AP News Digest 2:15 p.m.

Election 2020 Voting Rally Arrests (© The News & Observer 2020)

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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VIRUS OUTBREAK-PLASMA CONTRACT — An Associated Press investigation finds that the Trump administration awarded emergency coronavirus funds to a well-connected Republican donor’s company to test a possible COVID-19-fighting blood plasma technology. In discussing the contract, the administration noted Plasma Technologies LLC’s “manufacturing facilities” in South Carolina. The AP found Plasma Tech has no manufacturing facilities in Charleston. Instead, the company exists within the luxury condo of its owner. Now, the tiny company may be in line for as much as $65 million in taxpayer dollars. By Richard Lardner and Jason Dearen. SENT: 2,670 words, photos. A 950-word version also is available.

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TOP STORIES

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ELECTION 2020 — Joe Biden and Democrats are spending the final days of the 2020 campaign urgently appealing to people of color who may provide the difference against President Donald Trump to vote in-person during a pandemic that has disproportionally affected their numbers. The aim is to reverse a disappointing turnout in 2016 that has haunted the party ever since. By Jonathan Lemire, Zeke Miller and Bill Barrow. SENT: 870 words, photos. UPCOMING: 950 words, photos by 4 p.m. Campaign events run into Sunday night. With ELECTION 2020-LATEST (sent, developing).

ELECTION 2020-SENATE: Senate Republicans are fighting to save their majority, a final election push against the onslaught of challengers in states once off limits to Democrats but now hotbeds of a potential backlash to President Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill. Fueling the campaigns are the Trump administration’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis, shifting regional demographics and, in some areas, simply the chance to turn the page on the divisive political climate. Control of the Senate can make or break a presidency. By Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro. SENT: 1,070 words, photos.

ELECTION 2020-THE CAMPAIGN — Presidential elections are traditionally moments when the nation gets a high-definition look in the mirror. But by the final sprint of the 2020 race, Americans and the world had long peered into the country’s darkest shadows and seen a battered and haunted image staring back. By Laurie Kellman. UPCOMING: 990 words, photos by 5 p.m.

VIRUS OUTBREAK: A surge in coronavirus cases across the country, including in key presidential battleground states, is creating mounting health and logistical concerns for voters, poll workers and political parties ahead of Election Day. By Ryan L. Foley. SENT: 850 words, photos.

Find more coverage on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page in AP Newsroom.

ABORTION ACCESS — A vast swath of West Texas has been without an abortion clinic for more than six years. Planned Parenthood plans to change that with a health center it opened recently in Lubbock. It’s an example of how abortion-rights groups are striving to preserve nationwide access to the procedure even as the Supreme Court shifts in a more conservative direction. By National Writer David Crary. SENT: 920 words, photos.

DOCTOR NOTES — Patients soon will have free, electronic access to the notes their doctors write about them under a new federal requirement for transparency. Many health systems are launching Monday, but the deadline has been extended until April. Studies have shown that patients who read their notes understand more about their health, take their medications as prescribed more often and feel more in control of their care. By Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson. SENT: 890 words, photo.

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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

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ELECTION 2020-VOTING RALLY ARRESTS — The organizer of a get-out-the-vote rally in North Carolina that ended with police pepper spraying and arresting participants is planning another march on Election Day. SENT: 450 words, photo.

SALT LIFE FOUNDER ARRESTED — A founder of the Salt Life clothing brand is facing a manslaughter charge in the death of an 18-year-old woman at a Florida hotel. SENT: 230 words.

TROPICAL WEATHER — Tropical Storm Eta has formed in the Caribbean, tying the record for most named storms in a single Atlantic hurricane season. SENT: 220 words.

POLICE OFFICERS-DRUG ARREST — Two South Florida police officers are facing charges that they provided protection for a fake cocaine transfer orchestrated by federal agents. SENT: 600 words.

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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK

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VIRUS OUTBREAK-DEATH AND ME — In the era of coronavirus, one journalist kept thinking about death. So she decided to explore its meaning and how she and those around her perceive it. SENT: 1,500 words, photos. With VIRUS-OUTBREAK-DEATH-AND-ME-COPING — The coronavirus is the first widespread health crisis in the age of information and social media. How can you manage your stress level during a difficult and sometimes tragic time? A variety of experts have some suggestions. SENT: 530 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-BRITAIN — The British government says a new national lockdown in England may have to last longer than the planned four weeks if coronavirus infection rates don’t fall quickly enough. SENT: 750 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK- ASIA — Australia has recorded no new locally transmitted coronavirus infection for the first time in five months. In Melbourne, the capital of Victoria state, which had the highest number of cases in the country, residents were enjoying the first weekend of cafes, restaurants and pubs reopening to walk-in customers. SENT: 550 words, photos.

TURKEY-VIRUS-OUTBREAK — A Turkish politician from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party has died from the coronavirus. SENT: 130 words, photos.

Find more coverage on the Virus Outbreak on the featured topic page in AP Newsroom.

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WASHINGTON/POLITICS

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ELECTION 2020-MEDIA EXPERTS: Television networks are adding experts in election law to their election night coverage teams so they’re prepared to explain any legal challenges or irregularities that come up during the vote. SENT: 620 words, photos.

ELECTION 2020-GOVERNORS: Democrats and Republicans have poured money into Montana’s race for governor with both sides trying to win control of the executive branch in a Western state where Republicans have dominated the legislature for a decade. It’s the most hotly contested of the nation’s 11 governor’s races this fall. Other marquee races are in Missouri, where Democrats see an opening after the GOP incumbent has stumbled in his response to the coronavirus outbreak, and North Carolina, where Republicans are trying to unseat a Democratic governor. SENT: 1000 words, photos.

ELECTION 2020-SENATE-MONTANA — A parade of Republican Party leaders fearful of losing the majority in the U.S. Senate has visited Montana to rally behind incumbent Steve Daines as he faces a strong challenge from the state’s Democratic governor, Steve Bullock. But one has been conspicuously absent: President Donald Trump. SENT: 720 words, photos.

ELECTION 2020-BLACK ANXIETY: Police killings of Black people, white men openly wielding rifles on city streets and a racially divisive political climate already had Eddie Hall on edge. Then, the troubles of a nation in turmoil landed on Hall’s doorstep in suburban Detroit September when racist graffiti was scrawled on his pickup truck and shots were fired into his home after his family placed a Black Lives Matter sign in their front window. SENT: 720 words, photos.

ELECTION 2020-PARIS WITHDRAWAL: The United States is about to determine, to a degree, how hot the world gets. The day after the presidential election, the U.S. -- the world’s second biggest carbon polluter -- formally leaves the historic Paris climate pact. But what happens next depends on the election winner. SENT: 1090 words, photos.

TRUMP-IMPACT ON IMMIGRATION-CITIZENSHIP AGENCY — The U.S. agency that reviews citizenship and visa applications has shifted to emphasize fraud detection, enforcement and vetting under President Donald Trump. Applicants, attorneys and some U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employees call it overkill. Immigration critics say it’s overdue. SENT: 1,300 words, photos.

ELECTION 2020-TEXAS — Texas’ shift into a battleground is on display in the fight for control of the state House of Representatives. SENT: 860 words, photo.

ELECTION 2020-CALIFORNIA—HOW PROGRESSIVE: Tuesday’s election will test if California voters are willing to move further to the left on taxes, race and crime and punishment. SENT: 1000 words, photos.

ELECTION 2020-THE DAY IN PHOTOS — AP PHOTOS: As virus cases grow, voting reaches home stretch. SENT: 120 words, photos.

A separate wire advisory has moved outlining our complete Election 2020 coverage.

Find more coverage on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page in AP Newsroom.

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INTERNATIONAL

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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-AFRICA-DEBT — Facing financial difficulties aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic, the southern African nation of Zambia is headed for a default on debt owed to private investors. One of Africa’s largest copper producers, Zambia has been heavily indebted for years but now could get an undesired reputation if a group of investors who hold up to $3 billion of the country’s eurobonds insist on interest payments that have come due. SENT: 870 words, photos.

TURKEY-EARTHQUAKE — Rescue workers extricated a 70-year-old man from a collapsed building in western Turkey, some 34 hours after a strong earthquake in the Aegean Sea struck Turkey and Greece, killing at least 71 people and injuring more than 900. SENT: 450 words, photos.

FRANCE-PRIEST SHOT — French police have on Sunday released an initial suspect in the shooting of a Greek Orthodox priest and widened their search for the gunman who critically wounded the priest at a church in the city of Lyon. SENT: 400 words, photos.

MUSLIMS-BOYCOTTING FRANCE — Hundreds of protesters in Pakistan have burned effigies of France’s leader and chanted anti-French slogans, as President Macron tried to send a message of understanding to Muslims around the world. SENT: 800 words, photos.

CANADA-QUEBEC STABBINGS — Police in Quebec City have arrested a 24-year-old man dressed in medieval clothing and armed with sword on suspicion of killing two people and injuring five others on Halloween near the historic Château Frontenac hotel. SENT: 490 words, photos.

CENTRAL AMERICA-FAMILIES — The majority of Central Americans who arrived in the U.S. in an unprecedented surge in 2018 and 2019 are spread throughout the country without asylum, waiting for hearings that take months and even years in immigration courts that in some states are still closed due to the pandemic. SENT: 1,160 words, photos.

THAILAND-PROTESTS — Under increasing pressure from protesters demanding reforms to the monarchy, Thailand’s king and queen have met with thousands of adoring supporters in Bangkok, mixing with citizens in the street after attending a religious ceremony inside the Grand Palace. SENT: 670 words, photos.

GEORGIA-ELECTIONS — Preliminary election results show that Georgia’s ruling party won the country’s highly contested parliamentary election. But the opposition refused to recognize Sunday’s results as valid, saying they were manipulated. SENT: 570 words, photos.

IVORY COAST-ELECTIONS — Ivory Coast residents are bracing for more unrest as election officials began releasing the first results from the country’s presidential election. SENT: 650 words, photos.

ALGERIA-REFERENDUM — Algerians were voting Sunday on whether to approve a revised constitution that imposes term limits, promises new freedoms and aims at answering demands from pro-democracy protesters who pushed out their long-serving, autocratic president last year. SENT: 500 words, photos.

FRANCE-PRIEST SHOT — French police interrogated one suspect and searched for others after a Greek Orthodox priest was shot and critically wounded while closing the door to his church in the French city of Lyon. SENT: 280 words, photos.

BELARUS-PROTESTS — Thousands of protesters in Belarus swarming the streets of the capital to demand the resignation of the country’s longtime president have been met by police firing warning shots and using stun grenades to break up the crowds. SENT: 600 words, photos.

MOLDOVA-ELECTION — Voters in Moldova cast ballots in a presidential election that is perceived as a referendum on two divergent visions for the future of the small Eastern European nation. SENT: 260 words, photos.

PICTURES OF THE MONTH-RELIGION-PHOTO GALLERY — Around the world, Associated Press photographers captured moments like these in the past month showing how secular conflicts, disputes and worries inevitably intersect with the spiritual realm. SENT: 1,160 words, photos.

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NATIONAL

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GUN TOWN WORRIES — A Remington firearms factory has dominated Ilion, New York, for generations, but now some residents are looking ahead with uncertainty. SENT: 910 words, photo.

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BUSINESS

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GOOGLE-SMALL BUSINESS — Monopoly or not, small business owners’ biggest complaint about Google is that its advertising policies favor companies with big marketing budgets. SENT: 1,060 words, photos.

US ELECTION-EUROPE TARIFFS — European officials and businesses are closely watching the U.S. election to see which way U.S. trade policy goes. SENT: 960 words, photo.

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ENTERTAINMENT

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BRITAIN-DEPP — A British judge is set to decide whether a tabloid newspaper defamed Johnny Depp by calling him a “wife beater.” Monday’s ruling has huge implications for the careers of both Depp and former spouse Amber Heard. SENT: 600 words, photos.

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SPORTS

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FBN--STEELERS-RAVENS — The Pittsburgh Steelers seek to retain their status as the lone unbeaten team in the NFL when they take on the Baltimore Ravens in a showdown between rivals for first place in the AFC North. By David Ginsburg. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos. Game started 1 p.m. With NFL Week 8-The Latest.

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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, (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.