The regional bureau of The Associated Press, shares 10 things you need to know Friday, Aug. 11, 2017. Look for full stories on these late-breaking news items and much more in West Virginia newspapers.
1. WHY NOT SHOOT DOWN NORTH KOREAN MISSILES
It would be humiliating and counterproductive if U.S. missile defense systems failed to knock out North Korean test firings, and even success would hold risks, reports AP’s Eric Talmadge.
2. TRUMP ‘VERY DISAPPOINTED’ IN MCCONNELL
The president’s scathing criticism of the Senate majority leader over stalled legislation may work against the Republican agenda. AP’s Julie Bykowicz and Erica Werner report.
3. MOST FAVOR FIXING, NOT SCRAPPING, ‘OBAMACARE’
A new poll shows that people want Trump and congressional Republicans to try making the Obama health care law more effective and stop trying to scuttle it.
4. ‘IT WAS A DEFINITE GRAB. A VERY LONG GRAB’
Four years after Taylor Swift accused a radio station DJ of groping her before a concert in Denver, the pop superstar tells her story on the witness stand, calling the encounter shocking.
5. DECADES LATER, AN ACT OF RECONCILIATION
A U.S. Marine who served in the Pacific during World War II is traveling to a remote Japanese village to return a flag he took from the body of a dead enemy soldier 73 years ago.
6. CNN CUTS TIES WITH CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR
The break with Jeffrey Lord, an indefatigable on-air Trump supporter, comes after he tweeted a Nazi salute at a critic.
7. WHY GOOGLE GATHERING WAS CALLED OFF
The company’s CEO cancels an internal town hall meant to address gender discrimination after employee questions for management began to leak online from the company’s internal messaging service.
8. FUND LAUNCHED TO HELP BIG CATS REBOUND
Lions are threatened across Africa. The situation is particularly dire in the country’s west, where only about 400 lions remain out of the total 20,000 worldwide.
9. WHICH COLLECTIBLES MUSICIAN CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF
Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett has amassed a vast collection of classic horror and sci-fi movie posters that are on display at a Massachusetts museum.
10. JORDAN SPIETH REBOUNDS FROM ROCKY START
The golfer, chasing the career Grand Slam, bogies three of the first six holes but settles down to score a respectable 72 in the opening round of the PGA Championship.
