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NEED TO KNOW

Biden Eyes 270

It's Election Day plus three, and Americans are still waiting for a conclusion to the 2020 presidential election. As of this writing, The Associated Press has Democratic nominee Joe Biden leading 264-214, with 60 electoral votes still remaining. 

President Trump leads Biden in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes) as of this writing by a margin of roughly 18,000, with about 3% of the vote left to be tallied. Most of the remaining ballots are expected to come from Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs.

Georgia (16 electoral votes) has become one of the most hotly contested states. As of this writing, Biden has pulled ahead by a razor-thin margin of 900 votes. The state, key to the president's reelection, has not been called yet. See updates here.

Both the AP and Fox News called Arizona (11 electoral votes) for Biden late Tuesday, and both outlets confirmed their decisions yesterday. Still, the state is close—Biden leads by 1.6% as of this writing, with roughly 10% of the votes still to be reported. The state's next update is scheduled for this morning. 

Officials in Nevada (six electoral votes) said the next batch of vote tallies would be released around 12pm ET today. Biden currently leads by around 11,400 votes, with an estimated 63,000 mail-in ballots remaining—the bulk from Clark County (Las Vegas)—along with 60,000 provisional ballots. A final count is not expected until the weekend. 

The president leads in North Carolina (15 electoral votes) by 1.4%, or around 76,000 votes. State officials have said there are just over 116,000 outstanding ballots—Trump is very likely to carry the state.

The Trump campaign has mounted a number of legal challenges (updates here), with more anticipated. Judges dismissed early suits in Michigan—claiming insufficient access to observe ballot tallying—and Georgia—alleging a stack of late ballots were illegally included in the count. A Nevada lawsuit was filed claiming out-of-state voters were inappropriately allowed to cast ballots in the state. So far, experts say the suits are narrow and unlikely to overturn any results. President Trump gave remarks last evening, criticizing mail-in voting and claiming fraud (watch)—no evidence of widespread fraud has been reported.

Separately, both Senate campaigns in Georgia appear likely to head to a Jan. 5 runoff. Incumbent Sen. David Perdue (R) is on track to fall just short of the 50% total vote share needed to avoid a second race. North Carolina's Senate race has not been called, but incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis (R) currently enjoys a 1.8% lead, or almost 100,000 votes. The Senate appears on track to stay under Republican control, barring an upset in Georgia's runoffs. See a list of every incumbent who lost reelection here.

Finally, see a history of contested presidential elections here.

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IN THE KNOW

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

> “Tenet,” Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster film that had limited US release due to COVID-19, sets home release date of Dec. 15 (More) | Lionsgate lays off 15% of its film division, citing lingering effects of the pandemic (More) 

> ESPN lays off 10% of its employees as the sports network struggled to maintain viewers during the coronavirus (More)

> Kansas City Chiefs, Chicago Bears among several NFL teams closing facilities due to players contracting COVID-19 (More) | See full NFL Week 9 preview (More)

Science & Technology

> Early big game hunters in the Americas were also women; evidence from newly discovered burial site challenges the current understanding of prehistoric gender roles (More)

> Scientists determine the chemical processes that allow spiders to convert unique proteins into spider webs; could lead to large-scale production of synthetic spider silk (More)

> New fossil discovery fills in a key missing piece in the evolution of arthropods; strange, five-eyed armored creature was a precursor to modern crustaceans and insects (More)

Business & Markets

Brought to you by The Ascent

> US stock markets climb (S&P 500 +2.0%, Dow +2.0%, Nasdaq +2.6%) extending best weekly rally since April (More)

> Initial unemployment claims drop to 751,000 filed during the previous week, the third consecutive week below 800,000 but still above the prepandemic peak of 695,000 in 1982 (More)

> Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell leaves interest rates unchanged at near zero; warns pandemic will continue to weigh down economy (More)

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Politics & World Affairs

> US reports more than 116,000 COVID-19 cases yesterday, marking the second straight day cases exceed 100,000 (More) | See rolling averages here (cases, deaths)

> Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi resigns to face war crimes charges stemming from his time as a guerilla leader during the 1998-99 war for independence from Serbia (More)

> Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed mobilizes troops for military operations in the country's northern Tigray region, prompting fears of a civil war (More) | See background on the conflict (More)

IN-DEPTH

Why Athletes Choke

Guardian | A. Mark Williams, Tim Wigmore. What makes an elite athlete suddenly unable to execute something they've done thousands of times before—and can it be fixed? (Read)

The Xenobot Future is Coming

WIRED | Amy Webb. We're on the cusp of being able to program synthetic biological organisms in the same way we program computers. (Read, $$)

A Center Voice

The Dispatch | Samuel Abrams. America's polarization is driven by a relatively small group of partisans on either end of the spectrum. To counter them, the country's moderates must find their voice. (Read)

The Poison Plant

Belt Magazine | Kevin Williams. For decades, a gaseous diffusion plant operated in one of Ohio's poorest counties, enriching uranium during the Cold War. Then, people started getting sick. (Read)

ETCETERA

Denmark is set to cull 15 million mink over COVID-19 fears.

Lucky teens uncover a 1,100-year-old gold stash.

Vincent van Gogh's delirium may have been alcohol withdrawal.

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Researchers may have solved the GPS water problem.

The best (and strangest) Dear Prudence letters of the past decade.

Hundreds of bald eagles are descending on Alaska.

Goats will take orders from anyone.

Ancient Greeks used to brag about paying taxes.

Clickbait: Have election stress? We got you.

Historybook: Basketball inventor Dr. James Naismith born (1861); Teddy Roosevelt travels to Panama and becomes first president to make diplomatic tour outside the US (1906); UN formally condemns apartheid in South Africa (1962); RIP Hollywood great Gene Tierney (1991).

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it."

- Nelson Mandela

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