Dorothy Abernathy, The Associated Press bureau chief for West Virginia and Virginia, shares the 10 things you need to know Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015. Look for full stories on these late-breaking news items and much more in West Virginia newspapers:
1. MIXED MESSAGES ON DEBRIS FROM FLIGHT 370
Confusion and anxiety for victims’ families after Malaysia says a piece of a wing is from the missing jetliner, yet authorities in France, the U.S. and Australia stop short of full confirmation; other debris still to be tested also found.
2. HOW FIELD FOR GOP CONTENDERS COULD SHRINK
The Republican Party should begin narrowing its vast field of presidential hopefuls in earnest with the first debate of the 2016 campaign.
3. WHAT MAY DIM HISTORIC ACHIEVEMENT
Egypt unveils a major extension of the Suez Canal that it says will boost national pride and the economy, but the ceremony is being overshadowed by an Islamic State affiliate’s threat to kill a Croatian hostage seized on the outskirts of Cairo.
4. WHY NASHVILLE THEATER ATTACK MAY BE DIFFERENT
What appeared to be another mass shooting at a movie theater ended up being an attack by a disturbed homeless man who wasn’t armed with a real gun and was eventually shot and killed by police.
5. JAPAN MARKS 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIROSHIMA BOMBING
Mayor Kazumi Matsui uses the occasion to renew calls for Obama and other world leaders to ensure a nuclear-weapons-free world.
6. WHAT’S STILL ON CONGRESSIONAL AGENDA
A divided Senate is joining the House in summer recess, but Congress is on course for an autumn of showdowns over Iran, spending and Planned Parenthood.
7. WARMING TEMPS PUSH WALRUS NORTH
A warming environment and melting ice push walruses north in the Bering Sea, limiting the main food source for several small villages in Alaska.
8. FIRM THAT SCREENS BALTIMORE COPS UNDER REVIEW
A psychological outfit paid to evaluate the city’s police, including a lieutenant charged in the killing of Freddie Gray, has been reprimanded by the state police for cutting corners, documents obtained by AP find.
9. TO BEE, OR NOT TO BEE: THIS IS NO BUMBLING INSECT AUDIT
Maine is recruiting citizen scientists to help take a census of bumblebees that officials say is important to protect crops like blueberries and cranberries.
10. PAY TV INDUSTRY SHOWS CRACKS IN MEDIA EARNINGS
Erosion in the pay TV bundle spurs media companies and distributors to acknowledge that more people are cutting the cord and ditching pricey channel packages.
