AP News Digest 3:50 a.m.

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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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TOP STORIES

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VIRUS-OUTBREAK — The U.S. is now averaging 100,000 new COVID-19 infections a day, returning to a milestone last seen during the winter surge in yet another bleak reminder of how quickly the delta variant has spread through the country. The U.S. was averaging about 11,000 cases a day in late June. Now the number is 107,143. By Jeff Amy. SENT: 420 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-SURVIVORS — COVID survivors and other victims of the disease are speaking out about the need for vaccination and masks. Organizers have planned rallies around the country to raise awareness about the devastating impacts of the coronavirus on individuals and families. By Lauran Neergaard and Mike Stobbe. SENT: 860 words, photos.

CONGRESS-INFRASTRUCTURE — Senators are convening for a rare weekend session on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which could wrap up swiftly with passage of the $1 trillion package or be dragged out for days by opponents trying to stop President Joe Biden’s big priority. By Lisa Mascaro. SENT: 1,070 words, photos. UPCOMING: 1,100 words after Senate returns at noon. With CONGRESS-BUDGET-DEMOCRATS — Senate Democrats seem near the unanimity they’ll need for the crucial first step toward their $3.5 trillion infrastructure vision. SENT: 860 words, photos, video.

WESTERN WILDFIRES — People living in the scenic forestlands of Northern California found themselves facing a weekend of fear as wildfires threatened to reduce thousands of homes to ashes. By Daisy Nguyen and Noah Berger. SENT: 800 words, photos, videos.

FRANCE-POLICE-DOMESTIC-ABUSE — The death of a 31-year-old woman who was shot and burned alive by her former husband has focused attention on the long-taboo subject of domestic violence among French police officers. The woman, Chahinez Daoud, had filed an abuse complaint two months before she died in May and it never got properly forwarded to court authorities. By Arno Pedram. SENT: 1,030 words, photos.

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TOKYO OLYMPICS

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OLY-BKO-MEN'S-FINAL — Nothing about the summer was easy for the U.S. men’s basketball team, and neither was the gold-medal game. The Americans expected nothing less. And in the end, their Olympic reign lives on. Kevin Durant scored 29 points and joined Carmelo Anthony as the only three-time men’s gold medalists in Olympic history and the U.S. held off France 87-82 on Saturday to win the title at the Tokyo Games — ending a summer that started with sputters but closed with celebration. By Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds. SENT: 1,120 words, photos.

OLY-TOKYO-GAMES-THE-PRICE-TAG — Olympic Games are expensive. The price tag for the Tokyo Olympics is $15.4 billion. That would pay for the construction of hundreds of hospitals in Japan or more than 1,000 schools. Olympics are costly and may bump aside other priorities. In fact, several Japanese government audits say the real outlay for the Tokyo Games is even more than the official figure, perhaps approaching twice as much. By Sports Writer Stephen Wade. SENT: 1,130 words, photos.

OLY-JAPAN-WHAT-DID-THEY-MEAN? — Was it the strangest Olympics ever, staged during a deadly global pandemic, with no fans? How about the angriest, awash in protests and fierce opposition from large swaths of the host nation? The scariest, with fears of new coronavirus variants and surging cases in Japan throughout the Games? Or maybe, as athletes banded together under moments of intense stress, the kindest? As the tens of thousands of athletes, journalists and officials get ready to pack up and leave, Japan will be left picking over the answers to these questions, maybe for years. By Foster Klug. SENT: 1,360 words, photos.

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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK

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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-MEXICO — Mexico City and a half-dozen of the country’s 32 states are now on “red” alert as COVID-19 infections rose to their highest level ever. SENT: 270 words, photo.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-MOTORCYCLE-RALLY — Thousands of bikers crowd into this small Black Hills town for the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, an event that is again being watched for how it might aid the coronavirus to spread quickly via the new delta variant. SENT: 6010 words, photos.

SUPREME COURT-UNIVERSITY VACCINE MANDATE — The Supreme Court is being asked to block a plan by Indiana University to require students and employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19. SENT: 530 words, photos.

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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

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AQUARIUM-BELUGAS — Whale dies 3 months after move from Canada to Connecticut. SENT: 260 words, photo.

SCI-PLAYING MARS — Help wanted: NASA is looking for people to spend a year pretending they are isolated on Mars. SENT: 450 words, photos.

ALASKA-MISSING PLANE — Poor weather hampers crash victim recovery efforts in Alaska. SENT: 380 words, photo.

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WASHINGTON/ POLITICS

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ELECTION 2022-SENATE-PENNSYLVANIA — Democrats see one of their best chances to pick up a Senate during next year’s midterms in Pennsylvania. But first the party will have to endure a potentially bruising primary where the packed field doesn’t break neatly down along ideological lines. By Will Weissert and Thomas Beaumont. SENT: 990 words, photos.

BIDEN-VACATION — President Biden should be heading out on vacation and a traditional August break from Washington. But with the Senate still in session and working on his bipartisan infrastructure bill, Biden hasn’t gone far. By Darlene Superville and Aamer Madhani. SENT: 790 words, photos.

CAPITOL-BREACH-INVESTIGATION — A House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol has hired former Republican Rep. Denver Riggleman as a senior staff member, bringing on the one-term Virginia lawmaker as GOP leaders have criticized the panel as too partisan. SENT: 320 words, photo.

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INTERNATIONAL

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GREECE-FIRES — Wildfires rampaged through massive swaths of Greece’s last remaining forests for yet another day, encroaching on more inhabited areas after burning scores of homes, businesses and farms. SENT: 690 words, photos.

JAPAN-STABBING — Japanese police say they arrested a man who stabbed 10 passengers on a commuter train in Tokyo hours earlier, in what public broadcaster NHK reported to be a random burst of violence unrelated to the ongoing Olympic Games. SENT: 450 words, photos.

BELARUS-POLITICAL-PRISONERS-PHOTO-GALLERY — Human rights activists describe the political repression taking place in Belarus as its worst since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s purges during the 1930s. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.

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NATIONAL

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FLASH-FLOODS-COLORADO HIGHWAY — As ominous storm clouds gathered in western Colorado over a large area blackened by a recent wildfire, torrential rain fell and the charred land stripped of vegetation gave way, sending a rush of mud and boulders tumbling down steep canyon walls and onto a major highway. SENT: 1,120 words, photos.

JUSTICE-PROBE-PHOENIX-POLICE — A homeless Black Muslim man who died while being restrained by officers after he tried to carry a tiny dog he described as a service animal into a public bathroom is among cases that led the U.S. Justice Department this week to launch a widespread probe into the police force in Phoenix. SENT: 900 words, photos.

MYANMAR-AMBASSADOR PLOT — Two Myanmar citizens have been arrested on charges alleging that they conspired to oust Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations by injuring or killing him. SENT: 400 words.

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ENTERTAINMENT

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PEOPLE-BRITNEY-SPEARS — Britney Spears’ father said in a court filing Friday that there are “no grounds whatsoever” for removing him from the conservatorship that controls her money and affairs. By Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton. SENT: 610 words, photos.

BOOKS-ROMANCE AWARD RESCINDED — The Romance Writers of America has withdrawn an award for a novel widely criticized for its sympathetic portrait of a cavalry officer who participated in the slaughter of Lakota Indians at the Battle of Wounded Knee. SENT: 440 words.

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SPORTS

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FBN--HALL OF FAME — The roster of men entering the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend features everything from the prolific passer (Peyton Manning) to the dominant defender (Troy Polamalu). Not to mention coaches Bill Cowher, Tom Flores and Jimmy Johnson, super scout Bill Nunn and a guy who punched out a horse. By Pro Football Writer Barry Wilner. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos by 5 p.m.

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