Wednesday, November 4th, 2020
Election Results Roundup, Record Gun Sales & Baby Shark Milestone
All the news you need in 10 min:
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Story Summaries
All the news stories mentioned in today's episode are listed with links below, so you can spend as much -- or as little -- time as you want reading about the latest happenings…
Presidential Election Results So Far
There’s still no winner in the presidential election, even though Americans are done casting ballots. As expected, election workers are still busy making sure every ballot is counted. Already, both President Trump and Joe Biden have scored a good chunk of early wins. For example, Trump is the projected winner in the key swing states of Ohio and Florida. Meanwhile, Biden flipped Arizona. That’s the first time Arizona has gone blue since 1996. Still, several battleground states are too early to call, like Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Read More: Politico, AP, Reuters, WSJ, Trump Tweet
Congressional Wins & Loses
A few important Congressional races have been called. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell beat Democratic challenger Amy McGrath in Kentucky. Another top Republican, Sen. Lindsey Graham, was also re-elected over Democrat Jaime Harrison. Other incumbents lost their seats. In Colorado, Republican Sen. Cory Gardner lost to Democrat John Hickenlooper, the former governor. Democratic Sen. Doug Jones lost his re-election race in Alabama. Former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville will be sent to the nation’s capital instead.
McConnell Wins Re-election: NBC News, AP
Graham Wins Re-election: Politico, NY Times
Hickenlooper Wins in South Carolina: The Hill, Bloomberg
Jones Loses Re-Election: Axios, CNN
House & Senate Majorities: FOX News, NY Times, NBC News
Ballot Measures Pass & Fail
Voters decided on more than 100 statewide ballot measures. New Jersey, Montana, and Arizona voters decided to legalize recreational marijuana. Florida voters decided to raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026. In Colorado, voters rejected the idea of a 22-week abortion ban. In California, voters sided with companies like Uber and Lyft, allowing them to keep drivers as independent contractors, instead of employees.
3 States Legalize Recreational Marijuana: ABC News, AP
FL Raises Minimum Wage: The Hill, FOX Business
CO Abortion Ban Fails: Denver Post, Vox
CA Gig Workers: LA Times, Axios
Voter Turnout Latest
There’s one big election win both Democrats and Republicans can celebrate: voter turnout. The exact numbers aren’t in yet, but the U.S. Elections Project thinks we’ll find out about 67% of American eligible voters cast ballots this year. That would make this the highest voter turnout in the U.S. in more than a century. For comparison, only about 59% of eligible Americans voted in 2016.
Read More: WaPo, Elect Project
Election Day Issues
There were some isolated issues reported at polling stations around the country. Florida got some complaints about voter intimidation. In Georgia, some voting machines weren’t working, so voters had to rely on paper ballots instead. Also, the FBI is investigating robocalls that urged voters in swing states to stay home because of safety concerns. A separate batch of robocalls went out in Michigan yesterday that told people to vote tomorrow. That was misinformation too since people can’t vote today.
Few Voting Problems Reported: CNN, AP, Roll Call Tweets
“Stay Safe and Stay Home” Robocalls: USA Today, Reuters, Axios, The Hill
SCOTUS to Hear Catholic Adoptions Case
The Supreme Court is hearing a case that concerns Philadelphia’s Catholic Social Services not allowing foster children to go to same-sex couples. The city stopped placing children in that agency, saying the catholic organization was violating anti-discrimination laws. The Catholic charity sued, citing religious liberty, granted by the first amendment. It says Catholic Social Services should still be able to run the program with the help of taxpayer funding. Both sides will present their cases to the Supreme Court today. A decision is expected before July.
Read More: NBC News, WSJ, WaPo
U.S. Leaves Paris Climate Accord
The U.S. has officially left the Paris climate deal. That made the U.S. the first and only nation, out of nearly 200, to walk away from the 2015 pact. The agreement calls on countries to do their part to prevent climate change, mainly by reducing carbon emissions. However, President Trump says the deal has led to job loss, lower wages, and closed factories. That’s why he started the process to leave the agreement a year ago. It became official at midnight this morning. Biden says if he’s elected, the U.S. will rejoin.
Read More: Politico, ABC News, AP, NPR
Gun Sales Soar to Record Highs
Gun sales have surged to record highs this year. The National Shooting Sports Foundation found more than 17 million gun background checks have been done so far this year. CBS News reports it started in March when COVID-19 hit the U.S. Then over the summer, there was a lot of social unrest, which pumped up sales even more. Now, the NSSF says the election seems to have inspired a third surge. That’s partly because a lot of candidates have brought up the 2nd amendment as a political issue. There has also been a fear of post-election unrest.
Read More: CBS News, The Hill, Fox News
Walmart Abandons Shelf-Stocking Robots
Walmart is scrapping its robot plans. It was using them at about 500 U.S. stores. They would move through the aisles to keep tabs on items that were out of stock or misplaced. However, the company reportedly found more simple, cost-effective ways to manage inventory with its existing staff. Still, Walmart says it plans to test other technologies in the future for tracking inventory and moving goods.
Read More: AP, CNBC, WSJ
YouTube’s Most Viewed Video
“Baby Shark” is now YouTube’s most-viewed video of all time. The children’s sing-a-long has amassed 7.06 billion views and counting. It was first released four years ago and has become somewhat of a cultural phenomenon. Kids love it and parents love to hate it since the song can get stuck in our head so easily. Last year, it made it onto the Billboard Top 100 list. YouTube’s previous record-holder was the music video for “Despacito.”
Read More: CNN, The Verge, YouTube
Work Wednesday: LinkedIn’s Career Explorer
LinkedIn has rolled out a new tool that can help people move into new careers. Career Explorer looks at your job skills and then displays different careers that require similar experience. It also shows you the popularity of certain career transitions and it connects you with people in your desired fields. This new feature could come in handy for the 8.4 million Americans still on unemployment right now. LinkedIn says people are sometimes too afraid to seek out different careers, but that this should make it easier.
Read More: USA Today, TechCrunch, LinkedIn, Career Explorer