THE BIG STORY

The US is heading into a third wave of COVID-19 hospitalizations as election day nears

The coronavirus pandemic has journeyed across the US. First, it ravaged the northeast. Then it made its way to the Sun Belt. And now, three weeks before election day, hospitals across the Midwest and northern plains are feeling the strain.

While cases and hospitalizations are rising again across most of the US, some of the biggest surges are happening in states like Montana, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. These states escaped the worst of the surges in the spring and summer.

One expert told us that hospitals in North Dakota are nearing capacity. Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, almost 1,000 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in a surge that shows no sign of slowing.

“Clearly there are clouds on the horizon, and there are some very worrisome trends,” Mark Rupp, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, told BuzzFeed News.

The field hospital at the Wisconsin State Fair Park has 530 beds for COVID-19 patients. Wisconsin Department of Administration

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

Republicans repeatedly brought up Amy Coney Barrett’s faith. Democrats stayed away from it.

Immediately after President Donald Trump announced that Amy Coney Barrett would be his Supreme Court nominee, Republican lawmakers and conservative groups launched preemptive attacks against any criticism of Barrett’s Catholic faith from Democrats.

Here’s the thing: those criticisms never came. Over three days of her nomination hearings, Democrats barely touched the subject.

However, in trying to combat the questions that didn't arise, Republican members ended up repeatedly bringing her religion into the hearings.

SNAPSHOTS

A judge ruled North Carolina can extend its deadline to count mail-in ballots, despite the Trump campaign’s objections. The judge ruled, however, that North Carolina absentee voters must still have a witness sign their ballots for them to be valid.

Seniors who aren’t afraid of the coronavirus love what Trump is saying about COVID. Trump and his campaign are keeping focused on their base, and the base doesn't want to hear about the coronavirus. Even among older adults in Florida.

Facebook limited the reach of an unconfirmed story about Joe Biden’s son Hunter. Twitter blocked it. The social media platforms said they will be limiting the distribution of, or blocking, a New York Post story making unverified claims about former vice president Joe Biden.

In defiance of a state order, California Republicans say they plan to keep collecting ballots via unauthorized ballot boxes. The state GOP was ordered to pull its unauthorized ballot boxes from locations in at least four California counties earlier this week, but California’s Republican Party will defy the order.

Barron Trump tested positive for COVID-19. First lady Melania Trump said that Barron, 14, exhibited no symptoms during his infection and has since tested negative.

LEFT OUT

Nearly 5.2 million Americans can’t vote in the 2020 election due to a felony conviction

It may be the most important US election in a generation, but a new study says that more than 5 million Americans won't be allowed to vote in it, because of a felony conviction.

For decades, organizers and lobby groups have been pushing reforms to disenfranchisement laws across the US. Yet despite the reforms in many states, felony disenfranchisement is still alive and well.

The report from the Sentencing Project, a nonprofit criminal justice advocacy group, estimates that 5.17 million people are barred from voting this year because of a felony conviction — down from an estimate of 6.11 million disenfranchised Americans in 2016.

👉 Particularly noteworthy: The study found felony disenfranchisement is more prevalent in the South, where voting restrictions have historically been used to exclude Black Americans from voting.

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT

This Utah man recorded a terrifying encounter with an angry mama cougar

Kyle Burgess, an outdoorsy dude in Utah, is counting his lucky stars after an encounter with a mother cougar last weekend.

While out trail running, Burgess saw what he thought were baby bobcats, and decided to take some pictures. “That’s when the mama saw me. And I realized these are not bobcats; these are baby cougars. And mama did not like that,” he said.

He started backing up, phone still in hand, and kept recording as the mom followed him — sometimes charging forward in a threatening manner with her teeth bared. The whole thing is pretty intense.

Be intentional about how you tell your story today,

Elamin