AP News Digest 6:15 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: EXPLAINING ELECTION 2020-WISCONSIN, ELECTION 2020 — MISINFORMATION-SHARPIE, ELECTION 2020 — VOTING-MISINFORMATION, VIRUS OUTBREAK-DENMARK, US ELECTION 2020 — GAMBLING EXPANSION, SUPREME COURT-FOSTER CARE-SAME-SEX COUPLES, COSMIC BURSTS.
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ELECTION 2020 – Joe Biden has won Michigan and Wisconsin, pushing him closer to 270 Electoral College votes and narrowing President Donald Trump’s possible path to reelection. Only a handful of battleground states remain uncalled including Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Both Michigan and Wisconsin represent parts of the “blue wall” that slipped away from Democrats four years ago, paving the way for Trump’s election. Biden’s campaign had counted on winning back at least some of them. By Jonathan Lemire, Aamer Madhani, Zeke Miller, Jill Colvin and Alexandra Jaffe. SENT: 1,160 words, photos, video, audio. UPCOMING: Updates expected throughout the evening, 1,200 words by 10 p.m. With ELECTION 2020-THE LATEST, developing.
ELECTION 2020-LEGAL CHALLENGES — President Trump’s campaign files lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Michigan, laying the groundwork for contesting the outcome in undecided battleground states that could determine whether he gets another four years in the White House. By Mark Sherman. SENT: 1,210 words, photos, video.
ELECTION 2020-AMERICA-REACTS — With a bitterly divided America failing to deliver a decisive result for either party, a jittery public is awaiting clarity over the fate of a race that remained too early to call. Votes continued to be counted across the country and will be for days to come as both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden remain short of the necessary 270 electoral votes to win. By Matt Sedensky. SENT: 700 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-VOTECAST — Voters in the U.S. presidential election faced a public health crisis and a wounded economy, but neither candidate emerged as the clear choice to handle both of those issues. That’s according to AP VoteCast, an expansive nationwide survey. By Josh Boak and Hannah Fingerhut. SENT: 1,090 words, photos. With ELECTION 2020-VOTECAST-GLANCE — Supporters of Trump and Biden find little common ground.
Find more coverage below and on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
CLIMATE-US — The United States on Wednesday formally left the Paris Agreement, a global pact forged five years ago to avert the threat of catastrophic climate change. The move, long threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump and triggered by his administration a year ago, further isolates Washington in the world but has no immediate impact on international efforts to curb global warming. SENT: 675 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK — Regardless of the presidential election outcome, a vexing issue remains to be decided: Will the U.S. be able to tame a perilous pandemic that is surging as holidays, winter and other challenges approach? Public health experts fear the answer is no, at least in the short term, with potentially dire consequences. By AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner. UPCOMING: 1,000 words, photos by 2:30 p.m.
SUPREME COURT-FOSTER CARE-SAME-SEX COUPLES — The Supreme Court seems likely to side with a Catholic social services agency in a dispute with Philadelphia over the agency’s refusal to work with same-sex couples as foster parents. By Jessica Gresko. SENT: 750 words, photo.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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COLOMBIA-RAPPER — “Toothless Cindy,” whose real name is Marlene Alfonso, is one of dozens of Venezuelan migrants who work on Bogota’s public bus system every day, selling items like pens, or performing for tips. Her age, comical lyrics and unusual attire for a rapper have helped her to stand out. SENT: 700 words, photos.
MARADONA-SURGERY — Doctor says soccer legend Diego Maradona is doing well after brain surgery. SENT: 350 words, photos.
BRITAIN-ICEBERG — Iceberg floats toward sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia, puts wildlife at risk. SENT: 170 words, photo.
SOUTH AFRICA ONE GOOD THING-PANGOLIN CLINIC — Traumatized pangolins that are rescued by poachers are nursed back to health at a Johannesburg wildlife clinic. SENT: 700 words, photos.
INDIA-WAREHOUSE BLAST — Powerful blast, fire at India chemicals warehouse kills 12. SENT: 150 words.
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MORE ON ELECTION 2020
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ELECTION 2020-TURNOUT — President Donald Trump surprised pollsters, Democrats and even many in his own party by largely succeeding in what he set out to do: Find and mobilize thousands more Trump voters in the places where he dominated four years ago. By Nicholas Riccardi. UPCOMING: 800 words by 7 p.m., photos.
ELECTION 2020-DEMOCRATS — Democrats went into Election Day hoping to seize the White House and majorities in both chambers of Congress in a sweeping victory that would demonstrate an unmistakable repudiation of President Donald Trump and a Republican Party remade in his image. It didn’t work out that way. By Steve Peoples and Bill Barrow. SENT: 930 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-CONGRESS — The election scrambles seats in the House and Senate but ultimately leaves Congress much like it began, deeply split. It’s an outcome that dampens Democratic demands for a bold new agenda, emboldens Republicans and almost ensures partisan gridlock. By Lisa Mascaro. SENT: 1,080 words, photos.
EXPLAINING ELECTION 2020-STATES OF PLAY — A handful of pivotal states remain in play in the tightly contested U.S. presidential race. The Associated Press reviews them and examines the reasons they could still go to either Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Joe Biden. SENT: 789 words, photos, developing.
EXPLAINING ELECTION 2020-WISCONSIN — The AP called Wisconsin for Democrat Joe Biden after election officials in the state said all outstanding ballots had been counted, except for a few hundred in one township and an expected small number of provisional ballots. Here’s why. SENT: 486 words.
ELECTION 2020 — MISINFORMATION-SHARPIE — Arizona election officials are disputing posts online that say that if voters used Sharpies their votes would be invalidated. In fact, Maricopa County election officials said that voting centers used Sharpie so that the ink would not smudge when ballots were counted. By Beatrice Dupuy. SENT: 500 words by 4 p.m.
ELECTION 2020 — VOTING-MISINFORMATION — President Trump’s supporters are pushing baseless allegations about legally cast absentee and mail-in votes that were counted Wednesday, wrongly suggesting the ballots mysteriously turned up only after the polls closed on Election Day. The false claims are flying as the U.S. turns its attention to the battleground states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan while awaiting the outcome of the presidential race. By Amanda Seitz, David Klepper and Ali Swenson. UPCOMING: 700 words by 6 p.m.
US ELECTION 2020 — GAMBLING EXPANSION — The gambling industry in the US won big at the polls Tuesday, with three states approving legal sports betting, and three others adding or expanding casino gambling. SENT: 416 words, photos, developing.
ELECTION 2020-ELECTION SECURITY — Election Day came and went without any overt signs of foreign interference, but that doesn’t mean the risk has faded. A prolonged vote-tallying period in swing states raises the prospect of multiple security concerns, including foreign or domestic disinformation campaigns that could sow doubt in the process as well as digital attacks aimed at election infrastructure itself. By Eric Tucker and Ben Fox. SENT: 840 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-LGBT CANDIDATES — A look at some milestone election victories for LGBT candidates. Winners include the first transgender person elected to a state Senate, and the first gay Black man to win a seat in Congress. 700 words, photos. By David Crary. UPCOMING: 790 words by 5 p.m., photos.
ELECTION 2020-ALABAMA-CONSTITUTION-RACE — Alabama voters have approved a measure that would begin the process of deleting racist language from the state’s 119-year-old constitution. Voters in the majority white, conservative state rejected similar proposals twice since 2000. But this measure passed with 67% of the votes on Tuesday. SENT: 400 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-SOCIAL PLATFORMS — Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were quickly put to the test early Wednesday morning after President Donald Trump told a crowd of cheering supporters at the White House that he would challenge the results of the presidential election. After weeks, or months, of planning, the social media platforms took different approaches to how to address Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of fraud. UPCOMING: 900 words by 3 p.m. Photos.
A separate wire advisory has moved outlining our complete Election 2020 coverage.
Find more coverage on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-EUROPE — Last-minute shoppers in England are out in force and thirsty drinkers planned their final freshly poured pints in a pub for the next month as Britain prepared to join large swathes of Europe in a coronavirus lockdown designed to save its health care system from being overwhelmed. SENT: 890 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-DENMARK — Denmark’s prime minister said Wednesday that the government wants to cull all 15 million minks in Danish farms, to minimize the risk of them retransmitting the new coronavirus to humans. SENT: 366 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK VATICAN — Pope Francis is urging people to follow recommendations from governments and health authorities to prevent coronavirus infections. SENT: 400 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK BELGIUM — Belgium, proportionally still the worst-hit nation in Europe when it comes to coronavirus cases, says there are increasing signs that a turning point in the crisis was drawing close. SENT: 240 words, photos.
Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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TROPICAL WEATHER — Hurricane Eta continues spinning across northern Nicaragua after lashing the country’s Caribbean coast for much of the day, isolating already remote communities and setting off deadly landslides in at least two countries. SENT: 620 words, photos.
SYRIA — Syrian rescuers and activists say at least seven people, including four children, were killed in government shelling of the last rebel enclave in the country’s northwest. SENT: 390 words, photos.
ISRAEL PALESTINIANS — The Israeli military says troops shot a Palestinian gunman who had attempted to attack soldiers near an army checkpoint in the occupied West Bank. SENT: 130 words, photos.
ETHIOPIA-MILITARY-CONFRONTATION — Ethiopia approached civil war on Wednesday as its prime minister ordered the military to confront the country’s well-armed Tigray regional government, accusing it of a deadly attack on a military base and declaring “the last red line has been crossed” after months of alleged provocations. SENT: 990 words, photos.
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FINANCIAL MARKETS — Technology and health care companies led a stock market rally Wednesday, as Wall Street embraced the upside of more gridlock in Washington even as the outcome of the U.S. presidential election remained in limbo. SENT: 989 words, photo.
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SCIENCE/HEALTH
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GORILLA-FAMILY-FEUDS — Gorillas are highly social animals – up to a point. A crowded mountain can make silverbacks more violent. Researchers analyzed 50 years of demographic and behavioral data from Rwanda to show that as the number of family groups living in a habitat increased, so did the number of violent clashes between them. This slowed population growth. SENT: 620 words, photos.
COSMIC BURSTS — In a flash of luck, astronomers have solved a mystery about weird cosmic radio bursts. These fast radio bursts happen so quick, scientists hadn’t been able to figure out what’s causing them until now. SENT: 893 words, photos.
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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, 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.