Tonight’s Las Vegas Debate

Six Democratic presidential hopefuls will take the stage at 9 p.m. ET tonight in Las Vegas for the ninth debate of the election cycle, streaming live on NBC. A new national poll from the WSJ/NBC News shows Bernie Sanders holding a twelve-point lead over four other candidates grouped around second place.

More: Mike Bloomberg will participate in his first debate of the cycle after his national polling numbers qualified him on Tuesday.

U.S. Restricts Chinese State Media

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the State Department has designated five Chinese state media outlets as “foreign missions.” Under the terms of the designation, the companies must provide the State Department with information about U.S. real estate holdings, as well as a roster of every American employee.

Winner Declared in Afghanistan Election

The Independent Election Commission declared that incumbent Ashraf Ghani beat out runner-up Abdullah Abdullah in a general election to retain his title as Afghanistan president. Abdullah is contesting the results of the election (which was held last September), and vowed to form his own parallel government.

More: Ghani won just over 50% of the vote according to the IEC, while Abdullah received nearly 40%. 1.82 million votes were counted across the country (compared to a population of 37 million), while nearly 1 million votes were reportedly discarded due to irregularities.

BuyingClub

LendingClub has reportedly agreed to purchase Boston-based Radius Bank for a cash-and-stock deal worth $185 million. The move marks the first time a U.S. financial technology (fintech) company has acquired a bank.

Start Me Up

Employees at Kickstarter voted Tuesday to become the first full-time employees at a tech company to unionize. The move comes after two employees spearheading the unionization effort were fired last September, resulting in a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.

The Final Frontier

SpaceX announced a partnership with space tourism company Space Adventures, and plans to offer commercial flights to space aboard the Crew Dragon capsule as early as 2021. Space Adventures has already helped fly eight tourists to the ISS over the past two decades.

P.S. I Love You

It’s hard to overstate the overwhelming loneliness felt by a person whose longtime romantic partner has passed away.

Kentucky native Rich Cox took steps to ensure that his wife would always feel the love - eight years after he lost his battle with cancer, his wife still receives flowers from him each Valentine’s Day.

Labor Union

When we picture a woman in labor, the scene is usually set at a hospital - however, extenuating circumstances can sometimes prevent people from accessing medical aid in a time of need.

When super dad Rhys Darby found his girlfriend in that exact situation, he managed to deliver their baby safely using just one hand, as his other arm was tied up in a cast.

Dr. Feelgood

Medical care can be expensive, with patients often choosing to avoid or delay treatment due to unaffordable costs.

Inspired by Random Acts of Kindness Day (this past Monday), a Nebraska doctor decided to cover the co-pays of his 80+ patients out of pocket, which added up to around $4,000.