AP News Digest 2:10 p.m.
Columbia Basin Herald | UPDATED 6 years, 4 months AGO
Here are the AP’s latest coverage plans, top stories and promotable content. All times EDT. For up-to-the minute information on AP’s coverage, visit Coverage Plan at https://newsroom.ap.org.
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ONLY ON AP
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AP POLL-VIRUS OUTBREAK — Americans in overwhelming numbers are actively avoiding others as much as possible and taking additional steps to protect themselves from the coronavirus, according to a survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research that shows how concerns about infection have grown sharply in the past six weeks. By Sara Burnett and Hannah Fingerhut. SENT: 989 words, photo. With AP POLL-VIRUS OUTBREAK-GLANCE — Americans are increasingly taking preventative measures, including staying away from large crowds and avoiding touching their hands to their faces, to confront the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. By Hannah Fingerhut. SENT: 520 words.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK — The steep rise in coronavirus deaths in New York appears to leveling off in a possible sign that social distancing is working in the most lethal hot spot in the U.S., the governor said — a trend that appears to have taken hold more convincingly in hard-hit Italy, Spain and France. By Colleen Long, Jennifer Peltz and Lori Hinnant. With VIRUS OUTBREAK-THE LATEST, VIRUS OUTBREAK-WHAT'S HAPPENING
ELECTION 2020-WISCONSIN — Gov. Tony Evers issues an executive order to delay the state’s scheduled Tuesday presidential primary for two months due to the coronavirus pandemic, a move that will almost certainly prompt a court challenge and inject new uncertainty about whether the election will move forward. SENT: 850 words, photos. UPCOMING: Developing.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SOUNDS OF SILENCE — Hopeful birdsong and foreboding sirens. Chiming church bells and bleating ferry horns. There’s no doubt the coronavirus crisis has drastically transformed what we’re hearing around the globe as the routine cacophony of daily life has calmed. And in the mundane noise left behind as the silence spread, many have found comfort, hope and dread. By Leanne Italie. SENT: 830 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-TRUMP-DRUG — President Trump and members of his administration are growing emphatic in promoting an anti-malaria drug not yet officially approved for fighting COVID-19, even though scientists say more testing is needed before it’s proven safe and effective against the virus. By Deb Riechmann and Zeke Miller. SENT: 940 words, photos. UPCOMING: Developing. With VIRUS OUTBREAK-TRUMP-DRUG-GLANCE — Excitement about treating the new coronavirus with malaria drugs is raising hopes, but the evidence that they may help is thin. UPCOMING: 500 words, photos by 5 p.m.
VIRUS OUTBREAK—ANTIVIRAL DRUG — Coronavirus patients around the world are rushing to join studies of an experimental drug that showed promise against some similar viruses in the past. Interest in the drug remdesivir has been so great that the U.S. National Institutes of Health is boosting the size of its study, which has nearly reached its initial goal just a few weeks after starting. By AP Chief Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione. SENT: 810 words, photos, video.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-THREATENING SERVICE JOBS — The coronavirus crisis is forcing people to stay away from each other, and that’s a gut punch to businesses that depend on social gatherings -- restaurants, cinemas, theaters, hotels, airlines, gyms, shopping centers. The crisis is wiping out jobs in the U.S. services sector, which had gone on a hiring spree during the 11-year American economic expansion. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos, by 5 p.m.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-KEPT APART — At a trying time, they can’t touch, or even approach, those they love. Dads are being kept out of delivery rooms. Seniors and disabled people are in nursing homes and other facilities where they’re no longer allowed visitors. Birthdays are being spent alone. Simple moments of connectedness -- a hug from a loved one, a handshake from a colleague, even interactions with mail carriers, baristas or any other fixtures of our days -- are being changed or halted. By National Writer Matt Sedensky. SENT: 850 words, photos.
Find more all-format coverage on the Virus Outbreak featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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MORE ON VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-HOSPITALS - Three out of four U.S. hospitals surveyed are already treating patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19, according to a federal report that finds hospitals expect to be overwhelmed as cases rocket toward their projected peak. A report due out Monday from a federal watchdog agency warns that different, widely reported problems are feeding off each other in a vicious cycle. Such problems include insufficient tests, slow results, scarcity of protective gear, the shortage of breathing machines for seriously ill patients and burned-out staffs anxious for their own safety. SENT: 840 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-AMERICA AND THE WORLD — As the coronavirus spread across the world and began its reach into the United States, an assortment of Americans turned to one notion as they framed the emerging cataclysm. They called it “the Chinese virus” — a problem from far away. The message was clear: Whatever the ravages of COVID-19 are causing, it’s somewhere else’s fault. By AP National Writer Ted Anthony. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRITAIN — Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was in good spirits after spending the night in a London hospital where he was admitted with the new coronavirus. The prime minister’s spokesman said Johnson remained in charge of government despite being admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital after COVID-19 symptoms of a cough and fever persisted, 10 days after he was diagnosed. SENT: 570 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-EUROPE — Spain and Italy, the two European countries hardest hit by the coronavirus, are seeing an easing on their hospital emergency rooms three weeks after implementing lockdowns that paralyzed their economies and forced nearly everyone inside. SENT: 830 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SOUTH AFRICA-TESTS -- South Africa may have an advantage in the coronavirus outbreak, despite being one of the world’s most unequal countries with a large population vulnerable to the virus. Years of battling HIV and tuberculosis have endowed it with the know-how and infrastructure to conduct mass testing. Health experts stress that the best way to slow the spread of the virus is through extensive testing, the quick quarantine of people who are positive, and tracking who those people came into contact with. South Africa has begun doing just that with mobile testing units and screening centers established in the country’s most densely populated township areas. By Andrew Meldrum. SENT: 830 words, photos. This is the Tuesday spotlight.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS — Millions of dollars in additional funds are being made available to agencies around the world that provide aid to Holocaust survivors, whose advanced age and health issues makes them particularly vulnerable to the new coronavirus, the organization that handles claims on behalf of Jewish victims of the Nazis announced. SENT: 420 words, photos,
VIRUS OUTBREAK-LIVES LOST-DYING ALONE — Nothing in the way Enrico Giancomoni lived during his 80-plus years in Rome corresponds with the way he died, which was alone. SENT: 560 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-FOOD AID —There are only a handful of states in the country where food aid recipients can buy groceries online. The coronavirus pandemic is shining a light on that and other inflexibility in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, colloquially known as food stamps. The program helps millions of Americans pay for food, and with the economy collapsing, activists say it’s more vital than ever. SENT: 920 words.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-AFGHANISTAN MIGRATION — Some 200,000 Afghans and counting have returned from Iran to their home country after losing their jobs in the coronavirus pandemic or out of fear of getting infected. They are flowing across the border from a country that has one of the world’s worst outbreaks to an impoverished nation that is woefully unprepared to deal with the virus. By Tameem Akhgar SENT: 760 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-PERU-THE VULNERABLE — Pushing a shopping cart with two children, César Alegre emerges from the large, deteriorated house near Peru’s presidential palace that is shared by 45 families to search for food. Sometimes he begs in markets; sometimes he sells candies. It is a task that was hard at the best of times, but with a month-long quarantine that has forced 32 million Peruvians to stay home, it has become much harder. SENT: 700 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ITALIAN FISHERMEN-PHOTO GALLERY — Italy’s fishermen still go out to sea at night, but not as frequently in recent weeks since demand is down amid the country’s devastating coronavirus outbreak. As a result, they are barely covering their expenses. The AP accompanied a fisherman, his son and another crew member on their trawler one night to see what their lives are like as they struggle to pay their expenses. SENT: 380 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ONE GOOD THING-SENIOR DANCING — Lola Jaramillo’s elderly students are huddled in their homes, following orders to protect themselves from the new coronavirus, which hits older people especially hard. And in their homes, they can dance along with Jaramillo, getting the exercise that is so important to maintaining their health and mobility. SENT: 440 words, photos.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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OBIT-HONOR BLACKMAN — Honor Blackman, who played the Bond girl Pussy Galore in “Goldfinger,” dies at 94. SENT: 300 words, photos.
SCI-SUPERMOON — Catch this week’s supermoon, the biggest and brightest of the year. SENT: 260 words, photo.
UKRAINE-CHERNOBYL FIRE— Ukraine continues to battle forest fire near Chernobyl. SENT: 270 words, photos.
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UNITED STATES-RUSSIA SANCTIONS — The Trump administration designates a Russian white supremacist group a “foreign terrorist organization” and hit its members with sanctions. The move comes amid doubts the administration believes extremist organizations of that type merit such sanctions. By Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee. SENT: 440 words, photo.
SUPREME COURT-AGE DISCRIMINATION — Well, OK, boomer. The Supreme Court makes it easier for federal employees aged 40 and older to sue for age discrimination. The justices ruled 8-1 that federal workers have a lower hurdle to overcome than their counterparts in the private sector. The decision came in the case in which Chief Justice John Roberts, a 65-year-old baby boomer, invoked the “OK, boomer” meme during arguments in January for the first time in high-court records. By Mark Sherman. SENT: 350 words, photo. With SUPREME COURT-H RAP BROWN — The Supreme Court declines to take the case of a 1960s black militant formerly known as H. Rap Brown who is in prison for killing a Georgia sheriff’s deputy in 2000. SENT: 150 words.
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AUSTRALIA-CARDINAL CHARGED — Australia’s highest court on Tuesday will judge Cardinal George Pell’s appeal against convictions for molesting two teenage choirboys more than two decades ago. But the legal battle may not end there. The High Court could deliver Pope Francis’ former finance minister a sweeping victory, absolute defeat or a decision in between that could extend the appeal another year or more. SENT: 710 words, photos.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-EUROPE’S ECONOMY — The virus outbreak is exposing cracks in the foundation of Europe’s 20-year-old shared currency and festering animosities among its members, even as governments struggle to come up with a unified response where success or failure could mark the continent’s politics for years to come. SENT: 1,020 words, photos.
FINANCIAL MARKETS — Stocks around the world jumped after some of the hardest-hit areas offered sparks of hope that the worst of the coronavirus outbreak may be on the horizon. SENT: 730 words, photos.
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TV REVIEW-QUIBI SHOWS — The new mobile media platform Quibi may specialize in small, bite-sized videos but its volume is large. It launches Monday with 175 new shows and The Associated Press got a chance to watch some of them. By AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy. SENT: 1,160 words, photos,
TV-MODERN FAMILY-MEMORIES — “Modern Family” cast members and creators share their reflections on the show, which is ending its 11-season run next week. By AP Television Writer Lynn Elber. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos by 4 p.m.
US--TV—SCHITT’S CREEK FINALE — When “Schitt’s Creek” debuted in 2015, it was hard to sympathize with the Rose family, the ultra-wealthy clan forced to move to a small Canadian town. But over six seasons, co-creator Dan Levy crafted a series beloved for its humor and its depiction of pansexuality and homosexuality in a small rural town where acceptance is so natural, it goes without mentioning. The show’s stars reflect on the show’s influence and popularity ahead of its finale Tuesday. By Amanda Lee Myers. UPCOMING: 850 words, photos by 4 p.m.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-GOLF SCHEDULE — The British Open will not be played this year for the first time since 1945, golf officials announced as they tried to reconfigure a major championship schedule that would end with the Masters being played two weeks before Thanksgiving. SENT: 830 words, photos.
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