| THE BIG STORY
Wisconsin is still voting today
All the other states scheduled to hold primaries and local elections in April have rescheduled, but Wisconsin is charging ahead with in-person voting today after rulings yesterday by both its state supreme court and the US Supreme Court effectively ordered that key aspects of the election cannot be changed.
The state’s Democratic governor had ordered in-person voting be postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak. His order was challenged by his Republican opponents, who said his decision was “constitutional overreach,” and the conservative majority on the state supreme court sided with the Republicans.
The US Supreme Court later ruled against an extension to mail-in voting. Democrats had urged the court to allow the mail-in voting deadline to be extended, saying “if voters are not confident their absentee ballots will be counted, this will drive more people to vote in-person on election day, thereby increasing the risks of community spread.”
But the court’s conservative majority agreed with the Republican challenge to the extension, which argued that “requiring a state to permit unlimited absentee voting for almost a week after election day presents significant dangers to election integrity.”
STAYING ON TOP OF THIS My cousin’s husband is an army officer, and today he was told that…
Amid a flood of coronavirus-related nonsense, WhatsApp is limiting the ability of users to forward messages to large groups of contacts. Starting today, any message that has already been forwarded more than five times can only be passed on to one person or group at a time.
“We’ve seen a significant increase in the amount of forwarding which users have told us can feel overwhelming and can contribute to the spread of misinformation,” WhatsApp said in a blog post this morning. “We believe it’s important to slow the spread of these messages to keep WhatsApp a place for personal conversation.”
Rumors about imminent martial law, miracle cures and what’s “really” happening according to supposed doctors, police and army sources and others have been spreading like wildfire on WhatsApp during the coronavirus outbreak. WhatsApp first began limiting message forwarding in 2018, after hoax messages led to a series of lynchings in India.
Dado Ruvic / Reuters SNAPSHOTS US prosecutors say Russia and Qatar paid bribes to secure rights to host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups. The claims were made in a sweeping indictment alleging widespread bribery and money laundering schemes in international soccer.
Farmworkers say they are risking their lives by working in dangerous conditions in the country’s food supply chain. There are an estimated 2.4 million farmworkers in the US and half of them are undocumented.
Duffy, the singer behind the 2008 hit “Mercy,” published a harrowing account of the assault and kidnapping that led to her exit from public life in 2011. “I am sharing this because we are living in a hurting world and I am no longer ashamed that something deeply hurt me,” she wrote.
Boris Johnson had a stable night after being moved to intensive care on Monday. The UK prime minister was admitted to hospital with persistent coronavirus symptoms on Sunday.
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ROBOTS EVERYWHERE The bots that run Amazon
Did you know: Amazon doesn’t just automate its warehouses, where robots now do much of the heavy lifting once done by workers. It’s also automating its office workers. Under an initiative it calls “Hands Off The Wheel,” Amazon’s switched some of its employees' core tasks — forecasting, pricing, purchasing, and inventory planning — over to the machines.
“When you have actions that can be predicted over and over again, you don’t need people doing that,” Neil Ackerman, a former Amazon general manager, told BuzzFeed News senior technology reporter Alex Kantrowitz.
That’s one of many fascinating details in Always Day One, Kantrowitz’s new book that comes out today. He digs into what life is like when you work for Amazon and its fellow tech giants — and what that means for the rest of us. It’s a great read, and you can order it here.
CONGRATS ON THE SEX
You and me baby ain’t nothin’ but mammals
Giant pandas are famous for being extremely difficult to breed, at least in captivity. Zookeepers mainly rely on artificial insemination, and have struggled to get their captive pandas to make sweet love under the moonlight.
But staff at the Ocean Park theme park and zoo in Hong Kong announced yesterday that two of their pandas had finally done the deed, taking advantage of the peace and quiet of a zoo on lockdown.
via @ItsDanSheehan "Since Ying Ying and Le Le’s arrival in Hong Kong in 2007 and attempts at natural mating since 2010, they unfortunately have yet to succeed until this year upon years of trial and learning," said Michael Boos, Ocean Park’s head of zoological operation and conservation. "The successful natural mating process today is extremely exciting for all of us."
If giant pandas can finally figure out sex during lockdown, you can definitely figure out how to make sourdough,
Tom P.S. If you like this newsletter, help keep our reporting free for all. Support BuzzFeed News by becoming a member here. (monthly memberships are available worldwide) 📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by Tom Gara and BuzzFeed News. You can always reach us here.
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