AP News Digest 2 p.m.
Columbia Basin Herald | UPDATED 6 years 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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ELECTION 2020-BIDEN — Joe Biden faces the most intense test yet of his pledge to be a calming, unifying leader for a divided nation as he travels to Kenosha, Wisconsin, a city now at the center of America’s election-year reckoning with systemic racism. Biden meets with the family of Jacob Blake, the Black man who was shot seven times in the back by a white police officer late last month. By Bill Barrow and Will Weissert. SENT: 972 words. UPCOMING: Developing from afternoon events, 990 words by 5 p.m., photos, video. WITH: ELECTION 2020-THE LATEST, developing. WITH: ELECTION 2020-BIDEN-REPUBLICANS — Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder backs Joe Biden for president. SENT: 489 words, photo. WITH: ELECTION 2020-TRUMP — Two months out from Election Day, President Donald Trump and others are flooding Pennsylvania, a crucial battleground state that tipped toward Trump in 2016. UPCOMING: Developing from 7 p.m. remarks, 600 words by 6 p.m., with updates, photos, video.
Find more coverage on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
ELECTION 2020-READY TO VOTE — Election officials say their preparations for an unprecedented election have been hamstrung by political fights and court battles that could lead to last-minute chaos. By Nicholas Riccardi and Alan Suderman. SENT: 1,300 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS -- The number of laid-off Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell to a still-elevated 881,000 last week, evidence that the viral pandemic keeps forcing many businesses to slash jobs. The latest figures, released by the Labor Department, suggest that nearly six months after the eruption of the coronavirus, the economy is still struggling to sustain a recovery and rebuild a job market that was devastated by the recession. By Paul Wiseman. SENT: 790 words, photos.
JOBLESS AID-FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS — More than 1 million unemployed Americans face a tough financial struggle because they won’t likely qualify for the $300 weekly federal benefit the Trump administration is offering to replace an expired $600-a-week check. Such loopholes are weakening the White House’s efforts to aid the jobless at a time of high unemployment. By Christopher Rugaber and Leah Willingham. SENT: 1,120 words, photos.
MED--GENE EDITING-EMBRYOS -- It’s still too soon to try to make genetically edited babies because the science isn’t advanced enough to ensure safety, says an international panel of experts who also mapped a pathway for any countries that want to consider it. The report comes nearly two years after a Chinese scientist shocked the world by revealing he’d helped make the first gene-edited babies using a tool called CRISPR, which enables DNA changes or “edits” that can pass to future generations. By Marilynn Marchione. SENT: 875 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-EVICTIONS — Housing advocates say the Trump administration’s surprise national moratorium on evictions only delays a wave of crushing debt and homelessness, and an attorney representing landlords questions whether the measure is aimed at voters ahead of the November election. SENT: 1,020 words, photos, graphic.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-TYSON CLINICS -- Tyson Foods says it is planning to open medical clinics at several of its U.S. plants to improve the health of its workers and better protect them from the coronavirus. SENT: 550 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MIDEAST --The confirmed death toll from the coronavirus has gone over 50,000 in the Middle East as the pandemic continues. That’s according to a count from The Associated Press, based on official numbers offered by health authorities across the region. Those numbers still may be an undercount. SENT: 285 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRITAIN-SCHOOLS -- Children are slowly returning to school in England, most of them for the first time in six months because of the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 600 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-AFGHANISTAN-LIFE-AFTER-LOCKDOWN — Afghans desperate for relief from endless war and now a pandemic that closed even the few recreational areas they can safely attend can again go to parks, wedding halls, swimming pools and gyms as the government eases a lockdown that has been in effect since March. SENT: 870 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ONE GOOD THING-BANGLADESH AID — Starting with a personal fund of $236, three young friends have raised about $230,000 to help people hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic in Bangladesh. SENT: 530 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SOUTH AFRICA-HEALTHCARE WORKERS PROTEST -- South African healthcare workers have protested against poor working conditions and urged the government to end corruption in the purchase of COVID-19 personal protective equipment. SENT: 425 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-PERU-URNS-PHOTO GALLERY -- AP PHOTOS: Grieving find new spaces for urns of Peru’s dead. SENT: 400 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-VIRAL QUESTIONS-REINFECTION — Can I get the coronavirus twice? It seems possible, though how often it happens isn’t known. SENT: 260 words, graphic.
A separate wire advisory has moved outlining our complete coronavirus coverage.
Find more all-format coverage on the Virus Outbreak featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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ODD--BAN BONELESS WINGS -- A Nebraska man is making political waves over his impassioned plea to take action against boneless chicken wings. SENT: 150 words.
TEENAGE SWIMMER-ENGLISH CHANNEL --A 16-year-old from New Hampshire successfully swam across the English Channel, completing a 33-mile-swim she called an “adventure.” SENT: 175 words.
PEOPLE-BLANCO BROWN — “The Git Up” singer Blanco Brown is in intensive care after suffering significant injuries in a head-on vehicle collision near Atlanta. SENT: 135 words, photos.
SHIPYARD FIRING-TRUMP HAT — A Virginia man says he was fired from his job at a shipyard for refusing to remove a hat supporting President Trump. SENT: 350 words, photos.
MOUNTAIN LION KITTENS -- A boom in mountain lion births has occurred this summer in Southern California. The National Park Service says 13 kittens were born to five mountain lion mothers between May and August in the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills west of Los Angeles. SENT: 200 words, photo.
JACKIE O’S ESTATE -- The Martha’s Vineyard estate of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is being sold to a pair of nonprofits that plan on turning the property into conservation land open to the public. SENT: 250 words, photo.
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ELECTION 2020-VOTING TWICE — President Donald Trump says people who vote early by mail should show up at their local polling places on Election Day and vote again if their ballots haven’t been counted, a suggestion election experts said would unnecessarily trigger chaos, long lines and more work for election officials. SENT: 790 words. UPCOMING: 850 words by 5 p.m., photos.
2020 CENSUS — Government attorneys say any effort to extend the 2020 census beyond the end of this month would be costly and burden the agency that runs it. SENT: 700 words, photo.
EPA-WHEELER — The EPA Administrator lays out his vision for EPA for the next half-century in a speech at the Nixon library. UPCOMING: Developing from 4 p.m. event, 500 words by 5 p.m., photo.
UNITED STATES-BALKANS — Leaders from Serbia and Kosovo meet at the White House to discuss economic issues, a U.S.-led discussion that seeks to set thorny political issues aside and focus on economic development. UPCOMING: 500 words by 5 p.m., photo.
FACEBOOK-US ELECTION -- With just two months left until the U.S. presidential election, Facebook says it is taking additional steps to encourage voting, minimize misinformation and reduce the likelihood of post-election “civil unrest.” The company said it will restrict new political ads in the week before the election and remove posts that convey misinformation about COVID-19 and voting. It will also attach links to official results to posts from candidates and campaigns declaring a premature victory. SENT: 550 words, photo.
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RACIAL-INJUSTICE-LOUISVILLE — Amber Brown had climbed into a city bus before dawn, had driven her eight-hour shift, and she was tired. But she knew she couldn’t go home. Instead she headed down to “Injustice Square” — a single city block that was until a few months ago an unremarkable Louisville park. Now it is the nucleus of the nation’s rage over the police killing of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor, an emergency medical technician shot dead when police burst into her home in the middle of the night. SENT: 1,660 words, photos. An abridged version of 960 words is available.
ROCHESTER POLICE DEATH -- The man who suffocated after police in New York’s third-largest city put a “spit hood” over his head was the loving father of five adult children, his aunt said. She said he had some mental health issues but was harmless, and had just arrived in Rochester for a visit with his brother. SENT: 1,090 words, photos.
NYC-POLICE SEX CRIMES — The new head of New York City’s sex crimes unit is not only a veteran police investigator, but also a forensic nurse who has conducted the physical exams and evidence collection vital to solving such cases. SENT: 520 words, photo.
PORTLAND PROTESTS-MEDIA — The beam of a police officer’s flashlight swept across a group of 15 people standing on the sidewalk in downtown Portland, Oregon, recording and taking photos of the nightly protests that have roiled the city for three months. Most in the recent group wore helmets, reflective vests or shirts emblazoned with the word “PRESS” and had media badges dangling from their necks. But some were demonstrators, taking cover behind reporters despite orders to go home or face arrest. SENT: 920 words, photos.
FUNERAL HOME-WOMAN ALIVE — A suburban Detroit paramedic repeatedly failed to recognize that a young woman declared dead was alive and misled a doctor by phone about her condition, according to state authorities who offered more details about the strange case. SENT: 550 words, photos.
BRIBERY INVESTIGATION-OHIO — The former speaker of the Ohio House has pleaded not guilty to a federal corruption charge stemming from an alleged bribery scheme. SENT: 270 words, photos.
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GERMANY-RUSSIA-NAVALNY --President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman brushed off allegations that the Kremlin was involved in poisoning the Russian leader’s most determined critic, accusing Germany of not providing Moscow with any evidence about the condition of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. SENT: 1,095 words, photos.
LEBANON — A pulsing signal has been detected from under the rubble of a Beirut building that collapsed during the horrific port explosion in the Lebanese capital last month, raising hopes there may be a survivor still buried there. SENT: 500 words, photos.
BRITAIN-CHINA-XINJIANG TRIBUNAL — A prominent British human rights lawyer is convening an independent tribunal in London to investigate whether the Chinese government’s alleged rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in the far western Xinjiang region constitute genocide or crimes against humanity. SENT: 840 words, photos.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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SCI--ELEPHANT GRANDFATHERS -- A new study shows that teenage male elephants aren’t as anti-social as once thought. Female elephants are well-known to form tight family groups led by experienced matriarchs. Males were long assumed to be loners because they leave their mother’s herd when they reach adolescence. A study published in the journal Scientific Reports shows that adolescent males prefer to travel along migration corridors behind older males. SENT: 525 words, photos.
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TRADE-GAP — The U.S. trade deficit surged in July to $63.6 billion, the highest level in 12 years, as imports jumped by a record amount. SENT: 400 words, photo.
FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Technology stocks took a tumble on Wall Street, giving back some of their spectacular gains over the past several months and dragging the rest of the market down with them. SENT: 550 words, photos, developing.
PREVENTING TRUCK CRASHES— Safety features such as automatic emergency braking and forward collision warnings could prevent more than 40% of crashes in which semis rear-end other vehicles, a new study has found. SENT: 620 words, photos.
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CHADWICK BOSEMAN TRIBUTE — Actor Chadwick Boseman will be mourned, honored and celebrated in his hometown of Anderson, South Carolina. SENT: 360 words, photos. UPCOMING: Tribute begins at 7 p.m.
FILM-BACK TO THE MOVIES — Movie night, anyone? On Thursday, Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” will arrive in U.S. theaters, the first big movie to head to cinemas since the pandemic began. The next day, Disney’s “Mulan” will try an innovative streaming release. Two divergent paths for the film industry collide in one weekend. By Film Writer Jake Coyle. UPCOMING: 900 words by 3 p.m., photos.
TV-AWAY-HILARY SWANK — Hilary Swank is on a mission to Mars in her new Netflix series ‘Away.’ The two-time Oscar winner plays a commander of an international space crew who leaves her family for a three year trip to the red planet. SENT: 550 words, photos and video.
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FBO-VIRUS OUTBREAK-THE MAGIC NUMBER — The Kansas City Chiefs did some math. They consulted with local and state health officials. They did some more math. And they came to the nice, round number of 22% -- the amount of fans they will permit for their season opener next week. Across the state line in Kansas, soccer club Sporting Kansas City settled on 14%. But what exactly goes into deciding the magic number, and why do the numbers vary so widely across the country? UPCOMING: 750 words, photos by 5 p.m.
TEN-US OPEN — Serena Williams is in action on Day 4 at the U.S. Open. Play starts at 11 a.m; night session at 7 p.m. By Tennis Writer Howard Fendrich. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos.
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