AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT
Turbulent reality collides with smooth GOP convention
WASHINGTON (AP) — Turbulent reality is clashing with the smooth, steady image Republicans are hoping to paint of President Donald Trump and his leadership on the third night of the GOP’s convention.
A potentially catastrophic hurricane is bearing down on the Gulf Coast, wildfires are ravaging huge areas of California, protests are growing in Wisconsin after the shooting of a Black man by police — and the still-raging coronavirus pandemic is killing more than 1,000 Americans a day.
Adding still another controversial element, late Wednesday pro basketball postponed three games after the Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the court for an NBA playoff game because of Blake's shooting. That was a few hours before Vice President Mike Pence was to speak from Baltimore’s Fort McHenry, where an 1814 battle inspired the National Anthem. Trump has strongly criticized athletes who kneel rather than stand during the anthem in protest of racial injustice.
The historic convergence of health, economic, environmental and social emergencies is only increasing the pressure on Trump, as he looks to reshape the contours of his lagging campaign against former Vice President Joe Biden with Election Day just 10 weeks off and early voting beginning much sooner.
The first nights of the convention included virtually no reference to the hurricane gaining strength in the Gulf of Mexico or the California fires. A Las Vegas pastor did open the second night with a prayer for Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man who was shot in Kenosha, Wisconsin, prompting three nights of protests
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US officials: No signs of foreign targeting of mail-in vote
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials said Wednesday there has been no intelligence to suggest that foreign countries are working to undermine mail-in voting and no signs of any coordinated effort to commit widespread fraud through the vote-by-mail process, despite numerous claims made by President Donald Trump in recent months.
The officials at multiple federal agencies stopped short of directly contradicting Trump, but their comments made it clear they had not seen evidence to support the president's statements that voter fraud will be rampant in the upcoming election and that the expected surge in mail-in ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic leaves November’s presidential election especially vulnerable to foreign interference.
Trump, for instance, tweeted July 30 that mail-in voting was proving to be a “catastrophic disaster” and added: “The Dems talk of foreign influence in voting, but they know that Mail-In Voting is an easy way for foreign countries to enter the race. Even beyond that, there’s no accurate count!"
But a senior official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, asked on a conference call with reporters Wednesday about the threat of foreign countries manufacturing their own ballots or amplifying disinformation about the integrity of the vote-by-mail process, said there was no information or intelligence that any adversary was “engaged in any kind of activity to undermine any part of the mail-in vote."
A senior FBI official said officials had not seen to date a coordinated, nationwide effort to corrupt mail-in voting. The official also said, given the diffuse and varied election systems across the country, it would be “extraordinarily difficult” to tamper with results in a measurable way. But the official said the FBI remained committed to investigating fraud that emerges.
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Boycott: NBA playoff games called off amid player protest
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — All three NBA playoff games scheduled for Wednesday have been postponed, with players around the league choosing to boycott in their strongest statement yet against racial injustice.
Called off: Games between Milwaukee and Orlando, Houston and Oklahoma City and the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland. The NBA said all three games would be rescheduled, yet did not say when.
The dramatic series of moves began when the Bucks — the NBA’s team from Wisconsin, a state rocked in recent days by the shooting by police officers of Jacob Blake, a Black man — didn’t take the floor for their playoff game against the Magic. The teams were set to begin Game 5 of their series shortly after 4 p.m., with the Bucks needing a win to advance to the second round.
Players had been discussing boycotting games in the bubble after the shooting of Blake by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. More discussions among players on teams still in the bubble were scheduled Wednesday, presumably on how — or if — to go forward, but even before that the Bucks apparently decided they would act.
“Some things are bigger than basketball," Bucks senior vice president Alex Lasry tweeted. “The stand taken today by the players and (the organization) shows that we’re fed up. Enough is enough. Change needs to happen. I’m incredibly proud of our guys and we stand 100% behind our players ready to assist and bring about real change."
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DOJ seeks data on care home deaths in 4 Democrat-led states
NEW YORK (AP) — The Justice Department on Wednesday sent letters to the governors of New York and three other Democratic-led states, seeking data on whether they violated federal law by ordering public nursing homes to accept recovering COVID-19 patients from hospitals — actions that have been criticized for potentially fueling the spread of the virus.
Prosecutors said the fact-finding letters also sent to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan were aimed at determining whether the orders “may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents.”
“We must ensure they are adequately cared for with dignity and respect and not unnecessarily put at risk," Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Division Eric Dreiband said.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said his office was reviewing the request. Spokespeople for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said the fact that all the states are led by Democrats and the timing of the move — in the midst of the Republican National Convention — spoke volumes about the political nature of the inquiry.
“Americans would all be better served if the Trump administration stopped the partisan games and focused on delivering a real plan to defeat COVID-19,” said Whitmer spokesperson Tiffany Brown.
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Officials change virus testing advice, bewildering experts
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials sparked criticism and confusion after posting guidelines on coronavirus testing from the White House task force that run counter to what scientists say is necessary to control the pandemic.
The new guidance says it's not necessary for people who don't feel sick but have been in close contact with infected people to get tested. It was posted earlier this week on the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC previously had advised local health departments to test people who have been within 6 feet of an infected person for more than 15 minutes. But on Monday a CDC testing overview page was changed to say that testing is no longer recommended for symptom-less people who were in close contact situations.
There was a caveat, however. Testing may be recommended for those with health problems that make them more likely to suffer severe illness, or if their doctor or local state officials advise they get tested.
Across the country, public health experts called the change bizarre. They noted that testing contacts of infected people is a core element of public health efforts to keep outbreaks in check, and that a large percentage of infected people — the CDC has said as many as 40% — exhibit no symptoms.
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Only Native American on federal death row set to be executed
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — The only Native American on federal death row is set to die Wednesday for the slayings of a 9-year-old and her grandmother nearly two decades ago, though many Navajos are hoping for last-minute intervention by President Donald Trump to halt the execution.
If Lezmond Mitchell is put to death on schedule at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, he'll be the fourth federal inmate executed this year. That means the federal government under the pro-death penalty president will have carried out more executions in 2020 than in the previous 56 years combined.
Mitchell, 38, and an accomplice were convicted of killing Tiffany Lee and 63-year-old Alyce Slim, who had offered them a lift in her pickup truck as they hitchhiked on the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona in 2001. They stabbed Slim 33 times, slit Tiffany’s throat and stoned her to death. They later mutilated both bodies.
The Navajo government asked Trump to commute Mitchell’s sentence on grounds his execution would violate Navajo culture and sovereignty. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., denied an attempt by Mitchell's lawyers for a last-minute court intervention. There was no immediate word on whether they would appeal the ruling to the circuit court, and ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined late Tuesday to step in and halt the execution. The first three federal executions in 17 years went ahead in July after similar legal maneuvers failed.
Critics accuse Trump of pushing to resume executions after a nearly 20-year hiatus in a quest to claim the mantle of law-and-order candidate. If Mitchell’s execution goes ahead as planned, it would happen on the third night of the GOP convention.
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AP PHOTOS: Unrest grips Wisconsin city after police shooting
Unrest has gripped Kenosha for three nights after Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot by police in the southeastern Wisconsin city.
On Tuesday night, two people were killed in an apparent vigilante attack after protests in response to Sunday's shooting, which lawyers say has left Blake paralyzed and unable to walk.
Protesters, who have taken to the streets each night since Sunday, have repeatedly clashed with law enforcement in Kenosha, throwing bottles and shooting fireworks at officers. Police have responded by firing tear gas. Some in the demonstrating crowds have also vandalized businesses, damaged or destroyed buildings, and set dozens of fires.
On Wednesday, following the violence of the night before, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers authorized 500 National Guard members to support local law enforcement around Kenosha, doubling the number of troops sent in.
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Testing traps to control lovely but destructive lionfish
NEW ORLEANS (AP) —
The quest is on for a better way to kill beautiful but brutally destructive lionfish than shooting them one by one with spearguns.
The voracious invaders with huge appetites, flashy stripes and a mane of venomous spines are a problem in the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico and the East Coast almost to Virginia. They've also recently infested parts of the Mediterranean and Aegean seas. With few natural predators, they eat native fish and compete for food.
Scientists are looking at two kinds of traps as a way to control the fish outside their native South Pacific and Indian oceans. One is a lobster trap with an entry too skinny for legal lobsters. The other is wildly different, using a vertical sheet of lattice as a lure.
“We don’t think we’ll ever eliminate them but if we can get them under control maybe we can get our ecosystem back,” said Thomas R. Matthews, research administrator for Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.
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Heal the country? Disease specialists running for Congress
BOSTON (AP) — A background in science — specifically, infectious disease and epidemiology — may not spring to mind as a key selling point for candidates hoping to land a seat in Congress.
Not unless, say, the country is in the throes of a deadly pandemic.
Two Democrats in Massachusetts are highlighting their disease expertise as they pitch themselves to voters in the state's Sept. 1 primaries, while at the same time arguing that their focus on the coronavirus and its social fallout also gives them a unique perspective on a host of other issues — from health care and housing to racial inequality and the environment.
Natalia Linos is a social epidemiologist and executive director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. She's also a candidate in the crowded race to replace U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III in the state’s 4th Congressional District.
Kennedy is challenging incumbent U.S. Sen. Edward Markey in the state’s Democratic primary, creating an open race to fill his seat. Linos is one of eight candidates vying for the party’s nomination in the blue-leaning district.
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Belarusian police disperse Minsk protesters, detain dozens
MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Police in Belarus dispersed protesters who gathered on the capital’s central square Wednesday, detaining dozens in an effort to end weeks of demonstrations challenging the re-election of the country’s authoritarian ruler.
The crackdown in Independence Square on Wednesday came on the 18th straight day of protests pushing for the resignation of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.
The Belarusian leader who has ruled the nation of 9.5 million for 26 years has dismissed the protesters as Western puppets and refused to engage in dialogue with the opposition contesting his Aug. 9 re-election to a sixth term.
After a brutal crackdown on demonstrators in the first days of post-election protests, which caused international outrage and helped swell protesters’ numbers, the authorities changed tactics and let daily demonstrations go unhindered for nearly two weeks. The government, meanwhile, has maintained pressure on the opposition with threats and selective jailing of its leaders.
Wednesday's police action marks the return to force, albeit on a much smaller scale compared to the post-election crackdown, when nearly 7,000 people were detained, hundreds were injured and at least three protesters died.