diff --git a/Lib/locale.py b/Lib/locale.py
index f204b564b93..bb4aa37b290 100644
--- a/Lib/locale.py
+++ b/Lib/locale.py
@@ -525,7 +525,7 @@ def setlocale(category, locale=None):
         category may be given as one of the LC_* values.
 
     """
-    if locale and not isinstance(locale, basestring):
+    if locale and type(locale) is not type(""):
         # convert to string
         locale = normalize(_build_localename(locale))
     return _setlocale(category, locale)
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index d45582894ca..2e33e7f5b80 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -16,8 +16,6 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
-- Issue #3067: locale.setlocale() accepts a Unicode locale.
-
 - Issue #11700: mailbox proxy object close methods can now be called multiple
   times without error, and _ProxyFile now closes the wrapped file.