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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BIDEN-INFLATION — The U.S. economy may be poised for the fastest growth since 1984, but many Americans are not feeling all that confident about the economy, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Republican lawmakers have attacked the Biden administration over inflation as the country reopened from the coronavirus and feelings about the economy are settling along partisan lines. By Josh Boak and Hannah Fingerhut SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
TEXAS RANSOMWARE -- A ransomware attack that affected roughly two dozen Texas communities two years ago caused disruptions to core government services as workers in small cities and towns and endured a cascade of frustrations. Thousands of pages obtained by AP and interviews with people involved show the many problems faced by the communities. By Jake Bleiberg and Eric Tucker. SENT: 1900 words, photos, video. An abridged version is available.
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TOP STORIES
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WARMING WATERS-DYING FISH — Baby salmon are dying by the thousands in one California river, and an entire run of endangered salmon could be wiped out in another. Fishermen who make their living off adult salmon, once they enter the Pacific Ocean, are sounding the alarm as blistering heat waves and extended drought in the U.S. West raise water temperatures and imperil fish from Idaho to California. By Daisy Nguyen. SENT: 1,080 words, photos.
CONGRESS-INFRASTRUCTURE – Senators were running into new problems as they raced to seal a bipartisan infrastructure deal with pressure mounting on all sides to show progress on President Joe Biden’s top priority. By Hope Yen and Lisa Mascaro. SENT: 900 words, photos. Developing.
OLYMPICS-THE WEATHER FACTOR — First, the sun. Now: the wind and the rain. The Tokyo Olympics, delayed by the pandemic and opened under oppressive heat, is due for another hit of nature’s power: a typhoon arriving Tuesday morning that is forecast to disrupt at least some of the games. By AP Sports Writer Jenna Fryer. SENT: 750 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW YORK — New York City will require all of its municipal workers — including teachers and police officers — to get coronavirus vaccines by mid-September or face weekly COVID-19 testing, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. By Karen Matthews and Jennifer Peltz. SENT: 370 words, photo. With: VIRUS OUTBREAK-CALIFORNIA — California will require state employees and all health care workers to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or get tested weekly. SENT: 240 words.
CAPITOL BREACH-INVESTIGATION-THOMPSON - Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson is about to pick up his duties as chairman of a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. The FBI’s assessments about the growing dangers of domestic extremism, he said, show that “the significance of this committee’s work is as important as it can ever get.” By Mary Claire Jalonick. With AP Photos. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
HOMESCHOOLING SURGE — Some U.S. parents say they’re planning to continue to homeschool their children, even as schools resume in-person classes. Danielle King of Randolph, Vermont, says requiring homeschooling for her 7-year-old daughter was a “silver lining” in the pandemic. Some families who spoke with The Associated Press have children with special educational needs. Others seek a faith-based curriculum or say their local schools are flawed. By AP National Writer David Crary. SENT: 1,130 words, photos.
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THE OLYMPICS
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OLY-OLYMPIAN TATTOOS-PHOTO GALLERY — AP PHOTOS: Taboo in Tokyo, tattoos on display at Olympics. SENT: 200 words, photos.
NORWAY-BEACH HANDBALL-CLOTHING-PINK — U.S. pop singer Pink has offered to pay a fine given to the Norwegian female beach handball team for wearing shorts instead of the required bikini bottoms. SENT: 335 words, photo.
OLY--TRANSGENDER OLYMPIANS — Canadian soccer player Quinn became the first openly transgender athlete to participate in the Olympics when they started on Wednesday night for Canada’s 1-1 draw with Japan in Sapporo. Quinn, who is nonbinary and uses they and them pronouns, came out as transgender last year. SENT: 865 words, photos.
TEN-TENNIS — Naomi Osaka has the hopes of the entire host nation resting on her. Novak Djokovic is attempting to accomplish something that no man has done before in tennis. Both players are after something special at the Tokyo Olympics and both produced convincing victories to reach the last 16 at Ariake Tennis Park. By Sports Writer Andrew Dampf. SENT: 850 words, photos.
SWM-PEATY’S MOMENT — Adam Peaty cashed in as the surest bet at the Olympic pool, winning the 100-meter breaststroke to earn Britain’s first gold of the Tokyo Games. He won in 57.37 seconds on Monday, blowing away the field with the fifth-fastest time in history. Peaty’s preparation for the pandemic-delayed Olympics was unlike any other. He became a father for the first time and had his training and competition schedules curtailed for months while the COVID-19 crisis played out around the world. Hiding his roller-coaster emotions from his family and friends, Peaty finally unleashed his intensity in the two-lap race. By Sports Writer Beth Harris. SENT: 530 words, photos.
SKB-SKATEBOARDING-WOMEN’S STREET -- Three teenage girls — 13, 13 and 16 — climbed the Olympic podium for the first time with weighty gold, silver and bronze medals around their young necks, rewards for having landed tricks on their skateboards that most kids their age only get to see on Instagram. By John Leicester. SENT: 300 words, photos.
OLY-TV-SEXUALIZED-IMAGES — Each Olympics aims to set the highest level of television standards. The head of broadcasting at the Tokyo Games wants to reach this goal by banishing overly sexualized images of female athletes. By Graham Dunbar. SENT: 510 words, photos.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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GERMANY-BIONTECH-MALARIA — Vaccine maker BioNTech to use mRNA tech to target malaria. SENT: 200 words, photo.
PAKISTAN-SCOTTISH CLIMBER — A renowned Scottish climber died in an avalanche while attempting to scale K2 in northern Pakistan, the world’s second-highest mountain peak, a Pakistani mountaineering official and the charity said. SENT: 290 words, photos.
SPAIN WILDFIRES — A soft rain is bringing respite to firefighters and Spain’s army working to quench the flames in a major forest fire that has burned over 1,600 hectares in the northeastern Catalonia region. SENT: 280 words, photos.
FATAL PILEUP CRASH-UTAH — Utah Highway Patrol says at least eight people died when 22 vehicles were involved in a pileup crash during a sandstorm. The agency says in a news release that the crashes happened Sunday afternoon on Interstate 15 near the town of Kanosh. SENT: 250 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK — Life has been tentatively returning to normal in India as coronavirus cases declined. But, for many, the worst may lay ahead as they deal with the crushing financial aftermath of huge piles of medical bills. Most Indians don’t have health insurance and costs for COVID-19 treatment have left them drowning in debt. SENT: 1,080 words, photos.
OLY-VIRUS DIARY-SENT BACK — What happens when your Olympics COVID test was taken 39 minutes early? For AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson, that meant a trip back across the Pacific Ocean to the United States, another test and then yet another plane back to Tokyo. SENT: 660 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CONGRESS — A Republican Congressman from Louisiana who has criticized mask mandates and public health restrictions says he and his wife and son are now sick with the coronavirus. Rep. Clay Higgins says he and his wife were infected last year, but this time around is much more difficult. SENT: 230 words, photo.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-FRANCE-MANDATORY VACCINATIONS — While most French health care workers are vaccinated against the coronavirus, a small but vocal minority is holding out. A law requiring them to get injected is exposing this divide and prompting mixed reactions across the medical profession. SENT: 920 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-SOUTH AFRICA — South Africa’s government has lifted a ban on liquor sales and relaxed other pandemic restrictions, reporting that a recent spike in coronavirus cases has passed its peak, the president said. SENT: 520 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MEXICO-BLACK POLITICIAN — One of Mexico’s few Black politicians has died after contracting COVID-19 in April, leaders of his party confirmed. René Juárez once served as governor of the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, which, along with neighboring Oaxaca and the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, are home to to much of Mexico’s relatively small Black population. SENT: 230 words.
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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-BIDEN — The United States will keep existing COVID-19 travel restrictions on international travel in place for now because of concerns about the surging infection rate due to the delta variant. That’s according to a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the yet to be formally announced decision. SENT: 235 words, photos.
UNITED STATES-IRAQ - President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi are set to announce that they’ve come to an agreement to end the U.S. military’s combat mission in Iraq by the end of the year. By Aamer Madhani, Robert Burns and Qassim Abdul-Zahra. SENT: 980 words, photos.
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT-US ATTORNEYS — President Joe Biden is nominating eight new leaders for U.S. attorney positions across the country, including in the office overseeing the prosecutions of hundreds of defendants charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. If confirmed by the Senate, the nominees would run offices in the District of Columbia, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Washington state. Most would be historic firsts, including the first Black or female attorneys to lead their districts, the Biden administration said. SENT: 620 words, photos.
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INTERNATIONAL
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AFGHANISTAN-CIVILIAN CASUALTIES — The U.N. says in a new report that more women and children were killed and wounded in Afghanistan in the first half of 2021 than in any year since the United Nations began keeping count in 2009. It comes as the Taliban have swiftly captured territory in recent weeks, seized strategic border crossings and threatening a number of provincial capitals. By Rahim Faiez. SENT: 730 words, photos.
UNITED NATIONS-FOOD SUMMIT — Pope Francis decried as criminal the existence of hunger in a world which can produce enough food for all, building on a warning from the chief of the United Nations that climate change and conflict are both a consequence and a driver of poverty and income inequality. SENT: 470 words.
CHINA-US — High-level face-to-face talks between U.S. and Chinese diplomats highlighted sharp differences between the sides. China issued a long list of demands and complaints, accusing the U.S. of trying to contain and suppress China’s development, while America brought up its concerns about human rights and other issues, and urged cooperation on matters including climate change, Iran and North Korea. SENT: 590 words, photos. With: CHINA-US-AP-INTERVIEW — A senior U.S. diplomat called on China to look beyond differences and work with the United States on difficult global issues such as climate and the COVID-19 pandemic as a responsible global power. SENT: 330 words, photo.
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NATIONAL
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DROUGHT-GREAT-SALT-LAKE — The water levels at the Great Salt Lake have hit a historic low, a grim milestone for the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi River that comes as a megadrought grips the region. SENT: 300 words.
POLICE REFORM-WASHINGTON STATE — Washington state is embarking on a massive experiment in police reform and accountability following the racial justice protests that erupted after George Floyd’s murder last year, with nearly a dozen laws taking effect Sunday. But law enforcement officials remain uncertain about what they require, leading to discrepancies around the state in how officers might respond — or not respond — to certain situations, including active crime scenes and mental health crises. SENT: 1,600 words, photos. With abridged version. SENT: 1,030 words, photos.
BORDER-NOEM — There’s plenty of political reasons for South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to visit the National Guard troops she deployed to the U.S. border with Mexico. She says she is making the flight to McAllen, Texas to check in on the roughly 50 National Guard members who volunteered for a 30-day deployment. SENT: 680 words, photos.
WESTERN-WILDFIRES — California’s largest wildfire merged with a smaller blaze and destroyed homes in remote areas with limited access for firefighters. SENT: 890 words, photos, video, audio.
CALIFORNIA-HOME-SHOOTINGS — Authorities say a California sheriff’s deputy and four other people were killed in a weekend shooting in a San Joaquin Valley home. Kern County sheriff’s Lt. Joel Swanson says the dead also include the suspected shooter and three people in the home who were apparently victims of the gunman. SENT: 150 words.
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ENTERTAINMENT
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VENICE-FILM-FESTIVAL-LINEUP — The Venice Film Festival has unveiled a starry lineup of world premieres for September including Pablo Larrain’s “Spencer,” starring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana and Ridley Scott’s medieval drama “The Last Duel,” featuring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Adam Driver. SENT: 320 words, photos.
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HEALTH/SCIENCE
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RANCHERS-DROUGHT — As the drought worsens across the West and ushers in an early fire season, cattle ranchers are among those feeling the pain. Their hay yields are down, leading some to make the hard decision to sell off animals. To avoid the high cost of feed, many ranchers grow hay to nourish their herds through the winter when snow blankets the grass they normally graze. SENT: 600 words, photos.
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BUSINESS
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FUTURE OF BUSINESS TRAVEL — Business travel is starting to recover from the pandemic, but the road warriors are coming back much more slowly than vacation travelers. That makes a big difference to airlines, which make as much as half of their revenue from business travel. SENT: 1,000 words, photo.
FEDERAL RESERVE — With inflation uncomfortably high and the COVID-19 Delta variant raising economic concerns, a divided Federal Reserve will meet this week to discuss when and how it should dial back its ultra-low-interest rate policies. SENT: 930 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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At the Nerve Center, Mike Stewart 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 844-777-2006.
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