Thursday,  March 20, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 247 • 30 of 35

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deadline approaches to sign up for coverage in new insurance markets.
• Two of their questions and our answers:
• CAN THEY FINE ME?
• Q: "I'm currently unemployed and without health insurance. How does this affect me at this time? ... I'll be fined because I can't afford coverage?" -- Cat Moncure, Harrisonburg, Va.
• A: As long as you don't have income, the government doesn't require you to get health coverage and won't fine you. Specifically, if you don't make enough money so that you have to file a federal tax form, you're in the clear from the law's insurance mandate. The tax-filing threshold is $10,000 for an individual, $20,000 for a family.
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Even as tiny preschoolers, black children more likely to be suspended from US public schools

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Black students are more likely to be suspended from U.S. public schools -- even as tiny preschoolers.
• The racial disparities in American education, from access to high-level classes and experienced teachers to discipline, were highlighted in a report released Friday by the Education Department's civil rights arm.
• The suspensions -- and disparities -- begin at the earliest grades.
• Black children represent about 18 percent of children enrolled in preschool programs in schools, but almost half of the students suspended more than once, the report said. Six percent of the nation's districts with preschools reported suspending at least one preschool child.
• Advocates long have said get-tough suspension and arrest policies in schools have contributed to a "school-to-prison" pipeline that snags minority students, but much of the emphasis has been on middle school and high school policies. This was the first time the department reported data on preschool discipline.
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Fate of 'sea gypsies,' environment hang in balance as Myanmar's 'Lost World' penetrated

• MERGUI ARCHIPELAGO, Myanmar (AP) -- Where the Indian Ocean rolls toward Myanmar's southwestern coast, a lacework of 800 islands rises, fringed with shimmering beaches of no footprints.
• Here hornbills break a primeval silence as they flutter through soaring jungle can

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