*By Spencer Feingold*
Nevada's 2020 Democratic caucus is still over eight months away, but party organizers are wasting no time in their efforts to draw the broadest possible swath of the constituency into the process.
"We think this contest is going to be really competitive here," Shelby Wiltz, the state's 2020 caucus director, told Cheddar. "We have a really diverse state, and Nevadans are really reflective of what the electorate across the country is going to look like in 2020."
Like Iowa and a handful of other states, Nevada Democrats elect their presidential nominee through a caucus, which entails voters gathering to openly debate and decide on a candidate. This process differs from a primary — used in the majority of states — where voters simply cast a ballot and leave.
Yet the Silver State now offers multiple options for caucusing to ensure a high turnout. Aside from participating on caucus day, voters now have the option to make their voices heard through a four-day early caucus period or by participating in a virtual caucus, which will allow residents to phone-in their preferred candidates.
It is "an option for folks who may have a disability, folk who are homebound due to illness, single parents, or parents in general who are busy and taking care of their kids and may not have time to come to the caucus," Wiltz said.
The phone option will be available to the [roughly 667,000](https://www.nvsos.gov/sos/home/showdocument?id=6171) Nevada Democrats in English, Spanish, and Tagalog.
"Folks are eager to get involved, they are eager to come out and vote," Wiltz added. "We have really strong prospects for the future."
The actual in-person caucus is set for February 22, 2020; the date for the Republican Nevada caucus has not yet been announced.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed an application for Ukraine's membership in the European Union, pleading with the bloc to accept this request. It comes as Russian forces push further into Ukraine, forcing at least half a million refugees to flee. Benjamin Schmitt, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard University and Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, breaks down the latest in Ukraine.
A growing wave of major U.S. companies have taken steps to cut ties with Russia or offer support to Ukraine, as tensions escalate in the region. Exxon, Apple and Boeing are just the latest companies to make the move, following the likes of Google, Meta and BP who have all announced plans to exit the region in response to the conflict. Courtney Vinopal, Breaking News Reporter, Quartz joined Cheddar's Opening Bell for more.
A hospital basement in Ukraine’s coastal city of Mariupol has transformed into a bomb shelter and maternity ward amid shelling during Russia’s invasion.
World leaders are currently dealing with a handful of pressing issues, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine, inflation, and not to mention the COVID-19 pandemic; but it could be argued that the most pressing issue is one that has experienced its fair share of neglect in the past -- climate change. As tensions escalate between Russia and Ukraine, there is fear the focus on climate will once again be pushed aside. However, the White House appears to be making some effort to prevent that from happening. The White House Office of Science and Technology held a first-of-its-kind roundtable discussion with some of the nation's leading climate scientists on Thursday. Michael Mann, Director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, and author of the book 'The New Climate War' joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss his experience as one of the climate scientists at the White House event.
Scott Clemons, Partner and Chief Investment Strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he discusses the factors leading to the sell-off on Wall Street today and explains why uncertainty is worse than bad news for the investors.
U.S. stocks rebounded to end higher on Thursday after President Biden announced new sanctions against Russia following the country's attack on Ukraine. The Dow was down 859 points at its lowest point of the session, before ultimately finishing the day in the green. Melissa Armo, founder and owner of the Stock Swoosh, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
People of African and Middle Eastern descent fleeing from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are facing the double trauma of racism at the borders. Professor of law and migration studies at the University of San Francisco, Bill Hing, joined Cheddar News Wrap to discuss what some are describing as a double standard for other refugees escaping the war. "Those that are from the Middle East and from Africa who just happen to be in Ukraine, for example on a student visa, they are not going to be able to get into Poland or another area of the Schengen area because they are not natural Ukrainian," he said.
Add FIFA to the list of organizations announcing a break with Russia. The world soccer authority has suspended the nation from competing in the 2022 World Cup tournament, while the NHL also announced suspending business relations with Russia. Executive editor and senior writer at Sports Illustrated, Jon Wertheim, joined Cheddar News to discuss the rebukes. "I think a big element of this is, this is a way to really hit at Putin because we know how much this appearance of strength and the victory… often portrayed through sports, how much that means to him," he said. "This will bother him in a way that it might not bother other world leaders."
