Monday, November 9th, 2020
Biden Plans Presidency, Trump Legal Challenges & RIP Alex Trebek
All the news you need in about 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by HelloFresh.com/NEWSWORTHY90 and ButcherBox.com/NEWSWORTHY
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 to review the latest happenings...
Latest Electoral Count
Results from the presidential election are still coming in, two days after a winner was called. On Saturday, every major news outlet named Joe Biden the winner since he crossed the threshold of 270 electoral votes. Since then, Biden’s lead has only grown. As of this morning, Biden has 290 electoral votes, compared to President Trump’s 214. Alaska, North Carolina, and Georgia still haven’t been called, but even if Trump wins all three, he will not be able to get the needed 270 electoral votes.
Read More: AP, Politico, AJC, WaPo
Biden, Harris Victory Speeches
President-elect Joe Biden and his Vice President-elect Kamala Harris gave victory speeches Saturday night. Harris kicked things off by saying, “while I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.” Then, Biden took the stage, stressing the need for unity. Specifically, he said, “to make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents like our enemies. They are not our enemies, they are Americans.”
Read More: NY Times, CBS News, NBC News, CNN
World Leaders Congratulate Biden
Former Presidents Carter, Clinton, Bush, and Obama all congratulated Biden and Harris on a win. Biden also heard from the leaders of several other countries, like Canada, France, Germany, Ukraine, and Pakistan. Even those who had close, personal ties with President Trump reached out to Biden, like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Read More: Axios, CNN, USA Today, AP
Trump Doesn’t Plan to Concede
President Trump doesn’t plan to concede the 2020 presidential race anytime soon. Conceding is not required by law and doesn’t have to happen, even though it usually does. Trump wrote in a statement, “this election is far from over.” The president also tweeted that he actually won and that the election was stolen from him with voter fraud. So far, he has not provided evidence, so Twitter flagged all those tweets, calling them “disputed.” Now, some Trump advisers say they’re planning post-election rallies to help Trump spread the message.
Read More: Reuters, AP, Politico, Axios, CBS News
Trump Campaign Legal Challenges
The Trump campaign is exploring legal options to contest the presidential election. His lawyers have said the team will file four to five lawsuits over alleged voter fraud in battleground states this week. Reaction among Republicans has been mixed. A few well-known Republicans, like Sen. Mitt Romney and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, congratulated Biden. Others, like Sen. Lindsey Graham, told Trump to keep fighting. Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani said, “networks don’t get to decide elections. Courts do.”
Read More: WSJ, Bloomberg, FOX News, The Hill
How News Outlets Call Elections
News agencies, like the Associated Press, FOX News, and CNN, use “decision desks” to project election winners. Their hired experts look at what votes have been counted on a state-by-state basis. They announce a call when they think the trailing candidate has run out of ways to add enough votes to win. This happens every election year before all the votes are certified so the American people know the winner sooner and so the winning candidate’s transition team can start preparing for their upcoming term in office.
Read More: AP, Vox, LA Times, Tampa Bay Times
Biden Planning for Presidency
President-elect Biden is focusing on his top priorities that he says he’ll start acting on as soon as he’s sworn into office. The Washington Post reports Biden is planning to quickly sign a series of executive orders to reverse some Trump-era policies. For example, he’ll rejoin the Paris Climate agreement and reverse President Trump’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization. Biden has already set up his own coronavirus task force. The Biden transition team is reportedly hoping to prepare that response soon, with the help of current agencies.
Read More: Reuters, WaPo, AP, Axios
White House COVID-19 Outbreak
The White House is dealing with a fresh wave of coronavirus infections. The Trump administration confirmed that Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and five other Trump aides tested positive last week. It’s not clear if they’re experiencing symptoms. They have all started to quarantine. Those diagnoses come about a month after President Trump, members of the Trump family, and at least 30 others close to the president also tested positive for COVID-19.
Read More: WaPo, Axios, ABC News, Politico
U.S. Breaks More COVID-19 Records
The U.S. reported more than 100,000 new cases every day for the last five days. Overall, since the first COVID-19 case was first confirmed in the U.S. in January, nearly 10 million Americans have tested positive and nearly 238,000 have died from it. Doctors’ advice has stayed the same in recent months. They say, until a vaccine is available, the best we can do is to continue with social distancing, mask-wearing, and handwashing. A vaccine is expected to be available starting early next year.
Read More: CBS News, WSJ, CNN
Tropical Storm Eta Hits Florida
Tropical Storm Eta made landfall in the middle of the Florida Keys overnight. The southern part of the Sunshine State is now dealing with strong winds and heavy rain. Dangerous flooding is possible today too, since up to a foot of rain is likely in some areas. Already, Eta is responsible for dozens of deaths in Central America. It first struck last week as a devastating Cat. 4 hurricane. Now, even though the storm has been downgraded, it could do damage in Florida. The governor declared a state of emergency for eight Florida counties.
Read More: Miami Herald, AP, Weather Channel, NHS
Alex Trebek Dies
Longtime Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek died over the weekend after a nearly two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. The 80-year-old hosted the game show for 37 seasons and won seven Emmy Awards along the way. Tributes are now pouring in. Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak tweeted about Trebek, saying “I was honored to be a friend and part of his professional family for all these years.” Record-holding Jeopardy! contestant Ken Jennings tweeted that he was thinking of Trebek’s family and his Jeopardy! family that “included millions of us.”
Read More: AP, USA Today, Jeopardy!, Sajak Tweet, Jennings Tweet
Raiders Fined, Lose Draft Pick
The NFL fined the Las Vegas Raiders another $500,000 and stripped the team of its 6th-round draft pick. New penalties are because of the “brazen and repeated violations of COVID-19 protocols.” Already, the Raiders were fined $250,000 earlier in the season for things like not wearing masks properly. The head coach and certain players have faced individual fines too. In total, Las Vegas has racked up $1.185 million in fines for breaking COVID-19 protocols, and the Raiders are the first team to lose a draft pick over the violations.
Read More: ESPN, NY Times, Bleacher Report
Tesla Launches Tequila
Tesla has launched a new brand of tequila. Tesla Tequila comes in a hand-blown, lightning-shaped bottle and costs $250. It all started as an April Fools’ Day joke. CEO Elon Musk first tweeted out a photo of “Teslaquila” on April 1st, 2018. In October that year, the company applied for a trademark. Last week, it was finally released and quickly sold out. No word yet on when, or if, people will be able to buy it again. For now, Tesla’s website says it’s “temporarily out of stock.”
Read More: Engadget, CNBC, CNN, Tesla
Starbucks Holiday Cups Return
The biggest coffee chain in the world rolled out festive holiday cups. This year, Starbucks has four designs. All of them feature the traditional red and green colors. Two of the cups say “carry the merry.” The company says the slogan is a reminder for people to be messengers of joy. Along with the festive cups, Starbucks launched its holiday drink lineup too. Competitors like Dunkin also brought back their winter seasonal drinks last week.
Read More: USA Today, CBS News, Starbucks
Monday Monday- Pickup Truck Sales Climb
Pickup trucks are in high demand these days. There could be a few reasons behind their sudden spike in popularity. For example, people are avoiding public transportation during the pandemic, so they need their own rides. Also, people have been doing more home-improvement projects lately, so they need a truck that can haul bulky items. Also, since people aren’t traveling on planes as much, they’re deciding to take trucks on fun outdoor adventures instead.
Read More: Detroit Free Press, CNBC