Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Friday, November 6, 2020:
BIDEN ON THE BRINK
The U.S. enters its third full day without results in the presidential election, though Joe Biden is on the brink of victory. Overnight, Biden overtook President Trump in Georgia, where the vote is almost complete. In Pennsylvania, Biden is behind by just 20,000 votes, with about 175,000 mail-in ballots still uncounted, 60,000 or so from Democratic-leaning Philly. If Pennsylvania is called for Biden, it’s game over -- even without Arizona, where Trump has eaten into his small lead. Nevada, where the vote count has been slow, is also too close to call. President Trump appeared in public for the first time in two days, delivering a statement that was filled with so many falsehoods about the election process that the networks pulled the plug. AP
SENATE HANGS ON GEORGIA
The balance of power in the Senate is very likely to hinge on what happens in Georgia’s two Senate races. The Peach State has a law that if no candidate gets the majority of votes, a run-off is automatically triggered. And that’s exactly what is happening in both the state’s Senate races. Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler are headed in a runoff for one of the seats, and Democrat Jon Ossoff is locked in a close race with Republican Sen. David Perdue for the second. With nearly all the Georgia vote in, Perdue has 49.8 percent of the vote to Ossoff’s 47.8 percent. CNN
TROPIC WATCH
For such a busy hurricane season, Florida has been exceptionally lucky this year. The state has not seen a single landfall from a named storm in 2020. That luck could be about to run out. Eta, currently a tropical depression over Central America, is on the move again. The system is expected to reconstitute over the Caribbean this weekend and has Florida and the Keys in its sights, for a possible landfall early-to-mid next week. TRACK
COVID-19: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Whichever candidate wins the election is going to face the prospect of being inaugurated in the middle of a dark, dark winter in America. Cases and hospitalizations are setting records pretty much everywhere, and deaths are up 15 percent in the last two weeks. According to the AP, 93 percent of the counties with the highest number of new cases per capita voted for President Trump. AP
JOBS & ECONOMY
The U.S. economy is expected to show that it added just 530,000 jobs in October when the monthly jobs report is released this morning. That would be a drop from the 660,000 payrolls added in September as the pace of hiring has slowed again. Many analysts believe the economy is stalling out ahead of the all-important holiday season, where retailers tend to juice their hiring, travel increases, and the hospitality industry sees a windfall, at least in a normal year. MARKETWATCH
OPEN ENROLLMENT SEASON
The open-enrollment period has opened, or is about to open, for many U.S. employees. If you are one of the 157 million Americans who rely on employer-sponsored coverage, experts say the pandemic has made it especially important to go over your benefits this year in order to maximize savings. Here are some tips to do just that: CNBC
ESPN LAYOFFS
ESPN has told employees that major layoffs are imminent. The Disney-owned sports empire will cut 300 jobs and eliminate another 200 open positions, for a 10 percent reduction in its headcount, according to an internal memo. ESPN had been facing an inflection point even before the pandemic when it came to how consumers were transitioning to watch sports on streaming services instead of cable. Then COVID decimated its business model even further, forcing the network to “accelerate” its shift to streaming. USA TODAY
PASTOR TO THE STARS FIRED
Carl Lentz, the prominent pastor of Hillsong Church, has revealed that he was fired from the megachurch because he cheated on his wife. Pastor Carl was known for his connections to celebs like Justin Bieber as well as his outspoken support of Black Lives Matter. After Hillsong fired him for “moral failings,” he acknowledged that he had been unfaithful. YAHOO ENT
'WEDDING CRASHERS' SEQUEL
Vince Vaughn says he and Owen Wilson are in “serious” talks for a sequel to the 2005 smash-hit Wedding Crashers. The last time Vaughn and Wilson starred side-by-side was The Internship in 2013. ET
LEFTOVERS: TRUMP 2024?
Would President Trump run for president again in 2024? His former chief of staff thinks so. Mick Mulvaney said he would “absolutely” expect Trump -- who would be a year older on Election Day 2024 than Joe Biden is now -- to run again because he “doesn’t like losing.” CNN also reported that the idea has already been floated. NEWSWEEK
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