AP News Digest 3:10 a.m.
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TOP STORIES
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SEVERE-WEATHER-APPALACHIA — Kentucky’s governor says it could take weeks to find all the victims of flash flooding that killed at least 16 people when heavy rains turned streams into torrents that swamped towns across Appalachia. More rainstorms were forecast to roll through in coming days, keeping the region on edge as rescue crews struggled to get into hard-hit areas that include some of the poorest places in America. By Dylan Lovan, Bruce Schreiner and Matthew Brown. SENT: 890 words, photos, video, audio. With SOUTHWEST THUNDERSTORMS-FLOODING — Southwest rains flood deserts, cascade into Vegas casinos (sent).
ELECTION 2022-SENATE-PENNSYLVANIA-SOCIAL MEDIA — In Pennsylvania’s competitive Senate race between Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz, the biggest moments aren’t playing out on the campaign trail. They’re unfolding on social media. By Marc Levy. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-CHANGED-WORLD-ANALYSIS — By ending 77 years of almost uninterrupted peace in Europe, war in Ukraine has joined the dawn of the nuclear age and manned spaceflight as a watershed in history. The world is not as it was before the war’s five months of fighting, tens of thousands of dead and wounded on both sides and massive disruptions to energy supplies, The conflict has held a mirror to humankind’s propensity to live on the razor’s edge of folly, taking steps back even as it pursues progress. The air raid sirens that howl over Ukraine’s cities can’t be heard in Paris or Berlin, yet generations of Europeans who grew knowing only peace have been awakened to its fragility. By John Leicester. SENT: 910 words, photos.
MONKEYPOX-VACCINE — Moves by rich countries to buy large quantities of monkeypox vaccine, while declining to share doses with Africa, could leave millions of people unprotected against a more dangerous version of the disease and risk continued spillovers of the virus into humans, public health officials are warning. By Maria Cheng. SENT: 970 words, photos.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-NORTH-KOREA-ZERO-CASES — North Korea on Saturday reported no new fever cases for the first time since it abruptly admitted to its first domestic COVID-19 outbreak and placed its 26 million people under more draconian restrictions in May. By Hyung-Jin Kim. SENT: 910 words, photos.
EXTREME-WEATHER-EXPLAINER — Hundreds of miles apart, but still connected by the same stubborn weather system, urban St. Louis and rural Appalachia are showing how devastating flash flooding can be when souped-up storms dump massive amounts of rain with no place to go. SENT: 690 words, photos.
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MORE ON RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
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POLAND-UKRAINE-REFUGEES-JEWISH-HELP — A summer camp in Poland’s capital has brought Jewish volunteers originally from Russia or other parts of the former Soviet Union to mentor Ukrainian refugee children. Jewish organizations set up the camp in Warsaw to bring some joy to children traumatized by war, to help prepare them for new school year in Poland and to give their mothers some time to themselves. The organizers say the endeavor fulfilled a desire to help people in need that is both universal and central to Judaism. A Russian-born rabbi who lives in California and worked with small children at the camp says the suffering Jews endured for centuries creates an obligation to help those suffering now. SENT: 800 words, photos.
UNITED NATIONS-UKRAINE-US-RUSSIA — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says there should no longer be any doubt that Russia intends to dismantle Ukraine “and dissolve it from the world map entirely.” SENT: 770 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-DEVELOPMENTS — Russia and Ukraine accused each other of shelling a prison in a separatist region of eastern Ukraine, an attack that reportedly killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war captured after the fall of Mariupol, the city where troops famously held out against a monthslong Russian siege. By Susie Blann. SENT: 1,035 words, photos.
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TRENDING
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LOTTERY-JACKPOT — You bought a Mega Millions lottery ticket and have been dreaming of how you’ll spend $1.28 billion. Now it’s time to check your numbers and face reality. The winning numbers are: 13-36-45-57-67, Mega Ball: 14. SENT: 220 words, photos.
SPAIN-SHAKIRA — Prosecutors in Spain said Friday they would ask a court to sentence Colombian pop star Shakira to eight years and two months in prison, if she is convicted in her expected trial for alleged tax fraud. SENT: 220 words, photos.
WILL-SMITH-CHRIS-ROCK — Will Smith has again apologized to Chris Rock for slapping him during the Oscar telecast, saying that his behavior was “unacceptable.” SENT: 410 words, photos.
TEXAS-SCHOOL-SHOOTING-ABBOTT — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has said that he stopped at a campaign fundraiser following the deadly school shooting in Uvalde and “let people know” he couldn’t stay, but a newspaper reports that he was there for nearly three hours. SENT: 460 words, photo.
MEXICO-T0URISM — International tourism in Mexico has finally surpassed pre-pandemic levels, after 10.26 million visitors came to the country in the first half of 2022, Mexico’s Tourism Department reports. SENT: 280 words.
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WASHINGTON/ POLITICS
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CONGRESS-WILDFIRE — The House has approved wide-ranging legislation aimed at helping communities in the West cope with increasingly severe wildfires and drought — fueled by climate change — that have caused billions of dollars of damage to homes and businesses in recent years. SENT: 940 words, photos.
ELECTION-2022-MICHIGAN-GOVERNOR — Former President Donald Trump on Friday endorsed Tudor Dixon in Michigan’s crowded Republican primary for governor, just days before voters choose an opponent to face Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. SENT: 480 words, photos.
SUPREME COURT-FOREIGN CRITICS — As the effects of the Supreme Court ruling overturning the constitutional right to abortion continue to reverberate through the U.S., Justice Samuel Alito is mocking foreign leaders’ criticism of the decision. By Lindsay Whitehurst. SENT: 890 words, photos, video. With BIDEN-ABORTION-LEGAL SERVICES — Attorney General Merrick Garland headlines a White House event bringing together pro bono lawyers, bar associations and public interest groups to discuss how best to offer legal services and protections for women seeking abortions. SENT: 580 words, photos.
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NATIONAL
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AFRICAN-SAFARI-DENTIST-DEATH — A lawyer for a wealthy dentist accused of shooting his wife straight through the heart with a shotgun at the end of an African safari to be with his longtime girlfriend urged jurors to dismiss what he said was a government case built on gossip and innuendo and acquit him. SENT: 840 words, photo.
SHOOTING OUTSIDE FOOTBALL GAME — An investigative report looking at Sharon Hill Borough’s police policies and procedures in the wake of a police shooting that killed 8-year-old Fanta Bility last year was released late Friday, but the report was largely redacted, with any findings and recommendations obscured from public view. SENT: 600 words, photos.
EXECUTION-ALABAMA — Alabama’s prison system says that the execution of an Alabama inmate was delayed because of the time it took to establish an intravenous line to the inmate. SENT: 560 words, photo.
NEWTOWN-SHOOTING-INFOWARS — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ media company Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy, but his attorney said it should not disrupt the defamation damages trial underway in Texas that seeks to force Jones to pay $150 million or more to the family of one of the children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School attack. SENT: 480 words, photos.
PATROL-CAR-DEATH — The parents of a Georgia woman who died after she fell from a moving patrol car following her arrest fought back tears as they demanded answers in their daughter’s death. SENT: 440 words, photos.
ARIZONA-ELECTION-OFFICIAL-THREAT-ARREST — The FBI arrested a Massachusetts man for threatening to blow up Arizona’s top election official following the 2020 election that saw former President Donald Trump lose in the state. SENT: 410 words.
JUDGE-SEIZES-JAIL — A federal judge has seized control of a Mississippi jail after citing “severely deficient” conditions at the facility. In a Friday ruling, U.S. Southern District of Mississippi Judge Carlton Reeves placed Hinds County’s Raymond Detention Center in Raymond into receivership. The judge will soon appoint an expert, known as a “receiver,” to temporarily manage the facility in hopes of improving its conditions. SENT: 400 words, photos.
CHURCH-SHOOTING-ALABAMA — An Alabama grand jury has indicted a 70-year-old man on capital murder charges in the fatal shootings of three people at a church potluck dinner in June, according to court records made public. SENT: 340 words, photos.
BOYS-SCOUTS-BANKRUPTCY — A Delaware bankruptcy judge has approved parts of the Boy Scouts of America’s reorganization plan but rejected other provisions, saying in a ruling Friday that the organization has “decisions to make.” SENT: 870 words, photo.
MONKEYPOX-CALIFORNIA — California officials are pressing for more vaccine and acting with “utmost urgency” to slow the spread of the monkeypox virus, but they have not decided whether to declare a statewide emergency as the city of San Francisco announced on Thursday, the state’s public health officer says. SENT: 670 words, photo.
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INTERNATIONAL
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UNITED-NATIONS-CENTRAL-AFRICA-REPUBLIC — The U.N. Security Council voted Friday to relax the arms embargo against the Central African Republic, a disappointment to its government, which sought a complete lifting of the ban on the sale or transfer of weapons and ammunition. SENT: 520 words, photo.
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ENTERTAINMENT
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BREAKING-BAD-STATUE — Bronze statues of mythical methamphetamine cookers Walter White and Jesse Pinkman were installed at a convention center in Albuquerque to celebrate the “Breaking Bad” TV series and its entertainment legacy, winning applause in a city that played its own gritty supporting role. SENT: 570 words, photos.
MUSIC-REVIEW-BEYONCE — Beyoncé has been reborn again; this time it’s on a shimmering dance floor. In her seventh studio album, “Renaissance,” she has subverted the public’s perception of her hitmaking history. SENT: 400 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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BKN--76ERS-NBA INVESTIGATION — The Philadelphia 76ers are being investigated by the NBA for possible tampering in offseason free-agency moves involving James Harden, P.J. Tucker and Danuel House, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Friday night. The person, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said the team is cooperating with the investigation. Harden signed a deal worth slightly over $68 million, paying him about $33 million this season with a $35 million player option for the 2023-24 season. Harden, though, will make about $14.5 million less this coming season than he could have earned under his previous deal. By Dan Gelston. SENT 330 words, photos.
BBA--MARINERS-REDS TRADE — The Seattle Mariners have acquired the top starting pitcher on the trade market, getting All-Star Luis Castillo from the payroll-paring Cincinnati Reds for four minor league prospects. Cincinnati obtained infielders Noelvi Marte and Edwin Arroyo, and right-handers Levi Stoudt and Andrew Moore. Marte was the Mariners’ top-rated prospect, Arroyo was third and Stoudt fifth. Seattle has not been to the playoffs since 2001, the longest postseason drought in the four major North American pro sports. By Tim Booth. SENT: 750 words, photos.
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