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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VIRUS-OUTBREAK - President Donald Trump visited one of his golf clubs at the start of Memorial Day weekend as he urges U.S. states to reopen after coronavirus-related lockdowns. Yet many Americans remained cautious as the number of confirmed cases nationwide passed 1.6 million. In California, where many businesses and recreational activities are reopening, officials in Los Angeles County said they would maintain tight restrictions until July 4. By David Crary, Geir Moulson, and Angela Charlton. SENT: 930 words, photos. WITH: VIRUS-OUTBREAK-THE-LATEST.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SCARCE WATER — For people around the world who are affected by war and poverty, the simple act of washing their hands is a luxury. Aid groups say about 3 billion people cannot wash their hands at home, and communal gathering points for water distribution are key places where the coronavirus can spread. One group worries that global funding is being rushed toward possible vaccines and treatments without any real commitment to prevention. By Farai Mutsaka. SENT: 925 words, photos. Eds: This story has moved as the Sunday Spotlight.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-TECH SCHOOL CHALLENGES — The coronavirus is disrupting the education of millions of Americans enrolled in career and technical programs in different ways than traditional college students because what they learn is largely hands-on. Students unable to practice finding a vein with a needle or mixing the perfect hair color have fallen behind while technical colleges scramble to transition to online learning. Some will have to put off graduation. By Astrid Galvan and Rebecca Santana. SENT: 790 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MEXICO-BORDER FEARS -- Citing a threat of the coronavirus from Mexico, the Trump administration has banned hundreds of thousands of people from crossing the southern border with emergency measures that prohibit nonessential traffic and reject asylum seekers without a hearing. At least one American border region is experiencing a spike in hospitalizations that some believe is driven by American citizens who live in Mexico coming to the U.S. for care. But in Tijuana and other Mexican border cities, many doctors, health officials and ordinary citizens worry about the disease coming south from the U.S. By Jorge Lebrija and Maria Verza. SENT: 1,040 words, photos.
Find more all-format coverage on the Virus Outbreak featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
TRUMP-ARMS CONTROL -- Time is running out on an arms control treaty that, if it’s allowed to expire in February, will leave the world with no legal restrictions on U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons for the first time in nearly half a century. The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty is the only remaining U.S.-Russia arms control pact. Russia has offered to extend it, but President Donald Trump is holding out. He wants to get China into a three-way treaty, but that effort is still in the starting blocks. By Deb Riechmann. SENT: 860 words, photos.
PAKISTAN PLANE CRASH — When the plane jolted violently, Mohammad Zubair thought it was turbulence. Then the pilot came on the intercom to warn that the landing could be “troublesome.” Moments later, the Pakistan International Airlines flight crashed into a crowded neighborhood near Karachi’s international airport, killing 97 people, all of whom are believed to be passengers and crew members. Zubair was one of just two surviving passengers. SENT: 765 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-RUSSIA-DOCTOR’S ORDEAL -- As he strides down the sidewalk outside Moscow’s Filatov Hospital in blue jeans and garish crimson shoes, Dr. Osman Osmanov shows no signs of the rigors he’s just been through. But inside that ordinary appearance there’s a yearning for relief from countless days of laboring to save the lives of the stream of coronavirus victims who come into the hospital on gurneys, frightened and struggling to breathe. SENT: 380 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-EL PASO STRONG -- As the coronavirus took hold in El Paso, government officials have tried to repurpose the phrase “El Paso Strong” to rally support for social distancing. But the slogan, popularized in the wake of the mass shooting here last August, hasn’t been embraced by the public in the context of the virus. SENT: 725 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ALABAMA -- Health officials are worried that Alabama’s coronavirus caseload is increasing and residents aren’t guarding against COVID-19 as it opens its casinos, church and more. University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban has released a video encouraging people to cover their faces and practice social distancing. SENT: 750 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW YORK -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo has given New Yorkers an unexpected reprieve from cabin fever by lifting the state’s ban on gatherings in time for the Memorial Day weekend. SENT: 425 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRITAIN — The British government is digging in to defend Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s top adviser, Dominic Cummings, for traveling more than 250 miles (400 kms) to his parents’ house during a nationwide lockdown. SENT: 710 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRITAIN-SCHOOLS REOPENING — The government in England has told schools to start reopening some classrooms starting June 1 as the country cautiously eases coronavirus restrictions. That has parents nervously asking each other whether they are sending their children back. SENT: 1,050 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SPAIN-FAR RIGHT — Several thousand supporters of Spain’s far-right Vox party have gathered in their cars in Madrid and other Spanish cities to demand the government’s resignation. SENT: 700 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-KENYA-BALCONY CHURCH — A Kenyan pastor has taken his church service for children on the road due to coronavirus restrictions. He preaches from parking lots outside apartment buildings while kids and their parents dance on balconies above. SENT: 540 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-ONE GOOD THING-143 DAY -- Mister Rogers would have liked it. In 2019, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf declared the 143rd day of the year a day of kindness in honor of the state’s beloved kindness patron and promoter, Fred Rogers. That number had special meaning to the children’s program creator as it symbolized the words, I love you, reflected in the number of characters in each word. The second year marking this day falls on Friday. The state has launched a website asking residents to share their acts of kindness. SENT: 540 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SILENCED SAN FRANCISCO-PHOTO GALLERY — Lockdown journey through a silenced San Francisco. SENT: 725 words, photos.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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SAN FRANCISCO-PIER FIRE -- A fire broke out before dawn on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf and destroyed a warehouse. SENT: 275 words, photos.
SCI-HOME LAUNCH-TRUMP - President Trump to attend Wednesday’s NASA astronaut launch in Florida. SENT: 275 words, photos.
NURSING HOME ASSAULT-VIDEO -- A 20-year-old Detroit nursing home patient was arrested for assault and battery after a video shared on social media showed a 75-year-old patient in the same facility being repeatedly punched in the face. SENT: 120 words.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-TRUMP-WASHINGTON -- As a White House candidate, Donald Trump once said he wanted ``whatever is best’’ for the residents of the nation’s capital. But over the course of his more than three years in office, there’s been a disconnect between the president and the District of Columbia, and that chasm has only grown during the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 920 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-TRUMP -- President Donald Trump plays golf for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic, plans to attend an astronaut launch in Florida on Wednesday and will visit a historic fort in Baltimore on Monday as he ramps up his activities outside the White House after demanding that governors reopen their states more quickly. UPCOMING: 400 words, photos by 5 p.m.
ELECTION 2020-HOUSE -- Republicans are trying to use the $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill that Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed through the House as a weapon in this November’s elections. But the GOP faces an uphill climb in their drive to win back the House. SENT: 940 words, photos.
FACT CHECK-WEEK -- When President Donald Trump doesn’t like the message, he shoots the messenger. So it was this past week when he took very personally a scientific study that should give pause to anyone thinking of following Trump’s lead and ingesting a potentially risky drug for the coronavirus. He branded the study’s researchers, financed in part by his own administration, his “enemy.” A look at recent rhetoric and reality as the pandemic’s death toll approached 100,000 in the U.S. SENT: 2,030 words, photos. Find AP Fact Checks at https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.
SUPREME COURT-ROBERTS -- Chief Justice John Roberts told graduating seniors at his son’s high school that the coronavirus has “pierced our illusion of certainty and control” and he counseled the students to make their way with humility, compassion and courage in a world turned upside down. SENT: 260 words, photos.
OMAR-MEMOIR - Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar’s metamorphosis from refugee to the first Somali-American in Congress has been well-documented. Now, Omar is out with a new memoir that offers her own spin on her path to prominence, starting with her childhood in Mogadishu. SENT: 730 words, photos.
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ISRAEL-NETANYAHU’S TRIAL — Benjamin Netanyahu will once again make history after entering the record books last year as Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, when he becomes the country’s first sitting leader ever to go on trial on Sunday. SENT: 1,040 words, photos.
INDIA-RELIGIOUS DRAMAS — Staying home under lockdown as they wait for the worst of the coronavirus pandemic to pass, millions of Indians are turning to their gods. On TV. SENT: 570 words, photos.
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2020 CENSUS-RURAL WORRIES -- Even before the pandemic, people living in rural communities and on tribal lands were among the toughest to count in the 2020 census. The U.S. Census Bureau suspending work this spring pushed those efforts even further behind. SENT: 860 words, photos.
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SCI--HOME LAUNCH-SPACEX --SpaceX’s wild ride to the first commercial space taxi launch started with a dream of Mars and lots of failures. In late May, the California company will try to send two astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA. SENT: 1,070 words, photos.
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GLF--CHARITY MATCH — The purpose of the Sunday’s exhibition in Florida -- Tiger Woods-Peyton Manning vs. Phil Mickelson-Tom Brady -- is to raise $10 million for COVID-19 relief courtesy of four of the biggest stars from golf and football. Another appeal: a chance to see Woods play for the first time in 98 days. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos by 3 p.m.
BKN--VIRUS OUTBREAK-NBA — The NBA and its players’ union are in talks with Disney about a single-site scenario for a resumption of play in Central Florida in late July. It’s the clearest sign yet that the league believes the season can continue amid the pandemic. SENT: 450 words, photos.
CAR--NASCAR-CHARLOTTE PREVIEW — The most celebrated day of motorsports has been reduced to the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The pandemic knocked Formula One’s race in Monaco and the Indianapolis 500 off Sunday’s schedule. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos by 6 p.m.
BKO--VIRUS OUTBREAK-RESERVATION BALL — Basketball is woven into the fabric of Native American life, connecting communities across the country. The pandemic has not only hit Native Americans hard, but it has stopped the ball from bouncing, robbing an important part of life on the reservation. SENT: 900 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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