AP News Digest 2 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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ELECTION-2020-BLACK VOTERS — Tears streamed down Brooke Moreland’s face as she watched tens of thousands gather on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to decry systemic racism and demand racial justice. But for the Indianapolis mother of three, the fiery speeches Friday at the commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom also gave way to one central message: Vote and demand change at the ballot box in November. “Every election is an opportunity, so how dare we not vote after our ancestors fought for us to be here?” By Kat Stafford. SENT: 980 words, photos.
ELECTION-2020-FIVE-QUESTIONS — After their nominating conventions, President Donald Trump and Joe Biden each believes he has a head of political steam. But Trump’s job approval ratings and standing in polls are perilously low for an incumbent. And Biden and other Democrats remember 2016, when Trump made an against-all-odds October comeback and defeated Hillary Clinton. A look at five key questions before Election Day, from the role of the upcoming debates to the possibility of a late coronavirus-related surprise. By Bill Barrow and Jill Colvin. SENT 1,070 words, photos.
US-2020-CENSUS — The postal service isn’t the only staid federal agency to be drawn into a political battle in 2020. Unlike the department charged with delivering mail, however, the U.S. Census Bureau has been here before. It has found itself targeted by politicians repeatedly since it conducted its first nationwide head count in 1,790. SENT: 900, photos.
Find more coverage of the conventions and Election 2020 on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
OBIT-CHADWICK-BOSEMAN-APPRECIATION — In a tragically brief but historically sweeping life as an actor, Chadwick Boseman played men of public life and private pain. Before Friday, we didn’t know he, too, was bearing such a burden. That has only magnified his accomplishment, bringing him closer to the great figures whose shoes he wore on film. He played men who advanced a people’s progress, a trail he grew to help blaze himself. He played icons, and died one, too. SENT: 900 words, photos.
TROPICAL WEATHER — The angry storm surge has receded and the clean up has begun from Hurricane Laura, but officials along this shattered stretch of Louisiana coast are warning returning residents they will face weeks without power or water amid the hot, stifling days of late summer. The U.S. toll from the Category 4 hurricane stood at 14 deaths, with more than half of those killed by carbon monoxide poisoning from the unsafe operation of generators. President Donald Trump plans to tour the damage in Louisiana and neighboring Texas. By Stacey Plaisance and Melinda Deslatte. SENT: 670 words, photos. With TROPICAL WEATHER-DODGING THE WORST — A wobble, luck and preparations lessened Laura’s devastation (sent) and TRUMP - Fresh off the Republican National Convention, President Donald Trump is surveying hurricane damage in Louisiana and Texas, a trip that allows him to use the trappings of his office to try to project empathy and leadership. (sent).
Find more coverage of Hurricane Laura in AP Newsroom.
POLICE SHOOTING-WISCONSIN - Family members of Jacob Blake are leading a march and rally in Kenosha to call for an end to police violence. Event organizers say Saturday’s demonstration will include a march to the Kenosha County Courthouse and speeches by members of Blake’s family, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore. Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey was responding to a domestic abuse call Sunday when he shot Blake in the back. Blake is Black. His family says he’s paralyzed. The shooting was captured on cellphone video. It’s sparked days of protests in Kenosha against racial injustice and police brutality. By Stephen Groves and Amy Forliti. SENT: 460 words, photos. UPCOMING: Developing from march.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-ECONOMIC-RELIEF-RISK — With the economy still in the pandemic’s grip, the Federal Reserve is facing a decision on whether to stretch an emergency lending program in a way that could bring more risk for the government and taxpayers. Lawmakers are pressing the central bank to deliver more aid to struggling small and mid-sized businesses. The decision is on the doorstep of Fed Chairman Jay Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. By Business Writer Marcy Gordon. SENT: 920 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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GERMANY-VIRUS-PROTEST — Berlin police ordered a protest by people opposed to Germany’s pandemic restrictions to disband after participants refused to observe social distancing rules. SENT: 600 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBBREAK-PRISON-OUTREACH — With lockups across the U.S. closed to visitors as the coronavirus runs amok inside, faith-based organizations have had to adapt and innovate to maintain their prison ministries. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
Find more all-format coverage of the Virus Outbreak featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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FACEBOOK-KENOSHA — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook erred in not removing militia post. SENT: 350 words.
RACIAL INJUSTICE-COLUMBIA-DORM — Columbia taking slave-owning doctor’s name off campus dorm. SENT: 350 words.
CHINA-BUILDING-COLLAPSE — 2-story restaurant collapses in China, killing 17 people. SENT: 100 words, photos.
EUROPE-MIGRANTS-BANKSY — Artist Banksy on migrant crisis: ‘All Black Lives Matter’ SENT: 400 words, photos.
FRANCE-HORSES KILLED — France’s horses killed in mysterious ritual-like mutilations. SENT: 800 words, photos.
PORTLAND-PROTESTS — Protests erupt at Portland police building, mayor’s condo. SENT: 270 words, photos.
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ELECTION-2020-RNC-TRUMP — President Donald Trump tried to use the convention week to make the case that he alone has what it takes to maintain law and order and lead the nation out of a health and economic crisis. Voters and Republican strategists say he still has work to do as he aims to win over suburban women and bolster his position with waffling supporters. His campaign’s goal is to turn out the base while looking to draw in previous nonvoters and drive up negative impressions of Joe Biden so some of the Democrat’s possible backers stay home. By Thomas Beaumont, Aamer Madhani and Jonathan Lemire. SENT: 1,040 words, photos.
ELECTION-2020-SENATE-KANSAS — Two doctors vying for Kansas’ open Senate seat are running vastly different campaigns during the pandemic. Republican Rep. Roger Marshall takes a weekly dose of an anti-malaria drug that President Donald Trump has promoted, and when the candidate spoke at a recent event, his audience crowded into a restaurant banquet rooms and didn’t wear masks. Democrat Barbara Bollier has campaigned mostly virtually and her first in-person event featured a few people standing in a socially distanced circle outside a school. The approaches mirror the partisan divide across the country. By John Hanna. SENT: 960 words, photos.
FACT-CHECK-WEEK — At their national convention, Republicans portrayed the U.S. as a country made great again by President Donald Trump. They also portrayed the country as dystopian, wracked by brutal riots and violence. Which is it? An AP Fact Check examined rhetoric from the four days of the GOP’s proceedings. The Fact Check found a paradox, as Trump’s most fervent supporters stepped up to describe the state of Trump’s union in apocalyptic terms. Their aim is to make people think Democratic rival Joe Biden is soft on crime and anarchy. But the lawlessness they talked about has unfolded in Trump’s America. By Calvin Woodward, Hope Yen and Josh Boak. SENT: 3,700 words, photos. Find AP Fact Checks at https://apnews.com/APFactCheck
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POLICE SHOOTING-WEIGHING-CHARGES— The Jacob Blake shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and the killing of Trayford Pellerin in Lafayette, Louisiana, two days earlier have thrust into the spotlight a thorny and long-running legal issue that has on several occasions gone all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. And the Blake shooting has raised a host of other questions, including why the officer felt the need to shoot him seven times in the back at close range, and the prudence of police opening fire with children nearby. Wisconsin authorities are investigating those questions as they weigh charges against the officer in a case that has reignited national protests over racial injustice. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
POLICE-SHOOTING-WISCONSIN-OFFICER — The Kenosha police union offers the most detailed accounting to date on officers’ perspective of the moments leading up to police shooting Jacob Blake seven times in the back, saying he had a knife and fought with officers, putting one of them in a headlock and shrugging off two attempts to stun him. SENT: 1,080 words, photo. With POLICE-SHOOTING-WISCONSIN-POLICE TACTICS — Activists see disparate police tactics amid Kenosha protests (sent).
TROPICAL WEATHER-HOSPITAL-BABIES — A medical team at a southwestern Louisiana hospital worked through the night to care for 19 tiny babies as Hurricane Laura slammed the region. Dr. Juan Bossano said the babies seemed to weather the storm just fine. SENT: 600 words, photos.
NATIVE-AMERICANS-COMIC-BOOKS — Native American comic book fans hope a new Marvel anthology by Native artists and writers will jump-start authentic representation in mainstream superhero fare. SENT: 900 words, photos.
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BELARUS-PROTESTS — The Belarus government has cracked down hard on the news media, deporting some foreign journalists reporting in the country and revoking the accreditation of many Belarusian journalists. Two Moscow-based Associated Press journalists covering the recent protests in Belarus were deported to Russia. In addition, the AP’s Belarusian journalists were told by the government that their press credentials had been revoked. The AP said it decries the moves as a “blatant attack on press freedom.” SENT: 500 words, photo.
LIBYA — The United Nations has voiced concern over what it called “a dramatic turn of events” in Libya’s civil war, after a power struggle between leaders of the Tripoli-based government surfaced in the wake of anti-corruption protests. SENT: 600 words, photo.
MALI-CRISIS — Tensions mounted between Mali’s military junta and the country’s longtime political opposition after the coup leaders failed to invite prominent opposition figures to a planned forum on the country’s political future. SENT: 400 words, photos.
EMIRATES-ISRAEL — The ruler of the United Arab Emirates has issued a decree formally ending the country’s boycott of Israel amid a U.S.-brokered deal to normalize relations between the two countries. SENT: 900 words, photos.
PAKISTAN-RAINS — Normalcy has begun slowly returning to Pakistan’s financial capital Karachi after flood waters from days of monsoon rains that killed 47 people receded, enabling relief work in the city of 15 million. SENT: 200 words, photos.
ZIMBABWE-SOCIAL-MEDIA-PROTESTS — Unable to protest on the streets, some in Zimbabwe are calling themselves “keyboard warriors” as they take to graffiti and social media to pressure a government that promised reform but is now accused of gross human rights abuses. Activists use the hashtag #zimbabweanlivesmatter to encourage global pressure on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government. Tens of thousands of people, from Jamaican reggae stars to U.S. rap and hip-hop musicians, have joined African celebrities, politicians and former presidents in tweeting with the hashtag. SENT: 810 words, photos.
VENEZUELA-OPPOSITION — Venezuelan authorities release an opposition politician to home detention two years after being jailed on suspicion of taking part in a failed drone attack on President Nicolás Maduro, his family says. Images on social media showed Juan Requesens arriving home where his relatives greeted him with emotional embraces. SENT: 470 words, photo.
MAURITIUS-OIL-SPILL-PROTEST — Tens of thousands of people have protested in Mauritius over the government’s slow response to an oil spill from a grounded Japanese ship and the alarming discovery of dozens of dead dolphins in recent days. SENT: 600 words, photos.
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RELIGION
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ISLAM-ASHOURA — Shiite Muslims are observing the solemn holy day of Ashoura that they typically mark with large, mournful gatherings, in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic. Ashoura commemorates the seventh-century killing of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, in the Battle of Karbala in present-day Iraq. The Day of Ashoura falls on the 10th of the Islamic month of Muharram and is preceded by days of commemorations and remembrance. In Interviews with The Associated Press, several Shiite Muslims tell of how they are observing commemorations this year. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
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WALMART-TIKTOK — Walmart may be the world’s largest retailer but it has mostly failed in its efforts to break Amazon’s online dominance. Could TikTok, a fast-growing 3-year-old app filled with goofy videos, be the answer? SENT: 600 words, photo.
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ATHLETE POWER — With every get-out-the-vote campaign, every shutdown of a major sport, every detailed list of actions proposed by athletes to combat racial inequities, one new reality comes into sharper focus: The days of “shut up and play” are winding down. By National Writer Eddie Pells. SENT: 1,050 words, photos.
TEN--US OPEN-GAUFF -- Coco Gauff is always trying to learn. Listen to her speak on the issues of the day and she hardly seems like the average 16-year-old. Then again, listen to her fret about driving a car, and, yes, she’s a teen. By Tennis Writer Howard Fendrich. UPCOMING: 600 words, photos by 3 p.m. EDT
CYC--TOUR DE FRANCE -- The strangest Tour de France ever sets off in a pandemic from the Riviera amid fears that cycling’s showcase race could be stopped well before it reaches Paris in three weeks. By Samuel Petrequin and John Leicester. SENT: 550 words, photos.
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