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Daily Briefing: The new presidential calendar

Nicole Fallert   | Paste BN

National Democrats quickly approved President Joe Biden's proposed calendar. Also in the news: After months of worldwide, deadly protests, Iran says it's doing away with its "morality police." George Clooney and other stars were celebrated at the 2022 Kennedy Center Honors.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. Let's make it a bones day in honor of Noodle the pug.

Let's get going with Monday's news.

New presidential calendar may invite some chaos

National Democrats voted to reorder the presidential nominating calendar, stripping Iowa of its long-held position at the front of the line and instituting new sanctions that could limit the state’s ability to defy them and launch a rogue contest. The Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee approved it at a Friday afternoon meeting to decide which states could hold primaries before Super Tuesday and in what order. 

One thing to know: The changes are dramatic, replacing Iowa with South Carolina as the first state to nominate a Democratic candidate for president. Nevada and New Hampshire follow with a shared primary date. Michigan and then Georgia round out the early voting window before Super Tuesday. The calendar is expected to be ratified by the full DNC early next year.

  • Even more drama: Party leaders in Iowa and New Hampshire have vowed to hold their contests first – regardless of the committee’s decision. Both Iowa and New Hampshire have laws on the books stating that their nominating processes must go first.
  • South Carolina moving up: President Joe Biden told committee members his decision was to prioritize Black voters who delivered the presidency to him and states that are racially diverse.

Iran to abolish 'morality police'

Iran is apparently shutting down its "morality police" amid violent protests sweeping the nation since Mahsa Amini, 22, died in custody Sept. 16 after being accused of breaking a 1983 law requiring women to wear a head scarf, or hijab. Outrage ensued, and a growing number of women have stopped wearing the hijab. The Interior Ministry said Sunday that over 200 people, including security forces and civilians, have died in the protests. Officials also said during the weekend the hijab law would be reviewed and that recommendations could come in a week or two. Read more

More news to know now

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Mysterious Idaho student killings compounded by police contradictions, experts say

It's been three weeks since four students at the University of Idaho were fatally stabbed in their sleep but in the time since the brutal slayings, it seems more questions have risen than answers. Moscow, Idaho, has been swarmed by local, state and federal officers as well as the national media as questions swirl about who could be responsible for the Nov. 13 slayings, the location of the murder weapon and why the investigation appears at a standstill. Crime experts think those questions have been compounded by contradictory information released by authorities. Read more

Russia rejects oil price caps

A top Russian official called Sunday for a global ban on oil price caps, one day before a $60 per barrel purchase cap on Russian oil announced by the European Union and U.S. goes into effect. Russia has been adding tankers to its shipping fleet in hopes of selling more oil to China, India and other nations since Europe has vastly cut back on pipeline purchases. But Western insurers are banned from insuring cargos not being traded under the cap, adding to Russia's export woes. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on the other hand, said the cap was too high, urging adoption of a $30 cap. Read more

  • "Using oil as a weapon": Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan, the U.S. and the European Union agreed last week to cap what they would pay for Russian oil. Russian officials said the EU will soon accuse the Kremlin of weaponizing oil. 

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Georgia earns top college football seed

There was no doubt about which teams would be at No. 1 and No. 2 when the College Football Playoff committee revealed the participants in this year's semifinals. Michigan got past Purdue to win its second consecutive Big Ten title and will be seeded second. The suspense came in the final two positions because of some unexpected results on the final weekend. Ultimately, TCU was rewarded for an unbeaten run through the Big 12 and was seeded third and Ohio State earned the coveted No. 4. Read more

📷 Photo of the day: Kennedy Center Honors 2022 📷

President Joe Biden, along with first lady Jill Biden, took their customary place in the presidential box inside the grand Kennedy Center Opera House Sunday night at the 45th Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C. Honorees included Gladys Knight, George Clooney, the rock legends in U2 and Pulitzer Prize-winning classical composer/conductor Tania León. Read more

Click here to see more photos from the 2022 Kennedy Center Honors. 

One more thing

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at Paste BN, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note, shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com or follow along with her musings on Twitter. Support journalism like this – subscribe to Paste BN here.

Associated Press contributed reporting.

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