Wednesday, April 23, 2025
28.0°F

AP News Digest 7 a.m.

Columbia Basin Herald | UPDATED 5 years, 2 months AGO
| February 21, 2020 4:30 AM

Here are the AP's latest coverage plans, top stories and promotable content. All times EST. For up-to-the minute information on AP's coverage, visit Coverage Plan at https://newsroom.ap.org.

—————————————

NEW/DEVELOPING

—————————————

AFGHANISTAN-PEACE TALKS — US: Taliban's 'reduction of violence' deal to start tonight. By Kathy Gannon and Matthew Lee. SENT: 160 words, photo.

CHINA-US-TRADE — China suspends more penalties on U.S. goods after trade truce. SENT: 180 words, photo.

_______________

TOP STORIES

_______________

ELECTION 2020-TRUMP-RUSSIA — Intelligence officials have warned lawmakers that Russia is interfering in the 2020 election campaign to help President Donald Trump get reelected, three officials familiar with the closed-door briefing say. The warning raises questions about the integrity of the presidential campaign and whether Trump's administration is taking the proper steps to combat the kind of interference that the U.S. saw in 2016. By Mary Clare Jalonick and Michael Balsamo. SENT: 710 words, photo. With TRUMP-INTELLIGENCE — Trump makes unconventional pick to oversee “deep state."

VIRUS OUTBREAK — Schools are shuttered, churches tell worshippers to stay away and some mass gatherings are banned as cases of a new virus swell in South Korea, the newest front in a widening global outbreak. By Hyung-Jin Kim and Matt Sedensky. SENT: 830 words, photos.

CHINA-OUTBREAK-FEAR GOES VIRAL — You might have heard that the fear of a new virus from China is spreading faster than the actual virus. As the number of cases rise — more than 76,000 and counting — fear is advancing like a tsunami. And not just in the areas surrounding the Chinese city of Wuhan, the site of the vast majority of coronavirus infections. By Foster Klug. SENT: 1,230 words, photos. Also see CHINA-OUTBREAK below.

IRAN-ELECTIONS — Iranians are voting for a new parliament, with turnout seen as a key measure of support for Iran's leadership as sanctions weigh on the economy and isolate the country diplomatically. By Nasser Karimi. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.

ELECTION 2020-CHANGING NEVADA — Nevada's first-in-the West presidential caucus puts the spotlight on a state that was historically a Republican stronghold but has swung increasingly blue over the last two decades. By Scott Sonner. SENT: 990 words, photos. Also see 2020 ELECTION below.

Find more coverage on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page in AP Newsroom.

GERMANY-SHOOTING — Germany's top security official says that authorities will step up the police presence throughout the country and keep a closer watch on mosques and other sites after the racially motivated shootings that killed nine people. SENT: 290 words, photos.

—————————————

CHINA-OUTBREAK

—————————————

CHINA-OUTBREAK — China reports another fall in new virus cases as health officials express continued optimism over containment of the outbreak that has caused more than 2,200 deaths but has grown elsewhere. SENT: 520 words, photos. With CHINA-OUTBREAK-AT A GLANCE; FINANCIAL-MARKETS — World stocks follow Wall Street lower on renewed virus fears.

IRAN-VIRUS-OUTBREAK — Iranian health authorities report two more deaths from the new virus that emerged in China and said the fatalities were from among 13 new confirmed cases of the virus in Iran. SENT: 480 words, photo.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHURCH — A church whose leader claims he is an angel of Jesus has become the biggest cluster of viral infections in South Korea, where a surge in new cases raises fears that the outbreak is getting out of control. SENT: 470 words, photos.

VIRUS-JAPAN-CRUISE SHIP — Japan's health minister says the last cruise ship passengers who tested negative for a new virus will leave the Diamond Princess after a much-criticized quarantine of the vessel ended. SENT: 450 words, photos.

JAPAN-VIRUS CRISIS — The virus outbreak that has spread from China to even remote parts of Japan has Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party playing defense. SENT: 980 words, photos.

———————————-

2020 ELECTION

———————————-

ELECTION 2020-MONEY — Campaign finance disclosures made to the Federal Election Commission offer the clearest look yet at which of the Democratic presidential candidates will have the resources to forge on deep into the calendar and who will be forced to soon reckon with the sustainability of their candidacy. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.

ELECTION 2020-CALIFORNIA — California is the largest prize in the calculations of any Democratic presidential candidate. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.

_______________________

WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT

_______________________

TRUMP-PARASITE — Trump apparently not a fan of “Parasite.” SENT: 180 words, photos.

SEXUAL MISCONDUCT-WEINSTEIN — Jurors at Weinstein rape trial continue to focus on Sciorra. SENT: 390 words, photos.

AUSTRALIA-BULLYING — Outpouring of worldwide support for bullied Australian boy. SENT: 330 words.

ABORTION-FLORIDA — Florida Legislature passes abortion parental consent bill. SENT: 650 words.

WAKE FOREST-RACIAL TENSIONS — Wake Forest apologizes for slavery in university's past. SENT: 460 words, photos.

IDAHO APARTMENT SHOOTING — Police say two killed, three injured in Idaho shooting. SENT: 150 words, photo, video.

NEPAL-MARIJUANA DAY — Thousands light up joints during Hindu festival in Nepal. SENT: 220 words, photos.

SPORTS-GAMBLING-INDICTMENT — Brian Urlacher's brother charged in offshore gambling ring. SENT: 370 words.

—————————

NATIONAL

—————————

DAMS-LEGACY OF NEGLECT-MISSING PLANS — Heavy rains and recent flooding across the Southeastern U.S. have highlighted a potential public safety concern for some dams. By David A. Lieb, Michelle Minkoff and Sudhin Thanawala. SENT: 1,150 words, photos.

UNIVERSITY-OF-MICHIGAN-DOCTOR-INVESTIGATION — An Olympic wrestler accuses a University of Michigan doctor of touching him inappropriately during medical exams at the school and says the physician's reputation for such conduct was well known among his teammates. SENT: 1,230 words, photos.

TRUMP-BLAGOJEVICH-Q&A — Job wanted: Ex-governor and ex-con with strong speaking skills and good hair seeking employment. SENT: 1,040 words, photos, video.

PLANNED-PARENTHOOD-STATE-FUNDING — Several states have begun picking up the tab for family planning services at clinics run by Planned Parenthood, which last year quit a $260 million federal funding program over a Trump administration rule prohibiting clinics from referring women for abortions. SENT: 910 words, photo.

TITANIC ARTIFACTS — The salvage firm that has plucked silverware, china and gold coins from the wreckage of the Titanic now wants to recover the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Machine that transmitted the doomed ship's increasingly frantic distress calls. SENT: 640 words, photos.

MISSING-KIDS-MOM-ARRESTED — The mother of two Idaho children missing since September is arrested in Hawaii. SENT: 600 words, photo.

EXECUTION-TENNESSEE — A convicted murderer is put to death in Tennessee's electric chair, becoming the state's fifth prisoner over 16 months to choose electrocution over the state's preferred method of lethal injection. SENT: 770 words, photo.

ARIZONA-SANCTUARY POLICY BAN — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Republican lawmakers have pulled a contentious proposal to enshrine a ban on so-called “sanctuary cities” in the state constitution. SENT: 670 words, photo.

MISSING GIRL-SOUTH CAROLINA — The South Carolina community that searched, prayed and then cried gets to say goodbye to a 6-year-old girl who disappeared from her front yard and was found dead three days later. SENT: 390 words, photos.

————————————

INTERNATIONAL

————————————-

ALGERIA-NEW ERA — Algeria's peaceful “smile revolution” brings down the long-time president of Africa's largest country along with his powerful entourage. SENT: 750 words, photos.

NEW ZEALAND-MILLANE KILLER SENTENCED — A New Zealand man is sentenced to life in prison for murdering a British backpacker whose mother told the court a hole had been ripped in her heart by her daughter's stolen life. SENT: 530 words, photos.

THAILAND-POLITICS — Thailand's Constitutional Court orders the popular opposition Future Forward Party dissolved, declaring that it violated election law by accepting a loan from its leader. SENT: 670 words, photos.

UNITED-NATIONS-HAITI — The political impasse that has paralyzed Haiti is sending its economy deeper into recession, with 4.6 million people needing humanitarian aid — and there is no immediate end in sight, the U.N. envoy for Haiti says. SENT: 600 words, photos.

-—————

SPORTS

——————

LAKE PLACID-THE LEGACY — The benefits of Olympic hockey's Miracle on Ice have been reaped in Lake Placid for 40 years, and the plan now is to keep those miracles — and miracle-seekers — coming. By Sports Writer Tim Reynolds. SENT: 1,010 words, photos.

EQUAL PAY — Players on the U.S. women's national team are seeking more than $66 million in damages as part of their gender discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. By Sports Writer Ronald Blum. SENT: 1,070 words, photos.

——————————————-

HOW TO REACH US

-------------————————

At the Nerve Center, Richard A. Somma can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). For photos, Courtney Dittmar (ext. 1900). For graphics and interactives, Phil Holm (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.