It’s Thursday! Only one day to the weekend, so start making all your fun plans. But first wake up with these news headlines.
1. Cruzy doozies
Donald Trump, who was uncharacteristically polite about losing the Iowa caucuses on Monday night, is back in mid-season form. He told an Arkansas crowd on Wednesday night that Ted Cruz stole the caucuses by telling voters that Ben Carson had dropped out of the race in the hopes of siphoning those voters for himself. (For what it’s worth, Carson has also raised some questions about the ethics of Cruz’s statements.) Cruz, for his part, is getting a lot of mileage from his new joke about “Trumper tantrums.” — The New York Times
2. All politics is local
Black Lives Matters activist DeRay Mckesson is running for the mayor of Baltimore. Mckesson made a name for himself as a leader in the new civil rights movement after Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson; Baltimore has also been a focus for the movement after the death of Freddie Gray in police custody. He’ll run as a Democrat in what’s shaping up to be a crowded race. — Slate
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3. Good to go
A judge ruled yesterday that Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case can proceed, despite a prosecutor’s promise more than a decade ago that Cosby would not be charged. Cosby is accused of drugging and assaulting a young Temple University staff member. In the civil suit the young woman filed, Cosby said he had procured Quaaludes in order to have sex with women. — The New York Times
4. Town hall face-off
Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton met at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire last night, where they took questions that re-trod old questions about their records and their respective electability. Clinton faced a familiar grilling on her vote for the Iraq War; Sanders had to discuss police brutality and racial injustice, a terrain that Clinton has staked out as her own. — CNN
5. Finally
Robert Durst has pled guilty to possessing a firearm, setting the stage for a possible trial for the murder of his friend Susan Berman. Durst, long a suspect in several murders, was the subject of a six-part HBO documentary The Jinx, which detailed the deaths of his first wife, Kathleen, Berman and his neighbor Morris Black. Durst is the scion of a New York real estate magnate. — The New York Times
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6. Reply all, at least until November
Hillary Clinton’s emails are in the news again, this time because a few of them on her personal server contained references to undercover intelligence officers. Last week, 22 of the emails were withheld from the public because they referenced “top secret” information — but opinions differ as to whether the info was really top secret or not. What’s certain: “Clinton’s emails” promises to dog Clinton’s campaign for months to come. — NBC News
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7. Jeb?
Jeb Bush, formerly branded as Jeb!, has been filmed asking an audience in New Hampshire to “please clap” after he wrapped up a sort-of impassioned speech about what he would and wouldn’t do as the commander in chief: He said the next president needs to be a “lot quieter” and get back in the business of creating a more peaceful world. Evidently this didn’t pack the emotional wallop of say, “Bomb Iran,” because the audience remained just as quiet as the candidate says he’d be as president, and Jeb! had to cue them on a round of applause. — Talking Points Memo
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