The regional bureau of The Associated Press, shares 10 things you need to know Friday, May 4, 2018. Look for full stories on these late-breaking news items and much more in West Virginia newspapers.
1. NEW TWISTS IN PRESIDENT’S PAYOFF TO PORN ACTRESS
The surprise revelation of the president’s reimbursement to his lawyer of a 2016 hush payment to Stormy Daniels stunned many in the West Wing.
2. TRUMP TO SPEAK TO NRA AMID CALLS FOR TIGHTER WEAPONS RULES
The president’s address comes after he briefly strayed from the group’s strong opposition to tougher gun controls in the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida as nationwide grief turned to burgeoning activism.
3. AUTHOR AWARD FALLS VICTIM TO SCANDAL
The Nobel Prize in literature will not be awarded this year following sex-abuse allegations and other issues that have affected the public image of the Swedish Academy that selects the winner.
4. WHO HAS CREDIBILITY ISSUES AT THE WHITE HOUSE
Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is facing a barrage of questions about whether she purposely misled the American people about hush money paid to a porn star who alleges a tryst with President Trump.
5. ISLAND STATE MOUNTAIN LOSES ITS COOL
Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano has erupted, leading to the evacuation of nearly 1,500 residents and sending molten lava to chew its way through forest land and bubble up on paved streets.
6. WHICH NOVEL IS EERILY REFLECTING MIDEAST CONFLICT
Violent scenes in Mishka Ben-David’s “The Shark,” a best-selling 2017 thriller, have been playing out in real life, every Friday for weeks in protests along Gaza’s border with Israel.
7. RUSSIAN LEADER SETS LOFTY GOALS FOR NEW 6-YEAR TERM
Vladimir Putin wants to advance his country in new technologies and artificial intelligence, improve its notoriously poor roads and have its people living significantly longer.
8. DISTURBING METAPHOR DRAWS CRITICISM
The tactical use of lynching references by celebrities under fire is generating disgust among those who have studied the ghastly killings and mutilation of thousands of black people in the U.S.
9. WHERE STUDENTS ARE BACK IN THE CLASSROOM
Hundreds of thousands of Arizona schoolchildren can go back to class now that the Legislature passed an education funding deal, ending a six-day walkout by teachers.
10. HOLLYWOOD IS NO LONGER LOOKING THE OTHER WAY
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expels director Roman Polanski, over 40 years after he pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in 1977.