Vice Presidential debate to be held tonight

The only debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris will begin at 8 p.m. tonight.

It will be held at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and will be moderated by Susan Page, the Washington bureau chief for USA Today. It will run for 90 minutes without commercial interruptions.

As the head of the White House task force on the coronavirus, Pence will account for the White House’s response to the pandemic and President Trump’s action since his positive diagnosis.

According to the New York Times, Harris could have a hard time attacking a president who has just contracted the virus.

Race and gender will also play a key role, and Jennifer Lawless, a professor of politics at the University of Virginia, said Harris will face an extra hurdle because she is a woman and a person of color.

Pence will simultaneously attack the strategies of Biden and Harris, and defend the last four years of the Trump administration.

Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded to two women

Jennifer A. Doudna, a biochemist at the University of California at Berkeley, and Emmanuelle Charpentier, a French microbiologist, were awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday, the first time two women jointly won the award.

According to the Washington Post, they are known for their work in developing CRISPR-Cas9, a tool that can alter the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms. It is being used in research laboratories to help cure inherited diseases and provide a form of cancer therapy.

Since 1901, the Nobel Committee has awarded 112 prizes in chemistry to 186 people. Only seven, including Doudna and Charpentier, were women.

Charpentier told reporters, “I wish that this will provide a positive message, specifically, to young girls who would like to follow the path of science.”

Tanglewood schools open earlier than planned

Certain grades in the Fort Worth Independent School District were allowed back in the classroom Monday, but schools in Overton Park and Tanglewood reopened for all students.

Fort Worth ISD’s gradual transition to in-person learning began Monday, and they planned to have all grade levels return by Oct. 19, but concern over internet stability brought some students into school early.

Connie Smith, the Overton Park Elementary principal, said many families have voiced concern over internet stability in the area. In an email sent to these parents Sept. 30, Smith said the school would take second- through fifth-graders as early as Tuesday.

According to the Fort Worth Star Telegram, school officials said local principals have the right to decide when their students can return, “so it’s unclear how many or which other schools have done so.”