"Former Vice President Joe Biden is readying his transition team to help stand up his administration if he prevails in the 2020 presidential race."

"A rapidly rising flood of coronavirus infections engulfed much of the United States on Thursday, setting records for new cases in 20 states, killing 1,158 people and straining the health system’s capacity to keep up with the pandemic.

On Thursday, 116,707 new cases were reported, the second straight record for a single day and a figure that dwarfed the total for any day in the previous worst two periods of the outbreak, in April and July. From Washington state to West Virginia and from Texas to Pennsylvania, the country was awash in record or near-record case counts Thursday.

"Jim Wright, a hardcore climate change denier and owner of an oil-field services company, is projected to win the race to be Texas’ next energy regulator, preserving the Republicans’ quarter-century hold on the Texas Railroad Commission and defeating a better-funded Democrat."

"Dakota Access pipeline supporters faced a tough bench Wednesday in the latest round of a long-running legal feud over the project’s future, with federal judges appearing to lean in favor of requiring additional environmental review but conflicted on other issues."

"The American exit officially took effect Wednesday. If Joseph R. Biden Jr. wins the election and rejoins the pact, the United States will have a lot of catching up to do."

"Even if Joe Biden wins the White House, his ambitious climate agenda could be thwarted by a Senate that is increasingly likely to remain in Republican control."

"The United States recorded more than 100,000 new coronavirus infections in a single day for the first time on Wednesday as the nation waited to learn the results of a presidential election carried out in the shadow of a pandemic.

"Democrat Joe Biden was pushing closer to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to carry the White House, securing victories in the “blue wall” battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan and narrowing President Donald Trump’s path."

"Some research shows increasing political divides this year as a pandemic thrusts science into the election spotlight."

"U.S. and Mexican officials settled a water dispute that had been simmering for several months and led to protests by Mexican farmers concerned about water access."