Investigation continues into cause of Woodbury house fire that killed singer Jill Sobule
Firefighters were called to the 9200 block of Pinehurst Road, near Interlachen Parkway, around 5:30 a.m. after receiving a report of a fire.
When crews arrived, they found the house in flames and were told by the homeowners that one person — identified as a woman in her 60s — was still possibly inside. Firefighters found Sobule's body inside the home. Woodbury Public Safety said Thursday there were no immediate signs of foul play.
The Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office said the investigation into the cause of death is pending toxicology results. It could take six to eight weeks for those results, a spokesman said Friday.
Sobule, 66, was in the Twin Cities to visit friends, record an episode of 'The Brian Oake Show' podcast with the former Cities 97 and 89.3 The Current DJ and help prepare for a show, 'Jill Sobule presents F*ck 7th Grade & More: A Pride Month Event!,' which was scheduled to be performed at the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis on June 11.
She made history with her 1995 single 'I Kissed a Girl' as the first openly gay-themed song ever to crack the Billboard Top 20. She also was known for the song 'Supermodel,' which was featured in the 1995 movie 'Clueless.'
'Jill Sobule was a force of nature and human rights advocate whose music is woven into our culture,' John Porter, her manager, said in a statement. 'I was having so much fun working with her. I lost a client and a friend today. I hope her music, memory, and legacy continue to live on and inspire others.'
Her booking agent, Craig Grossman, wrote that he was fortunate to know Sobule 'beyond a professional relationship. No one made me laugh more. Her spirit and energy shall be greatly missed within the music community and beyond.'
Burnsville Firefighter Adam Finseth's name being added at national memorial
Jill Sobule, singer-songwriter known for 'I Kissed a Girl,' dies in Woodbury fire
Singer Jill Sobule dies in Woodbury house fire
St. Paul police plan to encrypt dispatches, as have Minneapolis, other agencies
Apostle Supper Club across from the Xcel Energy Center to close
Sobule was scheduled to perform her show 'Jill Sobule presents: Songs From F*ck 7th Grade & More' at Swallow Hill Music's Tuft Theater in Denver tonight, according to a statement posted by her publicists. Instead, there will be 'an informal gathering' hosted by Rob Bostwick, a host at 105.5 The Colorado Sound and a friend of Sobule's. She was a native of Denver.
'Folks are encouraged to join their fellow Jill friends and fans to share a story or song,' according to the statement, which also noted that there will be a formal memorial celebrating Sobule's 'life and legacy' later this summer.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
On trial: Who is Donna Adelson, matriarch of family implicated in Dan Markel murder?
The quest for justice for an acclaimed Florida State University law professor and the trial of Donna Adelson is set to begin once again in a Florida capital city courtroom. More than ten years ago, two hired Miami killers fatally shot Dan Markel in his Tallahassee garage. The contract killing came after an acrimonious divorce and a court ruling that his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, couldn't relocate from Tallahassee with their children to be with the rest of her family in South Florida. So far, Markel's former brother-in-law, Charlie Adelson, Adelson's former girlfriend Katherine Magbanua, and the two men Adelson hired have all been sentenced to prison in connection with the murder-for-hire plot. The complicated, sensational case, which The Tallahassee Democrat has chronicled from the beginning, involved lengthy investigations by Tallahassee police and the FBI, a confession, wiretaps, recorded conversations, four trials, features on Dateline and 20/20, and was the subject of a popular true-crime podcast. The matriarch of the prominent South Florida family implicated in the conspiracy will be back in the spotlight Aug. 19 after her 2024 trial was derailed. In September of that year, on the first day of jury selection, Adelson's lead attorney, Dan Rashbaum of Miami, abruptly withdrew – a move that upended the trial before it could begin. All three of her attorneys exited or were removed after Charlie Adelson, who is appealing his conviction, announced he would not waive any conflicts of interest involving Rashbaum's representation of him during his trial last year and his mother. Donna Adelson has since hired two local attorneys: A former prosecutor turned judge and a well-known local lawyer to represent her. Here's what we know. Who is Donna Adelson? Donna Sue Adelson, 74, is married to Dr. Harvey Adelson, retired dentist and founder of the Adelson Institute for Aesthetics and Implant Dentistry in Tamarac, Florida. She has three children, Charlie, Wendi and Rob, a physician who has been estranged from the family for years. One week after Charlie Adelson was found guilty last year, Donna and Harvey Adelson were stopped at Miami International Airport before they could board a one-way flight to Vietnam, a non-extradition country. Donna Adelson was arrested and indicted on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in the 2014 killing, citing jailhouse calls she made to Charlie after his sentencing saying she was putting her financial affairs in order and planning to leave, either through self-harm or by getting out of the country. Adelson has pleaded not guilty. Adelson is the second member of her family and the fifth person to be charged in connection to the Dan Markel contract killing. What happened to Dan Markel? Daniel Eric Markel, 41 at the time of his death, was a Canadian-born Florida State law professor, author and prominent legal scholar. He was married to fellow FSU professor Wendi Adelson and they had two young sons, but they separated in 2012 and battled through an extremely acrimonious and bitter divorce in 2013. Markel pulled into his garage in Tallahassee after running errands on July 18, 2014, when two men approached him and shot him twice in the head. He died the next day. How it all began: FSU law professor dies in shooting Over nearly 10 years of investigations, wiretapping, and testimony, prosecutors have said Markel's killing was the result of a murder-for-hire plot involving Donna Adelson, her son Charlie (a periodontist at the family business), Charlie's girlfriend at the time Katherine Magbanua, and the hitmen, Latin Kings gang leader Luis Rivera and Sigfredo Garcia, who is also the father of Magbanua's children. Why was Dan Markel murdered? For the shooters, cash. Rivera testified that he and Garcia were paid $100,000 in a murder-for-hire plot. They received the money in stacks of stapled hundred dollar bills the next day and they split it with Katherine Magbanua, who Rivera said set up the deal. In Charlie Adelson's trial, prosecutors said Markel's murder 'stemmed from the desperate desire of the Adelson family' for Wendi and the two sons to have the freedom to move to South Florida to be near her family. In 2012, while Markel was away, Adelson had moved out of their house with the children and most of the couple's possessions and left divorce papers on the bed, according to court filings. Markel won 50/50 custody and an order prohibiting Adelson from moving them away in the divorce, and the two parents battled in court for months over every detail of their children's lives. In 2014, Markel filed motions claiming Adelson had misrepresented her financial assets and had taken a 2-caret ring belonging to Markel's great-aunt, a Holocaust survivor. He also filed a motion to prevent the children's grandmother Donna from having unsupervised time with them after hearing she was making disparaging remarks about him to the children. How many people have been found guilty in the Dan Markel murder? To date, four people have been found guilty in the conspiracy. Rivera, who was already doing time on an unrelated charge, took a deal and received a 19-year sentence. Garcia, who Rivera said pulled the trigger, was sentenced to life in prison in 2019, as was Magbanua in her 2022 trial. Charlie Adelson was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in 2023. Luis Rivera: Rivera pled guilty in 2016 to second-degree murder in exchange for a 19-year sentence to run concurrently with a federal sentence on an unrelated case for his statements and cooperation with prosecutors. In 2019 he testified that he was with Garcia when Markel was murdered. Sigfredo Garcia: In October 2019, Sigfredo Garcia was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Katherine Magbanua: After her potential conviction as part of Garcia's trial was ruled a mistrial, Magbanua was tried again in 2022 and was found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation of murder. She is currently serving life in prison. Charlie Adelson: A 12-person jury deliberated for three hours in November 2023 and found Adelson guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation to commit murder. He was sentenced to life in prison. Donna Adelson: A week after Charlie Adelson was found guilty, his parents Donna and Harvey were stopped in Miami International Airport trying to board a flight with one-way tickets to Vietnam, a country that does not have an extradition agreement with the U.S. What was Donna Adelson charged with? Donna Adelson was charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in Markel's murder, the same charges her son Charlie was found guilty of by a jury in just three hours. What is the evidence against Donna Adelson? Much of the likely evidence has appeared in the previous trials. The Tallahassee Police Department suggested that Donna Adelson was a prime suspect in the Markel murder back in 2016 when TPD initially presented probable cause affidavits to the State Attorney's Office. At the time, State Attorney Willie Meggs dismissed them as speculation. Investigations over the next nine years revealed: Prosecutors said Donna and Harvey Adelson repeatedly tried to convince Wendi to coerce Markel into allowing her to move their sons to South Florida, with Donna suggesting they offer Markel $1 million to change his mind. Donna suggested that Wendi threaten to enroll the children of the devoutly Jewish Markel in a Catholic school, according to Donna Adelson's arrest affidavit. Markel also filed a motion to prevent Donna from having unsupervised time with the children after hearing about disparaging remarks she was making about him to the children. According to the arrest affidavit, cellular records showed "numerous contacts" between Magbanua, Charlie Adelson and Garcia before and after the killing, and contact between Garcia and a phone registered to Harvey Adelson. Charlie also frequently contacted Donna before and after Markel's death. Wendi Adelson told investigators the day of the murder that her brother had joked it would be cheaper to buy her a TV as a divorce gift than hire a hitman. From roughly 460 miles away, Donna arranged a television repair appointment for Wendi the morning of the homicide. At Charlie Adelson's trial, Magbanua testified that when she went to his home the night of the killing he told her his parents had just left, leaving behind money "that his mom had washed," the affidavit said. She said the money was damp and moldy. After the murder, Magbanua received more than $17,000 in paychecks from the Adelson's practice, handwritten and signed by Donna, from September 2014 to at least April 2016, prosecutors said, on top of her portion of the money for the killing and over $56,000 in cash. She also was sold Charlie Adelson's Lexus, which was registered to Harvey Adelson, for $1,700. In 2016, an undercover agent contacted Donna Adelson with a letter about the murder and demanded $5,000. She contacted Charlie to discuss the threat. In a later call, when Charlie asked what the letter was for, she said, "This TV is probably about five," meaning $5,000, according to the affidavit. After he visited both his parents for a huddled conversation, Charlie took Magbanua to the Dolce Vita restaurant to complain about the would-be blackmailer, what he knew, and what Charlie would do about it. That conversation was recorded and became key evidence in Charlie's trial. One of the things he told Magbanua was, "if they had any evidence we would have already gone to the airport." After the meeting, Charlie called Donna to report that he was handling everything. After another letter and a text were sent to Donna Adelson by investigators, there were multiple calls and meetings between Charlie and his parents. Donna called the undercover agent and denied all knowledge. Another of Charlie Adelson's girlfriends, June Umchinda, told the FBI that after Rivera and Garcia were charged with murder Charlie and Donna Adelson both seemed more stressed, and Donna told her that she felt "Dan Markel was haunting her from the grave," the affidavit said. After Charlie Adelson's guilty verdict, Donna called him in jail several times and told him she was "getting things in order, creating trusts, and making sure her grandchildren are taken care of," the affidavit said. She also discussed plans for suicide and plans to flee to a non-extradition country. On Nov. 7, 2023, Donna and Harvey Adelson booked one-way flights to Vietnam with a stop in Dubai, less than 48 hours before a grand jury was scheduled to meet that might have taken up her case. The U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Vietnam. Who will be taking the stand in the Donna Adelson trial? For the first time, all three Adelson children could take the stand. Wendi Adelson, whom the state considers an uncharged co-conspirator, will return to the stand and testify, under a limited immunity deal, as she has in all the previous trials. She has long denied any involvement or knowledge of the murder conspiracy in sometimes testy exchanges with prosecutors. There are indications that her oldest brother, Rob Adelson, who has been listed before as a state witness, will be called to the stand in his mother's trial. Charlie Adelson, who testified in his own defense last year that he was being extorted by the two killers through his then-girlfriend and that his mom was subsequently the victim of a ruse blackmail operation by the FBI, was transported from a South Dakota prison and booked Friday into the Leon County Detention Facility. He could potentially testify for the defense. It is unknown if Donna Adelson will take the stand in her own defense. Other key witnesses include Pat Sanford, the FBI agent who arrested Donna Adelson, and Oscar Jiminez, the retired FBI agent who posed as a Latin Kings gang buddy of Rivera when he confronted Donna Adelson outside her Miami condo. Have Harvey or Wendi Adelson been charged? Wendi Adelson, who has denied involvement with the murder and testified under immunity at several trials, has not been charged. State Attorney Jack Campbell told the Tallahassee Democrat that the state did not have the evidence to arrest Harvey Adelson, but had enough to arrest Donna Adelson. Her attempted flight overseas sped things up and pushed law enforcement 'to make a decision quickly,' Campbell said. 'That's what forced our hand,' Campbell said. "We started talking to some of our law enforcement partners about the complexities of trying to bring someone back from either Dubai or Vietnam. And that might be a very complicated and lengthy process. So that's why we had to make a decision quickly." The day after the arrest, investigators seized two phones and an iPad from Harvey Adelson. GAVEL-TO-GAVEL COVERAGE: The Tallahassee Democrat will livestream each day of the trial of Donna Adelson from the courthouse in Tallahassee. Watch on and the Tallahassee Democrat's Facebook and YouTube pages. For best viewing experience: Download the Tallahassee Democrat app to watch and receive text alerts on when to watch – from opening arguments to the verdict. Tallahassee Democrat reporter Jeff Burlew contributed to this article. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Who's Donna Adelson? What to know about new trial in Dan Markel murder
Buzz Feed
2 days ago
- Buzz Feed
Chris Pratt Defends RFK Jr. In Interview
Chris Pratt shared his thoughts on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Prior to the 2024 election, Chris penned an essay where he declined to endorse Kamala Harris or Donald Trump: "So, be a good sport. We need you. Our country needs you. Team Red, Team Blue, and Team 'Didn't Even Vote,' too. Your civic duty can be uniquely exercised on November 5th, but there is an even bigger civic duty required the next day: which is to accept the results and focus instead on showing up for each other." The Guardians of the Galaxy alum recently appeared on Bill Maher's podcast Club Random, where he was asked about his relationship with RFK. Why? Because RFK is related to Chris's mother-in-law, Maria Shriver. Incidentally, Maria previously supported her cousin Caroline Kennedy after she wrote a scathing letter against RFK. Bill began his question by saying, "I love [RFK]. I don't agree with everything," adding that some of the specifics of the HSS' beliefs could get "nutty." In response, Chris said, "I kinda feel the same way that you do. I've spent a number of occasions hanging with him, just in a strictly family dinner kind of vibe. And I really got along with him well. I think he's great. I think he's funny. I like him. I love him." Agreeing with Bill that RFK's steadfastness over his oft-disproven beliefs is a "virtue," Chris said, "Politics, it's a nasty business. When you jump in — I'm not in politics obviously, but there's a certain as level to this in Hollywood, because Hollywood in itself is a political institution — and I've seen how the person you are can be such a contrast to the person that people are being told that you are. And you can go, 'Wow, that is, that is pure fiction.'" Chris then alluded to his own controversies and social media rumors, saying, "I'm not there to defend myself. Nor am I gonna jump in and, and be mired in this story." He then brought up Proverb 26:20: "For lack of wood the fire goes out." "In politics, you inherit enemies. When you jump on the bandwagon with the most divisive president ever, it makes sense that you're going to be made to look terrible. I don't know what to believe. It's not like I sit with Bobby and I go, 'So, hey, let's talk about this,'" he added. "We're just playing cards or playing mafia or having fun or having dinner. I'm not gonna pick his brain to find out exactly which of those things are true. I just kind of assume that none of them are, and for the most part, I wish him well, man." "There's certain things that he oversees that seem to be supported in a bipartisan way, like getting terrible, toxic stuff out of our kids' food," he continued. "I'd hate to be so mired in hatred for the president that any success from his administration is something I'd have an allergic reaction to. Like, 'Oh, well, if they do it, I don't want it to happen. I put Clorox in my children's cereal myself.'" A few days ago, AP News reported, "A report that U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has promised will improve the health of America's children does not call on the government to make significant changes to its food or farming policies, according to a draft document obtained by The Associated Press." Most recently in his tenure, the Health Secretary has cut $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccines being developed to fight things like the flu and COVID. Charming stuff!
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Paulina Porizkova on ‘The Golden Bachelor' and Hollywood's blind spot when it comes to gray dating
The supermodel talks about what finding love again at 60 has looked like for her. First things first: Paulina Porizkova is not interested in being a Golden Bachelor contestant. The supermodel is newly engaged to TV writer Jeff Greenstein, so she's off the market. But when the new season lead of The Bachelor franchise spin-off, Mel Owens, shared his criteria of acceptable women he was interested in dating on the show, Porizkova, on paper, would have been disqualified by his standards. She's graced the covers of Vogue, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit and countless other publications; she is also 60 and had double hip replacement surgery in 2024. But more: She has become an important voice in redefining aging. The No Filter: The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful author is outspoken about challenging outdated beauty ideals and calling out persistent double standards. So we brought The Bachelor brouhaha to her. It all started when Owens, a 66-year-old former NFL player turned attorney, said on the In the Trenches sports podcast in June that he prefers to date women ages '45 to 60,' and told producers, 'If they're 60 or over, I'm cutting them.' He also told them 'to try to stay away from the artificial hips' too. Owens has since walked back his comments, which sparked a backlash, telling Glamour he didn't understand the show's format or know the typical contestant age because he 'hadn't dated in 26, 27 years.' He finalized his divorce in December. His season of The Golden Bachelor premieres on Sept. 24. Porizkova sees this debate as bigger than The Golden Bachelor. 'Women are so used to this dynamic that a 60-year-old [man] dating a 40- or 30-year-old [woman] is fine,' she tells Yahoo. 'If he's powerful and has money, then he can date any age he wants.' But it raises a deeper question: Do men and women have different expectations of what love and companionship should look like in their golden years? Starting over The older man-younger woman relationship pairing has been spoon-fed for so long that it's normalized — and even romanticized. It's the age-old story: the man is strong and successful, the woman is young and beautiful. And audiences have long lapped it up. 'It was not that long ago that the male actors were 30 years older [than their leading ladies] and nobody blinked,' Porizkova says. 'Like [Entrapment co-stars] Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sean Connery — he was old enough to be her grandfather practically, and that was fine.' She argues that a more realistic portrayal of mature love is missing in shows and movies, particularly in rom-coms and romantic dramas. As someone who found love again in her late 50s, she wants to see more stories reflecting her life stage. 'This is why I [thought] that The Golden Bachelor — the original idea — was such a great one,' she says. 'There are a lot of people starting over … in midlife. 'Gray divorce' has a name, right? Let us see middle-aged people restarting. We actually restart from a much better place. Generally, we're smarter. We know what we want and what we don't want. It makes it harder to pick because a lot of [men] on offering are like the Golden Bachelor.' The reality of dating after 60 According to Pew Research Center data on single Americans in 2020, men significantly outnumber women in the dating market: 61% of single men said they were currently looking to date or be in a relationship compared with just 38% of single women. Those differences are starker after 40: 71% of older women say they weren't looking to date right now, compared with 42% of men in the same age cohort. A 2025 Pew Research study showed that women were more likely to be unpartnered later in life: 51% of women over 65 were single compared to 29% of men over 65. That helps explain why someone like Owens is looking to settle down again. Plus, it underscores the gender imbalance in the dating pool for that demographic. Barbara Greenberg, a clinical psychologist, tells Yahoo that older men in age-gap relationships often feel a renewed sense of vitality. Dating a younger partner — particularly after long marriages with women closer in age — can feel like a fresh start, bringing with it the excitement of new possibilities, including the possibility of more children. 'It's the ability to feel young again,' she says. 'And frankly, who doesn't want to feel younger?' Owens's ex-wife is reportedly 19 years younger, suggesting he may already be accustomed to dating outside of his age bracket. Still, the way society views an older man dating a younger woman — compared to the reverse — remains rooted in a double standard. 'When we see an older man and a younger woman, we think of a man who probably has a lot of financial stability and a woman who … has a lot of energy, youth and vibrancy,' says Greenberg. 'It's: 'Oh, they [must] have fun together.'' The perception shifts when it's an older woman and a younger man. ''What is psychologically wrong with her?'' she says of the bias. 'We think about it as a mother-son kind of thing [or that] the guy is using her for her money, even if she's beautiful and brilliant.' We've seen this play out in pop culture, including earlier this year when Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy star Renée Zellweger defended the title character's relationship with a younger man. But whether it's Nicole Kidman in 2024's Babygirl, Sally Field in 2015's Hello, My Name Is Doris, Cate Blanchett in 2006's Notes on a Scandal or Anne Bancroft in 1967's The Graduate, the older women are often portrayed as seductive, sad or delusional. Real-life couple Sam and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who have a 23-year age gap, have also drawn public skepticism, even now 13 years into their marriage. Meanwhile, more couples are divorcing after 50 than before, with the rate for that age range doubling between 1990 and 2010. USA Today recently explored the idea of 'menodivorce' — or women leaving relationships around the time of menopause or perimenopause. With more than half of women over 65 single, it suggests there's far less urgency to repartner compared to men. In general, women are also happier being single than men, research has shown. 'Women seem more likely to be comfortable with their independence,' Greenberg says of gray dating. 'Maybe at this point, they want to focus on taking care of themselves, their friendships, their careers, whatever they have going on.' A second chance at an equal partnership For her part, Porizkova never thought she'd say 'I do' again after splitting from husband Ric Ocasek of the Cars in 2018. In 2023, she started dating Greenstein, 61, and the TV writer proposed in July. 'Before I met Jeff, I was steadfast about … never getting married again,' she says. 'What changed my mind was understanding that I had never truly been in a proper relationship before. I finally found my equal. And a big part of that is because I figured out who I was.' Heading into this marriage in her 60s, Porizkova brings a perspective she didn't have the first time. 'When you get married when you're very young, you're very hopeful and you're very naive about what marriage is,' says Porizkova, who met Ocasek — 21 years her senior — at 19 and married him when she was 24. 'I was filled with dreams: 'This is forever. Yes, we should absolutely merge our money … because we will never get divorced, even though he was divorced twice before me.'' Looking back, Porizkova says, 'I was a child when we met, so I didn't know any better. I was looking for a parental figure, and that … worked out well for me for a while.' That early relationship gives her insight into the appeal of age-gap dynamics and potential limitations. It's also taken her to where she is today. 'I'm somebody who grew up much too fast in certain ways and not at all in others, so it's taken me 60 years to reach a balance,' she says. 'It's amazing when you reach that balance, and then you can find a person that suits that balance.' Time to tell the full story Of course, it doesn't mean all age-gap relationships are destined to fail. Fifteen years ago, Greenberg says she 'was very skeptical' of May-December couplings, but her perspective has shifted after seeing some of these relationships succeed and bring genuine happiness to both partners. What she sees as crucial, however, is that couples have candid conversations early on about their future goals, values and the separate aging paths they're on. She wishes those kinds of honest moments showed up on TV and in films. 'They leave out that the older person is going to develop health issues, possible [changes in] sexuality or just slow down while the younger person still wants to go on trips and do things,' Greenberg says. 'Aging issues — that's what gets overlooked,' says Greenberg. 'What's going to happen in two, three decades?' Porizkova says she's disappointed that The Golden Bachelor — which began with the promise of casting contestants over 65 — has veered into what she views as 'sensationalism' with viewers tuning in to see him get a choice of beautiful women much younger than him. Meanwhile, the final list of contestants has yet to be announced, so it's unclear if producers even followed his criteria. She adds with a wink, 'I [hope] producers have thrown in lots of women with hip replacements [and] he won't find out until he's hooked.' Solve the daily Crossword
