News You Can Use

The early season arrival of a mix of rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain and gusty winds, which first struck on Monday night, caught public utility companies unprepared for the massive power losses.

It was the end of a pandemic-shortened season of only 60 games. Los Angeles won for the first time in 32 years.

A general increase in mask-wearing has been encouraging, U.S. public health experts say. But too few young people, especially, are social distancing and taking other steps to slow coronavirus' spread.

Rural areas are of particular concern as COVID-19 cases rise in Wisconsin. One big worry: having enough staff in hospitals.

Gov. Ralph Northam ordered the statue removed in June. The statue, which stands 60 feet high, is the only Confederate statue still standing on the city's Monument Avenue.

The culprit is air pollution — a problem around the globe, from homes where people cook using coal and wood to the smoky streets of San Francisco when wildfires were raging.

Keith Raniere, 60, was convicted last year of sex trafficking, human trafficking and racketeering for his role as the head of the cult. "He robbed me of my youth,'' a victim reportedly told the court.

During a bruising political season, many Americans are dropping friends and family members who have different political views. Experts say we should be talking more, not less.

After NPR reported claims of civilian deaths in the operation against the ISIS chief, Central Command says the men showed "hostile intent," but it found no weapons or signs they fired at U.S. forces.

"This is a life-threatening situation," the National Hurricane Center said, urging people to take precautions against the risk of flooding. Louisiana and Alabama have declared a state of emergency.

Joe Biden's campaign is casting the election as a decisive moment in the country's future, while President Trump's campaign is attacking Biden on issues including crime and energy.

The New Yorker's Evan Osnos writes about the candidate's enduring quest to become president. He says Joe Biden has a different mindset today than he once had: "He's a man who is at peace."

A federal judge says the government may not substitute itself for President Trump as the defendant in the matter and accordingly neutralize the case. So the suit against the president can proceed.

We have studied Americans’ attitudes toward tech companies for years. Here are takeaways from our recent research. The post How Americans see U.S. tech companies as government scrutiny increases appeared first on Pew Research Center.

Latino voters are less likely than all U.S. voters to say they are extremely motivated to vote in the upcoming presidential election. The post Latino voters’ interest in presidential race is mixed, and about half are ‘extremely motivated’ to vote appeared first on Pew Research Center.

Half of U.S. adults say colleges and universities that brought students back to campus made the right decision, while 48% say they did not. The post Americans are divided on whether colleges that brought students back to campus made the right decision appeared first on Pew Research Center.

What does the 2020 electorate look like politically, demographically and religiously as the race enters its final days? The post What the 2020 electorate looks like by party, race and ethnicity, age, education and religion appeared first on Pew Research Center.

International relations experts' assessment of the current crises facing the world are often at odds with those of the U.S. general public. The post Foreign policy experts in the U.S. have much different views about threats to the country than the general public appeared first on Pew Research Center.

We developed this explainer to help people understand how, and why, the complex U.S. electoral process is even more so this time around. The post Election night marks the end of one phase of campaign 2020 – and the start of another appeared first on Pew Research Center.

The shares of mothers and fathers who are working have fallen from 2019 to 2020, but the falloff has been comparable for each group. The post Fewer mothers and fathers in U.S. are working due to COVID-19 downturn; those at work have cut hours appeared first on Pew Research Center.

More than one-third of Black eligible voters in the U.S. live in nine of the nation’s most competitive states. The post Key facts about Black eligible voters in 2020 battleground states appeared first on Pew Research Center.

Supporters of Donald Trump and Joe Biden differ widely on the issues that are "very important" to their vote. The post Only 24% of Trump supporters view the coronavirus outbreak as a ‘very important’ voting issue appeared first on Pew Research Center.

Instagram has grown in popularity since its launch 10 years ago this month. Here are eight key takeaways from our research into the platform. The post 8 facts about Americans and Instagram appeared first on Pew Research Center.

Tony Chung was at a coffee shop near the embassy when he was carried out by plain-clothed officers.

Police reinforcements together with the National Guard are deployed for a second night of protests.

Australia has expressed anger over the airport incident which had aimed to check if women had given birth.

Joe Biden blasts Donald Trump as a conman, while the president promises "economic survival".

Local utility company Southern California Edison its equipment might have sparked the blaze.

Young Vietnamese-Americans see things differently to elders who settled in US after the Vietnam War.

Wavel Ramkalawan brings his party in from 43 years in opposition to lead the island nation.

One violent week in a long war. Here are some of those who died and those who survived.

China's ambition to retake Taiwan - possibly by force - could become a major flashpoint with the US.

Tangier Island is on the frontline of climate change but residents say saving jobs now is the priority.

The rich are all right.

The 11th annual panoramic-photo competition has just come to a close, and the winning images and finalists have been announced.

The tradition of granting post-term immunity from prosecution to those who leave the White House now comes at too great a cost.

Like other stories about terrible rich people, HBO’s glitzy murder mystery The Undoing is entranced by a world it finds immoral.

Coal and fracking don’t work like other declining industries, and that matters for Democrats.

Every time the president ramps up his violent rhetoric, every time he fires up Twitter to launch another broadside against me, my family and I see a surge of vicious attacks sent our way.

America won the internet, and now makes us all speak its language.

States and cities struggling through the pandemic recession are wondering if higher taxes will raise revenue, or cause a mass exodus.

Barbara Szalai wasn’t worried about moving upriver from a coal plant. Then sticky black dust started coating her home, and the headaches and allergies began.

Before the president promoted Justin Walker to a federal appeals court, Walker had been a district-court judge for less than a year.

The Hill: “The White House science office listed ‘ending the COVID-19 pandemic’ as the top accomplishment of President Trump’s first term, even as the U.S. has set records for new […]

Nate Cohn: “This was a pretty weird day of polling. We’re just a week from the election, and there were only two live-interview telephone surveys. And this eerie quiet has […]

New York Times: “To Mr. McConnell, Monday was a day for celebration as he achieved what even he could not have imagined four years ago, when he set out to […]

President Trump’s campaign website was briefly and partially hacked Tuesday afternoon as unknown adversaries took over the “About” page and replaced it with what appeared to be a scam to […]

Though Election Day is a week away, President Trump’s campaign appears to have a victory ad ready to go on Facebook, CNBC reports.

President Trump repeatedly attacked Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), at one point taking credit for the FBI thwarting a plot to kidnap her and then immediately downplaying the actual threat […]

From the Detroit News: MICHIGAN: Biden 49%, Trump 42% From Public Policy Polling: NORTH CAROLINA: Biden 51%, Trump 47% From Ipsos: MICHIGAN: Biden 52%, Trump 43% NORTH CAROLINA: Biden 49%, […]

The wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is using her Facebook page to amplify unsubstantiated claims of corruption by Joe Biden, the AP reports.

New York Times: “Many gun buyers now are saying they are motivated by a new destabilizing sense that is pushing even people who had considered themselves anti-gun to buy weapons […]

New York Times: “The president’s federal income tax records… show for the first time that, since 2010, his lenders have forgiven about $287 million in debt that he failed to […]

With Election Day a week away, the candidates and their surrogates are fanning out across the country and where they're stopping can tell you a lot. Facebook is refusing any new ad buys in the run-up to election day. And Europe is seeing a massive second wave of COVID-19, with fears of another lock-down triggering […]

The full Senate will vote this evening on the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to a seat on the Supreme Court, Federal, state and local officials are working to counteract a campaign of dis-information around how to vote in next Tuesday's election, COVID-19 is surging all around the country, including a second outbreak at […]

Far more women than men are leaving the workforce in the pandemic and some of them might never return their jobs. In this episode of NPR's daily afternoon news podcast Consider This, host Audie Cornish examines why women are bearing the brunt of the pandemic economy. Listen to Consider This on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

The presidential candidates hit the road again, with Joe Biden bashing President Donald Trump for his handling of the coronavirus. Positive Covid-19 cases hit record highs as cases surge in the Midwest due to community transmission. The largest Colorado fires in the state's history burn just ten miles from one another.

President Trump and former Vice President Biden met last night on the debate stage. This second debate was arguably little more policy, a little less personal. On the heels of news that Iran is meddling in the 2020 election, comes a report that Russian hackers have penetrated US computer networks with the goal of compromising […]

US intelligence agencies say they have evidence that Iran is interfering in the 2020 election, Trump and Biden return to the debate stage tonight, Purdue Pharma, maker of Oxycontin will plead guilty to criminal charges, pay a steep fine and shutter its business.

Trump is a fanatically competitive man and a political force that nobody quite understands. He is also a magnificent finisher

Dean Obeidallah writes that while Americans have many reasons to vote Donald Trump out of office, former President Barack Obama came up with another compelling argument to vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris: It won't be so exhausting.

'I just don't see, given the history here and the facts, how Joe can't be influenced in some manner based on the history that they have,' said Bobulinski.

For those who have only ever known America as a champion of democracy and the rule of law, it has been tragic to witness the country's descent into corruption and bad-faith partisanship. And nowhere is the rule of

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Donald Trump's Middle East diplomacy began life with implausible grandiosity. He announced his intention not only to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but also to resolve the century-long conflict between the Jews and the Arabs.Foreign policy experts scoffed. Better men than Trump had tried and failed to resolve the issue […]

The United States may be the first country in history to tell a

We start with the World Series, which is the Los Angeles Dodgers’ to lose despite the Tampa Bay Rays pulling off some wild surprises, especially in Game 4. But all our hosts approve of the Rays’ aggressive play. It’s exciting to watch, and with a pitching staff as stacked as L.A.’s, the Florida team needs […]

In this installment of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast, Galen Druke speaks with Dan Merkle, executive director of elections at ABC News, about projecting the winner of individual states and the overall presidential race, as well as when we might expect those projections.

Democrats are favored to take back the Senate this year, according to our forecast. And that’s true, regardless of which of the three versions of the forecast you look at. In fact, the Lite (polls only), Classic (polls and fundamentals), and Deluxe (polls, fundamentals and expert race ratings) don’t currently show that much difference. In […]

As we head toward Election Day, one of the big questions this year is not just who will win, but when we will know who the winner is. States have changed their voting rules in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and more people are voting by mail than ever before. Counting all those mail ballots […]

The 2018 NFL draft was historic for quarterbacks. It was the first draft in 69 years that four quarterbacks came off the board in the first 10 picks, and it was just the third time that five or more were taken in the first round. That kind of expenditure of draft capital naturally leads to […]

Michigan and Wisconsin have been the focus of a lot of attention from nervous Democrats for the past four years, in part because Hillary Clinton spent relatively little time there and lost both states in 2016. So if you told Democrats that Joe Biden would be up by 7 points in Wisconsin and 8 points […]

Most of the attention on the 2020 election is focused on who will sit in the White House for the next four years. But the 2020 election could also help decide who controls the House of Representatives for the next decade. This is the last election before data from the census is released, so whoever […]

The 2020 election season kicked off with a technological mishap (remember the broken Iowa caucuses app??), and it will likely end with at least a few more. But that doesn’t mean we’re facing a new, unprecedented crisis of democracy. Understandably, a lot of concern this year has been focused on potential issues with mail-in voting. […]

It’s official: Amy Coney Barrett will be the country’s next Supreme Court justice. She was confirmed by a 52 to 48 vote margin, and will be sworn in by Justice Clarence Thomas at the White House tonight — just in time for Election Day. Barrett’s ascension to the court was incredibly swift — her confirmation […]

In this installment of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast, the crew discusses the October surprises we’ve seen so far this year and the likelihood of another late development shaking up the race for president. The gang also answers more listener questions.