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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RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-100-DAYS-EXPLAINER — One hundred days into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war has brought the world a near-daily drumbeat of gut wrenching scenes: Civilian corpses in the streets of Bucha; a blown-up theater in Mariupol; the chaos at a Kramatorsk train station in the wake of a Russian missile strike. By Jamey Keaten and Yura Karmanau. SENT: 1,150 words, photos.
BIDEN-GUNS — “Enough, enough,” President Joe Biden exclaims over and over as he delivers an impassioned address to the nation imploring Congress to take action against gun violence after mass shootings he says have turned schools, supermarkets and other everyday places into “killing fields.” By Will Weissert and Zeke Miller. SENT: 1,000 words, photos, video.
REDISTRICTING-CONGRESS — After nearly a year of partisan battles, number-crunching and lawsuits, the once-a-decade congressional redistricting cycle is ending in a draw. That leaves Republicans positioned to win control of the House of Representatives even if they come up just short of winning a majority of the national vote. By Nicholas Riccardi. SENT: 1,180 words, photo.
TEXAS-PRISONER-ESCAPE — A convicted murderer on the run since escaping a prison bus after stabbing its driver on May 12 was shot dead late Thursday after he killed a family of five and stole their truck from a rural weekend cabin, a Texas prison system spokesman said. By Terry Wallace. SENT: 520 words, photos.
TURKEY-SYRIA-EXPLAINER — In northern Syria, residents are bracing for a new fight. With the world’s attention focused on the war in Ukraine, Turkey’s leader says he’s planning a major military operation to push back Syrian Kurdish fighters and create a long sought-after buffer zone in the border area. By Bassem Mroue and Zeynep Bilginsoy. SENT: 1,010 words, photos.
TULSA-MEDICAL-BUILDING-SHOOTING-SECURITY — Hospitals, like schools, are not typically designed to guard against the threat of a determined gunman entering the building to take lives. The vulnerability of health care facilities was highlighted by a shooter who killed four people and then himself Wednesday at a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The assailant got inside a building on the Saint Francis Hospital campus with little trouble. By MICHAEL TARM and DON BABWIN. SENT: 720 words, photos.
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TRENDING
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RACINE-CEMETERY-SHOOTING — Two people were shot at a cemetery south of Milwaukee, police say. Racine police described the shooting as a “critical” incident and urged people to stay away. Police said multiple shots were fired in the direction of a funeral service. SENT: 490 words, photos.
CHURCH-SHOOTING-IOWA — Two people and a shooter died in a shooting outside a church in Ames, authorities said. SENT: 90 words, photos.
TROPICAL-WEATHER — Tropical storm watches were posted for Florida, Cuba and the Bahamas as the system that battered Mexico moves to the east. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm once known as Agatha in the Pacific Ocean will be known as Alex in the Atlantic Ocean basin. SENT: 370 words, photo.
MUSEUM-SMASH UP — A man broke into the Dallas Museum of Art and caused more than $5 million in damage, including smashing three ancient Greek artifacts before he was arrested, police said. SENT: 210 words.
SNOWBANK-BODY-MURDER-FOR-HIRE — A Colorado man pleaded not guilty in federal court in Vermont to kidnapping a man who was later found shot to death in a snowbank in 2018 in what prosecutors allege is a murder-for-hire case stemming from a financial dispute. SENT: 465 words, photo.
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MORE ON SHOOTINGS
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TULSA-MEDICAL BUILDING SHOOTING-PAIN MANAGEMENT — The shootings by a man authorities said blamed his surgeon for continuing pain after a recent back highlighted concerns by medical professionals about dealing with pain and seeking pain medication. SENT: 600 words, photos.
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MORE ON RUSSIA-UKRAINE
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RUSSIA-CLOSED-BUSINESSES-PHOTO GALLERY — AP PHOTOS: Russian malls half-empty after Western firms exit. SENT: 130 words, photos.
UKRAINE WAR-100 DAYS PHOTO GALLERY — There is no accounting of a war that launched in late winter, continued through spring and is likely to drag on for seasons to come. The conflict unleashed by Russian President Vladimir Putin defies statistics. It is a story best told in unsparing images of human suffering and resilience. One hundred days of photos from Associated Press photographers. The 100-day mark is Friday. SENT: 280 words, photos.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-KID VACCINES — The Biden administration says children under 5 may be able to get their first COVID-19 vaccination doses as soon as June 21, if federal regulators authorize shots for the age group as expected. SENT: 240 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-GERMANY — Germany’s federal and state leaders agreed to try to avoid closing schools and child care facilities if there is another surge in coronavirus cases this fall. SENT: 160 words, photo.
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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
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AFGHAN REFUGEES — For some Afghans who were evacuated as their country fell to the Taliban last summer, the journey to the United States has stalled, and perhaps ended, at a sun-baked cluster of tents and temporary housing on an American base in the Balkans. By Ben Fox. SENT: 840 words, photos.
SOCIAL SECURITY-MEDICARE — A stronger-than-expected economic recovery from the pandemic has pushed back the go-broke dates for Social Security and Medicare, but officials warn that the current economic turbulence is putting additional pressures on the bedrock retirement programs. SENT: 900 words, photo.
ELECTION 2022-SENATE-ARIZONA-TRUMP — Donald Trump endorses investor Blake Masters in the crowded Republican Senate primary in Arizona, siding with another acolyte of tech investor Peter Thiel. SENT: 1,140 words, photo.
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NATIONAL
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SPELLING-BEE — Harini Logan has won the Scripps National Spelling Bee, defeating Vikram Raju in the bee’s first-ever lightning-round tiebreaker. Both spellers got four words wrong during their grueling showdown before Scripps went to the 90-second spell-off. Harini was faster and sharper throughout, spelling 21 words correctly to beat Vikram by six. The 14-year-old from San Antonio, Texas, takes home a trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes. SENT: 830 words, photos. With SPELLING-BEE-REINSTATEMENT — Speller reinstated into National Spelling Bee after appeal (sent).
SAN-FRANCISCO-DISTRICT-ATTORNEY — San Francisco’s progressive district attorney, elected on a platform of reducing incarceration, faces a recall election driven by a pandemic in which brutal attacks against Asian seniors and viral footage of smash-and-grab robberies tested residents’ famously liberal political bent. SENT: 1,190 words, photos.
BIKER-GANG-SHOOTING-VEGAS — A shooting that authorities say involved rival Hells Angels and Vagos motorcycle gang members on a Las Vegas-area freeway may have been retaliation for the killing of a man several weeks ago in Southern California, a prosecutor says. SENT: 660 words, photos.
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INTERNATIONAL
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UNITED NATIONS-AFGHANISTAN — Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers are maintaining close ties with al-Qaida as they consolidate control over the country, and their main military threat is coming from the Islamic State extremist group and guerrilla-style attacks by former Afghan government security personnel, U.N. experts said in a new report. SENT: 790 words, photos.
BRITAIN-REMEMBERING THE CORONATION — Tonga’s chief diplomat in the United Kingdom will be thinking about two monarchs this weekend as Britain and the Commonwealth celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. SENT: 730 words, photos.
KOREAS-TENSIONS — President Joe Biden’s special envoy for North Korea say the United States is “preparing for all contingencies” in close coordination with its South Korean and Japanese allies as it monitors North Korean arrangements for a possible nuclear test explosion that outside officials say could be imminent. SENT: 720 words, photos.
MEXICO CORRUPTION — The United States has extradited a former Mexican border state governor to his homeland, where he is accused of embezzling millions of dollars in state funds. SENT: 135 words, photo.
LT-PERU-AMAZON-DEFORESTATION — Peru has descended into one of the worst political crises in its history and protection of its Amazon rainforest is failing, according to a report published today. Peru is home to the second-largest portion of the Amazon rainforest after Brazil. The country had pledged to stop deforestation by 2021. SENT: 700 words, photo.
PACIFIC-ISLAND-CHINA — The foreign ministers of Australia and China were both making their final stops on what has become an island-hopping diplomatic duel in the South Pacific. SENT: 360 words, photos.
IRAN — Iran reported the death of another colonel of the elite Quds force of its Revolutionary Guards, the second in two weeks from the unit which oversees Iran’s military operations abroad. SENT: 150 words.
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HEALTH/SCIENCE
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DIVERSITY IN SPACE — A 26-year-old electrical and hardware engineer will become the first Mexican-born woman in space when she joins a diverse international crew for a 10-minute flight launched by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. SENT: 550 words, photos.
MED-MELATONIN-KIDS — Researchers are drawing attention to a rise in poisonings in children involving the sleep aid melatonin — including a big jump during the pandemic. SENT: 550 words, photo.
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BUSINESS/ECONOMY
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ECONOMY-JOBS-REPORT — After months of robust hiring, U.S. employers might have pulled back slightly in May, to levels that would still be consistent with a healthy job market, despite high inflation and rising borrowing costs. SENT: 750 words, photos.
FINANCIAL-MARKETS — Asian shares rose amid mixed signs for investors such as rising energy prices and COVID-19 restrictions easing in China. Trading was closed in China for the Dragon Boat Festival, a national holiday. Benchmarks in the rest of the region edged higher, cheered by a rally overnight on Wall Street. SENT: 690 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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BKN--NBA FINALS — Jaylen Brown fueled a comeback charge and scored 24 points, Al Horford hit six 3-pointers and the Boston Celtics rode the most lopsided fourth quarter in NBA Finals history to a 120-108 victory over the Golden State Warriors in Game 1. By Janie McCauley. SENT: 1,000 words, photos. With BKN--NBA Finals-Silver.
BKN—ON BASKETBALL-NBA FINALS — When the Golden State Warriors look at the tape of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, they’ll see both the present and the past. They’ll see the Boston Celtics, the 2022 version. They’ll also see a team that looks a lot like the 2015 Warriors. By Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds. SENT: 790 words.
SOC—JAPAN-BRAZILIAN CONNECTION — Brazilians will feel at home when Brazil plays Japan next week in Tokyo in a soccer game between their national teams. Brazil and Japan are connected by more than 100 years of immigration. Brazil has about 2 million residents who claim ties to Japan, and several hundred thousand of those Japanese Brazilians have returned to Japan for jobs. By Stephen Wade. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
TEN--FRENCH OPEN — American teenager Coco Gauff reached her first Grand Slam final by beating Martina Trevisan of Italy 6-3, 6-1 at the French Open. The 18th-seeded Gauff will face No. 1 Iga Swiatek for the championship on Saturday. On Friday, Rafael Nadal will face No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev in one French Open men’s semifinal. No. 20 Marin Cilic will play No. 8 Casper Ruud in the other. By Tennis Writer Howard Fendrich. SENT: 880 words, photos; developing. With TEN--French Open-The Latest (developing).
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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 http://newsroom.ap.org. For access to AP Newsroom and other technical issues, contact apcustomersupport@ap.org or call 844-777-2006.
