AP News Digest 7:05 a.m.
Columbia Basin Herald | UPDATED 4 years, 6 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.
----------------—-
TOP STORIES
-------------------
TRUMP-CRISIS PRESIDENCY — These are times of pain, mass death, fear and deprivation in America and the Donald Trump show may be losing its allure, exposing the empty space once filled by the empathy and seriousness of presidents leading in a crisis. Bluster isn’t beating the virus; belligerence isn’t calming a restive nation. By Jonathan Lemire and Calvin Woodward. SENT: 2,810 words, photos. With TRUMP-CRISIS PRESIDENCY-ABRIDGED.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-LOBBYING — Forty lobbyists with ties to President Donald Trump helped clients secure more than $10 billion in federal coronavirus aid, among them five former administration officials whose work potentially violates Trump’s own ethics policy, according to a report. SENT: 865 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-EGYPT-SILENCING CRITICS — Egyptian security agencies have tried to stifle criticism about the handling of the coronavirus health crisis by President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s government. Rights groups say at least 10 doctors and six journalists have been arrested since the virus first hit Egypt. Other health workers say they have been warned by administrators to keep quiet or face punishment. SENT: 1,630 words, photos. A 1,050-word abridged version has also been sent.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-AUSTRALIA — Australian authorities are preparing to close the border between the country’s two largest states, as the country’s second-largest city, Melbourne, recorded two deaths and its highest-ever daily increase in infections on Monday. The border between the states of New South Wales — home to Sydney — and Victoria — home to Melbourne — is due to be shut late Tuesday. SENT: 660 words, photos.
Find more coverage of the Virus Outbreak in AP Newsroom.
DOUGLASS STATUE-VANDALISM — A statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass was ripped from its base in Rochester on the anniversary of one of his most famous speeches, delivered in that city in 1852. The statue of Douglass was taken from Maplewood Park, a site along the Underground Railroad where Douglass and Harriet Tubman helped shuttle slaves to freedom. The statue was found at the brink of the Genesee River gorge about 50 feet from its pedestal.
Find more coverage of Racial Injustice in AP Newsroom.
---------------------------------------------—-
----------------------------------------------—
VIRUS OUTBREAK-AFRICA TAKES FLIGHT — As COVID-19 cases surged in many parts of the world, the island nation of the Seychelles was looking good: 70-plus straight days without a single infection. Then the planes arrived. In the last week of June, the country’s confirmed cases shot from 11 to 81. African nations face a difficult choice as infections are rapidly rising: Welcome the international flights that originally brought COVID-19 to the ill-prepared continent, or further hurt their economies and restrict a lifeline for badly needed humanitarian aid. By Cara Anna. SENT: 860 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ASIA — The hard-hit Australian state of Victoria has recorded two deaths and its highest-ever daily increase in coronavirus cases as authorities prepare to close its border with New South Wales. Meanwhile, India has overtaken Russia to become the third worst-affected nation by the coronavirus. SENT: 815 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-LOUVRE REOPENS — The Mona Lisa is back in business. Paris’ Louvre Museum, which houses the world’s most famous portrait, has reopened after a four-month coronavirus lockdown. Just 7,000 visitors were expected on the reopening day Monday, down from up to 50,000 a day before the pandemic, in the busiest summer months. Reservations and face masks are now required for visitors. SENT: 265 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ONE GOOD THING-CZECH VENTILATORS — A group volunteers in the Czech Republic was working round the clock to prevent critical shortage of ventilators for COVID-19 patients, something that happened in northern Italy. Led by Tomas Kapler, an IT expert who had nothing to do with lung ventilators before, a team of 30 developed a fully functional ventilator in just days. SENT: 620 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-COAST GUARD ACADEMY — New cadets arrive at the Coast Guard Academy this week for the basic training known as Swab Summer. But because of the pandemic, this summer will be different. There will be no haircuts, no drilling, no running as a group from place to place, no lining up against the wall in the hall of the barracks for pushups. The swabs will spend the first two weeks isolated in their barracks, learning about their duties and the history and traditions of the Coast Guard and the academy. The physical training will begin once the quarantine ends, with the screaming and drilling coming from a proper social distance. SENT: 1,010 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRITAIN-ARTS — The British government has announced more than 1.5 billion pounds (almost $2 billion) to help the country’s renowned arts and cultural institutions recover from the coronavirus pandemic. After more than three months of lockdown, some theaters and music venues say that without support they may never open again. SENT: 350 words, photo.
Find more coverage of the Virus Outbreak in AP Newsroom.
-----------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------
RACIAL INJUSTICE-SEATTLE — A person killed Saturday when a man drove his car onto a closed Seattle freeway and into a crowd protesting police brutality, was remembered Sunday as someone who was dedicated to the cause. The other person hit in the incident remained in serious condition at a Seattle hospital. SENT: 870 words, photos.
Find more coverage of Racial Injustice in AP Newsroom.
---------------------------------------------
WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
---------------------------------------------
OBIT-NICK CORDERO — Tony Award-nominated actor Nick Cordero, who specialized in playing tough guys on Broadway in such shows as “Waitress,” “A Bronx Tale” and “Bullets Over Broadway,” has died in Los Angeles. He suffered severe medical complications after contracting the coronavirus. He was 41. SENT: 635 words, photos.
CHINA-BUBONIC PLAGUE — While China appears to have reduced coronavirus cases to near zero, other infectious threats remain, with local health authorities announcing a suspected bubonic plague case in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. SENT: 210 words.
SEVERE WEATHER-TREE ON GARAGE — A large tree toppled onto a detached garage in a Maryland neighborhood where people attending a child’s birthday party sought shelter from a storm, sending 19 people to hospitals. SENT: 335 words.
NATIONAL GALLERY-NATIVE AMERICAN — A painting by artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith is joining works by the legendary pop artists Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol at the National Gallery of Art. Smith’s “I See Red: Target” is the first painting on canvas by a Native American artist to enter the collection. SENT: 450 words.
ODD-HOUSE FIRE-DOG ALERT — A dog in Tennessee became a hero on the Fourth of July by alerting her owner to a house fire next door. SENT: 190 words.
ISRAEL-SATELLITE — Israel’s Defense Ministry has announced the successful launch of a new spy satellite that would help the country monitor Iran’s nuclear activity. SENT: 850 words, photos.
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
ELECTION 2020-LATINOS — Joe Biden’s Democratic campaign for president is hoping to capture Florida and other pivotal states by pushing Latino turnout rates higher than when Hillary Clinton was defeated in 2016. A key to doing that is a deeper understanding of Latino voters’ backgrounds thanks to new advancements in “micro-targeting.” By Will Weissert. SENT: 1,090 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-WATCH — We’re moving into the heart of summer, but if you’re expecting the traditional summertime slowdown in presidential politics, don’t. The pandemic is raging, family vacations are on hold, cable news viewership is booming and President Donald Trump is inflaming the nation’s culture wars to keep his base engaged. By Steve Peoples. SENT: 1,235 words, photos.
FACT CHECK-WEEK — President Donald Trump is understating the danger of the coronavirus to people who get it, as more and more become infected in the U.S. In his latest of many statements playing down the severity of the pandemic, Trump declar
ed that 99% of cases of COVID-19 are harmless. That flies in the face of science and of the reality captured by the U.S. death toll of about 130,000. By Hope Yen and Calvin Woodward. SENT: 1,760 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-TRUMP — President Donald Trump is set to hold an outdoor campaign rally Saturday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The campaign rally will come three weeks after an indoor rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the president’s first of the COVID-19 era, drew a smaller-than-expected crowd amid concerns of rising infections in the region. By Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller. SENT: 605 words, photo.
------------------———
--------------------——
SYRIA-MISSING DETAINEES — Syrian families are hoping that newly imposed U.S. sanctions will force Damascus to reveal news about their loved ones who disappeared into government prisons during the country’s civil war. Activist groups say more than 12,000 Syrians are missing after being detained, and that thousands more are known to have been tortured to death. Anguished families are searching through leaked photos of torture victims, and in some cases are finding their slain loved ones, tragic evidence of their fate years after they disappeared. By Bassem Mroue. SENT: 1,020 words, photos.
FRANCE-NEW GOVERNMENT — French President Emmanuel Macron has promised to get the battered French economy going again in a series of tweets fired off before the naming of a new government lineup. French media reports said a reshuffled government of about 20 ministers would be named Monday to work with Jean Castex, named as the new prime minister last week. SENT: 250 words.
HONG KONG — Hanscom Smith, the top American diplomat in Hong Kong, says that it is a “tragedy” to use the semi-autonomous Chinese territory’s new national security law to chip away at “fundamental freedoms” in the Asian financial hub and create an “atmosphere of coercion and self-censorship.” By Zen Soo. SENT: 460 words, photos.
JAPAN-TOKYO GOVERNOR — Tokyo’s governor and her political rival, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, have agreed to cooperate on handling the coronavirus outbreak to safely hold the Olympics next year. Gov. Yuriko Koike met with Abe a day after she was elected to her second term. SENT: 470 words, photos.
THAILAND-CINEMA FAREWELL — Bangkok’s Scala theater was where Thais cheered Hollywood heroes, laughed at quirky comedies and fell in love with film. The images shown on the huge, curved screen were well-suited to the art deco theater, the vast lobby with its glitzy ceiling, the curved columns and sweeping staircase. Now only the memories will remain. The Thai capital’s last stand-alone big screen cinema has shut its doors after 51 years. By Jerry Harmer. SENT: 910 words, photos.
———————
———————
JEFFREY EPSTEIN-ASSOCIATE — Prosecutors have told a judge they’d like to schedule a Friday court appearance for Jeffrey Epstein’s associate on charges she helped him recruit women to sexually abuse. British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested Thursday. She has been detained without bail after agreeing to be moved to New York. SENT: 475 words, photo.
CHICAGO VIOLENCE — At least 13 people, including a 7-year-old girl at a family party and a teenage boy, were killed in Chicago over the Fourth of July weekend, police said. In all, at least 59 others were shot and wounded. SENT: 355 words, photos.
IDAHO PLANE CRASH — Two people died and as many as six other people may be missing in a plane crash over Lake Coeur d’Alene. Witnesses say they saw two planes colliding above the water. SENT: 305 words, photo.
———————————————
———————————————
STORE REOPENING-REBOOT — Forget about making shopping fun. As clothing retailers and others try to stay viable during the coronavirus pandemic, they’re hoping steps like cleaning during store hours, offering hand sanitizer and other safety measures will bring in customers to spend. SENT: 725 words, photos.
————————————-
ENTERTAINMENT
————————————
ITALY-OBIT-MORRICONE — Oscar-winning Italian composer Ennio Morricone, who created the coyote-howl theme for the iconic Spaghetti Western “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and music for hundreds of other films, has died. He was 91. SENT: 1,150 words, photos.
FRANCE-FASHION-DIGITAL RUNWAYS — The coronavirus pandemic has instilled chaos into the already-unpredictable Paris Fashion Week. Organizers initially canceled the event, but it later re-emerged as an unprecedented “digital” season. Top houses such as Chanel, Dior and Hermes are opting to stream their menswear and/or haute couture shows online beginning Monday at their previously allotted times and dates. There will be no guests, celebrities or the regular frenzied media circus. SENT: 970 words, photos.
----------—
--------——
TRAIL BLAZERS-LILLARD REFLECTS — Damian Lillard struggled during the coronavirus shutdown, missing his mom and grieving the death of his cousin. But he also found inspiration in his music and the Black Lives Matter movement. Now his focus has turned to the restart of the NBA season later this month in Orlando. SENT: 840 words, photos.
SKOREA-TRIATHLETE'S DEATH — Top South Korean officials have offered a public apology and vowed to delve into the death of a triathlete who had repeatedly told government and sports bodies she had been abused by her team coach and others. Sports Minister Park Yang-woo told lawmakers he “feels heavy responsibility” for Choi Suk-hyeon’s death and apologized to her bereaved family and the South Korean public. SENT: 700 words, photos.
----------------------————
HOW TO REACH US
----------------------————
The Nerve Center can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). 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.