AP News in Brief at 9:04 p.m. EDT

Melania Trump's night: GOP convention stars first lady

WASHINGTON (AP) — The people closest to President Donald Trump — his family — were starring on the second night of the Republican National Convention as the GOP worked to reintroduce the president to American voters in the midst of the campaign and pandemic.

First lady Melania Trump was delivering Tuesday evening's keynote address at the White House, while the president's daughter Tiffany and son Eric were to be featured, too. Trump himself played a significant role even before the formal program began.

For a second consecutive night, his unscripted remarks threatened to overshadow the convention's carefully crafted message. And there was a separate controversy about one of the speakers, who was pulled from the convention minutes before it began.

Returning to a favorite complaint, Trump tweeted about the expected reliance on mail voting by many voters during the pandemic, raising anew the unsupported prospect of voter fraud though experts say mail voting has proven remarkably secure.

“The fraud and abuse will be an embarrassment to our country,” Trump contended.

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The Latest: RNC speaker pulled after anti-Semitic messages

WASHINGTON (AP) — A speaker who had been scheduled to address the second night of the Republican National Convention has been pulled from the lineup after directing her Twitter followers to a series of anti-Semitic, conspiratorial messages.

Trump campaign spokesperson Tim Murtaugh says, “We have removed the scheduled video from the convention lineup and it will no longer run this week.”

Mary Ann Mendoza had been scheduled to deliver remarks Tuesday night to highlight the president’s fight against illegal immigration. Mendoza’s son was killed in 2014 in a head-on collision by a man who was under the influence and living in the U.S. illegally.

She and and other parents whose children have been killed by people in the country illegally have labeled themselves “Angel Moms” and have made frequent appearances at the White House and Trump campaign events.

Mendoza had apologized for the tweet, writing that she “retweeted a very long thread earlier without reading every post within the thread” and said it “does not reflect my feelings or personal thoughts whatsoever.”

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Trump — 'No Mr. Nice Guy' — shows softer side to win voters

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump kicked off his reelection campaign with a swaggering World Series ad that declared he’s “No Mr. Nice Guy,” but his campaign has taken pains to highlight a softer side of the famously brusque and bombastic chief executive during this week's Republican convention.

The competing depictions of the president come after the Democrats spent last week showcasing the compassion of Joe Biden. But the attempt to humanize Trump was already in the works, part of a strategy to win back senior and suburban voters who have abandoned him in no small part due to his aggressive rhetoric and lack of obvious empathy during the coronavirus pandemic.

Republicans went all-out to depict a gentler Trump on Night One of their convention.

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana recalled how Trump sat by his hospital bedside as he recovered from a near fatal gunshot wound in 2017. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio spoke of how Trump embraced his request two years ago to talk with relatives whose son had died in a car accident. The president was shown talking to COVID-19 first responders, thanking his “friends” for their service.

First lady Melania Trump and two of the president’s children were due to speak Tuesday night about Trump’s personal side.

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Lawyer: Blake not likely to walk again after shot by police

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — Jacob Blake, the Black man shot multiple times by police in Wisconsin, is paralyzed, and it would “take a miracle” for him to walk again, his family's attorney said Tuesday, while calling for the officer who opened fire to be arrested and others involved to lose their jobs.

The shooting of Blake on Sunday in Kenosha — apparently in the back while three of his children looked on — was captured on cellphone video and ignited new protests over racial injustice in several cities, some of which have devolved into unrest. It came just three months after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police touched off a wider reckoning on race.

“They shot my son seven times, seven times, like he didn’t matter,” said Blake’s father, who is also named Jacob Blake and who spoke to reporters alongside other family members and lawyers. “But my son matters. He’s a human being and he matters.”

The 29-year-old was in surgery, said attorney Ben Crump, adding that the bullets severed Blake’s spinal cord and shattered his vertebrae. Another attorney said there was also severe damage to organs.

“It’s going to take a miracle for Jacob Blake Jr. to ever walk again,” Crump said.

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New US virus cases fall as masks gain favor but testing lags

NEW YORK (AP) — The number of Americans newly diagnosed with the coronavirus is falling — a development experts say most likely reflects more mask-wearing but also insufficient testing — even as the disease continues to claim nearly 1,000 lives in the U.S. each day.

About 43,000 new cases are being reported daily across the country, down 21% from early August, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. While the U.S., India and Brazil still have the highest numbers of new cases in the world, the downward trend is encouraging.

“It’s profoundly hopeful news,” said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious-diseases expert at the University of California, San Francisco, who credits the American public’s growing understanding of how the virus spreads, more mask-wearing and, possibly, an increasing level of immunity.

“Hopefully all those factors are coming into play to get this virus under control in this country that’s really been battered by the pandemic,” she said.

But insufficient testing is probably concealing the full extent of the crisis, said Dr. Jonathan Quick, who leads the pandemic response for the Rockefeller Foundation, which has recommended the U.S. test 4 million people a day by fall.

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California faces huge fires before usual peak of season

VACAVILLE, Calif. (AP) — California’s firefighting agency is in talks with the National Guard and California Conservation Corps about providing reinforcements as an already devastating wildfire season threatens to get even worse.

Lightning-sparked fires that have grown to some of the largest in state history have pushed firefighters to the breaking point as they also deal with complications from the coronavirus pandemic and depleted inmate crews.

“Historically it’s September and October when we experience our largest and our most damaging wildfires. So to be in the middle of August and already have the second- and the third-largest wildfires in our state’s history is very concerning to us,” Daniel Berlant, chief of wildfire planning and engineering at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said Tuesday.

For now, cooler temperatures are helping firefighters begin to corral three huge clusters of fires ignited Aug. 15. The blazes have killed at least seven people, burned nearly 1,300 homes and other buildings, and prompted evacuation orders that still affect an estimated 170,000 people.

Firefighters in wine country north of San Francisco have cleared containment lines — used to prevent fires from spreading — around a quarter of the fires there that have scorched more than 550 square miles (1,424 square kilometers) and destroyed more than 930 buildings. It is now the second-largest blaze in California history.

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Hundreds of thousands flee US coast ahead of Hurricane Laura

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — In the largest U.S. evacuation of the pandemic, more than half a million people were ordered to flee the Gulf Coast on Tuesday as Laura strengthened into a hurricane that forecasters said could slam Texas and Louisiana with ferocious winds, heavy flooding and the power to push seawater miles inland.

More than 385,000 residents were told to flee the Texas cities of Beaumont, Galveston and Port Arthur, and another 200,000 were ordered to leave low-lying Calcasieu Parish in southwestern Louisiana, where forecasters said as much as 13 feet (4 meters) of storm surge topped by waves could submerge whole communities.

The National Hurricane Center projected that Laura would draw energy from warm Gulf waters and become a Category 3 hurricane before making landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday, with winds of around 115 mph (185 kph). The strengthening may slow or stop just before landfall, forecasters said.

“The waters are warm enough everywhere there to support a major hurricane, Category 3 or even higher. The waters are very warm where the storm is now and will be for the entire path up until the Gulf Coast,” National Hurricane Center Deputy Director Ed Rappaport said.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Laura is shaping up to look a lot like Hurricane Rita did 15 years ago when it ravaged southwest Louisiana.

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Attorney: Woman was in body bag 2 hours before found alive

An attorney for the family of a young woman found breathing at a Detroit funeral home after being declared dead said Tuesday the 20-year-old was in a body bag for some two hours before it was opened and she was discovered to be alive, with her eyes open.

Geoffrey Fieger, who was hired by Timesha Beauchamp’s family, said she remains in critical condition at Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit, where she is on a respirator and her heart is beating on its own.

“The doctors are unable to give a prognosis right now, and have indicated that it’s touch and go,” Fieger said during an online news conference.

Fieger said the family of the Southfield woman, who was born with cerebral palsy and has always needed constant medical care, are shaken by the blunder that led to her being incorrectly declared dead.

He read a statement from Timesha’s mother, Erica Lattimore, who said that, “On behalf of the family we are devastated by what has happened. We would like people to continue to pray for Timesha and keep her family in their prayers."

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Falwell says he's resigned from Liberty University

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Jerry Falwell Jr. announced his resignation Tuesday as the head of Liberty University after a provocative photo and revelations of his wife's extramarital affair roiled the evangelical school founded by his father.

Falwell’s exit marks a precipitous fall from power for one of the country’s most visible conservative Christian leaders and ardent supporters of President Donald Trump. He confirmed his decision to resign in a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press.

According to the school, he initially offered to resign Monday, hours after a news outlet published an interview with a man who said that he had a yearslong sexual relationship with Becki Falwell and that Jerry Falwell participated in some of the liaisons as a voyeur. Falwell, who denied any participation, later reversed course on his resignation and began telling news outlets he had no intention of leaving. Then he changed direction again.

“That’s the only reason I resigned: because I don’t want something my wife did to harm the school I’ve spent my whole life building," he said in a phone interview. "I never broke a single rule that applies to staff members at Liberty, which I was. So I want everybody to know that.”

The university confirmed in a statement that its board had accepted Falwell’s resignation as president, chancellor and board member. All were effective immediately, the statement said.

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Lions skip practice after discussing shooting of Jacob Blake

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — The Detroit Lions decided not to practice on Tuesday, protesting after a Black man was shot by police in Wisconsin.

“We came up with this one as a unit,” Detroit defensive end Trey Flowers said.

Lions coach Matt Patricia opened the team's morning meeting by allowing players to share their thoughts on the shooting of Jacob Blake, who is paralyzed from the waist down. Blake was shot Sunday, three months after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

The players continued to discuss Blake's shooting and shared their personal experiences regarding race in the locker room.

Lions players and Patricia later filed out of the team's practice facility, pushing a dry-erase board on wheels along the sidewalk to address the media. The words: “The world can't go on,” was written in blue on one side of the dry-erase board and “We won't be silent!! One pride,” was in black on the other side of the white board.