Good morning, hope you had a good holiday.

1. Governors’ race update.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections held another emergency Sunday meeting. From the N&O:

The State Board of Elections held an emergency meeting by phone on Sunday afternoon to consider a request for an expedited appeal of ballot tabulation concerns that the Durham County elections board had rejected. The meeting was called after McCrory’s campaign sent out a news release Saturday night proposing that deal, but that proposal wasn’t on the agenda.

Board members briefly discussed news accounts of the McCrory offer, but were informed by legal staff that they had not received anything in writing.

The state board also on Sunday declined to act on the appeal of the Durham County ruling rejecting a protest that election workers and malfunctioning computers mishandled some 94,000 votes. The state board said it could not act on the appeal until it had received a full record of a hearing the county board held.

State elections officials will press Durham County to provide as soon as possible a transcript of the hearing, a written order from the hearing and any evidence that was presented. Once that material is sent to the state, board members want to have enough time to review it.

The deal McCrory offered would see him withdrawing his request for a statewide recount if there was a hand recount of Durham ballots. The Durham County Board of Elections, which is controlled by Republicans, denied a protest from Republican Party lawyer Thomas Stark on November 17.

2. Fidel Castro dies.

Former Cuban president Fidel Castro, a revolutionary-turned-dictator loathed by the United States for his close relationship with the Soviet Union, died on Friday at the age of 90. If you’re going to read one obituary, this one’s pretty fair.

3. Recount effort picks up steam.

Jill Stein raised millions to fund recount efforts in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and Hillary Clinton’s campaign is ever-so-cautiously backing those efforts.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign said Saturday it will take part in efforts to push for recounts in several key states, joining with Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who has raised millions of dollars to have votes counted again in Wisconsin.

But, in a post on Medium, Marc Elias, the campaign’s counsel, said the campaign’s own investigation has not uncovered any evidence of hacking of voting systems.

In the campaign’s most detailed comments to date on the recount, Elias wrote that while the campaign was not going to contest the results itself, it has decided now to take part in the effort to “ensure that it is fair to all sides.”

But President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday dismissed the recount and said that “the election is over.”

Trump threw a fit, of course, and straight-up lied (as he is wont to do), saying he would have won the popular vote as well, “if you deduct millions of people who voted illegally” for Clinton.

Who wants to try to parse what “deduct” means in that context?

4. Durham City Council pens open letter.

The Durham City Council penned an open letter last week in the News & Observer saying it will “will always stand strong to protect the safety of the people of this city and to defend our progressive values – whatever the character of the president of the United States, and whatever the policies he or she may choose to pursue.”

It’s well worth a read:

The Durham City Council (1) condemns all hateful speech and violent action directed at Muslims, those perceived to be Muslims, immigrants and people of color; (2) categorically rejects any politician’s anti-Muslim rhetoric used as a tactic to influence voters or inflame hostilities; (3) commits to pursuing a policy agenda that affirms civil and human rights, and ensures that those targeted on the basis of race, religion or immigration status can turn to government without fear of recrimination; (4) reaffirms the value of a pluralistic society, the beauty of a culture composed of multiple cultures, and the inalienable right of every person to live and practice their faith without fear; and (5) pledges to work to make Durham a city that reflects those values in word and deed.

Your move, Raleigh.

That’s all for today. Have a good week.