House Speaker Ryan rules out presidential bid
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday definitively ruled out a bid for president this year, insisting that the party’s choice should emerge from the group of candidates who pursued the GOP nomination. “Count me out,” he said.
In a brief news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters, the Wisconsin Republican sought to tamp down rampant speculation that he could end up as the party’s standard-bearer if front-runner Donald Trump and the other candidates flame out at a contested convention.
“We have too much work to do in the House to allow this speculation to swirl or have my motivations questioned,” said Ryan, who was the 2012 vice presidential nominee. “Let me be clear: I do not want, nor will I accept, the Republican nomination.”
Ryan’s comments come as a contested convention looks likelier by the day. Ryan and his aides have continually denied the speaker has presidential ambitions this year, but their statements have not put the issue to rest. That’s partly because Ryan also denied he wanted to be speaker last fall after then-Speaker John Boehner announced his resignation, but he ended up with the job anyway.
Tuesday’s appearance was an attempt to shut down the speculation once and for all, and end what aides said has become a major distraction to Ryan’s work as speaker. Yet it may not be enough to quiet the talk about Ryan, given the unpredictable twists of the GOP presidential primary.
Stephen Hawking joins futuristic bid to explore outer space
NEW YORK (AP) — With famed physicist Stephen Hawking at his side, an Internet investor announced Tuesday that he’s spending $100 million on a futuristic plan to explore far outside our solar system.
Yuri Milner said the eventual goal is sending hundreds or thousands of tiny spacecraft, each weighing far less than an ounce, to the Alpha Centauri star system. That’s more than 2,000 times as far as any spacecraft has gone so far.
Propelled by energy from a powerful array of Earth-based lasers, the spacecraft would fly at about one-fifth the speed of light. They could reach Alpha Centauri in 20 years, where they could make observations and send the results back to Earth.
They might discover a planet or planets there — experts think there may be some, but there’s no proven sighting yet — and possibly even find signs of life there or elsewhere, said Milner and a panel of experts at the announcement. The three stars that make up Alpha Centauri are the closest stars to our star — the sun.
“We commit to the next great leap into the cosmos,” Hawking said, “because we are human and our nature is to fly.”
Music producer David Gest dies at age 62
LONDON (AP) — David Gest, a music producer, reality TV star and former husband of Liza Minnelli, was found dead Tuesday at a London hotel. He was 62.
Gest’s friend Imad Handi confirmed his death, remembering Gest as “a natural star and a genuine celebrity.”
“David was truly larger than life. He was not just a huge talent and a dear friend but a showbiz icon,” Handi said.
The Metropolitan Police force said officers were called to “reports of an unexplained death of a man in his 60s” at the Four Seasons Hotel in London’s Canary Wharf on Tuesday morning.
The force said an autopsy would take place “in due course” to determine the cause of death, but it was not being treated as suspicious.
Texas Republicans stay silent as GOP officials face troubles
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas attorney general has been indicted for allegedly duping investors in a tech startup, and the agriculture commissioner reportedly used tax dollars to travel to obtain a so-called “Jesus shot” supposedly offering long-term relief from pain.
So far, fellow Republicans are all but ignoring the troubles.
Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has been charged with two felonies, and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who last year unapologetically shared a Facebook post that suggested using a nuclear bomb on the Muslim population, coasted to election in 2014 as part of a new slate of GOP leaders. Other Republicans who won that year included Gov. Greg Abbott and Land Commissioner George P. Bush, son of Jeb Bush.
Democrats, who have called on Paxton to resign, lament what they call the pitfall of a politically one-sided state. Republicans seem content to stay quiet.
“What we’ve seen is rather endorsement by silence,” said Manny Garcia, deputy executive director of the state’s bedraggled Democratic Party, which has not won a statewide election since 1994. “It’s disappointing that the Republican Party isn’t willing to speak out when it sees bad behavior on behalf of their statewide officials.”
