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 ends year with fewer shootings, but more robbers use guns as overall crime remains high by David Struett
Numbers don’t mean much to Jonas Jacox, who works to make a stretch of Roseland safer.
He instead trusts the power of his street outreach, even when the odds seem against him. Like when the gang member he was mentoring was shot dead on his way to an anti-violence program over the summer.
“Sometimes guys are worse off in the program because we’re turning predators into prey,” he says.
It’s a reminder of the uncertain work ahead as the city continues to address a stubbornly high crime rate, even as shootings and homicides dropped for a second year in a row in 2023.
While the city has followed a national trend of lowered gun violence, it has stood nearly alone in seeing a spike in robberies — nearly 40% more victims than the year before.
And more robbers are carrying guns, according to the University of Chicago Crime Lab. In 2019, about 40% of robberies involved a gun. That surged to 60% in 2023.
Boston Globe: Harvard University president Claudine Gay resigns by Mike Damiano and Hilary Burns
Claudine Gay’s tenure as the first Black president of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious university came to a bitter end Tuesday after her brief term was derailed by controversies stemming from the Israel-Hamas war, campus antisemitism, and allegations of plagiarism in her scholarly works.
A daughter of Haitian immigrants who rose through the sharp-elbowed politics of higher education to reach the pinnacle of academia, Gay described her decision as “difficult beyond words” in a message sent to the Harvard community.
But she said that “after consultation with members” of Harvard’s top governing board, it became clear to her that “it is in the best interests of Harvard for me to resign so that our community can navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution rather than any individual.” She will return to teaching and scholarship as a tenured faculty member.
Harvard provost Dr. Alan Garber will serve as interim president, the board said Tuesday.
The Washington Post: Gunman broke into Colo. Supreme Court building, fired shots, police say by Praveena Somasundaram
A man broke into the Colorado Supreme Court building early Tuesday where he fired a pistol multiple times and started a fire in a stairwell,Denver police said.
No one was injured in the incident, which started after 1:15 a.m., according to police. The Colorado State Patrol said in a statement that the gunman caused “significant and extensive damage” to the building, which was closed Tuesday.
Authorities said the incident does not appear to be related to recent threats facing Colorado’s justices after Donald Trump was
barred from appearing on the state’s 2024 presidential primary ballot. Within days of the decision, law enforcement officials were investigating a
spike in threats against the state’s Supreme Court justices.
A man police identified as Brandon Olsen, 44, fled the scene of a car crash that happened near the Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center around 1:15 a.m. He later shot through a window, entered the building, and forcefully retrieved keys to other floors from an unarmed security guard, officials said.
The New York Times: Trump Appeals Decision Barring Him From Maine Primary Ballot by Jenna Russell
Lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump filed an appeal on Tuesday seeking to overturn the ruling last week by Shenna Bellows, Maine’s secretary of state, to bar him from appearing on the state’s Republican primary ballot.
Ms. Bellows, a Democrat, “was a biased decision maker who should have recused herself and otherwise failed to provide lawful due process,” lawyers for Mr. Trump wrote in the 11-page appeal filed in Maine Superior Court. They further argued that she had “no legal authority to consider the federal constitutional issues presented by the challengers.”
Ms. Bellows “made multiple errors of law and acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner,” the lawyers wrote. They demanded that the court vacate the secretary’s decision, which they described as “the product of a process infected by bias.”
Maine became the second state to exclude Mr. Trump from its primary ballot on Dec. 28, when Ms. Bellows found him ineligible under the third section of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits people who have engaged in insurrection from holding office. Her decision followed a similar landmark finding in Colorado, where the state’s Supreme Court ruled on Dec. 19 that he could not appear on the ballot there.
BBC News: Japan jet crash: Passengers describe chaos inside flight 516 by Graeme Baker
First came the shock, as the Airbus A350 carrying 379 people collided with a second plane while landing in Tokyo.
Then came heat and smoke as the jet sped along the runway in flames.
Then survival instinct kicked in, as people scrambled to flee a cabin filling with fumes, knowing that lives depended on the next few seconds.
That all on Japan Airlines flight 516 escaped is extraordinary. Experts say a flawless evacuation and new technology played a large part in their survival.
Those on board the second plane, a smaller coastguard aircraft due to deliver aid to quake victims, were not as fortunate. Five were killed and the pilot is seriously injured.
AlJazeera: Japan lifts tsunami warnings but warns earthquake damage ‘widespread’
At least 48 people have been reported dead after a massive earthquake hit the coast of central Japan on New Year’s Day.
Authorities raised the death toll on Tuesday afternoon. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has warned that the damage is “widespread,” and with rescue teams struggling to access some remote areas, it is feared that casualties could rise.
The magnitude 7.6 quake struck on Monday afternoon near the Noto peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture, triggering the country’s first major tsunami warning since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that had about 18,500 people declared dead or missing in the northeast.
Speaking on Tuesday, Kishida said “extensive damage” had been confirmed with the earthquake bringing down buildings and triggering fires.
“The search and rescue of those impacted by the quake is a battle against time,” the prime minister said.
DW: Congo: Tshisekedi reelected as opposition cries foul
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi was reelected for a second term on Sunday, but the opposition has demanded a repeat of the election they condemned as a "sham."
According to the country's election commission, CENI, Tshisekedi received 73% of the vote, giving him a commanding lead over his 18 challengers.
The turnout of the election on December 20 was estimated to be over 43% of the country's eligible 18 million voters.
The election was marred by widespread logistical problems, with many polling stations opening late or not opening at all. Some lacked materials, and many voter cards had smudged ink that made them illegible.
In some parts of the country, voting had to be extended into a second day.
Guardian: Russian missiles pound Kyiv as Putin vows to intensify attacks on Ukraine by Artem Mazhulin and Pjotr Sauer
Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and its second-largest city, Kharkiv, have come under heavy Russian missile attacks, killing at least five people, a day after Vladimir Putin warned that Russia would “intensify” its assault on Ukraine.
Explosions were heard in all districts of the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday morning, shaking buildings in the city centre, in the third successive day of airstrikes on Ukraine
Footage shared on social media by Ukraine’s interior ministry showed several residential buildings, cars and other civilian infrastructure hit by the missile strikes.
The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, said on the Telegram messaging app that an elderly woman had died and at least 41 people had been wounded after the strikes.
Detroit Free Press: Michigan football fans overjoyed by 27-20 Rose Bowl win: 'So proud of these kids' by Jared Golden
Michigan football finally broke through the College Football Playoff semifinal for a trip to the national championship game after rallying to beat Alabama, 27-20, in overtime in the Rose Bowl.
Michigan trailed Alabama 20-13 with just under five minutes left and put together a 75-yard touchdown drive to tie the game with 1:34 remaining. The defense then came up with a big stop on the ensuing possession to force overtime.
Once overtime started, Michigan got the ball first and ran the ball twice with Blake Corum, who broke loose for a 17-yard touchdown on the second run to give Michigan a 27-20 lead. Alabama had a chance at rebuttal and drove the ball down to the 3-yard line, resulting in a fourth-and-goal — one final play to decide the game.
Alabama decided on a quarterback run up the middle with Jalen Milroe but Michigan's defensive line plugged up all the holes and took down the Crimson Tide quarterback at the line of scrimmage to secure a trip to Houston.
Have the best possible evening everyone!