Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Besame and jck. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man,
wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw.
OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00 AM Eastern Time.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
Chicago Sun-Times: Full-court press: Illinois Republicans fight to take control of state Supreme Court for first time in over half a century by Dave McKinney
Illinois Republicans last controlled the state Supreme Court the same year the former John Hancock building opened along North Michigan Avenue, and the Chicago Cubs infamously blew the National League pennant.
History buffs will recognize that year as 1969.
But this November, that 53-year string of political futility could end if Republicans win two open Supreme Court seats that cover big swathes of suburban Chicago.
Democrats hold the advantage in these elections because last year they redrew the court’s boundaries for the first time in 58 years with an eye to retaining control of the state’s highest court for at least another decade.
Still, these two down-ballot elections hold enormous stakes if the court changes hands.
Washington Post: A ‘doomsday glacier’ the size of Florida is disintegrating faster than thought by Karina Tsui
A large glacier in Antarctica that could raise sea levels several feet is disintegrating faster than last predicted, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience.
The Thwaites Glacier — dubbed the “doomsday glacier” because scientists estimate that without it and its supporting ice shelves, sea levels could rise more than 3 to 10 feet — lies in the western part of the continent. After recently mapping it in high-resolution, a group of international researchers found that the glacial expanse experienced a phase of “rapid retreat” sometime in the past two centuries — over a duration of less than six months.
According to a news release accompanying the study, researchers concluded that the glacier had “lost contact with a seabed ridge” and is now retreating at a speed of 1.3 miles per year — a rate double what they predicted between 2011 and 2019.
“You can’t take away Thwaites and leave the rest of Antarctica intact,” said Alastair Graham, a marine geologist at the University of South Florida and the co-author of the study, in a phone interview.
He described the consequences of losing Thwaites “existential.”
NBC News: Surveillance video shows Georgia 'fake elector' escorting operatives into elections office before alleged data breach by Zoë Richards, Blayne Alexander, and Charlie Gile
Newly obtained video shows the former head of Coffee County Republicans escorting members of a forensics firm hired by a Trump-allied lawyer into a Georgia elections office shortly before an alleged data breach in January 2021.
The video, which was obtained by NBC News, shows Cathy Latham, the chairwoman of the Coffee County GOP at the time, greeting and escorting members of the tech firm SullivanStrickler into the office on Jan. 7, 2021, the same day as a data breach that is under investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
The video shows scenes only from outside the office.
NBC News has asked Holly Pierson, an attorney for Latham, and SullivanStrickler for comment.
New York Times: Juul Settles Multistate Youth Vaping Inquiry for $438.5 Million by Christina Jewett
Juul Labs, fighting for its survival in the United States, on Tuesday tentatively agreed to pay $438.5 million to settle an investigation by nearly three dozen states over marketing and sales practices that they contend set off the nation’s teenage vaping crisis.
The company said that it did not acknowledge any wrongdoing in the settlement, but that it was trying to “resolve issues from the past” while awaiting a decision by the Food and Drug Administration over whether it would be permitted to continue to sell its products. Juul has been trying to reposition itself as a seller of vaping products that could help adults quit smoking traditional cigarettes, in an effort to rehabilitate its tarnished reputation and improve its diminished market value.
The tentative settlement prohibits the company from marketing to youth, funding education in schools and misrepresenting the level of nicotine in its products. But Juul had already discontinued several marketing practices and withdrawn many of its flavored pods that appealed to teenagers, under public pressure from lawmakers, parents and health experts a few years ago when the vaping crisis was at a peak.
Christian Science Monitor: ‘I’m still alive, but that’s it’: Pakistan floods test resilience by Hasan Ali
Outside the entrance to his flood-damaged house, 18-year-old engineering student Rehanullah Khan rests against the trunk of a winding tree. He is dressed in a traditional cotton kurta shalwar, tunic and trousers, which might once have been gray or blue but are now completely brown, caked with layers of mud.
For the past two days, he and his family have been working round the clock to shovel all the mud and water out of their house, struck by the recent floods. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he picks up his shovel and gets back to work, clearing a path from the road to his door.
“No one has come to help us, not from the government or anywhere else,” he says. “Officials from the administration say that if they come down here, they might slip in the mud and break their bones.”
In some of the spots that Mr. Khan has not yet cleared, the mud lies 3 feet deep. His cousin, Salman, who lives in the same house, says that the family has lost most of their belongings in the flood. “We had to get out of here in a hurry and we were only able to take a couple of things,” he says. “Everything else got taken by the water. I swear it’s been four or five days since any of us have slept. We spend all day and night trying to clean up the mess.”
Guardian: Liz Truss culls cabinet on first day as loyalists and allies get top jobs by Pippa Crerar
Liz Truss insisted the UK will “ride out the storm” of the worst cost of living crisis in a generation as she launched her premiership with a brutal cabinet clear-out.
In her first address as prime minister in Downing Street, she pledged to be “hands on” in urgently tackling the energy crisis with plans to freeze bills expected within days, as her survival in No 10 depends on them.
Truss is expected to announce plans to freeze energy bills at about £2,500 a year until 2024 in the first major act of her premiership – but is unlikely to claw back the cost through customers’ future bills, leaving the taxpayer to pick it up instead.
Within moments of taking over, Truss was putting the finishing touches to her cabinet which saw close ally Kwasi Kwarteng appointed chancellor, Suella Braverman, who stood against her in the leadership contest, taking over from Priti Patel at the Home Office and James Cleverly promoted to foreign secretary.
El País in English: John Paul I: The legend of a short-lived pope by Daniel Verdu
Just like she had done for the previous 32 days, a nun named Vincenza Taffarel woke up before dawn on September 29, 1978, to make a cup of coffee for Albino Luciani, the newly elected Pope John Paul I. She took it to the vestry and left it there as usual for him to drink while he was dressing. A few minutes later, she peeked into the vestry and noticed that the cup of coffee was untouched. The nun opened the door to the pope’s bedroom and found him sitting up in bed, wearing his eyeglasses. The light was still on from the night before, and some papers he had been reading (some say it was The Imitation of Christ, a 15th-century devotional) were strewn about.
No one was prepared for the pope’s untimely death, nor for the news that a woman had entered a pope’s private quarters and found his corpse – imagine the rumors. But the ensuing Vatican response was badly botched – it issued a series of communications with conflicting information, changed its story several times, and refused to authorize an autopsy of Luciani, who served one of the most short-lived papal reigns in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. It’s a story that inspired novels, essays and movies for several decades, and resurfaced again with the announcement of the beatification of Pope John Paul I, miracle included. John Paul I is the fifth pontiff of the 20th century (Pius X, John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II) to be beatified, the last step before sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church.
Born in 1912, in Canale d’Agordo (northeastern Italy), Luciano’s death was a complete surprise, as was his election to the papacy. As he entered the papal conclave on August 26, 1978, there was no indication that he was the frontrunner. After only four votes, he emerged from the conclave as pope, converted by the Holy Spirit and an earthly disagreement about the other two leading candidates. Although it lasted only 33 days, his brief pontificate made lasting reforms to the Vatican’s financial management practices. His death, presumably due to a heart attack, was quickly engulfed in rumors and legends, and inspired a long list of movies and books that his postulators (beatification nominating team) characterize as fake news.
And...last but not least
Have a good night everyone!