Dorothy Abernathy, regional media director of The Associated Press, shares 10 things you need to know Monday, Feb. 27, 2017. Look for full stories on these late-breaking news items and much more in West Virginia newspapers.
1. AT ACADEMY AWARDS, AN EPIC ERROR
In an apparently unprecedented mistake, the wrong winner is announced for best picture. Things are soon sorted out — and “Moonlight,” not “La La Land,” wins the Oscar.
2. TERROR ‘WAGED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD’
Former congregants say they were subjected to years of emotional and physical abuse inside an evangelical church in western North Carolina, an AP investigation reveals.
3. WHERE US FORCES COULD BE HEADED
A new military strategy to meet Trump’s demand to “obliterate” the Islamic State group is likely to deepen American military involvement in Syria.
4. IRANIANS CHEER CHOICE FOR BEST FOREIGN FILM
His countrymen are also lauding the decision by Asghar Farhadi, director of “The Salesman,” to boycott the Academy Awards because of the Trump administration’s travel ban.
5. POLAND A POPULIST FRONT-RUNNER
Months before Britain voted to leave the EU Union or the U.S. elected Trump, Poles booted out their own political establishment.
6. LITTLE CONSEQUENCE FOR DRUG MISDEEDS
Staff at VA hospitals were fired or reprimanded in a small fraction of thousands of reported cases of opioid theft and missing prescriptions since 2010, according to government data provided to the AP.
7. GUILTY PLEA EXPECTED IN AIR BAG SCANDAL
Japanese auto parts maker Takata is also expected in U.S. federal court to agree to a $1 billion penalty for concealing the deadly air bag inflator problem.
8. WHO’S NOT LOWERING GUARD ON POT
The American Academy of Pediatrics is beefing up warnings about marijuana’s potential harms for teens amid increasingly lax laws and attitudes on pot use.
9. KURT BUSCH USES LAST-LAP PASS FOR DAYTONA WIN
It’s a victory of redemption for the driver, who was suspended by NASCAR two days before the 2015 Daytona 500 for off-track behavior.
10. WHAT’S NEXT MOVE FOR BILL COSBY
The actor is set to return to a Pennsylvania courtroom to ask a judge to bring in outside jurors in his criminal sex assault case.
