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1 Trump, Biden Win Michigan Primaries
The outcome of yesterday’s Michigan presidential primary was what everyone expected, but there were still some things that give the two leading candidates cause for concern. President Joe Biden handily won the Democratic primary with over 80-percent of the vote with roughly half of the ballots counted last night, and former President Donald Trump defeated his sole remaining serious challenger Nikki Haley by roughly 40-percent. The concerning facts for both men? In the case of Trump, Haley captured over 27-percent of the vote with 59-percent of the ballots counted. Earlier this week, Haley’s campaign was saying that just 10-percent of the ballots going to her would be a huge victory for her campaign, and she almost tripled that amount. For President Biden, there were two concerning parts of the results as they stood last night around midnight. First, the “Uncommitted” votes were running just over 13-percent of the total vote, at least three times as many uncommitted votes as were cast in previous primaries. Also, Trump’s total votes were over 100,000 more than Biden’s in their respective primaries in Michigan.
2 Lawmakers See A Path To Avoiding Government Shutdown After Meeting With President Biden
Top congressional leaders from the Democrat and Republican parties met with President Biden at the White House to discuss avoiding a government shutdown before the Saturday deadline, both sides seeming optimistic about finding a solution to keeping the government open beyond March 1st. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Mike Johnson described the meeting as productive and intense with the mission to move forward on government funding and supplemental foreign aid packages. Schumer says Johnson is committed to avoiding a shutdown and suggested passing a short-term measure to fund the government temporarily. Despite disagreements over policy riders within the legislation, lawmakers are working towards approving funding bills for this year as well as figuring out where to land on supplemental funding for Ukraine, Israel, and humanitarian assistance.
3 Smokehouse Creek Fire in Texas Burns 300,000 Acres and 0% Contained
An out-of-control wildfire is threatening Texas Panhandle towns and forcing residents to evacuate. Meanwhile, several other wildfires are burning nearby, fueled by high winds and dry air. And the flames jumped into bordering Oklahoma communities Tuesday night, prompting evacuation orders there, too. The Smokehouse Creek Fire has scorched more than 300,000 acres of land since igniting Monday afternoon, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. Parts of Texas' Hemphill and Roberts counties were under evacuation orders or shelter-in-place advisories Tuesday as the fire encroached on populated areas. That included the Hemphill County city of Canadian, whose residents about 100 miles northeast of Amarillo were advised to shelter where they were.