AP News Digest 6 p.m.
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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Adds: VIRUS OUTBREAK-THE WEEK THAT WAS, VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRITAIN, DOCTOR HANDCUFFED-FLORIDA, SEVERE WEATHER, ODD-VIRUS-BEER QUEST; VIRUS OUTBREAK-KENTUCKY, MICHAEL AVENATTI-JAIL, VIRUS OUTBREAK-THEME PARKS.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK — The U.S. has overtaken Italy for the highest death toll in the world from the coronavirus as Chicago and other cities across the Midwest braced for a potential surge in victims and moved to snuff out smoldering hot spots of contagion before they erupt. With the New York metropolitan still deep in crisis, fear mounted over the spread of the virus into the nation’s heartland. By Kathleen Foody, Amy Forliti and Geir Moulson. SENT: 850 words, photos. WITH: VIRUS OUTBREAK-THE LATEST; VIRUS OUTBREAK-WHAT'S HAPPENING (both sent).
VIRUS OUTBREAK-PROMISES - The coronavirus pandemic gave rise to bold promises by President Donald Trump as he led the response in the United States. A review of the record by The Associated Press finds that many of those promises have been broken by a zigzagging president who minimized the threat for months and exaggerates what Washington is doing about it. By Calvin Woodward. SENT: 1,890 words, photos. A shorter version of 960 words also is available.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NO CRIME -- Crime is down in places around the world, from big U.S. cities to Latin America and South Africa, with lockdown policies keeping people off the streets, the economic downturn depriving buyers of cash for drug deals and would-be criminals lying low out of fear of being infected. By Stefanie Dazio, Franklin Briceno and Michael Tarm. SENT: 950 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CALLING TRUMP -- The Trump administration says it relies on a data-driven triage system to steer critical medical supplies to communities in need during the coronavirus outbreak. But President Donald Trump and top White House officials have been intervening personally at times. Watchdog groups point to a pattern in which those who are politically connected and have the president’s ear have been able to bypass the formal allocation process and move to the front of the line. The White House says the idea politics are involved is “outrageous.” By Jill Colvin. SENT: 940 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MODELS — A gaping spread in statistical models for the coronavirus pandemic has injected a political element into the scientific endeavor. Governors in some states have cited the direst forecasts in issuing stay-at-home orders. Other elected officials have seized on more optimistic figures to justify their calls to loosen restrictions. The federal government doesn’t have a national clearinghouse for virus models. By Michael Kunzelman SENT: 1,144 words, photos.
MED-VIRUS OUTBREAK-CLOT BUSTER -- With high-stress, high-stakes decisions, doctors around the world are frantically trying to figure out how COVID-19 is killing their patients so they can attempt new ways to fight back. One growing theory is that in the sickest of the sick, little blood clots might be clogging the lungs. At New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital, a lung specialist took a gamble. He’s given a few patients near death both a clot-busting drug and a blood thinner to block new clots from forming. There’s no proof it works, but it’s the latest example of a strategy doctors want to study. By Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard. SENT: 930 words, photos.
Find more all-format coverage on the Virus Outbreak featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-THE WEEK THAT WAS — As coronavirus cases topped 1.75 million in the world during the past week — Holy Week for Christians and Passover for Jews — deaths in the United States overtook Italy’s. Fatalities kept adding up sharply in a sequestered, terrified New York City. SENT: 1,630 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-AIDS CRISIS REMEMBERED — LGBT New Yorkers who lived through the AIDS crisis of the 1980s see some grim parallels in the COVID-19 pandemic now wracking their city. But more so, they stress the differences. Now, they share the same plight as their fellow citizens while the federal government is pledging trillions of dollars to cope with the pandemic. Back then they were marginalized in the face of indifference from government leaders and much of the public. SENT: 1,030 words, photos. This story is this week’s Sunday Spotlight.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS — In times of coronavirus, many Holocaust survivors are reliving their most terrifying moments from when the enemy was not a faceless disease but Nazis bent on their destruction as a people. Decades after escaping death during World War II, many elderly Jews say the pandemic has triggered thoughts of fear, uncertainty and helplessness they have not felt since they were children. SENT: 782 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRITAIN — The British government on Saturday launched a campaign to help domestic violence victims during the coronavirus lockdown following an increase in the number seeking assistance, while figures showed that the number of people in the U.K. dying after testing positive for COVID-19 neared 10,000. SENT: 770 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MARDI GRAS-ZULU KREWE — In a city ravaged by the coronavirus outbreak, members of one of New Orleans’ most famous Mardi Gras groups — the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club — have paid a heavy price. Zulu President Elroy A. James said four of the fraternal organization’s members have died from coronavirus-related complications. Two others have died since the pandemic began though it’s not known if their deaths were virus-related. An additional 20 have tested positive. SENT: 1,050 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ITALY-WHAT’S NEXT — With warmer weather beckoning, Italians are straining against a strict lockdown to halt the coronavirus that is just now showing signs of ebbing at the end of five weeks of mass isolation. The official line is patience with measures that have shown success in slowing the virus’ spread, until there is a clear decline in the number of new cases. Still, officials have begun grappling with the question of how to manage social distancing on mass transit, reopen ordinary commerce and relaunch manufacturing without risking another peak. SENT: 960 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CONGO EBOLA — Congo has been battling an Ebola outbreak that has killed thousands of people for more than 18 months, and now it must also face a new scourge: the coronavirus pandemic. Ebola has left those living in the country’s east weary and fearful. Just as they were preparing to declare an end to the outbreak, a new case popped up. Now, they will have to manage both threats at once. SENT: 980 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHICAGO MAYOR — Mayor Lori Lightfoot has relied on a blend of stern news conferences and lighthearted social media to urge Chicagoans to stay home to limit the spread of the coronavirus. SENT: 920 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW YORK — School's out or in? New York's governor and the New York City mayor are at odds over whether public school sites in the city's 1.1 million-student district will be shuttered for the rest of the academic year to curb the coronavirus. SENT: 700 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-EMPTY SARAJEVO — Sarajevo has been a religious melting pot throughout its more than five-centuries-long history. It would normally be teeming with life this April. Instead, its churches, mosques and synagogues are quiet. SENT: 350 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-LIVES LOST-EGYPTIAN DOCTOR — Dr. Ahmed el-Lawah was a pillar of the medical community and the backbone of his family. The 57-year-old pathologist was known for his charity work, and his lab would turn no one away even if they couldn’t pay. He contracted the new coronavirus from a patient who’d come for testing. SENT: 860 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ONE GOOD THING-HAZMAT SUITS -- An Indonesian businesswoman was worried about her friends working in hospitals. Some had cried as they talked of the shortage of protection gear that left medical workers wearing plastic raincoats while treating suspected COVID-19 patients. Maryati Dimursi asked her friends about materials and designs that protect better and settled on a suit she wants to offer to hospitals and clinics for free. SENT: 525 words, photos.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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ODD-VIRUS-BEER QUEST — A 93-year-old Pittsburgh-area woman is using the powers of the internet to keep a stock of beer while doing her part to “flatten the curve” on the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 130 words, photo.
RUSSIA-ISOLATION ART — In the coronavirus lockdown, Russians can’t go to their beloved and renowned museums. So they’re filling the holes in their souls by recreating artworks while stuck at home and posting them on social media. SENT: 480 words, photos.
NURSES TIRES SLASHED — Some nurses at a New York hospital who had just been lauded for their work during the coronavirus pandemic ended their overnight shifts to find their tires had been slashed. SENT: 225 words.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-FLYOVER BLESSING — The archbishop of New Orleans sprinkled holy water from a World War II-era biplane high above the city in an unusual blessing for those affected by the coronavirus. SENT: 270 words, photo.
MICHAEL AVENATTI-JAIL — A judge has allowed Michael Avenatti to be temporarily freed from a federal jail in New York City to ride out the coronavirus scare at a friend’s house in Los Angeles. SENT: 220 words, photos.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-CONGRESS -- As governors plead for aid, Republican leaders in Congress said Saturday they prefer funding a $350 billion small business payroll program rather than negotiate a broader coronavirus package Democrats are pushing with the White House.SENT: 600 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MELANIA TRUMP -- Melania Trump is having a moment in the midst of a pandemic. After taking some criticism for skipping over the coronavirus outbreak in a recent speech to a parent-teacher association, the first lady has increased her engagement on the issue, mostly through social media. SENT: 800 words, photos.
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REL-VATICAN HOLY SATURDAY — The Turin Shroud, a burial cloth some believe covered Jesus and which has links to a 16th-century plague in northern Italy, was put on special view for faithful worldwide through video streaming on Holy Saturday to inspire hope amid the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 530 words, photos.
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SEVERE WEATHER — The threat of strong tornadoes and other damaging weather on Easter is posing a double-edged safety dilemma for Deep South communities deciding how to protect residents during the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 500 words, photos.
DOCTOR HANDCUFFED-FLORIDA — An internal investigation has been launched into why an African American doctor known for testing the homeless for the coronavirus was handcuffed outside his home by a police sergeant, Miami’s police chief says. SENT: 300 words, photos.
TEENAGE NEO-NAZI LEADER — A 13-year-old boy has been identified as a leader of an international neo-Nazi group linked to plots to attack a Las Vegas synagogue and detonate a car bomb at a major U.S. news network. According to police in Estonia and a local newspaper report, the boy who helped lead the group lived in the tiny Baltic state and apparently cut ties with the group after authorities confronted him earlier this year. SENT: 945 words.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-THEME PARKS — Walt Disney World plans to stop paying wages to 43,000 workers in about a week while allowing them to keep their benefits for up to a year as they stay home during the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 450 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-KENTUCKY — A federal judge says the city of Louisville cannot halt a local church’s drive-in service planned for Easter. SENT: 560 words, photos.
CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE — A magnitude 5.2 earthquake rattles the remote California-Nevada state line but no damage or injuries were reported. SENT: 120 words.
MISSOURI GOVERNOR-GREITENS DIVORCE -- Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens and his wife Sheena Greitens are divorcing. SENT: 345 words, photos.
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TV-KILLING EVE — When we last saw the TV character Eve Polastri, she was crumpled on the stony ground of some ancient Roman ruins. She had been shot. So the natural question as Season 3 of sharp-edged spy thriller “Killing Eve” starts on Sunday is: Is Eve dead? The answer from the creators of the hit series is a resounding: “Are you kidding?” SENT: 630 words, photos.
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GLF--MASTERS-THE SHOTS - Gene Sarazen hit a 4-wood that became golf’s “shot heard ’round the world.” Greg Norman hit a 4-iron he lived to regret. A putt finally made Phil Mickelson a Masters champ. Historic Masters moments, from every club in the bag. By Golf Writer Doug Ferguson. SENT: 950 words, photos.
SPORTS-DESERTED ICONS-CWS — The cancellation of the College World Series is not only a blow to Omaha’s economy but its pride. Total attendance last year was more than 330,000 and losing the event for the first time in 70 years hurts deep. SENT: 900 words, photos.
OLY--1980 BOYCOTT-VOTE — Forty years ago, the U.S. Olympic Committee rubber-stamped President Jimmy Carter’s decision to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Gold-medal hurdler Edwin Moses would get other chances. Not so for hundreds of other American athletes. By National Writer Eddie Pells. SENT: 700 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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