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Good morning.
Here’s what you need to know:
• And then there were four.
Donald J. Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John R. Kasich take part in what could be the most crucial debate of the 2016 race in Detroit tonight (9 p.m. Eastern, Fox), with Mr. Trump and the anchor Megyn Kelly back onstage together. Ben Carson appears ready to withdraw from the race.
The 2012 party nominee, Mitt Romney, called Mr. Trump “a phony” and “a fraud.” Other Republicans who are alarmed by Mr. Trump’s success are focusing on denying him the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the nomination.
A drop in the turnout at Democratic primaries has reached into the core groups of voters that Hillary Clinton needs to win.
• Waiting for a June decision.
The Supreme Court appeared sharply divided on Wednesday during arguments over requirements for abortion providers in Texas, its first major abortion case in a decade.
Separately, the White House is vetting Jane L. Kelly, 51, a federal appellate judge in Iowa, for the empty seat on the Supreme Court.
• Milwaukee’s reward.
President Obama will visit Wisconsin today, the only state that used the Affordable Care Act to expand its Medicaid program while turning down the hundreds of millions of dollars the federal government offered to pay for that expansion.
He’ll visit Milwaukee, which won a nationwide competition called Healthy Communities by enrolling 75 percent of previously uninsured residents in private health insurance, a rate higher than that of any other city.
• Trapped in Greece.
Camps are being opened in Greece to house thousands of migrants who cannot move forward yet cannot or will not go back, as neighboring countries shut their frontiers.
The new border checks are becoming economic choke points, and they are threatening to cost billions of dollars in lost business just as Europe is recovering from the economic crisis.
• White officer charged in black man’s death.
Aaron Smith has been charged with murder in the shooting death last week of Gregory Gunn, a 58-year-old black man in Montgomery, Ala.
• Tom Brady versus the N.F.L.
The N.F.L. Players Association and the N.F.L. meet in federal court in New York today to argue over whether Commissioner Roger Goodell had the right to suspend the Patriots superstar Tom Brady for four games over the team’s use of balls with a lower-than-legal air pressure in a 2015 playoff game.
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The balls are not at issue today; instead it’s whether the judge — who ruled in favor of Brady and the Players Association in a federal lawsuit and vacated his suspension — applied the law properly.
Business
• Aubrey McClendon, the billionaire Oklahoma energy baron, died when he drove his car into a bridge at high speed on Wednesday, a day after the Justice Department indicted him.
• The Geneva International Motor Show, a showcase for European carmakers, opens today with diesel technology expected to be scrutinized because of the Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal.
More than half of all cars sold in Europe use diesel.
• A Senate hearing today will examine how the pricing structure of the computer-driven U.S. stock market became so convoluted.
• U.S. stock indexes are lower. Here’s a snapshot of global markets.
Noteworthy
• Who’s Donald Drumpf?
The comedian John Oliver urged his fans to substitute the name “Donald Drumpf” for Donald Trump, a nickname that became the second most searched-for candidate on Google.
Drumpf was once the candidate’s family name, but it changed to Trump several centuries ago.
• A cable news surprise.
Our chief TV critic writes today about the hard-to-believe Ku Klux Klan debate on CNN: “It was substantive and illuminating in a way time-killing cable shouting matches rarely are.”
• Fields of dreams.
Major League Baseball has a plan to let Cuban players sign directly with big-league teams.
The Tampa Bay Rays will play the Cuban national baseball team in an exhibition game in Havana on March 22, and President Obama is expected to attend.
• On this day.
A black motorist, Rodney King, was severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers in a scene captured on amateur video that set off a national outcry 25 years ago.
• Treasure for music scholars.
Bob Dylan’s private archive of 6,000 pieces, whose existence had long been rumored but not confirmed, has been acquired by a group of institutions in Oklahoma for an estimated $15 million to $20 million. It will be set aside for academic study.
• For your table?
These Tunisian-inspired meatballs pair wonderfully with couscous. But don’t forget to eat your vegetables. Start with these addictive tempura-fried green beans.
Back Story
New Zealanders began voting in a referendum today on whether to keep their flag, featuring Britain’s Union Jack in the upper left corner, or a new design with a silver fern.
The current flag, which has flown for more than a century, also has four stars of the Southern Cross, representing New Zealand as a South Pacific outpost of the British Empire.
The Union Jack, which combines the symbols of the three patron saints of England, Scotland and Ireland, appears on the flags of British territories and provinces, and on some national flags of former British colonies.
Fiji is planning to drop it from its flag this year because of the colonial overtones.
While distancing itself from the past is one reason New Zealand is considering a change, another is the longtime confusion of its flag with that of Australia.
On occasion, Kiwi officials have been embarrassingly placed in front of their neighboring country’s flag during meetings abroad.
The most prominent example of dropping the Union Jack came in 1965, when Canada adopted the maple leaf, which has since become an instantly recognizable symbol of our northern neighbor.
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