Joe Biden’s path to the Democratic presidential nomination widened significantly Tuesday with commanding victories in Mississippi, Missouri and Michigan, a state that his rival Bernie Sanders won four years ago.
The former vice president’s solid win in Michigan came in a state Sanders was depending on both to bolster his case going forward and for the practical delegate math involved.
Biden and Sanders canceled campaign rallies Tuesday night because of the spread of coronavirus, a rare example of an external event bringing a presidential race to a temporary halt.
At the least, Biden and Sanders now have plenty of money to continue television and social media advertising in coming primary states. They will need it for a lineup of states that includes Illinois, Ohio, Florida and Arizona.
A federal court in Cincinnati will hear complex legal arguments Wednesday for and against Ohio’s Down syndrome abortion ban in a case viewed as pivotal in the national debate over the procedure.
Attorneys for the government contend in legal filings that the sidelined 2017 law does not infringe on a woman’s constitutional rights — because it “does not prohibit any abortions at all.”
That was certainly not how the measure’s proponents in the Ohio Legislature saw it, the Ohio law prohibits physicians from performing an abortion if they’re aware that a diagnosis of Down syndrome, or the possibility, is influencing the decision. Those who defy the ban would face a fourth-degree felony charge, be stripped of their medical license and be held liable for legal damages. The pregnant woman faces no criminal liability under the law.
The University of St. Thomas announced in-person classes will continue as normal as of Tuesday, March 10, even as several universities across the country transition to online classes because of COVID-19 concerns.
“Our University Action and Response team has been meeting daily to prepare contingency plans that will allow the campus to respond appropriately if the situation escalates,” according to an update on the university’s Health Services website.
Those contingency plans include shifting coursework online, ensuring self-quarantine or self-monitoring individuals are accommodated, and other measures.
Althea Larson can be reached at lars2360@stthomas.edu.