ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The City of Albuquerque will honor Rosa Parks with a special tribute on Albuquerque Rapid Transit buses on Wednesday. Feb. 4 is Transit Equity Day and Rosa Parks’ birthday. To celebrate, the City of Albuquerque is placing a Rosa Parks bus seat tribute on all Route 766 and 777 buses. ABQ RIDE’s team […]
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The crew of a speedboat tossed more than 100 packages of cocaine into the Pacific Ocean while fleeing the Colombian navy, authorities said Tuesday, as the leader of the country was visiting President Trump in Washington amid mounting pressure from the U.S. to curb drug trafficking. Colombia is the world’s largest cocaine-producing nation.
Authorities seized 115.7 kilograms of cocaine that was being transported on a “go-fast” vessel 55 nautical miles from Colombia’s Pacific coast during an operation against international drug trafficking, the country’s navy said in a statement.
As authorities approached, the crew on board the speedboat fled, throwing rectangular packages containing the drugs into the sea, naval officials said. Officers proceeded to recover 116 packages from the ocean.
The haul of cocaine amounted to 289,000 doses of narcotics worth $5.6 million, the navy said. Authorities released multiple images of the operation, showing packages of the alleged cocaine floating in the sea.
Colombia Navy 
The seizure was announced on the same day that Colombian President Gustavo Petro met with President Trump at the White House.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday that the meeting hadn’t yet wrapped and she couldn’t provide a readout, but said Mr. Trump was in a “positive headspace” beforehand and had been looking forward to it. Petro previously told CBS News he hoped dialogue with Mr. Trump would “stop a world war.”
The Trump administration has continued a military campaign against alleged drug-ferrying boats off South America in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Those strikes, which started in September, have killed more than 100 people.
Relations between Washington and Bogota have been strained, with the U.S. accusing the Colombian government of failing to contain a spike in cocaine production. Last October, Mr. Trump called Petro an “illegal drug leader,” and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced sanctions on Petro and his family. The U.S. also removed Colombia from the list of allies in the war on drugs.
However, Colombia has announced several major drug busts recently.
Last month, the Colombian Navy seized over two tons of cocaine after chasing down a speedboat packed with drugs and fuel in the South Pacific Ocean. In November, the nation announced its largest cocaine bust in a decade, with 14 tons confiscated at its main Pacific port.
The second edition of ProgStorm Festival is officially set, bringing a three-day progressive metal extravaganza to Montréal’s iconic Club Soda from August 21 to 23, 2026. With 18 bands across the weekend, the festival promises a lineup packed with both legendary acts and exciting premieres.
Headliners include Cynic, Car Bomb, and Pure Reason Revolution — the latter making their first North American appearance in 20 years. Fans can also expect standout performances from Vulkan and An Abstract Illusion, Nospūn, Fractal Sun, and Canadian prog metal stalwarts Anciients who two-time Juno Award winners.
The festival’s organizers Jici Lord-Gauthier and Eddy Levitsky highlighted the significance of these rare appearances: “We are excited and proud to finally reveal the full lineup for the second edition of ProgStorm Festival in 2026!
“It has been an incredible adventure so far, and the excitement you have shown with every band reveal has been truly contagious. This ambitious edition will be something special, and we cannot wait to bring this amazing community together in Montreal for this progressive metal festival. We can’t wait to see you there.”
Fans can follow updates on social media at @progstorm_festival and visit the official website for tickets and announcements.
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WSJ Invest Live event features Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, Trian CEO Nelson Peltz and more.
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The week leading up to Super Bowl LX has finally arrived, and kickoff between the AFC champion New England Patriots and the NFC champion Seattle Seahawks is only five days away from one of the most fresh-faced Super Bowls ever.
Super Bowl LX is the first Super Bowl showdown ever in which both teams’ starting quarterbacks — the Patriots’ Drake Maye and the Seahawks’ Sam Darnold — and head coaches — the Patriots’ Mike Vrabel and the Seahawks Mike Macdonald — are in either their first or second season with that team, per CBS Sports Research. It’s a matchup of two teams who weren’t expected to still be standing at the end of the season: Patriots vs. Seahawks is also the first Super Bowl matchup since 1981 between teams who had preseason Super Bowl odds of 50-1 or longer, according to CBS Sports Research.
This year’s big game featuring New England and Seattle will kick off at 6:30 p.m. ET. NBC will have the linear/traditional broadcast of the Super Bowl, and the network will stream the game on Tubi, which is one of the many ways you can watch the game on an OTT device. Tubi is a free, over-the-top (OTT), ad-supported streaming service that provides movies, live TV and TV shows. Consumers do not have to pay a cent to watch content on their app here.
An OTT device is any device that isn’t a laptop, mobile phone or laptop that is used to consume over-the-top content. Examples of such devices include Apple TVs, Smart TVs, Amazon Fire sticks, Chromecast, Xbox, PlayStation, Pluto TV (owned by Paramount) and more. For those who have cable, the game can be streamed on all live TV streaming services that carry NBC as a channel. For non-cable users, watching the Super Bowl online through TV streaming services that offer NBC like YouTube TV, DirectTV Stream and Tubi will work.
Tubi is available to be streamed on many supported devices including iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, Fire TVs, Playstations, Roku TVs, Google TVs and Xboxs.
Where to watch Super Bowl 2026: Seahawks vs. Patriots kickoff time, TV channel, live stream and prediction
Zachary Pereles
Date: Sunday, Feb. 8 | Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
Location: Levi’s Stadium (Santa Clara, California)
TV: NBC | Stream: Tubi
Follow: CBS Sports App
Chuck Negron, a founding member of the soul-rock sensations Three Dog Night who sang lead on such hits as “One” and “Just an Old Fashioned Love Song” and hollered the immortal opening line “Jeremiah was a bullfrog!” on the chart-topping “Joy to the World,” died Monday. He was 83.Video above: Remembering those we lost in 2026He died of complications from heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at his home in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles, according to publicist Zach Farnum.Negron and fellow vocalists Cory Wells and Danny Hutton were Los Angeles-based performers who began working together in the mid-1960s, originally called themselves Redwood and settled on Three Dog Night, Australian slang for frigid outback weather. Between 1969 and 1974, they were among the world’s most successful acts, with 18 top 20 singles and 12 albums certified gold for selling at least 500,000 copies.The group contributed little of its own material, but proved uniquely adept at interpreting others, reworking songs by such rising stars of the time as Randy Newman (“Mama Told Me Not to Come),” Paul Williams (“Just an Old-Fashioned Love Song”) and Laura Nyro (“Eli’s Coming”). No matter the originator, the sound was unmistakably Three Dog Night: The trio of stars worked themselves into a raved-up, free-for-all passion, as if each singer were attempting to vault in front of the others. “The Kings of Oversing,” the Village Voice would call them.Three Dog Night was so popular, and so in demand, it released four albums within 18 months. In December 1972, the band hosted and performed on the inaugural edition of Dick Clark’s “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.””We were really on a roll and very prolific,” Negron told smashinginterviews.com in 2013. “We were in the zone so to speak and really putting it out there. Back then, I don’t think it hurt us. It started hurting a little after that when there was just too much product. We were going to towns too many times a year. I remember getting off a plane in Dallas and thinking, ‘Wait a second. Weren’t we just here?’ Just thinking, ‘Oh, God, how are we going to sell out?'”Well, hello JeremiahNegron himself stood out for his drooping mustache, in contrast to his clean-shaven peers, and for his multi-octave tenor. He helped transform “One,” a Harry Nilsson ballad, from a breakup song to a cry of helpless solitude. And he helped convince Wells and Hutton not to pass on what became their most famous song.”Joy to the World,” written by Hoyt Axton, shared the title and little else with the 18th century English hymn. Axton’s novelty anthem was a secular blessing — “Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you and me” — with carefree asides about women, rainbow-riding and the friendship of a wine-guzzling bullfrog named Jeremiah. According to Negron, the other singers had twice turned down “Joy to the World” in his absence before Axton played him a demo.”When he started, I liked it immediately. I thought we could have some fun with it,” Negron told forbes.com in 2022. “We had some free time later, so we started jamming ‘Joy’ for fun. We didn’t have to be so cool all of the time, right? That opening line had to be screamed. Did that guy just say, ‘Jeremiah was a bullfrog’? I got up the scale to D, which is pretty high, and just screamed it out. When the band heard that, they went, ‘Holy crap, that’s great.'”No one seemed to care what “Jeremiah was a bullfrog!” was supposed to mean; it became a catchphrase of the era. “Joy to the World” outsold all other songs in 1971, received two Grammy nominations and lived on through oldies radio stations and movie soundtracks, notably for “The Big Chill” and “Forrest Gump.” The song caught on so fast, and for so long, that Three Dog Night performed it at back-to-back Grammy ceremonies.Their other hits included “Black and White,” “Celebrate,” “Shambala” and “Easy to Be Hard.” But by the mid-1970s, the band was burned out, feuding and self-destructing. They broke up in 1976, attempted the occasional reunion and settled in as an oldies act, with Hutton the only remaining original singer. Wells died in 2015, while Negron had dropped out for good in the mid-1980s, when his drug problems led to his being fired.Negron would call his memoir, published in 1998 and reissued 20 years later, “Three Dog Nightmare.” Chapter titles included “Making Millions and Stoned All the Time” and “Threw Up My Guts and Loved It.”After decades of estrangement between him and Hutton, the two men reconciled last year.Negron was married four times, most recently to his manager, Ami Albea Negron, and he is survived by five children His previous wives include Julie Densmore, former wife of drummer John Densmore of the Doors.Surviving a rock star’s lifeBorn Charles Negron II in 1942, he was a New York City native who was still a toddler when his parents broke up: For a time, Negron lived in a foster home because his mother couldn’t afford to raise him and his twin sister, Nancy. He initially dreamed of playing basketball, but his life changed in adolescence when his best friend convinced him to try singing. He won a school talent show, and was soon singing professionally, at the Apollo and other venues around New York.After graduating from Hancock, a junior college in Santa Maria, California, Negron performed in clubs in Los Angeles and met Wells and Hutton, whose friends included Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. They nearly signed with the Beach Boys’ Brothers Records before Wilson’s bandmates, worried that their leader was using up his talents elsewhere, intervened. Negron, Wells and Hutton ended up at ABC-Dunhill, and recruited a backing band, including Floyd Sneed on drums, Joe Schermie on bass and Jimmy Greenspoon on keyboards.In his post-Three Dog Night years, Negron released several solo albums, including “Joy to the World” and “Long Road Back,” a companion to his memoir, and otherwise dedicated himself to helping others struggling with substance abuse. Before cleaning up in the 1990s — Sept. 17, 1991 — he had been so addicted to heroin and other drugs that he nearly died numerous times, lost his family and all of his money and descended from a luxurious villa in Hollywood Hills to sleeping on a mattress in a vacant lot.”That’s what drugs do. I don’t care if it gives you a hit song. What does it matter?” he told smashinginterviews.com. “The point is not if it helps you create, the point is it kills you! Are you willing to die because you wanted to try drugs to try a new experience? That’s the question. I’m in a town here where there are many who ain’t the same and never will be.”___Associated Press writer Beth Harris in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Chuck Negron, a founding member of the soul-rock sensations Three Dog Night who sang lead on such hits as “One” and “Just an Old Fashioned Love Song” and hollered the immortal opening line “Jeremiah was a bullfrog!” on the chart-topping “Joy to the World,” died Monday. He was 83.
Video above: Remembering those we lost in 2026
He died of complications from heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at his home in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles, according to publicist Zach Farnum.
Negron and fellow vocalists Cory Wells and Danny Hutton were Los Angeles-based performers who began working together in the mid-1960s, originally called themselves Redwood and settled on Three Dog Night, Australian slang for frigid outback weather. Between 1969 and 1974, they were among the world’s most successful acts, with 18 top 20 singles and 12 albums certified gold for selling at least 500,000 copies.
The group contributed little of its own material, but proved uniquely adept at interpreting others, reworking songs by such rising stars of the time as Randy Newman (“Mama Told Me Not to Come),” Paul Williams (“Just an Old-Fashioned Love Song”) and Laura Nyro (“Eli’s Coming”). No matter the originator, the sound was unmistakably Three Dog Night: The trio of stars worked themselves into a raved-up, free-for-all passion, as if each singer were attempting to vault in front of the others. “The Kings of Oversing,” the Village Voice would call them.
Three Dog Night was so popular, and so in demand, it released four albums within 18 months. In December 1972, the band hosted and performed on the inaugural edition of Dick Clark’s “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.”
“We were really on a roll and very prolific,” Negron told smashinginterviews.com in 2013. “We were in the zone so to speak and really putting it out there. Back then, I don’t think it hurt us. It started hurting a little after that when there was just too much product. We were going to towns too many times a year. I remember getting off a plane in Dallas and thinking, ‘Wait a second. Weren’t we just here?’ Just thinking, ‘Oh, God, how are we going to sell out?'”
Negron himself stood out for his drooping mustache, in contrast to his clean-shaven peers, and for his multi-octave tenor. He helped transform “One,” a Harry Nilsson ballad, from a breakup song to a cry of helpless solitude. And he helped convince Wells and Hutton not to pass on what became their most famous song.
“Joy to the World,” written by Hoyt Axton, shared the title and little else with the 18th century English hymn. Axton’s novelty anthem was a secular blessing — “Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you and me” — with carefree asides about women, rainbow-riding and the friendship of a wine-guzzling bullfrog named Jeremiah. According to Negron, the other singers had twice turned down “Joy to the World” in his absence before Axton played him a demo.
“When he started, I liked it immediately. I thought we could have some fun with it,” Negron told forbes.com in 2022. “We had some free time later, so we started jamming ‘Joy’ for fun. We didn’t have to be so cool all of the time, right? That opening line had to be screamed. Did that guy just say, ‘Jeremiah was a bullfrog’? I got up the scale to D, which is pretty high, and just screamed it out. When the band heard that, they went, ‘Holy crap, that’s great.'”
No one seemed to care what “Jeremiah was a bullfrog!” was supposed to mean; it became a catchphrase of the era. “Joy to the World” outsold all other songs in 1971, received two Grammy nominations and lived on through oldies radio stations and movie soundtracks, notably for “The Big Chill” and “Forrest Gump.” The song caught on so fast, and for so long, that Three Dog Night performed it at back-to-back Grammy ceremonies.
Their other hits included “Black and White,” “Celebrate,” “Shambala” and “Easy to Be Hard.” But by the mid-1970s, the band was burned out, feuding and self-destructing. They broke up in 1976, attempted the occasional reunion and settled in as an oldies act, with Hutton the only remaining original singer. Wells died in 2015, while Negron had dropped out for good in the mid-1980s, when his drug problems led to his being fired.
Negron would call his memoir, published in 1998 and reissued 20 years later, “Three Dog Nightmare.” Chapter titles included “Making Millions and Stoned All the Time” and “Threw Up My Guts and Loved It.”
After decades of estrangement between him and Hutton, the two men reconciled last year.
Negron was married four times, most recently to his manager, Ami Albea Negron, and he is survived by five children His previous wives include Julie Densmore, former wife of drummer John Densmore of the Doors.
Born Charles Negron II in 1942, he was a New York City native who was still a toddler when his parents broke up: For a time, Negron lived in a foster home because his mother couldn’t afford to raise him and his twin sister, Nancy. He initially dreamed of playing basketball, but his life changed in adolescence when his best friend convinced him to try singing. He won a school talent show, and was soon singing professionally, at the Apollo and other venues around New York.
After graduating from Hancock, a junior college in Santa Maria, California, Negron performed in clubs in Los Angeles and met Wells and Hutton, whose friends included Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. They nearly signed with the Beach Boys’ Brothers Records before Wilson’s bandmates, worried that their leader was using up his talents elsewhere, intervened. Negron, Wells and Hutton ended up at ABC-Dunhill, and recruited a backing band, including Floyd Sneed on drums, Joe Schermie on bass and Jimmy Greenspoon on keyboards.
In his post-Three Dog Night years, Negron released several solo albums, including “Joy to the World” and “Long Road Back,” a companion to his memoir, and otherwise dedicated himself to helping others struggling with substance abuse. Before cleaning up in the 1990s — Sept. 17, 1991 — he had been so addicted to heroin and other drugs that he nearly died numerous times, lost his family and all of his money and descended from a luxurious villa in Hollywood Hills to sleeping on a mattress in a vacant lot.
“That’s what drugs do. I don’t care if it gives you a hit song. What does it matter?” he told smashinginterviews.com. “The point is not if it helps you create, the point is it kills you! Are you willing to die because you wanted to try drugs to try a new experience? That’s the question. I’m in a town here where there are many who ain’t the same and never will be.”
___
Associated Press writer Beth Harris in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
PARIS — French prosecutors raided the offices of social media platform X on Tuesday as part of a preliminary investigation into allegations including spreading child sexual abuse images and deepfakes. They have also summoned billionaire owner Elon Musk for questioning.
X and Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI also face intensifying scrutiny from Britain’s data privacy regulator, which opened formal investigations into how they handled personal data when they developed and deployed Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok.
Grok, which was built by xAI and is available through X, sparked global outrage last month after it pumped out a torrent of sexualized nonconsensual deepfake images in response to requests from X users.
The French investigation was opened in January last year by the prosecutors’ cybercrime unit, the Paris prosecutors’ office said in a statement. It’s looking into alleged “complicity” in possessing and spreading pornographic images of minors, sexually explicit deepfakes, denial of crimes against humanity and manipulation of an automated data processing system as part of an organized group, among other charges.
Prosecutors asked Musk and former CEO Linda Yaccarino to attend “voluntary interviews” on April 20. Employees of X have also been summoned that same week to be heard as witnesses, the statement said. Yaccarino was CEO from May 2023 until July 2025.
A spokesperson for X did not respond to multiple requests for comment. X’s lawyer in France, Kami Haeri, told The Associated Press: ″We are not making any comment at this stage.”
In a message posted on X, the Paris prosecutors’ office announced the ongoing searches at the company’s offices in France and said it was leaving the platform while calling on followers to join it on other social media.
“At this stage, the conduct of the investigation is based on a constructive approach, with the aim of ultimately ensuring that the X platform complies with French law, as it operates on the national territory,” the prosecutors’ statement said.
European Union police agency Europol “is supporting the French authorities in this,” Europol spokesperson Jan Op Gen Oorth told the AP, without elaborating.
French authorities opened their investigation after reports from a French lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms on X likely distorted the functioning of an automated data processing system.
It expanded after Grok generated posts that allegedly denied the Holocaust, a crime in France, and spread sexually explicit deepfakes, the statement said.
Grok wrote in a widely shared post in French that gas chambers at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp were designed for “disinfection with Zyklon B against typhus” rather than for mass murder — language long associated with Holocaust denial.
In later posts on X, the chatbot reversed itself and acknowledged that its earlier reply was wrong, saying it had been deleted and pointed to historical evidence that Zyklon B was used to kill more than 1 million people in Auschwitz gas chambers.
The chatbot also appeared to praise Adolf Hitler last year, in comments that X took down after complaints.
In Britain, the Information Commissioner’s Office said it’s looking into whether X and xAI followed the law when processing personal data and whether Grok had any measures in place to prevent its use to generate “harmful manipulated images.”
“The reports about Grok raise deeply troubling questions about how people’s personal data has been used to generate intimate or sexualised images without their knowledge or consent, and whether the necessary safeguards were put in place to prevent this,” said William Malcolm, an executive director at the watchdog.
He didn’t specify what the penalty would be if the probe found the companies didn’t comply with data protection laws.
A separate investigation into Grok launched last month by the U.K. media regulator, Ofcom, is ongoing.
Ofcom said Tuesday it’s still gathering evidence and warned the probe could take months.
X has also been under pressure from the EU. The 27-nation bloc’s executive arm opened an investigation last month after Grok spewed nonconsensual sexualized deepfake images on the platform.
Brussels has already hit X with a 120-million euro (then-$140 million) fine for shortcomings under the bloc’s sweeping digital regulations, including blue checkmarks that broke the rules on “deceptive design practices” that risked exposing users to scams and manipulation.
On Monday, Musk ’s space exploration and rocket business, SpaceX, announced that it acquired xAI in a deal that will also combine Grok, X and his satellite communication company Starlink.
___
Associated Press writers Nicolas Vaux-Montagny in Lyon, France, Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, Sylvia Hui and Kelvin Chan in London contributed to this report.
Kelly Clarkson officially announced that she’s stepping away from The Kelly Clarkson Show after this season on Monday (Feb. 2).
That announcement comes after months of speculation and reports from anonymous insiders that the show could be coming to an end.
Read More: What’s Really Going On With The Kelly Clarkson Show?
Clarkson has said in the past that she wished she had more time to perform and acknowledged that it would be nearly impossible to mount a full tour while actively filming her talk show.
That gave some fans hope that, if she stepped away from her show, a new album or major touring plans could be on Clarkson’s agenda.
But the wording of her post about leaving The Kelly Clarkson Show makes both possibilities seem pretty unlikely.
In fact, it seems like stepping away from the show might be just one part of a broader move away from the spotlight.
Clarkson’s post about stepping away from The Kelly Clarkson Show wasn’t a retirement announcement. But it came closer to being one than fans, many of whom hoped a tour might be in store after she wrapped her talk show, were expecting.
“This isn’t goodbye,” the singer emphasized.
“I’ll still be making music, playing shows here and there, and you may catch me on The Voice from time to time,” she continued. “You never know where I might show up next.”
Clarkson says she made the decision for the sake of her family.
“Stepping away from the daily schedule will allow me to prioritize my kids, which feels necessary and right for this next chapter of our lives,” Clarkson wrote.
Clarkson is mom to two children, 11-year-old River Rose and 9-year-old Remington Alexander. She shares those kids with her late ex-husband Brandon Blackstock, who died in August 2025 after a private battle with cancer.
Emma McIntyre, Getty Images
The singer postponed shows and took time away from her talk show to be there for her kids during Blackstock’s illness and after his death. She’s also consistently said that being “mom” is her top priority, especially in the wake of a tough year.
The wording of Clarkson’s post doesn’t rule anything out.
She’s long been a good match for TV work, and she specifically mentioned the possibility that she could turn up on The Voice now and again.
Rodin Eckenroth, Getty Images
But, at least right now, it seems unlikely that the singer is planning any big new music rollouts. Her last album, Chemistry, arrived in 2023, and she hasn’t mounted a full headlining tour since 2019.
Read More: Kelly Clarkson Returns to the Vegas Stage After Brandon Blackstock’s Death
Clarkson does have several dates booked for 2026 as part of her Las Vegas Studio Sessions residency. Those are in July and August. She’s also performing at the Houston Livestock & Rodeo Show in March.
Yes. Variety, Deadline and other outlets report that The Kelly Clarkson Show will end after completing Season 7.
Clarkson’s announcement didn’t speak to the future of the show beyond her departure, and rumors had previously swirled that the talk show might get a new host instead of ending outright.
Read More: Could Hoda Kotb Take Over Kelly Clarkson’s Show?
But quotes from NBC executive make it clear that showrunners are planning to wrap the talk show.
“We thank Kelly and the production team for the wonderful, high-quality show they’ve produced consistently since 2019, and look forward to the remainder of this season as they complete their successful run,” NBCUniversal Local chairman Valari Staab says in a statement (quote via Variety.)
Kelly Clarkson has never released a full country project, but she’s still country royalty in our eyes! Here are 10 of Clarkson’s best country performances, from her twangiest Kellyoke covers to a collaboration with two of the hottest modern-day country acts.
Gallery Credit: Carena Liptak
The billionaire Citadel founder hinted he could run for political office or work in government in the future.
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One of the stories from the early days was when Edwin and the boys went to St. Paul, Minn. to put on a rodeo. At the last minute, the location changed. But the contract wasn’t changed, so when it was time to pay, the men said they didn’t owe the Suttons anything: the rodeo didn’t take place where the contract stated it would. To get home, the men sold the steers and two half-breed buffaloes to get money enough to get out of town.
Hard times in the 1930s put a crimp in the rodeo business, and they ceased. But the thought never left the Suttons’ minds.
In the 40s, James, Sr., started back up, using bucking horses from the ranch that were supposed to be ranch horses.
In the prior decade, the family had purchased a quarter horse stallion in Texas, an unregistered son of Plaudit named Sun Up, as a ranch horse. But his colts bucked more than they worked. When the family began putting on rodeos again, Sun Up’s progeny was part of the bucking horse herd.
It was in 1958, when the Suttons entered the Rodeo Cowboys Association (predecessor to the PRCA), with a bang, partnering with Erv Korkow, Blunt, S.D. At the time, horses were usually trailed to rodeos, but Erv had a trucking business, so the company had the advantage of hauling livestock to rodeos.
The company took livestock to the first National Finals Rodeo, held in Dallas in 1959, and Sutton Rodeo has had livestock at every National Finals since then.
In 1968, James Sr.’s son James, Jr. “Jim,” joined his dad, to form the Sutton Rodeo Co. Jim and his wife Julie grew the business and focused on innovative production.
Jim was a master of rodeo production, realizing that even though the sport was competition, the fans wanted to be entertained.
He was among the first to bring chuckwagon races to rodeos, and he introduced the poker game, with a bull being turned out in the arena while players sat at a poker table, and the last one to leave the arena determined the winner. He invited the NFL Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders to the National Finals Rodeo, and he devised the “Bailey Bail-Out,” giving a Bailey hat certificate to the bareback rider or saddle bronc rider who was best at “bailing off” his bucking horse.
But the Wrangler Bullfights were one of the greatest rodeo entertainment Jim dreamed up.
He held the first freestyle bullfights, with bullfighters scored on their skills, at Rodeo Rapid City in 1980. Greg Tuza of Wrangler Jeans Co. was in attendance, loved it, and agreed to sponsor them. The Bullfights, which ran from 1981 to 2000, were so well received that they became a nationwide tour and were featured at the National Finals Rodeo for several years.
The family produced the opening ceremony for the National Finals Rodeo from 1995-97 and provided 20 matching sorrels for the queens and flag girls.
The Suttons have never been scared of taking chances; Edwin proved that in 1909 when he brought a “new” breed of cattle to the ranch, Herefords, and when he tried to cross buffalo with cattle.
So when Jim stepped out to create a rodeo alongside the Black Hills Stock Show, he followed in his granddad’s footsteps. The PRCA rodeo, now called Rodeo Rapid City, was begun in 1978 and has won the PRCA Rodeo of the Year six times.
The innovations didn’t end with the rodeo entertainment, either. Stock contractors had always swapped stud bucking horses to breed to their mares, but Steve took it to another level. He asked nine stock contractors to each provide one stud who had been to the National Finals Rodeo, to breed for the other herds. It was a way to improve genetics with proven bloodlines.
And their breeding program showed it. Sutton Rodeo Co. horses have won numerous awards. In 1962, their horse Snake River was PRCA Reserve Champion horse, and Yellow Jacket followed suit two years later. More horse of the year awards came, with Deep Water in 1979, Big Bud in 1985, and Chuckulator in 2012. Chuckulator is the one of only three horses to win the PRCA Saddle Bronc of the Year and PRCA Bucking Horse of the Year, in the same year.
They raise 100 percent of their bucking horses; they haven’t bought a bucking horse for years, Steve said.
The family is involved in the rodeo company. Steve’s wife Kim and daughter Amy Muller manage the books, marketing and event details and both have been selected to time the Wrangler National Finals Breakaway Roping; Steve, Brent and Brice take care of ranch, cattle and horse duties. When it’s rodeo time, they hit the road as a family, and that’s something Steve appreciates.
“When we’re off rodeoing, the whole family is with us,” he said. The travel involved in rodeo can be tough on family life, and he likes having them on the road.
The sixth generation of Suttons is getting their start. Amy and her husband Steve Muller have a son, Shaden James, and a daughter, Shally Rayne; Brent and his wife Roz have a son, Sid James, and are expecting another child in April, and Brice and his wife Alyssa have two daughters, Stella Joy and Ruby Belle, and a son, Waylon Clyde.
Steve is reminded of his grandkids when he walks across his living room floor.
“My whole living room is set up as a little rodeo arena,” he said. “The kids come and play it every day. They live it.”
It’s gratifying to him, to continue the legacy and have it pass on to the next generation.
“I’m happy to have my family involved in the business. It’s a good family-run business. It was when I started, and it still is. We’re known to be family entertainment and family people and I don’t want that to go away,” he said.
