AP News Digest 6 p.m.
Here are the AP’s latest coverage plans, top stories and promotable content. All Times EST. 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 NEGRO LEAGUES, VIRUS OUTBREAK-VACCINE SAFETY, TWITTER-VACCINE-MISINFORMATION, SENATE-GEORGIA-PROTESTS, PAN AM 103-AIRLINE BOMBING, FEDERAL RESERVE, FACEBOOK-APPLE PRIVACY.
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ONLY ON AP
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-COVID-2020-ATLAS — Almost no place has been spared — and no one. The virus that first emerged a year ago in Wuhan, China, swept across the world in 2020, leaving havoc in its wake. More than any event in memory, the pandemic has been a global event. SENT: 1,690 words, photos, videos. With country-by-country separates (sent).
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-CONGRESS — Congressional negotiators close in on a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package that would deliver additional “paycheck protection” subsidies to businesses, $300 per week jobless checks, and $600-or-so stimulus payments to most Americans. The long-delayed measure is coming together as Capitol Hill combatants finally fashion difficult compromises. By Andrew Taylor. SENT: 940 words, photos. UPCOMING: 990 words by 10 p.m., with updates likely into the evening.
VIRUS OUTBREAK — COVID-19 vaccinations are ramped up at U.S. nursing homes as the crisis deepens in places like California. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill close in on a long-stalled relief package that would send direct payments to Americans, and the U.S. appears on the verge of adding a second vaccine to its arsenal. By Adam Geller and Terry Spencer. SENT: 930 words, photos. With VIRUS OUTBREAK-CALIFORNIA — Hospitals are filling up fast in California. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
WINTRY WEATHER — The Northeast girds for a major snowstorm at a key moment in the coronavirus pandemic, days after the start of the U.S. vaccination campaign and in the thick of a virus surge that has throngs of people seeking tests every day. The storm is poised to drop as much as 2 feet of snow by Thursday. By Jennifer Peltz. SENT: 710 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-VOTING HEARING — A Republican-led Senate committee pushes ahead with a hearing on voter fraud, and GOP lawmakers take the opportunity to further perpetuate President Trump’s baseless claims about the 2020 election. By Christina A. Cassidy and Maryclaire Jalonick. SENT: 750 words, photos.
YE-VIRUS OUTBREAK-TRANSFORMED ECONOMY — The pandemic has transformed how people around the world work, shop and travel, shaking up entire industries and in some cases accelerating trends that were already underway. But which of those changes are likely to endure? By Paul Wiseman and Alexandra Olson. SENT: 2,960 words, photos. Abridged version also available.
Find more year-end coverage on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
NEGRO LEAGUES — Major League Baseball reclassifies the Negro Leagues as a major league and will count the statistics and records of its 3,400 players as part of its history. The league says it is correcting a “longtime oversight” by elevating the Negro Leagues on the centennial of its founding. SENT: 550 words, photos.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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TRUMP-SHOWERHEADS — The Trump administration relaxes a regulation restricting water flow from showerheads. It's a pet peeve of President Trump, who says he wants more water to make his hair “perfect.” SENT: 310 words, photos.
EXPLAINING BITCOIN-SURGE — The price of bitcoin rises above $20,000 for the first time. The digital currency's previous peak came shortly after it became tradable on Wall Street three years ago. SENT: 720 words, photo.
BRITAIN-TOM CRUISE RANT — Tom Cruise launches an expletive-laden rant at colleagues on the set of his latest “Mission: Impossible” movie after he spotted two workers failing to abide by social distancing rules. SENT: 250 words, photos.
EX-TRUMP CASINO-IMPLOSION-AUCTION — One of President Trump’s former Atlantic City casinos will be blown up next month, and for the right price, you could be the one to press the button that brings it down. SENT: 480 words, photo.
SIGNING DAY ROUNDUP — The early signing period opens with college football’s bluebloods scrambling to land top prospects. UPCOMING: 750 words by 7 p.m., photos.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-VACCINE SAFETY — As COVID-19 vaccinations roll out to more and more people, health authorities are keeping close watch for any unexpected side effects. By Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard. SENT: 890 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-VACCINE PRISONS — Prisons nationwide have been hit hard by COVID-19 but most states don’t have inmates near the front of the line for initial doses of a vaccine. SENT: 890 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-PFIZER VACCINE — U.S. officials say they’re negotiating for additional purchases of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine after declining to lock them in earlier this year because they weren’t sure how well it would work. SENT: 640 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-BRITAIN — The consensus across the four nations of the U.K. over the planned easing of coronavirus restrictions over Christmas appears to be fraying. SENT: 640 words, photos. With VIRUS-OUTBREAK-GERMANY — Germany reports a record level of coronavirus deaths as it enters a harder lockdown. SENT: 590 words, photos.
TWITTER-VACCINE-MISINFORMATION — Twitter says it will begin removing misinformation about COVID-19 vaccinations from its site. SENT: 230 words.
ONE GOOD THING-SPARKS OF KINDNESS — Cookies, hot cocoa, pick-me-up notes: “Sparks" of kindness SENT: 710 words, photos.
Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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SENATE-GEORGIA-PROTESTS — As early voting heats up in Georgia’s two high-stakes Senate runoffs, Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler declines to rule out a formal protest of the Electoral College results when Congress receives them next week to formalize Joe Biden’s victory. SENT: 890 words, photos.
BIDEN — President-elect Joe Biden introduces former presidential rival Pete Buttigieg as his nominee for transportation secretary. SENT: 860 words, photos, video.
BIDEN-CLIMATE — President-elect Biden is picking experienced deal-makers and fighters to lead a climate team he’ll ask to remake and clean up the nation’s transportation and power-plant systems. SENT: 950 words, photos.
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PAN AM 103-AIRLINE BOMBING — The Justice Department expects to unseal charges in the coming days in connection with the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet that exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. SENT: 300 words, photos.
NIGERIA-BOKO HARAM SCHOOL ATTACK — Anxiety overwhelms many parents in northern Nigeria awaiting word on their sons who are among the more than 330 kidnapped by extremists from a government boys’ school. SENT: 870 words, photos.
IRAQ-CAMP CLOSURES — A push by the Iraqi government to close displacement camps by the end of the year threatens to leave tens of thousands of people homeless and without aid during a pandemic and at the onset of winter. SENT: 1,040 words, photos.
FRANCE-ATTACKS-TRIAL — The fugitive widow of an Islamic State gunman is convicted in the deadly Charlie Hebdo and kosher market attacks in France. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
GERMANY MUSEUM HEIST — Berlin police raid homes and jewelry shops on suspicion they could be connected to efforts to fence a massive 220-pound Canadian gold coin — piece by piece — that was stolen from a museum in the German capital. SENT: 320 words, photo.
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OPIOID CRISIS-PAIN NONPROFITS — Congressional investigators find that key players in the opioid industry have spent $65 million funding nonprofits that advocate treating pain with medications. SENT: 630 words, photos.
HIJACKING-PLOT — Federal authorities unseal an indictment charging a Kenyan man with trying to stage a 9/11-style attack on the U.S. on behalf of the terrorist organization al-Shabab. SENT: 220 words.
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FEDERAL RESERVE — The Federal Reserve says it will keep buying government bonds until the economy makes “substantial” progress — a step intended to reassure financial markets and keep long-term borrowing rates low indefinitely. SENT: 930 words, photos. With RETAIL SALES — Retail sales fell 1.1% in November, the biggest drop in seven months. SENT: 330 words.
FACEBOOK-APPLE PRIVACY — An ad campaign by Facebook takes aim at Apple, saying that changes in its privacy policy will hurt small businesses that rely on Facebook’s targeted ads. SENT: 300 words, photo.
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HEALTH/SCIENCE
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YEAR IN SPACE — This year was a big one for space and next year promises more achievements. 2020 had astronauts blasting into orbit from the U.S. again, and three countries sending spacecraft hurtling toward Mars. By Aerospace Writer Marcia Dunn. SENT: 940 words, photos.
CHINA-MOON PROBE — A Chinese spacecraft capsule returns to Earth with the first fresh samples of rock and debris from the moon in more than 40 years. SENT: 730 words, photo.
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FILM-MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM — Like many of those involved in the making of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” it’s not easy for Viola Davis to summarize what playwright August Wilson has meant to her except to answer, “Everything.” By Film Writer Jake Coyle. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
Find more year-end coverage on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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SUPREME COURT-NCAA — For the first time in more than three decades, the Supreme Court will hear a case involving the NCAA and what it means to be a college athlete. SENT: 850 words, photo.
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HOW TO REACH US
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At the Nerve Center, Mike Stewart can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). For photos, ext. 1900. For graphics and interactives, ext. 7636. Expanded AP content can be obtained from http://newsroom.ap.org. For access to AP Newsroom and other technical issues, contact apcustomersupport(at)ap.org or call 877-836-9477.