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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NEW & DEVELOPING
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Adds: RUSSIA-UKRAINE-FUEL DEPOT STRIKE, HUNTER BIDEN-TAXES, BIDEN-PRESS SECRETARY, GRINER-USA-BASKETBALL, CLIMATE-FIRE-AND-FLOOD, CALIFORNIA-DROUGHT-SNOW-SURVEY, NASA-MOON ROCKET, SEVERE WEATHER-ALABAMA-TINY TOWN, MISSISSIPPI-STATE-SONG, BKC-AP-PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR, BKC-AP-COACH-OF-THE-YEAR, BKW--NCAA-LOUISVILLE-SOUTH CAROLINA, BKW--NCAA-UCONN-STANFORD.
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LOCALIZE IT
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CENSUS-1950 RECORDS: The AP is suggesting some ways to localize reporting on the records release by the National Archives and Records Administration. The National Archives and Records Administration is posting a link to a website with the records here.
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TOP STORIES
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RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR —Talks to stop the fighting in Ukraine resumed, as another attempt to rescue civilians from the shattered and encircled city of Mariupol was thrown into jeopardy and Russia accused the Ukrainians of a cross-border helicopter attack on a fuel depot. The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said a fiery raid on Russian soil by two helicopter gunships left two people wounded, though state oil company Rosneft denied anyone was hurt. By Nebi Qena and Yuras Karmanau. SENT: 1,015 words, photos, videos. WITH: RUSSIA-UKRAINE-FUEL DEPOT STRIKE — A fiery explosion rocked a Russian fuel depot near the border, and Moscow said Ukraine had attacked the facility, but Kyiv denied any involvement. There was no independent confirmation of details about the incident. SENT: 640 words, photos; RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-THE-LATEST.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR-SPANISH DISINFORMATION — Disinformation about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is surging in Spanish, as stories crafted for a Latin American audience gets a boost from the Kremlin. RT en Español, the Spanish language version of one of Russia’s top outlets, is now a leading source of Spanish-language information on the war, even though RT consistently spreads pro-Russian conspiracy theories and disinformation. By David Klepper and Amanda Seitz. SENT: 950 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-DRAFT-FEARS — As Moscow’s forces bog down in Ukraine, many young Russians of draft age are increasingly jittery about the prospect of being sent into combat. Making those fears particularly acute is an annual spring conscription that begins Friday and aims to round up 134,500 men for a one-year tour of military duty. SENT: 1,050 words, photos.
BORDER-ASYLUM-LIMITS-POLITICS — The Biden administration’s decision to end sweeping asylum limits at the border this May satisfied demands by prominent Democrats eagerly awaiting the end of a program created by Donald Trump in the name of public health. But it creates thorny political challenges for border-region Democrats who face the likely prospect of an increase in migrants who have for two years been denied the chance to seek asylum in the United States. By Jonathan J. Cooper and Anita Snow. SENT: 945 words, photos. WITH: BIDEN-ASYLUM-LIMITS — The Centers for Disease Control says it’s ending a policy that limited asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent the spread of COVID-19. SENT: 710 words, photo.
MILEAGE-STANDARDS — New vehicles sold in the United States will have to travel an average of at least 40 miles per gallon of gasoline in 2026, up from about 28 mpg, under new federal rules unveiled. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said its fuel economy requirements will undo a rollback of standards enacted under President Donald Trump. By Auto Writer Tom Krisher. SENT: 715 words, photos.
ECONOMY-JOBS-REPORT — America’s employers extended a streak of robust hiring in March, adding 431,000 jobs in a sign of the economy’s resilience in the face of a still-destructive pandemic, Russia’s war against Ukraine and the highest inflation in 40 years. The government’s report showed that last month’s job growth helped shrink the unemployment rate to 3.6%. That’s the lowest rate since the pandemic erupted two years ago and just above the half-century low of 3.5% that was reached two years ago. By Economics Writer Paul Wiseman. SENT: 1,115 words, photos. WITH: Explaining-March-Jobs Report (SENT).
AMAZON-UNION-ELECTIONS —Amazon workers in Staten Island, New York, voted to unionize, marking the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the retail giant’s history. Votes were still being tabulated but union supporters secured a wide enough margin to give the fledgling Amazon Labor Union enough support to pull off a victory. By Business Writers Haleluya Hadero and Anne D’Innocenzio. SENT: 1,040 words, photos.
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MORE ON RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
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RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-MEDIA — New restrictions placed on journalists in Russia have impeded but not muzzled reporting about the country and its war in Ukraine. SENT: 1,060 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-CUBA’S CARS — Francisco Pérez Rodríguez has a car problem — one that’s starting to be all too common for many Cubans. He’s been rebuilding the engine of his father-in-law’s Moskvich — one of tens of thousands of cars and other vehicles that poured into Cuba from its Cold War allies in the Soviet bloc and later Russia over the past half century. To run, it needs a new timing belt. But Pérez Rodríguez said that’s something only available these days in Russia. And flights there have been disrupted by Western sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. SENT: 730 words, photos.
UKRAINE-INVASION-REFUGEES — African refugees say the recent decision to grant refugee status and other humanitarian protections to Ukrainians fleeing war underscores the racial bias inherent in American immigration policy. SENT: 1,160 words, photos.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-EUROPE-ENERGY — Russian officials say their demand that natural gas be paid for in rubles doesn’t mean supplies will be immediately interrupted. SENT: 345 words, photos.
GRINER-USA-BASKETBALL — A’ja Wilson wishes that she and her USA Basketball teammates could do more to help Brittney Griner, who remains imprisoned in Russia on drug allegations. SENT: 590 words, photos.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS-OUTBREAK — The number of Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 has plunged to the lowest point since the early days of the pandemic, and doctors in some locations are celebrating the fact that they have no coronavirus patients in the ICU or on ventilators. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHINA — About 16 million residents in Shanghai are being tested for the coronavirus during the second stage of the lockdown that shifted to the western half of China’s biggest city and financial capital. SENT: 400 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MALAYSIA — Thousands of Malaysians working in Singapore returned home Friday as Malaysia fully reopened its borders after more than two years of pandemic closure. SENT: 330 words, photos.
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TRENDING NEWS
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NASA-MOON ROCKET — NASA kicked off a critical countdown test for its new moon rocket, a 30-story behemoth that could make its first lunar test flight by summer. SENT: 500 words, photos.
MISSISSIPPI-STATE-SONG — Mississippi is on the verge of scuttling a state song with racist roots, two years after it retired a Confederate-themed state flag. SENT: 500 words, photos.
MUSIC-THE-JUDDS-CMT — The Judds are reuniting to perform on the CMT Music Awards, their first major awards show performance together in more than two decades. SENT: 385 words, photos.
JETLINER-WINDSHIELD-CRACKS -- The pilots on a Delta Air Lines flight from Salt Lake City to Washington, D.C. landed in Denver after the cockpit windshield shattered above 30,000 feet. SENT: 335 words.
INMATE-ESCAPES -- A New York mobster who killed three people and attempted to kill two others has escaped from federal custody. SENT: 150 words.
GENERAL-MOTORS-RECALL -- General Motors is recalling nearly 682,000 small SUVs because the windshield wipers can fail. SENT: 70 words, photo.
FORD-RECALLS -- Ford is issuing two recalls covering over 737,000 vehicles to fix oil leaks and trailer braking systems that won’t work. SENT: 130 words, photo.
NOT REAL NEWS — A look at what didn’t happen this week. SENT: 1,460 words, photos.
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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
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CAPITOL RIOT INVESTIGATION-GARLAND — The lawmakers investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol are sending a blunt but clear message to Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Justice Department: Donald Trump and his allies likely committed crimes, and it’s up to you to do something about it. By Farnoush Amiri and Michael Balsamo. SENT: 990 words, photos. With CAPITOL RIOT-INVESTIGATION-CRIMES — A closer look at the possible crimes the Jan. 6 committee has suggested Trump and his associates might be charged with. SENT: 990 words, photos.
HUNTER BIDEN-TAXES — A federal grand jury has heard testimony in recent months about Hunter Biden’s income and payments he received while serving on the board of a Ukraine energy company, according to two people familiar with the probe. SENT: 540 words, photo.
BIDEN-PRESS SECRETARY — White House press secretary Jen Psaki isn’t confirming reports that she’ll soon take a TV job at MSNBC, insisting she’s focused on her job as President Joe Biden’s chief spokesperson. SENT: 480 words, photos.
CAPITOL RIOT-MOLOTOV COCKTAILS — An Alabama man who parked a pickup truck filled with weapons and Molotov cocktail components near the U.S. Capitol on the day of last year’s riot has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison. SENT: 715 words, photo.
AMERICAN ABDUCTED-AFGHANISTAN — The New Yorker magazine has posted a video showing an American man who was kidnapped in Afghanistan two years ago. In the video, Mark Frerichs pleads to be released so that he can be reunited with his family. SENT: 430 words.
CONGRESS-MARIJUANA — Marijuana would be decriminalized at the federal level under legislation the House approved Friday as Democrats make the case for allowing states to set their own policies on pot. SENT: 570 words, photos.
GUN TRAFFICKING-SOLDIERS ARRESTED — Twelve people, including three U.S. soldiers, are accused in a large-scale gun trafficking ring that prosecutors allege supplied nearly 100 guns to gang members in Chicago and led to at least two killings. SENT: 540 words, photo.
ELECTION 2022-SENATE-PENNSYLVANIA-DEMOCRATS — Conor Lamb is accusing John Fetterman, his rival in Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate primary, of skipping candidate forums to avoid talking about a 2013 incident in which he confronted a Black man, shotgun in hand, because he suspected the man was involved in gunfire nearby. SENT: 810 words, photos.
NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS — The U.S. imposed sanctions on five North Korean entities in response to two ballistic missile tests the reclusive Asian country conducted in February and March. SENT: 260 words, photos.
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NATIONAL
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MICHIGAN GOVERNOR-KIDNAPPING PLOT — A prosecutor urged jurors to convict four men in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, saying in closing arguments that they were anti-government extremists “filled with rage” and intent on igniting a civil war. A defense lawyer says there was no plot, and that the men were under the influence of undercover FBI agents and a key informant. SENT: 665 words, photos.
RACIAL-JUSTICE-PROTESTS-LAWSUITS — A federal jury’s $14 million award to Denver protesters hit with pepper balls and a bag filled with lead during 2020 demonstrations over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis could resonate nationwide as courts weigh more than two dozen similar lawsuits. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
CENSUS-1950 RECORDS — The first-ever publication of 1950 census records promises to solve some family mysteries for amateur genealogists and family historians. The National Archives and Records Administration on Friday released digitized individual records on 151 million people from the census. SENT: 490 words, photos.
MARIJUANA-NEW-MEXICO — New Mexico is bringing sales of recreational marijuana to the doorstep of Texas, the largest prohibition state, as the movement toward broad legalization sweeps up even more of the American West. SENT: 980 words, photos.
SEVERE WEATHER-ALABAMA-TINY TOWN — It’s unclear what will happen to a tiny west Alabama community now that a storm has wiped out the best-known thing in town: a bar. The well-known Faunsdale Bar and Grill was heavily damaged by a storm that blew through the Marengo County town. SENT: 380 words, photos.
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INTERNATIONAL
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YEMEN — Yemen’s warring sides have accepted a two-month truce, starting with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the U.N. envoy to Yemen said. The envoy, Hans Grundberg, announced the agreement from Amman, Jordan, after meeting separately with both sides in the country’s brutal civil war in recent days. SENT: 240 words, developing.
MIDEAST-RAMADAN — Saudi Arabia and some other Muslim-majority nations, including Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, declared that the holy month of Ramadan when the faithful observe a dawn-to-dusk fast would begin at sunset Friday. SENT: 770 words, photos.
BRITAIN-COST-OF-LIVING-CRISIS — People across the United Kingdom will face tough choices in coming months as energy costs for millions of households are set to rise by 54%. It’s the second big jump in energy bills since October, and a third may be ahead as rebounding demand from the COVID-19 pandemic and now Russia’s war in Ukraine push energy prices higher. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.
VATICAN-INDIGENOUS — Pope Francis made a historic apology to Indigenous peoples for the “deplorable” abuses they suffered in Canada’s Catholic-run residential schools and said he hoped to visit Canada in late July to deliver the apology in person to survivors. SENT: 955 words, photos.
SAUDI-ARABIA-PIVOT-POINT-ANALYSIS — A spike in global energy prices benefits Saudi Arabia as the world’s top oil exporter, but problems remain for the kingdom’s impulsive crown prince. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his father King Salman now face a potential pivot point for the kingdom amid Russia’s war on Ukraine. They need to try to find jobs for a growing number of unemployed youth and find a way to end the long war the prince launched in Yemen. SENT: 940 words, photos.
INDIA-RUSSIA — Russia’s foreign minister lauded India for not taking a “one-sided view” as he discussed Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine with his Indian counterpart, after Washington urged New Delhi to use its leverage with Russia to end the war. SENT: 660 words, photo.
SERBIA-ELECTIONS — Serbia’s pro-Russia president is expected to extend his almost 10-year grip on power when the Balkan country holds national elections on Sunday. SENT: 700 words, photos.
HUNGARY-ELECTION — Hungary’s nationalist prime minister has portrayed his country’s upcoming election on Sunday as an existential turning point and a choice between war and peace. Making a final appeal to voters at a campaign rally in a rural stronghold, Viktor Orban told hundreds of supporters that if re-elected for a fourth consecutive term he would keep Hungary out of the war in neighboring Ukraine. SENT: 490 words, photos.
VATICAN-MALTA — Pope Francis heads to Malta this weekend, with the refugee exodus from Ukraine casting a haunting backdrop to the European migration drama that for years has focused on Malta and other Mediterranean countries and the plight of desperate people who arrive on boats seeking refuge. SENT: 850 words, photos.
MEXICO-US-ELECTRICITY — Mexican and American officials have met amid disagreements about electrical power reform that seeks to limit foreign-built renewable energy plants and grant a majority market share to Mexico’s state-owned power utility. SENT: 770 words, photos.
NIGERIA-SEPARATIST-PROTESTS — Large parts of southeastern Nigeria come to a halt each Monday, as a separatist group has ordered all residents to stay at home to show support for their campaign for the region to become an independent country. For more than eight months the Indigenous People of Biafra organization has directed people to carry out the strikes as they press for the region to break away from Nigeria. SENT: 670 words, photo.
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BUSINESS/ECONOMY
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FINANCIAL MARKETS — Stocks notched modest gains and Treasury yields soared on Wall Street after a healthy report on the U.S. job market strengthened expectations for coming interest rate hikes. The S&P 500 closed up 0.3% after bouncing between small gains and losses. The benchmark index eked out a slight gain for the week, it’s third straight. SENT: 780 words, photo.
ALASKA AIRLINES-PILOT PICKET — Dozens of flights along the West Coast are being canceled as Alaska Airlines pilots picket during ongoing contract negotiations with the airline. SENT: 330 words, photo.
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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CLIMATE-FIRE-AND-FLOOD — A new study says the West is going to get more one-two punches of nasty wildfires followed by extreme rainfall as the world warms. Friday’s study says these combinations, which can lead to mudslides and flooding, will increase eight-fold in the Pacific Northwest and double in California by the year 2100 in a global warming worst case emissions scenario. By AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein. SENT: 610 words, photos. WITH: CALIFORNIA-DROUGHT-SNOW-SURVEY — California is experiencing one of the driest starts to spring in decades, and absent a heavy dose of April and May showers the state’s drought will deepen and that could lead to stricter rules on water use and another devastating wildfire season. SENT: 610 words, photos.
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ENTERTAINMENT
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TV-DAVID HYDE PIERCE — David Hyde Pierce returns to TV this month playing a familiar part — an erudite man who adores fine food, wine and art. But this has nothing to do with “Frasier.” Pierce is playing the husband and chief cheerleader of Julia Child, who brought the intricacies of French cuisine to American homes. SENT: 870 words, photos.
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SPORTS
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BKC-AP-PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR — Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky is The Associated Press men’s college basketball player of the year. SENT: 780 words, photos.
BKC-AP-COACH-OF-THE-YEAR — Tommy Lloyd spent 22 years as Mark Few’s right-hand man turning Gonzaga into a national powerhouse. SENT: 580 words, photos.
BKW--NCAA-LOUISVILLE-SOUTH CAROLINA — Louisville aims to keep the AP Player of the Year, Aliyah Boston, in check as the Cardinals take on the No. 1 overall seed of the women’s tournament, the South Carolina Gamecocks, in the NCAA semifinals. By Dave Campbell. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos. Game starts 7 p.m.
BKW--NCAA-UCONN-STANFORD — UConn will try to advance to the women’s NCAA Tournament title game for the first time since 2016 when the Huskies face defending champion Stanford. The game features the two winningest coaches in NCAA history in Geno Auriemma and Tara VanDerveer. By Doug Feinberg. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos. Game starts 9:30 p.m.
SOC-WORLD CUP DRAW — The most controversial World Cup ever will feature in Qatar the most politically charged matchups. Just like in 1998, the United States will play Iran with diplomatic relations yet to be restored between the nations. Throw into the mix in Group B, England, whose government has endured tense relations with Tehran. The group could yet be completed by Ukraine, whose ability to qualify for the World Cup has been postponed by being invaded by Russia. SENT: 430 words, photos. WITH SOC-QATAR-WORLD CUP-GAY RIGHTS — A senior Qatari leader overseeing security for the World Cup has told The Associated Press that rainbow flags could be taken from supporters. SENT: 680 words, photos..
BBM-MINOR-LEAGUE-HOUSING — Minor leaguers with wives and children are finding out days before the start of their seasons that some teams are not taking their families into account as part of a new policy guaranteeing housing for players. MLB initiated a policy for this season mandating that teams provide housing for roughly 90% of minor league players, and the change has taken tremendous stress off many of them. However, two married players tell The Associated Press their teams are only providing housing options that would force them to stay with teammates. SENT: 1,275 words, photos.
BBO-UMPIRES-MICROPHONES — In addition to “Play ball!” and “Yer Out!”, big league umpires will be heard saying “Overturned!” and “Upheld!” for the first time this season. Major League Baseball say umps will conduct in-park announcements during the replay review process. SENT: 280 words, photos.
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HOW TO REACH US
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