BC-AP News Digest 6:25 pm
Here are the AP's latest coverage plans, top stories and promotable content. All times EST.
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TOP STORIES
In this Feb. 6, 2017 photo, a detainee prays inside an overcrowded cell at a police station near Manaus, Brazil. All 24 detainees being held in this space made for eight said they hoped to avoid being transferred to a bigger prison under gang rule. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
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HABITABLE WORLDS? - For the first time, astronomers have discovered seven Earth-size planets orbiting a nearby star - and these new worlds could hold life. By Aerospace Writer Marcia Dunn. SENT: 860 words, photos, video, graphic. WITH: HABITABLE WORLDS?-GLANCE - Cool facts about the 7 Earth-size planets in constellation Aquarius. SENT: 450 words, photos.
TRANSGENDER BATHROOMS - The Trump administration is revoking transgender guidelines, stepping into an emotional national issue and stripping students of federal protections to use bathrooms and locker rooms matching gender identities that differ from their birth certificates. By Maria Danilova and Sadie Gurman. SENT: 900 words, photo. WITH: TRANSGENDER BATHROOMS-NEWS GUIDE - What could happen next. SENT: 730 words.
EPA-PRUITT EMAILS - As Oklahoma attorney general, Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt was in frequent contact with fossil fuel companies and others working to undermine U.S. efforts to curb planet-warming carbon emissions. By Michael Biesecker. SENT: 1,020 words, photo.
TRUMP-CONSERVATIVES - Conservative activists descending on Washington this week are learning that having a Republican in the White House can be complicated - particularly when that Republican is Donald Trump. By Lisa Lerer and Andrew Taylor. SENT: 930 words, photos.
OIL PIPELINE - The last of the Dakota Access pipeline opponents abandon their protest camp ahead of a government deadline to get off the federal land, and authorities arrest others who defied the order in a final show of dissent. Some of the last remnants of the camp went up in flames when occupants set fire to makeshift wooden housing as part of a leaving ceremony. By Blake Nicholson and James MacPherson. SENT: 740 words, photos, video. With: DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE-TIMELINE, SENT: 540 words, photos.
IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT-FEARS - Immigrants are developing deportation plans that designate emergency contacts and include details such as who picks up the kids from school in the event a parent gets arrested by immigration agents. By Amy Taxin and Deepti Hajela. SENT: 780 words, photos. WITH: TRUMP-TRAVEL BAN - The White House pushes back the release of President Donald Trump's revamped refugee and immigration executive order until next week. SENT: 130 words.
TRANSGENDER WRESTLER - Mack Beggs is headed to the girls' state high school wrestling tournament in Texas after two opponents at a qualifying event refused to face the 17-year-old transgender student who is taking testosterone to transition from female to male. The attorney who tried to stop Beggs by accusing the athlete of cheating is now taking aim at the state's governing body for public school athletics, saying its rules are forcing Beggs to wrestle as a girl. UPCOMING: 650 words, photos by 6 p.m. Competition begins Friday.
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WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT
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MISSING TEENS-INDIANA - Police say a teenage girl turned her cellphone on and recorded a man saying "down the hill" before she and a friend were killed along a northern Indiana hiking trail last week. SENT: 380 words, photos, video.
PEOPLE-HARRISON FORD - Newly released video shows a small plane piloted by Harrison Ford flying low over an airliner moments before he mistakenly landed on a taxiway at a California airport. SENT: 320 words, photos, video.
ANOREXIC PATIENT-FORCE FEEDING - An anorexic and bulimic New Jersey woman has died three months after a judge granted her request to refuse force-feeding. SENT: 440 words, photo.
CHARLESTON CHURCH SHOOTING - The man convicted of killing nine worshippers during Bible study at a black church drove toward a second black church after the shootings. SENT: 300 words, photo.
CEMETERY VANDALIZED-MISSOURI - Suburban St. Louis Jewish cemetery badly damaged by vandals gets a show of support from volunteers, well-wishers and financial contributors. SENT: 500 words, photo.
TJX-EXPANSION- The parent company of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls plans to expand even faster and test a new home store that's different from its highly successful HomeGoods chain. SENT: 560 words, photo.
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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
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CONGRESS-TOWN HALLS - Republicans who six years ago rode a wave of tea party discontent to win congressional jobs are now skipping town halls to avoid members of the public unhappy with President Donald Trump's agenda. By Kristen Wyatt. SENT: 950 words, photos.
UNITED STATES-MEXICO - President Trump sends his top diplomat and homeland security chief to Mexico on a fence-mending mission made all the more challenging by the actual fence he wants to build on the southern border. By Josh Lederman. SENT: 720 words, photos. UPCOMING: 750 words after 6:15 p.m. arrival of secretary of state.
UNITED STATES- NORTH KOREA ANALYSIS - China's surprising suspension of North Korean coal imports puts pressure to negotiate not only on Pyongyang, but also on President Trump. By Matthew Pennington. SENT: 880 words, photo.
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INTERNATIONAL
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BRAZIL-PRISON MASSACRE - As a holiday celebration died down at the prison in Manaus, a bloodbath beyond any worst-case scenario imagined by authorities swept through the yard, a brutality that laid bare Brazil's failed prison system and the gruesome war between gangs for influence in Latin America's largest nation. By Mauricio Savarese. SENT: 2,000 words, photos. Abridged version of 900 words also sent. WITH: BRAZIL-GANGS AND PRISONS-PHOTO GALLERY.
GERMANY-IRAQ-YAZIDI TRAUMA DOHUK, Iraq - After their rape and torture by Islamic State extremists for months or years, Yazidi women face ongoing suffering from psychological trauma even if they do manage to escape. A new psychological training center is set to help them recover. SENT: 2,400 words, by David Rising. With photos, video and abridged version of 900 words.
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NATIONAL
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GYM--DOCTOR-SEXUAL ASSAULT - A Michigan sports doctor who treated elite female U.S. gymnasts has been charged Wednesday sexually assaulting nine girls, including some too reluctant to speak up about the alleged abuse years ago because he was considered a "god." By Mike Householder and Ed White. SENT: 530 words, photos. UPCOMING: 600 words by 6 p.m.
CALIFORNIA STORMS - The mayor of San Jose, California, acknowledges that the city failed to properly notify residents to evacuate during a flood emergency, when some people said they got their first notice by seeing firefighters in boats in the neighborhood. SENT: 830 words, photos, video.
SAT-COLLEGE BOARD-SECURITY - The firm that owns the SAT college entrance exam is boosting security around the world following test-stealing and other cheating in recent years. SENT: 600 words.
BLACK WALL STREET-TULSA-RESURGENCE - An area of Tulsa once known as Black Wall Street, a southwestern Harlem of sorts and once home to a middle and upper class of 9,000 African Americans, was decimated decades ago amid one of the worst race riots in American history and the resulting fallout. Now, black leaders are now working to bring 100 businesses back by 2021. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
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HEALTH/SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY
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SKIN BACTERIA - Healthy bacteria live on everyone's skin, and now researchers have found some strains produce powerful antibiotics - and they're mixing the good bugs into lotions in hopes of spreading protection. By Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard. SENT: 590 words, photo.
APOLLO 11-ROAD TRIP - Apollo 11 is going on a new trip to teach people about its mission to the moon. The Smithsonian Institution is sending the command module, "Columbia," out on a tour to four museums across the U.S., the first time the space artifact has left Washington since it arrived 46 years ago. SENT: 900 words, photos.
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BUSINESS
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AUTOS-DEPENDABILITY - Technology glitches including Bluetooth phone pairing and misunderstood voice commands put a dent in car and truck reliability scores in a major survey of automobile owners. SENT: 900 words, photos. WITH: AUTOS-DEPENDABILITY-GLANCE - Rankings in J.D. Power's annual auto dependability survey.
SMALLBIZ-SMALL TALK-FLU - The flu season is taking a heavy toll on some small businesses, with staffers calling in sick or having to stay home to care for sick children. Work is backing up in some companies, and others are dealing with angry customers when projects are delayed or caregivers can get to their assignments. UPCOMING: 900 words, photos.
FRANCE-EURO EXIT? - If Marine Le Pen has her way, the French will soon pay for their baguettes with francs, not euros. The far-right presidential candidate wants France to leave the euro - but how would they pull that off? SENT 1,000 words, photos.
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ENTERTAINMENT
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BRIT AWARDS LONDON - The Brit Awards recognized big international stars including Drake and Beyonce and a cross-section of home-grown talent Wednesday - but the ceremony was overshadowed by the much-missed David Bowie and George Michael. By Jill Lawless. SENT: 880 words, photos.
OSCARS-HOLLYWOOD LOVES ITSELF - "La La Land" is only the latest of a string of recent Oscar contenders to exalt the movie business. Recent best-picture winners like "Birdman" and "The Artist" - and now potentially "La La Land" - are all animated by an anxiety with today's Hollywood - what kind of stories can escape the superhero industrial complex and which can dance past the rise of television. By Film Writer Jake Coyle. UPCOMING: 950 words by 3 p.m., photos. WITH: OSCARS-HOLLYWOOD LOVES ITSELF-5 CLASSICS.
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HOW TO REACH US
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At the Nerve Center, Stephanie Siek can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). For photos, Jennifer Kane ext. 1900. For graphics and interactives, ext. 7636. Expanded AP content can be obtained from http://www.apexchange.com. For access to AP Exchange and other technical issues, contact apcustomersupport@ap.org or call 877-836-9477.
Dakota Access pipeline opponents burn structures in their main protest camp in southern North Dakota near Cannon Ball, N.D., on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2017, as authorities prepare to shut down the camp in advance of spring flooding season. (AP Photo/James MacPherson)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin listens at right as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting on the Federal budget, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2017, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Ivanka Trump, daughter of President Donald Trump, and her daughter Arabella Kushner walk down the steps of the Supreme Court building in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2017. Trump attended the court session at the encouragement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, who extended her an invitation when they met at the inauguration lunch. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)
Sally Amon of Olivette, Mo., reacts as she saw toppled gravestone of her grandmother Anna Ida Hutkin at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City, a suburb of St. Louis on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017. Vandals have damaged or tipped over as many as 200 headstones at the Jewish cemetery in suburban St. Louis, leaving the region's Jewish community shaken and anxious. (Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)
