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: LITHUANIA-BELARUS-FREEDOM WAY, VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRITAIN, ELECTION 2020-RNC-FIELD, CAR--INDYCAR-INDY 500, MISSING-SOLDIER-TEXAS, LIBYA, JOHN-OLIVER-SEWAGE-PLANT, ELECTION 2020-KANSAS-REVENGE PORN CANDIDATE, PEOPLE-LEA-MICHELE, COLOMBIA-URIBE’S TROUBLES.
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ONLY ON AP
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PUBLIC HEALTH-FLORIDA'S STRUGGLES — Florida is both a microcosm and a cautionary tale for America. As the nation starved the public health system intended to protect communities against disease, staffing and funding fell faster and further in the Sunshine State, leaving it especially unprepared for the worst health crisis in a century. A joint investigation by KHN and The Associated Press finds that although Florida’s population grew by 2.4 million since 2010 to make it the nation’s third-most populous state, the state slashed its local health departments’ staffing ― from 12,422 full-time equivalent workers to 9,125 in 2019. By Laura Ungar, Jason Dearen and Hannah Recht. SENT: 2,240 words, photos. With 1,000 word abridged version.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-GOVERNORS-REOPENING — Records obtained by The Associated Press show that governors worked closely with business interests as they weighed when and how to reopen their economies last spring. Emails released under public-records laws highlight how governors in some cases leaned on the advice of businesses over public health officials who urged greater caution in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. By David A. Lieb. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.
SEXUAL MISCONDUCT-PLACIDO-DOMINGO — Plácido Domingo denied ever abusing power during his management tenure at two U.S. opera houses in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday, but deflected questions about sexual harassment. SENT: 400 words, photos.
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VIRUS-TRUMP — After expressing frustration at the slow pace of approval for coronavirus treatments, President Trump has announced the emergency authorization of convalescent plasma for COVID-19 patients. It remains unclear how effective the treatment is in fighting the virus. By Jonathan Lemire and Mike Stobbe. SENT: 1,240 words, photos. UPCOMING: Developing.
ELECTION 2020-RNC-TRUMP-PROMISES — Behind the drama, chaos and tumult of the Trump era, the president has fulfilled a wide range of policy promises from the 2016 campaign. By Jill Colvin. SENT: 1,450 words, photos.
Find more coverage of the conventions and Election 2020 on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
LEBANON-COUNTDOWN-TO-DISASTER — Beirut residents were for years unaware of the massive “bomb” festering inside their seaport. They knew they lived in a dysfunctional country, its government rife with corruption, factionalism and negligence that caused so much pain and heartbreak. But they could not know that it would lead to the worst single-day catastrophe in Lebanon’s tragic history. By Bassem Mroue, Sarah El Deeb and Zeina Karam. SENT: 2,590 words, photos, 940-word abridged version. This is the Monday Spotlight.
TROPICAL WEATHER — Marco strengthens into a hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico on a path toward the Louisiana coast. Tropical Storm Laura battered the Dominican Republic and Haiti and headed to the same part of the U.S. coast, also as a potential hurricane. SENT: 660 words, photos. WITH: TROPICAL WEATHER-UNITED STATES — Residents are fleeing coastal areas in Louisiana as the state braces for a possible hit from consecutive hurricanes. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards says the fear is the state could see a heavy storm surge from Hurricane Marco, now in the Gulf of Mexico, and a second strike from Tropical Storm Laura before water from the first storm recedes. SENT: 360 words, photos. Developing.
BELARUS-PROTESTS — Video from Belarus shows beleaguered President Alexander Lukashenko carrying a rifle and wearing a bulletproof vest as he got off a helicopter that brought him to this working residence as anti-government protests roil the capital. More than 100,000 protesters demanding his resignation ralled in a vast square in the capital of Minsk. SENT: 600 words, photos. Developing. WITH: AP EXPLAINS-BELARUS-UKRAINE — Why revolt in Belarus is different from Ukraine in 2014. SENT: 850 words, photos; LITHUANIA-BELARUS-FREEDOM WAY — More than 50,000 Lithuanians have joined hands in a human chain stretching 32 kilometers (20 miles) from the capital of Vilinus to the Belarus border to express solidarity with their neighbor’s dramatic struggle for democracy. SENT: 170 words, photos.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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MEDIA-FOX-NEWS-HOAX — ‘Hoax’ book reveals extent of internal unease at Fox. SENT: 940 words, photo.
JOHN-OLIVER-SEWAGE-PLANT — A Connecticut town’s officials are showing comedian John Oliver what they think about his expletive-filled rant about their city — they’re naming the local sewage treatment plant after him. SENT: 130 words.
ELECTION 2020-KANSAS-REVENGE PORN CANDIDATE — A 19-year-old Kansas House candidate who had been disowned by some Democrats for his incendiary social media posts and because he abused girls online when he was 14 says he’s dropping out of the race. SENT: 310 words.
POLITICAL SIGN FIGHT — A Florida supporter of President Trump is facing a misdemeanor charge after deputies say he punched a Joe Biden supporter during a dispute over their yard signs. SENT: 130 words.
PEOPLE-LEA-MICHELE — Former “Glee” star Lea Michele and her husband Zandy Reich welcomed their first child together, a baby boy. SENT: 70 words.
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ELECTION 2020-POSTAL SERVICE — Help for the U.S. Postal Service lands in stalemate as the White House dismisses an emergency funding bill aimed at shoring up the agency before the November elections as “going nowhere” and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urges senators to act quickly. SENT: 800 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-RNC — Republicans will aim to recast the story of Donald Trump’s presidency when they hold their national convention, featuring speakers drawn from everyday life as well as cable news and the White House while drawing a stark contrast with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. SENT: 1,220 words, photos. With ELECTION 2020-RNC-FIELD — Republicans are aiming to use this week’s national convention as a test bed for their efforts to reelect President Donald Trump, just weeks before the start of early voting. SENT: 380 words, photo.
UNITED STATES-MIDEAST — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo heads to the Middle East, the first of two senior U.S. officials to travel to the region this week as the Trump administration presses an ambitious Arab-Israeli peace push. SENT: 550 words, photo. UNITED STATES-EUROPE — The Trump administration’s second-highest ranking diplomat travels to Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine and Austria this week for talks on arms control and other matters, including allegations of Russian election meddling and the crisis in Belarus after disputed elections. SENT: 550 words, photo.
TRUMP-RECORDINGS — President Donald Trump’s older sister, a former federal judge, is heard sharply criticizing her brother in a series of recordings, at one point saying of the president, “He has no principles.” Maryanne Trump Barry was secretly recorded by her niece, Mary Trump, who recently released a book denouncing the president. SENT: 560 words, photo.
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK — For small retailers across the country, the coronavirus outbreak has turned an already challenging business environment into never-ending uncertainty. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRITAIN — Britain’s prime minister is asking parents to set aside their fears and send their children back to school next month when the nation’s schools fully reopen. SENT: 460 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-PERU-DISCO-STAMPEDE — Thirteen people died in a stampede at a disco in Peru after a police raid to enforce the country’s lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic, officials said. SENT: 440 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-ITALY — Sicily’s governor has ordered all migrants to be transferred from the island by Monday, part of a push back by Italian regions alarmed by last week’s surge in COVID-19 cases. SENT: 550 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-SPAIN-POOLS-PHOTO-GALLERY — Splash! Virus spawns portable pool fad in Spain. SENT: 330 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-INDIA-RAPID-TESTS — India’s use of cheaper, faster but less accurate tests for the coronavirus highlights some of the inherent pitfalls of a strategy that the U.S. is now considering to scale up testing. SENT: 890 words, photos. WITH: VIRUS-OUTBREAK-INDIA-3-MILLION — India’s coronavirus caseload topped 3 million, with the country leading the world in new infections as the disease marched through impoverished rural areas in the north and the wealthier but older populations of the south. SENT: 140 words, photo; AP EXPLAINS-VIRUS-OUTBREAK-INDIA — How India’s fast-growing cases topped 3 million. SENT: 800 words, photos.
Find more all-format coverage on the Virus Outbreak featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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CALIFORNIA-WILDFIRES — A calm overnight allowed firefighters to make progress against a trio of massive fires burning in Northern California. But they are girding for the arrival of a weather system that will bring high winds and thunderstorms that could spark new fires and fan existing blazes that already destroyed nearly 1,000 homes other structures and forced tens of thousands to evacuate. SENT: 800 words, photos, video. Developing. WITH: CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES-DREAM HOUSE DESTROYED — California ‘dream house,’ decades in the making, is in ashes (sent).
FEDERAL EXECUTION-NATIVE AMERICAN — As a Navajo man sits on federal death row awaiting his upcoming execution date, his tribe is asking officials to spare his life. The stance in support of Lezmond Mitchell is pushing up against the desires of some of the victims’ family to see the Wednesday execution move forward. SENT: 1,000, photos.
RACIAL-INJUSTICE-ELIJAH-MCCLAIN — In the year since Elijah McClain died after being stopped by police in suburban Denver on his way home from a store, the number of people calling for justice in his case has grown to millions of people around the world. SENT: 800 words. WITH: RACIAL-INJUSTICE-ELIJAH-MCCLAIN-TIMELINE.
RACIAL INJUSTICE-POLICE SHOOTING-LOUISIANA — Community activists said they will present their frustrations and demand racial justice from the leaders of a Louisiana city on Sunday, following a night of violence that erupted after police shot and killed a Trayford Pellerin, who police said had a knife and was trying to enter a convenience store. SENT: 780 words, photos.
RACIAL INJUSTICE-BLACK BOOKSTORES — A renewed focus on social justice in the wake of police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd has seen sales soar at Black-owned bookstores around the country as customers seek out knowledge from their own communities. SENT: 700 words, photos.
CORPUS CHRISTI-EXPLOSION — The U.S. Coast Guard has ended the search for two crew members of a dredging boat who went missing following an explosion last week in the Port of Corpus Christi in Texas. The bodies of two other crew members have been found. SENT: 290 words, photos.
PORTLAND PROTESTS — Police forced protesters away from a law enforcement building in Oregon’s biggest city, as efforts to stop the demonstrators from gathering at the building seemingly fell apart. The gathering was later declared a riot and fourteen people were arrested. SENT: 430 words, photos.
MISSING-SOLDIER-TEXAS — A soldier who is missing from Fort Hood in Texas had transferred units after reporting sexual abuse, an Army official said in a statement. SENT: 300 words, photos.
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IRAN-UKRAINE-PLANE CRASH — Iran has retrieved some data, including a portion of cockpit conversations, from the Ukrainian jetliner accidentally downed by the Revolutionary Guard forces in January, killing all 176 people on board, an Iranian official says. SENT: 700 words, photos.
RUSSIA-NAVALNY — Alexei Navalny’s wife and a top aide have visited him in a Berlin hospital where the comatose Russian dissident is being treated by German doctors after a suspected poisoning. SENT: 500 words, photos.
IRAN-NUCLEAR — Iran says an upcoming visit this week by the head of the U.N.’s atomic watchdog agency to Tehran has nothing to do with a U.S. push to impose so-called “snapback” sanctions on Iran. SENT: 400 words, photos.
AFGHANISTAN — A roadside bombing in eastern Afghanistan has killed seven civilians, the latest in relentless deadly violence in the country amid new uncertainties over the start of talks between the Taliban and the Kabul government. SENT: 200 words, photos.
MALI-CRISIS — West African leaders visiting Mali pressed for the release of ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita amid mounting speculation that he could be flown out of the country after thousands showed support for the military coup that toppled him. The 75-year-old Keita has been in the custody of the ruling military junta for five days at the barracks where the government overthrow originated. SENT: 500 words, photos.
ISRAEL-POLITICS — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has decided against calling new elections. In a nationally televised address, Netanyahu announced Sunday he had accepted a compromise proposal to extend budget negotiations by 100 days, saying, “Now is the time for unity. Not for elections.” SENT: 680 words, photo. WITH: ISRAEL-PROTESTS — Thousands of Israelis protest outside the prime minister’s official residence as summer-long demonstrations against Benjamin Netanyahu maintained their momentum. SENT: 330 words, photos.
LIBYA — Forces loyal to Libyan commander Khalifa Hifter have dismissed a cease-fire proposal by the U.N.-supported government as a “deception,” claiming that rival militias were preparing to attack the strategic city of Sirte. SENT: 770 words, photos.
CYPRUS-BUYING CITIZENSHIP — Cyprus is denying new allegations that is was granting citizenship to foreigners accused of crimes in exchange for millions in investments. SENT: 350 words, photos.
COLOMBIA-URIBE'S TROUBLES — Colombia’s Supreme Court is calling on powerful former President Álvaro Uribe to testify in an investigation into three massacres that could once and for all establish whether he had any ties to violent paramilitary groups. SENT: 1,120 words, photos.
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ENTERTAINMENT
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TV-CHARLOTTA SPEARS BASS — Kamala Harris made history last week by becoming the first Black woman to be nominated to run for vice president on a major party’s ticket. But the first Black woman to run for vice president in the nation’s history was trailblazing newspaperwoman Charlotta Spears Bass. The groundbreaking journalist and civil rights activist who ran in 1952 on the Progressive Party ticket is the subject of a new PBS/WNET “American Masters” short. SENT: 470 words, photo.
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CAR--INDYCAR-INDY 500 — Takuma Sato has won his second Indianapolis 500 after Spencer Pigot crashed heavily exiting Turn 4, bringing out the caution with five laps remaining and forcing what had been a thrilling race to end under caution. The race ended when Pigot spun into the outside wall, then crossed back across the track and slammed into the safety tires that guard the entrance to pit lane. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos by 6:15 p.m.
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