Domestic: 

On Oct. 31 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered that mail-in ballots with missing or incorrect dates will not be counted in the General Election vote. This order concerned many voters because it did not define what counts as an incorrect date, and this could lead thousands of legal votes to be rendered ineffective. Five days later the state Supreme Court issued another order to define an incorrect date: Mail-in ballots are to be rejected in this election if the handwritten dates fall before Sept. 19, 2022, or after Nov. 8 (Election Day), and absentee ballots are to be rejected if they are dating before Aug. 30, 2022, or after Nov. 8. Any date that falls within this range will be counted in the vote. 

The Houston Astros won the World Series with a score of 4-2 against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday, Nov. 5, prompting the largest payout in the history of legal sports betting. Jim McIngvale, also known as “Mattress Mack”, last year about a promotion he was having at his furniture store: customers who buy mattresses over $3000 will get their money back if the Astros win. McIngvale told FOX 26 that most of the money he won will be used to pay out the customers who had gone through with the deal. 

On Tuesday, Nov. 8, officials confirmed a single winner of the $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot, the largest lottery prize in history. The winning ticket was sold in Altadena, Calif. The winning numbers were 10-33-41-47-56 and the Powerball was 10. The jackpot set a record for the largest lottery ever last Saturday, surpassing the previous largest jackpot of $1.586 billion. The jackpot had been growing since Aug. 3. The odds of winning the full sum were one in 292.2 million. 

International:

Jordan Bardella is replacing Marine Le Pen as the leader of France’s far-right political party National Rally (RN). Former leader, Le Pen, chooses to advance her role for the party in parliament. This change does not signify a new political route for RN, and Le Pen is still the likely candidate in the 2027 presidential election. This is the first time that a Le Pen family member has not been the leader of RN in 50 years. Bardella grew up in Paresian suburbs and joined the far-right as a teenager. He played a crucial role in the National Rally’s 2019 European election campaign. RN hopes that the new face can soften the party’s image and attract younger voters. 

After three years of intense pandemic restrictions, Chinese leaders are now looking to reopen due to concerns about the policy’s snowballing negative economic impact. China’s policies include lockdowns of provinces, frequent PCR testing and quarantine for travelers which have led to a major decline of Chinese business activity. These negative impacts of pandemic policy are currently being weighed against the possible costs of reopening, specifically the public health cost. Officials are staying vigilant as small steps are being taken to reopen, and with no rollout timeline the global financial market is left guessing.  

The 27th climate gathering, COP27, took place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt last week and is projected to be less ambitious and less productive than last year’s meeting in Glasgow. The goal of the meeting is to focus on implementing earlier climate promises, but many participating countries have energy crises following the war in Ukraine. The war has increased the use of fossil fuels and impacted global energy markets. The demand for coal is growing in Europe where Russia has restricted access to fossil fuels, and in places where the demand for power is growing like in China and India. While countries will be spending more to address climate change, these issues are projected to greatly hinder the progress of climate agreements this year.