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ENTERTAINMENT:

FORMER CNN ANCHOR BOBBIE BATTISTA DIES OF CANCER AT AGE 67
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Bobbie Battista, who was among the original anchors for CNN Headline News and hosted CNN’s “Talk-Back Live,” has died. A family spokeswoman told CNN that Battista died Tuesday after a four-year battle with cervical cancer. Battista’s husband called her the “consummate trooper” in her fight against the disease. Battista worked for the cable news company from 1981 to 2001. She anchored coverage of major events including the Challenger space shuttle explosion, the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan and the Gulf War. She began her TV news career as a local anchor and producer for WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina. Bobbie Battista was 67.

“THOMAS AND FRIENDS” MARK 75 YEARS
LONDON (AP) – The children’s show “Thomas and Friends” is marking its 75th anniversary since the creation of the original stories by Rev. W. Awdry. Show producer Ian McCue says he’s still learning a lot about Thomas the Tank Engine’s history, mainly from older fans. He says part of the success of the show is the celebrities who have come on as narrator, like George Carlin and Alec Baldwin. McCue says Ringo Starr did the first two series and people still ask if Starr is on the show. McCue says with a laugh that Starr finished in 1986.

POLITICAL PROGRAMMING DOMINATES THE WEEK IN TELEVISION
NEW YORK (AP) – Politics is the biggest drama on TV. For the second straight week, political programming dominated the prime-time television rankings. The Nielsen company says the Democratic presidential debate shown by CBS from South Carolina was last week’s most-watched show with 15.3 million viewers. The previous week, NBC and MSNBC’s simulcast of the Nevada debate had nearly 20 million viewers. The second-ranked show was ’60 Minutes,’ with Scott Pelley’s interview with Mike Bloomberg. The top cable networks were the politics-obsessed Fox News Channel, MSNBC and CNN.

NIELSEN RATINGS
NEW YORK (AP) – Here are the top 10 programs for the week of Feb. 24-March 1, according to Nielsen:
1. Democratic Presidential Debate, CBS, 15.34 million.
2. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 9.18 million.
3. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 8.99 million.
4. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 8.66 million.
5. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 8.61 million.
6. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 8.57 million.
7. “Chicago PD,” NBC, 8.12 million.
8. “Survivor,” CBS, 7.15 million.
9. “American Idol,” ABC, 6.99 million.
10. “This is Us,” NBC, 6.98 million.

AP-WF-03-04-20 0806GMT