AP News Digest 6:15 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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NEW & DEVELOPING
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Adds: ELECTION 2020-FOREIGN INTERFERENCE, VIRUS OUTBREAK-INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS, NOT-REAL-NEWS, VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRAZIL EVICTIONS, ALASKA-PEBBLE-MINE, MLB-OPENER RATINGS, EMMY NOMINATIONS.
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ONLY ON AP
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AP POLL-VIRUS OUTBREAK-ECONOMY — Nearly half of Americans whose families experienced a layoff during the coronavirus pandemic now believe those jobs are lost forever, a new poll shows, a sign of increasing pessimism that would translate into roughly 10 million workers needing to find a new employer, if not a new occupation. By Josh Boak and Emily Swanson. SENT: 950 words, photos, graphics, video.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK — Public health officials are warning that the coronavirus poses new risks to parts of the Midwest and South. That word comes as enhanced federal aid that helped avert financial ruin for millions of unemployed Americans is set to expire. If that $600-a-week benefit runs out, many jobless people will have to rely on threadbare safety nets offered by individual states. By Geoff Mulvihill, Justin Pritchard and Dave Kolpack. SENT: 990 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CONGRESS — Negotiations over the next COVID-19 rescue bill are in flux. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has sent senators home for the weekend, promising a Republican proposal will be ready Monday. Outraged Democrats warn that time is being wasted on GOP infighting as the virus worsens. By Lisa Mascaro. SENT: 780 words, photos. WITH: CONGRESS-AGENDA — Even as lawmakers stumble in their quest to pass another coronavirus response measure, both the House and Senate tried to return to some semblance of normal business this week, passing annual must-do measures on spending and defense policy. By Andrew Taylor. SENT: 690 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-BIDEN-SUSAN RICE — Joe Biden is in the final stages of selecting his running mate and Susan Rice is among the contenders. She worked closely with Biden in the Obama administration and her easy working relationship with the former vice president is seen as one of her strongest advantages. By Washington Bureau Chief Julie Pace. SENT: 1100 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-FLORIDA NURSING HOMES --The coronavirus transformed Florida’s nursing homes into closely guarded fortresses beginning in March, with the state banning family visits, isolating infected residents in separate wings and now requiring staff be tested every two weeks. But the explosion of cases statewide is proving that is not enough. The numbers are already showing the grim reality, underscoring how mask compliance and restrictions in the outside world impact the state’s most vulnerable. In the past three weeks, cases have gone from about 2,000 to some 4,800 at Florida nursing homes. By Adriana Gomez Licon and Kelli Kennedy. SENT: 900 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-FACE MASKS-GLOBAL VIEW -- Consider the face mask. The small rectangles of flimsy, live-saving tissue have in mere months become don’t-leave-home-without-them items for billions around the world. Not since humans invented shoes or underwear has a single item of dress caught on so widely. By John Leicester. SENT: 1,200 words, photos. WITH: FACE MASKS-GLOBAL VIEW-PHOTO GALLERY -- Covering face masks from every angle. SENT: 115 words, photos.
MLB-OPENER RATINGS — The pandemic-delayed Major League Baseball opener was the sport’s most-watched regular-season game on any network in nine years. The New York Yankees’ rain-shortened 4-1 win at the Washington Nationals on Thursday night averaged 4 million viewers on ESPN, with a peak of 4.8 million, according to Nielsen fast national ratings. SENT: 250 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-STUDENT DEPOSITS -- College students are getting ready to return to school in August as the country deals with the coronavirus pandemic. More and more campuses are sparking frustration by releasing plans to keep students’ housing payments, even if the campuses shut down again and go entirely online in the fall. By Bryan Anderson. SENT: 835 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS — A week after revoking sweeping new restrictions on international students, federal immigration officials announce that new foreign students will be barred from entering the United States if they plan to take their classes entirely online this fall. By Collin Binkley. UPCOMING: 630 words, photo by 7 p.m.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRAZIL EVICTIONS — The growing number of evictions in Brazil driven by the COVID-19 pandemic is worsening an already serious housing problem in the country. SENT: 690 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-CONVENTS — At a convent near Detroit, 13 elderly nuns have died of COVID-19. The toll is seven at a center for Maryknoll sisters near New York, and six at Wisconsin convent that serves nuns with fading memories. Each community perseveres, though social-distancing rules have made communal solidarity a challenge as the losses are mourned. SENT: 900 words, photos by 6 p.m.
VIRUS OUTBREAK--EUROPE — England’s new rules on mask-wearing took effect Friday, with face coverings required to enter banks, stores and food shops. Refusing to follow the rule can result in hefty fines. SENT: 825 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHILD ABUSE — Worried by an alarming spike in child sexual abuse before and during the coronavirus pandemic, the European Union’s executive arm has unveiled plans for a center devoted to preventing the mistreatment of children and for legislation requiring online platforms to report child pornography. SENT: 450 words, photos.
A separate wire advisory has been sent outlining the AP's complete coronavirus coverage.
Find more coverage of the Virus Outbreak in AP Newsroom.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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NOT-REAL-NEWS — A range of false claims circulated online this week, from posts suggesting the U.S. coin shortage is a government plot to usher in a cashless society, to photos of buses used by the Toronto Raptors being mislabeled as transporting Black Lives Matter protesters. SENT: 2,440 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MEL GIBSON — A representative for Mel Gibson says the actor spent a week in a Los Angeles hospital in April after testing positive for COVID-19. SENT: 125 words, photos.
BRITAIN-JOHNNY DEPP — Johnny Depp’s lawyers in his libel suit against a British tabloid that labeled the actor a “wife beater” displayed video footage in a London courtroom that they claim shows that his ex-wife, Amber Heard, “attacked” her sister. SENT: 600 words, photos.
CHIRICAHUA LEOPARD FROG — Rare leopard frog found beyond its known range in Southwest. SENT: 260 words, photos.
FISHERMAN RESCUED-FLORIDA - The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a commercial fisherman who was clinging to a cooler in the Gulf of Mexico after his boat capsized. SENT: 225 words.
FATAL REVENGE SHOOTING-WRONG HOME -- A man angry over a botched drug deal fired several shots into a Pennsylvania residence where he mistakenly thought someone involved in the deal lived, authorities said, killing a woman who was asleep in her bed. SENT: 250 words.
AIRPORT-LOST TOY RETURNED — The Cincinnati-area airport took a child’s beloved stuffed animal for an impromptu tour, reaching many on social media, before uniting the toy Dalmatian with its family in Florida. SENT: 340 words.
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ELECTION 2020-FOREIGN INTERFERENCE — Democratic leaders in Congress call on President Trump’s administration to make a “concrete and specific statement” about foreign interference in the 2020 presidential election. SENT: 610 words, photo.
TRUMP-PRESCRIPTION DRUGS — President Donald Trump has been unable to land the big deal with Congress to curb drug costs. But now he’s moving on his own to allow imports of cheaper prescription medicines, along with other limited steps. By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar. SENT: 840 words, photos, video.
CONGRESS-DEFENSE — President Trump and a top Senate Republican push Congress to preserve the names of military bases that honor Confederate generals, even though the House and Senate have overwhelmingly approved bills that rename the bases. By Matthew Daly. SENT: 750 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MILITARY — The U.S. military has increased health protection requirements in at least 20 bases in recent weeks, particularly across Texas and Florida, as the COVID-19 rate continues to spike among service members, more than doubling in the last month. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM-ABORTION — A group of more than 100 Christian pastors, religion professors and other advocates is urging the Democratic National Committee to adopt a party platform that’s friendlier to abortion opponents. SENT: 500 words, photo.
TRUMP-MEDAL OF FREEDOM — President Trump presents one of the nation’s highest civilian honors to Jim Ryun, a former Republican congressman and the first U.S. high schooler to break the 4-minute barrier in running the mile. SENT: 317 words, photos, video.T
ALASKA-PEBBLE-MINE — A new environmental review suggests a proposed open-pit copper and gold mine at the headwaters of a major U.S. salmon fishery in southwest Alaska would not measurably affect fish numbers. Conservation and fishing groups call the review inadequate. SENT: 910 words, photos.
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MICHAEL COHEN-PRISON -- President Trump’s former personal lawyer was released after a judge ruled that he had been sent back to prison from home confinement as retaliation for his plan to release a book critical of Trump before November’s election. SENT: 565 words, photos.
GEORGE FLOYD-MINNEAPOLIS POLICE — The Minneapolis City Council has voted to shift police media duties away from the Police Department to city communications staff. SENT: 700 words, photo.
BRIBERY INVESTIGATION-OHIO SPEAKER — The Ohio House speaker now accused in a $60 million federal bribery probe plays the long game when it comes to politics. Republican Larry Householder is a pragmatic dealmaker who had been widely believed to be positioning to run for governor. SENT: 950 words, photos.
CONFEDERATE STATUES-VIRGINIA CAPITOL -- Virginia has removed from its iconic state capitol the busts and a statue honoring Confederate generals and officials. That includes a bronze statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee positioned in the same spot where he stood to assume command of the state’s armed forces in the Civil War nearly 160 years ago. SENT: 925 words, photos.
RACIAL INJUSTICE-PORTLAND-MESSAGE — Black leaders and protesters say the surge in protest activity targeting the federal intervention in Portland, Oregon, hasn’t distracted from their anti-racist message. SENT: 860 words, photos.
RACIAL INJUSTICE-CHICAGO — Two statues of Christopher Columbus that stood in Chicago parks have been taken down at the direction of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a week after protesters trying to topple one of the monuments to the Italian explorer clashed with police. SENT: 650 words, photos, video.
HAWAII HURRICANE - Hawaii could be the first state to face a hurricane during the pandemic as Douglas continued to bear down on the Hawaiian islands. While expected to weaken, it still could hit the islands with hurricane or near-hurricane force by Sunday or Monday, which could strain the concept of social distancing if people are forced into shelters. SENT: 725 words, photos.
ARIZONA SHERIFF-COMEBACK BID — Joe Arpaio is trying to win back the sheriff’s post in metro Phoenix that he held for 24 years, facing his former second-in-command in the Aug. 4 Republican primary in what has become his second comeback bid. The 88-year-old lawman was unseated in the 2016 sheriff’s race by a little-known Democrat and was trounced in a 2018 U.S. Senate race. SENT: 880 words, photos.
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CHINA-US-ROCKY RELATIONS — Four decades after the U.S. established diplomatic ties with Communist China, the relationship between the two is at a turning point. Tensions have reached new heights on what has always been a rocky road, as the ambitions of a rising superpower increasingly clash with those of the established one. SENT: 840 words, photos. WITH: CHINA-US — China is ordering the United States to close its consulate in the western city of Chengdu in an increasingly rancorous diplomatic conflict. SENT: 870 words, photos; CHINESE SCIENTIST-US CONSULATE — A Chinese researcher accused of concealing her ties to the Chinese military on applications she submitted to work in the U.S. has been booked into a Northern California jail and was expected to appear in federal court Monday. SENT: 380 words, photos.
BRITAIN-TOURISM — The first Friday after schools in Britain close for the summer is usually one of the busiest for the country’s airports as families escape for the warmer climes of southern Europe, from Portugal’s Algarve in the west to the island nation of Cyprus to the east. Not this year. SENT: 825 words, photos.
TURKEY-HAGIA SOPHIA — Thousands of Muslim faithful make their way to Istanbul’s landmark Hagia Sophia to take part in the first prayers in 86 years at the structure that once was one of Christendom’s most significant cathedrals, then a mosque and museum before its reconversion into a Muslim place of worship. SENT: 720 words, photos.
HUNGARY-MEDIA — Dozens of journalists are resigning from Hungary’s main news site because of the firing earlier this week of their editor-in-chief. SENT: 510 words.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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VISITING COMET-NORTH CAROLINA -- The newly discovered comet Neowise is only visible from Earth once every 6,800 years, and photographers who want to document it seek places with high elevation and little smog or light pollution. A place like North Carolina’s famed Grandfather Mountain. SENT: 425 words, photos.
RUSSIA-MAMMOTH -- Russian scientists are working to retrieve the well-preserved skeleton of a woolly mammoth, which has some ligaments still attached to it, from a lake in northern Siberia. SENT: 225 words, photos.
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FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Stocks moved broadly lower on Wall Street amid increased tensions between the world’s two largest economies and a mixed batch of company earnings reports. SENT: 790 words, photos, developing. WITH: NEW HOME SALES — Sales of new homes rose a sharp 13.8% in June. SENT: 300 words, photos.
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EMMY NOMINATIONS — Television has been America’s constant companion amid an unyielding virus and whirlwind of racial reappraisal. But will the Emmy nominations arriving Tuesday reflect the times or retreat to the familiar? The announcement itself was forced to bow to health safeguards, going virtual and without the usual mini-swarm of reporters and anxious publicists on hand at the TV academy’s Los Angeles headquarters. SENT: 800 words, photos.
MEDIA-CNN-COSTAS -- Time to cut a conversation with Bob Costas short. The new boss — CNN chief Jeff Zucker — is calling on the other line. Costas, who ended his 40-year hitch at NBC Sports more than a year ago, this week signed on as a CNN contributor to offer commentary on the intersection of news and sports. SENT: 455 words, photos.
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BBA--BLUE JAYS-BUFFALO — The displaced Blue Jays will play this season in Buffalo, their Triple-A affiliate in New York, the AP is told. Canada prevented the team from playing in in Toronto because of the pandemic, and a deal to go to Pittsburgh was blocked. SENT: 350 words, photos. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos by 6:30 p.m.
BBA--MARINERS-ASTROS — Vilified across baseball for their sign-stealing scandal, the Astros open their season with Justin Verlander on the mound and Dusty Baker their manager. Houston faces the Seattle Mariners, who go with Marco Gonzales. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos. Game starts 9:10 p.m.
FBC--ACC-NOTRE DAME — Notre Dame, which has long treasured its place as a football independent, is considering a move to the Atlantic Coast Conference for the 2020 season, the AP is told. SENT: 450 words, photos.
OLY-1936 GAMES-IOC APOLOGY — The IOC has apologized and deleted a Twitter message which some saw as celebrating Nazi Germany’s hosting of the 1936 Berlin Olympics. SENT: 370 words, photo.
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HOW TO REACH US
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At the Nerve Center, Rob Jagodzinski 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.