By MICHELLE L. PRICE, Associated Press

NEW YORK – Country star Carrie Underwood will perform “America the Beautiful” at Donald Trump's inauguration next week. Other performers include two of the president-elect's musical favorites, country singer Lee Greenwood and opera singer Christopher Macchio.

The pomp and spectacle that comes with the inauguration of a brand new president begins in Washington this weekend with fireworks at Trump's golf club in Sterling, Virginia, a campaign-style rally in D.C., a visit to Arlington National Cemetery and glamorous dinners beforehand The former president takes the oath to turn out to be the following president.

Trump's second inauguration is anticipated to be a really different affair than the last time America had a brand new president. Trump, refusing to just accept his defeat in 2020, didn’t attend Democratic President Joe Biden's swearing-in ceremony on the Capitol, where there have been still visible reminders of the violent siege of the constructing by Trump's supporters on January 6, 2021.

The committee planning Trump's inauguration ceremonies released a schedule Monday with 4 days of events surrounding the Jan. 20 swearing-in ceremony, which Biden plans to attend.

On Saturday, Trump is scheduled to attend a reception and fireworks display at his Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, followed by a reception for Cabinet members and dinner.

On Sunday, the president-elect will attend a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery after which hold a “MAGA Victory” campaign rally at Capital One Arena in downtown Washington.

The Republican's Inauguration Day plans include tea on the White House, the swearing-in ceremony on the Capitol, a congressional luncheon, a parade on Pennsylvania Avenue and three balls.

The latest First Lady Melania Trump can have tea with the Bidens. She skipped this event last time.

Tuesday, Trump's first full day As the forty seventh president, he’ll hold a national prayer service within the morning.

According to Trump's inauguration committee, Greenwood will perform as Trump walks out to take the oath. Macchio is Trump's selection to sing the national anthem at the top of the printed.

Macchio appeared on the Republican National Convention in July, at Trump's return rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in October after his first rally there was marred by an assassination attempt, and at his rally at Madison Square Garden, which drew criticism from some for crude and racist jokes shouted loudspeaker.

Trump's first inauguration in 2017 featured performances by the Rockettes, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and 16-year-old “America's Got Talent” singer Jackie Evancho.

Originally published: January 13, 2025 at 11:07 am PST

SAN FRANCISCO – The Blue Angels were scheduled to perform their air show Sunday afternoon after their Saturday show was canceled on account of uncertain weather conditions attributable to San Francisco's infamous fog.

As a part of this 12 months's San Francisco Fleet Week events, the ultimate air show of the week begins at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, with the Blue Angels taking to the skies at 3 p.m., a San Francisco Fleet Week spokesperson told this news organization.

RELATED: Photos – Blue Angels practice over San Francisco Bay on Friday

In addition to the Blue Angels and their support aircraft – dubbed “Fat Albert” – Sunday's program includes the U.S. Navy Parachute Team's anthem and performances by the F-22 and F-35B demonstration teams. The Blue Angels, a US Navy flight demonstration squadron, performed on Friday afternoon.

The San Francisco Fleet Week Air Show presented by United takes place every year between the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz and attracts fans from all over the world. This waterfront event is led by the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and, based on organizers, is the one air show within the United States that features a fully choreographed appearance by an airliner, the United Airlines 777.

Saturday's cancellation got here after the looks of the local weather phenomenon affectionately known by some as “Charle the Fog.”

Fleet Week concludes on Monday, October 14, with performances by the first Marine Division Ceremonial Band, the High School Hand Challenge and tours of the USS Somerset and USS Tripoli.

Visit the official San Francisco Fleet Week website for a more detailed schedule and ticket information.

Originally published: October 13, 2024 at 10:52 am

When John Nicolas went under the knife for his kidney transplant last month, the Chicago native was wide awake and conscious. The 28-year-old was a serious first for the Illinois hospital.

“In the operating room, it was an incredible experience to show a patient what their new kidney looks like before it is placed in their body,” said Dr. Satish Nadig, director of the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive Transplant Center. in a press release.

Instead of general anesthesia, the transplant surgeon and his team used a special spinal injection that allowed Nicolas to stay pain-free and safely conscious in the course of the procedure. It is a brand new operation designed to assist patients who face serious health risks when undergoing general anesthesia.

A hit! Nicolas was discharged lower than 24 hours after the operation.

“It was a pretty cool experience to know what was happening in real time and to be aware of the magnitude of their work,” Nicholas said in a press release. “I remember wondering at some point during the surgery, 'Should I expect spinal anesthesia to kick in?' They had already done a lot of work and I hadn't been aware of it at all. Really, I hadn't felt anything at all. I had been given a sedative for my own comfort, but I was still aware of what they were doing. Especially when they called my name and told me about certain milestones they had reached.”

Now, Northwestern Medicine is establishing a brand new program, AWAKE, which stands for expedited surgery without general anesthesia for kidney transplants, for patients like Nicholas. Through this system, the hospital hopes to supply this latest procedure to anyone who has significant anesthesia phobias, health risks or special circumstances that make it impractical.

“It really opens up new doors and is another tool in our toolbox for the field of transplantation,” Nadig said.

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©2024 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

SACRAMENTO — Arizona doctors could allow their patients to have abortions in California under a proposal announced Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom to bypass a ban on just about all abortions in that state.

It would apply only to physicians licensed in Arizona and their patients and would last only through the top of November. Arizona's 1864 law, which bans just about all abortions except when the mother's life is in peril, takes effect June 8.

“Arizona Republicans continue to endanger women – by embracing a draconian law passed when Arizona was still a territory and not even a state,” Newsom said in an announcement. “California will not sit idly by.”

In addition to Arizona, 14 other states have banned abortions in any respect stages of pregnancy. While abortion access has never been seriously threatened in California, Newsom — widely viewed as a possible presidential candidate beyond 2024 — has made defending that access a priority of his administration.

Newsom pushed to enshrine abortion access within the California Constitution. He approved $20 million in taxpayer money to permit women from other states to return to California for abortions. He signed dozens of laws designed to make it harder for other states to analyze women coming to California for abortions, including banning social media corporations from complying with subpoenas or arrest warrants.

His actions have endeared him to the Democratic Party's core constituencies despite a few of the state's other problems – including homelessness, wildfire insurance and two multibillion-dollar budget deficits.

In 2022, months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Roe v. Wade repealed, California launched a publicly funded website to advertise the state's abortion services, including details about financial assistance for travel expenses and to let teenagers in other states know that California doesn’t require them to acquire their parents' permission to have an abortion within the state to be carried out.

When an Alabama lawmaker introduced a bill that might make it against the law to assist an individual under 18 have an abortion without telling her parents or guardian, Newsom paid for an ad that featured a young woman , who attempted to go away the state only to have a police officer stop her and demand that she take a pregnancy test.