COLU @ CONCEPTS

NEW YORK (AP) — A new lawsuit lays out an explosive tale of Trump allies, the White House and Fox News Channel conspiring to push a false story about Democratic leaks and an unsolved killing in order to distract attention from the Russia investigation that has been swirling around the president The lawsuit was filed Tuesday against Fox by an investigator who had been looking into the killing of Seth Rich, a former Democratic National Committee staff member who died in 2016 in what police say was a botched robbery. The investigator alleges that Fox quoted him as saying things he never said and was willing to show President Donald Trump its story before it was posted online. It’s the second time in two days that Trump has been accused of being actively involved in pushing a public narrative to lower the heat of the Russia story. The Washington Post reported that the president had written a misleading statement for his son to give to The New York Times about Donald Trump Jr.’s ...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The first thing the muscled-up men did was take my cellphone. They had stopped me on the street as I left an interview in the hometown of the late President Hugo Chavez and wrangled me into a black SUV. Heart pounding in the back seat with the men and two women, I watched the low cinderblock homes zoom by and tried to remember the anti-kidnapping class I’d taken in preparation for moving to Venezuela. The advice had been to try to humanize yourself. “What should we do with her?” the driver asked. The man next to me pulled his own head up by the hair and made a slitting gesture across his throat. What might a humanizing reaction to that be? I had thought that being a foreign reporter protected me from the growing chaos in Venezuela. But with the country unraveling so fast, I was about to learn there was no way to remain insulated. I came to Caracas as a correspondent for The Associated Press in 2014, just in time to witness the country’s accelera...

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poles are marking the 73rd anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, a doomed revolt against Nazi Germany during World War II that President Donald Trump paid homage to during his recent visit to Poland. Poland’s President Andrzej Duda laid a wreath in the Warsaw district of Wola, the site of one of the worst massacres of Polish civilians at German hands during the occupation, with more events to follow. The Warsaw Uprising broke out August 1, 1944, with Polish insurgents taking up arms against the powerful German forces. They held out for 63 days before the Germans crushed the revolt. Some 200,000 Poles were killed and the Germans destroyed most of Warsaw in retaliation. During a July 6 visit to Warsaw, Trump paid homage to the “desperate struggle to overthrow oppression.” Source: www.apnews.com 

ATLANTA (AP) — The Trump administration’s tough talk on crime and the treatment of suspects has left black police officers worried that efforts to repair the fraught relationship between police and minority communities could be derailed. A major black law enforcement group is set to hear Tuesday from Attorney General Jeff Sessions days after President Donald Trump said police shouldn’t be “nice” to suspects by shielding their heads as they are lowered, handcuffed, into police cars. The comment, now described by the White House as a joke, angered some cops who said it only served to dial back progress they’d made with the people they serve. Black police officers talk of straddling two worlds: the communities where they live, and the police departments where they work. They take seriously their oath to uphold the law and to go after criminals, but they also worry about their own friends, relatives and neighbors who fear the police. “We live in some of the same communities that ar...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Police are investigating a bizarre heist of a 1,700-pound barbecue pit from a popular Albuquerque restaurant. The Albuquerque Journal reports (https://goo.gl/5oXrHZ) police say the black and red 200-gallon smoker smoke was stolen early Sunday. Daniel Morgan, the owner of Pepper’s Ole Fashion BBQ, says the smoker was cooking up a batch of brisket when it was taken. Morgan says most of the meat the restaurant serves is prepared in an indoor barbecue pit and he uses the custom built apparatus for catering gigs. No arrests have been made. Morgan says he considered launching a crowdfunding page to help cover the $5,800 costs of a replacement. Source: www.apnews.com 

MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Depression Emily is moving out over the Atlantic early Tuesday, a day after slogging across the Florida peninsula, where it brought drenching rain and power outages. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the depression’s maximum sustained winds are near 30 mph (48 kph). Forecasters say slight strengthening is possible during the day but the poorly-organized depression is expected to stop being a tropical system within a day or two. The depression is centered about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north-northeast of Vero Beach, Florida, and is moving east-northeast near 12 mph (19 kph). Source: www.apnews.com 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Raised voices could be heard through the thick door to the Oval Office as John Kelly — then secretary of Homeland Security — offered some tough talk to President Donald Trump. Kelly, a whip-cracking retired general who was sworn in as White House chief of staff on Monday, had demanded to speak to the president alone after Trump complained loudly that the U.S. was admitting travelers from countries such as Afghanistan, Iran and Haiti. Kelly first tried to explain to Trump that the admissions were standard — some people had legitimate reasons to visit the country — but the president insisted that it was making him look bad, according to an administration official familiar with the exchange about a month ago. Kelly then demanded that other advisers leave the room so he could speak to the president frankly. Trump refused at first, but agreed when Kelly insisted. It was an early indication that Kelly, a decorated retired Marine general who served three tours...