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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TOP STORIES
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VIRUS OUTBREAK — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, returns to Capitol Hill at a fraught moment for the nation’s pandemic response. Coronavirus cases are rising in about half the states and political polarization is competing with public health recommendations. By Lauran Neergaard and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar. SENT: 670 words, photo. UPCOMING: 900 words after 11 a.m. hearing.
ELECTION 2020-TRUMP — Regrouping after a humbling weekend rally, President Donald Trump goes to Arizona to face another test of his ability to draw a crowd during a pandemic while trying to remind voters of one of his key 2016 promises: the U.S.-Mexico border wall. By Jonathan Lemire. SENT: 800 words, photo. UPCOMING: 700 words after 1:20 p.m. event. With ELECTION 2020-VIRUS-POLITICS — The thin crowd for Trump’s Saturday rally raises the question of whether pandemic-scarred Americans are ready to risk exposure for close-up engagement in the 2020 election. SENT: 990 words, photos.
POLICE SHOOTING-ATLANTA — Rayshard Brooks is to be remembered at the Atlanta church where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached. The private funeral for the man who was fatally shot by a police officer is to be held Tuesday at Ebenezer Baptist Church. The Rev. Raphael Warnock is to deliver the eulogy. Officer Garrett Rolfe fatally shot Brooks in the back after Brooks fired a Taser in his direction while running away after a struggle with officers outside a Wendy’s restaurant on June 12. By Kate Brumback SENT: 500 words, photos. DEVELOPING.
KOREAS-TENSIONS — A South Korean activist claims to have launched hundreds of thousands of leaflets by balloon across the border with North Korea. The move is certain to intensify animosities between the Koreas. Activist Park Sang-hak says his organization flew huge balloons carrying 500,000 leaflets, 2,000 one-dollar bills and small books on North Korea from the border on Monday night. Police in the South Korean border town of Paju say they are checking into the reports. By Hyung-Jin Kim and Kim Tong-Hyung. SENT: 750 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-VACATION HOTSPOTS — People are flocking to South Carolina’s beaches for vacation after being cooped up by COVID-19 for months. But the coronavirus is taking no vacation. The state now has the fourth-highest new infection rate in the nation when adjusted for population, trailing just Arizona, Arkansas and Alabama. One hot spot is around Myrtle Beach, which has seen COVID-19 cases jump from less than 300 at the start of June to nearly 1,600. By Jeffrey Collins. SENT: 1,102 words, photos.
LEBANON AMERICAN UNIVERSITY — One of the Arab world’s oldest and most prestigious universities, which endured civil war, kidnappings of its staff members and various economic crises, is preparing for what may be the biggest challenge in its 154-year history. The American University of Beirut is confronting a global pandemic, a severe recession and the collapse of Lebanon’s currency — all at the same time. The AUB president tells The Associated Press that the school, which ranks among the top 150 in the world, will lay off up to 25% of its workforce. By Zeina Karam. SENT: 800 words, photos.
Find more coverage of Racial Injustice on AP News.
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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NASCAR-SONOMA NOOSE— A makeshift noose was found hanging from a tree at the Sonoma Raceway in California and officials said they were investigating the incident. SENT: 170 words.
RACIAL INJUSTICE-JACKSON STATUE — Protesters tried to pull down a statue of President Andrew Jackson near the White House Monday night before being dispersed by police. SENT: 200 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAKS-VIRUS QUESTIONS-SUPPORT BUBBLE — Is it safe to form a COVID-19 “support bubble” with friends? Yes, if done correctly. The idea originated in New Zealand and is for two people or households to socialize in person only with each other to limit the risk of infection. Support bubbles, also known as quarantine pods, may help fend off loneliness and anxiety after months of social distancing. SENT: 290 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ASIA — Two schools have been closed in Melbourne, Australia, after students tested positive for the coronavirus. Victoria state has recorded 17 new cases and state Premier Daniel Andrews said there would be “significant community transmission” among the new cases. The suburbs where the schools are located are two of six local government hot spots in recent weeks. SENT: 370 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-POULTRY — China’s decision to ban imports from a single Tyson Foods poultry plant where there was a coronavirus outbreak has raised concerns about the implications on the U.S. meat industry if the action is expanded to other plants. The short statement the Chinese customs agency issued about suspending imports from the Springdale, Arkansas, plant didn’t offer any hint of whether the ban would be expanded. SENT: 740 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-REOPENING SCHOOLS — As schools consider how and when to reopen their buildings during the pandemic, many are finding themselves overwhelmed by the potential expenses that would come with operating under social distancing guidelines: protective equipment, staff for smaller classrooms, and additional transportation to keep students spread out on bus rides. The burdens loom large in particular for urban, under-resourced districts that often have neither the space nor the budgets to accommodate new health protocols. SENT: 780 words, photos.
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MORE ON RACIAL INJUSTICE
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RACIAL INJUSTICE-TIM SCOTT — Initially reluctant to speak on race, Sen. Tim Scott is now among the Republican Party’s most prominent voices teaching his colleagues what it’s like to be a Black man in America. He is using his own experiences of “driving while Black” to explain what it’s like when the police lights are flashing in the rearview mirror. By Lisa Mascaro and Hilary Powell. SENT: 990 words, photo.
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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
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ELECTION 2020 — Overwhelmed Kentucky and New York officials face a deluge of mail-in votes that are likely to delay results for days in high-profile congressional primaries. Several contests are testing whether establishment Democratic congressional candidates can withstand challengers fueled by voter fury over racism. By Alan Fram. SENT: 710 words, photos. UPCOMING: Updates throughout the day; first polls close at 7 p.m. With ELECTION 2020-VOTING PROBLEMS — Voters who didn’t cast mail-in ballots could face long lines in Kentucky’s primary election. SENT: 990 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-VOTING RIGHTS — A troubled Georgia presidential primary and fears of a repeat Tuesday in Kentucky refocus attention on a diminished Voting Rights Act that Congress has left untouched since the Supreme Court gutted a key provision seven years ago. By Bill Barrow. SENT: 990 words, photo.
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INTERNATIONAL
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NORTH KOREA-EUROPE-WAR ORPHANS — During and after the 1950-53 Korean War, North Korea sent thousands of orphans it couldn’t feed to Eastern European communist allies. The children entered schools in Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and elsewhere, forming friendships, studying, playing. Then several years later they were all abruptly ordered to return home. A new South Korean documentary film, set to be released this month, sheds light on this mostly forgotten chapter of Cold War history using interviews with the North Koreans’ surviving European classmates and teachers. SENT: 980 words, photos.
UNITED NATIONS-CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC — The U.N. Security Council has warned that armed groups in Central African Republic violating a 2019 peace agreement could face international sanctions. And it urged all signatories to stick to their commitments and respond to cease-fire calls by the U.N. secretary-general and the African Union. SENT: 630 words, photos.
MONGOLIA ELECTIONS — Mongolia’s parliamentary elections Wednesday uphold a nearly 30-year democratic system in a vast but lightly populated country sandwiched between authoritarian regimes in Russia and China and beset by economic problems. Mongolia is the second country after South Korea to hold national elections during the coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 740 words, photos.
MALAWI ELECTIONS-RERUN — Polls have opened in Malawi and voters began casting their ballots Tuesday in a rerun of the presidential poll after the courts nullified the results of the election held more than a year ago. The Constitutional Court on Feb. 3 ordered that the election be held again, ruling that the first results were not valid because of widespread evidence of irregularities and vote tampering in the polls held in May 2019. SENT: 380 words, photos.
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NATIONAL
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MAN SAVES OFFICER — A Pennsylvania man is being credited with saving a Uniontown Police officer’s life after he helped pull him from a burning car Sunday night. Daylan McLee said he didn’t hesitate to save a human life. The 31-year-old Black man has had several bad interactions with police officers, having filed a wrongful arrest lawsuit against Pennsylvania State Police after he spent a year in jail before being acquitted in a situation where video showed he had disarmed a gunman, not pointed a gun at officers. SENT: 1,030 words, photos.
MISSING KIDS-IDAHO — Newly released court documents in the case of two kids who were found dead in rural Idaho reveal allegations that their mother believed they were zombies and that she was on a mission to rid the world of such creatures. Police found the remains of 17-year-old Tylee Ryan and her 7-year-old brother Joshua “JJ” Vallow on June 9 after months of searching. Their mother, Lori Vallow Daybell, and her new husband Chad Daybell, are behind bars. SENT: 930 words, photos.
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BUSINESS/ECONOMY
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BRAZIL-AMAZON INVESTORS — A group of mostly European investment firms sent a joint letter to Brazilian ambassadors in their countries to express concern over rising Amazon deforestation. Storebrand Asset Management collected the signatures of a total 29 companies that have a total $3.75 trillion in assets under management. The letter said that the “dismantling of environmental and human rights policies, are creating widespread uncertainty about the conditions for investing in or providing financial services to Brazil.″ SENT: 440 words, photos.
WEED KILLER-LABEL — A federal judge says California can’t require a cancer warning label on the weed killer Roundup. The San Francisco Chronicle says a judge in Sacramento issued a permanent injunction Monday barring the label requirement. California wanted the label because Roundup — the world’s most widely used weed killer — contains glyphosate, which an international agency said was a probable cause of cancer. SENT: 290 words.
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HEALTH/SCIENCE
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CHINA SATELLITE-LAUNCHED — China has launched the final satellite in its Beidou constellation that emulates the U.S. Global Positioning System. The satellite navigation system is a further step in China’s advance as a major space power. The launch of the satellite onboard a Long March-3 rocket was broadcast live from a base in the mountains of southwestern China. SENT: 530 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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