What we’re reading: Justice Department files antitrust lawsuit against Google, Supreme Court declines to block Pennsylvania mail-in ballot extension

Published Oct 20, 2020

In this April 17, 2007 file photo, exhibitors work on laptop computers in front of an illuminated sign of the Google logo at the industrial fair Hannover Messe in Hanover, Germany. The Justice Department’s lawsuit against Google alleging antitrust violations marks the government’s most significant attempt to protect competition since its groundbreaking case against Microsoft more than 20 years ago. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, File)

Trump administration launches an antitrust lawsuit against Google

The Justice Department and several Republican-led states filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google on Tuesday, according to Politico.

The suit is the biggest action taken to date by the government as tech companies like Google, Apple and Facebook continue to grow in size.

This lawsuit comes after years of complaints by smaller tech companies, news publishers and other rivals in the U.S. and Europe.

“Our recent hearing on Google’s advertising business revealed its anticompetitive conduct may not be limited to search,” said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. “I hope the Department will follow the evidence to end monopolistic behavior wherever it finds it.”

31 states are now in the “red zone” as COVID-19 cases rise

Thirty-one states are considered in the red zone for new cases over the last week, according to the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

States in the red zone have seen more than 100 new cases per 100,000 in the last week, according to ABC News.

The coronavirus has now killed at least 220,133 people in the U.S. and more than 1.1 million people worldwide.

Missing hiker from California is reunited with her family after two weeks

Zion National Park near Springdale, Utah, where Holly Courtier was missing for two weeks and found by park rangers. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

Holly Courtier, a California mother, was lost in a Utah national park for 12 days before being reunited with her family Sunday, according to ABC News.

Courtier’s daughter said her mother hit her head on a tree while exploring the park and missed her shuttle pick up Oct. 6.

“She was able to survive her ordeal by staying close to a water source as rescuers searched for her,” her daughter Kailey Chambers said.

Supreme Court declines to block Pennsylvania mail-in ballot extension

An envelope of a Pennsylvania official mail-in ballot for the 2020 general election in Marple Township, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that it is declining to block a Pennsylvania state court ruling allowing mail-in ballots to be counted up to three days after Election Day, according to Politico.

The justices ruled in a 4-4 tie in one of their first major decisions since the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. As is usual for emergency injunctions, the justices offered no explanation for their decisions.

In their requests for relief, Republicans complained the state court’s ruling was violating the U.S. constitution’s rules for elections by pushing the election past Election Day.

“This is a loss for voters and for election integrity, you partisan hack,” Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis said in response to Democratic attorney Mark Elias’s announcement of the ruling.

Democrats said those arguments were without merit.

The court took three weeks to act on the emergency applications in the Pennsylvania case, an unusually long period for such requests in the time immediately before an election.