Nearly halfway through President Biden's first 100 days (today is Day 47!), Americans have begun weaning themselves off a constant diet of political news, Axios' Sara Fischer and Neal Rothschild write.

• Why it matters: Over the past five years, we devoted way more mindshare to politics than is healthy. Remember how different our news diets were pre-Trump? We'd take in some international news, some culture, some sports. Then it became Trump, Trump, Trump.

Now, that is rebalancing:

• Three times as many news stories were written about President Trump in February of 2017 than about Biden last month, according to NewsWhip data.
• Biden was discussed on cable news for 1,836 minutes last month, according to the Stanford Cable TV News Analyzer. In February of Trump's first year, he commanded 4,669 minutes.
• Nearly every big news site saw traffic decline in February, with politics dropping most.
• Other stories — GameStop stock, vaccine developments — have garnered higher interest than they could in a Trump-centric world.

What's next: These dynamics could change if Trump re-inserts himself in the news cycle. 7 million people watched his CPAC speech last Sunday, nearing the number who saw the Golden Globes later that evening.

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Cities are rethinking the role of police in clearing homeless encampments during the pandemic — and are trying some new tactics, Axios Local reporters found across the country.

• Why it matters: Clashes between police and protesters carrying cellphone cameras are becoming more common during homeless camp sweeps.

In Denver, Mayor Michael Hancock told Axios that armed police officers will no longer be among the first responders to tent cities. Instead, a "compassion corps" or "civilian corps" will clean up.

• In Charlotte, nonprofits helped with the successful clearing of "Tent City" — an encampment of hundreds of people across a few city blocks. About 210 people took Mecklenburg County up on its offer of a "shelter hotel" for 90 days, with meals and laundry provided.
• In Minneapolis, a "tiny house" village built inside a warehouse in the trendy North Loop neighborhood will house 100 people.

What’s next: As camps are cleared, cities are scrambling to do more for people living on the streets — harder because of reduced shelter capacity because of social distancing.

• Denver is considering "Safe Parking Sites" — a sanctioned spot to sleep in your car.

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• This story includes reporting from Axios Charlotte's Michael Graff, Axios Denver's Alayna Alvarez and Axios Twin Cities' Torey Van Oot.
• Sign up here for Axios Local if you live in Charlotte, Denver, Des Moines, Tampa Bay or the Twin Cities — or to be notified about future cities.

President Biden's COVID relief package only had a 50.5% approval rating among U.S. senators when it passed yesterday on a 50-49 party-line vote.

• But the graphic above, reflecting the plan's greater popularity in the country, is what gave the White House confidence to push through the massive package without scaling back the sticker price.
• Because of changes, the bill now returns to the House for final passage before going to the Resolute Desk.

Biden said in victory-lap remarks: "I said we were going to get the government out of the business of battling on Twitter and back in the business of delivering for the American people."

Above, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer leaves the chamber just after the narrow vote.

• "Lessons learned: If we have unity, we can do big things,” Schumer told AP.

Go deeper: Latest highlights from the bill.

Pope Francis, surrounded by shells of destroyed churches, leads a prayer session today for the victims of war at Hosh al-Bieaa Church Square, in Mosul, Iraq — once the de-facto capital of ISIS.

• "Fraternity is more durable than fratricide," he said.

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Pope Francis is shown the devastation of the Syriac Catholic Al-Tahera church, near the once-thriving square where he spoke in Mosul, Iraq.

N.Y. Times columnist David Brooks resigned yesterday from a paid gig at the Aspen Institute — another scandal for America's most successful newspaper company, Axios Media Trends expert Sara Fischer writes.

• Brooks resigned following a BuzzFeed News investigation uncovering conflicts of interest between his coverage and his paid role with the think tank's Weave: The Social Fabric Project.
• A Times spokesperson tells Axios the paper is adding disclosures to earlier columns in which Brook refers to Weave or its donors.

Why it matters: A slew of Gray Lady controversies have insiders wondering whether The Times' commercial success has pushed the paper to grow faster than top leaders are able to manage culturally.

• "For the first time in its history, The New York Times' business success has less to do with the newsroom alone, and more to do with the company's strategy," a former senior Times executive tells Axios.
• That has resulted in "a ton of hard calls culturally that management has not been prepared to make."

Keep reading.

A COVID patient in L.A. County writes on a whiteboard for a medical professional: "Esta ya es lo ultimo" — Is this the end?

• Kathy Ryan, director of photography for the N.Y. Times Magazine:

This week's cover story is about the pandemic's toll on communities of color in Los Angeles County. ... [T]his photograph [shows] María Salinas Cruz and Maritza Cruz, the wife and daughter of Felipe Cruz, consoling each other after he died. Felipe, who was 48, spent 22 days in an intensive-case unit.

Keep reading (subscription).

These 144 cities could lose status as metropolitan statistical areas and become "micropolitan" areas, under a federal proposal to move the 70-year-old threshold from 50,000 in the core city to 100,000.

• The change would downgrade more than a third of the current 392 MSAs, AP's Mike Schneider reports.

Among them: Bismarck, N.D. ... Cape Girardeau, Mo. ... Charlottesville, Va. ... Corvallis, Ore. ... Missoula, Mont. ... Opelika, Ala. .... Sheboygan, Wis. ... State College, Pa.

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In West Palm Beach, the sun sets Friday during a spring training game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Washington Nationals.