AP News Digest 3:45 a.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.

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TOP STORIES

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ABORTION-PILLS — Access to the most commonly used method of abortion in the U.S. plunged into uncertainty following conflicting court rulings over the legality of the abortion medication mifepristone that has been widely available for more than 20 years. By Paul J. Weber, Matthew Perrone and Lindsay Whitehurst. SENT: 1,130 words, photos.

TENNESSEE-LAWMAKERS-EXPULSION-DEMOCRACY — Tennessee has become a new front in the battle for the future of American democracy after Republicans expelled two Black lawmakers from the state Legislature for their part in a protest urging passage of gun-control measures. By Travis Loller, Adrian Sainz and Gary Fields. SENT: 970 words, photos. With TENNESSEE-LAWMAKERS-EXPULSION-HARRIS — Kamala Harris Tennessee gun violence lawmakers expelled (sent).

IRELAND-BIDEN-ROOTS — Joe Blewitt is just about the busiest man in Ballina. His phone rings constantly with calls from locals and the world’s media as he prepares to welcome a relative — U.S. President Joe Biden. Biden is scheduled to travel to Ireland next week, with a stop in Ballina, the town from which one of his great-great grandfathers left for the United States in 1850. Blewitt, a distant cousin who first met Biden when he came to town as vice president in 2016, said the U.S. leader pledged to return once he’d won the presidency. By Jill Lawless. SENT: 840 words, photos. This story moved as the Sunday Spotlight.

CLIMATE-OKAVANGO-PEATLANDS — In Africa’s Okavango delta, drilling for oil exploration, as well as human-caused climate change leading to more erratic rainfall patterns and water abstraction and diversion for development and commercial agriculture, has altered the landscape that so many people and wildlife species rely on. The delta’s defenders are now hoping to block at least one of those threats — oil exploration. A planned hearing by Namibia’s environment ministry will consider revoking the drilling license of oil and gas firm ReconAfrica. By Wanjohi Kabukuru. SENT: 850 words, photos.

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RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

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UNITED NATIONS-RUSSIA-UKRAINE-CHILDREN — The International Committee of the Red Cross says it has been in contact with Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, who is suspected of war crimes, as it works for the return of Ukrainian children who were deported to Russia. SENT: 510 words, photo.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR — Russian forces used ground- and air-fired missiles, rocket launchers and weaponized drones to bombard the provinces of Ukraine it has illegally annexed but doesn’t fully control, causing casualties, building damage and power outages. SENT: 720 words, photos.

UNITED NATIONS-RUSSIA-ELECTION LOSSES — Russia lost elections to three United Nations bodies this week, a sign that opposition to its invasion of Ukraine over a year ago remains strong. SENT: 250 words, photo.

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MORE NEWS

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NORTHERN-CALIFORNIA-SHOOTING — The gunman who shot a California Highway Patrol officer and two hostages, killing one, in a public park was initially wanted for questioning in connection with a freeway shooting, police say. SENT: 260 words, photos.

CHASING-HORSE-ARREST-NEVEDA — A Nevada judge has thrown out a drug trafficking charge against a former “Dances With Wolves” actor but upheld a Las Vegas grand jury’s sweeping indictment on 18 sexual abuse-related felony crimes. SENT: 500 words, photo.

BEACH-SHOOTING — Gunfire erupted on a South Carolina beach during a “senior skip day” event involving numerous teenagers on Friday, wounding six people, police in South Carolina say. SENT: 150 words.

UNIVERSITY-OF-OKLAHOMA-SHOTS-FIRED — A report of shots fired sent dozens of police cars to the University of Oklahoma Friday night and the campus was locked down for nearly two hours before authorities said no threat was found. SENT: 230 words.

WWE-WRESTLEMANIA-AUSCHWITZ — World Wrestling Entertainment apologized Friday for using an image from the Auschwitz concentration camp to promote one of its matches during the first night of WrestleMania 39 last weekend. SENT: 310 words.

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WASHINGTON/POLITICS

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RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR DOCUMENTS — The Defense Department is reviewing a handful of documents that were released on several social media sites and appear to detail U.S. and NATO aid to Ukraine, but may have been altered or used as part of a misinformation campaign. SENT: 520 words, photos.

TREASURY-RUSSIA-SANCTIONS — Top sanctions officials from the U.S. Treasury Department plan special international trips this month to pressure firms and countries still doing business with Russia to cut off financial ties because of the war on Ukraine. SENT: 430 words, photo.

US-TRANSGENDER ATHLETES — A Biden administration proposal to forbid outright bans on transgender athletes sparked outrage from conservative leaders while also angering trans rights activists who note schools could still prevent some athletes from participating on teams that align with their gender identity. SENT: 870 words, photos.

ASYLUM SCREENING — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says migrants entering the country illegally will be screened by asylum officers while in custody under a limited experiment that provides them access to legal counsel. SENT: 480 words, photos.

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NATIONAL

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EIGHT-DEAD-UTAH — A Utah man who fatally shot his wife, her mother and the couple’s five kids after he was investigated for child abuse left a suicide note saying he “would rather rot in hell” than continue enduring what he called controlling behavior by his wife, investigators write in a report. By Sam Metz. SENT: 650 words, photos.

IRANIAN-KIDNAPPING-PLOT — An Iranian opposition activist who U.S. authorities have said was the target of two thwarted kidnapping or murder plots urged a federal judge in New York to hand a tough prison sentence to a woman who unwittingly funded one of the planned attacks. SENT: 750 words, photos.

POLICE-REFORMS-NEW-ORLEANS — Unjustified use of force, dangerous vehicle pursuits and racially biased policing continue to be problems for the New Orleans Police Department, the U.S. Justice Department has said in a court filing, opposing the city’s move to terminate a decade-old court-backed reform agreement. SENT: 750 words, photos.

LAS-VEGAS-LAWYER-PONZI-SCHEME — A Las Vegas lawyer accused of orchestrating a $460 million “slip-and-fall” Ponzi scheme across the U.S. West was granted release Friday after spending more than a year in federal custody. SENT: 480 words, photo.

US-PERU-EX PRESIDENT — Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo Manrique has been granted two more weeks to fight his extradition from the United States on corruption charges, halting extradition proceedings that had been set to start Friday. SENT: 330 words, photos.

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INTERNATIONAL

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CHINA-US-TAIWAN — China has sent warships and dozens of fighter jets toward Taiwan, the Taiwanese government said, in retaliation for a meeting between the U.S. House of Representatives speaker and the president of the self-ruled island democracy claimed by Beijing as part of its territory. SENT: 450 words, photo.

MEXICO-HOLY-WEEK — Barefoot, half naked and blindfolded, throngs of middle aged men groan as they drag their bodies along blazing cobblestone streets. Pieces of cactus sit lodged on their arms and legs, and 70-pound chains hang around their necks and clatter around their ankles as crowds watch them pass. Every year on Good Friday in the small Mexican town of Atlixco, more than a hundred men make the trek known as the Procesión de los Engrillados — the Procession of the Chained. SENT: 600 words, photos.

NICARAGUA-HOLY-WEEK — Roman Catholics in Nicaragua had to hold traditional “Stations of the Cross” and other Holy Week processions on church grounds or inside churches Friday amid a ban on public demonstrations. SENT: 520 words, photos.

KOREAS-TENSIONS — North Korea has claimed it tested this week a second known type of nuclear-capable underwater attack drone designed to destroy naval vessels and ports, adding to a flurry of weapons demonstrations this year that have heightened tensions with rivals. SENT: 360 words, photos.

MEXICO-BURNING-OF-JUDAS — During the “Burning of Judas” celebrations that take place every Holy Saturday in some Mexican neighborhoods, people gather to light fireworks that destroy colorful figures embodying evil. Originally, the figures were effigies of Judas Iscariot, but nowadays Mexican craftsmen shape their creations like devils or some other characters considered evil by society. SENT: 570 words, photos.

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HEALTH & SCIENCE ———————————————-

LEGAL-MARIJUANA-PESTICIDE — Cannabis regulators have halted operations at several outdoor pot farms and processing facilities on a stretch of former fruit orchards in north-central Washington state after testing found high levels of chemicals related to a dangerous pesticide used decades ago. SENT: 930 words, photos.

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BUSINESS/ECONOMY

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THERANOS-FRAUD-PRISON — Former Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani will head to prison later this month after an appeals court rejected his bid to remain free while he contests his conviction for carrying out a blood-testing hoax with his former boss and lover, Elizabeth Holmes. SENT: 410 words, photo.

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ENTERTAINMENT

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FILM-A-THOUSAND-AND-ONE — Pulpits across America this Easter Sunday are sure to be filled with pastors preaching the longtime adage that “God may not be there when you want Him, but He’s always on time.” If they’re in need of a witness, Teyana Taylor would surely testify. “A Thousand and One,” the grand jury prize winner at Sundance this year, is A.V. Rockwell’s debt feature film. It follows a young New York City woman named Inez (Taylor) and her 6-year-old son, Terry, played by three actors at different ages, following her release from Rikers Island jail in 1994. SENT: 940 words, photos, video.

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SPORTS

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GLF-MASTERS — Brooks Koepka is a force in the majors again. He played bogey-free in the Masters for a 67 and leads by four shots over players who finished before storms arrived. The wind toppled three pine trees near the 17th tee where spectators were standing. Augusta National says no one was hurt. Koepka leads by four over U.S. Amateur champion Sam Bennett. The Texas A&M senior had a 68 and posted the lowest 36-hole score by an amateur at the Masters since 1956. Jon Rahm was three behind with nine holes to play. Tiger Woods is hovering around the cut line. SENT: 1,120 words, photos.

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HOW TO REACH US

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At the Nerve Center, Vincent K. Willis 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.