This past Friday, December 11th, the Food and Drug Administration approved Pfizer’s new COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use. On Sunday, the first trucks carrying Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine left a Portage, Michigan factory near Kalamazoo. They carry 2.9 million doses headed via FedEx and UPS to over 600 sites throughout the country including Las Vegas, with the first doses expected to arrive Monday.

During the Ma Ying-jeou presidency in Taiwan (2008-2016), confrontations over relations with the People’s Republic of China stressed the country’s institutions, leading to a political crisis. Nevertheless, as documented in Dynamics of Democracy in Taiwan, a new book edited by Kharis Templeman, Yun-han Chu, and Larry Diamond, its democracy proved to be resilient. In this discussion, several of the book’s contributors will reflect on the politics of this era, and what subsequent developments tell us about the enduring strengths and weaknesses of Taiwan’s democracy.

With the first COVID-19 vaccine expected to arrive in Nevada on Monday, state public health officials are making final preparations to distribute the doses across the state and begin administering them to healthcare workers.

The growth of esports betting globally through 2020 has been discussed at length. Its potential in the U.S. market alone is vast, but it’s certainly been more of an uphill challenge given the legality of sports betting state to state.

In the mid-1990s, a novel wedding tradition became popular among African Americans: ‘jumping the broom’. As the couple is pronounced legally wed, they turn to the crowd, clasp hands and jump over a broomstick placed on the floor. One couple explained the ritual’s attraction. ‘It’s traditional,’ they said, ‘and we need to bring it back to our culture. Every Black person should do it.’ For them, as for many, culture and tradition were intimately linked to group identity, and jumping the broom symbolised racial and ethnic unity among those descended from enslaved people in the United States. Indeed, couples who did not jump the broom prior to its widespread revival often expressed regret that they were unaware of the custom when planning their wedding.

The Electoral College meets today, and Nevada's six electoral votes are set to go to President-elect Joe Biden, despite attempts by the Trump campaign to overturn the results.

As November started to draw to a close, there was a small glimmer of hope that capacity restrictions at state casinos would be lifted. However, the exact opposite happened and properties were ordered to limit their traffic flows to just 25% of their normal capacity. If there was hope of December bringing a little holiday spirit to the gambling scene in the state, that has now been dashed by Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak. The 25% capacity is going to remain in place until the middle of January.

A typical New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas could be a textbook case on what not to do during a pandemic.

The surge in COVID-19 cases is currently impacting contact tracing investigations in Nevada.