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
President Donald Trump speaks during an event to sign executive orders on lowering drug prices, in the South Court Auditorium in the White House complex, Friday, July 24, 2020, in Washington. (AP PhotoAlex Brandon)
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AP POLL-VIRUS OUTBREAK-ECONOMY — Nearly half of Americans whose families experienced a layoff during the coronavirus pandemic now believe those jobs are lost forever, a new poll shows, a sign of increasing pessimism that would translate into roughly 10 million workers needing to find a new employer, if not a new occupation. By Josh Boak and Emily Swanson. SENT: 950 words, photos, graphics, video.
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TOP STORIES
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VIRUS OUTBREAK — As public health officials warned that the coronavirus posed new risks to parts of the Midwest and South, enhanced federal payments that helped avert financial ruin for millions of unemployed Americans were set to expire — leaving threadbare safety nets offered by individual states to catch them. Since early in the pandemic, the federal government has added $600 to the weekly unemployment checks that states send. That increase ends this week, and with Congress still haggling over next steps, most states will not be able to offer nearly as much. By Geoff Mulvihill, Justin Pritchard and Dave Kolpack. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.
RACIAL-INJUSTICE-PORTLAND — U.S. agents again used tear gas to try to disperse a large crowd of protesters outside the federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, Friday night after multiple fireworks were shot towards the building as raucous demonstrations continued in the city. By Gillian Flaccus and Sara Cline. SENT: 1075 words, photos. WITH: RACIAL INJUSTICE-PORTLAND-MESSAGE — Black leaders and protesters say the surge in protest activity targeting the federal intervention in Portland, Oregon, hasn’t distracted from their anti-racist message. SENT: 860 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CONGRESS — Negotiations over the next COVID-19 rescue bill are in flux. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has sent senators home for the weekend, promising a Republican proposal will be ready Monday. Outraged Democrats warn that time is being wasted on GOP infighting as the virus worsens. By Lisa Mascaro. SENT: 780 words, photos. WITH: CONGRESS-AGENDA — Even as lawmakers stumble in their quest to pass another coronavirus response measure, both the House and Senate tried to return to some semblance of normal business this week, passing annual must-do measures on spending and defense policy. By Andrew Taylor. SENT: 690 words, photos.
ELECTION 2020-TRUMP-SUBURBS — President Donald Trump is trying to win over suburbanites by promising to protect their “beautiful” neighborhoods from the racial unrest that has gripped some U.S. cities this summer. It’s a strategy with some record of success, but even some GOP strategists and Republican voters note it doesn’t account for rapid demographic changes. By Sara Burnett and Michael Rubinkam. SENT: 1,170 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-STUDENT DEPOSITS -- College students are getting ready to return to school in August as the country deals with the coronavirus pandemic. More and more campuses are sparking frustration by releasing plans to keep students’ housing payments, even if the campuses shut down again and go entirely online in the fall. By Bryan Anderson. SENT: 835 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MIGRANT CHILDREN-HOTELS — Legal groups have sued the U.S. government in an attempt to prevent the rapid expulsion of children that the Trump administration detained in hotel rooms under an emergency declaration citing the coronavirus. SENT: 620 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS — A week after revoking sweeping new restrictions on international students, federal immigration officials announce that new foreign students will be barred from entering the United States if they plan to take their classes entirely online this fall. By Collin Binkley. UPCOMING: 630 words, photo by 7 p.m.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRAZIL EVICTIONS — The growing number of evictions in Brazil driven by the COVID-19 pandemic is worsening an already serious housing problem in the country. SENT: 690 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-CONVENTS — At a convent near Detroit, 13 elderly nuns have died of COVID-19. The toll is seven at a center for Maryknoll sisters near New York, and six at Wisconsin convent that serves nuns with fading memories. Each community perseveres, though social-distancing rules have made communal solidarity a challenge as the losses are mourned. SENT: 900 words, photos by 6 p.m.
VIRUS OUTBREAK--EUROPE — England’s new rules on mask-wearing took effect Friday, with face coverings required to enter banks, stores and food shops. Refusing to follow the rule can result in hefty fines. SENT: 825 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHILD ABUSE — Worried by an alarming spike in child sexual abuse before and during the coronavirus pandemic, the European Union’s executive arm has unveiled plans for a center devoted to preventing the mistreatment of children and for legislation requiring online platforms to report child pornography. SENT: 450 words, photos.
A separate wire advisory has been sent outlining the AP’s complete coronavirus coverage.
Find more coverage of the Virus Outbreak in AP Newsroom.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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NOT-REAL-NEWS — A range of false claims circulated online this week, from posts suggesting the U.S. coin shortage is a government plot to usher in a cashless society, to photos of buses used by the Toronto Raptors being mislabeled as transporting Black Lives Matter protesters. SENT: 2,440 words, photos.
TROPICAL WEATHER — Forecasters have issued a hurricane warning for parts of the Texas coast as Tropical Storm Hanna threatened to bring heavy rain, storm surge and strong winds, all while another tropical storm is approaching the Caribbean. SENT: 400 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MEL GIBSON — A representative for Mel Gibson says the actor spent a week in a Los Angeles hospital in April after testing positive for COVID-19. SENT: 125 words, photos.
BRITAIN-JOHNNY DEPP — Johnny Depp’s lawyers in his libel suit against a British tabloid that labeled the actor a “wife beater” displayed video footage in a London courtroom that they claim shows that his ex-wife, Amber Heard, “attacked” her sister. SENT: 600 words, photos.
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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
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TRUMP-REGULATION POLITICS — President Trump is positioning himself as a champion regulation-cutter in the leadup to the Nov. 3 election. But in between his showy red-tape-cutting events, the president’s deregulatory agenda is taking a beating in the courts. By Kevin Freking and Ellen Knickmeyer. SENT: 940 words, photo.
FUTURE BOMBERS — In the topsy-turvy world of U.S. strategic bombers, older and uglier beats newer and snazzier. As the Air Force charts the future of its bomber aircraft fleet, the youngest and priciest, the stealthy B-2, is to be retired first. The oldest and stodgiest — the Vietnam-era B-52, nicknamed the Big Ugly Fat Fellow — will go last. By Robert Burns. SENT: 990 words, photo.
TRUMP-PRESCRIPTION DRUGS — President Trump has been unable to land the big deal he sought with Congress to curb drug costs. But now he’s moving on his own to allow imports of cheaper prescription medicines, along with other limited steps that could still have election-year appeal. By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar. SENT: 860 words, photos, video.
ALASKA-PEBBLE-MINE — A new environmental review suggests a proposed open-pit copper and gold mine at the headwaters of a major U.S. salmon fishery in southwest Alaska would not measurably affect fish numbers. Conservation and fishing groups call the review inadequate. SENT: 910 words, photos.
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NATIONAL
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SCHOOL SHOOTING-COLORADO — A teen who told authorities that he launched a fatal shooting attack on his suburban Denver school last year because he wanted them to experience trauma like that he had experienced has been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after about two decades behind bars. SENT: 370 words, photos.
ANTIFEMINIST LAWYER — Authorities believe a men’s rights lawyer shot and killed a fellow attorney in California in the days before he attacked a federal judge’s family in New Jersey and died by suicide, officials have announced. SENT: 520 words, photos.
HAWAII HURRICANE - Hawaii could be the first state to face a hurricane during the pandemic as Douglas continued to bear down on the Hawaiian islands. While expected to weaken, it still could hit the islands with hurricane or near-hurricane force by Sunday or Monday, which could strain the concept of social distancing if people are forced into shelters. SENT: 725 words, photos.
DEMOCRATIC-PARTY-FIRE — A fire that destroyed part of the Arizona and Maricopa County Democratic Party headquarters was an act of arson, authorities have said. SENT: 410 words, photos.
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INTERNATIONAL
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CHINA-US-ROCKY RELATIONS — Four decades after the U.S. established diplomatic ties with Communist China, the relationship between the two is at a turning point. Tensions have reached new heights on what has always been a rocky road, as the ambitions of a rising superpower increasingly clash with those of the established one. SENT: 840 words, photos. WITH: CHINA-US — China is ordering the United States to close its consulate in the western city of Chengdu in an increasingly rancorous diplomatic conflict. SENT: 870 words, photos; CHINESE SCIENTIST-US CONSULATE — A Chinese researcher accused of concealing her ties to the Chinese military on applications she submitted to work in the U.S. has been booked into a Northern California jail and was expected to appear in federal court Monday. SENT: 380 words, photos.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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VISITING COMET-NORTH CAROLINA -- The newly discovered comet Neowise is only visible from Earth once every 6,800 years, and photographers who want to document it seek places with high elevation and little smog or light pollution. A place like North Carolina’s famed Grandfather Mountain. SENT: 425 words, photos.
RUSSIA-MAMMOTH -- Russian scientists are working to retrieve the well-preserved skeleton of a woolly mammoth, which has some ligaments still attached to it, from a lake in northern Siberia. SENT: 225 words, photos.
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BUSINESS/ECONOMY
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FAA-BOEING-PLANES — Safety regulators have issued an emergency order directing airlines to inspect and if necessary replace a critical engine part on popular Boeing 737 jets after four reports of engines shutting down during flights. The Federal Aviation Administration has said that its order affected about 2,000 twin-engine passenger jets in the United States. SENT: 450 words, photos.
FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Stocks moved broadly lower on Wall Street amid increased tensions between the world’s two largest economies and a mixed batch of company earnings reports. SENT: 790 words, photos, developing. WITH: NEW HOME SALES — Sales of new homes rose a sharp 13.8% in June. SENT: 300 words, photos.
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ENTERTAINMENT
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EMMY NOMINATIONS — Television has been America’s constant companion amid an unyielding virus and whirlwind of racial reappraisal. But will the Emmy nominations arriving Tuesday reflect the times or retreat to the familiar? The announcement itself was forced to bow to health safeguards, going virtual and without the usual mini-swarm of reporters and anxious publicists on hand at the TV academy’s Los Angeles headquarters. SENT: 800 words, photos.
MEDIA-CNN-COSTAS -- Time to cut a conversation with Bob Costas short. The new boss — CNN chief Jeff Zucker — is calling on the other line. Costas, who ended his 40-year hitch at NBC Sports more than a year ago, this week signed on as a CNN contributor to offer commentary on the intersection of news and sports. SENT: 455 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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BBA—MARINERS-ASTROS — Dusty Baker posted a win in his debut as Houston’s manager and the Astros, playing for the first time since their sign-stealing scandal rocked baseball, opened the season by beating the Seattle Mariners 8-2. SENT: 930 words, photos.
BBA--BLUE JAYS-BUFFALO — The displaced Blue Jays will play this season in Buffalo, their Triple-A affiliate in New York, the AP is told. Canada prevented the team from playing in in Toronto because of the pandemic, and a deal to go to Pittsburgh was blocked. SENT: 350 words, photos. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos by 6:30 p.m.
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HOW TO REACH US
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