1) After Tuesday’s elections, Republicans have now secured 53 Senate seats. They will secure 54 if Republican Bill Cassidy wins a December runoff election in what state?
b) Louisiana
Louisiana is one of the few states that requires its Senators to be elected by a majority (not plurality) vote.
https://news.yahoo.com/alaska-win-boosts-republican-us-senate-majority-154818200.html
2) Of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives, how many will belong to Republicans in the next Congress?
c) 244
As a result of the election, there are no more white Democrats from the South in the House.
https://www.cnn.com/election/2014/results/race/house#
3) Conde Nast, the General Services Administration, the China Center and Kids Creative are among the tenants in what newly opened building?
c) New York’s World Trade Center
The World Trade Center is now open for business for the first time since September 11, 2001.
4) Whom did President Obama nominate to be the next United States Attorney General?
b) Federal Prosecutor Loretta Lynch
Lynch, a federal prosecutor from New York, has been tapped to replace outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder as head of the Justice Department.
5) Last week, the Supreme Court decided to hear a challenge to which part of the Affordable Care Act?
c) The subsidies granted to the poor for the purchase of private health insurance
The legal question involves whether, under the wording of the law, subsidies may be granted to citizens who live in states that have not set up their own health care exchanges.
6) In December 2009, the federal deficit was 10.1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). What is it now?
a) 2.8% of GDP
That is the most dramatic turnaround in 46 years.
7) What nation recently released American prisoners Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller?
d) North Korea
Bae and Miller had been held for committing unspecified “hostile acts.”
8) President Obama recently wrote a letter to the leader of this country that raised the possibility of the country helping in the fight against IS?
c) Iran
While the letter itself has not been made public, the White House has not denied reports of it existence and its contents.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/nov/06/obama-letter-ayatollah-khamenei-iran-nuclear-talks
9) Rumors persist that an Iraqi airstrike hit and possibly killed the leader of IS. What is his name?
a) Abu Bakr Baghdadi
The airstrikes took place in the Iraqi town of Al-Qaim.
https://www.cnn.com/2014/11/10/world/meast/isis-threat/index.html
10) Tom Magliozzi recently passed away at the age of 77. Magliozzi was formerly the host of what popular NPR show?
a) Car Talk
On the show, Magliozzi and his brother Ray – engineers and auto mechanics - were “Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers” and told jokes while taking calls from listeners who had questions about their cars.
https://www.npr.org/2014/11/03/357428287/tom-magliozzi-popular-co-host-of-nprs-car-talk-dies-at-77