THE BIG STORY

Their loved ones died of COVID. The holidays will be completely different this year.

For the families of more than 258,000 people who have died from COVID-19 in the US, Thanksgiving and the winter holidays will be marked by feeling the loss of loved ones.

Some will be confronting an empty seat at the dining table, and some will feel the unmistakable void left by a brother, mom, or daughter during a holiday hangout over Zoom.

Right now, the US is steadily setting grim records of hospitalizations and deaths. As coronavirus cases continue to surge, some families are choosing to simply forgo the festivities. As you can imagine, it’s tough to find a cause to celebrate while grieving.

On top of that, there’s the anger over people defying public health officials’ safety recommendations, and the Trump administration’s failed response to the pandemic.

We spoke to families struggling with the loss of loved ones. One of them told us, “I would like to go to sleep and wake up when Christmas is over. It’s going to be very hard.”

BuzzFeed News; Courtesy of Risa Harms, Marya Patrice Sherron, Kimberly Vega.

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

WWF admits “sorrow” over human rights abuses

In 2019, a BuzzFeed News investigation revealed how WWF, the beloved nonprofit with the cuddly panda logo, financed and equipped park rangers accused of beating, torturing, sexually assaulting, and murdering scores of people.

In response, WWF immediately commissioned an “independent review” led by Navi Pillay, a former United Nations commissioner for human rights.

Now, the lengthy, long-delayed review has been released, revealing the charity knew for years that it was funding alleged human rights abusers but repeatedly failed to address the issue.

The report corroborates problems exposed by BuzzFeed News in Nepal, Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

SNAPSHOTS

Congress isn’t passing pandemic relief but they are passing the coronavirus. Nearly 1 in 10 senators and 1 in 20 House members have been diagnosed with COVID-19, but even wearing masks on the Senate floor is still a source of contention.

ICE expelled 33 immigrant children back to Guatemala after a judge said they couldn’t. An injunction blocking the controversial practice was issued Wednesday by US Judge Emmet Sullivan, minutes before an Immigration and Customs Enforcement flight left for Guatemala City with the 33 children.

The nominations for the 2020 Grammys are out. Beyoncé leads with nine nominations, while Megan Thee Stallion nabbed her first Grammy nods ever. Here’s the whole list. The Weeknd, who got zero nominations, is furious. Justin Bieber finds it “weird” that he was nominated as a pop artist.

Meghan Markle revealed she had a miscarriage in July and opened up about her and Prince Harry’s “unbearable grief.” The Duchess of Sussex opened up about her experience in a personal essay written for the New York Times.

AN IDEA TAKES HOLD

What Joe Biden means for your student loans

The idea of unilaterally wiping out billions of dollars in student debt was once on the political fringes, with no major politicians backing it. It was considered a pipe dream of the progressive left.

But in a short time, the idea has traveled a long way towards reality. There’s a concentrated push for President-elect Joe Biden’s administration to single-handedly cancel billions of dollars in student debt — and the idea has taken hold in increasingly large segments of the Democratic Party.

The moment is raising a real possibility, for the first time, that broad swaths of Americans may see some of their student loan debt wiped away.

Read Molly Hensley-Clancy on how an idea that was once a near-impossibility is now a serious topic of discussion among Democrats — one that is unlikely to go away in the next four years.

President-elect Joe Biden answers a reporter's question in Wilmington, Delaware, on Nov. 19. The Washington Post via Getty Images.

MIX IT UP

The TikToker fired for his viral paint mixing account has a new job

Last week, Tony Piloseno, a 22-year-old Ohio University student, was fired by Sherwin-Williams over his wildly successful paint-mixing TikTok account.

After the story of his firing went viral, Piloseno told us he received job offers from almost all the “major paint companies ... Benjamin Moore, Behr, all those guys.” Instead, he opted to go with an offer from a Florida-based paint company.

Piloseno said though he talked to people from the big paint companies, this one owner “really connected” with him when he “talked about his passion for paint.”

Turn towards gratitude this morning,

Elamin