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: Mayor Brandon Johnson, his message, and the media: Time for a course correction before public loses faith by Fran Spielman
If Mayor Brandon Johnson even had a honeymoon with the news media, it’s over after less than 10 months in office.
The City Hall press corps has turned hostile, openly frustrated with a mayor who is seldom accessible and evasive when he does take questions.
Newspaper editorials are critical and, at times, disdainful while portraying Johnson as in over his head.
It's a problem that isn't solely about frustration within the City Hall press corps. Ultimately, when a mayor's relationship with the media is fraught, communication with the people he or she serves suffers.
In an apparent effort to turn things around, Johnson scheduled a meeting with the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board this week that would have been his first.
But Monday’s meeting ended abruptly — after Johnson and board members had introduced themselves — when press secretary Ronnie Reese insisted the entire session be off the record. Editorial Page editor Lorraine Forte refused to accept those unprecedented terms. Johnson allowed Reese to make the argument for him and never said a word before signing off from the Zoom session.
The Washington Post: Supreme Court won’t review admissions at Va.’s Thomas Jefferson school by Ann E. Marimow and Karina Elwood
The Supreme Court will not review a challenge to the admissions system for a prestigious Northern Virginia magnet school, ending a years-long legal battle in the case and signaling a majority of justices may not be ready to quickly revisit the issue of what role race can play in the selection of a student body.
The high court’s decision Tuesday not to take the case involving the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology follows its ruling last term rejecting race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. That historic decisionrolled back decades of precedent and has dramatically changed how the nation’s private and public universities select their students.
Tuesday’s ruling also comes weeks after the Supreme Court refused to immediately force the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to change its race-conscious admissions policies, an issue it left open after the cases last summer.
NBC News: 2 men charged with murder in Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade shooting by Mirna Alsharif and Dennis Romero
Two men have been charged with murder in the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade shooting that killed one woman and injured more than 20 people last week.
The defendants were named by prosecutors as Dominic M. Miller of Kansas City and Lyndell Mays of Raytown. They each face charges of second-degree murder, armed criminal action, and unlawful use of a weapon, according to a statement from the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.
"The defendants attended a Super Bowl parade and rally on Feb. 14, 2024, and were armed with firearms," the office said. "A verbal altercation occurred and gunfire broke out with no regard for thousands of other individuals in the area."
Previously, two juveniles were charged in the Feb. 14 shooting in downtown Kanas City, Missouri. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, at a news conference announcing the charges, would not clarify if those minors had any connection to the adults who have been charged.
CNN: Indicted ex-FBI informant told investigators he got Hunter Biden dirt from Russian intelligence officials by Hannah Rabinowitz
The former FBI informant charged with lying about the Bidens’ dealings in Ukraine told investigators after his arrest that Russian intelligence officials were involved in passing information to him about Hunter Biden, prosecutors said Tuesday in a new court filing, noting that the information was false.
Prosecutors also said Alexander Smirnov has been “actively peddling new lies that could impact US elections” after meeting with Russian spies late last year and that the fallout from his previous false bribery accusations about the Bidens “continue[s] to be felt to this day.”
Smirnov claims to have “extensive and extremely recent” contacts with foreign intelligence officials, prosecutors said in the filing. They said he previously told the FBI that he has longstanding and extensive contacts with Russian spies, including individuals he said were high-level intelligence officers or command Russian assassins abroad.
Two of Pakistan’s leading political parties have reached a formal agreement to form a coalition government, they say, days after inconclusive national elections did not return a clear majority.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) now have the “required numbers” to form a government, PMLN President and former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday.
Sitting beside Sharif at a news conference in Islamabad, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, former foreign minister and chairperson of the PPP, confirmed that Sharif would be their coalition’s candidate for prime minister.
He added that his father, Asif Ali Zardari, would be the alliance’s candidate for president.
Sharif, who is the younger brother of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, said the PMLN-PPP coalition also had the support of other smaller parties.
BBC News: US vetoes call for immediate Gaza ceasefire at UN by Nada Tawfik and James FitzGerald
The US has vetoed a resolution at the UN demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza after proposing its own draft urging a temporary ceasefire.
Washington said the Algerian-proposed resolution would "jeopardise" talks to end the war.
But the move has been condemned, with US allies expressing regret the original ceasefire motion was blocked by the White House.
In its own resolution the US warned Israel not to invade the city of Rafah.
The US has previously avoided the word "ceasefire" during UN votes on the war, but President Joe Biden has recently made similar comments.
Thirteen countries on the 15-member body backed Algeria's resolution, while the UK abstained.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Washington's ambassador to the UN, said it was not the right time to call for an immediate ceasefire while negotiations between Hamas and Israel were continuing.
Guardian: Papua New Guinea massacre: fears violence could spiral over tribal conflict by Rebecca Kuku
Authorities in Papua New Guinea are bracing for an escalation of violence after dozens of men were killed in a tribal massacre on Sunday.
In the wake of the killings, the prime minister, James Marape, is facing calls to declare a state of emergency to address the ongoing fighting.
The bodies were recovered by locals and police officers, and graphic images circulated showing corpses piled up on a truck. Police and security officials in Enga said the incident marks the worst massacre in months.
Have the best possible evening everyone!