Las Notis is a daily news column that gets you up to speed on the political, media + other goings-on in the United States, Latin America, and the diaspora—all in one quick digest.
Here’s your glimpse at what’s going on today:
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- Arizona has been called for President-elect Joe Biden, widening his margin of victory and further cementing his path toward the presidency, despite baseless claims of fraud from President Donald Trump. Biden is the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state since President Bill Clinton in 1996. [NYT]
- Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, the law firm that has been behind Trump campaign’s efforts to challenge election results in Pennsylvania, abruptly withdrew from a federal lawsuit that it had filed on behalf of President Trump. “Plaintiffs and Porter Wright have reached a mutual agreement that plaintiffs will be best served if Porter Wright withdraws,” the law firm said in a filing. [NYT]
- More than 130 Secret Service officers have tested positive for the Coronavirus after having close contact with infected co-workers during their job protecting the White House and the president. The spread is believed to be partly linked to campaign rallies that President Trump held in the weeks before the Nov. 3 election, according to the sources close to the agency who have spoken on conditions of anonymity. [WaPo]
- Biden recommitted to raising annual refugee admission to 125,000, which would revive a program that was cut under the Trump administration. “The U.S. has long stood as a beacon of hope for the downtrodden and oppressed, a leader in resettling refugees, in our humanitarian response,” Biden said in a video. “I promise as president I’ll reclaim that proud legacy for our country.” [HuffPo]
- Argentina’s government has authorized people to grow marijuana at home for medicinal use and allowed pharmacies to sell cannabis-made oils, creams, and other products that will be covered by public and private insurance for patients who have a prescription. The country follows several other parts of South America that have introduced new laws allowing the use of marijuana, among them Uruguay, which legalized recreational marijuana in 2017, and Colombia, which has established a licensing system for growing medical marijuana. [NYT]
- Hondurans are dealing with the aftermath of the Category 4 storm Eta, which ripped through several parts of Central America, Cuba, and the Florida coast. In Honduras, it has caused damage and flooding, leaving people waiting on their roofs to be rescued at a time when conditions have already been difficult because of the pandemic. [NBC]
- Selena Gomez will play Silvia Vásquez-Lavado, a Peruvian mountaineer and the first openly gay woman to scale the Seven Summits, in the biopic, In the Shadow of the Mountain. On Instagram, Vásquez-Lavado said she was “honored and touched” that Gomez would play her. [HuffPo]