Wayne Byers Show – Evening – Nov 24

Bismarck  (CSi)  – Gov. Doug Burgum released the following statement Tuesday after the North Dakota Supreme Court issued its opinion on the filling of the pending vacancy in the District 8 House of Representatives seat resulting from the tragic death of candidate David Andahl.

Burgum said:  “This case involved a question of the governor’s constitutional responsibility in a set of circumstances never before seen in North Dakota. The Supreme Court determined that responsibility is not applicable in this case. While we disagree with the findings, we respect the Court’s opinion and will continue to do our best every day to serve the citizens of North Dakota,” Burgum said.

Earlier Tuesday…

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota Supreme Court ruled that Gov. Doug Burgum does not have the authority to appoint someone to a state House seat won by a Republican candidate who died before the election. The court, in a unanimous ruling Tuesday, said that Burgum “has not established a clear legal right” to appoint his preferred candidate. It’s a setback for Burgum, who spent heavily to help oust a fellow Republican who had stymied the governor at the Capitol — and had hoped to prevent that very same rival, Jeff Delzer, from being appointed to fill the dead candidate’s seat.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has pardoned 24 people convicted of low-level marijuana crimes, in the second wave under a new policy that gives former pot offenders a second chance. The policy adopted last year allows people with low-level marijuana convictions petition to have their records wiped clean if they avoid unlawful behavior for five years. The pardons erase the convictions as if they never occurred and records are shielded from public view. Burgum pardoned 16 people earlier this year. Burgum and Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem both supported the change, which brings North Dakota in line with some other states.

In world and national news…

WASHINGTON  (AP)  President Donald Trump has signed off on giving his successor access to the nation’s most secure secrets.

An administration official said Tuesday that Trump has allowed President-elect Joe Biden to receive the presidential daily brief, the highly classified briefing prepared by the nation’s intelligence community for the government’s most senior leaders.

The official said the logistics of when and where Biden will first receive the briefing were still being worked out.

The determination comes a day after the General Services Administration cleared the way for beginning formal transition planning to the Biden administration ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration.

Trump continues to sow doubt about the outcome of the Nov. 3 election and has not formally conceded, but increasingly his administration is preparing for the handover.

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden has introduced his selections for his national security team. It’s his first substantive offering of how he’ll shift from President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies by relying on a slate of foreign policy and national security experts from the Democratic establishment to serve as some of his most important advisers. Biden’s Washington veterans all have ties to former President Barack Obama’s administration as the president-elect has sought to deliver a clear message about his desire to reestablish a more predictable engagement from the United States on the global stage. Biden said his team “reflects the fact that America is back.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar says his agency is working to immediately get briefing materials to President-elect Joe Biden’s team and pledged a “professional, cooperative and collaborative” transition to the new administration. Azar said in a news briefing Tuesday that the deputy surgeon general Rear Admiral Erica Schwartz began communicating Monday night with Biden’s team. That communication was triggered by the head of the General Services Administration earlier Monday writing the necessary letter of “ascertainment” acknowledging Biden as the apparent winner of the election. Azar said his department will provide briefings to ensure Biden’s team is getting information they feel they need that is consistent with the law and past practice.

ATLANTA (AP) — County election workers across Georgia have begun an official machine recount of the roughly 5 million votes cast in the presidential race in the state. The recount was requested by President Donald Trump after certified results showed him losing the state to Democrat Joe Biden by 12,670 votes, or 0.25%. Under state law, the losing candidate can request a recount when the margin is less than 0.5%. Trump’s campaign on Saturday formally requested the recount. The recount is being done using high-speed scanners, which read and tabulate the votes in accordance with a state election board rule. Last week, election officials completed a hand tally of the votes that confirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s lead.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Nevada Supreme Court has made Joe Biden’s win in the state official, approving the final canvass of the Nov. 3 election. The unanimous action Tuesday by the seven nonpartisan justices sends to Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak results that will deliver six electoral votes from the western U.S. battleground state to Biden. The court action drew extra scrutiny amid legal efforts by the state GOP and Trump campaign to prevent sending vote-by-mail ballots to all 1.82 million active registered voters and then to stop the counting of the 1.4 million votes that were cast. Certification of the vote does not stop several lawsuits pending in state and federal courts.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania officials say Democrat Joe Biden has been certified as the winner of the presidential vote in the state. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf first disclosed in a tweet Tuesday that the Pennsylvania Department of State had certified the vote count for president and vice president. The Pennsylvania results show Biden with 3.46 million votes, Trump with 3.38 million and Libertarian Jo Jorgensen with 79,000. The certification culminates three weeks of vote counting and a string of failed legal challenges by President Donald Trump. Biden has collected 306 overall electoral votes to Trump’s 232.

TORONTO (AP) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada will have to wait for a vaccine because the very first ones that roll off assembly lines are likely to be given to citizens of the country they are made in. Trudeau notes Canada does not have vaccine-production facilities. The United States, the United Kingdom and Germany do. Trudeau says it is understandable that an American pharmaceutical company will distribute first in the U.S. before they distribute internationally. But he says Canadians won’t have to wait for everyone in the U.S. to be vaccinated before Canada gets doses.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has released new results claiming its experimental COVID-19 vaccine is highly effective and promised it would cost less on international markets than vaccines made by some of its Western competitors. Russian Direct Investment Fund, which bankrolled the development of the jab, said Sputnik V will cost less than $10 per dose — or less than $20 for the two doses needed to vaccinate one person — on international markets. The vaccination will be free for Russians. Developers of the vaccine also said it was 91.4% effective, according to new trial data. Russia drew international criticism for giving Sputnik V regulatory approval before it underwent advanced testing among tens of thousands of people required to ensure its safety and effectiveness.

LONDON (AP) — The British government is relaxing coronavirus restrictions so that friends and families can gather over the holidays. Up to three households will be able to form a “Christmas bubble” for five days over the festive season, and members can move freely between them. People are currently barred from visiting members of other households in much of the U.K. in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus, and there are limits on travel to high-infection areas. In another change, the 14-day quarantine requirement for travelers arriving in England from most destinations will be reduced to as little as five days if they test negative for COVID-19.