AP News Digest 3 a.m.

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.

———————————-

ONLY ON AP

———————————-

POLL-CLIMATE-CHANGE — A new AP-NORC poll shows that nearly two-thirds of Americans think the federal government is not doing enough to fight climate change. That opinion comes as respondents have limited awareness about a sweeping new law that commits the U.S. to its largest ever investment to combat global warming. President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress have touted the Inflation Reduction Act passed in August as a milestone achievement they hope can boost the party leading into the midterm elections. SENT: 1049 words, photos.

US-FEDERAL-PRISONS — The outsider brought in to reform the ailing federal Bureau of Prisons has pledged to hold accountable any employees who sexually assault inmates and reform the agency’s archaic hiring practices. Colette Peters also did not rule out closing problematic prisons. In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press on Monday, Peters pledged to change the agency’s hiring practices to find candidates who want to “change hearts and minds.” SENT: 938 words, photos.

———————————-

TOP STORIES

———————————-

RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR — Germany’s president arrived in Kyiv Tuesday for his first visit to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion, a trip that comes amid Moscow’s unsubstantiated warnings of a “dirty bomb” attack as the conflict enters its ninth month. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after arriving that “it was important to me in this phase of air attacks with drones, cruise missiles and rockets to send a signal of solidarity to Ukrainians,” German news agency dpa reported. SENT: 670 words, photos.

ELECTION-2022-LOCAL-ELECTIONS-CLERKS — Races for the positions that oversee elections at the local level are being targeted by those peddling election conspiracies and falsely claiming that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election. As many as 1,700 of those offices are up for election this year, creating a dizzying patchwork of places where election conspiracy theorists can penetrate the country’s voting system. Those positions administer local elections and oversee the people who actually hand out ballots, tally votes and report results. SENT: 1,780 words, photos. WITH an abridged version.

ELECTION-2022-GEORGIA-SENATE-WALKER — Herschel Walker campaigns for the U.S. Senate as a champion of free enterprise and advocate for the mentally ill, felons and others. And the Georgia Republican has called for policies that blend those priorities. Yet Walker, through a major chicken processor that he touts as a principal partner to one of his primary businesses, has benefited from years of unpaid labor by drug offenders routed to the facility by Oklahoma state courts. SENT: 1710 words, photos. WITH an abridged version.

ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS — The military says Israeli forces have raided a stronghold of an armed group in the occupied West Bank’s second largest city, blowing up an explosives lab and engaging in a firefight. Palestinian health officials say five Palestinians were killed and 20 were wounded. The raid early on Tuesday in the city of Nablus was one of the deadliest in the West Bank in 2022 and comes at a time of escalating conflict. SENT: 540 words, photos.

JAPAN-POLITICS — Japan’s economy minister resigned over his ties to the Unification Church in a widening controversy involving dozens of governing party lawmakers. Daishiro Yamagiwa’s resignation is a further blow to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government, which has been rocked by his party’s close ties to the controversial South Korean-based church. Kishida on Tuesday said he appointed former Health Minister Shigeyuki Goto to take Yamagiwa’s place. SENT: 730 words, photos.

WCUP-QATAR-ACCOMMODATION-SQUEEZE — In the run-up to the world’s biggest sporting event in the world’s smallest World Cup host country, the struggle for housing is hardly limited to tourists. Qatar’s real estate frenzy has sent rents skyrocketing and priced long-term residents out of their own homes, leaving many in the lurch. Residents in the country, where expats outnumber locals nine to one, say the surging demand and shortage of rooms has empowered landlords to raise rents by more than 40% on short notice, leading to intense competition. SENT: 870 words, photos.

———————————-

TRENDING

———————————-

PEOPLE-YE — A completed documentary about the rapper formerly known as Kanye West has been shelved amid his recent slew of antisemitic remarks. SENT: 300 words, photo.

WHITE HOUSE-GROUNDSKEEPER — Meet Dale Haney, the White House groundskeeper for 50 years. SENT: 1,160 words, photos.

MISSING GIRL-NEW HAMPSHIRE — Police arrest the father of a New Hampshire girl who disappeared at age 5 in 2019 but was not reported missing until last year. SENT: 310 words, photo.

TV-THE VIEW-HECKLERS — Three women are ejected from the set of ‘The View’ after interrupting an interview of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz for what appeared to be a climate change protest. SENT: 200 words, photos.

———————————-

WASHINGTON/POLITICS

———————————-

TRUMP-LEGAL PROBLEMS — Donald Trump’s company goes on trial in a criminal tax case. The court’s first task: picking a jury of New Yorkers who don’t have a strong opinion about him. SENT: 390 words, photos. With INAUGURAL PROBE-TRIAL — On witness stand, Trump ally denies foreign influence charge. SENT: 440 words, photos.

CAPITOL RIOT-FATHER-SON — A Delaware man who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with his Confederate flag-toting father is sentenced to two years behind bars. SENT: 390 words, photo.

———————————-

ELECTION 2022

———————————-

ELECTION-2022-PENNSYLVANIA-SENATE — Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Mehmet Oz will meet Tuesday night in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for one of the most highly anticipated debates of this election year. They are waging a fierce contest for a U.S. Senate seat that could decide control of the chamber and the future of President Joe Biden’s agenda. Much of the focus is on Fetterman, who has spent the past several months fending off an escalating series of attacks from Oz about his health and fitness for office since a May stroke.

ELECTION 2022-CONGRESS-EXPLAINER — Democrats have held both chambers of Congress and the presidency for two years but may not have such consolidated power for much longer. Republicans could make big gains in the Nov. 8 midterm elections, bolstered by frustration over the economy. By Mary Clare Jalonick. SENT: 850 words, photos.

ABORTION-MATERNITY CARE CLOSURES — Mississippi expects 5,000 more births each year as a result of the Supreme Court ruling denying abortion rights. Mortality data show these children are more likely to die before their first birthday than in any other state, and if their mothers are Black, they’re three times more likely to die due to childbirth than Mississippi’s white women. By Michael Goldberg. SENT: 1,100 words, photos. With ABORTION-GEORGIA — Trial over Georgia’s abortion law begins. SENT: 370 words, photo, audio.

———————————-

NATIONAL

———————————-

GEORGE FLOYD-OTHER OFFICERS — A former Minneapolis police officer pleads guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd just as jury selection is about to begin. SENT: 680 words, photo.

ISLAMIC STATE-FEMALE BATTALION — Family members of a Kansas native convicted of leading an all-female Islamic State group battalion say they suffered horrific abuse at her hands well before she ever became a terrorist. SENT: 770 words, photo.

SEXUAL MISCONDUCT-HARVEY WEINSTEIN — Opening statements begin in the disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s Los Angeles rape and sexual assault trial. SENT: 220 words, photos.

MICHIGAN-GOVERNOR KIDNAPPING-PLOT — Prosecutors urge a jury to convict three men for assisting the leaders of a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor. SENT: 430 words, photos.

———————————

INTERNATIONAL

———————————-

BRITAIN-CHINA-XINJIANG-COTTON — A Uyghur organization and a human rights group are taking the U.K. government to court to challenge Britain’s failure to block the import of cotton products associated with forced labor and other abuses in China’s far western Xinjiang region. Tuesday’s hearing at the High Court in London is believed the first time a foreign court hears legal arguments from the Uyghurs over the issue of forced labor in Xinjiang, a major global supplier of cotton. SENT: 1080 words, photos.

PHILIPPINES-PLANE-ACCIDENT — Philippine authorities have allowed a central airport to partially reopen to international and domestic flights despite the plane stuck near its runway. The Korean Air plane overshot and got stuck at the end of its runway over the weekend. The reopening of the country’s second-busiest airport from sunrise to sunset would help ease the large numbers of canceled flights and stranded passengers. SENT: 380 words, photos.

———————

SPORTS

———————

FBN—BEARS-PATRIOTS —- The clock was running down in the second quarter and the pocket was collapsing around Justin Fields, with one defender coming at him from the right, another circling around on his left, and a third coming straight at him. A quick pump fake froze one of the rushers. Fields drifted left, barely eluding the outstretched arm of another, and then stutter-stepped to the right to squeeze through a hole that barely existed. And then it was a race to the sideline, picking up 20 yards on a third-and-14 and moving Chicago into field goal range. SENT; 800 words, photos.

HOW TO REACH US

———————————-

The Nerve Center 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.