AP News Digest 2 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.
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ONLY ON AP
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FEDERAL PRISONS-ATTORNEY GENERAL — The Justice Department is creating a special task force to focus on criminal misconduct by federal Bureau of Prison officers at several correctional facilities across the U.S., including the jail where wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein died, after a loaded gun was smuggled inside. By Michael Balsamo. SENT. 630 words, photos.
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK - President Donald Trump moved to invoke a federal law that allows the government to marshal the private sector to deal with the coronavirus epidemic, as the economic damage mounted with word that Detroit's Big Three automakers agreed to shut down all their factories to protect workers. By Tim Sullivan and David Rising. SENT: 1,150 words, photos. WITH: VIRUS OUTBREAK-AP EXPLAINS-DEFENSE POWERS — An explainer of emergency powers that allow the U.S. government to marshal the private sector. UPCOMING: 600 words by 5 p.m., photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CONGRESS — The Treasury Department proposes issuing direct payments to Americans by early next month as the centerpiece of a $1 trillion plan to stabilize the economy as the coronavirus epidemic threatens a body slam to taxpayers and businesses. The proposal requires congressional approval, and the amount of the checks would depend on income and family size. By Andrew Taylor, Zeke Miller and Lisa Mascaro. SENT: 1100 words. UPCOMING: Developing throughout the day, expected Senate action on another measure, 1100 words by 5 p.m., photos.
ELECTION 2020 — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says he is reassessing his campaign, raising questions about whether he will drop out after losing three more states and falling prohibitively behind former Vice President Joe Biden in the race. By Will Weissert and Brian Slodysko. SENT: 1200 words. UPCOMING: Developing, 1160 words by 4 p.m., photos, video.
Find more coverage on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Stocks sank 7% on Wall Street, triggering another temporary halt to trading and wiping out the optimism and big gains sparked the prior day by Washington’s promises for massive aid for the economy. By Stan Choe. SENT: 660 words, photos, developing.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-DELAYED CARE - Cancer patients are being told to delay some surgeries. An infertility association has told its members to delay helping couples who are trying to get pregnant. Doctors in virtually every field are scrambling to adjust medical practices and advice as the new coronavirus spreads. UPCOMING: 800 words by 3 p.m., photos.
Find more all-format coverage below and on the coronavirus outbreak featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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MORE ON VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-LAW ENFORCEMENT — Police in Fort Worth won’t arrest people for low-level crimes. The district attorney in Brooklyn won’t prosecute them. And courts across the U.S. are closing as the nation grapples with coronavirus. The coronavirus has the potential to profoundly change law enforcement in the U.S. By Michael Sisak, Jake Bleiberg and Stefani Dazio. UPCOMING: 800 words by 4 p.m., photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-WASHINGTON — Managing dual health and economic crises, President Donald Trump announces he will invoke a federal provision that allows the government to marshal the private sector in response to the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 800 words. UPCOMING: Developing, 1100 words by 5 p.m., photos, video.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-TRUMP ASIANS — President Trump says he doesn’t think calling the coronavirus the "Chinese virus" — or the "Kung flu" as one administration official reportedly called it — puts Asian Americans at risk of retaliation because even they would agree that the pandemic originated in China. The Chinese have taken offense to the Trump administration’s constant references to the origin of the virus and Chinese-Americans have reported being stigmatized. UPCOMING: 800 words by 5 p.m., photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SUPPLIES - The federal government is rushing protective equipment to states for medical workers who will be on the front lines of the growing coronavirus pandemic. But at least in two states promised deliveries are falling far short of requests and even include expired items. Dozens of flights and hundreds of trucks have ferried supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile. It was created in 1999 to respond to terrorist events like bombings and biological, chemical and nuclear attacks. It maintains caches of pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and vaccines in secret locations around the nation composed but has never confronted anything on the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic. By Andrew Selsky. UPCOMING: 1,000 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-FOOD BANKS - Food banks across the country are taking a hit amid the coronavirus outbreak. On a typical day at the vast food bank warehouse in San Jose, California, 80 to 100 volunteers pack food into boxes to be shipped out to distribution sites. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos, by 3 p.m.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-UNITED STATES-BORDERS — The U.S. and Canada have agreed to temporarily close their shared border to nonessential travel due to the coronavirus pandemic, bringing a halt to tourism and family visits, but leaving the flow of trade intact. The announcement comes as the administration also considers returning to Mexico all people caught illegally crossing the southern U.S. border. SENT: 770 words. UPCOMING: Developing, 890 words by 5 p.m., photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NURSING HOMES — Some nursing homes are resorting to using plastic garbage bags to make protective gowns for staff and about 1 in 5 risk running out of personal protective equipment by next week, industry groups are warning. By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Linda Johnson. SENT: 600 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SPANISH SPEAKERS - As government officials continue to ring the alarm bell about the coronavirus, all over the nation, they’re doing so predominantly in English. They’re potentially not reaching the millions of Spanish speakers in the U.S. who aren’t proficient in English. In Arizona, state officials say they're still translating material. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos, by 5 p.m.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MEDIA - News organizations across the country are dropping paywalls to keep their communities in the loop, a move that might also pay business dividends. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos, by 3 p.m.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-LIVING ROOM CONCERTS - John Legend says if he can’t perform live for his fans because of social distancing and the growing coronavirus, he’ll livestream a performance from his living room. Chris Martin, Keith Urban, Willie Nelson, Miley Cryus, OneRepublic and more stars are performing concerts and communicating with their fans from their homes via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram while the world hunkers down. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos, by 5 p.m.
A separate advisory has been sent detailing complete virus coverage.
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WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT
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SCI--PLANETARY LINEUP - Stuck at home this week? The planets and our moon are providing some early morning entertainment. Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and a crescent moon will be clustered together in the southeastern sky just before daybreak. SENT: 200 words, photo.
APPLE NEW DEVICES - Apple’s new iPad brings PC-like trackpad capabilities for the first time, as the company seeks to make its tablet even more like a laptop computer. SENT: 200 words, photo.
EARTHQUAKE-UTAH -A 5.7-magnitude earthquake shook Salt Lake City and its suburbs, sending spooked residents fleeing their homes, knocking out power for tens of thousands and closing the city's airport. SENT: 600 words, photo.
OBIT-MAGGIE GRIFFIN - The mother of comedian Kathy Griffin, who inspired many of the jokes in her famous daughter's standup routines, has died. Maggie Griffin was 99. SENT: 220 words, photos.
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TRUMP SPAIN — The White House postpones an upcoming state visit by Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia because of the coronavirus. SENT: 340 words, photo.
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MEXICO RISING CARTEL — Mexico’s fastest-rising cartel, the Jalisco New Generation gang, has a reputation for ruthlessness and violence unlike any since the fall of the old Zetas cartel. In parts of the country it is fighting medieval-style battles, complete with fortified redoubts, to expand nationwide, from the outskirts of Mexico City, into the tourist resorts around Cancun, and along the northern border. SENT: 1,745 words, photos.
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SING SING MUSEUM - Busting out of Sing Sing has been a dream of inmates since cell doors started clanging shut along the Hudson River in the 1820s. Now there’s a plan to usher visitors inside the high walls well known in the past to gangsters, Hollywood stars and prisoners condemned to the electric chair. A museum just beyond the maximum-security prison’s watch towers is being planned with a unique feature: a 300-foot-long corridor connecting to the roofless ruins of the original 19th century cell block inside the walls. SENT: 830 words, photos, video.
HATE GROUPS - A recent surge in white nationalism in the U.S. has led to a growing threat of violence by factions that embrace bloodshed and advocate for a race war, according to a report released Wednesday by an organization that tracks far-right extremists. SENT: 785 words, photos.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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SCI BIRD-FOSSIL - A tiny fossil skull nicknamed “Wonderchicken” is giving scientists a rare glimpse at early ancestors of today's birds. It may be the oldest known fossil from this group. With a face like those of today's chicken-like birds and a back portion like that of living duck-like birds, Wonderchicken is " down near the bottom of the modern-bird family tree,” said Daniel Field of Cambridge University. SENT: 560 words, photos.
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MUSIC-KELSEA BALLERINI - Kelsea Ballerini is an oversharer, both on social media and in songs, and those inner conversations, anxieties and obsessions show a country star navigating fame and pop music on her third album “kelsea.” “I am loud and I talk too much,” Ballerini, 26, admits. “And it’s really because I am scared of the silence. I am scared of the alone time now. I am aware of that.” SENT: 650 words, photos, video.
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BKC-COLLEGE-BKB-POLL - Kansas has finished the season No. 1 in The Associated Press college basketball poll, receiving 63 of 65 first-place votes from a national media panel. Gonzaga was second and Dayton third with Florida State and Baylor rounding out the top five. It's the fourth time since the inception of the men's poll for the 1946-47 season that the Jayhawks finished on top. The AP poll is typically released before the NCAA Tournament settles the national champion. The tournament was canceled this year amid the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 835 words, photos.
IDITAROD - Norwegian musher Thomas Waerner easily won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across Alaska, one of the few U.S. sporting events not canceled by concerns over the new coronavirus. Waerner crossed the finish line in Nome, Alaska. SENT: 720 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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