AP News Digest 3 a.m.
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TOP STORIES
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FACEBOOK PAPERS-CAPITOL BREACH — New internal documents provided by former Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower Frances Haugen provide a rare glimpse into how the company, after years under the microscope for the policing of its platform, appears to have simply stumbled into the Jan. 6 riot. For weeks, riot participants had vowed — on Facebook itself — to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election victory with little response from the company. By Alan Suderman and Joshua Goodman. SENT: 1,210 words, photos.
SUPREME COURT-ABORTION — The Supreme Court is allowing the Texas law that bans most abortions to remain in place, but has agreed to hear arguments in the case in early November. The court will decide whether the Justice Department and abortion providers can sue in federal court over the law. By Mark Sherman. SENT: 800 words, photo, video. With SUPREME COURT-ABORTION-EXPLAINER — Why the high court is moving fast. SENT: 810 words, photos.
MED-VIRUS-OUTBREAK-CHILDREN-VACCINES — Federal scientists say kid-size doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine appear highly effective at preventing symptomatic infections among elementary school children. The Food and Drug Administration posted its review late Friday ahead of a public meeting to consider opening vaccinations to kids 5 to 11. By Lauran Neergaard and Matthew Perrone. SENT: 610 words, photos.
PROP-FIREARM-MOVIE-SET — An assistant director of the film “Rust” told Alec Baldwin that a weapon he gave him was safe to use in the moments before the actor fatally shot a cinematographer, according to court documents in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Instead, the gun was loaded with live rounds. When Baldwin pulled the trigger Thursday on the set of a Western, he killed 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins By Morgan Lee, Susan Montoya Bryan and Cedar Attanasio. SENT: 940 words, photos, videos.
CONGRESS-BUDGET — President Biden and Congress’ top Democrats edge closer to sealing their giant domestic legislation, though an informal deadline slips as they work to scale back the measure and determine how to pay for it. By Lisa Mascaro, Darlene Superville and Alan Fram. SENT: 1,150 words, photos, video. With CONGRESS-BUDGET-HIGHLIGHTS — What’s in, what’s out. SENT: 680 words, photos; CONGRESS-BUDGET-COMMUNITY COLLEGE — Biden’s long-sought goal of free community college appears to be a victim of cost-cutting. SENT: 1,030 words, photos.
GIULIANI-ASSOCIATE-TRIAL — A New York jury has convicted a former associate of Rudy Giuliani of charges that he made illegal campaign contributions to influence U.S. politicians and advance his business interests. Lev Parnas, 49, was convicted on all counts. By Tom Hays and Larry Neumeister. SENT: 930 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-JOBLESS AID CUTOFF — Earlier this year, an insistent cry arose from business leaders and Republican governors: Cut off a $300-a-week federal supplement for unemployed Americans. Many people, they argued, would then come off the sidelines and take the millions of jobs that employers were desperate to fill. Yet three months after half the states began ending that federal payment, there’s been no significant influx of job seekers. By Christopher Rugaber, Casey Smith and Larry Fenn. SENT: 1,540 words, photos; a 900-word abridged version has also moved. WITH: VIRUS OUTBREAK-JOBLESS AID-CUTOFF-LOCALIZE IT — A guide to help AP customers localize the story for their audiences. SENT: 995 words, photos.
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TRENDING NEWS
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MISSING TRAVELER-EXPLAINER — Now that the decomposed remains of Brian Laundrie have been found, where does the investigation into the strangling of his girlfriend, Gabby Petito, go from here? SENT: 940 words, photos. With: MISSING-TRAVELER — Family members were hoping for more answers from law enforcement regarding the cause of death for Brian Laundrie, who was a person of interest in the death of girlfriend Gabby Petito while the couple was on a cross-country road trip, an attorney said. SENT: 620 words, photos.
THERANOS FOUNDER-FRAUD TRIAL — A jury weighing the fate of fallen Silicon Valley star Elizabeth Holmes got its first chance Friday to listen to recordings of her boasting to investors about purported breakthroughs in a blood-testing technology. The technology heralded as a quantum leap in blood testing, however, later dissolved into a scandal that now threatens to send her to prison. SENT: 600 words, photo.
NOT-REAL-NEWS — Social media users shared a range of false claims this week about COVID-19 vaccines. SENT: 1,930 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE FIREARM MOVIE SET SHOOTING
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OBIT-HALYNA-HUTCHINS — Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ brief life brought her from a Soviet military base to the American Film Institute in Los Angeles to the sets of such films as “Archenemy” and “Blindfire.” The 42-year Hutchins was killed Thursday on the set of the Western “Rust” by a prop gun fired by actor Alec Baldwin. On her Instagram page, she identified herself as a “Restless Dreamer” and “Adrenaline junkie.” SENT: 360 words, photos.
PROP-FIREARM-MOVIE SET-EXPLAINER — A look at how firearms are used on sets in the wake of the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the Alec Baldwin film “Rust.” SENT: 1,020 words, photos.
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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
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CHILD TAX CREDIT — President Joe Biden and other Democrats want to make a $300 per month child tax credit permanent. But there’s an ideological argument over the benefit: Do the payments cause people to stop working or allow them the resources to find a job? SENT: 1,090 words, photos.
AFGHAN REFUGEES-KOSOVO — The U.S. is welcoming tens of thousands of Afghans airlifted out of Kabul but has disclosed little publicly about a small group who remain overseas. Dozens who triggered potential security issues during security vetting have been sent to an American base in the Balkan nation of Kosovo. SENT: 905 words, photos.
UNITED-STATES-SYRIA — The U.S. military says it killed a senior al-Qaida leader in an airstrike in northwest Syria. Army Maj. John Rigsbee, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said in a statement that Abdul Hamid al-Matar was killed by a drone strike. SENT: 130 words.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-CALIFORNIA PRISONS — A judge in California ruled Friday that state prison guards who work in and around facilities’ health care settings must be vaccinated against the coronavirus. SENT: 320 words, photo.
VIRUS-OUTBREAK-BOOSTERS-Q&A — Millions more Americans are now eligible for COVID-19 boosters, and they can get a different vaccine than their first shots. A number of factors, including the vaccine you started with and when your last dose was, help determine when you qualify, according to recommendations issued Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. SENT: 690 words, photos.
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NATIONAL
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CALIFORNIA-STORMS — Northern California residents relieved that this week’s rain helped contain stubborn wildfires and soaked dry gardens were cleaning up Friday and preparing for a massive storm this weekend that could bring flash flooding to vast areas scorched by fire. SENT: 615 words, photos.
SEPT 11-CLEANUP WORKERS — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and two other legislators reintroduced a bill in the House on Friday to put immigrants who cleared debris after the Sept. 11 attacks on a fast track to legal immigration status in the United States. SENT 470 words, photos.
OKLAHOMA HEALTH COMMISSIONER RESIGNS — Oklahoma Health Commissioner Dr. Lance Frye unexpectedly resigned from the post on Friday, effective immediately, the state health department said. SENT: 315 words, photo.
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INTERNATIONAL
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CLIMATE-SAUDI ARABIA — One of the world’s largest oil producers, Saudi Arabia, announced Saturday it aims to reach “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions by 2060, joining more than 100 countries in a global effort to try and curb man-made climate change. DEVELOPING: 160 words, photo.
CLIMATE-BANGLADESH — Bangladesh plans to present its “climate prosperity plan” aimed at mitigating the effects of global warming on economic development at the forthcoming U.N. climate talks in Glasgow, a Bangladeshi climate official says. SENT: 575 words.
ETHIOPIA-TIGRAY-CRISIS — Ethiopian military airstrikes on Friday forced a United Nations humanitarian flight to abandon its landing in the capital of the country’s Tigray region, and a government spokesman said authorities were aware of the inbound flight. It appeared to be a sharp escalation in intimidation tactics authorities have used against aid workers amid the intensifying, year-long Tigray war. SENT: 870 words, photos.
EXICO VIOLENCE-TULUM — A San Jose, California woman born in India was one of two foreign tourists killed in the apparent crossfire of a drug-gang shootout in Mexico’s Caribbean coast resort of Tulum. SENT: 640 words, photos.
UNITED NATIONS-NORTH KOREA — A U.N. investigator says North Korea has never been more isolated from the international community as a result of its drastic steps to prevent COVID-19. SENT: 690 words.
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HEALTH AND SCIENCE
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LAKE TAHOE-CLIMATE CHANGE — Drought fueled by climate change has dropped Lake Tahoe below its natural rim and halted flows into the Truckee River. It’s an historically cyclical event but it’s occurring sooner and more often than it used to. SENT: 980 words, photos.
MED-RARE DISEASE-AROMATHERAPY SPRAY — U.S. health officials may have solved the mystery of how four people in different states came down with a serious tropical disease even though none had traveled internationally: an aromatherapy spray imported from India. SENT: 310 words, photos.
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BUSINESS/ECONOMY
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FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Wall Street capped a choppy day of trading Friday with an uneven finish for the major stock indexes, as losses for several large technology companies weighed on the market. SENT: 780 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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BBA-ALCS-RED SOX-ASTROS — The Houston Astros defeated the Boston Red Sox 5-0 in decisive Game 6 of the ALCS to advance to the World Series. The Astros will play the winner of the Los Angeles Dodgers-Atlanta Braves NLDS. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.
BKN-SUNS-INVESTIGATION — The Phoenix Suns released a statement regarding a potential media investigation into the workplace culture of the franchise, denying that the organization or owner Robert Sarver have a history of racism or sexism. SENT: 540 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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