Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Monday, October 19, 2020:
COVID-19: THE NEXT 3 MONTHS
Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC presented two different narratives about what’s coming as the U.S. heads into winter. Health and Human Services Sec. Alex Azar painted an optimistic picture, telling Americans to “hang in there with us” as effective treatments and vaccines are “weeks away.” The next guest, Dr. Michael Osterholm, a leading infectious disease expert, acknowledged that the medical cavalry was coming, but said: “the next six to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic.” NY TIMES
CLOSING ARGUMENTS
With just two more full weeks before Election Day, President Trump and Joe Biden are setting up their closing messages to voters. The president is jetting from rally to rally where he has been delivering a version of a stump speech -- complete with “lock them up” chants -- that many Republicans worry is doing little to bring in the independent voters he needs to close his polling gap with Biden. Meanwhile, the former VP has been hammering a message that he’s the better candidate for the economy -- the one area where Trump still holds an edge. The Biden camp is keeping a low profile this week ahead of Thursday’s final debate. NBC NEWS
FRANCE TERROR ATTACK
People in France took to the streets over the weekend to pay tribute to Samuel Paty, a history teacher who was murdered outside Paris after he reportedly showed his students cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad as part of a lesson. French officials say an 18-year-old Chechen refugee beheaded Paty on Friday near the school where he taught. The attacker was then killed by police. French President Emmanuel Macron has called the murder an “assasination” and an “Islamist terror attack.” EURONEWS
JACINDA WINS IN LANDSLIDE
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been reelected in a landslide victory that she is crediting to her administration’s coronavirus response, which has been held up around the world as the gold standard. Over the weekend, New Zealand reported a single new case of community transmission after going three weeks without any new cases. AP
UNITED STATES DEBT
The federal budget deficit skyrocketed to a record $3.1 trillion for the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, with debt totaling 102 percent of the country’s GDP. That’s the first time debt has exceeded the size of the economy in at least 70 years. Government spending has soared during the pandemic, and the growing deficit is the main reason Senate Republicans have been skittish about signing on to another stimulus bill. NPR
COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE CRISIS
The commercial real estate industry is in serious trouble as stores, theaters and hotels struggle to make enough money to pay their rents, and property owners are increasingly unable to meet their mortgage obligations. Brick-and-mortar retailers were already hurting before the pandemic, and with more going out of business every week -- combined with empty hotels, cinemas and malls -- the $15 trillion commercial real-estate market is under enormous pressure to avoid defaults and foreclosures. POLITICO
FALL CLASSIC
The L.A. Dodgers will face the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series -- a matchup that will feature the two teams with the best records in their leagues. Completing a stunning comeback, the Dodgers won Game 7 against the Braves in dramatic fashion after Cody Bellinger hit a go-ahead solo home run in the seventh inning to break open a tied game. Game 1 of the World Series is tomorrow night in Texas. LA TIMES
LIVE FROM NEW YORK...
Adele is set to host next weekend’s Saturday Night Live, the show announced, with musical guest H.E.R. The singer wrote on Instagram, confirming the news: “...if there was ever a time for any of us to jump head first into the deep end with our eyes closed and hope for the best it’s 2020 right?” VARIETY
SAVE OUR STAGES
The Foo Fighters played an all-acoustic set of their greatest hits at the empty Troubadour nightclub in Hollywood, part of the Save Our Stages virtual festival in support of independent music venues that are at risk of closing for good: WATCH
LEFTOVERS: GOT A ZEPTOSEC?
Scientists say they have measured the shortest unit of time ever: the time it takes a particle of light to cross a hydrogen molecule. That process takes 247 zeptoseconds, give or take. A zeptosecond is a trillionth of a billionth of a second, surpassing the previous measurement of femtoseconds, which are a millionth of a billionth of a second. SCIENCE
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