Chicago — Over the years, the Lollapalooza Music Festival has become known for surprising guest appearances, and that was once again the case this year as one legendary artist made an appearance on stage, joining a current superstar.
Pop sensation Gracie Abrams, who has exploded in popularity since the release of her latest album The Secret of Us, performed on the Lollapalooza main stage on Thursday night in the slot just ahead of headliner Tyler The Creator – who nearly didn’t make it to his performance due to travel issues.
This was not the first time performing at Lollapalooza, as she previously performed at the Chicago music festival back in 2022. However, as she openly admitted on stage during Thursday night’s performance, this time felt quite different than last time.
For starters, the crowd was much, much bigger. Last time, Abrams performed during the day at one of the smaller stages. This time, she was on the main stage in a prime slot, and the fans showed up. Tens of thousands of fans packed in to see Abrams perform, solidifying her superstar status.
From the front of the stage, there were fans as far as the eye could see. Throughout the performance, Abrams expressed her disbelief at the size of the crowd and her gratitude for all the fans in attendance.
There was another key difference between her two Lollapalooza performances, however.
When Abrams performed at Lollapalooza back in 2022, she covered the iconic song “Dancing On My Own” by legendary artist Robyn. In a full-circle moment, calling back to her first Lollapalooza performance as a much smaller artist, Abrams once again performed the hit song. This time, though, she wasn’t on her own.
“By some great miracle, Robyn is here,” Abrams told the crowd, introducing the legendary singer to the crowd. “Give it up for Robyn!”
The two went on to perform “Dancing On My Own” together with a tag of Abrams’ hit song “Close To You,” much to the delight of the thousands of fans in attendance.
It was a true full-circle moment for Abrams, and a treat for the thousands of fans in attendance.
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On Thursday, July 31 a number of different airlines were forced to make cancellations and delay flights due to serious weather conditions. While Southwest Airlines was among those in distress, the airline suffered an extra problem when it was forced to halt all departures.
What Happened to Southwest Airlines Flights?
Southwest Airlines revealed it suffered a communications issue that led to all departing flights being halted.
“Southwest Airlines temporarily paused departures this afternoon due to a brief outage that affected network connectivity to our dispatching and operations system. The system has been restored and departures have resumed. We apologize to our Customers for any inconvenience. Nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of our Customers and Employees,” Southwest said in a statement on July 31.
Did Passengers Know About the Delays?
Not exactly.
While passengers were informed of the delay, Southwest’s departure boards didn’t accurately reflect the delays or cancellations from the day. Instead, boards showed both the original and revised departure times, leading to a new statement from airline spokesperson Lynn Lunford amid the traveler confusion.
“We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience. Our primary focus is ensuring the safety and satisfaction of our guests, and we will continue to work diligently to minimize the impact of these disruptions,” she said at the time.
While Southwest Airlines found a remedy to the situation around 2 p.m. ET, the interruption caused delays of two hours or more for many passengers as 40 percent of its flights were delayed.
In addition, a full 2 percent of Southwest’s flights from July 31 were canceled due to severe weather conditions in the Northeast. Across all air traffic, more than 600 flights were canceled over 2,100 have been delayed as of 10 a.m on Aug. 1.
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Utility workers digging trenches for new gas lines in Lima made a stunning discovery on Thursday: two pre-Incan tombs, including one containing human remains believed to be around 1,000 years old. Alongside the skeletal remains were four clay vessels decorated in black, white, and red, as well as three pumpkin shell artifacts.
Construction Turns Into an Archaeological Discovery in Lima
AP News reported that archaeologist José Aliaga identified the tomb as belonging to the ancient Chancay culture, which thrived in Peru between 1000 and 1470 A.D. The individual was found in a seated position, bundled in fabric, legs tucked against the chest — a burial posture typical of pre-Incan traditions. “The vessels’ iconography and colors allow us to establish a connection with the pre-Incan Chancay culture,” Aliaga explained.
View of a skull and artifacts found in an ancient tomb attributed to the pre-Inca Chancay culture accidentally unearthed by workers installing a gas pipeline in Lima’s Puente Piedra district.
For Lima, discoveries like this are becoming routine. According to Cálidda, the gas company overseeing the trench work, this is just one of more than 2,200 archaeological finds they’ve made during two decades of infrastructure expansion. “Lima is unique among Latin American capitals in that various archaeological finds are unearthed during nearly every civil project,” Aliaga said.
With a population of 10 million, Lima sits atop more than 400 known archaeological sites, many of them predating the Inca Empire by centuries. From ancient burial grounds to ceremonial ruins, the city’s layered history continues to reveal itself in unexpected ways.
An Everyday Errand Turns Into a History Lesson
For locals, the discovery offered an eye-opening moment. Passersby stopped to snap photos of the excavation site. Flor Prieto, who was walking with her daughter, expressed her surprise: “I always thought they were paths where no one had lived. But now I know that people older than the Incas lived there. It feels so exciting.”
Pieter Van Dalen, dean of the College of Archaeologists of Peru, noted that Lima’s coast frequently yields funerary elements such as tombs and mummified remains. While not involved in this specific dig, he emphasized how common such finds are across the region.
Harley-Davidson has announced a new $6,000 entry-level bike to hit the streets in 2026, called the Sprint.
That’s big news for the iconic American motorcycle manufacturer based in Milwaukee.
Low Priced Harleys
Harley hasn’t had a relatively cheap, entry-level bike since 2021 when it discontinued the XG Street 500 and 750 models, which launched in 2014 and retailed for as low as $6,899, as long as you didn’t want any color other than black since color costs money at Harley.
One of Harley’s goals with the Street models was to attract young riders to the brand, likely a wise move considering the aging demographic of Harley’s core customer base.
“Both the Street 750 and Street 500 were designed with thousands of hours of input from young adults in cities around the world,” former CEO Matt Levatich said during the Street launch.
A model sits on the new Harley Davidson Street 750 motorcycle during the media day at the 2014 Intermot motorcycle trade fair on September 30, 2014 in Cologne, Germany. Intermot is the worlds second-largest motorcycle trade fair and will be open to the public from October 1-5.
You can probably already tell the Street lineup wasn’t successful though, just judging by its extremely short lifespan of seven years. For context, the Evolution engine-powered Sportster models were first introduced in 1986 and the same basic engine design continued until the 2023 model year, or 30 more years than the Street.
The Street likely wasn’t very successful because it didn’t offer much in the way of style compared to its competition from the similarly priced Ducati Scrambler and the even cheaper models from Royal Enfield. The Street was also objectively worse in almost every measurable way to the Scrambler.
Now, Harley’s taking another shot at younger and newer riders.
Current CEO Jochen Zeitz on an earnings conference call the week he announced the new $6,000 Sprint model said the bike should hit U.S. dealerships as early as October 2026, and the company’s been working on the project since 2021, according to Visor Down.
Harley does already produce some smaller, entry-level motorcycles outside America, partnering with Chinese company Qianjiang to produce Harley’s X350 and X500 models. It’s important to note though that the idea of an “entry-level” motorcycle isn’t as prevalent in many other countries since motorcycles are a common, standard means of transportation in lots of countries, and bikes anywhere from 200cc to 500cc are plenty big to get where they need to go.
It’s also not clear where Harley’s new Sprint model will be made or what displacement it will be, but Harley does have a lot of existing models and subsidiaries to draw from.
And in America, Harley has a reputation of building large, expensive, big displacement bikes.
High Priced Problems
The smallest and least expensive Harley on sale right now in the U.S., the Nightster, is 975cc, makes 91 horsepower and retails for $9,999.
The brand’s cheapest “Big Twin” model, the Street Bob, retails at $15,999 with a displacement of 1,923cc and makes 98 horsepower. That’s not that far off in price from a brand new car since the cheapest car in the U.S. right now is the $18,000 Mitsubishi Mirage, according to Car and Driver.
Motorcycle brand Harley Davidson model Street Bob is exhibited at the Vive la Moto fair in Madrid. Vive la Moto show is the second edition of the event dedicated to the motorcycle sector at the IFEMA in Madrid. The big brands, from Honda to Triumph, through Harley-Davidson, Ducati, Indian, Yamaha, Suzuki, BMW, and Kawasaki, were exhibited.
Harley’s most expensive model, the CVO Road Glide RR, retails at $110,000, but that’s a limited model to only 131 units. The company’s most expensive normal production models, the CVO Road Glide and CVO Street Glide, retail for $45,999, or just about the same as a new Mercedes-Benz CLA.
Harley’s Heritage Classic, positioned just about in the middle of its model pricing scale, costs almost the exact same as a new Volkswagen Jetta, $22,999. And by the numbers, each of the Jetta’s four wheels is half as expensive as the Harley’s, and the VW makes about 60 horsepower more than the Harley. For torque junkies, the Jetta also makes 64 more than the Harley too.
That’s not a problem for older generations who are generally financially more stable and have the extra income to spend on, let’s be honest, fancy toys like Harleys.
Harley even says on its website that its core focus is on those more expensive models.
“We will invest in strengthening and growing our leadership position in our strongest, most profitable motorcycle segments: Touring, Large Cruiser and Trike,” the company states.
But for younger people looking to get into motorcycling, that’s a problem.
Young Ridership Woes
A 22-year-old who just graduated college saddled with debt is likely looking for transportation to get to and from their new job. Are they going to choose a Mitsubishi Mirage that guarantees they get to work dry, or are they going to drop the same kind of cash on a Harley?
They’re going to buy the Mitsubishi, or something similar, because that’s the sensible choice.
And when they end up stable enough to entertain buying a motorcycle, they likely won’t want another loan with the same payments as their car. The price issue is a big reason cheaper bikes such as those offered by Royal Enfield have been successful.
Royal Enfield, which offers bikes between about $4,000 and just over $7,000, beat its profit expectations on July 31, 2025, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, Harley in May 2025 announced its retail sales were down 21% compared to the same time in 2024.
Aside from the sheer profitability issue, Harley’s core customer demographic is getting closer and closer to death, and if they continue to let Royal Enfield steal their younger audience lunch, Harley will have no new customers to get hooked on its brand and replace them.
Harley Sprint Details and History
The Sprint might just be the ticket though, depending on what it ends up looking and riding like.
Zeitz has been incredibly tight-lipped with details.
But what we do know is that the name of the bike is not new and harkens back to one of Harley’s many successful periods.
The original Sprint was made by Italian company Aermacchi and had just 250cc of displacement in 1962, according to Cycle World. Later Sprint models could be had with a 350cc motor too.
965 Harley-Davidson 350 Sprint Scrambler Race Bike out on the dry lakes for testing. The Sprint is 350cc four-stroke single imported for Harley-Davidson from Aermacchi, builders of aircraft since 1912.
During roughly the same time period, Elvis Presley used his own money to buy a 1956 Harley K model before trading it in for a big twin 1957 FLH model. So clearly, young rockers can get hooked on the smaller models and end up on the big, fancy bikes.
Maybe Harley is taking a page out of its own history book.
Spectators look at Elvis Presley’s 1956 Harley-Davidson motorcycle at an exhibit August 28, 2003 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Harley enthusiasts began arriving in Milwaukee yesterday for a celebration of the manufacturer’s 100th anniversary. The four-day event, which began today, is expected to draw over 250,000 people.
After all, the company doesn’t have to travel far to get back to its past since Presley’s K is in the Harley Museum, located in Milwaukee not far from the company’s headquarters.
It’s reportedly happening: the ESPN and NFL have struck a deal that involves some of the league’s media properties, including RedZone.
According to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, the two sides have reached an agreement that will give ESPN access to NFL properties like RedZone and NFL Network.
In addition, ESPN will get seven more regular-season games and the NFL’s fantasy football business, and the deal gives the network the “potential to integrate special features (including betting) and potentially more assets,” Marchand explained.
As part of the deal, the NFL “may receive up to 10 percent of ESPN equity.”
The reported deal did not go over well with football fans who are now concerned that RedZone simply won’t be the same in ESPN’s grasp, especially if there are heavy commercials.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it,” fantasy football expert Brad Evans stated. “This is what the fantasy community demands. RedZone in its current state is a perfect product.”
“Oh hell ya! I always thought RedZone was the perfect product. Now we get RedZone with the addition of commercials every 4 minutes! And it’s gonna cost 3X more per year!,” one sarcastic comment said
“And to top it all off, we get to be annoyed by Pat McAfee and the Manning’s every week on it! This RULES!”
The deal between ESPN and the NFL could be worth billions, Marchand adds, and an official announcement is expected in the next few weeks.
Marchand notes that the deal is pending regulatory approval, which could take anywhere from nine months to one year to complete.
Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys have consistently pushed the limit when it comes to contract negotiations with stars in recent years. Last offseason, it was wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and quarterback Dak Prescott. This year, it’s star pass-rusher Micah Parsons, but things took a significant turn on Friday, August 1, and it’s one the team likely wasn’t expecting.
Parsons opted to hold his ground in the contract standoff with the Cowboys and put his foot down by requesting a trade nearly one month before the start of the 2025 NFL regular season.
Micah Parsons Sends Message While Revealing Trade Request From Cowboys
Parsons took to social media on Friday with a lengthy message that detailed his trade request from the Cowboys. In the post, he sent a strong message after first admitting that he “did everything he could” to show that he wanted to be with the Cowboys.
Micah Parsons #11 of the Dallas Cowboys and NFC looks on during the 2025 NFL Pro Bowl Skills Showdown.
However, that was followed up with Parsons calling out the Cowboys for their approach to negotiating his contract, along with citing previous comments made by Jones.
“I no longer want to be held to closed door negotiations without my agent present. I no longer want shots taken at me for getting injured while laying it on the line for the organization our fans and my teammates,” Parsons wrote.
The message laid it all out for fans publicly, confirming previous reports that “up to today, the team has not a single conversation with my agent about a contract.”
Parsons concluded his message by clearly stating, “I no longer want to play for the Dallas Cowboys. My trade request has been submitted to Stephen Jones personally.”
NFL Fans Flocked to Social Media Pleading With Their Favorite Team to Trade for Micah Parsons
Parsons’ talent is undeniable, as he’s made four Pro Bowls and been named First Team All-Pro twice and Second-Team All-Pro once over his first four NFL seasons.
Unsurprisingly, the news of Parsons’ trade request ignited a fan response on social media focused on heavy recruitment for teams to find a way to land the star pass-rusher.
“HOLYYYYY WELCOME TO THE GREEN BAY PACKERS,” wrote one fan.
Just within a quick scroll of comments on X, you can see fans calling for the Steelers, Ravens, Jets, Seahawks, Patriots, Lions and virtually any other team you can think of. The fan recruitment is on while Cowboys fans were left in utter disbelief over the shocking trade request.
Southwest Airlines has undergone a number of changes in the past few months that have rubbed travelers the wrong way. In March 2025, Southwest Airlines announced the controversial decision to ends its decades-old “two bags fly free” policy for checked luggage.
“For reservations booked and ticketed or changed on or after May 28, 2025, checked baggage fees will apply. We will offer two free checked bags to our Rapid Rewards A-List Preferred Members and Business Select Customers, and one free checked bag to A-List Members and other select Customers. Southwest will credit the first checked bag for Rapid Rewards Credit Cardmembers,” the airline said in a statement at the time.
How Much Does Southwest Charge Per Bag?
Southwest charges $35 for a first checked bag and $45 for a second checked bag. A third checked bag will cost $100, while bags over 50 pounds will be subject to an additional $100-$200.
While most travelers will have to pay, Southwest is still offering its two free bag policy for Rapid Rewards A-List Preferred Members and passengers traveling in Top-tier fare class, formerly Business Select. A-List Members and Southwest credit card holders will also get one free checked bag. Active military personnel will also receive free bags.
How Much Will Southwest Make From Bag Fees?
Southwest has priced its bags similarly to industry competitors like American, Delta, and United. According to a report from Forbes, American Airlines collected $1.5 billion, with United ($1.3 billion) and Delta ($1 billion) not too far behind.
Southwest Airlines should make a similar figure in 2026 when the bag fees have been rolled out for the entire calendar year. In 2025, however, the airline is still expecting to bring in $350 million, according to Travel Weekly.
In addition to its new bag fees, Southwest Airlines finally confirmed a new boarding process that will kick off in late January 2026.
