American heavy metal stalwarts Armored Saint are set to release their ninth studio album, Emotion Factory Reset, on May 22 via Metal Blade Records. Produced by bassist Joey Vera and mixed by Jay Ruston (known for his work with Anthrax and Stone Sour), the record showcases Armored Saint challenging themselves while honoring their legacy.
Vera reflects on the band’s evolution: “Each Armored Saint record, to me, is like a new skin for the band, a different chapter. I don’t think we’ve ever repeated ourselves. Every album has been pretty different from the previous one, a snapshot in time. In 2026, Emotion Factory Reset is where our heads are at.”
Vocalist John Bush adds that the band allowed themselves to explore freely: “When we start coming up with songs, I always say we can do whatever we want. Use all our influences through the years, diverse music that we listen to and love, and let that seep in and bring something new out of us. It leads to something more adventurous.”
Bush also revealed that much of his vocals on the record come straight from demo sessions, preserving raw energy, while Vera emphasizes spontaneity in songwriting: “I try not to overthink and be right where I’m at that time. I really don’t look over my shoulder much, like, ‘what did I do in the past? What’s going on in the next lane?’ Once the ball starts rolling, I just sit back and let it happen.”
Armored Saint‘s Emotion Factory Reset was recorded across several studios including 606 Studios, Secret Hand Studios, Skullseven Studios, Constantine Studios, and Bridge Recording, engineered by Oliver Roman, Bill Metoyer, Joey Vera, and Jason Constantine, and features cover art by DDKing. Pre-orders are available here.
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While the official World Cup may not begin until June, Mexico’s hosting job kicks off this week when Monterrey and Guadalajara serve as the sites for the FIFA interconfederation playoffs. These playoffs will determine two of the final six places at the tournament, as New Caledonia, Jamaica, DR Congo, Bolivia, Suriname, and Iraq are split into two paths to secure their spots.
While there’s immense stress on players carrying these burdens and on nations like Iraq, which has had to navigate closed airspace in its region to get here, there’s also the operational challenge of getting two cities World Cup-ready more than three months before the other 14 host nations. From stadium preparedness to ensuring they’re ready for the influx of global fans, Ainara Zatarain, the Director of Operations for Estadio Akron in Guadalajara, was able to offer insight into that process.
“It’s going to be like two games that we are going to have to prepare for the World Cup. So it’s going to be like two games for doing some scenarios the same as the World Cup,” Zatarain said. “Understanding that, we are preparing everything …to be prepared for March. And for the World Cup, it’s going to be just so simple to transition it.”
From security, as more areas around the stadium need to be protected for the tournament, to the grass on the pitch, there’s plenty to take into account. Unlike the iconic Azteca stadium in Mexico City, which is undergoing renovations as its local club teams play elsewhere, Estadio BBVA and Estadio Akron do have club teams actively playing their soccer in them while preparation is underway.
Because of that, Mexico can’t just close its stadiums to put grass down. The host venues have had to get the pitches set well ahead of time, which is distinctly different from how some of the other host cities are tackling their turf.
“We already changed the surface to have the compliance of FIFA Quality Pro,” Zatarain said. “We changed it last summer, so we already have the full compliance for the surface. We are only missing the stitching, which we’re going to do in April just to be prepared for the World Cup, but we are like 99% done with the pitch.”
Stitching involves threading synthetic fibers into natural grass to increase durability, promote growth, and help the pitch bounce back faster during heavy use. It’s important to take steps like this for the World Cup, where pitches won’t have time to breathe, but it’s not going to have a significant impact on matches during this specific international window.
While this is the third time that World Cup matches will be held in Guadalajara, it’s the first time they aren’t being held at Estadio Jalisco, meaning they’re preparing for the very first World Cup games in this specific stadium. It serves as a massive chance to put their best foot forward, showing what Guadalajara has to offer. It’s a similar situation in Monterrey, where this will be their second time as a World Cup host city, but the first time that matches are held at BBVA Stadium.
This is the first time that playoffs are happening after the World Cup draw has happened for groups due to the expansion to 48 teams at this tournament, but Mexico is ready for what that will throw at them as it’ll only help the nation prepare for hosting their third World Cup, and the first since 1986, a moment that everyone in the country is ready to celebrate.
FIFA playoff tournament schedule
(All times Eastern, All matches available on FIFA+)
Thursday, March 26
Bolivia vs. Suriname, 6 p.m. (Monterrey Stadium)
New Caledonia vs. Jamaica, 11 p.m. (Guadalajara Stadium)
Tuesday, March 31
DR Congo vs. New Caledonia or Jamaica, 5 p.m. (Guadalajara Stadium)
Iraq vs. Bolivia or Suriname, 11 p.m. (Monterrey Stadium)
The Pentagon is expected to send parts of the 82nd Airborne division to the Middle East as the Iran war extends into its fourth week, according to two sources.
A command element and some ground forces are expected to be part of the deployment, according to a source familiar with the planning.
CBS News reported last week that the U.S. was preparing to make the deployment, and that senior military commanders had submitted specific requests aimed at preparing for the use of ground troops in the Iran conflict.
The Pentagon deferred questions about the expected deployment to the White House. A White House spokesperson said that announcements about troop deployments would come from the Pentagon.
A homeowner in Mabank, Texas, noticed something unusual on her doorbell camera — a brief moment that set off a wave of community support for an aging veteran in need.He’s only on camera for a few seconds, but it made a distinct impression on Savannah Saulters.”I was like, ‘There should be no reason that a 76-year-old man is delivering my pizza at 10:30 at nighttime,'” said Savannah Saulters, who lives in Mabank, about an hour southeast of Dallas. “That should not be happening.”She posted on social media asking neighbors if they recognized the elderly man in the video wearing a veteran’s cap, and wondered why he was delivering DoorDash so late at night. “OK, I’m gonna send an extra $50, but I didn’t make it to the door in time by the time he was leaving,” Saulters said. “I was like, ‘What can we do more to help him?'”It didn’t take long at all to find out that the food delivery driver was Larry Phillip Colvin.”My Social Security just wasn’t cutting it anymore,” Larry Colvin said. “I had to do something, and I can’t hold down a regular job.”He’ll be 77 in May. He began delivering food because the costs of health care for his wife and son were higher than his monthly income.”My wife is looking at a couple of surgeries, my son has three autoimmune diseases, lupus and dystonia,” said Larry Colvin.Larry Colvin is a proud Vietnam veteran who’s been forced back into the working world after 10 years of retirement as a repairman. “I think it’s very hard on him,” said daughter-in-law Donna Colvin. ” I think he’s almost 77 years old, and it’s gotta take its toll somewhere.””I do it usually Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday,” Larry Colvin said.Attending church on Wednesday keeps him off the streets every night.”I wish I didn’t have to do it at night because that’s when you make the most money,” he said.Saulters started an online donation fund for Larry Colvin’s family that has raised almost $9,000, an overwhelming gesture to his family that will hopefully help him put the brakes on his job as a delivery driver.All because someone saw a heartbreaking story in only a few seconds of video.”What you’ve done has helped our family tremendously,” Donna Colvin said.
KTVT —
A homeowner in Mabank, Texas, noticed something unusual on her doorbell camera — a brief moment that set off a wave of community support for an aging veteran in need.
He’s only on camera for a few seconds, but it made a distinct impression on Savannah Saulters.
“I was like, ‘There should be no reason that a 76-year-old man is delivering my pizza at 10:30 at nighttime,'” said Savannah Saulters, who lives in Mabank, about an hour southeast of Dallas. “That should not be happening.”
She posted on social media asking neighbors if they recognized the elderly man in the video wearing a veteran’s cap, and wondered why he was delivering DoorDash so late at night.
“OK, I’m gonna send an extra $50, but I didn’t make it to the door in time by the time he was leaving,” Saulters said. “I was like, ‘What can we do more to help him?'”
It didn’t take long at all to find out that the food delivery driver was Larry Phillip Colvin.
“My Social Security just wasn’t cutting it anymore,” Larry Colvin said. “I had to do something, and I can’t hold down a regular job.”
He’ll be 77 in May. He began delivering food because the costs of health care for his wife and son were higher than his monthly income.
“My wife is looking at a couple of surgeries, my son has three autoimmune diseases, lupus and dystonia,” said Larry Colvin.
Larry Colvin is a proud Vietnam veteran who’s been forced back into the working world after 10 years of retirement as a repairman.
“I think it’s very hard on him,” said daughter-in-law Donna Colvin. ” I think he’s almost 77 years old, and it’s gotta take its toll somewhere.”
“I do it usually Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday,” Larry Colvin said.
Attending church on Wednesday keeps him off the streets every night.
“I wish I didn’t have to do it at night because that’s when you make the most money,” he said.
Saulters started an online donation fund for Larry Colvin’s family that has raised almost $9,000, an overwhelming gesture to his family that will hopefully help him put the brakes on his job as a delivery driver.
All because someone saw a heartbreaking story in only a few seconds of video.
“What you’ve done has helped our family tremendously,” Donna Colvin said.
If there’s a problem with The Madison, it’s the thing that makes the show brilliant. Taylor Sheridan‘s new exploration in grief is too real.
Season 1 of the Madison wrapped with Ep. 4-6 last weekend.
Season 2 is filmed but not confirmed by the network. Both Michelle Pfieffer and Kurt Russell have agreed to participate.
The show streams on Paramount+.
The scenery is majestic and the acting is award-worthy. Sheridan’s scripts are patient, clean and emotional, and director Christina Alexandra Voros probably deserves an Emmy for her work at making small moments cathartic.
For example, midway through the season there’s a scene where Stacy Clyburn (Michelle Pfieffer) walks into the third cabin on the property and realizes her husband Preston (Kurt Russell) built it for his family decades ago. Old stuffed animals stare back at the camera and we, the viewer, understand what it all means before she does.
Parenting is an act of taking three slaps to the chin for every emotional win, yet somehow it’s still worth it in the end. Preston’s daughters never got to experience a place he considered heaven, but the cabin represented a hope they would someday.
Consider this a spoiler alert. If you’ve not yet watched all six episodes of the The Madison, come back when you’re ready. The Dutton Rules podcast team will breakdown the series on Tuesday (March 24) at 2PM CT.
The Madison Ending Explained, Season 1 Recap
Episode 1-3 of the Madison focused on the tragedy. Ep. 4-6 focuses on the funeral.
Best friend Lily (Rebecca Spense) arrives to console Stacy and confirm that Preston wanted to be buried exactly where Stacy hoped to bury him.
So, it’s funeral planning time and the locals are beyond supportive. Neighbor Cade and Sheriff Van plan everything — they even dig the holes by hand! — and a very short service is held along a windswept hillside.
Of course, there’s a ton of emotion attached to each scene, but I’m not about to try to re-write a masterful script in journalistic tones.
During Ep. 5, Van and Abby breakup because neither will abandon their lifestyle for what the heart wants. Everyone is pretty much ready to go home at that point, and they do.
Emerson Miller/Paramount+
Emerson Miller/Paramount+
Back in NYC, Stacy begins to visit a therapist played by Will Arnett.
These scenes are tremendous — in fact, I’d argue no two characters on this show have better chemistry than Pfieffer and Arnett — and he helps guide her toward doing what makes her heart full again.
The rest of the family is struggling in their own ways (Paige gets fired for punching an insulting co-worker), except for Abby, who is showing emotional growth during these difficult days.
Ep. 6 ends with a memorial at the Clyburn apartment, but Stacy leaves without saying a word to the assembled mourners and — as it turns out — charters a flight back to Montana without taking her cell phone or alerting family.
At this point, Abby, Paige, Russell, Lily, etc. … have no idea where the matriarch is. A missing persons phone call is placed, Stacy wakes up alongside her husband’s grave, and viewers are left to assume she lives there now, permanently.
The Madison, Season 1 Review
The Madison isn’t just a snapshot of grief. The show zooms in closer, focusing on the three to six days it takes from death to wake.
It’s as close to planning and attending a funeral as you can get without a body, and that comes with emotions unique to each individual.
I’m 46, married for 18 years this August. I can’t imagine what watching this show at age 75 must be like.
Can an elderly couple get through each episode, or does it cut too close to the bone? I suspect it does. My wife and I struggled at times.
Emerson Miller/Paramount+
Emerson Miller/Paramount+
Can a 20-something appreciate this kind of grief without having lived it? Can anyone in the funeral industry attach proper empathy, or does it all feel like another day at work?
My role at funerals is often the eulogy, so watching this show filled me with anxiety typically reserved for cramming a loved one’s life story onto paper in three days time, knowing I can always grieve later. As I’ve aged, I’ve learned that nobody really knows what to do, but somehow it all gets done.
Taylor Sheridan nails the emotions and order of events with uncanny precision.
At funerals, families fight, and sometimes it gets physical. A dear friend does more than her share while an under-appreciated in-law (in this case Russel McIntosh, played by Patrick J. Adams) steps up huge without any need for appreciation or gratitude.
Random food shows up. A few insensitive comments are made. Everyone kind of forgets about the grandkids as they cry in a corner. There may be 150 people in the room, but it’s all wildly lonely.
Important elements are overlooked and in the everyone just sort of wings it.
The Dutton Rules podcast team grades each season of a Taylor Sheridan show on a 1-10 scale.
I give the The Madison a 9, if only because nothing unexpected really happened beyond Paige punching that co-worker. I needed a reminder that this is indeed a television show, but appreciate how Sheridan avoided clichés.
Preston didn’t have a secret lover, and his finances weren’t in shambles. There wasn’t an emotional drug overdose and the wildlife stayed away. We’ve seen those tropes before — heck, we’ve seen them on Sheridan shows.
I need more time to decide if this was Sheridan’s best show, but I know for sure that Season 1 of the Madison was his most consistent.
Taylor Sheridan’s TV Shows, Ranked
Taylor Sheridan has become one of the most in-demand writers and directors in the world! Read on to see his best and worst television projects, ranked.
Mohamed Salah will leave Liverpool at the end of the season, the Premier League club announced Tuesday, after nine years at Anfield in which he has established himself as one of their greatest players.
Liverpool said Salah, 33, has “reached an agreement” to leave the team a year before his contract was due to expire.
Sources told ESPN that the agreement will allow Salah to depart on a free transfer.
“Mohamed Salah is to bring the curtain down on his illustrious career with Liverpool Football Club at the end of the 2025-26 season,” Liverpool said in a statement.
“The forward has reached an agreement with the Reds that will see him close a remarkable nine-year chapter at Anfield.
“Salah expressed his wish to make this announcement to the supporters at the earliest possible opportunity to provide transparency about his future due to his respect and gratitude for them.”
The Egypt winger’s 255 goals in 435 appearances put him third on Liverpool’s all-time list, behind Ian Rush (346) and Roger Hunt (285), while he is fourth among the top all-time Premier League scorers with 191 goals.
Since joining from Roma in 2017, Salah has helped Liverpool win eight major titles, including two Premier Leagues and a Champions League.
“I wanted to start by saying that I never imagined how deeply this club, this city, these people would become part of my life,” Salah said in a video featuring highlights of his time with Liverpool posted on X.
“Liverpool is not just a football club. It’s a passion, it’s a history, it’s a spirit. I can’t explain in words to anyone not of this club. We celebrated victory, we won the most important trophies and we fought together through the hardest time in our life. I want to thank everyone who was part of this club throughout my time here, especially the team-mates past and present.
“And to the fans, I don’t have enough words. The support you showed me through the best time of my career, and you stood by me in the toughest times. It’s something I will never forget and something I will take with me always.
“Leaving is never easy. You gave me the best time of my life. I will be always one of you. This club will always be my home, to me and to my family.”
Salah signed a two-year contract extension last April, tying him to the club until the end of the 2026-27 season, after being the star player in the team’s march to a record-tying 20th English league title.
However, his form has dipped this season and he was dropped for three consecutive games late last year. Salah then gave an explosive interview to reporters, accusing the club of throwing him “under the bus” amid the team’s disappointing run of results.
He also suggested he had no relationship with manager Arne Slot and questioned whether he would remain at the club through the January transfer window. He was subsequently left out of the squad for a Champions League match with Inter Milan.
While Salah was reintegrated back into the squad following the Africa Cup of Nations over the winter, he has struggled to recapture the form that saw him be the Premier League‘s top scorer on four occasions.
Liverpool return to action after the international break with an FA Cup quarterfinal clash with Manchester City and meetings with Paris Saint-Germain in the final eight of the Champions League.
The club has seven Premier League matches remaining as it battles to earn qualification for next season’s Champions League.
“With plenty still left to play for this season, Salah is firmly focused on trying to achieve the best possible finish to the campaign for Liverpool,” the club said, “and, therefore, the time to fully celebrate his legacy and achievements will follow later in the year when he bids farewell to Anfield.”
ESPN’s Beth Lindop, The Associated Press and PA contributed to this report.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Thousands marched through Buenos Aires on Tuesday to mark 50 years since the 1976 military coup that ushered in one of Latin America’s bloodiest dictatorships.
An estimated 30,000 people were disappeared by the regime in its campaign against dissents, including a left-wing guerrilla movement, labor activists and students, according to human rights organizations. Official figures place the number at around 8,000.
A truth commission and human rights groups attribute the majority of violence during that period to state security forces.
Human rights organizations, labor unions, student groups, social movements and political organizations called for demonstrations across the country under the slogan “Memory, Truth and Justice,” in reference to crimes against humanity committed during the military regime.
“Today is a special day,” 60-year-old Elsa Britos, a housemaid, said. “I joined the protest to fight, and to fight with hope.”
Argentina’s ultraliberal President Javier Milei has insisted that commemorations should also include victims of attacks carried out by guerrilla groups active at the time. Milei on Tuesday shared a quote attributed to Russian political activist Garry Kasparov saying that communism “is against human nature and can only be sustained through totalitarian repression.”
In line with that stance, the presidency released a video titled “Day of Remembrance for Justice and the Full Truth,” featuring two testimonies, one of a young woman who was taken as a baby during the dictatorship and regained her identity in 2017, and another from the son of an Argentine colonel kidnapped by a guerrilla group.
Among the groups calling for the march is the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, an organization founded in 1977 that has worked to locate children taken during the dictatorship. An estimated 500 babies born in captivity were illegally taken and adopted by military families or associates. Around 140 have since been identified.
After the return of democracy in 1983, the state took responsibility for prosecuting those responsible for the crimes but showed less commitment to locating victims’ remains. Efforts have also been hindered by the military’s refusal to provide information about their whereabouts.
Milei’s rise to power in 2023 has further complicated efforts to recover victims’ remains. As part of his austerity plan, he has downgraded the Human Rights Secretariat to a sub-secretariat, cut its budget and laid off staff. Technical teams working on archive analysis were dismissed, accused of political bias and of carrying out what Milei’s administration described as persecution of former military personnel.
