Dorothy Abernathy, regional media director of The Associated Press, shares 10 things you need to know Tuesday, March 7, 2017. Look for full stories on these late-breaking news items and much more in West Virginia newspapers.
1. HOUSE GOP RELEASE BILL TO REPEAL OBAMACARE
The Republican plan is expected to cover fewer than the 20 million people insured now under the Affordable Care Act.
2. TRUMP ISSUES REVISED TRAVEL BAN
The new order leaves Iraq off the banned list, but still affects would-be visitors and immigrants from Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Libya, and bars refugees for four months.
3. WHERE TRUMP COULD GET ANSWERS TO UNFOUNDED WIRETAP CLAIM
“The intelligence community works for the president,” says former Justice Dept. official Todd Hinnen, “so all he’d have to do is ask.”
4. NKOREA MISSILE TEST ADDS PRESSURE ON WHITE HOUSE
The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to deploy a missile defense system in South Korea, says Press secretary Sean Spicer.
5. HOW BEN CARSON REFERS TO SLAVES
“There were other immigrants who came here on the bottom of slave ships,” the new housing secretary says, drawing sharp criticism for the comparison.
6. WHAT HIGH COURT SAYS ABOUT TRANSGENDER CASE
Justices back out of a case of a transgender Virginia high school student who sued to use the boys’ bathroom, leaving the rights issue to lower courts.
7. A HOST WHO FORGED ‘PROFOUND LINK TO MOVIE LOVERS’
That’s how colleague Ben Mankiewicz praises Robert Osborne, the genial face of Turner Classic Movies, who has died at 84.
8. 5-YEAR-OLD WINS OKLA. SPELLING BEE
Edith Fuller wins the Tulsa-area contest by correctly spelling “jnana” (juh-nah-nuh), which refers to Hindu meditation.
9. MUSHERS SET OUT ON 1,000-MILE IDITAROD
A lack of snow forces the start of the dogsled race to be changed from the Anchorage area to Fairbanks.
10. WHEN LEBRON CRIES
The NBA superstar reveals he’s gotten teary-eyed watching “The Lion King.”