December 13, 2020 News Summary
US Politics and Economics
Tomorrow, December 14th, will be the date where the 538 electors of the electoral college officially votes for President of the United States. Each state has a certain number of electors, receiving 1 vote for each member in the US congress (for example, Texas has 2 senators and 36 members of the House of Representatives, so it gets 38 electoral votes). The number of electoral votes each state has is roughly based on population. The National Archives has a table for the number of electors each state has. The electoral college is a winner take all system, where, as long as a candidate wins majority, all the electoral votes of the state will be in their favor. According to CNN, faithless electors, or electors who vote for someone other than their state’s respective candidate, are allowed in the constitution, but in July, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that penalties in certain state laws regarding faithless electors are constitutional. For example, in the 2016 election, there were seven faithless electors. A candidate needs at least 270 electoral votes in order to be elected president, with Former Vice President Joe Biden projected to cross that threshold. The winner is expected to be inaugurated on January 20th, 2021.
Texas Politics
According to Texas Tribune, El Paso Mayor Dee Margo of the Republican has overwhelmingly lost to Oscar Leeser of the Democratic Party in a runoff for reelection. Under Margo's term, El Paso undergoed the Central American migrant influx, 2019 massacre at a Walmart, and became a COVID-19 hotspot. Lesser, on the other hand, told ABC7, "It's an exciting night for El Paso. Voters voted for a change and I'm so excited.”
Health
According to, CDC’s COVID Data Tracker, as of December 13, 2020, there are 15.46 million cases nationwide and 296k deaths. Currently, California leads with 1.53 million cases, while Texas follows with 1.47 million cases.
Southeast US Weather
(Atlantic) A high tropical pressure in the east Atlantic is expected to be stationary for the next few hours, while another one is expected to move North towards Massschunts and east, possibly hitting the US.
(Pacific) A high pressure storm west of California is expected to move southwest towards Hawaii.
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Writers:
US Politics and Economics: Dylan, Miranda, Caleb, and Annabelle
Texas Politics: Stephanie, Vicki, and Megan
Health: Matthew, David, and Owen
Southeast US Weather: Simon
Editor: VIA
(All writers and editors are in middle to high school)