AP News Digest 2 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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TOP STORIES
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ELECTION 2020 — Democrat Joe Biden defeats President Donald Trump to become the 46th president of the United States, positioning himself to lead a nation gripped by a historic pandemic and a confluence of economic and social turmoil. His victory came after more than three days of uncertainty as election officials sorted through a surge of mail-in votes that delayed the processing of some ballots. Biden crossed 270 Electoral College votes with a win in Pennsylvania. Trump is refusing to concede and threatening further legal action on ballot counting. By Jonathan Lemire and Zeke Miller. SENT: 1,380 words, photos. UPCOMING: 1,200 words, photos. Biden speech expected at 8 p.m. With ELECTION 2020-BIDEN STATEMENT (sent).
ELECTION 2020-ANALYSIS — Joe Biden launched his 2020 campaign on a simple proposition: American voters would be ready for a reset after four years of President Donald Trump’s administration. Biden’s victory validates his theory of the race. He defeated nearly two dozen rivals in the Democratic primary, including several who were younger and more representative of his party’s increasingly diverse base. Yet Biden ultimately prevailed, embracing the notion that while he might not be the most exciting candidate in the race, he could bring together the coalition needed to defeat Trump. A News Analysis by Washington Bureau Chief Julie Pace. UPCOMING: 900 words, photos by 5 p.m.
ELECTION 2020-HOW IT HAPPENED-BIDEN — Joe Biden’s decision to step away from in-person campaigning this spring was without precedent in modern American politics. In an era when voters are accustomed to seeing their presidential candidates constantly, the idea of a complete withdrawal was unthinkable. It prompted ridicule from President Donald Trump, who constantly teased Biden for “hiding in his basement” and returned to large in-person events with far fewer precautions. But it allowed Biden to define himself early on as a responsible foil to Trump, someone who could make difficult choices and serve as something of a role model to a country facing a historic set of crises. By Steve Peoples, Bill Barrow, Zeke Miller and Meg Kinnard. UPCOMING: 1,980 words, photos by 5 p.m.
ELECTION 2020-BIDEN — After eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president, Joe Biden seemed at the presumed end of a long public life that put him in the orbit of the Oval Office for 45 years but never allowed him to sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office himself. Less than four years later, 77-year-old Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. has won election as the 46th president of the United States. By Bill Barrow. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-HARRIS — Kamala Harris makes history as the first Black woman elected as vice president of the United States, shattering barriers that have kept men — almost all of them white — entrenched at the highest levels of American politics for more than two centuries. By Kathleen Ronayne. SENT: 1,080 words photos.
EXPLAINING-ELECTION-2020-THE-PRESIDENCY — Democrat Joe Biden captured the presidency when The Associated Press declared him the victor in his native Pennsylvania at 11:25 a.m. That got him the state’s 20 electoral votes, which pushed him over the 270 electoral-vote threshold needed to prevail. By Brian Slodysko. SENT: 540 words, photos.
Find more coverage below and on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-DAKOTA DEATHS — North Dakota and South Dakota have the nation’s worst rate of coronavirus deaths per capita in the last 30 days. The resurgence of COVID-19 serves as a grim exclamation point on the virus outbreak slamming the Upper Midwest and northern Plains, with few signs of slowing down. By Stephen Groves and James MacPherson. SENT: 1,110 words, photos. This is the Sunday Spotlight.
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ONLY ON AP
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2020-CENSUS FAKE ANSWERS — Two census takers told The Associated Press that their supervisors pressured them to enter false information into a computer system about homes they had not visited so they could close cases during the waning days of the once-a-decade national headcount. Maria Arce said her supervisor in Massachusetts offered step-by-step instructions in how to trick the system. She said she felt guilty about lying, but she did not want to disobey her supervisors, who kept repeating that they were under pressure from a regional office in New York to close cases. By Mike Schneider. SENT: 1,075 words, photos.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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TROPICAL WEATHER — Searchers in Guatemala dug through mud and debris looking for an estimated 100 people believed buried by a massive, rain-fueled landslide, as Eta regained tropical storm strength Saturday and churned toward Cuba. SENT: 710 words, photos.
ALASKA EARTHQUAKES — Three earthquakes early Saturday morning shook Alaska’s largest city, but there were no immediate reports of damage. SENT: 120 words.
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MORE ON ELECTION 2020
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ELEXTION 2020-TRUMP — Donald Trump, who defied political gravity with his extraordinary rise from reality star and businessman to the presidency, has fallen back to earth. By Jill Colvin and Zeke Miller. SENT: 1,190 words, photos. With ELECTION 2020-BIDEN STATEMENT (sent).
ELECTION-2020-AMERICA’S-EMOTIONS — Just after The Associated Press and other news organizations declared that former Vice President Joe Biden beat President Donald Trump, fireworks erupted in Atlanta. In Maine, a band playing at a farmers’ market broke into the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Traffic came to a standstill in some parts of Brooklyn. SENT: 360 words, photos. UPCOMING: Developing.
ELECTION 2020-WHAT'S NEXT — The election outcome isn’t the last step in selecting an American president. Under a system that’s been tweaked over two centuries, there’s still a monthslong timeline during which the 538-member Electoral College picks the president. By Deb Riechmann. SENT: 540 words, photos, graphic.
ELECTION 2020-RACE — Joe Biden will need to chart a path forward to unite a bitterly divided nation and address America’s fraught history of racism that manifested this year through the convergence of three national crises. Biden’s campaign centered on unity and repudiating President Donald Trump’s racial divisiveness, but he now must shift toward action with the looming uncertainty created by the coronavirus pandemic’s disparate impact on Black Americans and people of color, joblessness and a summer of unrest and protests. By Kat Stafford. UPCOMING: 870 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-BIDEN-TRANSITION — Joe Biden just won the presidency. That may turn out to be the easy part. The president-elect already was braced to deal with the worst health crisis the nation has seen in more than a century and the economic havoc it has wreaked. Now, he has to build a government while contending with a Senate that could stay in GOP hands, a House sure to feature fewer Democratic allies and a public that includes more than 70 million people who would prefer that President Donald Trump keep the job. By Will Weissert. SENT: 1,140 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-VOTECAST-COALITIONS — Joe Biden’s White House victory was powered by a broad and racially diverse coalition of voters driven to the polls by fierce opposition to President Donald Trump and anxiety over a surging, deadly pandemic. Both nationwide and in key battleground states across the Midwest and Sun Belt, Biden dominated with voters worried about the coronavirus and hungry for the federal government to do more to contain its spread. That’s according to AP VoteCast, an expansive survey of more than 110,000 voters nationwide. Biden’s coalition included college graduates, women, urban and suburban voters, young people and Black Americans. By Josh Boak and Hannah Fingerhut. UPCOMING: 1,200 words, photos by 4 p.m.
ELECTION 2020-GLOBAL REACTION — “Welcome back America!” People across the globe are starting to celebrate the election of Joe Biden as the next U.S. president, some expressing hope the Democrat will make climate change a key part of his agenda. SENT: 420 words, photos.
ELECTION-2020-PROTESTS — The most turbulent and norm-breaking presidential election of a lifetime has led to an extraordinary spectacle in the United States over the past three days: armed protesters gathering nightly outside offices where workers are counting the votes that will decide who wins the White House. Some carry shotguns. Some have handguns. Often, they carry black, military-style semiautomatic rifles. SENT: 910 words, photos.
A separate wire advisory has moved outlining our complete Election 2020 coverage.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK — The concept of what is essential to keep a society functioning during coronavirus lockdowns is gripping Europe as the pandemic unleashes death, poverty, illness and isolation. Beyond obvious candidates like food stores and pharmacies, some answers in the patchwork of nations and cultures that make up Europe can approach the surreal. SENT: 950 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-OLDER TEACHERS — Some veteran teachers are sticking it out during the pandemic while others confronted with the headaches of distance learning and the health risks have retired early or taken leave. New Mexico is tied with Maine for having the oldest teachers in the country. A 2018 National Center for Education Statistics survey of teachers and principals showed one in four are older than 55. And the New Mexico education department says 6% of the state’s teachers and teaching assistants are 65 or older. SENT: 520 words, photos.
Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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WASHINGTON
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SUPREME COURT-HEALTH CARE — Until six weeks ago, defenders of the Affordable Care Act could take comfort in some simple math. Five Supreme Court justices who had twice preserved the Obama-era health care law remained on the bench and seemed unlikely votes to dismantle it. But Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death in mid-September and her replacement by Amy Coney Barrett barely a month later have altered the equation as the court prepares to hear arguments Tuesday in the third major legal challenge in the law’s 10-year existence. By Mark Sherman and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar. SENT: 750 words, photos.
FACT CHECK-WEEK — The most direct attempt to undermine the integrity of the U.S. election with bad information came not from overseas sources or online liars but from a president standing behind the presidential seal at the White House and facing defeat. SENT: 2,070 words, photos.
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INTERNATIONAL
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EMIRATES — The United Arab Emirates has announced a major overhaul of the country’s Islamic personal laws, allowing unmarried couples to cohabitate, loosening alcohol restrictions and criminalizing so-called “honor killings.” SENT: 610 words, photos.
BREXIT — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the head of the European Union’s executive arm agreed Saturday to stay in contact as their negotiating teams step up efforts to conclude a post-Brexit trade deal between the U.K. and the European Union before time runs out. SENT: 460 words, photos.
AFGHANISTAN — A bomb attached to the vehicle of a former presenter on Afghanistan’s TOLO TV exploded, killing the journalist and two other civilians, Kabul police said. The death of Yama Siawash is being investigated, said police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz. No one has immediately claimed responsibility. Siawash had recently begun working with Afghanistan’s Central Bank. SENT: 320 words, photos.
BELARUS-PROTESTS — Police in the capital of Belarus detained dozens of demonstrators Saturday as medical workers and women held separate marches to denounce violence against anti-government protesters and to call on the country’s authoritarian president to step down. SENT: 200 words, photos.
EGYPT-ELECTION — Egyptians are trickling into polling stations in the second and final stage of voting for the country’s parliamentary election. Critics say the 596-seat legislature will be like the previous one, which was little more than a rubber stamp for President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s policies. SENT: 485 words, photos.
FRANCE EXTREMISM — Police in France questioned four 10-year-olds who voiced support for the beheading of a schoolteacher and who said they would kill their own teacher if he lampooned Islam’s prophet, the government reported as the prime minister warned that Islamic extremists are recruiting in France with “ignorance and hate.” SENT: 445 words, photos.
INDIA-CLOSED BUSINESSES-PHOTO GALLERY — AP PHOTOS: Pandemic empties India’s Silicon Valley suburbs. SENT: 480 words, photos.
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ENTERTAINMENT
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MUSIC-ROCK HALL — Years after their deaths, Whitney Houston, the Notorious B.I.G. and T. Rex’s Marc Bolan will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. By Music Writer Mesfin Fekadu. SENT: 340 words, photos. UPCOMING: Will be updated after special ends around 10:15 p.m.
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SPORTS
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FBC--T25-CLEMSON-NOTRE DAME — With quarterback Trevor Lawrence out, No. 1 Clemson starts freshman DJ Uiagalelei at quarterback against No. 4 Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have not beaten a top-five team since 2005. By College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos. Game starts at 7:30 p.m.
RAC--BREEDERS’ CUP — Trainer Bob Baffert sends out three horses -- Improbable, the favorite; Kentucky Derby winner Authentic; and Maximum Security -- in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic. The card features seven other stakes that could determine this year’s top horses. By Gary B. Graves. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos. Classic post time 5:13 p.m.
CAR--NASCAR-PHOENIX PREVIEW — Denny Hamlin is 0-for-3 in championship chances, his shot at a first NASCAR crown ending just short each time. It’s his turn again Sunday, without Kevin Harvick in his way and his Toyota teammates eliminated. By Auto Racing Writer Jenna Fryer. SENT: 800 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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