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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FEDERAL AGENCIES-HACKED — The Justice Department says about 3 percent of its email accounts could be compromised as part of a massive breach of federal government agencies that U.S. officials have linked to Russia. By Eric Tucker. SENT: 95 words. UPCOMING: Developing.
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CONGRESS-ELECTORAL COLLEGE — Congress convenes an extraordinary special joint session to confirm the Electoral College vote won by Joe Biden over President Donald Trump’s relentless effort to overturn the presidential election and cling to the presidency. By Lisa Mascaro and Mary Clare Jalonick. SENT: 1,100 words. UPCOMING: Developing from 1 p.m. session, debate, 1,140 words by 5 p.m., photos, video. With CONGRESS-ELECTORAL COLLEGE-THE LATEST, developing. WITH: CONGRESS-ELECTORAL COLLEGE-FACT CHECK — President Donald Trump pressed his hopeless case for overturning the election results before a crowd of supporters Wednesday as Congress prepared to tally the electoral votes affirming President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. By Calvin Woodward. SENT: 660 words. UPCOMING: Developing throughout the day, 1,000 words by 4 p.m., photos.
COLLEGE-ELECTORAL COLLEGE PENCE —Defying President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence says he does not have the power to discard electoral votes that will make Democrat Joe Biden the next president on Jan. 20. By Jill Colvin and Zeke Miller. SENT: 877 words UPCOMING: Developing from 1 p.m. joint session, 990 words by 5 p.m., photos.
ELECTORAL COLLEGE-PROTESTS — Several thousand protesters are cheering President Trump and his baseless claims of election fraud at a rally near the White House before Congress’ vote to affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Trump told the protesters, “We will not let them silence your voices.” The rally was scheduled on the same day that Congress votes to certify the Electoral College vote. Police reported 12 protest-related arrests on Tuesday and Wednesday for a variety of offenses, including weapons charges, assault on a police officer, simple assault, possessing a stun gun and other violations. By Ben Fox, Ashraf Khalil and Michael Balsalmo. SENT: 975 words, photos.
Find full coverage plan on Congress’ electoral count here.
BIDEN-ATTORNEY-GENERAL-MERRICK GARLAND — President-elect Joe Biden has selected Merrick Garland, a federal appeals court judge, as his attorney general, two people familiar with the selection process said. Garland, a federal appeals court judge, in 2016 was snubbed by Republicans for a seat on the Supreme Court, Biden is expected to announce Garland’s appointment on Thursday, along with other senior leaders of the department, including former homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco as deputy attorney general and former Justice Department civil rights chief Vanita Gupta as associate attorney general. By Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo. SENT: 915 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-US SURGE — New York’s governor is threatening to fine hospitals that don’t use their allotment of COVID-19 vaccine fast enough. His counterpart in South Carolina says hospitals and health care workers have until Jan. 15 to get a shot or move to the back of the line. California’s governor wants to use dentists to dispense shots. With frustration rising over the slow rollout of the vaccine, state leaders and other politicians are turning up the pressure, improvising and seeking to bend the rules to get shots in arms more quickly. By Michelle R. Smith. SENT: 700 words, photos.
SENATE-GEORGIA — Democrat Raphael Warnock won one of Georgia’s two Senate runoffs, becoming the first Black senator in his state’s history and putting the Senate majority within the party’s reach. By Steve Peoples and Bill Barrow. SENT: 1090 words. UPCOMING: Developing, 1110 words by 4 p.m., photos, video. WITH: SENATE-GEORGIA-THE LATEST, developing. WITH: SENATE-GEORGIA-WARNOCK— The Rev. Raphael Warnock’s roots showed little promise of a future that led to the U.S. Senate. He grew up in Savannah in the Kayton Homes public housing project, the second youngest of 12 children. His mother as a teenager had worked as a sharecropper picking cotton and tobacco. His father was a preacher who also made money hauling old cars to a local scrapyard. SENT: 999 words, photos.
Find complete coverage of the Georgia runoff election here.
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CONGRESS-ELECTORAL COLLEGE-MCCONNELL - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell thinks it’s dangerous for his party to challenge President-elect Joe Biden’s election triumph. But some Republicans are charging ahead anyway, and this time McConnell is facing dynamics he can’t fully control. By Alan Fram and Andrew Taylor. SENT: 860 words. UPCOMING: Joint Session at 1 p.m., McConnell remarks expected when Senate debate convenes.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-EUROPE-VACCINES — The European Union’s medicines agency gave the green light Wednesday to Moderna Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine, a decision that gives the 27-nation bloc a second vaccine to use in the desperate battle to tame the virus rampaging across the continent. SENT: 650 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-BALKANS-NO VACCINES — When thousands of people in the European Union rolled up their sleeves to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, one corner of the continent felt isolated and abandoned: the Balkans. Serbia, Bosnia, Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro — the home to some 20 million people — are lagging far behind in the World Health Organization’s massive global vaccination plan. SENT: 1,020 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CONVENTS — A home for retired and infirm nuns lost nine residents to COVID-19 during December as the coronavirus pandemic’s second wave surged in upstate New York. The St. Joseph’s Provincial House near Albany had been spared by the virus in its first wave last spring. But last month, 47 of its 140 residents tested positive for the virus, along with 21 employees. SENT: 590 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRITAIN — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged that his government would use “every available second” to shield the elderly and the vulnerable from the virus rampaging across Britain as he told Parliament why the country needed to return to a COVID-19 lockdown. SENT: 750 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CALIFORNIA — Hospitals in California are so swamped by the coronavirus pandemic that the state has ordered those with room to accept patients from others that are out of intensive care beds. SENT: 800 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NETHERLANDS-VACCINATIONS — Nearly two weeks after most other European Union nations, the Netherlands begins its COVID-19 vaccination program, with nursing home staff and frontline workers in hospitals first in line for the shot. SENT: 540 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-WHO-CHINA — China says it was still negotiating with the World Health Organization the dates and itinerary for a visit by international experts looking into origins of COVID-19, after the head of the agency criticized Beijing for not finalizing permissions for the mission. SENT: 340 words, photo.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-GREECE — The Greek government relented and allowed limited attendance at churches celebrating the feast of the Epiphany, reversing a ban on attendance designed to limit the spread of the coronavirus. SENT: 390 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ASIA — Tokyo reported a daily record of 1,591 coronavirus cases as the national government prepares to declare a state of emergency this week to cope with a new wave of infections. SENT: 820 words, photos.
Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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BRITAIN-ASSANGE — A British judge has denied bail to WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange, who has been jailed in Britain since 2019 as he fights extradition to the United States. By Jill Lawless. SENT: 650 words, photos.
SUDAN-US — Sudan said it had signed an agreement with the United States that paves the way for the cash-strapped African nation to normalize relations with Israel and help clear some of its massive debt to the World Bank. SENT: 930 words, photo.
ISRAEL-POLITICS-NETANYAHU’S-LIFELINE — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has placed his world-leading coronavirus vaccination drive at the center of his March re-election campaign, apparently seeking to distract voters from his corruption trial and economic woes. SENT: 1,030 words, photos.
HONG KONG-CRACKDOWN — Hong Kong police arrested 53 former lawmakers and democracy proponents Wednesday for allegedly violating the new national security law by participating in unofficial election primaries for the territory’s legislature last year. SENT: 1,340 words, photos. With HONG-KONG-EXPLAINING-THE-CRACKDOWN — Hong Kong mass arrests chill democracy movement. SENT: 450 words, photos.
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RACIAL INJUSTICE-LOUISVILLE POLICE —Two more officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor have been fired — a detective believed to have fired the fatal shot and another who sought the search warrant that led to the deadly raid, authorities announced. SENT: 875 words, photos.
POLICE SHOOTING-WISCONSIN KENOSHA — The police shooting of Jacob Blake was a shocking moment in a summer full of them -- an officer filmed on citizen video, pursuing a man trying to get into an SUV and shooting him seven times. More than four months later, without body-camera video that might have given a closer view of what happened, a prosecutor’s decision not to charge the officer was unsurprising to some — and Blake’s supporters and activists say laws would need to be changed for there to be a different outcome in other cases involving police force. By Amy Forliti and Michael Tarm. UPCOMING: 850 words by 6 p.m., photos, video.
SUBDUED MARDI GRAS — A subdued Carnival season is starting in New Orleans. This year the coronavirus pandemic has put an end to the crowd-heavy balls and street parades that draw thousands of people to the city every year. Mardi Gras season always starts on Jan. 6 and ends on Fat Tuesday, which this year falls on Feb. 16. The pandemic hasn’t stopped notoriously creative New Orleanians from coming up with socially distant ways to celebrate. SENT: 400 words, photos.
EXPLOSION-NASHVILLE — The FBI investigation into whether the Nashville bombing was a terrorist act has sparked criticism about a possible racial double standard and drawn questions from downtown business owners whose insurance coverage could be affected by the bureau’s assessment. SENT: 830 words, photos.
PICTURES OF THE MONTH-RELIGION PHOTO GALLERY — Santa Claus got around quite a bit last month — despite the pandemic. There he was speaking to a toddler at a Christmas fair in Venezuela’s capital. Linking arms in a prayer circle with leather-clad members of a faith-based Missouri motorcycle club. In Gaza City, not one but two Santas posed with restaurant-goers for a selfie in front of a tall tree bedecked with ornaments. SENT: 325 words.
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FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Most stocks across Wall Street were higher after Democrats won one of the two runoff elections in Georgia that will determine which party controls the Senate. SENT: 960 words, photos.
AUTOMOBILE MILEAGE — A new government report says gas mileage for new vehicles dropped and pollution increased in model year 2019 for the first time in five years. The mileage increase comes as Americans continue to buy SUVs and trucks, and shift away from more efficient vehicles. SENT: 400 words, photos.
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TV-PBS-ALL CREATURES — A reboot of the PBS favorite “All Creatures Great and Small” has the ambitious goal of bringing comfort and connection at a difficult time. By TV Writer Lynn Elber. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos by 4 p.m.
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FBN--BUCCANEERS-BRADY — At 43 years old, six-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady continues to defy Father Time and is eager to build on an ever-expanding legacy in his first playoff appearance with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. UPCOMING: 650 words by 7 p.m., photos.
FBN--WHIRLWIND WASHINGTON — Washington’s NFL team has been at the center of arguably the biggest soap opera in professional sports the last few months. Washington dumped its 86-year-old team name, handed over an investigation into workplace misconduct to the NFL, had minority owners and Dan Snyder engulfed in a legal fight, saw coach Ron Rivera battle a form of skin cancer and reached the playoffs on the arm of a quarterback who hadn’t played in two years. UPCOMING: 700 words by 7 p.m., photos.
FBC--NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP-SERMON — In the first four games of Ohio State’s pandemic-shortened season, transfer running back Trey Sermon was easy to overlook. But nobody is overlooking Sermon now as he and the Buckeyes prepare to face top-ranked Alabama in the national championship game on Monday night. UPCOMING: 750 words by 6 p.m., photos.