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The Game Awards' fan-voted game of the year nominees find room for snubs - PolygonWASHINGTON — Senate Democrats reelected Chuck Schumer as party leader on Tuesday as the party moves into a deeply uncertain time, with no real consensus on a strategy as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office. Schumer faced no opposition in the party leadership elections, in which Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin was also reelected to the No. 2 spot and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar became the new No. 3. In a statement, Schumer, of New York, said he was honored to move the party forward “during this crucial period for our country.” “Our preference is to secure bipartisan solutions wherever possible and look for ways to collaborate with our Republican colleagues to help working families,” Schumer said. “However, our Republican colleagues should make no mistake about it, we will always stand up for our values.” While Schumer remains popular with his colleagues, it is a bleak moment for Senate Democrats, who were hopeful they could hold the majority for the third election in a row. Instead they lost four seats and will be in the minority, 53-47, as Trump takes office. Trump dialed in Tuesday with Senate Republicans as they began laying the groundwork for control of government. The brief call was more celebratory than a prescriptive policy agenda, according to those attending the private GOP retreat, urging senators to confirm his Cabinet nominees as they launch an agenda of tax cuts, deportations and other priorities. "It was a love fest," said Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo. “There was a real sense of unity in the room.” Republicans want to notch an early accomplishment after Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20. Incoming Senate Republican leader John Thune of South Dakota outlined a potential roadmap during the private retreat at the Library of Congress, detailing a potential strategy that would have senators working on an initial legislative package — energy, border security and defense priorities — that could be approved in the first 30 days of the new administration. Next, he explained that the senators would turn to reviving the expiring tax cuts from Trump's first term. The new Congress convenes Jan. 3, and the Senate expects to quickly begin holding confirmation hearings for Trump’s top Cabinet nominees. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., also addressed the GOP senators — noting his slim majority in the House. He “emphasized the need for unity heading into the first 100 days agenda,” his spokesman Taylor Haulsee said. Unlike eight years ago, when opposition to Trump’s narrow election win fueled enthusiasm in their party, Democratic lawmakers and many of their voters are exhausted and looking for answers. So far, Democrats stayed relatively quiet on Trump’s nominees and plans for office. Schumer declined to comment on specifics of any nominees, instead allowing Republican reaction to dominate the conversation. On Monday, Schumer wrote a public letter to Thune, asking him to resist Trump’s pressure to allow him to appoint some of his nominees without a Senate vote and to insist on full FBI background checks for all nominees. But he has said little else about Trump’s upcoming presidency. While some have been more aggressive — Washington Sen. Patty Murray, a former chairwoman of the Senate Health, Labor, Education and Pensions Committee, said that Trump’s nomination of Robert Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department is “dangerous” and “nothing short of disaster” — several Democratic senators say they are saving their strength and figuring out a focus. “Everybody’s in kind of a wait-and-see mode right now,” said Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, part of Schumer’s leadership team. “Under the previous Trump administration, there was chaos all the time, all the time. And I do think it is important to pick your battles.” It’s still unclear which battles they will pick, and Democrats have differing opinions on how to fight them. Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, who is also in Democratic leadership, says “anyone who has a grand strategy is full of crap” but thinks Democrats, for now, “need to keep things simple.” “We need to talk about people, protect people, advocate for people,” he said. “Do not talk about protecting institutions. Do not talk about advocating for institutions. It’s a not just a rhetorical shift, but an attitudinal shift. We have to remind ourselves, that we’re not fighting for programs and projects and line items and agencies or norms. We’re fighting for people.” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said he’s spent a lot of time reflecting, and “I don’t think anyone can claim this was a policy election,” and Democrats need to look at cultural issues. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman says Democrats just need to “pace ourselves” and avoid the “massive freakout” of Trump's last term. Democrats should be preparing, says Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal. He says Schumer is picking his battles “very thoughtfully and strategically.” “We’re thinking about how we protect against using the FBI, or the prosecutorial authority of the Justice Department for retribution against critics,” Blumenthal said. “How we elevate these issues in a way that American people understand them.” Democrats know better now “the extraordinary challenges we’re going to face,” Blumenthal said.Yusei Kikuchi signs with Angels, Juan Soto taking offers & the BBQ Mailbag | Baseball Bar-B-Cast

Egg prices are rising once more as a lingering outbreak of bird flu coincides with the high demand of the holiday baking season. But prices are still far from the recent peak they reached almost two years ago . And the American Egg Board, a trade group, says egg shortages at grocery stores have been isolated and temporary so far. “Those are being rapidly corrected, sometimes within a day,” said Emily Metz, the Egg Board's president and chief executive officer. The average price for a dozen eggs in U.S. cities was $3.37 in October , according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was down slightly from September, and down significantly from January 2023, when the average price soared to $4.82. But it was up 63% from October 202, when a dozen eggs cost an average of $2.07. Metz said the egg industry sees its highest demand in November and December. “You can’t have your holiday baking, your pumpkin pie, your stuffing, without eggs,” she said. Avian influenza is the main reason for the higher prices. The current bird flu outbreak that began in February 2022 has led to the slaughter of more than 111 million birds, mostly egg-laying chickens. Anytime the virus is found, every bird on a farm is killed to limit the spread of the disease . More than 6 million birds have been slaughtered just this month because of bird flu. They were a relatively small part of the total U.S. egg-laying flock of 377 million chickens. Still, the flock is down about 3% over the past year, contributing to a 4% drop in egg production, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The latest wave of bird flu is scrambling supplies of cage-free eggs because California has been among the hardest hit states. California, Nevada, Washington and Oregon all require eggs sold in their states to be cage-free . “We’re having to move eggs from other areas of the country that are producing cage-free to cover that low supply in those states, because those states only allow for cage-free eggs to be sold,” Metz said. Cage-free requirements are set to go into effect in Arizona, Colorado and Michigan next year and in Rhode Island and Utah in 2030. Demand for such specialty eggs may also be contributing to avian flu, which is spread through the droppings of wild birds as they migrate past farms. Allowing chickens to roam more freely puts them at greater risk, said Chad Hart, a professor and agricultural economist at Iowa State University. “It's really hard to control that interaction between domesticated birds and wild birds,” Hart said. "Some of those vectors have been opened up because we’re asking the egg industry to produce in ways that we didn’t ask them to before.” Metz said climate change and extreme weather are also blowing some wild birds off course. “We have birds that have been displaced by hurricanes, by wildfires, and those birds are now circulating in areas that they otherwise might not circulate or at times of the year that they otherwise may not be circulating," she said. "And those are all new variables that our farmers are having to deal with.” Hart said the egg industry is trying to rebuild the flock, but that also can limit supplies, since farmers have to hold back some eggs to hatch into new chickens. Still, there is some good news on U.S. poultry farms. The price of chicken feed — which represents 70% of a farmer's costs — has fallen significantly after doubling between 2020 and 2022, Hart said. Durbin reported from Detroit. Funk reported from Omaha. Vancleave reported from Minneapolis.Peacock’s ‘Hysteria!’ set in Michigan during 1980s satanic panic

Nelly Korda struggles at CME Group Tour Championship, opens 8 back of leader Narin An

If you’re tired of your headphones failing to deliver quality sound, the search for the perfect pair can feel endless. Fortunately, this Black Friday, Amazon is offering a great deal on the Beats Solo 4 headphones, now available for just $99—a massive 50% off the regular price of $199 . This is an unrecorded low price for a product that combines style, comfort and impressive audio performance. See at Amazon As part of Amazon’s Black Friday event, you can take advantage of two benefits: a price guarantee during the Black Friday period and an extended return policy until January 31, 2025. This means if you purchase these headphones now and find them at a lower price later during Black Friday week, Amazon will refund you the difference. With the extended return window, you can comfortably shop for holiday gifts without worrying about tight deadlines. Why Choose Them? The Beats Solo 4 headphones boast a modern design that stays true to the iconic Beats aesthetic (which now belongs to Apple). Available in Matte Black, Slate Blue, and Cloud Pink, these headphones feature a lightweight build for maximum comfort during extended use. Weighing in at just 217 grams, they are designed to fit snugly without causing discomfort over long periods. The ear cups are padded with soft material that provides decent passive noise isolation and allow you to immerse yourself in your music without distractions from the outside world. The battery life is also terrific: it can last up to 50 hours of playback on a single charge. The quick-charging capability is another bonus; just ten minutes of charging provides up to five hours of listening time . In terms of sound quality, the Beats Solo 4 have undergone massive improvements compared to their predecessor, the Solo 3. They offer a more balanced audio profile with less emphasis on overpowering bass and clearer mids and highs. The headphones support both USB-C and 3.5mm wired audio connections which means you can enjoy high-quality lossless audio when plugged in or switch to Bluetooth when you want the freedom of wireless listening. The integration of Apple’s Spatial Audio technology improves your listening experience further by providing an immersive soundstage that makes it feel like you’re surrounded by music. When it comes to compatibility, the Beats Solo 4 are designed to work seamlessly with both Apple and Android devices. They feature one-tap pairing for quick connectivity and support for Apple’s Find My Device feature and makes it easy to locate your headphones if they go missing. The controls are straightforward: the left ear cup features a multi-function button that allows you to play/pause music and adjust volume levels effortlessly. See at Amazon

Philadelphia (9-2) at Baltimore (8-4) Sunday, 4:25 p.m. EST, CBS BetMGM NFL Odds: Ravens by 3. Against the spread: Eagles 7-4; Ravens 6-5-1. Series record: Baltimore leads 3-2-1. Last meeting: Ravens beat Eagles 30-28 at Philadelphia on Oct. 18, 2020. Last week: Eagles beat Rams 37-20; Ravens beat Chargers 30-23. Eagles offense: overall (3), rush (1), pass (25), scoring (7) Eagles defense: overall (1), rush (7), pass (3), scoring (6) Ravens offense: overall (1), rush (2), pass (3), scoring (2) Ravens defense: overall (24), rush (2), pass (31), scoring (10) Turnover differential: Eagles plus-3; Ravens plus-2. RB Saquon Barkley. Barkley has not only turned the Eagles into legitimate Super Bowl contenders, his numbers could make him the first non-QB to win MVP since Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson in 2012. He had a career-high 255 yards on 26 carries and two rushing TDs against the Rams. It was the ninth-best single-game rushing performance in NFL history. Barkley has only played against Baltimore once, and finished with 83 yards rushing and a touchdown in October 2022. RB Derrick Henry. Not to be outdone, Henry is close behind Barkley in the race for the NFL rushing title, trailing 1,392 yards to 1,325. His 15 total TDs lead the league. This is the first meeting between players with at least 1,300 yards rushing since Week 16 of 2012, when Peterson's Minnesota team faced Houston and Arian Foster. Baltimore's Lamar Jackson vs. Philadelphia's top-ranked defense. Jackson has been particularly good with ball security this season. He's thrown only three interceptions. The Eagles lead the league with 46 points off turnovers since Week 8. Eagles: Philadelphia lost the heart of the team when DE Brandon Graham announced after last week's game that he was out for the season with a torn triceps. He said previously this would be his final season. Graham has 3 1/2 sacks this season, his 15th with the Eagles. ... The Eagles should know closer to game day if CB Darius Slay (concussion) and WR DeVonta Smith (hamstring) will play against the Ravens. Ravens: Star LB Roquan Smith (hamstring) did not play against the Chargers, but he was back at practice this week. The past three meetings between the teams have been decided by a combined four points. In fact, only one matchup in the series — Baltimore's 36-7 win in 2008 — has had a margin of more than five. ... The past two meetings came down to 2-point conversion attempts by Philadelphia near the end of the game, and both times the Eagles failed. ... John Harbaugh spent a decade on the Eagles' staff before becoming Baltimore's head coach in 2008. The Eagles have started 9-2 or better in three consecutive seasons. ... Nick Sirianni is the first Eagles head coach with winning seasons in each of his first four years with the team. ... Over the past 30 years, only five coaches have opened 9-2 or better in three straight years: Sirianni (2022-24 Eagles), Sean Payton (2018-20 Saints), Bill Belichick (2014-17 Patriots), Tony Dungy (2005-07 Colts) and Mike Shanahan (1996-98 Broncos). ... Philadelphia’s seven-game winning streak is tied for its third-longest stretch in a single season since 2004, trailing only the 2017 (nine) and 2022 (eight) seasons. ... The Eagles are second in the NFL with a .719 (23-9) road winning percentage since 2021, trailing only Kansas City (23-8) in that span. ... The Eagles have held opponents to fewer than 300 total yards for seven straight games, their longest streak since 2008. ... The Ravens have at least two sacks in 15 straight games. That's the longest active streak in the NFL. ... Jackson is 23-1 in games started against the NFC. ... Baltimore has scored TDs on 78.7% of its red zone trips, tops in the league. ... The Ravens are the first team in the Super Bowl era with at least 3,000 yards passing and 2,000 yards rushing through the first 12 games of a season. ... Jackson is the first player since 2020 (Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers) with at least 3,000 yards passing and a passer rating of at least 115 entering Week 13. ... Odafe Oweh and Kyle Van Noy have eight sacks apiece for Baltimore. The Ravens, Texans and Vikings are the only teams with two players who have reached that total. ... Baltimore has gone three straight games without scoring in the first quarter. Ravens TE Mark Andrews has a TD catch in two of his past three games and appears to be Baltimore's top option at that position despite the presence of Isaiah Likely. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

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FACT FOCUS: Posts misrepresent Biden administration spending on EV charging stations

has come up with an answer to homelessness in Ontario. The premier’s plan won’t put homeless people in houses. It will put them in jails. At the very time this country has decriminalized marijuana use, this province is now criminalizing drug use by homeless people. New legislation that targets homeless encampments, unveiled Thursday by his Progressive Conservative government, renders Ford as the enforcer. If passed into law, it would authorize police dragnets that sweep into parks to clear out the interlopers and throw drug users or repeat offenders into jail for six months with fines of up to $10,000 (leaving the impoverished with a life sentence of indebtedness). Instead of a comprehensive solution to the housing crisis, the premier has contented himself with half-measures. It is a missed opportunity that will only amplify human misery, jamming our jails with people looking for a roof over their head. Governments of the left, centre and right all pay lip service to homelessness without ever solving it. Ford had an opportunity this week to do it differently, by doing something difficult. And finally getting it done. The premier could have surprised his critics by announcing an ambitious, double-barrelled approach — quickly removing tent encampments from public parks, while rapidly finding and funding a place for homeless people to shelter and live. He didn’t get it done. Make no mistake, there’s plenty of blame to go around municipally, provincially and federally for our quintessentially Canadian variety of performative rhetoric and perennial inertia. But by playing tough guy, instead of making the tough but necessary decisions to truly help people on both sides of the divide — the housed and the unhoused — he could make matters worse. Ford could have justified his hard-line tactics by blending tough love with generous support. If he had in the same breath given the province’s swelling ranks of homeless people the gift of a safe place to go, a sanctuary where they would be protected from the cold and safeguarded from crime, the premier could have cast it as a holistic, albeit harsh emergency measure. No such thing. On the same day he announced a crackdown, the premier telegraphed he would let the homeless slip through the cracks. To clear encampments from our parks, there will be plenty of might but not much money to see them off safely. The premier’s plan should have been a massive Marshall Plan, akin to the unprecedented postwar investment to rebuild Europe at a time of widespread destruction and, yes, homelessness. On the eve of an expected election, in the wake of a massive tax rebate giveaway just announced by Ford’s Tories, I thought this government would show the wisdom to spare no expense. How much more new money is the Ford government investing in homelessness? A paltry $75.5 million, spread across a province of 16 million people and 444 municipalities. That is a rounding error in a province whose annual budget exceeds $214 billion — 0.035 per cent, to be precise. The amount is an insult coming from a premier who has just gifted the happily housed people of Ontario with $200 rebate cheques for all, at a cost of more than $2 billion to the treasury, on top of billions of dollars in foregone revenues from rebated gas taxes, license plate fees and road tolls. On enforcement there is egregious overreach, but on funding there is only tight-fisted short-sightedness. The math is undeniable and the misery is inexorable. There are thousands of homeless people across the province — mostly in the big boom towns like Toronto and Ottawa, but also in the smaller suffering cities like London and Windsor — who have nowhere to go. Which is to say, they don’t have homes to go to. Nor do they have shelters to sleep in — there simply isn’t enough emergency capacity. The premier could have surprised us by showing the leadership that others, of the left and right, have lacked. He should have announced a massive, multibillion-dollar campaign to take homeless people off our streets, out of our parks, and off our transit systems — while also giving them a place to stay by bankrolling a massive shelter system on an urgent basis. That could mean putting people anywhere and everywhere necessary — from armouries to tent cities — but temporary measures are better than half measures. And they are unavoidable in a time of unprecedented drug use and unapologetic encampment tactics. Instead of a double-barrelled strategy of humanity and hard-headed decision-making, Ford’s half-measure looks suspiciously like a political wedge being driven between the housed and unhoused. By introducing this plan on the last day of the legislative sitting before the Christmas break — potentially on the eve of a snap winter election campaign — the Tories appear to be pandering to voters with a proposal that will serve as a campaign slogan but never make it into law. This isn’t a crusade against homelessness. It’s a phoney war — a wedge — waged against homeless people by yet another government that lacks the resolve to find and fund solutions.Drone operators worry that anxiety over mystery sightings will lead to new restrictionsFriend forced to ride along as woman’s marriage derails

Digitized Discrimination: A Study of Hiring AssessmentsOKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Alabama faces a tougher roadblock than it might appear in its quest to maintain positioning for the College Football Playoff. Sure, Oklahoma has struggled in its first Southeastern Conference season. The Sooners (5-5, 1-5 SEC) have lost four straight conference games. The Sooners have fired their offensive coordinator and they have the worst offense in the league. But they have a tough defense, too. Linebacker Danny Stutsman, a midseason AP All-American, anchors a nasty unit that has kept the Sooners competitive in losses at Ole Miss and Missouri. He ranks second in the SEC with 96 tackles. Defensive back Billy Bowman Jr. has scored four defensive touchdowns since the start of the 2023 season, tied for the most nationally. Defensive end R Mason Thomas has seven sacks, with six coming in the fourth quarter of close games. Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer is paying attention. “It’s going to take a great week of preparation,” DeBoer said. “A physical football team all around. Their defense is, I think, an extremely tough defense in all ways — just what they do with their scheme and then with their personnel, the way they fly around.” Plus, Oklahoma is motivated. It’s Senior Day for a program that would become bowl eligible with a win. Beating the seventh-ranked Crimson Tide could cure a lot of ills for the Sooners. “I think they know they could be a great example for what fight and what belief and what finishing and what improving and what proving people wrong looks like,” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said. “And I think this is a group of guys that are committed to doing that.” Alabama (8-2, 4-2) has more answers than most. Jalen Milroe has passed for 15 touchdowns and rushed for 17. Freshman receiver Ryan Williams has 40 catches for 767 yards and eight touchdowns. “Yeah, incredibly explosive, and they have great playmakers everywhere," Venables said. “Certainly, it starts — everything goes through the quarterback.” There has been much talk about what a third loss would do to Alabama's playoff hopes. DeBoer said his team isn't focused on that. “I think we're really honed in and the guys really believe on and have understood the significance of really focusing on where we’re at right now,” he said. “We talk about the next play is the most important play, the next game is the most important game. We haven’t thought about anything beyond Oklahoma.” Milroe is only the fourth SEC quarterback since 2007 to have at least 15 passing touchdowns and 17 rushing touchdowns in a single season. The others won the Heisman Trophy during their seasons — Florida's Tim Tebow in 2007, Auburn's Cam Newton in 2010 and Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel in 2012. “I think it just starts with doing what’s best for the team, and that’s what Jalen is all about," DeBoer said. Since returning to the lineup early against South Carolina four games ago, Oklahoma quarterback Jackson Arnold has completed 70 of 112 passes for 705 yards with five touchdowns with no interceptions. Still, his fumble that was returned for a touchdown in the final minute against Missouri was the difference in a 30-23 loss. Arnold has dealt with significant criticism all season. “That goes along with that position at a place like the University of Oklahoma,” Venables said. “That’s a position that’s a little bit ... it’s a bit like the head coach position. There’s a different type of microscope and there’s a different type of focus and that’s okay he’s got broad shoulders to handle that.” Oklahoma running back Jovantae Barnes ran for career highs of 203 yards and three touchdowns against Maine two weeks ago, then he sat out last week's loss to Missouri. He's listed as questionable on this week's injury report. He leads the Sooners with 577 yards rushing this season. Venables is impressed with what DeBoer has done in his first year at Alabama since taking over for Nick Saban. “One of Kalen’s strengths as a football coach — a very successful coach — is he takes a group of players that he has, and their staff figures out what they can do,” Venables said. “They major in that, put them in position to be successful based on the players’ strengths. They’ve done a nice job of doing that throughout the course of the season.” Oklahoma beat heavily favored Alabama 45-31 in the Sugar Bowl to cap the 2013 season, a game that helped pump energy into the Sooner program under Bob Stoops. Alabama got revenge in 2018, beating the Sooners 45-34 in the College Football Playoff. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Landspace is expected to debut the enhanced version of its ZhuQue-2 rocket this week, and there are rumors that the Chang Zheng 12 rocket will take its maiden flight at the week’s end. Roscosmos is due to launch a highly classified mission from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia, while four Falcon 9 missions are expected this week from all three of SpaceX’s active pads in the United States. The first of these four Falcon 9 missions, Starlink Group 12-1, launched in the early hours of Monday morning and became the 400th orbital mission flown by Falcon 9 to date. Furthermore, Group 12-1’s launch also set a new record for the fastest booster turnaround time, with Falcon booster B1080 beating the previous record (21 days, set by B1062 two years ago) with a turnaround of 13 days and 12 hours. Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-76 A Falcon 9 is expected to lift off from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, Nov. 25, at 10:35 PM EST (03:35 UTC on Nov 26). Onboard will be another batch of Starlink v2 Mini satellites for the sixth and largest shell of the internet satellite constellation. The booster supporting this mission has not yet been confirmed but is expected to land on the autonomous droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which will be stationed approximately 600 km southeast of the Cape in the Atlantic Ocean. As of the recent Starlink Group 12-1 mission, SpaceX has launched over 7,400 Starlink satellites into orbit, of which 668 have deorbited. ZhuQue-2E is rolled to the pad. (Credit: Landspace) ZhuQue-2E | Unknown Payload The upgraded ZhuQue-2E (ZQ-2E)variant of Landspace’s medium-sized ZhuQue-2 (ZQ-2) rocket is expected to fly on its maiden flight this week. Utilizing liquid methane and liquid oxygen as propellants, ZQ-2 became the first methane-burning rocket to reach orbit almost two years ago in December 2022, and despite an issue with the upper stage on its demo flight, two successful launches followed last year, placing four payloads into Sun-synchronous orbit. ZQ-2E is expected to launch on Wednesday, Nov. 27, at 02:00 UTC from Site 96 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China, with a launch window lasting a little over an hour. The two payloads onboard have not yet been confirmed but could include two more test satellites for the Honghu constellation. Two 50 kg satellites were lofted by a ZQ-2 last December to test different Hall-effect and ion thrusters. Indications are that the payloads will be deployed approximately eight and a half minutes into the mission, targeting a 300 by 500 km low-Earth orbit inclined 50 degrees. The 47.3 m tall vehicle was rolled horizontally to the pad on Nov. 22 following successful static fire tests of its second stage a month prior. These also tested and verified the subsystems and propellant loading processes for the rocket. ZQ-2E uses the same 3.35 m diameter first stage with four Tianque 12 (TQ-12) engines as the ZQ-2 with an upgraded second stage that adopts a common bulkhead and a change of engines. This upgraded second stage now features one TQ-15A vacuum-optimized engine in place of the TQ-12 and four TQ-11 vernier thrusters of the ZQ-2. The TQ-15A engine will also be used on the forthcoming ZhuQue-3 rocket and is designed to be reignited in orbit, widening the scope of missions for the ZQ rocket family. Soyuz 2.1b prepares to launch Cosmos 2576 from Site 43/4 at Plesetsk in May 2024. (Credit: Russian Ministry of Defence) Soyuz 2.1b | Cosmos 2580 (Unknown Payload) A Soyuz 2.1b rocket is expected to launch the Cosmos 2580 mission, featuring another Lotos-S satellite, into orbit this week, though this has not yet been confirmed. Soyuz 2.1b is expected to launch from an unconfirmed pad at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia on Wednesday, Nov. 27, at 19:00 UTC during a two-hour launch window, carrying the payload to an orbit inclined by 67 degrees. Should a launch on teh 27th be scrubbed, alternative launch opportunities extend into early December. The Lotos reconnaissance satellites form part of a wider, classified, orbital electronic intelligence system known as Liana. This Electronic Signals Intelligence, or ELINT, system intercepts radar and electromagnetic radiation signals for the location and characterization of sites, ships, and aircraft of military interest. Four were procured by the Russian Ministry of Defense back in 2017, one of which has yet to be launched and could, therefore, be this payload. A further batch was subsequently ordered in August 2022 and is assumed to still be in production. Previous Lotos launches have been accompanied by a secondary payload, which has been deployed shortly after the primary satellite is released. Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-65 This will be SpaceX’s 120th Falcon mission of the year and Falcon 9’s 118th mission. Liftoff is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 30, at 12:00 AM EST (05:00 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, lofting another batch of Starlink v2 Mini satellites to low-Earth orbit. This will be the 67th mission to populate Starlink’s Group 6 shell, following the Group 6-76 mission earlier in the week. Currently, neither the booster nor the autonomous droneship supporting this mission has been announced. Falcon 9 Block 5 | NROL-126 This classified mission for the National Reconnaissance Office is likely to be a fifth batch of Starshield satellites built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman. Liftoff is scheduled for 12:08 AM PST (08:08 UTC) on Saturday, Nov. 30, from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California during a four-hour launch window. Following launch, Falcon 9 will fly on a southeasterly trajectory out of California. The booster supporting this mission has not yet been announced but is expected to perform Falcon’s 112th landing of 2024 on SpaceX’s autonomous droneship Of Course I Still Love You . The SXM-7 satellite, almost identical to the SXM-9 satellite replacing it, before it was integrated for launch. (Credit: Space Systems/Loral (SSL)/Maxar Technologies) Falcon 9 Block 5 | SXM-9 Falcon 9’s SXM-9 mission will launch the replacement for the SXM-7 high-power digital audio broadcasting satellite, which was launched four years ago in December 2020. SXM-7, itself a replacement for the XM 3 satellite, experienced unresolvable issues during its commissioning phase once in orbit. Operated by SiriusXM, SXM-9 is the first in a series of nearly identical third-generation satellites that will update the fleet. Subsequent launches are planned once per year up to SXM-12 in 2027. Built on Maxar’s 1300-class platform and massing around 7,000 kg, SXM-9 will support both Sirius and XM services’ broadcasting of sports, music, news, and entertainment content via satellite radio. The satellite includes a large mesh reflector, which measures almost 10 m in length when unfurled and has an expected 15-year lifespan. Launch is expected on Monday, Dec. 2, at 11:09 AM EST (16:09 UTC) from LC-39A in Florida, lofting the satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit. It is anticipated, but not yet confirmed, that the booster will attempt to land downrange on an autonomous droneship. (Lead image: Falcon 9 launches into the twilight skies of Florida. Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF)Polygon’s Editor’s Letter is a column from Editor-in-Chief Chris Plante that reflects on the video game and entertainment industries, their communities, and Polygon itself. New editions appear in the first week of each month. One of my more neurotic habits is maintaining a spreadsheet that tracks my media diet. Every movie, TV show, comic, sports match, Japanese study session, podcast, and of course video game gets clocked in 15-minute increments. Each day. 365 days a year. Time tracking allows me to analyze where and how I prioritize my time. This year, for example, I played a lot of video games — 106, to be precise. Scanning the spreadsheet, gaming demanded more of my time than any other media — by far. This was intentional. I wanted to keep up with video games in a year of endless new releases. So why does it feel like I missed out? For this month’s Editor’s Letter, I’ll share my takeaways from a year of drinking directly from the hose. And I’ll hopefully make sense of my lingering FOMO along the way. Some of what follows will read like the delirious blather of someone paid to, on some level, play video games for a living. But I hope most of my reaction is relatable. Because with services like Game Pass, an abundance of high-quality free-to-play games, and sales seemingly every other week, the challenge for most people isn’t access to games, but deciding what to play. Or, to put it another way: Everyone’s a game critic now. The cost of loving new games? Missing old ones I’ve written elsewhere about gaming’s current era of abundance , in which each week a dump truck unloads dozens of new releases, burying the previous week’s haul in the process. Despite the Sisyphean nature of this endeavor, I’ve tried my damndest to keep up and have spent most of the year scrounging through the ever-growing heap. Of the 106 games I played in 2024, 95 were released between January and today. The cost of that decision is obvious when you flip the numbers. In 2024 I played only 11 “old” games. Like anybody else, I have a backlog that mocks me every time I open Steam. I’d love to play more of those games someday, but making time to play old games means missing out on new releases, which in turn grows my backlog. One person can’t see the entire picture, but a community can A decade ago, playing 95 new games in a year meant I’d have played every important release, every mildly interesting experiment, and still made room for a few real stinkers. Today, it’s possible I didn’t play your favorite game of the year. Here are some of the games I didn’t play in 2024 that I sincerely wanted to try but for whatever reason didn’t make the time for: Deadlock , Satisfactory , Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance , Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 , Sand Land , Planet Coaster 2 , Core Keeper , Smite 2 , Chained Together , The Outlast Trials , and Persona 3 Reload . And what of living games like Fortnite and Final Fantasy 14 ? No way. These are the sorts of games that, if I played them, would consume every moment of my game time. And so, of the top 10 most-played games on Steam, in 2024, I only played one . You might be aghast. How could the person running Polygon skip some of the most important games in the world? I argue that my experience is a clear justification for Polygon’s existence. Even someone paid, in part, to have an obsessive understanding of video game culture can’t play everything. For the average person, a mix of websites, videos, streams, and podcasts will fill in the gaps. So even if I haven’t played your favorite games, I’ve probably read, watched, or heard something about them. People who only play a few popular games are the norm — for good reason Honestly, I’m exhausted just looking at the list of games I played, which I’ve included in the comments. Trying to keep up with the game du jour (more like du jouer, am I right?) is expensive, time-consuming, and often demands jettisoning one game I’m enjoying to make room for another. As I approach the finish line of my annual marathon, I have a renewed appreciation (jealousy?) for people who opt out of playing the new cool thing, instead committing to one, two, or three games that consume the bulk of their time. As I wrote in a previous Editor’s Letter : According to a report from Newzoo, in 2023 players spent 77% of their playtime on games three years or older. Much of the time players spent on new games went to annualized franchises, like Call of Duty, Madden, and EA FC. A paltry 8% of overall playtime in 2023 went to new games not tied to big, yearly IP. I suspect those stats held true in 2024. Committing to established, particularly free-to-play living games costs far less than a subscription service, let alone new games each week. These games provide constant updates to keep rewarding the time investment. Their familiar loop requires less of their players’ brains, freeing up those players’ mental load to be social with friends on Discord while they play. If you play games as a social activity or a stress relief valve, a few familiar games might be all you need. Video games will be whatever you want them to be Even with everything I’ve written in mind, I wouldn’t have gone about 2024 differently. Hell, as happy as I am to have a slowish December, I’m already looking forward to January, when Steam releases will inevitably ramp back up and my free time will be reclaimed by indie games I’d never heard about until the moment they appear under New & Noteworthy . Because, if you’ll afford me some seasonal saccharine sincerity, this is what childhood me hoped games would become. The variety of games released this year is unmatched compared to the medium’s contemporaries, like film and television. This year, you may play thousands of hours of some of the best role-playing games ever made. Or perhaps you refined your taste in roguelikes like a sommelier honing their palate. You could have flown a perfect re-creation of a commercial jet from Hong Kong to New York, raced in the Monaco Grand Prix, or won MVP at the Super Bowl. In 2024, I played a remake of a game from the 1980s, a pastiche of a game from the 1990s, and a deconstruction of the shooters of the early 2020s. One game turned my Windows OS into a bullet hell. Another gave a squirrel a gun. Games questioned the fundamentals of democracy, the unexamined grief of a pandemic, and the abject joy of stealing a shopping cart and gunning down a hill. Even if I didn’t have this job, I’d still have this gaming diet. Because I find the greatest pleasure in the possibilities. How fortunate we are to experience video games at this moment when there’s something for everyone. Whether that’s enjoying one game all year or a hundred. And six. And counting. I wrote earlier that I hoped to gift y’all with a universal takeaway. And here it is. What I learned from playing an absurd amount of video games over the last 12 months: Whether it’s video games or any other hobby, it’s tempting to look back at how we spent a year and consider everything we could have done instead. To dwell on the gap between our ambitions and our accomplishments. Don’t dwell on what you missed; grow from what you experienced. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned from tracking my life in a spreadsheet, it’s that there’s never enough time. Gaming Letter from the Editor Opinion

As President Joe Biden's term comes to an end, social media users are falsely claiming that his administration spent billions of dollars on the construction of just a handful of electric vehicle charging stations. Multiple high-profile figures, including sitting members of Congress, have promoted the claims. The claims misrepresent funding set aside by the 2021 Infrastructure and Jobs Act , also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, for a national network of publicly available electric vehicle chargers . Biden has set a goal of creating 500,000 such chargers by 2030. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.

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