Woman wins conch-blowing contest; accepts proposal

legislation, Trump can alter trade policy by executive action. That intensifies the pressure on Republican lawmakers to change his mind before he gives his final approval for the penalties as early as this coming week.

Trump on Saturday showed no sign of backing away, threatening on Twitter to impose a tax on cars made in Europe if the European Union responds to the tariffs by taxing American goods. He also railed about “very stupid” trade deals by earlier administrations and said other countries “laugh at what fools our leaders have been. No more!”

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., called Trump after the president’s surprise announcement, and continues to hope the White House will reconsider the decision. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., and others have offered the president their own private counsel. Some are appealing to his desire for a robust stock market and warning that the trade penalties could unravel some of the gains they attribute to the tax bill he signed last year.

GUN DEBATE

p.m. But senators extended the session to 9 p.m. A final vote on the bill won’t be held until Monday.

It was clear that senators were divided on the bill, and not just on party lines. While crafted by Republicans, some GOP senators still opposed it because they don’t agree with raising the minimum age to guy a rifle from 18 to 21 or requiring a waiting period to buy the weapons.

Democrats believe the legislation doesn’t go far enough in some ways and too far in others. And while some oppose the bill, others believe it’s at least a first step toward gun safety.

DOUBLY PRIZED

KEY WEST, Fla. — A Florida retiree has won the women’s division in Key West’s annual Conch Shell Blowing Contest — and accepted a marriage proposal from a fellow competitor.

Seventy-year-old Mary Lou Smith impressed the judges Saturday with long blasts on the fluted, pink-lined shell. And when 73-year-old Rick Race proposed on stage, she accepted by joining him in a joyous duet.

Judges evaluated entrants from children to seniors on the quality, novelty, duration and loudness of their playing.

Conch shells have been used as signaling devices in the Florida Keys for centuries. Native-born islanders are called Conchs, and the Keys are nicknamed the Conch Republic.

MEET THE PRESS

dinner was certain to invite close watch to see how he handled the expected ribbing.

The white-tie gala Saturday is the kind of establishment event Trump has shunned since taking office. But what was supposed to be a good-natured bread-breaking between the president and press could become a flashpoint if Trump, who has labeled reporters “fake news” and the “enemy of the American people,” proves unable to poke fun at himself or take a lashing from the press.

The president got an early start, tweeting from Florida before his late afternoon return to Washington: “Mainstream Media in U.S. is being mocked all over the world. They’ve gone CRAZY!”

David Litt, a former speechwriter for President Barack Obama who helped write many of Obama’s comedy speeches, said he thinks Trump “is in a potentially strange spot where he either attacks the press in a way that works really well at a rally but just gets crickets in that room, or he has spent the past two years calling reporters ‘fake news’ and then suddenly admits it’s just the act.”

At the dinner, journalists in costume perform song parodies before politicians from both parties give their speeches. The Gridiron’s motto — “singe, don’t burn” — suggests speakers should feel free to poke and prod, but gingerly. Every president since Grover Cleveland has been subjected at least once.

FRAUD SHOWDOWN

Tuesday has national implications for voting rights as Republicans pursue laws they say are aimed at preventing voter fraud but that critics contend disenfranchise minorities and college students who tend to vote Democratic and who may not have such documentation readily available. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is running for governor and was part of Trump’s now-disbanded commission on voter fraud , has long championed such laws and is defending a Kansas requirement that people present documentary proof of citizenship — such as a birth certificate, naturalization papers or a passport — when they register to vote.

“Kansas is the site of the major showdown on this issue, and Kris Kobach has been such a prominent advocate for concerns about noncitizens voting and other fraudulent behavior. He essentially led the Trump commission on vote fraud and integrity and he has been a lightning rod — which makes him a hero to people on his side of the argument in trying to tighten up voting laws, but makes him kind of a mischief-maker and a distraction for people who are on the other side,” said Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Courts have temporarily blocked Kobach from fully enforcing the Kansas law, with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver calling it “a mass denial of a fundamental constitutional right.”

The trial before U.S District Judge Julie Robinson in Kansas City, Kan., centers on the National Voter Registration Act, commonly known as the Motor Voter Law, which allows people to register to vote when applying for a driver’s license. Robinson will decide whether Kobach has legal authority to demand such citizenship paperwork, and a key consideration will be whether Kansas has a significant problem with noncitizens registering to vote.