10 things you need to know today: April 7, 2016

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1. Clinton and Trump try to regain momentum in New York
2. Country music icon Merle Haggard dies at 79
3. U.S. to demand banks identify shell-company owners
4. Another secular blogger killed by machete-wielding attackers in Bangladesh
5. Fed leaders discussed April rate hike, minutes show
6. Newtown teacher charged with carrying gun at middle school
7. Former coal executive sentenced to 1 year for dodging mine safety rules
8. Faulty Takata airbag blamed for girl's death
9. Video shows Texas officer body-slamming 6th grade girl
10. Judge rejects Kesha's case against Dr. Luke

published 7 April 2016

1. Clinton and Trump try to regain momentum in New York

Hillary Clinton sharply questioned Sen. Bernie Sanders' credentials on Wednesday, ratcheting up her rhetoric after losing six of the last seven contests to him in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Sanders responded by saying that Clinton is the one "not qualified" to be president. Clinton and the GOP frontrunner, Donald Trump, shifted their focus to New York on Wednesday, where both lead polls and hope to regain momentum in the state's April 19 presidential primaries after losing in Wisconsin on Tuesday.

Country music legend Merle Haggard died at his California home after a bout with pneumonia, his manager confirmed Wednesday. He died on his 79th birthday. Over a six-decade career, Haggard piled up 38 No. 1 country hits and influenced generations of performers. Willie Nelson said Haggard was "one of the best" songwriters in the business. His hits, including the Vietnam-era anthem "Okie of Muskogee," "Mama Tried," "Swinging Doors," and "The Bottle Let Me Down" earned him a spot in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

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The U.S. plans to require banks to seek to identify the owners of shell-company accounts. The Treasury Department has been working on the rule for years, but is pushing to send it to the White House for review in response to the Panama Papers scandal. The rule would be the latest U.S. step to close loopholes sheltering wealthy and powerful people looking to hide wealth offshore. The U.S. and other governments are investigating the 11.5 million Panama Papers documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossak Fonseca, one of the largest incorporators of shell companies.

Assailants attacked and killed law student and blogger Nazimuddin Samad on his way home from class on Wednesday night, police in Dhaka, Bangladesh, said Thursday. The killers hacked Samad, 28, with machetes, then shot him. He was the sixth secular writer or publisher killed in such an attack since the beginning of 2015. A banned Islamist group, Ansarullah Bangla Team, claimed responsibility for some of the attacks. Police said the three or four assailants have not been identified.

Federal Reserve policy makers discussed raising interest rates in April during their last meeting, but most appeared to think that global economic troubles called for taking a slower approach, according to minutes of the March meeting released Wednesday. Fed leaders are forecasting two small rate hikes this year, but they have not said when they would make the increases. The minutes suggested the central bank is unlikely to raise rates again before June.

A teacher was arrested Wednesday for carrying a concealed gun at a middle school in Newtown, Connecticut, the town where a gunman killed 26 children and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. The teacher, Jason M. Adams, has a valid state pistol permit, but police charged him with illegal possession of a weapon on school grounds. Administrators of the school system called the matter "very serious and troubling." Adams, 46, has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

Ex-coal baron Donald Blankenship was sentenced to a year in prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiring to evade mine-safety rules. The scheme was uncovered in an investigation of an explosion that killed 29 miners at Massey Energy Corp.'s Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia six years ago. U.S. District Judge Irene Berger denied the former mining executive's request to remain free pending appeals of his misdemeanor conviction. Blankenship denied scheming to dodge regulations and speed up coal production.

Another death is being blamed on an exploding Takata airbag. A 17-year-old girl, Huma Hanif, was driving near Houston last week when her 2002 Honda Civic rear-ended another vehicle and her airbags deployed. Shrapnel hit her in the neck and killed her, Sheriff's Deputy Danny Beckworth said Wednesday. The deputy, who investigated the crash, said "everybody would have walked away" if it had not been for the airbag. Ten U.S. deaths have been blamed on the faulty airbag inflators, and 14 automakers have recalled 24 million U.S. vehicles to replace them.

A Texas school police officer was placed on leave Wednesday after a video emerged on social media showing him body-slamming a 12-year-old girl at a middle school. The officer, Joshua Kehm, reportedly intervened when the girl, 6th grader Janissa Valdez, and another girl became verbally aggressive toward each other at Rhodes Middle School on March 29. A spokeswoman for the San Antonio Independent School District called the video "very disturbing" and said the district is investigating.

A New York judge on Wednesday threw out pop singer Kesha's request to be freed from her contract with Sony and her producer, Dr. Luke, who she claims drugged and raped her. New York Supreme Court Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich said she lacked jurisdiction and physical evidence. Kornreich also rejected Kesha's claim that the alleged assault amounted to a hate crime under New York law, saying in the ruling, "Every rape is not a gender-motivated hate crime."

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.