AP News Digest 2:25 p.m.
Columbia Basin Herald | UPDATED 6 years, 5 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.
-------------------
ONLY ON AP
-------------------
AP POLL-VIRUS OUTBREAK-VOTING — Americans’ support for mail-in voting has jumped amid concerns about the safety of polling places, but a wide partisan divide suggests President Donald Trump’s public campaign against vote by mail may be resonating with his Republican backers. By Nicholas Riccardi and Hannah Fingerhut. SENT: 960 words, photo, graphic.
-------------------
-------------------
VIRUS OUTBREAK -- A thinner-looking British Prime Minister Boris Johnson returned to work after a bout with the coronavirus and warned strongly against easing the country’s lockdown, even as other European nations and U.S. states began lifting restrictions to get their economies going again. The shutdowns are being eased piecemeal, with governments charting their own path as they seek to reopen for business without triggering a second wave of infections. By Elena Becatoros, Jill Lawless and Nick Perry. SENT: 680 words, photos, video. With VIRUS OUTBREAK-THE LATEST, VIRUS OUTBREAK-WHAT’S HAPPENING (both sent)
VIRUS OUTBREAK-REOPENING ORGANIZATIONS — Businesses should close break rooms. Restaurants should consider disposable menus. Students should eat lunch in their classrooms. This is some of the guidance offered in a draft of new federal plans designed to help different types of organizations begin to safely reopen after coronavirus restrictions are lifted. By Kevin Freking and Michael Stobbe. SENT: 580 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-WASHINGTON — President Trump is trying to put the coronavirus behind him and the nation as he turns his focus to highlighting economic recovery plans, even as COVID-19 continues to threaten Americans around the country. By Zeke Miller and Jill Colvin. SENT: 990 words, photos. UPCOMING: Developing from 5 p.m. news conference.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-JUVENILES — Fear and frustration are raging as fast as the coronavirus in some juvenile detention centers, with riots and escapes reported in facilities in hard hit New York and Louisiana. Parents and youth advocates say some kids are being kept in isolation up to 23 hours a day. Family visits have been cut off, programs have been halted and school has sometimes been reduced to educational packets. By Margie Mason and Robin Mcdowell. SENT: 1,840 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-FIRST RESPONDERS-BACK TO WORK -- The coronavirus doesn’t care about a blue uniform and a shiny badge. Police, firefighters, paramedics and corrections officers are just a 911 call away from contracting COVID-19 and spreading it to their families. But many have recovered. And they’re going back to work, some with a lingering cough and lost weight. By Stefanie Dazio, Michael R. Sistak and Jake Bleiberg. SENT: 1,420 words with 25-photo gallery. This is the Tuesday Spotlight.
Find more all-format coverage on the Virus Outbreak featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
NKOREA-KIM-INTELLIGENCE TROUBLES — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s prolonged public absence has led to rumors of ill health and worries about how it could influence the future of what one analyst calls Northeast Asia’s “Achilles’ heel,” a reference to the North’s belligerence and unpredictable nature. Gathering intelligence on perhaps the world’s most secretive, suspicious and difficult-to-read country is incredibly difficult. By By Kim Tong-Hyung. SENT: 1,020 words, photos. With NORTH KOREA-KIM - South Korea maintains Kim Jong Un health rumors are untrue. SENT: 870 words, photos.
---------------------------------
---------------------------------
VIRUS OUTBREAK-GEORGIA — With tables wide apart and staff wearing masks, some Georgia restaurants reopened for limited dine-in service Monday as the state loosened more coronavirus restrictions, but many eateries remained closed amid concerns that serving in-house meals could put staff and customers at risk. SENT: 800 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MEAT SELECTION — Meat isn’t going to disappear from supermarkets because of outbreaks of the coronavirus among workers at U.S. slaughterhouses. But as the meat plants struggle to remain open, consumers could face less selection and slightly higher prices. SENT: 1,190 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-LATIN AMERICA PRISONS — The spreading specter of the new coronavirus is shaking Latin America’s notoriously overcrowded, unruly prisons. SENT: 700 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-NEW YORK PRIMARY — In an unprecedented move, New York has canceled its Democratic presidential primary that was scheduled for June 23 amid the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 490 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NAVIGATING THE INVISIBLE — The surreptitious and the invisible are defining the human landscape during these weeks in ways we are only barely beginning to understand. That goes not only for the coronavirus itself but the attitudes and fears that are part of the battle against it. This is already an era whose entertainment and politics shout at people not to believe things even if they can be seen. Now an entire world’s well-being, its economy and its people’s livelihoods are being upended by something unseen and aggressive. By Ted Anthony. SENT: 1,070 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ZULU FUNERAL — If Larry Arthur Hammond had died in a normal time, he would have had a funeral befitting a Zulu king. The New Orleans man, who died of COVID-19 in March at the age of 70, was Mardi Gras royalty, and would have had more than a thousand people marching behind his casket in second-line parades. That’s impossible now as the coronavirus pandemic forces social distancing. SENT: 720 words, photos.
LIVES LOST-DOUBLE TRANSPLANT SURVIVOR — A double-lung transplant patient from New Hampshire who went on to become a daredevil has died from the coronavirus. Joanne Mellady died in March after becoming a symbol of what was possible after people receive organ transplants. She got hers in 2007 and went on to complete a bucket list that included extensive travel and sports ranging like hang gliding and skateboarding. SENT: 930 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-AFRICA — South Africa’s president says the coronavirus is highlighting South Africa’s stark inequalities, 26 years after the end of the country’s apartheid regime of racial oppression. sent: 300 words.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BELGIAN INMATES — Inmates in Belgian prisons have so far made 42,000 reusable fabric masks for use by fellow prisoners and penitentiary staff to help address shortages in the country, but are still unable to keep up with demand, an official says. SENT: 290 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-VIRTUAL PROMS — High schoolers undefeated by the coronavirus lockdowns are heading online for isolation proms. They’re dressing up in party gear already purchased, or sticking to street clothes on Zoom as they dance in their bedrooms. Their schools and familiar brands are helping out by hosting, including Teen Vogue. And celebrities are lending a hand, too. SENT: 800 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CRAFTS-CREATIVE IMPULSE: People who create things by hand are pursuing their passions the best they can during the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 730 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-DIARY-ON MY OWN — Lockdowns have a way of holding up a magnifying glass to whatever people were dealing with before coronavirus. In the pre-virus era, one writer was lonely following the end of a long-term relationship. SENT: 650 words, photos.
GROUND GAME — AP’s coronavirus podcast, “Ground Game: Inside the Outbreak,” today is an interview with a critical care doctor who talks about her experience in the ICU during the COVID-19 pandemic and what recovery looks like for many of the patients. Listen to the podcast at https://appodcasts.com/category/ground-game/. Embed code is available on AP Coverage Plan.
A separate wire advisory has been sent outlining the AP’s complete coronavirus coverage.
---------------------------------
WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
---------------------------------
MILWAUKEE SHOOTING — Milwaukee police find 5 dead in house; suspect in custody. SENT: 100 words. UPCOMING; Developing.
FILM-MICHELLE OBAMA-NETFLIX — Michelle Obama documentary ‘Becoming’ to premiere on Netflix. SENT: 480 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NOTRE DAME: Workers are re-designing the construction site at fire-damaged Notre Dame Cathedral to protect staff from the virus. SENT: 270 words.
---------------------------------
---------------------------------
SUPREME COURT-GUNS — The Supreme Court sidesteps a major decision on gun rights in a dispute over New York City’s former ban on transporting guns, throwing out a challenge from gun rights groups, a relief to gun control groups who thought a conservative Supreme Court majority might use the case to expand on landmark that established a right under the Second Amendment to keep a gun at home for self-defense. By Mark Sherman. SENT: 690 words, photo. With SUPREME COURT-HEALTH CARE LAW — The Supreme Court rules that insurance companies can collect $12 billion from the federal government to cover their losses in the early years of the health care law championed by President Barack Obama. By Mark Sherman. SENT: 270 words, photo.
UNITED STATES-SOMALIA-CIVILIAN DEATHS — An American military airstrike in Somalia more than a year ago killed two civilians and injured three others, U.S. Africa Command is acknowledging in a new report expected on Monday. By Lolita C. Baldor. SENT: 850 words, photo.
ELECTION 2020-BIDEN-PELOSI — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden intensifies party unification efforts with endorsements from Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the leader of the House progressive caucus that sometimes battles the speaker from the left. By Bill Barrow. SENT: 680 words, photos.
---------------------------------
---------------------------------
AFGHANISTAN-CIVILIAN CASUALTIES — A report by the U.N. mission in Afghanistan says there has been a drop in the number of civilians killed in violence in the first three months of this year, compared to the same time last year. It says 533 people, including 152 children, died due to the fighting in the war-torn country in the first quarter of 2020 and hundreds more were wounded. SENT: 510 words, photos.
SYRIA-ISRAEL — Israeli warplanes flying over Lebanon fired missiles toward areas near Damascus, killing three civilians, the Syrian military and state media said while a war monitoring group said four Iran-backed fighters were also killed. SENT: 440 words, photos.
YEMEN — A Saudi-led coalition mired in a yearslong war in Yemen on Monday urged Emirati-backed southern separatists to honor the terms of a Riyadh peace deal and share control of the port city of Aden with the country’s internationally recognized government. SENT: 700 words, photos.
-------------------—
-------------------—
FELONS VOTING-FLORIDA — A federal trial is underway that could help settle whether impoverished Florida felons can be denied the right to vote. Voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment in 2018 that allowed felons to regain the right to vote. But the Florida Republican-controlled Legislature passed a bill that was later signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis stipulating that felons must pay all legal financial obligations before their voting rights can be restored. A consolidated class action suit before a U.S. District judge in Tallahassee will consider the constitutional merits of that law. In a state that holds great sway in national politics, the case could have wide ramifications. SENT: 690 words, photo.
COLLEGE-ADMISSIONS-BRIBERY — Federal agents didn’t entrap the wealthy parents accused of cheating the college admissions process, the man who helped investigators build their case reportedly told the FBI recently, boosting prosecutors’ arguments that claims of misconduct are false. SENT: 530 words, photo.
---------—————-
---------—————-
FINANCIAL MARKETS — Stocks around the world rose as governments prepare to gradually lift restrictions they imposed on businesses to slow the sweep of the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 960 words, photos.
FEDERAL RESERVE: As it prepares for this week’s policy meeting, the Federal Reserve has a tough task ahead: Helping rescue an economy and job market that appear to be free-falling into the worst catastrophe since the Great Depression. SENT: 865 words.
TESLA-TRAFFIC LIGHTS — After testing on public roads, Tesla is rolling out a new feature of its partially automated driving system designed to spot stop signs and traffic signals. The update of the electric car company’s cruise control and auto-steer systems is a step toward CEO Elon Musk’s pledge to convert cars to fully self-driving vehicles later this year. SENT: 690 words, photo.
DIAMONDS OFFSHORE-BANKRUPTCY — Contract driller Diamond Offshore has filed for bankruptcy, as the industry is hammered by crashing oil prices. Court documents show Houston-based Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. filed the petition in Houston on Sunday. The global economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic has devastated the oil industry in the U.S., which pumps more crude than any other country. SENT: 270 words.
---------—————-
---------—————-
COMEDY-IN-THE-AGE-OF-CORONAVIRUS — With the coronavirus having closed nightclubs across the country, stand-up comedians are managing to get the laughs out. Veteran comic Will C is doing shows from his living room in Missouri. Tiffany Haddish recently visited Hollywood’s Laugh Factory where it was her and a guy behind the camera and just a few others, with jokes flowing over the web to an audience she couldn’t see. Improv groups at New York’s Magnet Theater have taken to riffing off one another through Zoom. With clubs shut down, few are getting paid. So why do it? Because, they say, making people laugh is fun — and needed now. By John Rogers. SENT: 910 words, photos.
STEPHEN SONDHEIM-CONCERT — Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim was honored on Sunday with a starry online 90th birthday concert stuffed with his songs but delayed by technical difficulties. The concert featured performances by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Kelli O’Hara, Lea Salonga, Josh Groban and Jake Gyllenhaal. SENT: 630 words, photo.
---------—-
-----------—
TOKYO-FUTURE-Q&A — The Tokyo Olympics were postponed a month ago. But there are still more questions than answers about the new opening on July 23, 2021, and what form the Olympics will take. Will the Olympics really start in 15 months? If so, in what form? Will there be fans? Will it be without fans? Can the Olympics open without a vaccine? TV broadcasters and sponsors provide 91% of the income for the International Olympic Committee. How much pressure will they exert on the form these Olympics take? There are also questions about the Beijing Winter Olympics, opening in February 2022. By Stephen Wade. SENT: 1,030 words, photos.
--------------------------
HOW TO REACH US
--------------------------
At the Nerve Center, Dave Clark can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). For photos, (ext. 1900). For graphics and interactives, (ext. 7636). Expanded AP content can be obtained from http://newsroom.ap.org. For access to AP Newsroom and other technical issues, contact apcustomersupport(at)ap.org or call 877-836-9477.