def preprocess(text):
    """
    Pre-process text for use in the model. This includes lower-casing, standardizing newlines, removing junk.

    :param text: a string
    :return: cleaner string
    """
    if isinstance(text, float):
        return ''

    return text.lower().replace('<br />', '\n').replace('<br>', '\n').replace('\\n', '\n').replace('&#xd;', '\n')