Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Besame, jck, and JeremyBloom. 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.
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Chicago Sun-Times: Chicago’s acting top cop shakes up command staff on way out the door by Tom Schuba
Chicago’s acting top cop has announced broad changes to the department’s leadership team, filling high-ranking positions before his replacement is expected to be confirmed.
Interim Supt. Fred Waller told department members that the staffing overhaul was effective Friday, but sources said some of his picks had already been installed.
Some of Waller’s choices have troubled records. Two commanders have been accused of fostering a hostile work environment and two others have been named in costly lawsuits.
A fifth commander is closely tied to the interim superintendent.
A police spokesperson declined to answer questions about the staffing changes on Tuesday, saying “we do not discuss internal personnel deliberations.”
New York Times: Ex-Leader of Proud Boys Sentenced to 22 Years in Jan. 6 Sedition Case by Alan Feuer
Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, was sentenced on Tuesday to 22 years in prison for the central role he played in organizing a gang of his pro-Trump followers to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power.
Mr. Tarrio’s sentence, stemming from his conviction this spring on charges of seditious conspiracy, was the most severe penalty handed down so far to any of the more than 1,100 people charged in connection with the Capitol attack — and was likely to remain that way, given that no other defendants currently face accusations as serious as the ones he did.
Until now, the longest prison term connected to Jan. 6 had been 18 years. That sentence was issued last week to Ethan Nordean, one of Mr. Tarrio’s co-defendants. The same sentence was given in a separate case in May to Stewart Rhodes, the leader of another far-right group, the Oath Keepers militia, who also was found guilty of sedition in connection with the storming of the Capitol.
CNN: The Atlantic’s next major hurricane is expected by this weekend by Mary Gilbert
A newly-formed tropical depression in the Atlantic Ocean has become Tropical Storm Lee and is expected to strengthen into a major hurricane by Thursday as the season approaches its typical peak in early September.
Tropical Depression 13 formed Tuesday morning in the central tropical Atlantic, almost 1,000 miles west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The depression strengthened into a tropical storm later Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center said in a 5 p.m. update. Lee is forecast to strengthen into a major hurricane by Friday before it reaches Category 4 strength by Saturday, the update said.
Tropical Storm Lee has winds of 45 mph with higher gusts and is moving west-northwest at 16 mph.
NBC News: Impeachment threats and shutdown fears: Congress returns for a chaotic September by Sahil Kapur
The divided Congress returns this week after a monthlong summer recess, facing important deadlines and a long to-do list of tasks to keep the federal government functioning.
The first order of business is to fund the government before a Sept. 30 deadline or face a shutdown. The Democratic-led Senate returns Tuesday, and the two chambers are far from agreement, as Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s right-wing members rebel against a short-term bill to prevent a shutdown and buy more time for negotiations.
To further complicate matters, it could collide with a House Republican impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, as a restive conservative wing of the narrow House GOP majority attempts to flex its muscle on investigations and shape the must-pass bills.
Last week on Fox News, McCarthy, R-Calif.,
called an impeachment inquiry a “natural step forward” and warned that a shutdown could hinder ongoing GOP investigations of Biden, his administration and his son Hunter's business dealings.
Hollywood Reporter: Record Number of Hollywood Workers Facing Evictions, Seeking Rent Assistance Amid Strikes by Kirsten Chuba
Four months into the writers strike and almost two months into the actors’, the fear of industry workers losing their apartments and homes due to the work stoppage has become an increasingly looming threat. In July, Deadline published a story with quotes from an anonymous studio exec saying the game plan was to let the strikes drag on until union members were losing their housing, and at a recent event, Entertainment Community Fund chair Annette Bening confirmed that is indeed happening.
David Baach, an actor who has been part of SAG since 2015 with credits on Curb Your Enthusiasm and Silicon Valley, is among those who have received a grant from the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s Emergency Assistance Program. For the last year, he’s lived in a rent-controlled, one-bedroom apartment in Larchmont, and before the strike, was always able to entirely cover his rent and bills with the money he earned as a working actor.
“The strike has had a massive impact on my housing situation. I worked one day in May, and since then all the work has stopped,” Baach tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I’ve almost depleted my entire savings, and I haven’t been able to pay my rent the last few months. My building manager and property owners extended me a grace period due to the good social credit I had built up by doing some gardening and landscaping in our building’s common area. However, in early August, I received an eviction notice from the building’s management company taped to my front door.”
Al Jazeera: Saudi and Iran exchange ambassadors after rapprochement
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Iran has arrived in the country, and his counterpart has landed in Saudi, cementing a restoration of ties between the Gulf rivals after a seven-year rupture.
Last March, China brokered a rapprochement between Riyadh and Tehran, leading to a resumption of full diplomatic relations.
Riyadh and Tehran severed ties in 2016 after Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran were attacked during protests over Riyadh’s execution of Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
Saudi Arabia’s leadership recognises the “importance of strengthening ties, increasing engagement … and taking the [relationship] to broader horizons”, Ambassador Abdullah Alanazi said upon his arrival in Tehran on Tuesday to take up his duties, according to a Saudi Foreign Ministry statement.
The Cuban foreign ministry says it has uncovered a human trafficking ring aimed at recruiting Cubans to fight for Russia in its war in Ukraine.
It said that Cubans living in Russia and "even some in Cuba" had been "incorporated into the military forces taking part in the war in Ukraine".
Cuba is a close ally of Russia, but it stressed in its statement "it does not form part of the conflict in Ukraine".
There has not yet been a response from Russia.
The Cuban foreign ministry did not specify who was behind the operation.
Last August, President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian military to increase its number of soldiers after its combat forces suffered heavy losses in Ukraine.
A Russian newspaper, Ryazan Gazette, has since reported that Cubans living in Russia had joined Russian combat forces fighting in Ukraine in exchange for a promise to receive Russian citizenship.
Guardian: Pakistan in uproar as protests over soaring energy prices turn violent by Zofeen T Ibrahim
Protests against rising electricity and petrol prices have rocked Pakistan over the past week, with thousands taking to city streets and setting their electricity bills alight.
The cost of electricity has doubled in the last three months to about 50 rupees (12p) a kilowatt. Petrol prices have shot up from 262 rupees a litre in June to 305 rupees this month.
Protests turned violent in Karachi last week when a worker from the utility company K-Electric (KE), which generates and distributes power to the city, was attacked by an enraged mob.
Have the best possible evening everyone!