Big Time News Blog: 02/11/20

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Michael Bloomberg creeps into 3rd place in new national poll

Quinnipiac University released a new national poll Monday. Sen. Bernie Sanders took his first lead among Democratic presidential candidates in the poll, while the usual frontrunner, former Vice President Joe Biden, dropped 9 points. He’s still in second place, but billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg looks like he’s encroaching on Biden’s turf, jumping up 8 points, which puts him in third place.

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Arkansas lawmaker calls for changes after police encounter

A black Arkansas lawmaker plans to introduce legislation next year aimed at changing police tactics after officers drew guns on her and another black politician who had called 911 to report that they were being harassed. Democratic state Rep. Vivian Flowers, from Pine Bluff, said the planned legislation would address the use of police body-cameras; police increasingly collecting data; penalties for filing false police reports; and creating limits to police use of force. At a news conference Monday, Flowers recalled the Feb. 3 incident outside of a Little Rock fundraiser for state House candidate Ryan Davis, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.

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New York man accused of manipulating daughter's college friends charged with sex trafficking

Lawrence Ray, the father of a former Sarah Lawrence College student, is accused of manipulating and abusing her school friends.

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Nikola announces Badger electric pickup set to compete with Rivian and Tesla

On Monday, Nikola announced the launch of its Badger electric pickup truck, a model said to generate over 900hp and have a range of 600 miles on a single charge. Joining the ranks of Rivian, Tesla, and now GMC with the revival of the Hummer, Nikola will be launching its own rendition of the electric pickup truck. The Badger is a model "designed to target and exceed every electric or petrol pickup in its class" and handle whatever needs a construction company could have for it.

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Chinese nurses heading to Wuhan are shaving their heads to treat coronavirus patients because long hair can spread the disease

The nurses made the sacrifice with a smile before shipping out from other parts of China to face the virus.

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As coronavirus spreads on cruise ships, what does it mean for cruisers and cruise lines? 'It's day-by-day'

Coronavirus has forced the cruise industry to take measures to keep the outbreak at bay. But how will it impact the industry and cruisers?

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Bloomberg jumps to 2nd among black Democrats, Biden falls, in new poll

A Quinnipiac University poll released Monday had universally bad news for former Vice President Joe Biden, right as he heads into the New Hampshire primaries. Nationally, the poll found, Biden dropped into second place at 17 percent, the new frontrunner being Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), with 25 percent. Relative newcomer Mike Bloomberg, the billionaire former New York City mayor who is significantly outspending everyone in the race, comes in third at 15 percent, followed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) at 14 percent.But losing his national lead isn't the worst news for Biden. After New Hampshire, where Biden has low exceptions, comes South Carolina, where Biden's strong support among African American voters was expected to keep him on top. According to the Quinnipiac poll, as Axios noted Tuesday, his black firewall is burning. Biden's support among black Democrats dropped to 27 percent in the new poll, from 51 percent in December. And it appears that much of that support shifted to Bloomberg, who jumped to 22 percent support among black voters, followed by Sanders (19 percent), Warren (8 percent), and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg (4 percent). All the Democrats beat President Trump in head-to-head matchups, but Bloomberg's 51-42 percent margin of victory was the largest.Oddsmakers now have Bloomberg in second place for the Democratic nomination, after Sanders, Axios reports.The sample size of black voters in the poll probably wasn't very large, though. Quinnipiac conducted its poll Feb. 5-9 among 1,519 registered voters, 665 of whom are Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents. It has an overall margin of error of ±2.5 percentage points and a ±3.8 point margin of error for the Democrats and Democratic leaners.More stories from theweek.com President Bloomberg? 3 Roger Stone prosecutors quit over Justice Department sentencing reversal Why Wall Street isn't freaking out about Bernie Sanders