AP News Digest 2:45 p.m.
Eds: Adds BUDGET DEFICIT.
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.
—————————
ONLY ON AP
—————————
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CDC SIDELINED — The Trump White House has installed two political operatives at the nation’s top public health agency to try to control the information it releases about the coronavirus pandemic as the administration seeks to paint a positive outlook, sometimes at odds with the scientific evidence. By Jason Dearen, Mike Stobbe and Richard Lardner. SENT: 1,780 words, photos. An abridged version of 1,010 words is also available.
AP POLL-ELECTION 2020-DIVISIONS — A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds few American voters see the country as having much common ground to unite around, and many have doubts about the way democracy is working. Supporters of both candidates think the other will increase divisions and weaken democracy further. By Steve Peoples and Hannah Fingerhut. SENT: 1,000 words, photos, video.
DEA-DISCRIMINATION-CLAIMS — An Associated Press investigation found the Drug Enforcement Administration has received a string of recent discrimination complaints at its Quantico, Virginia, training academy, including allegations a white firearms instructor took to a loudspeaker to taunt Black trainees with “monkey noises.” Other trainees say they were held to a higher standard than whites. The complaints come as the DEA has struggled to bring diversity to its ranks. By Jim Mustian. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
TRUMP CAMPAIGN DATA — An election watchdog group says new documents from a former insider at a British data firm reveal illegal coordination between Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and a billionaire-funded pro-Trump PAC. An updated legal complaint filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission touches on some of the same people involved in today’s presidential race. It also offers an account alleging that Trump’s campaign worked around election rules to coordinate with a super PAC. By Garance Burke. SENT: 1,340 words, photos.
----------------——-
-----------------——
ELECTION 2020 — Backed into an uncomfortable corner and facing financial strains, President Donald Trump fights to defend his sagging reelection bid in a state Republicans haven’t lost in nearly three decades. With Election Day looming, Democrat Joe Biden pushes to keep voters focused on health care in the Midwest. By Steve Peoples, Darlene Superville and Jonathan Lemire. SENT: 700 words, photos. Developing. WITH: ELECTION 2020-TRUMP FUNDRAISING — President Trump was out-raised by Democrat Joe Biden in September and is being outgunned financially by his rival with just weeks to go until Election Day. SENT: 200 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-BIDEN-GIULIANI — Among the red flags of a New York Post story this week describing purported emails from Hunter Biden was the person pushing it: Rudy Giuliani. The personal lawyer for President Trump has been open about his efforts to acquire foreign dirt on Joe Biden, meeting with a Ukrainian lawmaker who officials say is an active Russian agent and part of a broader Russian effort to denigrate the Democratic presidential nominee. By Eric Tucker. UPCOMING: 900 words by 5 p.m.
ELECTION 2020-SUPREME COURT — Senate Democrats and Republicans both think the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett will help them in this fall’s elections and are using the Supreme Court battle in fundraising appeals and other ways that underscore its political potency. By Alan Fram. SENT: 980 words, photos.
Find more coverage on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-EUROPE — Doctors are warning that Europe is at a turning point as the coronavirus surges back across the continent, including among vulnerable people, and governments try to impose restrictions without locking whole economies down. With newly confirmed cases reaching records, the Czech Republic has shut schools and is building a field hospital, Poland has limited restaurant hours and closed gyms and schools, and France is planning a 9 p.m. curfew in Paris and other big cities. In Britain, authorities are closing pubs and bars in areas in the country’s north, while putting limits on socializing in London and other parts of the country. By Colleen Barry and Angela Charlton. SENT: 950 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-BEING COUNTED — Americans are used to standing in line. They queue up for airport security, the latest iPhone, cornonavirus tests or food. But the line building before sunrise outside a North Carolina high school was different. It was a living chain of hundreds of people who said they stepped in place — masked and distanced, out the door, down some stairs and past a fleet of school buses idled by the pandemic — feeling a certain urgency about being counted in the 2020 presidential election. By Laurie Kellman. UPCOMNG: 1,000 words by 5 p.m. With photos, video.
CALIFORNIA-WILDFIRES — President Trump’s administration has rejected California’s request for disaster relief funds aimed at cleaning up the damage from six recent wildfires. The fires are among the siege of deadly and destructive blazes that have scorched the state. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom formally submitted a letter to the White House on Sept. 28 asking for a major disaster declaration. Brian Ferguson of the governor’s Office of Emergency Services could not provide a reason for the federal government’s denial. SENT: 790 words, photos.
------------------------------------------------
MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
------------------------------------------------
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NURSING HOMES-VACCINES — Federal health officials unveil a plan to get approved coronavirus vaccines to nursing home residents free of cost, with the aid of two national pharmacy chains. By Ricardo-Alonso-Zaldivar. SENT: 500 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-VOTING VIRUS SURGE — A surge in coronavirus cases is hitting in some key presidential battleground states just weeks before the November election, raising concerns that it will lead to a chaotic and potentially dangerous Election Day. UPCOMING: 900 words, photos by 5 p.m.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ARGENTINA-BEACH RESORT — Hundreds of Argentine flags dotted the sand of a beach at the Mar del Plata resort, a poignant memorial to the victims of the novel coronavirus in one of this South American country’s virus hotspots. When the flags were planted last week they were a tribute to the more than 500 people who had died from COVID-19 over the previous seven months in Argentina’s top resort. SENT: 1,195 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-BRITAIN-NORTH-VS-SOUTH — Liverpool, the English port city that gave the world the Beatles, weathered decades of industrial decline before becoming a celebrated symbol of urban renewal. Now, the coronavirus is putting the city’s hard-won revival in jeopardy and raising tensions between the north of England and the wealthier south. By Jill Lawless. SENT: 1,180 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRITAIN — Prime Minister Boris Johnson threatened to force the Greater Manchester region into the most severe level of COVID-19 restrictions after local officials refused to accept the government’s financial package to implement measures targeting areas with the highest infection rates. SENT: 700 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-ASIA — Australia’s largest city Sydney lifts quarantine restrictions on travelers from New Zealand while the second largest city, Melbourne, marks the 100th day of one of the world’s longest pandemic lockdowns. SENT: 910 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-LIVES-LOST-INMATE — Lives Lost: A woman of uncommon kindness, unshackled again. SENT: 1,110 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-CHINA-VACCINES — China is rapidly increasing the number of people receiving its experimental coronavirus vaccines, with a city offering one to the general public and a biotech company providing another free to students going abroad. SENT: 830 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK DIARY-HIS FIRST CAR — It rolled off the car carrier in Brooklyn. Less than 20 minutes later, the 2015 Mazda CX-5 in a deep blue was this New York-based writer’s first car — ever. He happens to be 50 years old. The pandemic has altered so much in America in ways great and small. In the very small department, it has given a middle-aged man with gray in his beard a teenager’s rite of passage. By Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy. SENT: 610 words, photos.
Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
-------------------------------------------—
WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
-------------------------------------------—
SOCIAL MEDIA-LIMITING BIDEN STORY — Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey says the company was wrong to block weblinks to an unverified political story, a move that had prompted cries of censorship from the right. SENT: 410 words, photo.
MEXICAN GENERAL CHARGED — U.S. authorities allege that Mexico’s foreign defense minister helped smuggle thousands of kilograms of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana into the United States in exchange for bribes. SENT: 200 words, developing.
ACTOR BYRD KILLED — Atlanta police make an arrest in the shooting death of actor Thomas Jefferson Byrd. SENT: 180 words, photo.
HOUSTON INVESTIGATOR-KILLED — Houston police and fire officials say an arson investigator and an arson suspect were killed during a shootout in Houston after the investigator pursued the suspect. SENT: 245 words.
MOTORCYCLE CLUB SHOOTING — Authorities in Florida say three men are dead and one man is injured in a shooting sparked by a confrontation at a warehouse used by a motorcycle club. SENT: 140 words.
—————————————————-
—————————————————-
BUDGET DEFICIT — The federal budget deficit hit an all-time high of $3.1 trillion in the 2020 budget year, more than double the previous record, as the coronavirus pandemic cut revenues and sent spending soaring. SENT: 170 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-EARLY VOTE — A record-setting amount of early voting has changed the 2020 election. More than 17 million people have voted so far, which is about 12% of all votes cast in 2016. Experts predict there maybe higher turnout in this election than in any presidential contest since 1908. SENT: 1,140 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-QANON-FUNDRAISER — President Donald Trump recently accepted $1 million in campaign contributions from a couple whose vocal support for the QAnon conspiracy theory led to the cancellation of a fundraiser they were supposed to host for Vice President Mike Pence last month. SENT: 500 words, photos. With ELECTION 2020-QANON-AP EXPLAINS.
UNITED STATES-RUSSIA ARMS CONTROL — The White House is rejecting Russia’s response to a proposal that the New START nuclear arms treaty be extended by one year, coupled with a broader limit on U.S. and Russian weapons. SENT: 980 words, photos.
MELANIA TRUMP — Melania Trump lashes out at “self-serving adults” for focusing on her falling out with a friend and adviser, writing that the attention paid to “salacious claims” about the broken relationship comes at the expense of her work on behalf of children. SENT: 500 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-HOUSE INDIANA — A Black woman running as a Democrat against GOP U.S. Rep. Greg Pence in Indiana says she may have been shot at Thursday night while outside a campaign event in downtown Muncie and that she’s received dozens of racist threats during the campaign. Jeannine Lee Lake says the harassment, which has included racist phone messages and personal property damage, has been ongoing since August. UPCOMING: 600 words, photos by 5 p.m.
ELECTION 2020 SENATE-NORTH CAROLINA — North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis has entered the home stretch of his competitive and costly re-election bid with nearly $2.4 million more cash on hand than Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission. SENT: 450 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-TEXAS — Democrats in Texas are pressing Joe Biden to make a harder run at Texas with less than three weeks until Election Day. SENT: 915 words, photos.
EPA-COAL ASH PONDS — The Trump administration has finished work on a rollback that will let some hazardous coal-ash ponds stay in operation for years more and some unlined ponds stay open indefinitely. SENT: 600 words.
-----------------------—
-----------------------—
FRANCE-TEACHER DECAPITATED — A history teacher who opened a discussion with students on caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad was decapitated in a French street and police have shot the suspected killer dead, a police official says. SENT: 200 words, developing.
THAILAND-PROTESTS — Riot police in Thailand cracked down on thousands of student-led protesters who rallied in the capital in defiance of a strict state of emergency, while the prime minister rejected calls for his resignation. SENT: 1,005 words, photos.
BREXIT — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the U.K. must prepare for a no-deal break with the European Union unless there is a “fundamental” change of position from the bloc, as the two sides swapped blame for failing to strike a trade deal with just weeks until the end-of-year deadline. SENT: 795 words, photos.
AFGHANISTAN PEACE TALKS — The Taliban said they have agreed to suspend attacks in southern Afghanistan that have displaced thousands this week — but only after the Americans promised to halt all strikes and night raids in keeping with the peace agreement the U.S. signed with the insurgents in February. SENT: 625 words, photos.
INDIA-AIR POLLUTION — The Indian capital’s air quality levels plunged to “very poor” and a smoggy haze settled over the city, days after the state government initiated stricter measures to fight chronic air pollution. SENT: 525 words, photos.
———————-
———————-
MICHIGAN-GOVERNOR-KIDNAPPING-PLOT — Prosecutors provided enough evidence to move toward trial for five Michigan men accused of plotting to kidnap the state’s governor, a federal judge ruled in Grand Rapids. SENT: 535 words, photos.
———————————————
HEALTH & SCIENCE
——————————————-
WHO-VIRUS TREATMENT — A large study led by the World Health Organization suggests that the antiviral drug remdesivir did not help hospitalized COVID-19 patients, in contrast to an earlier study that made the medicine a standard of care in the United States and many other countries. SENT: 575 words, photos.
MED-VIRUS -OUTBREAK VACCINE — Pfizer Inc. cannot request emergency authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine before the third week of November -- and that’s if everything goes well, the company’s CEO announced. SENT: 285 words, photo.
——————————————-
——————————————-
FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Stocks were broadly higher, placing the market on track to close out a choppy week on Wall Street with modest gains. SENT: 650 words, photos, developing. WITH: RETAIL SALES — Retail sales rose in September for the fifth month in a row, as Americans spent more on clothing, cars and sporting goods. SENT: 475 words, photos.
——————————————
——————————————
MUSIC-LENNY KRAVITZ — Lenny Kravitz has written a memoir that explores his complex childhood and ends with the rocker on the verge of stardom and deeply in love with actress Lisa Bonet. SENT: 700 words, photo.
—————
—————
FBN--VIRUS OUTBREAK-NFL — The Patriots canceled practice after a member of the organization tested positive for COVID-19, the AP is told. It is not clear if it involved a player or coach. New England’s home game with Denver could be in jeopardy. By Pro Football Writer Barry Wilner. SENT: 500 words, photos.
BBA--ALCS — The Rays, behind rookie Randy Arozarena and Ji-Man Choi, try for the third straight day to make it to the World Series. Tampa Bay leads Houston 3-2, with Game 6 a pitching rematch of Game 1: Rays’ Blake Snell vs. Astros’ Framber Valdéz. By Bernie Wilson. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos. Game starts 6:07 p.m.
BBN--NLCS — The Braves can reach the World Series for the first time since 1999 by beating the Dodgers in Game 5 of the NLCS. Atlanta, which won Game 4 in a rout, likely will turn to its bullpen. Dustin May will start for Los Angeles. By Baseball Writer Stephen Hawkins. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos. Game starts 9:08 p.m.
--------------------------
HOW TO REACH US
--------------------------
At the Nerve Center, Richard A. Somma can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). For photos, Donald E. King (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.