Dorothy Abernathy, regional media director of The Associated Press, shares 10 things you need to know Thursday, July 28, 2016. Look for full stories on these late-breaking news items and much more in West Virginia newspapers.
1. OBAMA PASSES BATON TO CLINTON
Hillary Clinton has the stage, after President Barack Obama named her the inheritor of his legacy and the candidate who could realize the “promise of this great nation.”
2. DEMOCRATIC DONORS, ALLIES OFFER REWARD FOR TRUMP TAX RETURNS
The billionaire Republican nominee has broken decades of presidential campaign tradition by refusing to release his filings and some have offered money for charity if the documents become public.
3. RUSSIA ANNOUNCES HUMANITARIAN OPERATION IN ALEPPO
Moscow and the Syrian government will open corridors for civilians and offer a way out for rebels wanting to lay down their arms.
4. PYONGYANG: US CROSSES LINE, RELATIONS ON WAR FOOTING
North Korea’s top diplomat for U.S. affairs tells the AP that Washington “crossed the red line” and effectively declared war by putting leader Kim Jong Un on its list of sanctioned individuals.
5. REAGAN SHOOTER GAINS FREEDOM
After nearly four decades in a psychiatric hospital, John Hinckley Jr., 61, will be packing his bags early next month and live with his mother at her Virginia home full time.
6. FREDDIE GRAY CASE ENDS WITH A WHIMPER
Fourteen months after the death of a black man whose neck was broken in a police van prompted massive protests, spawned rioting and toppled careers in law enforcement and politics, a prosecutor’s decision ends the possibility that anyone will go to jail.
7. DITCHING RED-LIGHT CAMERAS CAN HAVE FATAL CONSEQUENCES
Traffic deaths from red-light-running crashes go up by nearly a third after cities turn off cameras designed to catch motorists in the act, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety finds.
8. OPIOD USED TO SEDATE LARGE ANIMALS DEEMED NEW THREAT
Carfentanil, 100 times as potent as the fentanyl already escalating the United States’ heroin troubles, is suspected in spates of overdoses in several states.
9. THE ANSWER IS ‘BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND’
Bob Dylan’s tumble from his Triumph was the most fateful motorcycle crash in pop-culture history, but even 50 years later, the details remain foggy.
10. OBSCURE CLUB PROS GET MOMENT IN THE SUN
Jason Day and Jordan Spieth are at Baltusrol. So are 20 club professionals, who for one week out of the year get treated on equal ground as the best golfers in the world at the PGA Championship.