promoearn: A shot felt around the country

Monday, December 14

Dr. Leo Seoane, chief academic officer for Ochsner Health System, becomes among the first Louisianans to be vaccinated for COVID-19 as Louisiana's frontline healthcare workers begin to receive the first COVID-19 vaccinations in the state on Monday, Dec. 14, 2020.

COVID-19 vaccines have arrived in the USA. Trump will meet his electoral fate. A cybersecurity attack targeted the U.S. government. It's Monday's news.

We've made a landmark step in the country's fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The Electoral College is soon to make President-elect Joe Biden's win official. And Cleveland's MLB team just wants to make a name for themselves.

It's Ashley with a dose of news you need to know.

But first, pass (on) the raw meat: Wisconsin officials are urging families to pass on the holiday tradition of eating raw meat — what some call cannibal sandwiches. 🥩

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The great news: It's V-Day. The heartbreaking news: We've reached 300,000 deaths.

We've waited what feels like an eternity for this day. A nurse in New York City on Monday became that state's – and likely the nation's – first to receive the first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, marking a historic step in the battle against the virus. "I feel hopeful today," said Sandra Lindsay, the critical-care nurse at New York's Long Island Jewish Medical Center, after she received the shot. Some even compared the historic day of first vaccinations to the moon landing.

A once-unthinkable threshold: 300,000 deaths

The first vaccinations come, however, as the United States surpassed 300,000 deaths from COVID-19 on Monday. And the devastating threshold is expected to rise, as experts fear the country is hurtling nonstop toward surpassing the total of American fatalities in World War II. It's difficult to comprehend that many deaths, but these haunting graphics can help put the number in perspective.

Now back to vaccines: Who's next?

The vaccination train didn't stop in New York. Vaccinations also were given in North Carolina, Rhode Island, Florida, Ohio and other states. Even more are heading our way: A total of 145 sites will receive vaccines Monday, 125 Tuesday and 66 on Wednesday, officials say.

What's in this vaccine, anyway? Asking for a friend.

While the use of mRNA in a commercial vaccine is groundbreaking, experts say the ingredients in the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and German partner BioNTech look pretty standard. Let's get nerdy: The vaccine's active ingredient is 30 mcg of a nucleosidemodified messenger RNA (modRNA) encoding the viral spike (S) glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2. Here's a list of everything else in the vaccine.

Sandra Lindsay, left, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, is inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine by Dr. Michelle Chester, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in the Queens borough of New York.

Mark Lennihan, AP

Joe Biden passes threshold to win the Electoral College

It's official. Electoral College official. Nearly six weeks after Americans voted for the next president, the Electoral College has elected Joe Biden. Across the country, electors met Monday to formally cast their votes for either Biden or President Donald Trump based on the popular votes in their states. Biden passed the 270-vote threshold after California's vote, solidifying his presidential victory. Next stop? Congress. (Yes, this isn't quite over yet.) The electoral votes will be counted at a special joint session of Congress on Jan 6.

•	How the Electoral College works – and how it affected battleground states in 2020.
•	Michigan's 16 electors voted for Biden, making it the last of six states contested by Trump to hand the victory to the former Democratic vice president.

President-elect Joe Biden in Wilmington, Delaware, on Dec. 8, 2020.

Susan Walsh/AP

What everyone's talking about

•	A cybersecurity attack targeting major branches of the U.S. government has put an untold number of Americans, agencies and government secrets at risk.
•	Deadliest place in America: Residents of this Kansas county shrugged off COVID-19; then their family and friends started dying.
•	There's something on the wing: A man climbed on the wing of an Alaska Airlines plane departing from Las Vegas.
•	New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been accused of sexual harassment by a former development aide. Cuomo's office has denied the allegation.
•	Hello, winter: The season's first big East Coast snowstorm is forecast to wallop much of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast this week.

Biden is in. Bill Barr is out.

In late-breaking politics news ... Attorney General William Barr, who has served as President Donald Trump's most effective shield and advocate for broad presidential authority, will be leaving the administration. Trump announced the news of Barr's departure Monday evening on Twitter, adding that Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen will be acting attorney general.

President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr on Sept. 1, 2020, in Maryland.

Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

What's it going to be, Cleveland?

The Major League Baseball team that calls Cleveland home won't be the "Indians" much longer, On Sunday, The New York Times reported the team would drop its controversial nickname, probably after the 2021 season. That means Cleveland is headed for a rebrand, not unlike the trajectory the Washington Football Team – which dropped its "Redskins" nickname over the summer – is navigating, although the timetable of any Cleveland changes remains unclear. What should the new nickname be for Cleveland's baseball team? Our sports team threw together a few legitimate name ideas.

Real quick

•	The Trump administration sanctioned Turkey, a NATO ally, over its purchase of a Russian missile defense system.
•	"Today" anchor Craig Melvin's brother Lawrence Meadows has died at 43 of colon cancer.
•	The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld Biden's Wisconsin win.
•	Sia alleged Shia LaBeouf "emotionally hurt" her while supporting FKA twigs' lawsuit against him.
•	A Michigan man imprisoned for nearly 4 decades was exonerated after a witness admitted to lying.

US blames Iran in likely death of retired FBI agent

U.S. officials called out Iran on Monday, formally blaming two intelligence officers for the abduction and likely death of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared nearly 14 years ago from an island off Iran. Federal authorities said the actions attributed to "senior officials" in Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security were authorized by top Iranian officials. The sanctions announcement against the two officers, coming at the tail end of the Trump administration, were largely symbolic. But the action could complicate the incoming Biden administration's plans to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018.

This undated handout photo provided by the family of Robert Levinson, shows retired-FBI agent Robert Levinson in a photo the family received in April 2011.

A break from the news

•	🏠 Bored in the house? Here are 20 ways to keep busy if you need to quarantine.
•	🏥 How safe is your hospital? These states rank best and worst for care.
•	🌙 The only total solar eclipse of 2020 arrived Monday. Here's a photo to prove how sweet it was. 👇

The total solar eclipse as seen from Piedra del Aquila, Neuquen province, Argentina on December 14, 2020.

RONALDO SCHEMIDT, AFP via Getty Images

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