AP News Digest 2 p.m.
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TOP STORIES
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-THE NUMBERS — By the numbers, the coronavirus pandemic is surreal. The $1,400 federal payments going into millions of people’s bank accounts are but one slice of the new $1.9 trillion relief package. The United States has spent or committed to spend nearly $6 trillion to crush the coronavirus, recover economically and take a bite out of child poverty. That’s more in today’s dollars than the U.S. military spent in World War II. All of this comes as the number of Americans who are known to have been infected with COVID-19 hovers at around 30 million. By Calvin Woodward. SENT: 900 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-GOVERNORS —Governors across the U.S. have taken drastically different approaches in battling the coronavirus. Some have imposed mask mandates and business restrictions throughout much of the past year. Others have not. Which approach is best is hard to determine from the data. Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show California and Florida have similar per capita COVID-19 case and death rates since the pandemic began. By David A. Lieb. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ONE YEAR-MISINFORMATION — “You have patients that are literally dying, and then you have patients that are denying the disease.” Much of the job of correcting misinformation about the coronavirus has fallen to the world’s front-line medical workers. By Ali Swenson and David Klepper. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
CONGRESS-EARMARKS — Can lawmakers bring home the bacon without it being pork? It’s a question vexing Republicans as they consider whether to join a Democratic push to revive earmarks, the much-maligned practice where lawmakers direct federal spending to a specific project or institution back home. Earmarking was linked to corruption in the 2000s, leading to an outcry and their banishment in both the House and Senate. But many in Congress say the ban has gone too far. By Kevin Freking. SENT: 1,030 words, photos.
BIDEN-FLIP COUNTIES — Democrats are looking for new sources of political strength as the election map is shifting and they’re targeting small-city America. As Democrats continue to lose votes in small towns, they’ve seen clear gains in regional hubs that dot vast stretches of rural America. Biden carried roughly 60 counties that Donald Trump won in 2016, and many were places anchored by a midsize or small city that’s trending Democratic. By Thomas Beaumont. SENT: 1,140 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK — A year after the pandemic began, the nation’s largest metropolis is adapting and showing new life. The renewal in New York City is evident in the steady stream of customers waiting across the counter at a pastry shop in the Bronx; in laughter wafting from outdoor dining sheds built on the streets in front of restaurants; in the parks filled with picnics, birthday gatherings and dance parties. By Deepti Hajela. SENT: 980 words, photos.
KUWAIT-METOO — Women are increasingly challenging Kuwait’s deeply patriarchal society. A growing number have broken taboos to speak out in recent weeks about the scourge of harassment and violence that plagues the Gulf nation’s streets, highways and malls. It’s an echo of the global #MeToo movement. An Instagram page has led to an outpouring of testimony from women fed up with being intimidated or attacked. By Isabel Debre. SENT: 1,000 words, photos. Eds: This story has moved as the Sunday Spotlight.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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US-PEOPLE-JENNIFER-LOPEZ-ALEX-RODRIGUEZ — J-Rod continues: Lopez, Rodriguez say they’re still together. SENT: 100 words, photo.
SPACE STATION — Spacewalkers take extra safety precautions for toxic ammonia. SENT: 450 words.
OVERTURNED-CARGO-SHIP-GEORGIA — ‘Nothing but problems’: Shipwreck tear-down enters 5th month. SENT: 870 words, photos.
FRANCE-CESAR AWARDS — French actor strips for culture during Cesar Awards ceremony. SENT: 400 words, photo.
BACHELORETTE-CHRIS HARRISON — New hosts for ‘The Bachelorette’ after racial controversy. SENT: 210 words, photo.
SPRING-FORWARD — The annual shift shift to daylight saving time comes at 2 a.m. in most of the United States. SENT: 150 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-ONE-YEAR-THE-YEAR-THAT-WAS — Most Americans didn’t know that this week last year was their last chance at normalcy. And while people have learned to adjust, the coronavirus pandemic has upended and taken millions of lives across the globe. Add the upheaval of a nation’s reckoning with racism and injustice along with a historic and contentious presidential election, and the pandemic year becomes more than only about the virus. The Associated Press was there, from the day the World Health Organization officially declared the coronavirus a pandemic to the first clinical trial of a vaccine and beyond. SENT: 1,940 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ONE YEAR-JOBS IN PERIL — Even as viral vaccines increasingly promise a return to something close to normal life, the coronavirus seems sure to leave permanent scars on the job market. At least 30% of the U.S. jobs lost to the pandemic aren’t expected to come back — a sizable proportion of them at employers that require face-to-face contact with consumers: Hotels, restaurants, retailers, entertainment venues. SENT: 2,300 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-US — Across the United States, millions of medically vulnerable people who initially were cited as a priority group to receive the COVID-19 vaccination have gotten slowly bumped down the list. It happened as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention modified its guidelines to give priority to the elderly and certain workers. But that's changing in some states. SENT: 930 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NAVAJO NATION -- A strong sense of community and taking care of one another has come to the aid of people in need on the Navajo Nation. Officials at the Teesto Chapter House say they have even more of a duty now during a pandemic to ensure their most vulnerable residents get what they need to stay safe and at home. SENT: 920 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHINA — China is aiming to vaccinate 70-80% of its population by the end of this year or mid-2022, the head of the country’s Center for Disease Control says. SENT: 210 words.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-TUNISIA-VACCINATIONS — Tunisia launched its vaccination campaign on Saturday, four days after receiving the first 30,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines. Tunisia’s vaccination program has dragged behind neighbors, even as virus infections and hospitalizations remain high. SENT: 370 words.
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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
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BIDEN'S-WEEKENDS — As he stood in the Rose Garden celebrating his first big legislative win, President Joe Biden gestured to the White House and said it’s a “magnificent building” to live in. Except during the weekend. Of the eight weekends since Biden took office, he has spent three at his longtime home outside Wilmington, Delaware, including this weekend. The White House defends Biden’s leisure travel at a time when both he and federal health officials have been pleading with the public to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously, including by avoiding unnecessary travel. By Darlene Superville. SENT: 910 words, photos, video.
CAPITOL BREACH-JOHNSON — Critics of Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson are calling him racist after he told an interviewer that he wasn’t worried about the supporters of former President Donald Trump who stormed the U.S. Capitol in January, but might have been concerned if they had been Black Lives Matter protesters. SENT: 490 words.
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NATIONAL
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GEORGE FLOYD-OFFICER TRIAL — After the first week of jury selection in a former Minneapolis police officer’s trial in George Floyd’s death, patterns are emerging in the dismissal of potential jurors. The defense is striking people who tell the court they already have strong feelings about Derek Chauvin’s guilt. The prosecution, meanwhile, is blocking potential jurors who seem inclined to give police the benefit of the doubt — or who express misgivings about the Black Lives Matter movement. SENT: 790 words, photos. With: EXPLAINING GEORGE FLOYD-OFFICER TRIAL-JUROR STRIKES — As attorneys in the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death screen potential jurors, they’re on guard for anything that suggests jurors would help, or hurt, their side. SENT: 620 words, photos.
ABORTION-STATE LEGISLATURES — At an intense pace, lawmakers in Republican-governed states are considering an array of tough anti-abortion restrictions they hope might reach the Supreme Court and win approval from its conservative majority. The goal is to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a nationwide right to abortion. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
CUOMO-IMPEACHMENT-INVESTIGATION — Gov. Andrew Cuomo has urged New Yorkers to “wait for the facts.” But patience has grown thin in the state legislature, where leaders in the state Assembly have announced an impeachment investigation, a first step toward potentially removing Cuomo from office. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
PORTLAND PROTEST — Police in Portland, Oregon, say they found a crowbar, hammers, bear spray and firearms after they corralled a group of about 100 hundred protesters. SENT: 330 words.
RACIAL INJUSTICE-KENTUCKY — On the one year anniversary of her death, Breonna Taylor’s family will gather in downtown Louisville Saturday to honor Taylor’s legacy and continue their demand for justice. SENT: 200 words.
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INTERNATIONAL
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BOLIVIA-POLITICS — Bolivia’s restored leftist government has arrested the conservative interim president who led the country for a year. She’s one of more than a dozen people in custody or facing arrest as officials pursue those involved in the 2019 ouster of socialist leader Evo Morales, which they regard as a coup. SENT: 530 words, photos.
MYANMAR — Security forces in Myanmar again meet protests against last month’s military takeover with lethal force, killing at least seven people by shooting live ammunition at demonstrators. SENT: 700 words, photos. With INDIA-MYANMAR — A government official says four Indian states bordering Myanmar have stepped up measures to prevent refugees from entering India through a porous border following last month’s military coup in the Southeast Asian country. SENT: 250 words.
AFGHANISTAN-ELUSIVE SECURITY — Afghanistan’s Interior Minister Masoud Andarabi warned against a hasty U.S. retreat from the war-ravaged country, saying that the Taliban’s ties to al-Qaida remain intact and that a swift pullout would worsen global counterterrorism efforts. In an interview with The Associated Press at the heavily fortified Interior Ministry, Andarabi said that Afghan National Security Forces backed by U.S. assistance have so far put a squeeze on terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan, including the local Islamic State affiliate. SENT: 650 words, photos. With AFGHANISTAN — Powerful car bomb kills at least eight people and wounds 47 in Afghanistan’s western Herat province. SENT: 410 words, photos.
JORDAN-HOSPITAL DEATHS — Jordan’s health minister stepped down Saturday after at least seven patients in a hospital COVID-19 patient ward died due to a shortage of oxygen supplies, state media reported. SENT: 390 words.
ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS — An Israeli rights organization says a group of Israeli settlers have attacked a Palestinian family near a settlement outpost in the occupied West Bank. SENT: 250 words.
SRI LANKA-BURQA-BAN — Sri Lanka has announced plans to ban the wearing of burqas and said it would close more than 1,000 Islamic schools known as madrassas, citing national security. SENT: 270 words.
ETHIOPIA-MILITARY CONFRONTATION — The Ethiopian government is disputing charges of ethnic cleansing in the Tigray conflict, calling allegations by the United States “unfounded.” SENT: 560 words.
UNITED NATIONS-SOMALIA — The U.N. Security Council has urged Somalia’s government to organize elections “without delay” in a resolution that stressed the pressing threat to the country’s security from al-Shabab and armed opposition groups. SENT: 500 words, photo.
MEXICO-CANDIDATE ACCUSED — The party of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has confirmed that its candidate for a governorship in southern Mexico will be a man accused by two women of rape. SENT: 250 words, photos.
NEW-ZEALAND-MOSQUE-SHOOTINGS-ANNIVERSARY — New Zealand has marked the second anniversary of one of its most traumatic days, when 51 worshippers were killed at two Christchurch mosques by a white supremacist gunman. SENT: 450 words, photos.
LEBANON — Lebanon’s currency has plummeted to a new record low, continuing its crash amid a worsening economic crisis that has triggered near-daily protests throughout the tiny Mediterranean country. Among the Saturday afternoon protests was a small one near parliament, where riot police fired tear gas to disperse scores of young men throwing stones at security forces. SENT: 300 words, photos.
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BUSINESS
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-FIGHTING INEQUALITY — Democrats have celebrated President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan as a blow against one of America’s most entrenched economic woes: The vast inequality that divides the richest from the rest — a gap made worse by the viral pandemic. Yet for how long? As ambitious and expensive as it is, the legislation stands to go only so far in reducing income and wealth inequality. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
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HEALTH/SCIENCE
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SCI-SPACE STATION — Spacewalking astronauts are taking extra safety precautions after possibly getting toxic ammonia on their suits. SENT: 530 words, photo.
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SPORTS
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FBN--FREE AGENCY-PREVIEW — In a year when the salary cap decreased for the first time since 2011 and the coronavirus imposed heavy restrictions on NFL teams, the free agency frenzy begins Wednesday. However, the “legal tampering period,” when most major deals are set, starts Monday. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos by 5 p.m.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ONE YEAR-SPORTING LIFE — In a world upended by a pandemic, the great outdoors became a great escape. Across countries and continents, cooped-up people sought relief from lockdowns and working at home in leisure sports. Hiking, biking, kayaking, tennis and golf rose in significant numbers. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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At the Nerve Center, Rob Jagodzinski can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). For photos, Courtney Dittmar (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 877-836-9477.