Why Opendoor Stock Popped Today
RJ Johnson, Daylen Berry lift Charleston Southern to surprising 83-79 victory over MiamiStocks closed higher on Wall Street, giving the market its fifth gain in a row and notching another record high for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% Friday. The Dow added 1%, and the Nasdaq composite tacked on 0.2%. Retailers had some of the biggest gains. Gap soared after reporting quarterly results that easily beat analysts’ estimates. EchoStar fell after DirecTV called off its purchase of that company’s Dish Network unit. European markets closed mostly higher and Asian markets ended mixed. On Friday: The S&P 500 rose 20.63 points, or 0.3%, to 5,969.34. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 426.16 points, or 1%, to 44,296.51. The Nasdaq composite rose 31.23 points, or 0.2%, to 19,003.65. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 42.65 points, or 1.8%, to 2,406.67. For the week: The S&P 500 is up 98.72 points, or 1.7%. The Dow is up 851.52 points, or 2%. The Nasdaq is up 323.53 points, or 1.7%. The Russell 2000 is up 102.84 points, or 4.5%. For the year: The S&P 500 is up 1,199.51 points, or 25.1%. The Dow is up 6,606.97 points, or 17.5%. The Nasdaq is up 3,992.30 points, or 26.6%. The Russell 2000 is up 379.60 points, or 18.7%.
Renuka Rayasam | (TNS) KFF Health News In April, just 12 weeks into her pregnancy, Kathleen Clark was standing at the receptionist window of her OB-GYN’s office when she was asked to pay $960, the total the office estimated she would owe after she delivered. Clark, 39, was shocked that she was asked to pay that amount during this second prenatal visit. Normally, patients receive the bill after insurance has paid its part, and for pregnant women that’s usually only when the pregnancy ends. It would be months before the office filed the claim with her health insurer. Clark said she felt stuck. The Cleveland, Tennessee, obstetrics practice was affiliated with a birthing center where she wanted to deliver. Plus, she and her husband had been wanting to have a baby for a long time. And Clark was emotional, because just weeks earlier her mother had died. “You’re standing there at the window, and there’s people all around, and you’re trying to be really nice,” recalled Clark, through tears. “So, I paid it.” On online baby message boards and other social media forums , pregnant women say they are being asked by their providers to pay out-of-pocket fees earlier than expected. The practice is legal, but patient advocacy groups call it unethical. Medical providers argue that asking for payment up front ensures they get compensated for their services. How frequently this happens is hard to track because it is considered a private transaction between the provider and the patient. Therefore, the payments are not recorded in insurance claims data and are not studied by researchers. Patients, medical billing experts, and patient advocates say the billing practice causes unexpected anxiety at a time of already heightened stress and financial pressure. Estimates can sometimes be higher than what a patient might ultimately owe and force people to fight for refunds if they miscarry or the amount paid was higher than the final bill. Up-front payments also create hurdles for women who may want to switch providers if they are unhappy with their care. In some cases, they may cause women to forgo prenatal care altogether, especially in places where few other maternity care options exist. It’s “holding their treatment hostage,” said Caitlin Donovan, a senior director at the Patient Advocate Foundation . Medical billing and women’s health experts believe OB-GYN offices adopted the practice to manage the high cost of maternity care and the way it is billed for in the U.S. When a pregnancy ends, OB-GYNs typically file a single insurance claim for routine prenatal care, labor, delivery, and, often, postpartum care. That practice of bundling all maternity care into one billing code began three decades ago, said Lisa Satterfield, senior director of health and payment policy at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists . But such bundled billing has become outdated, she said. Previously, pregnant patients had been subject to copayments for each prenatal visit, which might lead them to skip crucial appointments to save money. But the Affordable Care Act now requires all commercial insurers to fully cover certain prenatal services. Plus, it’s become more common for pregnant women to switch providers, or have different providers handle prenatal care, labor, and delivery — especially in rural areas where patient transfers are common. Some providers say prepayments allow them to spread out one-time payments over the course of the pregnancy to ensure that they are compensated for the care they do provide, even if they don’t ultimately deliver the baby. “You have people who, unfortunately, are not getting paid for the work that they do,” said Pamela Boatner, who works as a midwife in a Georgia hospital. While she believes women should receive pregnancy care regardless of their ability to pay, she also understands that some providers want to make sure their bill isn’t ignored after the baby is delivered. New parents might be overloaded with hospital bills and the costs of caring for a new child, and they may lack income if a parent isn’t working, Boatner said. In the U.S., having a baby can be expensive. People who obtain health insurance through large employers pay an average of nearly $3,000 out-of-pocket for pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care, according to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker . In addition, many people are opting for high-deductible health insurance plans, leaving them to shoulder a larger share of the costs. Of the 100 million U.S. people with health care debt, 12% attribute at least some of it to maternity care, according to a 2022 KFF poll . Families need time to save money for the high costs of pregnancy, childbirth, and child care, especially if they lack paid maternity leave, said Joy Burkhard , CEO of the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health, a Los Angeles-based policy think tank. Asking them to prepay “is another gut punch,” she said. “What if you don’t have the money? Do you put it on credit cards and hope your credit card goes through?” Calculating the final costs of childbirth depends on multiple factors, such as the timing of the pregnancy , plan benefits, and health complications, said Erin Duffy , a health policy researcher at the University of Southern California’s Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. The final bill for the patient is unclear until a health plan decides how much of the claim it will cover, she said. But sometimes the option to wait for the insurer is taken away. During Jamie Daw’s first pregnancy in 2020, her OB-GYN accepted her refusal to pay in advance because Daw wanted to see the final bill. But in 2023, during her second pregnancy, a private midwifery practice in New York told her that since she had a high-deductible plan, it was mandatory to pay $2,000 spread out with monthly payments. Daw, a health policy researcher at Columbia University, delivered in September 2023 and got a refund check that November for $640 to cover the difference between the estimate and the final bill. “I study health insurance,” she said. “But, as most of us know, it’s so complicated when you’re really living it.” While the Affordable Care Act requires insurers to cover some prenatal services, it doesn’t prohibit providers from sending their final bill to patients early. It would be a challenge politically and practically for state and federal governments to attempt to regulate the timing of the payment request, said Sabrina Corlette , a co-director of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University. Medical lobbying groups are powerful and contracts between insurers and medical providers are proprietary. Because of the legal gray area, Lacy Marshall , an insurance broker at Rapha Health and Life in Texas, advises clients to ask their insurer if they can refuse to prepay their deductible. Some insurance plans prohibit providers in their network from requiring payment up front. If the insurer says they can refuse to pay up front, Marshall said, she tells clients to get established with a practice before declining to pay, so that the provider can’t refuse treatment. Related Articles Health | California case is the first confirmed bird flu infection in a US child Health | Veteran use of psychedelics for mental health care still up in the air in Virginia Health | Your cool black kitchenware could be slowly poisoning you, study says. Here’s what to do Health | Does fluoride cause cancer, IQ loss, and more? Fact-checking Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s claims Health | Boar’s Head listeria outbreak is over with 10 dead and dozens sickened by tainted deli meat Clark said she met her insurance deductible after paying for genetic testing, extra ultrasounds, and other services out of her health care flexible spending account. Then she called her OB-GYN’s office and asked for a refund. “I got my spine back,” said Clark, who had previously worked at a health insurer and a medical office. She got an initial check for about half the $960 she originally paid. In August, Clark was sent to the hospital after her blood pressure spiked. A high-risk pregnancy specialist — not her original OB-GYN practice — delivered her son, Peter, prematurely via emergency cesarean section at 30 weeks. It was only after she resolved most of the bills from the delivery that she received the rest of her refund from the other OB-GYN practice. This final check came in October, just days after Clark brought Peter home from the hospital, and after multiple calls to the office. She said it all added stress to an already stressful period. “Why am I having to pay the price as a patient?” she said. “I’m just trying to have a baby.” ©2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.None
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State head coach Ryan Day had the crowd in a frenzy and the band fired up as he spoke during Saturday’s Skull Session, ahead of the No. 2 Buckeyes’ biggest game of the year, the one against TTUN (aka Michigan). St. John Arena was packed with fans ahead of the Buckeyes' most anticipated game of the year. Latest Ohio State Buckeyes news Maxwell Roy, 4-star defensive lineman: Ohio State Signing Day 2025 player profile Ohio State coach Ryan Day deserves brunt of blame after fourth straight loss to Michigan — Jimmy Watkins What Ohio State football coach Ryan Day said after extending skid vs. Michigan Fights break out after Michigan beats Ohio State football Day emphasized how the game is “about us, this is about our team, this is about our band, this is about our fans!” Defensive end Jack Sawyer spoke of how the fans need to “make the Shoe the loudest and most hostile environment in the country,” for the game. Watch the video at the top of this post.
“There were fire, floods and riots. We saw LA being destroyed. We channelled that into the record”: How Fear Factory predicted the apocalypse with industrial-metal masterpiece Demanufacture
NEW YORK -- Department store retailer Kohl's Inc. says Michaels CEO and retail veteran Ashley Buchanan will take over its top job, effective January 15. Buchanan succeeds Tom Kingsbury, who will stay as an advisor to the new CEO and retain his position on Kohl’s board until his retirement in May 2025. Kingsbury served as Kohl's interim CEO in December 2022 and was named its permanent leader in February 2023. Buchanan will assume the leadership of Kohl's at a time when the retailer has wrestled with sluggish sales. Its middle income shoppers have pulled back on discretionary spending in the face of still high prices for necessities. Like other department stores, it's also faced stiff competition from Walmart and Amazon, which have been improving their fashion offerings at affordable prices. Wisconsin-based Kohl's has around 1,600 locations across the U.S. Buchanan has been CEO of the arts and crafts retailer Michaels Cos. since 2020 and, prior to that, he has held a variety of senior executive roles at Walmart and Sam’s Club during his 13 years at the company. Buchanan significantly expanded Michaels' digital business and grew its small format stores, and simplified its merchandise strategy. At Walmart, Buchanan held positions including chief merchandising and chief operating officer for Walmart's U.S. e-commerce division. Before that, he was chief merchant at Sam’s Club where he led merchandising strategy, private brands, pricing, global sourcing, packaging and the supply network. Buchanan joined Walmart from Dell where he held a variety of positions in finance, and Accenture, where he focused on the retail industry. Kohl's shares fell nearly 5%, or 84 cents, to $17.50 in after market trading on Monday when the announcement was made. The company's stock was up nearly 8%, or $1.31 per share, to $18.34 in regular trading.NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The right frame can freeze a moment in time, creating meaning for the masses from a , a , towns , and a victory sealed with an . In 2024, photographers across the U.S. captured glimpses of humanity, ranging from a deeply divisive , to hurricanes and that ravaged communities, to over the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The gallery from The Associated Press illustrates a new chapter of political history — the assassination attempt on former President , the moment President Joe Biden announced he , the campaign sprint by Vice President Kamala Harris in Biden’s place, and the raw emotion from during a grueling contest ultimately . Hurricanes whipped through the country with devastating imagery, leaving a path of wreckage and death from to . After Hurricane , in North Carolina was shown in a jarring photo covered in shards of debris thick enough to hide the surface of the water. Hurricane ripped apart the roof of in St. Petersburg, Florida, home to Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays. The scale of destruction experienced in some corners of the country in 2024 was hard to capture and might have been harder to fathom. That was the case when a container ship slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing it to collapse and crumple around the vessel, on the bridge. As flames , another image captured firefighters and sheriff’s deputies pushing a vintage car away from a burning home. , one photo is aglow with bright orange flames, broken up only by the subtle features of an animal running through them. But hope also persevered in the face of devastation. In , an image from Crystal River, Florida, shows Dustin Holmes holding hands with his girlfriend, Hailey Morgan, as they sloshed through floodwaters with her 4- and 7-year-old children to return to their flooded home. And in Manasota Key, Florida, a family was lit up by the glow of flashlights as they walked to check on their home damaged by Milton. Other photos from 2024 also grabbed the darkness and shadows to emphasize light: among them, a and a total solar . And, yes, eclipse glasses were back in style for a shared moment of skygazing. But many other photos delivered a blast of color, from the spectrum of the northern lights to a crew of workers wading into the deep-red of a Massachusetts . And, once again, captured the country’s attention, even as a part of the crowd. She rushed down from the stands to kiss her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, after the Chiefs , en route to win.
A look back at 2024 in photosTrump's lawyers rebuff DA's idea for upholding his hush money conviction
Stocks closed higher on Wall Street, giving the market its fifth gain in a row and notching another record high for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% Friday. The Dow added 1%, and the Nasdaq composite tacked on 0.2%. Retailers had some of the biggest gains. Gap soared after reporting quarterly results that easily beat analysts’ estimates. EchoStar fell after DirecTV called off its purchase of that company’s Dish Network unit. European markets closed mostly higher and Asian markets ended mixed. On Friday: The S&P 500 rose 20.63 points, or 0.3%, to 5,969.34. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 426.16 points, or 1%, to 44,296.51. The Nasdaq composite rose 31.23 points, or 0.2%, to 19,003.65. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 42.65 points, or 1.8%, to 2,406.67. For the week: The S&P 500 is up 98.72 points, or 1.7%. The Dow is up 851.52 points, or 2%. The Nasdaq is up 323.53 points, or 1.7%. The Russell 2000 is up 102.84 points, or 4.5%. For the year: The S&P 500 is up 1,199.51 points, or 25.1%. The Dow is up 6,606.97 points, or 17.5%. The Nasdaq is up 3,992.30 points, or 26.6%. The Russell 2000 is up 379.60 points, or 18.7%.
Aiming for a fourth consecutive League One victory at the New York Stadium, Rotherham United welcome Wigan Athletic on Boxing Day, keen to secure maximum points in gameweek 22. Although the visitors have avoided losing in two matches, it will be interesting to see if the Latics' mixed away record holds out against one of the in-form home sides in the third tier. © Imago Rotherham might be 18th in League One, four points clear of the relegation zone (having played two games fewer than Crawley Town), but the Millers' results in front of their supporters have kept them above water. The South Yorkshire outfit have been beaten in only two of nine fixtures on home turf, claiming five wins and playing out two draws. Interestingly, four of the home club's triumphs at the New York Stadium have been in the previous five as hosts, with only third-placed Wrexham beating the Millers in South Yorkshire in that period. Only Wrexham (13 points), table-topping Birmingham (13) and fourth-placed Huddersfield (13) have accrued more points on home soil in the last five than Rotherham (12), an admirable statistic given the trio's standing as promotion hopefuls. Having kept two clean sheets in their past three home fixtures, Steve Evans ' troops aim for a fourth success on the trot to improve their long-term survival prospects. © Imago The Millers welcome Shaun Maloney 's men on Boxing Day, keen to outwit the Greater Manchester outfit, whose form has improved before the busy festive period. Wigan had suffered three consecutive defeats in all competitions (two in League One) before mid-December but have found temporary solutions to beat Bolton (2-0) and play out a draw with Shrewsbury Town (2-2). Regardless, the Latics enter their forthcoming match at Rotherham carrying some disappointment after letting a two-goal lead slip against the division's bottom club, with that tie preventing them from recording consecutive wins for the second time this term. Although the table shows that both sides facing off on Boxing Day are separated by one place and a point, Maloney's 17th-placed men must contend with the Millers' commendable form at New York Stadium and retain their away doggedness to secure a positive outcome. Wigan have been hard to beat on their travels, as evidenced by five clean sheets in 10 road fixtures and nine goals conceded in that period, a tally bettered by Huddersfield, Wrexham and Stevenage (eight). Those numbers stand the Tics in good stead heading into Boxing Day, as they hope to notch consecutive away triumphs for the first time since April, when they defeated Lincoln City and Portsmouth (both 2-1). © Imago Sean Raggett is Rotherham's only reported injury absentee before Wigan's visit on Thursday, thus handing Evans a fairly healthy squad. Jonson Clarke-Harris has netted three goals in the Millers' five home victories, including a brace in the 3-0 success over Northampton Town on December 14, and the forward aims to add to his tally on home soil and overall league return (six). Although Maloney also has most players available, the away side will assess Tyrese Francois before Thursday's trip to South Yorkshire. Thelo Aasgaard (seven goals) and Dale Taylor (four) have jointly contributed to 58% of the away side's 19 league goals, highlighting their importance at Rotherham. Rotherham United possible starting lineup: Phillips; Rafferty, Odoffin, Jules, James; Green, Tiehi, Powell; Nombe, Clarke-Harris, Wilks Wigan Athletic possible starting lineup: Tickle; Sibbick, Kerr, Aimson, Sessegnon; M. Smith; J. Smith, Aasgaard, Adeeko, Thomas; Taylor Wigan have had Rotherham's number in recent meetings, winning three and playing out as many draws in the past six match-ups since the Millers' 3-1 EFL Cup success in 2018. With recent history in the Latics' favour, we back Maloney's men to frustrate the home team and eke out a low-scoring draw. For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here .
2024 breakout producer salute perhaps said it best in July, when they observed that “There’s so much happening in all corners of dance music, and I think we’re back in low-level golden era without realizing it.” Certainly many people in the dance would would agree — but maybe not everyone. Some might say it’s become stale, with remixes and mashups of classic tracks that don’t necessarily always need to be remixed or mashed, and unsustainable as any artists struggle to make a living while others pull massive paychecks. Techno hero Richie Hawtin remarked on “perhaps the biggest disappointment that I felt in our community, our scene since I’ve been part of it” after the September closure of Aslice, which had been designed to let DJs to voluntarily share their set playlists and contribute part of their performance fee to the artists whose music they played. Meanwhile Deadmau5 threatened to take his music off Spotify (although didn’t) after the company’s CEO Daniel Ek remarked that the cost of creating content is “close to zero.” “The cost of creating content was 25+ years of my life and much of those proceeds going to your company you complete f–king idiot,” the producer responded. But fret not, dear dancer. There has been more to celebrate than sour over this year. Thanks to a deliciously strange Netflix film, we’ve danced to some classic bangers all over again. We’ve swooned at legends returning with sensational albums and live sets to match, and we’ve watched in awe as Charli XCX took club culture to the world — even bumpin’ that on Saturday Night Live — with Brat . Of course, it wasn’t all confetti bursts. We’ve mourned and celebrated the life of some of our most beloved artists, too. SOPHIE’s posthumous album was as beautiful as we’d hoped, and tributes for the late Jackmaster brought the dance world together in a moment of communal mourning. Before we welcome in 2025, these were the dance music stories that defined 2024, in chronological order. Saltburn ’s soundtrack did more than enhance the film’s thrilling tale of privilege and desire. While the film was released in November of 2023, 2024 saw its ‘00s dance hits get pushed back into the spotlight, and in some cases, onto the charts. In January, Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s 2001 disco-pop gem “Murder on the Dancefloor” entered the Hot 100 in a first for the artist and also returned to the U.K. Official Singles Chart’s Top 10 after 22 years. Meanwhile, Mason vs. Princess Superstar’s cheeky 2007 mashup “Perfect (Exceeder)” flooded DJ sets and TikTok feeds, on its way to revisiting the U.K. Top 40. — KRYSTAL RODRIGUEZ Aussie icon Kylie Minogue made history at the 2024 Grammys when her viral smash “Padam Padam” won the inaugural award for best pop dance recording. It’s a running start for the newly expanded dance category , and for voters. For years, the dance community has called for a greater separation between “traditional” dance/electronic music and more pop-centric dance songs – a debate which ballooned following Beyoncé’s 2023 category sweep over producers such as Bonobo, Odesza and Kaytranada. With both sides given their respective and rightful space, the Grammys have officially widened the field, offering more inclusive recognition for dance music in all its forms. — K.R. When Charli XCX headed to Ibiza to tape her edition of Boiler Room in mid-July, Brat , which had been released the month prior, was still in something of a nascent phase. But the viral success of the performance — along with a hyped February Boiler Room in Brooklyn that preceded the album’s release — highlighted what the subsequent movement was about to become: messy, chaotic and heaps of fun. Eventually the word and ideal entered the public lexicon, even elbowing its way into the U.S. Presidential race with Charli’s July endorsement : “Kamala IS brat.” The slime-green aesthetic and unashamedly party-focused mindset resonated across generations and proved to be a defining moment in 2024’s release calendar, with Brat currently in its 26th week at No. 1 on Top Dance/Electronic Albums after hitting No. 3 on the Billboard 200 in July, spawning an equally brilliant remix album and making club queen Charli one of the biggest pop success stories of 2024. — THOMAS SMITH You know what makes a show truly unique? Inventing entirely new stage production equipment. This is the bar French electronic duo Justice set in 2024, when the pair and their talented team of light designers, stage producers and mechanical engineers pulled off an absolute spectacle during their comeback show at Coachella 2024. Here, it was genuinely shocking to watch this behemoth of a light show unfold, and wilder still how the French producers appeared seemingly unphased while 11 tons of custom-built moving light fixtures whipped up, down and around them while they tore through much of what was then their still forthcoming fourth album, Hyperdrama , in sharp suits and head-nodding from exciting start to blinding finish. The music also melted two decades and four albums of sweet Justice melodies and assaultive breakdowns into an hour-plus performance that explored most every human emotion without ever once feeling dull. And it altogether set the stage for an extended run behind the album that included major festivals and arena shows. Meanwhile, Hyperdrama collected a pair of 2025 Grammy nods for best dance/electronic album and best dance recording for the slinky “Neverender” This year, some may have thought going to see Justice would be an exercise in nostalgia. It was actually a glimpse into the future. — KAT BEIN The producer’s weekend one performance at Coachella’s giant Sahara Stage on April 13 was plagued by technical issues, with Grimes stopping the performance multiple times to update the audience on what was going wrong in real time. From the crowd, things initially seemed to be going just fine, until about 30 minutes into the show, when Grimes stopped the music entirely and announced that “this s— always f—ing happens, all my tracks are twice as fast so I’m not mixing very well, so I’m going to keep trying, and I appreciate you being here. There has never been a Grimes show without a major technical difficulty. But yes, it will continue.” It did continue, with the producer ultimately screaming out of frustration into the mic while stop/starting her performance show multiple times. It was an interesting situation to witness, and one that blew up on the internet as dance music experts and navel gazers alike analyzed the meaning of it all . After, Grimes tweeted an explanation, writing: “I want to apologize for the technical issues with the show tonight. I wanted to come back rly strong and usually I always handle every aspect of my show myself – to save time this was one of the first times I’ve outsourced essential things like rekordbox bpm’s and letting someone else organize the tracks on the sd card etc. i had a bad feeling beforehand not having run everything thru the cdjs myself and tho I flagged it I wasn’t insistent... I will personally organize all the files next week. I will not let such a thing happen again.” Her weekend two performance went off, it seemed, seamlessly. — K. Bain Released in April, Luca Guadagnino’s wildly fun Challengers movie saw Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist engage in a lurid, testy throuple set against the backdrop of professional tennis. The Call Me By Your Name director enlisted Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross to provide the score and explicitly asked the pair for “very loud techno music” to soundtrack the scenes of betrayal and sexual tension – both on the courts and off. And they delivered: the 16-track collection was punishing, spritely and only upped the ante in the summer’s hottest serve. Even better, scene-leader Boys Noize released a remixed version that added some extra topspin to proceedings. — T.S. To amp up excitement for his 2024 album In Waves – not that it was necessary, given the dance community’s near-decade obsession with the long-gestating follow-up to his 2015 masterpiece In Colour – Jamie xx staged small club residencies, dubbed The Floor, in London, Los Angeles and Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood in late spring and summer. The tiny gigs sold out in seconds and, beyond Jamie’s sets at them, featured surprise nightly lineups with huge names (Four Tet, Hudson Mohawke) and rising talents (Nourished By Time, Bambii) alike. The hugely well-received shows even impressed their own creator, with Jamie telling us “I don’t like to use the word life-changing, but it was up there,” of the Floor set François K played in New York. Luckily, a larger audience will have the chance to enjoy Jamie in the months ahead: He’ll tour North America in January and Europe in March. — ERIC RENNER BROWN Dance music’s man of the moment has continued making each year bigger than the last, achieving milestones many artists can only dream of. On June 14, the British producer brought his emotion-driven electronica to the L.A. Memorial Coliseum in what was his first-ever stadium show. The booking itself was a feat, but Fred announced – and sold out – the show with only four days’ notice. (And only two weeks after he and Skrillex sold out a last-minute rave at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza.) The overwhelming success of these seemingly-spontaneous pop-up shows , whether small or stadium-sized, showed that this year, wherever Fred went, the world followed. — K.R. Las Vegas is a dance music town, so when Sphere opened in September of 2023, there was a lot of talk about which DJ would eventually become the first one to play the futuristic venue. While presumably any of the Strip’s regular residents would have been up for the job, the prestige play ultimately went to Italian producer Anyma, who reported selling 100,000 tickets for the residency in less than 24 hours after the shows went on sale in July. The chatter is that these performances by Anyma, whose live shows have long relied on next level visuals, are going to be simply bananas. We’ll find out for sure later this month. — K. Bain Ah, the Olympics. A time when the world can put politics aside (sort of) and come together under the universal flag of human excellence. This year, the summer Olympics came to Paris, and while it was incredible to see the many feats of athletic prowess, we screamed loudest when the Opening Ceremony suddenly became a French Touch freak-out. A parade through the streets set to Cassius? Athletes arriving to Cerrone? A breakdancer carrying the torch while DJ Mehdi’s “Signatune” blasted into televisions around the world? Um, oui !! Suddenly, instead of counting all the flags, we were filling a bingo card of filter house favorites. Even cooler was the epic Closing Ceremony that featured a French music marathon, part of which saw Kavinsky perform his Drive soundtrack hit “Nightcall” — originally produced alongside Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and mixed by SebastiAn — with live vocals from Phoenix and Angèle. On the day of the performance (Aug. 11), the 14-year-old song set a new record for most Shazams in a single day and then saw an on-demand streaming surge. Doubling down on awesomeness, the Paralympics followed suit with a Closing Ceremony that included performances from Jean Michel-Jarre, Cassius (the group’s first performance since the tragic death of Philippe Zdar in 2019), Kitten, Busy P, Anetha, Chloe Caillet, Kavinsky, Kungs, Kiddy Smile, Etienne De Crecy, Martin Solveig and more. — K. Bein When hyperpop innovator SOPHIE died at age 34 in January 2021, she left behind an ambitious album she was working on with her brother, music producer and engineer Benny Long. On Sept. 25, the world finally got to hear SOPHIE , which they’d started working on shortly after she dropped her influential 2018 GRAMMY-nominated debut LP, Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides . By the end of 2020, the siblings had narrowed it down to 16 tracks, pulled from the unreleased music SOPHIE had been playing in her live sets and editing and remixing based on fans’ reactions. After her death, Long enlisted her collaborators and friends to help him finish the songs. Thus, SOPHIE is rich with a diverse group of artists in dance and pop, including Juliana Huxtable, Nina Kraviz, Kim Petras, Bibi Bourelly and Hannah Diamond, and a cacophony of big sounds and moods. It helps preserve the memory of an artist forever ahead of her time, whose deep impact on pop, dance and art will echo out for decades. “I think her brain,” Long told Billboard with a smile , “was just ahead of the technology,” — A.M.Y. The Cornwall producer’s 1994 album has long been many things to many people: the lengthy, largely beatless collection is at times eerie and austere, but also deeply touching and serene. It has since, deservedly, become one of the most lauded ambient albums of all time as a result of its striking originality and the myths surrounding its production. A 30th anniversary rerelease in October saw the original LP version – including the breathtaking “#19” (aka “Stone In Focus”) – make its way onto streaming for the first time, alongside sought-after remixes from the Aphex archive and a rearranged running order. — T.S. On October 12, influential house-and-beyond Scottish DJ and producer Jackmaster died from an undisclosed head injury in Ibiza. With his Glasgow-based label Numbers, he released early records from Jamie xx, Jessie Ware and SOPHIE, along with the next generation of Glasgow talent including Denis Sulta, Rustie and others, highlighting his role as a tastemaker and champion of fellow dance artists. From his early days of working at influential Glasgow record store Rubadub, the artist born Jack Revill was an enthusiastic lover and dedicated student of dance music, as exemplified in his DJing. “My sets at their most eclectic would include everything I like: house, techno, disco, Italo, dubstep, grime, ’80s pop and everything in between,” he told Billboard in 2018. And as Resident Advisor put it after Revill’s passing, “If you were a participant in the club scene from roughly 2006 to 2018, Jackmaster was an icon.” Then in 2018, he was accused of sexual harassment by staff at a U.K. festival, after which he publicly apologized and took time off to address his substance abuse. Jackmaster’s life and career represented the best and worst of the dance music industry: the deep love for a good rhythm and the comradery in lifting up others with you, and the perils of working in a scene centered on partying, where booze and drugs flow freely. Unlike many, Revill took accountability for his bad behavior and appeared to be putting in the work to do better before his death. — A.M.Y. In January we did a deep dive with Texas-based producer Odetari to hear about why he was the future of dance music. In October, that bet turned out to be a good one, when the artist — who had already put up a laundry list of hit singles on Billboard ‘s Dance/Electronic Songs chart — crossed over onto the Hot 100 with his track “Keep Up.” It was an achievement for dance music generally, particularly in an era when dance tracks don’t cross over to the Hot 100 as much as they did a decade ago, and for Odetari’s acutely futuristic strain of it in particular. — K. Bain Charli XCX, Troye Sivan and their respective teams took great care to make arenas feel like nightclubs on their fall North American Sweat Tour, and it worked. Not only were the shows hyped and hugely well-received, they also made a lot of money. In November, Billboard Boxscore reported that 22 shows in the U.S. and Canada in September and October made $28 million and sold 297,000 tickets, even outperforming Billboard ‘s projections of $23.5 million. And they seemed to have fun while doing it, with tour support artist Shygirl taking us behind the scenes of the tour to give a glimpse of Sweat life on the road. — K. Bain
MIAMI — The sense of dread proved all too real Tuesday, with the Miami Heat announcing that guard Dru Smith sustained a season-ending torn left Achilles tendon in Monday night’s victory over the Brooklyn Nets. Having recently emerged as a prime rotation component in his comeback from his season-ending knee injury a year ago, Smith was helped off the court with 8:18 left in Monday night’s second quarter, a collective shudder enveloping Kaseya Center. For his coach and teammates, this was more than a player on a two-way contract going down. It was seeing it happen again. Last November, Smith shredded his right knee on a misstep off a ledge on the Cleveland Cavaliers court. Then came Monday, with Smith still wearing a protective brace on his right knee. “You don’t want to see anybody get hurt,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But we all have such incredible deep respect for his journey, what he’s had to overcome. I’ve been in the building all those times the last year, when nobody else was here and he was doing all the extensive treatment and rehab around the clock. He just has incredible fortitude. So you end up absolutely rooting for guys like Dru.” The non-contact injury came with the Heat facing a Sunday deadline to sign another player to a standard contract, required to get back to 14 under standard deals within 14 days of the recent trade of center Thomas Bryant to the Indiana Pacers. That spot was expected to go to Smith, which still could be the case. Such an elevation would more than double Smith’s salary from his two-way deal. The loss of Smith further exacerbates the Heat’s lack of depth at point guard. Among outside options are elevating undrafted rookie guard Isaiah Stevens from the Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, or outside available free agents such as Dennis Smith Jr. or Elfrid Payton. For now, according to a source, the Heat later this week will upgrade two-way forward Keshad Johnson to a standard contract and then add another two-way player, likely Stevens. As of now, it appears Dru Smith will remain under Heat two-way contract. Johnson eventually could be flipped back to a Heat two-way deal. But personnel machinations hardly were on the mind in the wake of Smith, who turns 27 on Dec. 30, going down. “All we can do is pray for him,” center Bam Adebayo said. “But it’s definitely a gut punch because he’s sitting next to me on the plane and we have conversations a lot. We really talk about basketball and really reflect on just how grateful we are to have the life that we live. “So to have a guy that’s that pure have an injury, we pray for him and hope the best for him.” Since going undrafted out of Missouri in 2021, Smith has had several stints with the Heat and the team’s G League affiliate, including a season-ending knee injury in 2022 while with the Skyforce. Through it all, he earned this season’s two-way deal and persevered to a degree that teammate Jimmy Butler lobbied for Smith’s elevation into the first unit. Recently, Smith arguably had been at the top of his NBA game. And then came Monday night. “I feel like it’s been the last week and a half, two weeks, he’s really been playing well,” guard Tyler Herro said. “But all the work he put in to come back from the knee injury last year and where he was at before tonight, it’s just really unfortunate to see him go down. “He’s one of my favorite teammates, one of my favorite players to play with. So it’s really heartbreaking. So it’s unfortunate.” ©2024 South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Visit sun-sentinel.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Congress moves SC against Centre's amendments to election conduct rules