Rural families without internet face tough choice on school

BEATTYVILLE, Ky. (AP) — John Ross worries about his children returning to their classrooms this fall with coronavirus cases rising in Kentucky, but he feels he doesn't have much of a choice: His family's limited internet access makes it nearly impossible for the kids to keep up with schoolwork from home.

“They’re going to have their education,” the father of three in rural Lee County said as he recalled his children’s struggles to do their work this spring over a spotty cellphone connection.

Lee County, a community of around 7,000 people deep in the Appalachian Mountains, is one of many rural school districts around the country where the decision over whether to bring students back into classrooms is particularly fraught. As in other places, parents and officials are concerned about the virus, but dramatically limited internet access here also means kids could fall seriously behind if the pandemic keeps them home again.

On average, the United States is still seeing about 1,000 deaths a day from the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The country has had more than 5 million confirmed cases and more than 167,000 deaths over the course of the pandemic.

Roughly 3 million students across the United States don't have access to a home internet connection. A third of households with school-age children that do not have home internet cite the expense as the main reason, according to federal Education Department statistics. But in some rural places, a reliable connection can't be had at any price.

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Trump dodges question on QAnon conspiracy theory

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday twice ignored a question about whether he supports QAnon, a convoluted, right-wing, pro-Trump conspiracy theory.

A reporter asked the president about the theory at a White House briefing Friday after Trump tweeted his congratulations to a QAnon-supporting candidate. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who won her House primary runoff in Georgia this week, has called the theory “something worth listening to and paying attention to" and called its source, known as Q, a “patriot.” Trump praised her as a “future Republican Star."

“Well, she did very well in the election. She won by a lot. She was very popular and she comes from a great state and she had a tremendous victory. So absolutely, I did congratulate her,” Trump said, sidestepping the question and ignoring a follow-up before moving on to another reporter.

Trump has a long history of advancing false and sometimes racist conspiracies, including on Thursday, when he gave credence to a highly-criticized op-ed that questioned Democrat Kamala Harris’ eligibility to serve as vice president even though she was born in Oakland, California.

Asked about the matter, Trump told reporters he had “heard” rumors that Harris, a Black woman and U.S.-born citizen whose parents were immigrants, does not meet the requirement to serve in the White House. The president said he considered the rumors “very serious.” Constitutional lawyers have dismissed it as nonsense.

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Study hints, can't prove, survivor plasma fights COVID-19

Mayo Clinic researchers reported a strong hint that blood plasma from COVID-19 survivors helps other patients recover, but it’s not proof and some experts worry if, amid clamor for the treatment, they'll ever get a clear answer.

More than 64,000 patients in the U.S. have been given convalescent plasma, a century-old approach to fend off flu and measles before vaccines. It's a go-to tactic when new diseases come along, and history suggests it works against some, but not all, infections.

There’s no solid evidence yet that it fights the coronavirus and, if so, how best to use it. But preliminary data from 35,000 coronavirus patients treated with plasma offers what Mayo lead researcher Dr. Michael Joyner on Friday called “signals of efficacy.”

There were fewer deaths among people given plasma within three days of diagnosis, and also among those given plasma containing the highest levels of virus-fighting antibodies, Joyner and colleagues reported.

The problem: This wasn’t a formal study. The patients were treated in different ways in hospitals around the country as part of a Food and Drug Administration program designed to speed access to the experimental therapy. That so-called “expanded access” program tracks what happens to the recipients, but it cannot prove the plasma — and not other care they received — was the real reason for improvement.

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Palestinians say UAE deal hinders quest for Mideast peace

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's agreement to establish diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates marks a watershed moment in its relations with Arab countries, but the Palestinians say it puts a just resolution of the Middle East conflict even farther out of reach.

The UAE presented its decision to upgrade longstanding ties to Israel as a way of encouraging peace efforts by taking Israel's planned annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank off the table, something Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swiftly rebuffed by insisting the pause was “temporary.”

From the Palestinian perspective, the UAE not only failed to stop annexation, which would dash any remaining hopes of establishing a viable, independent state. It also undermined an Arab consensus that recognition of Israel only come in return for concessions in peace talks — a rare source of leverage for the Palestinians.

“I never expected this poison dagger to come from an Arab country,” Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian official and veteran negotiator said Friday. “You are rewarding aggression. ... You have destroyed, with this move, any possibility of peace between Palestinians and Israelis.”

President Donald Trump has presented the U.S.-brokered agreement as a major diplomatic achievement and said he expects more Arab and Muslim countries to follow suit. Israel has quietly cultivated ties with the UAE and other Gulf countries for several years as they have confronted a shared enemy in Iran.

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Virus flareups in Europe lead to club closings, mask orders

PARIS (AP) — New flareups of COVID-19 are disrupting the peak summer vacation season across much of Europe, where authorities in some countries are reimposing restrictions on travelers, closing nightclubs again, banning fireworks displays and expanding mask orders even in chic resort areas.

“Unfortunately, this virus doesn’t play ball,” British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Sky News.

The surges have spread alarm across Europe, which suffered mightily during the spring but appeared in recent months to have largely tamed the coronavirus in ways that the U.S., with its vaunted scientific prowess and the extra time to prepare, cannot seem to manage. The continent’s hardest-hit countries, Britain, Italy, France and Spain, have recorded about 140,000 deaths in all.

In addition to clubs and alcohol-fueled street parties, large family gatherings – usually abounding with hugs and kisses -- have been cited as a source of new outbreaks in several European countries.

A new public awareness campaign by Spain’s Canary Islands depicts a family gathering for a grandfather’s birthday, with people taking off masks and embracing. The grandfather ends up in a hospital bed with COVID-19.

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9th Circuit ends California ban on high-capacity magazines

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday threw out California's ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines, saying the law violates the U.S. Constitution's protection of the right to bear firearms.

“Even well-intentioned laws must pass constitutional muster,” appellate Judge Kenneth Lee wrote for the panel’s majority. California's ban on magazines holding more than 10 bullets “strikes at the core of the Second Amendment — the right to armed self-defense.”

He noted that California passed the law “in the wake of heart-wrenching and highly publicized mass shootings,” but said that isn't enough to justify a ban whose scope “is so sweeping that half of all magazines in America are now unlawful to own in California.”

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra's office said it is reviewing the decision and he "remains committed to using every tool possible to defend California’s gun safety laws and keep our communities safe.”

Gun owners cannot immediately rush to buy high-capacity magazines because a stay issued by the lower court judge remains in place.

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Report: Post Office warns 46 states about mail voting delays

Washington (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service has warned 46 states and the District of Columbia it cannot guarantee all ballots cast by mail for the November election will arrive in time to be counted, The Washington Post reported Friday. Voters in several states also complained that some curbside mail collection boxes were being removed.

Even as President Donald Trump rails against widescale voting by mail, the post office is bracing for an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The warning letters sent to states and obtained by the Post raise the possibility that tens of millions of Americans eligible for mail-in ballots this fall will not be able to use them — even if they follow election rules.

The revelation that some voters could be disenfranchised comes amid a campaign by Trump to sow doubts about the election. Though Trump casts his own ballots by mail, he’s vigorously criticized efforts to allow more people to do so, which he argues without evidence will lead to increased voter fraud. Recently, members of Congress from both parties have voiced concerns that post office mail boxes, which is how many will cast their ballots, have abruptly been removed.

And at the same time that the need for timely delivery of the mail is peaking, service has been curtailed amid cost-cutting and efficiency measures ordered by the Trump-appointed new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, a former supply-chain CEO and a major political donor to Trump and other Republicans. He has implemented measures to eliminate overtime pay and hold mail over if distribution centers are running late.

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Not Real News: A look at false claims around Kamala Harris

A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. This week the Not Real News focuses on false news that spread about Sen. Kamala Harris after presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden announced Tuesday she would be his running mate. Here are the facts:

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CLAIM: Harris is not eligible to serve as president because her parents were immigrants. If Biden is unable to serve a full term as president, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi would be next in line to become president.

THE FACTS: Harris is a natural-born U.S. citizen who is eligible to serve as president. Facebook users are spreading a false claim that that if Biden were elected president this fall and then became unable to serve out a full term, Harris would be skipped over to serve as his successor. Instead, the inaccurate claims say, Pelosi would be next in line to become president. Harris, 55, was born on Oct. 20, 1964, in Oakland, California, making her a natural-born U.S. citizen. Her father, an economist from Jamaica, and her mother, a cancer researcher from India, met at the University of California, Berkeley as graduate students. Since Harris was born in the U.S., she is regarded as a natural born citizen under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, and she is eligible to serve as either the vice president or president, Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levinson told The Associated Press on Thursday. “Full stop, end of story, period, exclamation point,” Levinson said.

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Major US postal workers union endorses Biden for president

WASHINGTON (AP) — A major union representing U.S. postal workers has endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for president, a move that comes as President Donald Trump has acknowledged starving the postal service of money in order to make it more difficult to vote by mail in November's election.

The National Association of Letter Carriers, which represents 300,000 current and retired workers, said Thursday that Trump has long been hostile to the Post Office. His administration has called for an end to collective bargaining rights, proposed service cuts and has eyed the possibility of privatizing the functions of the agency.

But those actions have escalated since the start of the pandemic, with the administration taking “steps outside of the public eye to undermine the Postal Service and letter carriers,” said union President Fredric Rolando.

Biden, on the other hand, “is – was – and will continue to be – a fierce ally and defender of the United States Postal Service,” Rolando said in a statement announcing the endorsement of the former vice president and his running mate, Kamala Harris.

Trump has repeatedly railed against the suggestion that more people should vote by mail as a result of the pandemic, which he argues without offering evidence will lead to widespread voter fraud. While Trump casts his own ballot by mail, the post office has increasingly been in his cross-hairs as Democrats advocate voting by mail.

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Liberty University and Falwell: A bond that's hard to break

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Jerry Falwell Jr. has been toppled, at least temporarily, from the presidency of evangelical Liberty University, but whether he will break permanently with the Christian institution that is synonymous with his family name is another matter.

Falwell apologized after posting a vacation photo that showed him with his pants unzipped and his arm high around the waist of his wife’s pregnant assistant. The image was enough to push the 58-year-old attorney with a tendency toward divisive behavior into an indefinite leave of absence.

Critics of Falwell’s leadership say Liberty needs a new direction, but many who know the school well have a hard time envisioning its governing board saying goodbye to the heir who played a major role in transforming it into a conservative Christian mainstay.

“When it comes to white evangelicalism, the only force more powerful than moralism is nepotism,” said Liberty alumnus Jonathan Merritt, a religion writer and commentator whose father, a former Southern Baptist Convention president, served on the school’s board of trustees.

While the board recognizes that Falwell "made a serious mistake, most say they feel a duty and loyalty to his late father who wanted his son in that role,” Merritt added. “If the board was going to fire him, they would have also done so. It’s almost certain that he’ll be back.”