The Help

By Kathryn Stockett

    Set in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s, it follows the story of Skeeter Phelan and some maids working for white families in the city, commonly called "the help" (hence the title of the book).

    Aibileen has begun to work for Mrs. Elizabeth Leefolt after resting for months after her son's death. She takes care of Mrs. Leefolt's baby, Mae Mobley, and develops a strong love for her. Her friend, Minny Jackson, is an excellent cook, but she can't hold a job because she blabs at her employers. Her most recent job was for Mrs. Walters, Hilly Holbrook's mother. Skeeter Phelan, a young white woman, has just graduated from the University of Mississippi. She sticks out and is very tall, so her mother worries she will never get married.

    One day, Hilly suggests an initiative that would create segregated bathrooms for the help in white people's homes. Skeeter, as editor of the Jackson newsletter, is supposed to put this in, but she can't do it. She begins to see the injustices the white people put upon their Black servants, and wonders what happened to her childhood maid, Constantine.

    Minny has landed a new, high paying job, but her employer is odd. Mrs. Celia Foote is nervous that her new husband will realize that she's worthless at being a housewife, and refuses to let Minny and him cross paths. Minny agrees to teach her things on the condition that she eventually tell's Johnny (her husband).

Time: Georgia Polling Site Closures Reducing Access to Early Voting Among Working Class and Minority Voters, Civil Rights Groups Say

Sanya Mansoor

    Several counties in Georgia have closed a few in-person polling stations that were open during the general election, much to the disdain of civil rights advocacy groups. This is because the closed stations were ones nearby factories with minority groups. 

"The next closest voting location is more than seven miles away and there’s no easy way to access it via public transportation. Alarmed civil rights advocates expressed concern that four of the eight locations in Hall County that were open during the general election will not be open for the runoff election despite similarly large turnout figures across the state and the pandemic still raging. ...these closures would make it 'difficult, if not impossible, for many Latino and Black voters' to cast their ballot at advance voting locations...'"

    Not only will it make it harder for minorities to vote, but closing polling stations will also contribute to longer lines at the remaining areas, increasing health risk as well. All the accused counties maintain that stations were closed due to a lack of workers from the pandemic and holidays overlapping. This is especially important because the Georgia senate race will determine who controls the upper chamber and will likely be decided by a tiny margin.

"'The number of early voting locations was not reduced for the runoff; rather they were expanded for the presidential election given our expectation of turnout.'"

    Regardless, many minority group members work long hours and lack cars. Even if they do, the prospect of long lines and higher risk of infection may keep them away from the polls.

National Geographic: Why new coronavirus variants 'suddenly arose' in the U.K. and South Africa

By Maya Wei-Haas

    In early December, COVID-19 cases started going up in Kent in the UK. Researchers with the COIVD-19 Genomics Consortium in the UK started looking toward mutations in the virus for clues as to what was happening.

"For SARS-CoV-2, these mutations—the small errors made naturally when genomes are copied—develop at a steady pace of one or two each month, says Loman, a professor of microbial genomics and bioinformatics at the University of Birmingham. Yet among the Kent cases, scientists found a large cluster that was remarkably different, with a total of 23 mutations arising without prior notice and faster than anyone expected."

The New Yorker: Trump Directs His Wrecking Ball At The COVID-19 Relief Bill And Mitch McConnell

By John Cassidy

    Until Tuesday evening, President Trump was relatively quiet as he brooded over Mitch McConnell's concession that Biden had won and the Senate's confirmation. He made few public appearances and stayed a the White House with the few who were still on his side. He repeatedly tweeted that the Democrats had stolen the election and met with some of his pardoned officials to think up more ways to undermine democracy.

    But on Monday, something happened on Capitol Hill to drag him out of his stupor. Congress passed a $900 billion COVID relief bill and sent it to his desk.

    On Tuesday, Trump sent out another 20 pardons to his buddies and took to Twitter to berate the bill. He called for the relief checks to be increased to $2000 from the planned $600, implying that he wouldn't sign until it was done.