AP News in Brief at 9:09 p.m. EDT
Democratic boundary breakers' night: Obama, Clinton, Harris
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The Democrats’ historic boundary breakers joined forces Wednesday night at the party’s national convention in an urgent effort to rouse the diverse coalition Joe Biden will need to defeat President Donald Trump this fall.
Their overriding message: Vote this time; don't just complain later. Your lives and democracy itself may be at stake.
Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president, and Hillary Clinton, the first woman nominated for president by a major party, were speaking on Biden’s behalf. And Kamala Harris, Biden’s running mate and the first Black woman on a major party ticket, was delivering highly anticipated remarks that will serve as her first introduction to millions of voters.
American democracy might not survive another four years of Trump, Obama warns in excerpts released in advance. He urges voters to "embrace your own responsibility as citizens – to make sure that the basic tenets of our democracy endure. Because that’s what is at stake right now. Our democracy.”
In remarks remarkable for their dismissiveness of a U.S. president by his predecessor, Obama declares, "Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t.”
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Progressives irked by spotlight on GOP at Dem convention
WASHINGTON (AP) — For nearly three minutes at this week's Democratic National Convention, Cindy McCain recounted Joe Biden's friendship with her late husband, John McCain, the Arizona senator and former Republican presidential candidate. Colin Powell, President George W. Bush's secretary of state, praised Biden for two minutes. Former GOP Govs. John Kasich of Ohio and Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey also got prominent speaking slots.
Meanwhile, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most dynamic young stars of the Democratic Party, spoke for just 60 seconds.
The GOP's prominent billing reflects one of Biden's core arguments in the closing months of the campaign: He can appeal to and work with Republicans to bring stability to a Washington paralyzed by the chaos of Donald Trump's presidency. But progressive Democrats seeking to exert influence over Biden argue that such outreach risks undermining the party's principles and harkens back to an era of bipartisan cooperation that no longer exists.
“It’s fine for Republicans and Democrats to say we disagree on many issues, but Donald Trump is a threat to American democracy and we must join together to elect Joe Biden,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. "It’s not OK for the Democratic convention to give more time to Republicans than Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or to approve John Kasich’s pre-taped video bashing the ‘left’ and implying that Joe Biden will not make good on the ambitious solutions he proposed in this crisis moment.”
The political clout of progressives is debatable. After early setbacks, Biden took a commanding lead in the Democratic primary after voters rejected challengers from the left, including Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. And many progressives, including Sanders and Warren, say the threat of Trump's election is enough to fully unify them behind Biden.
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California wildfires chase people from homes into smoky air
VACAVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Crews worked in blistering heat Wednesday to beat back wildfires that ignited across Northern California, sending thousands of people from their homes into smoky air, briefly halting traffic on an interstate and killing a pilot on a firefighting mission.
Hundreds of fires are burning across California, including 23 major fires or groups of fires that Gov. Gavin Newsom blamed on "this extraordinary weather that we’re experiencing and all of these lightning strikes.” He said the state has recorded nearly 11,000 lightning strikes in 72 hours and knows of 367 fires.
Ash and smoke filled the air in San Francisco, which is surrounded by wildfires burning to the north, east and south. The LNU Lightning fire is made up of several fires in five counties north of San Francisco, including in Vacaville, a city of about 100,000 between San Francisco and Sacramento.
The fire had consumed 72 square miles (186 square kilometers). It jumped Interstate 80 Wednesday afternoon, briefly blocking traffic in both directions.
Police and firefighters went door-to-door before dawn in a frantic scramble to warn residents to evacuate as flames encroached on Vacaville. At least 50 structures were destroyed, including some homes, and 50 were damaged.
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Cuomo brushes back AP report of care home death undercount
NEW YORK (AP) — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo responded Wednesday to an Associated Press report that his state’s coronavirus death toll in nursing homes could be a significant undercount, saying it makes sense to include only those residents who died on the home’s property.
Unlike the federal government and every other state with major outbreaks, only New York explicitly says that it counts just residents who died on nursing home property and not those who were transported to hospitals and died there.
“If you die in the nursing home, it’s a nursing home death. If you die in the hospital, it’s called a hospital death,” the Democratic governor said during an interview on Albany public radio station WAMC. “It doesn’t say where were you before.”
Cuomo said if New York were to count a death as a nursing home death and a hospital death, that could lead to a “double count.”
“And If I’m a nursing home operator, I say: ‘Don’t say that person died in my nursing home, because they didn’t,’” Cuomo said. ”‘They died in the hospital. And if the hospital did a better job, they wouldn’t have died. So why do I get the blame for the death when it didn’t happen in my nursing home?’ So it depends on how you want to argue it.”
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Trump praises QAnon conspiracists, appreciates support
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised the supporters of QAnon, a convoluted, pro-Trump conspiracy theory, and suggested he appreciates their support of his candidacy.
Speaking during a press conference at the White House, Trump courted the support of those who put stock in the conspiracy theory, saying, “I heard that these are people that love our country." It was Trump's first public comment on the subject and continued a pattern of president appearing unwilling to resoundingly condemn extremists who support his candidacy.
QAnon has ricocheted around the darker corners of the internet since late 2017, but has been creeping into mainstream politics more and more. The baseless theory centers on an alleged anonymous, high-ranking government official known as “Q” who shares information about an anti-Trump “deep state” often tied to satanism and child sex trafficking.
Trump insisted he hadn't heard much about the movement, “other than I understand they like me very much” and "it is gaining in popularity.”
Trump has retweeted QAnon-promoting accounts, and shirts and hats with QAnon symbols and slogans are not uncommon at his rallies.
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NKorea to unveil new economic plans in January party meeting
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea will hold a rare ruling party congress in January where leader Kim Jong Un will announce a new five-year plan to develop the country’s dismal economy ravaged by U.S.-led sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic, state media said Thursday.
The plans were confirmed Wednesday during a plenary meeting of the Workers’ Party’s decision-making Central Committee where Kim acknowledged economic shortcomings caused by “unexpected and inevitable challenges in various aspects and the situation in the region surrounding the Korean Peninsula.”
The report by Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency didn’t directly mention nuclear diplomacy with the United States, which has stalled over disagreements in exchanging sanctions relief and denuclearization steps.
The Workers’ Party last convened for a full congress in 2016, which was its first in 36 years, where Kim announced his initial five-year national development plan, which included goals for improving power supply and increasing agricultural and manufacturing production.
Entering the plan’s final year, Kim during the Central Committee’s last plenary meeting in December declared a “frontal breakthrough” against sanctions while urging his nation to stay resilient in the struggle for economic self-reliance.
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Trump: US demands restoration of UN sanctions against Iran
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will demand Thursday that all United Nations sanctions be reimposed against Iran, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday, a move that follows America's embarrassing failure to extend an arms embargo against Tehran.
The administration’s insistence on snapping back international sanctions against Iran sets the stage for a contentious dispute. It's possible that the U.S. call will be ignored by other U.N. members — an outcome that could call into question the U.N. Security Council’s ability to enforce its own legally binding decisions.
“Two years ago I withdrew the United States from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal, which was a product of the Obama-Biden foreign policy failure — a failure like few people have seen in terms of the amount of money we paid for absolutely nothing and a short-term deal," Trump said.
He pledged that under his administration, Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.
“If and when I win the election, within the first month, Iran will come to us and they are going to be asking for a deal so quickly because they are doing very poorly," he said, adding that sanctions have crippled Iran's economy and limited the amount of money it can use to support militant groups.
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Florida modeled a smooth mail election. Yes, Florida.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The votes were swiftly counted, winners were declared, and by about 10 o'clock that night most of the results of Tuesday's primary election — one with large numbers of mailed votes — were known in Florida.
Yes, Florida. The poster child for election meltdowns, where the recount of the 2000 presidential race dragged on for 33 days until it was resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court. Where, in 2018, the outcomes of the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races were up in the air well after Election Day.
Despite its reputation for confusing ballot design and controversial election administration, Florida was, in some respects, a model for how to conduct an election and count the vote in a pandemic-era election. That model is getting more attention as many states are considering adjusting their voting rules to prepare for a surge in mail-in votes and avoid a slow vote count.
One key to Florida's performance Tuesday was state law allowing election officials to begin processing mail ballots weeks before Election Day. That means signature verification can be done in advance, speeding up the count and leading to faster results.
Roughly 1 million more people voted by mail compared to four years ago, with about three-quarters of the nearly 3 million votes cast remotely.
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Pelosi says postmaster has no plans to restore mail cuts
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Postal Service faced more questions and a federal lawsuit Wednesday over mail disruptions, despite assurances by President Donald Trump's postmaster general of no more service changes until after the November election — a pledge made only after a public outcry.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told her he has no intention of restoring removed blue mailboxes or sorting equipment and no plans for employee overtime. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said officials are withholding information about DeJoy's selection to the job. With the agency in turmoil, civil and voting rights advocates are suing to bring mail operations back to normal.
Pelosi, D-Calif., said she told DeJoy in a phone call that his decision for a temporary pause was "wholly insufficient and does not reverse damage already wreaked.”
The uproar over the Postal Service is expected to spill out Friday as DeJoy testifies before the Senate, and Saturday as the House convenes for a rare session. The House is set to vote on legislation to reverse the service changes and provide $25 billion to shore up operations.
Widespread mail disruptions have stunned Americans and led to warnings that Trump is trying to undermine the Postal Service as he rails against mail-in ballots just as millions of people are trying vote absentee to avoid polling places during the COVID-19 crisis.
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Apple reaches $2 trillion market value as tech fortunes soar
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Apple has become the first U.S. company to boast a market value of $2 trillion as technology continues to reshape a world where smartphones are like appendages and digital services are like instruments orchestrating people's lives.
The iPhone maker reached the $2 trillion milestone in Wednesday's early stock market trading when its shares surpassed $467.77.
The stock later backtracked to close at $462.83, but it didn't diminish a remarkable achievement that came just two years after Apple became the first U.S. company with a $1 trillion market value. It comes amid a devastating pandemic that has shoved the economy into a deep recession and caused unemployment rates to soar to the worst levels since the Great Depression nearly a century ago.
But Apple and other well-established tech giants such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook and Netflix have thrived during the upheaval as the pandemic has forced millions of people to work, attend classes, shop and entertain themselves at home. That, in turn, has made technology even more crucial, a factor that has caused investors to snap up the stocks of the industry's biggest players, as well as relative newcomers, such as video conferencing service Zoom, which has seen its shares quadruple so far this year.
Apple's stock has climbed nearly 58% this year. In recent weeks, the rally has been bolstered by excitement over a four-for-one stock split that Apple announced late last month in an effort to make its shares more affordable to a wider swath of investors.