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Thursday, March 5

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BERNIE: FULL SPEED AHEAD AFTER STUMBLE His front-runner status slipping, Bernie Sanders refocused his Democratic presidential campaign on surging rival Joe Biden, bashing Biden on trade, fundraising and Social Security. Sanders declared himself “neck and neck” with Biden and said Democratic voters need to ask themselves "which side are you on."  [AP]

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SANDERS DEFLECTS TO 'PEOPLE OF COLOR' ON SAGGING BLACK SUPPORT Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) avoided reflecting on his general lack of support among Black voters by touting his performance with “people of color” in an interview the day after he received few Black votes in 14 states’ primaries. "In California, if my memory is correct, we received 39% of the votes of people of color, which were Latinos, Asian Americans and African Americans,” said Sanders. [HuffPost]

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TRUMP CLAIMS PEOPLE COULD GO TO WORK WITH VIRUS President Donald Trump continued trying to downplay the coronavirus threat, suggesting during an interview on Fox News that many people with mild coronavirus symptoms could still go to work and get better. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance states that people with COVID-19 who do not need hospitalization should restrict all activities outside the home excluding seeking medical care. [HuffPost]

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CALIFORNIA DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY, HOLDS CRUISE SHIP OFFSHORE California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency as coronavirus cases surged and said a cruise ship was being held off the coast near San Francisco after passengers and crew members fell ill. All on board will be tested for COVID-19. A 71-year-old man who died Wednesday of coronavirus in California had been a passenger on the same ship in mid-February. [HuffPost]

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TAVIS SMILEY MUST PAY PBS $1.5 MILLION IN ME TOO LAWSUIT A jury decided that former television talk show host Tavis Smiley must pay about $1.5 million to his former employer, the Public Broadcasting Service. Smiley was suspended in December 2017 and later fired after the network said it had received multiple, credible allegations of misconduct by Smiley on his late-night interview show. [HuffPost]

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JAVIER PÉREZ DE CUÉLLAR DEAD AT 100 Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, the two-term United Nations secretary-general who brokered a historic ceasefire between Iran and Iraq in 1988 and who in later life came out of retirement to help reestablish democracy in his Peruvian homeland, has died. He was 100. “Mr. Pérez de Cuéllar’s life spanned not only a century but also the entire history of the United Nations,” said current U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. [AP]

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WHAT'S BREWING

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MOLSON COORS GUNMAN WAS TARGET OF WORKPLACE RACISM 

The Molson Coors Brewery in Milwaukee where an employee fatally shot five co-workers and himself last week has reportedly long dealt with workplace racism, including a noose placed on the gunman’s locker in 2015. It was removed before the killer, who was Black, could see it, but he was notified about it. [HuffPost]

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UK AIRLINE FLYBE COLLAPSES AMID CORONAVIRUS Struggling airline Flybe has said coronavirus “made a difficult situation worse” after it went bust early Thursday. The carrier was saved from going out of business earlier this year but has been unable to obtain a government loan to keep it afloat. [HuffPost]

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TEXAS OFFICIALS HAVE ALREADY RIGGED THE 2020 ELECTION 

Texas Democrats chose to award a plurality of their convention delegates to former Vice President Joe Biden. But people were forced to wait hours to vote on Super Tuesday, in part because for several years, the state has systematically closed polling places in communities with large and growing Black and Latino populations. It casts doubt on whether Democrats can turn the state blue in 2020, regardless of whom they nominate. [HuffPost]

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SCHUMER REBUKED OVER ABORTION RULINGS REMARK Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts castigated Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) after the lawmaker harshly criticized two conservative justices as they consider how to rule on a restrictive abortion law from Louisiana. Schumer pledged that Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh -- both Trump appointees -- would “pay the price” if they voted to uphold the law. [HuffPost]

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BAHAMAS COULD PERMIT OFFSHORE DRILLING The Bahamas looks poised to greenlight drilling for oil in waters about 150 miles from South Florida just months after Hurricane Dorian ravaged the island nation and caused a major spill on Grand Bahama island. The Bahamas Petroleum Co.'s venture would coincide with the 10-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which released more than 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. [HuffPost]

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UTAH UNIVERSITY KEEPS SAME-SEX ROMANCE BAN 

Brigham Young University in Utah reiterated that “same-sex romantic behavior” is not allowed on campus — dashing the hopes of LGTBTQ students who thought they could be more open. The university, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said it was clarifying a misinterpretation after it dropped a section of the code banning behavior that reflected “homosexual feelings.” [AP]

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