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: How Eileen O’Neill Burke won the razor-thin primary for Cook County state’s attorney by Alden Loury and Michael Puente
This year’s Democratic primary for Cook County state’s attorney was one of the narrowest local primary election wins in recent memory.
Eileen O’Neill Burke barely squeaked past Clayton Harris III in a race where the outcome wasn’t decided for nearly two weeks. In heavily Democratic Cook County, O'Neill Burke, who will face Republican nominee Bob Fioretti in November, is all but assured to be the county’s next top prosecutor.
Speaking to reporters during a Monday morning news conference, O'Neill Burke said she intends to provide Cook County residents with the level of public safety they desire.
“I spoke to people all over the county, all over the city. And what unites us is more than what divides us. People told me, everywhere, they want to be able to go out at night and not be worried,” O'Neill Burke said. “They want to ride on a safe public transportation system. People want illegal guns and assault weapons off of our streets. Those are all things we all want. We can do that. We can move this county forward. Whether you voted for me or not, I'm promising today that I will work tirelessly as your state's attorney.”
New York Times: Trump Asks Trial Judge to Step Aside, Aiming Again at His Daughter by Ben Protess
Donald J. Trump, desperate to delay his criminal trial in Manhattan this month, has renewed a request for the judge overseeing the case to step aside, the latest twist in the former president’s attacks on the judge’s integrity — and family.
In a court filing made public Tuesday, Mr. Trump’s lawyers argued that the judge, Juan M. Merchan, has a conflict of interest because his daughter is a political consultant who has worked with Democratic candidates. The lawyers also claimed that her company, Authentic Campaigns, has used social media to deride Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and tout its connections to President Biden.
“The trial in this case will benefit Authentic financially by providing its clients more fodder for fund-raising, Authentic will make more money by assisting with those communications and your honor’s daughter will continue to earn money from these developments by virtue of her senior role at Authentic,” Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles, wrote in a letter to the judge. “Your honor has an interest in this case that warrants recusal.”
The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which brought the case against Mr. Trump, fired back, noting that Justice Merchan had previously declined to recuse himself, citing a state advisory committee on judicial ethics. They argued that Mr. Trump had offered no new evidence, other than “a daisy chain of innuendos,” and said that he had made “multiple attenuated factual leaps here that undercut any direct connection between Authentic and this case.”
Washington Post: Judge orders bond company to pay $811 million for defrauding migrants by Salvador Rizzo
A Virginia company that posts bonds for jailed immigrants facing deportation has been ordered to pay more than $800 million in restitution and penalties for fraudulent practices such as getting Spanish-speaking clients to sign English-language contracts that they didn’t fully understand and requiring them to pay $420 a month for GPS ankle monitors.
The company, Libre by Nexus, based in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, also threatened legal action against clients who didn’t pay the company’s fees, saying that their accounts would be sold to collection agencies and that they would be referred for deportation, according to the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the attorneys general of Massachusetts, New York and Virginia.
In a ruling Monday, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon in Roanoke ordered the company and its principals to pay more than $811 million. The judge found that the company owed the consumer protection bureau $231 million in restitution, of which Virginia is seeking $14 million, Massachusetts $3.3 million and New York $13.7 million to reimburse the company’s clients. The rest is owed in civil penalties, including more than $555 million to the consumer protection bureau, according to court documents.
NBC News: Tornado threats, heavy rain and snow expected as dangerous spring storms threaten millions by Minyvonne Burke and Kathryn Prociv
Millions of people are under weather alerts as a dangerous storm system moves through parts of the Ohio Valley region and the Northeast, bringing heavy rain, threats of isolated tornadoes and snow.
A severe weather outbreak is possible for the Ohio Valley, middle Tennessee and the Southeast on Tuesday with multiple rounds of storms expected throughout the day and into the evening.
The Ohio Valley region is already being hammered by a storm. As many as 4 million people along the Ohio River were under tornado watches until noon ET. Some of these storms could have 90 mph straight-line winds.
A significant outbreak of severe storms stretching from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast has put 54 million people at risk.
One weather-related injury was reported in Lexington, Kentucky, Mayor Linda Gorton said, without providing further details.
Guardian: Charities halt Gaza aid after drone attack that killed seven workers by Bethan McKernan
The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza seems likely to worsen after charities announced they are suspending operations in the territory in the aftermath of an Israeli drone attack which repeatedly targeted a clearly identified convoy of international aid workers, killing seven.
The strikes on a team from World Central Kitchen (WCK) led the charity – along with other aid organisations such as Anera, which helps refugees around the Middle East, and the US-based Project Hope, which focuses on healthcare – to announce on Tuesday that it would pause operations in Gazato protect its staff.
Calling the decision an “unprecedented step”, Anera said the killings, “alongside the loss of numerous other aid workers and their families, has led our team to conclude that delivering aid safely is no longer feasible”.
“While we understand the severe consequences this suspension will have on the Palestinian population, the escalating risks associated with aid delivery leave us with no choice but to halt operations until our staff regain confidence that they can do their work without undue risk,” a statement said.
DW: In Trump's footsteps: Kushner's controversial Balkans deals by Rob Mudge
One of Jared Kushner's planned ventures in the Balkans concerns the redevelopment of a site in Serbia's capital Belgrade, negotiations for which were started a decade ago by his father-in-law.
Two years before Donald Trump ran for president in 2016, he put his feelers out, telling Serbian authorities that he was interested in building a luxury hotel and apartment complex on the site of the former headquarters of the Yugoslav army, the General Staff building, destroyed in 1999 by NATO's bombing campaigns.
Although that project fell through, Kushner, who was a senior White House official during Trump's tenure, has now reportedly reached a tentative arrangement with the Serbian government to forge ahead with the development project. According to the New York Times, which received a draft outline, the agreement, with a 99-year lease at no charge, would allow Kushner to build a luxury hotel, residential units, shops and a museum on the site.
AlJazeera: From prisoner to president in 20 days, Senegal’s Diomaye Faye takes office by Nicholas Haque
“Finally, we can breathe,” the cashier at the American Food Store supermarket in Dakar said while swiping a pot of Greek yoghurt through checkout.
It was three days after Senegal’s contested March 24 presidential election – the day provisional results were announced – and there was a sense that something had turned: a new vigour for democracy brought about by the election of opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
The 44-year-old was sworn in on Tuesday after a period of political turmoil and fears that outgoing President Macky Sall – who had already been in power for 12 years – would try to extend his mandate into a third term.
For months, the nation was on tenterhooks.
But after a whirlwind election cycle and last week’s landslide win for the young, anti-establishment candidate who was in prison just 20 days ago, there is now a palpable feeling among Senegalese that change has come.
Try to have the best possible evening everyone!