## Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Far More Popular With Democrats Than Joe Manchin: Poll

Authored by newsweek.com

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is far more popular with Democrats than Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), according to polling conducted while the pair stand at odds on several issues.

Manchin has pushed targeting stimulus check payments further, with the White House having agreed with Senate Democrats to a move to tighten eligibility requirements.

He has also questioned raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, suggesting $11 an hour instead.

Read more AOC Says 'Conservative' Dems Are 'Less Generous' Than Trump AOC Says 'Conservative' Dems Are 'Less Generous' Than Trump.

The White House has indicated President Joe Biden wants the minimum wage to increase to this point and will pursue it through other means.

With Ocasio-Cortez and Manchin's stances having clashed of late, polling has indicated that, of the two, Democrats have a more favorable opinion of Ocasio-Cortez.

More Democrats had an unfavorable view of Manchin also, with 12 percent very unfavorable and 25 percent somewhat. »

### Alabama’s Republican governor extends face mask mandate

Authored by apnews.com

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey gives a COVID-19 update during a news conference at the Alabama Capitol Building in Montgomery, Ala., on Thursday March 4, 2021.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Breaking with other Southern GOP governors, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey extended her state’s mask order for another month Thursday but said the requirement will end for good in April.

And the Alabama Senate approved a resolution Wednesday evening urging Ivey to end the mask mandate. »

### Biden called off second Syria strike after last minute warning of woman and children at target site

Authored by independent.co.uk

Joe Biden called off an airstrike on a second target in Syria at the last minute after intelligence reported the presence of a woman and children at the site.

Following 10 days of deliberations, Mr Biden had ordered the Pentagon to proceed with strikes on two Iranian-backed militia targets in Syria on 26 February.

Battlefield reconnaissance reported a woman with children in a courtyard at one site, and the president cancelled the order to strike that target with F-15E aircraft already in the air for the mission. »

### Octopuses can feel pain both physically and abstractly

Authored by academictimes.com

After experiencing a short burst of pain, octopuses showed a conditioned preference for locations where pain was relieved, while avoiding the location where the pain occurred.

The findings, published Feb. 22 in iScience, demonstrate that the octopus brain is sophisticated enough to experience pain on a physical and a dispositional level.

Invertebrates make up at least 97% of the animals on Earth, but not much is known about their experience of pain. »

### Mississippi governor to sign bill banning transgender student-athletes from female sports teams

Authored by abcnews.go.com

Mississippi legislators have passed a bill that would ban transgender athletes from competing on female sports teams in schools and universities -- one of over two dozen similar measures proposed by state lawmakers nationwide this year.

Idaho became the first state to pass a law banning transgender women from competing in women's sports last year.

The Mississippi bill would require any public school and university that is a member of the Mississippi High School Activities Association and NCAA, among other associations, to designate their athletic teams as male, female or co-ed and restrict athletes assigned male at birth from joining female teams. »

## In pictures

## Also in the news

#### Only Republican to vote for police reform bill 'accidentally pressed the wrong ... button'

#### Irony as Saharan dust returns radiation from French nuclear tests in the 1960s

#### QAnon has merged with white Christian evangelicals, terrorism experts say. The results could be lethal

#### 'I will shoot whoever I see': Myanmar soldiers use TikTok to threaten protesters

#### Kamala Harris breaks 50-50 tie to begin Senate debate on $1.9T stimulus