| 1. HOLLYWOOD TAKES A BACKSEAT DURING WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ WEEKEND: White House Correspondents’ Association events usually draw a slew of Hollywood A-listers, but this year, organizers of the dinner and surrounding events are focusing more on journalists and the First Amendment. Highlighting this change is historian Ron Chernow, who will host the dinner, replacing the decades-long tradition of a comedian as host. Variety: “Olivier Knox, the president of the White House Correspondents Association and SiriusXM’s chief Washington correspondent, said that the time was right for a ‘reset,’ and other members likely agree, given that many thought that last year’s comedian, Michelle Wolf, was a bit too biting in her barbs, particularly since members of the Trump administration were in the room. … Knox also is planning to call attention to Austin Tice, the freelancer who was abducted while reporting in Syria in 2012. The WHCA will be handing out pins and will feature a banner referencing Tice’s situation, while the Los Angeles Times will hold a post-dinner fund-raiser for him at the National Press Club.” 2. TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL KICKS OFF WITH CELEBRATION OF THE APOLLO THEATER: The 18th annual Tribeca Film Festival officially kicked off on Thursday night, with the premiere of the documentary The Apollo. Festival founder Robert De Niro introduced the film, which screened at the famed Apollo Theater on 125th Street in Harlem, a first for the event. Deadline: “Typically, Tribeca kicks off the festival at the Upper West Side Beacon Theatre which seats 2,894. With The Apollo, natch, premiering at The Apollo, attendance was smaller this year given the venue’s three-tiered 1,506 seating capacity. The doc, a six year journey in the making, covers plenty of ground, largely beginning with the theater’s swing era (The Apollo was built in 1913-14) of Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie, moving to Ella Fitzgerald forgetting her lines in a song and finding her scatting voice, to a 13-year-old Lauryn Hill getting rejected by the crowd (only to return years as an adult and knock their socks off), to James Brown being a beacon during the black-power revolution with his anthem ‘Say It Loud—I’m Black and I’m Proud’ and to President Barack Obama becoming the first U.S. President to step onto the legendary stage of African American art and culture which has triumphed over racism and oppression through history.” 3. HERPES CASES REPORTEDLY SPIKED AFTER COACHELLA: Coachella Valley has reportedly seen a spike in herpes cases after this year’s Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. Dr. Lynn Marie Morski of online S.T.D. diagnostic center HerpAlert said during the first two days of the festival, the service received nearly 250 inquiries, which is around 10 times more than the site’s average. People: “HerpAlert is an online service that allows users to send photos of their possible infection for clinical evaluation and prescription treatment. In the last 13 days, coinciding with the dates of the music festival, Morski said that 1,105 cases have been reported to HerpAlert from the Indio, Palm Desert and Coachella Valley area around the music festival, along with the Los Angeles area, Orange County, and San Diego County. Morski noted that the symptoms of a new herpes case often show up days later, which could explain why the cases were spread out across Southern California, not limited to the Coachella Valley area, as festivalgoers returned home after the weekend.” | 