News Flash, Biden Elected: Former Vice President Joe Biden has at long last been formally elected to be the 46^th president of the United States. The vote by the Electoral College was completed without any electors going renegade and voting for President Trump against the will of the majority in their state.

  Biden needed 270 votes. The final was 306-232. 

  The vote came after President Trump, his campaign, and supporters had filed dozens of lawsuits in state and federal courts claiming massive election fraud that they were never able to prove. The electors in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Arizona — all states that Trump contested after the election — voted as they should have.

  Hours after the vote, President Trump was still tweeting about election fraud.

  Biden said in a speech last night blasting and rebuking Trump for refusing to accept the election, “If anyone didn’t know it before, we know it now. What beats deep in the hearts of the American people is this: Democracy.” He said, “The right to be heard. To have your vote counted. To choose leaders of this nation. To govern ourselves. In America, politicians don’t take power — people grant power to them.”

  Notably,  News Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, said before his state’s vote, “It’s not just out of tradition but to show folks, especially now more than ever, our system works.”

  Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Biden for winning. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not.

  But wait, hold on there. The 2020 election isn’t over. Early voting began yesterday in Georgia where two Senate seats are on the block to determine control of the Senate. The Democrats have to win both to get a 50-50 split and have Vice President Kamala Harris as the tiebreaker. Election day is January 5^th.  

Lowering the Barr: Attorney Gen. Bill Barr, who said there’s no evidence of election fraud, resigned from the administration. He said he’s leaving office December 21^st to be with his family.

  It’s not clear whether he was fired or went voluntarily.

  In a letter loaded with praise for Trump, the only kind he’ll read, Barr carried on about Trump building the greatest economy, standing for the rule of law, and against illegal immigration. He said Trump’s tenure was immediately beset by “a partisan onslaught against you in which  no tactic, no matter how abusive and deceitful, was out of bounds.” 

Viral News: The coronavirus death toll in the US surpassed 300,000 yesterday even as the first vaccines were administered. Another 1,303 Americans died. 

  With healthcare workers given priority, Sandra Lindsay, a critical care nurse at New York’s Long Island Jewish Medical Center, was the first to receive the shot in this country. Nearly three million doses of the vaccine have been shipped to 636 locations across the country and are expected to arrive over several days.

  Lindsay, who has treated patients throughout the pandemic, said that she hoped her public vaccination would give confidence to people doubtful about getting it for themselves. “I have seen the alternative, and do not want it for you,” she said. 

  It will take months for enough people to be vaccinated in order to create herd immunity, making the country safe enough to walk around without a medical mask.

The Obit Page: Ann Reinking, a dancer, actor, and Tony Award-winning choreographer best known for playing Roxie Hart in the musical “Chicago,” died in her sleep Saturday in Seattle where she had been visiting her brother. She was 71.

  Reinking worked on Broadway for 30 years. She had a long association, first personal then professional, with the director and choreographer Bob Fosse. Moviegoers would have known her from her appearance in Fosse’s autobiographical movie, “All That Jazz.”

>>> Jeannie Morris, a groundbreaker who became Chicago’s first woman sports reporter, has died at age 85. She was a nice person in a rough business.

  Morris had been married to former Chicago Bear Johnnie Morris, also a sportscaster, and first wrote under the byline, “Mrs. Johnnie Morris” for The Chicago Daily News. She surpassed him in both skill and impact.

  In 1971 she published the bestseller “Brian Piccolo: A Short Season,” about Bears running back Brian Piccolo. Her book was the basis for the movie “Brian’s Song,” about the friendship between Piccolo and running back Gayle Sayers, and Piccolo’s death of cancer at age 26.

Made in Japan: The Japanese serial murderer known as the “Twitter Killer” has been sentenced to death. Takahiro Shiraishi, 30, robbed, raped, and killed eight women he found via Twitter. His victims were women who had said they wanted to commit suicide and he told them he would help them do it. 

  Once he got them in his home, he strangled and dismembered them, then stored the body parts throughout his apartment.

  Amazingly, Shiraishi’s defense team argued for a lesser sentence because he actually helped the victims, who had wanted to die anyway.

  In Japan, the date of execution is kept secret. The condemned is told only on the day of death. 

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