AP News Digest 6:15 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.
———————————————————————-
NEW AND DEVELOPING
———————————————————————-
Adds COLOMBIA-AUTOMATED RESTAURANT, ELECTION 2020-MARGE SIMPSON, ELECTION 2020-TRUMP-CONSPIRACY, ELECTION 2020-BIDEN ENDORSEMENT, NOT REAL NEWS, ELECTION 2020-POST OFFICE, 2020 CENSUS, UNITED NATIONS-US-IRAN-ARMS EMBARGO, ELECTION 2020-BIKERS FOR TRUMP, GEORGIA LAWMAKER-LEWIS COMMENTS, LEBANON-HUMANITARIAN APPEAL, TROPICAL WEATHER, KILLING SEA LIONS, BORDER WALL-REFUGE WATER, SLAIN SOLDIER-TEXAS, SEXUAL MISCONDUCT-WEINSTEIN
-----------------——
-----------------——
VIRUS OUTBREAK-GLOBAL — New surges of COVID-19 are disrupting the peak holiday season across much of Europe, where authorities in some countries are closing discos, banning fireworks displays and expanding mandatory mask orders even in chic resort areas. In France, thousands of vacationing Britons scrambled to return home to avoid having to self-quarantine for 14 days following Britain’s decision to reimpose restrictions on France because of a resurgence of infections there. By Sylvie Corbet, Frances D’Emilio and David Crary. UPCOMING: 850 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-DNC — Joe Biden is poised to unveil his vision for the modern Democratic Party in the first presidential nominating convention of the coronavirus era, an all-virtual affair that will test the former vice president’s ability to overcome unprecedented logistical challenges in an urgent mission to energize a winning coalition. By Steve Peoples and Bill Barrow. SENT: 1,090 words, photos.
Find more coverage on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE — A former FBI lawyer plans to plead guilty to making a false statement in the first criminal case arising from U.S. Attorney John Durham’s investigation into the probe of ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign. By Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo. SENT: 950 words, photos.
EMIRATES-ISRAEL -- Israel’s agreement to establish diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates marks a watershed moment in its relations with Arab countries, but the Palestinians say it puts a just resolution of the Middle East conflict even farther out of reach. By Joseph Krauss. SENT: 900 words, photos.
LIBERTY-UNIVERSITY-FALWELL -- Jerry Falwell Jr. has been toppled, at least temporarily, from the presidency of evangelical Liberty University. But whether he could break permanently with the Christian institution that is synonymous with his family name is another matter. Falwell apologized after posting a vacation photo that showed him with his pants unzipped and his arm around the waist of his wife’s pregnant assistant. The image was enough to push the 58-year-old attorney into an indefinite leave of absence. Many people who know the school well have a hard time envisioning its governing board saying goodbye to the heir who helped transform it into a conservative Christian mainstay. By Sarah Rankin and Elana Schor. SENT: 969 words, photos.
———————————————————————-
MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
———————————————————————-
VIRUS OUTBREAK — Lee County, deep in the Appalachian Mountains, is one of many rural school districts around the country where the decision over whether to bring students back into classrooms is particularly fraught. As in other places, parents and officials in this part of Kentucky are concerned about the virus. But dramatically limited internet access here also means kids could fall seriously behind if the pandemic keeps them home again. Roughly 3 million students across the United States don’t have access to a home internet connection. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BLOOD OF THE RECOVERED — A new report suggests blood plasma from COVID-19 survivors may help coronavirus patients -- but it wasn’t a rigorous study and experts now wonder if it’s too late for science to get a clear answer on how and when plasma should be used. By Lauran Neergaard. SENT: 800 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BLACK FUNERAL HOME — When the coronavirus pandemic hit California, for a few weeks the owner of Boyd Funeral Home in South Los Angeles declined to receive patients who had died from the virus. But the calls kept coming. SENT: 690 words, photos, video.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CANADA-US BORDER — The Canada-U.S. border will remain closed to non-essential travel for at least another month. SENT: 180 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRITAIN— British tourists scurried to get out of France by whatever means possible before a deadline that would require them to quarantine at home for two weeks. Families cut summer vacations short and other travelers made hasty plans to return to the U.K. by whatever means possible before the 4 a.m. Saturday deadline. SENT: 950 words, photos.
COLOMBIA-AUTOMATED RESTAURANT — A Colombian fast food chain is planning to turn its branches into automated restaurants at a moment when the coronavirus pandemic has slammed the food service industry worldwide. SENT: 590 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW YORK-TRAVEL LAWSUIT — A federal judge threw out a lawsuit by an Arizona woman who claimed New York’s 14-day quarantine requirement for travelers from hotspot coronavirus states infringed on her “fundamental right to travel.” SENT: 220 words, photo.
Find more all-format coverage on the Virus Outbreak featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
A separate wire advisory has moved outlining our complete coronavirus coverage.
---------------------------------------———-
WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
----------------------------------------———
ELECTION 2020-MARGE SIMPSON — Marge Simpson has advice for a lawyer with the Trump campaign: Do not name call. SENT: 280 words, photos.
R KELLY — R. Kelly’s manager has been charged with making telephone threats of gunfire at a Manhattan theater to shut down a documentary about the singer’s alleged sexual abuse of women and girls. SENT: 390 words, photos.
HELICOPTER SHOT — A man who fired at a Georgia State Patrol helicopter that he didn’t like flying near his Augusta-area house has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison. SENT: 250 words.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-HOSTESS ASSAULT -- Louisiana authorities have arrested three women accused of assaulting a teenage restaurant hostess because they were upset they couldn’t all be seated together due to coronavirus distancing rules. SENT: 250 words.
------------------------------------
—————————————————
ELECTION 2020-POST OFFICE — The U.S. Postal Service has sent letters to 46 states, warning it cannot guarantee all ballots cast by mail for the November election will arrive in time to be counted, according to a report by The Washington Post. The revelation comes amid a campaign by President Donald Trump to sow doubts about the election. SENT: 830 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-TRUMP-CONSPIRACY — President Trump dodges a question about whether he supports QAnon, a convoluted, pro-Trump conspiracy theory. A reporter asked the president about the theory at a White House briefing after Trump tweeted his congratulations to a QAnon-supporting candidate. SENT: 460 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-BIDEN ENDORSEMENT — A major union representing U.S. postal workers endorses Joe Biden, a move that comes after President Trump acknowledged he was starving the postal service of money in order to make it more difficult to vote by mail in November’s election. SENT: 550 words, photo.
NOT REAL NEWS — A wide range of false information spread swiftly on social media after presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden chose Sen. Kamala Harris to be his running mate. SENT: 1,500 words, photo.
2020 CENSUS — If you haven’t filled out the 2020 census form yet, you may be getting an email, call or questionnaire in the mail asking you to answer the questions. SENT: 360 words, photo.
UNITED NATIONS-US-IRAN-ARMS EMBARGO — The U.N. Security Council was voting Friday on a U.S.-sponsored resolution to indefinitely extend the arms embargo on Iran, with veto-wielding Russia and China strongly opposed to it and likely abstentions from America’s European allies. SENT: 800 words, photos. UPCOMING: Results will be announced Friday evening. With UNITED STATES-POMPEO — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday called for the world to unite around a long-shot bid to indefinitely extend a U.N. arms embargo on Iran. SENT: 920 words, photos.
TRUMP-BROTHER HOSPITALIZED — President Donald Trump visits his younger brother, Robert Trump, at the New York hospital where he has been hospitalized. White House officials say Robert Trump, 72, is seriously ill. SENT: 350 words, photos.
HOMELAND SECURITY-LEADERSHIP — The top two officials in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were improperly appointed to the posts under federal law by the Trump administration, a nonpartisan congressional watchdog says. SENT: 500 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-NEW JERSEY -- New Jersey will move to a nearly all-mail election this November, following the model the state used in its July primary, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy said. Murphy, a Democrat, said during an interview that all voters would get a ballot, but it’s not clear if people who aren’t registered will get an application to register. SENT: 440 words, photo.
POSTAL SERVICE-VETERANS — Policy changes that slow delivery at the U.S. Postal Service are taking a toll on military veterans, who are reporting much longer wait times to receive mail-order prescription drugs, according to Democratic senators. SENT: 600 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-BIKERS FOR TRUMP — While the pandemic has bottled up most in-person get-out-the-vote efforts across the country ahead of the presidential election, a group called Bikers for Trump is defying public health recommendations in an effort to get people voting. SENT: 960 words, photos.
GEORGIA LAWMAKER-LEWIS COMMENTS — The speaker of Georgia’s House of Representatives is taking a leadership post away from a state lawmaker who remarked that the late U.S. Rep John Lewis’ “only claim to fame was that he got conked on the head.” SENT: 520 words, photo.
————————
————————
GUN RIGHTS LAWSUIT — Appeals court throws out California’s ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines. SENT: 420 words.
KILLING SEA LIONS — U.S. authorities have given wildlife managers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho permission to start killing hundreds of sea lions in the Columbia River basin in hopes of helping struggling salmon and steelhead. SENT: 620 words, photos.
BORDER WALL-REFUGE WATER — The federal agency in charge of managing a unique wetland refuge in southeastern Arizona warned for several months that pumping water to build a border wall would decimate the habitat. Correspondence obtained by two environmental groups shows that U.S. Customs and Border Protection ignored most of those warnings and pulled water from wells so close to the refuge that some of its ponds went dry. SENT: 780 words, photos.
GEORGE FLOYD-MINNEAPOLIS POLICE — Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced plans to hold open 100 police officer positions next year as part of a hiring freeze to help manage a 2021 budget and as activists are clamoring to shift money away from traditional policing. SENT: 595 photos.
SEXUAL MISCONDUCT-WEINSTEIN — Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers and Los Angeles prosecutors have agreed to postpone extradition proceedings that would send the imprisoned former film producer from New York to California to face sexual assault charges, citing the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 200 words.
CLERGY ABUSE-PENNSYLVANIA -- Pennsylvania’s Roman Catholic dioceses have been hit with about 150 lawsuits from people who say they were sexually abused as children by priests and hope a state court decision last year has shown a way around time limits for legal claims. SENT: 810 words, photos.
CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES — Bone-dry vegetation in California is fueling wildfires and forecasters are warning that the risk of new blazes erupting is very high as temperatures rise and humidity levels drop. SENT: 240 words, photos, video.
MISSISSIPPI POLICE-MURDER CHARGES — Three Mississippi police officers have been charged with second-degree murder in the death of a Black man last year. SENT: 260 words.
TROPICAL WEATHER — Josephine continued to just barely hold on to its tropical storm status Friday as Tropical Storm Kyle formed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New England. SENT: 280 words.
SLAIN SOLDIER-TEXAS — Mourners have gathered in Houston for a slain Texas soldier whose story has renewed a push for changes in the way the military handles sexual abuse and harassment. SENT: 530 words, photos.
————————————
————————————
LEBANON-INVESTIGATING THE BLAST — For many Lebanese, their greatest hope for credible answers about the massive explosion that wrecked their capital may lie with outsiders. French forensic police have joined the investigation and the FBI is expected to take part. The Lebanese government’s probe has gotten off to a shaky start, with political bickering over who will lead it, military threats to jail leakers and doubts about whether a panel appointed along sectarian lines could be fully impartial. SENT: 1,080 words, photos. WITH: LEBANON — Iran says that Western countries should not take advantage of the massive explosion in Beirut. SENT: 800 words, photos; LEBANON-HUMANITARIAN APPEAL — The United Nations is launching a $565 million appeal to help Lebanese people affected by the explosion (sent).
BELARUS-ELECTION — Authorities have freed at least 2,000 people detained amid demonstrations across Belarus after a disputed presidential election as they sought Friday to stem rising public anger over a brutal police crackdown on peaceful protests and avoid Western sanctions. SENT: 980 words, photos. With BELARUS-EUROPEAN REACTION — Lithuania is playing an outsized role among European Union nations amid a major crisis in neighboring Belarus. SENT: 890 words, photos.
PACIFIC WAR-75-CHILDREN OF WAR — For years, orphans in Japan were punished just for surviving the war. They were bullied. They were called trash and left to fend for themselves on the street. Police rounded them up and threw them in jail. They were sent to orphanages or sold for labor. They were abandoned by their government, abused and discriminated against. By Mari Yamaguchi. SENT: 1,260 words, photos. With PACIFIC WAR-75-JAPAN-AI PHOTOGRAPHS — Melting “frozen memories,” AI helps Japanese recall war days.
BRITAIN-MAYFLOWER 400-STOLEN HISTORY -- On the 400th anniversary, of the Mayflower voyage, commemorations are focusing on both the Pilgrim settlers and the Native people whose lives were transformed by their arrival. An exhibition in England focuses on one casualty of colonization: a wampum belt taken from the Wampanoag people, brought to England in the 17th century, and then lost. SENT: 915 words, photos.
KENYA-WOMEN WILDLIFE RANGERS -- On the sweeping plains at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, a group of female wildlife rangers is making history by defying patriarchal norms. SENT: 650 words, photos.
——————————————-
——————————————
RETAIL-SALES — Americans spent more at retail stores and restaurants in July for a straight straight month, but growing evidence suggests that sales are now slowing with the expiration of government rescue aid that had previously put more money in people’s pockets. SENT: 860 words, photos. WITH: FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Wall Street was drifting after a report showed that sales for U.S retailers strengthened again last month. SENT: 600 words, photos, developing.
————————————
————————————
PEOPLE-DEV PATEL -- Quarantine brought opportunities to Dev Patel’s front yard. From a safe distance, the British actor was able to enjoy his birthday and his relationship with India without leaving his L.A. home. SENT: 555 words, photo.
—————
—————
BKN--RAPTORS-DEFENDING THE CROWN — Winning an NBA title last season satisfied one quest for Raptors star Kyle Lowry. Now, the defending champions return to the playoffs, with their on-court leader determined to win the whole thing again. SENT: 900 words, photos.
BKN—UNCERTAINTY AHEAD — NBA players have been safe in the Disney bubble, with daily coronavirus tests and no positive results. Now some players head home, faced with concerns about their safety and basketball futures. SENT: 800 words, photos.
BKN--BULLS-BOYLEN FIRED - The Bulls fire coach Jim Boylen, the new front office beginning its remake of a team that missed the playoffs again. The Bulls were 22-43 and were one of eight teams that didn’t qualify for the NBA’s restart in the Disney bubble. SENT: 650 words, photos.
-----------------------
HOW TO REACH US
-----------------------
At the Nerve Center, Leon Drouin-Keith can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). For photos, Donald E. King (ext. 1900). For graphics and interactives, Phil Holm (ext. 7636). Expanded AP content can be obtained from http://newsroom.ap.org. For access to AP Newsroom and other technical issues, contact apcustomersupport(at)ap.org or call 877-836-9477.