By Marnie Hunter, CNN

Devils Tower, Wyoming (CNN) — The buzz started in a hay meadow at the foot of a mysterious-looking geological formation. Helicopters and trailers arrived in large numbers, famous faces and a distinguished director settled in near grazing cattle, and the cameras started rolling.

Fifty years ago, Devils Tower National Monument became a beacon for humans entranced by brushes with aliens in director Steven Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” And in turn, the 867-foot monolith protruding from the surrounding Wyoming prairie like the stump of the world’s largest tree became a big draw for tourists.

The film stars Richard Dreyfuss as Roy Neary, a Midwesterner who becomes obsessed with an enigmatic form after encountering a UFO. He memorably builds a tower-like shape out of mashed potatoes on his dinner plate before escalating to a full-blown indoor sculpture of the formation flickering at the edges of his consciousness.

Thanks to the film, that form has flickered in the minds of tourists from around the world for half a century.

“Approximately 12 minutes of footage was filmed here in 1976 and then that movie came out the following year in 1977,” said Brian Cole, an interpretive ranger at Devils Tower National Monument, of the portion of the final film shot in the area. The movie was a hit, grossing more than $300 million worldwide.

“We saw a huge increase in visitation after that movie came out — over 76% increase in visitation from about 153,000 to over 270,000 visitors,” Cole said. “So it really put us on the map, and people even to this day come to the park because of seeing that movie ‘Close Encounters.’”

On the trail of aliens

The strange-looking tower is eye-catching in its own right.

“It’s a geological freak show,” said recent visitor Matt Ingram, who stopped at the tower during a Western road trip with his wife Kimberly. The pair from Chicago was walking along the paved Tower Trail, which includes a 1.3-mile loop circling the monument’s base with excellent views from every angle.

Ingram said the movie served as his introduction to the landmark.

“I was born in ‘70 and I remember seeing that movie and thinking that was pretty cool. When he builds the tower out of mashed potatoes, and the kids are like, ‘Dad, are you OK?’”

Neary was no longer OK with life as he knew it. He wanted answers. And actors in Spielberg’s upcoming alien flick “Disclosure Day,” due in theaters June 12, have suggested that the new film answers some of the questions raised in “Close Encounters.” There’s even some speculation online that “Disclosure Day” could be a sequel to the 1977 film.

The sci-fi classic was on Devils Tower visitor Kevin Thomas’ mind as well.

“We wanted to find the aliens up there that they left from ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind,’” joked Thomas, who stopped at the monument in April with his wife Catherine. But the movie they’d seen decades ago wasn’t the reason for their visit, they said. The tower was just a point of interest along a multi-leg trip from Alaska to their home in Michigan.

While the movie boosted the tower’s profile, the formation had already been an established tourist destination for decades. It was the very first US national monument, designated by President Theodore Roosevelt back in 1906. And lon

By Bryan Mena, CNN

Washington (CNN) — The war with Iran is forcing Americans to pay more for gasoline as people cut back on purchases of some long-lasting goods.

Retail sales climbed 0.5% in April from the prior month, the Commerce Department said Thursday, down from March’s 1.6% and marking the third consecutive monthly increase. That was slightly below the 0.6% increase economists projected in a poll by data firm FactSet. The figures are adjusted for seasonal swings but not inflation.

Retail spending was up across most categories last month, but it was down at furniture stores (-2%), car dealerships (-0.5%), department stores (-3.2%) and clothing shops (-1.5%).

A measure of retail sales that strips out volatile categories — such as sales of building materials and gasoline — increased 0.46% in April, higher than the 0.2% economists projected. That figure is known as the control group, which economists say is a good measure of underlying consumer demand.

Various surveys show that US consumers have grown frustrated with price spikes associated with the conflict in the Middle East. Yet Americans may still continue to spend, so long as the unemployment rate remains low and businesses continue to add jobs. The latest employment data for April showed that to be the case, with unemployment holding steady at a low 4.3% and employers adding a stronger-than-expected 115,000 jobs that month. Consumer spending is closely tied to the health of the labor market.

Still, record-low sentiment is likely forcing Americans to change their spending habits. According to the University of Michigan’s latest consumer survey, people’s perceptions of the current economic environment plunged earlier this month, “owing to a surge in concerns about high prices both for personal finances as well as buying conditions for major purchases.”

Thursday’s report showed that Americans pulled back their spending in April on two key goods categories: furniture and cars.

This story is developing and will be updated.

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Jeff Zeleny

Joni Pugh siente que está atrapada en medio de una amarga disputa familiar entre su presidente y su congresista.

Como republicana leal, le gustan ambos, y ahí es donde comienza su dilema.

Ningún republicano ha enfurecido más al presidente Donald Trump que el representante Thomas Massie, lo que lo coloca en una posición delicada de cara a las primarias republicanas del martes en Kentucky. La contienda ya es una de las primarias más caras de la historia, con más de US$ 29 millones gastados solo en publicidad, lo que supone la mayor prueba política a la que Massie se haya enfrentado jamás.

Su prolongado duelo será decidido por votantes como Pugh, quien ha admirado a Trump durante la última década y a Massie durante mucho más tiempo.

“Estoy más preocupada que nunca por él, porque está recibiendo mucha oposición de Trump”, dijo Pugh. “No estoy criticando a Trump en absoluto, porque soy una gran admirador suya, pero aun así voy a votar por Thomas. Es un gran tipo y es muy cuidadoso con cómo quiere que se gaste el dinero de nuestros contribuyentes”.

Aquí, en el noreste de Kentucky, los votantes dicen que la campaña parece volverse más agresiva cada día, con anuncios de ataque que incluyen imágenes generadas por IA que inundan las pantallas de televisión, folletos que llenan los buzones de correo y rumores candentes sobre los giros de la situación para determinar qué bando tiene la ventaja.

“Es imposible escapar de ello. Está por todas partes”, dijo Pugh refiriéndose al aluvión publicitario. “Eso es lo que realmente me preocupa. Me temo que esta vez no lo logrará. No creo que haya pasado nunca por algo así”.

Massie se enfrenta a Ed Gallrein, un agricultor y ex SEAL de la Marina a quien Trump y sus aliados reclutaron para la contienda. Trump visitó Kentucky en marzo para dejar clara su elección e invitó a Gallrein al escenario.

“Denme a alguien con presencia que pueda vencer a Massie”, dijo Trump. “Y tengo a alguien con una presencia que puede vencer, pero también con un cerebro brillante y un gran patriota. Es increíble”.

Durante meses, Massie se presentó con la seguridad de que su imagen de inconformista entre amigos y vecinos del 4º distrito congresional de Kentucky le aseguraría un octavo mandato. Los carteles azules de Massie salpican el paisaje de su distrito a lo largo del río Ohio, que se extiende desde los suburbios orientales de Louisville hasta los suburbios del norte de Kentucky, como Cincinnati, y las afueras de los Apalaches.

Sin embargo, la contienda está extraordinariamente reñida en los últimos días de la campaña, según afirman estrategas y funcionarios del Partido Republicano, e incluso algunos aliados de larga data se preguntan si la situación ha cambiado.

“La contienda es 100 % Trump contra Massie”, dijo Shane Noem, presidente del Partido Republicano del condado de Kenton, a CNN. “Se ha convertido en un momento de elegir un bando”.

Es difícil precisar cuándo se deterioró exactamente la relación entre Trump y Massie. Massie ha luchado contra la clase dirigente de ambos partidos desde que ganó su escaño hace 14 años, en la era del Tea Party, como un firme defensor de la austeridad fiscal.

Se ha opuesto sistemáticamente a las prioridades republicanas en el Congreso, incluyendo el gasto militar y la ayuda exterior, y ha desafiado al liderazgo del partido en numerosos proyectos de ley. El año pasado, fue uno de los dos republicanos de la Cámara de Representantes que votaron en contra del paquete de recortes de gastos y políticas internas del presidente, conocido como la “One Big Beautiful Bill”.

“Obtendremos el 100 % de los votos, excepto por este tipo llamado Thomas Massie”, dijo Trump en el Desayuno Na

By Christian Edwards, CNN

London (CNN) — Wes Streeting has resigned as Britain’s health secretary, saying Thursday that he has “lost confidence” in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s leadership and that it would be “dishonourable and unprincipled” to remain in his government.

The move comes after days of speculation about whether Streeting would formally challenge Starmer’s leadership of the Labour Party. In his letter to the prime minister, Streeting announced his resignation from government, but did not say that he was launching a leadership contest.

In order to trigger that contest, Streeting needs to gain the support of one fifth of Labour’s members of parliament (MPs) – at present, 81 lawmakers.

Starmer has been facing a revolt in his Labour Party since it suffered a drubbing in local elections in England and parliament in Scotland and Wales last week, which has spurred nearly 90 Labour lawmakers to publicly call for Starmer to resign. Streeting is the first member of Starmer’s government to resign since the mutiny began.

In his letter, Streeting said last week’s elections had put “nationalists in power in every corner” of the country, which he said could threaten the breakup of the United Kingdom. He said that progressive voters were “losing faith” in the Labour Party, citing Starmer’s missteps which he said had “left the country not knowing who we are or what we really stand for.”

“Where we need vision, we have a vacuum. Where we need direction, we have drift,” he said.

Streeting claimed it is clear that Starmer will not lead Labour into the next general election, due in 2029, and called for a broad debate about “what comes next,” spanning “the best possible field of candidates.”

Downing Street did not immediately respond to Streeting’s resignation. All week, however, it has insisted that Starmer has no intention of resigning. In a speech Monday, Starmer vowed to stay in post, saying that a change in leadership would plunge Britain back into the “chaos” that flourished under the Conservative Party, which ousted two leaders in the two years before Starmer came to power in a landslide election in 2024.

To Streeting’s allies, he is one of the best communicators in British politics, adding clarity and fizz to Starmer’s government, which has struggled to tell Britain a compelling story about where Labour is taking it. To his critics, he is nakedly ambitious, unprincipled and lacks obvious appeal beyond the world of Westminster. At the last general election, Streeting clung on to his seat in parliament by just 528 votes.

As health secretary, Streeting had been tasked with overhauling Britain’s creaking National Health Service (NHS), which has eaten up a long-increasing share of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

His resignation coincides with the publication on Thursday of government data that shows improvements to the NHS under his leadership. NHS waiting lists fell by 110,000 in March, the biggest monthly drop outside of the Covid-19 pandemic since 2008. Streeting said the data meant the government is “on track to achieve the fastest improvement in NHS waiting times in history.”

Perhaps buoyed by this success, Streeting’s resignation may fire the starting gun on the race to replace Starmer as Labour leader and prime minister. Earlier Thursday, Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, announced that she had resolved a dispute with authorities over her failure to

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