’ but has ‘great doctors,’ saying: ‘I’m doing really well and they assure me that everything I have is treatable, so I’m going with that.’
Our source would agree. They said: ‘As she has recently mentioned, these health issues aren’t life-threatening; they just have to be dealt with. She continues to try to figure it out because she wants to live her life, but she also wants to continue to represent the person she became when Carl was in her life.’
‘She just has to treat herself right again.’
Parton’s Las Vegas residency – her first in 32 years – was initially postponed in September due to ‘health challenges,’ with six shows planned at Caesars Palace later moved before being officially cancelled this week.
At the time, she reassured fans: ‘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.’
She also missed a Dollywood announcement last year due to kidney stone complications, telling fans she had an infection and was advised not to travel.
When Parton pushed ahead with workafter the death and ‘attempted to restart the clock… some health issues came along to disrupt matters,’ the source added
‘She is going to lay low and be out of the spotlight, but it is all to work hard to get back on stage. And when she does, it will be like she has never left,’ the source insisted
The following month, she swatted away rumors about her death with trademark humor, posting: ‘There are just a lot of rumors flying around. But I figured if you heard it from me, you’d know that I was OK.’
She added: ‘I’m not ready to die yet. I don’t think God is through with me. And I ain’t done working.’
Despite the setbacks, the icon said she remains focused on future projects including her Nashville museum, hotel plans, and upcoming Broadway musical ‘Dolly: A True Original Musical,’ due later this year.
And our source insisted she is already planning her return: ‘And though she might be on the sidelines physically, she is passing the time writing more and when she makes her comeback, it is going to be as spectacular as you could ever imagine.
‘She puts 110% effort in everything she does, so she is just working to get back to that – and she is doing it. It might seem like an eternity, but she expects to be back doing things on a full schedule before next year’s Grammys.’
‘She is going to lay low and be out of the spotlight, but it is all to work hard to get back on stage.
‘And when she does, it will be like she has never left.’
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