Morning Reads for Sesame Street Day (November 10)

Good morning! Happy Sesame Street Day! November 10th has been the day set aside to honor the educational program celebrating its 52nd birthday today. To commemorate the day, I’m sharing the best skit with the best muppet ever: Grover teaching “around,” “over,” “under,” “through,” “near,” and “far.” Yes, Grover is 100% my favorite.

I’m going to be singing this all day, just so y’all know.

Let’s get on to the news.

Pat Conroy

• Governor Brian Kemp’s reelection bid is on an endorsement kick, and it may be prompted by the lingering worry that former Senator David Perdue will primary him. (Alternate link.)
• The runoff election to be Atlanta’s next mayor is in full swing. (Alternate link.)
• There will be a recount in the Ringgold city council race decided by just three votes.
• Half of the Atlanta airport’s ambulances were sent to Ohio for rebuilds, but manufacturing delays have had them out of service for over six months.
• Remington Firearms will be moving its global headquarters to LaGrange.
• The just-passed infrastructure bill will provide $225 million to Georgia for bridge repair. The Georgia Department of Transportation estimates that 374 bridges statewide are in poor condition. (Alternate link.)
• The bill also puts $8 million immediately toward supply-chain issues at the Port of Savannah.
• Today’s update on the Ahmaud Arbery murder trial.
• Today’s update on redistricting.

Alice Walker

• By the end of the day, over 1 million kids between the ages of 5-11 will have received their first dose of the COVID vaccine.
• Inflation is the worst it’s been in 30 years. (Alternate link.)
• A federal judge has blocked former President Donald Trump’s attempt to halt the transfer of his executive records to the January 6th committee.
• The Office of Special Counsel has found that 13 Trump staffers illegally campaigned while the former president was in office. (Alternate link.)
• In some good news for the Trump organization, a judge in DC has thrown out part of the inauguration lawsuit.
• The Oklahoma Supreme Court has thrown out the 2019 ruling in the $465 million opioid case, ruling 5-1 that the company can’t be held responsible for the state’s opioid crisis.
• According to an ex-finance minister, corrupt Afghani officials created a host of “ghost soldiers” in order to pocket the wages from the United States for years prior to the withdrawal. He’s estimated most of the 30,000 supposed-troops were fake.
• The European Union is accusing Belarus of “manufacturing” a migrant crisis at its border with Poland. (Alternate link.)
• Google has lost its appeal of the $2.8 billion EU shopping ads fine. (Alternate link.)
• The draft document coming from the COP26 Glasgow climate summit calls for stronger carbon cutting targets by the end of 2022.
• Since the beginning of the pandemic, the world has created more than 8 million tons of plastic waste, and most of it is now in the ocean. (Alternate link.)

Flannery O’Connor

• A Cobb County judge has banished Elf on the Shelf.