Dorothy Abernathy, regional media director of The Associated Press, shares 10 things you need to know Wednesday, April 5, 2017. Look for full stories on these late-breaking news items and much more in West Virginia newspapers.
1. NORTH KOREA FIRES BALLISTIC MISSILE
The worry is that Pyongyang might conduct nuclear or long-range rocket tests ahead of the first summit between Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this week.
2. DEATH TOLL RISING IN SYRIA
A monitoring group says at least 72 are now dead from a suspected chemical attack on a northern town near Idlib and activists report renewed airstrikes on Khan Sheikhoun.
3. WHERE RUSSIAN SUBWAY BOMB PROBE IS HEADING
Investigators search the suspected suicide bomber’s home in St. Petersburg and examine footage that shows Akbardzhon Dzhalilov with a bag and a backpack.
4. MCCONNELL SAY HE HAS VOTES FOR ‘NUCLEAR OPTION’
The Senate majority leader says he can bust a planned Democratic filibuster of Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, a showdown that could change the Senate, and the court, for generations.
5. ‘WINTER WHITE HOUSE’ IS ULTIMATE MARKETING PLOY
When Trump meets China’s leader at Mar-a-Lago later this week, it’s a pretty nice advertisement for the U.S. president, who owns the luxurious, oceanfront, members-only property in Florida.
6. DEFECTS FOUND ON OIL TRAIN ROUTES MAY EXPLAIN DERAILMENTS
U.S. government inspections of railroad routes used to haul volatile shipments uncovered almost 24,000 track defects that prompted 1,100 violation recommendations for safety gaps, AP finds.
7. WHO WON MAYORAL ELECTION IN FERGUSON
James Knowles III, the St. Louis suburb’s top elected official in the tumultuous 32 months since the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, gets another three-year term.
8. WHY DEADLY COLOMBIA FLOODS WERE NOT SURPRISING
Nearly 280 are confirmed dead in Mocoa, which government agencies, land use experts and environmental organizations had said for years could face dangerous flooding.
9. KENDALL JENNER’S PEPSI SPOT PROMPTS ONLINE BACKLASH
The model’s turn as a soft-drink-wielding protester has some on social media decrying the imagery as appropriation of the Black Lives Matter movement.
10. WHAT LEFTY IS AIMING TO DO
Phil Mickelson arrives at Augusta National as a 46-year-old, three-time champion, trying to conjure up the same magic Jack Nicklaus used in 1986 to win his sixth and final Masters title at the same age.
