Control of Congress uncertain:Â It was uncertain this morning which political party will be in control of Congress as the vote count in yesterday’s off-year election continues. Although Republicans have picked up some seats in the House of Representatives, they could be on the verge of losing other seats in states that are not expected to complete their vote counts for several days, such as California. Control of the Senate also remained unclear because final results in a number of close contests remained unknown. It was clear, however, that a predicted Republican wave in which the GOP picked up 25 or more seats in the House and at least a half dozen in the Senate did not materialize.
Georgia runoff:Â Results in the Georgia election as of early this morning indicated that neither incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock nor Republican challenger Trump-backed Herschel Walker received 50% of the vote and they’ll be heading into a runoff. In Pennsylvania, in another high-profile Senate race, Pennsylvania’s Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman beat Trump-backed Dr. Mehmet Oz by three percentage points.
GOP picks up seats in NY:Â While Kathy Hochul was elected to a full four-year term as governor of New York, a strong showing by her Republican challenger Congressman Lee Zeldin appears to have pulled enough votes to the Republican column on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley to allow the Republicans to pick up from three to five House seats in New York state.
Griner’s whereabouts:Â Brittney Griner, the American basketball player who was convicted in Russia of drug charges, is reported to have been sent to a penal colony where she will be forced to work for minimal pay. Her lawyers say they do not know which prison camp she is at. She was sentenced to nine years in prison. Negotiations had been reported to try to free her in a prisoner swap with the Russians.
Covid-19 outbreak:Â An estimated five million people in the Chinese manufacturing center Guangzhou have been put on lockdown at home because of a Covid-19 outbreak. The lockdown has forced the shutdown of numerous factories. Chinese officials are allowing one person per household to leave the home for a brief period once a day to pick up necessities.
Meta layoffs:Â Meta, the company that owns Facebook and is headed by Mark Zuckerberg, has laid off 11,000 employees. In a message to the company’s staff this morning, Zuckerberg said, “I”™ve decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13% and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go. We are also taking a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze.” Zuckerberg admitted to not understanding financial trends and took responsibility for making the wrong decisions.
