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Charles Barkley and Gayle King are teaming up to take CNN by storm -- they're gonna be hosting a new show together later this year ... which may be forcing HRH into a double take.

The announcement was made Saturday during TNT's pregame coverage ... where Gayle came on set with Chuck and the guys to talk about their new venture together -- namely, a weekly primetime slot on CNN that sees them both talking politics and timely topics.

The program's gonna be titled "King Charles" ... and while, on its face, it might sound Chuck-centric -- you'll remember, King is Gayle's last name ... so she's in there as well.

Now, as for what sort of stuff they might get into -- well, they teased a little bit on TNT ... including the hot-button issue of guns. Charles and Gayle brought up a string of shootings that have happened over the past few months ... including school shootings and even ones that have randomly occurred to innocent bystanders -- like Ralph Yarl and Kinsley White.

Now, while they'll certainly cover stories that touch on politics ... Charles insists the show itself won't be political by nature -- meaning, it won't pander to Republicans or Dems. The way they're pitching it is ... Gayle and Charles giving their "straight shooter" opinions live.

Gayle also says it doesn't always have to be so heavy ... adding they might get into food, pop culture and whatever else they wanna touch on that's in the news cycle that week.

"King Charles" will air Wednesdays starting this all, and both will retain their gigs at CBS and Turner, respectively ... the latter of which is an already subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.

A speeding freight train obliterated a pickup truck standing on the tracks in Texas ... and video of the collision is just INSANE.

Check out the wild footage showing the massive train barreling down the railway in Odessa and slamming into the unoccupied Ford truck on Wednesday morning.

As you can see, the truck literally exploded at the moment of impact as the train kept rolling down the tracks. No one was injured.

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, the truck wound up on the tracks after it collided with a Honda minivan earlier that day.

In the vehicle accident, the minivan driver was killed while a passenger was hospitalized in critical condition, DPS says. The truck driver was in stable condition at the hospital.

MyPillow's Mike Lindell will be eating his words right now -- because his company put out a challenge a couple of years back, saying he had proof that China interfered in the election and was egging people to prove him wrong.

The problem? An arbitration panel found that someone did ... and now he's gotta pay up.

Here's the deal, Mike put the "Prove Mike Wrong" challenge out there in 2021 ahead of his so-called cyber symposium in South Dakota. He said he had data showing Chinese interference in the 2020 election and offered up $5 mil to anyone that could prove it wasn't the real deal.

Fast forward to Wednesday -- according to the Washington Post, a private arbitration panel determined 63-year-old Nevada resident Robert Zeidman analyzed Mike's data and in fact proved it didn't show the evidence Mike said it did ... meaning Zeidman's entitled to the dough.

Zeidman put together a 15-page report that he insisted the data did "not contain any information related to the November 2020 election."

Robert reportedly had to go to the arbitrators after Mike's management company denied a payout. They've ordered the company to cough up the cash within the next 30 days. Mike clearly isn't going down without a fight ... telling The Post the arbitrators made a mistake and vowing "This will be going to court!"

The spate of homeowner shootings got even more insane after a 6-year-old and her parents were shot by a neighbor who was pissed off because their basketball rolled onto his property.

Robert Louis Singletary went ballistic Tuesday in North Carolina ... apparently angry at a bunch of kids who were playing basketball nearby. The ball bounced onto Singletary's yard, and he responded by running down the street with a gun and shooting at a neighbor.

Singletary wasn't done ... he started shooting at the little girl and her parents. The girl, Kinsley White, was grazed on her face by a bullet, and her parents were struck as well.  Kinsley's dad, William White, was hit in the back and critically injured. White apparently stepped into the line of fire to protect his daughter.

Kinsley told a local TV outlet WSOC-TV, "Why did you shoot my daddy and me? Why did you shoot a kid's dad?"

Singletary has been charged with 4 counts of first-degree attempted murder, among other charges.

A pregnant woman was shot at a Walgreens after one of the workers claims to have chased her into the lot following alleged shoplifting ... which then spurred a premature delivery.

Per local reports, cops say 21-year-old Mitarius Boyd -- who's reported to have been working as the team lead on Wednesday when this horrific incident unfolded -- shot 34-year-old Travonsha Ferguson while trying to stop what he says was an active theft in progress.

Boyd reportedly told investigators that he fired his weapon at both Ferguson and another woman she was with after pursuing them to their car ... where he claims they were trying to unload a bunch of stuff they'd allegedly just jacked from inside the Walgreens.

According to him, he felt his life was in danger when one of the women started to spray him with mace -- as he says he didn't know if they had a dangerous weapon on them. In other words, he's claiming self-defense here ... and has not been arrested at this point.

Cops say Ferguson -- who's reported to have been 7 months pregnant -- was hit 8 times ... twice in each leg and four times in the stomach. She and her friend made it into the car after the gun went off, and the friend is said to have dropped her off at the ER on her own.

Doctors attended to her immediately, and she underwent 3 surgeries. During those procedures, reports say an emergency C-section was done to take out the baby ... who was miraculously not hit during all this. Both she and her child are now in critical condition.

The case is under investigation, and the D.A. is reviewing the Walgreens employee's claim -- namely, that he had to shoot in order to protect himself from imminent danger.

Lady Gaga is getting some political experience, because President Biden is tapping her to co-chair a committee devoted to the arts.

The Prez appointed her Thursday to be Co-Chair of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. She's joining some other big names listed as members, including Jennifer Garner, Shonda Rhimes, and George Clooney ... according to Deadline.

Gaga's fellow co-chair will be producer Bruce Cohen.

Now, this won't get her closer to EGOT status, but it's a glowing honor nonetheless. For those unaware, the PCAH was created in 1982 and its purpose was to address policy questions regarding arts and humanities, and jumpstart partnerships in line with its beliefs.

On top of that, the committee also took time to recognize others who demonstrate excellence in the field -- focusing on things like cultural exchange and education. It was disbanded during the Trump administration, but Biden announced its revival last year.

You'll recall, Gaga had the honor of performing the national anthem during his inauguration ... so he might've had her in mind long before today's announcement -- which officially takes her from the "House of Gucci" to the White House.

Drake Bell has been reported missing, and cops are deeply concerned for his well-being.

Daytona Beach police have declared Drake MIA, saying, "He is considered missing and endangered."

He was last seen driving a 2022 grey BMW Wednesday at around 9 PM, somewhere in the area of Mainland High School. Some people online think this is all a hoax, but cops say it's definitely real.

Drake has had lots of troubles since his time on Nickelodeon's "Drake & Josh." He just completed his probation over an attempted child endangerment case, in which he pled guilty. He allegedly engaged in inappropriate conduct in a club where he was scheduled to perform with a girl under 18, with whom he allegedly had an online relationship.

He's faced other accusations over the years, including a 2015 DUI arrest and alleged abuse by a woman who had a 5-year relationship with the actor.

Drake also filed for bankruptcy back in 2014.

Anyone with information about Drake's whereabouts is urged to contact the Daytona Beach Police Dept. at (386) 671-5207.

The AR-15 rifle used in the mass killing at a Kentucky bank will soon be hitting the auction block.

You heard it right. Kentucky gun laws are so lax that firearms seized by law enforcement are required to be sold at auction.

There is one caveat ... the firearms can only be bought by federally licensed gun dealers, specifically holding licenses for the weapons they purchase.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg blasted the state law at a press conference Monday after Connor Sturgeon murdered 5 employees with an AR-15 at the bank before he was killed by police. Sturgeon had previously been given notice he was going to be fired from the downtown Louisville bank.

Greenberg fumed, "The laws we have now are enabling violence and murder. Think about that: that murder weapon will be back on the streets one day."

He continued, "It’s time to change this law and let us destroy illegal guns and destroy the guns that have been used to kill our friends and kill our neighbors."

Greenberg went on to say that leaders must act immediately to stop the "gun violence epidemic."

Kentucky is one of the most firearm-friendly states east of the Mississippi.

Kentucky has some of the highest gun-related death rates in the country, which some experts attribute to relaxed laws for gun purchases and a lack of training that's required for legally bought firearms.

Two of the people kidnapped in Mexico and survived say their captors tried forcing them to have sex with each other ... and their account is terrifying.

LaTavia Washington McGee and her brother, Eric Williams, sat with CNN's Anderson Cooper Tuesday to tell their story for the first time since being rescued following an abduction in March ... when the cartel took them and 2 friends, who were killed in the ordeal.

Cooper asks if there were threats or demands made of them during their time with the cartel, and the two siblings sadly say yes ... namely, that the kidnappers asked that they sleep with one another. McGee and Williams say they pushed back -- telling the cartel members they were related ... and McGee was pregnant at the time.

They never addressed what ultimately happened ... but it just speaks to how depraved these criminals are. From the way it's described, it seems like they only ordered that for their amusement.

McGee and Williams go on to describe a moment when they were being transported by the cartel members ... they say the abductors piled them into a truck with dead bodies and were moving them all over the place with the promise of eventually letting them go.

In the end, the two other Americans -- Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown -- attempted to make a run for it ... but were gunned down. The group of four was originally traveling from Texas when they were taken near the border city of Matamoros in dramatic fashion.

The cartel members held them up at gunpoint and threw them into the back of their vehicle ... but after realizing they had kidnapped the wrong people -- apparently, per law enforcement officials, they might've thought they were Haitian drug smugglers. The Cartel was trying to find a way to get the crew of 4 off their hands without facing repercussions.

Unfortunately, two people lost their lives in the drama ... and the cartel even issued an apology for how everything went down. McGee and Williams were found on March 7, and the bodies of their friends were taken back into U.S. custody following the rescue operation.

A 58-year-old Hawaiian surfer's foot was bitten off during a shark attack off the coast of Honolulu ... and was likely saved by quick-thinking witnesses who used their surfboard leashes as a tourniquet, limiting blood loss.

Mike Morita, who's been shredding waves for 40 years, was attacked by a roughly 8-foot tiger shark in Kewalo Basin on Sunday around 7 AM, officials told KHON.

Fellow surfers acted quickly to tie off the injured limb, and Morita was rushed to a local hospital for treatment. Officials say the quick thinking of the other surfers was probably the difference between life and death for Mike.

Despite going through the incredibly traumatic incident, the surfer's family says Mike's in good spirits, releasing a statement thanking everyone who helped.

"He has a long and difficult road ahead of him. My dad is a fighter and even though he’s facing a setback now, you all know that won’t stop him," Morita's son told a local news outlet.

The road to recovery has already begun for MM, who underwent surgery when he arrived at the hospital on Sunday. He is scheduled to have a second surgery later this week.

Although shark sightings are common, attacks aren't. In fact, before Sunday's incident, there hadn't been a reported attack in that area in over 2 decades, according to the Hawaii Dept. of Land and Natural Resources.

Despite the rarity of the attack, lifeguards were posted up on the beach on Monday, telling swimmers they couldn't go in the water.

The Louisville shooter suffered multiple concussions in his youth as a star athlete -- and he continued his athletic career ... doing so by wearing a helmet in games.

25-year-old Connor Sturgeon -- who has since been ID'd as the one who shot and killed 5 people Monday in a bank -- had a history of serious injuries that he suffered while playing football ... this according to one of his ex-classmates, who talked to Daily Beast.

The former peer says Sturgeon was out of football for most of the year during 8th grade due to multiple concussions ... adding, "Then he had a couple more in high school. I’m not saying it’s the cause but I always think back to that. There were times I’d wonder, will this catch up with him? But never in this way. He’s the last person I'd expect would do this."

As a result of the concussions he suffered ... Sturgeon went on to wear protective headgear during sports he'd compete in during high school. By most accounts, he was a star -- playing on the Varsity basketball team and even running track. He was also supposedly popular.

There's an essay, unearthed from his college days as well in which he says he dealt with low self-esteem throughout his life and had hopes of bettering himself as he aged. Sturgeon wrote, "Making friends has never been especially easy, so I have more experience than most in operating alone." He also said he continues to "battle against myself."

Sturgeon worked at the bank. He's reported to have used a rifle to open fire on a crowd of people inside, which included police officers too. Sturgeon was ultimately shot and killed.

There's now a parent being held responsible for their child shooting someone at school ... the mother of the 6-year-old who shot his teacher in a Virginia elementary school has been criminally charged.

Prosecutors in Virginia announced the charges Monday, with a grand jury indicting Deja Taylor with felony child neglect, plus a misdemeanor charge of recklessly leaving a firearm to endanger a child.

As we reported ... a first-grader at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News shot his teacher, Abigail Zwerner, back in January ... with the 25-year-old educator suffering gunshot wounds to her hand and chest.

Prosecutors say the 6-year-old student is not facing criminal charges but noted the mother's indictment follows a "thorough" police investigation.

What's more, prosecutors also say they are asking the court for a special grand jury to determine whether there should be additional charges over “any security issues that may have contributed to this shooting."

A truck carrying a ton of toxic soil out of the train derailment zone in East Palestine tipped over in an accident this week ... but the local EPA says there's nothing to worry about in terms of contamination.

Per law enforcement, a tractor-trailer was heading northbound Monday on SR-165 in Columbiana County -- which encompasses East Palestine -- and for whatever reason ... it was involved in a crash that overturned the vehicle and everything it was carrying.

As it turns out, that load included about 40,000 lbs. of contaminated dirt that was being transferred away from the train derailment crash site ... and the Ohio State Highway Patrol estimates that about 20,000 pounds of that spilled into onto the roadway.

It's unclear what caused the truck to run into trouble ... but first responders arrived on the scene to contain the situation. The Ohio EPA says there is no threat to nearby waterways as a result of the tipping. The driver is said to have suffered minor injuries.

It's not great news considering the community there is still reeling from the horrific crash from back in February -- not to mention the local government's decision to do a controlled burn of the chemicals onboard, which have reportedly affected a lot of people on the ground.

Elon Musk appears to be flip-flopping on whether Twitter considers NPR to be state-run media -- although it's unclear if he's gonna take that label off their account.

The Twit-in-Chief was directly asked about this by an NPR reporter this week ... and when he was shown the hard numbers on where NPR gets its funding -- with only 1% of it coming from the U.S. government, and a majority of it coming from donors -- he relented a bit.

According to the journo -- citing an email exchange he says he was having with Musk personally -- EM apparently didn't understand the difference between public media and state-sanctioned media ... and replied, "Well, then we should fix it" as it pertains to NPR's status.

Musk then supposedly asked for the breakdown of their finances, which the reporter says was provided to him ... to which Musk then apparently responded, "The operating principle at new Twitter is simply fair and equal treatment, so if we label non-US accounts as govt, then we should do the same for US, but it sounds like that might not be accurate here."

Earlier in the day, Musk said NPR's new state-affiliated media label --  which Twitter has yet to remove -- seemed "accurate." But now, based on this new reporting, it sounds like he's not sure. Musk reportedly told this reporter Twitter would mull over a final decision.

Of course, NPR is not state-controlled media -- unlike the ones in North Korea, China and Russia ... it's a nonprofit news org that operates independently and has provided accurate reporting for years. In light of Twitter's designation, NPR has stopped tweeting altogether.

Police fatally shot a teenager in a stolen car in Washington D.C. ... and the horrific incident was all caught on video.

Check out the body cam footage, released by the U.S. Park Police and D.C. Metropolitan Police, showing officers entering the vehicle parked on a residential street after they responded to a call of a stolen car.

Dalaneo Martin, 17, was asleep behind the wheel when one of the cops woke him up to try to arrest him.

In his panic, Martin sped away with the officer in the back seat, pointing his gun at the teen.

The cop ordered Martin to stop the car and let him out, but Martin kept driving. Finally, the officer warned, "Stop or I’ll shoot you!" before squeezing the trigger several times.

Martin cried out in agony as he was shot. The car then crashed into a nearby house.

Cops administered first aid to Martin, but they couldn't save him. Martin was pronounced dead at the scene.

The officer who fired the shots and a second cop were treated for non-life-threatening injuries at a hospital.

Cash App founder Bob Lee's final moments were reportedly caught on video before he collapsed dead from stab wounds on a California street.

Surveillance footage, reviewed by The San Francisco Standard, showed Lee tending to his injuries with one hand while holding his mobile phone with the other hand as he staggered down a desolate city street early Tuesday morning. A trail of blood was left in his wake.

The video also depicted Lee approaching a Toyota Camry with its hazard lights on and raising his shirt to reveal a stab wound to the driver. As Lee asked for help, the motorist sped away.

Moments later, Lee fell to the ground, but he got back up and walked further down the road before collapsing again.

Using his cell phone, Lee called 911 and screamed, "Help! Someone stabbed me!" By the time San Francisco police arrived, Lee was already unconscious and later died at a local hospital.

Police say Lee was stabbed twice in the chest by an unknown assailant, who fled the scene. A motive has not been disclosed.

Heavy hitters in the tech industry were outraged by the murder. Twitter CEO Elon Musk tweeted at SFDA Brooke Jenkins, asking if she was doing enough to keep repeat violent offenders behind bars.

Block, Inc. Co-founder Jack Dorsey, whose company owns Cash App, said he was heartbroken over Lee's death.

MobileCoin CEO Joshua Goldbard characterized Lee as a “force of nature" in the tech industry.

Lee was the creator of Cash App - a payment service in which users can transfer funds to each other using their mobile phones. Before his death, he was the chief product officer for MobileCoin -- a cryptocurrency start-up.