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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ONLY ON AP
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AMERICA DISRUPTED — There were no fireworks in Saginaw, Michigan, this Fourth of July. In the midst of a pandemic, there was no safe place to provide a display. The dark skies were a plaintive marker of a nation utterly disrupted in a matter of months. Americans are aiming their anger at each other, talking past each other, invoking race, class and culture. They cannot even agree on the need to wear masks to protect against a deadly virus. Can the United States pull itself together? By Josh Boak and Kat Stafford. SENT: 2,500 words, photos. An abridged version of 1,180 words is also available.
RED SOX-ABUSE-RACE — The Boston Red Sox recently issued a strong statement about fighting racism at Fenway Park, following the death of George Floyd. But the team’s words rang hollow for more than a dozen Black men who allege they were sexually abused by former clubhouse manager, Donald “Fitzy” Fitzpatrick, who died in 2005. Because the claims date as far back as the 1970s, they are too old to be included in civil lawsuits. But the Black alleged victims say their pleas for out-of-court settlements have fallen on deaf ears. By Michael Rezendes. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
Find more coverage of Racial Injustice in AP Newsroom.
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TOP STORIES
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VIRUS OUTBREAK -— The personal protective gear that was in dangerously short supply during the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S. is running low again as the virus resumes its rapid spread and the number of hospitalized patients climbs. A national nursing union is concerned that gear has to be reused. A doctors association warns that physicians’ offices are closed because they cannot get masks and other supplies. By Geoff Mulvihill and Camille Fassett. WITH: VIRUS-OUTBREAK-THE-LATEST.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRAZIL -- Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said he has tested positive for COVID-19 after months of downplaying the coronavirus’s severity while deaths mounted rapidly inside the country. The 65-year-old populist who has been known to mingle in crowds without covering his face confirmed the results while wearing a mask and speaking to reporters huddled close in front of him in the capital, Brasilia. He said he is taking hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug that has not been proven effective against COVID-19. By Marcelo De Sousa and David Biller. SENT: 565 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-TRUMP-RACE — President Donald Trump is wielding racially divisive rhetoric as a campaign weapon, looking to stoke white resentment as he did four years ago with seemingly daily incendiary comments, including those about Confederate monuments, an African-American NASCAR driver and the Chinese origins of COVID-19. By Jonathan Lemire. UPCOMING: 850 words by 5 p.m., photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SMALL BUSINESS LOANS-CONGRESS — At least 10 lawmakers and three congressional caucuses have ties to organizations that received federal coronavirus aid, according to federal data released this week. Among businesses that received money was a hotel partially owned by the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as car dealerships owned by Texas and Pennsylvania congressmen, and a fast-food franchised owned by an Oklahoma lawmaker. By Matthew Daly and Brian Slodysko. UPCOMING: 840 words by 5 p.m., photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-REOPENING SCHOOLS — The Trump administration is launching an all-out push to get the nation’s schools to reopen this fall even as the coronavirus surges around the country. “Ultimately, it’s not a matter of if schools need to open, it’s a matter of how,” Education Secretary Betsy DeVos tells the nation’s governors. By Collin Binkley. SENT: 850 words, photos. UPCOMING: 850 words by 4:30 p.m., photos, video.
MED--HIV REMISSION -- Doctors say a Brazilian man who was infected with the AIDS virus has shown no sign of it for more than a year since he stopped HIV medicines after an intense experimental drug therapy aimed at purging hidden, dormant virus from his body. The 35-year-old man’s case was described at an AIDS conference. Independent experts say the report needs verification and that it’s too soon to know whether the results will last. By Marilynn Marchione. SENT: 1,065 words, photos.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-CONGRESS — Unemployment benefits are ending. An eviction moratorium is lifting. Schools are struggling to reopen in fall as the coronavirus crisis shows no signs of easing. As Congress weighs the next round of COVID-19 aid, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell outlines GOP priorities as lawmakers face a fast-approaching cliff of expiring benefits. UPCOMING: 750 words by 3 p.m., photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SUMMER CAMPS — An outbreak of the new corornavirus in a southwestern Missouri summer camp has seen 82 youth campers, counselors and staff infected and has raised questions about the ability to keep kids safe at what is a rite of childhood for many. By Margery A. Beck. UPCOMING: 700 words, photo by 5 p.m. ET.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-GEORGIA UNIVERSITIES -- Georgia’s 26 public universities and colleges will mandate campus-wide mask wearing after the state university system reversed itself on Monday. The University System of Georgia had previously told schools they should “strongly encourage” students and others to wear masks. SENT: 520 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-AUSTRALIA — Australia has been among the world’s most successful countries in containing its coronavirus outbreak, but with one exception — Melbourne. SENT: 970 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-DUBAI-TOURISM — From French soccer jerseys to slick online campaigns, Dubai is trumpeting the fact that it reopened for tourism— but what that means for this sheikhdom that relies on the dollars, pounds, rupees and yuan spent by travelers remains in question. SENT: 830 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-GRASSLEY -- Sen. Chuck Grassley will not attend the Republican National Convention for the first time in his 40-year Senate career due to concerns about the coronavirus. The convention is now scheduled to begin Aug. 24 in Jacksonville, Florida, where officials began requiring face masks in public a week ago. SENT: 275 words.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-DIARY-GOODBYE NEW YORK --Many dream of moving to New York City. One reporter’s dream came true, and that chapter of her life is coming to a close as the city faces some of its most challenging moments. As New York is battered and broken down, as buildings remain closed and most stores are boarded up, she wonders if the noises of the city will return. Days before she moves away, the sound of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech echoes off the brownstones and spills into her Brooklyn street — perhaps the new soundtrack of a city in motion. SENT: 665 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-VIRAL QUESTIONS-RESTAURANTS — How risky is dining out during the COVID-19 pandemic? There is some risk, but health officials say you can take precautions to minimize your exposure to the virus. SENT: 340 words, photo.
Find more coverage of the Virus Outbreak in AP Newsroom.
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BLACK LIVES MATTER LEGISLATION -- Proposed federal legislation that would radically transform the nation’s criminal justice system with such changes as eliminating agencies like the Drug Enforcement Administration and the use of surveillance technology is set to be unveiled Tuesday by the Movement for Black Lives. The so-called BREATHE Act, first shared with the Associated Press, is the culmination of a project led by the policy table of the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of more than 150 organizations. It comes at an unprecedented moment of national reckoning around police brutality and systemic racism that has spurred global protests and cries for change. By Kat Stafford. SENT: 995 words, photos.
RACIAL-INJUSTICE CONFEDERATE STATUES — Work crews took down a monument to Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, the third major statue to be cleared away in less than a week as the Confederacy’s former capital rushes to remove symbols of oppression in response to protests against police brutality and racism. SENT: 380 words, photos.
RACIAL INJUSTICE-ATLANTA -- The mayor of Atlanta said that she doesn’t agree with the Georgia governor’s order to mobilize the National Guard in her city as a surge in violence became a political talking point. Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency on Monday and authorized the activation of up to 1,000 Guard troops after a weekend of violence in Atlanta left five people dead. One was an 8 year old girl, killed while riding in a car near a Wendy’s that was burned after a Black man was shot by a white police officer in the restaurant parking lot last month. SENT: 545 words, photos.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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SCI-EXTREME HEAT — The heat is on. And for most of America it’ll stay on through the rest of the month and maybe longer, meteorologists say. Widespread and prolonged extreme heat is baking the contiguous United States and meteorologists see no relief in sight, except for a brief time in a corner of the Pacific Northwest. SENT: 660 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-RAVENS QUARTERBACK -- Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson announced he will hold his annual “Funday with LJ” event in Florida amid the state’s spike in coronavirus cases. SENT: 200 words, photos.
CHILD STREET PERFORMER ATTACKED — Authorities are looking for a Missouri man who is accused of punching a 12-year-old street performer in the head in an attack that was captured on Facebook Live and has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. SENT: 310 words.
RETAILERS-MASK WEARING -- Retailers have a message for state governors: Please make everyone wear a face mask. SENT: 190 words, photos.
RUSSIA-TREASON — An adviser to the director of Russia’s state space corporation was detained on treason charges. SENT: 275 words, photos.
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MARY TRUMP BOOK — President Trump’s niece offers a devastating portrayal of her uncle in a book that credits a “perfect storm of catastrophes” for exposing the president at his worst. By Larry Neumeister. SENT: 378 words, photo. UPCOMING: Developments possible.
TRUMP-EXECUTIVE ORDERS — President Trump is setting a brisk pace in issuing executive orders this year – 33 to date --and there’s plenty more to come as he tries to position himself as a man of action in a time of crisis on everything from foreign policy to racial justice. But the impact of many of the orders is less than meets the eye. SENT: 711 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-BIDEN — Joe Biden is promising to shift production of medical equipment and other key, pandemic-fighting products “back to U.S. soil,” creating jobs and bolstering a domestic supply chain he says has been exposed as inadequate and vulnerable by the coronavrius outbreak. SENT: 580 words, photos.
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MEXICO-US — For his first foreign trip as president, Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador travels to Washington to meet with President Trump, a leader who has repeatedly used Mexico as a piñata to rally his base. SENT: 1,050 words, photos.
NETHERLANDS-TORTURE CHAMBER — Dutch police arrested six men after discovering sea containers that had been converted into a makeshift prison and sound-proofed “torture chamber” complete with a dentist’s chair, tools including pliers and scalpels and handcuffs, a high ranking officer announced. Authorities said police conducted the raid before the torture chamber could be used and alerted potential victims, who went into hiding. SENT: 485 words, photo.
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LOS ALAMOS LAB-PLUTONIUM -- Officials at one of the nation’s premier nuclear labs are investigating the potential exposure of employees to plutonium. Los Alamos National Laboratory confirmed that 15 workers were being evaluated after a breach involving a gloved box that was being used to handle the material. The incident happened in June. SENT: 465 words, photos.
DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE — A federal judge rejected a request for an emergency order to delay the process of shutting down the Dakota Access pipeline while attorneys appeal a ruling to shutter the pipeline during the course of an environmental review. SENT: 275 words, photos.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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MED--LUNG CANCER SCREENING -- A U.S. health panel wants to widen the number of current and former smokers offered yearly scans for lung cancer. That screening isn’t for everyone: Today it’s recommended for some of the heaviest smokers, those who’ve smoked the equivalent of a pack a day for 30 years. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is proposing changing the criteria so people who’ve smoked 20 pack-years would qualify. Research shows the scans can lower the risk of death. But the screening comes with risks including invasive testing to tell if an abnormality really is a tumor. SENT: 430 words, photos.
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FINANCIAL-MARKETS —Most of Wall Street was slipping, giving back some of the big gains made the past couple weeks, but a handful of tech giants bucked the trend and kept the market’s losses in check. SENT: 800 words, photos, developing.
JOBS REPORT — The job market took a big step toward healing in May, though plenty of damage remains, as a record level of hiring followed record layoffs in March and April. The Labor Department reported that the number of available jobs rose sharply as well, but remained far below pre-pandemic levels. SENT: 275 words, photos.
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BRITAIN-JOHNNY DEPP — Johnny Depp said that his ex-wife Amber Heard had made “sick” claims of abuse and falsely branded him a monster, as the actor testified in a U.K. libel case that hinges on who was the aggressor in the celebrity couple’s violent, toxic relationship SENT: 840 words, photos.
FILM-PALM SPRINGS — The timing is eerily appropriate for the time-loop comedy “Palm Springs.” At Sundance, the Andy Samberg-led comedy about a man who lives one day, at a wedding in Palm Springs, over and over, fetched a record price. Then, during lockdown in the pandemic, its makers and cast got to experience a version of their movie. By AP Film Writer Jake Coyle. UPCOMING: 900 words by 3 p.m., photos.
FILM-THE OLD GUARD-GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD — Gina Prince-Bythewood becomes the first black woman to direct a comic book movie with “The Old Guard,” which debuts on Netflix Friday. She spoke to the AP about her career and what’s next. By Film Writer Lindsey Bahr. UPCOMING: 800 words by 3 p.m., photos.
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FBN-CHIEFS-MAHOMES — One day after signing the richest contract in professional sports history Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes talks about the $503 million deal -- and how he intends to meet expectations. Mahomes won the MVP award in 2018 as well as a Super Bowl ring and the Super Bowl MVP last season. UPCOMING: 750 words, with photos by 5 p.m.
BBO—BASEBALL RDP — Less than a week into baseball’s reboot, the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros canceled workouts because of COVID-19 testing delays that have also affected the Oakland Athletics. Nick Markakis became the latest Atlanta Braves player to opt out of the shortened season, swayed in part by a phone conversation with teammate Freddie Freeman, a four-time All-Star who has tested positive for the coronavirus. By Bernie Wilson. UPCOMING: 900 words, photos by 8 p.m.
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HOW TO REACH US
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At the Nerve Center, Richard A. Somma can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). For photos, Courtney Dittmar (ext. 1900). For graphics and interactives, Phil Holm (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.