AP News Digest 2 p.m.
Here are the AP's latest coverage plans, top stories and promotable content. All times EST. 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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ELECTION 2020-IOWA MESS — Democratic Party leaders and activists describe widespread missteps in planning and implementation that made the Iowa caucuses a historic disaster. In interviews, they blamed bad decisions by party officials, technology failures and poor communication for the mess that humiliated Democrats and undermined confidence in the results. Key mistakes include a smartphone app, phone hotline and the Iowa Democratic Party's decision to wait nearly a full day before releasing any results. By Ryan J. Foley. UPCOMING: 1700 words by 3 p.m., photos.
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ELECTION 2020 — With voting underway across the state, Democrats look to New Hampshire to reset the party's presidential nomination fight and bring clarity to a young primary season marred by dysfunction and doubt. By Steve Peoples, Kathleen Ronayne, Thomas Beaumont and Hunter Woodall. SENT: 1,190 words, photo. UPCOMING: Developing throughout the day. Last polls close at 8 p.m., 1290 words by 9 p.m., photos, video, audio. WITH: ELECTION 2020-THE LATEST, developing. WITH: ELECTION 2020-TAKEAWAYS — Takeaways from the New Hampshire primary. UPCOMING: 900 words by 11 p.m., photos. WITH: ELECTION 2020-VOTECAST — Results of AP’s survey of the New Hampshire electorate. UPCOMING: 600 words by 6 p.m. With: ELECTION 2020-VOTECAST-GLANCE. Key findings.
Find more coverage on the 2020 U.S. Elections featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
TRUMP-RUSSIA-STONE — The Justice Department will take the extraordinary step of lowering the recommended prison time for Roger Stone, an ally of President Trump, a decision that reverses its own prosecutors. The move comes just hours after Trump condemned the recommended sentence as “very horrible and unfair.” By Michael Balsamo. SENT: 680 words, photo. UPCOMING: Developing, 890 words by 5 p.m., photos.
WHO-VIRUS MEETING — The World Health Organization convenes outside experts to try to speed the development of tests, treatments and vaccines against the new coronavirus as doctors on the front lines experiment with various drugs in hopes of saving patients' lives in the meantime. By Jamey Keaten and Maria Cheng. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos, by 3 p.m. Also see MORE ON CHINA-OUTBREAK below.
SUDAN — Sudan's transitional authorities have agreed to hand over ousted autocrat Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court to face trial on charges of war crimes and genocide, a top Sudanese official says, in a deal with rebels to surrender all those wanted in connection with the Darfur conflict in which up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes. By Samy Magdy. SENT: 450 words, photos. UPCOMING: New version of 800 words by 4 p.m.
ELECTION 2020-BLOOMBERG — Mike Bloomberg is under fire for resurfaced comments in a 2015 audio, in which he says the way to bring down murder rates is to "put a lot of cops" in minority neighborhoods because that's where "all the crime is." The comments came in defense of his past support for the controversial "stop and frisk" policing tactic that disproportionately affected minorities. The billionaire and Democratic presidential candidate now says the 2015 remarks “do not reflect my commitment to criminal justice reform and racial equity." By Alexandra Jaffe. SENT: 1100 words, photos.
FAITH IN THE WORKPLACE — It has become standard practice for U.S. corporations to assure employees of support regardless of their race, gender or sexual orientation. There’s now an intensifying push to ensure that companies are similarly supportive and inclusive when it comes to employees’ religious beliefs. One barometer: More than 20% of the Fortune 100 have established faith-based employee resource groups, according to an AP examination and there’s a high-powered conference taking place this week in Washington aimed at expanding those ranks. By David Crary. SENT: 1,050 words, photos.
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MORE ON CHINA-OUTBREAK
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CHINA-OUTBREAK — The daily death toll in China from a new virus topped 100 for the first time, pushing the total above 1,000. In Geneva, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced a new name for the virus — COVID-19. By Joe McDonald. SENT: 1,160 words, photos. WITH: CHINA-OUTBREAK-AT A GLANCE.
CHINA OUTBREAK-US EVACUEES — Nearly 200 evacuees prepared to end their two-week quarantine at a Southern California military base where they have been living since flying out of China during a deadly viral outbreak. SENT: 560 words, photos.
CHINA-OUTBREAK-NO MAIL — — Postal operators in the United States, China and elsewhere say the suspension of flights to slow the spread of a deadly new virus is having a major impact on global flows of letters and parcels. SENT: 515 words, photos.
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WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT
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BRITAIN-FACIAL RECOGNITION — London police start using facial recognition cameras to automatically scan for wanted people, SENT: 425 words, photos.
EGYPT-POPULATION — Egypt's official statistics agency says the country's fast-growing population has hit 100 million people. SENT: 395 words, photos.
FILM-THE HUNT — “The Hunt,” a film built around the premise of liberal “elites” hunting people for sport in red states is coming to theaters in March. SENT: 240 words, photo.
SEAWORLD-LAWSUIT — SeaWorld Entertainment has agreed to pay $65 million to settle a lawsuit in which the theme park company was accused of misleading investors over the impact the documentary “Blackfish” was having on its bottom line. SENT: 155 words, photo.
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ELECTION 2020-WARREN — Elizabeth Warren still “has a plan” for everything. She’s just trying to put a more personal face on them. Being a proud policy nerd helped catapult the Massachusetts senator into front-runner status last summer but may have carried her as far as it can. With her polling now declining, threatening to choke off her once stout fundraising, Warren has retooled her speech to stress that she’s been counted out of fights all her life -- only to prevail. By Will Weissert. UPCOMING: 890 words by 6 p.m., photos.
ELECTION 2020-TRUMP-FACT CHECK — President Trump is telling a skewed story when he boasts about workers who've seen their personal retirement savings nearly double under his administration. Gains in the overall stock market are only half of what he implied. By Josh Boak and Hope Yen. SENT: 518 words, photo.
TRUMP-GUNS — After the Parkland school shooting in Florida two years ago, President Trump chided Republican lawmakers for being too “scared” of the National Rifle Association to tighten gun laws — then backed away from the idea. After back-to-back mass shootings in Ohio and Texas in 2019, Trump embraced calls for “strong background checks” — only to backpedal once again. Now, as he primes the pump on his 2020 reelection effort, Trump is embracing the mantle of gun rights champion. SENT: 1,130 words, photo.
TRUMP-SPAIN — President Trump and first lady Melania Trump will host the administration's third state dinner in April for King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, the White House announces. SENT: 190 words, photo.
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THAILAND-SHOOTING TEMPLE — A rogue soldier whose rampage left 29 people dead and dozens more injured in northeastern Thailand terrorized a Buddhist temple on his way to a shopping mall where he held people hostage in a nearly 16-hour siege. The peaceful seclusion of the Wat Pa Sattharuam forest monastery was shattered when the soldier from a nearby army base, Sgt. Maj. Jakrapanth Thomma, 31, roared through in a stolen military jeep, fatally shooting nine people. SENT: 735 words photos. WITH: THAILAND-SHOOTING — Thailand's army commander says the soldier who killed 29 people in a shooting rampage had not been treated fairly in a land deal. SENT: 625 words, photos.
SYRIA — Rebels shot down a Syrian military helicopter in northern Syria, killing its crew members in a fiery crash, while the government kept up its relentless bombing campaign on the opposition-held region, with an airstrike in which seven civilians died, activists and news reports said. SENT: 910 words, photos. WITH: SYRIA-THE LAST FRONTIER — Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have fled their homes scrambling to escape a swift and widening government offensive. SENT: 1,360 words, photos.
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BOY SCOUTS-ABUSE SURVIVORS — On the brink of bankruptcy due to sex-abuse litigation, the Boy Scouts of America issues a new apology to survivors of abuse and announces plans for expanded services to support them. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos by 4 p.m.
SEXUAL MISCONDUCT-WEINSTEIN — The defense rested its case in Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial, relying on just a few witnesses to supplement aggressive cross-examination as they aimed to undercut his accusers, all while keeping the disgraced Hollywood producer off the witness stand. As expected, Weinstein chose not to tell his own story at the risk of having prosecutors grill him on cross-examination about disturbing allegations that six of his accusers detailed for a Manhattan jury of seven men and five women. SENT: 735 words, photos.
ATLANTIC MENHADEN-RISE AND FALL — For more than a century, generations of black fishermen on the Chesapeake Bay have caught a fish called Atlantic menhaden. The fishermen now fear they could lose their jobs. Their employer, Omega Protein, exceeded catch limits last year, prompting the Trump Administration to threaten a moratorium in Virginia waters. The fish is used these days to make fish oil pills and farm-raised salmon feed. SENT: 930 words, photos.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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MED--BRAIN RESEARCH-VOLUNTEERS — People with epilepsy are contributing in surprising ways to research into the brain. When they need surgery, scientists get a chance to get a peek inside. Some patients donate lumps of brain tissue that's removed in the course of surgery. It can be studied in labs while still alive. By Carla K. Johnson and Malcolm Ritter. SENT: 1,260 words, photos, video.
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T-MOBILE-SPRINT — A federal judge has approved T-Mobile's $26.5 billion takeover of Sprint, rejecting objections from a group of states and removing a major obstacle to a shakeup in the wireless industry. After the deal closes, the number of major U.S. wireless companies would shrink from four to three. By Tali Arbel. SENT: 1,015 words, photos.
FEDERAL-RESERVE-POWELL-CONGRESS — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the U.S. economy appears durable with steady growth and unemployment near a half-century low but faces some risk from the broadening viral outbreak that began in China. Giving the Fed’s semiannual monetary report to Congress, Powell said that the Fed is content with where interest rates are, suggesting that no further rate cuts are being contemplated unless economic conditions were to change significantly. SENT: 905 words, photo.
OIL-PUBLIC LANDS — Oil production from U.S.- managed lands and waters topped a record 1 billion barrels last year, federal officials said, as technological advances helped drive development in new areas and the Trump administration eases rules on the industry. SENT: 615 words, photos.
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BOOKS-PUBLISHING DIVERSITY - The debate over Jeanine Cummins' novel “American Dirt” has brought renewed scrutiny to the publishing industry, which is predominantly white. By AP National Writer Hillel Italie. UPCOMING: 1,250 words, photos by 5 p.m.
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BBO--SPRING TRAINING — Baseball ends its long winter of cheating scandals and salary dumps, with the opening of the first spring training camps. Fans can finally look forward to the crack of the bat replacing the banging of a trash can. By Jimmy Golen. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos by 6 p.m. With separate stories from camps.
DOG SHOW — Dogdom’s big day concludes with the Westminster Kennel Club’s best in show at Madison Square Garden. A field that began with more than 2,600 dogs will be pared to seven group winners. Then the top dog is crowned as the successor to last year’s winner, King the wire fox terrier. By Ben Walker. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos. Early story on poodles about 5 p.m. Best in show about 11 p.m.
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