AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT
Protester killed in Portland as mayor, Trump trade blame
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man who was fatally shot after supporters of President Donald Trump clashed with left-wing protesters on the streets of Portland, Oregon, was a supporter of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer, its founder said Sunday.
Joey Gibson, head of the group based in Washington state, told The Associated Press the man who was shot to death Saturday night was a “good friend,” although he did not identify him.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler blamed each other for the violence. Trump called Wheeler a "fool” on Twitter and said to “Bring in the National Guard!" while Wheeler blamed Trump for creating such a toxic environment.
“It’s you who have created the hate and the division,” the Democratic mayor said of Trump. “You’ve tried to divide us more than any other figure in modern history. And now you want me to stop the violence that you helped create.”
Trump had earlier issued a flurry of tweets and retweets, including several blaming Wheeler for the death and one in which the president appeared to be encouraging his supporters to move into Portland. “GREAT PATRIOTS!” Trump wrote as he shared video of his supporters driving into Portland to confront the protesters.
___
'Fanning the flames': Dem accuse Trump of stoking violence
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats on Sunday accused President Donald Trump of trying to inflame racial tensions to benefit his campaign as he praised supporters who clashed with protesters in Portland, Oregon, where one man died overnight, and announced he will travel to Kenosha, Wisconsin, amid anger over the shooting of another Black man by police.
Trump's tweets came hours after a man identified as a supporter of a right-wing group was shot and killed in Portland when a large caravan of Trump's supporters and Black Lives Matter protesters clashed in the city's streets. Trump praised the caravan participants as “GREAT PATRIOTS!” and blamed the city’s Democratic mayor for the death.
Trump has throughout the summer cast American cities as under siege by violence and lawlessness, despite the fact that most of the protests demonstrating against racial injustice have been largely peaceful. With about nine weeks until Election Day, some of his advisers see an aggressive “law and order” message as the best way for the president to turn voters against his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, and regain the support of suburban voters, particularly women, who have abandoned him. But Democrats accuse Trump of rooting for unrest and trying to stoke further violence for political gain instead of ratcheting down tensions.
Biden in a statement said he “unequivocally” condemned violence on all side, while accusing Trump of “recklessly encouraging" it.
“He may think that war in our streets is good for his reelection chances, but that is not presidential leadership — or even basic human compassion,” Biden said.
___
Postal chief DeJoy has long leveraged connections, dollars
WASHINGTON (AP) — During its search for a new postmaster general, the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors was presented with 53 candidates screened by an outside company. Not on the list: Louis DeJoy, who ultimately got the job.
Instead, in what Democrats call a breach of protocol and blatant cronyism, DeJoy's name was added as a contender by the board member leading the search, John Barger. He was acting on behalf of the board's chairman, Robert “Mike” Duncan, a former Republican National Committee chairman who knew DeJoy and his wife through work on a White House advisory group. DeJoy, Barger and Duncan were prominent donors to President Donald Trump and other Republicans.
How exactly DeJoy was hired is among the questions Congress is trying to unravel as lawmakers scrutinize a series of operational changes at the Postal Service that have resulted in widespread mail delays and fears that the agency will not be able to handle an expected surge in mail-in ballots this fall as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Democrats say they also want to learn more about the role of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who met with Duncan and other Republicans on the agency's board while the selection of the new postmaster general was underway.
The Trump administration denies any impropriety in the selection of DeJoy, a former supply chain CEO who is the first postmaster general in nearly two decades not to be a career postal employee. Mnuchin has said he had no involvement, though his heightened interest in the Postal Service has raised questions given Trump's focus on mail-in voting.
___
Coronavirus worries force election officials to get creative
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The coronavirus has upended everyday life in ways big and small. What happens when those disruptions overlap with voting? Thousands of state and local election officials across the U.S are sharing ideas and making accommodations to try to ensure that voters and polling places are safe amid an unprecedented pandemic.
Some are finding ways to expand access to voter registration and ballot request forms. Others are testing new products, installing special equipment or scouting outdoor voting locations.
Here are virus-related obstacles voters could face during this unprecedented presidential election year along with some of the solutions being tried:
CLOSURES AND CURTAILED HOURS
What if you need a voter registration form or absentee ballot application and all the normal go-to places are closed or open by appointment only? It's a problem nationwide.
___
Chadwick Boseman's death leaves saddening mark on rough 2020
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kobe Bryant. Rep. John Lewis. And now, Chadwick Boseman.
So far, 2020 has been marred with bad news and tragedy with the deaths of several popular Black icons including Bryant, Lewis and recently Boseman, who died Friday. All three were viewed as leaders in their respective fields of sports, politics and film — places where people, particularly in the Black community, have often looked for inspiration during a year of racial tension and protests against the police brutality of unarmed Black people.
But for many, the loss of another major figure such as Boseman is taking a toll. The actor, who starred in the blockbuster superhero Marvel film “Black Panther,” shockingly died at the age of 43 in his home in Los Angeles after he privately battled colon cancer for four years.
“These are pillars in our community,” Rev. Al Sharpton said. “In times of instability, you depend on pillars. It’s bad enough when there’s a storm outside and you hear the lightning and thunder. It gets worse when the pillars that you’re building and standing on (are) shaking. It’s like they’re chipping away at our foundation. The very building is shaking down, because the things that undergird and protect us from the storms are being removed.”
Sharpton called Boseman an important pillar that humanized several Black historical trailblazers in his roles — including color-line breaking baseball star Jackie Robinson, legendary singer James Brown and the first African American U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Boseman's family said he endured “countless surgeries and chemotherapy” while portraying King T’Challa of Wakanda in the Oscar-nominated “Black Panther,” a film that proved a person of color could lead in a successful superhero film.
___
Huge protest on Belarus leader's birthday demands he resign
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied Sunday in the Belarusian capital of Minsk to begin the fourth week of daily protests demanding that the country's authoritarian president resign.
The protests began after an Aug. 9 presidential election that protesters say was rigged but that election officials say gave President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office.
Protesters initially tried to gather at Independence Square in Minsk, but barriers and riot police blocked it off. They then streamed down one of the capital’s main avenues, past hulking olive-green prisoner transport vehicles. Police detained some marchers and forced them into the transports.
Police said 125 people were arrested, but Ales Bilyatsky of the Viasna human rights organization said more than 200 were detained.
The marchers, chanting “Freedom!” and “Resign!” eventually reached the outskirts of the presidential palace, which was blocked off by shield-bearing riot police. There were no official figures on the crowd size, but some opposition sources claimed it exceeded 100,000.
___
Voting groups scramble to reach college students in pandemic
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Chase Gaines wishes he could get more young people in North Carolina to answer their front doors and take his GOP flyer.
Rick Hart longs for the days where he would wake up at 6 a.m. to prep for a day of campaigning in the streets of Atlanta to persuade his classmates to elect Democrats.
The two college students are on opposite ends of the political universe but facing the same challenge: reaching young voters when campuses are empty and students are scattered across the country.
“The pandemic really did hit us significantly," said Hart, an unpaid student volunteer at Morehouse College who was working in Georgia on behalf of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, but is now back at his parents' home in Laurel, Maryland. "The country kind of came to a shut down and we were like, ‘What do we do next?’”
Campaigns, advocacy groups and registration organizations say they're still struggling to answer that question — and looking for creative, largely digital, solutions.
___
Key air monitors offline after Laura hits Louisiana gas hub
Hazardous emissions from a chlorine plant fire, abruptly shuttered oil and gas refineries and still-to-be assessed plant damage are seeping into the air after Hurricane Laura, regulators say, but some key state and federal monitors to alert the public of air dangers remain offline in Louisiana.
While the chlorine fire was being monitored as a potential health threat, Louisiana environmental spokesman Greg Langley says he knows of no other major industrial health risks from the storm in the state. He said restoring power and water was a bigger priority.
But some Louisiana residents and environmental advocates say the lack of solid government information on the state of the air is typical. With dozens of petroleum, petrochemical and other industrial sites, Louisiana is home to communities with some of the nation's highest cancer risks, according to Environmental Protection Agency rankings.
In the Lake Charles area, with refineries, a major natural gas project and other industrial sites, residents “generally don’t get any information except what the industry puts out,” said Carla Chrisco, a Lake Charles lawyer who evacuated the city before Laura.
The area was among the hardest hit Thursday. Laura struck parts of the Texas-Louisiana coast with up to 150-mph (240 kph) winds and a storm surge that Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said rose as high as 15 feet (4.5 meters).
___
Wildfires again threaten business in California wine country
HEALDSBURG, Calif. (AP) — With an early harvest already underway, a wildfire a few miles west of John Bucher's ranch added new urgency to getting his pinot noir grapes off the vine. If flames didn't do any damage to the delicate fruit, ash and smoke certainly could.
Bucher hired an extra crew, and they finished the task before dawn Wednesday in the quaint wine country destination of Healdsburg, remarkably early in the year for a grape that is often not harvested until the end of September.
“It was just a race to get it done,” Bucher said, his voice hoarse after three days of almost no sleep and working in occasionally smoky conditions.
Fire has been cruel to Northern California wine country lately.
Three of the past four years, major wildfires have burned in Napa and Sonoma counties, charring vineyards, burning down a historic winery and sending plumes of smoke above the neatly tended rows of vines rolling across scenic hills.
___
BET nailed its awards show during the pandemic. Will MTV?
NEW YORK (AP) — BET flawlessly launched an awards show during the coronavirus pandemic, and MTV will have its turn to put on an all-star event at a time when live shows have limitations and restrictions.
The 2020 MTV Video Music Awards will air Sunday night at 8 p.m. EDT, with pop stars like Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd and BTS set to perform some of their well-known hits.
Some of the performances will be pre-taped, while others will air live across various stages in New York City. The show was originally supposed to be held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, but plans changed in response to the worldwide pandemic.
The 2020 BET Awards, which aired in June, was a major success and one of the first virtual awards shows of the coronavirus era. While abiding by safety guidelines and rules set in place by government officials to prevent the virus from spreading, the show featured highly produced, artsy pre-taped performances from DaBaby, Megan Thee Stallion, John Legend and Alicia Keys, while also addressing police brutality, inequality and the Black Lives Matter movement.
MTV will attempt to pull off a similar success Sunday, though it has already had some setbacks. While Miley Cyrus, DaBaby, Black Eyed Peas, Maluma, Doja Cat and CNCO are set to perform, some acts have backed out. “The Box” rapper Roddy Ricch said he had to call off his performance “due to COVID compliance issues at the last minute.” And J Balvin, who contracted COVID-19, is no longer hitting the stage, though he didn’t specifically say why.