California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced that the majority of the state will be under a limited stay-at-home order starting Saturday due to rising coronavirus cases.
The big picture: The announcement brings a monthlong curfew between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. for residents in 41 counties, covering roughly 94% of the state's population. Newsom said earlier this week he was pulling an "emergency brake," halting further reopening plans, tightening restrictions on indoor businesses and strengthening mask mandates.
President-elect Joe Biden will meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D) in Wilmington, Delaware, on Friday, Axios has confirmed.
The state of play: Biden has spoken to the Democratic leadership since his projected election victory. But Friday's scheduled meeting, which was first reported by Bloomberg, will be the first in-person gathering between the three since the election.
Monica Palmer, a Republican election canvasser in Wayne County, Mich., told the Washington Post on Thursday that she received a personal call from President Trump this week.
Why it matters: Palmer and her GOP counterpart, William Hartmann, voted in favor of certifying the county's election results on Tuesday, but later attempted to rescind their decision after claiming that Democrats backed out of a promise to audit votes. That certification in Michigan's most-populous county helped to cement President-elect Biden's win in the swing state.
Today it's whatever adjective best describes the compulsion to slam your head against a concrete wall.
The difference between now and then is that we can see a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, thanks to vaccine trial results from Pfizer and Moderna.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's sole current Democrat thinks the GOP-led body has "done a disservice to state clean energy programs" with orders that critics say create barriers for zero-carbon power in key regional markets, via Greentech Media.
Why it matters: Richard Glick could be named the powerful commission's chairman under President-elect Biden. Comments at an American Council on Renewable Energy conference yesterday — reported by Greentech and Utility Dive — signal his priorities.
President Trump's frantic post-election challenges are having the opposite effect of what he intended: He's documenting his demise through a series of court fights and recounts showing Joe Biden's victory to be all the more obvious and unassailable.
Why it matters: The president’s push to overturn the election results is dispelling the cloud of corruption he alleged by forcing states to create a verified — and legally binding — accounting of his election loss.
Tom Donohue — CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and longtime confidant of Republican presidents — tells Axios that Joe Biden is president-elect and President Trump "should not delay the transition a moment longer."
What he's saying: "President-elect Biden and the team around him have a wealth of executive branch experience that should allow them to hit the ground running," Donohue said in a statement.
Dire budget problems in cities from coast to coast mean that furloughs and layoffs of essential workers could ring in the new year. So President-elect Joe Biden will face instant, high-stakes calls for relief.
Why it matters: Suffering municipalities say there's no way they can tackle COVID-19 and all their other problems without direct and immediate aid.
Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and James Comer (R-Ky.) wrote to Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Oversight panel Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) Wednesday demanding an immediate Congressional investigation into the "integrity of the 2020 election."
Why it matters: President Trump has sought to discredit President-elect Biden's election win and has lost several in a series of lawsuits. Trump's Department of Homeland Security called the election "the most secure in American history."
Former President Barack Obama's memoir "A Promised Land" sold more than 887,000 copies, including preorders, across all formats in the U.S. and Canada on its Tuesday release date, publisher Penguin Random House announced Wednesday.
Why it matters: The memoir has sold more copies on its first day of sale than any other book published by Penguin Random House. It looks set to be the best-selling presidential memoir in modern history.
The Senate on Wednesday confirmed lawyer Kathryn Kimball Mizelle to a lifetime judgeship on U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in a 49-41 vote.
Why it matters: It's the sixth Trump-appointed district judge the Senate has confirmed since Election Day, breaking with the body's tradition against approving nominees of a lame-duck president.
