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ByKenThomas The Associated Press WASHINGTON HillaryClin- tonandBernieSanders were neck-and-neckinKentucky's presidential primary Tues- day, as Clinton sought to blunt the momentum of her Democratic rival ahead of a likely general election matchup against Republi- can Donald Trump. The race was too close to call a winner in Ken- tucky. With almost all the votes counted, the mar- gin between the two can- didates was less than one- half of 1 percent as Clinton tried to avoid ending the pri- mary season with a string of losses to the Vermont sena- tor. Sanders was favored in Oregon's primary later Tues- day. Clinton holds a com- manding lead of nearly 300 pledgeddelegatesoverSand- ers and a dominant advan- tage among party officials and elected leaders known as superdelegates. The out- comes in Kentucky and Or- egon were not expected to change that and the former secretaryofstateremainson track to clinch the nomina- tion in early June. Tuesday's elections took place amid new questions about party unity follow- ing a divisive weekend state party convention in Nevada. SupportersofSanderstossed chairs and made death threats against the Nevada party chairwoman at the event in Las Vegas, arguing the party leadership rigged the results of the convention in favor of Clinton. In a sign of the tensions betweenthetwosides,Sand- ers issued a defiant state- ment on Tuesday dismiss- ing complaints from Nevada Democrats as "nonsense" and said his supporters were not being treated with "fair- ness and respect." Trump was competing in the sole GOP contest in Or- egon. The billionaire busi- nessman picked up nine delegates earlier Tuesday in Guam, which held its terri- torial convention in March, and had 1,143 delegates heading into the Oregon contest — fewer than 100 delegates short of the 1,237 he needs to clinch the nom- ination. For Democrats, 55 dele- gates were up for grabs in Kentucky and 61 delegates were at stake in Oregon. In Kentucky, the for- mer secretary of state vis- ited black churches, a small- town diner and held rallies on Sunday and Monday in an effort to break up Sand- ers' momentum after his re- centvictoriesinIndianaand West Virginia. Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, was the last Democrat to carry the state in a presidential election — he won Kentucky in 1992 and 1996 — and the former first lady tried to em- phasizethosetiesinthedays leading up to the primary. "I'm excited about the pri- mary but we've got to turn a lot of people out," Clinton told a packed diner in Pa- ducah, Ky., on Monday. "I'll tell you this. I'm not going to give up on Kentucky in November. I want to help to bring back the kind of econ- omy that worked for every- body in the 1990s." Facing a choice between Clinton and Sanders, physi- cian Annie Skaggs in Camp- bellsville, Kentucky, said she had a hard time making up her mind. "Ilikethemboth.Iwanted toputthembothinablender and whir them up together," she said. "I voted for Hillary. She'sgotalittlebroaderbase and more experience, espe- cially with foreign policy." Sharon Sharp said she voted for Sanders for one reason: He is not Hillary Clinton. "Benghaziandtheemails? That's just too much to trust her to run my country," Sharp said after casting her vote. Sanders was favored in Oregon, which is among the nation's most liberal states. Sanders secured the en- dorsement of Sen. Jeff Merk- ley, D-Ore., in April. Nearing the end of a long primary slog, the two Dem- ocratic candidates are pre- paring for June 7 primaries in California, New Jersey and four other states. When pledged delegates and su- perdelegates are combined, Clinton entered Tuesday is about 94 percent of the way toward securing the Demo- cratic nomination. Sanders has vowed to campaign through the end of the primary season on June 14 in the District of Co- lumbia and amass as many delegates as possible to in- fluence the party's platform and message. He is still aiming to wres- tle the nomination from Clinton, even though he would need to win about two-thirds of the remaining pledged delegates to end the primary season in a tie. Sanders campaigned Monday and Tuesday in Puerto Rico, which holds its contest on June 5, and was holdingarallyintheLosAn- geles area late Tuesday. PRESIDENTIAL RACE Clinton, Sanders locked in tight contest in Kentucky primary By Andrew Taylor The Associated Press WASHINGTON The Senate voted decisively on Tuesday in favor of a bipartisan $1.1 billion measure to combat the Zika virus this year and next,cuttingbackPresident BarackObama'srequestbut offering significantly more money to fight Zika than would House GOP conser- vatives. The 68-29 vote propelled the measure over a filibus- ter and sets the stage to add the Zika funding to an unrelated spending bill. It comes three months af- ter Obama requested $1.9 billion to battle the virus, which can cause severe birth defects. "We see the people of this country facing a pub- lic health threat," said Sen. Marco Rubio of Flor- ida, who supports the full Obama request. "Our re- sponse should be 'Let's deal withitthewaythatmedical experts are saying we need to deal with it.'" A showdown looms with the House, which is sched- uled to debate its $622 mil- lion anti-Zika measure on Wednesday. The House would fund the Zika bat- tle for a shorter duration — through September — and is "offset" with spending cuts elsewhere in the bud- get. The Senate vote came after Republicans blocked a measure matching Obama's request and after Democrats killed a GOP- backed proposal to cut into Obama's health care law to pay for battling Zika. The effects of Zika are not very severe for most adults, but for pregnant women, the virus can cause a serious birth defect called microcephaly and other se- vere birth defects. Zika is commonly spread by mos- quitoesandcanalsobecon- tractedthroughsexualcon- tact. Zika is expected to spread more widely dur- ing the summer mosquito season, but officials say out- breaks in the U.S. are likely to be limited. To date, there have been more than 500 cases of Zika in the con- tinental U.S., all of which so far have been associ- ated with overseas travel. Obama requested the fund- ing in February and has been forced to tap unspent 2015 funds from the suc- cessful battle against Eb- ola to finance almost $600 million in anti-Zika efforts. VIRUS MELEVANS—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at a campaign rally in Piscataway, N.J. AUSTIN ANTHONY — DAILY NEWS Hillary Clinton takes a photo with a supporter during a campaign stop in Bowling Green, Ky., on Monday. RICARDO MAZALAN — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are seen in a mosquito cage at a laboratory in Cucuta, Colombia. Senate easily ad va nc es $ 1. 1B in Zika funding P.O.Box220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 Support our classrooms, keep kids reading. DONATE YOUR VACATION newspaper dollars to the Newspaper In Education Program HELP OUR CHILDREN Formoredetailscall Circulation Department (530) 737-5047 Please help sponsor a classroom subscription Call Kathy at (530) 737-5047 to find out how. ThroughtheNewspapersinEducation program, area classrooms receive the Red Bluff Daily News every day thanks to the generosity of these local businesses & individuals. 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