AP News Digest 2 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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ONLY ON AP
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TRUMP-NIXON LETTERS — There were two men in 1980s Manhattan who craved validation — one a past president, one a future president. That’s how a thirty-something Donald Trump and a seventy-ish Richard Nixon struck up a decade-long correspondence in the 1980s that meandered from football and real estate to Vietnam and media strategy. The Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum shares the letters exclusively with The Associated Press ahead of the exhibit’s opening this week. By Nancy Benac. SENT: 1320 words, photos, video.
LEBANON-AP-PHOTO-SYRIAN-FAMILY — An image captured by an Associated Press photographer showing a dust-covered girl carried against a man’s shoulder, a gash bleeding from her forehead, has come to symbolize the devastation of the explosion at the Beirut port. Among the 193 dead are at least 43 Syrians, and the photo and the family’s story reflect the particular pain of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. By Zeina Karam and Hassan Ammar. SENT: 1,360 words, photos. An abridged version is also available.
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RACIAL-INJUSTICE-BREONNA-TAYLOR -- A Kentucky grand jury indicted a single police officer for shooting into neighboring apartments but did not move forward with charges against any officers for their role in Breonna Taylor’s death. A grand jury announced that Officer Brett Hankison was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment in connection to the police raid on the night of March 13. Protesters in Louisville and across the country have repeatedly called for justice for Taylor and other Black people killed by police. WITH: RACIAL INJUSTICE-BREONNA TAYLOR-TIMELINE -- A timeline of events related to the death of Breonna Taylor. SENT: 400 words, photo.
SUPREME COURT-GINSBURG-MEMORIAL — With crowds of admirers swelling outside, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is remembered at the court by grieving family, colleagues and friends as a prophet for justice who persevered against long odds to become an American icon. By Mark Sherman and Matthew Barakat. SENT: 890 words. UPCOMING: Developing, 930 words by 4 p.m., photos, video.
SUPREME COURT-VACANCY — President Donald Trump marveled at a rally this week about how important the Supreme Court nominations are to voters, but it’s what keeps Senate Republicans by his side. Republicans are plunging ahead to quickly confirm Trump’s upcoming nominee, intent on achieving a generational priority despite the possibility of blowback in the November election. By Lisa Mascaro. UPCOMING: 800 words by 3 p.m., photos. WITH: SUPREME COURT-VACANCY-RUSHING —Allison Jones Rushing, said to be on President Donald Trump’s short list for the Supreme Court vacancy, had already landed what most lawyers would consider a career-defining position before turning 40. A profile. By Gary D. Robertson. SENT: 765 words, photo.
ELECTION 2020-VOTER VOICES-SUPREME COURT — The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has set off a contentious political fight in Washington, but conversations with dozens of voters in battleground states suggest the vacancy isn’t top of mind for voters grappling with a pandemic, school closures and a shaky economy. By Bobby Calvan and Jill Colvin. UPCOMING: 1,100 words by 4 p.m., photos.
Find more coverage on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page on APNewsroom.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK — A huge international study of a COVID-19 vaccine that aims to work with just one dose is getting underway as top U.S. health officials sought to assure a skeptical Congress and public that they can trust any shots the government ultimately approves. Hopes are high that answers about at least one of several candidates being tested in the U.S. could come by year’s end, maybe sooner. “We feel cautiously optimistic that we will be able to have a safe and effective vaccine, although there is never a guarantee of that,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious disease chief at the National Institutes of Health, told a Senate committee. By Lauran Neergaard and Ricardo-Alonso-Zaldivar. SENT: 540 words, photos.
AMERICA PROTESTS-ANTIFA — Social media disinformation, right-wing news outlets and President Trump have stirred up a new boogeyman for many Americans to fear: antifa. Trump has called it a “terrorist organization” and blamed it for violence at protests against racial injustice and police brutality. But FBI Director Christopher Wray told a congressional panel antifa is more of an ideology or a movement than an organization. Mark Bray, author of the book “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook,” says Trump and his allies are demonizing antifa to divert attention from the Black Lives Matter movement. By Claire Galofaro and Michael Kunzelman. SENT: 1,130 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-FINLAND SNIFFING DOGS — Finland has deployed coronavirus-sniffing dogs at the Nordic country’s main international airport in a four-month trial of an alternative testing method that could become a cost-friendly way to identify infected travelers. Four dogs of different breeds trained by Finland’s Smell Detection Association started working at Helsinki Airport on Wednesday. University of Helsinki professor called sniffer dogs “a very promising method” for detecting the virus in people. SENT: 445 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SIERRA LEONE-DOCTOR’S MISSION — Dr. Mamadu Baldeh is one of only four physicians managing the COVID-19 unit at Sierra Leone’s Connaught Hospital, and the only one doing so while still overseeing the infectious diseases unit. SENT: 790 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-GERMANY-TRACING APP — Germany’s coronavirus tracing app has been used to transmit 1.2 million test results from labs to users during the first 100 days, officials say. SENT: 240 words, photo.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-ISRAEL — Israel reports a new record level of daily cases of coronavirus, shortly before government officials were to meet to discuss tightening a new nationwide lockdown. SENT: 450 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ASIA — India reports more than 83,000 new coronavirus cases, showing some decline after reaching a record a week earlier. SENT: 270 words, photos.
A separate wire advisory has moved detailing our complete coronavirus coverage.
Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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ODD-CAT-BLOOD STOLEN — Sheriff’s officials in Florida say a man caught on surveillance footage is suspected of stealing cat blood from a veterinary clinic. SENT: 115 words.
SNORKELER-SHARK ATTACK — Officials say a pregnant woman jumped into the water to save her 30-year-old husband when a shark latched onto his shoulder as he was snorkeling in the Florida Keys. SENT: 325 words.
ALASKA-GRIZZLY MAULING — A hunter was killed by a grizzly bear in Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. SENT: 140 words,
UNCLE-BEN’S-NAME-CHANGE — The Uncle Ben’s rice brand is getting a new name: Ben’s Original. . SENT: 530 words, photos.
BOOKS-WOODWARD SALES — Bob Woodward’s “Rage” sold more than 600,000 copies in its first week of publication. SENT: 140 words, photos.
SEXTORTIONIST SENTENCED -- A Georgia man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for coercing more than 100 girls to send him sexually explicit photos and videos. SENT: 215 words.
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ELECTION 2020-BIDEN-UKRAINE — Two Republican-led Senate committees issue a politically charged report alleging that the work Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s son did in Ukraine constituted a conflict of interest for the Obama administration at a time when Biden was engaged in Ukraine policy as vice president. SENT: 830 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-VOTING WITNESS SIGNATURES — Election changes forced by the coronavirus pandemic have millions of Americans figuring out how to vote by mail for the first time this year. In a handful of states, including the presidential battlegrounds of North Carolina and Wisconsin, they face a requirement that already is tripping up thousands of early voters — the need to have a witness sign their ballot envelope. Lack of a witness signature already is the leading cause of ballots being set aside as incomplete in North Carolina, a problem that is disproportionately affecting Black voters. UPCOMING: 900 words by 3 p.m. photos.
HOMELAND SECURITY-WOLF — President Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security denies the agency altered intelligence to benefit the administration. Chad Wolf says a whistle-blower’s complaint about pressure to mold intelligence was “patently false” and a delayed report on Russian disinformation about Biden was held back so it could be improved—and wasn’t substantially changed. SENT: 800 words, photos.
TRUMP-BOLTON BOOK — White House officials repeatedly exerted political pressure in an unsuccessful effort to block the release of former national security adviser John Bolton’s tell-all book, according to a court filing from a career government records professional who fly-specked the book for classified material. SENT: 600 words, photo.
TRUMP-CUBA — President Trump announces the U.S. will bar Americans from bringing Cuban cigars and rum into the U.S. under new sanctions intended to financially starve the island’s government. The move comes as Trump courts the votes of Cuban Americans and floats the name of a Cuban American from electorally important Florida as a possible nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. SENT: 350 words. UPCOMING: 600 words by 4 p.m. photo.
DEMOCRATS-PRESIDENTIAL ABUSES — House Democrats propose a sweeping bill to curb presidential abuses, a pitch to voters weeks ahead of Election Day as they try to defeat President Donald Trump, capture the Senate from Republicans and keep their House majority. SENT: 740 words, photo.
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WESTERN WILDFIRES — Firefighters are finally starting to tame an enormous wildfire burning in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles. Officials are confident that crews will make more progress on the Bobcat Fire after containment hit 38% — a 21% jump from a day earlier — before hot, dry winds return to Southern California in a few days. SENT: 320 words, photos.
CALIFORNIA-GAS VEHICLES — California Gov. Gavin Newsom says the state will halt sales of new gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks by 2035. SENT: 150 words, developing.
NUCLEAR SITE CORRUPTION — Two companies that do work at a former nuclear weapons production plant will pay fines of nearly $58 million for improperly billing the federal government for thousands of hours of work that were not performed. SENT: 680 words, photo.
SOUTH CAROLINA-TEACHERS — Some South Carolina teachers took a personal day Wednesday to fight for safer classrooms amid the pandemic as well as an annual small raise that was frozen after the economy crashed because of the virus. SENT: 710 words, photos.
TROOPER UNMASKING-TENNESSEE -- Records show a former Tennessee state trooper’s insistence that he never yanked the mask off a protester near the state Capitol was refuted by surveillance footage and an eyewitness account from a fellow law enforcement officer. SENT: 925 words, photo.
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GERMANY-RUSSIA-NAVALNY — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been released from a Berlin hospital after more than a month’s treatment for poisoning, with doctors now believing that a “complete recovery” from the nerve agent is possible. SENT: 590 words, photos.
BELARUS-PROTESTS — President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus assumes his sixth term of office during an inauguration ceremony that officials did not announce in advance after weeks of mass protests against the authoritarian leader’s reelection, which opposition activists maintain was rigged. SENT: 650 words, photos.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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SCI-ASTEROID FLYBY — An asteroid the size of a school bus is headed our way, but NASA says the space rock will zoom safely past Earth on Thursday. The newly discovered asteroid will come within 13,000 miles of Earth, well below many of the communications satellites orbiting the planet, scientists said this week. SENT: 215 words, photo.
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FINANCIAL MARKETS — U.S. stock indexes were lower as Wall Street’s tumultuous month continues to churn. SENT: 700 words, photos, developing.
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TV-JOHN LEWIS — In an indirect way, the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was responsible for CNN Films’ new documentary on the life of civil rights icon John Lewis. The unexpected commercial success of the “RBG” film in theaters two years ago provided a template for “John Lewis: Good Trouble,” which airs on the network on Sunday. By Media Writer David Bauder. SENT: 750 words, photos.
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OBIT-SAYERS — Gale Sayers, the dazzling and elusive running back who entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame despite the briefest of careers and whose fame extended far beyond the field for decades thanks to a friendship with a dying Chicago Bears teammate, has died. He was 77. Nicknamed “The Kansas Comet” and considered among the best open-field runners the game has ever seen, Sayers died Wednesday. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.
HKN—STANLEY CUP — The Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning face off in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, which is tied at one win apiece. By Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos. With separates on merit. Game starts 8 p.m.
BKN—CELTICS-HEAT — The Miami Heat look to take a 3-1 lead and the Boston Celtics aim to knot things at 2-2 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals. By Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos. Game begins 8:30 p.m.
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