Republican Burgess Owens, a former NFL player, has defeated first-term incumbent Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams in Utah's 4th Congressional District, per AP.
Why it matters: Owens has appeared on podcasts and Youtube channels related to the far-right online QAnon conspiracy theory and said he thinks the conspiracy theory is worth taking a look at, though he also said that accusations of him supporting QAnon are “silly," NBC News reports.
A large group of LGTBQ+ leaders is endorsing Rep. David N. Cicilline in his bid to become assistant speaker of the House of Representatives.
Why it matters: Cicilline, the only openly gay member of the House leadership, is running against Rep. Katherine M. Clark for the fourth-ranking position in the House Democratic caucus as voting takes place this week.
The number of hate crime murders hit a record high in 2019, while overall hate crime incidents rose by nearly 3% last year, according to the FBI's annual hate crime report, published on Monday.
Moderna Therapeutics today reported a 94.5% efficacy for its COVID-19 vaccine, which doesn't need to be stored at the same ultra-cold temperatures as does a similar vaccine developed by Pfizer. It also said short-term safety concerns, such as headaches and injection site soreness, self-resolved within days, and that it could have 20 million doses available by year-end.
Axios Re:Cap speaks with Moderna chief medical officer Tal Zaks about the new data, distribution, politics, and how it was preparing for this moment even before COVID-19 was discovered.
A group of Democratic senators says Facebook needs to better enforce its hate speech policies on anti-Muslim posts.
Why it matters: Facebook is under pressure from a range of groups and politicians on both the left and right who feel mistreated by the social network.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is slated to announce this week that sales of new internal combustion vehicles will be banned by 2030, the Financial Times reports.
Why it matters: It would be among the world's most aggressive policies to bolster deployment of electric vehicles and curb transportation emissions.
President-elect Joe Biden will face constraints of both politics and time when it comes to pursuing his aggressive climate-change agenda.
Driving the news: Biden will enter a White House after four years of President Trump rolling back climate policies and time running out to substantively address the problem.
Former President Obama told CBS' "60 Minutes" in an interview broadcast Sunday there's been a "truth decay" in American politics and it's "been accelerated by outgoing President Trump."
Driving the news: Obama made the comments in response to CBS' Scott Pelley's question on what he meant in his upcoming book that "our democracy seems to be teetering on the brink of a crisis." Obama said he meant in "the sense that not only do we not have to tell the truth, but the truth doesn't even matter."
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) announced Sunday new restrictions designed to combat spiking COVID-19 cases — including suspending organized sports, halting in-person classes and closing restaurants and bars to indoor dining.
Why it matters: Whitmer said Michigan was in "the worst moment of this pandemic to date," after the state confirmed a record 44,019 people new cases and 416 more deaths in the past week.
