News Round-Up: January 31, 2017

(image courtesy of Sundance)

Some news items you may have missed:

• After a splashy world premiere at Sundance Film Festival, BEACH RATS, a gritty coming-of-age tale about a Brooklyn teen’s struggles to come to grips with being gay, has been picked up by new indie label Neon.

• Trump son-in-law, Jared Kushner, may be feeling squeezed out of his power position in the White House.

• Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins aren't completely sold on billionaire Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. #TheresHope

• New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who forced "The Donald" to settle his Trump University lawsuits for $25 million, is joining the ACLU's lawsuit against Trump's travel ban.

• Awkward - in 2015, during now-fired acting Attorney General Sarah Yates' confirmation hearings, Sen. Jeff Sessions queried Yates about her responsibility to then-President Obama should he ask her to defend "unlawful" orders. Kinda like yesterday which led to her getting canned?

• Lead singer and chief songwriter for 80s band Asia, John Weston, passed away at the age of 67 of colon cancer. The band's debut single, "The Heat of the Moment," spent 6 weeks on top of the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart in 1982. I thought the 10/8 meter of the verse was the coolest thing. Loved Asia.