Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Besame and jck. 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 Tribune: 23 more labor unions file new legal challenge to Chicago’s vaccine mandate deadline by Alice Yin
More than 20 Chicago labor unions have filed a complaint in Cook County Circuit Court against Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate, seeking the same deadline suspension that a judge granted Chicago police officers.
The 23 plaintiffs include Teamsters Local 700, Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local 130 and Service Employees International Union Local 1, according to a copy of the legal challenge. They are seeking an injunction to force arbitration over Lightfoot’s vaccination policy — and pause the Dec. 31 deadline for city workers to get fully vaccinated until the matter is resolved — because of what they describe as a violation of their collective bargaining rights.
A spokeswoman with the city’s law department declined to comment Tuesday, saying the city has not yet been served. George Luscombe, the plaintiffs’ attorney, declined to comment.
The petition cites a Nov. 1 decision by Judge Raymond Mitchell in the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police’s lawsuit against the city, who ruled that no members of the four Chicago police unions are subject to the Dec. 31 deadline until the matter goes through arbitration.
Washington Post: Oklahoma Supreme Court overturns historic opioid ruling against J&J by Meryl Kornfield and Lenny Bernstein
Oklahoma’s highest court reversed a historic ruling against drugmaker Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday, finding a judge incorrectly interpreted public nuisance laws in the nation’s first major trial over the opioid epidemic.
The 5-to-1 decision that overturned the $465 million verdict issued by Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman in 2019 is a blow to the argument that companies that marketed, sold and distributed opioids created a public nuisance and should abate some of the damage drugs have caused in communities. Oklahoma communities alleged they were inundated by billions of pills while people were becoming addicted and overdosing. A similar claim is being tested in courts by other communities nationwide that are suing companies, arguing they are in part responsible for the public health crisis that has killed more than 500,000 people in two decades.
Companies scored a win last week in California when a judge said he would rule against several large counties arguing public nuisance claims because they had not proved deceptive marketing increased medically unnecessary prescriptions. Other cases hinging on similar arguments have not yet been heard or decided. In West Virginia, a federal judge is considering his ruling in a case that centers on a public nuisance claim, in which hard-hit communities allege distributors shipped opioids to their area without regard for red flags. The distributors have denied wrongdoing.
New York Times: G.E. Breaks Up With Its Storied Past by Steve Lohr and Michael J. de la Merced
It was the quintessential American company, a corporate behemoth whose ambition matched the country’s.
Formed in 1892, General Electric reached into nearly every home over the next century. It sold light bulbs, televisions and washing machines. Its jet engines opened up long-distance travel, its generators lit houses, and its medical equipment helped diagnose patients.
Now G.E. is making a final break with its storied past, splitting itself into three businesses, a victim of the lingering effects of the 2008 financial crisis and a fast-growing economy less hospitable to global conglomerates.
On Tuesday, the company said it would spin off its health care division in early 2023 and its energy businesses a year later. That would leave its aviation unit as its remaining business.
New York (CNN Business)— Shoppers are already taking a hit at the grocery store. Soon, even their cheapest meat options will get more expensive.
Tyson Foods (TSN),
Conagra (CAG) and
Kraft Heinz (KHC) have notified their retail customers in recent weeks that they will raise prices in January for some frozen and refrigerated meats. Products that will see increases include Ball Park hot dogs and burgers, State Fair corn dogs, Jimmy Dean frozen breakfast, Hillshire Farm sausage and lunch meat, and Hebrew National and Oscar Mayer hot dogs, according to supplier letters to wholesale customers viewed by CNN Business.
"All the packaged meat suppliers are coming to the price increase party," said a leader at one regional distributor to stores who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their company's relationship with suppliers.
Prices for higher-end meat cuts like steak, veal and pork chops have
surged over the past year. But prices for cheaper meats like ground beef and lunch meat have gone up more slowly, while hot dog prices were actually 1.2% lower in September than they were at the same time last year, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
BBC News: Belarus migrants: Poland PM blames Russia's Putin for migrant crisis
Poland's Prime Minister has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind a migrant crisis at Belarus's border with Poland.
Mateusz Morawiecki said that Belarus's authoritarian leader, a close ally of Mr Putin, is orchestrating the crisis, but "it has its mastermind in Moscow".
At least 2,000 migrants are stuck at the border in freezing conditions.
Belarus's leader Alexander Lukashenko denies claims it is sending people over the border in revenge for EU sanctions.
Video footage shows crowds of people on the Belarusian side of a barbed-wire border fence with Poland. Some try to force their way through using bolt cutters, tree trunks and group force, while Polish guards fend them off with what appears to be tear gas.
Many of the migrants are young men but there are also women and children, mostly from the Middle East and Asia. They are camping in tents just inside Belarus, trapped between Polish guards on one side, and Belarusian guards on the other.
Reuters: China conducts combat readiness patrol as U.S. lawmakers visit Taiwan
BEIJING/TAIPEI, Nov 9 (Reuters) - China's military said on Tuesday it had conducted a combat readiness patrol in the direction of the Taiwan Strait, after its defence ministry condemned a visit to Taiwan by a U.S. congressional delegation it said had arrived on a military aircraft.
The patrol was aimed at the "seriously wrong" words and actions of "relevant countries" on the Taiwan issue and the activities of pro-independence forces in Taiwan, a Chinese military spokesperson said in a statement.
Cross-strait tensions have been rising in recent months, with Taiwan complaining for a year or more of repeated missions by China's air force near the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own.
Taiwan's defence ministry said six Chinese military aircraft entered its southwestern air defence zone on Tuesday, including four J-16 fighter jets and two surveillance planes.
Several Taiwan media outlets reported on Tuesday that unspecified members from both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate had arrived in Taipei on a U.S. military plane.
When asked about the visit, Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang told reporters on Wednesday that Taiwan-U.S. relations are "very important" and that he respects "mutual visits between friends".
DW: After assassination attempt, what next for Iraq?
Early Sunday morning, a booby-trapped drone exploded very near the Baghdad residence of Iraq's prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi. A car outside the residence was badly damaged and doors and windows blown out, as seen on footage posted by Washington Post reporter Mustafa Salim on Twitter.
Al-Kadhimi himself appeared to have been only slightly hurt. Shortly afterwards, he appeared on television with what seemed to be a bandaged wrist, calling for calm.
A few hours later, the country's president, Barham Salih, suggested on social media that the assassination attempt could lead to a coup and political chaos in Iraq.
But most Iraq analysts and observers don't believe it will come to that.
"It is very serious and it crosses a line," Fanar Haddad, a former adviser to the Iraqi prime minister, told DW. "This is likely the first time we've seen an assassination attempt like this. Having said that, I don't expect the spiral of violence to escalate."
Everyone have a great evening!