A transition without tradition
The president has yet to concede the election. Climate change is probably inevitable. And it's starting to look like we'll have a long, isolated winter.
It's Alex, and I'm thinking about the Weeknd.
But first, how does this keep happening? Another botched art restoration in Spain is getting flak online because it looks like... Mr. Potato Head.
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What did one White House say to the next one? Absolutely nothing.
President Donald Trump, it's time to let go. As the countdown pivots from Election Day to Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, President-elect Joe Biden is forging ahead with setting up his administration, declaring that his transition to the White House is "well underway." Still, Trump is refusing to concede. Biden has yet to receive the daily presidential briefings and federal funding necessary to set his administration up for success in its first 100 days. It's gotten to the point where even GOP senators are stepping in.
- Senior campaign adviser Ron Klain named Biden's chief of staff, the first White House official picked for the incoming administration.
Stay home, Chicago. You too, US
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a new “Protect Chicago” initiative Thursday, featuring a stay-at-home advisory set to go into effect Monday morning. Residents were also advised to avoid all nonessential travel and to cancel in-person Thanksgiving celebrations. This is as the United States grapples with another surge in COVID-19 deaths, with more than 2,000 reported Wednesday. A fall uptick in cases is now killing Americans almost as quickly as the worst week of the summer surge.
Some good news, we think? Dr. Anthony Fauci, speaking at a virtual health conference Thursday, said the pandemic won't be around "a lot longer," but probably won't be eradicated either. "It may be something that becomes endemic that we have to just be careful about," he said.
Real quick
- Police are reviewing the death of Lori Vallow's ex-husband after "murder" comment discovered in 2018 audio.
- An Iowa teacher, 38, died days after testing positive for COVID-19: "There's a lot of sadness."
- Louisville Metro Police concealed at least 738,000 records in Kentucky sex abuse case – then lied to keep the files from the public, records show.
- Peacekeeping force says 8 people killed, 6 of them Americans, in Egypt helicopter crash.
- Trump campaign adviser Corey Lewandowski tests positive for COVID-19, the latest in a series of White House cases.
Are we beyond the point of no return? 🌎
Even if human-caused greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced to zero, global temperatures may continue to rise for centuries afterward. (2020, right?) "The world is already past a point of no return for global warming," according to a study published in the British journal Scientific Reports. The study said that by 2500, the planet's temperatures will be about 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than they were in 1850, and that sea levels will be roughly 8 feet higher. The only way to stop the warming is to extract "enormous amounts of carbon dioxide ... from the atmosphere," the study authors report.
What everyone’s talking about
- Costco to customers: Wear a face mask or face shield – it's a requirement to enter.
- Privilege tax? Deutsche Bank research suggests employees working from home should pay a tax to support workers who cannot.
- "Defying the odds": Serving as a gestational carrier for her daughter, a 51-year-old woman gave birth to her own granddaughter.
- An ultra-rare photo of Neil Armstrong's moonwalk is expected to sell for more than $60,000.
- Kamala Harris' husband Doug Emhoff is breaking gender stereotypes by putting her career ahead of his as second gentleman.
How pork plant execs sacrificed safety for profits in COVID-19 battle
From city hall to the White House, officials let the second-largest pork processing plant in the country stay open as hundreds of workers got COVID-19. Four died. Paste BN and the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting spent five months piecing together the pivotal moments in the Triumph Foods outbreak. The reporting found that Triumph failed to respond with effective safeguards during a crucial period from mid-March to mid-April that could have contained the spread of COVID-19. And local health officials, who received complaints from employees and their family members, missed several opportunities to investigate. They instead took the company’s word that it was doing all it could to protect its workers.
A break from the news
- 😷 New CDC guidelines say face masks protect those wearing them, too — these are the best ones.
- 🎁 The holiday season is going to look a bit different this year. We complied 25 gifts for when you can't be there in person.
- 🎮 Yes, it's been sold out almost everywhere. But you can buy the PlayStation 5 at Walmart right now.
This is a compilation of stories from across the Paste BN Network. Want this news roundup in your inbox every night? Sign up for The Short List newsletter here.