1/ The Electoral College affirmed Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States after the Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit by Texas seeking to throw out the election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin that Trump lost in November. All 538 electors cast their votes for president based on the election results that were recently certified by all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The president-elect is expected to speak in prime time after surpassing 270 electoral votes needed to win. On Friday, the Supreme Court issued a short, unsigned order that said Texas had “not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another state conducts its elections.” It dismissed all pending motions about the case. All six battleground states – Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – that Trump contested cast their votes for Biden. (Politico / Bloomberg / NBC News / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Politico / NPR / Bloomberg)

2/ The United States administered the first shots of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to health care workers as the U.S. topped 300,000 total deaths since the pandemic began. On Friday, the FDA authorized the vaccine from Pfizer for emergency use in the United States for people age 16 and older. An initial shipment of about 2.9 million doses of the vaccine will be sent to 636 locations by the end of this week. Federal officials expect 20 million people to get the first of two required doses by the end of the month and have 100 million people in total immunized by the end of March. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted: “First Vaccine Administered. Congratulations USA! Congratulations WORLD!” (New York Times /