Here’s a look at how AP’s general news coverage is shaping up for select stories. For up-to-the minute information on AP’s complete coverage of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, and the rest of the world, visit Coverage Plan at newsroom.ap.org
Questions about coverage plans are welcome and should be directed to 919-510-8937, 202-641-9660, 410-837-8315, 804-643-6646 or metro@ap.org. Mid-South Assistant News Director Jonathan Drew can be reached at 919-510-8937 or jdrew@ap.org.
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NORTH CAROLINA
NORTH CAROLINA HOME COLLAPSE
RALEIGH, N.C. — The father of Tennessee Titans cornerback Caleb Farley has died in an apparent explosion that destroyed the NFL player’s home and left another person injured. First responders who were called to the house around midnight found one victim alive leaving the collapsed structure. A county fire marshal later recovered the body of the cornerback’s father Robert M. Farley from the debris. The person who was injured was taken to a hospital in Charlotte. The Titans player was not home at the time of the explosion. Titans coach Mike Vrabel said the team will do everything possible to support Farley as he grieves for his father. By Hannah Schoenbaum and Teresa M. Walker. UPCOMING: 350 words, photos.
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SOUTH CAROLINA
DEPUTY SHOT-SOUTH CAROLINA
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Authorities say bullets have ripped into homes at least 96 times this year in South Carolina’s capital county. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott says most of those shootings involved rival gangs. Over the weekend, a drive-by shooting wounded an off-duty sheriff’s deputy and his fiancee. At a news conference Tuesday, the sheriff said the pair is recovering. There were eight people in the suburban Columbia home at the time of the shooting. The sheriff said the deputy was not the intended target, without providing details. Lott said investigators have identified several people who may have been involved. By Jeffrey Collins. SENT: 240 words.
REL–ELECTION 2024-SCOTT-HALEY-EVANGELICALS
CHARLESTON, S.C. — South Carolina Republicans Nikki Haley and Tim Scott once were allies and now they’re rivals in the race to be the next president. Haley, the state’s first Asian American governor, and Scott, the state’s first Black senator since Reconstruction, are both waiting for their breakthrough campaign moment that could come during the first debate. These two Christian candidates of color will need one if they hope to win over the GOP’s white evangelical base and cut into support for the frontrunner, former President Donald Trump. On the campaign trail, Scott wears his faith on his sleeve; whereas, Haley’s faith is more subdued. Haley and Scott are in single digits nationally, according to polls. By Tiffany Stanley. SENT: 1,300 words, photos.
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VIRGINIA
SOLAR-AIRPORT
Dominion Energy breaks ground on a solar farm that it says will be the nation’s biggest renewable energy project at an airport facility, part of a massive ramp-up of solar projects that is facing increasing resistance at the local level as some counties enact restrictions on new solar projects. By Matthew Barakat. UPCOMING: 600 words by 4 p.m.
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LOCALIZATION
ELECTIONS 2024-EDUCATION-LOCALIZE IT: School board races have become hotly divided, with intense influence from outside groups and polarizing rhetoric, as education has vaulted to center stage in national politics. And in this upcoming November general election, school board races across several key states will be on the ballot. We provide tips for backgrounding candidates and an overview of conservative and progressive groups influencing races, plus ideas for questions to ask candidates that go beyond political talking points. Find the latest Localize It guides.
PANDEMIC AID-GOVERNMENTS-LOCALIZE-IT: Thousands of local governments across the U.S. have reported spending nothing from their share of $350 billion of federal pandemic relief funds approved two years ago. But AP interviews with local and federal officials suggest that the publicly available data is misleading — pockmarked by differing interpretations over exactly what must be reported, lagging in timeliness and failing to account for some preliminary planning. We offer tips for localizing stories about how state and local governments are using their share of the pandemic aid. Find the latest Localize It guides.
EDUCATION-CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM-LOCALIZE IT: Across the country, students have been absent at record rates since schools reopened after COVID-forced closures. More than a quarter of students missed at least 10% of the 2021-22 school year, making them chronically absent, according to data compiled by Stanford University and The Associated Press. The absences added to the time that students missed during the school closures and pandemic disruptions, and cost them crucial time in classrooms as schools worked to help them recover from massive learning setbacks. We offer data on absenteeism for 40 states and tips for localizing the story. Find the latest Localize It guides.
MEDICAID-STATES-LOCALIZE IT: Federal Medicaid officials are expressing concerns about the way some states are handling a massive eligibility review for millions of people on the government health-care program for lower-income residents. In some cases, people dialing into state call centers with questions about Medicaid have had to wait on hold for long periods, prompting some to simply hang up. Federal officials also have raised concerns about the high rates of people dropped from Medicaid for procedural reasons, such as not returning forms needed to renew their coverage. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently sent letters to all states and the District of Columbia reminding them of various federal regulations regarding Medicaid. We link to the letters and break out lists of states contacted about call center concerns and termination concerns, along with other resources and tips for localizing the story. Find the latest Localize It guides.
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AUDIO
Trump says he will surrender Thursday on Georgia charges tied to efforts to overturn 2020 election
Maui confronts the challenge of finding more than 800 missing people after the deadly wildfires
Free Disney World passes are latest front in war between Disney and DeSantis appointees
No harmful levels of PCBs found at Wyoming nuclear missile base as Air Force investigates cancers
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TOP STORIES
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GEORGIA-ELECTION INDICTMENT-TRUMP ATTACKS — Donald Trump’s response this week to his fourth criminal indictment in five months follows a strategy he has used for years against legal and political opponents: relentless attacks, often infused with language that is either overtly racist or is coded in ways that appeal to racists. The former Republican president and 2024 candidate has repeatedly hinted at race in his verbal broadsides. The district attorneys in New York and Georgia who have charged him with state crimes are Black. The tendency to make such attacks both animates his base and raises safety concerns among advocates who worry he could be worsening online vitriol and inspiring violence. SENT: 1,320 words, photos. WithGEORGIA ELECTION INDICTMENT — Conservative attorney John Eastman, who pushed a plan to keep Donald Trump in power, has turned himself in to authorities on charges in the Georgia case alleging an illegal plot to overturn the then-president’s 2020 election loss. SENT: 600 words, photos. Developing.
TROPICAL WEATHER — Crews worked to dig roads, buildings and care home residents out of the mud across a wide swath of Southwestern U.S. desert Monday, as the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years headed north, prompting flood watches and warnings in half a dozen states. The National Hurricane Center said only vestiges of a weakened system were moving over the Rocky Mountains. SENT: 890 words, video, photos, audio.
HAWAII-FIRES-MISSING — Maui authorities say more than 800 people remain unaccounted for two weeks after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century destroyed the community of Lahaina. It’s a staggering number that presents huge challenges for officials who are trying to determine how many of those people perished and how many may have made it to safety but haven’t checked in. As of Monday the toll of confirmed dead was 115. SENT: 1,140 words, video, photos, audio.
KANSAS NEWSPAPER RAID — Newly released video shows the 98-year-old mother of a Kansas newspaper publisher confronting police officers as they searched her home in a raid that has drawn national scrutiny. It shows her visibly upset and demanding: “Get out of my house!” Video released by the newspaper Monday shows Joan Meyer shouting at the six officers inside the Marion, Kansas, home she shared with her son. She died the day after the raids of the Marion County Record and the homes of the Meyers as well as a Marion city council member. Eric Meyer said the stress contributed to her death. SENT: 820 words, video, photos.
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