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: Watchdog chief questions whether Chicago cops lied about why they stopped Dexter Reed before killing him in exchange of gunfire by Tom Schuba, Frank Main, Andy Grimm, Kaitlin Washburn, and David Struett
The head of Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability has questioned whether a group of cops lied about why they stopped a driver in Humboldt Park last month, setting off a gun battle that wounded one of the officers and killed the motorist.
In a letter to Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling, COPA Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten also raised “grave concerns about the officers’ ability to assess what is a necessary, reasonable, and proportional use of deadly force.”
The letter was sent last week, days before COPA released video it said showed the officers firing roughly 96 shots in just 41 seconds after the driver, Dexter Reed, shot one of them in the wrist during the March 21 traffic stop in Humboldt Park.
Five tactical officers from the Harrison District had approached Reed’s GMC Terrain with heavily tinted windows, which was apparently parked in a crosswalk in the 3800 block of West Ferdinand Street.
Body-worn camera footage released by COPA on Tuesday shows that Reed, 26, resisted orders to roll down his car windows and open the door. As officers shouted at him, Reed opened fire and struck one of the officers in the hand, COPA said.
The four other officers returned fire, with one of them shooting three times as Reed lay “motionless on the ground,” according to Kersten’s April 1 letter. That officer alone fired “at least 50 times.”
The New York Times: Abortion Jumps to the Center of Arizona’s Key 2024 Races by Lisa Lerer, Nicholas Nehamas, and Reid J Epstein
Democrats seized on a ruling on Tuesday by Arizona’s highest court upholding an 1864 law that bans nearly all abortions, setting up a fierce political fight over the issue that is likely to dominate the presidential election and a pivotal Senate race in a crucial battleground state.
Even though the court put its ruling on hold for now, President Biden and his campaign moved quickly to blame former President Donald J. Trump for the loss of abortion rights, noting that he has taken credit for appointing the Supreme Court justices who overturned a constitutional right to abortion. Just a day earlier, Mr. Trump had sought to defang what has become a toxic issue for Republicans by saying that abortion restrictions should be decided by the states and their voters.
Mr. Trump offered no immediate response to the decision, but Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for his campaign, said: “President Trump could not have been more clear. These are decisions for people of each state to make.”
Nowhere are the politics of abortion more distilled than in Arizona, where liberal advocates have been pushing for a ballot measure in November that would enshrine abortion rights in the State Constitution. Supporters of the measure say they have already gathered enough signatures to put the question on the ballot ahead of a deadline in early July.
CNN: A whistleblower claims that Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner is flawed. The FAA is investigating by Gregory Wallace and Gabe Cohen
Federal authorities say they’re investigating Boeing after a whistleblower repeatedly raised concerns with two widebody jet models, and claimed the company retaliated against him.
Whistleblower Sam Salehpour, a Boeing engineer, alleges that Boeing took shortcuts when manufacturing its 777 and 787 Dreamliner jets, and that the risks could become catastrophic as the airplanes age. The New York Times was first to report the whistleblower complaint.
His formal complaint to the Federal Aviation Administration, filed in January and made public on Tuesday, is not specific to the newer 737 Max jet that has been grounded twice by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Salehpour on Tuesday said his complaint raises “two quality issues that may dramatically reduce the life of the planes.”
“I am doing this not because I want Boeing to fail, but because I want it to succeed and prevent crashes from happening,” Salehpour told reporters on a conference call Tuesday. “The truth is Boeing can’t keep going the way it is. It needs to do a little bit better, I think.”
The Washington Post: Parents of Oxford school shooter sentenced to 10-15 years each by Kim Bellware
James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of the Oxford school shooter, were sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison by a Michigan judge Tuesday after their convictions in separate trials on involuntary-manslaughter charges that stemmed from their son’s 2021 rampage, which killed four students.
Their sentencing ends one chapter of an emotional legal saga that has gripped the exurban Detroit community for more than two years and, more broadly, reshaped attitudes around parental liability in cases where children access a gun and harm others.
Oakland County Circuit Judge Cheryl A. Matthews said the two parents had repeated chances to help their son and curb his access to weapons, but failed to do so.
“Mr. Crumbley, it’s clear to this court that because of you, there was unfettered access to a gun or guns, as well as ammunition in your home,” Matthews told James Crumbley, 47.
"It will happen. There is a date," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video message on Monday, referring to a planned, large-scale Israeli military offensive in Rafah, Gaza's southernmost town. He didn't elaborate or give a specific date.
In recent weeks, the Israeli prime minister has repeatedly said the town on the border with Egypt is Hamas's last stronghold and that an offensive was inevitable to declare victory over the militant group, which is listed as a terrorist organisation in many countries.
The new announcement defies fierce international criticism of the planned ground operations. Over one million Palestinians — more than half of Gaza's population — have taken refuge in the city, which has been repeatedly bombed. Rafah is also the main logistical hub for aid into Gaza from Egypt.
Meanwhile, Israel's 98 Division ground forces withdrew from Khan Younis, another southern city, on Sunday, leaving only one brigade in northern Gaza to control a newly created corridor in central Gaza that separates the north from the south. Residents of Khan Younis, displaced to Rafah, were seen going back to see what is left of the city.
Argentina made primary education compulsory by law in 1884 and 99% of its population is literate, the second-highest rate in Latin America after Uruguay. The decline in the quality of education has been a matter of concern for successive governments, but this pillar of the Argentine state has never been questioned in the way one of the best-known deputies in President Javier Milei’s ruling party La Libertad Avanza, economist Alberto “Bertie” Benegas Lynch, has done. “You want to give your child the best and often it can happen, especially in Argentina, that you cannot afford the luxury of sending your child to school because you need him in the workshop with his father,” Benegas Lynch said Sunday during a radio interview. “How is the state going to decide about the boy? I can’t think of anything more invasive,” the congressman added in statements that have forced Milei’s government to distance itself from what they see as a personal opinion.
Benegas Lynch is the son of the eponymous intellectual whom Milei considers his biggest ideological reference. In Benegas Lynch’s opinion, education is “the parents’ responsibility” and, as such, the state should not intervene in it.
The legislator’s apparent defense of child labor earned harsh criticism from politicians, educators, and international organizations. “Working deprives boys and girls of their right to learn, play, and grow up happy,” UNICEF stated. “My father had to start working at the age of eight. Born in 1938 and the only child of a single mother, there was no alternative at home. Sadly, he passed away many years ago. If he were alive, he would tell the ignorant congressman in no uncertain terms what child labor is all about,” tweeted former Minister of Culture Pablo Avelluto.
BBC News: South Korea votes for new parliament by Jean Mackenzie and Kelly Ng
South Korea is voting for a new parliament, in what is widely seen as a midterm referendum on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration.
Mr Yoon still has three years left in office but his People Power Party (PPP) has struggled to achieve its agenda in a legislature dominated by the opposition Democratic Party.
Polls are mixed but analysts have suggested the opposition may retain their majority or even increase it.
Yoon is under pressure to address a number of issues including rising food prices, a rapidly aging population and an ongoing doctor’s strike.
If Mr Yoon's party fails, he could leave office with little to show for his time, other than his foreign policy achievements.
His major success has been building up relations with Tokyo and Washington to counter China and North Korea. But that will have little bearing on this election. South Koreans will be voting in line with their wallets more than anything.
Have the best possible evening everyone!