AP News Digest 6 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: OBIT-ROBERTA MCCAIN, CALIFORNIA ELECTION-UNOFFICIAL BOXES, VATICAN SCANDAL, MURDER HORNET, BBA-ALCS, BBN-NLCS.
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SUPREME COURT-BARRETT — Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett presents her conservative approach to the law at the start of a fast-tracked confirmation hearing. Democrats, powerless to stop her, try to cast Barrett’s likely ascent to the high court as a threat to Americans’ health care during the coronavirus pandemic. By Mark Sherman, Lisa Mascaro and Mary Clare Jalonick. SENT: 1,150 words, photos, video, audio. WITH: SUPREME COURT-BARRETT-TAKEAWAYS — The pandemic dominates the Senate Judiciary Committee’s first day of confirmation hearings. SENT: 1,060 words, photos.
SUPREME COURT-BARRETT-AFFORDABLE CARE ACT — Even with a conservative Supreme Court, it’s not a foregone conclusion that the Obama-era law that provides health care for 20 million people will be struck down in its entirety. In fact, the most likely outcome would leave it essentially untouched. By Jessica Gresko and Mark Sherman. SENT: 690 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-TRUMP RALLY — Just a week following his release from the hospital after a serious case of COVID-19, President Donald Trump returns to the campaign trail as he tries to stage a late comeback in the election’s final stretch. Trump is headlining a rally in Sanford, Florida. By Jill Colvin. SENT: 710 words, photos. UPCOMING: 800 words after 7 p.m. rally.
ELECTION 2020-BIDEN — Joe Biden campaigns in Ohio as he attempts to expand the battleground map and keep President Trump on the defensive in a state thought to be out of reach after veering right in the presidential race four years ago. By Bill Barrow and Will Weissert. SENT: 780 words, photos.
Find more coverage on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
VIRUS OUTBREAK — A widow speaks hauntingly about the coronavirus death of her husband, the folk-country musician John Prine. A small-town undertaker grieves over losing so many familiar faces to COVID-19. A cancer doctor forced to deliver bad news virtually laments the loss of human connection. Illness and death are the pandemic’s most feared consequences, but a collective sense of loss is perhaps its most extraordinary. With job layoffs, canceled family visits, shuttered restaurants and closed gyms, the pandemic has spread grief by degrees around the globe. By Lindsey Tanner. SENT: 1,640 words, photos. An abridged version of 1,000 is available.
RACIAL-INJUSTICE-BLACK-INVESTORS — Americans who own stocks are pulling further away from those who don’t, as Wall Street roars back to record heights while much of the economy struggles. And Black households are much more likely to be in that not-as-fortunate group that isn’t in the stock market. By Stan Choe. SENT: 1,440 words, photos. An abridged version of 880 words is available.
LOOKING-FOR AMERICA-APPALACHIA PHOTO ESSAY — Tasha Lamm’s problems could seem overwhelming: poverty, unemployment, an abusive mother, a boyfriend who died of a heroin overdose. But Lamm is far more than the sum of those difficulties. She can seem almost unbreakable. By Maye Wong-E. SENT: 340 words, photos.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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OBIT-ROBERTA MCCAIN — Roberta McCain, the mother of the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, has died. She was 108. Roberta campaigned for her son well into her 90s. SENT: 500 words, photos.
CALIFORNIA ELECTION-UNOFFICIAL BOXES — California’s Republican Party has acknowledged owning unofficial ballot drop boxes that state election officials say aren’t allowed. SENT: 400 words, photos.
ELECTION-2020-EARLY-VOTING-GEORGIA — Long lines of people eager to cast ballots formed as early in-person voting began in Georgia on Monday, and problems soon developed in the state’s most populous county. SENT: 790 words, photos.
MURDER HORNET — Washington state officials said they were again unsuccessful at live-tracking a “murder” hornet while trying to find and destroy a nest of the giant insects. SENT: 350 words, photos.
OBIT-KUTZ — Surgeon known for first hand transplant in U.S. dies at 92. SENT: 190 words.
NBA-FINALS-REACTION — 76 arrests as fans, some rowdy, cheer Lakers win in Los Angeles. SENT: 290 words, photos.
DENVER-PROTEST-SHOOTING — Security guard jailed in deadly shooting at Denver protests. SENT: 540 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-WISCONSIN — A Wisconsin judge on Monday allowed the state’s mask mandate to stand, rejecting an attempt by the Republican-controlled Legislature and a conservative law firm to overturn it, even as cases are spiking. SENT: 660 words, photo.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-BRITAIN — The British government carved England into three tiers of coronavirus risk in a bid to slow a resurgent outbreak, putting the northern city of Liverpool into the highest risk category and shutting its pubs, gyms and betting shops. SENT: 800 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-DC CHARTER SCHOOLS — Washington, D.C.’s traditional public school system was forced to start the year with total distance learning. But about a dozen charter schools in the nation’s capital have essentially chosen to become medical-educational experiments — offering in-person instruction for select groups of students. It’s a model that the D.C. Public Schools system is studying as it seeks to reopen its buildings SENT: 1,080 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW YORK-PROTESTS — A leader of protests against new coronavirus restrictions in Brooklyn has been arrested on charges of inciting people to riot and unlawful imprisonment of a journalist who was chased and trapped by a crowd, police said. SENT: 320 words.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MIDEAST — For the second day in a row, Iran shattered its single-day record for new deaths and infections from the coronavirus, with 272 people confirmed dead among more than 4,200 new cases. SENT: 690 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-VATICAN — Four Swiss Guards have tested positive for coronavirus and were showing symptoms, the Vatican said Monday, as the surge in infections in surrounding Italy penetrates the Vatican walls. SENT: 360 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-DENMARK-MINKS — Danish veterinarians and farmers have begun culling at least 2.5 million minks in northern Denmark, authorities said Monday, after coronavirus has been reported in at least 63 farms. SENT: 400 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ONE GOOD THING-VIRTUAL SCHOOL CONCERTS — Internationally renowned ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro and singer Kimié Miner, one of the most popular artists in Hawaii right now, were among the headliners of recent online concerts for a small elementary school on the windward side of Oahu. Aikahi Elementary principal Keoki Fraser is using local star power to help his school community feel connected and uplifted during the uncertainties of the pandemic. SENT: 530 words, photos.
Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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ELECTION 2020-SENATE FUNDRAISING — Buoyed by massive fundraising success, Democratic Senate candidates mount a push in Republican-controlled states that few would have thought were competitive just months ago, placing continued GOP-control of the chamber at risk. By Brian Slodysko. UPCOMING: 900 words, photos by 7 p.m.
ELECTION-2020-SOULS-TO-THE-POLLS — Voter mobilization in Black church communities will look much different in 2020, due in large part to the coronavirus pandemic that has infected millions across the U.S. and has taken a disproportionate toll on Black America. In recent election cycles, predominantly Black congregations across the country have launched get-out-the-vote campaigns commonly referred to as “souls to the polls.” This year, churches are organizing socially distant caravans with greatly reduced capacity for early voting and Election Day ballot-casting. SENT: 1,270 words, photos, video.
ELECTION 2020-FAUCI — President Trump and Joe Biden are trying to harness some reflected glory from America’s best-known infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, as they make their case to voters about who is better suited to lead the nation through coronavirus crisis. Fauci isn’t having it. By Aamer Madhani. UPCOMING: 750 words by 7 p.m., photo.
ELECTION 2020-TRUMP-BIDEN-POLICY — President Trump and Joe Biden promise sweeping progress over the next four years, via starkly different paths. A look at where the rivals stand on health care, the economy and other key issues. By Aamer Madhani and Bill Barrow. SENT: 2,540 words, photo.
ELECTION-2020-MINNESOTA-ABSENTEES — A federal judge has upheld a Minnesota state court agreement that allows counting of absentee ballots received up to seven days after Election Day. SENT: 600 words, photo.
EXPLAINING-ELECTION-2020-DELAYED-RESULTS — How soon will we know the results of the U.S. election? A shift to mail voting is increasing the chances Americans won’t know the winner of the 2020 presidential race on election night, Nov. 3. But that doesn’t mean the results will be flawed or fraudulent. SENT: 280 words, photo.
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ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN — Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of attacks over the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh despite a cease-fire deal brokered by Russia to try to end the worst outbreak of hostilities in the region in decades. SENT: 500 words, photos.
BELARUS-PROTESTS — Over 700 people were detained in Belarus during mass protests against the re-election of the country’s authoritarian leader in a disputed election — the harshest crackdown in weeks on protesters. SENT: 650 words, photos.
VATICAN-SEX ABUSE — Two priests are going on trial in the Vatican’s criminal tribunal this week, one accused of sexually abusing an altar boy who served at papal Masses in St. Peter’s Basilica, and the other accused of covering it up. The trial, confirmed by the Holy See press office, marks the first known time that the Vatican has criminally prosecuted a case of sexual abuse that allegedly occurred within its walls. SENT: 650 words. WITH: VATICAN SCANDAL — Pope Francis has met with Cardinal George Pell, warmly welcoming him for a private audience in the Apostolic Palace after the cardinal’s sex abuse conviction and acquittal in Australia. SENT: 500 words, photos.
EUROPE-RUSSIA-NAVALNY — European Union foreign ministers agreed Monday to impose sanctions on Russian officials and organizations blamed for the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny with a Soviet-era nerve agent. At a meeting in Luxembourg, France and Germany urged their EU partners to freeze the assets of those suspected of involvement and ban them from traveling in Europe under sanctions to combat the use and spread of chemical weapons. SENT: 420 words, photos.
BREXIT-BUILDING A BORDER — In the corner of Britain known as the Garden of England, Brexit is literally taking concrete form. Diggers, dump trucks and cement mixers are transforming a field in the village of Sevington into a customs clearance depot with room for up to 2,000 trucks. It’s part of Britain’s new border with the European Union, and no one asked the locals for their permission. SENT: 990 words, photos. WITH: BREXIT — Yet another Brexit deadline looms; trade talks in rut. SENT: 600 words, photos.
ISRAEL-GAS-DEAL — Five years after Israel signed a landmark agreement to develop large offshore gas fields over the objections of antitrust authorities, environmentalists and consumer advocates, ordinary Israelis have yet to see the windfall promised by the government. The deal has chiseled away at the monopoly held by Houston-based Noble Energy and Israel’s Delek Group, which discovered and developed the fields, bringing prices down. The country is on track to phase out coal and derive nearly all its electricity from cleaner-burning gas and solar power by 2025, and is exporting gas to neighboring Egypt and Jordan. By Joseph Krauss. SENT: 1,150 words, photos.
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FACEBOOK-HOLOCAUST DENIAL — Facebook is banning posts that deny or distort the Holocaust and will start directing people to authoritative sources if they search for information about the Nazi genocide. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the new policy Monday, the latest attempt by the company to take action against conspiracy theories and misinformation ahead of the U.S. presidential election three weeks away. SENT: 670 words, photo.
NOBEL-ECONOMICS — Two American economists won the Nobel Prize for improving how auctions work, research that underlies much of today’s economy — from the way Google sells advertising to the way telecoms companies acquire airwaves from the government. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
FINANCIAL MARKETS — Solid gains for technology stocks pushed Wall Street higher, tacking more gains onto last week’s rally. The S&P 500 closed up 1.6%. SENT: 1,010 words, photos.
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BBN--NLCS — The Dodgers and Braves open the best-of-seven NLCS with that rarest of things -- actual fans in the ballpark. Walker Bueher, with a troublesome finger blister, starts for Los Angeles. Left-hander Max Fried goes for Atlanta. By Baseball Writer Stephen Hawkins. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos. Game starts 8:08 p.m.
BBA--ALCS — Charlie Morton and the Tampa Bay Rays try to take a 2-0 lead in the ALCS against the Astros, who counter with Lance McCullers Jr. Morton helped Houston win the World Series in 2017. By Bernie Wilson. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos. Game underway.
OBIT-JOE-MORGAN — Joe Morgan, the Hall of Fame second baseman who became the sparkplug of the Big Red Machine and the prototype for baseball’s artificial turf era, has died. He was 77. SENT: 1,190 words, photos.
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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.