Thorough Thursday

🍑 Georgia Senate Results

Democratic candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff were declared the victors of Tuesday’s Senate runoff elections in Georgia by the Associated Press, defeating incumbent GOP Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, respectively.

• Election #1: Warnock leads Loeffler by just over 73k votes (1.6%) with 98% of the votes totaled (as of 9 p.m. ET). The AP called the race for Warnock early Wednesday, while Loeffler has not yet conceded.
• Election #2: Ossoff leads Perdue by nearly 36k votes (0.8%) with 98% of the votes totaled (as of 9 p.m. ET). The AP called the race for Ossoff Wednesday afternoon, while Perdue has not yet conceded.

With the two victories, Democrats will technically control a majority in the Senate for the next two years despite a 50-50 split, as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (D) represents the deciding vote in the case of any tie.

🇭🇰 Arrests in Hong Kong

Hong Kong police arrested 53 pro-democracy activists Wednesday morning under the controversial national security law passed last June, including American human rights lawyer John Clancy. The activists targeted appear to include all candidates who ran in an unofficial primary last year ahead of an expected election for Hong Kong’s legislature.

More: Up to the end of September 2020, 26 individuals were arrested under the national security law, including prominent pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai.

🍩 DONUT Holes:

👮 The Louisville Police Department fired two detectives involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor on Wednesday.

🔬 A new CDC study published Wednesday found people receiving COVID-19 vaccines experience anaphylaxis – a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction – at a rate ten times higher than the flu vaccine, though the condition is still thought to be rare and was mainly found in people with a documented history of allergic reactions.

👨‍⚖️ President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate former federal judge Merrick Garland to serve as attorney general, per multiple sources.

⏪⏪⏪ NYSE De-de-delists Chinese Companies

The New York Stock Exchange reversed course on Wednesday, saying it would once again delist three Chinese telecommunications giants after receiving direct guidance from the Treasury Department regarding an executive order signed by President Trump in November. The order bans Americans from investing in companies the government classifies as connected to the Chinese military, and takes effect on January 11.

More: The NYSE originally committed to delisting the companies on December 31, but changed its mind late Monday, saying it would “continue to evaluate the applicability of [the] Executive Order.”

📝 Executive Decision

President Trump signed an executive order late Tuesday implementing a ban on U.S. transactions with eight Chinese-connected apps, including those owned by Ant Group and Tencent, to take effect in 45 days, after he leaves office. A spokesperson for President-elect Biden’s transition team didn’t comment on the order.

More: The order is similar to the actions taken against TikTok and WeChat last year.

🏡 Amazon’s Home Run

Amazon committed more than $2B over the next five years to create and preserve affordable housing in three cities where the company is a major employer – Seattle, WA, Arlington VA, and Nashville, TN. The tech giant has more than 75k employees in Seattle, and plans to have more than 5k employees in Arlington and Nashville within five years (~1k employees currently).

🍩 DONUT Holes:

📱 Apple set a single-day spending record on in-app purchases New Year’s Day with over $540M in sales, driven largely by games.

🎸 Folk-rock legend Neil Young agreed to sell 50% of his catalog (1,180 songs) to UK investment fund Hipgnosis Songs for a reported price of $150M.

💵 Still waiting on your second stimulus check? This could be why.

🍳 Anyone Can Cook

Image via GoodNewsNetwork.

Lenny, a central bearded dragon from Redmond, WA, made his culinary debut in November in owner Valerie Musser’s cookbook Chef Lenny: Cooking for Humans.

• “It was my quarantine project,” Valerie told Good News Network, explaining that she had been planning to write a cookbook for nearly a decade when the pandemic hit.
• Shortly after the lockdown began, Lenny’s owner bought him a tiny chef’s hat on Etsy.

“He actually loves wearing hats and posing for photos,” said Valerie, “so I started making miniature food for him to show off with.” The completed cookbook contains the mother-of-three’s favorite comfort food recipes.

Hungry for more good news?

• Paralympic medalist Blake Leeper was being fitted for a new pair of prosthetic legs at Scott Sabolich Prosthetics in Oklahoma City when he found out that 2-year-old KJ Dyer was receiving his first prosthetic leg down the hall – so he went to cheer on the toddler’s first steps.
• After forming a friendship with a displaced man named Mr. Marcus, Ethan Hill – a 10-year-old from Birmingham, AL – founded Ethan’s Heart, an organization that assembles care kits full of essential supplies for people experiencing homelessness in his area.

📣 Calling All Dog Lovers

Town & Trail delivers all natural, human-grade treats — perfect for any dog.

Taking a less is more approach, Town & Trail treats are made from USDA beef and contain only five human-grade ingredients. These naturally shelf-stable treats are rooted in South African tradition and are air-dried, keeping healthy protein and nutrients in — and gross chemicals out.

Enter DONUT15 for 15% off your next order!