Good morning. It's Friday, Sept. 25, and the fight over the next Supreme Court justice starts this weekend. Have feedback? Let us know at [email protected].

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NEED TO KNOW

Ginsburg Lies in State

Former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will lie in state at the US Capitol's National Statuary Hall today, part of a private ceremony before she is buried next to her husband Martin at Arlington National Cemetery next week. President Trump and first lady Melania Trump paid respects to Ginsburg yesterday as she laid in repose for the second day outside the Supreme Court (many in the crowd booed, w/video). 

Ginsburg is the first woman—and first Jewish person—to lie in state and only the second Supreme Court justice to receive the honor. Only 35 people have laid in state since its beginning in 1852. See the history of the honor here.

President Trump will announce his nominee to replace Ginsburg tomorrow (5pm ET)—likely Judge Amy Coney Barrett or Judge Barbara Lagoa. Separately, Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), one of two Republican senators to oppose a preelection vote, said she could not rule out voting to confirm the eventual nominee.  

Reverse Defector Killed

A South Korean fisheries official was killed by a North Korean patrol while attempting to defect to North Korea, according to reports yesterday. It is believed the man was shot and his body set on fire out of fear he was infected with the coronavirus. Colleagues said the man had recently complained of growing debt. If confirmed, it would be the first time North Korea had killed a South Korean citizen inside its territory in more than a decade, further raising already heightened tensions between the two countries. 

The scenario is highly unusual, but not unheard of. Not counting double defectors—those who escape the impoverished North Korea and attempt to return—dozens of South Koreans have made the attempt, typically to escape problems at home. Conversely, more than 1,000 North Koreans defect each year, roughly 75% of whom are female (see stats).

Read accounts from three North Koreans on what it's like to defect southward.

McConnell Pushes Back

A number of congressional leaders weighed in yesterday after comments by President Trump in which he declined to commit to a peaceful transition of power should he lose the Nov. 3 election, implying fraudulent mail-in ballots would influence the outcome. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) pushed back via Twitter, while Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT)—who gave the White House a win Tuesday, saying he would support voting on a Supreme Court nominee—called the comments "unthinkable." Watch the original question and answer from Wednesday here. Trump reiterated the comments yesterday (watch here).

The president has repeatedly criticized mail-in voting as ripe for voter fraud, though one-quarter of votes (roughly 33 million) in 2016 were cast by mail. His focus has shifted toward universal vote-by-mail systems, where every registered voter receives a ballot. Five states—Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington—already required all-mail voting (details here), and five others—California, Nevada, Montana, Vermont, and New Jersey—sent ballots to all registered voters in response to the pandemic. Only one, Nevada and its six electoral votes, is viewed as a swing state.

Surveys suggest Democrats are more likely to vote by mail by more than a 3-1 margin. Experts have noted nearly 550,000 ballots were rejected during the nation's primaries, a risk with significant implications for Nov. 3. See an interactive table of which states are most likely to vote by mail here.

There are 39 days until Election Day. See battleground poll averages here.

Editor's note: In yesterday's story about Breonna Taylor, we said the Louisville native was killed during a "no-knock raid," which inappropriately gave the impression police entered without warning. Officers were executing a no-knock search warrant, but say they nonetheless knocked and attempted to make their presence known before entering. See an overview here.

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IN THE KNOW

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

> The BAFTA Awards, the British equivalent of the Oscars, announce 120 changes to its voting and membership process to address lack of diversity among nominees (More)

> Pac-12 announces it will hold a seven-game conference-only schedule beginning Nov. 6, reversing earlier decision to postpone its college football season until 2021 (More)

> Los Angeles Lakers take 3-1 lead over Denver Nuggets in NBA Western Conference Finals; Lakers can clinch in Game 5 tomorrow (9pm ET, TNT) (More) | Tampa Bay Lightning and Dallas Stars face off this weekend in Games 4 and 5 of the Stanley Cup final; Lightning leads series 2-1 (More)

Science & Technology

> Amazon's Ring unveils the Always Home Cam drone, which flies around the house providing monitoring on demand from any perspective (More) | Amazon reveals Luna, a cloud-based streaming gaming service to compete with Google's Stadia and others (More)

> Previously unknown brain circuitry in birds helps explain their high levels of intelligence despite the absence of a neocortex, the problem-solving center in mammalian brains (More)

> Study finds placentas develop ahead of embryo formation in the early days of gestation; findings highlight the importance of placental health, may improve in-vitro fertilization (More)

Business & Markets

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> An estimated 870,000 Americans filed initial unemployment claims last week, a slight increase from the previous week's 860,000 (More)

> Costco smashes earnings expectations; e-commerce revenues surge 93% as consumers shift spending amid pandemic (More)

> Data analytics firm Palantir plans to IPO via direct listing Sept. 30; analysts expect $22B valuation (More) | Greenlight—a debit card linked to an app to help parents teach children finance—raises $215M at $1.2B valuation (More)

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Politics & World Affairs

> At least 24 arrested during second night of protests in Louisville, Kentucky, following decision to not charge police officers directly involved in the death of Breonna Taylor (More) | State lawmaker Attica Scott included in those charged with rioting, unlawful assembly (More)

> New York to review COVID-19 vaccines independently over concerns the federal approval process will be politicized (More) | New US cases above 43,000 per day, having risen since mid-September; see rolling average (More) | ... and for deaths (More)  

> Long shot candidate dies in a competitive race for Minnesota's 2nd House district, pushing Nov. 3 election to February due to a quirk in state law (More)

IN-DEPTH

Mark in the Middle

The Verge | Casey Newton. A summer's worth of leaked audio reveals Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's balancing act between the company's employees and its users. (Read)

Don't Save the Children

The Intercept | Aída Chávez. A look at how QAnon adherents leverage fears of child sex trafficking to spread their conspiracy theories in towns and suburbs across America. (Read)

Editor's note: ... and check out this older piece on how three people pushed the theory into the mainstream. 

What is Math?

Smithsonian Mag | Dan Falk. A flippant question from a teenage TikToker leads to a deep and fascinating philosophical debate. (Read)

Bio Eats World

a16z | Hanne Winarsky, Lauren Richardson. (Podcast) What happens when some of the country's best venture capitalists meet its smartest scientists? You get Bio Eats World—a look at the bio-based research set to transform the future. (Listen)

ETCETERA

A majority of Americans say no to political ads on social media.

How automakers made jaywalking a crime.

Rarely seen beaked whale smashes the mammal diving record.

Love data visualizations like us? Check out our friends at Chartr. They take some of the biggest news stories each week and create beautiful data visualizations around them. The result? Big insights in five minutes or less. Join them for free here.

The CIA launches a new high-tech lab.

A 150-year-old time capsule was found hidden in a British museum's walls. 

More footage of Japan's stunning 60-foot robot.

Secret man cave discovered under NYC's Grand Central platform.

Chicago nun runs a treadmill marathon to raise money for the poor.

Clickbait: Man dies after eating too much black licorice. 

Historybook: US Congress passes the Bill of Rights (1789); "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve born (1952); The Little Rock Nine integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas (1957); HBD Will Smith (1968); HBD Catherine Zeta-Jones (1969).

"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable."

- Christopher Reeve

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