10 things you need to know today: May 17, 2016

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1. Clinton and Sanders battle for delegates in Kentucky and Oregon
2. Supreme Court sends ObamaCare birth control challenge back to lower courts
3. U.S. backs arming Libya's new unity government
4. Obama awards Medal of Valor to 13 law enforcement officers
5. Kasich rules out third-party bid for White House
6. Waze challenges Uber and Lyft with carpooling app
7. Fallout from chaotic Nevada Democratic convention continues
8. Judge orders desegregation of Mississippi town's schools
9. Report to suggest engineer was distracted ahead of deadly Amtrak crash
10. Bison calf euthanized at Yellowstone after tourists put it in car

published 17 May 2016

1. Clinton and Sanders battle for delegates in Kentucky and Oregon

Kentucky and Oregon hold Democratic presidential primaries on Tuesday, with polls showing both races to be competitive. Frontrunner Hillary Clinton hopes to firm up her lead going into a likely general election matchup with presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Bernie Sanders is hoping for strong showings to build on recent wins and keep his campaign alive. Clinton has 94 percent of the delegates she needs to win the nomination. Oregon Republicans also vote, but Trump is the only GOP candidate still running.

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to rule on a challenge to ObamaCare's contraceptive coverage mandate, voting unanimously to send the case back to lower courts to seek a compromise without commenting on its merits. Religious nonprofits, such as charities and hospitals, are objecting to the health care law's requirement to provide free birth control. Legal analysts interpreted the Supreme Court move as an effort to avoid another 4-4 split on a crucial issue in the absence of a replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

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The U.S. and other world powers on Monday said they were prepared to arm and train Libya's new unity government to fight the Islamic State and other militant groups. The fragile government has no control over regions dominated by Islamist fighters and rival militias. The U.S., the four other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and more than 15 other nations said they backed exemptions to a U.N. arms embargo to allow arms deliveries to the Government of National Accord.

President Obama on Monday awarded the Public Safety Medal of Valor to 13 law enforcement officers for showing exceptional courage despite threats to their own safety. "It was your courage and quick thinking that gave us our safety," Obama said at the White House ceremony. "Although, this particular moment for which you are being honored is remarkable... we know everyday you go out there, you have a tough job." The award is the highest honor for bravery awarded to police and other law enforcement agents.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), who was the last GOP candidate to give up the race against Donald Trump, said Monday that he would not launch a third-party bid for the White House. Republicans trying to recruit someone to run against Trump had contacted Kasich, but he said "running third-party doesn't feel right. I think it's not constructive." Kasich made his plans clear in an interview with CNN, although his advisers had already told The Washington Post he would not launch an independent bid.

Google's Waze traffic navigation app announced Monday that it is testing a carpooling app in the latest challenge to Uber. In the test, the app — Waze Rider — will let more than 25,000 employees at select companies in the San Francisco Bay Area hitch rides with Waze drivers with similar commutes. Google purchased Waze for $1 billion in 2013, setting up a showdown against ride-sharing powerhouses Uber and Lyft, which have their own carpooling options allowing riders to cut their trip costs.

The Nevada Democratic Party kept its offices closed for security reasons on Monday after receiving threats over a divisive state party convention over the weekend. Supporters of Bernie Sanders were accused of making death threats against Nevada Democratic Party chairwoman Roberta Lange after they said party leaders rigged the convention results to give more delegates to Hillary Clinton, who got seven more delegates at the convention to Sanders' five. Las Vegas police are investigating.

A federal judge on Monday ordered a Mississippi school system to consolidate its predominantly black and historically white secondary schools to desegregate them. The ruling ends five decades of legal battles over the schools in the northern Mississippi town of Cleveland. "This decision serves as a reminder to districts that delaying desegregation obligations is both unacceptable and unconstitutional," Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said in a statement.

The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to release a report on Tuesday concluding that the engineer of an Amtrak train probably was distracted by radio chatter ahead of a Philadelphia derailment that killed eight people last year. NTSB staff are proposing discussions of a rock-throwing incident involving a separate commuter train probably caused the engineer to lose awareness of speed limits before it sped into a curve, according to two people briefed on the matter.

Yellowstone National Park rangers had to euthanize a bison calf after tourists — a father and his son — put the animal in their SUV last week to "keep it warm," park officials said Monday. The calf's herd later rejected it because of the "interference by people," the park said in a statement. The calf could not be moved to a zoo because park rules forbid removing animals from the park. The tourists received a citation. The incident was the latest in a series of recent cases in which visitors broke rules by getting too close to wildlife.

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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.