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Cyber Monday is today and hurricane season is (technically) over: 5 things to know Monday

Cyber Monday arrives as pandemic boosts online sales for shoppers

While Black Friday may have closely resembled Cyber Monday due to the coronavirus pandemic, it's now officially the online shopping holiday. And Cyber Monday is slated to keep its top spot with shoppers expected to spend $12.7 billion, according to Adobe Analytics — 35% more than in 2019. Black Friday broke records, too. Consumers spent $9 billion online, a nearly 22% increase over the $7.4 billion in 2019 online Black Friday sales. However, the surge in digital orders during this extended Cyber "week" will challenge many retailers. "With the influx of online orders, retailers that planned for shipping constraints and instituted creative last-mile options will be winners," said Rob Garf, Salesforce vice president of strategy and insights.

Cyber Monday 2020: The best Cyber Monday laptop deals
Cyber Monday 2020: The best Cyber Monday laptop deals

'Jeopardy!' resumes filming with first guest host Ken Jennings

Ken Jennings will be the first interim "Jeopardy!" host when the TV game show resumes production Monday after longtime beloved host Alex Trebek died. Jennings will be one of several interim hosts before the show decides on a permanent replacement. "There will only ever be one Alex Trebek, but I'm honored to be helping 'Jeopardy!' out with this in January," Jennings wrote in a tweet. "Jeopardy!" will air 10 of Trebek's best episodes the weeks of Dec. 21 and Dec. 28. His final week of episodes will now air the week of Jan. 4. The first week of guest-hosted shows will air the week of Jan. 11 starting with Jennings, who holds the all-time records for most consecutive games won and highest winnings in regular-season play.

Arizona legislators, Trump lawyers plan public meeting on election

Arizona legislators and lawyers for President Donald Trump will meet at a downtown hotel Monday to discuss the election as they continue to dispute his defeat earlier this month. The gathering may rally Trump supporters and provide counter-programming on the same morning Arizona's secretary of state is scheduled to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, but it is unclear how legislators could do much of anything about the outcome of the race. While the Trump campaign and state Republican Party have filed election lawsuits in Maricopa County, they have not brought forward any evidence of fraud, and judges have so far tossed out the cases.

Hurricane season ends after record 30 named storms, 12 U.S. landfalls

Over six long months, 30 named storms – from Arthur to Iota – spun around somewhere in the Atlantic, with the 2020 hurricane season breaking records left and right. That all ends Monday. Officially, anyway. The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season – which ran from June 1 to Nov. 30 – produced 30 named storms, 12 of which made landfall in the United States, shattering the record of nine, set over a century ago. This year was also the fifth year in a row with above-normal activity, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. While the official end of the hurricane season is Monday, storms have been known to crop up all the way into December. Meteorologists are monitoring an area of disturbed weather several hundred miles southeast of Bermuda for possible development. If the disturbance becomes a tropical storm, it would be named Kappa.

NFL orders shutdown of team facilities to slow spread of COVID-19

The NFL has ordered team facilities to be closed to in-person activities Monday and Tuesday in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19 among players and staffers. A memo from commissioner Roger Goodell, tweeted Friday night by the NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, says in-person meetings are prohibited and must be held virtually. The NFL said it was taking the step because of the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the country and because it came to the league's attention that a "number of players and staffers celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday with out-of-town guests." Teams playing on Monday and Tuesday are exempt from the order.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cyber Monday is today, hurricane season ends: 5 things to know Monday