The world marked the end of 2020 with enthusiasm, but public celebrations largely muted by the coronavirus pandemic as it continues to rage across the globe. Many cities scaled back events or canceled them entirely as local leaders urged people to celebrate safely.
Times Square was eerily quiet in the hours leading up to the ceremonial New Year's Eve ball drop as New York City officials closed the area off to most revelers. The NYPD had about 80% fewer officers guarding the area than in previous years, but security was still tight.
"If you come to Times Square, the police department will turn you away and tell you to go home and watch from the safety and comfort of your home," Times Square Alliance Vice President Tom Harris warned residents on CBS New York before the virtual celebration kicked off.
In Sydney, Australia, one of the first places to ring in the new year, fireworks illuminated the Sydney Harbor Bridge. But in other major cities, including Melbourne and London, local leaders said they had canceled fireworks to discourage people from congregating. London ended up putting on an elaborate fireworks, laser, and drone light display for people to enjoy at home, but the streets remained quiet.
Countries including France, Italy, Turkey, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Greece implemented nightly curfews.
The suit, led by Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas, seeks to give the vice president the power to reject electoral votes that were cast for Joseph R. Biden Jr.
The Justice Department asked a federal judge on Thursday to reject a lawsuit seeking to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results of the election, pitting the department against President Trump’s allies in Congress who have refused to accept President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory.
The department, acting on behalf of Mr. Pence, said that Republican lawmakers, led by Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas, could not invalidate the more than century-old law that governs the Electoral College process to expand an otherwise ceremonial role into one that has the power to reject electoral votes that were cast for Mr. Biden.
In a last-ditch bid to subvert the outcome of the election, Mr. Gohmert, along with other Republicans in Congress and electors in Arizona, filed a lawsuit against Mr. Pence on Sunday in an effort to force him to take on this expanded role. As the presiding officer of the Senate, Mr. Pence has the constitutionally designated responsibility of opening and tallying envelopes sent from all 50 states and announcing their electoral results when Congress convenes next week to certify the count. But changing his role would allow Mr. Trump to pressure his vice president to invalidate the results.
The Justice Department also made clear in its filing that it welcomed any comments from the federal judge in the case, Jeremy D. Kernodle of the Eastern District of Texas, that would clarify that Mr. Pence’s role in the election was purely procedural.
The White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, and the chief of staff, Mark Meadows, were aware the Justice Department was filing on Mr. Pence’s behalf before it happened, according to two people briefed on the discussions.
If a judge were to make clear that Mr. Pence does not have the authority to reject votes or decide the results, it could alleviate pressure on him. Since the election in November, Mr. Trump has become singularly focused on the proceedings of the Electoral College. He cut short his vacation at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to return to Washington early, at least in part to push Republican lawmakers to reject the results when they meet on Jan. 6 to count the votes.
Should Judge Kernodle confirm that Mr. Pence has no influence over the Electoral College votes, Mr. Gohmert’s lawsuit could have the opposite of its intended effect.
In its response, the department also said that Mr. Gohmert did not have standing to sue Mr. Pence over performing the duties as defined by the act; rather, he and the other plaintiffs should sue Congress, which passed the original law.
The Justice Department’s move to squash an 11th-hour attempt to undo Mr. Biden’s victory could put it more at odds with Mr. Trump.
The president has been furious that former Attorney General William P. Barr refused to bolster Mr. Trump’s false claims of widespread voter fraud and instead affirmed Mr. Biden’s victory.
Mr. Trump’s relationship with Mr. Barr, whom he had once seen as the greatest ally he had in his cabinet, further soured after the president learned that he kept an investigation into the tax affairs of Mr. Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, under wraps during the election. Although it is department policy not to discuss investigations that could affect the outcome of an election, Mr. Trump accused his attorney general of disloyalty for not publicly disclosing the matter during the campaign.
And at his final news conference, Mr. Barr said that he did not “see any reason to appoint a special counsel” to oversee a tax investigation into the younger Mr. Biden or to dig into unfounded allegations that Mr. Trump lost because of widespread voter fraud.
Some inside the department believed that Mr. Barr’s statements may have helped Jeffrey A. Rosen, the acting attorney general. Mr. Rosen is likely to face tremendous pressure from the president to appoint additional special counsels and use the department’s other powers to help him undo Mr. Biden’s victory.
But now the department under Mr. Rosen has taken a step that Mr. Trump may see as an overt act intended to thwart one of his allies, opening it up to possible retaliation.
A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.
» Michigan shot 58.8 percent from the floor in its 84-73 win at Maryland.
» Hunter Dickinson recorded his third career double-double with a career-high 26 points and team-best 11 rebounds.
» Mike Smith tied his season best with 16 points, and Franz Wagner added 19 points.
Site: College Park, Md. (Xfinity Center) Score: #16 Michigan 84, Maryland 73 Records: Michigan (8-0, 3-0 B1G), Maryland (6-4, 1-3 B1G) Next U-M Event: Sunday, Jan. 3 -- vs. Northwestern (Crisler Center), 7:30 p.m. (TV: Big Ten Network)
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 16-ranked University of Michigan men's basketball team closed out 2020 with an 84-73 road victory over Maryland Thursday night (Dec. 31) at Xfinity Center to remain undefeated in the 2020-21 season.
The Wolverines (8-0, 3-0 B1G) shot 58.8 percent from the floor (30-for-51) and 59.3 percent (16-for-27) in the second half of play in the New Year's Eve victory.
Freshman Hunter Dickinson continued to be a force on both ends of the court, scoring a career-best 26 points and pulling down a team-high 11 rebounds for his third career double-double and second in as many games. Dickinson went 10-for-11 from the floor and 6-for-7 from the charity stripe in his offensive performance against Maryland.
Sophomore Franz Wagner notched a 19-point performance for the Maize and Blue as he made three from beyond the arc and had a team-high three steals while dishing out four assists. Also recording double digits and a season best in points was graduate student Mike Smith, who netted 16 and had six assists and six rebounds for the Wolverines.
Finally, senior Eli Brooks had 10 points, four assists and two steals, and senior Isaiah Livers ended the night with seven points, three rebounds and one block.
Both teams had a slow offensive start before Wagner hit back-to-back triples for the Maize and Blue to double up the Terrapins, 14-7, at the under-16:00 media break in the first half.
A 6-0 run from Maryland with just over nine minutes to play in the half allowed the Terrapins to come within four, 26-22, before Dickinson made a pair of free throws to put the Wolverines up by eight with eight minutes to play in the opening half in College Park.
Michigan made six of its last eight shot attempts in the first half to take a slight 46-44 advantage into the halftime break. Dickinson scored a team-best 11 points, while Wagner hit two triples and scored 10 points in the opening frame. As a team, the Maize and Blue shot 58.3 percent (14-for-24) from the floor in the first 20 minutes of play.
Maryland took its first lead of the game early in the second half before the Wolverines went on an 8-0 run with four straight makes to take a 58-54 advantage on a Dickinson and-one play with just over 13 minutes remaining in the contest.
Michigan put together a 9-0 run capped off with a steal and dunk for Wagner to take a 10-point lead, 69-59, and force a Terps timeout with 8:39 left.
The Wolverines continued on their run, extending it to 22-4 over 6:24 as they made seven of their nine shots and took an 82-63 advantage into the under-4:00 media timeout.
Maryland put together one final offensive surge but got no closer than the final margin.
The Wolverines return to Ann Arbor for their first game of 2021, on Sunday (Jan. 3) when they will take on Northwestern at 7:30 p.m. inside Crisler Center. The game is set to be featured on Big Ten Network.
The decision to greenlight Covid-19 inoculations for senior citizens in Florida has spurred long lines at vaccination sites and a deluge of people crashing county computer systems and hospital phone banks to schedule their shots, experts said Thursday.
And it's clear that the supply isn't close to keeping up with the extraordinary demand.
Gov. Ron DeSantis "decided that Florida residents over the age of 65 would be given priority over essential workers," Aubrey Jewett, a longtime Florida politics watcher and associate professor of political science at the University of Central Florida, said by email. "This is a different priority from the federal recommendation but justified by the fact that Florida has the 2nd largest percentage of seniors in the country (about 20%) and that people over the age of 65 make up about 80% of the fatalities from Covid-19."
But while DeSantis and his administration have taken on a "coordinating role" and made sure that the first doses went to front-line health care workers and nursing home residents, the decisions about how to embark on phase two of vaccine distribution are made on the county level, Jewett said.
Hundreds wait in line to be vaccinated at Lakes Park Regional Library in Fort Myers, Fla., on Wednesday.Andrew West / The News-Press/USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters
Dr. Sadiya Khan, an epidemiologist at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said: "This is such an important point and one where each state and each county left alone as an island is a setup for an unmitigated disaster, inequitable delivery, and inefficiency that could lead to more preventable deaths and hospitalizations. The lack of an infrastructure for a vaccine that we've literally been planning and known was coming for months is wholeheartedly disappointing but not unexpected."
NBC News has confirmed that the U.S. has reported over 20 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus. The 20,009,072 cases and 345,699 deaths due to Covid-19 are both world-leading numbers.
A Wisconsin hospital worker was fired after what a hospital investigation concluded was the deliberate destruction of more than 500 doses of vaccine. The motive was not immediately clear; police and the FBI are investigating.
Doctors and nurses in Southern California say they are reaching a breaking point as a "relentless" surge of new cases overwhelms hospitals and intensive care units.
President-elect Joe Biden plans to hold a nationwide memorial honoring those who have died from the coronavirus the day before he is sworn into office next month.
Sen. David Perdue of Georgia, a Republican facing a tight runoff next week, will have to quarantine after a member of his re-election team tested positive for Covid-19.
Food banks and hospitals in the Mississippi Delta have been stretched thin as the crisis has spread through the region.
Rep.-elect María Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., will miss her swearing-in ceremony Sunday in Washington because she tested positive for the coronavirus.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the city of Austin after local officials placed new Covid-19 restrictions on dining services for the New Year's weekend.
The first-come, first-served vaccine rollout this week in Lee County, in southwestern Florida, resulted in an embarrassing national spectacle — hundreds of senior citizens, many swaddled in blankets and winter coats, camping out overnight in long lines at testing sites that quickly ran out of vaccines.
"This reminded me of pre-internet days of getting into a long line the night before rock concert tickets for the Prince 'Purple Rain' tour went on sale back in the 1980s and hoping they did not sell out before I got to the window to purchase mine," Jewett said.
Dec. 31, 202003:22
Lee County Manager Roger Desjarlais told reporters Wednesday that changes were being made.
"We are not sure just yet, but our goal is to have a reservation system available some time within a week so that we don't have 2,000 showing up at a site," he said.
In Broward County, north of Miami, senior citizens seeking to be vaccinated this week swamped phone lines and administrators stopped taking appointments after they announced that they were booked through February.
The website of the state Health Department's Broward office also crashed because it was unable to keep up with the high volume of inquiries.
Just south of Tampa, Sarasota resident Christine Maxwell said in a letter to The Tampa Bay Times, "It's absolute chaos in Sarasota County."
Maxwell wrote that five hours after she tried to schedule an appointment for a shot, the county Health Department suddenly announced that it would start vaccinating people over 65 "but that all the appointments were already taken."
"They gave the process for paperwork needed to get a vaccine as further supplies come in and noted that an appointment is needed, but shared no information about how to get an appointment," Maxwell wrote. "What the hell?"
The DeSantis administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the various distribution snafus and for data about how many doses have been distributed.
"There's obviously a crush of people that are interested," he said. "Demand exceeds supply. On the one hand, that's a good thing, because this was something we wanted people to have confidence in."
Jewett agreed.
"While this is a frustrating situation, it can be viewed as potentially a positive sign that lots of people want to get the vaccine after early reports that many people might be unwilling or reticent to get it," he said.
DeSantis, a Republican who took office in 2019 with the strong backing of President Donald Trump, has been harshly criticized for Florida's slow response to the pandemic and for having publicly downplayed the danger.
In April, when states like New York were being ravaged while Florida was reporting far fewer cases, DeSantis claimed victory over the virus while on a visit with Trump at the White House.
"We haven't seen an explosion of new cases," DeSantis said April 29, the day he signed an executive order to begin reopening Florida after less than two months in quarantine.
But as of Thursday, Florida had the third most Covid-19 cases in the country, 1.3 million, according to the latest NBC News data. By contrast, New York had 966,384.
As the experts weighed in on the vaccine distribution issues, the state Health Department closed the book on 2020 by reporting 17,192 new confirmed coronavirus cases, which would be the largest single-day total since the pandemic began.
And while New York still leads the country with 38,636 deaths due to Covid-19, most of the 21,856 coronavirus deaths in Florida were reported after DeSantis loosened pandemic restrictions.
"Governor DeSantis is certainly taking a more active role when it comes to vaccines than he has taken in setting statewide rules for mask or other types of Covid restrictions," Jewett said.
Also, Jewett said, DeSantis is hoping to be re-elected in a couple of years.
"Politically there is widespread agreement among Republican and Democrats and Trump supporters and opponents to make the Covid-19 vaccine available as quickly as possible," Jewett said. "Thus politically, Governor DeSantis has every reason to be involved and supportive and by most signs he has been.
"The rollout has not been perfect, but in my view, it has not been from lack of effort from the governor's office," Jewett said.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., questions Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett during the third day of her confirmation hearings Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. | Samuel Corum/Getty Images
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pressed Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley on a Thursday morning conference call to explain his plans to object to the Electoral College vote next week, which sets up an awkward vote for Hawley’s fellow Senate Republicans while boosting the Missourian’s national profile.
But McConnell was met with silence. Hawley — unbeknownst to some on the call, which was attended by Senate Republicans — was not present. He later emailed GOP colleagues to outline his decision to oppose final certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
The Missouri senator has rankled senior Republicans with his maneuver, and McConnell has made the case that voting to object to the election results — which is likely doomed to fail because of opposition from Democrats as well as some Republicans — will force senators to choose between defying President Donald Trump and taking the unprecedented step of overturning an election.
McConnell has also expressed concern that the vote could hurt GOP senators facing tough general election fights by alienating moderate voters. Opposing the GOP-led objection, meanwhile, could jeopardize Republicans’ primary prospects by turning off voters who are convinced the election was stolen from Trump.
The clash illustrates the emerging tensions between Hawley and Republican leaders. While the Missouri senator is trying burnish his anti-establishment credentials and fill his fundraising coffers ahead of a potential 2024 presidential bid, the GOP hierarchy is looking to protect incumbent senators. Regardless of the outcome of next week’s Georgia runoff elections, neither party will have firm control of the Senate heading into the 2022 midterm elections.
A Hawley spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
During the call, McConnell described Wednesday’s vote as among the most monumental votes the senators would ever cast. According to multiple people familiar with the discussion, the Senate GOP leader also asked Hawley several times to walk through how his objection would play out.
As they awaited a response from the absent Hawley, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Todd Young (Ind.) remarked, “Surely Josh Hawley is having technological issues because he would want to speak on such an important matter.”
Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey pushed back on Hawley during the conversation, delivering what one person briefed on the remarks described as a forceful denunciation. The Missouri senator has focused his objections on Pennsylvania, arguing that it and other states failed to adhere to their own election laws.
A Toomey spokesperson confirmed the account, saying: “Sen. Toomey made his views on Senator Hawley’s planned objection clear. He strongly disagrees.”
Some Republicans expressed annoyance that Hawley missed the call, noting that the senator announced his plans a day earlier and should have anticipated questions about it. Some say they have struggled in recent days to nail down Hawley’s thinking.
Hawley instead sent an email to Senate Republicans after the call wrapped.
“If you’ve been speaking to folks at home, I’m sure you know how deeply angry and disillusioned many, many people are – and how frustrated that Congress has taken no action,” Hawley wrote in the email, which was first reported by Axios.
“I strongly believe there should be a full-fledged congressional investigation and also a slate of election integrity legislation,” Hawley added. “I intend to object during the certification process on January 6 in order to force these issues to the fore, and to point out the unprecedented failure of states like Pennsylvania to follow their own election laws and the unprecedented efforts of Big Tech corporations to interfere with the election.”
Hawley has begun to use his high-profile maneuver to fill his fundraising account. On Thursday afternoon, he sent out an appeal to donors asking for their support.
“As you can imagine, I am being pressured from the Washington and Wall Street establishment to ignore the will of the people and avoid raising this issue. But I do not answer to any establishment, I answer to hardworking American people,” Hawley wrote in the email.
The 41-year old has made a splash since entering the Senate two years ago, casting himself as an outsider determined to take on tech companies. He has also closely aligned himself with Trump, whose support helped catapult Hawley to victory in 2018.
In late 2019, the patient's choice to move to an assisted living facility seemed like a good idea — a chance for more social interaction and help with meals and medical care. Jose Luis Pelaez/Getty Images
Jose Luis Pelaez/Getty Images
Carl was in his early 70s. A Vietnam vet, he suffered from PTSD along with his diabetes, high blood pressure, and smoking-induced COPD. He'd survived a bout of kidney cancer, too, along his medical journey.
In late 2019 he came to see me because he was considering making a move to an assisted living facility. I thought it was a good idea — as an older male with previous suicide attempts, I was worried that loneliness would compound his difficulties.
Carl was estranged from his family. I knew he had an adult son and daughter, but he refused to talk about them let alone to them.
Assisted living would provide some community in addition to three squares a day. The facility also had a nurse who could help with medical care.
About a month after he moved there, the nurse called to tell me that she'd sent Carl to the hospital for fever and shortness of breath. His oxygen saturation had dipped below 90%.
This was in early March, when COVID-19 was still mostly in China and Italy. Our lives hadn't stopped. Yet.
Carl was admitted to the ICU with "double pneumonia." On his chest X-ray, there was evidence of it in both lungs. Not surprising for an older man with a long history of smoking, lung disease and diabetes.
Carl narrowly avoided intubation. With careful ministrations he turned the corner and was discharged back to his facility after a lengthy hospitalization. A nasal swab came back positive for influenza. Flu had been the culprit!
His return to assisted living occurred right around the time the world was shutting down. All of our lives were changing dramatically.
Carl was quarantined in the facility. The nurse working there actually lived-in during March and April, until it was no longer feasible. She and the other staff did everything they could to keep their residents safe.
Prior to his hospitalization, Carl had come in my office every month. It helped quell his anxiety. Now that his facility was on lockdown, our visits had to be by telephone.
I was amazed he'd survived his hospitalization, let alone that he had somehow missed getting COVID. His lungs were practically kindling for this type of infection.
Throughout the spring, summer and fall, Carl and I talked, sometimes weekly. He was frustrated that he couldn't go anywhere.
In one of the perversities of the pandemic, Carl started smoking again just so he could go outdoors to have a cigarette a few times per day.
The happiest I heard him this whole year was when he revealed that he and some friends in the facility would play late night card games — with an assist from a friendly aide who didn't report them.
By fall, there had been sporadic cases in his facility. He and his fellow card players were remanded to their rooms again. He was not a happy camper.
All along, I was fearful that Carl would eventually test positive. He was high risk, and elder care facilities have acted as accelerators to COVID-19's spread.
In December, it finally happened. Another fateful call from the nurse.
Carl was sent back to the hospital for fever and symptoms. He tested positive for COVID-19 this time.
Amazingly, after a three day observation, Carl was deemed medically stable for discharge. He'd had fever and aches without the pulmonary involvement this time.
Because of the number of cases at his facility, he had to first go into isolation in a skilled nursing facility — one used as a transition zone between the land of the sick and home.
While there on a Saturday, he began to decompensate. His oxygen saturation dropped, and he was sent back to the hospital.
I was able to converse with his bedside nurse, who told me he was struggling to breathe, but remained lucid. I was able to get there in time to say goodbye.
Carl was in a COVID-specific unit that had been commandeered from 'regular' hospital use because of the pandemic.
His bedside nurse was visibly pregnant. "I've already had COVID," she told me.
Carl had clearly expressed his desire not to be intubated or have 'heroic' measures taken to try to prolong his life. He and I had talked about it a lot after his prior hospitalization.
All year the specter of COVID had hung over Carl. Over all of us. And now, with vaccines imminent, his number was being called.
It was a cruel twist of chance and illness — one that will continue to play out over and over for at least much of 2021, as the pandemic continues its deadly march through America and most of the world.
I have no doubt that if Carl had been able to keep dodging coronavirus long enough to get vaccinated, he'd have been delighted to get immunized and have many more nights of cards to look forward to.
As I stood by his bedside, Carl shook my gloved hand and said, "Keep doing the good work you're doing," knowing it would be the last time we spoke.
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The new year brings another round of increases, nearly a decade after workers started campaigning for higher pay.
It started in 2012 with a group of protesters outside a McDonald’s demanding a $15 minimum wage — an idea that even many liberal lawmakers considered outlandish. In the years since, their fight has gained traction across the country, including in conservative states with low union membership and generally weak labor laws.
On Friday, 20 states and 32 cities and counties will raise their minimum wage. In 27 of these places, the pay floor will reach or exceed $15 an hour, according to a report released on Thursday by the National Employment Law Project, which supports minimum-wage increases.
The movement’s strength — a ballot measure to increase the minimum wage in Florida to $15 by 2026 was passed in November — could put renewed pressure on Congress to increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour, where it has been since 2009. President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has endorsed $15 an hour at the federal level and other changes sought by labor groups, like ending the practice of a lower minimum wage for workers like restaurant workers who receive tips.
But even without congressional action, labor activists said they would keep pushing their campaign at the state and local levels. By 2026, 42 percent of Americans will work in a location with a minimum wage of at least $15 an hour, according to an Economic Policy Institute estimate cited in the NELP report.
“These wages going up in a record number of states is the result of years of advocacy by workers and years of marching on the streets and organizing their fellow workers and their communities,” said Yannet Lathrop, a researcher and policy analyst for the group.
The wage rates are increasing as workers struggle amid a recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic that has left millions unemployed.
“The Covid crisis has really exacerbated inequalities across society,” said Greg Daco, chief U.S. economist for Oxford Economics. “This has given more strength to these movements that try to ensure that everyone benefits from a strong labor market in the form a sustainable salary.”
Workers during the pandemic have been subject to furloughs, pay cuts and decreased hours. Low-wage service workers have not had the option of working from home, and the customer-facing nature of their jobs puts them at greater risk for contracting the virus. Many retailers gave workers raises — or “hero pay” — at the beginning of the pandemic, only to quietly end the practice in the summer, even as the virus continued to surge in many states.
“The coronavirus pandemic has pushed a lot of working families into deep poverty,” said Anthony Advincula, director of communications for Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, a nonprofit focused on improving wages and working conditions. “So this minimum wage increase will be a huge welcome boost for low-wage workers, especially in the restaurant industry.”
Mary Kay Henry, international president of the Service Employees International Union, said the labor movement would make getting even more workers to $15 an hour or more a priority in 2021.
“There’s millions more workers who need to have more money in their pockets,” she said, adding that the election of Mr. Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would bolster the effort. “We have an incredible opportunity.”
Because many hourly service workers are Black, Hispanic, Native American and Asian, people of color stand to gain the most from minimum-wage increases. A 2018 study from the Economic Policy Institute found that workers of color are far more likely to be paid poverty-level wages than white workers.
“It’s the single most dramatic action to create racial equality,” Ms. Henry said.
Some economists say lifting the minimum wage will benefit the economy and could be an important part of the recovery from the pandemic recession. That is partly because lower-income workers typically spend most of the money they earn, and that spending primarily takes place where they live and work.
Kate Bahn, director of labor market policy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, said that after the 2007-9 recession, growth was anemic for years as pay stagnated and the job market slowly clawed its way back.
A shopkeeper in Los Angeles waited for customers. Business groups say increasing the minimum wage can hurt small businesses, already beleaguered by the coronavirus pandemic.Philip Cheung for The New York Times
“There’s been a broader acknowledgment that the lackluster wage growth we’ve seen in the past 30 years and since the Great Recession reflects structural imbalances in the economy, and structural inequality,” Ms. Bahn said.
Many business groups counter that increasing the minimum wage will hurt small businesses, already beleaguered by the pandemic. More than 110,000 restaurants have closed permanently or for the long term during the pandemic, according to the National Restaurant Association.
Increasing the minimum wage could lead employers to lay off some workers in order to pay others more, said David Neumark, an economics professor at the University of California, Irvine.
“There’s a ton of research that says increasing minimum wages can cause some job loss,” he said. “Plenty workers are helped, but some are hurt.”
A 2019 Congressional Budget Office study found that a $15 federal minimum wage would increase pay for 17 million workers who earned less than that and potentially another 10 million workers who earned slightly more. According to the study’s median estimate, it would cause 1.3 million other workers to lose their jobs.
While increases to the minimum wage beyond a certain point could lead to job losses, Ms. Bahn of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth argued that “we are nowhere near that point.”
Economic research has found that recent minimum-wage increases have not had caused huge job losses. In a 2019 study, researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that wages had increased sharply for leisure and hospitality workers in New York counties bordering Pennsylvania, which had a lower minimum, while employment growth continued. In many cases, higher minimum wages are rolled out over several years to give businesses time to adapt.
Regardless of whether there is federal action, more state ballot initiatives will seek to raise the minimum wage, said Arindrajit Dube, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
“At a basic level, people think that this is an issue of fairness,” Mr. Dube said. “There’s broad-based support for the idea that people who are working should get a living wage.”
As Microsoft continues to investigate the massive SolarWinds attack, the company says it has discovered that its systems were infiltrated “beyond just the presence of malicious SolarWinds code.” In an update from its Security Response Center, Microsoft says that hackers were able to “view source code in a number of source code repositories,” but that the hacked account granting such access didn’t have permission to modify any code or systems.
While Microsoft points to “a very sophisticated nation-state actor” as the culprit, the US government and cybersecurity officials have implicated Russia as the architects of the overall SolarWinds attack. The attack exposed an extensive list of sensitive organizations, and today’s disclosure from Microsoft shows we’ll still be unraveling the attack’s implications for weeks and months to come.
Fortunately, Microsoft says that while hackers went deeper than previously known, it found “no evidence of access to production services or customer data,” and “no indications that our systems were used to attack others.” Additionally, the company says that it regularly assumes adversaries are able to view its source code, and does not rely on the secrecy of source code to keep its products secure. Microsoft did not disclose how much code was viewed or what the exposed code is used for.
Earlier this month, Microsoft President Brad Smith said the attack was a “moment of reckoning” and warned about its danger. “This is not ‘espionage as usual,’ Smith said. “In effect, this is not just an attack on specific targets, but on the trust and reliability of the world’s critical infrastructure in order to advance one nation’s intelligence agency.”
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James reacts during the national anthem after a pre-game tribute to Kobe Bryant on Jan. 31, 2020, in Los Angeles.Robert Hanashiro / USA TODAY via Reuters
Nearly nine months later, when LeBron James led the Lakers to the NBA title, team president Jeanie Buss reminded fans of the emotional highs and lows of 2020, including Bryant's tragic loss.
In a surprising January Instagram post, Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, announced that they were taking a "step back" from their roles as senior members of the British royal family.
While Queen Elizabeth II expressed her support, others were not so understanding. Less than 24 hours after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made their announcement Madame Tussauds London removed their wax figures, citing in a statement that it wanted to mirror "their progressive new role within the Royal institution."
The summer was filled with protests against systemic racism sparked by the deaths of Black people, including George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.
Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was shot to death on Feb. 23 in the coastal Georgia city of Brunswick after being followed by Gregory McMichael, 64, his son, Travis McMichael, 34, and their neighbor William "Roddie" Bryan.
All three men — who are white — were indicted by a grand jury in June on murder and aggravated assault charges, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.
Taylor, 26, was killed by Louisville police during a March 13 raid at her apartment. None of the involved officers were charged with her death.
Taylor's killing, as well as the death of Floyd, who died on May 25 in Minneapolis police custody, renewed calls for police reform. In a video of Floyd's arrest, he repeatedly said he could not breathe as now-fired officer Derek Chauvin pinned him to the ground with his knee on his neck.
The death led to Chauvin's firing from the Minneapolis Police Department as well as the termination of Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng. Chauvin was charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter, and the other three with aiding and abetting murder as well as aiding and abetting manslaughter.
The largest wildfire in state history is the August Complex Fire that started in Mendocino County. It alone burned 1,032,649 acres, according to the Fresno Bee.
Officials and experts have said that climate change and a buildup of dead and dried-out vegetation across the state's 33 million acres of forestland have contributed to the intense fires.
"While wildfires are a natural part of California’s landscape, the fire season in California and across the West is starting earlier and ending later each year," said the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
Flames from the Glass Fire consume the Black Rock Inn, late on Sept. 27, 2020, in St. Helena, Calif.Noah Berger / AP
"Climate change is considered a key driver of this trend. Warmer spring and summer temperatures, reduced snowpack, and earlier spring snowmelt create longer and more intense dry seasons that increase moisture stress on vegetation and make forests more susceptible to severe wildfire."
In March, Netflix released "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness," a docuseries that explored the bitter feud between animal rights activist Carole Baskin and Oklahoma zookeeper Joseph Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic.
Maldonado-Passage is currently serving 22 years in prison for a number of crimes, including paying a hitman to kill Baskin.
Wanting to give everyone a little escape from the coronavirus pandemic, Timbaland and Swizz Beatz debuted Verzuz, an Instagram Live battle between two musicians. The rappers kicked off the series with their own battle in April, not realizing that it would soon become a cultural pehnomenon.
Over the past several months, millions have watched as artists such as Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle, Beenie Man and Bounty Killer, and Brandy and Monica, among others, played hit for hit.
Minyvonne Burke
Minyvonne Burke is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.
Senator Josh Hawley’s plan to object to the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6 is exposing a rift among Republicans.
WASHINGTON — Senator Ben Sasse on Thursday condemned a drive by his Republican colleagues in Congress to challenge the results of the 2020 election, rebuking the effort as a “dangerous ploy” led by lawmakers who are “playing with fire.”
In a blistering open letter to his constituents, Mr. Sasse of Nebraska became the first Republican senator to publicly condemn a decision by Senator Josh Hawley to challenge President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory, saying it was intended to “disenfranchise millions of Americans.”
“Let’s be clear what is happening here: We have a bunch of ambitious politicians who think there’s a quick way to tap into the president’s populist base without doing any real, long-term damage,” Mr. Sasse wrote. “But they’re wrong — and this issue is bigger than anyone’s personal ambitions. Adults don’t point a loaded gun at the heart of legitimate self-government.”
Mr. Sasse’s scathing remarks came a day after Mr. Hawley, Republican of Missouri, announced that he would object to Congress’s certification of the Electoral College results on Jan. 6, the final procedural step in affirming Mr. Biden’s victory.
Mr. Hawley’s move ensures that the process, usually a formality, will force up-or-down votes on the House and Senate floors, requiring lawmakers to either show loyalty to President Trump and object to the results or protect the sanctity of the electoral process.
There is almost no chance that the effort, led by Mr. Hawley in the Senate and a small group of Republican lawmakers in the House, will succeed in reversing the outcome. But Mr. Hawley’s decision to challenge the results is forcing a test of how far the Republican Party is willing to go to back Mr. Trump’s false claims.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, has discouraged lawmakers from objecting to the results, and on Thursday, he told members of his conference on a private call that he considered his vote on Jan. 6 the most consequential one he would ever cast, according to two people familiar with the discussion.
Mr. McConnell did not explicitly say how he would vote, and made clear he was not trying to sway senators to vote one way or another, the people said. But he framed the vote to certify the election results as a critical moment to defend the backbone of the electoral system and invoked votes he had taken on wars and impeachment to underscore its significance.
Even some of Mr. Trump’s usual allies have called his efforts to cling to power unseemly.
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board called it a “kamikaze mission” this week and said “Republicans should be embarrassed by Mr. Trump’s Electoral College hustle.”
The New York Post, which has supported Mr. Trump for years, proclaimed on Monday: “Give it up, Mr. President — for your sake and the nation’s.”
Mr. Trump has continued to falsely claim that Mr. Biden unfairly won the election because of widespread voter fraud and has demanded that congressional Republicans work to overturn the results. Attorney General William P. Barr has acknowledged that the Justice Department had uncovered no such fraud that would have changed the outcome and the Supreme Court, as well as courts in at least eight key states across the country, has refused or rejected challenges waged by the Trump campaign in an attempt to throw out the results of the election. Those challenges have not come close to overturning the results in a single state.
Still there is a substantial rift in the party. While a steady stream of House Republicans have announced their willingness to object to the electoral votes of critical states, Mr. Hawley is the first senator to do so. He hinted on Wednesday that other senators could soon join his effort, telling reporters “a number of offices have reached out via staff to ours and said, ‘We’re interested.’”
On Thursday, he blasted out a fund-raising pitch highlighting his plan. “We must ensure that one vote means one vote in America,” read the message, which was positioned alongside a photo of Mr. Hawley and Mr. Trump. “I plan to object to the results of the Electoral College on Jan. 6, but I need your help.”
It is unclear how many — if any — of his Senate colleagues will rally to his side.
His announcement on Wednesday was met with a distinct lack of enthusiasm in many conservative circles. On the private conference call on Thursday with Senate Republicans, Senator Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania, who is retiring in 2022, spoke up to make clear his “strong” disagreement with Mr. Hawley’s plan, a spokesman for Mr. Toomey confirmed.
On that same call, details of which were earlier reported by Axios, Mr. McConnell pressed Mr. Hawley to explain how he expected his objection to play out, according to a person familiar with the conversation. But Mr. Hawley was absent from the call and did not respond, prompting him to email members of the conference later, explaining that he intended to force a debate on the issue of election security and noting that the election had left many of his constituents at home disillusioned.
Mr. Hawley’s objection will force the Senate to debate his claim for up to two hours, followed by a vote on Mr. Biden’s victory. With every Senate Democrat expected to certify the election, along with at least several Republicans, the Senate is likely to affirm Mr. Biden’s victory. The House, which must also conduct the same vote, is controlled by Democrats, making certification a certainty.
Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, said he was “curious to see” the evidence driving the objection, but expressed skepticism at the effort, noting that a slew of courts had already overturned challenges from the Trump campaign.
“There’s a lot of things I don’t want to happen that happen,” Mr. Cornyn said. “So you just got to learn to deal with it. And I think this is one of them.”
“I question why he is doing it when the courts have unanimously thrown out the suits that the president’s team have filed for lack of credible evidence,” said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine. “Senator Hawley is a smart attorney who clerked for the Supreme Court so he clearly understands that.”
Senator Josh Hawley’s objection will force the Senate to debate his claim for up to two hours, followed by a vote on Mr. Biden’s victory.Al Drago for The New York Times
Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, who has questioned whether Mr. Biden fairly won the election and is often eager to wade into battles demanded by Mr. Trump, said he was supportive of Mr. Hawley’s effort but would not join him in objecting. He left open the possibility that he would vote to support the objection.
“There’s no reason for more people to object,” Mr. Johnson told reporters. “All it takes is one. But I’ll support his efforts and support the efforts of the conference” to “hear the issues.”
House Republicans have been more eager to challenge the results. On Thursday, eight Republican members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation announced that they would challenge Mr. Biden’s electoral votes, citing the use of election procedures they claim were unauthorized by state legislators. Pennsylvania’s Republican state legislators also wrote to Mr. McConnell on Thursday urging him to “dispute the certification until an investigation is completed” into allegations of election law violations.
Representative Adam Kinzinger, Republican of Illinois, said he believed that more than 100 Republican lawmakers could ultimately vote to sustain the objections in the House. In December, 126 Republican lawmakers in the House including the party’s leader — making up more than 60 percent of the conference — joined a legal brief supporting an extraordinary lawsuit seeking to overturn Mr. Biden’s victory, and dozens have already signed onto the effort to challenge the results on Jan. 6.
Mr. Kinzinger, a vocal critic of attempts by Mr. Trump and his allies in Congress to overturn the election, said on “The Bulwark Podcast” that he hoped his colleagues would prove him wrong.
“I’m just over the undermining of democracy and the frankly massive damage that’s being done with this,” Mr. Kinzinger said.
Some of his colleagues have agreed that the effort amounted to an inappropriate undertaking. Representative-elect Nancy Mace of South Carolina told The Post and Courier that she would not vote to overturn the results. “I do not believe that Congress knows better than voters or better than the states,” she said.
But more House Republicans announced on Thursday that they would support the drive, and none came forward to condemn it. Four members of Missouri’s House delegation followed Mr. Hawley’s lead, acknowledging in a joint statement they knew the effort would ultimately fail.
“We have no illusions about the outcome, at the end of the day, this is still Nancy Pelosi’s House,” they wrote. “Our only hope is that more will join us — that more will value protecting the vote of every American living in their state as much as we do fighting for yours.”
Other lawmakers, led by Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas, had been trying a different tactic to try to block Mr. Biden’s victory. They filed a lawsuit against Vice President Mike Pence that tries to invalidate the 1880s law that governs the Electoral College vote, a move aimed at getting a judge to inform Mr. Pence that he does not have to accept the electoral votes.
But on Thursday, the Justice Department, arguing on behalf of Mr. Pence, asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit, pitting the department against Mr. Trump and his allies in Congress.
The department said in its response that Mr. Gohmert did not have standing to sue Mr. Pence over performing the duties that he is allowed to by law, and that — if lawmakers wanted to change the statute — they should sue Congress, which was responsible for its passage.
The Justice Department also made clear in its filing that it welcomed any comments from the federal judge in the case, Jeremy D. Kernodle, that would clarify that Mr. Pence’s role in the election is procedural and that he does not have the power to reject votes or decide the results of the election.
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- As he prepares for what could be his final game with the New York Jets, Sam Darnold sounds like he knows where the organization can find its long-term answer at quarterback.
By sticking with him.
Despite his worst statistical season, Darnold said Thursday he hopes to remain with the Jets and believes he can develop into a franchise quarterback.
"I absolutely believe my best days are ahead," said Darnold, 23, who was drafted third overall in 2018.
Darnold has fallen short of expectations -- 13-24 as the starter -- fueling speculation the Jets will trade him and choose his replacement with the second pick in the 2021 NFL draft.
He insisted he's not approaching Sunday as a possible last game. The Jets (2-13), winners of two straight, face the New England Patriots (6-9) on the road.
"I'm a Jet now," Darnold said. "I know we all like to think of hypotheticals and what-ifs, but I'm a Jet right now. I love being here. I love the guys in the locker room. I love going to work every single day here."
Darnold said he hasn't talked to general manager Joe Douglas about his future. He has one year remaining on his rookie contract, with a fifth-year option for 2022 that must be exercised by early May.
What complicates his future is a lack of development, plus prime draft position. With the second pick, the Jets could take Ohio State's Justin Fields or BYU's Zach Wilson and flip Darnold for draft picks.
A lot will depend on who is coaching the team. Adam Gase is expected to be fired after the game, and his replacement will have a say in the quarterback decision.
"I think there are stretches where I didn't play nearly as well as I should've, and I'll be the first to admit it," Darnold said.
Darnold is the lowest-rated passer in the NFL (72.3), with only eight touchdown passes and nine interceptions, but he's riding a career-best streak of three straight games without a turnover.
"That's where Sam's growth has come the last couple of weeks," offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains said. "He knows, 'Put the cape away. You don't need to be Superman.'"
Gase said the no-turnover streak is "a big stride. Would I love for him to have more three- and four-touchdown games? Absolutely, but that's not something we can necessarily control, right?"
Darnold's decision-making, accuracy and footwork need work, according to Gase, who said it's unfair to criticize him for the offensive struggles. Early in the season, Darnold was throwing to second- and third-string wide receivers because of injuries.
Gase admitted he has done a poor job of coaching the offense. At the same time, Darnold acknowledged he hasn't helped his coach.
Darnold called this the most challenging year of his football career, going all the way back to high school.
"Yeah, I would say so," said Darnold, who also dealt with a sprained throwing shoulder that sidelined him for four games. "I had a couple of rough seasons in high school, but this has definitely been a tough season."
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Retired Navy Rear Adm. Margaret Kibben has been appointed chaplain for the U.S. House of Representatives. Kibben is the first female chaplain in either house of Congress. U.S. Navy
U.S. Navy
Speaker Nancy Pelosi marked another milestone for women in Congress Thursday by appointing retired Navy Rear Adm. Margaret Grun Kibben as chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives. Kibben is the first female congressional chaplain since Congress' founding in 1789.
"Kibben brings decades of decorated experience in the military and the ministry, as a retired Rear Admiral who served as the U.S. Navy's Chief Chaplain and the chaplain of the Marine Corps," Pelosi said in a statement. "Her integrity, experience and patriotism will serve the Congress and the Country well, as she ministers to the needs of Members. "
As chaplain, Kibben will lead House members in a daily opening prayer as well as other ceremonies. The chaplain also provides pastoral counseling to House members, coordinates the scheduling of guest chaplains and arranges memorial services for House members and staff.
Kibben was selected by a bipartisan committee of House members, whose recommendation was accepted by Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. She replaces retiring Rev. Pat Conroy, a Roman Catholic priest who has served as chaplain since 2011.
Kibben's military career spans more than 30 years. On top of her bachelor's degree, Kibben received her doctorate of ministry and a master's of divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. She also studied national security and strategic studies at the Naval War College.
Kibben also served with the Marine Corps in multiple chaplain positions, including Chaplain of the Marine Corps from 2010 to 2014. She has five deployments under her belt, including at least one to Afghanistan as senior chaplain. Most recently she served as a consultant with the Department of the Navy's Sexual Assault and Prevention Office.
Over the course of her career Kibben received the Distinguished Service Medal, two Legion of Merit awards, the Bronze Star, three Meritorious Service medals and three Navy Commendation medals.
