Can You Hear Me Now?: In a debate that stuck mostly to difficult issues, Republican Presidential candidates split sharply last night on what to do about illegal immigration, with Jeb Bush and John Kasich taking on Donald Trump’s pledge to deport 11 million people. “Come on, folks, we know you can’t pick them up and ship them across the border. It’s a silly argument. It’s not an adult argument,” Kasich said.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said illegal immigration is taking jobs from native-born Americans. “I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande,” Cruz said.

Most of their positions are standard Republican fare; lower taxes, smaller government, increased defense spending. Frontrunner Donald Trump mostly disappeared from the conversation when it got deep into numbers and policies. Several candidates spoke as if they are already running against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Florida’s Marco Rubio made an early run for “most quotable” saying about education reform, “Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers.”

The Minimum: New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced plans to skirt his legislature and order a $15 minimum wage for all state workers. Amidst a national movement begun by fast-food workers, New York would be the first state to do so.

Several Republican candidates, by the way, said last night they are against the $15 minimum wage.

Cuomo plans to phase in the raise, getting to $15 in New York City by the end of 2018. Workers outside the city would get to $15 by the end of 2021.

Good Bet: The New York State attorney general yesterday ordered the popular fantasy sport websites DraftKings and FanDuel to stop accepting bets in New York. Some states are beginning to look at online fantasy sports that pay money to winners as a form of illegal gambling. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said “It is clear that DraftKings and FanDuel are the leaders of a massive, multibillion-dollar scheme intended to evade the law and fleece sports fans across the country.”

Nation: A business jet believed to be carrying nine people crashed into a small apartment building in Akron, Ohio yesterday, killing everyone on board. There’s no word yet on the cause and who the passengers were.

Mass Communicated: A University of Missouri communications teacher last night resigned from her relationship with the journalism department after she was videotaped attempting to stop a student reporter from doing his job during a student demonstration. Melissa Click was not a journalism professor but was in a position to review the graduate theses of journalism students.

Earlier this week student Mark Schierbecker had filmed a long confrontation between a student photographer named Tim Tai and a group of protesters who didn’t want their picture taken while they were protesting in a public space. Tai had insisted that the same First Amendment that protected their right to demonstrate protected his right to take their picture … and it does.

Tai was violating the current student orthodoxy of demanding “safe space” to protect themselves from things that might unsettle them.

Gently but forcefully, the students pushed Tai away. Schierbecker then turned to Click to ask some questions on video. He said, “I’m media can I talk to you?” She said, “No, you need to get out.” When he replied, “I don’t,” she then turned and shouted, “Hey who wants to help me get this reporter out of here? I need some muscle over here!”

Click is the chair of the university’s Student Publications Committee, which oversees the school newspaper and yearbook. In other words, she’s the guardian of the school’s free press.

The Menu: France cancelled a state dinner with President Francois Hollande and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani because the Iranians insisted that the French would not serve wine. While trying to stick to their religious diet, the Iranians demanded what amounts to sacrilege in France; dinner without wine.

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