AP News Digest 6:40 p.m.
Columbia Basin Herald | UPDATED 4 years, 8 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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NEW/DEVELOPING
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The story on the 2 p.m. digest advertised as ELECTION 2020-UKRAINE LAWMAKER has been incorporated into ELECTION 2020-RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE
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WILDFIRES-SMOKY-SKIES, ELECTION-SECURITY-MICROSOFT-STATE-HACKING, 2020-CENSUS-TRUMP-ORDER, MEDICARE-CONSULTANTS, ELECTION-2020-WISCONSIN-ABSENTEES, POSTAL-SERVICE-STATES-LAWSUIT, AFGHANISTAN-TALIBAN TALKS, BELARUS-PROTESTS, VIRUS-OUTBREAK-MEAT-PLANTS, VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEBRASKA, CITIGROUP-CEO, PENTAGON-NEWSPAPER, ENDANGERED-GORILLA-BABY-DIES, GEORGE RR MARTIN-CASTLE LIBRARY, ODD--PYTHON EGGS-MYSTERY
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ONLY ON AP
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-MASK SHORTAGES — White House officials say the United States has all the medical supplies needed to battle COVID-19, but health care workers, hospital officials and even the FDA say that’s not the case. Mask makers say part of the problem is the Trump administration hasn’t committed enough long-term resources to making meltblown textile — the key ingredient in medical-grade masks. By Martha Mendoza, Juliet Linderman, Thomas Peipert and Irena Hwang. SENT: 2,070 words, photos. An abridged version of 1,000 words is also available.
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CALIFORNIA-WILDFIRES — Northern California wildfire threatened thousands of homes Thursday after winds whipped it into a monster that incinerated houses in small mountain communities and killed at least three people. Several other people were critically burned and about 2,000 structures, including homes and other buildings were damaged or destroyed in the foothills of the northern Sierra Nevada, authorities said. By Terence Chea and Brian Melley. SENT: 900 words, photos. With PACIFIC NORTHWEST-WILDFIRES — Stunned residents of the small Oregon town of Phoenix walked through a scene of devastation Thursday after one of the state’s many wildfires wiped out much of their community. SENT: 840 words, photos; WILDFIRES-SMOKY-SKIES — A dense smoke layer from dozens of raging wildfires darkened the skies and fouled the air along much of the West Coast on Thursday and was expected to hover in the region at least through the weekend. SENT: 410 words, photos; WILDFIRES-PHOTO GALLERY (sent)
ELECTION 2020-WILDFIRES — For President Trump, the historic wildfires ravaging Democratic strongholds on the West Coast present another crisis at a time when he can ill afford one. For Joe Biden, the spreading fires are a reminder that he doesn’t support the Green New Deal. That’s left both campaigns largely avoiding substantive talk about the unfolding catastrophe. By Aamer Madhani, Kathleen Ronayne and Will Weissert. UPCOMING: 800 words by 7 p.m., photo.
ELECTION 2020-TRUMP — President Donald Trump tries to move past revelations that he was determined to play down the threat of the coronavirus as he heads for a rally in battleground Michigan. But the president faces growing pushback from state leaders concerned that his rallies are growing in size and flouting public health guidelines. By Jill Colvin. SENT: 960 words, photos, video. UPCOMING: Developing from 7 p.m. rally, 990 words by 8:30 p.m.
VIRUS OUTBREAK UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS — The nation’s unemployment safety net is looking increasingly shaky, with a $300-a-week federal jobless benefit from the Trump administration running out just weeks after it began and millions of laid-off Americans nearing an end to their state unemployment aid. By Christopher Rugaber and Geoff Mulvihill, SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK — The kickoff of the NFL season with 17,000 fans in the stadium illustrates on a global stage the nation’s determination to resume its most popular sport in the middle of a pandemic that has already killed nearly 200,000 Americans. By Carla K. Johnson, Astrid Galvan and Heather Hollingsworth. SENT: 1,090 words, photos. With FBN-TEXANS CHIEFS — The Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs play the Houston Texans in the opening game of an NFL season that promises to be unlike any before it. By Dave Skretta. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos. Game starts 8:20 p.m.; CHIEFS-FANS-NATIVE-IMAGERY — Chiefs nix headdresses, face paint to start NFL season. SENT: 760 words, photos.
Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom and below.
SEPT-11-ANNIVERSARY — In a year when the coronavirus pandemic has reshaped countless American rituals, even the commemoration of 9/11 could not escape unchanged. The 19th anniversary of the terror attacks will be marked by dueling ceremonies at the Sept. 11 memorial plaza and a corner near the World Trade Center, reflecting a divide over the memorial’s decision to suspend a cherished tradition of relatives reading victims’ names in person. By Jennifer Peltz. SENT: 990 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-CONGRESS — Senate Democrats scuttle a scaled-back GOP coronavirus rescue package as the parties argue to a standstill over the size and scope of the aid, likely ending hopes for coronavirus relief before the November election. By Andrew Taylor. SENT: 900 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-MEAT-PLANTS — Federal regulators have cited Smithfield Foods for failing to protect employees from exposure to the coronavirus at the company’s Sioux Falls plant, an early hot spot for virus infections that hobbled American meatpacking plants. SENT: 550 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEBRASKA — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts will end nearly all of his state’s social-distancing restrictions on Monday even as the number of new coronavirus cases has trended upward over the last few months. SENT: 550 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHILE-LIFE IN DEATH’S WAKE -- Red-eyed from crying, José Collantes Navarro couldn’t contain himself and crumpled against the wall as he watched his partner being buried at the Catholic Cemetery in Chile’s capital. She had lost the fight against the new coronavirus, while he had survived. For many pandemic survivors and those who lost loved ones, like the 36-year-old Collantes, their lives are never the same. SENT: 770 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-ONE-GOOD-THING-NEPAL-HEALTH-WORKERS — At one of the largest hospitals in Nepal, a pharmacist and taxi driver have teamed up to feed COVID-19 patients, doctors, nurses and health workers. SENT: 500 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-VIRAL-QUESTIONS-EMPLOYERS — Employers are generally not required to tell workers when someone in the workplace has tested positive for the coronavirus. SENT: 280 words, graphic.
A separate wire advisory has been sent outlining AP's complete coronavirus coverage.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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PROFESSOR-RACE — The George Washington University history professor who confessed to posing as a Black woman for her entire career has resigned. SENT: 300 words.
ENDANGERED-GORILLA-BABY-DIES — 6-day-old endangered gorilla baby dies at New Orleans zoo. SENT: 360 words, photos.
GEORGE RR MARTIN-CASTLE LIBRARY — George R.R. Martin can’t build castle library in New Mexico. SENT: 290 words, photo.
FUNERAL HOME WOMAN-ALIVE — Emergency medical technicians and paramedics who were present when a Detroit-area woman was declared dead, only to be determined alive at a funeral home, are suing to stop their licenses from being suspended. SENT: 335 words.
MUSIC-BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN — Bruce Springsteen will release a new rock album that he recorded in his New Jersey home studio with the E Street Band. SENT: 125 words, photo.
ODD--PYTHON EGGS-MYSTERY — St. Louis Zoo says python laid 7 eggs without male help. SENT: 250 words.
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ELECTION 2020-RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE — The Trump administration charged a Russian national in a sweeping plot to sow distrust in the American political process and imposed sanctions against a Russia-linked Ukrainian lawmaker accused of interfering in the U.S. presidential election.. By Eric Tucker. SENT: 670 words, photo. With ELECTION-SECURITY-MICROSOFT-STATE-HACKING — Russian hackers targeting U.S. campaigns, Microsoft says. SENT: 1,030 words, photos.
ELECTION-2020-WISCONSIN — Wisconsin Democrats, stung by President Donald Trump’s narrow win four years ago, are confident the lessons they learned will ensure he doesn’t do it again. But Republicans say civil unrest that followed a police shooting in Kenosha, and Trump’s “law and order” message, will help him win over the crucial white suburban voters he needs to capture a second term. SENT: 820 words, photos. With ELECTION-2020-WISCONSIN-ABSENTEES — Wisconsin court sets up possible delay in absentee mailing. SENT: 880 words, photos.
TRUMP-MAIL VOTING-NEVADA — Attorneys for President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign are urging a federal judge in Las Vegas to block a state law and prevent mail-in ballots from going to all active Nevada voters less than eight weeks before the Nov. 3 elections and amid the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 460 words, photo.
POSTAL-SERVICE-STATES-LAWSUIT — A group of states suing over service cuts at the U.S. Postal Service is asking a federal judge to immediately undo some of them, saying the integrity of the upcoming election is at stake. SENT: 670 words, photos.
MEDICARE-CONSULTANTS — A report by congressional Democrats says private consultants to the federal official who oversees Medicare billed taxpayers almost $6 million in less than two years largely to burnish her personal image. SENT: 540 words, photo.
PENTAGON-NEWSPAPER — The Defense Department is rescinding its order to shut down the military’s independent newspaper, Stars and Stripes, in the wake of a tweet by President Trump vowing to continue funding the paper. SENT: 600 words, photo.
Find more coverage on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
A separate wire advisory has moved outlining today’s AP election coverage.
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AFGHANISTAN-TALIBAN TALKS — The long-awaited peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government’s negotiating team are to begin on Saturday in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, the Taliban and Qatar’s foreign ministry said. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
BELARUS-PROTESTS — A prominent opposition activist who resisted her forcible expulsion from Belarus by ripping up her passport accused Belarusian authorities Thursday of threatening to kill her amid their efforts to end a month of protests against the country’s authoritarian president. SENT: 890 words, photos.
LEBANON — A huge fire broke out at Beirut’s port, raising new panic among residents still struggling with the traumatic effects of the catastrophic explosion at the same site last month. Some sought safety in closed bathrooms or threw open their windows to guard against shattering glass in case of another blast; others piled into cars to flee the capital. No injuries were reported. SENT: 760 words, photos.
BREXIT — Instead of closing in on a future trade deal, the European Union and Britain are entering a bitter fight over a planned British law that the EU says would constitute a serious violation of the Brexit divorce agreement and destroy what little trust remains between the two sides. SENT: 930 words, photos.
GREECE-MIGRANT CAMP BLAZE — Thousands of migrants left homeless after fires gutted a sprawling refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos will not be allowed to travel to mainland Greece, the government said. SENT: 520 words, photos.
BRAZIL FIRES-JAGUARS — Wildfire has infiltrated a Brazilian state park known for its population of jaguars, as firefighters, environmentalists and ranchers in the world’s largest tropical wetlands region struggle to smother record blazes. SENT: 1,000 words, graphic.
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2020-CENSUS — Even though a federal judge ordered the U.S. Census Bureau to halt winding down the 2020 census for the time being, supervisors in at least one California office have been instructed to make plans for laying off census takers, according to an email obtained by The Associated Press. SENT: 840 words, photos. With 2020-CENSUS-TRUMP-ORDER — Judges: Trump order to exclude people violates the law. SENT: 100 words, developing.
JFK-FEARS FOR CHEERS — Researchers at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston have discovered a cache of letters objecting to JFK’s embrace of cocktails at the White House. They say Americans began writing to JFK shortly after he took over in January 1961 from President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and served liquor at his first public reception. SENT: 445 words, photos.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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LA NINA-Q&A — La Nina, which often means a busier Atlantic hurricane season, a drier Southwest, and perhaps a more fire-prone California — has popped up in the Pacific Ocean. SENT: 930 words, photo.
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CITIGROUP-CEO — Citigroup’s Jane Fraser will become the first woman to ever lead a Wall Street bank when she succeeds CEO Michael Corbat in February. SENT: 420 words, photos.
FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Technology and energy companies led a broad sell-off on Wall Street that wiped out nearly all of the market’s gains from a strong rally the day before. SENT: 940 words, photos.
TWITTER-ELECTIONS — Twitter says it will label or remove misleading claims that try to undermine public confidence in elections. SENT: 330 words.
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BRITAIN-OBIT-DIANA RIGG -- Diana Rigg, a commanding British actress whose career stretched from iconic 1960s spy series “The Avengers” to fantasy juggernaut “Game of Thrones,” has died. She was 82. SENT: 500 words, photos.
MEDIA-TRUMP-BOOKS — MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow is a beneficiary of the scramble for attention by authors trying to sell books that pick apart Donald Trump’s presidency. Her interview with former Trump attorney Michael Cohen this week reached the second-biggest audience of her program’s history. It was second only to the night this summer when Maddow welcomed presidential niece Mary Trump for her tell-all book. SENT: 550 words, photo.
FILM-DIVERSITY REPORT — As Hollywood searches for a response to the reckoning brought on by the death of George Floyd and the Academy Awards move to make Oscar nominees more inclusive, a new study captures how the film industry has improved in diversity and how it still lags. SENT: 880 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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FBN--DAK-ZEKE-YEAR 5 -- Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott have been starters together since their opener as rookies with the Dallas Cowboys in 2016. Plenty of highs and lows later, they’re still trying to lead a proud franchise where it hasn’t been in 25 years: the Super Bowl. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos by 7 p.m.
TEN-US OPEN — Serena Williams tries to reach her fifth final at the last seven Grand Slam tournaments, playing in the U.S. Open semifinals. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos, First women’s semifinal starts at 7 p.m.
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