AP News Digest 6:25 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 ELECTION 2020-HATCH ACT, CONGRESS-GOVERNMENT FUNDING, NATION’S CAPITAL-POLICE SHOOTING, VIRUS-OUTBREAK-THE-BATMAN, NOEM-TOURISM-AD, TV-JEOPARDY
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ELECTION 2020-BIDEN — Joe Biden tells residents in Kenosha, Wisconsin, that the police and protest violence their city has experienced in recent weeks can be part of an awakening that helps the United States finally confront centuries of systemic racism and social discord. Biden met with community leaders after a private, hourlong session with police shooting victim Jacob Blake and his family. By Bill Barrow, Will Weissert and Scott Bauer. SENT: 1,110 words, photos. With ELECTION 2020-BIDEN-REPUBLICANS — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder backs Biden for president, the latest high-profile Republican to support the Democratic nominee. SENT: 480 words, photo. WITH: ELECTION 2020-TRUMP — Two months out from Election Day, President Donald Trump and others are flooding Pennsylvania, a crucial battleground state that tipped toward Trump in 2016. UPCOMING: Developing from 7 p.m. remarks, 600 words, photos, video by 8 p.m.
Find more coverage on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
VIRUS OUTBREAK — Could the U.S. really see a coronavirus vaccine before Election Day? A letter from federal health officials instructing states to be ready to begin distributing a vaccine by Nov. 1 — two days before the election — has been met, not with exhilaration, but with suspicion among some public health experts, who wonder whether the Trump administration is hyping the possibility or intends to rush approval for political gain. By Linda A. Johnson. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-READY TO VOTE — Political battles and pending court fights threaten to upend months of planning for the pandemic election, election officials are warning. In key states, they remain hamstrung with only weeks to prepare. Ongoing partisan litigation could dictate dramatic last-minute changes to rules and procedures in several states. Legislatures continue debating laws that could change how votes are processed. Meanwhile, money to pay for counting 150 million or more votes during the pandemic is stalled in Congress.. By Nicholas Riccardi and Alan Suderman. SENT: 1,260 words, photos.
ROCHESTER POLICE DEATH — The mayor of New York’s third largest city suspended a group of police officers involved in the suffocation death of a Black man last March. Daniel Prude, 41, known to his Chicago-based family as “Rell,” died March 30 when his family took him off life support, seven days after officers who encountered him running naked through the street put a hood over his head to stop him from spitting, then held him down for about two minutes until he stopped breathing. SENT: 590 words, photos.
JOBLESS AID-FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS — More than 1 million unemployed Americans face a tough financial struggle because they won’t likely qualify for the $300 weekly federal benefit the Trump administration is offering to replace an expired $600-a-week check. Such loopholes are weakening the White House’s efforts to aid the jobless at a time of high unemployment. By Christopher Rugaber and Leah Willingham. SENT: 1,120 words, photos. With VIRUS-OUTBREAK-UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS — Jobless claims fall to 881,000 but layoffs remain elevated. SENT: 790 words, photos.
MED--GENE EDITING-EMBRYOS -- It’s still too soon to try to make genetically edited babies because the science isn’t advanced enough to ensure safety, says an international panel of experts who also mapped a pathway for any countries that want to consider it. The report comes nearly two years after a Chinese scientist shocked the world by revealing he’d helped make the first gene-edited babies using a tool called CRISPR, which enables DNA changes or “edits” that can pass to future generations. By Marilynn Marchione. SENT: 875 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-THE-BATMAN — A person working on “The Batman” production has tested positive for COVID-19 and the U.K shoot has been temporarily suspended. SENT: 280 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MIDEAST --The confirmed death toll from the coronavirus has gone over 50,000 in the Middle East as the pandemic continues. That’s according to a count from The Associated Press, based on official numbers offered by health authorities across the region. Those numbers still may be an undercount. SENT: 285 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRITAIN-SCHOOLS -- Children are slowly returning to school in England, most of them for the first time in six months because of the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 600 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ONE GOOD THING-BANGLADESH AID — Starting with a personal fund of $236, three young friends have raised about $230,000 to help people hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic in Bangladesh. SENT: 530 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SOUTH AFRICA-HEALTHCARE WORKERS PROTEST -- South African healthcare workers have protested against poor working conditions and urged the government to end corruption in the purchase of COVID-19 personal protective equipment. SENT: 440 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-PERU-URNS-PHOTO GALLERY -- AP PHOTOS: Grieving find new spaces for urns of Peru’s dead. SENT: 400 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-VIRAL QUESTIONS-REINFECTION — Can I get the coronavirus twice? It seems possible, though how often it happens isn’t known. SENT: 260 words, graphic.
A separate wire advisory has moved outlining our complete coronavirus coverage.
Find more all-format coverage on the Virus Outbreak featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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TV-JEOPARDY — “Jeopardy!” is returning for its 37th season, with greater social distance between Alex Trebek and the contestants, and a new role for all-time great contestant Ken Jennings. SENT: 200 words, photos.
TEENAGE SWIMMER-ENGLISH CHANNEL — New Hampshire 16-year-old swims across English Channel. SENT: 470 words.
PEOPLE-BLANCO BROWN — “The Git Up” singer Blanco Brown is in intensive care after suffering significant injuries in a head-on vehicle collision near Atlanta. SENT: 135 words, photos.
MOUNTAIN LION KITTENS -- A boom in mountain lion births has occurred this summer in Southern California. The National Park Service says 13 kittens were born to five mountain lion mothers between May and August in the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills west of Los Angeles. SENT: 200 words, photo.
JACKIE O’S ESTATE -- The Martha’s Vineyard estate of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is being sold to a pair of nonprofits that plan on turning the property into conservation land open to the public. SENT: 260 words, photo.
ODD--BAN BONELESS WINGS -- A Nebraska man is making political waves over his impassioned plea to take action against boneless chicken wings. SENT: 150 words.
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ELECTION 2020-VOTING TWICE — Election experts say a suggestion by President Trump that people who vote early by mail should vote again at their polling place if their ballot hasn’t been counted would unnecessarily trigger chaos, long lines and more work for election officials. By Christina A. Cassidy and Deb Riechmann. SENT: 890 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-HATCH ACT — Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are seeking an investigation of what they call repeated violations of the federal Hatch Act by members of the Trump administration during last month’s Republican National Convention. SENT: 590 words, photos.
FACEBOOK-US ELECTION — Bracing for a contentious election with no immediate results and possible “civil unrest,” Facebook is enacting a host of measures to ensure its platform is not used to sow chaos and spread misinformation before, during and after the U.S. presidential election. The company said it will restrict new political ads in the week before the election and remove posts that convey misinformation about COVID-19 and voting. It will also attach links with official results to posts by candidates and campaigns that prematurely declare victory. SENT: 920 words, photo.
CONGRESS-GOVERNMENT FUNDING — Democrats and the Trump administration informally agree to keep a stopgap funding bill, needed to avert a government shutdown, free of controversy or conflict. SENT: 450 words, photos.
NOEM-TOURISM-AD — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem got some high-value exposure to Republican voters across the country last week during her appearance at the Republican National Convention – and during Fox News commercial breaks. At the governor’s request, the South Dakota Department of Tourism aired a Fox News ad narrated by Noem that premiered alongside her speech at the RNC. The 30-second spot, which cost taxpayers $819,000, advertises the state as a place open for visitors despite the pandemic. SENT: 630 words, photos.
EPA-WHEELER — The EPA Administrator lays out his vision for EPA for the next half-century in a speech at the Nixon library. UPCOMING: 500 words, photo by 7 p.m., photo.
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RACIAL-INJUSTICE-LOUISVILLE — Amber Brown had climbed into a city bus before dawn, had driven her eight-hour shift, and she was tired. But she knew she couldn’t go home. Instead she headed down to “Injustice Square” — a single city block that was until a few months ago an unremarkable Louisville park. Now it is the nucleus of the nation’s rage over the police killing of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor, an emergency medical technician shot dead when police burst into her home in the middle of the night. SENT: 1,660 words, photos. An abridged version of 960 words is available.
PORTLAND PROTESTS-MEDIA — The beam of a police officer’s flashlight swept across a group of 15 people standing on the sidewalk in downtown Portland, Oregon, recording and taking photos of the nightly protests that have roiled the city for three months. Most in the recent group wore helmets, reflective vests or shirts emblazoned with the word “PRESS” and had media badges dangling from their necks. But some were demonstrators, taking cover behind reporters despite orders to go home or face arrest. SENT: 930 words, photos.
NATION’S CAPITAL-POLICE SHOOTING — Police in the nation’s capital release body camera footage from the officer who fatally shot a young Black man a day earlier. SENT: 580 words, photo.
FUNERAL HOME-WOMAN ALIVE — A suburban Detroit paramedic repeatedly failed to recognize that a young woman declared dead was alive and misled a doctor by phone about her condition, according to state authorities who offered more details about the strange case. SENT: 600 words, photos.
BRIBERY INVESTIGATION-OHIO — The former speaker of the Ohio House has pleaded not guilty to a federal corruption charge stemming from an alleged bribery scheme. SENT: 270 words, photos.
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GERMANY-RUSSIA-NAVALNY — President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman brushed off allegations that the Kremlin was involved in poisoning the Russian leader’s most determined critic, accusing Germany of not providing Moscow with any evidence about the condition of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. SENT: 1,160 words, photos.
LEBANON — A pulsing signal has been detected from under the rubble of a Beirut building that collapsed during the horrific port explosion in the Lebanese capital last month, raising hopes there may be a survivor still buried there. SENT: 730 words, photos.
BRITAIN-CHINA-XINJIANG TRIBUNAL — A prominent British human rights lawyer is convening an independent tribunal in London to investigate whether the Chinese government’s alleged rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in the far western Xinjiang region constitute genocide or crimes against humanity. SENT: 820 words, photos.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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SCI--ELEPHANT GRANDFATHERS — A new study shows that teenage male elephants aren’t as anti-social as once thought. Female elephants are well-known to form tight family groups led by experienced matriarchs. Males were long assumed to be loners because they leave their mother’s herd when they reach adolescence. A study published in the journal Scientific Reports shows that adolescent males prefer to travel along migration corridors behind older males. SENT: 525 words, photos.
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FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Wall Street’s euphoria took a break as steep losses in technology stocks dragged the rest of the market down with them. It was the biggest decline for the U.S. stock market since early June. There seemed to be no explicit catalyst for the sell-off, with economic data coming in roughly where the market had expected and no companies issuing foreboding warnings. SENT: 590 words, photos.
PREVENTING TRUCK CRASHES— Safety features such as automatic emergency braking and forward collision warnings could prevent more than 40% of crashes in which semis rear-end other vehicles, a new study has found. SENT: 670 words, photos.
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CHADWICK BOSEMAN TRIBUTE — Actor Chadwick Boseman will be mourned, honored and celebrated in his hometown of Anderson, South Carolina. SENT: 340 words, photos. UPCOMING: Tribute begins at 7 p.m.
FILM-BACK TO THE MOVIES — More Americans will make their way back to the movies this weekend than any since the pandemic shuttered theaters in March. After a few weeks of catalog films and minor releases, the $200 million “Tenet” is the first must-see main event of the pandemic, a mega-movie litmus test for how ready U.S. moviegoers are to return to cinemas. By Film Writer Jake Coyle. SENT: 980 words, photos.
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FBO-VIRUS OUTBREAK-THE MAGIC NUMBER — As college and professional sports teams resume or begin their seasons, hoping to allow at least some fans into their facilities, they are faced with the same question: How many can safely attend? SENT: 1,020 words, photos by 5 p.m.
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HOW TO REACH US
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