Tina Turner dies at 83, Jimmy Carter in good spirits in hospice care, and more of the week's top news

NEW YORK (AP) — Tina Turner, the unstoppable singer and stage performer who teamed with husband Ike Turner for a dynamic run of hit records and live shows in the 1960s and ‘70s and survived her horrifying marriage to triumph in middle age with the chart-topping "What's Love Got to Do With It," has died at 83.

Turner died Tuesday, after a long illness in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland, according to her manager. She became a Swiss citizen a decade ago.

Few stars traveled so far — she was born Anna Mae Bullock in a segregated Tennessee hospital and spent her latter years on a 260,000 square foot estate on Lake Zurich — and overcame so much. Physically battered, emotionally devastated and financially ruined by her 20-year relationship with Ike Turner, she became a superstar on her own in her 40s, at a time when most of her peers were on their way down, and remained a top concert draw for years after.

With admirers ranging from Beyoncé to Mick Jagger, Turner was one of the world's most successful entertainers, known for a core of pop, rock and rhythm and blues favorites: "Proud Mary," "Nutbush City Limits," "River Deep, Mountain High," and the hits she had in the '80s, among them "What's Love Got to Do with It," "We Don't Need Another Hero" and a cover of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together."

Her trademarks were her growling contralto, her bold smile and strong cheekbones, her palette of wigs and the muscular, quick-stepping legs she did not shy from showing off. She sold more than 150 million records worldwide, won 12 Grammys, was voted along with Ike into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 (and on her own in 2021) and was honored at the Kennedy Center in 2005, with Beyoncé and Oprah Winfrey among those praising her. Her life became the basis for a film, a Broadway musical and an HBO documentary in 2021 that she called her public farewell.

Until she left her husband and revealed their back story, she was known as the voracious on-stage foil of the steady-going Ike, the leading lady of the “Ike and Tina Turner Revue.” Ike was billed first and ran the show, choosing the material, the arrangements, the backing singers. They toured constantly for years, in part because Ike was often short on money and unwilling to miss a concert. Tina Turner was forced to go on with bronchitis, with pneumonia, with a collapsed right lung.

Other times, the cause of her misfortunes was Ike himself.

As she recounted in her memoir, “I, Tina,” Ike began hitting her not long after they met, in the mid-1950s, and only grew more vicious. Provoked by anything and anyone, he would throw hot coffee in her face, choke her, or beat her until her eyes were swollen shut, then rape her. Before one show, he broke her jaw and she went on stage with her mouth full of blood.

Terrified both of being with Ike and of being without him, she credited her emerging Buddhist faith in the mid-1970s with giving her a sense of strength and self-worth and she finally left in early July, 1976. The Ike and Tina Turner Revue was scheduled to open a tour marking the country’s bicentennial when Tina snuck out of their Dallas hotel room, with just a Mobil credit card and 36 cents, while Ike slept. She hurried across a nearby highway, narrowly avoiding a speeding truck, and found another hotel to stay.

“I looked at him (Ike) and thought, ‘You just beat me for the last time, you sucker,’” she recalled in her memoir.

Turner was among the first celebrities to speak candidly about domestic abuse, becoming a heroine to battered women and a symbol of resilience to all. Ike Turner did not deny mistreating her, although he tried to blame Tina for their troubles. When he died, in 2007, a representative for his ex-wife said simply: “Tina is aware that Ike passed away.”

Little of this was apparent to the many Ike and Tina fans. The Turners were a hot act for much of the 1960s and into the ’70s, evolving from bluesy ballads such as “A Fool in Love” and “It’s Going to Work Out Fine” to flashy covers of “Proud Mary” and “Come Together” and other rock songs that brought them crossover success.

They opened for the Rolling Stones in 1966 and 1969, and were seen performing a lustful version of Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” in the 1970 Stones documentary “Gimme Shelter.” Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett gave Oscar-nominated performances as Ike and Tina in the 1993 movie “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” based on “I, Tina,” but she would say that reliving her years with Ike was so painful she couldn’t bring herself to watch the movie).

Ike and Tina’s reworking of “Proud Mary,” originally a tight, mid-tempo hit for Creedence Clearwater Revival, helped define their assertive, sexual image. Against a background of funky guitar and Ike’s crooning baritone, Tina began with a few spoken words about how some people wanted to hear songs that were “nice and easy.”

“But there’s this one thing,” she warned, “you see, we never ever do nothing nice and easy.

“We always do it nice — and rough.”

But by the end of the 1970s, Turner’s career seemed finished. She was 40 years old, her first solo album had flopped and her live shows were mostly confined to the cabaret circuit. Desperate for work, and money, she even agreed to tour in South Africa when the country was widely boycotted because of its racist apartheid regime.

Rock stars helped bring her back. Rod Stewart convinced her to sing “Hot Legs” with him on “Saturday Night Live” and Jagger, who had openly borrowed some of Turner’s on-stage moves, sang “Honky Tonk Women” with her during the Stones’ 1981-82 tour. At a listening party for his 1983 album “Let’s Dance,” David Bowie told guests that Turner was his favorite female singer.

More popular in England at the time than in the U.S., she recorded a raspy version of “Let’s Stay Together” at EMI’s Abbey Road studios in London. By the end of 1983, “Let’s Stay Together” was a hit throughout Europe and on the verge of breaking in the states. An A&R man at Capitol Records, John Carter, urged the label to sign her up and make an album. Among the material presented to her was a reflective pop-reggae ballad co-written by Terry Britten and Graham Lyle and initially dismissed by Tina as “wimpy.”

“I just thought it was some old pop song, and I didn’t like it,” she later said of “What’s Love Got To Do With It.”

Turner’s “Private Dancer” album came out in May 1984, sold more than eight million copies and featured several hit singles, including the title song and “Better Be Good To Me.” It won four Grammys, among them record of the year for “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” the song that came to define the clear-eyed image of her post-Ike years.

“People look at me now and think what a hot life I must have lived — ha!” she wrote in her memoir.

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for a columnist who won a $5 million sexual abuse and defamation award against former President Donald Trump filed an amended lawsuit against him on Monday seeking to hold him liable for remarks he made after the verdict.

The amended lawsuit, seeking at least $10 million in compensatory damages, was filed in Manhattan federal court by lawyers for E. Jean Carroll, who says remarks by Trump after she made rape allegations against him so spoiled her reputation that she lost her longtime job as an Elle magazine advice columnist.

A nine-person jury two weeks ago decided that Trump had sexually abused Carroll at an upscale Manhattan department store in early spring 1996.

Carroll, who testified during the trial, first revealed in a 2019 book her claims that Trump raped her in a dressing room, but the jury rejected that claim.

Joe Tacopina, a Trump lawyer, declined to comment on the new claims.

Kaplan filed the new claims in amending a defamation lawsuit that was put on hold as an appeals court was deciding whether Trump could be held liable for remarks he made in 2019 while he was still president. The U.S. Justice Department has supported his lawyers' claims that the United States should be substituted as the defendant.

In the new claim, Carroll's lawyers said Trump, “undeterred by the jury’s verdict, persisted in maliciously defaming Carroll yet again" the next day during a “town hall” event hosted by CNN.

“He doubled down on his prior defamatory statements, asserting to an audience all too ready to cheer him on that ‘I never met this woman. I never saw this woman,’ that he did not sexually assault Carroll, and that her account — which had just been validated by a jury of Trump’s peers one day before — was a ‘fake,’ ‘made up story’ invented by a ‘whack job.’ Those statements resulted in enthusiastic cheers and applause from the audience on live TV,” the lawyers wrote.

WASHINGTON — Oath Keepers extremist group founder Stewart Rhodes was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison for orchestrating a weekslong plot that culminated in his followers attacking the U.S. Capitol in a bid to keep President Joe Biden out of the White House after winning the 2020 election.

Rhodes, 58, is the first person convicted of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack to receive his punishment, and his sentence is the longest handed down so far in the hundreds of Capitol riot cases.

It's another milestone for the Justice Department's sprawling Jan. 6 investigation, which led to seditious conspiracy convictions against the top leaders of two far-right extremist groups authorities say came to Washington prepared to fight to keep President Donald Trump in power at all costs.

“The Justice Department will continue to do everything in our power to hold accountable those criminally responsible for the January 6th attack on our democracy,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

In a first for a Jan. 6 case, the judge agreed with the Justice Department that Rhodes' actions should be punished as "terrorism," which increases the recommended sentence under federal guidelines. That could foreshadow lengthy sentences down the road for other far-right extremists, including former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, also convicted of the rarely used charge.

Before announcing Rhodes' sentence, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta described Rhodes as a continued threat to the United States and democracy. The judge expressed fear that what happened Jan. 6 could be repeated, saying Americans will "now hold our collective breaths every time an election is approaching."

"You are smart, you are charismatic and compelling and frankly that's what makes you dangerous," the judge told Rhodes. "The moment you are released, whenever that may be, you will be ready to take up arms against your government."

Rhodes did not use his chance to address the judge to express remorse or appeal for leniency, but instead criticized prosecutors and the Biden administration and tried to play down his actions on Jan. 6.

"I'm a political prisoner and like President Trump my only crime is opposing those who are destroying our country," said Rhodes, who appeared in Washington's federal court wearing orange jail clothes.

Mehta fired back that Rhodes was not prosecuted for his political beliefs but for actions the judge described as an "offense against the people of the country."

"You are not a political prisoner, Mr. Rhodes," the judge said.

Another Oath Keeper convicted of seditious conspiracy alongside Rhodes — Florida chapter leader Kelly Meggs — was sentenced later Thursday to 12 years behind bars.

Meggs said he was sorry he was involved in the riot that left a "black eye on the country," but maintained he never planned to go into the Capitol.

The judge found Meggs doesn't present an ongoing threat to the country the way Rhodes does, but told him "violence cannot be resorted to just because you disagree with who got elected."

Other Oath Keepers are expected to be sentenced Friday and next week.

A Washington, D.C., jury found Rhodes guilty of leading a plot to forcibly disrupt the transfer of presidential power. Prosecutors alleged Rhodes and his followers recruited members, amassed weapons and set up "quick reaction force" teams at a Virginia hotel that could ferry guns into the nation's capital if they were needed to support their plot. The weapons were never deployed.

It was one of the most consequential Capitol riot cases brought by the government, which sought to prove the attack by right-wing extremists such as the Oath Keepers was not a spur-of-the-moment protest but the culmination of weeks of plotting to overturn Biden's victory.

Rhodes' January 2022 arrest was the culmination of a decadeslong path of extremism that included armed standoffs with federal authorities at Nevada's Bundy Ranch. After founding the Oath Keepers in 2009, the Yale Law School graduate built it into one of the largest far-right, anti-government militia groups in the U.S., though it appears to have weakened in the wake of the Oath Keepers' arrests.

The judge agreed to prosecutors' request for a so-called "terrorism enhancement" under the argument that the Oath Keepers sought to influence the government through "intimidation or coercion." Judges in less serious Jan. 6 cases previously rejected such requests.

Prosecutors sought 25 years for Rhodes, arguing a lengthy sentence was necessary to deter future political violence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Rakoczy pointed to interviews and speeches Rhodes gave from jail repeating the lie that the 2020 election was stolen and saying it would be again in 2024. Just days ago, Rhodes called for "regime change," the prosecutor said.

People "across the political spectrum" want to believe that Jan. 6 was an "outlier," Rakoczy said. "Not defendant Rhodes."

Rhodes, of Granbury, Texas, plans to appeal.

His sentence may signal the punishment prosecutors will seek for Tarrio and other Proud Boys leaders convicted of seditious conspiracy. They will be sentenced in August and September.

Before Thursday, the longest sentence in the more than 1,000 Capitol riot cases was 14 years for a man with a long criminal record who attacked police officers with pepper spray and a chair as he stormed the Capitol. Just over 500 of the defendants have been sentenced.

BALTIMORE — Bob Baffert choked back tears and his voice cracked while he tried to juggle the conflicting feelings of seeing one of his horses win the Preakness Stakes hours after another was euthanized on the same track.

National Treasure won the Preakness on Saturday in Baffert's return to the Triple Crown trail following a suspension, ending Kentucky Derby champion Mage's Triple Crown bid in the race Baffert has now captured more than any other trainer. But the joy was tempered by the agony of another 3-year-old colt, Havnameltdown, injuring his left front leg in an undercard race and being put down.

Read more about it here:

Talk about overdue — a man returned a book to the St. Helena Public Library in California’s Napa Valley that was due Feb. 21, 1927.

Benson Lossing’s “A History of the United States” is a weighty tome with the crumbling binding one would expect from a book published in 1881. It’s stamped “Property of the St. Helena Library Association,” and library staff suspect it was one of the original 540 volumes available when the Free Public Library opened in 1892.

The man returned the library to the front desk but didn’t leave his name. Library staff hope he comes forward. Library Director Chris Kreiden said the library went fine-free in 2019, so the man won’t owe a cent for keeping the book longer than two weeks.

“Nobody on the staff recognized the gentleman who brought it in,” Kreiden said. “The library (staff) would definitely love to know” the story of how he came across the book.

In case you’re wondering, the library’s old nickel-a-day fine would have added up to roughly $1,756 from the 1927 due date through last week.

The book offers a glimpse into the library’s history. Before the Free Public Library opened in 1892, it cost 25 cents a month to borrow books — including possibly this one — from the St. Helena Library Association.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Lossing (1813-1891) was a prolific and respected American historian. He was known for traveling widely to seek out primary sources and visit historic buildings and battlefields, a practice that was unusual at the time but is considered standard for today’s historians. His massive “Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution” was the result of 9,000 miles of travel over two years.

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The 754-page volume returned to the library contains 400 engravings and a full account of the then-recent national centennial celebration of 1876.

Kreiden said the library staff haven’t decided what to do with the book, but their top priority is to protect it from further deterioration.

“It would be cool to put it on display someday but we haven’t figured out how to do that,” she said.

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — Among those who watched Makiah Burke graduate Saturday from Spotsylvania High School is Jennifer Rojohn, who — as Ms. Reynolds — was Makiah's kindergarten teacher at Fredericksburg's Hugh Mercer Elementary. 

"I will feel like a proud parent," said Rojohn beforehand. "I will probably be a crying mess as well!" 

There will be many reasons for her tears. Not only was Makiah in Rojohn's very first class as a public-school teacher in 2010, but he has kept up a tradition of visiting her at the beginning and end of every school year since kindergarten, even as she moved from Fredericksburg City schools to Prince William County, Essex County and finally to Stafford County, where she is assistant principal at Stafford Elementary. 

"When I say he loves this woman, I mean he loves this woman," Makiah's mom, Chrissy Burke, said. "I don't get hugs like (he gives her)!" 

She said Makiah connected with Rojohn in part because she was his first teacher ever, but also because of the kind of teacher she was, even at the very beginning of her career. 

"She was the type of teacher who was structured but would still love on you," Burke said. 

Rojohn said the students in that first kindergarten class will "always and forever" be an important part of her educational career because they learned and grew together. 

She said she always told the class that they were a family. 

"We care for each other, and we love and protect one another. We can fight like family but at the end of the day we are family," she told them. "I really meant that, and I think we were able to accomplish that within those four walls." 

Hugh Mercer Elementary at the time only housed kindergarten, first and second grades, so it was easy for students from Rojohn's kindergarten class to come back and visit her the next year. 

"Most students stopped visiting when they graduated and went to Lafayette Upper Elementary School," Rojohn said. "But not Makiah; he kept the tradition going. Year after year, he would come to visit me wherever I was teaching." 

Burke said they would never tell Rojohn when they would be coming. One year, they walked into Lafayette Upper Elementary for the beginning of school to visit and staff told them Rojohn wasn't there anymore. 

"That was devastating to him," Burke recalled. "I told him, 'We'll find her.' We were in the car heading to football practice and he spent the entire drive Googling to find where she was at." 

They located Rojohn in Prince William County schools and Makiah asked his mom if she could take off work so they could visit. 

She did, and they haven't missed a visit since, except for one in the spring of 2020 due to the pandemic. 

Rojohn said their visits became a tradition she looked forward to at the beginning and end of every year. 

"He never told me when he was coming, so it was always a surprise, but it was a surprise I could count on," she said. "When he would come, I would walk him around, like a proud momma, and introduce him to everyone."

The two would talk about how school was going for Makiah. 

"Makiah would open up and share his experiences from over the year. I loved hearing both the good and the bad, as we could always reflect on what he did well and what he could have done better on," Rojohn said. "When we met at the beginning of the year, I would end our conversations with words of encouragement and affirmations, and at the end of the year, we would go over his experiences and how they helped him grow into the young man he has become."

Burke said she also counted on Rojohn to keep her son motivated to stick with his goal of going on to college and playing football.

"I would have her kind of help me out and tell him, 'You know, you gotta do this if you want to go to school,'" Burke said. 

Rojohn said she always knew Makiah would succeed, and he has — he will attend Bridgewater College in the fall. 

Just as she has impacted Makiah's life, he has impacted hers.

"He is a reminder that we as teachers DO have an impact on our students' lives, even if we don't initially realize it," Rojohn said. "I have cherished our relationship and the tradition we have created and maintained over the last 13 years."

The bonds she forms with students and families are what has kept her in the frequently challenging education profession for 13 years, she said. 

"I always say you cannot grow students unless they know you care about them, and I do. Having lasting connections with students like Makiah reminds me why I do this job and why I keep getting up each and every day and returning to work each and every year," she said. 

Burke said Rojohn has played a role in her son's life that no one else can fill. 

"There's no one that ever can replace her," she said. "Not another teacher, not a parent, aunt, uncle, nothing. There is a special place in his heart for her."

An asteroid by the name of 2023 JK is expected to zip past Earth on Sunday, missing our planet by just a little more than a million miles.

According to NASA, 2023 JK is roughly the size of a commercial jet. Or, as The Jerusalem Post measures it, the length of 18 adult male Pacific walruses. Laying in a row. Heads and tusks down.

Also passing by on Sunday, and clocking in at roughly the same size as 2023 JK, will be asteroid JD4. It’ll miss the Earth by nearly twice the distance of 2023 JK.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is forecasting a busy weekend in space, starting with a bus-sized asteroid buzzing within 2.82 million miles of the Blue Marble Saturday. The same day, the airplane-sized 2023 JL2 meteor is expected to zip by, while 23-foot-wide HG11 will make its closest approach at 2.8 million miles.

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JK 2023′s passing may be a close call in comparison to the other floating rocks, but you needn’t change your weekend plans. For the sake of perspective, the moon comes within 240,000 miles of Earth. On rare occasions when asteroids do visit Earth, usually not much happens.

“About once a year, an automobile-sized asteroid hits Earth’s atmosphere, creates an impressive fireball, and burns up before reaching the surface,” according to NASA.

But about 65 million years ago, a mountain-sized asteroid did take out the dinosaurs and most of the rest of life on Earth.