10 things you need to know today: October 13, 2020

1. Senators clash in opening of Barrett confirmation hearing

Democrats and Republicans clashed Monday on the first day of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearing. Democrats framed Republicans' rush to confirm the conservative Barrett to replace the late liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as an attack on ObamaCare and abortion rights. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, said it was reckless to hold the hearing after two Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee were infected with the coronavirus. Other Democrats said the winner of the November election should appoint the next justice, especially since millions of Americans have already voted. Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Barrett is "excellent, something the country should be proud of." Barrett said justices should apply the law "as written," and that courts are not meant to "right every wrong."

The New York Times The Washington Post

2. Trump holds 1st rally since COVID hospitalization

President Trump returned to the campaign trail with a rally in Florida on Monday after his doctor said he had tested negative for coronavirus after his recent hospitalization for COVID-19. Trump, his voice hoarse, addressed supporters in a hangar at Orlando Sanford International Airport, telling them he was fully recovered. "I feel so powerful," he said. "I'll kiss everyone in that audience. I'll kiss the guys and the beautiful women. Just give you a big fat kiss." Trump, accused by critics of mishandling the pandemic response and downplaying the threat of the virus, claimed without evidence that his rival in the November election, Democratic nominee Joe Biden, would "prolong the pandemic" and delay a vaccine.

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The New York Times

3. 13 states set records for new coronavirus cases

Thirteen states — Alaska, Colorado, Indiana, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, and Wisconsin — have just set weekly records for new coronavirus cases, USA Today reported Monday, citing data from Johns Hopkins University. As of early Tuesday, the U.S. has recorded more than 7.8 million coronavirus cases and 215,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins data. In Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Vermont, the number of new cases of COVID-19 has risen by over 50 percent in a week, and a total of 31 states reported more new cases of COVID-19 in the past week than the week before. Sixteen states are reporting roughly the same number of cases. Maine, Texas, and Washington are the only states that have reported a drop in new cases. A study released in The Lancet, a medical journal, confirmed the first case of a person being infected twice with different coronavirus strains.

USA Today CNN

4. Georgia voters wait hours to cast ballots on 1st day of early voting

Early voting kicked off Monday in Georgia, a state that has become pivotal in the 2020 election with two Senate seats up for grabs and a surprisingly tight presidential contest. Voters formed lines that wrapped around buildings even before polling places opened, and some showed up as early as 4 a.m., Gwinnett County officials said. But it wasn't just heavy turnout that slowed early voting. In Atlanta's State Farm Arena, the largest polling site in Georgia, lines ground to a halt when voters' access cards wouldn't let them in. Fulton Elections Director Richard Barron said poll workers had to reboot voter check-in tablets and re-import voters' information to fix the issue. Nationwide, more than 10 million people have already voted.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

5. Microsoft gets court order to seize botnet controls

Microsoft said Monday that it seized control of computers that were installing malicious software on local government networks, threatening to disrupt the November elections by interfering with voter registration records or the reporting of results. Microsoft said it took action after getting a court order. The maker of the Windows operating system invoked copyright law to persuade a federal judge in Virginia to let it take control of the computers because they were infected with Trickbot, a common piece of malware that uses Microsoft code. Microsoft said the seizures and agreements with telecommunications providers would prevent Trickbot from infecting more computers or activating already-installed ransomware.

Reuters

6. California GOP defends unofficial vote-collection boxes

The California Republican Party on Monday confirmed that it owned unofficial ballot drop boxes that have been reported in three counties. The California secretary of state's office sent a memo to county registrars on Sunday saying that the boxes were illegal, and that ballots must be mailed or placed in drop boxes at official voting locations. "In short, providing unauthorized, non-official vote-by-mail ballot drop boxes is prohibited by state law," the memo said. State GOP spokesman Hector Barajas said Monday that the party does not plan to remove the boxes because state law on ballot harvesting allows organizations to collect and return groups of ballots, so there's nothing wrong with the ballot drop boxes. "Democrats only seem to object to ballot harvesting when someone else does it," Barajas said.

The Associated Press

7. Facebook bans posts denying Holocaust

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Monday that the social network is banning posts that deny or distort the Holocaust, a reversal that came after pressure from Holocaust survivors this summer. The #NoDenyingIt campaign used Facebook to appeal to Zuckerberg for change. The push came in sync with an advertising boycott by companies demanding Facebook crack down on hate speech and extremism in general, and as concern mounts about disinformation aiming to influence the November presidential election. Facebook will direct people seeking information to authoritative sources on the Nazi genocide. "My own thinking has evolved as I've seen data showing an increase in anti-Semitic violence, as have our wider policies on hate speech," Zuckerberg said.

The Associated Press

8. Johnson & Johnson pauses COVID vaccine trial

Johnson & Johnson on Monday night announced that it has paused its COVID-19 vaccine trial after one of the 60,000 participants came down with an "unexplained illness." In a statement, Johnson & Johnson said that under its guidelines, the "participant's illness is being reviewed and evaluated" by the study's independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB), as well as internal clinical and safety physicians. The company also said that "adverse events — illnesses, accidents, etc. — even those that are serious, are an expected part of any clinical study, especially large studies." Johnson & Johnson's vaccine arm, Janssen, began the Phase 3 clinical trial in September. Each participant is receiving one dose of the vaccine.

CNN STAT

9. N.C.'s Cunningham widens lead over Tillis despite texting scandal

North Carolina's Democratic Senate candidate, Cal Cunningham, increased his lead over Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) in a new poll, despite a scandal earlier this month when he admitted to exchanging romantic text messages with a woman who is not his wife. Cunningham led Tillis by 10 percentage points, 49 percent to 39 percent, in the WRAL News Poll conducted by SurveyUSA and released Monday, up from seven points in September. Cunningham trailed Tillis by 11 percentage points among male voters in September; now he leads by two. Women and senior voters shifted slightly toward Tillis. Cunningham's surge came as Democrats maintained narrowing leads in other statewide races. President Trump pulled into a tie with Democrat Joe Biden, at 47 percent each.

WRAL

10. Roberta McCain, John McCain's mother, dies at 108

Roberta McCain, the outspoken mother of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), died Monday at 108, her daughter-in-law Cindy McCain announced Monday. Born a week before Arizona became a state, McCain married John McCain Jr., who rose to be a four-star Navy admiral, and raised three children with him. Her son, before entering politics, was shot down during the Vietnam War and kept as a political prisoner. Roberta McCain rarely talked publicly about it but sent a letter to then-President Lyndon B. Johnson reiterating her support for the war. John McCain III went on to serve 30 years in the Senate and run for president before he died of brain cancer in 2018. Granddaughter Meghan McCain remembered her as someone who lived on her "own terms with grit, conviction, intensity, and love."

People The Washington Post