KID ROCK SAYS NO TO CAMPAIGN FOR U.S. SENATE
Kid Rock says he’s not running for U.S. Senate. Kid Rock told SiriusXM host Howard Stern, “Are you kidding me?” during an expletive-laden interview Tuesday. The Detroit-area rocker has been teasing the public for months. At a Sept. 12 concert, Kid Rock was introduced as Michigan’s “next senator” and talked about running for president. Kid Rock said his staff knew there wouldn’t be a run for office. But with all the attention, and a new album in the works, he says he told them: “Let’s roll with it for a while.”
Alaska senators tell Trump they want mountain’s name to stay.
ALASKA» One JUNEAU,
Obama administration action may be safe under President Donald Trump — the longsought renaming of North America’s tallest peak to Denali.
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan said the Alaska mountain came up during a meeting he and fellow Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski had with Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in March.
Sullivan said during a weekend speech to the Alaska Federation of Natives that Trump asked if the senators thought the name change from Mount McKinley to Denali should be reversed, the Alaska Public Radio Network reported. Sullivan said both senators emphatically said no.
As panel questions Trump associates, GOP launches new probes.
WASHINGTON» House Republicans on Tuesday revived themes from the 2016 election, launching probes looking back at the Obama administration and Democrat Hillary Clinton’s emails as close associates of President Donald Trump faced tough questions on Capitol Hill.
The investigations by three GOP committees were criticized by Democrats as a “massive diversion” from congressional probes into potential coordination between the Kremlin and associates of the Trump campaign — and from two witnesses close to President Donald Trump that appeared privately before the House intelligence panel for questioning.
Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen and his former campaign data director, Brad Parscale, were interviewed by the House panel behind closed doors Tuesday. Cohen’s interview lasted around six hours, while Parscale’s interview was ongoing through the afternoon.
Potential showdown in eastern Syria over Islamic Stateheld territory.
As U.S.-allied fighters hurtle down the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, a showdown could ensue between the U.S. and Russia, whose allies are racing to take over the same strategic oil-rich territory from the Islamic State.
While the sides likely will avoid direct confrontation, the capture of Raqqa by the U.S.-backed forces, followed by their seizure of Syria’s largest oil field from the Islamic State, has irked Damascus, which needs the oil to boost its economy.
As the rival international coalitions compete to defeat the militants and snap up oil and gas fields, the Russian military has issued a stream of angry statements, accusing the U.S. of colluding with the Islamic State and other extremist groups to stymie the government’s advances.
The U.S. and Russia have embedded special forces with their partners and are supporting their advances with aggressive airstrikes. They have so far avoided any significant confrontations by maintaining talks and a hotline intended to prevent midair and ground incidents.
Bighorn sheep jumps off hill, lands on car.
WASH.» A CHELAN, driver in Washington state escaped injury when a bighorn sheep jumped from a hillside and landed on his car. The State Patrol said the driver was in central Washington on Tuesday when he saw a herd of bighorn sheep on the hillside above the roadway. One of the animals, a ewe, jumped and smashed the car’s windshield. The driver was not hurt and managed to pull his car over. The sheep died.