AP News Digest 6:15 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 in AP Newsroom.

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NEW/DEVELOPING

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UKRAINE-ISRAEL-MILITARY-AID; ELECTION-2024-NONCITIZEN-VOTING; CHOCOLATE-FACTORY-EXPLOSION; MINESOTA-TROOPERS-FREEWAY SHOOTING; OJ-SIMPSON-CREMATION; VENEZUELA-US-SANCTIONS; OBIT-BOB-GRAHAM; BKN--HEAT-76ERS; BKN--HAWKS-BULLS; OLY-PARIS-100-DAYS-SECURITY

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ONLY ON AP

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AP POLL-AAPI-CLIMATE CHANGE — Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in the United States are slightly more likely than the overall adult population to believe in human-caused climate change. The recent poll from AAPI Data and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 84% of AAPI adults agree climate change exists. In comparison, 74% of all U.S. adults hold the same sentiment. By Terry Tang and Linley Sanders. SENT: 1,000 words, photo.

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TOP STORIES

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MIDEAST-TENSIONS — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country will be the one to decide whether and how to respond to Iran’s major air assault earlier this week. Netanyahu brushed off calls for restraint from close allies, including the visiting foreign ministers of Germany and Britain. By Julia Frankel and Tia Goldenberg. SENT: 940 words, photos. WITH: MIDEAST-TENSIONS-THE-LATEST.

CONGRESS-MAYORKAS-IMPEACHMENT — The Senate has dismissed all impeachment charges against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, ending the House Republican push to remove the Cabinet secretary from office over his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border. The two votes effectively end the trial before arguments ever began. Senators voted separately to dismiss the two articles of impeachment, arguing that they were unconstitutional. By Mary Clare Jalonick. SENT: 1,300 words, photos, video, audio.

CONGRESS-UKRAINE — House Speaker Mike Johnson, facing a choice between potentially losing his job and advancing aid for Ukraine, has forged ahead toward a vote later this week on a package of funding that also includes Israel and Taiwan. By Stephen Groves and Lisa Mascaro. SENT: 1,110 words, photo. WITH: UKRAINE-ISRAEL-MILITARY-AID — Pentagon leaders press Congress for Ukraine funding, saying battlefield situation is dire (sent).

EDUCATION-CAMPUS ANTISEMITISM — Four months after a contentious congressional hearing led to the resignations of two Ivy League presidents, Columbia University’s president unequivocally denounced antisemitism on her campus during an appearance before the same committee. Nemat Shafik is rebutting claims that she has allowed Columbia to become a hotbed of hatred. Shafik was originally asked to testify at the House Education and Workforce Committee’s hearing in December, but she declined, citing scheduling conflicts. By Annie Ma and Collin Binkley. SENT: 940 words, photo.

VENEZUELA-US-SANCTIONS — The Biden administration has reimposed crushing oil sanctions on Venezuela, admonishing President Nicolás Maduro’s attempts to consolidate his rule just six months after the U.S. eased restrictions in a bid to support now fading hopes for a democratic opening in the OPEC nation. By Joshua Goodman and Regina Garcia Cano. SENT: 610 words photos.

HAWAII-WILDFIRES-REPORT — As wildfires ripped across Maui last August, the head of the emergency management agency dragged his heels about returning to the island amid the unfolding crisis, while a broad communications breakdown left authorities in the dark and residents without emergency alerts, according to a report. By Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, Rebecca Boone, Claudia Lauer and Christopher L. Keller. SENT: 1,210 words, photos, video, audio.

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RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR

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RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR -- Local officials say three Russian missiles have slammed into a downtown area of the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, hitting an eight-floor apartment building and killing at least 14 people. Emergency services said at least 61 people, including two children, were wounded in the attack. Chernihiv is located about 90 miles north of the capital Kyiv near the border with Russia and Belarus. The city has a population of around 250,000 people. SENT: 660 words, photos, video, audio.

PARIS-100-DAYS-RUSSIAN-ATHLETES — With 100 days to go until the Paris Olympics, it’s still not clear whether any athletes from Russia who are expected to qualify will actually go. The question is whether Moscow will accept the conditions that the International Olympic Committee set for Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. SENT: 770 words, photos.

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MORE NEWS

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CANADA-AIRPORT-STOLEN-GOLD — Police said nine people are facing charges in what authorities are calling the biggest gold theft in Canadian history from Toronto’s Pearson International airport a year ago. SENT: 830 words, photos.

SCAM-CALLER-UBER-DRIVER-KILLED — Uber is helping investigators look into the account that sent a driver to the Ohio home where an 81-year-old man allegedly shot the woman to death because he erroneously believed she was part of a scam, the ride-hailing company says. SENT: 380 words, photos.

MINESOTA-TROOPERS-FREEWAY SHOOTING — The Family of a Minnesota Black man shot to death by state trooper in a traffic stop files civil rights lawsuit. SENT: 790 words, photos.

CHOCOLATE-FACTORY-EXPLOSION — Judges orders Pennsylvania agency to produce inspection records related to chocolate plant blast. SENT: 510 words, photos.

OLY-PARIS-100-DAYS-SECURITY — Despite security risks, plans to open Paris Olympics on River Seine remain unchanged and on track. SENT: 610 words, photos.

FORD-BATTERY-RECALL — Ford is recalling more than 456,000 Bronco Sport and Maverick vehicles due to a battery detection issue that can result in loss of drive power. SENT: 330 words, photo.

BRITAIN-TABLOID-LAWSUITS-HUGH-GRANT -- Hugh Grant says he received “an enormous sum of money” to settle a lawsuit accusing the publisher of The Sun tabloid of unlawfully tapping his phone, bugging his car and breaking into his home to snoop on him. SENT: 950 words, photo.

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WASHINGTON/POLITICS

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BIDEN-TARIFFS — President Joe Biden is promising to block the acquisition of U.S. Steel by a Japan company, saying it “should remain a totally American company. American-owned, American operated.” In a speech at the Pittsburgh headquarters of the United Steelworkers, Biden has pledged to keep the company in U.S. hands. SENT: 940 words, photos, audio.

TRUMP-DUDA — Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda in New York, as European leaders prepare for the possibility that Trump might win the November election and return to the White House. Leaders of NATO countries are especially concerned given Trump’s long history of critical comments about the key western alliance, even after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. SENT: 730 words, photo.

SUPREME-COURT-JOB-DISCRIMINATION — The Supreme Court has made it easier for workers who are transferred from one job to another against their will to pursue job discrimination claims under federal civil rights law, even when they are not demoted or docked pay. SENT: 440 words, photos.

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ELECTION

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ELECTION 2024-SENATE-MARYLAND — Larry Hogan has transformed Maryland’s sleepy Senate race into a top-tier contest in the fight for the Senate majority. But the former governor cannot afford to lose any part of his delicate and diverse political coalition. He hopes to become the first Republican in 44 years to win a Senate seat in this deep-blue state. SENT: 1,250 words, photos.

ELECTION-2024-NONCITIZEN-VOTING — A humanitarian organization in northeastern Mexico says it did not create flyers urging migrants to vote for President Joe Biden that were filmed at its shelter in a viral video that sparked a firestorm of conservative outrage this week. SENT: 1,040 words, photos.

Find the AP’s latest Election 2024 coverage plans, including live video and text plans, our explanatory journalism and highlights from previous cycles and candidate schedules in The Daily Rundown, which publishes around 8 a.m. Monday through Friday.

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NATIONAL

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MENINGITIS DEATHS-MICHIGAN -- Days after a routine injection to ease back pain, Donna Kruzich and a friend drove across the border to Canada in 2012 to see end-of-summer theater. The 78-year-old Michigan woman suddenly became ill and returned home. By early October, she was dead — one of the first victims of a 20-state outbreak of fungal meningitis traced to a specialty pharmacy in Massachusetts. On Thursday, 12 years later, a man who operated the lab will be sentenced for involuntary manslaughter. Michigan is the only state that filed charges related to deaths. SENT: 690 words, photos.

OJ-SIMPSON-CREMATION —Former football star and celebrity criminal defendant O.J. Simpson was cremated Wednesday, the lawyer handling his estate said following his death last week at home in Las Vegas at age 76. Attorney Malcolm LaVergne told The Associated Press he was present, along with unspecified other people, for the morning event at Palm Mortuary in downtown Las Vegas. SENT: 670 words, photos, video.

OBIT-BOB-GRAHAM — Former Florida Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham is being remembered as a politician who genuinely loved people and encouraged them to get involved in civic affairs. Graham died Tuesday at 87. He was known for his workdays, when he would spend a day in someone else’s shoes, doing ordinary jobs. It was his way of connecting with people, and those close to Graham said many of his ideas came from lessons learned during those events. SENT: 890 words, photos.

MARYLAND-BRIDGE-COLLAPSE — The owner of the container ship Dali has initiated a process requiring owners of the cargo on board to share salvage costs after the deadly collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge. The ship’s owner, Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd., made what’s known in maritime law as a “general average” declaration. This allows a third-party adjuster to determine what each stakeholder should contribute. SENT: 430 words, photos.

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INTERNATIONAL

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ARABIAN-PENINSULA-RAIN — Heavy thunderstorms have lashed the United Arab Emirates, dumping the heaviest rain ever recorded in the country in the span of hours as it flooded out portions of major highways and Dubai’s international airport. By the end of Tuesday, more 5.59 inches of rainfall had soaked Dubai over 24 hours. An average year sees 3.73 inches of rain at Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel and a hub for the long-haul carrier Emirates. SENT: 980 words, photos. WITH: CLOUD-SEEDING-EXPLAINER -- Cloud seeding, where small planes fly through clouds burning special salt flares to increase precipitation, may have been one of the causes of heavy flooding in UAE. UPCOMING: 400 words, photos by 3 p.m.

PAKISTAN-WEATHER — Lightning and heavy rains led to 14 deaths in Pakistan, officials said Wednesday, bringing the death toll from four days of extreme weather to at least 63, as the heaviest downpour in decades flooded villages on the country’s southwestern coast. SENT: 430 words, photos

AUSTRALIA-CHURCH-STABBING — The father of a boy accused of stabbing two Christian clerics in Australia saw no signs of his son’s extremism, a Muslim community leader said, as police began arresting suspected rioters who besieged a Sydney church demanding revenge. SENT: 900 words, photo.

IVORY-COAST-FORCED-EVICTIONS — Authorities in Ivory Coast’s largest city are demolishing homes in low-income areas over what they say are public health concerns, leaving thousands without shelter and with nowhere to go. Each year, the rainy season threatens Abidjan’s poor neighborhoods built along a lagoon’s edge. The government says some of the families have already been compensated and resettled. SENT: 880 words, photos.

UN-REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH — A new study says an African woman is roughly 130 times more likely to die from pregnancy and childbirth complications than a woman in Europe or North America, the U.N. population fund reported as it decried widening inequality in sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide. SENT: 400 words, photo.

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HEALTH & SCIENCE

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CLIMATE-INCOME-REDUCTION — A new study says climate change will reduce future global income by about 19% in the next 25 years compared to a fictional world that’s not warming, with the poorest areas and those least responsible for heat-trapping gases taking the biggest monetary hit. The study says climate change’s economic bite in the global domestic product is already locked in to be about $38 trillion a year by 2049. By the end of the century, the financial cost could hit twice what previous studies estimate. Poorer nations and those that didn’t cause climate change will take bigger financial hits. SENT: 880 words, photos.

EARTH-DAY-EXPLAINER -- Millions of people around the world will pause on Monday, at least for a moment, to mark Earth Day. It’s an annual event founded by people who hoped to stir activism to clean up and preserve a planet that is now home to some 8 billion humans and trillions of other organisms. Earth Day has its roots in growing concern over pollution in the 1960s. That’s when author Rachel Carson’s 1962 book “Silent Spring,” about the pesticide DDT and its damaging effects on the food chain, hit bestseller lists and raised awareness about nature’s delicate balance. But it was a senator from Wisconsin, Democrat Gaylord Nelson, who had the idea that would become the first Earth Day in 1970. SENT: 500 words, photos.

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BUSINESS

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TESLA-MUSK-COMPENSATION — Tesla will ask shareholders to reinstate the compensation package for CEO Elon Musk that was rejected by a judge in Delaware this year and to move the electric carmaker’s corporate home from Delaware to Texas. In January, Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick ruled that Musk is not entitled to a landmark compensation package awarded by Tesla’s board of directors that is potentially worth more than $56 billion. SENT: 880 words, photos.

BOEING-WHISTLEBLOWERS — Boeing was the subject of dual Senate hearings as Congress examined allegations of major safety failures at the embattled aircraft manufacturer, which has been pushed into crisis mode since a door-plug panel blew off a 737 Max jetliner during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. SENT: 680 words, photos.

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ENTERTAINMENT

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TV-ORLANDO BLOOM — Orlando Bloom wanted to test himself for his latest adventure project. Not by eating something gross or visiting a new country. He wanted to risk death, and with not one but three extreme sports. The Peacock series “Orlando Bloom: To the Edge” sees the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star shoot through the sky thousands of feet above the ground, dive into a deep sinkhole and rock climb hundreds of feet. Bloom hopes viewers will tune in to see a novice achieve remarkable feats but also to inspire them to get outside their comfort zones, be it perhaps by managing public speaking or learning a new language. SENT: 820 words, photos.

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SPORTS

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BKN--RAPTORS-PORTER BANNED

Jontay Porter has been banned for life from the NBA after a league probe found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors and bet on games. Porter, who was a two-way player for the Toronto Raptors, is the second person to be banned from the league by Commissioner Adam Silver for violating league rules. The other was now-former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling in 2014. By Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds. SENT: 800 words, photos. WITH: BKN--HEAT-76ERS — The Miami Heat play the Philadelphia 76ers in the play-in tournament. By Dan Gelston. UPCOMING: 500 words, photos. Game scheduled for 7 p.m.; BKN--HAWKS-BULLS — DeMar DeRozan and the Chicago Bulls host Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks in the play-in tournament. By Andrew Seligman. UPCOMING: 500 words, photos. Game scheduled for 9:30 p.m.

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HOW TO REACH US

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At the Nerve Center, Jerome Minerva 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 AP Newsroom. For access to AP Newsroom and other technical issues, contact apcustomersupport@ap.org or call 844-777-2006.

PSG's Kylian Mbappe celebrates at the end of the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain at the Olimpic Lluis Companys stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Barcelona's Ferran Torres reacts at the end of the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain at the Olimpic Lluis Companys stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Vehicles sit abandoned in floodwater covering a major road in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Heavy thunderstorms lashed the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, dumping over a year and a half's worth of rain on the desert city-state of Dubai in the span of hours as it flooded out portions of major highways and its international airport. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)

Former president Donald Trump talks with bodega owner Maad Ahmed, center, during a visit to his store, Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in New York. Fresh from a Manhattan courtroom, Donald Trump visited a New York bodega where a man was stabbed to death, a stark pivot for the former president as he juggles being a criminal defendant and the Republican challenger intent on blaming President Joe Biden for crime. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Palestinians mourn over a killed family member in the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah following an Israeli bombardment in the Maghazi refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Several killed in a strike in Maghazi camp in Central Gaza on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Palestinian man carries a wounded boy following an Israeli bombardment in the Maghazi refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Several killed in a strike in Maghazi camp in Central Gaza on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

JERUSALEM (AP) — A U.S. Navy ship and several Army vessels involved in an American-led effort to bring more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip are offshore of the enclave and building out a floating platform for the operation that the Pentagon has said will cost at least $320 million.

Sabrina Singh, Pentagon spokeswoman, told reporters the cost is a rough estimate for the project and includes the transportation of the equipment and pier sections from the United States to the coast of Gaza, as well as the construction and aid delivery operations.

Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press on Tuesday show the USNS Roy P. Benavidez about 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) from the port on shore, where the base of operations for the project is being built by the Israeli military. The USAV General Frank S. Besson Jr., an Army logistics vessel, and several other Army boats are with the Benavidez and working on the construction of what the military calls the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS, system.

Satellite images from Sunday and Monday by Planet Labs PBC showed pieces of the floating pier in the Mediterranean Sea, alongside the Benavidez. Measurements of the vessel match known features of the Benavidez, a Bob Hope-class vehicle cargo ship operated by the Military Sealift Command.

A U.S. military official confirmed late last week that the Benavidez had begun construction and that it was far enough off shore to ensure that the troops building the platform would be safe. Singh said on Monday that next will come the construction of the causeway, which will then be anchored to the beach.

The U.S. military's Central Command early Tuesday published images of the floating pier's construction online, after the AP's publication of the satellite photos.

“The pier will support USAID and humanitarian partners to receive and deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza,” the statement on the social platform X said.

U.S. and Israeli officials have said they hope to have the floating pier in place, the causeway attached to the shore and operations underway by early May. The Pentagon said on Monday the operation will cost at least $320 million. The cost was first reported by Reuters.

Under the plan by the U.S. military, aid will be loaded onto commercial ships in Cyprus to sail to the floating platform now under construction off Gaza. The pallets will be loaded onto trucks, which will be loaded onto smaller ships that will travel to a metal, floating two-lane causeway. The 550-meter (1,800-foot) causeway will be attached to the shore by the Israeli Defense Forces.

The U.S. military official said an American Army engineering unit has teamed with an Israeli military engineering unit in recent weeks to practice the installation of the causeway, training on an Israeli beach just up the coast.

The new port sits southwest of Gaza City and a bit north of a road bisecting Gaza that the Israeli military built during the current war against Hamas. The area was the territory’s most populous before the Israeli ground offensive rolled through and pushed more than 1 million people south toward the city of Rafah on the border with Egypt.

Now Israeli military positions are on either side of the port, which initially had been built — as part of an effort led by World Central Kitchen — out of the rubble of buildings leveled by Israel. That effort halted after an Israeli airstrike killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers on April 1 as they traveled in clearly marked vehicles on a delivery mission authorized by Israel. The organization says it is resuming its work in Gaza.

Aid has been slow to get into Gaza, with long backups of trucks awaiting Israeli inspections. The U.S. and other nations also have used air drops to send food into Gaza. The U.S. military official said deliveries on the sea route initially will total about 90 trucks a day and could quickly increase to about 150 trucks daily.

Aid organizations have said several hundred such trucks are needed to enter Gaza every day.

In the aftermath of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage, Israel cut off or heavily restricted food, water, medicine, electricity and other aid from entering the Gaza Strip. Under pressure from the U.S. and others, Israel says the situation is improving, though United Nations agencies have said much more aid needs to enter.

Gaza, slightly more than twice the size of the city of Washington and home to 2.3 million people, has found itself on the brink of famine. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the fighting began, local health authorities say.

On Sunday, Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the amount of aid going into Gaza would continue to scale up.

“This temporary pier will provide a ship-to-shore distribution system that will further increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” he said in a statement.

However, high-ranking Hamas political official Khalil al-Hayya told the AP last week that the group would consider Israeli forces — or forces from any other country — stationed by the pier to guard it as “an occupying force and aggression,” and that the militant group would resist it.

On Wednesday, a mortar attack targeted the port site, though no one was hurt.

Associated Press writers Tara Copp and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.

This undated photo released early Tuesday, April 30, 2024, by the U.S. military's Central Command shows construction off a floating pier in the Mediterranean Sea off the Gaza Strip. A U.S. Navy ship involved in the American-led effort to bring more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip is off shore from the enclave, slowly building out a floating platform for the operation, satellite photos analyzed Monday, April 29, 2024, by The Associated Press show. (U.S. military's Central Command via AP)

This undated photo released early Tuesday, April 30, 2024, by the U.S. military's Central Command shows construction off a floating pier in the Mediterranean Sea off the Gaza Strip. A U.S. Navy ship involved in the American-led effort to bring more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip is off shore from the enclave, slowly building out a floating platform for the operation, satellite photos analyzed Monday, April 29, 2024, by The Associated Press show. (U.S. military's Central Command via AP)

This undated photo released early Tuesday, April 30, 2024, by the U.S. military's Central Command shows construction off a floating pier in the Mediterranean Sea off the Gaza Strip. A U.S. Navy ship involved in the American-led effort to bring more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip is off shore from the enclave, slowly building out a floating platform for the operation, satellite photos analyzed Monday, April 29, 2024, by The Associated Press show. (U.S. military's Central Command via AP)

This undated photo released early Tuesday, April 30, 2024, by the U.S. military's Central Command shows construction off a floating pier in the Mediterranean Sea off the Gaza Strip. A U.S. Navy ship involved in the American-led effort to bring more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip is off shore from the enclave, slowly building out a floating platform for the operation, satellite photos analyzed Monday, April 29, 2024, by The Associated Press show. (U.S. military's Central Command via AP)

This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the USNS Roy P. Benavidez, center, in the Mediterranean Sea off shore from the Gaza Strip on Monday, April 29, 2024. A U.S. Navy ship involved in the American-led effort to bring more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip is off shore from the enclave, slowly building out a floating platform for the operation, satellite photos analyzed Monday by The Associated Press show. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the USNS Roy P. Benavidez in the Mediterranean Sea off shore from the Gaza Strip on Sunday, April 28, 2024. A U.S. Navy ship involved in the American-led effort to bring more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip is off shore from the enclave, slowly building out a floating platform for the operation, satellite photos analyzed Monday, April 29, 2024, by The Associated Press show. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the USNS Roy P. Benavidez in the Mediterranean Sea off shore from the Gaza Strip on Saturday, April 27, 2024. A U.S. Navy ship involved in the American-led effort to bring more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip is off shore from the enclave, slowly building out a floating platform for the operation, satellite photos analyzed Monday, April 29, 2024, by The Associated Press show. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)