While you were sleeping, we compiled the biggest stories of the day in one place. Each story has a quick and easy summary, so you're prepared for whatever the day brings. Just click on the links if you want to know more!
1. Florida's coronavirus cases more than double in past week
Florida's coronavirus situation worsened dramatically in one week with cases, the first-time positivity rate more than doubling and hospitalizations up about 10%.
Case rose 28,841 in one week, which is the most since 10,122 Sept. 21. This contrasts with 12,984 last week. Florida's deaths also increased by 194 in one week.
The South Florida edition of the Jingle Ball was canceled due to COVID-19. The NFL also postponed three games scheduled last weekend due to COVID-19 outbreaks.
2. Court allows Biden employer vaccine mandate to take effect
A federal appeals court panel has ruled that President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate for larger private employers can take effect.
Friday's 2-1 ruling from a panel of judges on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reverses a lower-court ruling that had paused the requirement.
Companies with 100 or more employees would be affected by the vaccine requirement, covering about 84 million workers. Those unvaccinated would have to wear masks and be subject to testing weekly for coronavirus.
3. Sen. Joe Manchin says he won't vote for 'Build Back Better' act
Sen. Manchin's announcement could serve as a fatal blow to many aspects of Biden's domestic agenda.
In addition to instituting climate change initiatives, the Build Back Better Act would reduce the costs of childcare and preschool. It would also aim to lower eldercare and health care costs. The bill would be financed by increased taxes on the wealthiest Americans and large corporations.
Democrats worked with Manchin for months to make the bill more palatable for his constituents. Those changes included removing a requirement that employers offer paid family leave to new parents and incentives for power utilities to move away from fossil fuels, including one of West Virginia's most abundant natural resources, coal.
4. Tiger Woods returns to golf with his son
John Daly and his college son won the PNC Championship, but Tiger Woods and his 12-year-old son make them work for it.
Woods and his son set a tournament record with 11 straight birdies and were tied for the lead on the back nine. But they couldn't birdie the par-5 closing hole.
John Daly II is a freshman at Arkansas. He joined his father in making a key birdie at the 16th to regain the lead.
5. Closing arguments set to begin today in Ghislaine Maxwell trial
Closing arguments are set to begin Monday morning in Manhattan in the federal trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime confidante of Jeffrey Epstein.
Maxwell told the judge at her sex trafficking trial Friday that she would not testify in her own defense.
There's a good chance the trial will be over before Christmas, and the witness lists for both sides were greatly truncated. The whole trial was originally projected to last six weeks.
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On This Day In History
On December 20, 1957, while spending the Christmas holidays at Graceland, his newly purchased Tennessee mansion, rock-and-roll star Elvis Presley receives his draft notice for the United States Army.
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