WHAT'S BREWING
EVERY SENIOR MEMBER OF THE BIDEN-HARRIS COMMUNICATION TEAM WILL BE A WOMAN Biden said women will fill every senior communications role in his new administration, the first time that female officials will hold all such roles. “Communicating directly and truthfully to the American people is one of the most important duties of a president, and this team will be entrusted with the tremendous responsibility of connecting the American people to the White House,” Biden said. [HuffPost]
TRUMP'S RALLIES DIDN'T PAY OFF FOR HIM AT THE POLLS Trump’s maskless campaign rallies may have boosted the spread of COVID-19, but they didn’t serve Trump well at the polls, according to a ballot analysis by NBC News. In an overwhelming number of cases, Trump came up short of his 2016 victory margins in the counties where he held rallies in the two weeks before the election. In a significant number of cases, he either increased his negative margins or lost the counties to Biden that he won the last time around. [HuffPost]
SCOTUS WEIGHS BID TO BAR UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS FROM CENSUS COUNT The Supreme Court on Monday is set to take up Trump’s unprecedented and contentious effort to exclude undocumented immigrants from the population totals used to allocate U.S. House of Representatives districts to states. Challengers to Trump’s July directive have argued that his move could leave several million people uncounted and cause California, Texas and New Jersey to lose House seats, which are based on a state’s population count in the decennial census. [Reuters]
NEW YORK TO REOPEN SCHOOLS AS VIRUS SPREAD INTENSIFIES New York City will reopen its school system to in-person learning, and increase the number of days a week many children attend class, even as the coronavirus pandemic intensifies, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. The announcement marks a major policy reversal for the nation’s largest school system. Meanwhile, the Thanksgiving holiday may lead to a U.S. "surge upon a surge" in infections and deaths, Dr. Anthony Fauci said. [AP]
IRAN'S LEADER VOWS REVENGE OVER SLAIN SCIENTIST Iran’s supreme leader demanded “definitive punishment” for those behind the killing of a scientist who led Tehran’s disbanded military nuclear program, as the Islamic Republic blamed Israel for a slaying that has raised fears of reignited tensions across the Middle East. After years of being in the shadows, the image of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh suddenly was to be seen everywhere in Iranian media, as his widow spoke on state television and officials publicly demanded revenge on Israel. [AP]
PARIS COPS TO REMAIN IN CUSTODY Three Paris police officers being held over the beating of a Black music producer during an arrest a week ago will remain in custody for now, Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said. Heitz said judicial authorities wanted to make sure that the three did not have any contact with one another and that they could not exert any pressure on witnesses. The minutes-long beating of producer Michel Zecler was recorded on CCTV and has been widely circulated on social media. [Reuters] | 