Koch-Backed Group Launches Ad Blitz To Extend Trump Tax Cuts

The influential Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity is launching a $20 million campaign aimed at extending expiring provisions of President-elect Donald Trump’s tax cuts.

In a statement released on Monday, the group said it would launch an ad blitz across all 50 states, highlighting the success of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. AFP plans to leverage its grassroots network to knock on constituents’ doors, hold over 1,000 meetings on Capitol Hill and “hold accountable members who do not support this agenda,” the group said.

House Republicans are already negotiating how to extend around $4.6 trillion worth of provisions from the 2017 law, which are set to expire at the end of 2025. Still, the effort faces significant hurdles, most notably from deficit hawks in the House who argue that any tax cuts must be paired with corresponding spending cuts.

AFP is heralding the campaign as the largest effort by a conservative organization to support Trump’s second-term agenda.

“Renewing the TCJA must be a top priority so we can ensure this historic achievement continues to fuel decades of economic prosperity — and AFP is fully committed to mobilizing millions of people to ensure it gets done,” AFP CEO Emily Seidel said in a statement.

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-- By Jasmine Thomas

© Copyright 2025 JWT Communications. All rights reserved. This article cannot be republished, rebroadcast, rewritten, or distributed without written permission.

Trump's Inauguration Schedule Is Out

The four days of activities include a MAGA rally, a fireworks display and three inaugural balls.

With one week until Inauguration Day, President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural committee has announced the schedule, which includes a MAGA victory rally, three inaugural balls and a firework celebration.

“President Trump is dedicated to uniting the country through the strength, security, and opportunity of his America First agenda,” committee co-chairs Steve Witkoff and Kelly Loeffler said in a press release. “The 2025 inaugural celebrations will reflect President-elect Trump’s historic return to the White House and the American people’s decisive vote to Make America Great Again.”

Leslie Charleson, ‘General Hospital’ Icon Known as Monica Quartermaine, Dies at 79

Soap Opera icon Leslie Charleson, Monica Quartermaine on “General Hospital,” died Sunday morning after a long illness. She was 79.

“It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of my dear friend and colleague, Leslie Charleson,” “General Hospital” executive producer Frank Valentini announced. “Her enduring legacy has spanned nearly 50 years on ‘General Hospital’ alone, and just as Monica was the heart of the Quartermaines, Leslie was a beloved matriarch of the entire cast and crew. I will miss our daily chats, her quick wit, and her incredible presence on set. On behalf of everyone at ‘General Hospital,’ my heartfelt sympathy goes out to her loved ones during this difficult time.”

The beloved actress, who joined the soap in 1977, has had some health ups and downs over the past few years, limiting her time on the ABC soap, where she hasn’t appeared since December 2023. In recent years, she has suffered several falls that prevented her from getting around. Although it impeded her mobility and resulted in her need for a walker, it never got her spirit down. She was hospitalized last week after one such fall.

The Kansas City native began her long career on daytime television in 1964 when she was just 19 in the short-lived ABC soap opera “A Flame in the Wind.” A few years later, she began a 3-year-run on CBS’s “Love Is a Many Splendored Thing,” where she played Iris Donnelly Garrison, who was in a popular love triangle with characters by Donna Mills and David Birney. In the 1970s, she guest starred on many of the best-known shows of the time, including “The Rockford Files,” “The Wild West,” “The Streets of San Francisco,” “Marcus Welby, M.D.,” “Mannix,” “Ironside” and “Happy Days,” where she played divorcée Dorothy Kimber and was the first on-screen kiss for actor-director Ron Howard (who played Richie). In 1973, she starred opposite Shelley Winters in the film “The Day of the Dolphin.” She fell in love with the aquatic mammal and collected dolphins for the rest of her life.

Ron Howard and Leslie Charleson in a scene from "Happy Days."

Harvey Laidman, ‘The Waltons’ and ‘Hawaii Five-O’ Director, Dies at 82

Harvey Laidman, a television director known for working on multiple episodes of “The Waltons,” “Matlock” and “7th Heaven,” died Jan. 3 in Simi Valley, Calif. He was 82.

Laidman’s death was confirmed to Hollywood Reporter by his son, Dan Laidman, with the cause of death being cancer.

Throughout his multiple decades in the industry, Laidman directed episodes on a wide range of shows, including “Hawaii Five-O,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “Quantum Leap,” “The Dukes of Hazzard,” “Magnum, P.I.,” “Jake and the Fatman,” “The Fitzpatricks,” “Eight Is Enough,” “The Blue Knight” and “Kojak.”

Laidman went on to direct a total of 11 episodes of “The Waltons” as well as 10 episodes of “Scarecrow and Mrs. King,” 33 episodes of “Matlock” and 16 episodes of “7th Heaven,” marking his final screen credit in 2004.

Chester Spier, a set decorator on “Matlock,” shared a tribute to his longtime friend on Facebook, writing that “Harvey had a brilliant sense of humor and a keen eye, always looking for another angle to shoot from and added a great deal to the series’ look and humor.”

After graduating from the University of Southern California in 1964, Laidman started working at KTTV for three years before his acceptance into the DGA Producer Training program. In the 1970s, he worked as an assistant director on films like “Airport” and “Red Sky at Morning” before his first solo directing job on the third season of “The Waltons.”

In 2011, Laidman began teaching directing at California State University, Northridge, where he taught until last year. Laidman is survived by his son, Dan Laidman, his wife, Susan Laidman, his sister, and grandchildren.

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-- By Andréa Mochida

© Copyright 2025 JWT Communications. All rights reserved. This article cannot be republished, rebroadcast, rewritten, or distributed in any form without written permission.

‘Den of Thieves 2: Pantera’ Star O’Shea Jackson Jr. on Surviving a Massive Car Crash Stunt With Gerard Butler and Hopes for a ‘Thieves’ Franchise

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains mild spoilers about “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera,” now in theaters.

O’Shea Jackson Jr. is a man of many interests, but he’s betting big on “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera,” now in theaters via Lionsgate.

The 2018 original, in which a group of bank robbers (including Jackson Jr.’s Donnie) clashed against the cops (led by Gerard Butler‘s Big Nick), was a sleeper hit. For the sequel, Big Nick breaks bad for a globetrotting heist alongside Donnie and a new crew. Plenty of gunfights and stunts follow, with Butler and Jackson Jr.’s bromance holding things together.

Ultimately, Jackson Jr. sees these movies as the building blocks of a franchise that could stand tall alongside juggernauts like the “Fast & Furious” saga. The actor spoke to 'TELL IT LIKE IT IS' Entertainment News about the joy and anxiety of doing big stunts, what a “Thieves” series could look like, and why he’s hoping to expand his work into anime and video games.

Trump Picks Senate Candidate Sam Brown To Head VA Memorial Affairs

President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday tapped former Nevada Senate candidate Sam Brown to serve as the head of cemetery and memorial affairs for the Department of Veterans Affairs, putting a combat-wounded veteran in charge of the key post.

In a statement on social media, Trump called Brown “an American hero” who will work “to ensure we put America’s veterans first and remember all who served.”

Brown, 41, is a West Point alumnus who served in the Army for five years after graduation. During a deployment to Afghanistan in 2008, he was severely wounded by an improvised explosive device.

He suffered burns on nearly a third of his body, including his face and neck, and lost part of his hand in the attack. After his medical retirement from the military, he founded a firm that provided medications to veterans whose government benefits did not provide all the care they needed.

In a statement on social media, Brown thanked Trump for the opportunity to work in the new administration.

Retired Navy Intelligence Officer Cleared of Jan. 6 Conspiracy Charges Sentenced To Time Served

A retired Navy intelligence officer who was cleared of the most serious charges in his U.S. Capitol attack trial alongside Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes avoided additional time behind bars when he was sentenced Friday.

Thomas Caldwell was acquitted by a jury in Washington’s federal court of seditious conspiracy and two other conspiracy offenses in one of the most serious cases brought by the Justice Department in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. And one of two counts he was found guilty on at trial was dismissed in light of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year.

Prosecutors had alleged at trial that Caldwell helped coordinate “quick reaction force” teams prosecutors said the Oath Keepers stationed outside the capital city to get weapons into the hands of extremists if they were needed. The weapons were never deployed, and lawyers for the Oath Keepers said they were only there for defensive purposes in case of attacks from left-wing activists.

More F-15Es To Get Advanced Electronic-Warfare System Under New Deal

The Air Force has approved the F-15′s new advanced electronic warfare system for full-rate production, allowing it to be installed in more of the existing fighter fleet.

The Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System, or EPAWSS, is built by BAE Systems and is intended to allow F-15 fighters to monitor, jam, and deceive threats in highly contested environments. EPAWSS is a standard component of the F-15EX Eagle II fleet now being constructed by Boeing, and the Air Force also wants to retrofit part of the existing F-15E Strike Eagle fleet with the new system.

The Air Force on Jan. 6 awarded a nearly $616 million contract to Boeing for full-rate production of EPAWSS, and work is expected to be done by the end of 2030.

The contract pays for the procurement and construction of 45 sets of EPAWSS production kits — dubbed Group A and Group B kits — for the F-15E, as well as spares for the B kits and system engineering program management. It will also cover long lead lay-in material for EPAWSS systems for both the F-15E and F-15EX jets.

Work on the EPAWSS kits will take place in St. Louis, Missouri, and Nashua, New Hampshire. Boeing plans to continue conducting the installation work at its San Antonio, Texas, facility, where it has been installing EPAWSS on operational F-15s since July 2022.

The Air Force has been steadily ramping up its efforts to modernize the existing F-15E fleet with the new electronic warfare system to keep it relevant against advanced threats. EPAWSS provides radar warning, geolocation, situational awareness, and self-defense capabilities, which are intended to allow an F-15 to survive against air defense systems and operate deeper in enemy territory.