NATIONAL

“Kasich and Cruz quietly work to persuade delegates to break with GOP voters in a contested convention.” – Politico

“First, he caught heat for doing the wave alongside Cuba’s dictator — while the rest of the world was watching images of ISIS carnage in Brussels. Now, new images of President Obama doing the tango – albeit a bit awkwardly – in Buenos Aires are further fueling an ‘optics’ problem as he defends the decision to go on with the diplomatic program in Latin America despite this week’s horrific events in Belgium.” – Fox News

“Trump has a solution to terrorism. You can bet it’s the best solution to terrorism, ever. Frankly, you would be amazed at how great his solution to terrorism is.” – Red State

“Tonight, when Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) kicks off his campaign for Wisconsin’s April 5 presidential primary, he will head to conservative Waukesha County and talk with a conservative radio host. There’s a reason for that. In a typical day here, in the suburbs of Milwaukee, Republicans can spin their radio dials and have their pick of anti-Donald Trump commentary.” – Washington Post

“Belgium’s government is a hodgepodge with dueling, uncooperative intelligence agencies.” – Slate.com

“The Republican field has narrowed and so has the race for the party’s nomination: front-runner Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are within the margin of error in a new Fox News national poll on the 2016 election.” – Fox News

“Asked during a closed beta whether or not she’d kill baby Hitler, ‘Tay,’ Microsoft’s AI-powered chatbot, replied with a simple ‘of course.’ But after 24 hours conversing with the public, Tay’s dialogue took a sudden and dramatic turn. The chatbot, which Microsoft claims to have imbued with the personality of a teenage American girl, began tweeting her support for genocide and denying the Holocaust.” – Buzz Feed

“Iraqi armed forces launched an offensive to capture villages in the region around the city of Mosul from the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) on Thursday, with the support of U.S. air cover, according to a military statement read on Iraqi state television.” – News Week

“Last summer we were already watching the debate over Puerto Rico’s failing finances boil over as their governor threatened US lawmakers with electoral consequences if their municipalities and state run utility companies weren’t allowed to declare bankruptcy. That’s a tall order to fulfill because current law treats the territory differently from the fifty states, forbidding them from doing so to escape their debts. Amending those laws to create a special allowance for them is currently under debate in Congress, but it’s unclear if there is sufficient support for the measure. The bankruptcy question reached the Supreme Court this week, with Puerto Rico’s chief creditors for their utilities arguing that they shouldn’t be stiffed on the money owed. Given the straight forward wording of the law, this one appeared to be a no brainer until, as Noah Feldman of Yahoo Finance News describes it, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor stepped in and basically argued Puerto Rico’s case for them.” – Hot Air

“The terrorists responsible for the attack in Brussels may have also been considering an assault on a nuclear power plant.” – The Blaze

LOUISIANA

“Who cares about any budget crisis in Louisiana?  After all, it’s important that the Bayou State’s new governor and legislature set priorities.  And they apparently have.  They were not able to balance the state budget in a recent special session.  But many lawmakers were quite busy raising campaign dollars for future elections and other political activities.” – Bayou Buzz

“The third part of a public records request that was not filled and lead to the arrest of WBRZ Chief Investigator Chris Nakamoto Wednesday was released to the station’s news department Thursday morning.” – WBRZ.com

“An LSU student is safely back in Baton Rouge after a close call in Brussels during the terrorist attacks.” – WAFB.com

“House lawmakers overwhelmingly decided to keep in place vetoes from the governor that added about $4 million to Louisiana’s budget hole.” – Fox8Live.com

“The state Republican Party is outraged that ‘they’ passed $1 billion in taxes during the final eight minutes of the just-completed special session.” – The Baton Rouge Advocate

“Protesters opposed to drilling in the Gulf of Mexico disrupted an oil and gas lease sale Wednesday, chanting and waving signs as government officials read bids from companies for the right to explore and develop fossil fuels offshore.” – KSWO.com

“Police detained WBRZ reporter Chris Nakamoto while Nakamoto was pursuing a story on town government operations Wednesday.” – WBRZ.com

“The Benson power struggle seems headed to the Louisiana Supreme Court.” – Fox8Live.com

“Helen Arlt, a longtime jazz aficionadio who, as president of the New Orleans Jazz Club hosted Louis Armstrong during one of last performances here, died Sunday. She was 94.” – WWLTV.com