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Season 16 of the hit Bravo “Housewives” franchise (premiering Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo, streaming the next day on Peacock) will feature OGs Porsha Williams, Cynthia Bailey and, returning after six seasons, Phaedra Parks, along with returning cast member Drew Sidora and a slew of new ladies getting their peaches for the first time – Shamea Morton Mwangi, Brit Eady, Kelli Ferrell and Angela Oakley.

For Parks, this cast is a return to the fun and occasional “shadiness” fans love.

“We’re trying to basically get back to what made Atlanta the flashiest of the franchise. Just good, old-fashioned, fun sisterhood,” says the attorney, who is returning later this season. “Drama, but also, laughs and crying. I think that’s what became missing in those past two seasons.”

Parks said she decided to return because of Williams. The fan-favorite Frick and Frack duo is reuniting this season after years of ups and downs. “I love her,” says Parks.

With just two roses remaining, “The Bachelor” Grant Ellis is episodes away from announcing who his final choice will be.

But before viewers find that out, 15 women from this season will be returning for “The Women Tell All” episode to talk about their experiences on the show.

“It’s a night full of confrontations and emotions as Grant reunites with 15 women from this season,” says ABC about the upcoming episode. “For the first time since filming, Grant’s former flames come together to address the season’s most memorable moments and heated controversies. Plus, Grant enters the hot seat to answer burning questions and share behind-the-scenes glimpses of the season’s funniest moments.”

Unlike the other episodes, Monday’s “The Women Tell All” episode is not scripted and cast members will take the stage in front of a live audience to talk about their experiences on the show. While the “Tell All” episodes of the franchises also usually feature the next “The Bachelor” or “The Bachelorette,” that’s not expected this time as ABC reportedly stopped production on the female-led series for the first time since 2007 due to scheduling conflicts. 

The Duchess of Sussex, 43, shared a gallery of photos Saturday on Instagram for International Women’s Day. One was a rare picture of Princess Lilibet, her 3-year-old daughter with Prince Harry.

The Instagram carousel’s third photo showed Harry, who wore shorts and a backwards baseball cap, holding Lilibet as she sat in his lap on a boat.

“Happy International Women’s Day!” Meghan wrote. “Celebrating the strong women around us & the girls with dreams who will become women with vision. Also thanking those who uplift us every day.”

The “Umbrella” singer, 37, took to Instagram on Saturday to share a pair of delivery room photos from when she gave birth to her children RZA and Riot Rose in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

The pictures showed Rihanna in a hospital bed looking stylish while holding her newborns, wearing pearls in one and pink sunglasses in the other.

She tied the photos to International Women’s Day, which was Saturday, writing in the caption that giving birth to her “little miracles” was “by far the most powerful thing I’ve ever done as a woman.”

“And yes I gave birth in pearls and sunglasses … don’t ask, a lot was happening,” she joked.

The comedian returned to play Tesla CEO Elon Musk again on the latest episode of “Saturday Night Live,” this time with a little Dr. Evil energy.

The episode’s cold open saw President Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) attempt to broker a truce between Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio (Marcello Hernández). Throughout the sketch, Myers’ Musk laughed at himself, made childlike jokes and performed a dance that Trump dubbed his “least unsettling trait.”

After Musk continued saying “Polo” in response to Rubio’s first name, the secretary of state said he can’t believe “this is the guy you’ve given access to the entire government” because he’s “not an elected official,” to which Musk shot back, “I know you are, but what am I?” This led Trump to step in and insist that the two at least come up with more creative insults for each other.

In an inner monologue communicated throughout voiceover, Myers’ Musk proclaimed that he has completed phase one of his plan, “ingratiate yourself to the president and take over the media.” But he asks, “Was taking this job a bad idea? A lot of people seem to really hate me, my Tesla stock is crashing, and my personal net worth just dropped by $100 billion.”

Ben Affleck, who portrays the neurodivergent genius, premiered the action-packed sequel to the 2016 feature Saturday night at Austin’s SXSW festival running through March 15. Matt Damon, Affleck’s longtime friend and an executive producer on the movie, also attended and the two posed for photos on the carpet.

“The Accountant 2” files into theaters April 25. When audiences are reunited with Christian, he’s getting suited up for a speed dating event. Themes of loneliness are explored in the follow-up film as they were in the original. The yearning for that connection is something that resonated “profoundly” with Affleck, he told USA TODAY on the red carpet.

“I think that that’s what’s really moving and interesting about this guy; he’s a very vulnerable character,” said Affleck. “Yes, on the one hand, he’s got strengths, and skills and talents that are really interesting and exceptional. But at the end of the day, what allows people in to a story is he’s trying to find a connection. He wants to have love in his life. He wants to meet a woman that he can have a connection with. And he sees other people having this, and he knows it’s something that matters to him. He’s not quite sure how to do it.

Within hours, she was dead.

Security cameras captured Arakawa’s image during her visit to the pharmacy on Feb. 11, the last day she is believed to have been alive. The longtime wife and main caregiver of actor Gene Hackman, Arakawa had busied herself with errands that day: sending an email, stopping at the pharmacy, doing some grocery shopping.

Most notable was what she didn’t do. She failed to swing by Gruda Veterinary Hospital in southwest Santa Fe to pick up the prescription dog food and medication she had ordered for one of her three dogs, Zinna, Bear and Nikita.

Arakawa had been taking her dogs to that vet for years and never once missed a food or meds pickup. The following week, sometime after Feb. 17, Gruda’s staff tried calling Arakawa on her cellphone to remind her the food was ready. No one picked up.

“She was devoted to those dogs,” Robert Gruda, the hospital’s owner, told USA TODAY in an interview. “She was consistent, predictable. We knew something was wrong when she didn’t pick up the food on time.”

Unbeknownst to Gruda and his staff, Arakawa, 65, was already dead, splayed on a bathroom floor of the Santa Fe home she shared with Hackman, seized by a rare but potentially lethal disease spread by rodents.

Death timeline of Gene Hackman, wife

Gene Hackman and his wife died a week apart and from entirely different causes. No foul play is suspected in the deaths.

Hackman, 95, racked by advanced Alzheimer’s disease, lived another week after his wife died, then died in a mudroom on the other side of the house, a cane and sunglasses nearby. What exactly did Hackman do during that time? Did he even know his wife was dead? Was he aware that one of the couple’s dogs, Zinna, a 12-year-old Australian Kelpie mix, had also died while locked in a crate in the home?

News of the couple’s twin deaths has rattled and baffled the Santa Fe community, where they were at once pillars and reclusive. On Friday, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza and other officials held a news conference to reveal details on the causes and dates of their deaths.

Yet, more questions remain. How and why, for example, did Arakawa, by all accounts a youthful, energetic woman, contract the hantavirus and die so suddenly?

“I’m more confused and really devastated even more,” Santa Fe restaurateur Doug Lanham, a close friend of the couple and Hackman’s former business partner, said after the news conference. “How do you connect all these dots?”

‘An excellent dog owner, excellent caretaker’

Arakawa began bringing her dogs to the Gruda Veterinary Hospital several years ago and quickly became a favorite at the animal hospital. She reliably brought the dogs to appointments and chatted with staff and Gruda. She regularly called Zinna by her full name, Zinfandel, and confided to Gruda that she was named after Hackman’s favorite wine varietal. 

“She was an excellent dog owner, excellent caretaker to those dogs,” he said. “She really doted on them.”

One of the last times the hospital staff saw Arakawa was in late January, when she came in to pick up Zinna, who had had “major surgery,” Gruda said. She was her typical, alert self, he said. 

The staff instructed her to confine Zinna to a crate, to keep her from running around and undoing the effects of the surgery, Gruda said. 

“She was friendly, dutiful,” he said of Arakawa. “That’s how we make a living, with owners that care for their animals and see us consistently.”

Timeline: The deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife: What we know

By this time, even the couple’s closest friends were seeing them less and less around town. Lanham, who used to golf regularly with Hackman and dine with the couple, hadn’t seen them in more than five years. 

A few weeks after picking up Zinna from the hospital, on Feb. 11, Arakawa began her day by exchanging emails with a massage therapist around 11:21 a.m., according to Mendoza, the sheriff. She later shopped at a Sprouts Farmer Market grocery store between 3:30 and 4:15 p.m., then visited a CVS Pharmacy. Surveillance footage showed her wearing a mask, he said. 

Arakawa returned home around 5:15 p.m. and used a remote to open the gate at Santa Fe Summit, the gated community in the foothills just outside of Santa Fe where the couple had lived for decades. 

She made it inside the sprawling, 9,000-square-foot home. But by now, the hantavirus was clawing its way into her lungs. Her hours were numbered. 

Tough guy, everyman: Gene Hackman pursued anonymity and a private artist life in Santa Fe

A rare but deadly rodent disease

First discovered in 1993, the hantavirus began spreading from the Southwest to across the U.S. Humans contract it by breathing in aerosolized urine, feces or saliva from a rodent – in New Mexico, the tiny deer mouse is usually the culprit.

Cases are rare. As of 2024, New Mexico had seen only 136 infections over the past 50 years, with just five of those in Santa Fe County, according to Erin Phipps, the state public health veterinarian. Dogs don’t get the disease, and the strain found in the U.S. can’t spread from human to human, she said. 

Symptoms are akin to getting the flu: body aches, fever, abdominal pain. But the disease could quickly turn deadly. After incubation the virus for anywhere from three to four weeks and up to eight weeks, an infected person’s lungs will begin to fill with fluids that escape through capillaries, triggering coughing and shortness of breath, said Greg Mertz, professor emeritus of internal medicine and former chief of the division of infectious diseases at the University of New Mexico. 

Hantavirus has a staggering mortality rate of between 35% and 50%, according to health officials. 

“Unfortunately, it could progress to cardiogenic shock over a period of a few hours,” he said. “Even in a hospital, most deaths occur within the first day.”

During cardiogenic shock, the heart stops pumping adequate blood supply to the organs. Blood pressure plummets and the patient lapses into cardiac arrhythmia, or an irregular heartbeat. From there, it’s very difficult to save an infected person, Mertz said. 

The virus is difficult to detect, as many of the symptoms are akin to the flu, he said. There is no medicine to combat it and, once it spreads, it’s hard to stop it from overwhelming the body. 

Mertz said he was treating a patient once with hantavirus at University of New Mexico Hospital. The patient was sitting on a hospital bed and began complaining about feeling ill. Their blood pressure dropped and they went into shock, he said. Within 20 minutes, the patient was dead. 

“It’s a pretty horrific progression,” Mertz said. “There aren’t a lot of diseases with higher mortality rates.”

Deadly disease: Gene Hackman’s wife died from Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome. What to know about disease

‘Come over here! Come over here!’

Around 1:43 p.m. on Feb. 26, a maintenance man who had done work on the Hackman home for years visited the property and found the front door ajar. He peeked through a window and saw Arakawa lying on the floor. He then notified another maintenance man who works for the subdivision, who called 9-1-1. 

Paramedics with the Santa Fe Fire Department arrived at the scene, pushed open the front door and saw Arakawa lying on the nearby bathroom floor, Chief Brian Moya said. She looked deceased, so they retreated back outside and radioed the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office for backup, as per protocol. 

Backed by several sheriff’s deputies, the two paramedics and three other Santa Fe firefighters inspected Arakawa’s body, which had noticeable signs of decomposition. A bottle of prescription thyroid medication was on the bathroom counter, loose pills spread across the countertop. 

The first responders then fanned out through the sprawling four-bedroom home, meticulously checking bedrooms, hallways, bathrooms and closets for other people or signs of foul play, Moya said. Thirty minutes passed without a sign of anyone else. 

Mistaken identity Sheriff’s office makes error about Gene Hackman’s dog in initial death report

As they searched, one of the couple’s dogs kept running up to them, barking and running off in a different direction, he said. At first, paramedics thought the dog wanted to play. Then, they realized it wanted them to follow. 

“They realized (the dog) was trying to say, ‘Hey, come over here! Come over here!’” Moya said.  

The dog led them to a mudroom in the far end of the home, next to the kitchen. It then sat next to the body of Hackman, who was crumpled on the floor. Sunglasses and a cane laid nearby. His hands were blackened and showed signs of decomposition, Moya said. A back door was propped open, allowing the dogs to go in and out of the home. 

Firefighters went through the home and two detached structures on the property with handheld six-gas monitors, measuring oxygen levels and looking for signs of harmful gases, such as carbon monoxide. The readings were nothing out of the norm, Moya said. The gas company later did its own inspection and also found no harmful levels of gases. 

The two workers who first alerted police to the home told investigators they rarely saw the owners while conducting maintenance around the house, according to a search warrant affidavit. They said they mostly communicated via phone calls or text and primarily with Arakawa. 

First responders noted how clean and organized the home appeared, Moya said. “It was very neat, organized with no clutter,” he said.  

The two surviving dogs, Bear and Nikita, were rounded up and transported to a local pet day-care facility. Hackman’s and Arakawa’s bodies were taken to the state Office of the Medical Investigator at the University of New Mexico for autopsies. 

Finally, some answers

At 2 p.m. Friday, outside the sheriff’s office in Santa Fe, Heather Jarrell stepped before the cameras. For over a week, media from all over the world had descended upon the New Mexico capital, all looking for answers to the same question: How did Hackman and Arakawa die?

Jarrell, New Mexico’s chief medical examiner, had led the queries into the couple’s deaths from her lab in Albuquerque. Finally, she had some answers.

How did he die? Gene Hackman cause of death released

Hackman’s heart showed signs of previous heart attacks, a pacemaker and multiple heart surgeries, as well as a scarred kidney due to chronic high blood pressure. Hackman’s cause of death was cardiovascular disease. He also had advanced Alzheimer’s disease, she said, which contributed to his death.

In other, less-experienced medical examiners’ offices, Arakawa’s cause of death may have gone undetected. But Jarrell and her staff knew enough to recognize the microscopic evidence revealed in the patient’s lungs. Arakawa tested negative for COVID-19 and influenza but positive for the hantavirus, Jarrell said. Cause of death: hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. 

Her lungs had crashed as the virus branched through her body. 

As Jarrell examined the patients, she received a phone call from one of Hackman’s doctors. 

His pacemaker, the doctor said, had shown activity as recently as Feb. 17. 

After further inspecting the device, Jarrell and investigators noticed Hackman’s heart also showed an atrial fibrillation, or irregular heartbeat, the following day, on Feb. 18. That’s likely when he died, Jarrell said. 

Mendoza said authorities are still waiting on more data from two cellphones collected at the home, as well as results from a necropsy on Zinna. But the medical examiner’s information answered a lot of the questions they had, he said. 

Hackman was in the house for seven days after Arakawa died. There were no cameras inside the house to record his movements.

In that time, he didn’t make any phone calls or otherwise ask for help, authorities said. He hadn’t eaten but had somehow managed to stay hydrated. 

Clouded by Alzheimer’s and struggling with a scarred heart, he was alone while his wife and main caregiver was dead on the bathroom floor near the front of the home.

It’s likely, authorities said, Hackman never knew his wife was already gone.

Contributing: Javier Zarracina, USA TODAY

Follow Jervis on X: @MrRJervis.

Constructor: Nate Cardin

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

What I Learned from Today’s Puzzle

• BIG ORANGE COUCH (14D: Iconic ’90s Nickelodeon sofa) Nickelodeon used the BIG ORANGE COUCH as a mascot for SNICK (Saturday Night Nickelodeon) in the 1990s. SNICK was a programming block geared toward preteens and teens. The BIG ORANGE COUCH was featured in promos, and was seen in a number of locations.
• YONDR POUCH (26D: Magnetic bag used to store students’ cellphones) YONDR is a company founded in 2014 by Graham Dugoni. Their main product is the YONDR POUCH, a magnetic bag used by schools and other venues to create phone-free spaces. The YONDR POUCH allows each person to keep their cell phone with them, but makes it inaccessible until the pouch is unlocked.

Random Thoughts & Interesting Things

• ANGRY BIRDS (16A: Video game with feathered protagonists vs. enemy pigs) The video game ANGRY BIRDS was first released in 2009. Since then, a number of variations of the game have been released. The basic premise of the game is to use a slingshot to launch BIRDS at pigs, with the goal being to destroy all of the pigs on the playing field. It’s been quite a few years since I’ve played ANGRY BIRDS, but the clue describes it perfectly, and I was able to fill in the answer without any crossings.
• YEAR (26A: ___ of the Snake) (2025 in the Chinese zodiac)) The YEAR of the Snake began on January 29, 2025. This clue reminded me of the crossword on that day.
• OTOE (28A: Great Plains tribe) The OTOE were historically a semi-nomadic people that lived along the Missouri River in the Great Plains. Today the OTOE people are part of the OTOE-Missouria Tribe, which has its headquarters in Red Rock, Oklahoma.
• ERIE (34A: People with a namesake Great Lake) The ERIE people lived in what is now western New York, in the Great Lakes region along the southern shore of Lake ERIE. In the mid-17th century, warfare forced most of the tribe to leave the area. Lake ERIE and ERIE, Pennsylvania are named for the ERIE people. Our crossword friend ERIE is making its first appearance of the month today, and its third appearance of the year. Surprisingly, we didn’t see ERIE at all in February.
• WING (37A: Artificial limb for Icarus) In Greek mythology, Icarus was the son of Daedalus. During an attempt to escape from Crete, Icarus and Daedalus used WINGs that the latter constructed of feathers and wax. Although Daedalus warned him not to fly too close to the sun, ICARUS ignored his father’s warning. The sun melted his WINGs and he fell into the sea and drowned. 
• SEOUL (47A: Capital of South Korea) SEOUL is the capital and largest city of South Korea.
• WISH (56A: Disney film in which Asha meets a magic fallen star) WISH is a 2023 animated Disney movie about Asha, a 17-year-old girl who makes a WISH on a star, and then meets a living, magic fallen star. Ariana DeBose voices the role of Asha.
• OSCAR THE GROUCH (4D: Furry green Muppet in a trash can) I’ve always had a soft spot for OSCAR THE GROUCH, the curmudgeonly Muppet who lives in a trash can. Here’s a fun fact: OSCAR THE GROUCH was originally orange, and did not become his characteristic green until the second season of Sesame Street. On the show this color change was explained as being a result of a visit to Swamp Mushy Muddy.
• BETA (17D: Letter after alpha) Looks like it’s time to review the beginning of the Greek alphabet: alpha, BETA, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta, theta, iota…
• AFT (22D: Second-largest U.S. teachers union) AFT here stands for the American Federation of Teachers, which was founded in Chicago in 1916. The largest U.S. teachers union is the National Education Association (NEA).
• RIRI (25D: “Umbrella” singer’s nickname) “Umbrella” is a 2007 song by Rihanna. To fans, Rihanna is known as RIRI, Rih, or Rih-Rih. This clue reminds me of the January 21, 2025 puzzle, “Singin’ in the Rain.”
• APA (39D: “Riverdale” actor KJ) Riverdale (2017-2023) is a TV series based on the characters of the Archie comic books. KJ APA plays the role of Archie Andrews.
• ACLU (41D: Bill of Rights defense org.) In the U.S., the Bill of Rights refers to the first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution. These amendments guarantee specific personal freedoms and rights. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization that works – through litigation and lobbying – to protect the individual rights of all people in the United States. I’m always happy for an opportunity to shout-out the ACLU and the amazing work they do.
• SEWS (47D: Stitches like Betsy Ross) Betsy Ross (1752-1836) was an upholsterer and seamstress. Betsy Ross is known for making a number of U.S. flags during her lifetime, although the story about her making the first U.S. flag is unsubstantiated.
• RPG (54D: World of Warcraft, for one (Abbr.)) RPG here stands for role-playing game and refers to a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fantasy world. World of Warcraft is an online RPG. Although I’m not a gamer, I know of World of Warcraft from my son, and I’m always grateful to him for that knowledge when the game appears in the puzzle.
• A few other clues I especially enjoyed:
  • ZEN (9A: ___ garden (meditation spot with raked gravel))
  • HARM (1D: “First, do no ___”)
  • SEES (23D: Spies with their little eyes)