AP News Digest 6:10 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: ELECTION SECURITY; SLAIN SOLDIER-TEXAS; UNITED STATES-STATE DEPARTMENT; VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHILDREN; VIRUS OUTBREAK-TESTS; VIRUS OUTBREAK-STURGIS RALLY; CANADIAN-ICE-SHELF; CANADA-US-TRADE; 1970s PRISON ESCAPE-ARREST; NOT-REAL-NEWS; BRAZIL-MONKEY BRIDGE; PARK SERVICE CHIEF; LIBERTY UNIVERSITY-FALWELL, Q&A-TIKTOK-WECHAT
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ONLY ON AP
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SECOND-FACE-TRANSPLANT -- A New Hampshire woman has received a second face transplant. Fifty-two-year-old Carmen Blandin Tarleton was burned on over 80% of her body when her estranged husband beat her with a baseball bat and doused her body with lye in 2007. Six years ago, she received a face transplant at Brigham and Woman’s Hospital in Boston. But that transplant failed and on July 1 Tarleton became the first American to get a second transplant. Two years ago, a French man became the first to receive a second face transplant. By Michael Casey. SENT: 850 words, photos.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-CONGRESS — A last-ditch effort by top Democrats to revive collapsing Capitol Hill talks on vital COVID-19 rescue money ends in disappointment, making it increasingly likely that Washington gridlock and dysfunction will mean hardship for millions of jobless people losing enhanced benefits while threatening an economy that’s already been pummeled by the still-raging coronavirus. By Andrew Taylor. SENT: 760 words, photos, video. WITH: VIRUS-OUTBREAK — U.S. hiring slowed in July as the coronavirus outbreak worsened, and the government’s jobs report offered signs that the economic damage from the pandemic could last far longer than many observers originally envisioned. SENT: 590 words, photo.
ELECTION SECURITY — Intelligence officials believe Russia is using a variety of measures to denigrate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden ahead of the November election, the U.S. counterintelligence chief says. U.S. officials also believe China does not want President Donald Trump to win a second term. By Deb Riechmann and Eric Tucker. SENT: 1,060 words, photos.
INDIA-PLANE — An Air India Express flight with 190 people on board skidded off a runway and split in two while landing in heavy rain in southern India. Police said at least 14 people were killed and 123 others injured. SENT: 230 words, photos, developing.
LEBANON — At least 10 times over the past six years, authorities from Lebanon’s customs, military, security agencies and judiciary raised alarm that a massive stockpile of explosive chemicals was being kept with almost no safeguard at the port in the heart of Beirut, newly surfaced documents show. SENT: 1,400 words, photos. WITH: LEBANON—A FATHER'S DEATH — In the moments after Tuesday’s explosion in Beirut, Soha Saade had to make a wrenching decision — focus on her ailing young daughter or leave the girl with others and try to save her husband’s life. She carried him down the stairs of a shattered hospital, walking barefoot over broken glass, seeking help. But the man she loved died in her arms. By Sarah El Deeb. SENT: 530 words, photos.
UNITED STATES-CHINA — The U.S. imposes sanctions on Hong Kong officials, including the pro-China leader of the government, accusing them of cooperating with Beijing’s effort to undermine autonomy and crack down on freedom in the former British colony. By Deb Riechmann and Matthew Lee. SENT: 750 words, photos. With UNITED STATES-CHINA-EXPLAINER — All the ways the U.S.-China relationship has deteriorated this year. SENT: 950 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHILDREN — Racial disparities in the the U.S. coronavirus epidemic extend to children, according to two sobering government reports. SENT: 800 words, photos.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-TESTS — The Ohio governor’s positive-then-negative test results for the coronavirus serve as a reminder that no test is definitive. Gov. Mike DeWine tested positive using a rapid test Thursday, before testing negative later in the day using a more sensitive laboratory-developed test. SENT: 550 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-STURGIS RALLY — Thousands of bikers are pouring into the small South Dakota city of Sturgis as the 80th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally rumbles to life despite fears it could lead to a massive coronavirus outbreak. SENT: 830 words, phots.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-RUSSIA-MISINFO -- A false report claiming five Ukrainians had died after taking an American-made coronavirus vaccine spread in just a matter of days from a small Kremlin-friendly website to an audience of thousands in U.S.-based Facebook groups. SENT: 740 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW YORK-SCHOOLS — New York’s governor said that he would allow children statewide to return to classrooms for the start of the new school year, citing the state’s success in battling the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 750 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-YARD SALE — It’s hard to imagine anything more down-home than The World’s Longest Yard Sale. Thousands of vendors fan out along highways from Alabama to Michigan to haggle over the price of old Coca-Cola bottles, toys, knives and anything else that someone might want to buy. And while events worldwide have been canceled because of coronavirus pandemic, the yard sale is on. SENT: 820 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-LIVES-LOST-MAN-OF-THE-SEA — Carlos Manuel Sandoval lived for decades on the edge of the Sonoran Desert, but he never stopped hearing the siren call of his birthplace in coastal Mexico. SENT: 700 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-DIARY-WE-ELOPED -- For one writer, plans to elope took an unexpected turn when the virus hit. He and his fiancee — an American and a Dane — watched borders close and worried they wouldn’t be able to be together. A first attempt at a wedding didn’t materialize. Then, finally, they met in his mother’s backyard in New Mexico. There they took their vows. SENT: 700 words, photos.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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LIBERTY UNIVERSITY-FALWELL — Liberty University’s Falwell taking leave of absence. SENT: 100 words.
Q&A-TIKTOK-WECHAT - President Donald Trump has ordered sweeping but vague ban on dealings with the Chinese owners of popular apps TikTok and WeChat, saying they are a threat to U.S. national security, foreign policy and the economy. But it’s far from clear what the administration intends to actually do. SENT; 1,300 words, photo.
BRAZIL-MONKEY BRIDGE — Endangered Brazilian monkeys get a bridge to themselves. SENT: 600 words, photos.
1970S-ESCAPE-ARTIST — Colorado prison escapee caught after nearly 50 years on run. SENT: 360 words.
ARIZONA-BORDER-TUNNEL — U.S.: Border tunnel appears to be “most sophisticated.” SENT: 150 words, photos.
BRITAIN-CAT RETIRES — Time spent in lockdown was just superb for Palmerston, the chief mouser at the U.K. Foreign Office. It was so good, in fact, that the cat has decided to leave sorting out international affairs to the human diplomats and retire to the countryside after four long, hard years on the job. SENT: 270 words, photo.
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UNITED STATES-STATE DEPARTMENT — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rejects congressional subpoenas issued for him and for the State Department to provide information and testimony about two politically charged incidents. SENT: 560 words, photo.
TRUMP-MCGAHN-SUBPOENA — A federal appeals court revives House Democrats’ lawsuit to force former White House counsel Don McGahn to appear before a congressional committee, but leaves other legal issues unresolved with time growing short in the current Congress. By Mark Sherman. SENT: 660 words, photos.
NOT-REAL-NEWS — This week’s Not Real News is dominated by false information about COVID-19 and the 2020 election. We look at a false claim that the pandemic is fading. Masks are again the subject of misinformation with one widely circulating post falsely suggesting people can get Legionnaires’ disease from bacteria in masks. SENT; 2700 words.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-POSTAL SERVICE — The U.S. Postal Service says it lost $2.2 billion in the three months that ended in June as the beleaguered agency — hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic — piles up financial losses that officials warn could top $20 billion over two years. By Matthew Daly. SENT: 960 words, photos.
ELECTION-2020-VOTING-LATINOS -- Latinos in the U.S. have been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, leading to concerns among voting rights groups that they will be less likely to register and vote in November. By Astrid Galvan and Acacia Coronado. SENT: 995 words, photos.
PARK SERVICE CHIEF — Interior Secretary David Bernhardt puts adviser Margaret Everson in charge of the National Park Service as it begins to divvy up a new multibillion-dollar annual bequest from Congress. SENT: 400 words, photo.
OBIT-SCOWCROFT — Brent Scowcroft, who played a prominent role in American foreign policy as national security adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush and was a Republican voice against the 2003 invasion of Iraq, has died at 95. By Douglass K. Daniel. SENT: 1,000 words, photos. With OBIT-SCOWCROFT-A LIFE — An independent streak and a penchant for honesty. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
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RACIAL INJUSTICE-PORTLAND — Protests in Portland, Oregon, were chaotic again even after the mayor pleaded with demonstrators to stay off the streets. Police arrested 12 people and say an officer was severely injured by a rock early Friday. SENT: 650 words, photos.
MINNEAPOLIS-POLICE-TRAFFIC STOPS — A public defender’s study shows that Black drivers accounted for nearly 80% of police searches and routine traffic stops in predominantly white Minneapolis. SENT: 360 words.
SLAIN SOLDIER-TEXAS — Army leaders delay the planned transfer of the Fort Hood commander, as a team of independent investigators heads to the base to determine whether leadership failures contributed to the murder of a soldier. SENT: 500 words, photo.
RACIAL INJUSTICE-BREONNA TAYLOR — First, Oprah Winfrey put Breonna Taylor on the cover of O, The Oprah Magazine. Now the media mogul is spreading her message with billboards demanding justice for the Kentucky woman shot to death during a police raid. SENT: 570 words, photos.
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CANADA-US-TRADE — Canada’s deputy prime minister says the country plans to impose $3.6 billion Canadian (US$2.69 billion) tariffs on U.S. imports in response to President Donald Trump saying the U.S. is reinstating a 10% import tax on Canadian aluminum. SENT: 100 words.
MAURITIUS-LEAKING-SHIP — The Indian Ocean island of Mauritius has declared a “state of environmental emergency” after a Japanese-owned ship that ran aground offshore days ago began spilling tons of fuel. SENT: 400 words.
SAUDI-PRINCE-LAWSUIT — A former top Saudi counterterrorism official has filed a federal lawsuit in the United States against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, alleging the royal tried to find, trap and kill him on U.S. and Canadian soil. SENT: 810 words, photo.
ISRAEL-OBIT-STEINSALTZ -- Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, a prolific Jewish scholar who spent 45 years compiling a monumental and groundbreaking translation of the Talmud, has died. He was 83. SENT: 585 words, photos.
EUROPE-HEAT WAVE — Thousands in Britain and France are seeking refuge from searing heat, mobbing beaches and parks despite warnings to maintain social distance and other precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic. SENT: 450 words, photos.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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CANADIAN-ICE-SHELF — Much of Canada’s remaining intact ice shelf has broken apart into hulking iceberg islands thanks to a hot summer and global warming, scientists said. SENT: 440 words, photos.
ITALY THREATENING-GLACIER — Experts were closely monitoring a Mont Blanc glacier, a day after they evacuated 75 tourists and residents amid fears the glacier could soon break apart and crash into a popular Italian Alpine valley. SENT: 265 words, photos.
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FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Wall Street’s big rally let off the accelerator, despite a better-than-expected report on the U.S. job market, amid worries about worsening U.S.-China tensions and whether Washington can deliver more aid for the economy. SENT: 725 words, photos, developing.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-TV-SHARK WEEK — The pervasive effects of the coronavirus can be seen in this year’s Shark Week lineup, which includes programs that reflect the pandemic’s effect on shark behavior and research. SENT: 700 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-REGAL CINEMAS REOPENING — Regal/Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger discusses plans to reopen theaters in the U.S. on Aug. 21 after five months of being shut down due to the coronavirus. SENT: 850 words, photos.
TV-STOCKTON ON MY MIND — A new HBO documentary dives into the dreams of an unlikely mayor who defied odds to lead his impoverished, Central California city. “Stockton on My Mind” follows Michael Tubbs, the mayor of Stockton, Calfornia, who became the community’s youngest and first Black mayor in 2016. Soon after taking office, Tubbs attracted private funds to experiment with a basic income plan and used former prison inmates to keep peace among gangs. SENT: 520 words, photos.
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GLF—PGA CHAMPIONSHIP — Jason Day and Brendon Todd are in front entering the second round of the PGA Championship. Brooks Koepka, eyeing a third straight title in this major, is one shot behind and Tiger Woods is three back. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos by 8 p.m.
OLY--1972 MUNICH GAMES — The 1972 Munich Games produced one of the grimmest days in sports -- the massacre of 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team. Palestinian militants raided the Olympic Village, killing two Israelis and taking nine others hostage who died in a rescue attempt. SENT: 850 words, photos.
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