Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Interceptor7, Magnifico, annetteboardman and Besame. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Man Oh Man, wader, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck, 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.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
MLive: Flint mayor says her heart is with Newark as residents there line up for bottled water by Ron Fonger
FLINT, MI -- Mayor Karen Weaver, who’s dealt with Flint’s water crisis since she was elected in 2015, is offering her support to residents of Newark, New Jersey, as that city’s water emergency reaches new heights.
Newark residents lined up this week to pick up bottled water after the U.S. Environmental Protection requested that the state provide it because new testing showed filters at two of three tested homes weren’t removing lead from tap water as expected.
Not only did Flint suffer with elevated levels of lead in water across the city, it also discovered some homes with lead concentrations that were also higher than faucet filters could handle.
“I was devastated to turn on my television only to find another community in America is now relying on bottled water due to lead contamination. I immediately thought of all of the residents and how they were effected and what they must be feeling," Weaver said in a news release issued by the city on Tuesday, Aug. 13.
Jackson Clarion-Ledger: Job fair after ICE raids: Here's who showed up for Koch Foods plant jobs by Justin Vicory
FOREST — On Monday morning, the parking lot at the WIN Job Center in Forest was full.
About 25 to 30 people showed up to apply for jobs at Koch Foods' nearby poultry processing plant. Of those, about an equal number were black, white or Latino.
"This is what you'd normally see here," said Dianne Bell, communications director for the Mississippi Department of Employment Security, in the two hour stretch from when the doors opened at 9 to 11 a.m.
The company, one of four whose plants in small Mississippi towns were targeted by federal immigration officials on Wednesday, contacted the state employment agency the same day to request its help in hiring workers.
The raids detained 680 mostly Latino workers in what marked the largest workplace sting in at least a decade. Of those, about 300 were given future court dates and released, but they can't return to work.
Albany Times-Union: Cuomo signs bills to reduce infant deaths, injury from household items by Bethany Bump
ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed three bills Tuesday designed to reduce the number of children harmed by furniture tipping over and crib bumper pads.
The first bill enacts Harper's Law, which clarifies existing law surrounding the sale of new furniture. It requires retailers to either sell furniture that complies with federal and industry standards regarding tipping risk, or to sell compatible tip-restraint devices with furniture and include notices informing consumers of possible tipping risk.
The law, which takes effect in 90 days, was named after 3-year-old Harper Ayva Fried, of Orange County, who died in 2016 after her bedroom dresser fell on top of her.
The second bill requires child care centers and similar facilities around the state to anchor heavy dressers or tube-style televisions to the wall. It takes effect in 180 days.
The Oregonian: Airbnb settles Oregon discrimination suit by Elliot Njus
Airbnb has settled a lawsuit brought by three Oregon women who alleged the site allowed vacation rental owners who use the site to discriminate against customers based on race.
The plaintiffs in the case — Pat Harrington, who died last year; Carlotta Franklin and Ebony Price — alleged that by requiring and disclosing users’ full names and photographs, Airbnb allowed its hosts to discriminate against black users in violation of Oregon’s public accommodation laws. All three plaintiffs were African American women who lived in the Portland area.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the settlement would result in any change for users of the site. Airbnb had changed its policies in 2018 so hosts using its platform can choose not to require photos, and it said photos would only be shown to hosts after they accept a booking. It did not announce any further changes Tuesday.
Roll Call: Engel wants staffers to warn foreign governments about spending at Trump’s hotels by Katherine Tullly-McManus
A new directive this week from House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot L. Engelinstructs staffers to warn foreign governments that spending at Trump-owned properties could violate the Constitution’s emoluments clause.
The memo, released Monday, issues guidelines for staff engaging with foreign governments. The directive signed by the New York Democrat is aimed specifically at the committee’s majority staff. Republican staffers were not given the same instructions.
“When meeting with officials from a foreign government, please inform them that by providing any form of payment or benefit to a Trump-owned property their government is facilitating the president’s apparent violation of the Foreign Emoluments Clause,” the memo states. “Please urge those foreign officials to transmit to their governments that the House Foreign Affairs Committee requests that they cease and desist payments to the Trump Organization unless and until Congress approves the emolument, as provided in the Constitution.”
Mother Jones: Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos Are Scheduled to Speak at a Conference Organized by a QAnon Supporter by Dan Friedman and Ari Breland
Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos, two former Trump foreign policy aides who both agreed in late 2017 to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, appear to have found some new allies: QAnon conspiracy theorists.
Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general and former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, briefly served as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser before he was forced to resign after news reports that he’d misled officials about his private conversations with Russia’s ambassador. He and Papadopoulos are listed as speakers at the upcoming “Digital Soldiers Conference,” a one-day event scheduled for September 14 in Atlanta that promises to ready “[p]atriotic social media warriors” for a coming “digital civil war” against “censorship and suppression.”
Other featured speakers include Bill Mitchell, an online broadcaster and conspiracy theorist; singer and Trump backer Joy Villa; and a “mystery guest.” The event is being organized by Rich Granville, the CEO of Yippy, Inc, who has a Twitter feed littered with references to QAnon, a conspiracy theory centered around the notion that Trump is secretly taking down an international ring of pedophiles that includes high-ranking Democrats. QAnon supporters believe that an anonymous person known as Q is dropping online clues about this supposed clandestine operation. The web page for Granville’s conference prominently features an American flag festooned with a Q.
Reuters: Trump delays tariffs on Chinese cellphones, laptops, toys; markets jump by David Shepardson and David Lawder
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday backed off his Sept. 1 deadline for 10% tariffs on remaining Chinese imports, delaying duties on cellphones, laptops and other consumer goods, in the hopes of blunting their impact on U.S. holiday sales.
The delay which, affects about half of the $300 billion target list of Chinese goods - along with news of renewed trade discussions between U.S. and Chinese officials - sent stocks sharply higher and drew cautious relief from retailers and technology groups.
Trump’s 10% tariffs will be effective from Dec. 15 for thousands of products including clothing and footwear, possibly buttressing the holiday selling season from some of the fallout from the protracted trade spat between the world’s two largest economies.
“We’re doing this for Christmas season, just in case some of the tariffs would have an impact on U.S. customers,” Trump told reporters in New Jersey. “Just in case they might have an impact on people, what we’ve done is we’ve delayed it so that they won’t be relevant to the Christmas shopping season.”
NBC News: El Al flight attendant who contracted measles on New York to Tel Aviv flight dies after four months in coma by Corky Siemaszko
The El Al flight attendant who fell into a coma after contracting measles has died, Israeli media reported Tuesday.
Rotem Amitai, 43, a mother of three, passed away at the Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in the city of Petah Tikva.
“Rotem was a wonderful woman and a devoted mother,” her family said in a statement. “We are grieving and hurting from her premature passing.”
Amitai was sickened when she came into contact with a passenger who had measles on a March 26 flight from New York to Tel Aviv. She was later admitted to the hospital after coming down with encephalitis or swelling of the brain.
It was later revealed that Amitai had only received one shot against measles as a toddler in the 1970s instead of the double dosage for children that the Israeli government now recommends.
Guardian: Hong Kong: flights resume at airport after clashes between protesters and police by Martin Farrer and Erin Hale
Flights have resumed in and out of Hong Kong airport after two days of protests by pro-democracy activists caused chaos that paralysed the transport hub.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled on Tuesday after demonstrators blockaded two terminals in the latest escalation of a 10-week political crisis that has gripped the international financial centre.
But by Wednesday morning only about 30 protesters remained at the airport and flights began taking off on a more regular basis.
The airport’s website showed dozens of flights taking off overnight and listed hundreds more which were scheduled to depart throughout Wednesday, although many were delayed.
Check-in desks were operating normally while staff scrubbed the terminals clean of blood and debris from overnight.
DW: Greece: Villages evacuated as wildfires rage
Hundreds of people were evacuated from villages on the Greek island of Evia on Tuesday, as flames from a wildfire in a nature preserve moved closer to their homes.
Firefighters across Greece are working to contain several wildfires that have broken out since the weekend, with hot temperatures, dry weather and gale-force winds fanning the flames.
What we know so far:
- About 500 people were evacuated from a monastery and the villages of Kontodespoti and Makrymalli.
- More than 200 firefighters, seven helicopters and six water-dropping planes have been deployed to battle the fire in Evia, Greece's second-largest island.
- Thick smoke from the fire blanketed the capital Athens, 110 kilometers (70 miles) away.
- A second forest fire is burning on the northern island of Thassos, while firefighters are also battling a third blaze near Thebes.
- Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis cut short a vacation to return to Athens due to the fires.
AlJazeera: Russian village evacuation as rocket blast sparks radiation fears
Russian authorities have advised residents of a village to leave while clear-up work is being carried out nearby following a mysterious rocket engine accident last week that caused a temporary spike in radiation, according to a report.
Russia's Rosatom nuclear agency said five of its staff were killed in the August 8 blast at a naval facility that tests ballistic missiles used by nuclear submarines. At least three people were injured.
The workers were providing support for the "isotope power source" of a missile and were thrown into the water from the testing platform in the White Sea by the force of the explosion.
On Tuesday, Interfax news agency cited local officials as saying they had received a notification about clear-up work being carried out by military authorities.
AFP: Italy delays no-confidence debate in rowdy Senate session
A rowdy Italian Senate on Tuesday rejected a call by far-right leader Matteo Salvini for a swift no-confidence vote, deciding instead that Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte would address the crisis on August 20.
Interior Minister Salvini's anti-migration League had sought the vote after he pulled the plug on the coalition last week. But a majority of senators from former coalition partners Five Star Movement (M5S) and from the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) opposition rejected the motion.
Instead, lawmakers approved an M5S-PD motion calling for a debate next week during which Conte would address the Senate.
Senators were recalled at the height of the holiday season after political groups on Monday failed to agree on a timetable for the vote demanded by Salvini.
He kicked off Tuesday's debate with a stunning U-turn, offering to back a key parliamentary reform of the M5S, after saying last week that he could no longer work with them.
BBC: Kangaroos filmed hopping through rare Australian snow
Footage has emerged of kangaroos bounding through a field in Australia that has been blanketed in snow.
After strong winds and freezing winter conditions swept across three south-eastern states, parts of the country experienced rare snowfall.
Twitter user Stephen Grenfell filmed the kangaroos as he drove past their paddock in New South Wales on Saturday.
Posting the clip, he wrote: "Not something you see every day in Australia. Kangaroos in the snow."
In response, another user posted a photo of kangaroos in the snow on a golf course.
Variety: Fox Feels the Pressure From Disney as Film Flops Mount by Matt Donnelly and Brent Lang
This report card isn’t going on anyone’s fridge.
Twentieth Century Fox received its first-quarter grades from the Walt Disney Co. last week, and in a public rebuke, the studio’s new corporate parent made it plain that it viewed the first few months as an ominous sign of trouble ahead.
In a sharp reprimand that left staffers at Fox reeling and worried about their already fragile job security, Disney chief executive Bob Iger declared on the company’s Aug. 6 quarterly earnings call that “the Fox studio performance … was well below where it had been and well below where we hoped it would be when we made the acquisition.” Iger’s tone was measured, but his message was clear: Shape up.
“I’ve never seen a public hanging like that,” remarks one prominent Hollywood producer.
UK Telegraph: Simone Biles redefines limits of perfection in yet another testament to her fortitude by Daniel Schofield
There is not a lot you can accomplish in 1.18 seconds. At a push you could write the first couple of letters of your name or more satisfyingly scratch an itch. Or if you are Simone Biles, you can use that time to become the first female gymnast to pull off a triple-double in competition.
To recap, a triple-double is a triple twist combined simultaneously with a double flip. This was done in the floor competition so no springboard. All the speed and height - it is estimated she reached 10ft in the air - had to be generated herself. Had Isaac Newton been in the crowd at the United States Championships on Sunday night he might have drawn a very different conclusion of how gravity works. For a sport that rarely gets exposure outside the Olympic Games, footage of Biles’ feat has gained millions of views on social media.
In real time, Biles is just a whirling blur. Even with the benefit of super slow motion, it is still difficult to detect each rotation. Whole articles have been devoted to breaking down the physics of Biles’ jump, notably an excellent synopsis on wired.com, and even then your jaw drops deeper with appreciation. Any conspiracy theorists who believe superhero mutants live among us should present this as exhibit A of their argument.
Eh...one more time…
and...again…
Don’t forget that Meteor Blades is hosting an open thread for night owls tonight.
Everyone have a great evening!