Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Aug 9, 2021

Congratulations to BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN’s daughter, JESSICA, who picked up a silver medal Saturday as part of the U.S. Equestrian Team at the Tokyo Olympics. They almost had a gold medal, but lost to the Swedish team in a jump-off. The other women in the US team bringing home a silver medal were McLAIN WARD and LAURA KRAUT.

Former President BARACK OBAMA tossed a 60th birthday party at his Martha’s Vineyard mansion on Saturday night with all sorts of celebrity guests. Some of them included BEYONCÉ, QUESTLOVE, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, CHRISSY TEIGEN and JOHN LEGEND, ERYKAH BADU, STEVEN SPIELBERG, BRADLEY COOPER, STEVEN COLBERT, GABRIELLE UNION and her husband, DWAYNE WADE, TOM and RITA HANKS, and DON CHEADLE with his wife, BRIDGID COULTER.

MEGHAN MARKLE's half-brother, THOMAS MARKLE, Jr., is one of the 12 contestants on Australia’s “Big Brother VIP" TV show, and made headlines by calling Meghan “shallow” in the first trailer for the show.

Question for the listeners: If you were Meghan, would you one-up him by doing a version of LADY GAGA and BRADLEY COOPER's "Shallow" to stick it to him?

MADONNA's daughter, LOURDES, told Vogue magazine that unlike what people think --that she's a "talentless rich kid"-- she actually paid her own way through college. "People think I'm this talentless rich kid who's had everything given to her, but I'm not," she said. It's part of the article which features her and seven other women on the cover of the September issue of the magazine.

Sorry: MARKIE POST, who appeared in "Night Court" and "The Kids Are Alright," has passed away at the age of 70, after a three year, ten month battle with cancer. Her family said that Markie continued to work despite being diagnosed with cancer, acting in a Lifetime Christmas movie and appearing as a recurring guest star on the ABC series "The Kids Are Alright." As you probably remember, she played public defender Christine Sullivan on "Night Court."

Also gone, but not forgotten: DENNIS "DEE TEE" THOMAS, who was one of the founding members of KOOL & THE GANG. He was 70 and passed away peacefully in his sleep Saturday in Montclair, NJ.

Finally, the CDC reported Saturday that just over half of the US is now fully vaccinated for COVID-19. A bit more --58.5 percent-- are also partially vaccinated against the disease, of course meaning that they've taken one of the two-dose vaccines so far.

More COVID news: Unfortunately, LYNYRD SKYNYRD band member RICKEY MEDLOCKE has tested positive for COVID-19. The band has been forced to cancel four of its upcoming shows.