Dolly Parton quotes that show her honesty, humor and wisdom: “I’m always dreaming”

August 26, 2026 / 1:41 PM EDT / CBS News

Dolly Parton had a way with words — rhyming them in catchy melodies and making people laugh with her wit.

The beloved star is being remembered for her kindness, talent and humor following her death at the age of 80 on Tuesday.

Parton wasn’t shy about making jokes about herself or commenting on her signature look with quick one-liners, like, “It costs a lot to look this cheap.”

But aside from the jokes, she shared wisdom and life lessons over the years. Here are some of the most memorable and inspiring quotes from CBS News interviews with Parton:

On her fame

Asked how she feels about the love and respect she has from so many people, she told CBS News’ Gayle King in 2022, “It’s an honor, but it scares me to death sometimes.”

“I’m always saying, I’m not all that, I’m even not all there sometimes,” she joked. “But it makes me feel good that I’ve been around long enough for people to feel like they know me and they’ve just kind of accepted me, and now that I’m older, they just kind of think of me as like an older sister or a favorite aunt and I’m glad to play that role.”

On her appearance

Parton often said she patterned her look after what she described as “the town tramp” she saw growing up.

“She wore the makeup, red nails, red high heels, tight clothes. I just thought she was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen,” Parton said in 2016. “And people say, ‘Oh, she ain’t nothing but trash,’ but in my mind, I thought, ‘That’s what I’m going to be when I grow up.’”

When it came to fashion, Parton told CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell in 2023 that she just wore what she liked.

“I don’t care about following fashion,” she said. “I’ve never been one to follow what other people are doing. … I just had my own personality, my own thought of who I was and how I wanted to look. I laugh out loud when people say I’m a fashion icon ’cause I never intended for that to happen.”

On her confidence

“I often say I’m comfortable in my own skin no matter how far I’ve stretched it as the years go by,” she told O’Donnell. “But I think there’s a lot to be said about being comfortable with who you are ’cause I don’t know how to be anybody else. I don’t want to be anybody else.”

On songwriting

“I’m not a genius. That just runs in my blood,” Parton told O’Donnell about her songwriting. “I have a gift of rhyme. … I always, to make a joke, I said, ‘I’ve got at least 3,000 songs and three good ones.’ That’s pretty much true.”

She often said songwriting was natural for her.

“I couldn’t stop writing songs if I wanted to,” she said.

On “I Will Always Love You”

If people mistakenly thought “I Will Always Love You” was Whitney Houston’s song, Parton said she doesn’t take offense.

“I say, ‘You got that right,’” she said in 2016. “And other people they kind of say, ‘No, that’s Dolly Parton’s song.’ I said, ‘Look, she can have the credit. I just want the cash.’ And I made plenty of it all off of Whitney, thank God.”

On her spirituality

“I live my spirituality, you know, that’s how you practice it mostly. You just live it and be it,” she said in 2023. “The kingdom of heaven is inside. It’s right inside of you and you can draw from that, that wisdom, whether you call it God or higher wisdom or a higher knowing. There’s something bigger than you. I just think you just need to claim it and live it. And you can apply that to whatever you do. I don’t think you have to be a saint. I don’t think you have to be so strict that you can’t have fun. You know, it’s all about the intent of your heart.”

On never having children

Parton told CBS News’ Tony Dokoupil in 2019 she didn’t regret not having children.

“It wasn’t meant to be. And I don’t regret it. I never regretted it,” she said. “I mean, it was a choice. So, you make your choices, you make your sacrifices, and I never looked back. I knew early on that I was going to walk that road ’til God told me to stop. And I’m still walking it, and He ain’t said nothing to me about quitting yet.”

On being mysterious

“I tell everything I feel that the people need to know and I’m honest in what I say. I just don’t always tell everything I know. If you didn’t think to ask it, I ain’t going to volunteer it. I have to save some for me,” she said in 2023.

On always dreaming

“I never know what’s next. I always say that I wake up with new dreams every day and the people that work around me say, ‘Yeah, I know, your dreams are about to kill us,’” she joked in 2023. “I’m always dreaming. I’m always doing, and I hope to do that ’til the day I die.”

On her legacy

“I’d like to be thought of as a decent human being,” Parton told CBS News’ Anthony Mason in 2024. “When you think of me when I’m gone, I’d like you to smile, to think, ‘Oh, she was funny,’ or ‘Oh, she had a good sense of humor, you know, when she was sad, she’d make a joke about it.’”

She said she wanted to be known as “just a regular person.”

“I always say I’m a workhorse that looks like a show horse,” she said. “I just hope I leave something good behind for other people to enjoy and to draw from.”

Trump scores federal court win against House progressive accused of assaulting ICE

August 26, 2026 1:39pm EDT / Fox News

Biden- and Trump-appointed judges ruled McIver cannot get the case thrown out on legislative immunity grounds

By Elizabeth Elkind, Fox News

Lawmakers clash over immigration enforcement at Delaney Hall Detention Center

Lawmakers clash at a House Judiciary Committee hearing over immigration enforcement and conditions at New Jersey’s Delaney Hall Detention Center. Bill Melugin reports as Republicans reject what they call ‘false narratives’ about ICE’s treatment of detainees, while Democrats point to alleged inhumane conditions and hunger strikes at the facility on ‘Special Report.’

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

A federal judge appointed by former President Joe Biden is siding with the Trump administration in refusing to dismiss a case against a House Democrat accused of assaulting federal immigration officers.

Two of the three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit refused to dismiss the Department of Justice (DOJ) case against Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., stemming from a 2025 incident at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Newark, New Jersey.

An unannounced visit to the Delaney Hall detention center by a group of Democratic officials devolved into chaos in May 2025 that culminated in a physical standoff between federal lawmakers and ICE agents and the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. McIver was charged with three counts, including assaulting and impeding federal officers.

FIVE ANTI-ICE AGITATORS ARRESTED DURING CHAOTIC DELANEY HALL CONFRONTATIONS CAUGHT ON VIDEO

President Donald Trump listens as administration officials speak during an event in the Oval Office of the White House on Oct. 16, 2025, in Washington, D.C.(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

She attempted to get the case thrown out, arguing that she is immune from prosecution because her actions were part of her official duties as a member of Congress.

She also accused the DOJ of unfairly singling her out, with her congressional office calling the charges “vindictive.”

DOJ VOWS TO APPEAL AFTER JUDGE DISMISSES SMUGGLING CHARGES AGAINST KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA AS ‘VINDICTIVE’

But the 2-1 decision, made by Biden-appointed Judge Cindy Chung and Trump-appointed Judge Stephanos Bibas, stated that McIver’s argument of legislative immunity would not stand for two of the three counts, while the third count was sent back to a lower court for further review.

Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., demands the release of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka after his arrest while protesting outside an ICE facility on May 9, 2025, in Newark, N.J.(Angelina Katsanis/AP)

Court documents say McIver allegedly “slammed her forearm” into a federal officer trying to arrest Baraka. On that count, the federal appellate court agreed with a lower court decision that her “alleged intervention into the Mayor’s questionable arrest had no cognizable connection to any legislative function” protected by the Constitution.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HAS LOST OR ABANDONED HUNDREDS OF LAWSUITS AGAINST ANTI-ICE PROTESTERS, MIGRANTS: REPORT

The second count alleged that McIver used both of her forearms to “strike [an officer] as she returned inside of the secured area of Delaney Hall.”

The two judges wrote, “Like the acts charged in Count One, the acts of pushing past and forcibly striking someone are unambiguously non-legislative: they are not integral to the legislative process.”

Protesters gather outside the federal immigration center at Delaney Hall, where ICE is housing detained illegal immigrants, on June 3, 2026, in Newark, New Jersey.(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Judge Thomas Ambro wrote in dissent, “When an Executive Branch official prevents a Member from entering a DHS facility, she is denied effective access to an oversight inspection.”

McIver herself said in a statement that “the court got it wrong.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“Today’s decision chills that authority and emboldens the Trump administration to continue persecuting our most vulnerable communities, those who try to defend them, and anyone who dares hold the president or his lackeys accountable. I will not fold to this administration. We are exploring every possible option. The administration will not stop me from doing my job or standing for what is right. This is not over,” McIver said.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6401864985112

Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell calls tariff conflict between U.S. and Canada ‘simply outrageous’

1:46 PM EDT, Wed August 26, 2026 / CNN

By Wolf Blitzer, CNN

Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell calls tariff conflict between U.S. and Canada “simply outrageous”

Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan joins CNN’s Wolf Blitzer to discuss the escalating tariff conflict between the U.S. and Canada after talks to resolve the economic dispute fell apart.

8:12 • Source: CNN

Canada’s tariffs target certain U.S. states. See which regions are most vulnerable.

August 26, 2026 / 3:26 PM EDT / CBS News

By Megan Cerullo Reporter, MoneyWatch
Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting.

Read Full Bio

Canadian trade officials acknowledge that the country’s retaliatory tariffs of up to 50% on $20 billion in American goods are intended to exert pressure on the Trump administration by targeting key U.S. states. Although the negotiators haven’t identified those regions, the tariffs could hit states in the Midwest and Northeast particularly hard, according to economists’ analysis of Canada’s new import duties and state export data.

“We are picking products that will target states in the U.S.,” Melanie Joly, Canada’s industry minister, said Tuesday in announcing the tariffs. “We’re being wise and strategic to put political pressure, and that’s why we think it’s ‌the right thing to do right now.”

Canada’s tit-for-tat tariffs are the latest volley in a widening trade war pitting two longtime allies against each other, a fight that experts say could hurt both countries economically. The conflict comes after the Trump administration announced 50% tariffs on Canadian products following failed negotiations. On Monday, President Trump also announced 50% tariffs on Canadian automotive and steel imports that, absent a deal, would take effect on Jan. 1, 2027.

Canada’s tariffs appear designed to put pressure on U.S. states with competitive midterm elections, economists said. The import duties will be applied to more than 800 types of U.S. goods, impacting everything from American-made cheddar cheese to steel and aluminum products, potentially hurting dairy producers in Wisconsin and Vermont and manufacturers in Michigan and Indiana.

Canada is the top customer for exports from 27 U.S. states, Canadian government data shows. While North Dakota is the state most reliant on trade with Canada, excluding fuel products, a large share of its exports consists of soybeans, wheat and other agricultural products, which are exempt from Canada’s new tariffs.

Michigan, Indiana and other states with large manufacturing sectors that ship goods to Canada are likely to feel a bigger impact than agricultural states like North Dakota because the new tariffs will apply to U.S.-made appliances, steel, aluminum and tools, experts said.

Because Canada’s tariffs roughly mirror those that the U.S. imposed on Canadian goods, they target hundreds of products across different industries in both Republican- and Democratic-leaning states, Mary Lovely, a U.S. trade expert and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told CBS News.

“By nature of what we export to Canada, you’re going to have a differential impact on states, and the tariffs are going to hit a mix of red, blue and purple states,” she said.

The Canadian tariffs, set at rates of 15%, 25% and 50%, are scheduled to take effect on U.S. products on Sept. 8, less than two months before the U.S. general election. That timing is “not lost on the Canadians,” said Ed Gresser, director for trade and global markets at the Progressive Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank.

“Canada buys about one-tenth of all U.S. exports, and they have consulates all over the country, so they know the U.S. economy and U.S. politics very well,” Gresser told CBS News.

Lovely said she thinks Canada hopes to negotiate a trade deal with the U.S. before its retaliatory tariffs take effect on Sept. 8.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Urged to buy Canadian

American goods facing 50% Canadian tariffs include some steel and aluminum products, furniture and clothing. Appliances, dairy products including cheese, fish and other seafood, and certain steel and aluminum derivatives will face 25% tariffs. Existing Canadian counter-tariffs on U.S. autos will also remain in place.

Canadian officials said their goals include protecting the country’s companies and reducing purchases of U.S. imports. The tariffs will make U.S.-made products more expensive for Canadian consumers, spurring some to switch to lower-priced locally made products.

On Tuesday, Joly also urged Canadian consumers to buy products made in Canada, adding that she had spoken with grocers and other retailers to ensure Canadian-made products are clearly identified.

“If you see a Canadian product, please support it,” Joly said in announcing the tariffs. “When you choose a Canadian product, you are not only putting pressure on the U.S., but right now you are protecting jobs.”

Seafood, dairy and vehicles

Some of Canada’s new tariffs target American products produced in states with competitive political races, such as Maine, where Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, is facing Democratic challenger Troy Jackson. Canada on Tuesday said it will apply a 25% tariff on lobsters harvested in the U.S., which Gresser said would be the first Canadian tariff on the crustacean.

“That’s very specific to Maine, and it’s a very emotive industry,” Gresser said. “It’s very much like if you’re from Maine, you’re quite proud of it — it’s what we do, it’s what is special and distinctive about us.”

Alaska, Florida and Massachusetts also export seafood products to Canada that are subject to retaliatory levies.

Meanwhile, Canadian tariffs on U.S. dairy products will affect states such as Wisconsin and Vermont, with Canadians buying 80% of the latter’s cheese and milk exports.

The automobile sector is a key pillar of the U.S.-Canada trade relationship now at risk from the nations’ tariffs and countertariffs, with Canada applying new import duties to motorcycles, tractor-trailers, railroad cars and some auto parts.

“Michigan is very integrated with Ontario. There’s a constant flow of parts back and forth across the border,” Gresser said, noting that Wisconsin and Ohio also export a lot of auto parts and vehicles to Canada.

Impact on Canada’s economy

Canada’s new tariffs could also weigh on its own economy, according to an Aug. 24 analysis from Oxford Economics. Because the tariffs are essentially sales taxes, they could push up Canadian inflation by 0.3 percentage points in 2027 and create an equally large drag on economic growth, the investment advisory firm said.

“This won’t cause a recession, but greater uncertainty about Canada-U.S. trade policy will weigh on the economy,” the economists wrote.

The Canadian officials on Tuesday acknowledged the new tariffs could cause hardship for some domestic businesses and workers, and rolled out plans to extend business loans and unemployment aid to help offset the impact.

“Canadians know how to weather the storm,” Patty Hajdu, Canada’s minister of jobs and families, said on Tuesday. “Sticking together, we can get through anything.”

Edited by Alain Sherter

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Trump says he will look at beef processing regulations, as farmers fight tariff plan

2026-08-26T16:02:20.183Z / Reuters

By Leah Douglas

August 26, 2026 4:02 PM UTC Updated 3 hours ago

Cows sit at the Lubbock Feeders feedlot, that has 350 acres of feedyard pens, in Lubbock, Texas, U.S., April 22, 2026. REUTERS/Annie Rice Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

WASHINGTON, Aug 26 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said ​on the Glenn Beck program that he will look ‌into whether there are too many regulations on beef processing plants, after Beck suggested less regulation would enable farmers and ranchers to do their ​own slaughtering.

The Trump administration has moved to reduce regulation ​across the government.

The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.

Beck asked Trump to “look at the cartel ⁠that is the meat processing cartel” and suggested that reducing ​Department of Agriculture regulation would make it easier for smaller-scale ​ranchers to process their own beef.

“This could be a very good call for ranchers,” Trump said. “I’ve been hearing only bad about – it’s four places, and ​it’s a monopoly.”

Four companies control about 85% of U.S. meat processing: ​Cargill RIC:RIC:CARG.UL; Tyson Foods TSN.N, opens new tab; JBS USA RIC:RIC:JBS.UL; and National Beef Packing Co RIC:RIC:NBEEF.UL. The Justice ‌Department ⁠last year said it was investigating whether meatpacking companies were illegally driving up consumer beef prices.

Trump last week said he plans to temporarily ease tariffs on some beef imports in an attempt to lower record-high ​beef prices. The ​move was ⁠criticized by farm groups, including top farm lobby the American Farm Bureau Federation.

AFBF president Zippy Duvall ​urged Trump in a Tuesday letter to reconsider ​the ⁠plan, arguing it will “undermine America’s ranchers who work tirelessly to grow food for American families.”

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told reporters at the White ⁠House ​on Tuesday that she did not know ​which countries were covered by Trump’s announcement.

Reporting by Bo Erickson, Katharine Jackoson and ​Leah Douglas in Washington; editing by Michelle Nichols and Aurora Ellis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Green New Dodge: El-Sayed runs from policy as newly surfaced deleted posts show years of support

2026-08-26 12:05pm EDT / Fox News

Fox News Digital review of archived social media found the Michigan Senate hopeful repeatedly endorsing the policy by name

By Robert Schmad Fox News

Published August 26, 2026 12:05pm EDT

Abdul El-Sayed: This is the bigger question about cars

Fox News host Jesse Watters spoke to Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed about Green New Deal policies on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime.’

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

blob:https://www.foxnews.com/a31ff989-54f8-4ccd-bc66-8ab68d773eb3

Listen to this article

4 min

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed told Fox News host Jesse Watters on Monday that he would not defend the Green New Deal when confronted with his past support for the progressive climate proposal, a notable shift from years of publicly embracing it by name.

“Look, I’m not going to defend the Green New Deal,” El-Sayed told Watters after the host confronted him over his past support for the proposal. When Watters reiterated that El-Sayed was on record supporting it, El-Sayed redirected the discussion toward lowering energy costs and creating Michigan jobs by prioritizing renewables.

Michigan, which Trump won in 2024 but lost in 2020, is shaping up to have one of the most competitive Senate races in the country, with the likely narrow results in the state potentially determining control of Congress. Critics charge that El-Sayed is downplaying some of his past beliefs and scrubbing his online footprint to appear more moderate, and therefore more palatable, to Michigan voters.

UNEARTHED CLIP EXPOSES MORE ANTI-POLICE RHETORIC AS EL-SAYED GETS GRILLED FOR DELETING SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS

Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed at a campaign event in Detroit, Michigan, on Aug. 2, 2026.

Though El-Sayed declined to defend the Green New Deal in front of a national audience, he previously hasn’t been so shy.

A Fox News Digital review of El-Sayed’s deleted social media posts, preserved via the Internet Archive, uncovered dozens of examples of the Michigan Senate hopeful defending the Green New Deal by name.

“Rather than announcing the next iteration of this or that car at the North American International Auto Show 2019, I’d love to see automakers announce that they support the #GreenNewDeal,” El-Sayed wrote in January of that year.

On the primary campaign trail, Rep. Haley Stevens criticized El-Sayed over his past support for the Green New Deal on the grounds that it could lead to job losses in the automobile manufacturing industry.

FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS: AS DEMOCRATS TURN LEFT, BLACK VOTERS TAP THE BRAKES

Abdul El-Sayed speaks to supporters at his Get Out to Vote rally in Detroit, Mich., on Aug. 3, 2026.(Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images)

“The struggle for the Green New Deal uplifts the struggle for racial justice,” El-Sayed wrote in April 2019.

The Green New Deal is a 2019 progressive policy framework floated by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., that seeks to gradually transition the United States’ electrical grid away from fossil fuels. Their plan has become synonymous with the left-wing faction of the Democratic Party, leading many Democrats running in competitive races to distance themselves from it.

In another post, from September 2019, El-Sayed wrote, “I believe in a Green New Deal” five times in all caps. He also suggested that the Green New Deal is essential to preserve freedom of speech because there can be no First Amendment “without the freedom to breathe the breath you have to take to speak in the first place.”

“The #GreenNewDeal doesn’t center polar bears or glaciers, it centers those children forced to breath (sic.) in corporate pollution in their communities,” El-Sayed wrote. “I stand with the Green New Deal because it stands for those kids.”

WATCH: SURFACED VIDEOS OF DEM SENATE CANDIDATE BACKING ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ CONTRADICT RECENT DENIALS

Abdul El-Sayed speaks before Sen. Bernie Sanders takes the stage at Mumford High School on May 3, 2026, in Detroit, Mich.(Getty Images)

CNN previously reported that El-Sayed scrubbed large swathes of his commentary from the internet prior to announcing his run for Senate. The deletions appear to have been selective, as he still has some posts up from before he launched his campaign.

In his since-deleted social media posts, El-Sayed endorsed the “defund the police” movement, argued cities spent too much policing poverty and described police departments as “standing armies we deploy against our own people.” In a separate YouTube video that was later hidden, he floated replacing the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms with a constitutional right to healthcare and called Border Patrol agents “white supremacists” while blaming American policies for migration from struggling nations.

Though El-Sayed regularly mentioned the Green New Deal on X prior to running for Senate, he has not posted the phrase even once since announcing his candidacy, a review found.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The El-Sayed campaign did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

How worried should the GOP be about two Dan Sullivans on the ballot in Alaska?

2026-08-26T17:01:59.025Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/26/politics/dan-sullivan-alaska-senate-race

The situation that Republicans strove to avoid in Alaska has come to pass: Two Dan Sullivans will appear on the general election ballot for US Senate.

One is an incumbent GOP senator, and the other is a political unknown that the party fears will siphon votes from the senator in a key race for the Senate majority.

But how worried should the GOP be?

In short, history suggests this could hurt the party at least somewhat — but likely only in a very close race.

And Alaska’s unusual ranked-choice system should mitigate some of the potential impact.

Newly reported results in last week’s all-party primary show Dan J. Sullivan, a former school teacher, taking 2.5% of the vote and resting firmly inside the top four alongside GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan (42.6%) and Democratic former Rep. Mary Peltola (48.2%). The last spot is to be determined, with two other candidates at 1.1%.

Republicans would have plenty to fear if this were a normal general election and the other Dan Sullivan appeared on the ballot as an independent or third-party candidate. In that case, it’s easy to see a fair number of voters inadvertently voting for the wrong Dan Sullivan.

But Alaska’s ranked-choice system allows voters to rank multiple candidates. So as long as Dan J. Sullivan’s voters also rank Sen. Dan Sullivan — and rank him ahead of Peltola — the other Dan Sullivan’s votes would filter down to the senator.

Scott Kendall, an Alaska lawyer who spearheaded the state’s adoption of ranked-choice voting in 2020, wrote an op-ed this month making a compelling case that ranked-choice voting will blunt the impact of the other Dan Sullivan.

That’s mainly because while Alaska’s system allows voters to rank multiple candidates, many voters don’t do that.

Many voters will “exhaust” their ballots by not listing backup options — either deliberately or because they are unfamiliar with the process — meaning if their chosen candidate is eliminated, their ballot doesn’t count toward the final matchup.

The state’s limited history with ranked-choice voting suggests a fair number of these voters do exhaust their ballots. And many others don’t rank the backup options that might be logically expected.

Perhaps the best example is the state’s 2024 US House race.

Initially, 1.1% of voters picked Democrat Eric Hafner. When he was eliminated, you might have expected his votes to filter down to the only other Democrat on the ballot, Peltola.

But that’s not what happened with most of them. About one-third of Hafner’s supporters didn’t rank another candidate and exhausted their ballots. A similar proportion ranked Peltola next, and the rest ranked either Republican Nick Begich or a third-party candidate next.

So while 1.1% voted for Hafner, just 0.4% worth of that filtered down to the other Democrat, Peltola.

The state also held two US House races in 2022 — a special election and then the general election. Both featured Peltola and a pair of high-profile Republicans: Begich and former Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP’s 2008 vice presidential nominee.

In both races, around one-quarter of voters initially backed Begich before he was eliminated. And each time, more than 20% of Begich’s voters exhausted their ballots rather than pick an alternative. That amounted to 5-6% of voters overall in both races.

In the special election, only about half of Begich’s voters filtered down to the other Republican, Palin. In November, two-thirds did.

Part of the reason for that, of course, could be how polarizing Palin was. Perhaps Begich’s voters just didn’t want to vote for her or Peltola.

But all told, in the state’s 2022 and 2024 elections for US House and Senate, an average of 28% of a candidate’s voters didn’t rank a backup when that candidate was eliminated.

And only about half of them ranked the candidate you’d most logically expect as a backup — i.e. someone from the same party or someone ideologically closer to their initial choice.

So if Dan J. Sullivan got 2.5% of the vote in November and was eliminated, you might wager about half of that would filter down to Sen. Dan Sullivan.

But it’s not quite so simple.

Just because 2.5% voted for the other Dan Sullivan in the primary doesn’t mean many or even most of them were Republicans who did so mistakenly.

After all, minor candidates do tend to get 1% or 2% of the vote here and there. Some people just don’t want to vote for the major candidates.

There is also a real question from last week’s primary about whether many of the other Dan Sullivan’s votes actually came from Democrats.

He tended to do better in areas where Peltola also did well. So it seems possible that much of his 2.5% vote share was not Republicans, but rather Democrats voting strategically — i.e. trying to get the other Dan Sullivan into the general election to potentially help Peltola.

The confusion factor is also likely reduced by the fact that the other Dan Sullivan, despite being a registered Republican, didn’t appear on the primary ballot as a Republican. Assuming that’s also the case in November, for voters to mix this up, they’d not just have to pick Dan J. Sullivan, but skip over the only Dan Sullivan who is listed as a Republican.

At the same time, the November general election could feature more casual voters who are more likely to get confused.

In other words, it’s difficult to say how this will shake out in November.

It seems quite possible that the other Dan Sullivan’s vote share will drop, after Republicans spend more time educating voters about the differences between him and the senator, and perhaps as Peltola supporters who strategically voted for the other Dan Sullivan in the primary back her in November.

But it’s also possible that a small but significant handful of voters will see “Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.” on their ballot, vote for him thinking he’s the senator, and be done with it — in a way that could matter in a very close (read: decided by considerably less than 1%) race.

And that would be very bad for the national GOP, given Alaska could be the pivotal race for the Senate majority.

In the meantime, also keep an eye on whoever becomes the fourth candidate to emerge from the all-party primary. Republican Gerald Heikes passed Democrat David Leslie overnight for the No. 4 slot.

If it’s the other Dan Sullivan and another Republican on the ballot, this variable looms larger in a close race.

Man convicted in murder of Microsoft exec in plot allegedly involving victim’s ex-wife

August 26, 2026 3:44 PM EDT / CBS/AP

A man accused of arranging the fatal shooting of a Microsoft design manager on a Florida road was convicted Wednesday in a murder-for-hire scheme fueled by a stormy child custody arrangement between the victim and his wealthy ex-wife.

Jared Bridegan was shot four years ago after he got out of his SUV to remove a tire from a road in Jacksonville Beach. The attack stumped police for months as they struggled to understand why someone with no apparent enemies would be killed while his daughter sat nearby in her car seat.

Prosecutors believe he was killed because of ongoing strife with his former wife over the parenting of their twins.

Mario Fernandez Saldana, 38, was convicted on Wednesday of first-degree murder and solicitation of murder after nearly four hours of jury deliberation, according to CBS affiliate WJAX-TV. He’s married to Bridegan’s former wife, Shanna Gardner, whose trial is set to start in September.

Defense attorney James Hill, left, walks in his client, defendant Mario Fernandez Saldana, during his trial on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, at the Duval County Courthouse in Jacksonville, Florida. Doug Engle/The Florida Times-Union via AP, Pool

Prosecutors argued that Bridegan was killed in a “targeted ambush” hatched by Gardner and Saldana, following years of post-marriage strife over religion and how to raise twin children. The victim was driving home with his 2-year-old daughter, Bexley, after having dinner with his twins.

Bridegan was “unarmed, unaware, exposed, vulnerable. He couldn’t have known, on that cold asphalt in February of 2022, the architects of his murder had been making preparations for his death for months,” Assistant State Attorney Christina Stifler said during closing arguments.

She previously told jurors that Gardner did not want her children involved with the Mormon church.

“They fought over everything … It was nasty. It was petty. It was not good on both sides,” the prosecutor said of the relationship.

Defense attorney Jesse Dreicer told jurors that Fernandez Saldana had no motive to have Bridegan killed. Fernandez Saldana and Gardner are estranged, and Gardner moved to Washington state after the killing.

“He certainly gained no benefit from the death of Jared Bridegan,” Dreicer said, noting there was no testimony that Fernandez Saldana told anyone that Bridegan “deserves to die.”

Jared Bridegan Jacksonville Police

The alleged gunman, Henry Tenon, had no personal connection to Bridegan, but he was a former tenant at Fernandez Saldana’s rental property in Jacksonville. Jurors saw three checks totaling $10,000 written to Tenon after the homicide, marked as payments for handyman work and a business idea.

Tenon’s DNA was identified on the rim of the tire that was intentionally placed in the road, police said.

Tenon, 65, initially pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Fernandez Saldana, but he later backed out of the deal and will stand trial next year.

Gardner, 39, is the daughter of the co-founder of Stampin’ Up!, an arts-and-crafts company based in Utah.

Bridegan was shot twice when he stopped his Volkswagen Atlas to remove a tire from the road. He had just returned the twins to Gardner’s home after a “date night” meal. At the time of his death, he was married to Kirsten Bridegan and they had two children.

Kirsten Bridegan told the jury that the post-divorce relationship between her husband and Gardner was “pretty terrible,” adding there was “absolutely no trust.”

In 2022, Kirsten Bridegan founded a nonprofit, the Bridegan Foundation, “to make children’s experiences at police stations a little less traumatic and scary” after her daughter spent hours at the police station without her parents or basic necessities for a toddler.

Millions of barrels of Iranian oil sit beyond Trump blockade as he vows ‘zero leakage’

The floating stockpile tests Treasury’s ‘zero-leakage’ campaign as Tehran seeks to monetize oil already past the blockade

August 26, 2026 2:23pm EDT / Fox News

By Morgan Phillips

Iranian oil operations face ‘nuclear option’ as US blockade traps ships

Fox Business correspondent Lauren Simonetti reveals Iran’s critical oil situation, highlighting why seizing Kharg Island is considered a ‘nuclear option.’ Simonetti presents data showing Iran’s oil storage tanks are 77% full, with 46 Iranian oil ships caught in a US blockade. She details Iran’s ship-to-ship transfer tactics to circumvent sanctions.

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

blob:https://www.foxnews.com/e421f245-1d90-4c1d-8799-6fe40fba4666

Listen to this article

7 min

Far from the U.S. warships enforcing a blockade at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, nearly 40 million barrels of Iranian crude are sitting aboard tankers in waters near Malaysia, east of Singapore.

The cargo amounts to roughly 20 very large crude carriers’ worth of oil, a floating stockpile that could still give Tehran a way to turn crude already outside the blockade zone into cash even as the blockade sharply restricts fresh exports.

The stockpile poses a test for the Trump administration as it moves from military action and a naval blockade toward what the White House calls its financial “endgame” against Tehran.

TRUMP’S IRAN CRACKDOWN ‘SUFFOCATING’ REGIME AS OIL WELLS COULD SHUT WITHIN DAYS, BESSENT SAYS

Oil tankers and cargo ships line up in the Strait of Hormuz as seen from Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026.(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday launched Operation Economic Outcast, promising a “zero-leakage approach” designed to cut off Iran’s remaining sources of revenue after months of pressure on its oil sales, shipping networks and financial enablers.

The blockade appears to be making it substantially harder for Iran to export new oil. China’s imports of Iranian crude have fallen to an estimated 534,000 barrels per day so far this month, down from roughly 823,000 barrels per day in July, according to provisional Kpler data reported by Reuters.

But millions of barrels that moved beyond the blockade line before it tightened remain within potential reach of buyers. Iran has an estimated 80 million barrels of crude held in floating storage, Reuters reported, with roughly half aboard vessels near Malaysia.

That leaves Washington facing a different challenge: stopping Tehran from monetizing oil the blockade did not trap.

If Iran can still turn that crude into cash, the regime can use the proceeds to pay for imports and potentially finance efforts to rebuild its military even as the blockade restricts fresh exports.

That makes the tankers near Malaysia an early test of whether the administration can deliver the “total isolation” it has promised.

CHINA ORDERS FIRMS TO IGNORE US IRAN SANCTIONS, DARING US TO ENFORCE CRACKDOWN

“The blockade as it’s currently being practiced and enforced against isn’t really stopping the flow of Iranian oil that’s already past the blockade line,” Max Meizlish, a former Treasury official focused on sanctions policy and current senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.

Secretary Scott Bessent speaks at a news conference, Monday, Aug. 24, 2026, at the Treasury Department in Washington.(AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Iranian oil can move through ship-to-ship transfers, in which cargo is shifted from one tanker to another at sea. The practice can help obscure the oil’s origin before it reaches a buyer, often an independent Chinese refinery.

Simply having the crude outside the blockade zone does not automatically give Tehran usable revenue. Iran still needs to deliver the oil, collect payment and move the proceeds through the financial channels it has used to evade sanctions.

Treasury has said Iran primarily settles oil sales in Chinese yuan, with exchange houses and front companies helping convert those funds into currencies the regime can use. The department has also previously tied proceeds from Iranian oil sales to the Iranian government, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, weapons development and Tehran’s regional proxies.

Meizlish noted that the administration has continued sanctioning Chinese and Hong Kong trading houses, maritime service providers and other entities accused of enabling Iranian sanctions evasion but has stopped short of designating a Chinese financial institution.

The U.S. cut the bank off from access to the American financial system in 2012 over dealings with Iran, Meizlish said, but stopped short of placing it on Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals list. He argued that formally designating the bank could put pressure on its owner, China National Petroleum Corporation, and potentially disrupt a channel used to move Iranian oil revenue.

[image_5]

A ship passes through the Strait of Hormuz during a two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran on April 8, 2026.(Shady Alassar/Anadolu/Getty Images)

[image_6]

Meizlish noted that the administration has continued sanctioning Chinese and Hong Kong trading houses, maritime service providers and other entities accused of enabling Iranian sanctions evasion, but has so far stopped short of designating a Chinese financial institution.

“Secretary Bessent didn’t mention China by name,” he said, adding that the issue could become a subject of higher-level engagement between Washington and Beijing.

The administration has already targeted the Malaysia route.

In April, Treasury sanctioned the Hong Kong-flagged tanker Lynn, saying the vessel conducted a ship-to-ship transfer of Iranian crude off Malaysia before delivering the cargo to China.

Meizlish said another option would be to expand pressure on shadow-fleet vessels operating near Malaysia and elsewhere in Asia in an effort to keep that oil from ultimately reaching Chinese buyers.

“The U.S. could expand the blockades in that sense by going after shadow fleet tankers, operating, for instance, off the coast of Malaysia, which is a huge hub for illicit ship-to-ship transfers,” he said.

He said the sharp decline in Chinese purchases suggests the pressure campaign is having an effect, but argued that crude already aboard shadow-fleet tankers remains a potential future source of revenue for Tehran.

[image_7]

“There’s a lot more that we can do,” Meizlish said.

“Unless we expect for this regime to ultimately fall, we should be putting a lot of pressure into interdicting this oil that’s on the market right now on shadow fleet tankers, because this money could eventually go into the regime’s pockets down the road,” he said.

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

[image_8]
Video: Analyzing how Iran’s ‘shadow oil network’ evades US sanctions

Asked whether the administration planned further action against Iranian oil cargoes and shadow-fleet vessels near Malaysia, a War Department official told Fox News Digital that U.S. forces would continue “global maritime enforcement” to disrupt illicit networks and interdict sanctioned vessels supporting Iran “wherever they operate, at the time and place of our choosing.”

“Under Operation Economic Outcast, anyone foolish enough to continue doing business with the Iranian regime cannot continue to enjoy access to the global financial system,” a Treasury Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “We will cut every remaining economic lifeline Tehran has.”

Meizlish said money from oil already sitting on shadow-fleet tankers could still wind up in Tehran’s hands and help Iran rebuild military capabilities damaged in the conflict.

Going after those tankers would not be simple. The U.S. Navy is already stretched by operations in the Strait of Hormuz and elsewhere, he said, and seizing ships and their cargo can trigger legal fights over ownership, custody and what happens to the oil afterward.

[image_9]

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Meizlish said Congress could make it easier for the government to seize illicit cargoes. He also argued that Washington should look for ways to expand its capacity to pursue shadow-fleet vessels if the Navy cannot do it alone.

Bessent’s new campaign goes beyond oil, targeting digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping. He also threatened broader secondary sanctions against entities that continue doing business with Tehran.

The drop in Chinese purchases shows Iran is having a harder time getting new oil to market. But millions of barrels are already sitting outside the blockade.

Whether Tehran can still sell that oil, and whether Washington is willing to go after it near Malaysia, will help determine how much “zero leakage” actually means.

Carly Pearce recalls meeting Dolly Parton at 16: “I couldn’t believe she was real”

2026-08-26T12:23:00-0400 / CBS News

By Mark Osborne

Many country singers have shared their remembrances of meeting Dolly Parton after they became stars. But few were actually working at Dollywood when they met the legend.

Country star Carly Pearce met Parton when she was just 16 and performing as part of Dollywood’s Country Crossroads show.

“I remember just staring at her because I couldn’t believe she was real,” Pearce told “CBS Mornings” on Wednesday.

“She’s exactly what everybody wants her to be in real life,” she added.

Parton, whose groundbreaking career spanned six decades, 10 Grammy Awards and millions of fans, died at a Nashville, Tennessee, hospital on Tuesday after a brief battle with cancer, her team said in a statement. She was 80 years old.

Pearce had been part of a special show honoring Parton for her songwriting with the ACM Poet’s Award last Wednesday. Parton recorded a video message for the show, thanking the Academy of Country Music for the award, saying, “Songwriting has always been the most important part of who I am creatively.”

“I never thought of a world where she wouldn’t be here,” Pearce said Wednesday. “It just feels not real to me. I was so saddened. We had just honored her at the ACM Honors this past week. I sang ‘9 to 5’ for her, and she had a little video and was a whole part of our show as the ACM icon. So it was just a really crazy thing.”

Carly Pearce attends the ACM Honors at The Pinnacle on Aug. 19, 2026, in Nashville, Tennessee. Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for ACM

Parton was also wildly successful as a businesswoman, even though she was often underestimated in a financial world led by men. She owned the publishing rights to all of her music, which generated millions of dollars. In fact, Whitney Houston’s massively popular recording of “I Will Always Love You” benefited Parton to the tune of many millions alone.

Country singer Lauren Alaina told “CBS Mornings” she was lucky enough to pick Parton’s brain about her business empire several times.

“I asked her her best advice for me, and she said, ‘Never put the career first. Put God first, then your family, then the career.’ And she said, ‘It’s really worked for me,’” Alaina said. “I remember being so in awe of her career. And it really was such an impactful thing for me.”

Another success for Parton turned out to be the unheralded purchase of a local theme park in western Tennessee. Parton’s purchase in the 1980s of the park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, turned into the highly successful Dollywood where Pearce would later work.

“What I find to be really inspiring is, you think about that she was 80, and for decades she continued to raise the bar,” Pearce told “CBS Mornings.” “Look at everything she’s got going on right now — a musical, a new hotel in Nashville, her travel gas station in Tennessee. I mean, the woman never stopped. At 80. And you just go, ‘There is something to be said for always pushing and never thinking that you’ve quote-unquote made it.’”