[Emerges from a cave filled with slushies and empty White Claw cans.] Hey there! It’s Hunter, and I’m back after a week off. Here’s what you need to know today.

1. Do states and cities have enough money to distribute COVID-19 vaccines?

The light at the end of the tunnel got brighter today as a second COVID-19 vaccine proved to be successful in clinical trials.

Biotech company Moderna, Inc. said its experimental vaccine was 94.5% effective. The news comes a week after pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said its vaccine was more than 90% effective.

Both companies are expected to file for emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration to provide vaccines to the public. Distribution of the vaccines could begin as soon as this year, but a wide-scale rollout may not happen until 2021. [NPR]

But providing vaccines may be hampered by inadequate funding, officials in several states warn. As The New York Times reports, local health departments have asked Congress for at least $8.4 billion for a robust vaccination campaign. [NYT]

How will cash-strapped Illinois pay for distribution? A plan unveiled last month by Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration says it will rely on “adequate federal funding” but does not say how much money will be needed.

Illinois’ plan prioritizes access to vulnerable populations and frontline health care workers. It also allows Chicago to get its own vaccine shipments straight from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [Illinois Department of Public Health]

Meanwhile, the surge of new cases show no signs of slowing down. Illinois officials today reported 11,632 new cases and 37 deaths. [WBEZ]

2. Biden urges Congress to quickly approve expansive coronavirus relief package

President-elect Joe Biden said today that Congress needs to pass the Heroes Act, a plan from House Democrats that would provide money to states and local governments, boost unemployment benefits and provide another round of stimulus payments.

The House has already approved the Heroes Act, but GOP leaders in the Senate have no interest in that plan because of its large price tag.

Many economists have urged Congress to quickly approve more federal relief to help struggling businesses and jobless workers, but negotiations between Democratic and Republican lawmakers have hit a stalemate. [AP]

Biden’s speech comes as infection, hospitalization and death rates from the coronavirus surge across the nation. Here’s a look at where cases are rising in the U.S. [NPR]

3. More Republicans urge Trump to accept election results

As President Donald Trump continues to falsely claim he won the election, his national security adviser promised a “professional transition,” reports NPR.

“If the Biden-Harris ticket is determined to be the winner — and, obviously, things look that way now — we’ll have a very professional transition with the national security council, no doubt about it,” said adviser Robert O’Brien.

His comments come as several high-profile Republicans are pushing the president to commit to a smooth transition of power.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, both Republicans, recently acknowledged that Biden won the election and suggested the transition should begin. [NPR]

John Bolton, who served as Trump’s national security adviser, urged GOP leaders to stop supporting the president’s baseless claims of voter fraud. [ABC News]

And strategist Karl Rove wrote in an op-ed that the president’s lawsuits are unlikely to overturn the election results in key states. [CNN]

Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama told NPR that delaying the transition process can have real-world consequences.

“Look, we’re in the middle of a pandemic. We’re in the middle of an economic crisis. We have serious national security issues,” he said. [NPR]

4. Lightfoot seeks to shore up support for property tax hike

Mayor Lori Lightfoot appears to face the prospect that her proposed $94 million property tax increase may not have enough votes to be approved by the City Council.

The mayor met privately over the weekend with the council’s Latino Caucus, which could be critical to whether the tax hike passes. According to the Chicago Tribune, Lightfoot vowed to tie her proposed budget with changes aimed at strengthening a sanctuary city ordinance. [Chicago Tribune]

Lightfoot also recently canceled plans to lay off 350 city workers in an effort to boost support for her proposal to close a $1.2 billion budget shortfall. The mayor needs at least 26 aldermen to approve her plan, but unnamed mayoral allies told the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday that Lightfoot is short by five to 10 votes. [Sun-Times]

5. Hate crimes rose in the U.S. to the highest level in a more than decade

There were 7,314 hate crimes last year, according to a report released today by the FBI. That’s the most since 2008, which saw 7,783 hate crimes. The U.S. also saw 51 hate crime murders last year, the most killings since the FBI began tracking the data in the 1990s.

Hate crimes targeting Jews and Jewish institutions rose last year to 953 reports compared to 835 from the year before. Overall, hate crimes based on religious beliefs were up 7%. Anti-Hispanic hate crimes also increased to 527 in 2019 from 485 in 2018. [AP]

Here’s what else is happening

• Hurricane Iota grew into a Category 5 storm as it moved toward Nicaragua. [NPR]
• Illinois’ prison population could be cut by 25% over five years and not see a rise in crime, a new study argues. [WBEZ]
• The head of the Chicago-based Latino Policy Forum said she’s not surprised that some Latino voters supported President Trump. [WBEZ]
• Gillian Anderson was on Fresh Air and talked about playing former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on The Crown. [NPR]

Oh, and one more thing …

The German government is praising couch potatoes in a new coronavirus ad campaign that is hilariously brilliant. In one video, an elderly man reflects on the winter of 2020.

“The fate of our country was in our hands,” the man says. “So, we mustered all our courage and did what was expected of us, the only right thing: We did nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

You can watch the video in the link. [BBC]

Tell me something good …

I’ve been staying in my apartment a lot lately (and by “lately,” I mean “the last nine months”), and I’d like to know what is one of your most prized possessions.

Mine is an illustration my husband gave me of one of my Dungeons & Dragons characters — a gay half-elf bard I call the Twink Slayer, prince of twerking.

Feel free to email at therundown@wbez.org or tweet to @whuntah.

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