US remembers 9/11, with virus altering familiar tributes
NEW YORK (AP) – Americans commemorated 9/11 on Friday as another national crisis, the coronavirus, reconfigured ceremonies and a presidential campaign carved a path through the memorials.
In New York, victims’ relatives gathered Friday morning for split-screen remembrances at the World Trade Center’s Sept.
11 memorial plaza and on a nearby corner, set up by separate organizations that differed on balancing tradition with virus safety.
Standing on the plaza, with its serene waterfall pools and groves of trees, Jin Hee Cho said she couldn’t erase the memory of the death of her younger sister, Kyung, in the 2001 terrorist attack that destroyed the trade center’s twin towers.
“It´s just hard to delete that in my mind. I understand there´s all this, and I understand now that we have even COVID,” said Cho, 55.
“But I only feel the loss, the devastating loss of my flesh-and-blood sister.”
Around the country, some communities canceled 9/11 ceremonies, while others went ahead, sometimes with modifications. The Pentagon´s observance was so restricted that not even victims´ families could attend, though small groups could visit its memorial later in the day.
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Comforting families, warning foes: Biden, Trump mark 9/11
SHANKSVILLE, Pa.
(AP) – One spent time quietly consoling families.
The other proclaimed America´s might.
President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden marked the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on Friday at memorial services where their differences in style couldn´t have been more sharply on display.
As Biden approached those who´d lost loved ones at Ground Zero and shared the pain of his own losses, Trump vowed that “America will always rise up, stand tall and fight back,” speaking at the Shanksville, Pennsylvania, site where hijacked Flight 93 crashed after passengers rushed the cockpit.
Biden also visited Shanksville later in the day, laying a wreath at the memorial and meeting with families, but the two did not cross paths.
And while Americans were focused on the commemorations, the political significance of the visits to Shanksville was hard to ignore: Pennsylvania is a crucial battleground state in the 2020 election. Trump won there by less than 1 percentage point four years ago, and Democrats hope they can return it to their column this year.
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Officials battle online misinformation along with wildfires
SEATTLE (AP) – Emergency responders in the Pacific Northwest are fighting misinformation along with raging wildfires as people spread unsubstantiated social media posts blaming coordinated groups of arsonists from both the far left and far right for setting the blazes.
The FBI said Friday that it’s investigated several claims and found them to be untrue, while officials in Oregon and Washington state have turned to Facebook to knock down the competing narratives – some posts blamed far-left antifa activists and others claimed the far-right group the Proud Boys was responsible for the fires scorching wide swaths of the region.
“I am physically and emotionally exhausted. We´ve been working really hard to protect people´s lives and homes,” firefighter Matt Lowery wrote Thursday night on the Facebook page for the East Pierce Fire & Rescue union south of Seattle.
“I also want to address an issue that keeps coming up, even from some of the public that we are talking to while working. It is hot, dry, and fire spreads quickly in those conditions. There is nothing to show its Antifa or Proud Boys setting fires. Wait for information.”
The Mason County Sheriff’s Office urged Washington residents to stop spreading rumors as isolated incidents of apparent arson led to widespread, unfounded claims that antifa agitators were conspiring to start fires along the West Coast.
Antifa is short for anti-fascists, a range of far-left militant groups that oppose white supremacists.
“Though some agencies have made arrests related to arson recently, they appear to all be separate individuals, however as with many incidents, it will be an ongoing investigation in each jurisdiction,” the agency wrote Thursday night on Facebook.
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Dozens missing as firefighters battle two large Oregon fires
SALEM, Ore.
(AP) – Hundreds of firefighters battled two large wildfires Friday that threatened to merge near the most populated part of Oregon, including the suburbs of Portland, and the governor said dozens of people are missing in other parts of the state.
The state’s emergency management director, Andrew Phelps, said officials are “preparing for a mass fatality event” and that thousands of structures have been destroyed.
Gov.
Kate Brown said more than 40,000 Oregonians have been evacuated and about 500,000 are in different levels of evacuation zones, either having been told to leave or to prepare to do so. She was dialing back on a statement late Thursday issued by the state Office of Emergency Management that said a half-million people had been ordered to evacuate statewide.
Dozens of people are missing in Jackson County in the south and Marion County, where a fire continues to burn east of Salem, Brown told a news conference Friday.
The Oregon Convention Center in Portland was among the buildings being transformed into shelters for evacuees.
Portland, shrouded in smoke from the fires, on Friday had the worst air quality of the world’s major cities, according to IQAir.
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Bahrain becomes latest Arab nation to recognize Israel
WASHINGTON (AP) – Bahrain on Friday agreed to normalize relations with Israel, becoming the latest Arab nation to do so as part of a broader diplomatic push by President Donald Trump and his administration to further ease the Jewish state’s relative isolation in the Middle East and find common ground with nations that share U.S.
wariness of Iran.
Trump announced the agreement on the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks following a phone call he had with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. The three leaders also issued a brief joint statement marking the second such Arab normalization agreement with Israel in the past two months.
The announcement came less than a week before Trump hosts a White House ceremony to mark the establishment of full relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, something that Trump and his Middle East team brokered in August.
Bahrain´s foreign minister will attend that event and sign a separate agreement with Netanyahu.
“There´s no more powerful response to the hatred that spawned 9/11 than this agreement,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Friday’s agreement is another diplomatic win for Trump less than two months before the presidential election and an opportunity to shore up support among pro-Israel evangelical Christians.
In addition to the UAE deal, Trump just last week announced agreements in principle for Kosovo to recognize Israel and for Serbia to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
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AP Exclusive: Disabled NFL retirees slam benefits plan delay
An NFL and players union-run fund that helps ailing retired players shut down its application process for nearly six months because of the coronavirus, irritating retirees who complained the league devoted resources toward safely starting the 2020 season on time but not to their medical leave application for college needs.
The Associated Press interviewed four people familiar with the program, three of whom are retired players waiting for program administrators to schedule doctors’ visits that are key to determining benefits.
Last year, the program gave out $157 million to 2,247 applicants. One person familiar with the program estimated there were more than 200 applications and appeals that have been awaiting action for up to six months.
None of the players wanted their names used for fear of retribution by those who run the program, which is operated by the league and union.
All said they were perplexed by the league’s willingness to hold training camps for more than 3,000 players this summer and kick off the season this week while suspending a program that doesn’t have anything close to the social-distancing issues of the day-to-day logistics of an NFL season.
On Friday, two days after the AP questioned the league and union about the halt, the NFL said benefits coordinators were sending out letters to applicants announcing the resumption of doctor’s appointments for some players.
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Wildfire smoke brings worst air quality to Portland, Seattle
SEATTLE (AP) – Smoke pollution from wildfires raging in California and across the Pacific Northwest worsened in San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, on Friday, giving those cities and others in the region some of the world´s worst air quality.
Public health officials warned residents to keep indoors with the windows shut, to set air conditioners to run on recirculated air instead of fresh, and to use air purifiers if they had them.
Meanwhile, they wrestled with whether to open “smoke shelters” for homeless people or others lacking access to clean air amid the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns about herding people indoors.
“The same population that is most vulnerable to the virus is also most vulnerable to the smoke,” Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan noted during a news conference.
The sky turned a hazy, grayish white across the Northwest as winds that had previously pushed much of the smoke offshore shifted, bringing unhealthy levels of near-microscopic dust, soot and ash particles to Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, British Columbia.
San Francisco also continued to suffer from smoke pollution; those four cities topped the list of major cities with the worst air quality Friday, according to IQAir.com, which tracks air quality around the world.
The particles are small enough that they can penetrate deep into the lungs, and health effects can include chest pain, arrhythmia and bronchitis.
Those with preexisting conditions such as heart and lung disease or asthma are especially at risk.
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Study: Kids infected at day care spread coronavirus at home
NEW YORK (AP) – Children who caught the coronavirus at day cares and a day camp spread it to their relatives, according to a new report that underscores that kids can bring the germ home and infect others.
Scientists already know children can spread the virus.
But the study published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “definitively indicates – in a way that previous studies have struggled to do – the potential for transmission to family members,” said William Hanage, a Harvard University infectious diseases researcher.
The findings don´t mean that schools and child-care programs need to close, but it does confirm that the virus can spread within those places and then be brought home by kids.
So, masks, disinfection and social distancing are needed. And people who work in such facilities have to be careful and get tested if they think they may be infected, experts said.
Earlier research from the U.S., China and Europe has found that children are less likely than adults to be infected by the virus and are less likely to become seriously ill when they do get sick.
There also was data suggesting that young children don´t spread the virus very often, though older kids are believed to spread it as easily as adults.
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Challenger to QAnon supporter bows out of race in Georgia
ATLANTA (AP) – The Democratic candidate for an open U.S.
House seat in Georgia dropped out of the race Friday, clearing a near-certain path to victory for a QAnon-supporting Republican contender who has been criticized for her incendiary comments.
Democrat Kevin Van Ausdal bowed out of the race against Marjorie Taylor Greene for “personal and family reasons,” his campaign manager Vinny Olsziewski told The Associated Press.
Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs said Friday that the window has passed for Democrats to replace Van Ausdal, likely sealing a win for the already-favored Greene.
Georgia law says a candidate who withdraws less than 60 days before the election cannot be replaced on the ballot. Van Ausdal faced long odds in Georgia´s deep-red 14th Congressional District. He posted a statement to Twitter on Friday saying, “The next steps in my life are taking me away from Georgia,” disqualifying him from the seat.
Greene has become notorious for her remarks about minorities and ethnic groups.
In a series of videos unearthed in June, she alleges an “Islamic invasion” of government offices, claims Black and Hispanic men are held back by “gangs and dealing drugs,” and pushes an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that billionaire philanthropist George Soros, who is Jewish, collaborated with the Nazis.
Most recently, Greene has said mask requirements aimed at controlling the spread of the coronavirus in schools emasculate boys, and posted a photo montage on Facebook showing her posing with a rifle next to three progressive Democratic congresswomen.
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NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week
A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week.
None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:
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CLAIM: A total of 19,888 fake driver´s licenses that were made in China and seized at the O´Hare International Airport were all registered to vote as Democrats.
THE FACTS: Social media users are misrepresenting a law enforcement report about fake IDs as an example of illegal voter registration. There is no evidence to support that conclusion. “Feds Seize 19,888 Fake State Driver Licenses (Made in China) in Chicago O´Hare Airport – ALL Registered to Vote — ALL Democrat!” read several Facebook posts circulating this week, collectively amassing more than 3 million views.
The claim follows a July announcement by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials detailing the seizure of 19,888 fraudulent driver´s licenses at the O´Hare International Airport from the start of the year to June 30. “The driver´s licenses were for various people in different states with a vast majority destined for neighboring states,” and most were for college-age individuals, the press release said.
The cards came in 1,513 shipments, largely from China and Hong Kong, but also from Great Britain and South Korea. However, the claim that the seized licenses were “all registered to vote” – let alone registered with a particular political party – is unsubstantiated and extremely unlikely, according to election security experts.
In every state except North Dakota, which requires voters to show an ID at the polls, citizens must register before they can vote and generally must show both proof of identity and proof of residence, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. When someone registers to vote for the first time, election officials compare the number from that person’s driver’s license or other state-issued ID – or the last four digits of their Social Security number – to state motor vehicle agency records or Social Security Administration records.
“When the information does not match, the application is sent to officials for further review or action,” NCSL´s website says. Because of that system, it would be “very hard” to create a voter registration with fake IDs like the ones seized at Chicago´s airport, said David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research.
“These are pieces of plastic,” Becker said. “That´s all they are. They do not have matching records in any official database. It´s unfathomable to me that this would even be considered remotely plausible.” On top of that, voter registration fraud is extremely rare, according to John Lindback, a national elections expert with the Center for Secure and Modern Elections.
“When it has come up it´s usually very small in number and isolated,” he said. Lindback added, “in order to register that number of people on a fraudulent basis, you´d have to come up with 19,000 verifiable social security numbers and driver´s license numbers” – which he explained would be a near-impossible feat.
In its release, CBP did not include anything to suggest the seized driver´s licenses had any connections to voter fraud.
- Associated Press writer Ali Swenson reported this item from Seattle.
