BC-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.

_____________

TOP STORIES

_____________

BIDEN — At his first Memorial Day weekend observance as commander in chief, President Joe Biden honors the nation’s sacrifices in a deeply personal way, paying tribute to those lost while remembering his late son Beau, a veteran who died six years ago to the day. By Jonathan Lemire. SENT: 670 words, photos.

US-VOTING-BILLS-TEXAS — A restrictive voting bill in Texas that was on the verge of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk has failed to pass Sunday night after Democrats walked out of the House chamber before a midnight deadline. Abbott swiftly said he would call a special session to try passing a voting bill again but did not say when. By Paul J. Weber and Acacia Coronado. SENT: 620 words, photos.

US-SUPREME-COURT-TALC-LAWSUIT — Johnson & Johnson is asking for Supreme Court review of a $2 billion verdict in favor of women who claim they developed ovarian cancer from using the company’s talc products. The court could say as soon as Tuesday whether it will get involved. By Mark Sherman. SENT: 950 words, photos.

MIGRATION-EUROPE-DIGITAL-FORTRESS — The European Union is installing a high-tech surveillance system at a migration flashpoint along Greece’s border with Turkey during a lull in movement due to the coronavirus pandemic. Privacy advocates and human rights groups are calling for tougher oversight, worried that the technology will leave refugees stranded and will eventually be turned inward, to monitor European populations. By Derek Gatopoulos and Costas Kantouris. SENT: 960 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK — After more than a year of isolation, American veterans are embracing plans for a more traditional Memorial Day. They say wreath-laying ceremonies, barbecues at local vets halls and other familiar events are a welcome chance to reconnect with fellow service members and renew solemn traditions honoring the nation’s war dead. Advocates say it’s also a time to take stock of the veteran lives lost to the coronavirus and to recommit to vaccinating those who remain reluctant. With VIRUS OUTBREAK-THE LATEST (sent)

BIDEN-INFRASTRUCTURE — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says time is running short for a bipartisan deal on infrastructure, indicating that President Joe Biden will look to act without Republican support if there is no consensus when Congress returns from its Memorial Day break. He says that by next Monday, “we need a clear direction. … Time is not unlimited here.” By Hope Yen. SENT: 480 words, photos.

ISRAEL-POLITICS — The head of a small hard-line party on Sunday said he would try to form a unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opponents, taking a major step toward ending the 12-year rule of the Israeli leader. By Josef Federman. SENT: 650 words, photo.

CAR-INDY 500 — Helio Castroneves has joined the exclusive club of four-time Indianapolis 500 winners. Then Spiderman scaled the Indianapolis Motor Speedway fence for his trademark victory celebration at the largest sporting event since the start of the pandemic, with 135,000 people in the stands. By AP Auto Racing Writer Jenna Fryer. SENT: 500 words, photos. WITH: INDY-500-SCENE — The largest crowd in the world for a sports event showed up in joyous force on Sunday, 135,000 of them packing the stands at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. SENT: 890 words, photos.

_______________________________

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

_______________________________

COPA AMERICA-ARGENTINA DROPPED — Copa America is without a host country after South American soccer body CONMEBOL ruled Argentina out as organizer of the tournament. The decision came two weeks before kickoff amid a rise of COVID-19 cases in the country. SENT: 390 words, photo.

CHINA-SPACE-STATION — China says three male astronauts will blast off next month for a three-month mission on China’s new space station. SENT: 370 words, photos.

HIGHEST-PEAK-WARNING — Rangers who keep an eye on North America’s highest mountain peak say impatient and inexperienced climbers are taking more risks and endangering themselves and other climbers on Alaska's 20,310-foot Mount Denali after a year off because of the COVID-19 pandemic. SENT: 600 words, photo.

NEPAL-EVEREST — Oldest American, fastest woman on Everest returns safely. SENT: 530 words, photos.

HAT-SHOP-BADGE-UPROAR — The owner of a Tennessee hat shop is dealing with pushback after posting a photo of herself to social media wearing a yellow patch resembling the Star of David with the words “not vaccinated.” SENT: 380 words.

BRITAIN-BORIS JOHNSON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his fiancée Carrie Symonds are newlyweds. SENT: 480 words, photos.

_________________________________

MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK

_________________________________

VIRUS-OUTBREAK-BRITAIN — The British government may require National Health Service workers to be inoculated against COVID-19 — a contentious proposal that was immediately criticized by opposition leaders as counterproductive. SENT: 330 words, photo.

VIRUS-OUTBREAK-CHINA — China has re-imposed anti-coronavirus travel controls on its populous southern province of Guangdong, announcing anyone leaving must be tested for the virus following a spike in infections that has alarmed authorities. Guangdong recorded 20 new confirmed cases, all contracted locally, in the 24 hours through midnight Sunday. SENT: 260 words, photos.

VIRUS-OUTBREAK-ASIA — Vietnam plans to test all 9 million people in its largest city for the coronavirus and imposed more restrictions to deal with a growing COVID-19 outbreak. People in Ho Chi Minh city for the next two weeks are only allowed to leave home for necessary activities and public gatherings of more than 10 people are banned. SENT: 420 words, photos.

________________________

WASHINGTON/POLITICS

________________________

VOTING-ELECTION-OFFICIAL-DRAMA — The drama surrounding a sudden vacancy in the job overseeing elections in one of Iowa’s most populous counties has voting experts concerned about what it could signal about the future of voting in America. The Democratic official’s recent resignation and a series of partisan moves since then are signs that an office long viewed as quiet and nonpartisan is now fair game in the political fight about trust in the nation’s elections. SENT: 850 words, photos.

FLORIDA-GOVERNOR — As he heads into his 2022 reelection campaign, Florida’s Ron DeSantis has emerged from the political uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic as arguably the country’s most prominent Republican governor and is seen as an early White House front-runner in 2024 among Donald Trump’s acolytes, if the former president doesn’t run again. SENT: 980 words, photos.

UNRULY-AIRLINE-PASSENGERS — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urges travelers to respect flight attendants and other crew members who enforce federal mask mandates on planes, pledging strict federal enforcement against such abuse at a time of increasingly unruly behavior by passengers. SENT: 380 words, photos.

___________

NATIONAL

___________

TEXAS BLACKOUT — Texas’ biggest fix to February’s deadly winter blackout that left more than 4 million people without power puts more focus on projections by the state’s climatologist but does not dwell on climate change after a deep freeze buckled the state’s unprepared electric grid. Experts praised some reforms as significant but say concessions to Texas’ powerful oil and gas industry still leaves the grid vulnerable. SENT: 480 words, photo.

MASS-SHOOTING-PLOT-TEXAS — A man has been arrested in Texas, accused of plotting to carry out a mass shooting at a Walmart. The Kerr County Sheriff’s Office says in a news release Sunday that 28-year-old Coleman Thomas Blevins is charged with making a terroristic threat. Investigators say they intercepted a message from Blevins on Thursday indicating he was “preparing to proceed with a mass shooting,” and that the threat included Walmart. SENT: 180 words, photo.

TULSA MASSACRE-RELIGION — Congregations in Tulsa, Oklahoma, paused to remember the city’s race massacre 100 years ago and to honor the Black churches that carried on its aftermath. SENT: 830 words, photos.

BANQUET-HALL-SHOOTING — Police in South Florida say two people have died and 20 to 25 people have been injured in a shooting outside a banquet hall. News outlets report the gunfire erupted early Sunday at the El Mula Banquet Hall in northwest Miami-Dade County. The banquet hall had been rented out for a concert. SENT: 500 words, photos.

GEORGE-FLOYD-ANNIVERSARY-CONCERT — Religious leaders, musical guests, spoken word artists and politicians gathered for a concert in Houston, the home town of George Floyd, to commemorate the anniversary of his death. The Fountain of Praise Pastors Remus E. Wright and Mia K. Wright welcomed the Floyd family in person on Sunday and more than 450 live viewers on Facebook. SENT: 370 words, photos.

HURRICANE RECOVERY-THE COAST — Nine months after two back-to-back hurricanes hammered their towns, scores of coastal Louisiana residents are still struggling to recover. Many still live in campers next to the cement slabs where their houses once stood. Others face supply shortages or are trying to resolve insurance claims. Meanwhile, the Atlantic hurricane season begins again next month and weather forecasters are predicting it will be a busy one. SENT: 1,050 words, photos.

2020 CENSUS — The U.S. Census Bureau had a last-resort solution for getting information on households that failed to respond to the once-a-decade head count. It’s called “imputation,” and it involves using information about neighbors with similar characteristics to fill in information gaps about households with missing data. Conservative groups are raising questions, suggesting it may be grounds for legal challenges of the data used for drawing congressional and legislative districts. SENT: 1,040 words, photo.

PLANE-CRASH-TENNESSEE — Investigators have continued searching for the bodies of seven people believed killed in the crash a day earlier of a small jet into a Tennessee lake, including an actor who portrayed Tarzan in a 1990s television series. SENT: 270 words, photo.

_________________

INTERNATIONAL

_________________

NKOREA-US — North Korea says the U.S. allowing South Korea to build more powerful missiles was an example of the U.S.’s hostile policy against the North and could lead to instability. It’s North Korea’s first response to the summit between President Joe Biden and South Korea’s leader. At the summit, the U.S. ended decades-long restrictions that capped South Korea’s missile development. The accusation that U.S. policy is hostile to North Korea matters because it said it won’t return to talks as long as U.S. hostility persists. SENT: 515 words, photo.

NEW ZEALAND-FLOODING — Several hundred people in New Zealand have been evacuated from their homes after heavy rain caused widespread flooding in the Canterbury region. Some of those forced to leave their homes recounted dramatic helicopter rescues. Authorities declared a state of emergency after some places received as much as 40 centimeters (16 inches) of rain over the weekend and into Monday. SENT: 350 words, photos.

SOUTH KOREA-BELGIUM — Belgium will bring home its ambassador to South Korea after his wife was accused of assaulting two shop employees in April. The Belgian Embassy said the country’s foreign affairs minister decided it was in the best interest of bilateral relations to end Peter Lescouhier’s tenure. According to South Korean media, his wife reacted angrily when a shop employee asked about the jacket she was wearing, suspecting that it could have been stolen. SENT: 310 words.

ITALY-CABLE-CAR-DEATHS — The three suspects in Italy’s cable car disaster that killed 14 people were allowed to leave prison Sunday after a judge indicated that for now blame fell on just one: a service technician who intentionally disabled the car’s emergency brake because it kept locking spontaneously. SENT: 830 words, photos.

ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS — Egypt and Israel held high-level talks in both countries Sunday to shore up a fragile truce between Israel and the Hamas militant group and rebuild the Gaza Strip after a punishing 11-day war that left parts of the seaside enclave in ruins. SENT: 730 words, photos.

QATAR — A Kenyan security guard now facing charges in Qatar after writing compelling, anonymous accounts of being a low-paid worker there found himself targeted by a phishing attack that could have revealed his location just before his arrest, analysts say. While analysts from Amnesty International and Citizen Lab said they were unable to say who targeted Malcolm Bidali, the phishing attack mirrored others previously carried out by Gulf Arab sheikhdoms targeting dissidents and political opposition. SENT: 610 words, photo.

BELARUS-OPPOSITION — The chief editor of a popular Internet news site in one of Belarus’ largest cities was detained amid a crackdown on independent journalists and opponents of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. The website said he was held by police for several hours before being released, and that computer hard drives were taken by police from his home. SENT: 320 words, photo.

_________________

ENTERTAINMENT

_________________

INTERVIEW-MAZ-JOBRANI — A stand-up show in Dubai has marked the first time Iranian-American Maz Jobrani has been in front of a major live audience overseas since the start of the coronavirus pandemic — and he feels it. Jobrani had a calm demeanor and smile on his face during a recent interview with The Associated Press. It was a far cry from the exaggerated expressions and dancing Jobrani is known for in performance. SENT: 910 words, photos.

FILM-BOX OFFICE — Moviegoing increasingly looks like it didn’t die during the pandemic. It just went into hibernation. John Krasinski’s thriller sequel “A Quiet Place Part II” opened over the Memorial Day weekend to a pandemic-best $48.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. SENT: 945 words, photos.

_________

SPORTS

_________

TEN-FRENCH OPEN — Naomi Osaka was fined $15,000 at the French Open for skipping a post-match news conference after her first-round victory — and threatened by all four Grand Slam tournaments with stiffer penalties, including being defaulted, if she continues to avoid meeting with the media.. SENT: 800 words, photos.

MOT-OBIT-DUPASQUIER — Swiss motorcycle rider Jason Dupasquier has died following a crash during Moto3 qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix. He was 19. SENT: 140 words, photos.

___________________

HOW TO REACH US

___________________

At the Nerve Center, Emily Wang 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(at)ap.org or call 877-836-9477.