Friday, November 6th, 2020
Waiting on a Winner, New Coronavirus Milestones & Pac-12 Returns
All the news you need in around 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 the latest happenings...
Votes Still Being Counted
Three days after the election, the presidential race is in a dead heat. Hundreds of thousands more votes have been counted since yesterday, but we are still waiting for results in five states: Alaska, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and North Carolina. Alaska is expected to go for President Trump. Out of the other four states, Biden only needs one of them to win. Trump needs to win all of them. Either is possible since the totals are neck-and-neck right now. It’s possible the race could be decided to today or it could be another week or more.
Read More: Politico, WSJ, CNN, AJC
Georgia to Conduct Audit
As of early this morning, the presidential race is closest in Georgia. There, it’s down to only a 1,700-vote difference between Biden and Trump. So election officials are still counting. Also, the state is going to conduct what it’s calling a risk-limiting audit. Starting today, Georgia officials will manually review a sample of ballots by hand. It’s to make sure the voting machines didn’t make any procedural errors and that no one intentionally manipulated them through a cyberattack. The results of that audit will come in by November 13th.
Read More: NBC News, The Hill
Trump Attacking Election Integrity
President Trump is lashing out against election officials in certain battleground states. In a speech from the White House, the president accused them of plotting to steal the election from him, saying they’re rigging the tallies to push the totals in favor of Joe Biden. However, there’s no known evidence for those allegations. Trump pointed to the mail-in ballots counted after Election Day, calling them suspicious. However, analysts had expected the majority of Election Day votes to be cast for Republicans and the majority of mail-in ballots to go to Democrats.
Read More: AP, Politico, Reuters, Axios
Trump Legal Challenges
The Trump campaign filed a series of lawsuits, but so far, they haven’t made much of a difference. Judges in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Michigan rejected the lawsuits. Trump had a small win in Pennsylvania that allowed observers to move closer to poll counters. Yesterday, the Trump campaign filed a new lawsuit in Nevada to stop counting ballots. The Trump team believes thousands of votes may have been counted there in the names of people who are dead and nonresidents. Nevada officials say that’s not true.
Judges Reject 3 Trump Lawsuits: WaPo, FOX News, ABC News
New Trump Lawsuit in Nevada: FOX News, CNBC, Newsweek
Biden Urges Patience
Joe Biden also addressed the nation yesterday from his campaign headquarters in Delaware. He urged people to stay calm and patient. Specifically, he said, “Democracy sometimes is messy,” but that “the process is working.” Biden also expressed confidence that the election would eventually be called in his favor. He and his running mate continue to "feel very good about where things stand," Biden said. "We have no doubt that when the count is finished, Senator Harris and I will be declared the winners."
Read More: Politico, CNN, WaPo, Axios
Election-Related Protests
Supporters of both Joe Biden and President Trump have been taking to the streets to protest in cities around the U.S. Some of the largest ones happened in New York City, Portland, Oregon, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, where crowds called on election officials to “count every vote.” They were mostly peaceful, but there was some isolated violence and a few arrests. In Phoenix, Arizona, some Trump supporters showed off guns and chanted things like “Biden got beat, stop the cheat.”
Read More: USA Today, Reuters, NY Times, CBS News
More Coronavirus Records
The U.S. set grim new coronavirus records this week. Johns Hopkins University reports more than 121,000 new COVID-19 infections were reported just yesterday. It was the second day in a row the country reported more than 100,000 new cases, breaking the daily case record. Hospitalizations and deaths are still rising too. Nearly 1,200 Americans died from the virus yesterday and that’s reportedly a 20% increase from the same day last week. Right now, the southwest and midwest are getting hit the hardest.
Read More: WaPo, CNN, Johns Hopkins, COVID Tracking Project
Vaccine Could Arrive in January
AstraZeneca says if it's vaccine candidate is approved, it could be available in just two months. The drugmaker says it’ll review trial data in the next couple of months and if results look promising, it will quickly ramp up manufacturing and gain government approval. One company executive said AstraZeneca will be ready to supply hundreds of millions of doses around the world, starting in January. Other companies, like Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson also have vaccines in the works.
Read More: AP, CBS News, WSJ
Pac-12 Football Opening Weekend
The Pac-12 conference officially starts its football season tomorrow. This means schools like the University of Oregon and Stanford will be back on the gridiron. In a normal year, the season would have started in late summer. This year, the pandemic caused a delay. The virus is also proving to be problematic in week one. The Cal Bears and Washington Huskies had to cancel their season opener because a Cal player tested positive and several teammates are quarantined. Five other Pac-12 games will go on as planned.
Read More: USA Today, CBS Sports, ESPN, WaPo
Bentley Transitioning to Only Electric Cars
The luxury automaker Bentley plans to phase out gas-burning cars. By the end of the decade, it’ll only make electric vehicles. The company will only sell hybrid and electric cars by 2026. Then, by 2030, they’ll be all-electric. Bentley isn’t the only company doubling down on electric vehicles. For example, GMC just unveiled its new electric Hummer and Volkswagen plans to offer 75 electric models by the end of the decade.
Read More: TechCrunch, Fortune, CNBC
New Emoji Now Live
Apple has released another new iOs update for iPhones and iPads. iOs 14.2 comes with dozens of new emoji. They include a ninja, a transgender pride flag, bubble tea, a piñata, and more. There’s also a new hand gesture called the “pinched fingers” emoji. The iOs update comes with other changes, like eight new wallpapers, a refreshed airplay menu, and an array of bug fixes. It’s available now to download.
Read More: The Verge, Cnet
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction
Several iconic musicians are getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this weekend. Among the inductees are Whitney Houston, The Doobie Brothers, Nine Inch Nails, and Notorious B.I.G. They’ll all be honored during a ceremony tomorrow night. There won’t be any live performances though. Instead, each artist will be showcased in their own mini-film that’s about 10 minutes long. The ceremony will air on HBO at 8 p.m. ET.
Read More: Billboard, Variety, CNN, R&R Hall of Fame
Feel Good Friday- School Turned Solar Savings into Teacher Raises
An Arkansas school district that was strapped for cash found a new way to save money. After an energy audit, the school district realized it could start using solar energy for its schools. In three years, it was reportedly able to turn its $250,000 deficit into a $1.8 million surplus. Then, the district pumped that money into teachers’ pay, giving an average of a few thousand extra dollars to each teacher. Daily Energy Insider says energy costs are the second-largest expense for American schools.
Read More: Energy News, KAIT